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| [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]. | |
A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY.
CHAPTER I.
PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA—SPIRITUAL REVIVAL THROUGHOUT CHRISTENDOM, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE CHURCH OF SPAIN.
The heroic discovery of America, at the close of the fifteenth century after Christ, has compelled the generous and just admiration of the world; but the grandeur of human enterprise and achievement in the discovery of the western hemisphere has a less claim on our admiration than that divine wisdom and controlling providence which, for reasons now manifested, kept the secret hidden through so many millenniums, in spite of continual chances of disclosure, until the fullness of time.
How near, to "speak as a fool," the plans of God came to being defeated by human enterprise is illustrated by unquestioned facts. The fact of medieval exploration, colonization, and even evangelization in North America seems now to have emerged from the region of fanciful conjecture into that of history. That for four centuries, ending with the fifteenth, the church of Iceland maintained its bishops and other missionaries and built its churches and monasteries on the frozen coast of Greenland is abundantly proved by documents and monuments. Dim but seemingly unmistakable traces are now discovered of enterprises, not only of exploration and trade, but also of evangelization, reaching along the mainland southward to the shores of New England. There are vague indications that these beginnings of Christian civilization were extinguished, as in so many later instances, by savage massacre. With impressive coincidence, the latest vestige of this primeval American Christianity fades out in the very year of the discovery of America by Columbus.[2:1]
By a prodigy of divine providence, the secret of the ages had been kept from premature disclosure during the centuries in which, without knowing it, the Old World was actually in communication with the New. That was high strategy in the warfare for the advancement of the kingdom of God in the earth. What possibilities, even yet only beginning to be accomplished, were thus saved to both hemispheres! If the discovery of America had been achieved four centuries or even a single century earlier, the Christianity to be transplanted to the western world would have been that of the church of Europe at its lowest stage of decadence. The period closing with the fifteenth century was that of the dense darkness that goes before the dawn. It was a period in which the lingering life of the church was chiefly manifested in feverish complaints of the widespread corruption and outcries for "reformation of the church in head and members." The degeneracy of the clergy was nowhere more manifest than in the monastic orders, that had been originally established for the express purpose of reviving and purifying the church. That ancient word was fulfilled, "Like people, like priest." But it was especially in the person of the foremost official representative of the religion of Jesus Christ that that religion was most dishonored. The fifteenth century was the era of the infamous popes. By another coincidence which arrests the attention of the reader of history, that same year of the discovery by Columbus witnessed the accession of the most infamous of the series, the Borgia, Alexander VI., to his short and shameful pontificate.