national churchn.
/ˌnaʃn̩(ə)l ˈtʃəːtʃ/, /ˌnaʃən(ə)l ˈtʃəːtʃ/, U.S. /ˌnæʃən(ə)l ˈtʃərtʃ/, /ˌnæʃn(ə)l ˈtʃərtʃ/ΚΠ
c1603 Life Mr. W. Whittingham in Camden Misc. (1871) VI. 45 Lyving in any nationall church in the world.
1651 R. Baxter Plain Script. Proof Infants Church-membership & Baptism 31 The Jews were a Nationall Church.
1691 R. Baxter Of National Churches iii. 10 The Empire,..headed by one Christian Soveraign, and materiated by Christian Subjects..was all one National Church.
2. The established church of a particular nation.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > kinds of church government > establishmentarianism > [noun] > instance of
parliament-faith1565
parliament religion1565
Established Church1628
state church1644
national church1645
parliament-church1707
establishmenta1732
law-church1826
1645 J. Saltmarsh Opening Prynnes New Bk. 34 We see there is not now such pourings out of spirits upon multitudes and Nations, that a National Church should be together in such a spirit of unity.
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 335 He is Low-Church..; such a one is a poor begging Convert from Popery or Presbytery to the National Church.
1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague II. cxv. 207 It were to be wished the religious establishment was also the same, especially in those colonies where the people are generally of the national church.
1815 N. Amer. Rev. 1 80 A unity of belief in religious matters depends upon the establishment of a national church.
1832 T. Arnold in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) I. vi. 274 I cannot understand what is the good of a national Church if it be not to Christianize the nation.
1885 Science 9 Oct. 303/1 Since 1842 the Bulgarians, having acquired a national church and some educational facilities, have thrown off the cloak of listless barbarism.
1939 Amer. Hist. Rev. 44 882 The first group Dr. Jordan blames for the failure to achieve a national church on a broad basis, with toleration for those who could not be included in it.
1985 C. J. Jaenen Role of Church in New France 4 The Roman Catholic Church was the national church of France and her colonies.
1999 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 71 191 Warwick..undertook to save both Somerset's life and the newly established protestantism of the national church.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1603