Forms: α. 1 cirice, cyrice, 2–3 chiriche, -eche, chyreche, 3 churiche(ü), -eche, chereche. β. 1–2 circe, cyrce, 2 chyrce, (cirke), 2–6 chirche, 3–6 chyrche, cherche, (4–6 chirch, chyrch, cherch), 3–6 churche, 6 church. Northern. 3 Orm. kirrke, 4–5 kirke, kyrke, 4–6 kyrk, 4–5 kirc, 4– kirk: see KIRK. [Church, earlier churche, cherche, is a phonetically spelt normal representative of ME. chirche (ur = er = ir, e.g., birch, bird, first, chirm, churl, churn, kernel), the regular repr. of OE. circe; the fuller OE. cīrice, cirice gave the early ME. variant chereche, chiriche. (The form cyrice, often erroneously assumed as the original, is only a later variant of cirice (with y from i before r, as in cyrs-, fyren, etc.); c before original OE. y (umlaut of u) could not give modern ch-, but only k-, as in cyrnel, cyrtel, cýre, kernel, kirtle, ME. kire.)
OE. cirice, circe, corresp. to WGer. kîrika, OS. kirika, kerika (MLG. and MDu. kerke, Du. kerk, LG. kerke, karke, kark, with ar:—er:—ir); OFris. szereke, szurke, tzierka, tziurk; OHG. chĭrihha, also chiriihha, chiricha, khirihha, kirihha, kiricha, later chircha, in Notker chîlihha, chîlecha, chîlcha (MHG. and mod.G. kirche, in Upper Ger. dial. kilche, chilche); also ON. kirkia, kyrkja, Sw. kyrka, Da. kirke (thence Finn. kirkko, Esth. kirrik, kirk, kerk; also OPruss. kîrkis). Cf. also the Slavonic forms: OSlav. црькы crĭky, 10th c., цръкъы crŭky fem., later цръкъве crŭkŭve, цирковь cīrkovĭ, Russ. церковь cerkov’, Bulg. черкова čerkova, Servian црква crkva, Slovenish cerkev, Chekh cirkev (obs.), Pol. cerkiew (but only for ‘Greek church’), Lusat. cyrkej.
The OE. oblique forms cirican, -cean, circan, -cean, present four types, *kirika, *kirikja, *kirka, *kirkja, but the two last may result from later contraction, and -can, -cean may mean the same thing, viz. palatal c. The continental German forms point to *kirika, *kîrika. The Alemannic forms with l, chîlihha, kilche are on phonetic and other grounds admitted to have arisen out of the r type. The ON. is generally held to be derived from OE. (in the circean form). Although the notion has been advanced that all the continental forms originated in the OE., in connection with the early missionary labors of Englishmen in Germany, this is philologically untenable; and the word is held on good grounds to be common WGer., and to go back at least to the 4th or 5th c. (Long before they became Christians, the Germans were naturally acquainted with, and had names for, all the striking phenomena of Christianity, as seen in the Roman provinces, and the missions outside.) In Slavonic, the word is generally thought to have been taken from Teutonic.
The ulterior derivation has been keenly disputed. The L. circus, and a Gothic word kêlikn ‘tower, upper chamber’ (app. originally Gaulish) have both been proposed (the latter suggested by the Alemannic chîlihha), but are set aside as untenable; and there is now a general agreement among scholars in referring it to the Greek word κῡριακόν, properly adj. ‘of the Lord, dominicum, dominical’ (f. κῡριος lord), which occurs, from the 3rd century at least, used substantively (sc. δῶμα, or the like = ‘house of the Lord,’ as a name of the Christian house of worship. Of this the earliest cited instances are in the Apostolical Constitutions (II. 59), a. 300, the edict of Maximinus (303–13), cited by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. IX. 10) a. 324, the Councils of Ancyra 314 (Canon 15), Neo-Cæsarea 314–23 (Can. 5), and Laodicea (Can. 28). Thenceforward it appears to have been in fairly common use in the East: e.g., Constantine named several churches built by him κυριακά (Eusebius De Laud. Const xvii).
The chief objections to this derivation of the Teutonic (and Slavonic) name are the following. The ordinary name for ‘church’ in Gr. was ἐκκλησία, and this (or βασιλική, BASILICA) was the name which passed into Latin and all the Romanic langs.; also, into all the Celtic langs., OIr. eclais, Ir. and Gael. eglais, Manx agglish, OWelsh ecluis, W. eglwys, Cornish eglos, -es, -is, Breton iliz. Hence, an à priori unlikelihood that any other Greek name should have passed into the Teutonic languages. Moreover, ἐκκλησία was actually adopted in Gothic, where as aikklêsjô it occurs in the N.T. many times. But as the sense here is not that of the place of public worship, but of the Christian society or assembly, it forms no evidence against the co-existence of a Gothic repr. of κυριακόν, in the sense of the ‘Lord’s house.’ Besides, Ulphilas, as a native of Cappadocia, born A.D. 318, belonged to the very region and time for which we have the most weighty evidence of the use of κυριακόν, as mentioned above. And as to the other Teutonic tribes, the fact is certain, in spite of its à priori unlikelihood, that ecclesia was not accepted by them. At their conversion, Latin Christianity would naturally have given to them, as to others, the name ecclesia (or basilica), if kirika had not already acquired too firm hold of the field.
There are points of difficulty in the form of kirika and its gender. Its identification with κυριακόν assumes the representation of Gr. υ by i in Teutonic. Ulphilas did not so represent υ; nor did he use u, but retained the Gothic letter corresponding in alphabetic place and form to Gr. Υ, which he otherwise used for v or w. But, before the development of umlaut, and consequent evolution of y as a Teutonic sound, i was really the nearest Teutonic sound to υ, and in point of fact is its usual representative. The change of grammatical form and gender has been variously explained: as εὐαγγέλιον became in Gothic a weak fem. aiwaggêljô, -jôn; so κυριακόν, if adopted in Gothic, or in the corresponding stage of WGer., would in the same way become kΥrjakô, -ôn, whence regularly WGer. -ka, OE. -ce; but there are other instances in OHG. of feminines from L. -um, Gr. -ον, as martira, organa, mod.Ger. orgel; and the form adopted may actually have been the Gr. pl. κῡριακά. (The use of κυριακή in Gr. appears too late to affect the question. For the rest, a word adopted in Germanic as *kīrjak- would phonetically become *kīrjik-, and this normally in WGer. kīrik-. Possibly also *kīrjika might, by metathesis, give the *kīrikja app. required for OE. ciricean; but the OE. palatalization might simply be due to the prec. i as in ic, ME. ich, I pron.
The main objections are historical: we do not know the actual circumstances in which this less usual Gr. name became so well known to all the Germanic tribes as to become practically the native name, and like austrôn- EASTER, resist all the influence of Latin Christianity to supplant it; this too at so early a date as to be brought to Britain (with many words expressing the outward apparatus of Christianity) by the heathen Angles and Saxons The question was discussed already in the 9th c. by Walafrid Strabo (ob. 849) in a noteworthy passage (De Rebus Eccl. vii), where, after giving the Greek derivation, he ascribes German knowledge and use of the word to the German mercenaries who engaged in military service under the Empire, and refers particularly to the Goths in the Greek provinces. Beside that of the Goths, two other possible channels are indicated by Hildebrand, one of which, connected with the early penetration of Christianity from the Rhone valley into the Upper Rhine, is important, as tallying with a statement of Irenæus, Bp. of Lyons in the 2nd c. (Adv. Hær. I. x. § 2), and as explaining the proved existence of place-names like Kiricheim, Chiricunuillare, in Elsasz, etc., before the days of Boniface. But it is by no means necessary that there should have been a single kirika in Germany itself; from 313 onward, Christian churches with their sacred vessels and ornaments were well-known objects of pillage to the German invaders of the Empire: if the first with which these made acquaintance, wherever situated, were called κυριακά, it would be quite sufficient to account for their familiarity with the word. The Angles and Saxons had seen and sacked Roman and British churches in Gaul and Britain for centuries before they had them of their own, and, we have every reason to believe, had known and spoken of them as cirican during the whole of that period.
The Latin equivalent of κυριακόν, dominicum, was also in use at least from the time of Cyprian (c. 200–258), in the sense of ‘the house of God’ aedes sacra Domino. To a certain extent it was adopted in Old Irish, where domnach (mod. domhnach) became a frequent name of churches. The parallelism of Gr. κυριακόν church, κυριακή Sunday (in 11th c. also ‘church’), L. dominicum church, dominica, dies dominicus Sunday, Irish domhnach ‘church’ and ‘Sunday,’ is instructive.
The case for the derivation from κυριακόν gains largely by the fact that no other conjecture offered will bear scientific statement, much less examination. For example, the suggestion that cirice might arise out of L. crucea (which actually gave OE. crycc(e, now crutch), or some other derivative of L. crux, crucem cross, is at variance with the simple facts of phonetic history.]
A. Forms.
a. cirice, chiriche, chureche, etc.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter xxi. 23 [xxii. 22]. In midle cirican ic herʓo ðe.
a. 850. Lorica Prayer, in O. E. T., 174. Fore alle godes cirican.
p. 874. O. E. Chron., an. 874. On Sĉa Marian ciricean [Laud MS. c. 1122 cyrican].
971. Blickl. Hom., 197. Seo haliʓe cirice Michaeles … on þære ciricean.
a. 1000. Edgar’s Canons, § 26, in Thorpe, Laws, II. 250 (Bosw.). Ðæt preostas cirican healdan.
p. 1031. O. E. Chron. (MS. Ā), an. 1031. In to Xṕes Cyrican on Cantware byri.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 163. Of holie chireche.
c. 1205. Lay., 16270. Chiriches [c. 1275 chirches] fur-barnde. Ibid., 22111. He rærde churechen [1275 cherches].
a. 1250. Prov. Ælfred, 373, in O. E. Misc., 124. At chepynge and at chyreche.
c. 1250. Kentish Serm., ibid. 31. Fram holi chereche.
b. circe, chirche, churche, church, etc.
c. 870. Codex Aureus Inscript., in O. E. T., 175. Inn to Cristes circan.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xvi. 18. On þæm stane ic ʓetimbre mine circae.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., ibid. (MS. A). Ofer þisne stan ic ʓetimbriʓe mine cyrcean.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., ibid. Ich ȝetymbrie mine chyrcan.
a. 1132. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), 1127. Ofslaʓen an ane circe.
a. 1175. An Bispel, in Cott. Hom., 237. Þe hafedmen … in halie cyrce.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. Þu gast to chirche.
c. 1205. Lay., 16280. Chirchen [c. 1275 cherches] ich wulle arære.
a. 1250[?]. Chart. Eadw. (a. 1066), in Cod. Dipl., IV. 204. Mid cirke and mid milne.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 41. Holi churche.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 17822 (Trin.). To her chirche þei gon hem lede.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 75. Chyrche.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxv. 453. In to the chirche. Ibid., 467. At Cherche.
c. kirrke, kirke, kirk, etc.
960. Bp. Theodred, Will (Thorpe 513). Into Sancte Paules Kirke.
1050. Ketel, Will (Thorpe 581). Into þere Kyrke.
c. 1200. Ormin, 3531. And tatt iss Cristess kirrke.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8300 (Cott.). To wirke … to dright a crafti kyrke [Gött. and Fairf. kirke, Trin. chirche]. Ibid., 10248 (Cott.). I na kirck agh to cum in.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 5. Red in kirc on sundays.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 12. Nothir off the kyrk, na seculer.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 57. Wan any auerous … is canonizid in þe kirk … þan may be oþer chanouns of þe chirche sey [etc.].
1442. in E. E. Wills, 131. That the kirkerevys of the parish chirch of Clerkenwell haue xiijs iiijd for to spend on the onourmentz of the same kirke.
c. 1550. Chaucer’s Dreme, 1296. That neither knew I kirke ne saint.
B. Signification.
While it results from what is stated above that kirika, cirice, was originally applied to the building, it is clear that with the conversion of the Teutonic nations, it was assumed as the naturalized equivalent of L. ecclēsia, and used for that word in all its senses. Naturally the first of these would be as the name of the then one great religious organization, the Catholic Church, and especially as represented by its ministers, the clergy or ecclesiastical order. The extension to other senses took place as these were practically recognized.
The history of the OE. cirice, or of the Teutonic kirika, is therefore not the history of the Church, or of its name in Christendom; this begins with the joint history of Gr. ἐκκλησία and its L. adoption ecclēsia; about which all that need be said here is that the Gr. word, meaning etymologically ‘the body of the ἐκκλητοι or select counsellors’ was the name given by Solon to the public formal assembly of the Athenian people, and hence to the similar public assemblies of other free Greek cities. By the LXX. it was used to transl. the Heb. qāhāl the ‘congregation or assembly of Israel met before the Lord, or conceived in their relation to him. In the N.T. the word has a twofold sense: α. (after the LXX.) the whole congregation of the faithful, the Christian Society, conceived of as one organism, the body of Christ; β. (after classical Gr.), a particular local assembly of Christ’s enfranchised met for solemn purposes: in this sense it has a plural. From these arose the later developments: the name of the assembly passed to that of the building set apart for it: the sense of ‘the congregation of the faithful’ sought visible embodiment in outward organization, which necessarily followed the lines of provincial, national and linguistic distinctions. Thus arose the notion of provincial or national Churches, as parts or branches of the Church universal or Catholic; and, with widening differences, doctrinal or administrative, there came the revolt of some of these from the increasingly centralized organization of the Catholic Church, and the formation of rival churches, each claiming to be the church and rejecting the claim of the others. Thus arose the first great division of the Eastern and Western Church, the later separation of various national ‘reformed’ churches from the unreformed Western Church in the 16th c., the secession of various ‘free’ or ‘voluntary’ churches from the reformed national or ‘established’ churches in later times. Some of these voluntary bodies have refused the name of ‘church’ to any ‘denomination’ or organization of congregations, confining it to the two senses of the Church universal, and an individual local society. The name has even come to be used to denote types or tendencies of thought or expression, within the one communion, as in the modern High Church, Low Church, Broad Church.
I. The building, the Lord’s house.
1. A building for public Christian worship. (Distinguished historically from a CHAPEL or ORATORY, which is a building in some respect private, or not public in the widest sense.)
Ancient distinctions, retained more or less in the Churches of England and Scotland, are those of CATHEDRAL, COLLEGIATE, ABBEY, and PARISH or parochial, church. (See also METROPOLITAN.) Any place of worship subordinate to the public church of the parish was formerly called CHAPEL (q.v.); but parochial and district chapels are now usually called ‘Church.’ In England the name has been only recently and partially extended to places of worship other than those of the national or ‘Established’ Church, as those of Roman Catholics (since c. 1830–40) and some Nonconformist Protestants. At present, its application is partly a question of social or individual taste, or of ecclesiastical principle or theory, partly (in popular apprehension) of the size and architecture of the building. Thus, some would limit it to the historical place of worship of the parish, some extend it to all places of worship of that body which they recognize as ‘The Church,’ and refuse it to all others; some would require the existence of certain features of ecclesiastical architecture. But, generally speaking, in England the question ‘Is this a church or a chapel?’ would at present be understood to mean ‘Does it belong to the Church of England or to some other religious denomination?’
In Scotland, church is applied to all Presbyterian places of worship, alike of the Established Church, and of the various voluntary bodies which have separated from it. Recently also extended to the chapels of Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Independents, and others generally.
In U.S. church is, in general use, applied to all places of worship. Episcopalians however sometimes claim it exclusively for their own; and other bodies in some cases use special names for their own buildings. In the British colonies generally, the usage of England and Scotland is combined, with more or less extension as in the U.S.
696. Laws of K. Wihtræd, 2. Ciricean mundbyrd sie L. scill., swa cinges.
c. 900. Laws of Ælfred, 6. Næbbe þon ma dura þonne sio cirice.
1066. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.). Þæs dæges forbearn Cristes cyrce [Parker MS. cyrc] on Cantwara byriʓ.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 23. Ich leue þat chireche is holi godes hus on eorðe . and is cleped on boc kiriaca i.e. dominicalis, þat is on englis louerdlich hus.
a. 1280. Saints’ Lives, St. Michael, 75 (Horstm.). To halewi churchene newe.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 381. Chyrchen he let rere al so.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29296 (Cott.). Þe … man þat kirkes brinnes.
1473. Warkw., Chron., 17. To be layede in the chyrche of Paulis.
c. 1550. Sir J. Cheke, St. Matt. xviii. 17. Yis word church into ye which we torn eccl[es]ia, is ye hous wheer ye outcalled do meet, and heer goddes word, and vse co[m]mun praier … it co[m]meth of ye greek κυριακόν, which word served in ye p[ri]mitiv church for ye co[m]mons house of praier and sacramentes, as appeareth in Eusebius, which ye latins called dominicu[m].
1563. Homilies, II. Right Use Ch. God, I. (1859), 154. The materiall Church … is a place appointed … for the people of God to resort together unto.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. ii. 14. If to doe were as easie as to know what were good to doe, Chappels had beene Churches, and poore mens cottages Princes Pallaces.
1633. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, lxviii. When once thy foot enters the Church, be bare.
1712. Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 81. The Nave or Body of the Church.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 12. The decent church that topp’d the neighb’ring hill.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Self-Reliance, Wks. (Bohn), I. 30. I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
b. Parish church; mother church, the cathedral church of a diocese, the original or principal church of a parish; under church, district church, etc. (See further under these words.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 121. To the paryssh chirche … This goode wyf went on an haliday.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 80. The belles ryngynge in every parych cherch.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1228/1. Things belonging vnto parishchurches or chappels.
1765–74. Blackstone, Comm., I. 112. If any great lord, had a church within his own demesnes, distinct from the mother-church, in the nature of a private chapel.
1771. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 277. The several Assistant or Under Churches or Chapels of this town.
1842. Burn, Eccl. Law (ed. 9), I. § 5. 301. At the first there were many signs of the dependence of chapels on the mother church. Ibid., § 8. 306 f. Whether a church be a parish church or only a chapel of ease.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Ch. (1858), I. iv. 147. The chief minster was the cathedral or mother-church.
c. In church, out of church, to church, from church (without the) were in early times used in this sense; but now only of the service in the building, or of the building with the service going on in it. See 10.
2. Applied to public places of worship of any religion: as † a. (formerly) to heathen temples, Mohammedan mosques.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. ii. § 1. Þuss ʓebletsade Romulus … mid þara sweora blode þa ciricean.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3196. Quane he ȝeden egipte fro, It wurðe erðe-dine, and fellen ðo fele chirches and ideles mide.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11675. Kepers of the kirke [i.e., the Palladium].
1526–34. Tindale, Acts xix. 37. Men whiche are nether robbers of churches, nor yet despisers of youre goddes. [1535 Coverd., churchrobbers. 1881 R. V. robbers of temples.]
a. 1547. Earl Surrey, Æneid, II. 516. Cassandra … From Pallas church was drawn.
1569. T. Underdown, trans. Ovid’s Ibis, v. 597. Lesimachus … one of the bedels of Diana’s church.
1600. Holland, Livy, IX. xii. 321. The Fregellones within fought for their Church and chimney [pro aris ac focis]. Ibid. (1601), Pliny, II. 545. This stately Church of Iuno Queen.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IV. 141. The Turkes haue no Bels in their Churches.
† b. also to the Jewish temple. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8849. Þis kirc [v.r. kirke, chirche] was wroght o marbel stan … was þis temple salamon. Ibid., 10952. Zakari … preyed in þe chirche al one.
c. In U.S., of late applied to places of meeting and religious exercise of various societies called ‘churches.’
3. As an element in place names, church, cirice, is known from an early date.
837. Badanoth, Will (Sweet, O. E. T. 449). To ðere stowe æt Cristes cirican [Christchurch].
880–5. K. Ælfred, Will (Thorpe 488). Æt Hwitan cyrican [Whitchurch].
II. The (or a) Christian community, and its ecclesiastical organization.
4. The community or whole body of Christ’s faithful people collectively; all who are spiritually united to Christ as ‘Head of the Church.’ More fully described as the Church Universal or Catholic.
(Sometimes its external organization, sometimes its spiritual nature, is chiefly considered.)
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, I. viii. § 1. Seo cirice on Breotone hwæt hwugu fæc sibbe hæfde. Ibid., I. xxvi. To ðære annesse ðære halgan Cristes cirican.
a. 1000. Ags. Homilies (Thorpe), II. 580 (Bosw.). Ealle Godes cyrcan sind ʓetealde to anre cyrcan, and seo in ʓehaten ʓelaðung.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xvi. 18. Þu eart Petrus, and ofer þisne stan ic timbriʓe mine cyricean.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19498. Þat cristen kirc began to wast.
1382. Wyclif, Eph. v. 23. Crist is heed of the chirche. Ibid. (c. 1380), Sel. Wks., III. 116. Ffurst we schul trow þat þer ys general chirche of angelys and seyntys in hevyn, and of alle þat schull be savyd.
1529. More, Dial. Heresy, II. Wks. 185/1. The chyrch therefore must nedes bee the comen knowen multitude of christen men good and bad togither, while ye church is here in erth.
1560. Cons. Faith Scotl., xvi. That from the begynning thair hes bein, now is, and to the end of the world salbe a Churche; that is to say, a company and multitude of men chosin of God, who rychtlie worschip and embrace him, by trew fayth in Christ Jesus, who is the only Head of the same Kirk … which Kirk is Catholik, that is universall, because it conteanes the Elect of all aiges, all realmes, nationis, and tounges.
1563. Homilies, II. Repair. Ch. (1859), 275. The Church, which is the company of Gods people.
1606. R. Field, Of the Church (1628), I. i. 3. This glorious society of men and Angels, whom the most high God … made capable of felicity and blisse … is rightly named … the Church of the living God.
1734. Watts, Logic (1736), 93. When one Man by the Word Church, shall understand all that believe in Christ; and another by the Word Church means only the Church of Rome; they may both assent to this Proposition, There is no Salvation out of the Church.
1837. Newman, Par. Serm., III. xvi. 245. The One Church is the whole body gathered together from all ages.
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. IV. ii. (1863), I. 14. The Church … is that Body of men in whom the Spirit of God dwells as the Source of their excellence, and who exist on earth for the purpose of exhibiting the Divine Life and the hidden order of Humanity.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 186. The Christian Church is even more an ideal than the Republic of Plato and further removed from any existing institution.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesth., vi. 299. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance designed for the Church, that is, for those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and who have consecrated themselves to Him.
b. Church militant: the Church on earth considered as warring against the powers of evil. (Sometimes used jocularly in reference to actual warfare or polemics.) Church triumphant: the portion of the church which has overcome the world, and entered into glory.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 1395. Thys congregacion is the true Church mylytaunt.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 4972. Now lauboryng in to thy Kirk Militant, That we may, all, cum to thy kirk Tryumphant.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth.
1633. Herbert, Temple (title), The Church Militant.
1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, xx. A monk of the church militant [alluding to a knight].
1878. Black’s Guide Hampsh. (ed. 7), 135. Hugh Peters … on this as on other occasions, proved his devotion to the church militant.
c. Visible Church: the church as visibly consisting of its professed members upon earth; contrasted with the church invisible, or mystical: see quots.
1561. Conf. Faith Scotl., xvi. This [the Catholik] Kirk is invisible, knowin onlie to God, who allone knoweth whome he hes chosin, and comprehendis alsweall the Elect that be departed, (commounlie called the Kirk Triumphant), as those that yit leve and feght against syne and Sathan.
1562. Articles of Relig., xix. The Visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. i. § 9. Observing the difference first between the Church of God Mystical and Visible, then between the Visible sound and corrupted, sometimes more, sometimes less.
1638. Chillingworth, Relig. Prot., Ans. iv. § 53. The doctrine of Christ, the profession whereof constitutes the visible church, the belief and obedience the invisible. Ibid., Answ. v. § 26. The visible church … a visible church … are very different things: the former signifying the church catholic or the whole church; the latter, a particular church or a part of the catholic.
1848. Wardlaw, Congreg. Independency, 48. There is no such thing, in any strict propriety, as an invisible church.
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. IV. ii. (1863), I. 14. There is … a Church visible and a Church invisible; the latter consists of those spiritual persons who fulfil the notion of the Ideal Church—the former is the Church as it exists in any particular age, embracing within it all who profess Christianity.
1885. Ch. Q. Rev., Jan., 271. That wholly unscriptural figment, the Invisible Church…. The only Invisible Church known to Christian theology consists of the angels and the faithful departed.
d. The church as a spiritual society ‘separated from the world’ is often opposed to the world.
1610. Jn. Robinson, Wks. (1851), II. 132. A company consisting though but of two or three, separated from the world, whether unchristian or antichristian, and gathered into the name of Christ … is a Church.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 82. All Divines in their definition of Church are agreed, that it is a Society of persons separated from the World, to God, or called out of the World.
1845. Pattison, Greg. of Tours, Ess. (1889), I. 4. Into the dust and heat of the Church’s war with the world.
1882. Med. Temp. Jrnl., I. 135. The Church and the world are now only just waking up to a just sense of responsibility.
1887. Farrar, Everyday Chr. Life, viii. 111. We look round us on the so-called religious and the so-called irreligious world, on what calls itself the Church and on what is called the World.
5. A particular organized Christian society, considered either as the only true representative, or as a distinct branch, of the Church universal, separated by peculiarities of doctrine, worship, or organization, or confined to limits territorial or historical: e.g., the primitive church, the Latin Ch., Greek Ch., Orthodox Ch., Gallican Ch., Nestorian Ch., Ancient British Ch., Anglo-Saxon Ch., Lutheran Ch., Reformed Ch., Waldensian Ch., Ch. of England (see b.), of Scotland, Free Ch. of Scotland, United Presbyterian Ch., American Episcopal Ch., Methodist Episcopal Ch., etc.
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, I. xiii. Fram ðam biscope ðære Romaniscan cirician. Ibid., II. xx. On Norþanhymbra þeode and cirican.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 138. And þe Kirke of Scotland to Canterbirie ore se Obliged þam and band, as to þer primalte.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. 30/1. Ye moost deyle is ketters and kyt of, of the holy Romes chyrche.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 8. Legatnait and primat of the kirk of Scotland.
1580. General Conf. Faith (Dunlop), II. 104. The trew christian faith … received believed and defendit by monie and sundrie notabil kirkis and realmes, but chiefly be the Kirke of Scotland.
1611. Bible, Pref. The Church of Rome, then a true Church.
1641. R. Greville (Ld. Brooke), Disc. Nat. Episc., (1642), 60. The Tyranny of that Antichristian Mock-Church.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., I. vi. § 13. A Nationall Church being a large Room, it is hard to count all the Candles God lighted therein.
1819. W. J. Fox, Lect., ii. Wks. 1865, I. 169. The charge of persecution was applied alike to Catholic and Nonconformist Churches.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), I. App. 339. The British church formed an integral part of the universal church, agreeing in doctrine and discipline with the other Christian churches.
1887. Hutton, in Contemp. Rev., April, 485. In the hands of all the great missionary churches, Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Quaker, Wesleyan, and Unitarian.
1889. New Ch. Mag., May, 233. A list of the Ministers of the New Church [Swedenborgian].
b. Church of England, English or Anglican Ch. (ecclesia Anglicana): the English branch of the Western Church, which at the Reformation repudiated the supremacy of the Pope, and asserted that of the Sovereign over all persons and in all causes, ecclesiastical as well as temporal, in his dominions.
[1169. Becket, in Mat. Hist. T. Becket (1885), VII. 33. Audivit ecclesia Gallicana vos in causa ecclesiæ Anglorum mutasse sententiam.
1213. Promissio Comitum et Bar., etc., Lit. Cantuar., No. 27 (Rolls), I. 21. Negocium quod inter Ecclesiam Anglicanam et ipsum Regem versatum est.
1390. in J. Malverne, Contn. Higden (Rolls), IX. 225. Touchant lestate de seint esglise d’Engleterre.]
1532–3. Act Restraint Appeals, 24 Hen. VIII., c. 12. That Part of the said Body politick, called the Spirituality, now being usually called the English Church.
1534. Act of Supremacy, 26 Hen. VIII., c. 1. That the King our Sovereign Lord … shall be taken, accepted and reputed the only supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England, called Anglicana Ecclesia.
1548. Act Uniformity, 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 1. The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after the Use of the Church of England.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VIII. i. 2. We hold that there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Commonwealth; nor any man a member of the Commonwealth, which is not also of the Church of England.
1661. Corporation Act, 13 Chas. II., st. 2, c. 1 § 12. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, according to the Rites of the Church of England.
1687. Jas. II., in Magd. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), 91. Those who call themselves Church-of-England men.
1688. T. Tramallier, ibid., 256. That illegal anti-Church-of-England Court.
1688–9. Toleration Act, 1 Will. & Mary, c. 18 § 5. Any Assembly of Persons dissenting from the Church of England.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xviii. (1862), 296. The Church of England consists, strictly speaking, of the lay as well as the clerical members of that communion.
1886. Ld. Selborne (title), A Defence of the Church of England.
c. Established Church: the Church as by law established in any country, as the public or state-recognized form of religion. Chiefly used of the Churches of England and Scotland respectively. So State Church.
1660. Charles II., Decl. Eccles. Affairs, 25 Oct. in Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV. 135. We need not profess the high affection and esteem we have for the Church of England, as it is established by law.
1700–1. Act Settlement, 12 & 13 Will. III., c. 2. s. 3. Shall join in Communion with the Church of England, as by Law established.
1731. E. Calamy, Life (1830), I. i. 72. It cannot be said of me … that I left the Established Church, because I was never joined to it.
1840. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), V. 69. The oppressive sect which calls itself the established church.
1843. Candlish, in Life, xi. (1880), 303. A document which makes us … no longer ministers of the Established Church of Scotland.
1886. Ld. Selborne, Def. Ch. Eng., III. xvii. 295. I should say, that Established Churches are now in much more danger of being persecuted, than of persecuting.
6. The ecclesiastical and clerical organization of Christianity, or of a great Christian society, international, national, or other; esp. The clergy and officers of this society collectively or as a corporation having a continuous existence, and (in former times especially) as an estate of the realm. (In this sense ‘Church’ is often opposed to ‘State’ or the political organization, the civil government.)
(In early times Holy church was the common phrase in this sense: see 7.)
c. 696. Laws of K. Wihtræd, Preamb. Ælc had ciricean.
805–31. Charter of Oswulf (O. E. T. 443). Þe hiora lond to þære cirican saldon.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 84. Þe Chirche [B. þe kirke] schal haue my Careyne And kepe mi Bones.
c. 1440. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xi. (1885), 135. Þe possescions off þe chirche.
c. 1450. Merlin, 95. Assembled the barons and the prelates of the cherche, and toke counseile.
1621. Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot., i. The Kirk of God … is takin sumtymes for them that exercise spiritual function amongis the congregation…. The Kirke in this last sense hes a certaine power grantit be God.
1724. Watts, Logic, I. iv. § 6. A church … sometimes … means a synod of bishops or of presbyters; and in some places it is the pope and a general council.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 167. The word Church … in these latter Days … is put for the Persons that are ordain’d for the Ministry of the Gospel, that is to say, the Clergy. Ibid., 169. Sometimes ’tis taken for the Prelacy thereof.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), IV. 94. Lands belonging to the church.
1837. Newman, Par. Serm., III. xvi. 246. Speaking politically, we talk of the Clergy as the Church.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven. (1874), I. App. 355. The Venetians accomplished therein what we ridiculously call a separation of ‘Church and State’ (as if the State were not, in all Christendom, necessarily also the Church), but ought to call a separation of lay and clerical officers.
b. The clerical order or profession. Hence to go into the Church, to take holy orders, become a clergyman; so to be in the Church, to leave the bar for the Church.
1590. H. Swinburne, Treat. Test., 148. If his sonne shall goe to the Church.
1591. F. Sparry, trans. Cattan’s Geomancie, 179. The person … was a man of the Church.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. xxi. 249. The Church feeds most on Fish, but not miraculously, for the poor Fishers dare sell none till the Priesthood is first served.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Prudence, Wks. (Bohn), I. 93. The merchant breeds his son for the church or the bar.
1865. Mrs. Riddell, World in Ch., iv. 59. You have really entered the church: I mean, done duty, preached, and so forth?
7. Holy church: a title commonly given to the Church Catholic, regarded as a divinely instituted and guided institution, speaking with authority, through its accredited organs. In early times often = the clergy or ecclesiastical authority, as in 6.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Cura Past., 115. He onfeng ðone ealdordom ðære halʓan ciericean [v.r. ciricean].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 17. Gif he him nule rihtlechen for preoste na for halie chirche?
c. 1225. Creed, in Rel. Antiq., I. 234. I leve on ðe hali gast, Al holi chirche stedefast.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 21. For þi was wedlac ilahet in hali chirche.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 471. That holi churche he ssolde nouȝt the Chateus there lette.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 2139. In stedfast trouthe of haly kyrk.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 73. Holi churche Icham … þou ouhtest me to knowe.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxv. 466. Acursed be the centense of holy cherche.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. vi. 37. Till holy Church incorporate two in one.
1642. Perkins, Prof. Bk., v. § 354. Reconciled againe unto him … without the constraint of holy Church.
8. Mother Church: a favorite appellation of the Catholic church and its recognized branches. In allusion to this, to Song of Solomon, to Rev. xxi. 2, etc., the Church as an institution or corporation is often personified, and spoken of poetically and rhetorically as she.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 32. Alle men þat God ordeyneþ to blis ben ful breþeren … siþ God is þer fadir, and his Chirche is þer moder. Ibid. (1382), Song Sol. i. 4, marg. The Chirche, of hir tribulaciouns.
1595. Shaks., John, III. i. 255. Or let the Church our mother breathe her curse, A mothers curse, on her reuolting sonne.
1611. Bible, Song Sol. vi. (heading), 1. The Church professeth her faith in Christ. 4. Christ sheweth the graces of the Church, 10 and his loue toward her.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. ii. 117. One that in all obedience, makes the Church The cheefe ayme of his Honour.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Lent, i. The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church sayes, now: Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow To ev’ry Corporation.
1656. Evelyn, Diary, 29 May. The poor Church of England breathing as it were her last.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., SS. Simon & Jude, i. The widowed Church is fain to rove … Make haste and take her home. Ibid., Holy Comm., vi. To feel thy kind upholding arm, My mother Church.
c. 1833. J. H. Newman, in J. S. Fletcher, Life (1890), 23. I felt affection for my own Church, but not tenderness; I felt dismay at her prospects, anger and scorn at her do-nothing perplexity.
1836. Gen. P. Thompson, Lett. Representative, 94. If the Scottish Kirk won’t behave herself with moderation … we won’t look after her wants the next time she comes for a grant.
1838. J. G. Dowling, Eccl. Hist., iv. § 6. 233. The church has expressed her sense of their errors.
9. High, Low, Broad Church: see these words.
Although church is here practically equivalent to ‘church party,’ ‘section of the church,’ it has acquired this force only contextually or by unthinking analysis of phrases in which high church-, low church- were used attributively, as in high church-man and the like. Broad church is a modern formation on the model of the other two, starting not from their starting-point, but from their current use.
III. 10. A congregation of Christians locally organized into a society for religious worship and spiritual purposes, under the direction of one set of spiritual office-bearers.
(The early examples of this, before 16th c., are perhaps all in translations of the N.T. or references thereto.)
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. iv. 17. As I teche euerywhere in ech chirche [so Geneva 1560, Rheims 1582, 1611, 1871; Tindale, Coverd., Cranmer 1539, Geneva 1597 congregations]. Ibid., Philemon 2. And to the chirch that is in thin hous [so Geneva 1557, Rheims 1582, 1611, and 1871; Tindale, Coverd., and Cranmer congregacyon].
a. 1564. Becon, New Catech. (1844), 41. Father. What meanest thou by this word ‘church’? Son. Nothing else than a company of people gathered together, or a congregation.
1625. Jn. Robinson, Wks., 1851, III. 16. A particular Congregation rightly instituted and ordered [is] a whole, entire and perfect Church immediately and independently, in respect of other Churches, under Christ.
1692. Locke, Toleration, Wks. 1727, II. i. 235. A Church then, I take to be a voluntary Society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord, in order to the publick worshipping of God, in such manner as they judge acceptable to him.
16[?]. in Coke & Moore, Life J. Wesley, I. i. (1792), 9. B. By whom were you sent? W. By a Church of Jesus Christ. B. What Church is that? W. The Church of Christ at Melcomb.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 167. The word Church is also taken for any particular Congregation or Assembly of Men, as the Church which was at Corinth.
1888. Times, 2 Oct., 7/2. The Yorkshire Association of Baptist Churches. Ibid., 12 Oct., 4/5. They [Congregationalists] should, he suggested, group together some of their small churches under one pastor, with lay helpers.
IV. Elliptically and in phrases.
11. Used contextually (and sometimes otherwise) for the public worship of God (in a church); divine service in a religious building, So to attend church, go to church, be at church, in church, out of church, after church, between churches, early church, church-time, etc.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. Þu gast to chirche.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28246 (Cott.). Ic for-soke oft to kyrk at ga.
a. 1375. in Lay Folks Mass Bk., 136. I rede we go to chirche.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xii. (1495), 196. Thappostle sayth I suffre not a woman to teche in chyrche.
c. 1450. Merlin, iii. 45. The Kynge come fro chirche on a day.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 128. We will perswade him To put on better ere he goe to Church.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 206. It is tedious to our old age to keepe our Church.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 503, ¶ 2. As soon as church was done, she immediately stepp’d out.
1722. De Foe, Rel. Courtsh., App. (1840), 285. Whether I went to the church, the meeting house, to the quaker’s meeting, or to the mass-house.
1732. Law, Serious C., ii. (ed. 2), 26. When he should be at Church.
1870. Dasent, Annals Eventful Life (ed. 4), II. xiv. 287. Between the churches, I say, Auntie used to go down to the school and see the children.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, I. 3. Went to church on Sundays.
12. Phrases and Proverbs. To go to church: see 11; fam. = to get married. To talk church (colloq.): cf. to talk shop.
a. 1450. MS. Douce 52. 15 (N.). The nerer the chyrche the fer fro Crist.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 17. The nere to the churche, the ferther from God.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 371. Counte Claudio, when meane you to goe to Church?
1644. C. Jessop, Angel of Ephesus, 31. Hath verified the Proverbe, The neerer the Church the further from God.
1851. H. Newland, Erne, 217. Looking at those wretched people and talking Church.
V. In senses not distinctively Christian.
13. The congregation or company of God’s people in pre-Christian times. a. orig. merely a translation of L. ecclēsia, Gr. ἐκκλησία, of the Vulgate and LXX., applied in its pre-Christian sense to the ‘congregation’ of Israel: see above. b. In later times, a retrospective use of the Christian sense, applied to the Israelites as God’s chosen people, or to the faithful among them, and the worshippers of the true God or ‘Old Testament saints’ generally, as the analogue of the church under the Christian dispensation.
a. c. 825. Vesp. Psalter xxi[i]. 26 (25). Mid ðe lof me in cirican micelre.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps., ibid. Beforan þe byð min lof on þære myclan cyrcan.
c. 1382. Wyclif, ibid. Anent thee my preising in the grete chirche [Coverd. in the great congregacion]. Ibid., Numb. xx. 4. Whi han ȝe ladde out the chirche of the Lord into wilderenes.
1609. Bible (Douay), ibid. Why have you brought forth the Church of our Lord into the wildernesse?
1611. Bible, Acts vii. 38. This is he that was in ye Church in the wildernesse with the Angel.
b. 1388. [See Wyclif, Song. Sol. i. margin.]
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. i. § 8. Not only amongst them [Israel] God always had His Church because He had thousands which never bowed their knees unto Baal; but whose knees were bowed unto Baal, even they were also of the Visible Church of God.
1606. R. Field, Of the Church (1628), V. i. 409, heading. Of the Primitive and first Church of God in the house of Adam. Ibid., V. ii. 411. Sem gouerned the Church in his time.
1611. Bp. Hall, Serm., v. 52. The Church was an embryo, till Abraham’s time: in swathing-bands, till Moses; in childhood, till Christ; a man, in Christ; a man full-grown, in glory.
1672. Gale (title), The Court of the Gentiles: or a Discourse touching the Original of Human Literature … from the Scriptures and Jewish Church.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. xi. (1840), 169. The Church of God was now reduced to two tribes.
1863–7. Stanley (title), History of the Jewish Church.
14. Applied to other (chiefly modern) religious societies and organizations (e.g., the Church of Humanity, the Positivists or Comtists; the Church of the Latter-day Saints or Mormons, etc.); and sometimes, more vaguely, to any ‘school’ or party having the bond of a common ‘creed,’ social, æsthetical, or other, or who are combined in any movement that furnishes them with principles of life or duty.
[1382. Wyclif, Eccl. iii. 1. The sonus of wisdam, the chirche of riȝtwis men.]
1528. More, Heresyes, II. Wks. 178/2. Ye doo persecute them as the churche of the Paynims did.
1726. W. Penn, Maxims, in Wks. I. 842. As good, so ill men are all of a Church.
1859. Sat. Rev., VII. 304/2. In all that makes religion objective, as he would say, the Church of Humanity is more churchish than the Church.
1867. Hepw. Dixon, New America, I. xxv. (ed. 6), 270. The new church established in Utah, though it is called the Church of America, is free and open to all the world. Ibid., II. xix. (The Revolt of Woman), One school of writers, a school which is already a church … soars into what is said to be a region of yet nobler truths.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 186. Plato’s Republic has been said to be a church and not a state; and such an ideal of a city in the heavens has always hovered over the Christian world.
1877. Johnson, Cyclopædia, s.v. Mormon III. 622. The supreme power [among the Mormons] … rests with the first presidency, elected by the whole body of the Church.
VI. Attrib. and in Comb.
15. attrib. There being no adjective from church in general use, and the genitive church’s being restricted to the notion of possession (usually with more or less personification), as in ‘the church’s claims, revenues, ministrations,’ the place of both is supplied by using church attributively or with the function of an adjective, signifying ‘of the church, of a church, of churches, ecclesiastical.’ In such a use, the word is often hyphened, though the value of the hyphen is merely grammatical, in no way affecting the signification, and it may usually be omitted.
Church may be thus used in most of the senses above explained: in England it has specifically the sense ‘of the Church of England.’
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., XII. (1599), 590. Censures and Church-paines.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxix. § 16. Whereas the usual saw of old was ‘Glaucus his change,’ the proverb is now ‘A Church bargain.’
1600. Holland, Livy, II. ii. 44. They [first Consuls] went in hand with religion and church matters.
1622. T. Scott, Belg. Pismire, 58. The Pope … hath gotten Church-Courtiers to uphold his Regalitie.
1622. Donne, Serm., V. 88. To see who comes and to hear a Church-comedy.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Jas. IV., Wks. (1711), 71. A stout defender of the church-patrimony. Ibid., Consid to Parl., ibid. 187. That the church-race marry only among themselves, ministers sons upon ministers daughters.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. vi. § 69. Conformity in the Church-behaviour of men.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 159. Let the Church-tribute of every Church be paid out of the lands of all Freemen.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. III. (1694), 190. The beastly rage Of Church-rule.
1670. Baxter, Cure Ch. Div., 112. Profession of Christianity is every man’s Church-title.
1670. Walton, Life Hooker, 39. The regulation of church-affairs.
1692. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 354. 2 church conventicles were discovered in London where the nonjuring parsons preached to their Jacobite auditory. Ibid. (1701), (1857), V. 111. The church party have agreed to putt up Sir Williain Gore.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 141. This is both a court and a church-game.
1719. Swift, To Yng. Clergym., Wks. 1755, II. II. 7. In esteem … among some church-divines.
1784. Cowper, Tiroc., 381. Church-ladders are not always mounted best By learned Clerks and Latinists profess’d.
1853. Rock, Ch. Fathers, III. II. 96. For church-use at least.
1886. Circular Comm. Church House. Both clergy and laty often need information concerning Church societies, Church charities, Church action generally.
16. The following have somewhat more of the character of permanent combinations:
a. with sense ‘of the church as an institution, ecclesiastical’: church-acts, -assembly, -association, -benefice, -betrustment (= -trust), -catechism, -censure, -censurer, -coffer, -consistory, -dignitary, -dignity, -discipline, -doctrine, -due, -expenses, -festival, -formula, -holiday, -hymn, -law, -music, -musician, -order, -preferment, -polity, -procession, -property, -rent, -revenue, -society, -song, -steward, -tippet, -vestments, etc.
b. ‘Of divine service in the church, of public worship’: church-day, -hours, -time.
c. ‘Of the material building and its precincts’: church-bench, -chime, -clock, -floor, -furniture, -gate, -glass, -hatch, -organ, -organist, -pale, -pillow, -porch, -spire, -steeple, -stile, -stool, -tower, -walk, -wall, -window, etc.
d. To these may be added those in which the meaning is that of some actor or action in connection with, or in reference to, the church; as church-chatterer, -covenanting, -gesticulation, -juggler, -masker, -pluralist, -sleep, -sleeper (cf. Ger. kirchenschlaf, -schläfer), -sleeping, etc.
1672. W. Allen, Peace & Unity, 87–8. To Assemble together for publick Worship; which are the ends of particular *Church-association.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 95. Let vs go sit here vpon the *Church bench till two.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Jas. III., Wks. (1711), 47. Promoted to some *church-benefice.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., V. II. (1852), 255. To make over *church-betrustments ‘unto faithful men.’
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 313. Yit of thise *kyrkchaterars here ar a menee.
1653. Baxter, Chr. Concord, 14. Those that are most against *Church-Covenantings.
1805–6. Coleridge, Three Graves, III. xix. Ellen … kept her church All *church-days during Lent.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VIII. vii. § 7. They hold that no *church-dignity should be granted without consent of the common people.
1574. Whitgift, Def. Aunsw., ii. Wks. 1851, I. 201. What *church-discipline would you have?
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 175. Consequences, entirely apart from theology and church discipline.
c. 1200. Ormin, 9015. Ȝuw birrþ uppo *kirrkeflor Beon fundenn offte.
1784. Cowper, Tiroc., 425. A piece of mere *church-furniture at best.
1513. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s (1882), 33. The stondyngs at the *cherche gate letyn.
1642. Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 85. In these kinds of *Church-gesticulations, they differ from all other people.
1633. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, xxxiii. A herauld … Findes his crackt name … in the *church-glasse.
1530. Palsgr., 484/1. It is *churche holyday to morowe.
1787. Wesley, Wks. (1872), IV. 357. You may have your service in *church-hours.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 109. A mere *church-juggler, hypocrite, and slave.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VIII. vi. § 1. Power also to make *church-laws.
1640–4. Thomas, in Rushw., Hist. Coll., III. (1692), I. 285. *Church-Musick, it shall have here the first place.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. (1617), 146. In defence of our *Church-orders, to bee as good as theirs.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 425/5. A *Church-Organ, containing 10 Stops in the great Organ.
1878. Newcomb, Pop. Astron., II. i. 126. A *church-organist and teacher of music.
1659. Milton, Civ. Power, Wks. (1851), 314. Worse then any lord prelat or *church-pluralist.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. i. § 14. *Church Polity … is a form of ordering the public spiritual affairs of the Church of God.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xlvii. 200. Only the kniȝte in the *chirche-porche.
1526. Tindale, Acts xiv. 13. Brought oxen and garlondes unto the Churche porche.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple (title), The Church-porch.
1632. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, II. i. For any *church-preferment thou hast a mind to.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 335. To go on perambulation on *Church procession.
1506. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 30. Resceyved … for the seid *chirch Rente iiijd.
1578. 2nd Bk. Discipl. (1621), xii. § 12. As for the kirk rents in generall.
1676. Marvell, Mr. Smirke, Wks. 1875, IV. 60. These are the great Animadverters of the times, the *church-respondents in the pew.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VII. xxiii. § 9. Making partition of *church-revenues.
1672. Cave, Prim. Chr., III. v. (1673), 360. Re-admitted into *Church-society.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 984. Singe … At rihte time *chirchesong.
1548–9. Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices, 24. The priest metyng the Corps at the *Churche style.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Church-porch, lxx. Who marks in *church-time others symmetrie.
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 159. Those that … spend the Church-time at Home.
1843. Dickens, Mart. Chuzz., xxvi. On Sunday morning, before church-time.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, I. xii. Some for *church-tippet, gown and hood, Draining their veins.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 418. Ne underuo ȝe þe *chirche uestimenz.
1628. Earle, Microcosm., Formall Man (Arb.), 31. Like one that runnes to the Minster walke [ed. 1629 *Church-walk], to take a turne, or two.
1509. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 31. A stondyng undernethe the *Chirche wall.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 144. Like god Bels priests in the old *Church window.
17. Comb. a. objective (and obj. genitive), as church-breaker, -destroyer, -deviser, -divider, -forsaker, -founder, -reformer, -revolutionist, -tearer, etc.; also church-believing, -building, -looking (= churchlike), -razing, -ruinating, -spoiling, etc., adjs.; church-chaffering, -spoiling, etc., sbs.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xlviii. (1737), 192. Some Robber … or *Church-breaker.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. (1641), 101/1. False-contracting, *Church-chaffering, Cheating, Bribing and Exacting.
1842. Cambr. Camden Soc., Few Words to Churchw., I. 12. The *church-destroyers of other days.
1672. W. Allen, Peace & Unity, 49. They are the Weapons in which *Church-Dividers do usually put their trust.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1617), 203. Whether Emperours or Bishops … were *Church-founders.
1822. in W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 93. Some *church-looking windows.
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec., 97. *Church-robbing Politicians and *Church-razing Souldiers.
1826. E. Irving, Babylon, II. 391. *Church-reforming statesmen.
1824. Southey, Bk. Ch. (1841), 414. The principles of these *church-revolutionists were hostile to monarchy.
1645. [G. Gillespie], Liberty of Conscience, Pref. A iij. Their pernicious, God-provoking, Truth-defacing, *Church-ruinating, & State-shaking toleration.
1604. Hieron, Wks., I. 575. Men, that do *church-spoyling loue.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., Peter iv. 8. The Papal *Church-tearers, that persecute all that consent not to their Canons, Forms and Shadows.
b. instrumental and advb., as church-begotten, -bidden, -commissioned, etc.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 462. The Martyn … A *church-begot, and church-believing bird.
1811. W. Spencer, Poems, 136. The *church-bidden bride.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., II. 513. Lost breath and heart in these *church-stifled places.
18. Special combs.: † church-acre, a churchyard; Church and King, the motto of the adherents of the Stuarts in the 17th and 18th c., hence a phrase for high ecclesiastical and monarchical sympathies combined; thence Church and Kingism, Church and King man; Church and State, the ecclesiastical and political organizations, especially as united; hence Church and Stateism; Church Army, an imitation, in connection with the Church of England, of the Salvation Army; church-bug, a species of wood-louse, said to be found often in churches; † church-catholic, in 17th c. = CHURCH-PAPIST; † church-clerk, a parish clerk; Church Commissioner, a member of one of the boards or commissions created to manage church matters; † church-earth, a churchyard; † church-errant, a humorous formation after knight-errant; hence † church-errantry; Church Estates Commission, Commissioners, a board appointed to control the management of the property of the Church of England; church-father, a Father of the Church; church-festival, a feast-day of the church, a holy-day; † church-feuar Sc., a leasehold tenant of the church; church-flag, a flag hoisted on board a ship during divine service; church-folk, people at church, church-goers; adherents of the established church, as distinguished from ‘chapel-folk’; church-grate, † (a.) a grated door or gate of a church or churchyard; (b.) a kind of apparatus for warming a church; † church-holy, consecration of a church; church-lease, a lease of church property; church-mode, one of the modes in mediæval church-music; church-office, an office in the church: the form prescribed for the conduct of a church-service; † church-outed a., put out of the church; church-path, a public, and usually ancient, footpath across fields, leading to, or shortening the way to, the parish church; church-piece, a piece of ground belonging to the church; church-register, a parish register; church-renter, one who holds a lease under the church; also, † one who makes a rent or division in a church; church-ring, a wedding-ring; church-social (U.S.), a social meeting in connection with a church; church-state, status in a church; † a theocracy; † church-strewing, the strewing of the church-floor with rushes on particular festivals; church-town, the church village, the place where the parish church of a number of hamlets is situated (Sc. kirk-town); † in OE. (cirictún) and ME., the enclosure of a church, a churchyard; † church-tympanite, some obsolete sect (see quot.); † church-vassal, a vassal of the church; † church-wort, Penny-royal.
1596. Stanford Churchw. Acc., in Antiquary, May (1888), 212. For earinge of the *church acre.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iv. The honest Cavalier … was to be true to *Church and King.
1803. W. Taylor, in Robberd, Mem., I. 459. The loyalty of it—nay worse, the *Church-and-kingism … will divert you.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis (1885), III. 25. A staunch, unflinching *Church-and-Kingman.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., i. § 7. The combination between *Church and State, of religion by law established.
1822. Edin. Rev., XXXVII. 420. The Church-and-State class.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, XI. ii. Men pretending to aristocracy … and *Church-and-Stateism.
1627. Let. fr. Jesuit, in Rushworth, Hist. Coll. (1659), I. 475. We give the honor to those which merit it, which are the *Church-Catholicks.
1535. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 42. Item rec. clerely for the *cherch clerkis mede … iijs. xjd.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Church-clerk, the parish-clerk. Long in use.
1842. Tennyson, Epic, 15. I heard The parson … Now harping on the *church commissioners, Now hawking at Geology and schism.
1672. N. Riding Rec., VI. 176. The fence in the *church-earth wall.
1784. New Spect., XX. 3/1. He … resembles a modern *church-errant in quest of a tithe pig.
1793. W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 58. The age of *church-errantry is over; missionaries, legates, crusaders, and reformers have long gone off the stage.
1885. Whitaker’s Almanack, 137. *Church Estates Commissioners, Earl Stanhope, [etc.].
1856. R. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), I. 109. The locality in which this great *church-father passed most of his days. Ibid., I. 112. To write a sermon … against the next *church-festival.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, xiii. Relig., Wks. (1881), II. 96. Respite from labour … on the Sabbath, and on church festivals.
1820. Scott, Monast., i. The habitations of the *church-feuars were not less primitive than their agriculture.
1862. Lond. Rev., 16 Aug., 139. With one eye fixed on the *church-flag at the peak.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 155. In chirche, þer al *chirche folc ohg to ben gadered.
1871. ‘Holme Lee,’ Her Title of Hon., i. Zeal that some of the church-folk wonder at and deride.
1519. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 36. For tymber for the *chirche grate xiiijd.
1846. Ecclesiologist, VI. 179. The church-grate consists of a light, circular, open fire-basket, raised on legs, and portable by means of an iron bar.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 75. *Chyrcheholy, encennia.
1727. Swift, What passed in Lond., Wks. 1755, III. I. 185. He got a *church-lease filled up that morning.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. (1617), 93. Sundry *Church-offices, Dignities, and Callings, for which they found no Commandement in the Holy Scripture.
1698. Lassels, Voy. Italy, I. 43. The ancient Church-Office here relates all this.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. Introd. 41–2. Thus *Church-outed by the Prelats, hence may appear the right I have to meddle in these matters.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 374. Football was … played…, and the *church-piece was the ground chosen for it.
1846. S. W. Singer, in Herrick’s Wks. (1869), Introd. 24. In the *church-register of Dean Prior.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 193. Only against such *Church-renters, and gross errors.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, VI. 665. Sets her darling down to cut His teeth upon her *church-ring.
1888. Milnor (Dakota) Teller, 18 May, 6/5. [To] tackle a washtub as quickly as a *church-social.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 252. The Missi, whom hee compares in *Church-state to Suffragans.
1676. Owen, Worship God, 97. Thus did God take the Children of Israel into a Church-state.
1506. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 31. Brede and drink to the carters for the *chirch strowyng.
a. 1000. Edgar’s Canons, § 26, in Thorpe, Laws, II. 250 (Bosw.). Ne binnan *cirictune æniȝ hund ne cume.
1340. Ayenb., 41. Þet vleþ to holy Cherche, oþer into cherch tounes vor to by yborȝe.
1680. Baxter, Cath. Commun., Pref. A ij. Even before the *Church-Tympanites, many score several Sects rose up.
1820. Scott, Abbot, i. A peasant, the son of a *church-vassal.
c. 1450. Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.), 130. Origanum, *chirchewrt.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, App. Churchwort, Pennyroyal.
