DISCIPLINE, Ecclesiastical. Church dis cipline is the method and means used by the authorities of the Church to preserve the purity and morale of its membership. The Old Tes tament basis for discipline is almost entirely found in the decalogue and the book of Leviti cus. The administration of the law was largely in the hands of the secular authorities. Some times, however, the seer or prophet took into his hands the power to rebuke and punish a lung or leader. Some of the minor ecclesias tical punishments were applied by the priests.
In the New Testament, authority was derived from the decalogue and the ethical teachings of Jesus, especially Matthew xviii, 15-18. At first the Apostles were the administrators, later the deacons were empowered to assist them in minor matters. After the day of Pentecost, Church councils were held which gave added authority to discipline. The administrators of law were the leaders and supervisors of the work of the members or committees appointed by them. Later the bishop was the executor of authority whose power was checked only by the Church council. The punishments consisted almost entirely of exclusion, temporary or per manent, and anathema which was considered the extreme disgrace. Heresy punishment was often resorted to. In Paul's writings various classes of offenders are named. (1 Cor. v, 9 13; 2 Thess. iii, 6).
In the Nicene period to the time of the Em peror Constantine, discipline remained in the hands of the Church and rules were rather rigorously enforced, but there was noprecise code governing the whole Church. In this period disciplinary canons were enacted and the system of penance developed, also the secret discipline or Disciplina Arcani (q.v.) developed.
After the adoption of the Church by the state, many ecclesiastical penalties were en forced by the state. They were of a much wider range than before the change and in cluded confiscation of goods, fines, imprison ment, banishment and even the death penalty. Constantine, as Pontifex Maximus, claimed lordship over the whole Church, with the rights of a universal, bishop. Under Constantine less
attention waspaid to moral conduct than to heresies and offenses against the corporate body of the Church. The death penalty was first imposed at Treves in 385, when Priscillian, a Spanish bishop, and six others, including a woman, were executed. Beginning with Augus tine there was a conviction that heresy should be punished by death, and the schoolmen cited Augustine as being in favor of it.
The period of the Crusades witnessed a further development of discipline. The growth of the papal power and authority also tended to change its character.
With the establishment of the Inquisition by Innocent III at the 12th Ecumenical Council, another step was taken when it was not only planned to suppress heresy but to extirpate it. The bull, Unam Sanctam, promulgated by Boniface VIII, 1302, made obedience to the Pope necessary to salvation and declared that both swords were in his hand. The Council of Constance, 1415, reaffirmed the right of the Church to burn heretics, and condemned Huss and Jerome of Prague. The Council of Trent did not mention the death penalty, but did place great emphasis on the discipline of penance and the use of indulgences.
Luther never made a system of discipline. Zwingle left all right of excommunication to the state. John Calvin, however, was intensely interested in the subject, and in the second volume of his Institutes (Book IV) devotes many pages to its discussion. The one great blot on the career of Calvin is his consent to the burning of Michael Servetus. In other matters of discipline the Reformed Churches and the Protestant Church of France followed the teachings of Calvin as set forth in his The Lutheran Church government of Ger many in modern days is a mere shadow as it is under absolute domination of the Imperial government. In America there are five general bodies of Lutherans besides several independ ent synods. No form of Church government is held to be essential and services and organiza tion are carried on under Congregational, Epis copal and Presbyterian forms.