The History of Christianity / Consisting of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth; the Adventures of Paul and the Apostles; and the Most Interesting Events in the Progress of Christianity, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.

by John S. C. Abbott

But no power of persecution could utterly crush out between two and three millions of Protestants, nearly every one of whom was ready to go to the stake in defence of his faith. In some of the provinces the Protestants were in so large a majority, and were organized under such able military leaders, that the king was unable to enforce with any efficiency his sanguinary code.

In contemplation of such scenes of fanaticism and suffering, one is led to inquire if Christianity has, on the whole, proved a blessing to mankind. But let it be remembered, that as secular history is mainly occupied with a record of the wars and the woes of humanity, while years of tranquillity and peace have no annalists; so historians of the Church have been mainly occupied with the corruptions which human depravity have introduced into the pure, simple, and beneficent principles of the religion of Jesus. But there is little to be recorded of the millions upon millions of Christians in private life, who,from youth to old age, have had their hearts purified, their manners softened, their homes cheered and blessed, by those quiet virtues which their faith has inculcated. Every joy of their lives has been magnified, and every grief solaced, by their piety.

They have fallen asleep in Jesus, triumphant over death and the grave, and are now with angel-companions in the paradise of God. No man can estimate the multitude of these redeemed ones: their number is “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” And now, to use the glowing language of inspiration,—

“Are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters;and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”[215]

In the accompanying group of portraits, the reader will find correct likenesses of some of the most distinguished of the Protestant clergy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

EMINENT CLERGY OF THE 18^TH CENTURY

Thomas Chalmers, one of the most eloquent and renowned of the Presbyterian clergy of Scotland, was born at Anstruther, in Fifeshire, the 17th of March, 1780. At the early age of twelve, he entered the University of St. Andrew’s. Distinguishing himself as a scholar, he was licensed to preach in his nineteenth year. When he was first ordained minister of a small parish at Kilmany, his mind was chiefly occupied with studies of natural science, and in speculating upon moral, social, and political questions. Though he devoted little time, comparatively, to the pulpit, still, with powers of glowing and impassioned eloquence which drew great multitudes to hear him, he enforced the highest principles of worldly morality. Though the audiences listened, charmed by his eloquence, he testifies, that, at the close of twelve years, he could not perceive that any good had been accomplished by his preaching. This led himto inquire why the preaching of the gospel by the apostles produced results so different from those which he witnessed.

These anxious questions, in connection with a dangerous illness and severe domestic bereavements, led him to a renewed examination of the New Testament. He then perceived that he had been a stranger to the gospel of Christ, and that he had been preaching simply a code of morals, without regard to those great doctrines which are the “wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation.” From his sick-bed he returned to the pulpit, a new man, to proclaim to his congregation, with increasing fervor of utterance, salvation through faith in an atoning Saviour. The style of his preaching was thoroughly changed. The themes upon which he dwelt, and upon which he brought to bear all the powers of his rich and varied culture and his impassioned eloquence, were the lost state of mankind by the fall; the atonement for human guilt made by the sufferings and death of the Son of God upon the cross at Calvary; redemption from sin and its penalty, obtained through penitence and faith in this atoning Saviour; regeneration,—the recreating of the soul by the energies of the Holy Spirit; and the endeavor to live a Christ-like life, as the result of this renewal by the Holy Ghost.

There was vitality in these doctrines; they inspired the preacher with zeal unknown before; and, from that hour to the day of his death, Thomas Chalmers preached the glad tidings of the gospel with power, and with success unsurpassed, perhaps, by any other preacher in Great Britain or America. He still continued to prosecute his literary and scientific studies, but brought all his resources to the advocacy of the gospel. In one of his published articles, he alludes with admiration to the history of Pascal, “who, after a youth signalized with profound speculations, had stopped short in a brilliant career of discovery, resigned the splendors of literary reputation, renounced without a sigh all the distinctions which are conferred upon genius,only to devote every talent and every hour to the defence and illustration of the gospel.”[216]