RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Church Discipline Church Extension Society
V. In the United States : In the Episcopal Church the discipline is laid down in the canons. It relates mainly to the clergy; but laymen can be kept from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on conviction of serious offenses.
In the Presbyterian Church discipline is in the hands of the session, or the governing board of each local church, consisting of the pastor and elders; but, if the party feels aggrieved, an appeal can be made to the next higher court, the presbytery, thence to the synod, and thence to the general assembly. The method of trial in all such cases is minutely laid down in book ii. of the Form of Government. In the Northern Presbyterian Church, reference to the highest court can only be made when the points involved are doctrinal or constitutional. Discipline is defined to be " the exercise of that authority, and the application of that system of laws which the Lord Jesus Christ has appointed in his church." The subjects of discipline are " all baptized persons." The offense must be public, or such as demands the cognizance of the church judicatory; but private exhortation must first be employed.
Similar in definition and practise of discipline are the Dutch Reformed and German Reformed churches. Cf. The Constitution of the Reformed Church in America, articles xi.-xiv., and Constitution of the Reformed Church in the United States, part iii.
In churches holding the Congregational polity discipHne is a matter for the local congregation, which may be advised by a council composed of ministers and delegates from other congregations, though the recommendations of the council are not obligatory upon the local church. Cf. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism, pp. 188-195, Boston, 1876.
In the Methodist Church " an accused member shall be brought to trial before a committee of not less than five, who shall not be members of the quarterly conference (and, if the preacher judge it necessary, he may select the committee from any part of the district), in the presence of the preacher-in-charge, who shall preside at the trial, and cause exact minutes of the evidence and proceedings in the case to be taken. In the selection of the committee the parties may challenge for cause." The various causes of such action are stated. " The accused shall have the nght to call to his assistance as counsel any member in good and regular standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church." If the pastor-in-charge dissent from the finding of the committee, he may appeal to the ensuing quarterly conference. Expulsion is the penalty for unworthy conduct on the part of accused members. Cf. The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, 1880, pp. 144-15L
For further discussion see Degradation; Deposition; Church Government; Jurisdiction, Ecclesiastical; and Inquisition.
^^l^ooji'^Par: The history of discipUne may be traced in QKO ■ ^'"'«'*»<»" Church, i. 501-503, ii. 187-192, iii. 356- 90?' '^"'^ Neander, Christian Church, i. 217-
^^1, 11. 213-216, iii. 137 sqq., 45: sqq., iv. 347 sqq. Consult also: DCA, i. 566 sqq.; RL, ii. 1561-90. For the tiistory of discipline in the eaily Church the sources are
the Didache, the works of TertuUian (especially De poeni tentia), Hippolytus, Cyprian (especially De lapsis) the Apostolical Constitutions, and the Canons of the early councils. Consult: N. Marshall, Penitential Discipline of the Primitive Church, reprinted in the Library of Anglo Catholic Theology, Oxford, 1844; J. Kaye. External Government and Discipline of the Church of the First Three Centuries, London, 1855; G. N. Bonwetsch, Die Geschichte des Montanismus, pp. 108-118, Erlangen, 1881- Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, i. 225 sqq., 246.
For the CathoUc Church consult: F. W H. Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen der abendlandischen Kirche Halle, 1851; F. Frank, Die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, Mainz, 1868; T. L. Green, Indulgences, Sacramental Absolutions, and the Tax Tables of the Roman Penitentiary, London, 1872 (Roman Cathoho apologetic); R. Gibbingsi The Taxes of the Apostolic Penitentiary; or the Prices of Sins in the Church of Rome, Dublin, 1872 (Protestant polemic); F. Probst, Sacramentale und Sacramentalien, Tubingen, 1872; Vacandard, The Inquisition, London,' 1908; and literature under Inqcisition.
For the Lutheran Church consult: O. Goeschen, Doctrina de disciplina eccl. . , Halle, 1859; A. L. Richter, Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchenverfassung in Deutschland, Leipsic, 1851; idem, Kirchenrecht, ed. Kahl, § 227, ib. 1886; F. .A. Tholuek, V orgeschichte des Rationalismus, II. i., pp. 190 sqq., Halle, 1853-62; G. K. E. F. Fabri, Ueher Kirchenzucht, Stuttgart, 1854; O. Mejer, Kirchemucht, Rostock, 1854; idem, Lehrbuch des deutschen Kirchenrechts, Gottingen, 1869; C. I. Nitzsch Praktische Theologie, i. 221 sqq., Bonn, 1859; Schaff, Creeds (for the standards); H. E. Jacobs, Book of Concord, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1893.
For the Reformed Churches consult on the general question, besides the works of Goeschen and Richter above: A. L. Richter, Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts, Weimar, 1846; S. Miller, Manual of Presbytery, ed. J. G. Lorimer, Edinburgh, 1842; G. V. Lechler, Geschichte der Presbyterial- und Synodalverfassung, Leyden, 1854; C. B. Hundeshagen, Beitrage zur Kirchenverfassungsgeschichte, Wiesbaden, 1864; G. Galli, Die lutherischen und calvinischen Kirchenstrafen, Breslau, 1879; K. Rieker, Grundsatze reformirter Kirchenverfassung; R. Staehelin, H. Zwingli, i. 445 sqq., ii. 137 sqq., 440 sqq., Basel, 1895-97; E. Egh, Analecta reformatoria, i. 99 sqq., Zurich, 1899; F. W. Kampfschulte, Joh. Calvin, i. 385 sqq., ii. 354 sqq., Leipsic, 1899; La Discipline ecclesiastique des eglises reformeea de France, ed. D'Huisseau, Charenton, 1667; J. Aymon, Tous les synodes nationaux des eglises reformees de France, The Hague, 1710; [W. Dunlop], A Collection of Confessions of Faith, Catechisms, Directories, Books of Discipline . , Edinburgh, 1722; J. Bannermann, The Church of Christ, ib. 1868; J. Cook, Styles of Writs, Forms of Procedure and Practice of the Church Courts of Scotland, ib. 1870; W. Pierce, Ecclesiastical Principles . of the Wesleyan Methodists, London, 1873; T. B. Hardern. Church Discipline, its Hist, and Present Aspect, Cambridge, 1892; Reitsma en van Veen, Acta en particuliere synoden, Groningen, 1892-99.
For the United States, besides the works mentioned in the text, consult: T. C. Upham, Ratio disciplince, Portland, 1844; F. Wayland, Principles and Practice of Baptist Churches, New York, 1857; R. Emery, Hist of the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ib. 1864; R. H. Tyler, American Ecclesiastical Law, Albany, 1866; T. B. McFalls and B. Sunderland, Manual of Presbyterian Law and Usage, Washington, 1873; A. T. McGill, Church Government, Philadelphia, 1890; J. Fulton, Index canonum. New York, 1892; J.Andrews, Church Law, ib., n.d. Vol. iii. of Schaff's Creeds contains the texts of the principal standards.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. See England, Church op.
CHURCH EXTENSION SOCIETY: A society founded in Chicago in 1905 for the purpose of assisting Roman Catholic home missionary work in the United States. The movement was inaugurated and organized by Rev. Francis C. Kelley, then pastor at Lapeer, Mich. The object of the
Church of Engrland Church of God