CHURCH DIET, GERMAN EVANGELICAL (DEUTSCHER EVANGELISCHER KIRCHENTAG) :
A convention of delegates from the Evangelical churches of Germany — the Lutheran and Reformed, the churches of the Union, and the Moravians. Originating in 1848, its cliief aims were : (1 ) to unite the German Evangelical churches ;
(2) make provision for the Church in case of a separation of Church and State; (3) to oppose the unbelief of the time; and (4) to ameliorate the miserable condition of the people. The real conductor of the whole undertaking was Von Bethmann- Hollwcg, professor of law at Bonn, who presided over the first session and was the leader until the last meeting. In 1848 he published a treatise, Vorschlag einer evangelischen Kirchenversammlung im laufenden Jalire 1848, in which he advocated a call to all Evangelical Christians of the German nation. Simultaneously and independently, the idea occurred to Philipp Wackernagel (q.v.), of Wiesbaden, and two of his friends, P, Heller, pastor of Kleinheubach-on-the-Main in Bavaria, and Dr. Haupt, then pastor of Rimhorn in the Hessian Odenwald. Their ideas found ready acceptance at a conference of ministers from Frankfort and the neighboring states, Nassau, Hesse, and a part of Bavaria; and a commission was appointed to " discuss and prepare the convocation of a general ecclesiastical convention of Evangelical Germany."
The first general convention was held Sept. 21, 1848, at Wittenberg. Five hundred participated in it, the leaders being such prominent men as Von Bethmann-Hollweg, Stahl, Wackernagel, Schmieder, Dorner, Nitzsch, MiiUer, and Krummacher. Of the resolutions adopted the following are the most important: (1) The Evangehcal communities of Germany meet for the purpose of forming a church alliance. (2) The Evangelical Church Alliance is not a union which obliterates the confessional churches, but a confederation of churches.
(3) The Evangelical Church AUiance comprises all ecclesiastical communities which stand upon the basis of the Reformed confessions, especially the Lutheran, the Reformed, the Union, and the congregations of Brethren. (4) Each community which joins the Alliance retains its relations to the State and its independence in matters of teaching, service, and constitution. (5) The aim of the Evangelical Church Alliance is the care and advancement of all common interests of the church communities belonging to it. The Eisenach Conference (q.v.), which was called into life in 1851, did not come up fully to the idea of the church alliance, but the Congress for Home Missions was an immediate
Church Discipline
THE NEW SCUAFF-nERZOG
result of the efforts for a church alliance. The Church Diet was at first held every year, later every second year. In 1S72 the last Diet was held at Halle. Although it did not bring about church alliance, it was for a quarter of a century a rallying-point of living church forces.
(WiLHELM BAURf-)
CHURCH DISCIPLINE.
I. In the Apostolic and Postapostolic Periods. II. In the Roman Catholic Church.
III. In the Lutheran Churches. Jlethods and Results (§1). Modern Requirements (§ 2).
IV. In the Reformed Churches. The Zwinghan System (§ 1). Calvin's Basal Principles (§ 2). Genevan Ecclesiastical Tribunals (§ 3). In France (§ 4).
In Great Britain (§ 5). In Holland and Germany (§ 6). Modern Modifications (§ 7). V. In the United States.
Church discipUne is a means of securing and maintaining the spiritual purity of the Christian Church. This exercise arises from the fact that the Churcli is a human institution, the members of which are subject to the limitations and weaknesses of humanity. The Christian congregation, therefore, like every other community, needs a means of self-protection in order to suppress or eliminate whatever might impair or destroy its hfe. But, from the constitution of the Church, the character of its discipline is purely spiritual. Therefore the only means which can properly be employed is exclusion, partial or total, of those whose acts jeopardize it.
I. In the Apostolic and Postapostolic Periods: The center of the Scriptural doctrine of ecclesiastical discipline is Matt, xviii. 15-18; and its practical apphcation in the apostolical church is learned from I Cor. v. and II Cor. ii. 4-8. A member of the Corinthian congregation had married his stepmother, and the congregation had suffered the deed. Paul then wrote to the Corinthians that the offender should be excommunicated, and " delivered unto Satan." His words produced such an impression, not only on the congregation, but also on the offender, that, when he wrote again to the Corinthians, Paul could recommend mercy. It is, however, not only for such flagrant offenses as the above that Paul demands punishment, but also for minor failings by which a man is made a burden to his fellow men (II Thess. iii. 6); and he warns the congregations against heresy, for it eats like a canker (II Tim. ii. 17). A heretic, after admonishing liim once or twice in vain, avoid (Tit. iii. 10); do not even bid him Godspeed (IlJohn 10, 11). The punishment, however, must never be administered in a spirit of retaliation. Church discipline, though necessary for the selfprotection of the church, has as its aim the reclamation and reconciliation of the offender; hence in the spirit of love it must dictate its punishments (II Cor. ii, 6-8). That the discipline is exercised by the Church is indicated in all the passages cited except that from Titus, where the direction is given for personal guidance alone (cf. verse 9). The
apostolical institutions of Excommunication (q.v.) and reconciliation lived on in the postapostolic church, and during the period of persecution became even more peremptory. Under Decius, whose goal seems to have been the total destruction of Christianity, there occurred, by the side of the most admirable examples of faithfulness, so frequent instances of defection that a special regulation for the reconciliation of the lapsed became a necessity. This regulation, which continued valid down to the fifth century, established a course of penance which ran through various stages, and comprised a period of several years; but its severity naturally called forth devices of evasion and subterfuge, such as the libelli of the confessors (see Lapsed), and church discipline became somewhat lax. A reaction toward greater severity followed, and the Montanists declared that the excommunicated ought to remain for their whole life in a state of penance, while the Novatians affirmed that the Church had no right at all to forgive the lapsed, though the Lord might be willing to do so. Meanwhile the developing organization of the Church had reached the department of discipline, and the penitents, who had been excommunicated and desired to be received back into fellowship, were divided into four classes and compelled to pass through as many stages of penance (see Excommunication).
II. In the Roman Catholic Church: The union of (Church and State led to developments in discipline, the most important of which was the imposition of civil penalties for spiritual offenses. This was carried to the extreme of capital punishment, inflicted for heresy in the case of the Spanish bishop Priscillian and six companions, 385 a.d. The many sentences of deposition from office accompanied with exile during the controversial period attest the alliance of Church and State in the infliction of church discipline. Penitential discipline in its four grades was continued from the earlier period and was sanctioned by the councils of the fourth century. Yet the alliance of Church and State and the controversial activities produced a concentration of disciplinary attention upon heresy which allowed grave offenses against morals to go unpunished. A noteworthy exception to this was the refusal of Ambrose of Milan to administer the communion to Theodosius I. because of a massacre by the latter's soldiers in Thessalonica. In the early Middle Ages the extension of the Church among the barbaric races brought about further systematization. Discipline was administered by the bishops through synodical courts. The Penitential Books (q.v.), particularly the Liber pcenitcntiulis of Halitgarius of Cambrai, were written for the guidance of confessors. Besides excommunication, the penalties of the Anathema and the Interdict (qq.v.) were developed. Penance (sec Penance, Repentance), including auricular confession (see Confession of Sins) and priestly absolution, became a sacrament, and the system of Indulgences (q.v.) was originated which later became so great a scandal and was one of the primary causes of the Reformation. Geo. W. Gilmore.
III. In the Lutheran Churches: According to