THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
as soon as the collegialistic and constitutional State theories gained force and were here earHer, there later, here more, there less, carried into execution, likewise in the Lutheran Church the congref;ations have employed presbyterial church committees; synods have been constituted of representatives of these committees for tlistricts; and finally a general sjTiod for the land, or, where several Lutheran denominations exist, a synod of the denominations has been brought together as the general representative body of the church. So the Lutheran Church is acquiring the organization of a corporate Church, in virtue whereof it governs itself.
E. Sehling.
CHURCH HISTORY.
a. Ancient Christianity.
b. Medieval Christianity.
c. Modern Christianity. VI. Value.
VII. Literature.
1. Ancient Historians.
2. Historians from 1500
to 1800.
3. Historians from 1800 to
1900.
4. Manuals of Church His-
tory in One or More Volumes.
5. Histories of Doctrine.
6. Chronological Tables.
7. Atlases.
I. Nature and Aim. II. Church History and Secular History. III. Sources.
Written Sources (§ 1). Unwritten Sources (§ 2).
IV Duty of the Historian. Investigation (§1). Presentation of Results (§ 2).
V. Periods and Epochs. 1. Sacred or Biblical History.
3. Christian History or Ecclesiastical History Proper.
I. Nature and Aim: Church history embraces, in the widest sense, the whole religious development from the creation to the present time, and is continually growing in bulk. In a narrower sense, it is confined to a history of Christianity and the Christian Church from the birth of Christ and the Day of Pentecost, when Christianity made its first appearance in an organized form as distinct from the Jewish religion. The historian has to trace the origin, growth, and fortunes of the Church, and to reproduce its life in the difTerent ages. The value of his work depends upon the degree of its truthfulness, or exact correspondence with the facts. Church history is not a heap of dry bones, but life and power: it is the Church itself in constant motion and progress from land to land, and from age to age, until the whole world shall be filled with the knowledge of Christ. It is the most interesting part of the world's history, as religion is the deepest and most important concern of man, the bond that unites him to God. It embraces the external expansion and contraction of Christianity, or the history of missions and persecutions, the visible organization of church polity and discipline, the development of doctrine and theology, the worship, with its various rites and ceremonies, liturgies, sacred poetry and music, the manifestations of practical piety. Christian morality, and benevolent institutions; in one word, all that belongs to the inner and outer hfe of Christianity in the world. It is a panorama of (!od's de,alings with the human race, and man's relations to God under all aspects. It shows the gradual unfolding of the plan of redemption — a plan of infinite wisdom and goodness, in constant conflict witli the Satanic
powers and influences which are struggling for the ascendency, but are doomed to ultimate defeat, and to be overruled for good. It is the greatest triumph of God's wisdom to bring good out of evil, and to overrule the wrath of man for his own glory and for the progress of truth and righteousness. Church history is a book of life, full of warning and precept, of hope and encouragement.
II. Church History and Secular History: These differ as Church and State, as Christianity and humanity, as the order of grace and the order of nature; yet they are inseparably connected, and the one can not be understood without the other. Among the Jews the spiritual and secular history together form the one history of theocracy. Both currents intermingle in the Byzantine Empire, in the European States and the Latin Church during the Middle Ages, in the period of the Reformation, during the colonial period of America, and in all countries where Church and State are united. Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is in great part also a history of the rise and progress of Christianity, which survived the fall of Old and New Rome, and went forth to conquer the barbarian conquerors by Christianizing and civilizing them. Every history of the papacy is also a history of the German Roman Empire, and vice versa. No history of the sixteenth century can be written without constant reference to the Protestant Reformation and Roman Catholic reaction. The Franciscan, Dominican, and Jesuit missions along the St. Lawrence, down the Mississippi, and in Mexico, Florida, and the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the Puritan settlements of New England are the beginning, alike of the ecclesiastical and secular history of North America. In modern times the tendency is more and more toward a separation of the spiritual and temporal powers; nevertheless, the Church will always be influenced by the surrounding state of civil society, and must adapt itself to the wants of the age. and progress of events; while, on the other hand, the world will always feel the moral influence, the restraining, stimulating, and sanctifying power of Christianity, which works like a leaven from within upon the ramifications of society.
III. Sources: These are mostly written, though in part unwritten. The written sources include (1) The official documents of ecclesiastical and civil authorities, such as acts of councils, creeds, liturgies, hymn-books, church-laws, papal bulls and
encyclicals. (2) The writings of the 1. Written personal actors in the history, and Sources, contemporary observers and reporters,
such as the Fathers for ancient Christianity, the Schoolmen for niedieval, the Reformers and their opponents for the Reformation period. (3) Inscriptions on walls, pictures, churches, tombstones, and other monuments. The history of the Hebrew religion has derived much light from modern discoveries of monumental remains in Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria (qq.v.), the deciphering of the hieroglyjihic and cuneiform inscriptions, the Moabite Stone, and the code of Hanmiurabi. See Inscriptions; Moabite Stone; and Hamjiurabi AND His Code.