occupies a conspicuous site on the summit of an abrupt rock which commands the river. It was at one time a place of great strength, and still contains a magazine, and is fortified with batteries. In the old citadel on the height, the remains of a Hindu palace with some interesting carvings indicate the former importance of the place. The town, which consists of one or two straggling streets, contains a handsome English church. Chunar is first mentioned in the 1 6th century, when in possession of Sing Joanpore. In 1530 it became the residence of Shere Khan the Afghan, and forty-five years later was recovered by the Emperor Akbar after sustaining a siege of six months. It fell into the hands of the English under General Carnac in 1763 after a prolonged resistance which caused considerable loss to the assailants. A treaty with the nabob of Oudh was signed here by Hastings on behalf of the East India Company, in September 1781. Popu
lation, 11,000.CHUND, or Chand, or Chandra-Bardai, a Hindu writer belonging to the 12th century, was court-poet to the last of the Hindu sovereigns of Delhi. His poem is an encyclo paedic work of immense size. It includes a history, and especially an account of the exploits of the author and of his master. It is still popular among the Rajputs. An account of Chund, with, some translations of his poem, is given by Colonel Tod, in vol. i. of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society.
CHUPRAH, a town of India, in the province of Behar, Bengal, situated on the north bank of the Ganges, 35 miles north- west of Patna. The town contains several mosques and pagodas, and some churches. It extends nearly a mile along the Ganges, and is not much above the level of the river. A considerable trade is carried on by the inhabitants in saltpetre, sugar, and cotton. The military station is separate from the town. Population about 30,000.
CHUR, the capital of the Swiss canton of Grisons, otherwise known by the French form of the name, Coire. See Coire.
CHURCH. All who call themselves Christians agree in admitting that in the New Testament (and also, though in a more shadowy and less distinct manner, in the Old Testament) there is to be found frequent mention of a corporate body known as the church, sometimes spoken of more fully as the Church of God, or the Church of Christ. It is referred to by its divine Founder as about to be built upon a rock (Matthew xvi. 18). In the book of Acts it has become a living reality, including apostles, elders, and laity, holding a council, and making decisions upon most points of doctrine and of practice (Acts xvi. 4-22). In the epistles it is spoken of in terms of great magnificence, akin to the glowing language of prophecy. Christ, in His glorified humanity, is recognized as its head ; it is in turn His body, His fulness, and His spouse.
The exact ideas involved in the word church, the questions concerning its powers, its nature and essence and modes of governance and continuance, its relation to Holy Scripture, and its relation to the state have all been fruitful matters of controversy. These questions have emerged in a marked manner during the controversy with the Gnostics, the controversy with the Novatians and the Donatists, and those arising out of the Reformation. Hence among the writings of the fathers, bearing upon the nature of the church, may be specially named those of St Irenoeus in opposition to the Gnostics, of St Cyprian against the Novatians, and of St Augustine against the Donatists. The relations of the church to the state became subjects of discussion directly Constantino had made Christianity the religion of the empire. These relations are illustrated by the history of Arianism, Donatism, and Priscillianism, by the career of St Chrysostom, and by the fierce conflicts of the Middle Ages between Guelfs and Ghibellines the former siding with the Pope, the latter with the emperors. The contest between Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface, and that of Philip Augustus of France and John of England against Pope Innocent III. turned upon the same great controversy, again and again renewed during the Middle Ages. Some of the most striking mediaeval illustrations of the conflict are to be found in the life of Occam, and in the Divina Commedia of Dante. The points in dispute have been keenly discussed by modern historians ; those of the 18th century, as Hume, Henry, Mably, being strongly on the side of the state; those of the 19th, as Guizot, Voigt, Michelet, Palgrave, Arnold, Bridges, Mill, and even Macaulay, and, to some extent, Milman, more or less emphatically advocating the cause of the mediaeval church during at least a portion of the struggle.
The Reformation in great measure turned upon both sets of questions, the relation of the church to the Scriptures and its relation to the state. Consequently, they occupy no small portion both of the controversial literature and of the political history of the 16th and 17th centuries. On the religious side they are illustrated by the lives and writings of Martin Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, and tho Continental Reformers generally, as well by those of Knox and of Cranmer in Britain, and of their Roman Catholic opponents, such as Ignatius Loyola, and in a later age by Cardinal Bellarmine and by Hooker, by Andrewes and others; and on the political side by such events as the Thirty Years "War, the Spanish Armada, the Revolution of 1688. The last two centuries have not witnessed any distinctively religious war. But these questions underlie the numerous " concordats " drawn up between the Church of Rome and various states in Europe and America, the entire history of Gallicanism and Jansenism, the Tractarian controversy commencing in England in 1833 A. P., and the contem porary discussion in Scotland, which ended in the Disruption of 1843 and the formation of the powerful and energetic body of Presbyterians, known as the Free Church. The disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Ireland raised cognate questions, and it is evident that disestablishment, already a fact in the United States, in France, in Ireland, and in some of the British colonies, may at any moment become a question of no slight political importance. Among more modern writers who have treated these questions may be named Bishop Warburton, De Maistre, the Rev. Sir W. Palmer, Rothe, Klee, the Abbe" Mignet, Mr Gladstone, Dr Arnold, and many more, especially the commentators on creeds and confessions, as Mohler, Bishop Burnet, Bishop Harold Browne.
It remains to mention a few of the more prominent views and definitions prevalent among leading bodies of Christians.
1. As regards the church triumphant there would probably be little or no controversy. The great bulk of Christians would acknowledge it as " the whole body of the glorified, consisting of the holy angels and of the spirits of the just made perfect who have been redeemed by the merits (whether foreseen or actually wrought) of the divine Head of the church, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God."
considerably. In the first place there emerges the impor tant question, whether it is a visible or an invisible body. This is not the place to discuss which is the view set forth in Holy Scripture, that being of course the very point at
issue. It must here suffice to say that the disciples of