THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
1876); idem, Synchronislische Tabellen zur christlichen Kunstgeschichte (Freiburg, 1880); H. Weingarten, Zeittafeln und Ueberblicke zur Kirchengeschichte (6th ed., by C. F. Arnold, Leipsic, 1905).
7. Atlases: K. Heussi and H. Mulert, Atlas zur Kirchengeschichte , 66 maps with 18 pages of introduction and index (Tubingen, 1905). The general historical atlases of R. H. Labberton (14th ed., Boston, 1889), F W Putzger (24th ed., Bielefeld, 1900), and E. A. Freeman (accompanying his Historical Geography of Europe, 3d ed., London, 1903) are also useful for church history.
The main activity in recent times in historical investigation and treatment has been devoted to the first three Christian centuries, including the work of Harnack, Funk, Kattenbusch, Lightfoot, Robinson, McGiffert, and many others. The Middle Ages are receiving an increasing amount of attention; names worthy of mention in this field are Dollinger, Ehrle, Denifle, Schwane, Kirsch, and Finke among Roman Catholics, and Karl MtlUer, Hauck, Mirbt, Sabatier, Creighton, Stubbs, Lea, and others among Protestants.
(Philip ScHAFFf) D. S. Schaff.
Bibliography: For fuller information cf. Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, i. 1-53, New York, 1882; and introductions to other general works on church history. Further, Schaff, What is Church History? Philadelphia, 1846; W. G. T. Shedd, The Philosophy of History, Andover, 1861; H. B. Smith, The Nature and Worth of the Science of Church History, in his volume of essays, Faith and Philosophy, pp. 49-87, New York, 1877; J. De Witt, Church History as a Science, in the Bibliofheca Sacra, 1883; E. A. Freeman, The Method of Historical Study, London, 1886; A. C. McGiffert, The Study of Church History, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1893; W. Bright, The Study of History, in Waymarks of Church History, London, 1894; Lord Acton, The Study of History, London, 1895; A. Harnack, Das Christentum und die Geschichte, Leipsic, 1895; K. Lamprecht, What Is History? transl. from the Germ, by E. A. Andrews, New York, 1905.
CHURCH ORDER (Ger. Kirchenordnung) : The general ecclesiastical constitution of a State. The early Evangelical Church attached" less importance to ecclesiastical ritual than the pre- Reformation Church had done. As early as 1526 Luther observes in Deutsche Messe und Ordnung des Gottesdiensts : " In siun, this and all other forms are so to be used that where they give rise to a misuse they should be forthwith set aside, and a new form be made ready; since outward forms are intended to serve to the advancement of faith and love, and not to the detriment of faith. Where this they ceas3 to do, they are already dead and void, and are of no more value; just as when a good coin is debased and retired on account of its abuse, and issued anew ; or when every-day shoes wax old and rub, they are not longer worn, but thrown away and new ones bought. Form is an external thing, be it ever so good, and thus it may lapse into misuse; but then it is no longer an orderly form, but a disorder; so that no external order stands and avails at all of itself, as hitherto the papal forms are judged to havo done, but all forms have their life, worth, strength, and virtues in proper use; or else they arc of no avail and value whatever " (Werke, Weimar ed., xix. 72 sqq.). According to Lutheran ecclesiastical teaching (Formula of Con-
cord, II.; Solida declaratio, X.; Apology, :!dv.; Melanchthon's Loci, 2d redaction in OR, xxi. 555-556; the Saxon Visitationsbuch of 1528; etc.) a_ uniform liturgy is requisite only in so far as it is indispensable to uphold proper doctrine and the administration of the sacraments; whereas in general the rightful appointment of the external functions of church officers and their sphere in the congregations is committed to the church governing board of the state authorities. The spontaneous development of church law, and especially the regulation of divine service, the sacraments, and discipline, as Luther ideally conceived it, proved impracticable, and gave place, though not invariably so, to definition on the part of temporal sovereigns. All these regulations, especially those of governments and cities, by means of which the canonical church forms that had previously prevailed in the land were modified in a reformatory direction, while the newly developing church system became progressively established, are called " Church Orders." Those of the sixteenth century are the most important (cf. E. Sehling, in ZKB, xxix., 1897, pp. 328 sqq., and introduction to his edition of the Church Orders, i., Leipsic, 1902).
A Church Order usually begins with a dogmatic part in which the agreement of the State Church with the general Lutheran confessions is set forth with more or less of detail (Credenda); then follow regulations concerning liturgy, the appointment of church ofHcers, organization of church government, discipline, marriage, schools, the pay of church and school officials, the administration of church property, care of the poor, etc. {Agenda, q.v.). A systematic topical arrangement is by no means always adhered to. As a rule, later compilations have made use of earlier forms, and thus the Orders are grouped in families. E. Sehling.
Bibliography: H. C. Konig, Bibliotheca agendorum, Zellerfeld, 1726; J. J. Moser, Corpus juris evangeliorum ecclesiastici, 2 vols., Zullichau, 1737-38; A. L. Richter, Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts, 2 vols., Weimar, 1846.
CHURCH PATRON SAINT (patronus sanctus): The particular saint to whom a church is dedicated, and under whose protection it stands. The early Church in a great variety of ways put guardian saints in the place of the tutelary deities (dei titulares) known to the pagan religions in connection with specific objects and relationships. In primitive times church patrons were taken especially from the number of the martyrs, who were esteemed to be influential mediators with God. Then when the worship of saints had developed from the veneration of martyrs, the guardian patrons were selected from among the saints not only for separate churches, but also for countries, dioceses, orders, cloisters, cities, congregations, gilds, brotherhoods, etc. The possession of relics of a saint in a certain church often determined his choice as patron. When subsequently the custom arose of naming churches after some Christian mystery — as, for instance, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Ghost, the Sacred Heart of Jesus — it came about that a church might be commended to the protection of a saint without bsaring his name, thus creating the distinction