History of the Christian church (Volume 5) online

and leader. No more courteous, chivalric, or Chris-
tian leader ever entered the list of the world's great
reforms. In ability and courage, in hope and temper,
she is a model for all leaders in the work of moral re-
form. The State of Illinois is erecting a statue to her
memory. Some day, all Americans will write her
name high on the roll of the world's saintly Christian
women and reformers.

The temperance movement aroused the hostility,
not without fault of its own, of the two great political
parties ; the number addicted to the use of intoxicat-
ing liquors was increased by each shipload of emi-
grants ; those of the wealthier classes who crossed the



Characteristics and Tendencies. 699

Atlantic, often came back bringing foreign drinking
habits with them; but the work, though checked,
moved on. Industrial and commercial conditions
made necessary total abstinence. No man wanted a
drunken engineer ; costly machinery can not be run
by drunken men. Commercial conditions were such
that only men who could be depended upon to be
themselves could be employed or trusted. The drink-
ing man was alwa3^s at a discount. Then the move-
ment for the purification, elevation, and invigoration
of local government in our American cities and com-
munities meant the overthrow of the saloon power.
An awakened personal responsibility for the public
weal, and a will to destroy what works against it, will
abolish the liquor-traffic. To this must be added the
fact that, owing to the w^ork of the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, the voters coming of age in the
United States for the last ten years have been in-
structed in the common schools, as well as their
sisters, in the physiological effects of alcohol and
narcotics. But, most of all, the Church of Jesus
Christ must be true to her duty, and rouse the Chris-
tian conscience against this ally of the gambling-hell
and the brothel, this enemy of the Church, the home,
and the soul.

In 1888 a gentleman of New York, in memory of a
greatly-loved daughter, deceased, founded the Florence
Crittendon Mission for fallen women. It pi^rence
seems to have proved itself the sanest, cnttendon
truest, and most successful effort of the °^*'"^° •
kind known in years. Of course, such work is always
carried on in connection with Rescue Missions and by
the Salvation Army. The motto of the Christian



700 History of the Christian Church,

worker in the last decades of the century was, " The
whole man for Christ, and Christ for every class and
individual in society."

The second world-wide movement of American
origin was the Young People's Society of Christian

Y^yj^ Endeavor, which originated in the Con-
Peopie's gregational Church of Portland, Maine,
Movement, ti^-ough its pastor, Dr. Francis B. Clark,'
in 1 88 1. It has entered every American Church,
either in the original form, or in some other which is
more in accord with the spirit of its Church life. It
has compassed the globe, and is known wherever
Christian people assemble to form a Church, and find
young people among them. As the Society of Chris-
tian Endeavor, as the Epworth League, 1889, as the
Baptist Young People's Union, 1891, as the West-
minster and Luther Leagues, and other Young Peo-
ple's Societies, its worship and work have become as
much a part of the Church life of the Evangelical
Churches as the Sunday-school. It needs devotion,
tact, and leadership beyond any other department of
the work of the Church, and none has greater possi-
bilities.

If we turn our gaze from that which was peculiarly
American, in origin at least, to tendencies felt through-
out the Christian world, we shall find four of them
plainly discernible. These are not the only, or the
chief ones, but they are those upon which the Church
in all lands and of all names laid particular emphasis.

We are in an age of renewed appreciation of the
value of just political and social institutions. They
are the great conquests and treasures of the race.
The Christian Church is the noblest of them, and



Characteristics and Tendencies. 701

the foundation upon which in Christendom the others
rest. The practical value of the Church could not
but strike a practical age. Then only the ^^^ increased
Church can meet the awakened need of vaiue of the
Christian brotherhood in the believer's churches

and of

heart. So the experience of the Chris- institutional
tian life demands the Church. Again the Christianity.
conquest of the world for Christ is vain without that
organization Christ founded. All these considerations
prepared Christian people to pay more attention to
the record of the life of the Early Church in the New
Testament and in. the earliest of its recorded monu-
ments. Now it was seen that to the personal relation
which the believer sustains to the Lord Jesus Christ
there is given a form of expression in life, and in
alliance with other Christian believers in the Church
he loved and purchased with his own blood.

So the increasing scope and importance of the
work of the Church has led to greater interest in the
manifold agencies employed in the life of the local
Church, and in great missionary organizations and
their work, in the educational and charitable institu-
tions in which the Church trains and serves the gen-
erations. This, of course, has led to a necessary in-
quiry into the history of an institution of such age and
extent, scope and beneficence.

This wider acquaintance has allowed us to preserve
what was good in the old, without rejecting what is
better in the new, life of the Christian Church. Christ-
mas, Easter, Pentecost, belong to all Christians.

From this inquiry into the life of the Christian
Church, came an historic valuation of the creeds. The
creeds of Christendom have to be judged from the



702 History of the Christian Church.

circumstances of their origin, and the end they were

to serve when they were formulated. We do not see

how one with a sense of the life of the

The Creeds. _, , . , . . ,, - ^ < .

Church m the past vividly before him, can
wish to destroy the Westminster Confession. It is a
great monument of a great age, much of it of un-
changeable value. But how could any one, with a
sense of the life of the Church of the present tingling
in his veins, wish to be shut up in the Westminster
Confession ? God was wdth the Fathers as they wrote
with their best light, and we prize their work; but
God is also with the sons, and the interpretation or
the addition may be as essential as was the original
creed. We must hold fast the form of sound words,
but also remember that the Holy Scriptures are the
sole rule of our faith and practice, and that the best
creed is that which best interprets and sets forth the
truths they teach. But because the words of the
various creeds are not of themselves conclusive or ex-
clusive, all the more the believers recognize in them
great monuments of the Christian faith, — results of
imperishable value as the conclusion of great contro-
versies ; and hence always worthy of his respect, his
careful study, and his reverent regard. There will
always be the necessity for the statement of the things
Christians believe, and the Church of the future will
not have less, but more profound, convictions of the
value of distinctive Christian truths. The Church of
definite convictions and beliefs is the Church of the
people.

Doubtless there is a decided change in the attitude
of the average Christian believer or Sunday-school



Characteristics and Tendencies. 703

teacher toward the Bible at the beginning and at the
end of the nineteenth century. Why should there not"
be ? Has any other century since the beerin-

^, ill. , '^ The Bible.

ning thrown so much light upon the mean-
ing of the sacred page? It has not weakened or dis-
credited one fundamental doctrine of the Christian
faith, while it has shed light upon the whole method
and purpose of the Divine redemption in the better
understanding of the Christian Scriptures. The criti-
cism of the Old Testament has made void and of none
effect most of the objections of Thomas Paine and
of Robert G. Ingersoll. Has this change of view
in respect to the Bible made men believe it less? Nay,
verily. It was never so extensively read, never so in-
telligently studied, so greatly loved, or so helpful in
uplifting and keeping men, as to-day. What have the
centuries found to take its place ? What other words
are like these words of life to men born to die?
What other words are such sure guides for conduct
here, or reveal such a living hope for the hereafter ?
The Bible has passed through the fires of criticism,
but from them it has emerged more valuable, better
understood, and more highly prized than ever.

Christian experience," as the result of faith in the
revelation of God in Christ, and of trust in Christ as
the Savior of the whole man in both worlds,
with, and also without, the attendant emo- Exper'en".
tion, has justified itself to thinking men.
But its value is not solely or chiefly in its initial stage,
but in the result of the process. That is, Christian
character is the test and result of a genuine Christian
faith, and the pledge of the acceptance of God's prom-



704 History of the Christian Church,

ise for the hereafter. That knowledge of God which

results in Christian character is eternal life.

i> .* . .u At the close of the century of revolu-

Result of the •'

Study of the tiou, of criticism, of the freest possible

^"of"he°" investigation and discussion, these things

Christian Seem assured as the conclusion of the

^^^^^' best scholarship and the ripest thought

of the times :

1. That the battle of Materialism and Panthe-
ism with Christian Theism has been fought out,
and Christian Theism has won. A personal God is
the only solution for the riddle of the universe. All
other explanations explain only by leaving out the
most significant factors of the problem. In this vic-
tory for the personality of God comes that of the
supernatural order, law, and manifestation.

2. The one representative man, the ideal man of
the race, is Jesus Christ. There is none other to com-
pare with him. Our enemies being our
judges, in any survey of the history of

these centuries, his is the supreme character and the
supreme influence of the race. Christians affirm that
he, and he alone, as the Son of God, makes reasonable
man's being and destiny.

3. There is a general consensus among thinkers
that man is, by his constitution, a religious being.
Ignoring does not change this fact.

4. Fair-minded men all allow that the experiences
of the religious life are as valid facts as those of the
intellectual, emotional, or aesthetic life. They deserve
attention and regard. Meanwhile, Christians unite in
affirming that prayer and the communion of the hu-



Characteristics and Tendencies. 705

man spirit with the Divine Spirit are not fancies, but
realities of life and power.

5. The reception of the Spirit of Christ, and its
fruits in Christlike service, are facts whose benefi-
cence no man disputes ; men who serve Jesus Christ
are better men.

6. Eternal life and the kingdom of God are the
great Christian ideals. There are none like them in
the thinking and teaching of the race.

7. The Christian Church exists for the realization
of these ideals in the individual and in society. Its
chief and primary work must be spiritual, with the
things of man's spirit and the Spirit of God. But,
like the Spirit of God, it will pervade and shape all
human thought, customs, standards of conduct, and
institutions. That God has been, is now, and will be,
in the Church and in his world for human redemption,
is the profoundest conviction resulting from the study
of the life and work of the Christian Church.

The century closed with two chief tendencies
clearly discernible, — the one toward Christian union,
the other toward Christian conquest.

The movement in America resulting in 7enden«ie!.
organic union among the Presbyterians in
the United States and the Methodists in Canada, and
also the Methodists in Australia, are the forerunners
of the union on a more extensive scale of
Churches which are similar in doctrine or ^^^j'^JJl,*"
organization. The marked movement
toward Church consciousness of the last century has
accentuated, sometimes, distinctive differences in wor-
ship and customs, but it must lead to a consideration



45



7o6 History of the Christian Church.

of the larger life of Christendom, and that tends
toward a closer union. This is seen in the unity of
doctrine and of Church life, increasingly evident in
Free Evangelical Churches. The preaching is practi-
cally the same in all Churches in regard to the funda-
mental truths of the Gospel. The author has heard
sermons in Roman Catholic and old Catholic pulpits
in which there was not a word that could offend an
Evangelical Christian. Seldom did he attend a serv-
ice, during two years in Germany, in a Lutheran
Church, without being fed with the bread of life.
The prayer-meetings, missions, and revivals in the
different Churches have the same spirit, even though
they may differ in minor essentials.

In Church government, even, there is a growing
approximation in methods under different forms.
The Reformation brought an open Bible, and the
right of private judgment. The Puritan Reform
brought individual liberty in Church and State. The
Evangelical revival brought to the man, free be-
fore God from external authority, submission of the
will and personal assurance of salvation. This right,
liberty, and assurance of the individual . soul, the
Evangelical Churches will preserve. But to this they
will also add efficiency in their work. This involves
union and supervision; this, in some form or under
some name, will come in all the Churches.

Not that there are no differences ; for there are,
and are not all unimportant ; but where Churches lay
emphasis on the vital and saving truths of Christian-
ity, they are always of subordinate value and influence.

The whole tendency of Christian history seems, as
evidently as the last charge of our Lord to his dis-



Characteristics and Tendencies. 707

ciples, to lead to the Christian conquest of the world.
This tendency is especially marked in the history of
the nineteenth century. Great as has been
the progress of the race in that century co^n'^g""
in personal and political liberty, in pop-
ular enlightenment and comfort, and in humane
service to dependent classes; marvelous as has been
the advance in science, in inventions, in the transfer
of populations and the settlement of new countries
far outstripping all known in the history of the race,
nevertheless, the internal development and external
conquest of the Christian Church has equaled or sur-
passed them all. In secular life, the growth and de-
velopment of the United States has been the most
striking phenomenon of the century. Yet the growth
of the Christian Church in America has been much
more rapid than that of the population. Compare the
position of the Christian Church at the beginning of
Napoleon's consulate and at the death of Queen Vic-
toria, and there is no other contrast in the history of
the century so striking or so significant. To the high
service of this purpose have come all revision of
creeds and liturgies, and searching criticism of the
Bible text and authorship. Christians bring a better
Bible, a more united and better Church, than ever
before, to the non-Christian millions of the world.
What will not serve this purpose must soon drop
away. Our Lord shall see of the travail of his soul,
and be satisfied.

This purpose imposes, upon this and succeeding
generations of Christians, obligations as serious and
as weighty as upon the Christians of the first genera-
tion. Only a devotion and sacrifice equal to theirs will



7o8 History of the Christian Church.

meet them ; for this purpose includes the thorough
Christianization of Christendom. It means the Chris-
tianization of public and commercial life. It means
the Christianization of wealth and labor. It means
missions to university students and to men of wealth
and high position, and the most intelligent and ag-
gressive work among artisans and laboring men and
their families. It means the fearless facing of the
problems of the times, and no cowardly shrinking, as
in the slavery agitation, from the liquor-trafi&c, polit-
ical corruption, or social problems. In a word, it
means a serious and united attempt to Christianize the
populations of Christendom. It means, at the same
time, the pushing of all the spiritual forces of the
Church, and the moral and intellectual forces of Chris-
tendom, upon the non-Christian world for its speedy
and effective conquest.

This work demands the whole man, and demands
this of every one who names himself by the name of
Jesus Christ crucified and risen, and who believes in
and has received'his kingdom.

So will the twentieth century see surpassed the
wonderful record of its predecessors, including the
splendid achievements of the last of them, in receiv-
ing the fulfillment of the prayer taught by our Lord,
"Thy Kingdom come."



INDEX.



Abd-eIv-KedER, 679.

Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of
Turkey, 355, 374, 685.

About, Edmond, 224.

Adventists, 113; origin, 238,
328, 665, 666.

Affirmations of the Christian
Faith, 704, 705,

Akbar, Emperor of India, 353.

Albright, Jacob, 316.

Alacoque, Maria Margarita,
424, 426.

Alcott, Bronson, 69.

Alexander I, Emperor of Rus-
sia, 57.

Alexander II, Emperor of Rus-
sia, 366, 376.

Alexander III, Emperor of
Russia, Z'JZ, 2>7^.

Alexander I, Prince of Bul-
garia, 372.

Alexander, Joseph W., 171.

Allen, Alexander V. G., 650.

Allen, Richard, Bishop, 307.

Allies, Dr., 206.

Allston, Washington, 225.

American Board Controversy,
657, 658.

Ames, Edward R., Bishop, 606,
610.

Anderson, Martin B., 629, 630,
631, 632.

Andover Theological Semmary
Controversy, 659, 660.

Andrew, James O., Bishop, 311,
312, 619.

Andrews^ Edward G., Bishop,
610.

Antonelli, Cardinal, 90, 453-



Appomattox, 457.

Arabi Bey, 375.

Archbishops' Decisions on Rit-
ual, 545, 546.

Armenia, 374.

Arndt, Moritz, 116, 122.

Arnold, Matthew, 180, 417, 520,
536.

Arnold, Thomas, 179-181, 207,
527, 542.

Arnold, Thomas, Jr., 207.

Arthur, William, 559-561.

Aurungzebe, Emperor of India,

353. ^
Asbury, Francis, Bishop, 242,

255, 304, 305, 307, 316.
Ashmore, Dr., 688.
Assembly, The National, 20, 22,

23, 24, 34, 35, 36, ?>7, 82.
Assembly, The Legislative, 24,

25, 38.
Astruc, Jean, 487.
Athanasian Creed. 529, 530.
Aubigne, J. H. Merle d', 138.
Auricular Confession, 202, 525,

531, 546.
Austro-Hungary, 368.

Babington, Thomas, 158.
Backhouse, Jonathan, 297.
Backhouse, Hannah, 297.
Bacon, Leonard, 654.
Baker, Osmon C, Bishop, 606,

609.
Baldensparger, W., 483.
Ballon, Hosea, 269, 270.
Balzac, Ilonore, 71.
Bancroft, George, 225. 268, 444,

603.



709



7IO



Index.



Bangs, Nathan, 305, 318, 319.
Baptists :

English, 163-167, 564-567.

Statistics, 567.
American, 270-276, 628-635.
Missions, 270, 634.
Education, 271, 272; 634,

635.
Statistics, 274-276, 6z7i.
Charities, 635.
Southern, 273, 633.
Seventh-Day, 273, 6z2>.
Free-Will, 273, 633.
Primitive, or Hard-Shell,
272, 633.
Barat, Magdalena Sophia, 425.
Barnes, Albert, 234, 281, 287.
Barere, Bertrand, 29.
Barrows, John Henry, 604.
Bascom, Henry B., 314,321,322.
Baudissin, Grafton, 492, 493.
Baur, Ferdinand C., 126, 127,

129, 267, 48s, 493, 494.
Beajnan, Dr., 288.
Beckx, Peter, Jesuit, 423.
Beecher, Lyman, 230, 244, 245,

234, 242, 281, 584.
Beecher, Henry Ward, 245, 327,

584, 585, 586.
Beecher, Harriet ( Mrs. Stowe ) ,

245.

Beecher, Edward, 281.

Beecher, Willis J., 493.

Beet, Joseph Agar, 562.

Bellows, Henry W., 605.

Benedetti, Count, 369.

Benedict XIV, 78, 82, 424.

Bennett, Charles W., 616.

Benson, Edward W., Arch-
bishop, 180, 534-544, 545, 55 1-

Bentham, Jeremy. 186, 195.

Beranger, Pierre Jean, 71.

Bercher, Jacob C, 291.

Berlin, Treaty of, 372.

Bernhardi, Sophie, 74.

Bernier, Abbe, 91.

Bcsant, Sir Walter. 520.

Bethune. George W., 290, 291.

Bcuve, Sainte, 71.



Beyschlag, W., 483, 485.

Bible, 703.

Bible Societies, 148, 149, 232.

Bingham, Missionary, 263.

Binney, Thomas, 163.

Bismarck, Otto von, 64, 52, (i2,
356, 360, Z^^-ZT^, 375, 376,
447, 448, 451, 452, 455.

Bissell, E. Cone, 492.

Bleek, Johann F., 488.

Blum, Bishop, 451.

Bohmer, 448.

Boisgelin, Archbishop, 36.

Bolivar, Simon, 338,^ 339.

Bonald, Louis Gabriel, 66, loi.

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 30, 31,
ZZ, 34, 48, 54, 55, 56, 58, 70,
84, 85, 86, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96,
97, 98, 99, 153, 195, 366, 379,
444.

Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, 61,
63, 64, 95, 356, 360, 361, 362,

363, z^y^ 370, 426.

Bonaparte, Joseph, 91.
Bonaparte, Jerome, 96.
Bonaparte, Jerome Napoleon,

Z^Z-
Booth, William, General, 557-

559.
Booth, Catherine Tucker, 558,

559.
Booth, Ballington, 559.
Bosnia, 371, Zl^-
Botta, Carlo, 75.
Bourne, Hugh, 167;
Bowman, Thomas, Bishop, 610,

613.
Brienne, Cardinal de, z^-
Briggs, Charles S., 493, 636.
Bright, John, 144, 156, 393, 520.
Brinkman, Bishop, 451.
Broadus, John A., 633.
Brougham, Lord, 156, 195, 393.
Brook Farm, 112, 223.
Brooks, Phillips, Bishop, 179,

604, 605, 650.
Brown, Brockden, 224.
Brown, Francis, 493.
Brown, Dr. John, 171.



Index.



711



Brown, John, 563.
Browning, Elizabeth B., 69.
Browning, Robert, 69. 358, 520
Bryant, William Cullen, 224,

268, 578.
Buchanan, Claudius, 151.
Biichner, 128, 418.
Buckley, James M.. 611.
Buckminster, 249.
Budde, 493.
Bulgaria, ZJ^^-ZIT^^
Bunsen, Jonas C, 105, 106, 129.
Bunting, Jabez, 145, 151, 167,

168, 169. 172, 173, 556, 561.
Burger, Gottfried A., 71.
Burr, Aaron, 234.
Bushnell, Horace, 240, 581-584.
Burials Act, 531.
Butler, Joseph, Bishop, 187.
Buxton, Thomas F., 149, 393.
Byron, Geor.ge Gordon, Lord,

(^, (^, 69.

Caird, Edward, 520.
Calvin, John, 135.
Camus, Antoine, 35.
Campbell, Thomas, 276.
Campbell, Alexander, 273, 276-

278. ,
Cambridge Scholars, 547-551.
Campbell, McLeod, 212.
Camp-Meetings, Origin of, 230.
Canning, George, 58, 378.
Canning, Lord Stratford de

Redcliffe, 228.
Cantu, C?esare, 75.
Capers, William, Bishop, 313,

321.
Carlos, Don, 60, 423.
Cardona, General, 364.
Carlotta, Empress of IMexico,

463.
Carlyle, Thomas, 69, 185, 520.
Carey, William, 145, 164, 165.
Carnegie, Andrew, 574.
Carnot, Lazare N., 32.
Carnot, Sadi, 32.
Carroll, John, Bishop, 323.
Cartwright, Peter, 242, 255, 256.



Catholics, Old, 446, 447.
Cavaignac, Louis J., General

61.
Cavour, Camillo B., Count, 361,

362, zdz, 364.
Cecil, Richard, 144, 164, 165.
Centennial Expo.^ition 1876,573.
Centennial of American Aletli-

odism 1866, 609.
Centennial of Methodism 1839,

168, 311.
Chalmers, Thomas, 211. 213-

217.
Chamberlain, Jacob D.. 290.
Chambord, Conite de, 371.
Channing, William E., 248, 249,

260, 266, 267.
Chapin, Edwin H., 669.
Charities, English, 149.
Charities in Germany, 129-135,
Charities, Baptist Church, 635.
Charities, Lutheran Church. 000
Charities, Methodist Church,

(>2(i, 627.
Charities, Protestant Episcopal

Church, 654.
Charities in Roman Catholic

Church. 677.
Charles X of France, 53. 56,

423.
Charles Albert, King of Sar-
dinia, (i2.
Charles XTV of Sweden, 130.
Chase, Salmon P., 593.
Chase, Philander, Bishop, 303,

304.
Chateaubriand. Frangois A.,

Comte de, 66, 70, loi.
Characteristics and Tendencies,

696-705.
Cheyne, Thomas KL, 493.
Choate, Rufus, 268.
Christian Church in the United
States, 227-242.
Planting in the Wilderness,

227-229.
Religious Conditions, 229.
Revivals, 229. 230.
Enlarged Activities. 231.



712



Index,



Christian Church in the United
States — Continued.

Education, 233.

Reforms, 234.

Sectarian Divisions, 22,7.

Perversions, 238-240.

Doctrinal Change, 240-242.
Christianity, effort to extirpate

it in France, A^S^.
Christian Conquest, 707, 708.
Christian Experience, 703, 704.
Christian Science, 670, 671.
Christian Union, 705, 706.
Christians, The, 279, 665.
ChristHeb, Theodore, 483-
Christina, Queen of Spain, 60.
Church Congress, 555-
Church Extension Board, 609.
Church Publication Boards, 233.
Church and State, Separation

of, 327, 328.
Church Property Secularized,

22, 23, 34, 81, 82.
Churches in Canada, 336, 2>2>7,

677, 678.
Church, Richard W., 193, I94-
Church, Richard, General, 193.
Circumscriptions, Bull of, 104.
Churchill, J. W., 659.
Civil War in United States,