Church Club.--Throughout the American Church there are a number of
Church Clubs composed of laymen, associated together for the
purpose of discussing problems of Church work and belief and
studying out more thoroughly what this Church teaches and what its
history is. In some of these clubs eminent Bishops and other clergy
and laymen are invited to deliver lectures which are afterwards
printed in book form. The Church Club has done much to raise up a
class of intelligent and well-informed Churchmen who are proving
to be a great help and blessing to the Church.
Church Colors.--Also called Liturgical colors. From the most ancient
times it has been customary to deck the Church's Altar with hangings
of rich material which vary in color with the Church Season. As
commonly used at the present time the Church colors are five in
number, viz., white, red, violet, green and black. Their use may be
briefly set forth as follows: _White_ is used on all the great
Festivals of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, and of those Saints
who did not suffer martyrdom; it is also the color for All Saints'
Day, and the Feast of St. Michael and All {59} Angels; white is the
symbol of joy and purity. _Red_ is used on the Feasts of Martyrs,
typifying that they shed their blood for the testimony of Jesus; it
is also used at Whitsun Tide, symbolizing the cloven tongues of
fire in the likeness of which the Holy Ghost descended on the
Apostles. _Violet_ is the penitential color and is used in Advent,
Lent, the Ember and Rogation Days, on the Feasts of the Holy
Innocents, etc. _Green_ is the ordinary color for days that are
neither feasts nor Fasts as being the pervading color of nature; it
is chiefly used during the Epiphany Tide and the long period of the
Trinity Season. _Black_ is made use of at funerals and on Good
Friday. This use of the colors applies to the stole as well as to
the Altar hangings. The black stole is always out of place,
incongruous, except at funerals and on Good Friday. Where they are
used, the cope, chasuble, maniple, dalmatic and tunic also vary
with the Season in the same manner. The use of the Church colors,
besides "decking the place of His Sanctuary" is also most helpful
to the devotions of the people, in that it teaches them by the eye
the various Seasons of the Church's joy or mourning.
Church Congress.--An organization of the Clergy and Laity in the
American Church having for its object the general discussion of
living questions of the day and the application of Revealed Truth
to the needs of our modern life. It was organized in 1874 on the
model of the English Church Congress which, no doubt, suggested
such an organization for the Church in the United States. It is
not a legislative body, but rather an "Open Court" for the free {60}
exchange of views. Meetings are held annually and an elaborate
programme of subjects is prepared for each meeting, with appointed
essayists and speakers, and volunteer speakers are permitted. The
proceedings of each Congress are published in book form, of which
the Rev. Dr. Wildes for so many years the General Secretary says,
"The proceedings, addresses and speeches of the several sessions
embodied in annual reports form a _thesaurus_ of ripe learning,
vigorous thought and eloquent utterance upon great questions of
the times, of which the Episcopal Church may well be proud. To the
student in Theology and its cognate topics, no less than to clergymen
and thoughtful laymen, these volumes will be found most valuable."
Church Militant.--(See CHURCH CATHOLIC, THE).
Church Missions House.--This is a name that ought to be familiar to
every American Churchman. It is the name given to the handsome
building which is the headquarters of "The Domestic and Foreign
Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States of America." For many years the headquarters of the Society
were in rented rooms in the Bible House, New York City. By special
offerings given for the purpose by many generous Churchmen, the
Society was provided with the means to erect this beautiful and
spacious building. The corner-stone was laid on the southeast corner
of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-Second Street in New York City on
October 3, 1892. The building was occupied by the Society on New
Year's Day, 1894, and on the 25th of the same month, St. Paul's
Day, the building was formally dedicated. "Thus after more than {61}
seventy years, during which the Society had been a tenant, the
Society, representing our whole Church, was established in its own
beautiful home." The Church Mission House is a perfect beehive of
Church work. Here all the leading interests of the Church are
centred. In its spacious, well-lighted rooms are the offices of
the Missionary Society. Here, too, are the headquarters of the
Woman's Auxiliary, the American Building Fund Commission, the
officers of the General Convention, of the General Clergy Relief
Fund, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Girls' Friendly Society
and other Church agencies. Here, too, in its beautiful Chapel the
noontide prayers are daily offered for the spread of the Gospel of
Christ throughout the world. The Church Missions House is well worth
a visit by those who are visiting New York even for only a few days.
(See DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY).
Church Temperance Society.--This Society was organized in 1881,
and has for its object the promotion of _temperance_ in its
strict meaning. Its adult membership combines those who temperately
use and those who totally abstain from intoxicating liquors as
beverages. It works on the lines of moral as well as legal suasion,
and its practical objects are: 1. Training the young in habits of
temperance. 2. Rescue of the drunkard. 3. Restriction of the saloon
by legislation, and 4. Counteractive agencies, such as coffee-houses,
working-men's clubs, reading-rooms and other attractive wholesome
resorts. The Church Temperance Legion deals with boys, seeking to
induce them to keep sober, pure, and reverent from the {62} earliest
years of manhood and it endeavors to perpetuate those habits in men.
Church Wardens.--The name given to two officers of a parish usually
distinguished by the titles, Senior and Junior. In some Dioceses
they are elected directly by the people of the parish at the same
time the Vestrymen are elected. In other Dioceses they are appointed
by the newly elected Vestry. The Senior Warden is usually appointed
by the Rector and the Junior Warden is elected by the Vestry. It is
the special duties of the Wardens to see that the Church edifice is
kept from unhallowed use; that it be kept clean and in good repair,
duly lighted and warmed; to provide a sufficient supply of books and
ecclesiastical vestments to be used in the public ministrations by
the Minister, and to provide proper elements for the celebration of
the Holy Communion and preserve due order during service. In the
absence of the Rector one of the Wardens presides at Parish and
Vestry meetings.
Church Year.--(See CHRISTIAN YEAR).
Churching.--Equivalent to the Purification among the Jews, and which
in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary is commemorated as a Feast of
the Church on February 2. The reader is directed to the service set
forth in the Prayer Book under the title, "The Thanksgiving of Women
after Childbirth; commonly called, The Churching of Women."
"Although every deliverance from peril or sorrow demands a tribute
of thanksgiving to God, yet God Himself has placed a mark on the
pains of childbirth (Gen. 3:16); and therefore, as bearing special
reference to the cause of {63} all other misery, the Church has
appointed a special office of praise in acknowledgment of the
primeval curse converted into a blessing."
Circumcision, The.--A Feast of the Church observed on January 1st,
in commemoration of our Lord's obedience to the Law of Circumcision
and His receiving the Name JESUS (which see, also HOLY NAME).
Originally this date was observed as the Octave of Christmas. Its
first mention as the Feast of the Circumcision was about A.D. 1090.
In the Annotated Prayer Book there is the following note: "January
1st was never in any way connected with the opening of the Christian
Year; and the religious observance of this day (New Year's Day) has
never received any sanction from the Church, except as the Octave of
Christmas and the Feast of the Circumcision. The spiritual point of
the season all gathers about Christmas. As the modern New Year's Day
is merely conventionally so (New Year's Day being on March 25th
until about 150 years ago), there is no reason why it should be
allowed at all to dim the lustre of a day so important to all
persons and all ages as Christmas Day." The Feast of the Circumcision
is designed to be observed with great solemnity. There are Proper
Psalms, being the 40th and 90th for Morning Prayer, and the 65th and
103d for Evening Prayer, also Proper Lessons and Collect, Epistle
and Gospel, these last to be used every day until the Epiphany. The
Church color is, white, and the Feast is placed among the DAYS OF
OBLIGATION (which see).
Clergy.--A collective name for the Bishops, Priests and Deacons of
the Church. The Priesthood and the {64} People are generally
distinguished from each other by the titles _Clergy_ and _Laity_.
The term Clergy is derived from the Greek word _Cleros_, meaning
a lot or portion, either because the Clergy--_clerikoi_--are the
Lord's portion, as being allotted to His service; or because God
is their portion and inheritance. The Laity are so called from
the Greek word _Laos_, meaning people, as being the chosen and
peculiar people of God.
Clerical.--Pertaining to the work and office of the Clergy.
Cloister.--A covered walk about a Cathedral or Church or Collegiate
building, oftentimes forming a portion of the quadrangle.
Coadjutor.--(See BISHOP COADJUTOR).
Collect.--The name given to the prayers set forth in the Prayer Book
and especially to the short prayers used in connection with Epistles
and Gospels. The origin of the name is uncertain and various meanings
have been given to it. Some have connected it with the _collected_
assembly of the people; others have interpreted the name as
indicating that the prayer so-called, _collects_ together the topics
of previous prayers or else those of the Epistle and Gospel for the
day. Another interpretation is that which distinguishes the Collect
as the prayer offered by the Priest _alone_ on behalf of the
people, while in the Litanies and Versicles the Priest and people
pray alternately. As of Common Prayer in general, so it may be
concluded especially of the Collect in particular, "that it is the
supplications of many gathered into one by the voice of the Priest
and offered up by him to the Father through our Lord and Mediator
Jesus Christ." {65}
Comfortable Words.--The name given to the short passages of
Scripture read after the Absolution in the Communion service. It
has been pointed out that these are peculiar to our Liturgy and that
"perhaps the object of their introduction was the obvious one
suggested in the title of _Comfortable Words_, of confirming the
words of Absolution with those of Christ and His Apostles; and of
holding forth our Lord and Saviour before the communicants, in the
words of Holy Scripture to prepare them for 'discerning' His Body
in the Sacrament."
Commendatory Prayer.--A beautiful and impressive prayer added to
the Prayer Book in 1661, and which is to be said over a dying
person. This prayer ought to be memorized by every Churchman so
as to use it in any emergency for, as Bishop Coxe suggests in
"Thoughts on the Services," "whether a Clergyman be present or
not, no Christian should be willing to die, or be permitted to die,
without the _Commendatory Prayer_ said by some one present at or
near the moment of departure. Church people are not heathen, that
they should neglect this bounden duty to one who is passing away.
'Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit,' said the Saviour with
His dying breath. So should the sick person in his own behalf; or
those who love him in his behalf, if because of the pain or
unconsciousness of death, he cannot frame the petition for himself."