A History of American Christianity

by Leonard Woolsey Bacon

CONTENTS.

PAGE
[CHAP. I.]—Providential Preparation for the Discovery of America	[1-5]
Purpose of the long concealment of America, [1]. A medievalchurch in America, [2]. Revival of the Catholic Church, [3],especially in Spain, [4], [5].
[CHAP. II.]—Spanish Christianity in America,	[6-15]
Vastness and swiftness of the Spanish conquests, [6]. Conversionby the sword, [7]. Rapid success and sudden downfall of missionsin Florida, [9]. The like story in New Mexico, [12], and inCalifornia, [14].
[CHAP. III.]—French Christianity in America	[16-29]
Magnificence of the French scheme of western empire, [16].Superior dignity of the French missions, [19]. Swift expansionof them, [20]. Collision with the English colonies, and triumphof France, [21]. Sudden and complete failure of the Frenchchurch, [23]. Causes of failure: (1) Dependence on royalpatronage, [24]. (2) Implication in Indian feuds, [25]. (3)Instability of Jesuit efforts, [26]. (4) Scantiness of Frenchpopulation, [27]. Political aspect of French missions, [28].Recent French Catholic immigration, [29].
[CHAP. IV.]—Antecedents of Permanent Christian Colonization	[30-37]
Controversies and parties in Europe, [31], and especially inEngland, [32]. Disintegration of Christendom, [34]. New experimentof church life, [35]. Persecutions promote emigration, [36], [37].
[CHAP. V.]—Puritan Beginnings of the Church in Virginia	[38-53]
The Rev. Robert Hunt, chaplain to the Virginia colony, [38].Base quality of the emigration, [39]. Assiduity in religiousduties, [41]. Rev. Richard Buck, chaplain, [42]. Strict Puritanrégime of Sir T. Dale and Rev. A. Whitaker, [43]. Brighteningprospects extinguished by massacre, [48]. Dissolution of thePuritan "Virginia Company" by the king, [48]. Puritan ministerssilenced by the royal governor, Berkeley, [49]. The governor'schaplain, Harrison, is converted to Puritan principles, [49].Visit of the Rev. Patrick Copland, [50]. Degradation of churchand clergy, [51]. Commissary Blair attempts reform, [52].Huguenots and Scotch-Irish, [53].
[CHAP. VI.]—Maryland and the Carolinas	[54-67]
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, [54]; secures grant of Maryland,[55]. The second Lord Baltimore organizes a colony on the basisof religious liberty, [56]. Success of the two Jesuit priests,[57]. Baltimore restrains the Jesuits, [58], and encourages thePuritans, [59]. Attempt at an Anglican establishment, [61].Commissary Bray, [61]. Tardy settlement of the Carolinas, [62]. Amixed population, [63]. Success of Quakerism, [65]. Americanorigin of English missionary societies, [66].
[CHAP. VII.]—Dutch Calvinists and Swedish Lutherans	[68-81]
Faint traces of religious life in the Dutch settlements, [69].Pastors Michaelius, Bogardus, and Megapolensis, [70]. Religiousliberty, diversity, and bigotry, [72]. The Quakers persecuted,[73]. Low vitality of the Dutch colony, [75]. Swedish colony onthe Delaware, [76]; subjugated by the Dutch, [77]. The Dutchevicted by England, [78]. The Dutch church languishes, [79].Attempts to establish Anglicanism, [79]. The S. P. G., [80].
[CHAP. VIII.]—The Church in New England	[82-108]
Puritan and Separatist, [82]. The Separatists of Scrooby, [83].Mutual animosity of the two parties, [84]. Spirit of JohnRobinson, [85]. The "social compact" of the Pilgrims, in state,[87]; and in church, [88]. Feebleness of the Plymouth colony, [89].The Puritan colony at Salem, [90]. Purpose of the colonists, [91].Their right to pick their own company, [92]. Fellowship with thePilgrims, [93]. Constituting the Salem church, and ordination ofits ministers, [95]. Expulsion of schismatics, [97]. Coming of thegreat Massachusetts colony bringing the charter, [98]. The NewEngland church polity, [99]. Nationalism of the Puritans, [100].Dealings with Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, and theQuakers, [101]. Diversities among the colonies, [102]. Divergencesof opinion and practice in the churches, [103]. Variety of sectsin Rhode Island, [106], with mutual good will, [107]. Lapse of thePuritan church-state, [108].
[CHAP. IX.]—The Middle Colonies and Georgia	[109-126]
Dutch, Puritan, Scotch, and Quaker settlers in New Jersey,[109]. Quaker corporation and government, [110]. Quaker reactionfrom Puritanism, [113]. Extravagance and discipline, [114].Quakerism in continental Europe, [115]. Penn's "HolyExperiment," [116]. Philadelphia founded, [117]. German sects,[118]. Keith's schism, and the mission of the "S. P. G.," [119].Lutheran and Reformed Germans, [120]. Scotch-Irish, [121].Georgia, [122]. Oglethorpe's charitable scheme, [123]. TheSalzburgers, the Moravians, and the Wesleys, [124]. GeorgeWhitefield, [126].
[CHAP. X.]—The Eve of the Great Awakening	[127-154]
Fall of the New England theocracy, [128]. Dissent from the"Standing Order": Baptist, [130]; Episcopalian, [131]. In NewYork: the Dutch church, [134]; the English, [135]; thePresbyterian, [136]. New Englanders moving west, [137]. Quakers,Huguenots, and Palatines, [139]. New Jersey: Frelinghuysen andthe Tennents, [141]. Pennsylvania: successes and failures ofQuakerism, [143]. The southern colonies: their establishedchurches, [148]; the mission of the Quakers, [149]. The gospelamong the Indians, [150]. The church and slavery, [151].
[CHAP. XI.]—The Great Awakening	[155-180]
Jonathan Edwards at Northampton, [156]. An Awakening, [157].Edwards's "Narrative" in America and England, [159]. Revivals inNew Jersey and Pennsylvania, [160]. Apostolate of Whitefield,[163]. Schism of the Presbyterian Church, [166]. Whitefield in NewEngland, [168]. Faults and excesses of the evangelists, [169].Good fruits of the revival, [173]. Diffusion of Baptistprinciples, [173]. National religious unity, [175]. Attitude ofthe Episcopal Church, [177]. Zeal for missions, [179].
[CHAP. XII.]—Close of the Colonial Era	[181-207]
Growth of the New England theology, [181]. Watts's Psalms, [182].Warlike agitations, [184]. The Scotch-Irish immigration, [186].The German immigration, [187]. Spiritual destitution, [188].Zinzendorf, [189]. Attempt at union among the Germans, [190].Alarm of the sects, [191]. Mühlenberg and the Lutherans, [191].Zinzendorf and the Moravians, [192]. Schlatter and the Reformed,[195]. Schism made permanent, [197]. Wesleyan Methodism, [198].Francis Asbury, [200]. Methodism gravitates southward and growsapace, [201]. Opposition of the church to slavery, [203]; and tointemperance, [205]. Project to introduce bishops from England,resisted in the interest of liberty, [206].
[CHAP. XIII.]—Reconstruction	[208-229]
Distraction and depression after the War of Independence, [208].Forlorn condition of the Episcopalians, [210]. Their republicanconstitution, [211]. Episcopal consecration secured in Scotlandand in England, [212]. Feebleness of American Catholicism, [214].Bishop Carroll, [215]. "Trusteeism," [216]. Methodism becomes achurch, [217]. Westward movement of Christianity, [219]. Severanceof church from state, [221]. Doctrinal divisions; Calvinist andArminian, [222]. Unitarianism, [224]. Universalism, [225]. Someminor sects, [228].
[CHAP. XIV.]—The Second Awakening	[230-245]
Ebb-tide of spiritual life, [230]. Depravity and revival at theWest, [232]. The first camp-meetings, [233]. Good fruits, [237].Nervous epidemics, [239]. The Cumberland Presbyterians, [241]. Theantisectarian sect of The Disciples, [242]. Revival at the East,[242]. President Dwight, [243].
[CHAP. XV.]—Organized Beneficence	[246-260]
Missionary spirit of the revival, [246]. Religious earnestnessin the colleges, [247]. Mills and his friends at Williamstown,[248]; and at Andover, [249]. The Unitarian schism inMassachusetts, [249]. New era of theological seminaries, [251].Founding of the A. B. C. F. M., [252]; of the Baptist MissionaryConvention, [253]. Other missionary boards, [255]. The AmericanBible Society, [256]. Mills, and his work for the West and forAfrica, [256]. Other societies, [258]. Glowing hopes of thechurch, [259].
[CHAP. XVI.]—Conflicts with Public Wrongs	[261-291]
Working of the voluntary system of church support, [261].Dueling, [263]. Crime of the State of Georgia against theCherokee nation, implicating the federal government, [264].Jeremiah Evarts and Theodore Frelinghuysen, [267]. Unanimity ofthe church, North and South, against slavery, [268]. TheMissouri Compromise, [270]. Antislavery activity of the church,at the East, [271]; at the West, [273]; at the South, [274].Difficulty of antislavery church discipline, [275]. The southernapostasy, [277]. Causes of the sudden revolution of sentiment,[279]. Defections at the North, and rise of a pro-slavery party,[282]. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill; solemn and unanimous protest ofthe clergy of New England and New York, [284]. Primevaltemperance legislation, [285]. Prevalence of drunkenness, [286].Temperance reformation a religious movement, [286]. Developmentof "the saloon," [288]. The Washingtonian movement and itsdrawbacks, [289]. The Prohibition period, [290].
[CHAP. XVII.]—A Decade of Controversies and Schisms	[292-314]
Dissensions in the Presbyterian Church, [292]. Growing strengthof the New England element, [293]. Impeachments of heresy, [294].Benevolent societies, [295]. Sudden excommunication of nearlyone half of the church by the other half, [296]. Heresy andschism among Unitarians: Emerson, [298]; and Parker, [300].Disruption, on the slavery question, of the Methodists, [301];and of the Baptists, [303]. Resuscitation of the EpiscopalChurch, [304]. Bishop Hobart and a High-church party, [306]. Rapidgrowth of this church, [308]. Controversies in the RomanCatholic Church, [310]. Contention against Protestantfanaticism, [312].
[CHAP. XVIII.]—The Great Immigration	[315-339]
Expansion of territory and increase of population in the earlypart of the nineteenth century, [315]. Great volume ofimmigration from 1840 on, [316]. How drawn and how driven, [316].At first principally Irish, then German, then Scandinavian,[318]. The Catholic clergy overtasked, [320]. Losses of theCatholic Church, [321]. Liberalized tone of AmericanCatholicism, [323]. Planting the church in the West, [327].Sectarian competitions, [328]. Protestant sects and Catholicorders, [329]. Mormonism, [335]. Millerism, [336]. Spiritualism,[337].
[CHAP. XIX.]—The Civil War	[340-350]
Material prosperity, [340]. The Kansas Crusade, [341]. The revivalof 1857, [342]. Deepening of the slavery conflict, [345]. Threatsof war, [347]. Religious sincerity of both sides, [348]. Thechurch in war-time, [349].
[CHAP. XX.]—After the Civil War	[351-373]
Reconstructions, [351]. The Catholic Church, [352]. The EpiscopalChurch, [352]. Persistent divisions among Methodists, Baptists,and Presbyterians, [353]. Healing of Presbyterian schisms, [355].Missions at the South, [355]. Vast expansion of churchactivities, [357]. Great religious and educational endowments,[359]. The enlisting of personal service: The Sunday-school,[362]. Chautauqua, [363]. Y. M. C. A., [364]. Y. W. C. A., [366]. W.C. T. U., [367]. Women's missionary boards, [367]. Nursing ordersand schools, [368]. Y. P. S. C. E., and like associations, [368]."The Institutional Church," [369]. The Salvation Army, [370]. Lossof "the American Sabbath," [371].
[CHAP. XXI.]—The Church in Theology and Literature	[374-397]
Unfolding of the Edwardean theology, [374]. Horace Bushnell,[375]. The Mercersburg theology, [377]. "Bodies of divinity," [378].Biblical science, [378]. Princeton's new dogma, [380]. Churchhistory, [381]. The American pulpit, [382]. "AppliedChristianity," [385]. Liturgics, [386]. Hymns, [387]. Otherliturgical studies, [388]. Church music, [391]. The Moravianliturgies, [394]. Meager productiveness of the Catholic Church,[394]. The Americanizing of the Roman Church, [396].
[CHAP. XXII.]—Tendencies toward a Manifestation of Unity	[398-420]
Growth of the nation and national union, [398]. Parallel growthof the church, [399]; and ecclesiastical division, [400]. Nopredominant sect, [401]. Schism acceptable to politicians, [402];and to some Christians, [403]. Compensations of schism, [404].Nisus toward manifest union, [405]. Early efforts atfellowship among sects, [406]. High-church protests againstunion, [407]. The Evangelical Alliance, [408]. Fellowship innon-sectarian associations, [409]. Cooperation of leading sectsin Maine, [410]. Various unpromising projects of union: I. Unionon sectarian basis, [411]. II. Ecumenical sects, [412]. III.Consolidation of sects, [413]. The hope of manifested unity,[416]. Conclusion, [419].

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