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CHRIST.

pre-existence-i. e., before his incarnation-the highest of all created beings; and according to the generally received doctrine of Christians, he is 'God and man in two distinct natures and one person.' This doctrine, of course, bears a most intimate relation to that of the TRINITY (q. v.); and all who hold the divinity of Jesus Christ, regard him as the incarnate Second Person of the Godhead. The proof of the whole doctrine may almost be said to consist simply in a proof of the divinity of C.; his real humanity, although equally important, being no longer disputed. And this proof is found, not so much in particular texts which directly assert the divinity of C.-although such texts are important as in the multitude of texts which imply it, and admit of no reasonable or natural explanation apart from it; and in shewing that certain doctrines are taught in Scripture which cannot be maintained without

this.

The ancient Apollinarians, Eutychians, Monophysites, &c., regarded C. as having only one nature -a compound of the divine and human; but such a notion as that C. had only a human body, the divine nature supplying the place of a soul, is held to be subversive of the whole Christian system; and his human nature, to be real, must be viewed as consisting both of a true body and a true soul. His human nature never existed, however, apart from his divine nature, and was 'conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost.'

Closely connected with this subject is that of the humiliation and consequent exaltation of C., in his character of mediator between God and man; a subject, to the former branch of which belongs the whole doctrine of the work of C. for the redemption of sinners, including the great doctrine of ATONEMENT (q. v.). To the latter belongs the doctrine of the reward of his work, in his sitting at the right hand of God, and having all things put under his feet; not only exercising dominion as king in his church, but over all things for the advancement of the salvation of his church, and of every member of it; while also He sends forth the Holy Spirit to apply to men the blessings which, as the reward of his work, He has mediatorially obtained for them; and still continuing to act as a priest, makes continual INTERCESSION (q. v.), founded upon his work

and sacrifice.

CHRIST, ORDER OF, IN PORTUGAL. When the Templars were expelled from France, and their property confiscated by Philippe le Bel, with the sanction of Pope Clement V., they were received into Portugal, and their order revived in 1317, under the title of the Order of our Lord Jesus Christ.' With some difficulty, Pope John XXII. was induced to sanction the new order. The Knights of the Order of Christ joined the Portuguese in all their crusades against the infidel, and also in their African and Indian expeditions, receiving in compensation continual additions to their own possessions. The grand Badge of the Portuguese prior of the order was Order of Christ. invested by Pope Calixtus III. with power equal to that of a bishop; and, as an encouragement to adventure, the knights were promised all the

countries which they might discover, to be held under the protection of Portugal. At length, their wealth and power excited the jealousy of the kings of Portugal; their future acquisitions, and, subsequently, even their actual possessions, were declared to be crown possessions, and the offices of adminstrator and grand-master were transferred to the crown. A fine cloister belonging to the order is still to be seen at Tomar, to which place the seat of the order was transferred from Castro-Marino in 1366. Noble descent, and three years' military service against the infidel, were required for admission. The members took the three monkish vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, till the pope released them from the first two, on condition of their applying the third part of their revenues to the support of Tomar cloister, the priests of which were bound by the three vows. This cloister is now a theological institution for the instruction of the priests of the order.

It is said that the order still possesses 26 villages and farms, and 434 prebends. It is very numerous

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and

are admitted, foreigners are excluded from participation in the revenues, being exempted in return

from its rules. The star and

badge of a Knight Grand Cross are represented in the illustration.

CHRIST, ORDER OF, IN THE PAPAL STATES. This is a branch of the Portuguese order, created by Pope John XXII. It has only one class. The decoration and star are represented in the illustration.

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Order of Christ.

CHRIST, PICTURES OF. To represent the form and countenance of C. in a manner that shall even approximate to the latent ideal in the minds of men, is unquestionably the Badge of the Papal most sublime and the most difficult work which an artist can undertake. It is the highest pictorial effort of the creative faculty. From a very early period in the history of the church, we can trace the growth of the endeavour. At first, indeed, the horror entertained for the idols of the pagans, must have inspired Christians with an aversion to images or pictures of the Saviour. Gradually, however, as paganism disappeared, and time removed C. further from his people, this feeling would subside, and the longing would arise to possess some representation of him

CHRIST CROSS ROW-CHRIST-CHURCH.

on which the eye might rest with pious delight. also some specimens of the frescoes of the catacombs When Christian art originated we cannot precisely—gives an idea of the manner in which the heathen say; it is usually dated from the time of Constantine. Nevertheless as Lord Lindsay remarks, in his Sketches of the History of Christian Art (Lond. 1847) it would be more correct to say that it then first emerged above ground; its earliest efforts must be sought for in the catacombs.' In these subterranean excavations, forming a maze of unknown extent and labyrinthine intricacy, to which the Roman Christians had recourse in the days of persecution, are to be found the first traces of Christian sculpture and painting. The sarcophagi of the martyrs and confessors, of the heroes and heroines, of the bishops, and, in general, of those of higher mark and renown, were painted over with the symbols and devices of Christianity. The parables were the chief source from which

A

Supposed earliest Picture of Christ :

From a Ceiling in the Catacombs of St Calixtus at Rome.

these sepulchral artists drew their symbols. C. is painted as the good shepherd in the midst of his flock, or, with pastoral pipe,' seeking the lost sheep, or returning with it on his shoulders. Sometimes he figures as an ideal youth in the bloom of his years, sometimes as a bearded man in the prime of life, sometimes as Orpheus surrounded by wild beasts enrapt by the melody of his lyre. Such pictures, however, were only symbolical, and did not satisfy the religious craving for a portrait. The age of Constantine marks the transition from the symbolical to the pseudo-historical picture. We now find C. represented in the midst of his disciples, or in the act of performing a miracle; but it is not till about the close of the 4th c. that we actually encounter that type of countenance which, with certain modifications, continued to rule the conceptions of artists during the whole of the middle ages. To vindicate this type, myths, at a later period, sprang into existence; and we read of a portrait of C. possessed by King Abgarus of Edessa, and imprinted on a handkerchief, and of another miraculously obtained by St Veronica at the Crucifixion; but there is as little foundation for these legends as for that which attributes to the evangelist Luke such a picture. The Emperor Alexander Severus (230 A.D.) is said to have possessed in his palace an image of Christ. An antique mosaic, probably of the 3d c., which exists in the Museo Christiano of the Vatican-where are to be found

artists expressed their notion of Christ. He is depicted as a bearded philosopher in profile. A letter which Lentulus, the predecessor of Pilate, is declared to have written to the Roman senate, but which is evidently apocryphal, attributes to C. a figure and countenance of manly beauty. Towards the middle of the 8th c., John of Damascus gives a description which he pretends to have gathered from more ancient authors. According to him, C. was tall, had beautiful eyes, but the eyebrows meeting; a regular nose, flowing locks, a black beard, and a sandy or straw-coloured complexion, like his mother. Among the most ancient representations of C. which profess to be portraits, are the two paintings in the Calixtine and Pontine catacombs near Rome, and which are given in Arighi's Roma Subterranea Nova. The Saviour is there represented with an oval visage, a straight nose, arched eyebrows, and high forehead. The expression is earnest and mild; the hair is parted on the forehead, and falls over the shoulders in waving locks; the beard is short and scattered. These two busts agree with the apocryphal letter of Lentulus, and the artist or artists who executed them, may possibly have employed it as a model. The majority of the Byzantine and Italian painters, down to the age of Michael Angelo and Raphael, adhered to this type.

CHRIST or CRIS CROSS ROW, the alphabet arranged in the form of a cross, for the use of children; and so printed, in old 'horn' books, or primers. The letter A was at the top, and Z at the foot of the cross.

CHRISTCHURCH, a parliamentary and municipal borough and seaport on the English Channel, in Hampshire, on the south-west border of the New Forest, at the head of the estuary formed by the Avon and Stour, 24 miles south-west of Southampton. It has manufactures of fusee chains for clocks and watches, and of hosiery. It has also a salmon-fishery. The priory church, one of the most interesting and magnificent of English ecclesiastical structures, was partly built on an ancient foundation by Flambard, Bishop of Durham, in the reign of William Rufus. It was altered and added to in subsequent reigns. It is now (1861) underA battery of going much needed restorations. artillery is generally stationed in the commodious barracks. The borough comprises two favourite watering-places, Mudeford and Bournemouth. There are traces here of a Roman temple to Mars. C. estuary and bay has a double tide every twelve hours. There is a shifting bar at the mouth, with at times only five or six feet of water. Hengistbury, or Warren Head, two miles to the south-east of C., contains a remarkable mass of ironstone in five concretionary beds. The stone is quarried and sent to Wales to be smelted. Pop. 7475. It returns one member to parliament.

CHRIST-CHURCH, THE CATHEDRAL OF, (Oxford). This great society has had three distinct foundations. In 1526, Cardinal Wolsey obtained from Clement VII. a bull for the suppression of 22 monasteries, the site of one of which he selected as the site of a new college, to be called Cardinal College, and which he intended to endow on a scale of magnificence beyond that of any other founda tion in Oxford. On the fall of Wolsey in 1529, the whole establishment came into the hands of King Henry VIII. In 1532, that prince refounded it under the name of King Henry VIII.'s College, and in 1546, he once more re-established the college, under the name of Christ-Church Cathedral in Oxford, or the Foundation of King Henry VIII., with a dean

CHRISTENING-CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

and 8 canons, 60 students, 40 school-boys, clerks, choristers,' &c. This foundation is now subsisting, though it has undergone considerable modifications. To none of the canonries were any duties assigned by King Henry VIII. From time to time, however, the canonries have been annexed to various university professorships, more particularly one to the professorship of divinity, by King James I.; one to the professorship of Hebrew, by King Charles I.; and one to the professorships of ecclesiastical history and pastoral theology respectively, by Queen Victoria.

following, C. found himself forced to flee for refuge to the Netherlands, and his uncle Fredrick I. (q. v.), the introducer of the Reformation into Denmark, elected king in his place. Encouraged, however, by the Catholic party in the Netherlands, and assisted by Charles V., C. landed successfully in Norway in 1531; but at the battle of Aggerhuus in 1532, he was totally defeated, and made prisoner in the castle at Sonderburg, from which he was liberated after twelve years of confinement. He died 28th January 1559.

CHRISTIAN IV., king of Denmark and Norway, and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, born in Zealand, 12th April 1577, and elected successor to the throne in 1580. He assumed the sceptre in 1593. From 1610 he carried on a successful war, known as the Kalmarian war, against Charles IX. of Sweden, and his successor, Gustavus Adolphus, which ended in an advantageous peace in 1613. As leader of the Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, C. was not successful. His labours for the improvement of his country, in which he was indefatigable, were, however, most beneficial. He strengthened its maritime power; extended its commerce as far as the East Indies, where he obtained the first possessions; and by restrictions upon the Hanse towns, greatly increased the inland trade of the country. His legislative and financial reforms, together with his love and patronage of the arts and sciences, gained for him the esteem of his people, especially of the learned. He died in 1648.

Several changes were introduced by the commissioners appointed under 17 and 18 Vict. c. 81. There is now only one sinecure-enjoying canon. When he is off the list, no one may hold a canonry save a professor, the archdeacon, or the sub-dean. The studentships are now 80 in number, and arc, as before, divided into junior and senior studentships, differing considerably as to emolument. All these are now open, the old system of appointment by nomination having been abolished. Three junior students are elected every year at Whitsuntide, and besides these, three are sent up yearly from Westminster. The senior studentships are also open, with the usual limitations of independent income and conformity. Of these, however, only a third can be held by laymen. The studentships were very poor; the junior about £25, the senior about £80 per annum, but an improvement in this respect has been included among the recent changes. Some valuable exhibitions, however, and 22 benefices, are in the gift of the society. In 1860, there Fredrick V. and Louisa of England, born 29th CHRISTIAN VII., king of Denmark, son of were about 800 names on the college books. statutes were given to C., owing to the death of January 1749. He succeeded to the throne of his the king having taken place shortly after the final father 14th January 1766, and in the same year foundation of the college. It is, in consequence, married Caroline Matilda, sister of George III. of entirely governed by the orders of the dean and England. The dissipations of his early life had chapter, to the total exclusion of the tutors. To enfeebled his energies, and rendered him unfit for this separation of the governing from the teach-government. The management of the state was, in ing body, as well as to the small value of the consequence, seized by his ministers, with Count studentships, may be ascribed, in great measure, the want of success in the schools, which has, for many years past, brought discredit on this magnificent society.

No

CHRISTENING, a term often used as equivalent to Baptism (q. v.). It is disliked by some, and of course liked by others, as favouring the doctrine of baptismal regeneration; being, indeed, according to its derivation, expressive of the notion that a person is made a Christian in baptism. But, like many other terms, it is frequently employed without reference to its origin, and without any intention of conveying the opinion which it might be strictly held to imply.

Bernstorff, who had possessed the entire confidence of the king's father, at their head. Bernstorff, however, was soon forced to retreat before Struensee (q. v.), who exercised unbounded influence over the king and his imprudent young queen. But innovations of a despotic tendency, and insults offered to the national feeling, soon drew upon this minister the hatred of the nation. The queen-dowager seeing this, made it an occasion for satisfying her ambitious nature, by attaching herself to the malcontents; and in 1772 she succeeded, with the assistance of her son, Fredrick (b. 1754, d. 1805), in persuading the vacillating king to draw up an order of arrest for Struensee and the young queen. Bernstorff was recalled from Hamburg. The king, who was now incapacitated by mental disease, governed only nominally. In 1784, his son, Fredrick VI. (q. v.), came to the head of the government, as joint regent with the queen-mother. C. died 13th March 1808.

CHRISTIAN BURIAL. See BURIAL and FELO

DE SE.

CHRISTIAN II., king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, born at Vyborg, in the island of Funen, 2d July 1481. He ascended the throne of Denmark in 1513. Shortly after his marriage in 1515, with a sister of the Emperor Charles V., a young Norwegian peasant-girl, with whom C. was in love, died, or, as it was believed, was murdered. That natural CHRISTIAN CHARITY, KNIGHTS OF THE ferocity, for which C. was surnamed the Angry, ORDER OF, in France. King Henry III. having burst forth most furiously on this occasion. He instituted the order of the Holy Ghost for princes caused the governor of the castle, Torben Oxe, the and persons of distinction, founded the order of suspected murderer, to be beheaded. He afterwards C. C. for the support of maimed officers and declared open war against Sweden, took Stockholm soldiers, who had done good service in the wars. through fraud, and had himself crowned king. But He assigned revenues to the order, drawn from all the cruel vengeance and treachery of C. after this the hospitals in the kingdom. The knights wore event excited the indignation of that country, which, on the left breast an anchored cross embroidered headed by Gustavus Wasa (q. v.), succeeded in driv- on white taffety or satin, with a bordeur of blue ing out the Danes, liberating itself from the yoke of silk, and in the middle of the cross a lozenge of the House of Kalmar, and finally electing Gustavus sky blue charged with a fleur de lis or. Wasa (in 1523) to the throne. In Denmark, too, the completion of the institution was reserved for aristocracy had risen, and an insurrection in Jütland | Henry IV., who placed it under the charge of the

The

CHRISTIAN CONNECTION-CHRISTIANITY.

marshals and colonels of France; and by means famous. The manufactures of C. are cotton, oil, of it, many of those who had served their country faithfully were enabled to spend the latter portion of their lives in peace, and above want. The order formed the germ of that noble hospital the Invalides, which was founded by Louis XIV., and which served as a model for our own hospitals of Chelsea and Greenwich. When the Invalides was founded, the order of C. C. was superseded.

CHRISTIAN CONNECTION, a denomination of Christians which originated about the beginning of the 19th c. in the United States of America, and is diffused over all the states. The name was assumed in avowed dislike to the acknowledgment of any human authority and to sectarian distinctions, and all doctrinal terms of communion were rejected, the Bible being adopted as the only rule of faith, and personal piety made the test of qualification for membership. The Connection soon came to consist, however, almost exclusively of persons denying the divinity of Christ.

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, SOCIETY FOR

PROMOTING, one of the great religious associations connected with the Church of England, and the oldest of them all. It was founded in 1698, although it did not receive its present name till 1701; and had for its object: 1. To promote and encourage the erecting of charity schools in all parts of England and Wales. 2. To disperse, both at home and abroad, Bibles and tracts of religion; and, in general, to advance the honour of God, and the good of mankind, by promoting Christian knowledge, both at home and in other parts of the world, by the best methods that should offer.' These objects it has never ceased to pursue, chiefly directing its efforts to the British dominions; partaking at once of the nature of an educational association, a Missionary Society, a Bible Society, and a Religious Tract Society; and notwithstanding the operations of other great societies in these several departments of Christian benevolence, its revenue amounts to about £100,000 a year. The Protestant missionaries who laboured in the South of India in last century, were supported chiefly by this society, which has also contributed largely of its funds for the establishment of Christian schools in that country.

CHRISTIAN NAME. See NAME.

CHRISTIA'NIA, capital of Norway, is situated in the province of Aggerhuus, in a beautiful open valley on the northern side of the Christiania Fiord. Pop. 40,000. C. is the seat of the Norwegian government, the superior courts, and the Storthing. Besides the suburbs of Pipervigen, Hammarsborg, Vaterland, and Groenland, the town consists of G. properly so called (which was laid out by Christian IV. in 1614, in the form of a regular parallelogram of 1000 paces in length and breadth); the Old Town or Opslo, where the bishop resides; and the citadel Aggerhuus, from which the broad straight streets of the town can be fired upon. The most important public buildings are the royal palace, the bank and exchange, the house of representatives or Storthing, the governor's palace, and the cathedral. To these may be added the university, the only one in Norway, which was opened in 1813, and possesses a staff of 21 ordinary, and 9 extraordinary professors. About 650 students attend it annually. This institution contains, besides various scientific collections, a library of about 125,000 books, a botanical garden, and an observatory (in 59° 54′ 42′′ N. lat., and 10° 50′ E. long.). The latter was opened in 1833. C. has also some good schools and learned societies, of which the Society for Northern Antiquities' is

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paper, soap, and bricks. There are also numerous distilleries and corn-mills. It exports in considerable quantities wood, iron, anchovies, and glasswares. From 600 to 700 ships yearly enter the port (which, however, is covered with ice for four months), and it has a regular steam-boat communication with Gottenburg, Copenhagen, Kiel, and Hull. C., by means of its bay, is connected with Drammen (pop. 10,000), famous for its extensive trade in timber, &c. The scenery of the whole bay is unsurpassed in beauty.

CHRISTIANITY. It is proposed in the present article to give a very brief outline of the system of the Christian religion, and of the evidences by which its truth is established. The principal parts, both of the system and evidences of C., will be found noticed under separate heads.

C. comes to us with a claim to be received as of divine origin. It is no product of the human mind, but has for its author the Being whom it sets before us as the object of worship. It is consequently altogether exclusive; it claims to be deemed the only true religion-the truth'-and admits of no compromise or alliance with any other system. of the Jews and of the patriarchs; it is the same C. cannot be viewed as distinct from the religion religion accommodated to new circumstances; there has been a change of dispensation only. In studycompelled continually to revert from the New Testaing either the system or the evidences of C., we are ment to the Old, and must in some measure trace the history of the true or revealed religion through the previous and preparatory dispensations. The whole system of C. may be regarded as hav. ing its foundation in the doctrine of the Existence of one God. See GOD, EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES Fall (q. v.) of Man. Man is represented as involved OF. Next to this may be placed the doctrine of the in misery by sin (q. v.)-original and actual-and for the service and fellowship of God, obnoxious to every individual of the human race as incapacitated the displeasure of God, and liable to punishment in a future and eternal state of being. See PUNISHdoctrine of the ATONEMENT (q. v.) as next claiming MENT, FUTURE. And here we may regard the our attention-a doctrine taught in all the sacrifices (see SACRIFICE) of the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations, as well as by the words of inspired teachers. Man being utterly incapable of effecting his own deliverance from sin and misery, God sent his Son to save sinners, to deliver them from hell, to make them holy, and partakers of the eternal joy and glory of heaven.

By those who regard Christ as a mere creature, atonement or reconciliation with God is made to depend on the repentance of man as its immediate cause; whilst the life and death of Christ are represented as merely an example to us of obedience, virtue, and piety in the most trying circumstances; the doctrines of a propitiatory sacrifice, a substitutionary obedience, and an imputed righteousness, with all that form part of the same system, falling completely and even necessarily to the ground. These doctrines, however, are all consistently maintained in connection with the doctrine of the Trinity and the generally received doctrine as to the person of Christ. See CHRIST and TRINITY. The very incarnation (q. v.) of the Son of God is regarded as a glorious display of the divine condescension, and a wonderful exaltation of human nature: whilst a personal enjoyment of the highest dignity and bliss of which humanity is capable in the favour and fellowship of God for ever, is to be attained by faith in Jesus Christ. See FAITH and JUSTIFICATION.

The indissoluble connection between faith and

CHRISTIANITY.

salvation arises from the divine appointment, but secures a moral harmony, as it provides for bringing into operation-in accordance with the intellectual and moral nature of man-of most powerful and excellent motives for all that is morally good, the partakers of salvation being thus fitted for the fellowship of Him into whose favour they are received; and as it prevents the possibility of any of them taking to themselves, or giving to others, the glory of that salvation which they really owe to Christ, and which they must therefore ascribe to Christ, as God is a God of truth, and truth must reign in the kingdom of heaven.

Salvation is ascribed by all Christians to the grace of God. The mission of Christ was an act of supreme grace; and all must be ascribed to grace for which we are indebted to Christ. The doctrine of grace, however, is a part of the system of C. on which important differences subsist, especially as to the relation of the grace of God to individual men. Such are the differences concerning ELECTION (q. v.), and concerning the origin of faith, and man's ability or inability to believe of himself. But by Christians generally, the personal relation of the believer to Christ, and his faith in Christ, are ascribed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God, the third person of the Godhead, and so to the grace of God. See ARMINIUS, CALVINISM, and PELAGIUS.

In the view of all who hold the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrines concerning the Spirit of God form a very important part of the Christian system. To the agency of this person of the Godhead, besides all that is ascribed to Him concerning the human nature of Christ, we are indebted for all that is spiritually good in man; He, in the economy of grace, being sent by God, on the intercession of Christ, to communicate the blessings purchased by Christ in his obedience and death. See HOLY GHOST.

Salvation begins on earth; and whenever a man believes in Christ, he is a partaker of it is in a state of salvation. It forms an essential part of the Calvinistic system, that he who is in a state of salvation always remains so, and that the salvation begun on earth is in every case made perfect in heaven. See PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. Thus salvation is viewed as beginning in REGENERATION (q. v.), and as carried on in SANCTIFICATION (q. v.), and all its joys as connected with the progress of sanctification. Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be unaccompanied with repentance, and repentance is always renewed when the exercise of faith is renewed. For although all believers are saints or holy, as set apart to God, and in contrast to what they previously were, yet there is none in this life free from temptation and sin; the successful tempter of our first parents, who assailed our Saviour with temptation and was defeated, being still the active enemy of men, against whom believers in Jesus Christ are called to contend, to watch, and to pray. See DEVIL. The sense of responsibility belongs to human nature; and the doctrine of a Judgment (q. v.) to come may be considered as to a certain extent a doctrine of natural religion, as may also that of the Immortality (q. v.) of the Soul; but the clear and distinct enunciation of these doctrines belongs to the Christian revelation, to which belongs entirely the doctrine of the Resurrection (q. v.) of the Dead.

Of the moral part of C., which has already been referred to, it may be sufficient here to state, that it is as harmonious with the doctrinal as it is inseparable from it; that it is founded upon the attributes of God, and is perfectly illustrated in the character of Jesus Christ; and that it is divisible into two great parts-one, of the love of God, and

the other, of the love of man, or of ourselves and our neighbours. See LAW, MORAL.

The means of grace, or of the attainment of the blessings of salvation, form an important part of the Christian system. Of these the WORD OF GOD—or divine revelation contained in the Bible (q. v.)—first claims attention, as the means of conversion to Christ, and of edification in Christ, the instrument by which salvation is both begun and carried on in men. The ordinances of God's worship are among the means of grace. Thus Prayer (q. v.) is one of the chief means of grace. The Sacraments (q. v.) are means of grace, concerning the precise use of which, and their relative importance as compared with the other means, considerable difference of opinion prevails among Christians. The same remark applies also to the combination of Christians into an organised body or community, the Church (q. v.), with its own laws or system of churchgovernment (q. v.) and church-discipline (q. v.).

We have endeavoured to sketch the outline of the system of C., as much as possible according to the general belief of Christians, merely indicating the points on which the chief differences of opinion exist. Some of the principal controversies will be found noticed under separate heads.

The truth of C. is established by many different Evidences, distinct and independent, but mutually corroborative. It appeals to reason, and demands to have its claims examined and admitted. Nor is there any faith where there is not a mental conviction arrived at by a process of sound reasoning.

The evidences of C. are very generally divided into two great classes, internal and external-the former consisting of those which are found in the nature of the Christian system itself, and in its adaptation to the nature and wants of man; the latter, of those which are derived from other sources. The boundary between the two classes, however, is by no means so distinct in reality as it appears in the definition of the terms. Of the multitude of books which have been written on the subject of the evidences of C., some are devoted mainly to one of these classes, and some to the other; whilst some are occupied with the development of particular evidences or arguments, and some with the refutation of objections, and in particular of what may be called a preliminary objection -that a divine revelation can never be established by sufficient evidence at all. See REVELATION.

The evidence of Miracles (q. v.) and the evidence of Prophecy (q. v.), two of the principal branches of the external evidences of C., will be found noticed in separate articles. Another argument, which has been much elaborated-for example, in Paley's Evidences-is derived from the character and sufferings of the apostles and other first preachers of C.; their high moral worth, considered along with their great earnestness and devotedness; the absence of all possibility of selfish or base motives; and at the same time, their perfect opportunity of knowing the truth of the facts which they proclaimed. A subsidiary argument is found in the admission of the great facts regarding Jesus of Nazareth, by the early opponents of Christianity. A most important and valuable argument is found in the perfect coherence of all the parts of the Christian system, and in the agreement, as to the religion which they teach, of all the books of Scripture, notwithstanding the widely different dates of their composition, and their very different nature in other respects. See BIBLE. The relation of the Jewish ceremonies to the doctrines of C. supplies another argument of this kind, capable of being developed in a multitude of particulars. The minor coincidences between the different books of Scripture have been pointed

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