gusta, married to the late duke of Holstein-Augustenburg. (For an account of Struensee's fate, see the Mémoires de M. de Falckenskiold, major-general of the king of Denmark, published by Secretan, Paris, 1826.)

CHRISTIANIA; capital of the kingdom of Norway, seat of government, and the place where the storthing (Norwegian parliament) meet; lon. 10° 49′ E.; lat. 59° 53′ 46′′ N. It contains 1500 houses, and 11,040 inhabitants, is situated in the dio cese of Christiania, or Aggerhuus, on the northern end of the bay of Christiansfiord, in a district where gardening is much pursued. Besides the suburbs, it contains Christiania Proper, built by king Christian IV, in 1624, on a regular plan, the Old City, or Opslo, and the citadel, Aggerhuus, which was demolished in 1815. Among the principal buildings are the royal palace, the new councilhouse, and the exchange. Since 1811, a university (Fredericia) has been established here, with a philological seminary, a botanical garden, an observatory, a library, collections of various kinds, 18 professors, and 200 students. Christiania also contains a military school, a bank, a commercial institute, an alum factory, &c. It has much trade, chiefly in lumber and iron. Its harbor is excellent. The value of the lumber annually exported is estimated at 810,000 guilders. În the vicinity are 136 sawing-mills, which furnish, annually, 20 millions of planks.

CHRISTIANITY; the religion instituted by Jesus Christ. Christianity, as it now exists in our minds, has received, from the influence of the priesthood, of national character, of the spirit of the time, and the thousand ways in which it has been brought into contact with politics and science, a quantity of impure additions, which we should first separate, in order to understand what it is in reality. There could be no better means of attaining a correct understanding of it, than to investigate, historically, the religious principles which Jesus himself professed, exhibited in his life, and labored to introduce into the world, if the investigator could avoid giving the coloring of his own views to his explanation of the records of the origin of Christianity. But the most honest inquirers have not entirely succeeded in so doing. Even the Christian theologians of the present age-less divided, in some countries, for instance, in Germany, by the spirit of creeds and sects, than by the difference of scientific methods and philosophical speculations-dispute respect

ing the principle that constitutes the basis of the religion of Christ, which, in other respects, has been unanimously adopted. (See the articles Religion, Revelation, Rationalism, and Supernaturalism.) This principle appears, by its effect upon the numerous nations, differing so greatly in intellectual character and cultivation, which received Christianity at first, to have been a universal truth, adapted to the whole human race, and of a divine, all-uniting power. The Jews believed in a living God, the Creator of all things, and, so far, had just views of the source of religion. The Greeks, besides developing the principle of the beautiful in their works of art, had laid the foundations of valuable sciences applicable to the business of life. The Romans had established the principles of law and political administration, and proved their value by experience. These scattered elements of moral and intellectual cultivation, insufficient, in their disunited state, to bring about the true happiness and moral perfection of man, in his social and individual capacity, were refined, perfected and combined by Christianity, through the law of a pure benevolence, the highest aim of which is that of rendering men good and happy, like God, and which finds, in the idea of a kingdom of heaven upon earth, announced and realized by Christ, all the means of executing its design. His religion supplied what was wanting to these nations-a religious character to the science of Greece, moral elevation to the legislative spirit of Rome, liberty and light to the devotion of the Jews-and, by inculcating the precept of universal love of mankind, raised the narrow spirit of patriotism to the extended feeling of general philanthropy. Thus the endeavors of ancient times after moral perfection were directed and concentrated by Christianity, which supplied, at the same time, a motive for diffusing more widely that light and those advantages which mystery and the spirit of castes had formerly withheld from the multitude. It conveyed the highest ideas, the most important truths and principles, the purest laws of moral life, to all ranks; it proved the possibility of perfect virtue, through the example of its Founder; it laid the foundation for the peace of the world, through the doctrine of the reconciliation of men with God and with each other; and, directing their minds and hearts towards Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith, the crucified, arisen and glorified Mediator between heaven

and earth, it taught them to discern the benevolent connexion of the future life with the present. The history of Jesus, and the preparations of God for his mission, afforded the materials from which Christians formed their conceptions of the character and tendency of their religion. The first community of the followers of Jesus was formed at Jerusalem, soon after the death of their Master. Another, at Antioch, in Syria, first assumed (about 65) the name of Christians, which had originally been given to them by their adversaries, as a term of reproach; and the travels of the apostles spread Christianity through the provinces of the Roman empire. Palestine, Syria, Natolia, Greece, the islands of the Mediterranean, Italy, and the northern coast of Africa, as early as the 1st century, contained societies of Christians. Their ecclesiastical discipline was simple, and conformable to their humble condition, and they continued to acquire strength amidst all kinds of oppressions. (See Persecutions.) At the end of the 2à century, Christians were to be found in all the provinces, and, at the end of the 3d century, almost one half of the inhabitants of the Roman empire, and of several neighboring countries, professed this belief. The endeavor to preserve a unity of faith (see Orthodoxy) and of church discipline, caused numberless disputes among those of different opinions (see Heretics and Sects), and led to the establishment of an ecclesiastical tyranny, notwithstanding the oppressions which the first Christians had experienced from a similar institution-the Jewish priesthood. At the beginning of the 4th century, when the Christians obtained toleration by means of Constantine the Great, and, soon after, the superiority in the Roman empire, the bishops exercised the power of arbiters of faith, in the first general council (see Nice), 325, by instituting a creed binding on all Christians. Upon this foundation, the later councils (q. v.), assisted by those writers who are honored by the church as its fathers and teachers (see Fathers of the Church, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, &c.), erected the edifice of the orthodox system; while the superior portion of the ecclesiastics, who were now transformed into priests, and elevated above the laity as a privileged, sacred order (see Clergy and Priests), were enabled, partly by their increasing authority in matters of church discipline, partly by the belief, which they had encouraged, that certain traditions from the apostles were inherited by them only (see Tradi

tions), to preserve the prerogatives at first granted them out of love and gratitude, but afterwards much extended by themselves, and to make themselves, gradually, masters of the church. (See Bishops, Patriarchs, Popes, Hierarchy.) Their views were promoted by the favor of the emperors (see Theodosius the Great) (with slight interruptions in the reign of Julian and some of his successors), by the increased splendor and various ceremonials of divine worship (see Mass, Saints, Relics, Iconoclasts), by the decline of classical learning, the increasing superstition resulting from this increase of ignorance, and by the establishment of convents and monks. (See Convents.) In this form, appealing to the senses more than to the understanding, Christianity, which had been introduced among the Goths in the 4th century, was spread among the other Teutonic nations in the west and north of Europe, and subjected to its power, during the 7th and 8th centuries, the rude warriors who founded new kingdoms on the ruins of the Western Empire, while it was losing ground, in Asia and Africa, before the encroachments of the Saracens, by whose rigorous measures hundreds of thousands of Christians were converted to Mohammedanism, the heretical sects which had been disowned by the orthodox church (see Jacobites, Copts, Armenians, Maronites, Nestorians) being almost the only Christians who maintained themselves in the East. During this progress of Mohammedanism, which, in Europe, extended only to Spain and Sicily, the Roman popes (see Popes and Gregory VII), who were advancing systematically to ecclesiastical superiority in the west of Europe, gained more in the north, and, soon after, in the east of this quarter of the world, by the conversion of the Sclavonic and Scandinavian nations (from the 10th to the 12th century), than they had lost in other regions. For the Mohammedans had chiefly overrun the territory of the Eastern church (see Greek Church), which had been, since the 5th century, no longer one with the Western (Latin) church, and had, by degrees, become entirely separate from it. In the 10th century, it received some new adherents, by the conversion of the Russians, who are now its most powerful support. But the crusaders, who were led, partly by religious enthusiasm, partly by the desire of conquest and adventures (1096-1150), to attempt the recovery of the holy sepulchre, gained the new kingdom of Jerusalem, not for the Greek emperor, but for themselves and

the papal hierarchy. (See Crusades.) The confusion which this finally unsuccessful undertaking introduced into the civil and domestic affairs of the western nations, gave the church a favorable opportunity of increasing its possessions, and asserting its pretensions to universal monarchy. But, contrary to the wishes and expectations of the rulers of the church, the remains of ancient heresies (see Manichaans, Paulicians) were introduced into the West, through the increased intercourse of nations, and by the returning crusaders, and new and more liberal ideas were propagated, springing from the philosophical spirit of examination of some schoolmen (see Abelard, Arnold of Brescia), and the indignation excited by the corruptions of the clergy. These kindled an opposition among all the societies and sects against the Roman hierarchy. (See Cathari, Albigenses, Waldenses.) The foundation and multiplication of ecclesiastical orders (q. v.), particularly the Franciscans and Dominicans, for the care of souls and the instruction of the people, which had been neglected by the secular priests, did not remedy the evil, because they labored, in general, more actively to promote the interests of the church and the papacy, than to remove superstition and ignorance; and bold speculations, which would not yield to their persuasion, were still less likely to be extirpated by the power of the inquisition (q. v.), which armed itself with fire and sword. The great difference of the Christian religion, as it was then taught and practised, from the religion of Jesus Christ, the insufficiency of what the church taught to the religious wants of the human mind and heart, was apparent to many, partly from their knowledge of the spirit of Jesus, derived from the Bible, which was already studied, in secret, by curious readers, in spite of the prohibitions of the church, and partly from the bold eloquence of single teachers and chiefs of sects. Ecclesiastical orders also desired to pursue their own course (see Knights Templars, Franciscans); offended princes forgot the great services of the papal power in promoting the cultivation of nations in the first centuries of the middle ages; and the popes themselves made little effort to reform or conceal the corruption of their court and of the clergy. They even afforded the scandalous spectacle of a schism in the church (see Schism, Popes, and Antipope), which was distracted, after 1378, for more than 30 years, by the quarrels between two candidates, who both asserted their 15

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right to the papal chair. This dispute was settled only by the decrees of the council of Constance (1414-1418), which were very unfavorable to the papal power. The doctrines of the English Wickliffe (q. v.) had already given rise to a party opposed to the popedom; and the revolt of the adherents of the Bohemian reformer (see Huss, Hussites), who was burnt at Constance on account of similar doctrines, extorted from the council of Bâle (1431 -43) certain compacts, which, being firmly maintained, proved to the friends of a reformation in the head and members of the church (proposed, but without success, at the council of Bâle), what a firm and united opposition to the abuses of the Roman church might be able to effect. We refer the reader to the article Reformation, and the articles relating to it, for a history of the causes, progress and consequences of this great event. But that this great change in the church has revived primitive Christianity in the spirit of its Founder, the most zealous Protestants will not assert, any more than the reflecting Catholic will deny the necessity of such a reform, and the real merits of Protestantism in promoting it. (See Trent, Council of, Roman Catholic Church, and Protestantism.) The forms under which Christianity appears, in our days, are very different. The example of the south of Europe proves how easily this religion naturalizes itself, but, also, how much it loses, under the influence of sensuality and an over-active fancy, of the simple grandeur, the moral power and pure spirit of its original character. Protestantism removed from the northern nations many of the burdens with which the predominance of the earthly nature had oppressed the spirit of religion. By opening the Bible to all, it aroused the spirit of inquiry, but also gave rise to an immense variety of sects, springing from the different views which different men were led to form from the study of the sacred volume. The present moral and political condition of Christian Europe, though affected by so many influences foreign to religion, bears the stamp of a cultivation springing from Christianity, and this has been impressed upon its colonies in distant lands, among which the U. States of North America alone have advanced to the principle of universal toleration. But if we look among our contemporaries for Christianity as it dwelt and operated in Christ, we shall find it pure in no nation and in no religious party; but we perceive its features in the conduct of the enlight

ened and pious among all nations, who love Christ, and are penetrated with his Spirit. How Christianity will develope itself in North America, where all sects are tolerated, what will be the result of this immense variety of opinions and creeds, is, as yet, a matter of speculation. The general views of the great body of Protestant sects in this country, however, have so much in common, that they may still be considered as forming one great family among the principal divisions of the Christian world. Whether this will be true after a considerable time has elapsed, is at least doubtful, as the Unitarians and Trinitarians seem to be taking essentially different directions.

CHRISTIANS; the general name of the followers of Christ. (See Christianity.)

CHRISTIANS; the name of a denomination, in the U. States, adopted to express their renunciation of all sectarianism. They have become numerous in all parts of the country, the number of their churches, in 1827, being estimated at about 1000. Each church is an independent body: they recognise no creed, no authority in matters of doctrine: the Scriptures, which every individual must interpret for himself, are their only rule of faith: admission to the church is obtained by a simple profession of belief in Christianity: speculative belief they treat as of little importance, compared with virtue of character. In New England, they separated principally from the Calvinistic Baptists; in the Southern States, from the Methodists; and in the Western, from the Presbyterians. There was, therefore, at first, a great diversity of opinion and practice among them, each church retaining some of the peculiarities of the sect from which it seceded. In New England, the churches were established on the principle of close communion, which was soon abandoned. In the South and West, they were Pedobaptists, but have since become Baptists. Nearly all were, at first, Trinitarians; but thdoctrine of the Trinity, and its concomitant doctrines, are now universally rejected by them. To maintain a connexion between the different churches, one or more conferences are formed in each state, consisting of members delegated from each church. In 1827, there were 23 of these conferences, which again form, by delegation, the United States General Christian Conference. They have several periodical works (Christian Herald, Portsmouth, N. H.; Gospel Luminary, N. Y.; Christian Messenger, Ky.), but no theological seminary, considering that

whoever understands the gospel may teach it. They consider Christ as the Son of God, miraculously conceived, whose death was a ratification of the new covenant, not a propitiatory sacrifice; and the Holy Ghost or Spirit as the power or energy of God, exerted in converting the wicked and strengthening the good.

CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS; the name of a sect of Christians on the coast of Malabar, in the East Indies, to which region the apostle St. Thomas is said to have carried the gospel. They belong to those Christians who, in the year 499, united to form a Syrian and Chaldaic church in Central and Eastern Asia, and are, like them, Nestorians. (See Syrian Christians.) They have, however, retained rather more strongly than the latter the features of their descent from the earliest Christian communities. Like these, they still celebrate the agapes, or love-feasts, portion maidens from the property of the church, and provide for their poor. Their notions respecting the Lord's supper incline to those of the Protestants, but, in celebrating it, they use bread with salt and oil. At the time of baptism, they anoint the body of the infant with oil. These two ceremonies, together with the consecration of priests, are the only sacraments which they acknowledge. Their priests are distinguished by the tonsure, are allowed to marry, and were, until the 16th century, under a Nestorian patriarch at Babylon, now at Mosul, from whom they received their bishop, and upon whom they are also dependent for the consecration of their priests. Their churches contain, except the cross, no symbols nor pictures. Their liturgy is similar to the Syrian, and the Syrian language is used in it. When the Portuguese occupied the East Indies, the Roman Catholic clergy endeavored to subject the Christians of St. Thomas to the government of the pope. The archbishop of Goa succeeded, in 1599, in persuading them to submit, and form a part of his diocese. They were obliged to renounce the Nestorian faith, adopt a few Catholic ceremonies, and obey a Jesuit, who became their bishop. But, after the Portuguese were supplanted by the Dutch on the coast of Malabar, this union of the Christians of St. Thomas with the Roman church ceased, and they returned to their old forms. At present, they are, under the British government, free from any ecclesiastical restraint, and form among themselves a kind of spiritual republic, under a bishop chosen by themselves, and

in which the priests and elders administer justice, using excommunication as a means of punishment. In their political relations to the natives, they belong to the class of the Nairi, or nobility of the second rank, are allowed to ride on elephants, and to carry on commerce and agriculture, instead of practising mechanical trades, like the lower classes. Travellers describe them as very ignorant, but, at the same time, of very good morals.

CHRISTIANSAND; a government and bishopric of Norway, occupying the S. W. part of the country. The population of this division of the kingdom is estimated at 134,000; square miles, 14,800. Though one of the most fertile parts of the country, the grain produced is not adequate to the consumption of the inhabitants, and grain is therefore one of the chief imports. The inhabitants are principally employed in the fisheries and in cutting trees. Timber forms the chief article of their exports.-The capital is also called Christiansand, and is situated on the S. coast. The streets are broad and straight, and the houses have extensive gardens. It is considered as the fourth town in the kingdom. It contains about 5000 inhabitants. Its harbor is one of the best in Norway. It derives some support from the trade in timber, but depends chiefly on the repair of vessels which put in there to refit. Lon. 8°3′ E.; lat. 58° 8' N.

CHRISTIANS-OE, or ERT-HOLM; a group of islands, in the Baltic, belonging to Denmark, named from the chief island, which has a much-frequented port, a light-house and a castle; lon. 14° 47′ E.; lat. 55° 13' N.

CHRISTINA, queen of Sweden, born Dec. 9, 1626, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus and the princess Maria Eleonore of Brandenburg, was distinguished for beauty, and taste for the liberal arts. Gustavus, who beheld in Christina the only support of his throne, took the greatest care of her education, which was conducted in a masculine manner. She was instructed in all the sciences adapted to improve her mind and strengthen her character. After the death of Gustavus, at Lützen, in 1632, the states-general appointed guardians to the queen Christina, then but six years old. These were the five highest officers of the crown, who were intrusted, at the same time, with the administration of the kingdom. The education of Christina was continued according to the plan of Gustavus Adolphus. Endowed with a lively imagination, a

good memory, and uncommon intelligence, she made the most rapid progress. She learned the ancient languages, history, geography, politics, and renounced the pleasures of her age in order to devote herself entirely to study. She already betrayed those peculiarities which characterized her whole life, and which were, perhaps, as much the consequence of her education as of her natural disposition. She did not like to appear in the female dress, made long journeys on foot or on horseback, and delighted in the fatigues and even the dangers of the chase. She submitted reluctantly to the customs of the court, alternately treating those who surrounded her with the greatest familiarity and with haughtiness or commanding dignity. She honored the chancellor Oxenstiern as a father, and learned from him the art of governing. She soon showed, in the assembly of the states, a maturity of understanding which astonished her guardians. In 1642, the statesgeneral proposed to her to take the administration into her own hands; but she excused herself on the ground of her youth. Only two years after, she took upon herself the government. A great talent for business, and great firmness of purpose, distinguished her first steps. She terminated the war with Denmark, begun in 1644, and obtained several provinces by the treaty concluded at Brömsebro, in 1645. She then, contrary to the advice of Oxenstiern, who hoped to gain, by the continuance of the war, still greater advantages for Sweden, labored to reestablish peace in Germany, in order to be able to devote herself uninterruptedly to the sciences and the arts of peace. Christina was fitted, by her talents and the circumstances in which she was placed, to play the most distinguished part in the North of Europe, and, for some time, seemed sensible of the charms of her lofty station. On many occasions, she maintained the dignity of her crown and the honor of her country. France, Spain, Holland and England sought her friendship. She promoted commerce by wise legislation, and patronised the learned and literary institutions. The nation was devoted to her, and rejoiced to see the daughter of Gustavus at the head of the government, surrounded by generals and statesmen formed by that great prince. It was the universal wish that the queen should choose a husband; but her love of independence rendered her averse to such a connexion. Among the princes who sued for her hand, her cousin, Charles Gustavus of