'<,^ FKOM ST. PAUL TO BISHOP BRO^jICS / ,-i,i ,-%'^ LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by "TWe Widow- of &eor(5e. Tluc^n, ^^ BR 151 7ari.902 Gardner, William Edward, 1872-1965. The history of Christianity from Saint Paul to Bishop The History of Christianity The History of Christianity From Saint Paul to Bishop Brooks A Manual for General Reading and for Use in the Sunday Schools By WILLIAM EDWARD GARDNER General Secretary General Board of Religious Education Protestant Episcopal Chmxh NEW YORK CHURCH LITERATURE PRESS BIBI,B HOUSE Copyright, 1902 CHURCH LITERATURE PRESS Preface When these lessons on Christian History were writ- ten, the writer had in mind a definite class of boys and girls who said that they were "tired of studying the Bible." They met with such success at that time as to warrant the making of plates from which three thousand were subsequently printed. The Church Literature Press has secured the right to print this edition from the plates, confident that some of the workers in the Senior Department of the Sunday-school of to-day will welcome this material. Introduction The awakened interest on the part of the Christian Church in the religious education of the youth, and the demand for better methods of study in our Sunday- schools, assure a welcome to every earnest effort in these directions. This is the ground for my confidence that a cordial welcome will be given to this book. Its methods and contents have stood the test of experi- ence, and its line of thought is such as to be helpful to parents as well as to Sunday-school teachers and scholars. I take pleasure, therefore, in commending this book as a helpful contribution towards the great work of religious instruction. William Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts. October 2"/, igo2. Contents DIVISION ONE THE BEGINNING 1. Introduction, 13 2. Jews and Christians, ....... 17 3. The Fall of Jerusalem, 21 4. Christian Martyrs : Ignatius and Polycarp, ... 23 5. General Persecutions and Christian Victories, . . 28 6. Early Organization, ....... 30 7. Two Organizers : Tertullian and Cyprian, ... 32 8. Creed, 35 9. The Missionary Spirit, . 37 10. The Worship and Life of Early Christians, ... 37 11. Fall of Paganism, 38 12. The General Councils. Arius and Athanasius, . . 41 13. Leo First 46 14. Rise of Monasticism and Augustine, .... 48 15. Missionary Activity, 54 DIVISION TWO THE MIDDLE AGES 16. Fall of the East, 57 17. Beginning of the West, ...... 58 18. Two Centres of the Middle Ages, 60 19. Rise of Papacy. Gregory the Great, 590-604, . . 61 20. Rise of the Empire. Charlemagne (Charles the Great), 768-814, 64 9 lO CONTENTS 21. 22. 23- 24. 25- Development of Monasticism, .... Papacy in Full Power. Gregory Hildebrand, 1073-1085 Events During Papal Supremacy, . 1. The Crusades, 2. The Inquisition, 3. Saint Francis of Assisi, 1 182-1226 Abuse of the Papal Power, . Reforming Forces, .... 1. Wiclif, 1 324- 1 384, . 2. Huss, 1 369- 14 1 5 67 70 74 74 77 79 83 86 87 90 DIVISION THREE THE REFORMATION 26. The New Spirit, 27. Reformation in Germany. Martin Luther, 1483-1546 28. Reformation in France. John Calvin, 1509-1564, 29. Reformation in England, I. Henry the Eighth, . The Bible and Prayer Book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edward the Sixth, . Reaction under Mary First, Spanish Armada, 30. Counter Reformation, 1. The Order of Jesuits, 2. Council of Trent, 31. Protestant Spirit, .... 32. Puritans and Pilgrims, . 1. Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658, 2. John Milton, 1608-1675, . 3. John Bunyan, 1 628-1688, 33. Puritan Emigration, 34. The Fall of Puritanism, 35. Rise of Denominations, 36. Translations of the Bible, 37. Age of Reason, 93 95 102 106 107 no 112 114 114 "5 117 117 120 121 123 124 127 129 131 132 133 137 137 CONTENTS II DIVISION FOUR THE NEW LIGHT 38. Methodism and John Wesley, 1 703-1 791, 39. Immanuel Kant, 17 24- 1804, . 40. Friedrich Schleiermacher, 1768-1834, . 41. The Oxford Movement 42. Rise of Sunday-schools, 43. Public Education, ..... 44. Christian Heroes of the Nineteenth Century, 45. David Livingstone, 1807-1S73, 46. Lord Shaftesbury, .... 47. William E. Gladstone, .... 48. Phillips Brooks, . .... 141 '45 145 149 151 152 152 152 »57 161 165 The History of Christianity from St. Paul to Bishop Brooks DIVISION ONE THE BEGINNING I. Introduction. In studying these pages we must understand, first of all, how Christianity, which was the child of the Jewish religion, came to spread over the world. There were many reasons to prevent its spreading ; (i) Its Founder had been condemned and crucified as a criminal. (2) The Romans hated it, because they hated the Jews and they made no distinction between Judaism and Christianity. (3) The Jews, out of whose religion it grew, hated and condemned it. But Christianity has seemed to thrive and grow strong on hatred and persecution. Its success, in spite of obstacles, makes us believe it is God's message, God's revelation to us, for God's truth always prevails. »3 14 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY The first obstacle to the promotion of Christianity came from the priestly authorities at Jerusalem. Annas and Caiaphas, the very priests who had con- demned Christ, arrested Peter and John for teaching the new religion in the Temple. A little later that zealous young man, Stephen, the deacon, was arrested, falsely accused of speaking blasphemy, and stoned to death. This event was the signal for a general per- secution by the Jews, of the Christians in Jerusalem. It seems hard to say that the persecution was a good thing for the future of Christianity ; but it was. It compelled the Christians to leave Jerusalem, where they could never be successful, and to go to Samaria, to the coasts of the Mediterranean, to Phoenicia and Cyprus, and at last to Antioch, the imperial capital of the Eastern Empire. Then appeared Paul the great missionary, the great traveler who journeyed over the Roman world, visited these Christian communities, established others and kept himself in touch with all of them by letters and messengers. These communities were not churches as we know them to-day. They were little household companies of men and women who came together when the work of the day was done, and read St. Paul's letters, recited some of the stories of Jesus Christ, which had THE BEGINNING 1$ not been written then, but which now are written in the four gospels. After the reading they would pray and sing, worshiping God. There were three things in this simple life which we should notice : (i) Great reverence for tJie Apostles. — All of these communities were under the guidance of the Apostles. James was the head at Jerusalem, John at Ephesus, Paul had oversight in Corinth, Thessalonica, Antioch and other cities. The early Christians had great veneration for those Apostles to whom Christ gave the great responsibility of proclaim- ing the gospel, or as they loved to call it the " Word of God." They recognized that Christ did not leave His gospel to be proclaimed by everybody, although He wanted every man, woman and child to be disciples. What is every one's business is no one's business, thus Christ especially called the twelve to Him (John 20: 21, 22; Matt. 28: 18), and kept them near Him, teaching them. The early Christians saw the wisdom of this plan, and came to recognize that in that close companionship the Apostles had come to know, best of all men, Christ's real spirit. Thus when any question came up for settlement, the early Christians would turn to the Apostles for counsel and direction. In this way the Apostles soon became, not only the spiritual leaders, but also leaders in practical 1 5 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY affairs. As Christianity spread these Apostles chose men to become leaders in new places under their direction (Titus i : 5), and when the Apostles died, their important duties were given to others, who were not called apostles but overseers or '• bishops," and these in turn became to the Christian communities expecially responsible under Christ's command to promote the gospel. (2) Baptism. — Not only did they learn from Christ that He would have His gospel proclaimed by men espe- cially chosen, but they also learned from Him, that they should receive the sacrament of baptism (John 3 : 3-5). " The outward and visible sign " of washing by water should become the evidence of the " inward and spiritual grace " with its " death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness " and a desire for a nobler and higher life. Such a sacrament, performed as Christ commanded, meant that all, young and old, who embraced it, en- tered into the Body of Christ, and became partakers of His life, children of God and inheritors of the life of the new kingdom. (3) The Lord's Supper. — And lastly Christ insti- tuted a special service by which His followers could worship, testifying their allegiance to Him, and receiv- ing strength to live the true life(i Cor. 11:23-29). THE BEGINNING 1/ This service was called the Lord's Supper, and was celebrated the first day of the week (Acts 20 : 7). This supper is a sacrament. Like baptism it has an " out- ward and visible sign " : bread and wine, and it has also " an inward and spiritual grace," signified by the Body and Blood of Christ, " spiritually taken and re- ceived " by Christians. This service was very impor- tant to the early Christians and should be to all Chris- tians of all times, because commanded by Christ Him- self who put a special emphasis upon it. Read John 6:51-56. 2. Jews and Christians. In spite of these provisions for the definite expres- sion of the new religion, the early Christians would look back to the mother religion. Though Judaism persecuted them, they could not seem to break with it. Wherever Christianity had been carried over the empire, its converts still felt that the Christian com- munity at Jerusalem, where the Apostles abode, was the head of Christianity, just as the temple was the head of Judaism. If any dispute arose, they felt that it should be taken to Jerusalem for settlement (Acts 15). Then as Christ had always attended the Jewish synagogues, so did the early Christians, going to the Jewish places of worship in Rome, Antioch, Corinth and other cities. 1 8 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY As Christians dispersed over the world, they were confused with the Jews, bearing the burden of holding an unpopular religion, and sharing the hatred which the Romans had for the Jews. But still Christianity flourished and grew stronger day by day. The one great reason was : it ansivered the needs, moral and spiritual of tlie human soul. Other reasons were : (i) Its care for the poor and helpless, pagan as well as Christian. (2) Its respect for the slave as a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. (3) The heroic way in which the Christians suffered when persecuted. The sympathies of men and women were aroused, and a desire awakened to know more of this religion which made one so able to bear physical pain. Little by little some of the Christians realized that they could not continue in the Jewish community. Among the first to break were those in Rome. Cast- ing themselves loose from connection with the syna- gogue, a Roman Christian community was established which gained much prominence. It was to this community that the Roman Emperor turned after the burning of Rome in 64 a. d. It is generally believed though not proven, that Nero or- dered the burning of Rome in order that he might rebuild it. The people who suffered in this fire sus- pected him and began to assume a threatening atti- THE BEGINNING I^ tude. Nero sought to divert suspicion from himself by throwing the blame on the Christians to whom the people already attributed all sorts of infamy. For first hand information we will turn to Tacitus the Roman historian who lived and wrote about thirty years after the event " With this view, he (Nero) accused those men who under the appellation of Christians were already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sen- tence of the procurator Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition Vv^as checked, but it again burst forth, and not only spread itself over Judea, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind. They died in torments. Some were nailed on crosses ; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the fury of dogs ; others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as torches to illumi- nate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was 20 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY accompanied with a horse race, and honored with the presence of the Emperor, who mingled with the pop- ulace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt of the Christians deserved the more exemplary- punishment, but the pubhc abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that those un- happy wretches were sacrificed not so much to public welfare, as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." In this passage from a Roman writer we can gain many ideas, (i) Christians were numerous and at- tracted attention. (2) There was popular hatred against them, people believed them capable of mon- strous crimes. (3) Under Nero they suffered untold agonies and many died. (4) They were the objects of Roman sympathy. These persecutions in Rome were the beginning of many pagan persecutions which lasted during the first three hundred years of the Christian Era. In spite of all the persecution by Jews and pagans the new religion remained Jewish in its form. They had priests and elders (Acts 1 1 : 30) as in the old relig- ion ; they read the Old Testament and observed many of the Mosaic laws. How far this would have contin- ued we cannot say. The tendency to make Chris- tianity like Judaism was stopped by one event — The destructiofi of Jerusalem. THE BEGINNING 21 3. The Fall of Jerusalem. That Judaism was beginning to decay was evident in the condemnation and crucifixion of Christ by the priests and elders. In their narrowness and bigotry the Jewish people were in constant conflict with the Roman conquerors. Soon after Christ's death a pow- erful Jewish party began a determined insurrection. It was an unequal combat. Rome could crush the Jews as a lion would crush a mouse. With great de- liberation the Roman army under Vespasian swept over GaHlee and made the land desolate. Arriving before Jerusalem, Titus, the son of Vespasian assumed command. Within the city, in- stead of unity, there was great confusion. Different leaders struggled among themselves for leadership, so that the people prayed for the arrival of the Romans to end the terrible civil condition. The end soon came. It was the Passover week of 70 a. d. Thou- sands were in the sacred city, some were there because of the Passover custom, many were there because driven in by the advance of the Roman army. As Titus rode around the city, he viewed a strong fortress. Behind three high thick walls rose the beautiful Temple " like a mount of snow fretted with golden pinnacles." Night and day the Romans toiled until their battering-rams and great machines for the 22 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY discharge of arrows and stones were in place. Then the siege began. Day after day it continued. The Jews fought desperately. Once when a breach was made in the wall, " they manned it boldly and made a wall of their own bodies, fighting three days without intermission." As one wall after another was taken and the people were crowded towards the Temple, the famine within became more terrible than the besiegers without. Miserable morsels were seized from young children and old men, and the wealthy were tortured until they opened their stores. When Titus reached the Temple wall, he called for surrender, that its sacred courts might not be soiled with bloodshed. The Jews refused to comply with his commands and after many days of fighting the Temple was destroyed by fire, a Roman soldier having thrown a fire brand over its walls. Over a million Jews were killed in the siege and over one hundred thousand sent to the Roman mines. In the destruction of the Temple there came to an end the Jewish nation that formed the centre of Old and New Testament time. The Temple has never been rebuilt, a sacrifice has never since been offered. How completely was Christ's prophecy fulfilled " For the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee, and compass thee THE BEGINNING 23 round and keep thee in on every side, and shall dash thee to the ground, and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another " (Luke 19 : 43). In the destruction of Jerusalem, " the cradle of Christianity ceased to be its nursery. So it forgot the tongue of its birthplace and learned the speech of its new motherland." 4. Christian Martyrs : Ignatius and Polycarp. We have now to see how Christianity made its way in the Roman world. We have already seen that the Romans hated the Jews and Christians alike. This hatred was due in large measure to the conflict be- tween the Roman and Christian idea of worship. The Roman worshiped idols and the Emperor as supreme ; the Christian worshiped Christ as King and would not bow down to the Emperor. For this reason the Romans considered the Christians enemies to the state, suspected them of high treason and guilty of death. It soon became the custom to lead a person accused of being a Christian to a little altar placed before an image of the Emperor. If the Christian would throw some incense on the altar fire, he was acquitted, if he would not, he was condemned. To get a good idea of the life of this terrible time let us look at the lives of some of the men who 24 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY lived then, and see how the Roman Empire and Chris- tian religion were in conflict. First we will go to Antioch, that beautiful city in the north of Palestine, the capital of the eastern por- tion of the empire. A venerable man by the name of Ignatius was the bishop of the Christians. Igna- tius had known St. John and some of the other Apostles and had been urged by them to preside over the Church at Antioch. About forty years after the fall of Jerusalem, when Trajan, the Roman Emperor was visiting the city of Antioch, it happened that there had just been a series of public disasters, and, as was the custom, the blame was laid on the Christians. The whole trouble was brought before the Emperor, and he commanded that Ignatius be arrested and brought before him. The account of the trial which has come down to us is as follows : Being introduced into Trajan's presence he was thus addressed by him : " What an impious spirit art thou, both to transgress our commands and to inveigle others into the same folly to their ruin." Ignatius answered, " Theophorus ought not to be called so, for- asmuch as all wicked spirits are departed far from the servants of God. But if you call me impious because I am hostile to evil spirits, I own the charge in that respect, for I dissolve all their snares through the in- THE BEGINNING 2$ ward support of Christ the heavenly King." Trajan: " Pray, who is Theophorus ? " Ignatius : " He who has Christ in his breast." Trajan : " And thinkest thou not that gods reside in us, who fight for us against our enemies ? " Ignatius : " You mistake in caUing the demons of the nations by the name of gods ; for there is only one God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them ; and one Jesus Christ, His only-begotten son, whose kingdom be my portion." Trajan : " His kingdom, do you say, who was crucified under Pilate ? " Ignatius : " His, who crucified my sin with its author, and has put all the fraud and malice of Satan under the feet of those who carry Him in their heart." Trajan : " Dost thou then carry Him who was crucified within thee?" Ignatius : " I do ; for it is written, I dwell in them and walk in them." Then Trajan pronounced this sentence against him : " Since Ignatius confesses that he carries within himself Him that was crucified, we command that he be carried, bound, by soldiers to great Rome, there to be thrown to the wild beasts for the entertainment of the people." Immediately after the trial the venerable bishop was started for Rome under a military escort. In those days it was a long, hard journey. If you wish to trace it on the map, it was as follows : first to Seleucia, 26 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY thence they sailed to Smyrna, then Troas, Neapolis across Macedonia, across the Adriatic and so around to Puteoli, Ostea, and Rome. In a way it was a tri- umphal journey, for all along the route, Christians came to offer sympathy and to receive the good bishop's teachings. When they reached Rome the games were in progress, the old man was hurried to the amphitheatre and the wild beasts were let loose upon him. Thus died one of the men who stands as a link between the Apostolic Days and the times we are studying. He preferred death to denying Christianity. When Ignatius stopped at Smyrna, among those who visited him was a man about forty-five years old, named Polycarp. He was a prominent bishop in the Eastern Church. He also had been a disciple of St. John who had appointed him Bishop of Smyrna. Tradition tells us that Polycarp was born a slave, and was reared in the house of a noble, Christian woman. This shows us that a slave as well as a freeman could become a bishop. Many years after Ignatius passed through Smyrna a plague swept over the land for which the Christians were blamed. In the persecution that was begun, Polycarp, then an old man, was urged to withdraw from the city for safety. Yielding to the persuasion of his friends, he sought shelter at a farm not far from the city, but his hiding-place was be- THE BEGINNING 2/ trayed by two Christian slaves under torture and al- though escape was made possible, yet the venerable bishop refused to avail himself of it. Seized by the soldiers the old man bowed his head and said, " The will of God be done." He then ordered food for his captors and spent in prayer the two hours they spent in resting and refreshing themselves. He was carried straight to the arena and the multitude was greatly excited by his appearance. When asked to retract, he refused. " Swear ! Retract ! Say : Away with the godless," cried the proconsul. Polycarp repeated the words, but the gesture of his hand showed that by " godless " he meant the fanatical spectators. " Blas- pheme Christ ! " cried the proconsul, " and you shall go free ! " The aged man straightened up and re- plied : " Eighty and six years have I served Christ and He has never done me wrong. How can I blas- pheme my King who has saved me ? " Then the con- demnation came. The herald advanced into the middle of the arena and thrice proclaimed : " Poly- carp has professed himself a Christian." The popu- lace demanded that he be thrown to the lions, shout- ing, " This is the overthrower of our gods, this is the perverter of our worship." But as the games were over there were no beasts left. Then went up the cry that he be burned. Naked and bound to the 28 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Stake, Polycarp uttered a beautiful prayer in which he thanked God for being permitted to be a martyr. After the torch was appHed, and as the flames swept up around him, an officer plunged a sword into his body to lessen his agony. This wonderful sacrifice made a deep impression on the populace and the persecution at Smyrna ceased. Polycarp was a true hero of the early Christian days, of rare goodness and unfaltering faithfulness. 5. General Persecutions and Christian Victories. We have studied the lives of only two men who suffered as martyrs. There were many more. In fact, from the day Stephen was stoned, up to 300 a. d. the pagan people acted with more or less cruelty towards the Christians. From 50 A. D. to 250 a. d. the persecutions were carried on first in one place and then in another, due more or less to local disturbances. Up to this time there had been no order from the Emperor for a gen- eral persecution. But in 249 a. d. it was discovered by the Romans that the Christians had tremendous power. In Rome alone there were at least twenty thousand Christians. Then it was that the Emperor Decius ordered a general persecution of the Christians for the purpose of cutting them out of the life of the empire. This plan begun by Decius was followed to THE BEGINNING 29 a greater or less degree by other emperors. Churches which had been built in the cities where a measure of toleration had been allowed, were destroyed ; sacred books were burned and Christians butchered by frenzied and almost insane soldiers. But all to no purpose. The greater the persecution the more the ranks of the Christians seemed to swell. Thousands of both sexes crowded to martyrdom, exhausted the fires and wearied the sword, until the Emperor Gale- rius (306-310) in sore sickness, recognized that he must draw back. While lying on his sick bed, he issued an edict of general toleration, and confessed that the Christians had conquered. The work thus begun was ended by Constantine, who, by an edict issued in Milan in 313, placed Christianity on the same level and gave it the same rights as paganism. To what was the victory of the Christians owing ? To the steadfastness and heroic courage of its follow- ers ? By no means. We must not think that all the Christians persecuted were like the Apostolic Chris- tians, like Ignatius and Polycarp. The Church had changed very much since their day. It had, in con- tact with the Roman world, partaken of the worldly spirit. Some of the clergy lived in luxury and idle- ness, while many who called themselves Christians lived lives of hatred, enmity, envy, ambition and 30 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY worldly covetousness. Emperor Decius, in 250, de- scribes the Christians as men who had fallen from their ideal. Such Christians when they were threat- ened gave up their faith and cast incense on the altar fire in order to save their property, position and life. The number of faithless Christians was enormous. But still Christianity conquered, conquered in spite of the faithless ones, conquered because it had an imper- ishable light, an eternal power that sooner or later will always win. This is the wonder of Christianity, it " endures solely in consequence of the living power of its religion, it conquers by the power of divine truth which is mightier than all the powers of an earthly life." 6. Early Organization. While all the persecutions were going on Christian- ity was being outwardly moulded by the empire, and in its divine strength was inwardly converting the empire. The clear stream cannot flow from the mountain to the sea without being tainted and discolored by the various roots and clay over which it passes. Chris- tianity has had this experience. Again and again it has been, and is to-day, tainted and discolored by the conditions it meets. This is a wonderful process with which we must not find fault, but which we THE BEGINNING 3 1 must Study and understand and by which we must profit. We must appreciate the great difference between the Christian rehgion and the pagan rehgion. The simple worship of the Christians consisting of prayer, praise and reading, was not easily understood by the pagans. They had been accustomed to many gods with mysterious rites and symbols. Thus, as new con- verts came in, the Christian worship seemed cold and meaningless to them. To overcome this, the simple customs of the Christians were changed to satisfy the desires of the new converts. Baptism and the Lord's Supper became mysterious rites performed only in the presence of those who were already Christians. Beau- tiful vestments and spectacular ceremonials were adopted in order that the pagan converts might feel at home in the Christian Church. The demand of these pagan converts was for a religion that was visible, and the Christians gratified that demand. But the Roman converts demanded still more ; they loved order and formal government, they were used to being com- manded by those who had authority. This idea was wrought into Christianity. The Church came to have officers ; patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops, priests, deacons, acolytes, etc., who had duties to perform and authority to exercise. Long before Constantine, a 32 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY bishop in the Church became a man of such importance, that when he went about he was dressed in gorgeous robes and followed by a retinue, like a prince. This was the result of simple Christians coming in contact with the wealth and power of a great empire. There was quite a difference between the Apostles Peter and John and the bishops of the fourth century. Slowly the way was being prepared for what actually hap- pened, viz. : a transformed Roman Empire, with a pope for the emperor, bishops for procurators, a priest- hood for magistrates, taxes, laws, — in fact a unified religious power that was to hold together for a time, a civilized world. 7. Two Organizers : TertuUian and Cyprian. Prominent among those who were converted and who in turn influenced Christianity as above described, was TertuUian. He was born in Carthage about 160. He was the son of a Roman centurion and was brought up in a pagan household. As his home was in Carthage, one of the main seats of learning in the Roman Empire, it was possible for him to receive a scholarly educa- tion. He acquired the Greek language and literature, and particularly rhetoric and law. As a young man, he lived a wild and reckless life. Between thirty and forty he was converted to Christianity and became a THE BEGINNING 33 presbyter in the church at Carthage. Here he brought to bear on the Church all his ability and especially did he leave a legal stamp on all his work. His was a fiery nature, rich in imagination, witty and fascinating, but endowed also with a good share of common sense and appreciation of what is solid and worth while. The elevation of the office of bishop to a position of great authority was due largely to him. He argued that Christ chose twelve apostles and destined them to be the teachers of nations. " They then in like manner founded churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after another, derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine, and are every day deriving them, that they may become churches. Indeed it is on this account only, that they will be able to deem themselves apostolic, as being of the offspring of Apostolic churches." Such was his idea of the bishop, whom he endowed with special divine author- ity to proclaim the Gospel. " Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles to preach, no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ ap- pointed, for no man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Later in life Tertullian left the Church and joined one of the numerous sects that sprang up at this time. Here he modified his views, but he has always been 34 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY ■ -. remembered as a man with strong opinions, daring courage and marked sincerity that won him constant respect. We know httle of his later Hfe. His death is said to have taken place at about 220 when he was a very old man. It was with Tertullian that Christians began to write their books in Latin, before they had used Greek and a form of Hebrew called Aramaic. Another strong character of this time, who was converted from Paganism and in turn influenced Christianity strongly, was Cyprian. Born of a pagan family in Carthage, he, like Tertullian, was educated in law, and later became a teacher of rhetoric. He was converted when about thirty-five years old and passed rapidly through the first orders of the Christian minis- try. When the Bishopric of Carthage was vacant th^ people crowded around his house and forced him to take that honorable office. In the general persecu- tions, he was arrested and brought before the pro- consul. Proconsul : " Art thou Cyprian, the bishop of so many impious men ? The most sacred emperor com- mands thee to sacrifice ! " Cyprian : " I will not sacrifice ! " Proconsul : " Consider well what thou dost ! " Cyprian : " There is no need of consideration, do as thou art commanded." THE BEGINNING 35 Then the proconsul dcHvered the sentence of con- demnation. " Cyprian, thou hast Hved long in thy impiety, and assembled around thee many men in- volved in the same wicked conspiracy. Thou hast shown thyself an enemy alike to the gods and the laws of the empire. . . . Thou must expiate thy crime with thy blood." Cyprian replied, " God be thanked." So affected were the multitude of Christians around him that they cried, " Let us go and be beheaded with him." He was removed to a neighboring field where he spent a short time in prayer. Then he gave a con- siderable present to the executioners, bowed his head and submitted to the stroke. The date of this was 258 A. D. Cyprian had continued the work of Tertullian, em- phasizing the importance of the bishop and the need of transmitting the sacred powers of Christianity from one to another, claiming that in that transmission the Holy Spirit was carried on in the world. It is interesting to remember that the career of the Church as a legal institution was started by " two vigorous practical lawyers and politicians." 8. Creed. While the Romans effected the organization of the Church, they also effected its faith. There was a 36 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY general demand for a definite statement of the relation of God, to Christ and the Holy Spirit. There was need of an easily grasped standard which could be given to a man who wished to become a Christian. Out of these needs came various controversies, for men could not agree in regard to doctrinal statements. We will notice the effect of the controversy when we study the General Councils later. As a demand for a simple statement of faith, the creed known as the Apostles' came into existence. We know little about its origin. It first read as follows : " I believe in God the Father Almighty ; and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord ; who was born of the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin ; under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried ; on the third day He rose from the dead ; He ascended into heaven ; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father ; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead ; and in the Holy Spirit ; the Holy Church ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the flesh." What made this creed of value was that it confined itself to the actual events which were known to be true. This commended it to the Christian Church as it could be grasped by the simplest mind. We must think of the organization and Creeds of the Church as the outcome of Roman influence on Christianity. THE BEGINNING 37 g. The Missionary Spirit. During these days described, there was great mis- sionary activity. All over the world, passed devoted souls, whose one purpose was to tell the Christian story to all nations. Their custom was to travel by twos, and sometimes in companies of twelve. We have traces of their work in Persia, India, Armenia, North Africa, Gaul, Britain, Rhine Provinces and many minor provinces. 10. The Worship and Life of Early Christians. Hand in hand with the formation of the organiza- tion and belief of the early Christians, grew the neces- sity of forming a symmetrical divine service. As the number of Christians increased it became impossible to hold services in private houses. When a public place was provided, the people assembled, the officers, sitting at a large table at one end of the room and the people standing before them. The first part of the service consisted of singing of psalms and hymns, prayers and an address or several addresses on the Old Testament scripture, or the Gospel story. After this part came the second. All who were not of the community were driven out and then the faithful who remained celebrated the Lord's Supper in a simple manner. The life was simple. If any one who attended the first 38 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY part of the service was impressed and wished to join the community, he became what was called a catechumen, and after much instruction, was baptized and confirmed by the bishop. On Sunday, in remembrance of the Res- urrection, they came together for prayer and the Lord's Supper, and on Wednesday and Friday they fasted in remembrance of Christ's betrayal and crucifixion. II. Fall of Paganism. We found that the early persecutions of the Chris- tians ended with Constantine. We now return to that character, for with him a new era began for Chris- tianity. Constantine (born 274, died 337) was the son of the Emperor Constantius. His mother, whose name was Helena, was a woman of humble birth. As a youth he became well known for his bravery and ability through the military service he performed in Egypt. He was greatly loved by the people who desired that he should become Emperor in place of two or three men who ruled over a divided empire. You must remem- ber that the Roman Empire was becoming very cor- rupt, and a sure sign of corruption is the striving of different men for the highest position. To become sole ruler Constantine was obliged to conquer the other men. It was in 312, while he was fighting bat- tles with these men, and being successful, that he said THE BEGINNING 39 he had a vision of a cross of Hght in the sky with the words, "By This Conquer." A httle later he claimed that he had a dream in which Christ came to him and told him to put the sign of the cross on his banner. We cannot say how true the vision and the dream were, but we do know that about this time the cross appeared as an army standard and in 313, the edict of Milan was put forth, which gave, " To the Christians and to all a free power of following the religion which each willed to choose," also the edict said that all property which had been destroyed should be restored " from the public treasury and by private persons, the latter to be indemnified out of the imperial good- will." This placed the religion of Christians along- side of paganism. Later (316) Sunday was recognized as a public feast day and all public business was sus- pended. In 324 Constantine achieved his ambition and became, by conquest in battle, the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. With great thoroughness he extended the Christian faith and worship throughout the whole empire ; exiles sent away during the perse- cutions were recalled and offices of the highest dignity were offered to Christians. Churches were built on the Mount of Olives, at Bethlehem in the Holy Land and elsewhere, and were endowed out of the common fund. With great labor, many costly manuscripts of 40 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY the Bible were made. Gradually popular passion turned against paganism, temples were torn down or remade into Christian churches, while the wicked, sacrificial and immoral pagan worship was suspended by order of the Emperor. During all these changes Constantine was not bap- tized. It was on his death-bed in i-^j that he called the bishop and had himself clothed in a white robe and received that sacred rite. This, with other facts in Constantine's life, makes us feel that he was not at first a Christian by conversion. He believed in a divine guidance of human affairs, and he saw in Chris- tianity a great wholesome and uniting political power, and regarded himself as the instrument of Providence to make use of that same power for the good of the empire. Christianity had conquered paganism. From being a despised and persecuted sect, Christianity emerged a mighty and supreme religion upheld by the state. How wonderfully God works in life. The fall of Je- rusalem sent the Christians over the world, took away from them the mother element which might have weakened them, and compelled them to conquer the Roman world or die. Then the Romans persecuted them, but the persecutions instead of diminishing the number increased it, until the Emperor as a matter of THE BEGINNING 4 1 policy was obliged to recognize the new religion. Thus will God aid any movement, any person, towards victory if there are present : — devotion to truth, ear- nestness and willingness to suffer. 12. General Councils. Arius and Athanasius. Christianity had triumphed, but like any triumph, it had its dangers. With freedom, honor and power, greed and ambition greater than ever before, found their way into the Church. The greatest danger was in the fact that the state, no longer a foe, but an ally, demanded supremacy as the price of alliance. The Roman Emperor would not suffer another power to rule beside him. He had been the head of the Pagan religion, and he was inclined to exercise the same su- premacy over the new. Evidence of this is seen in the right he assumed to appoint bishops, to exercise jurisdiction in spiritual courts, to speak a deciding word in dogmatic controversies, and to summon coun- cils of the Christians. Already different sections had held councils or con- gresses where difficulties were settled. These sections were the natural group of cities and towns about the three important cities : — Rome, Alexandria and Antioch. Later to these centres were added Con- stantinople and Jerusalem, and these cities became the centres of the Church and their bishops were called 42 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Patriarchs or Popes. Shortly after Constantine recognized Christianity, he decided to exercise his supremacy and call a general council of the whole Church. This council was summoned in the year 325 at Nicaea, a little city about forty miles southeast of Constantinople. It is now a miserable Turkish village called Isnik. There were present from fifteen hundred to two thousand bishops, priests and deacons from all parts of the empire. " The synod was solemnly opened in the central (the largest) hall of the palace, in which seats were set for the bishops on either hand. On a given sign the bishops rose from their seats and Constantine entered in dazzling robes and dignified demeanor, accom- panied not by a miUtary retinue, but by trusted friends ; he passed down the middle of the hall to the low (not throne-like) golden chair in a prominent po- sition, to which on both sides the seats of the bishops converged in a half circle ; but it was only on the ex- pression of the wish of the bishops that he took his seat. The bishop who occupied the first seat on the right side, now rose to make a poetical address to the Emperor and praise God for him, whereupon Con- stantine, with serene and friendly countenance looking round about him among the bishops, addressed them in a soft voice. He extolled this as the fulfilment of his THE BEGINNING 43 deepest wish, that God, in addition to all other suc- cesses, had vouchsafed to him to see the representa- tives of the Church gathered around him in unanimity, and forcibly exhorted them to guard and maintain this peace, as most justly beseemed the servants of God." We must notice that there was no bishop from Rome present, he being an old man sent two priests, who took no part of importance in the council. The two men of greatest importance that must be remembered are Arius and Athanasius. The great- est debate of the session took place over two opposing ideas championed by these two men. Arius was an older man than Athanasius ; he was tall with fine cut, sharp features, very polite, elegant in dress, a keen mind, ready speech, good in logic, and a hard man to meet in argument. Although he came from Alexan- dria, he had been brought up in Antioch where he be- longed to a school which sharply separated the divine from the human. Arius tried to convince the council that God was very far away and beyond the humanity of the world, and that Christ was between God and man, above man and yet not equal to God. Arius was really reverting to a kind of Jewish religion with Christ in it. That was natural for him, because he had been brought up in Antioch where Jewish influence was strong. Athanasius was a young man of deep feeUng 44 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY and great determination. He was born and always lived in Alexandria, under the influence of the Greek school of Christianity which taught that God was everywhere, and especially in the hearts of men. He said that Jesus Christ was of the '• veiy substance of God. God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God." Athanasius won and a creed was formulated which later was enlarged into the Nicene Creed which is in the Prayer Book. Athanasius had to suffer for his victory later, for the idea voiced by Arius had many followers in the East who persecuted Athanasius. He was obliged to flee to Rome. But he held to his truth and to-day his memory is honored as a man who would stand firmly for what he believed to be true. During the next three hundred years five more councils were held. In them many bitter discussions took place and the result of them was division rather than union. This division was increased when Con- stantine moved the capital from Rome to Constanti- nople. This was the first step in dividing Christendom into the East and the West. With the Emperor's re- moval from Rome the Bishop of Rome became the first citizen, exercising temporal supremacy as well as spiritual. As time went on both people, and churches, began to appeal to him as a judge, going to Rome to THE BEGINNING 45 the bishop, because Rome was the old imperial city. This displeased the Bishop of Constantinople very- much, he felt that he, as the bishop of the capital city, should be the source of appeal. The whole subject was again and again introduced into the councils with no good result, for the harder the issue was fought, the more clearly it was seen that the East must divide from the West, and there must eventually be a Greek Church and a Roman Church. As we look back on those days we can see a greater reason for the division than simply the ambition of two rival bishops. We can see that the separation was the first great step in an onward development, and the history of Christianity was more glorious because the West was delivered from the East, for that part of the world was going backward, sinking into a sleep from which, even to-day, it has not awakened. The sepa- ration was finally due to one man who became in reality the first Pope of the Roman Church. 13. Leo First. Bishop of Rome from 440-461. The Barbarian Invasions. Leo I became Bishop of Rome when conditions were favorable to the successful carrying out of his ambition. In Gaul a kingdom was in formation that was destined to control the Roman Empire and was now hastening its decay. Pressing on the northern 46 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY boundary lines were fierce barbarian tribes who looked across the Danube with envious eyes. Within the empire was undermined, the citizen as a soldier had ceased to be, and whole tribes of barbarians were hired and placed in the army. The Christian Church was the only strong institution. She alone had power over the lives of men. The time was ripe for a strong minded, energetic man to make the office of Bishop of Rome the controlling power of the world. Leo was that man. He took up the sceptre that the Roman Emperor was allowing to fall. Born of humble parentage in an obscure town of Italy, he was only a deacon on a mission in Gaul, when the clergy and people of Rome elected him bishop or pope as he was now frequently called. Pope means father and is the title once given to all priests and is even to-day in the Greek Church. Amid great enthusiasm they brought Leo back to Rome and ordained him priest and bishop. What the churches had conceded to the Bishop of Rome, Leo immediately demanded as his right. Leo determined to be pope in fact as well as in name. Soon after Leo was made bishop, he had trouble with one of the bishops of Gaul and because of this he secured a law from the Emperor, the latter part of which ran as follows : " We decree, by a perpetual THE BEGINNING 47 sanction, that nothing shall be attempted against ancient custom by the bishops of Gaul, or other provinces, without the authority of the Venerable Pope of the Eternal City ; but whatever the authority of the Apostolic Chair ordains shall be law to them, so that, if any bishop when commanded shall omit to come to the court of the Roman Bishop, he shall be compelled to come by the governor of the province." Much of Leo's success came from his charming personality. When the fierce Attila with his bar- barian Huns was marching towards Rome, it was the Bishop Leo who at the request of the Emperor and Senate betook himself to the court of the Hunnish King and induced him to make peace and withdraw beyond the Danube. Later in 456 when the Huns were again before the city, and no terms were accepta- ble, it was Leo who handed the keys of the city to the Vandal King and persuaded him to respect church property and church officials, and prevent as far as possible murder and fire. For fourteen days the great city was plundered, its riches and its people carried away. Leo is to be remembered as the first Pope and the founder of the papal monarchy. As we watch the developments of the papacy in the succeeding pages we must not condemn it too harshly. It was wrong, Jesus Christ did not teach that any man should exer- 48 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY cise authority over others. He said (Matt. 20: 25), " The princes of this world exercise dominion and authority but it shall not be so among you," but we should think of it as one of God's methods of pre- serving Christianity during the extension of civilization over the northern part of Europe, and the remodeling of civilization in the southern part. 14. Rise of Monasticism and Augustine. While so much stress was being placed on organiza- tion and the bishops were quarreling for power, we see that the Church in its worldiness was very far from representing Christianity, as Jesus Christ had given it to the world. The Church in its worldly life had gone to an extreme. But there was another ex- treme that entered Christianity about the same time. In the days of persecution men and women had fled from the world to escape death ; now men who felt that the worldly life of the Church was wrong, began to live away from the world, hoping in the solitude of a cave or desert to follow the Christian life and gain heaven. One of these men was St. Anthony. When a young man, Anthony heard the Gospel story of the rich young man who was told by Christ to sell all that he had and give to the poor. This story made him think. He was rich and yet he wanted to be a true THE BEGINNING 49 follower of Christ. He thought about the matter so much that he finally believed demons were around him tempting him. So he sold all his property, divided the money among the poor and went into a desert, determined to dedicate his life to God and battle with the demons that tempted and terrified him. For a long time he lived in the hollow of a tomb, then in a deserted fort, finally on a deserted mountainside, sustained by dates and water. Other men followed him, seeking his spiritual guidance and living in his neighborhood, while people of all ranks visited him, seeking advice and council. One day Athanasius, when he was being persecuted came to him and re- mained with him some time. Athanasius afterwards wrote his life. In the year 356 Anthony died. These hermits were soon called monks, and their settlement in villages gave rise to a kind of community life which later led to the monastery. This was a large building or series of buildings where the monks lived and worked and prayed. There was a chapel with its altar and choir, a dormitory with little cells containing a hard bed and a crucifix, and a refectory with a long table and pulpit from which one of the monks read a sermon while the others ate. Here were two kinds of Christians. One was repre- sented by the Pope who said, " Follow the instructions 50 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY of the Church organization and you will be saved." The other was represented by the monks who said, " Leave the sinful world and find salvation by prayer- ful consecration to God, and fasting and denial." Of the two we can but feel to-day that there was more Christianity in the latter than in the former. Between these two extreme classes were many men who, al- though they remained in the Church, were against the extreme ideas of organization and authority and in sympathy with their brethren who had abandoned its protection. Two names should be remembered, Am- brose, Archbishop of Milan, 374-397, and Augustine Bishop of Hippo, 396-430. Ambrose was the son of a Roman prefect in Gaul. He was educated for an official position in the state and became Prefect of Liguria. One day in 347 he was fulfilling his office and presiding as the state offi- cial at the election of a bishop. Party spirit ran high, and there were evidences that there would be a riot in the Church. The prefect called the assembly to order and made a speech exhorting the people to peace and unity. So deeply did he impress the assembly that when he concluded somebody cried " Ambrose for Bishop ! " The cry was caught up by the whole peo- ple and Ambrose, the Roman Governor, then thirty- four years old, was elected bishop against his will. THE BEGINNING 51 Milan was the residence of the western emperor and the ofifice of bishop was very important. Ambrose immediately set about preparing himself for his office; he studied theology and administration dili- gently, and soon became a great preacher. By his strong practical sense, stateman's experience and lofty character, he won great influence over the Emperor's court and over the people. He was a very spiritual man and favored monasticism and sought to bring about in his clergy more of the Christian spirit and Christian living than was found in the hermits and monks. He treated high and low alike, and even the Emperor found that he must obey Ambrose. Once when the Emperor had committed a terrible crime, commanding seven thousand men to be killed by his soldiers, Ambrose wrote to him, refusing him admittance to the Church until he gave proofs of repentance. One day the Emperor tried to enter the Church, but Ambrose stopped him in the porch and asked him to withdraw. The Emperor spoke of his contrition but Ambrose said that the crime was public, and he must give public evidence of his repentance. The Emperor submitted ; laying aside all his imperial robes, he went into seclu- sion for eight months. This shows how bold and brave Ambrose was, but it also shows that the Church was stronger than the state, and could dictate to it. 52 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY The Other man who took a middle position between the monastery and the Church was Augustine, Bishop of Hippo from 396-430. Augustine was born in Carthage in 354, son of Patricius and Monica. His father was a pagan, his mother was a Christian, and a woman of great tenderness and piety. Augustine wrote a book called " Confessions " in which he told all about his life, so we know more about him than any other man of this period. When he was young he was very wild and dissolute, but there were present in him wonderful talents and great ambition for all kinds of knowledge. He became a rhetorician, an orator. All this time his mother was very anxious for her son's spiritual welfare ; continually she prayed for him and from place to place she followed him, pleading with him to become a Christian. When Augustine was twenty- eight he left Carthage and went to Rome and from Rome to Milan. There he met and heard Ambrose preach. Inwardly he was impressed. This was the beginning of his awakening. He commenced to read Paul's epistles and one day, as he was struggling with temptation and feeling particularly depressed, his eye fell on that passage which reads " Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in sin." THE BEGINNING 53 Augustine says in his confession, '< No further would I read ; nor needed I ; for instantly at the end of the sentence, by a light as it were of serenity, infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away." On Easter day, 387 a. d., Augustine was baptized. That inward struggle made him appreciate the inner struggle of the monastic life so that after his conver- sion he retired to a monastery, but was called from that to become Bishop of Hippo. Hippo was a town west of Carthage, where the town of Bona is now. As Bishop, Augustine became a great preacher and writer. As he had drank deeply of the cup of sin, so he convinced people of sin. But he did not leave them discouraged, but told them that through Jesus Christ and baptism and communion in the Church they could be saved. All his life he tried to bring more of the monastic spirit into the Church, and by his writings he made his ideas of God and Christ and the Church, the ideas of most Christian people up to the Protestant Reformation. He was a good man, selling all his worldly possessions and giving to the poor. He died when he was seventy-five in the year 430. Amid all the dark and bright days of this period there was one true and central thought that held Christendom together. In monasticism, in the 54 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Church with its elaborate organization, in men like Ambrose and Augustine there was always present the conviction that God had once visited this world in human form, that divine love had been manifested in the sacrifice on Calvary. 15. Missionary Activity. Missionary work is the foundation of the growth of Christianity. All through these years men had been carrying the gospel in all directions. There are a few men whose names we should remember. Some who lived later than this period, are noticed here for con- venience. Ulfila, born about 311, apostle to the Goths. It is said that he was brought to Constantinople as a hostage for the good conduct of his people. Here he was converted to Christianity and became a " lector " i. e., one who reads the Bible to the congre- gation. In 341 he was consecrated bishop of the " Christians in Gothia." For seven years he worked as pastor and preacher among his people across the Danube. He did not care for the disputes of his brethren in Rome, he cared more for right living, and those who followed him lived very beautiful Christian lives. Ulfila made the first translation of the Bible into the Gothic language, it was the corner-stone of Teutonic literature. He died in 381 in Constantinople. THE BEGINNING 55 Augustine, Apostle to England. In 596, Gregory, Pope of Rome, sent Augustine and forty monks to the British Isle. The Pope's attention had been attracted by some ca-ptured prisoners who had been brought from this island. They were so beautiful in form and feature that he longed to make their people Christians. When Augustine landed he met Ethelbert, King of the Jutes, and made many converts. He baptized Ethelbert a year later. This was not the first Christian community in England. In the records of the early councils we find the names ol British bishops. Thus we believe that Christianity was first introduced into England as it was elsewhere, by Roman soldiers and tradesfolk. Thus there came to be two Christian churches in Great Britain : an old British church with customs of its own, and the Church established by Augustine the monk. Augus- tine tried to unite these two communities, but the ancient Church in Wales remained independent of the Roman Church. Augustine was consecrated bishop and later archbishop. He was the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 605. Boniface, Apostle to the Germans. Of a still later date, 680, was Boniface, who was born in England. He early became a monk, and after giving evidence of great ability, gave up a 56 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY career in his own country and made a pilgrimage to Rome. Here the Pope appointed him apostle to the Germans. As a preacher and organizer he holds a high position in the Church, uniting the various Christian communities of Germany and instituting many new ones. On Whitsunday, 755, he sent word for a large number of converts to meet him to receive confirmation. During the service a mob of heathens fell upon him and slew him along with his people, whom he forbade to make any resistance. The story of Christian missionary work is long and interesting, filled with men and women who became martyrs and heroes in order that others might be helped and saved. DIVISION TWO THE MIDDLE AGES i6. Fall of the East. When Christianity had conquered the Roman em- pire, its task was not yet done. The barbarian hordes who had come from the north and touched the totter- ing empire causing it to crumble, became the new material on which Christianity must work. The early Christian days were occupied with the converting of the Roman empire, the days of the middle ages were occupied with the converting of the new people from the north. Christianity built its foundation of material taken from the Roman empire, but the structure raised on the foundation was built of material taken from Gaul, Germany and Britain. Before following the success of Christianity in the north and west of Europe we turn aside to see its fail- ure in the east. From 600 to 750, like a stream of fire devouring all life before it, the troops of the Mo- hammedan conquerors poured forth from Arabia over Asia and Africa. To those whom they conquered they offered their religion, tribute, or the sword. Per- 57 58 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY sia, Palestine, Syria, Africa and Spain succumbed. In Jerusalem, on the site of Solomon's Temple, a mosque was built. For seven years Constantinople was threat- ened. The West trembled, for fear that Christianity would be destroyed, the Koran substituted for the Bible, the mosque for the church. In 732 an army began to march into Gaul from Spain. They were met by a Christian army on the plains between Tours and Poitiers and driven back. The West was saved to Christianity. But the Eastern Church and the Eastern Empire were enclosed and fettered by a people who half tolerated Christianity, but who could not be con- verted. Chilled and benumbed the Eastern Church became stagnant, and even to-day we see the effects of this terrible conquest in the Russian and Greek Churches. 17. Beginning of the ^A^est. In the West order came slowly out of chaos. The conquering barbarians from the North were not like the Mohammedans of the East. The barbarians came for wealth, but they came with a longing to build an empire like the Roman Empire which they had over- thrown. The vastness of its organization awed them ; they became envious of its culture, they imitated its manners. But after the empire had crumbled, a work- ing model remained in the church. Thus they came, THE MIDDLE AGES 59 respecting Christianity the spiritual force in the church, and longing to build an empire according to the model of the church organization. They brought with them willingness to adopt new ideas, great per- sonal bravery, and the desire to better life. The one thing, that stood in the way of their build- ing an empire, was their lack of union. Each tribe had its chief and federation was impossible. The first step towards unification was taken by Clovis, a Prank- ish chief. The Franks occupied what to-day is the western part of Germany. Starting with a few thou- sand warriors, he soon conquered all of Gaul, the heart of the Western Empire. In 496 Clovis embraced Christianity. Already Clotilde, his wife, had accepted Christianity, and many times she had urged Clovis to abandon his idols. Before one of his battles he vowed that if the victory were given him, he would worship the God of the Christians. The victory was won, and immediately Clovis with three thousand of his nobles, was baptized. Some time later, hearing a sermon on the crucifixion, Clovis exclaimed, that if he and his faithful Franks had been there, vengeance would have been taken on the Jews. These incidents give a good idea of the character of the people who were to rebuild society. In this period of war and struggle, Christianity made 60 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY its way by the voices of its clergy being heard in fear- less rebuke and tender consolation. They came for- ward in the affairs of town and city, they were ambas- sadors and peace-makers, intercessors for the suffering, and courageous protectors of the injured. Without force Christians met these barbarians and subdued them by righteousness, and softened and restrained them by the lesson of the cross. i8. Two Centres of the Middle Ages. There were two centres around which the events of the Middle Ages revolved. They were the Church and the empire, the ecclesiastical and political gov- ernments. In history it has been proved that govern- ment is necessary. Mankind does not develop when he leads a free life like a savage, he develops when he places himself in relation to other men and all submit to a guiding head, be it a chief, a king, an emperor or a congress. As order began to come out of the chaos of the sixth and seventh centuries, the need of govern- ment was clearly recognized. But what kind of gov- ernment should it be ? Should the Roman Empire be revived and the Emperor placed at the head, or should the church, already so well organized, be given in- creased power and the Pope at Rome recognized as the head ? We are now to watch the development of these two THE MIDDLE AGES 6l ideas, and their conflict. Notice how wonderfully Christianity is preserved through these dark times, 19. Rise of Papacy. Gregory the Great, 590-604. It was natural that the Pope at Rome should gain power first. In the confusion that prevailed the Church had all that there was of organization; this caused men, who longed for union and organization, to turn to it. We must remember that the popes of this period did not grasp power, or strive to acquire it; they simply stood still and received that honor and power which came to them as the willing offering of the people. In the fall of the empire, in the radical changes wrought by the acceptance of a new religion, God seemed very far away from the world, and the need was felt for a power that should rule the world for God. Augustine's idea of the Church was adopted and the Church was viewed as a refuge, — an ark of deliver- ance, — from the dark and evil world. As Christianity progressed and more people were converted, they be- gan to feel the advantage of a central guiding power. Gradually the people were brought under the control of the clergy, the clergy under the bishop and the bishop under the pope, the earthly head of the Church ; thus was the empire becoming unified by one common faith and hope and government. 62 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY The authority of the Papacy never looked as ac- ceptable to men as it did in the person of Gregory the Great. Born of an ancient and respected Roman family, Gregory received all that the culture and edu- cation of his time had to give. At an early age he filled two important official positions at Rome and Constantinople. Early he was attracted to the mo- nastic hfe and from his wealth founded a monastery in Rome. Later he decided, like many others of his time, to leave the world and enter the monastery he had established. Lavishing on the poor all his costly robes, his silk, his jewels and his furniture, he became a monk. It was as abbot of a monastery that he saw the beautiful Saxon youths in the slave market at Rome and thereupon resolved to carry Christianity to Britain. This he was not allowed to do in person, for when he started, the Romans called so loudly for his return that he was obliged to abandon the venture, but soon after, when he was elected to the Bishopric of Rome, he sent Augustine and forty monks, as we have seen, to the British Isle. Thus began one of the greatest careers in history. Gregory found the Roman Church rich in lands and estates, given to it since the time of Constantine. In Italy, Sicily and Corsica, in Illyria, Dalmatia, and Gaul, even in Africa and Asia were possessions that THE MIDDLE AGES 63 meant great revenue. To these estates Gregory gave much attention, until he became master of a tre- mendous income. With this he made himself the fostering father of all Romans, he redeemed captives, and assisted the oppressed. These acts gave him great power and brought him and his office into greater prominence. Conscious of his power and greatness, he was not obliged to magnify his office ; it is said he refused to accept the title " The Bishop of Bishops," a title frequently given to bishops of Rome, but pre- ferred to call himself " The Servant of the Servants of God." Personally, Gregory raised an army and defended Rome against the invading Lombards and concluded a treaty with them. By whatever powers were at his command, he enlarged the respect for the Roman Bishop, until it became a natural course for men to appeal to Rome for help and decision in disputes among both bishops and state officials. He made him- self world-known by sending monks as missionaries to Gaul, Spain, Germany and England, and every- where they carried the Gregorian Liturgy, a service- book written in Latin by Gregory, which is the stand- ard of the Roman Church to-day. In such trouble- some times as these days were, this great Christian spirit, with all these practical methods of unification, 64 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY could but be hailed with deUght. Backed by wealth and personal attractiveness, and Christian deeds, Gregory won all to him ; once again all roads led to Rome. We should remember Gregory as a bright light in a dark period of history. 20. Rise of the Empire. Charlemagne (Charles the Great), 768-814. It seems as if God planned that there should be two rulers of the Middle Ages so that when one was bad the other would be good and thus Christianity be preserved. We have seen how wealth and power and honor came naturally to the Bishop of Rome. Gregory used these nobly because he was a true Christian Bishop, but his successors could not withstand the temptation which their position presented to them. From the Pope down to the clergy, worldliness took possession of the Church. Finally so little was the Church respected that Charles Martel, after the battle at Poitiers, seized Church property and rewarded his- soldiers with archbishoprics. The result of such events was a great decrease of the Pope's power and of the people's respect for the Church. But as the power of the Church decreased, the political power increased. The kingdom founded by the Frankish chief Clovis became complete in Charles THE MIDDLE AGES 65 the Great, King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the West from 800 to 814. Charles was born in 742. He received the educa- tion natural for the son of a great chieftain, gaining much instruction in the methods of warfare and the chase, and little in books. It is said that not until late in life did he know how to write. At twenty-six years of age he became king of the Franks. His love of warfare caused him to begin immediately a course of conquest. With all the rough ways of his German ancestors, he had tremendous vigor ; he was in action, wise, inspiring and tactful. In a few years he had made fifty-three expeditions, and brought the whole of Central Europe under his power. What Gregory had done by kindness and wisdom Charles did by force of arms. When the union that centred around Gregory was almost lost, another union of people was brought about by Charles. In Rome in the great Church of St. Peter's on Christmas day 800, Leo III, the Bishop of Rome^ placed a golden crown on Charles's head and the peo- ple saluted him as Roman Emperor. This made the German people very happy, for what they had desired, now seemed attained. They had conquered and re- built the empire they respected, and made one of their own number Emperor. 66 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY And where was the value of all this to Christianity ? In this : that Charles's reign was not only glorious but in the main, righteous. He laid the foundation of the educational movements of the Middle Ages. In his own palace at Achen ( Aix) he collected scholars from all parts of the world. He founded schools not only in his palace, but for the children of his servants and officers. He became Pope as well as Emperor. He looked upon the Bishop of Rome as the first bishop, a kind of president bishop, but he never allowed his claims as superior Pope. His policy was to reform the Church and to unify it around Rome as its natural centre, yet all the time keeping it and the Pope subject to himself. He claimed the right to administer all the Church prop- erty as belonging to the state. He exhorted the Pope and the clergy to lead good and honorable lives. He improved the life of the monasteries by compelling stricter discipline. He insisted that the clergy preach more sermons, not in the Latin language, but in the language of the people, and under penalty of whip- ping, compelled the laity to know the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. He enacted a law against labor on Sundays, and in his reign, time was reckoned from the Christian era, each year opening at Christmas. January first did not begin the year until the sixteenth century. Much of Charles's power was due to his personality. THE MIDDLE AGES 6/ He was seven feet in height, and of noble presence. His eyes were large and animated, and his voice clear, but not 3S strong as his frame would have led one to expect. His bearing was manly and dignified. He was exceedingly fond of riding, hunting, and of swimming. Einhard, his friend and biographer, says of him, " In all his undertakings and enterprises, there was nothing he shrank from because of the toil, and nothing that he feared because of the danger." He died, at the age of seventy, on January 28, 814. He had built at Aix la Chapelle a stately church, the columns and marbles of which were brought from Ravenna and Rome. Beneath its floor, under the dome, was his tomb. There he was placed in a sitting posture, in his royal robes, with the crown on his head, and his horn, sword, and book of the Gospels on his knee. In this posture his majestic figure was found when his tomb was opened by Otto III, near the end of the tenth century. The marble chair in which the dead monarch sat is still in the cathedral at Aix : the other relics are at Vienna. The splendor of Charlemagne's reign made it a favorite theme of romance among the poets of Italy, and a mass of poetic legends gathered about it. 21. Development of Monasticism. Before we can understand the next great character 68 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY of the Middle Ages we must turn aside and look at the great organization in which Christianity was preserved and promoted during the Middle Ages. The passion for learning which was started and promoted by Charlemagne, became the special func- tion of the monasteries. Literature, art, science, music and even politics were the interests of these monkish professors. To become an artist or a professional man, one was obliged to enter the monastery. Outside of the authority of the Pope, and in many cases with- out exciting the interest of the Emperor, these mon- asteries were filled not with clergymen, but with men who sought in a free and independent way the fulfil- ment of their ambitions. Far different were the lives of these monks from the lives of the early hermits and ascetics. No fastings, vigils, long prayers and self-tortures were the customs. Gradually the seclusion of the cloister disappeared, and the halls of the monasteries became places of luxury, idleness and sin. This had disastrous effects on the life of the time. All around were princes and people who feared nothing, not even God. The Pope had little or no power. There was a freedom in the religious life, with little respect for moral law and hardly any conviction of sin. They attended the church where each Sunday the Holy Communion THE MIDDLE AGES 69 Service (then called the Mass) was read in Latin, After the reign of Charles there was little preaching except on great occasions like Saint's Days or the con- secration of a church. About 1038, Bishop of Gode- hard became famous, because, when he heard of people coming together for some great occasion, he would hasten thither and there preach the love of God, and one's neighbor, Christian faith and conduct, the con- fession of sins and the care for souls. So rare was this that note is made of it. Such a loose religious life could not continue. The spirit of the world might hold some monks but it could not hold all. Again and again in this history we have seen the worldly spirit conquering, only to be driven back when it had accomplished what God in- tended. So now, having advanced learning, culture and art and having failed to keep also true Christianity, the time came when worldly monasticism should be cast forth and trodden under the foot of men. There were some monasteries that desired to keep the secluded and holy life. The principal one among these was the monastery of Cluny in Burgundy. This monastery was different from others in that it was not independent. It was under the direction of the Pope. Here three severe vows were required and enforced ; (i) chastity, including abstinence from marriage; (2) 70 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY poverty, the giving up of all personal property, and (3) obedience to superiors. We must remember this last one, for it made all monks of this order obedient to the Pope. These monks sought to check every earthly thought. They had long periods of silence in which they gained mastery over self, and promoted the inner and spiritual life. These were the monks who won the people of the Middle Ages. Their haggard faces, glowing eyes, mortified bodies and rough garments became, in the eyes of the people, the ideal of a true Christian. The coarse peasant felt that here were men sincerely trying to live the life of the Cross, here were Christians who overcame the world. Cluny became the centre of a powerful and enthusi- astic movement. Monasteries far and wide united with Cluny as the mother cloister. All came under the superintendence of the Abbot at Cluny, and through him, under the Pope. The cloister began to rule the West. Papacy and empire came under its dominion because it was the one vital institution which had the power to rule. 22. Papacy in Full Power. Gregory Hildebrand (Pope 1073-1085). If Charles the Great controlled the Papacy as well as the empire and made himself Pope as well as Em- peror, the time had now come when the Pope would THE MIDDLE AGES /I be Emperor as well as Pope. The way that led to the papal supremacy was prepared in the monastery of Cluny and was achieved by Gregory Hildebrand, Pope from 107 3- 1085. Hildebrand was born in Tus- cany of a poor but respectable family. From his early boyhood he was prepared for the monastic Hfe and as a young man entered the Monastery of Cluny. He came at a moment when this great monastic move- ment had arrived at a wonderful point in its career. No longer did these monks seek to subdue the world, they sought also supremacy over the world. In obe- dience to the Pope they looked upon the Church as the possessor of the world, God had endowed her with it, and it was her privilege to give to the state such temporal power as was wise in her sight, reserving at all times the right of criticism and dictation. The unseen should control the seen, the infinite control the finite. Of this movement Gregory soon became the leader. He was called first to become chaplain to the Pope, then cardinal-subdeacon, archdeacon, chancellor. Thus for years before his elevation to the Papacy, dur- ing the pontificate of five popes, Gregory in reality stood at the head of the temporal affairs of the Papacy. As soon as he was seated in the papal chair he be- ga.n to develop a spiritual monarchy. He argued 72 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY that Christ was King of Christendom, and the Pope is Christ's representative on earth, therefore it was his right and duty to watch over the conduct of the kings, to correct their morals and to depose them if their government was unrighteous. These monstrous claims were made possible by the condition of the Church and of the world. Men were very unhappy under the oppression of bad kings and princes, who ruled them for their own gain. They on the other hand, loved the monks of Cluny, and they looked upon the assertions of the Pope-monk with great favor. They hailed him as a deliverer sent from heaven who would purify the Church and control wicked princes. Thus when the subjects of Henry IV, King of Germany complained of his conduct and tyranny, the Pope summoned him to Rome to answer the charges. This greatly enraged the king who called a council and, as the emperor of old had done, deposed the Pope. Gregory replied by excommunicating the king. This meant that the Pope commanded Christians to refuse to associate with him ; priests could not give him the sacrament, and if he died he would not be buried with a religious service. These things were considered very important in those days, and the Pope had obtained so much power that an excommunication THE MIDDLE AGES 73 easily frightened people into submission. Not so with Henry. He endeavored to overcome the Pope. To his surprise he found people drawing away from him, his nobles and soldiers refused to remain with him unless he obeyed Gregory. Nearly a year passed before Henry was convinced that the Pope had more power than himself, and he must obey the Pope and go to him. The two men met in the winter at the castle of Canossa. There in the court-yard, barefooted and in coarse garments, Gregory saw Henry stand for three days, before he would admit him. Then having shown him his authority, he released him from the excommunication. It must have been a strange sight. Henry was a tall, strong man, while Gregory was small, greatly emaciated by fastings and vigils. Truly the Church had at last conquered. Her chief officer was king as well as pope. While such arrogance cannot be commended in one who claims to be the representative of Christ, still it must be remembered that the state was weak and dis- organized, while the Church was strong and united, therefore it was natural that the Church centre should be in control and should use, in the consciousness of its power, methods that were more temporal than spiritual. 74 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Such arrogance as was assumed by Gregory always meets its downfall. In 1085 Gregory had lost much of his power, for the people found him a cold, hard ruler and gladly returned to their princes ; pursued by the same Henry he died practically a prisoner in Salerno on May 25. 23. Events During Papal Supremacy. ( I ) The Crusades. —The result of the increased power of the Pope was that a mighty religious wave swept over the people. Everywhere people were asking, " What must I do to be saved ? " One of the favorite answers was, " Make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and kneel at the Holy Sepulchre." The Holy Land was in the hands of Arabs and Turks who did not believe in Christ. These, as the number of pilgrims increased, began to be hostile to the Christians, not only laughing at them for wor- shiping a God who was crucified, but also beating and robbing them. As the pilgrims returned they told stories of their bad treatment. These stories aroused the Church and wars were undertaken to redeem the land where Jesus had lived, from the hands of infidels. In the great movement of the crusades we see the Pope as a great military sovereign. The movement began at the Council of Claremont, held in 1095. Before this council was held. Pope THE MIDDLE AGES 75 Urban had commissioned Peter the Hermit to stir up the people to dehver the Holy Sepulchre. All over the country he went with an emaciated countenance and flashing eye, his head bare, his feet naked, and wearing a coarse garment bound with a girdle of cord, telling his burning tale of the inflictions endured by the pilgrims. At the council. Urban himself addressed the assembly eloquently and with great passion. He called upon every one to deny himself and take up the cross. He told them that all their sins would be for- given and salvation theirs, if only they would free the Holy Land from the hands of infidels. Thousands knelt and had the red silk cross fastened on their shoulders, signifying that they took up arms for the Cross of Christ. They were called crusaders from an old French word derived from croix, a cross. There were seven crusades lasting from 1096 to 1300. During this time Jerusalem was taken in 1098 and held until 11 87. In 1229 it was secured again and finally lost in 1244. In 1291 the Christians evac- uated Acre, their last possession in the Holy Land. One of the foremost leaders in the first Crusade was Godfrey of Bouillon. He pawned his estate to the Church for money to raise an army to go to Jerusalem in fulfilment of a vow. His army was eighty thousand foot and ten thousand cavalry. After capturing Antioch, 76 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY and routing a vast Saracen host, the crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, where Godfrey on a Friday, July 15, 1099, at three o'clock in the afternoon stood on the wall of the Holy City. He tarnished his glory by ordering a sacrifice of the infidels, seventy thousand Moslems, and burning harmless Jews in their synagogues. After this massacre, the army walked to Mt. Calvary, bareheaded and barefooted amidst the loud anthems of the clergy ; they kissed the stone which had covered the Saviour of the world and wept. A Christian king- dom was then founded of which Godfrey was unani- mously elected king, but he refused to wear a crown of gold, where his Master had worn a crown of thorns, and took the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. During the single year of his rule, he repelled the Saracens with great courage and skill. He died in iioo and was buried in the Holy Sepulchre. He was mourned by Mohammedans and Christians. His life was one of purity, wisdom and piety. The results of the Crusades were many. Men traveled and all minds broadened. The eastern civilization which was more refined, was brought back to the west, and commerce was established, bringing from the east materials and enriching the west with eastern customs. THE MIDDLE AGES 77 (2) TJie Inquisition. — This word stands for some very dark deeds done by the Roman Church during the supremacy of the Papacy. We see now the wicked use of the papal power. When the Pope was supreme not every one was convinced that he was the representative of Christ. Never in all history has there been a moment when all men saw in the Papacy the ideal of Christian living. When the papal power began to shape its course there were men who saw whither it was tend- ing and who rebelled against it. All through the days of Hildebrand there were many spirits faithful to Christ who longed for freedom from a Pope, in order that they might worship and live as they de- sired. But they were a minority, unable to assert themselves, and because of their minority attracted little attention. They were termed " heretics," which meant that they refused to accept the beliefs of the Roman Church, and therefore were condemned by the Church as in error. As the Crusades progressed, not only did the Crusaders go to the Holy Land, but also against the section of the country where these so called heretics lived. The one we will notice especially is the crusade against the Albigenses. They lived in the southern part of France, grouped around their central y8 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY town called Albi. Here they grew very strong, guided by the nobles of the section. They drove out the Roman priests, and made over the Churches, They established schools and charitable institutions, elected their own priests and bishop. Not only did they re- sist the Church of Rome, but they called it the " Church of the Antichrist," " the synagogue of Satan." This was more than the mighty Pope at Rome could stand. Was he not ruler of the whole world ? " Would he send a crusade against the infidels and leave these heretics unmolested ? No, for Christ, he would exterminate the heretic dogs." A crusade was proclaimed against the Albigenses. A large army marched to the South of France. See how the crusade was carried on. Beziers was the first town attacked. The Albigenses were repulsed, and as they retreated the crusaders pressed after them within the walls of the town. A general massacre ensued, the poor people being killed, burned or sold as slaves to the Mohammedans. One of the orders given by a crusader, Arnold, Abbot of a monastery was " Kill them all; the Lord knoweth them that are His." How strange were the thoughts of men, that they could believe that such acts were acceptable to Christ. Nor was this the worst. Not only would the Pope force himself upon these people, but individually they THE MIDDLE AGES 79 were inquired for and unless they confessed allegiance they were tortured. Others were tortured until they revealed the hiding-places of their friends. To con- fess allegiance to the Pope meant being sent to a monastery, to refuse meant being burned at the stake. We cannot realize the terror of these days. To possess a copy of the Old or New Testament was a crime. So supreme had the Pope become, that no one could think a thought or do an act without it was in accordance with the rules of the Roman Church. (3) St. Francis of Assist [1182-1226) and the Mendicant Orders. — Amid all the religious en- thusiasm created by the supremacy of the Pope it would be strange if there were not many noble Christian men who stood forth from those days of horror and war, and enriched the world by gentle, pure and loving lives. Such was the life of Giovanni Bernardone, called by his father Francesco and known to the world as St. Francis, Born in the family of a rich clothing merchant in the town of Assisi, between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine Mountains, here he dwelt during boyhood, in love with the beautiful mountains, the clear and abundant streams, the fresh air and delightful atmos- phere about him. Filled with the prevailing spirit of 80 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY chivalry he fought for his native town, was taken captive and spent one year in prison. With his re- lease came sickness, and deeper thoughts on the value of life. A deep religious ambition awoke. He de- sired to sell all and give to the poor. Such ideas were strongly opposed by the father, a cool headed business man. One day the two met be- fore the Bishop of Assisi, Francis put aside the cloth- ing his father had given him and laying them at his father's feet, took refuge behind the folds of the Bishop's robe. He had made his decision in favor of the Church. He was determined to take nothing with him, he had determined to deny himself and take up the cross. Truly the spirit of this humble young man was the spirit of Christ. It was love that filled his soul ; pure love of God and of man. His love did not call him to preach, or write or join the great Pope who claimed to be the representative of Christ, it called him to do what Christ did ; to go among the poor, to help them by living with them and loving them. As Jesus had " nowhere to lay his head " so Francis wandered about with no regular shelter ; joining him- self to beggars, and caring tenderly for the outcasts of society — the lepers. A Httle church outside of Assisi was the centre of his religious life. Here he returned again and again, here he gathered around THE MIDDLE AGES 8l him men and women who thought as he did and who desired to Hve with him. Soon a rude monastery of cells (which can be seen to-day) was estabhshed on the hillside above Assisi, and here the few faithful dwelt in a Hfe of prayer and humility. As Christ sent out His followers, so Francis sent out his ; two by two to preach and help the sick and the poor. He said to them : " Go, announcing peace to men, preaching penitence for the remission of sins. Be patient in tribulations, watchful in. prayers, in labors vigorous, in addressing others, modest and humble, in manner and character grave, in receiving benefits, grateful." From this humble beginning came the Franciscan Order which had power during the latter part of the Middle Ages and which to-day numbers one hundred thousand monks. From the beginning, Francis sought to raise the laity. He created what was called the Third Order for men and women who wished to marry and continue their work in the world and yet live a holy life. St. Francis rebelled all his life against Papal favors, he urged his followers not to trouble themselves about the Papacy. But this was quite impossible. Such a work as St. Francis's must be recognized and was com- mended by the Pope. St. Francis, early worn out by fasting and overwork, died in 1226, stretched on the 82 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY floor of his beloved Church near Assisi. After his death his order grew, accepted property and departed widely from Francis's original purpose. T/ie Mendicants. To the followers of St. Francis was given the name of " Mendicants," (poor men). Another man by the name of Dominic organized a similar order, more closely connected with the Pope. Thus over the world streamed these Mendicant monks preaching in the language of the people, becoming their pastors and confessors. There were no newspapers in those days, and these monks, by travel, by touching every interest, political and educational as well as spiritual, became of great value to the people. Can you not imagine the power of the Papacy ? The preaching of these monks was the only force to mold public opin- ion, and all of these monks in life and thought were under the control of the Pope. But a more wonderful change was taking place through the preaching of the mendicants. While the Pope was gaining power by the monk's preaching, un- consciously the middle classes were being educated, and education meant the weapon by which the Papal supremacy would finally be overthrown. Up to this time history has dealt with Princes, nobles and especially clergy. Now by the preaching of the THE MIDDLE AGES 83 monks, the middle class was introduced into history. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries came a won- derful revival of learning. The Universities of Paris, Oxford, and Bologna came into existence. At Paris in 1200 there were fifteen thousand pupils. Here the old Greek philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were read. A vision of a new life was opened to men. Never before did they realize so completely their bondage to the authority of one man, — tJie Pope. They discovered within themselves, reason and power of thought, and as soon as they turned the light of that wonderful power which God has planted in man, upon all the institutions of the time, the Papacy, the monastery, the mendicants, they saw how these in- stead of making noble men and women who loved God, and led self-respecting lives, made men and women afraid of God and lead cowardly and base lives. The time had come when the Papacy must fall. 24. Abuse of the Papal Power. The higher one ascends in the life of the world, the greater becomes the responsibilities. If the Popes at this time had realized their great power and took it as a great responsibility, and tried to guide the people in their ambition to receive an education and advance with the advancing world, they would have exercised their power and enriched life. 84 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Instead they abused their power. They claimed more and more the control of lands and houses, and sought more and more to enrich themselves. In England, Germany and France, the Papacy claimed the ownership of all the land, and gave the use of this land to men whom it wished to reward, or whose services it wished to command. If any one died while visiting the Pope at Rome either on business or pleasure, the Pope took all the property and gave it to whomsoever he willed, and as the Pope controlled the armies, if any one objected to his orders, these were enforced by arms. You remember that the mendicants were under the Pope. This gave them a right to go to any parish, preach and perform all the duties of the priest, and the priest or bishop of the parish could not prevent. This power was used badly for these mendicants de- manded fees, thus the people's money was taken from them and sent to Rome making their own Church very poor and St. Peter's at Rome rich. So anxious did the Papacy become for money that it used to sell bishoprics and spiritual offices to the highest bidders, and those who bought would extort money from the tenants of the land that went with the office. The climax came in 1302 when Philip of France THE MIDDLE AGES 85 and Edward of England refused to allow to the Pope power to give or sell offices in their domains. Pope Boniface VIII boldly declared against these kings, claiming that he had absolute right and could even create and depose kings. These were the two kings who represented the advancing nations of this time. Under the influence of education they were realizing that the state and the Church should not be subject to the Pope. The people of these nations were shocked by the pretensions to power made by the Pope, and were prepared to aid their sovereigns in resisting any claims that were made by the Papacy in their country. Just as Pope Boniface was preparing to issue a bull against Philip awarding France to Albert I of Germany, the French Chancellor surprised the Pope and took him prisoner. Although he was set free in a few days, the shock was so great that he died of a burning fever. Philip immediately took control of the Papacy. He gained the election of a Frenchman for Pope, com- pelled him to move his residence from Rome to Avig- non in France, where the Papacy was under the watchful eye and direction of the King. The Papacy never recovered from this direct blow. It was no use for it to claim power over the men of the world, when everybody knew that it was the vassal and tool of the French King. There soon 86 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY arose a party who elected a Pope to live at Rome. Then Christendom was divided into two hostile camps. The Papacy was at war with itself, each Pope fighting the other. This period is known in history as the Great Schism. Soon a third party arose who called a council to heal the schism. Here a third Pope was elected. Thus in the course of thirty years the institution which once had commanded the respect and allegiance of all, became the jest of Christendom. While all this had been taking place with the Papacy, the common people and the state had gathered strength, one through the preaching of the Mendicant Friars, and the other through the teachings in the universities, these forces now came forward and became the rulers of the world. 25. Reforming Forces. Changes took place rapidly now. The world, as it were, awoke. Every one longed for the new life which seemed possible in religion and politics. The three headed schism was healed in this way : The Council of Constance was called in 14 14. Representatives from all of Western Christendom assembled. The Emperor himself took part. This showed the desire of all for reform. Thus it came to pass that the as- sembly declared : that supreme authority in the THE MIDDLE AGES 8/ Church belonged not to a Pope but to a general coun- cil — the assembly of the representatives of the Church was above the Pope. The three Popes were then compelled to resign, and a new Pope elected and the schism actually healed. This was all that was ac- complished. No sooner did the Papacy become united again, than it seized the reins and tried to assert its old supremacy. But this was not possible, for already there had arisen men who were to prepare the way for Martin Luther and the final overthrow of the power of the Papacy. (i) John Wiclif[ij2^-ij84). — The beginning of the movement of reform is best seen in England and in the person of John Wiclif. This is a name we should re- member, and a life we should know. This man boldly asserted three things: (l) The evils of the papacy. (2) The independence of England. (3) The rights of common people. Born of an old Anglo-Saxon family in Yorkshire, he was educated in Oxford where he early distin- guished himself. In 1360 he became warden of Can- terbury Hall. Later, expelled from his position because he refused privileges to the monks, he left Oxford and plunged into the politics of the day. The great question then debated was, whether or not Eng- land should continue paying an annual tax to the 88 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Pope. This had been done for one hundred years, since the days of King John who had submitted to the Pope's dictation. Edward III refused to pay the tax, and Wiclif supported him in the refusal. ParUa- ment voted that the king had no right to send money to Rome without the consent of the nobles, and further if the Pope proceeded to measures of force, Parliament would support the king. Wiclif was now appointed on a commission sent from England to treat with the Pope's ambassadors. He stayed about two years and came back so disgusted with papal life, as he had seen it, that he not only resisted papal claims, but denounced the Roman Pope as an adversary of Christ. Against the practices of the Roman Church, Wiclif turned the lull vigor of his mind and voice. By sermons from his Church at Lutterworth and by theses, he exposed the degradation of the Papacy and the wide chasm between it and Christianity. Many flocked to hear him, men associated themselves with him, these he trained and sent out to propagate his teachings. Like the friars, they went about with bare feet, coarse clothing, and deeply impressed the poor people. Such action brought upon him the open condemna- tion of Rome. Summoned by a council held at St. Paul's, London, Wiclif was tried but no decision reached. THE MIDDLE AGES 89 Wiclif now turned his attention to the translation of the Bible. Up to this time the Bible had been written in Latin, and the idea had prevailed that it would be showing contempt for the divine word to hand it about among the unlearned. Wiclif desired his poor priests to instruct from the Bible and as they could not read Latin, he translated it for them into English. This was the first systematic and complete translation of the Bible. Wiclif then claimed what was very new : that all men should go to the scripture for their knowledge and truths of Christianity, instead of to the decrees of any Pope or even a council. Soon after this Wiclif fell ill and some friars came to his bedside and exhorted him, as he hoped for mercy from Christ, to unsay the harsh things he had put forth against them. But he replied that he was not sick unto death but would live to continue his crusade against their hypocrisy. In 1 38 1 he was again summoned by the Pope's representatives to appear in London and answer for his writings. Here he spoke out boldly. A priest or Pope, he said, had no exclusive authority " they may be legally punished and accused by the laity." Great confusion reigned during this inquiry. The people who loved Wiclif stood by his side ready to support him. So also did some of the nobility. An 90 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY earthquake broke up this council, and although the Pope endeavored to secure Wiclif 's condemnation as a heretic, he was unsuccessful, Wiclif died in peace at Lutterworth in 1 384. He was the morning star of the Reformation, for he voiced the thoughts of many Englishmen ; " That the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in the realm of England." (2) John Hiiss of Bohemis [ij6g-i^ij). — This is the name of another man who prepared the way for Luther. At the University of Prague lived John Huss, teacher of philosophy and preacher of theol- ogy. In his teachings he was most temperate and instructive, gaining great influence by his modest and meek personality. To this university came stu- dents from Oxford bringing Wiclif 's ideas. Bohemia was aroused and Huss became the central figure of the movement. He preached and wrote against the clergy, their sins and love of money. Soon the Pope placed Huss under ban ; his residence was closed to the public by soldiers who did the Pope's bidding, and Huss was given a certain time in which to retract. Huss ap- pealed to Christ as the one incorruptible judge, left Prague and found a welcome in the castles of his friends. From these castles he issued writings con- demning the Papacy, and went forth and preached to large crowds in the open air. At this time the great THE MIDDLE AGES 91 Council of Constance was in session (Page 86), and the Emperor invited Huss to attend the council and vindicate himself and the honor of Bohemia, and as- sured him safety under the protection of Imperial sol- diers. Huss accepted, but the Emperor did not keep his word. At Constance Huss was imprisoned in a dungeon, tried before the council and condemned. He was then publicly deposed as a heretic, he had his priestly garments torn from him, and his soul given to the devil. Like the martyrs of old he commended his soul to Jesus Christ and was burned at the stake. Not satisfied with this crime, the council dug up Wiclif 's body which had been buried thirty-one years and burned it with all his writings. The ashes were thrown into the Avon. We should remember the four lines written by Wordsworth : •' Avon to the Severn runs, The Severn to the sea, And Wiclif's dust shall spread abroad As wide as waters be." These acts caused profound agitation in England and Bohemia, and a great reaction against Church author- ity. Men in Bohemia sent a vigorous declaration to the council, and noblemen formed a league for the protection of free preaching on their property, and declared in favor of Huss and Wiclif, and that they 92 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY would only obey orders of the bishop and Pope if they were in accord with the scripture. So far did the reaction against the Church go that in Bohemia there appeared the idea of the early Christian community ; there was to be no church, with power and authority, but rather a voluntary association of men who be- lieved in the Kingdom of God. In England arose similar movements called, " Lollardism," " Friends of God," " Brothers of the Common Life," all seeking spiritual living apart from the organized Church, All these movements were needed, for all through this period we have seen men with their eyes dazzled by the brilliancy of Church ritual and organization, and their faces set towards the riches of the world with all its pleasures and ambitions. Back of them was the Gospel that giveth the only true and lasting life. The Middle Ages needed not so much a change of organization, as a change in spirit. Pope, bishop, priests, kings, princes, all needed a draught from the inexhaustible well of the gospel, which the great Christian Church always bears within her, and all these movements signified the turning of men towards the gospel. DIVISION THREE THE REFORMATION 26. The New Spirit. If we had lived between 1400 and 1500 we should have enjoyed one of the most wonderful periods of history. In 1 320, gunpowder had been discovered to be of use in warfare. Picture if you can what the in- vention of the cannon and firelock meant. No longer was the man on the horse, who was protected by heavy steel armor, a terror to the man who had no horse and no armor. The man with a lance on a horse was compelled to surrender to the man on the ground with a gun. This put power into the hands of the common people and revolutionized society. Of still greater importance was the invention of printing in 1438. Up to this time all books had been made in the monastery. Sometimes monks spent a lifetime copying by hand one book after another. This made libraries expensive, and education only within reach of the wealthy. With the invention of printing, books came within the reach of all. Educa- 93 94 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY tion means power and in the end it gives a man greater power than the gun. In 1492, Columbus, by the discovery of America, proved that the world was round and not flat, and that there were lands on the earth containing wealth be- yond the imagination of man. This compelled men to make a decided change in their ideas of life. With the radical changes in society created by the use of gunpowder, with the increased education of men by the invention of printing, with the total change of looking at the universe as brought about by Columbus and Copernicus, a new age came into being. Instead of looking forward to the life to come, they looked forward to the improvement of life here. Men's minds were filled with new ambitions, new path- ways of Ufe lay before the young men ; and the poor man, the common man, stood upright to receive what the age in all its fruitfulness had to give. With their attention on these great and important movements men found that they had more enthusiasm for life, than when they thought constantly and almost solely on Church affairs : ritual, organization, and stood in fear of the priest and Pope. Thus a new spirit came into existence, a spirit that the Papacy could not conquer. This spirit was more in Germany than anywhere THE REFORMATION 95 else. There were many reasons for this. Notice the following: (i) There was more real piety and desire for morality. (2) The Bible was read and preached not in the Latin language, but in the Germanic. (3) The Pope at Rome was far enough away to make the Germans bold in criticising him and his methods. 27. Reformation in Germany. Martin Luther, 1483-1546. The spirit within the hearts of men at last came into being. Germany awoke to the fact that much of its money was carried to Rome to support a profligate Papacy. The method of securing the money was by the system of indulgences. If a man committed a sin he could buy an indulgence, which was a roll of paper containing the Pope's pardon, and thereby be assured of the forgiveness of his sin. In 15 16 Pope Leo X needed money to continue the construction of St. Peter's which stands to-day in Rome, the largest cathedral in Christendom. He therefore issued thousands of these indulgences and sent monks to Germany to sell them. Among the monks was one Tetzel whose district was near Wit- tenberg. As indulgences had been long in the market and cheaply bought, Tetzel was obliged to use means to 96 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY increase the sale. Daringly he piled lie upon lie, he set forth a long list of evils his commodity would cure ; he invented evils and sins, crimes and atrocities unthought of ; and when he saw his audience standing aghast at each horrible suggestion, he would calmly repeat the burden of his song : " Well, all this is ex- piated the moment your money clinks in the Pope's chest." Luther was then pastor and preacher at Wittenberg. Born in the family of a miner, he was one of the com- mon people. After some early schooling he entered the University of Erfurt to study law. Suddenly he disappeared. The question : " How can I find a merciful God," and the terrors of a thunder-storm, had deeply shocked him, and compelled him to turn towards the monastery, with the hope that by becom- ing pious and sacrificing his life, he could obtain the favor of a merciful God. After years of study in the monastery, he went to the University of Wittenberg where he became a doctor and teacher, and in this position his attention was attracted to the sale of indulgences. Listen to Luther : " It was in the year 15 17 when the profligate monk Tetzel, a worthy servant of the Pope and the devil, for I am certain that the Pope is the agent of the devil THE REFORMATION 97 on earth — came among us selling indulgences, main- taining their efficacy, and impudently practicing on the credulity of the people. When I beheld this un- holy and detestable traffic taking place in open day, and thereby sanctioning the most villainous crimes, I could not, though I was but a young doctor of divinity, refrain from protesting against it in the strongest manner. I resolved to oppose the career of this odious monk and to put the people on their guard against the revival of this infamous imposition. " I cautioned my hearers against the snares which were laid for them, showing them that this was a scheme altogether opposed to religion, and only in- tended as a source of emolument by these unprinci- pled men." Luther wrote to his bishop, but received no answer. Finding all his remonstances disregarded, on the fes- tival of All Saint's (November, 15 17) he nailed to the door of the Church ninety-five propositions against these indulgences, in which he set forth their utter inef- ficiency and worthlessness. As a knight by casting down his glove called for a tournament, so these theses called for debate from scholars. The public mind was stirred. All Germany was fired by Luther. Luther immediately became " A stanch antagonist of eccle- siastical abuses, and a fearless champion of reform." 98 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY The Pope tried to bring Luther to submission, but as one dispute led to another, Luther's views of the Papacy became clearer and more decided to himself as well as to the world. He disputed the right of the Pope to make laws and avowed his sympathy with Huss. In 1520 the Pope excommunicated him, but he burned the bill of excommunication at the gates of the town in the presence of students and others. Both parties had taken the extreme step. The fight was on. Luther's stand served as a rallying point for all men who had a grievance against the Pope and clergy. Protected by some of the nobility who sympathized with him, Luther found himself at the head of a large body of reformers. Events moved with great rapidity and matters went from bad to worse until the Emperor Charles V called a council, the Diet of Worms, in hopes to reconcile Luther and the Pope. In the centre of Worms to-day stands a monument to Luther, commemorating his boldness and dependence on God. To this Diet Luther was carried, assured of safe conduct and protection. He went trusting, but re- membering Huss. His writings were laid before him, and he was asked to refute. He spent one night in thought and prayer. Next morning the miner's son THE REFORMATION 99 Stood before all, Emperor, bishops and dignitaries. After some discussion he was asked for a direct answer. " Since your imperial Majesty and your Highnesses demand a simple answer, I will give you one, brief and simple, but deprived of neither its teeth nor its horns. Unless I am convicted of error by the testi- mony of Scripture, or by manifest evidence (for I put no faith in the mere authority of the Pope, or of coun- cils, which have often been mistaken, and which have often contradicted one another, recognizing as I do no other guide than the Bible, the word of God), I cannot, nor will not retract, for we must never act contrary to our conscience. " Such is my profession of faith, and expect none other from me. I have done. God help me. Amen ! " Luther was immediately excommunicated and con- demned. Respecting his assurance of safe conduct, he was given three weeks to return home. As the Diet broke up, Luther was seized by faithful friends who carried him to the staunch castle at Wartburg, situated in a forest. Here he lived for a year disguised in the dress of a squire and known as Squire George. Here in the quiet of the forest he translated the Bible into German. So well did he 100 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY write that the Bible became immediately a living book, and the foundation of German literature. Luther soon found that he had a large number of powerful princes who followed him and who looked to him for guidance, so he left his safe retreat and went back to Wittenberg. Here he addressed the men who had the power to maintain any position they might take by force of arms, and told them it was their right and their duty, founded on the universal priesthood of all beliefs, to take in hand the reforma- tion of the Church, if the proper organs of the Church, the Pope and bishops, refused to do so. Immediately the German States represented by these nobles, drew up a list of one hundred grievances against the See of Rome, and declared that they would take means to right these wrongs, if they were not changed. Luther now had his protests against Rome voiced by men who had power. The reformation became political. On one side were Catholic Princes who looked to the Pope and priesthood for guidance. On the other were the Protestant Princes who looked to Luther and other theologians for guidance. We will not trace the conflict between these two parties. After years of war and misery the Protes- tants were successful. Both the Roman and the THE REFORMATION 101 Protestant confessions were allowed ; so that in some places the power of the Pope and priests was recog- nized, in others not. In some churches the altar was taken away and fewer forms and a less rigid liturgy than the Romans, used. The Mass, or Lord's Supper, from being celebrated daily, was celebrated infre- quently. The office of bishop was given up and the governing of the congregation was placed in the hands of the princes or organized bodies called " presbyteries." Luther did not live to see these steps taken. Al- though he must have seen that they were inevitable. On the night of February 17, 1546, he was taken seriously ill. He talked a great deal of his death. In his sleep he would repeat : " Into Thy hands I com- mend my spirit; Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth ! " Suddenly he fell back in a swoon. As he revived, one of the doctors standing near said to him, " Reverend father, do you die firm in the faith you have taught ? " Luther opened his eyes and looked fixedly at the doctor and replied, firmly and distinctly, " Yes ! " Soon after he grew paler and his breathing fainter, until at length he sent forth a deep sigh, and the great reformer was dead. We must remember Luther as a great Christian hero. Living in a time when it was dangerous to be I02 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY true to the highest, he obeyed the voice of God in his heart and with courage and boldness performed a gigantic task. Through him God put a new spirit into hfe. When Luther laid his hand on the Bible and deferred to it as the only true authority, he gave to his day what was most needed. He visibly voiced the truth: that no church can be a true church of Christ unless it lives and works according to the Scripture. 28. The Reformation in France. John Calvin, 1509-1564. The spirit of revolt against the Papacy was wide- spread over Europe. Each nation went about reform- ing its religious life, in different ways, but the end sought and attained was the same : liberty to read the Bible and live as God dictates by man's conscience instead of a life of unthinking obedience to the Roman Church. In France where people were always opposed to the Italian Papacy (recall the years of the Papacy at Avignon), the Reformation was led by the nobility, and did not reach the common people until it crept in from Germany. Thereupon there arose two parties of Protestants. These became very bitter towards each other and went to such extremes that during the night of October 13, 1534, the Lutheran party posted up THE REFORMATION IO3 violent placards on the church doors and walls and even in the King's bedchamber, attacking the Mass and the party of the nobility. This act led to per- secution. One hundred Protestants were held, eight- een tongues were cut out, some were burned. This persecution caused John Calvin to come for- ward with his " Institutes of the Christian Religion," as a testimony of the belief of the Evangelicals. John Calvin was thirty-five years old when Luther died. In early youth he exhibited seriousness and strictness in his views of morality. He lost his mother early and it is said of him that he never played as a boy. At twelve he was, at his father's request, appointed chaplain or pastor in a French chapel. This was one of the evil customs of the time. Bish- ops and Popes gave responsible positions to boys in order that their relatives might derive the revenue therefrom. We read of a cardinal only sixteen years old and of an archbishop five years old. Calvin did not perform any of the duties in this chapel. He continued with his studies and so closely applied him- self that his mates believed that he condemned the spirit of fun and play. When he was nineteen he studied in the University of Paris and other French universities, and there learned about the Lutheran Reformation, whose principles he accepted. I04 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY During the persecutions in France he was obUged to flee in order to save his own Hfe. He said, " If truth does not desen>e to divell hi France, neither may I dwell there." He started for Bale, and being obHged to pass through Geneva was there detained by Farel, the leader of the Protestant Reform. " Calvin en- deavored to excuse himself on the plea that he needed quiet to pursue his studies, and that his natural shy- ness made him useless in active reform. But Farel declared to him in the name of God, that if he refused his help, when the Church was in such sore need, God would curse his studies and his rest." Calvin accord- ingly remained and filled the position of teacher of theology. The people of Geneva at that time were struggling against the bishop who was also their civil ruler, and had accepted the reformation theology because it was opposed to that of the bishops. Having overthrown these powers, Calvin assisted in drawing up a system of Church government, which was to govern the city also. In it there were too many of Calvin's religious ideas. All power was given to the ministers. There was to be no more dancing, no music, cards, holidays and plays. Even the church- bells were taken down and made into cannon. The people of Geneva found this yoke hard to bear. THE REFORMATION 105 They were a gay people, fond of songs and dances and holidays. They felt that Calvin had gone to an extreme that was as hard as obedience to the Roman Pope. After a few months they drove Calvin out of the city and went back to their pleasure with such a zeal that the city was endangered, and a party arose who desired Calvin's return. A message was sent to the princes of Strasburg where Calvin had gone, part of which read as follows : " Most worshipful Masters : Urge the most illustrious princes of Strasburg that in their benevolence they not only restore our brother Calvin to us, who is so very necessary to us, and who is so anxiously sought after by our people, but that they condescend to urge him to come hither as speedily as possible." Calvin returned, and with him returned also his laws against wickedness. He built a civil condition where the laws were religious and the judges ministers. Geneva soon became known as a pious community where there was no luxury and no crime. The value of Calvin is in the fact that he gave a new turn to the Reformation. As the movement be- came victorious there was a strong tendency to think that freedom from the control of the Pope was license to do anything or think anything. Calvin stood against this and said that God was in heaven, and lOO THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY must be obeyed by men. If they would not obey willingly then they must be compelled to obey. He had no idea of toleration. There was a man by the name of Servetus, who was visiting Geneva. This man did not agree with Calvin on the Trinity. Calvin said he blasphemed God, brought him to trial and had him burned at the stake. This was wrong, it was utilizing Romish methods under a Protestant name. Luther was not so hard hearted. Calvin is one of the "best hated" men in history. Some of the people in Geneva called their dogs by his name. He was hated by the Roman Church because he was the author of the system that opposed the proudest and most in- vincible front to Rome. By statesmen, because he instituted a Church that acted as a revolutionary force in history. By Anglican bishops and divines, be- cause he was the father of Puritanism. But the man who touched so many men, must have been a man of decided power, raised by God to do a certain work. 29. Reformation in England. We come to that part of the Reformation with which we as citizens of the United States are more directly connected. It was from England that most all forms of religious life entered United States. England was the last country to fall under Roman power in the eleventh century ; and first to escape in THE REFORMATION 10/ the fourteenth. The reasons for this were (i) its island position, it was a long way from Rome and (2) its strong nationality, its love for its own land. We must glance for a moment backward and see the course over which we have come. 1. We began in England with Wiclif, " The Morn- ing Star of the Reformation." We saw him take a bold stand against the Pope asserting that the papal tax was not legal and should no longer be paid. 2. Luther in Germany took the next step when he asserted that the Pope's power and the power of the council was subordinate to the Scriptures. 3. Then came Calvin who built up a system of po- litical life free from the Pope and priest and based on obedience to God. These are the fundamentals of the Reformation. These effected church life in Germany, France, Eng- land, Switzerland, The Netherlands and all reforming nations. (i) Henry the Eighth. — The central figure in Eng- land is King Henry VIII, 1509-1547. Green thus de- scribes him : " Henry the Eighth had hardly completed his eighteenth year when he mounted the throne, but the beauty of his person, his vigor and skill in arms, seemed matched by a frank and generous temper and a nobleness of political aims. Already in stature and I08 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Strength a king among his fellows, taller than any, bigger than any, a mighty wrestler, a mighty hunter, an archer of the best, a knight who rode down rider after rider in the tourney, the young monarch com- bined with his bodily lordliness, a largeness and versa- tility of mind which was to be the special characteristic of the age that had begun." While the monk Luther was stirring up trouble in Germany and making the Pope uneasy, Henry VIII brought him a problem that did not tend to increase his comfort. Henry had married his deceased brother's widow ; and as that was against the laws of the Church (Leviticus 20: 21), he obtained permission to do it from the Pope, There was considerable difference in the ages of the two, and Henry soon became tired of her and desired Anne Boleyn, a lady of the court. Henry argued that what the Pope had done, he could undo, so he applied to him for a divorce from his first wife. Henry had every reason to expect the divorce. He had supported the Pope against Luther and had stood so strongly against some of the reforming tend- encies, that the Pope had given him the title, " De- fender of the Faith." While the Pope and Henry were on good terms, there were many political reasons why the Pope could not grant the divorce. The principal reason was : the Pope was very much under the power THE REFORMATION ICQ of the Emperor Charles V who was a nephew of Henry's wife and who opposed the divorce for the sake of his aunt. The case dragged on for six years, until Henry stood ready to side with any one who was against the Pope. Thomas Cranmer now appeared. He was a professor at Oxford, and advised the King to appeal his case to the Universities of Christendom that they could settle the question better than the Pope. Henry gained an opinion in favor of divorce from Oxford and Cambridge. He elevated Cranmer to be Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cranmer, in opposition to the opinion of the Pope, officially declared the mar- riage null and void. This meant the setting aside of the Pope's supremacy. The Reformation began in earnest, for the King and Parliament were united against the Pope, and together they put forward a succession of measures, whereby the English Church was to be torn away from the Romish. 1. The " Bishop of Rome " (note the term) was de- nied all jurisdiction in England. 2. No longer were clergymen to appeal to Rome, but to the King. 3. Bishops should renounce the Pope and obey the King. Once again England was free from the Papal yoke. no THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY God overrules evil by good. Henry's divorce was wrong, but it aroused him to assert the old English independence from the Pope which existed before King John's time. (2) The Bible and Prayer Book. — With the abolish- ment of Roman supremacy came great changes in the English Church. First of all came the translation of the Bible into English. Wiclif 's Bible had been dis- tributed only in manuscript copies, and its phrases in many ways were old and not acceptable to the clergy of the time of Henry the Eighth. The doctrinal con- troversies which arose, made frequent appeal to the Bible necessary and thereby a demand for a new edition of an English Bible was created. Two unsuc- cessful private attempts were made by Tyndale 1526 and Coverdale 1535, to translate the Bible. Tyn- dale's translation was the more permanent of the two, as it became a standard for future translators. In 1539 after five years of joint labor the bishops issued what is known as The Great Bible. Then the following proclamation was issued : Every parish priest is ordered to "provide one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume, in English, and have the same set up in some convenient place within the Church whereat the parishioners may most com- modiously resort to the same and read it," and the clergy were further instructed : " to discourage no one THE REFORMATION III privily or openly from reading the Bible, but to ex- pressly provoke, stir, and exhort every person to read the same as that which is the very lively word of God." In those days printing was very expensive and especial care was taken for preserving the copies. They were bound in wood with heavy iron clasps and were chained to the reading desk or to the wall of the church. Here the people would gather at all hours of the day. Not all could read, but all could listen while others read. In 1543 the systematic reading of the Scripture in the Churches was ordered. Sundays and holy days lessons from the Old and New Testaments were read. How different was the Christian spirit now, from the Papal spirit which kept the Bible from the people. There was a great change in the manner of worship. The service was no longer said or sung in Latin, but in English. In 1549 the first English prayer book was put forth. This was made from five different books used in the worship of the Church. (i) Primers. These were little books of prayers for individual use. (2) The Breviary, which contained the ordinary daily services in Latin. (3) The Missal, which contained the Mass in Latin. 112 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY (4) The Pontifical which contained" the services for ordaining ministers and consecrating bishops. (5) The Manual containing occasional offices used by the priest. In the new Prayer Book they no longer used the word " Mass," but " The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass." Every prayer to the Virgin Mary was left out and people in- structed to pray to God. When formerly only the bread of the Lord's Supper had been given to the peo- ple, now they gave both bread and wine. In the ma- king of the Prayer Book it was not the intention of the compiler to get as far away from Roman customs as possible. In matters of doctrine they were guided by the Bible and the belief of the Church during the first five centuries, that is, before Rome had begun to exercise dictatorial power. They sought to retrace the steps of the Church back to simpler and more Apostolic methods, taking into consideration the fact that the Church had grown and in many things could not follow the Apostolic model. In matters of ritual they sought to retain those things that time and ex- perience had proved to be helpful in a service of worship. (3) Dissolution of the Monasteries. — The Reforma- tion in England effected the life of the monks tremen- THE REFORMATION II3 dously. Up to this time there had been many monas- teries scattered over England, holding rich lands and de- riving large revenues. In all but a few cases these were in sympathy with the Pope and opposed the Reforma- tion. In a word the monasteries in England had out- lived the work which they were created to reform. The friar had no religious devotion, no intellectual energy, he was a beggar. The monk was a land owner, anxious only to enlarge his revenue and live in indolence and self-indulgence. They practiced great deception on the people. At Boxley in Kent there was a famous crucifix, which had long awed the credu- lous by bowing its head when any one approached. This was taken down and carried to London where its springs and manner of working were disclosed to the public. Such evidence prepared the way for the dissolution of the monastery. Over one thousand were broken up, their lands given to peers, their money and plate sold. Little of the monastic wealth came to the bishops or clergy, for Henry used it to gain power to further his own purposes of making the king supreme in England. In spite of the many wrongs committed, much good came from the movement. Some of the monastic establishments became cathedrals. West- minster Abbey, Cathedrals at Oxford, Chester, and 114 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY many others are remnants of monastery dissolution. By the dissolution of the monasteries, powerful eccles- iastics and prelates disappeared, mitred abbots who had seats in Parliament were forced to give up that privi- lege and ever since that time the temporal peers have had the majority in the House of Lords. (4) Edzvard VI. — Henry died in 1547. He was succeeded by Edward VI, his son. Edward was ten years old when he came to the throne. During his reign he was under the guidance of nobles who favored the Protestant side more than Henry VIII. Articles in faith were drawn up more Protestant in tone than the Prayer Book. Images were removed from the churches, priests were permitted to marry. Three men were prominent in guiding the reform, Archbishop Cranmer, and Bishops Ridley and Latimer, (5) Reaction tinder Mary First. — In 1553 Edward was succeeded by Mary I, a loyal Roman Catholic. She had but one ambition and that was to bring Eng- land back to the Pope. To this end all the Protestant statutes were set aside, and the old Papal laws reestab- lished. Most terribly she persecuted those who would not give their allegiance to Rome. For three years the persecution raged. Two hundred and seventy- seven were burned at the stake. Ridley and Latimer were condemned to die together. Fastened back to THE REFORMATION 1 15 back to the same stake they met a terrible fate in the spirit of the martyrs of old. As the fagots were piled on, Latimer said, " Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man ; we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Six months later Cranmer was burned at the same place after having weakened and taken back some of his writings. In the end, how- ever, he was true, asserting at the stake with a loud voice his belief in all that he had said. Latimer's words came true, for those fires burned into the hearts of England a horror for the Papacy that time cannot erase. In 1558 Mary was succeeded by Elizabeth (1558- 1603). She was hailed with great joy for the people knew her to be Protestant at the heart and they were tired of persecution and burning. She was a vain woman, with great courage and devotion to public good. She loved England. All the old Protestant ways were replaced, only some of the Roman ritual was added, for the queen liked the beauty of the Roman service and disliked the barrenness of the Protestant ritual. She had a prayer book published very much like the prayer book of 1549 and reduced the articles of religion from forty-two, to thirty-nine. (6) Spanish Armada. — During all this time the Il6 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Pope was not silent. After having excommunicated Henry VIII he placed a ban upon England. As long as that ban remained any nation who had the power could go in and take possession of England. In the middle of Elizabeth's reign the Pope seeing that Eng- land was slipping from him, commissioned the Span- iards to execute his ban upon the English. The Spaniards had the finest navy in the world while the English navy was small and badly equipped. On July 19, 1588, the Spanish fleet appeared. Disposed in the form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, the gilded floating castles of Spain, with their goodly standards and martial music, moved slowly along the channel with an air of indolent pomp. On July 27 they anchored in Calais Road. Some of the ships carried a supply of Romish priests to be placed in charge of the English parishes. They also brought with them implements of the Spanish In- quisition for the torture of heretics. At midnight on July 28, the English silently towed eight small vessels covered with tar and filled with in- flammable material towards the Armada. These were ignited and allowed to drift into the midst of the 150 gorgeous vessels. In fear the Spaniards cut the cables and put to sea. Within a short time a violent storm arose which drove the Spanish vessels north onto the THE REFORMATION II/ rocky coasts of Argyllshire and Kerry. Thua snded the last attempt ever made by the Pope to enfoice the English to obedience. To this day Englishmen see in that storm the merciful hand of God saving the Church and the realm. 30. Counter Reformation. As the clock goes because the pendulum swings from one extreme to another, as man walks by losing and regaining his balance, so history develops. Our attention has been fixed on the extreme movement of the Protestant reformation. During these years we must not think that the Roman Church made no efforts to reform. When Luther protested against the wickedness of the Church, there were many who agreed with him. The question was : just what por- tion of the Church life must the reform touch ? There arose a party which said, " Let us leave the doctrines of Christianity as they are, but let us reform its organ- ization and its discipline over clergy and people.'' This was a movement that brought forth out of the conflict with Protestants the Order of Jesuits and the Council of Trent, and established the modern Roman Catholic Church. (i) The Order of Jesuits. — We will look first at the man who founded the Order, and then at the Order itself. Il8 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Ignatius Loyola was born in a Spanish castle on the Bay of Biscay in 1491. Like all noble youths of those days he was trained for war. Tall and hand- some, he delighted in gay and splendid attire and practiced graceful and continuous movements. During a battle he was wounded in both legs. This was a great misfortune to one who loved the courts and the excitement of battle. During his illness he showed his great strength of will and ability to endure pain by allowing the surgeons to operate upon him until he recovered without being a cripple. Ignatius was then thirty years old. While confined to his bed he read some of the lives of the saints. For the first time he read of men who did glorious deeds and suffered pain, not to bring honor to themselves, but to glorify God. After medi- tation he determined to devote himself to this same cause. As soon as he recovered he went to a monas- tery and hung his sword on a pillar of the altar. Then he laid aside all his gay clothing and, clad in beggars' rags, returned to a cave. Here he beat and cut his body, fasted and prayed for the forgiveness of his past sins. After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he decided to study. At Barcelona he took his place among boys that he might begin at the beginning. In 1528 he went to the University of Paris. Here he met a few THE REFORMATION II9 young men inbued with the same spirit. Together in a church they vowed never to marry, never to have anything of their own. This was the beginning of the great Order of Jesuits. At first Ignatius called it " The Company of Jesus " and later he was chosen to be its superior. As superior he made them take a third vow, that of absolute obedience. Soon the order was recognized by the Pope and the members were made priests ; then the vow of obedience was given to the Pope as well as to the superior. Ignatius died July 31, 1556. However much we disagree with him and his order, we should remember him as a strong, sincere and loyal soldier of Christ living up to the highest ideal he knew. When a man does that the world respects him. The ideal of his order was military obedience in the spiritual life as well as in the practical life. The Jesuits gave up all relations and friends, they went all over the world as missionaries and worked hard in savage and civilized lands with no thought of self. Especially in South and North America did these men do good work among the Indians, teaching them not only religion, but trades and farming. This order was a great foe to Protestantism, for at first the lives of the Jesuit priests were so self-sacrifi- cing that men and women were attracted. " By their 120 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY fruits ye shall know them," and many followed them because their holy lives were the fruits of sincere and earnest devotion. But their idea of obedience was wrong. They wanted men to obey without thinking, and if they did not, they were subjected to torture until they died or submitted. The spiritual court that tried and tortured men into obedience was called the Inquisition and its object was to stamp out opposition to the Roman Church by force. This was long after Loyola's day. Thus while the Jesuits strengthened the Roman Church by keeping its doctrines, while they tried to reform its manner of life, yet Protestantism was stronger because it taught that no man should be compelled to obey another man, rather each man should love to obey God because God's commands are right. (2) Council of Trent. — So much statement of doctrinal belief on the part of the reformers, so much persecution of heretics on the part of the Roman Church, compelled the Roman Church to state clearly its doctrinal position. In 1545 a great council was called at Trent in Austria. Protestants and Romanists were alike invited to come. The intention was to heal the break and unite the Church. But the Jesuits were the strong men of the council and they were un- THE REFORMATION 121 willing to make any compromises. The council lasted for nearly twenty years with the result, that the Protestants left in disgust and the Jesuits had things their own way. What the council said then, the Roman Church believes to-day ; absolute obedience must be rendered by the individual to the Church ; seven sacraments were to be maintained : Baptism, Communion, Confession, Penance, Holy Orders, Holy Matrimony, Unction, the Virgin Mary was to be wor- shiped, saints prayed to and relics revered The river that does not flow becomes stagnant. Thus we leave the great Church that had borne the banner of Christianity through the terrible days of the Middle Ages. It defined its Christianity too nar- rowly, it put the emphasis on the method of the Christian life, and neglected the spirit within. To-day it contains many faithful soldiers who are living up to their light, but their light is behind them instead of before them. We wait and pray that God may send His angel to trouble the water and bring down from heaven the spirit of life. 31. The Protestant Spirit. As the events of the days of Luther and Calvin be- came more and more distant how did men begin to view the Protestant phase of Christianity? The Christians of the Middle Ages were very clearly organized, the 122 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY clergy represented the bishop, the bishop represented the Pope, and the Pope represented God, a clear and well defined channel by which a god, who dwelt away from the world, sent His messages of guidance, and power of the forgiveness of sin into the world. Against all this the reformers asserted the right of each man to listen to his conscience and follow its dictates, as the voice of God. The Protestants cast down one Pope and made every man a Pope, a priest, a king. They elevated the Bible as the supreme message to the world. This was the theory, and not until these days have we seen the value of the re- alization of the theory, for to-day one ideal animates all noble men: the increase of man s frecdoju to think and move and enjoy life which is his rightful inheritance. But freedom does not mean that a man can do just as he likes. To follow some of his desires would mean that he would come in conflict with, and take away the freedom of others. That is what Calvin did. He took away the freedom of the people of Geneva. He made them serve God whether they wanted to or not. Freedom comes when we do the things that God commands in our conscience, because they are right and therefore we love to do them. Only in God's service is there perfect freedom. Here is the greatness of life that the Reformation THE REFORMATION 12$ opened to us. No longer do we tremble before God and before the work of His hands. We know that we are made in His image, and that our mind is given to us for development, and the more we grow, and the more we study and work, the larger are our views of life. We come to see God as Father and Crea- tor, Jesus Christ His Son as our Pattern and Guide and all the forces of nature, gravitation, electricity, the wind and waves, the land and all that it bears, these become our servants with but one purpose for existence, to help us to be stronger and better men and women, more like Jesus Christ. 32. Puritans and Pilgrims. We have now to see how this idea of man's free- dom worked itself out. The open Bible in the hands of the people brought about far-reaching results in England. There the middle and peasant classes were present in large numbers in the congregations of the Church ; honest and earnest, the new light from the Bible became a new light in their lives. Sincerity in religion and purity in living became their ideals. This was the germ of the movement known as Puritanism. As the movement gathered strength, these people, the Puritans, desired to follow Calvin rather than Elizabeth in matters of reform. They disliked vestments of any form and objected to bish- ops and especially to the idea of the sovereigns hav- ing the leadership in religious affairs. 124 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY At first they did not separate from the Church of England but went on trying to influence the people within the Church to live as their consciences led them. But soon the state entered into the religious conflict. Elizabeth wanted one head to the nation, one Church, one form of service, one prayer book, one set of articles. She said, there must be uni- formity. In 1563, the thirty-nine articles of religion were put forward and every clergyman was obliged to conform to them. Many refused and resigned their parishes. Some who objected, remained in hopes that there would be a change, while others remained and stirred up strife. Thus the Church was torn by dissension. Church- men and Puritans agreed in the main points of theology, but stood at variance in regard to Christian govern- ment and methods of worship. The Puritan move- ment gathered strength, its followers were able to as- sert themselves by force of arms, and in 1645 their forces under Oliver Cromwell, met and defeated the royal army at Naseby in Northhampton. Cromwell became protector of England and from 1649 to 1660 England was under a Puritan government. There are men in this period whose relation to Christianity was of such a nature that their names should be remembered. (l ) Oliver Cromwell {^1599-1658). — At an early age, after an incomplete education at Cambridge we find THE REFORMATION 125 him succeeding his father as a county squire. Early he associated himself with the Puritan party with whom he soon became distinguished for his earnest- ness and wisdom. At twenty-nine years of age he was elected to Parhament where he soon gained the ill-will of the King, by a short blunt speech condemning the preaching of the Bishop of Winchester as " flat popery." Dispatched to his home, for eleven years he worked his estate having little respect for the King and condemning his unjust schemes. Again elected to Parliament he became a power. Sir Philip Warwick says of him : " The gentleman was very much hearkened to." As Parliament and the King disagreed more and more, and the King was condemned for his treachery, Cromwell took the lead in raising troops to support the Puritan side. In the civil war that followed, one victory followed another until Cromwell was supreme and the King beheaded. With the army at his back, Cromwell exercised great power over Parliament whenever it degenerated into a body given to useless discussions. (Read Green's History of English People, page 581.) Parhament legally elected him protector, he refusing to be crowned king. It is to Cromwell that the people of England owe their constitutional government. His rehgion was practical. He felt that God had called 126 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY him to cleanse the poHtical Hfe and give to his nation a government that was based on God's will and not man's. In his power he proclaimed to the nation that the Puritan aim was not " to grasp the power our- selves nor to keep it in military hands, no, not for a day, but to call to the government men of affirmed fidelity and honesty." And when the Parliament of his choice came together he said : " Convince the nation that as men fearing God have fought them out of their bondage under the regal power, so men fearing God do now rule them in the fear of God ! Own your call, for it is of God !" In great humility before God he held his position and 'never for himself but for God did he work. "I have sought the Lord day and night that He would rather slay me than put me to this work." The nation approved of him and in that approval he saw the sign of God's call and he considered it just as divine as the right of kings. He was ready to follow God and the people. " If my calling be from God, and my testimony from the people, God and the people shall take it from me, else I will not part from it." Cromwell ruled with a strong and severe hand, but he ruled wisely and as the times demanded. His home policy was liberal, while in foreign lands Eng- THE REFORMATION 12/ land was respected as having a man at the helm. If he grasped power it was only because he sought to promote in the speediest possible manner the glory of God and the prosperity and happiness of his country. He died September 3, 1658, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In 1661, when the reaction came and another king was placed on the throne, his grave was broken open and the body hung. Later it was beheaded, and men who would not have dared to speak evil of him when living, insulted the dead face of Cromwell elevated on a pole. Let us think of Oliver Cromwell as •' An inspired hero who wrought in the consciousness of a God-appointed mission, who humiliated himself only before God and never before man, and to whom the English people are largely in- debted for that liberty which made them foremost among the people of the world," as a Christian nation. (2) John Milton [idoS-idy^). — One of the best types of Puritanism is John Milton the English poet. He was born when the Puritans began to gain control over religion and politics and he died when their con- trol began to sink. As the secretary of council he saw at first hand all the political and religious move- ments, and was responsible for some of them. Born in the home of a musician he inherited his poetical temperament and his skill on the organ and 128 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY lute. Early his father directed his studies in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Italian, " Which," as he describes, " I seized with such eagerness that from the tenth year of my age, I scarcely ever went from my lessons to bed before midnight." At Cambridge he took the de- gree of the Master of Arts, afterwards retiring to his father's home where he wrote several poems. After the death of his father, by his writings, he entered into the controversies of his time, being elected after King Charles's execution, as Secretary to the Council of State. In this position it is said that his pen was mightier than Cromwell's sword. So much study had effected his eyesight and when Cromwell was dead and the monarchy was restored he was obliged both by his practical opinion and his eye- sight to return to private life. Here his temper be- came hard and exacting. Almost in a literal bondage did he keep his daughters, who were forced to read to him in languages that they did not understand. " Clad in black he sate in his chamber hung with rusty green tapestry, his fair brown hair falling as of old over a clear severe face that still retained much of its youth- ful beauty." Here he wrote one of the greatest poems of literature. Paradise Lost. This is the great poem of Puritanism ; it is the struggle of good and evil which is pictured here, the great earnest struggle of all THE REFORMATION 1 29 Puritans. But like the Puritans it lacks that human sympathy, and that consciousness of love and sun- shine that is found in Shakespeare. It is the story of a lost cause. (3) John Bunyan [1628-1688). — We see the in- ward life of the Puritan most clearly in John Bun- yan. He was the son of a poor tinker. Even in his childhood he fancied that he had visions of heaven and hell. He says : " When I was but a child of nine or ten years old, these things did so distress my soul that in the midst of my many sports and childish vanities, amidst my vain companions, I was often much cast down and afflicted in my mind therewith. Yet could I not let go my sins." The sins were hockey and dancing on the village green, and other childhke sports that are encouraged to-day. In 1645 he was in the army under Cromwell, still wrestling with an overpowering sense of sin created by the Puritanism in which he lived. Hardly twenty years of age he married a " godly " wife, young and penni- less as himself. It is said that they were so poor that they could scarce muster a spoon and plate between them. Perhaps his poverty was responsible for the deep gloom into which he fell. So sinful did he feel, that : " Methought I saw as if the sun that shone in heaven did grudge to give me light, and as if the very I30 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Stones in the streets and the tiles upon the houses did band themselves against me. Oh, how happy now was every creature over me." After two years of dark spiritual struggle, Bunyan was at last assured of the forgiveness of his sins and became a Baptist minister. His preaching was illegal and gave great offense, and when Cromwell had died and the King had returned to the throne, he was cast into prison with many others and for twelve years suffered separation from his family and the world. Here he wrote the great Puritan Book, " Pilgrim's Progress," which later became popular. In 1672 King Charles issued an Act of Indulgence, i. e., tol- eration to all forms of religious beliefs. The prisons were emptied and Bunyan came out and published his Pilgrim's Progress, By 1688, before Bunyan died ten editions had been published, its popularity proved that the religious sympathies of England were mainly Puritan. In the book we see the power that the Bible had over the imagination of the middle class. He repre- sents a pilgrim's journey from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City. It is an imaginative journey such as only the Puritan mind could take. In the journey he goes through the Slough of Despond and Doubting Castle, and he meets and is tempted by Mr. THE REFORMATION 1 31 Worldly Wiseman and Mr. Legality. The book shows supremely the Puritan attitude. God, Heaven and Christ far away, and man journeying alone through difficulties to the end. There is no trace of the beau- tiful Christian idea of brotherhood, all men working together and helping each other as they progress to- wards Heaven. The last years of Bunyan's life were spent as a Bap- tist minister. He died in London in 1688. 33. Puritan Emigration. All during these years the eyes of English Puritans were fixed on the little Puritan settlement in America. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers, to escape persecution, had sailed to Plymouth and since then many attempts had been made for a charter establishing a colony in Massachusetts. In 1629 Charles made the grant and the Puritans regarded it as one of God's blessings. Every Puritan household looked towards America, with a " quite stern enthusiasm " which marked the temper of the time. The Puritan emigrations began on such a scale as England had never before seen. " They were in great part men of the profes- sional and middle classes ; some of them men of large landed estates, some zealous clergymen like Cotton, Hooker, and Roger Williams, some shrewd London lawyers and scholars from Oxford. These men were 132 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY not driven forth by earthly want or greed of gold, but by their devotion to God, and their zeal for a godly worship and a quiet religious life. But with the strength and manliness of Puritan- ism came narrowness and bigotry. Roger Williams was driven from Massachusetts to Rhode Island be- cause he said that his conscience should be regarded. The Book of Common Prayer and church government by bishops were rejected. In eleven years two hundred emigrant ships had crossed the Atlantic, and twenty thousand Englishmen had found refuge in the new land. 34. The Fall of Puritanism. Puritanism did not succeed because it lacked the true Christian spirit. They were too strict and paid too much attention to the letter of the law and not enough to the spirit. They lacked the feeling of brotherhood which binds all men together. Thus when Cromwell died, the external power of the Puritans died. He was their head, to him they gave allegiance, and when no one arose with his power, the party as a political party became divided and in division lost its strength. England had been ruled too many years by a mon- arch to accept readily the idea of a Protector in any other than Cromwell. Charles II rode in to THE REFORMATION 133 London in majesty and pomp. The period of the Restoration of the Monarchy was, as any reaction is, a period of debauchery and the reinstatement of all that the Puritans had expelled. But when the reaction was over and the pettiness of Puritanism had been dis- pelled, then its real work and value began to show it- self. A kingdom of righteousness had been built not in the external government as Cromwell hoped, and as Calvin strove for, but in the hearts and consciences of men. The most of Englishmen took up a sober, earnest life based on a love of Protestantism and Free- dom. Suddenly the influences that moulded history up to this time — theological discussions, traditions and customs, lost power over the minds of men. Industry and science, the love of popular freedom and law, tended to force England to bring every custom and tradition to the test of the common sense of man. 35. Rise of Denominations. Before leaving the period of Puritanism we must take a glimpse at the various bodies of Christians who separated themselves from the English Church and from which we derive the divided state of Christendom under which the cause of Christianity suffers to-day. We will try to study them in the order in which they came into existence. (i) Presbyterians. — In 1571 when Queen Elizabeth 134 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY was trying to establish civil order and uniformity by en- deavoring to strike a medium between the Catholic and Protestant parties of her realm, there arose a company of clergymen who gathered under the leadership of Thomas Cartwright. Cartwright had returned from Geneva with a strong faith in Calvin and the system of Christian government devised by him. He and his fol- lowers recklessly condemned all the ritual, the sur- plice, the cross in baptism, the ring in marriage, as not only Popish but as idolatrous. And further, and this is what had weight with Elizabeth, he advocated the doing away with bishops and putting all power in the hands of the presbyters. He claimed that the Bible decreed that they should rule both Church and State. Cartwright organized his system among the people of Warwick. There was a general gathering for all clergy and a Synod for each diocese. The movement was suppressed but not until it had gained great power in Parliament and had brought about civil war. In the chaotic condition of the Church and State, separa- tion took place and in the Act of Toleration, 1688, their life as a separate organization was recognized. (2) Congrcgationalist. — In 1581 Robert Browne, an enthusiastic and gifted preacher, opposed the neces- sity of having the bishop's permission to preach. He THE REFORMATION 135 claimed neither Pope, bishop nor presbyter had any power, but the whole congregation. Browne founded congregations of his own which only lasted for a short time. He, however, unstable and greatly afraid of suf- fering, conformed to the State Church before he died. His ideas had a wide influence. In 1592 there were twenty thousand Brownists in England. They were persecuted and fled to Holland. It was left for John Robinson to develop Brownism into Congregationalism. Driven out with his congre- gation in 1608 he found refuge in Amsterdam. Later this party was known as Independents ; they claimed the " right to self-administration and self-government by the common and free consent of the people inde- pendently and immediately under Christ." In 1620 they sought a home in New England where they were free to carry out their ideas. (3) Baptists. — Of the Independents a small part drifted into greater differences with the established Church and the Congregational movements. They as- serted that unconscious children could not have part in the redeemed humanity. As a symbol, baptism could only belong to adults. Thus they became known as Baptists. (4) Quakers. — In 1650 appeared the sect known as Quakers. The founder of the sect was George Fox, 136 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY According to Fox's own account, " This was Justice Bennet of Derby, who was the first that called us Quakers because I bade him tremble at the work of the Lord." The name has been commonly explained from the Quaker's agitation when moved by the Holy Ghost. Fox was brought to London and examined before Cromwell who quickly saw that there was nothing in Quakers to excite his apprehension, and pro- nounced the doctrine and its founder to be irreproach- able. The tenets of their faith opposed an educated ministry as unscriptural and an injury to the Church. They hated war, objected to oaths, did away with sac- raments, and upheld the individual guidance of the Holy Spirit. They were always noted for their per- sonal piety. If we notice carefully there is no disagreement on the fundamental truths of Christianity, God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. The disagreement and separa- tion was occasioned by the desire of the Established Church for uniformity and the desire of those who separated for religious freedom. Were not both wrong ? During these great struggles, the actors saw little of the real significance, we can see that all the con- fusion under God's guidance ministered to a higher order, an order where true Christianity will depend THE REFORMATION 137 not on uniformity in outward things, but on the in- ward spirit and devotion to Christ. 36. Translations of the Bible. During this time two translations of the Bible had been made. One the Geneva Bible, and the other the Bishops' Bible, a translation under the direction of Archbishop Parker and published in 1568. In 161 1 was published the version still in use and known as the King James' version. James saw clearly that a new translation would add to the glory of his reign. Forty-six scholars were selected, some from each of the Universities, and from the Clergy of all schools of thought. These were divided into companies who met separately. Each scholar translated a chapter and then it was handed on for final revision to the other companies in turn. No pains were spared by the translators and the general acceptance of their work has proved that it was the greatest translation of English literature. 37. The Age of Reason. It was natural that all these religious wars and persecutions and debates should be followed by dis- gust with religion in general. In the midst of the religious discussions, arose the movement of science. If the Puritans had won the right to read the Bible and think for themselves on what they read, 138 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY they won also the right for all men to think freely. While the persecutions and debates were in prog- ress, men began to observe the world about them and write and publish what they saw. No longer did the Church absorb the intellectual energy of the world. In this connection we should remember the name of Francis Bacon who transformed the methods of get- ting knowledge and instead of turning constantly to the past, looked on the present and by observation and comparison and experiment, made a new study of politics, man and nature. In these days Gilbert dis- covered the magnetic nature of the earth, Harvey the circulation of the blood, Newton the law of gravi- tation. Philosophy became more free and conse- quently more varied. Hobbes, Locke and Hume are names to be remembered. Such movements were bound to effect Christianity. Its traditions were examined from the stand of nature and reason. The idea of a revealed religion was cast aside, and in its place an attempt was made to substi- tute a religion of nature which considered God, im- mortality and virtue. There were many men who stood against this utter dethronement of Christ. Among these we should especially remember Bishop Butler who in his efforts wrote a famous book THE REFORMATION 139 entitled " The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed." But the movement could not be checked. It was the natural result of the freedom to think and to read, and the reaction against Puritanism. All over Eng- land and Europe it spread, carrying with it scepticism and immoral living. The result is seen in its most terrible aspect in France, in the Great Revolution of 1789. There the people oppressed by King Louis XVI and the nobil- ity, rose in their might and took possession of the land. The king was executed and the nobility driven out of the country. Then, lacking the Religion of Christianity, and beheving only in reason, the Reign of Terror began which soils the pages of history. Everything was changed, a new calendar instituted which made that year, the year One, placed ten days in each week instead of seven and in the ancient cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris enthroned a beauti- ful but wicked woman as the " Goddess of Reason." All who did not agree were imprisoned and sent to the guillotine. The prisons were filled, while robbery and crime were everywhere. The French Revolution was the last struggle in the Reformation. So closed the age preceding our own. An age in which Christianity was misunderstood, the people I40 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY misguided and a controling influence lacking. In the Middle Ages too, Christianity was misunderstood and the people misdirected, but to a degree the Papacy kept a control of men which was totally lost in the Reformation. It was left for our age to give a new and truer interpretation to the great Christian religion, and take a step forward in making it the greatest power in the life of society. DIVISION FOUR THE NEW LIGHT 38. Methodism and John Wesley (1703-1791). When the nineteenth century dawned there was present within the Church of England, a type of Christianity known as Methodism which was the in- troduction to the revival of Christianity. In the town of Epworth, England, was born John Wesley in 1703. He was the son of the parish priest and received his first steps in education from a strict but loving mother. He was graduated from Oxford in 1726 and was made a priest in the Church of Eng- land. He had a brother Charles who was deeply religious and who organized a society among his fel- lows which met every night for mutual improvement and religious devotion, and who spent their spare time during the day in giving religious instructions in the charity schools, jails and workhouses ; and by their life and conversation endeavored to influence for good those who had unhappily caught the materialistic spirit. John became leader of this Guild or " Holy Club" 141 142 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY as it was called. They were very systematic in their religious life, following the Prayer Book by fasting on all the appointed days, and receiving the Holy Com- munion on every Sunday and Holy Day. They also denied themselves all luxury and amusement that they might save money for benevolent deeds. So much method in religion gave them the name : " Metho- dists." In 1735 they came to Georgia, America, as mission- aries, but soon returned disappointed in their work. On board ship they met some people who called themselves Moravians and whose special religious be- lief was Conversion, i. e., that each believer ought to be able to point to some definite time and place when and where he received assurance of God's pardon and salvation. It all appealed to Wesley who felt that he had never been converted. After much earnest devo- tion he tells us that on May 24, 1738, the conversion came ; he trusted Christ and became assured that his sins were taken away. After his conversion he began the life of a traveling preacher. The pulpits of the churches were freely opened to him, and he had great success in arousing the spiritual life of the people. His message was, that only the soul of man can know God, and that when the soul truly opens its windows the Holy Spirit enters and possesses it THE NEW LIGHT 143 Wesley was soon joined by George Whitefield and together they held meetings in the open fields, some- times before large audiences of twenty thousand peo- ple. Together they effected men in a most mysterious way, causing strong men to cry and shout. Benjamin Franklin thus describes one of Whitefield's charity sermons : " As he proceeded, I began to soften and concluded to give some copper ; and then a stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver, and he finished so admirably that I emptied my pockets wholly in the collector's dish, gold and all." Wesley was a great preacher, but a still greater or- ganizer. While he desired to remain true to the English Church, yet he was impatient and appointed lay preachers not waiting for the Bishop's consent. He organized preaching circuits in every part of England and Wales, and opened " mission halls " in the cities. Wesley's enthusiasm and earnestness made him welcome among the people, especially in those parishes where the priests were lax, and soon the people considered the work of Wesley as valid and truly authorized as if it had received the sanction of the Bishop. This aroused the Church and in some places the priest refused to administer the Holy Com- munion to followers of Wesley. That his workers 144 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY should always receive at the Church was one of Wes- ley's strong points, and this refusal on the part of the Established Church, hastened a desire for division which Wesley himself opposed ; — he did not want a separate organization, he wanted to aid and uplift the Church by his work. Just before his death he said : " I hold all the doctrines of the Church of England, I love her Liturgy, and approve her plan of discipHne, and only wish it could be carried out." After Wesley's death, for a time his wishes were carried out and as late as 1793 the '• conference" de- clared : " We are determined in a body to remain in the Church of England." The direct result of the Methodist revival was the great emphasis placed on preaching. The clergy turned over a new leaf and began to preach the Gospel to men and women who were neglecting their souls' health, and were unconscious of the need of Christ. Before the close of the eighteenth century a whole army of sincere and earnest men were engaged in re- claiming all ranks of men from the depths of sin into which they had sunk. While this movement was going on among the middle class, there was a similar movement away from reason and natural religion back towards belief in the near relation of man's soul to God, among the intel- THE NEW LIGHT 145 lectual class. This was led by a German philoso- pher. 39. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the most influen- tial philosopher of modern times. He was the son of a saddler of Scotch descent. Educated in Germany he took his degrees and became professor of logic at Konigsburg. His private life was most uneventful. As Socrates could hardly be induced to go beyond the walls of Athens, so Kant never left the city of his birth during the thirty years of his professorship. He was so regular in his habits of study and exercise that it is said people set their clocks by his movements. Kant was a man of un- questionable devotion to truth, severe in his moral principles, he was kindly and courteous in manner, a bold and fearless advocate of political liberty and a firm believer in human progress. His right to a position in a history of Christianity, is due to the fact that he made men find God within them, within their moral beings and not in nature or reason. He said that the pure reason took away God, but the practical reason could not exist without him. Kant had no place for a revealed Christianity through Jesus Christ, he saw only a great moral system with God at the centre. While Wesley was making the common men look 146 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY within and recognize an indwelling spirit which mani- fested itself by emotions, Kant was making the schol- arly man look within and recognize a moral demand which must manifest itself by virtuous living. They each prepared Christian men for the next great step in the progress of Christianity. 40. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834). A moulder of our present theological ideas of Christianity was a German, Friedrich Schleiermacher, (Schlei-er-mar-ker) 1768-1834. His boyhood was spent in a Moravian school where he was deeply in- fluenced by religion. Graduating from the University of Halle, for a time he became a teacher, but later a clergyman. He soon began to publish discourses on religion, which served to arouse Germany as Wesley had aroused England. Later he became professor of theology and philosophy and to his death took the lead in the religious movements of his time. Schlei- ermacher took his stand on religion, as the great ne- cessity of man, and he saved it from its friends and enemies. He asserted that religion was not thought, or evolution, or reason, and while it may include all these departments of personal life it is simply : the feeling of man's dependence on God, the deepest in- stinct of man, which arises from the endowment of humanity with God's image. In contrast with all THE NEW LIGHT I47 medieval theology, Schleiermacher asserted that God lives in the world, and has a living relationship with humanity. Here is where Jesus Christ has a preemi- nent position, for the living relationship is not de- pendent on a Christ of time and place, but on the eternal Christ who has forever lived and dwelt with God, and who holds continual relationship with the human spirit. Thus is sin overcome and by entering into Christ and through Christ into the divine life, man attains union and reconciliation with God. Schleiermacher asserted three important theological positions which we should remember and understand in so far as possible, (i) That life was not a period of probation, but a period of divine education. All history from Abraham to the present day is one great chain of events by which God instructs man, raising his life and giving little by little, His divine powers. The individual life is a life to be spent under God's in- struction that it may aid in the great progress of the divine life. This was quite different from the old idea that God put man in the world to see how well he could do and then saved or condemned him according as he succeeded or failed. (2) The Holy Bible was an account of progress- ive revelation. By progressive revelation is meant that the earlier portion may not be in harmony with 148 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY the later ; that the later and higher truth may con- tradict the earlier and lower. The men of reason had repelled the Bible because it was not consistent and appeared to sanction what was not right. Schleier- macher said that they were wrong and that they mis- understood the Bible and that it would be an incom- plete revelation if it did not tell of the childish faith of Abraham and the more perfect faith of Paul. Schleier- macher showed how the Bible was a wonderful book for it was the witness of God's divine instruction of the great world. (3) The Church as an institution is vitally con- nected with the well-being of man. To the Church as an organized institution of men who follow Christ, Schleiermacher assigned the highest significance. Salvation was not an individual process, but was ac- complished only through the fellowship of the Chris- tians. The spirit draws men closely together, and thereby man is exalted by his membership in an in- stitution where Christ is the head. To the Church is committed the work of educating humanity under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is to preserve and ex- tend Christianity until the Kingdom comes, and Christ's prayer is fulfilled. Therefore its institutions, its meetings and sacraments possess a sacred and building character, essential to the well-being of society. THE NEW LIGHT 149 Schleiermacher affected Christianity profoundly and he still utters the truth to which all that is highest in Christianity responds. In Germany all great theolo- gians are his disciples ; in England every student con- sciously or unconsciously is his follower, and even the Roman Church has caught his spirit and been affected by it. Thus began the nineteenth century, the century of a new light in Christianity. With the assurance of the Love of God in the world, with the conviction that His great plan was to be victorious and a blessing in the end, with the victory of freedom that had been won, freedom to read, and think and express one's thoughts, men and women found life a great, joyous, earnest task just what God meant it should be. 41. The Oxford Movement. In the midst of this new life were many who were tired of the confusion of sects, and the freedom of ex- pression. So many varying ideas were presented, that a man could not tell exactly what he believed. These sighed for the days of faith when there was but one Church and one belief. Some felt that there was but one remedy for division and that was to restore the Church to its old supremacy over the life of men. This movement in the Roman Church gave rise to the 150 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY reestablishment of the Jesuit Order which had been dissolved. In the EngHsh Church this tendency crystalHzed in the Oxford Movement. At the University of Oxford a band of students was formed who believed in the Church as the seat of authority and who wished to impress it on the people. These men liked elaborate ritual, gorgeous vestments and much ceremony in worship. They circulated a lot of literature setting forward their ideas called " The Tracts of the Times," and because of this the men have been called " Trac- tarians." Prominent among these men were Edward Pusey, John Keble, Edward Manning and John Henry Newman. The two men last named were so desirous for au- thority that they left the English Church and entered the Roman Catholic. These men have always been known as High Churchmen, because they had great respect for the Church and her ceremonial. Opposed to these were Professor Maurice, Dean Stanley and Canon Kingsley, who sought to enthrone Christ in the hearts of men by a plain service and less ceremonial; these were called "Broad Churchmen." Both kinds of churchmen are necessary for they represent two kinds of character : one makes much of the organization, the other of the spirit within the THE NEW LIGHT 1 5 I organization. Each is necessary because both the organization and spirit are necessary. But the man who serves the organization must not neglect the spirit, and the man who serves the spirit must not neglect the organization. 42. Sunday-schools. These were originated about 1780 by Robert Raikes, a printer in Gloucester, England. Up to this time the children had been privately taught their catechism at home, and publicly catechized in church occasion- ally. On investigation in the suburbs of Gloucester, Mr, Raikes was informed that " on Sunday the streets were filled with a multitude of wretches, who having no employment on that day spent their time in noise and riot." To check this among the children he organized a school to teach reading and the Church Catechism to as many' children as he could send. The idea successfully carried out by Mr. Raikes was soon introduced everywhere. Such was the origin of the Sunday-school. We must remember that it came into existence when parents ceased to teach the essentials of religion to their children. The true place for religious in- struction to children is the home, the true teachers are the mothers and fathers aided by the ministers. 152 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 43. Public Education. One of the greatest results of Christianity is Public Education. Every Christian land to-day requires that its boys and girls attend school. This is the recog- nition of what Christ taught, that under every coat, be it the soiled coat of the newsboy, or the plush coat of the millionaire's son, is a living soul, a being that has unknown possibilities of development, therefore the democratic Christian State says that each boy and girl is entitled to the best possible start towards the attainment of the fullest manhood and womanhood. Education should bring the conviction that life is progress and that progress in the individual means progress in the nation. 44. Christian Heroes of the Nineteenth Century. Thus we arrive at our own Age. And the ques- tion is : What is the Christianity of the nineteenth century ? We are too near to judge the value or the lasting qualities of certain lines of Christian thought, those can only be explained when distance gives per- spective. What we can do, is to study the lives of some of the great men of our age, who, animated by Chris- tianity have enriched the world by deeds and thoughts and should therefore stand before us as examples. 45. David Livingstone and Missions. Immediately following the Reformation, the Protes- THE NEW LIGHT 153 tant Churches did Httle towards sending the Gospel to foreign lands. The missionary zeal, which was so prominent in the early days, was lost in the discussions and religious wars. At the close of the eighteenth century missionary work was renewed. Societies were formed and missionaries sent in all directions, to China, Japan, Africa and the islands of the seas. The first Christian hero of our own time whom we will notice is David Livingstone (i 807-1 873), a missionary and explorer. Livingstone was born in Scotland and at ten years of age was an operator in a cotton factory. Six a, m. found him at the loom, and at six p. m. he was still there. Thirsty for education, his first half crown purchased a latin grammar. Ai: soon as possible he left the factory and went to Glasgow University. He hired a garret, cooked his own food while he studied incessantly. The Classics prepared him for his study of the African languages, and science for his task of exploration. After a course in medicine which gave him skill in surgery and made him known in Africa as a divine healer, he heard some theological lectures and was then ordained to the ministry and offered himself to the London Missionary Society as a mis- sionary. He was immediately sent to Africa, the Dark Continent, where from a mountain-top on a 154 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY clear morning, might be seen smoke rising from one thousand villages in which no white man had ever stood. The parting between the man and his family was characteristic. His plans having been made, he could not start too soon. Going to his home for the last night before he sailed, he sat with his family long into the night and talked of the dangers and possibiHties ; then together they read the ninety-first Psalm : " Thou shalt not be afraid of any terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the sickness that destroy- eth in the noonday." Then in one earnest prayer, his father commended him to the care of God. Landing at the Cape he mastered the people's lan- guage in seven months. Then he began his march across the continent. With no guide but his com- pass, he left Zambesi on the eastern coast and plunged into the forest. Through reeking soil, and thorns and briers, in the face of dangers, because of serpents and lions, with no food but that which his gun pro- vided, he went on day after day. Nearly two years were consumed, and the last three hundred miles he was so ill that he was carried tied to the back of an ox. Little can we imagine his joy when he reached the Congo River and made his way to the sea. THE NEW LIGHT 155 There he refused a trip to England in a vessel which was about to sail, because he had promised his native helpers that if they would go with him, he would return them to their friends safe and sound. Back- wards over the continent he retraced his steps, teach- ing the black men that his word was good. This geographical feat became the means for fur- thering missionary enterprise. Returning to Eng- land, he was received as a hero. He published the account of his travels and discoveries and thereby raised money with which he returned to Africa. During his second journey he made a circle of one thousand miles and collected facts that secured inter- ference with the slave trade which was carried on by the Portuguese in a most inhuman way. On this ex- pedition he discovered the key to the River system of Africa. Between his second and third expeditions, Mrs. Livingstone died. Broken hearted, Mr. Living- stone went to England, arranged for his son's future, and returned to Africa to continue his investigation against the slave trade and follow out the clew, found in the second journey, to the source of the Nile. Twenty-five years of exposure had worn on him, making him less able to bear the privations of the for- est. It was on this expedition that Henry M. Stanley was sent to find Livingstone. Weak and sick, with 156 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY provisions gone, in great danger because of the decep- tion of natives, at last, Stanley found him. For four months they labored together. Then Stanley urged Livingstone to return with him. True to his purpose to the very end, he refused. Weak and sick he traveled on, gaining information which made Africa an open and known country, until one night, his faith- ful attendant entered his tent and found him dead. While kneeling in prayer with his head on his pillow, God had called him. The natives carried his body to the coast and it was buried in the Nave of Westminster Abbey, London. Livingstone after his first great journey in Africa could have lived in ease in England. Hundreds of positions were open to him, but he re- fused the easy task and took the harder, obeying the African call and giving his life to that service. Livingstone was a man who made his Christianity practical. Stanley said of him : " His gentleness never forsakes him, his hopefulness never deserts. No harass- ing anxiety can make him complain. To stern dic- tates of duty alone has he sacrificed home and ease, the pleasures, refinements and luxuries of civilized life. His is the Spartan heroism, the inflexibility of the Roman, the enduring resolution of the Anglo-Saxon, never to surrender his obligation until he can write ' finis ' to his work. His religion made him the most THE NEW LIGHT 157 companionable of men and indulgent of masters. Each Sunday morning he gathered his little flock about him, and read the prayers and a chapter from the Bible and delivered a short address in a natural, unaffected and sincere tone." And the religious life he taught was practical. The black men under his guidance irrigated their land, built houses, developed vineyards and stock farms. His example of serving others was contagious, and to the natives, Christianity became primarily a religion of service. 46. Lord Shaftesbury. (Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1801-1885.) In the middle ages we watched the Christianity of the clergy, in the nineteenth century we look to the laity for evidences of Christianity. This means that Christianity has come out of the monastery and the Church and is making its way among men. In the life of Lord Shaftesbury we come into the presence of a great Christian layman, we see here how one does not need to be a clergyman in order to save souls and bodies. Lord Shaftesbury was born in a family of the highest rank and greatest wealth of England. He was the seventh earl of Shaftesbury. After the course of the wealthy English boy, he at- tended Harrow and Oxford, enjoyed years of travel in 158 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY which all narrowness and prejudice were expelled, and at twenty-five he took his seat in Parliament. For more than forty years, when Parliament rose at midnight and all its members went home, Shaftesbury went into the byways and hedges to search for those of whom Christ said : " In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." A member of the cabinet tells how on a wintry night he sat with Shaftesbury beside his fire- place watching the sparks and flames fly up the chim- ney. Within, all was comfort and beauty and happi- ness, without sleet and wind beat upon the window. At ten o'clock Shaftesbury excused himself and went out into the night to search for the lost and the fallen. Going to the ends of London Bridge, there in the shelter he would find twenty or thirty men and women huddled together. These he would carry to a shelter in the East End of London, and there at his own ex- pense, he would provide fire and food and comfort. We must remember Shaftesbury as a great Christian philanthropist. For ten years he gave his Sunday afternoons to the exploration of the lanes and alleys of London. He reported to Parliament, and reminded them that one- fourth of London's population were born in rooms where " walls ooze grime and bricks sweat filth," that THE NEW LIGHT 159 in some places people were so huddled together, that in cellars, four families would occupy one room, with only chalk lines on the floor for divisions. To better this condition, he interested Mr. George Peabody, a Boston banker, and hundreds of old shackles were condemned, and model lodging houses constructed. In ten years eighty thousand people enjoyed the benefit of his philanthropy, while his lodging houses became the models for the world. With this movement he organized " ragged schools," attended by ten thousand children ; Sunday-schools, night schools, industrial schools, where boys and girls were taught not only sacred truths, but also how to make their own clothes, how to weave door mats, how to print hand bills, etc. His reform among the coster- mongers will long be remembered. These were men and women who led a miserable existence selling fish, fruit, old iron, etc. Their children inhabited the streets and grew up into criminals. For them he founded schools, while for the parents he established their business on a better basis, by systematizing it and providing it with methods which raised it to a respectable livelihood. Even the donkeys driven by these poor people re- ceived his care. He organized a humane society, and gave an annual prize to the one whose beast showed l60 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY the best care. One night near the end of his hfe, when he was attending one of the costermonger meet- ings, a noble donkey groomed and decorated with flowers was presented to him. In accepting this token of the people's esteem he said : " In closing my long life, I desire that it only may be said of me that I have served men with a patience and resignation like unto this faithful beast." We cannot overestimate the courage and self-denial which was in Shaftesbury's character. He loved music and literature, he enjoyed the company of statesmen, noble men and gracious women, his vast ancestral mansion with its attractive rooms, vast library and atmosphere of luxury and refinement, all these he would put aside, to spend days and nights among the dirty and poor. For fifty years the man who could have enjoyed ease and luxury was the hardest worked man in Parliament. One night Shaftesbury rose in Parliament and said, " My Lords, I am now an old man. When I feel age creeping on me I know that I must soon die. I am deeply grieved, for I cannot bear to leave the world, with so much misery in it." That night, while his daughter read the twenty-third Psalm to him, his spirit was called to the land where God shall wipe away all tears. Three days later a plain hearse followed by four carriages THE NEW LIGHT l6l drove from his home to Westminister Abbey. Man- sions, clubs, shops, factories and homes were closed. Thousands lined the streets and stood with uncovered heads as the funeral procession passed. Next day Mr. Gladstone rose in Parliament and said : " The safety of our country is not in laws or legislators, but in Christian gentlemen hke unto Shaftesbury." 47. William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898). England can boast of another great Christian hero, William Ewart Gladstone, a statesman, orator and author, who in each position made men conscious of the Christianity that governed his life. Born and brought up in . wealth and luxury, he graduated from Oxford in 1831 and, after traveling in Italy, in 1832, then only twenty-three years of age, he took a seat in the House of Commons. For over sixty years he held a place in Parliament and rose to the position of Prime Minister. We must remember his career by the Christian ideals which animated it, for his whole life was an attempt to reconcile politics with the Ser- mon on the Mount. This ideal is seen in his book published as early in his career as 1838 and entitled, " The State in its Relations with the Church." It will be impossible to follow his political career. We will select two great achievements in his life 1 62 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY which show us the man of wealth and leisure inter- ested in the poor and weak. First the abolition of the corn laws. England was a land of great estates given over to agriculture. For many years there had been a high tariff on corn, so as to compel English people to buy the corn raised by the landed proprietors in England. This was protec- tion for the great estates, but was hard for the poor mechanics and people who labored in factories. In foreign countries great quantities of corn were being raised and if it could only come into England free, the poor people would be greatly benefited. Gladstone saw this and brought the matter before Parliament. He was violently opposed by those wealthy peers who were land owners and who raised corn. He, himself, was a land owner, and in his ad- vocating free corn, was deliberately hurting his own income. But still he continued his course, feeUng that it was wrong for English people to suffer by pay- ing high prices when they could get corn so much cheaper from America. In 1849 Gladstone won, the Corn Law was re- pealed, and men and women joined in a great jubilee and hailed Mr. Gladstone as their Protector, Glad- stone felt that in furthering such a cause he was doing the will of his Father in heaven. THE NEW LIGHT I63 The Other achievement was the release of the poor political prisoners at Naples. In 1830 Francis II be- came king of Naples. In order to satisfy a popular demand, he called an election and created a repre- sentative congress of 150 men. When these as- sembled he laid before them an oath so unreasonable that they would not take it. Immediately he dis- solved the congress and cast seventy-six of the one hundred and fifty into prison. This was only the be- ginning of political disturbances. The king became an absolute monarch, putting into prison those who in any way opposed him. The conditions of the prisons were terrible. Noble- men were chained hand and foot, in damp and dirty dungeons, and there left with little food, to sicken and die. This continued until 1850 when Gladstone was taking a holiday in Naples. Hearing of these prison- ers, and interested not only in the weak and oppressed, but also in those who wanted the constitutional free- dom that Englishmen enjoyed, he investigated the condition of these prisoners, and in pamphlets and by speeches so aroused the public sentiment of the world that the king was obliged to defend himself. While Gladstone did not bring about immediately the release of the prisoners, he did aid the great Italian patriot, Garibaldi, by encouragement and thereby hastened 164 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY the overthrow of the infamous government of Fran- cis II. All the great reforms of political life which took place in England during the latter part of this century- were in a large measure due to Gladstone, He was a man of untiring energy, strong as an oak, never idle. Each morning found him attending Morning Prayer at his Castle chapel, each Sunday found him reading the lessons in divine service. He was as regular in the fulfilment of his religious obligations as his political obligations, and felt that only in so far as he faithfully fulfilled the former could he successfully fulfil the latter. His whole hfe was religious, and he continually affirmed in Parliament one great message, which every nation and every citizen should take to heart, that " England could lead the grand procession of nations, only as she herself walked in the path of religion and peace that Jesus Christ had opened." At an old age he retired from Parliament and was offered by Queen Victoria a title and a seat in the House of Lords. This he respectfully refused, pre- ferring to remain the great commoner he had always been. The last nine months of his life he suffered with a terrible facial disease that gave him great pain. As the end came near, his son, a priest in the Church of England, read the Litany. At the close THE NEW LIGHT I65 the white lips murmured " Amen," the last words he spoke. With the news of his death, universal grief settled over the nations. Monarchs sent condolence to his family. Every one recognized that in the death of the Grand Old Man, humanity had lost a friend and the nation a Christian leader. 48. Phillips Brooks (1835-1892) Bishop of Massa- chusetts. To Bishop Brooks we give a leading place among the Christian heroes of the nineteenth century. We meet here a man who had an amazing influence because of his devotion to Christ. His ability to win the love and loyalty of men seem to result from his power to commune with Christ. Born in Boston in 1835, he was one of six sons and had for a father and mtOther a man and woman of deep religious devotion. His home life was full of family feeling. They delighted to be together, everything about the home was made so attractive that the boys at all times loved to be there. Before the work of the day began they gathered together for morning prayer, and in the evening after the reading and family games, they thanked God for His mercies, before they retired. From the Unitarian Church the whole family turned to the Episcopal, and for years filled to overflowing 1 66 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY pew No. 60 in old St. Paul's Church on Tremont Street. At eleven years of age Phillips entered the Boston Latin School and in the Spring of '55 was graduated from Harvard College. During September and Oc- tober of '56, this great man had a sad experience, try- ing to teach in the Boston Latin School. Unable to maintain order, he was obliged to give up his position. It was a hard blow to him. He longed to be a teacher, but a flaming sword shut him out of his Eden. We to-day can but see that God had greater work for him to do. Acting on the advice of Dr. Walker, President of Harvard, he went to the Episcopal Theo- logical seminary at Alexandria, Virginia, and there began a Hfe of seclusion in which his great soul and mind took shape and began to mature. Here he filled note-book after note -book with his own thoughts, and with the thoughts of those authors whom he had read. Here he gathered and stored away for future use many of the wonderful figures of expression, words and phrases, which later appeared in his preaching. In 1859 he was ordained and became rector of the Church of the Advent in Philadelphia. For ten years he labored in Philadelphia, at first in the Church of the Advent, later in the Holy Trinity. From ^e first sermon he became noted as a THE NEW LIGHT 1 6/ preacher. In those days there were no guilds and clubs, and a minister was expected to preach longer sermons than to-day. Mr. Brooks entered upon this life with great delight, he prepared his sermons, two each week, with great care, and preached them on Sunday with the fervor of a divine prophet. His one great work during the Philadelphia resi- dence was his preaching against slavery. Heartily in sympathy with Lincoln, it gradually dawned upon him that it was the duty of the Church and of a Christian minister to sustain by sympathy, by act, and by spoken word the government of the country. With fervent passion, one sermon followed another, and the public mind was stirred. Not only did he preach the sin of slavery, but more especially the sin of a divided gov- ernment. He urged his congregation to give un- faltering loyalty to the government and recognize no distinction between an open foe and a secret enemy. When the end came and great Lincoln lay dead in Philadelphia, from Phillips Brooks's pulpit came a memorial sermon which even to-day is read and con- sidered the greatest memorial of America's greatest statesman and President. In 1869 he accepted a call to Trinity Church, Bos- ton, and here began a period of twenty years filled with preaching that has never been excelled. 1 68 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Here was done the work of his Hfe. His sermons in Trinity Church were as much a part of Boston and as eagerly sought by the visitors, as Kings' Chapel and the Old South Church. As a preacher his fame spread to foreign lands and when he was in England crowds thronged to hear him. No one can realize what a strain it was to keep up this exalted standard. No one knows how he was tempted to accept a Harvard professorship when it was offered, but he remained true to his calling, and nourished with true religion the crowds that each Sunday packed Trinity Church to its doors. In April, 1891, the Diocesan Convention on the first ballot elected Mr. Brooks bishop. Before the election he said : " Why should I decline, who would not accept such a great opportunity for usefulness, such an enlargement of his ministry." This Avas the key-note of his short term in the Episcopate. He was untiring in his administration of the diocese, watching every detail and all the time striving to maintain the same standard of preaching. It is no wonder that he broke down and in January, 1893, was called home. In his last illness he is thus described : " The great bed was covered over with books, books new and old. The whole city ready to serve him, a host of friends longing to be with him, and he was THE NEW LIGHT 1 69 alone, and had turned at last, as he had done through all the lonely years, to books, his best friends." His funeral occurred in Trinity Church and was at- tended by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Mayor of Boston and delegations from the Legislature. When the service was over in the Church, another service was held without, for the large congregation that filled Copley Square. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cam- bridge. In the yard at Harvard stands a memorial which serves not only to keep green the memory of Bishop Brooks, but to perpetuate his idea of Christianity. It is a modest but commodious building of brick and stone, dedicated to Piety, Charity and Hospitality, and to the memory of Bishop Brooks by the following inscription : " A preacher of righteousness and hope, majestic in stature, impetuous in utterance, rejoicing in truth, un- hampered by bonds of Church or station, he brought by his life and doctrine fresh faith to a people, fresh meaning to ancient creeds, to this University he gave constant love, large service, high example." It is the home of the religious life of the great University. Gathering as it does under one roof all religious bodies, it becomes the symbol of a great union in the I/O THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY future, of a twentieth century Christianity which will centre around " one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of us all, so that we may be all of one heart, and of one soul united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." INSTRUCTION TO TEACHERS 1. General Directions A teacher should recall in each lesson the fact that we are studying the greatest force in all history, a force that has always bettered men, held them in check, created armies, made possible science, made possible, in fact, all that we have and are, and all that we can hope for. The questions given are leaders for the scholar's study, topics around which he can centre material. Each teacher should look up the lesson thoroughly, not only using the text, but also turning to some re- liable Church History or the Encyclopaedia. With the subject well in hand he should make out his own list of questions, having in mind the points of the lesson which will instruct and interest his class. 2. Classes where no home work can be secured The amount of work which can be given by teach- ers and scholars to this course is unlimited; but this much can be expected in schools where lessons are not studied at home : ( i ) a reading aloud around the class from the text of the sections forming the lessons ; (2) oral discussion of answers; (3) the writing of concise answers in a note-book. 5. In cla>sses where outside work can be secured. Every section in this book suggests many questions. To illustrate: in section two more information on 171 172 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY Nero will naturally be desired; in section three, in- formation on the history and the form of the Temple, etc., etc. No teacher should attempt to teach this course unless he is willing to keep constantly ahead of his scholars and from supplementary reading select topics for outside investigation. On Sundays the pro- gram of work in the preceding paragraph should be used, and to it should be added the reports which have been worked up outside of the school hour. 4. Review and Outlines. Every teacher should pay especial attention to the making of outlines as the study of each division is completed. These outlines should be used in conduct- ing reviews. 5. Books of Reference. Turning Points of Church History. Cutts. History of the English People. Green. The Holy Roman Empire. Bryce. Outlines of Universal History. Fisher. Roman and Teuton. Kingsley. A Goodly Heritage. Forde. How the Church Came to England. Hollis. English Church History for Children. Two volumes. Illustrated. Shipley. Penny History of the Church of England. Jessopp. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1/3 LESSON I Subject : Introduction. Read Section i. 1. What is the subject of this course? 2. What must we first understand ? 3. What prevented Christianity from spreading ? 4. Describe how Christianity was promoted by the Priests at Jerusalem. 5. Name and describe the three principal ele- ments in the early Christian communities. 174 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 2 Subject : Jews and Christians. Read Section 2. 1. What was the relation of early Christians to Judaism and to Jerusalem ? 2. Why did Christianity flourish ? 3. What two events occurred in the Roman community ? 4. What four things do we learn from the record of these events ? 5. What was the tendency of the early Chris- tians, and how was it stopped ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1/5 LESSON 3 Subject : The Fall of Jerusalem. Read Section 3. 1. Give the reason for the decay of Judaism. 2. When and by whom was Jerusalem de- stroyed ? 3. Describe the method of the Roman attack. 4. Describe the conditions within the city. 5. What was the result of the destruction ? 6. Describe the life of the early Christians (a) in Jerusalem {d) in Rome. 7. Why did the Christians have such a hard time? lyb THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 4 Subject : Christian Martyrs. Read Section 4. 1. What are we about to try to understand ? 2. Why was there conflict between the Romans and the Christians ? 3. Give an account of the trial and death of Ignatius. 4. Give an account of the trial and death of Polycarp. 5. Why did these men give up their lives ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY I// LESSON 5 Subject : General Persecutions and Christian Victories. Read Section 5. 1. What was a " general persecution " ? 2. Who ordered a general persecution and why? 3. How were they carried on ? Were they suc- cessful ? 4. Why did Christianity conquer ? 5. Why does Christianity endure? 178 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 6 Subject : Early Organization. Read Sections 6 and 7. 1. What universal experience did Christianity have ? 2. How did the Romans effect Christianity {a) in worship (d) in Church government ? 3. Describe the ideas held by Tertullian regard- ing [a) the Church (^d) the Apostles. 4. Relate the story of Cyprian's Martyrdom. 5. What was Cyprian's work ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1/9 LESSON 7 Subject : Fall of Paganism. Read Sections 8, 9, 10 and 11. 1. How did the Romans effect the beliefs of the early Church ? 2. Was Christianity spreading in those days ? If so, how ? 3. Describe the worship and Hfe of the early Christians. 4. What did Constantine do for Christianity ? 5. How does the history of Christianity, so far, show God's hand guiding life ? l80 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 8 Subject: The General Councils. Read Section 12. 1. What came with the Christian victories ? 2. How did the Emperor exercise his authority over the Church ? 3. Describe the first General Council. 4. On what question did Athanasius and Arius debate ? Who won ? 5. Describe how the division of the East from the West came about, and state its value. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 01 LESSON 9 Subject : The Barbarian Invasion. Read Section 1 3. 1. About 440 what was the condition of the Empire within ? What without ? 2. What was possible ? 3. What does " pope " mean ? 4. What did Leo do ? 5. How did Leo save the Church of Rome from destruction ? 1 82 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON lo Subject : Monasticism. Read Sections 14 and 15. 1 . What was the result of discussions and worldly living within the Church ? 2. Who was St. Anthony and what did he do ? 3. Describe the development of hermits into monks. 4. What two kinds of Christians were in the world ? 5. What positions did Augustine and Ambrose occupy ? 6. How was Christianity promoted and who were some of the missionaries ? OUTLINE OF DIVISION ONE 183 184 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON II Subject : The Beginning of the Middle Ages. Read Sections 16, 17 and 18. 1. After conquering the Romans, what was the next task for Christianity ? 2. Describe the Mohammedan invasion in the East. 3. Why did the Eastern Christianity decay ? 4. What elements helped in rebuilding the West? 5. What element hindered and how was it over- come? 6. Explain the two centres of the Middle Ages. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 8$ LESSON 12 Subject : The Papacy and Empire. Read Sections 19 and 20. 1. Who gained power first, and why? 2. How did Gregory build up the Papacy ? 3. After Gregory what happened ? 4. How did Charles the Great gain power ? 5. What was the value of Charles to Christianity ? 1 86 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 13 Subject : The Power of Monasticism. Read Sections 21 and 22. 1. Where was learning promoted, and with what result on monasticism ? 2. What movement started at the Monastery of Cluny ? How did these monks effect the people ? 3. How did Gregory Hildebrand gain his power ? 4. How did he exercise it over King Henry ? 5. Was Gregory right in his requirements? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 8/ LESSON 14 Subject : Crusades and Inquisition, Read Section 23 (i) and (2). 1. What was the result of the increased power of the Pope ? 2. What were the Crusades ? How many were there ? 3. Describe Godfrey of Bouillon. 4. What were heretics ? 5. How were they treated, especially the Albi- genses ? 6. What kind of Christianity did the Pope of Rome require ? 1 88 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 15 Subject : St. Francis of Assissi. Read Section 23 (3). 1. Amidst all this dark period were there any true and noble Christians ? 2. What was the early life of St. Francis ? 3. How did he try to organize Christianity ? 4. What other Order of Christianity was estab- lished ? 5. What change took place through the preach- ing of the monks ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 89 LESSON 16 Subject : Abuse of Papal Power. Read Sections 24 and 25. 1. What was the duty of the Pope at this time? 2. Instead of doing their duty, what did the Popes do ? 3. What was the cHmax in 1 302 ? 4. What was the effect on people of this schism ? 5. What did the Council of Constance proclaim ? 190 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 17 Subject : Wiclif and Huss. Read Section 25 (i) and (2). 1 . Where is the movement for the reform of the Papacy best seen ? 2. Give an account of Wiclif 's Hfe and the three things he asserted. 3. Where did Huss Hve? How did he live and what were his teachings ? 4. What happened at the Council of Constance ? 5. What was the result of the death of Huss ? OUTLINE OF DIVISION TWO 191 192 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 18 Subject : Dawn of the Reformation. Read Sections 26 and 27. 1. What three events changed the aspect of Christianity in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ? 2. What country awoke to a new reHgious Hfe first, and why ? 3. Give an account of the hfe of Luther up to the Diet of Worms. 4. Give an account of the Diet. 5. How was Luther able to accompHsh his reform ? 6. What were the changes in the rehgious life of Germany ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY I93 LESSON 19 Subject : Reformation in France. Read Section 28. 1. How did the Reformation in France differ from that in Germany ? 2. How did John Calvin come to the front ? 3. What did he do at Geneva? 4. What was the value of Calvin ? 5. Tell what you can about Servetus. 194 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 20 Subject : Reformation in England. Read Section 29 (i) and (2). 1. Give the reasons for England's ability to throw off the Papacy. 2. Give the three Fundamental movements of the Reformation to this point. 3. Who, and what kind of a man, was the central figure in the Enghsh Reformation ? 4. About what question did the Reformation centre ? And what three measures were the result ? 5. Tell (a) about the translation of the Bible, (b) the compiling of the Prayer Book. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 95 LESSON 21 Subject : Reformation in England (Continued). Read Section 29 (3) (4) (5) and (6). 1. What was the result of the Monastic order in England ? 2. Who succeeded Henry, with what results ? 3. Describe the terrible reaction under Mary I. 4. What was the cause of the Spanish Armada ? 5. What was the result, and how do Englishmen regard it? 196 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 22 Subject : Counter Reform. Read Section 30. 1. While the Protestants were reforming, what were the Roman CathoHcs doing ? 2. Give an account of the hfe of Loyola. 3. What order did he found and what was its idea? 4. Where and how did the Roman Church de- fine her beliefs ? 5. Why does she not contribute to the advance of civilization ? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 1 9/ LESSON 23 Subject : Protestantism. Read Sections 31 and 32. 1. How was the Christianity of the Middle Ages organized ? 2. What did the Protestants do ? 3. What is true freedom ? 4. How did freedom in reHgious matters affect the middle and peasant classes ? 5. How did those classes affect the Church ? 198 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 24 Subject : Oliver Cromwell. Read Section 32 (i). 1. What kind of a man was Cromwell? 2. How did he get control of Parliament ? 3. How did he use his control ? 4. What happened after his death ? THE HISTORY OF, CHRISTIANITY 1 99 LESSON 25 Subject : Milton and Bunyan. Read Section 32 (2) and (3). 1. As what is Milton remembered? 2. What was Milton's early training ? 3. What is " Paradise Lost " ? 4. What can you tell about the early life of Bunyan ? 5. For what is he remembered ? 6. What is the defect of the book ? 200 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 26 Subject : The Failures and Faults of Protestantism. Read Sections 33, 34 and 35. 1. Give the cause of and describe Puritan Emi- gration. 2. Why did Puritanism fall ? 3. What is the value and harm of denomina- tions ? 4. Give a short account of (i) Presbyterians, (2) Congregationalists, (3) Baptists, (4) Qua- kers. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 201 LESSON 27 Subject : Reaction and Reason. Read Sections 36 and 37. 1. When and how was the King James' Version of the Bible pubHshed ? 2. How was reaction the result of freedom ? 3. What were some of the good results of the reaction ? 4. Describe the French Revolution. 5. What was the difference between the Chris- tianity of the Middle Ages and the Refor- mation ? What was left for our age ? OUTLINE OF DIVISION THREE THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 203 LESSON 28 Subject : John Wesley. Read Section 38. 1. What movement introduced the revival of true Christianity ? 2. Give an account of John's early life and the " Holy Club." 3. What were Wesley's relations to the English Church ? 4. What happened after Wesley's death ? 5. What was the value of Methodism? 204 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 29 Subject : Intellectual Beginnings. Read Sections 39 and 40. 1. During Wesley's work what else was taking place ? 2. What do you know about Kant, why is he mentioned in the history of Christianity ? 3. Give the name and early life of the founder of our present theological ideas. 4. Give the three positions he took. 5. How did Schleiermacher effect Christianity? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 20$ LESSON 30 Subject : Results of New Life. Read Sections 41, 42 and 43. 1. Describe the spirit of reaction. 2. Describe the Oxford movement and give the reasons for its being. 3. Give a short account of the history and pur- pose of the Sunday-school. 4. Show how public education is due to Chris- tianity. 206 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 31 Subject : David Livingstone. Read Sections 44 and 45. 1. What was the missionary movement after the Reformation ? 2. Give an account of Livingstone's early life. 3. What did he accomplish on his first African journey ? 4. What on his second and third ? 5. What kind of a Christian was Livingstone? THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 20/ LESSON 32 Subject : Lord Shaftesbury. Read Section 46. 1. Give description of Shaftesbury's early life. 2. What was his life in Parliament? 3. Describe his reforms among (i) tenement houses, (2) costermongers. 4. To what was his greatness due ? 5. What did Gladstone say of him? 208 THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY LESSON 33 Subject : William E. Gladstone. Read Section 47. 1. What was Mr. Gladstone's early life? 2. Where did he spend most of his life? 3. What were the two great achievements of his life? Explain each. 4. What were his reUgious customs ? 5. Give an account of his death. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 209 LESSON 34 Subject : Bishop Brooks. Read Section 48. 1. What was the foundation of Bishop Brooks's greatness ? 2. What was his early home and school life ? 3. Why did he turn to the ministry ? 4. Give an outline of his life. 5. What was the great work of his life ? 6. How did he effect Christianity ? 7. How is his memory perpetuated ? OUTLINE OF DIVISION FOUR Date Due L- •ooCX .\M^"^ \j->-^ FFB 3 1999 1 MAR 8 1998 i ( ' ' '' f> BW917 .G22 The history of Christianity from Saint Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00015 8503 ^HH| 1 JiH"