Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/578

 566 CHUPRA CHURCH He wrote a poem, said to contain 100,000 stanzas, in which he alludes to or treats of al- most all branches of knowledge, and gives a sort of general history of his nation during the period in which he lived, celebrating the ex- ploits of the Rajpoot nobles, and especially of Prithwiraja, the last Hindoo king of Delhi, for whom he acted as court bard. His poems are still very popular among the Rajpoots. Col. Tod published an account of the life and wri- tings of Chund in the first volume of the " Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society," giving some translations from these poems. CHUPRA, a town of Bengal, capital of the dis- trict of Sarun, British India, situated at the function of the Ganges and the Gogari, 32 m. N. W. of Patna, and 330 m. N. W. of Cal- cutta ; pop. about 30,000. It has a con- siderable trade in cotton, sugar, and salt- petre, with towns on the rivers. With the exception of the places of worship and the dwellings of the wealthy native merchants, the houses are built of mud, with tiled roofs. The town has little breadth, but extends a mile along the river. It is only a few feet above the level of the Ganges, which is here nav- igable during the rains, but inaccessible from October to July. < IIHjl Is U. I. A department of Bolivia, between lat. 17 and 21 25' 8., and Ion. 62 and 67 W., bounded N. by the departments of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, E. by Santa Cruz, S. by Tarija and Potosi, and W. by Oruro; area, 72,793 sq. m. ; pop. 219,788. The surface is mountainous and in portions arid, but the valleys are noted for fertility and are generally well cultivated, yielding large crops of corn, potatoes, and clover. It is di- vided into the provinces of Chuquisaca, Cinti, Tomina, and Yamparaes. The province of Chuquisaca is the most northerly and most elevated part of the department, and contains numerous and rich mines of gold and silver. II. The capital of Bolivia. See SUCKE. CHUB. See COIBB. CHURCH (Gr. Kvpian6v, consecrated to the Lord ; Saxon, kyrck ; Scandinavian, kirka ; Slavic, cerkiev ; Scotch, kirk: the common root in these forms did not pass into the Ro- manic languages, but from the New Testament term EKKfyaia, a congregation, sprang the Lat. ecclesia, the Span, igletia, the Fr. eglise, &c.), in its most general sense, the whole collective body of Christians. Its narrower senses are, a body of Christians adopting one creed, and or- ganized under the same ecclesiastical govern- ment, as the Anglican church ; the Christians of a particular province or city, as the church of Antioch ; or a society organized for worship in the same edifice. In the Scriptures the name is also given to the body of Jewish be- lievers, the Jewish church being composed of all those who followed the law of Moses. The Christian church is the society of those who profess the religion of Jesus Christ. The soci- ety of the faithful upon earth is usually called the church militant, and the society of the saints in heaven is called the church triumph- ant. In the New Testament the name is once applied to a single family of Christians. (See CHRISTIANITY.) Christians have always given the appellation church to the edifices designed for public worship. The ancient churches had an atrium, or open space surrounded with walls, before the entrance ; in the centre of this there was a fountain, in which all washed their hands or faces before entering the church, as an emblem of the purity of soul which they should possess. Before the door there was a covered court, the roof of which was sup- ported by columns ; in this were placed the first class of penitents, who were called flente*. In the interior, the part of the church near the door was called the narthex ; in this the cate- chumens and the penitents, who were called audientes, were placed. Then came the nave, the lower part of which was occupied by the penitents called the prostrati ; while the laity were arranged, the men on one side and the females on the other, in the remainder of the nave. In the centre was the amton, or pulpit, large enough to contain several persons who acted as chanters. The choir was separated from the nave by cancelli, or rails; in this were situated the altar, the throne of the bish- op, and the seats of the priests. As it ter- minated in a semicircle, it was called the apsis. A curtain drawn round the altar concealed it from the view of the catechumens, and from those who were unbelievers, during the time of the divine mysteries. (See ARCHITECTURE, and CATHEDRAL.) CHURCH, Benjamin, an American soldier in the early Indian wars, born at Duxbury, Mass., in 1639, died at Little Compton, Jan. 17, 1718. He was engaged in several severe skirmishes in King Philip's war, one of which was in a swamp near Bridgewater ; and in August, 1676, he commanded the party by which Phil- ip was killed. Commissioned in 1689 as com- mander-in-chief of an expedition against the eastern Indians, he proceeded up the Kenne- bec, visited the forts in that vicinity, and res- cued Casco for a time. He made four other expeditions against the Indians in Maine, once landing at Maquoit, and thence going to Pe- jepscot fort, in Brunswick, once again going up the Kennebec, and twice ascending the Pe- nobscot and Passamaquoddy, and doing much damage to the French and Indians on these rivers. Under his direction, and from his minutes, his son Thomas wrote a history of Philip's war (1716; last ed., with notes by H. M. Dexter, 1865). CHURCH, Hcnjiimin, an American physician, born at Newport, R. I., Aug. 24, 1734, lost at sea in May, 1776. He graduated at Harvard college in 1754, and became very successful as a physician and surgeon. He was also a pol- ished speaker, and the author of several spir- ited poems. Before the breaking out of the revolutionary war he was a leading whig poli-