Order
Order a word synonymous with method, is applied to any methodical or regular process of performing a thing. .
1. Nothing can be more beautiful in religion and morals than order. The neglect of it exposes us to the inroads of vice, and often brings upon us the most perplexing events. Whether we consider it in reference to ourselves, our families, or the Church, it is: of the greatest importance.
(1.) As to ourselves, order should be attended to as respects our principles (Heb 13:9; Jas 1:8), our tempers (Pr 17:14; Eph 4:31), our conversation (Col 4:6), our business (Pr 22:29), our time (Ps 90:12; Ec 3:1), our recreations, and our general conduct (Php 1:27; 2Pe 1:5), etc.
(2.) As regards our families, there should be order as to the economy or management of their concerns (Mt 12:25):, as to devotion, and the time of it (Jos 24:15), as to the instruction thereof (Eph 6:1; Ge 18:19; 2Ti 1:5).
(3.) In respect to the Church, order should be observed as to the admission of members (2Co 6:15), as to the administration of its ordinances (1Co 14:33,40), as to the attendance on its worship (Ps 27:4), as to our behavior therein (Col 1:10;
⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
Mt 5:16). To excite us to the practice of this duty, we should: consider that God is a God of order (1Co 14:33); his works are all in the exactest order (Eph 1:11; Ps 104:25; Ec 3:11); heaven is a place of order (Re 7:9). Jesus Christ was a most beautiful example of regularity. The advantages of order are numerous. "The observance of it," says Dr. Blair,'" serves to correct that negligence which makes us omit some duties, and that hurry and precipitancy which makes us perform others imperfectly. Our attention is thereby directed to its proper objects. We follow the straight path which Providence has pointed out to us, in the course of which all the varied business of life presents itself regularly to us on every side" (Serm. 2:23).
Philosophers lay great stress on man's right comprehension of order. They teach that while other beings tend blindly towards it, man knows the end of his being, and the place he holds, in the scheme of the universe, and can freely and intelligently endeavor to realize that universal order of which he is an exponent or constituent. "There is one parent virtue, the universal virtue, the virtue which renders us just and perfect, the virtue which will one day render us happy. It is the only virtue. It is the love of the universal order as it eternally existed in the divine reason, where every created reason contemplates it. The love of order is the whole of virtue, and conformity to order constitutes the morality of actions." Such is the theory of Malebranche (Traite de Morale), and more recently of Jouffroy. In like manner, science, in all its discoveries, tends to the discovery of universal order. Art also, in its highest attainments, is only realizing the truth of nature; so that the true, the beautiful, and the good ultimately resolve themselves into the idea of order. For order is the intelligent arrangement of means to accomplish an end, the harmonious relation 'established between the parts for the good of the whole. The primitive belief that there is order in nature is the ground of all experience. In this belief we confidently anticipate that the same causes, operating in the same circumstances, will produce the same effects. This may be resolved into a higher belief in the wisdom of an infinitely perfect being who orders all things. See Krauths Fleming, Vocabulary of Philosophy, s.v.
2. The word order is also used to designate the rules or laws of a monastic institution; and in a secondary sense, the several monastics living under the same rule or order. Thus the Order of Clugni signifies literally the new rule of discipline prescribed by Odo to the Benedictines already assembled in the monastery of Clugni; but secondarily, and in the more popular sense, the great body of monastic institutions, wherever established, who voluntarily subjected themselves to the same rule. SEEORDERS, RELIGIOUS.
3. In Classic Architecture the word order is used as synonymous with ordonnance, and comprises the column with its base and capital and the entablature. There are five orders:
(1) Tuscan, (2) Doric, (3) Ionic, (4) Corinthian, (5) Composite.
The first and fifth are Roman orders, and are simply modifications of the others. The remaining three are the Greek orders.
a. Of the Tuscan order little can be said, there being no regular example of it among the remains of antiquity. The best masters of classic architecture have failed to furnish the needed information. Piranesi has given a drawing of a Tuscan base, but of what date is uncertain; Vitruvius, in an indistinct manner, has mentioned the general proportions, but through his whole book does not refer to one structure of this order. SEE TUSCANS.
b. The Doric Order is the oldest and simplest of the three orders used by the Greeks, but it is ranked as the second of the five orders adopted by the Romans. The shaft of the column has twenty flutings, which are separated by a. sharp edge, and not by a fillet as in the other Orders, and they are less than a semicircle in depth; the molding below the abacus of the capital is an ovolo; the architrave of the entablature is surmounted with a plain fillet called the tenia; the frieze is ornamented by flat projections, with three channels cut in each, which are called triglyphs; the spaces between these arem called metopes; under the triglyphs and below the tenia of the architrave are placed small drops, or gutte; along the top of the frieze runs a broad fillet, called the capital of the triglyphs; the soffit of the cornice has broad and shallow blocks worked on it called mutules, one of which is placed over each metope and each triglypli; on the under surface are several rows of guttme or drops. In these respects the order as worked both by the Greeks and Romans is identical; but in other points there is considerable difference. In the pure Grecian examples the column has no base, and its height rises from about four to six and a half diameters; the capital has a perfectly plain square abacus, and the ovolo is but little if at all curved in section, except at the top, where it is quirked under the abacus; under the ovolo are a few plain fillets and small channels, and a short distance below them a deep narrow channel is cut in the shaft; the flutes of the shaft are continued up to the fillets under the ovolo. In the Roman Doric the shaft is usually seven diameters high, and generally has a base, sometimes the Attic and sometimes that which is peculiar to the order, consisting of a plinth and torus with an astragal above it; the capital has a small molding round the top of the abacus, and the ovolo is in section a quarter circle, and is not quirked; under the ovolo are two or three small fillets, and below them a collarino or neck. According to the Roman method of working this order, the triglyphs at the angles of buildings must be placed over the center of the column, and the metopes must be exact squares. Sometimes the mutules are omitted, and a row Of dentels is worked under the cornice.
c. The Ionic Order. The most distinguishing feature of this order is the capital, which is ornamented with four spiral projections called volutes; these are arranged, in the Greek examples, and the best of the Roman, so as to exhibit a flat face on the two opposite sides of the capital, but in later; works they have been made to spring out of the moldings under the angles of the abacus, so as to render the four faces of the capital uniform, the sides of the abacus being worked hollow like the Corinthian; the principal molding is an ovolo, or echinus, which is overhung by the volutes, and is almost invariably carved; sometimes also other enrichments are introduced upon the capital: in some of the Greek examples there is a collarino, or necking, below the echinus ornamented with leaves and flowers. The shaft varies from eight and a quarter to about nine and a half diameters in height; it is sometimes plain, and sometimes fluted with twenty-four flutes, which are separated from each other by small fillets. The bases used with this order are principally varieties of the Attic base, but another of a peculiar character is found in some of the Asiatic examples, the lower moldings of which consist of two scotiae, separated by small fillets and beads, above which is a large and prominent torus. The members of the entablature in good ancient examples are sometimes perfectly plain, and sometimes enriched, especially the bed-moldings of the cornice, which are frequently cut with a row of dentels. In modern or Italian architecture, the simplicity of the ancient entablature has been considerably departed from, and the cornice is not unfrequently worked with modifications in addition to dentels.
d. The Corinthian Order is the lightest and most ornamental of the three orders used by the Greeks. "The capital," says Rickman, "is the great distinction of this order; its height is more than a diameter, and consists of an astragal, fillet, and apophyges, all of which are measured with the shaft, then a bell and horned abacus. The bell is set round with two rows of leaves, eight in each row, and a third row of leaves supports eight small open volutes, four of which are under the four horns of the abacus, and' the other four, which are sometimes interwoven, are under the central recessed part of the abacus, and have over them a flower or other ornament. These volutes spring out of small twisted husks, placed between the leaves of the second row, and are called caulicoles. The abacus consists of an ovolo, fillet, and cavetto, like the modern Ionic. There are various modes of indenting the leaves, which are called from these variations acanthus, olive, etc. The column, including the base of half a diameter, and the capital, is about ten diameters high." The base which is considered to belong to this order resembles the Attic, with two scotiae between the tori, which are separated by two. astragals; the Attic base is frequently used, and other varieties sometimes occur. The entablature of this order is often very highly enriched, the flat surfaces as well as the moldings being sculptured with a great variety of delicate ornaments. The architrave is generally formed into two or three faces or facile; the frieze in the best examples is flat, and is sometimes united to the upper fillet of the architrave by an apophyge the cornice has both modillions and dentels.
e. The Composite Order, called also Roman, being invented by that people, and composed of the Ionic grafted upon the Corinthian, is of the same proportion as the Corinthian, and retains the same general character, with the exception of the capital, in which the Ionic volutes and echinus are substituted for the Corinthian caulicole and scrolls. It is one of the five orders of classic architecture, when five are admitted; but modern architects allow of only three, considering the Tuscan and the Composite as merely varieties of the Doric and Corinthian. See Parker, Glossary of Architecture, s.v.; Elme, Dict. of the Fine Arts, s.v. SEE ARCHITECTURE.
