CHANDLER, EDWARD: Church of England bishop; b. in Dublin about 1670; d. in London July 20, 1750. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (M.A., 1693; D.D., 1701); was consecrated bishop of Lichfield 1717, and in 1730 was translated to Durham. He gained his reputation by his Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the Old Testament (London, 1725), a reply to A Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion (1724) by Anthony Collins (q.v.). Collins replied with The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered (1726), and Chandler then published A Vindication of the Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the Old Testament (2 vols., 1728). The chief point of their debate was whether or not there was general expectation of the coming of a messiah at the time of the birth of Jesus, Collins denying this and Chandler affirming it. Chandler has been charged with having bought his see, and with dying " shamefully rich."

CHANDLER, SAMUEL: English Presbyterian; b. at Hungerford (26 m. w.s.w. of Reading), Berkshire, 1693; d. in London May 8, 1766. He was educated at Bridgewater and at Gloucester, where he formed lifelong friendships with Bishop Butler and Archbishop Seeker. He finished his studies at Leyden; became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Peckham, Surrey (a suburb of London), 1716; assistant at the Old Jewry, London, 1726, and in 1728 pastor. He was a learned and talented man, and is sand to have refused offers of preferment in the Established Church. In 1760 be preached a sermon on the death of George II., in which he compared the deceased king to David. This called forth an anonymous pamphlet in which David was described as a bad man, and the comparison objected to as an insult to the late king. Chandler made a brief reply in 1762, and then prepared A Critical History of the Life of David (2 vols., London; 1766), which is his best known and most valuable work. His other publications were numerous; and are for the most part controversial, directed against the Deists or the Roman Catholics. Four volumes of sermons were published posthumously (1768). In theology he was a semi-Arian, or, as he expressed it, " a moderate Calvinist."

CHANGE OF CONFESSION: The change from one Christian Church to another. The expression is not equivalent to change of religion, and the subject has practical interest mainly as concerns conversions from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism and vice versa in certain European countries where legal complications are involved.

Where only one confession is recognized by law, there can be no change of confession. Thus there was none before the time of the Reformation; not only was it true that every secession from the Church was considered an offense, but no such thing was recognized either by ecclesiastical or secular law. In Germany rules of procedure in cases of confessional change first began to be formulated after the Evangelical princes and the German Empire ceased to acknowledge the law against heretics by the Religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555, and after the Empire decreed at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that under certain conditions Protestants in Roman Catholic territories and Roman Catholics in Protestant territories might be tolerated and possess civil rights. These rules were further developed under the modern principle of toleration, according to which the State recognizes in the Churches only more or less favored associations, and treats them accordingly from the legal point of view.

The Roman Catholic Church, however, still clings to the state of affairs before the Reformation, and still considers itself the only existing Church. According to the Roman view, every one who goes over to Protestantism is a heretic, and every one who changes from Protestantism to the Roman Catholic Church returns from an error of faith, to the knowledge of truth or rather to the churchly authority which possesses this truth. The ban is imposed upon every one who leaves the Church; even every born Protestant is under the ban; and every one who goes over to Catholicism is required not only to make the Catholic confession of faith, but also to confess that as Protestant he was a heretic, and to renounce his heresy and ask for absolution.

The Protestant Churches admit the right of change, although a person who makes use of this right is regarded as unfaithful. The declaration of an intention to make a change, regular attendance at the services of another church, or at its communion table, are considered sufficient to sever old connections. Whoever comes over from another Church is not required to abjure his former faith, but simply to make a confession according to the new doctrine, whereupon he is admitted to the Lord's Supper as the signum communionis.

It is the task of the State to regulate the existence of different confessions side by side, as well as to protect the liberty of conscience of the in-

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dividual. Accordingly the legal ordinances concerning change of confession proceed from the State. The law of Prussia forbids the making of proselytes, but this is interpreted to mean that no religious party has the right " to seduce members of another confession by force or cunning to join its own Church," and that " nobody is allowed to disturb the peace of a family or impair its rights under the pretense of religious zeal." In Austria Protestants were, until 1868, forbidden to convert Roman Catholics. The modern State has generally fixed a certain age before which conversion can not take place, in order to exclude disputes as to the capacity of judgment of the convert. The State leaves the conditions of admission to the church organizations, but sometimes regulates the form of withdrawal for the sake of keeping accurate ecclesiastical statistics. The person who leaves has sometimes been required to announce his withdrawal to the pastor, and sometimes a certificate of dismissal is required. The Austrian interconfessional law of May 25, 1868, and the Prussian law of May 14, 1873, require only a declaration before the proper state official, who notifies the Church.

(A. HAUCK.)