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A KEY TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHURCH HISTORY

[Ancient]

Edited by

JOHN HENRY BLUNT, M. A. 

Editor of "The Dictionary of Theology, " "The Annotated Book of Common Prayer;"Author of "Household Theology, " Etc. Etc. 

 _"This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. _"--St. Matt. Xxiv. 14

RivingtonsWaterloo Place, LondonOxford, and CambridgeMDCCCLXXVII[New Edition]

PREFACE

This Volume offers to the reader a short and condensed account of theorigin, growth, and condition of the Church in all parts of the world, from the time of our Lord down to the end of the fifteenth century, thenarrative being compressed into as small a compass as is consistentwith a readable form. 

In such a work the reader will not, of course, expect to find any fulland detailed account of so vast a subject as Pre-Reformation ChurchHistory. Its object is rather to sketch out the historical truth abouteach Church, and to indicate the general principles on which furtherinquiry may be conducted by those who have the opportunity of making it. 

It is hoped that those whose circumstances do not admit of an extendedstudy of the subject will find in the following pages a clear, thoughcondensed, view of the periods and Churches treated of; and that thosewhose reading is of a less limited range will be put in possession ofcertain definite lines of thought, by which they may be guided inreading the statements of more elaborate histories. 

It may be added, that the writer's stand-point throughout has been thatof a loyal attachment to the Church of England, as the authorizedexponent and upholder of Catholic doctrine for English people. 

M. F. B. P. 

_July_, 1869. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

 I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH AMONG THE JEWS . . . . . 1 II. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH AMONG THE HEATHEN . . . 25 III. THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH THROUGHOUT THE WORLD . . 30 IV. FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE CHURCH BY ST. JOHN . . . . . 45 V. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 VI. THE CHURCH UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE . . . . . . . . . . 66 VII. THE EARLY HISTORY OF PARTICULAR CHURCHES . . . . . . 73 VIII. THE INROADS OF MAHOMETANISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 IX. THE DIVISION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST . . . . . . . . . 94 X. THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 XI. THE MEDIAEVAL HISTORY OF CONTINENTAL CHURCHES . . . . 120 XII. THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND . . 142

 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

{1}

CHAPTER I

The foundation of the Church among the Jews

A. D. 33-A. D. 38

Before entering upon an account of the Foundation and After-History ofthe Christian Church, it may be well to consider what that Churchreally is. 

Section 1. _Definition of the Church. _

[Sidenote: Twofold nature of the Church. ]

The Church may be regarded in a twofold aspect, as an externalCorporation, and as a spiritual Body. 

[Sidenote: 1. An external Kingdom. ]

In the first light it is a Kingdom, in the world, though not of theworld, extending through different and widely-separated countries, often seemingly divided by outward circumstances, but, in reality, having all its parts subject to the same Invisible King, governed bylaws which He has given, and by means of those whom He has appointed tobe His representatives on earth. 

[Sidenote: 2. A spiritual Body. ]

In its spiritual sense the Church is the One Mystical Body of Christ, of which men are made members by Holy Baptism, and in which they arenourished and built up by the Holy Eucharist, and the other means ofgrace. These means of grace {2} are dispensed by Priests, who receiveauthority and power to execute their ministerial functions fromBishops, successors of the Apostles, and are assisted in their ministryby the inferior order of Deacons. 

[Sidenote: Future destiny of the Church. ]

The members of this Mystical Body, after passing through theirappointed probation in this world, and being built up more and more, ifthey continue faithful, into Christ their Head, are removed to join theChurch at rest in Paradise. There they await the Resurrection andFinal Judgment, after which the "Church Militant here on earth" willbecome the Church Triumphant in Heaven. 

[Sidenote: The Church exists through and by the Incarnation, applied toeach individual in Holy Baptism, and the Holy Eucharist. ]

The existence of the Church is the consequence and fruit of theIncarnation and Death of her Divine Head; the spiritual life of all hermembers being derived from their union with our Blessed Lord's SacredHumanity, whereby they are also made "partakers of the DivineNature[1], " their birth-sin being at the same time washed away by theVirtue of His Cleansing Blood. This Life, once begun, is kept up infaithful Christians by believing and persevering use of the MysticalFood provided for its sustenance in their souls--the Blessed Body andPrecious Blood thus given to them being a continual extension of theIncarnation; whilst their actual sins are forgiven by the absolvingWord of the Priest, and the Pleading of the One Sacrifice, unceasinglypresented in Heaven, and constantly shown forth and mystically offeredon the Altars of the Church on earth. 

{3}

[Sidenote: Foreshadowings of the Church and the Redeemer's sacrificeunder the Patriarchal]

From the time of the Fall and the merciful Promise of a Redeemer, "theSeed of the woman, " there is also a foreshadowing of the Church as theappointed way by which mankind should lay hold on the salvation thusprovided for them. The Patriarchs were priests in their own tribes, for which they continually offered up sacrifices to Almighty God; andto this patriarchal system succeeded the Mosaical Dispensation with anelaborate ceremonial, each minute detail of which was laid down bydirect revelation from God Himself. 

[Sidenote: and Mosaic dispensations. ]

In this system of Divine Worship given to Moses, sacrifices of animalsstill held the most prominent place, typifying as they did the greatOblation to come, and perhaps conveying a certain Sacramental grace tothe devout offerers and partakers of them. To these perpetualsacrifices, offered morning by morning and evening by evening, therewas also joined a continual round of praise and thanksgiving. [Sidenote: Much of the Jewish ritual absorbed in the Christian Church. ]When our Blessed Lord came "to fulfil the Law, " this Jewish ritual wasin a great measure engrafted into the worship of the Christian Church. The Passover feast, as well as animal sacrifices and the feeding onthem, were done away, and replaced by the "Unbloody Sacrifice" andSacramental Communion of the Gospel covenant, whilst circumcision andceremonial purifications disappeared to make room for the "trueCircumcision of the Spirit, " and the regenerating streams of HolyBaptism. But the "Hours of Prayer" and Praise were still retained, "the singers arrayed in white" became the white-robed choirs of theChristian Church, and the threefold order of the Christian {4} ministryrepresented the High Priest, Priests, and Levites of the olddispensation. 

[Sidenote: Jewish Worship a preparation for Christian Worship. ]

We must not be led to think that the Jewish Worship was contrary to theMind of God, for He Himself appointed it. It was, without doubt, apart of the great Scheme of Redemption--a preparation for the Gospel, the means ordained by the Divine Wisdom for keeping up in men's mindsthe future Coming of the Messiah. But when the Great Deliverer wasindeed come, there was no further need for the types and shadows of theLaw, and they disappeared to make way for the "substance" of theGospel. [Sidenote: The Church Militant a preparation for the ChurchTriumphant. ] So when the number of the elect shall be accomplished, andthe Church Militant changed into the Church Triumphant, her Worship andher Sacraments will have their full fruition in the Marriage Supper ofthe Lamb, and the unceasing adoration of the redeemed in the HeavenlyTemple. 

Section 2. _Our Lord's Work in the Foundation of the Church. _

[Sidenote: Our Lord prepared for the Foundation of His Church byinstituting Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, and by appointing thetwelve Apostles. ]

Our Blessed Lord's Ministry was spent in making preparations for thefoundation of His Church. At His first entrance on that Ministry, He"sanctified Water to the mystical washing away of sin;" at the close ofit, He blessed the elements of Bread and Wine, and made them thechannels of His constant Presence with His Church, "a perpetual memoryof His Precious Death" before God. He also appointed humaninstruments, who, in His Name and by His Authority, should carry out{5} this mighty work, and be the foundation-stones of the new spiritualbuilding, bonded together and firmly established in Him the "ChiefCorner Stone. " "The wall of the City had twelve foundations, and inthem the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb[2]. "

[Sidenote: The Apostles taught and trained by our Lord's Example andTeaching. ]

The Apostles were solemnly set apart by our Lord after a night ofwatching and prayer[3], and from that time became His constantcompanions, witnessing His mighty works, listening to the words ofHeavenly Wisdom which fell from His Sacred Lips, and thus experiencing, under the guidance of the Head of the Church Himself, such a trainingas might best fit them for their superhuman labours[4]. [Sidenote:Special instructions given them, and not understood until after the Dayof Pentecost. ] A large portion of what is now stored up in the HolyGospel for the instruction of the whole body of Christians, was in thefirst instance spoken to the Apostles with a special view to theirApostolic vocation; to them it was "given to know the Mysteries of theKingdom of Heaven. " Doubtless much of what they were thus taughtremained unexplained "Mysteries" to them until the Coming of the HolyGhost on the Day of Pentecost to "guide them into {6} all Truth, " andespecially to instruct them in the real meaning of what had beforeseemed to be "hard sayings" in their Master's Teaching. 

[Sidenote: This Teaching continued after the Resurrection. ]

Again, after our Blessed Lord's Passion and Resurrection, we read thatHe was "seen of them forty days, speaking of the things pertaining tothe Kingdom of God[5], " i. E. To the Church, the Kingdom which, by theagency of the Twelve Apostles, He was about to establish in this world. No record is left us as to what these "things" were of which He spaketo them; but we cannot doubt that the Words of Divine Wisdom wouldremain deeply engraven on their hearts, and be a treasure of strengthand counsel in the trials and perplexities of the untried path whichlay before them, the Holy Spirit "bringing to their remembrance" anysayings of the Saviour which human frailty might have hindered themfrom remembering[6]. 

[Sidenote: A commission given to the Apostles for all their officialacts, ]

The Apostles received from the Great High Priest before His Ascension, a commission to execute the various functions of the priestly office, to baptize[7], to teach[8], to consecrate and offer the HolyEucharist[9], and to absolve[10]; besides a general and comprehensivepromise that all their official acts should be confirmed by Him, in thewords, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world[11]. "[Sidenote: but not exerted till after Pentecost. ] We do not, however, find that this commission was acted on by the Apostles before the dayof Pentecost; the Saviour's will was, that it should, so to {7} speak, lie dormant until the seal of the Holy Spirit was impressed upon it. During the days of expectation which followed our Lord's Ascension, weread that the holy company who were gathered together in the "upperroom, " "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication[12];" butwe have no mention of any celebration of the Holy Eucharist, whilstimmediately after the Descent of the Holy Ghost we are told of theirdaily continuance in "the Breaking of the Bread[13]. "

Section 3. _The Day of Pentecost. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. Participation of the Blessed Trinity in the worksof Creation, the Incarnation, and the Foundation of the Church. ]

As the Three Holy Persons of the Ever-blessed Trinity had shared in thework of the First Creation of the world, the Father speaking by theEternal Word, and the Holy Spirit brooding over what before waslifeless: and as in the work of the Incarnation the Father had sent theSon to take upon Him our human nature through the operation of the HolyGhost: so, in the Foundation of the Church, the Power of the HolySpirit co-operated no less than the Will of the Father and theLife-giving Grace of the Son. 

{8}

[Sidenote: The waiting at Jerusalem. ]

The Apostles had received from their ascending Lord a command to awaitin the City of Jerusalem this "Power from on High, " which was to besent upon them[14]. We can easily see the fitness of this injunction, when we remember that they were about to become the founders of the NewJerusalem, the true "City of God" in which the many "glorious thingsspoken[15]" by the Old Testament Prophets were to have theirperformance to a certain extent even in this life, but fully andperfectly in the Life to come. 

[Sidenote: St. Matthias chosen. ]

Immediately after our Lord's Ascension the Apostles, under theimmediate guidance of Almighty God, made choice by lot of St. Matthiasto fill up the vacancy in the Apostolic Body caused by the apostasy ofJudas, and then awaited in prayer and worship the promised Coming ofthe Comforter. [Sidenote: The coming of the Holy Ghost. ] After tendays of expectation, on the morning of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, the Promise was fulfilled: with the sound "of a rushing mighty Wind, "with the brightness of "cloven tongues like as of fire, " the HolySpirit descended "and sat upon each of" the Apostles[16]. Thus theywere inspired and enlightened with Power and Knowledge, and all theother sevenfold gifts of the Paraclete[17] in fuller measure than hadever been vouchsafed to the Prophets and Teachers of old, as well aswith miraculous endowments, that so they might be enabled to carry outthe Commission entrusted to them by their Master. 

[Sidenote: The gift of Tongues. ]

One effect of this wonderful Visitation was {9} immediately andstrikingly apparent to all who stood by, for on these twelve unlearnedmen of lowly birth was bestowed the power of speaking fluently andintelligibly in languages of which, before, they had been altogetherignorant. [Sidenote: The people come together. ] The fame of this greatwonder soon spread amongst the multitude of foreign Jews who were thengathered together at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost; many ofthem were probably at that very time in the Temple, of which the "upperroom" is thought to have formed a part, and they quickly came aroundthe Apostles, anxious to judge for themselves of the truth of what hadbeen told them. [Sidenote: Their amazement. ] Very great was theirastonishment at what they heard. It seems as if words are multipliedin the Sacred Narrative to impress us with a sense of their awe andwonder. It is said that they "were confounded" or "troubled in mind, "that "they were all amazed and marvelled;" and again, that "they wereall amazed, and were in doubt" at this startling exhibition of the"Power" of God[18]. [Sidenote: Though some refused to believe. ] Someindeed "mocked, " despising the work of the Spirit, as they had beforedespised the work of the Son; but many opened their hearts to thesoftening influence, and of them it may truly be said that "the fear ofthe Lord" was "the beginning of wisdom. "

{10}

Section 4. _St. Peter's First Sermon, and its Results. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. Conversion of the 3000. ]

And now at once the converting power of the Church was exercised. St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, took the lead, as he had already donein the election of St. Matthias, and preached to the impressed andeager multitude that first Christian sermon, which was followed by theconversion and baptism of "about 3000 souls[19]. "

[Sidenote: The promise of St. Peter fulfilled. ]

Thus was fulfilled, in one sense at least, the promise of Christ to St. Peter: "Upon this rock I will build My Church[20];" and he, who firstof the Twelve had faith to confess the Godhead of our Blessed Lord, wasrewarded by being the first to whom it was given to draw men into thatChurch, which in His Human Nature Christ had purchased for Himself. 

[Sidenote: Further results of St. Peter's sermon. ]

In estimating the importance of the results which were brought about bySt. Peter's sermon, we must not only take into account the actualnumber of those who were at once added to the disciples, large as thatnumber was, but we must also remember that many of these converts camefrom far distant countries, whither, on their departure from Jerusalem, they would carry the tidings of the Faith which they had embraced. Hence they in their turn became forerunners of our Lord and of HisChurch, preparing the hearts of those amongst whom they dwelt to listento the proclamation of the {11} Gospel, when, in God's appointedseason, it should be preached to them. 

Section 3. _The First Beginnings of Persecution. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. Growth of the Church. ]

The Church now steadily grew in influence and numbers; "The Lord addedto the Church daily such as should be" [or "were being"] "saved[21];"and on the occasion of a second sermon, preached by St. Peter after thehealing of the lame man "at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, " "aboutfive thousand" were converted[22]. [Sidenote: Beginnings ofpersecution. ] The opposition of the Jewish rulers was powerless tocheck the ever-advancing tide; and this _first beginning ofpersecution_, by calling forth from the whole Church an earnest act ofworship and supplication, was the occasion of "great power" and "greatgrace" being given to enable her to do and bear all for the sake of herLord[23]. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of St. Barnabas. ]

Immediately afterwards we read of the conversion of St. Barnabas, thefirst convert mentioned by name, a Levite, and apparently a man ofwealth and position[24]; and then we are told of the awe and reverenceproduced in the minds of the people of Jerusalem, and the neighbouringcountry, by the abundant exercise of the Apostolic power of workingmiracles[25]. [Sidenote: The gift of working miracles. ] This greatworking gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed, like the Gift of Tongues, onthe Day of Pentecost, had similar results. Fear was followed by faith, and {12} "multitudes both of men and women" were added to the Church. 

Persecution once more followed, this time with greater severity; theApostles were imprisoned through the influence of the sect of theSadducees, and, being set free by a miracle, were called before theSanhedrim and scourged, only escaping death by the wise and mercifulinterposition of the Pharisee Gamaliel. 

Section 6. _Worship and Discipline of the Infant Church. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. ]

Before going farther into the History of the Church, we may pause toconsider the account given us in Holy Scripture of Christian Worshipand Discipline in the time immediately following the Day of Pentecost. The same chapter which contains the narrative of the Descent of theHoly Ghost, has also a short epitome of the daily life of the Apostlesand their converts, during that brief interval of undisturbed peacewhich preceded the beginning of the bitter conflict between the Churchand the world. 

[Sidenote: Holy Baptism. Apostolic Doctrine. ]

First we read of Holy Baptism as the source of the Christian Life[26], and then of steadfast continuance in the one Faith as taught by theApostles, who were, so to speak, a kind of living Gospel to theirconverts. [Sidenote: Oral teaching. ] None of the Books of the NewTestament were as yet written, so that all instruction being oral, faithful must most fully have sought "the Law" of the Saviour at the"mouth" of His twelve chosen servants, who had listened to His graciouswords, and had been themselves taught by {13} Him Who is Wisdom. [Sidenote: Value of tradition. ] The Apostles' Creed is a mightyinstance of this _traditional_ teaching, which has come down even toour own days; and many points of Church government, and discipline, andritual, merely hinted at, or not even referred to in the writings ofthe New Testament, were preserved to the Church by means of spokentradition. St. Paul several times mentions these oral traditions, andin one instance speaks of them to his converts as equally binding withthe written words contained in his Epistles[27]. The substance of suchimportant traditions became ingrained into the system and belief of theChurch, and it was thus of comparatively little importance that theirexact words were forgotten. 

[Sidenote: Apostolic fellowship. Faith and love towards God]

To oneness of "doctrine" belonged also oneness of "fellowship. " Therewas as yet "no schism in the Body;" and this inward Faith and Lovefound their outward expression both towards God and towards man. Towards God in "the Breaking of the Bread, " the Daily Sacrifice andThank-offering of the Holy Eucharist "at home[28], " i. E. In their ownupper room, the first Christian Church, as well as in their constantattendance on the daily "Prayers" and praises still offered up in theTemple. Of the conduct of the first Christians towards each other weare told twice over, immediately after the Outpouring of the Day ofPentecost, and again after that increase of "boldness, " which wasgranted to the earnest cry of the Church on the approach ofpersecution[29]. 

{14}

[Sidenote: and towards man. ]

Both these accounts speak to us of their full realization of thedoctrine of the Communion of Saints. They "were together;" they "wereof one heart and of one soul:" the need of one was the need of all;each felt his brother's wants, as if he himself suffered; and so greatwas the liberality of those who had "possessions and goods, " that therewas not "any among them that lacked. " "They had all things common, " asto the daily use of God's worldly gifts. 

[Sidenote: The Holy Eucharist as a Sacrifice]

The Holy Eucharist was to the Church then, as it is still, the chiefact and centre of Divine worship. In this new Sacrifice the Apostlesshowed forth and pleaded before God, the One Sufficient Sacrifice, which they themselves had seen "once offered, " with unspeakablesufferings, and all-prevailing Blood-shedding upon the Cross ofCalvary. [Sidenote: and a means of union with Christ. ] In it theyadored Him, Whom they now acknowledged with every faculty of theirsouls to be indeed their "Lord" and their "God;" in it they found againthe Real and continual, though invisible, Presence of the Master andFriend for Whose sake they had forsaken all earthly ties; and by itthey were brought into closer union with Him, than when of old they hadwalked and talked with Him beside the Galilean Sea, or beneath theolive-trees of Gethsemane; for now, they were indeed "nourished andcherished" by Him and made more and more "members of His Body, of Hisflesh, and of His bones[30]. " [Sidenote: Thankfulness of the firstconverts. ] What wonder, then, that we read of the "gladness andsingleness of heart" of the {15} Apostles and their converts thusliving in the constant joy and presence of their Lord, and that"praising God" is mentioned as one of their distinguishing marks:--

 "By 'Deo gratias, ' as they pass'd, The faithful folk were surest known; That watchword for the daily strife Might well their thoughts and tongues employ, Who made the Church transform their life, And the great Offering crown their joy[31]. "

[Sidenote: Continued attendance of the Apostles on the Temple Services. ]

We may here remark the many indications which are given us throughoutthe Book of Acts, that the Apostles, who were themselves Jews, did not, even after the Foundation of the Christian Church, oppose or neglectJewish ordinances and worship, so long and so far as the union of thetwo dispensations was practicable. In this they followed the exampleof their Divine Master, Who, from His Circumcision upwards, paidobedience to that Law which He came to fulfil, and Who was a constantattendant at the services of the Temple and of the Synagogues. Therewas no violent rending away from the old Faith, until God, in Hiswisdom and justice, saw fit to ordain the destruction of the guiltycity Jerusalem, and the overthrow of the Jewish Temple, and Altar, andPriesthood, none of which had then any further purpose to serve in theDivine plan for the redemption of mankind. 

[Sidenote: In the cases of St. Peter and St. John, ]

Thus we read of St. Peter and St. John going up to the Temple toworship at the ninth hour of prayer[32], and of their afterwardspreaching to the people in that part of the {16} Temple calledSolomon's porch[33], of the daily preaching of the Gospel by theApostles in the Temple[34], and of their constant resort to the JewishSynagogues during their stay in such places as possessed them[35]. [Sidenote: and of St. Paul. ] Even five and twenty years after the dayof Pentecost we find that the very tumult which resulted in St. Paul'sapprehension and consequent journey as a prisoner to Rome, wasimmediately excited by his having "entered into the Temple[36], " inperformance of one of the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law. 

Section 7. _The First Schism and the Appointment of the Diaconate. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. The first deadly sin in the Church. ]

Great and deadly sin had already made its way into Christ's fold, andbeen cast out from the midst of it by a fearful judgment. Ananias andSapphira had "lied unto God, " and been struck dead for their impiety;and the "great fear" excited by this first display of the judicialpowers of the Church had been followed by another influx ofconversions; for "multitudes were added to the Lord[37]. " [Sidenote:A. D. 34. The first schism. ] And now came the first division in thebody, "a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews[38]. "

[Sidenote: Distinction between "Grecians" (or Hellenists) and"Hebrews. "]

By the "Grecians" are meant those Jews of foreign birth and educationwho had adopted Greek customs and the Greek language so entirely, thatsome even of their most learned men did not understand Hebrew {17} butread the Scriptures of the Old Testament in the Septuagint Version. They were much despised by the stricter and more narrow-minded"Hebrews, " the natives of Palestine, or Syro-Chaldaic Jews; and therivalries of these two Jewish sects were carried even into the bosom ofChrist's Church. [Sidenote: Complaint of the "Grecians. "] TheGrecians, or "_Hellenists_" complained that their widows were neglectedin the daily distribution of alms; perhaps grounding their complaint onthe fact that the Twelve were all Hebrews. [Sidenote: Deaconsordained. ] And the Apostles commanded that "seven men of honest report"should be chosen from the body of believers, and presented to them, that they might be ordained by Imposition of Hands to minister to thebodily wants of the poor and aged. This was the first institution ofthe Order of Deacons[39], the lowest of the three holy offices whichwere to be continually handed down and perpetuated in the Church. Thusdid the Apostles begin to impart to others such a portion of theministerial grace, of which they themselves had been at first the solerecipients, as might enable those whom they ordained to aid them, in asubordinate degree, in the work of building up the mystical Body ofChrist. 

[Sidenote: Increasing conversions. ]

This fresh proof of the vitality of the Church through the active, living Presence of her Divine Head, was followed by a new feature inthe still increasing conversions to her fold. It was no longer thepoor and the unlearned only, or chiefly, who listened to the teachingof the Apostles, {18} "a great company of the Priests were obedient tothe Faith[40], " while, on the other hand, a growing and more bitterspirit of persecution was soon to develope itself. 

Section 8. _The Martyrdom of St. Stephen. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 34. The Seven Deacons. ]

St. Stephen, the foremost and saintliest of the Seven Deacons, and St. Philip, the second in order, are the only two of whom we have anyfurther mention in the Book of Acts; but it is believed that the lastnamed, Nicolas of Antioch, was the author of the heresy of theNicolaitanes, which our Blessed Lord twice over tells us that Hehates[41]. Nicolas seems in this way to be a sad reflection of theawful example set by the traitor Judas, the last reckoned Apostle. 

[Sidenote: Their functions. ]

It is clear that the ministrations of the first Deacons were not ofnecessity confined to the "serving of tables, " which was the primaryoccasion of their appointment. St. Philip both preached andbaptized[42]; and St. Stephen brought down upon himself the hatred andmalice of the Jews by the boldness and power of his preaching. Bothpreaching and baptizing do still, under certain restrictions, "appertain to the office of a Deacon[43]. "

[Sidenote: Probably all Hellenists. ]

Judging from the names of the Seven Deacons, there seems good reasonfor supposing that they were all or most of them Grecians or {19}Hellenists. St. Stephen was undoubtedly a Hellenist, and his earlytraining made him a ready instrument for the work to which the HolyGhost had called him. Freed by education from many of the associationsand feelings which bound his Hebrew brethren to the Holy City and theTemple, he could realize more plainly than they could do, the future ofthe Christian Church apart from both these, and boldly proclaimed hisconvictions. [Sidenote: St. Stephen's preaching rouses Hebrewprejudices. ] By this conduct he aroused all the deeply-rootedprejudices and exclusive pride of the Jewish mind, even amongst thosewho, like himself, were Hellenists, and to whom he seems moreparticularly to have addressed himself. Up to this time, whatopposition there was to the teaching of the Apostles, seems to havecome chiefly from the unbelieving sect of the Sadducees[44]; for thepeople had espoused the cause of the Christian teachers[45], and thePharisees had advocated lenient conduct towards those who confessed, asthey themselves did, a belief in the Resurrection[46]. [Sidenote: ThePharisees join with the Saducees in opposition to the Church. ] But nowall was altered; priests and people, Sadducees and Pharisees, werealike vehement against those who ventured to assert that the "HolyPlace and the Law" should ever give way to a Holier than they; andforemost amongst the persecutors was the fiery, earnest, intellectualman who was afterwards the holy Apostle Paul[47]. 

[Sidenote: St. Stephen's speech a direct Inspiration. ]

The defence of the heavenly-minded Deacon before {20} his malicious andbloodthirsty enemies must be looked upon as a direct Inspiration of theHoly Ghost, a fulfilment of our Blessed Lord's promise to HisChurch[48], and a Divine commentary on Old Testament History, showingthat God's mercies were not restrained to any particular place orcountry, and upbraiding the Jews with their abuse of their manyprivileges and their rejection of the Saviour. But the words of thisfirst Christian "Apology against Judaism" fell for the time onunheeding ears; and its only present apparent result was the violentand yet triumphant death of him who had been chosen to utter it. [Sidenote: His blessed martyrdom. ] Beneath the stoning of the enragedmultitude, the First Martyr "fell asleep, " blessed in his last momentswith a foretaste of the Beatific Vision[49]. 

Section 9. _Results of St. Stephen's Martyrdom. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 34. Good brought out of evil for the Church. ]

We may here pause to recollect how God had all along been bringingforth good out of seeming evil, in what concerned His Church. Thefirst _dawnings of persecution_ drew down increased "boldness" inanswer to thankful prayer; the first great necessity for exercising the_judicial office_ of the Church was followed by "great fear" andmultiplied conversions, as well as by the first miracles of healingwrought in the Church; the first _schism_ was the occasion of theorigin of the Order of Deacons, directly after which event we hear of"a great company of the priests being obedient to the Faith, " {21} thefirst _martyrdom_ helped to bring about the conversion of the chiefpersecutor; and now the first _general persecution_ which came upon theChurch was to have for its result a far more widely-spread diffusion ofthe knowledge of the Kingdom of God than had before taken place. 

[Sidenote: Extension of the Church according to our Lord's promise. ]

This extension of the Church was in exact accordance with our Lord'swords to His Apostles just before His Ascension, that they should bewitnesses unto Him "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, andunto the uttermost parts of the earth. " Jerusalem was already "filledwith" their "doctrine, " and now the disciples were "scattered abroadthroughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, " and "went every wherepreaching the Word[50]. " [Sidenote: Still confined to Jews, andSamaritans, or to proselytes. ] Still it would seem that they confinedtheir preaching to such as were either Hebrews, or Grecians, i. E. Foreigners more or less professing Judaism[51]; or, as in the case ofthe Samaritans, to such as were of mixed Jewish descent, and clung tothe Law of Moses, though with manifold corruptions; or, again, toproselytes like the Ethiopian eunuch. The Apostles, we read, continuedat Jerusalem, doubtless by God's command and under His specialprotection. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of Samaria. ]

The conversion of the despised city of Samaria was effected by theinstrumentality of the Deacon St. Philip[52], whose preaching andmiracles were followed by the baptism of large numbers of the people, and, amongst them, of one Simon {22} of Gittum, better known as SimonMagus (i. E. The magician, or sorcerer), who had claimed supernaturalpowers, and given himself out to be an emanation from the Deity, oreven God Himself. [Sidenote: St. Peter and St. John sent to confirm. ]St. Philip, as a Deacon, could not complete the gift begun in HolyBaptism, and St. Peter and St. John were sent down by the Apostles fromJerusalem, that they might confirm the Samaritan converts by prayer andthe Imposition of Hands. Confirmation in those early days of theChurch was wont to be accompanied by a bestowal of miraculous gifts ofthe Holy Ghost; and the wondrous signs following upon this, the firstConfirmation mentioned in God's history of His Church, led the stillunbelieving Simon to long for the ability to confer similar powers. [Sidenote: The unbelief of Simon Magus. ] He dared to offer money to theApostles with this view, and drew from St. Peter such a reproof as fora time pierced through even the heart which had hardened by an abuse ofholy things. But this penitence was of short duration. He became theauthor in the Church of a deadly heresy called Gnosticism, mixing upwhat he had learnt of the doctrines of Christianity with heathenphilosophy and sinful living, and making pretence of being endowed withmiraculous gifts. [Sidenote: His end. ] This first heretic is said tohave perished miserably whilst endeavouring to fly through the air atRome[53], St. Peter praying at the same time that he might no longer besuffered to hinder the salvation of souls. 

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[Sidenote: The Gospel preached in Antioch. ]

Another important result of the Sauline persecution was the preachingof the Gospel in the important city of Antioch by the Greek-speakingJews who sought refuge there[54], and who addressed themselves to theirHellenist countrymen. It was in this city, the third in rank in theRoman Empire, and afterwards the mother of Gentile Christendom, thatthe first branch of the Church speaking Greek as its original tongue, was now beginning to have its foundation; and it was also here that thedisciples were first called by the honourable name of Christians[55]. 

Section 10. _The Conversion of St. Paul. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 34. ]

It has been said "that, to combine the ceremonial shortcoming of theeunuch with the imperfect faith of the Samaritan, is to arrive at theadmission of the Gentiles[56]. " Preparation had been made in boththese instances for the carrying out of the Divine scheme by means ofSt. Philip, whose fellow-Deacon had gladly laid down his life inwitnessing to the truth of it; and now God's great instrument for theconversion of the gentile world was to appear. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of Saul. ]

The furious persecutor Saul was struck to the earth by the sight andvoice of the Lord, whose disciples at Damascus he was bent uponill-using; and his miraculous conversion was followed by his baptismand the devotion of all his powers to the promulgation of that "Faithwhich once he destroyed. "

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[Sidenote: His fitness for his mission. ]

It is not hard to perceive in St. Paul a peculiar fitness for the workto which God called him. His zeal and self-devotion, deep affections, and warm sympathies, were joined to clearness of judgment and greatintellectual powers; whilst, from the circumstances of his birth andeducation, he had much in common with both Hebrew and Hellenist Jews. Though born in the Greek city of Tarsus, where he came in contact withthe classical ideas and learning of which traces appear in hiswritings, his father was a Hebrew, and sent him to finish his educationat Jerusalem under the care of the learned Pharisee Gamaliel. Thus hebecame zealous in the Law; and hence his deep tenderness for hisbrethren of the seed of Israel, and his thorough insight into theirfeelings and prejudices, were united to an acquaintance with gentileways of life, classic learning, and foreign modes of thought. 

With St. Paul's conversion came a time of peace and increase to theChurch, during which St. Peter's first Apostolic journey took place, undertaken with the especial view of strengthening, by the Laying on ofHands and by Apostolic preaching and counsel, those who, throughoutJudea and Samaria, had been regenerated and made "saints" by HolyBaptism[57]. 

[1] 2 St. Peter i. 4. 

[2] Rev. Xxi. 14. 

[3] St. Luke vi. 12-16. 

[4] "Apostle" is derived from the Greek word "Apostolos, " i. E. "onesent. " The Apostles were "sent" by Christ, the Great High Priest andChief Pastor of the Church, Who comprehended in Himself the whole ofthe Christian Ministry, whilst the Apostolic Office comprehended allthat could be delegated to man. This comprehensive Apostolic Officewas afterwards broken up into the three Orders of--1. Deacons; 2. Priests and Bishops in one; 3. Bishops. After the special work ofBishops was defined (see chap. Iv. ), Priests were Priests only, and notBishops, unless they had special consecration to the higher office. 

[5] Acts i. 3. 

[6] St. John xiv. 26. 

[7] St. Matt. Xxviii. 19. 

[8] St. Matt. Xxviii. 20. 

[9] St. Luke xxii. 19, 20. 

[10] St. John xx. 21, 22. 

[11] St. Matt. Xxviii. 20. 

[12] Acts i. 13, 14. 

[13] Acts ii. 42, 46. It is said (St. John iv. 2) that "the disciplesof Jesus baptized;" but this baptism, like that of St. John Baptist, was a "baptism of _repentance_, " not of _Regeneration_--a _preparation_for the Gospel, not a _consequence_ of it. So the preaching of theApostles, spoken of in St. Matt. X. 7, was (like the Baptist'spreaching) an announcement that "the Kingdom of Heaven" was _not come_;but "at hand, " and an exhortation to make ready for it. 

[14] St. Luke xxiv. 49. 

[15] Ps. Lxxxvii. 3. 

[16] Acts ii. 1-3. 

[17] Isa. Xi. 2, 3. 

[18] Acts ii. 1-13. 

[19] Acts ii. 14-41. 

[20] St. Matt. Xvi. 18. 

[21] Acts ii. 47. 

[22] Acts iii. 

[23] Acts iv. 

[24] Acts iv. 36, 37. 

[25] Acts v. 12-16. 

[26] Acts ii. 41-47. 

[27] 2 Thess. Ii. 15. See also ch. Iii. 6. 1 Cor. Xi. 2. "Ordinances, " margin "Traditions. "

[28] Acts ii. 46 (margin). 

[29] Acts iv. 31-37. 

[30] Eph. V. 29, 30. 

[31] Poems by Prof. Bright. . 

[32] Acts iii. 1. 

[33] Acts iii. 11. 

[34] Acts v. 42. 

[35] Acts xiii. 5. 14; xiv. 1; xvii. 1, 2; xviii. 4. 

[36] Acts xxi. 26-33. 

[37] Acts v. 1-14. 

[38] Acts vi. 1, &c. 

[39] Deacon, from "Diaconos, " a Greek word, meaning a ministeringattendant. 

[40] Acts vi. 7. 

[41] Rev. Ii. 6. 15. 

[42] Acts viii. 5. 38. 

[43] See Office for "Making of Deacons, " Book of Common Prayer. 

[44] Cp. Acts iv. 1, 2, 5, 6, and Acts v. 17. 

[45] Acts ii. 47; iv. 21; v. 13. 26. 

[46] Acts v. 34-40. 

[47] It seems not unlikely that Saul of Tarsus in Cilicia was one "ofthem of Cilicia" mentioned in Acts vi. 9. 

[48] St. Luke xii. 11, 12. 

[49] Acts vii. 56. 

[50] Acts viii. 1. 4. 

[51] Acts xi. 19, 20. 

[52] It may be, that the recollection of our Saviour's visit to theneighbouring city of Sychar, or Sichem [St. John iv. ], would help toinfluence the Samaritans. 

[53] From the rather indistinct account of Simon's death, it seemsprobable that he became a victim to such a temptation as the "CastThyself down, " which was set before our Lord. 

[54] Acts xi. 19, 20. 

[55] Acts xi. 26. 

[56] See "Some Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age, " by the lateProfessor Shirley, p. 27. 

[57] Acts ix. 32. 

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CHAPTER II

The Foundation of the Church among the Heathen

A. D. 38-45

[Sidenote: A. D. 38]

During St. Peter's journey, the course of God's good Providence led himto the sea-port town of Joppa, on the borders of Samaria and Judaea, and there we read that "he tarried many days, " a measure of time whichis supposed to be equivalent to three years. At the expiration of thistime an event occurred which had a deep and lasting influence on thelife of the Church of Christ. [Sidenote: Further fulfilment of thepromise to St. Peter. ] Hitherto no Gentiles had been admitted into herfold; but now it was to be given to St. Peter first to unlock to themthe door of union with Christ through His Human Nature; for to him hadfirst been committed the Power of the Keys, as a reward for his adoringconfession of Christ's Divinity[1]. 

Section 1. _The Conversion of Cornelius. _

A Roman soldier quartered at the great stronghold of Caesarea washonoured by being the occasion of the {26} gathering in of the firstheathen converts. [Sidenote: A. D. 41. Conversion of the gentileCornelius. ] This centurion was not a proselyte, but a Gentile, onehowever who feared and served God according to the light given himthrough reason and natural religion. He was commanded by an angel fromGod to send to Joppa for St. Peter to show him the way of salvation, whilst another express revelation prepared the holy Apostle for a stepso contrary to all his most cherished habits and prejudices. [Sidenote: Descent of the Holy Ghost on gentile converts. ] Taught byGod Himself no longer to consider or treat the Gentiles as "common orunclean, " St. Peter obeyed the summons of Cornelius; and, even whilsthe was preaching to him and the many gentile friends he had gathered, the Holy Ghost descended visibly upon them as upon the Apostles on theDay of Pentecost. The Gift of Tongues accompanied what we may almostcall a second Foundation of the Church; and we may readily believe thatthose Christianized Jews who had accompanied the Apostle from Joppawere "astonished" at this indication of what was in store for theGentiles in the Kingdom of God. 

[Sidenote: Holy Baptism not superseded. ]

It is worthy of remark, that notwithstanding this direct andextraordinary outpouring of the Holy Ghost--but once before, and neversince, vouchsafed to any child of Adam--yet it was not considered bySt. Peter to do away with the necessity for Holy Baptism. "Hecommanded them to be baptized[2]. "

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Section 2. _The Apostolic church in Jerusalem. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 41. Jerusalem still the centre of the Church. ]

Up to this time, and for long afterwards, Jerusalem continued to be thecentre of the Church of Christ. Within her walls was the home of theApostles during the intervals between their missions to the Christianconverts in the neighbouring towns; and, as a natural consequence, itwas here that the first Councils or Synods of the Church were held. [Sidenote: The Hebrews wish to impose circumcision. ] Here, too, werethe head-quarters of those disciples who not only clung to the Mosaiclaw themselves, but wished to impose circumcision and the otherprecepts of the Old Dispensation on gentile converts. They yieldedindeed to St. Peter's plea of special and Divine direction, whensummoned to Jerusalem to answer for having eaten with menuncircumcised; nay, they even rejoiced in the prospect of the gatheringin of the Gentiles; but they had yet to learn the temporary nature ofthe Ceremonial Law, and to realize that in Christ circumcision anduncircumcision were equally valueless. 

[Sidenote: St. James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem. ]

The government of the Church in Jerusalem was conferred on St. Jamesthe Less, perhaps on account of his being "the Lord's brother;" and heremained in the Holy City as its Bishop, when, about twelve years afterthe Day of Pentecost, the other Apostles were for the first timedispersed beyond the borders of Palestine, over the face of the knownworld. The immediate occasion of this dispersion was the persecutionby Herod Agrippa, which resulted in the martyrdom of St. James {28} theGreat[3] and the temporary imprisonment and miraculous deliverance ofSt. Peter (A. D. 44), a deliverance granted to the earnest prayers ofthe Church. 

Section 3. _The Apostolic Church in Antioch. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 42. St. Barnabas at Antioch. ]

We have no account in the Book of Acts of the Foundation (in the strictsense of the word) of the Church in Antioch. We read of St. Barnabasbeing sent thither from Jerusalem to visit and teach the convertsamongst the Greek-speaking Jews, he being all the more fitted for thisoffice by his connexion with Cyprus, whence came some of those who hadfirst spread the knowledge of the Gospel in Antioch. But St. Barnabaswas not yet of the number of the Apostles, the Foundations of theChurch (as neither was St. Paul, whom he lovingly sought out andbrought from Tarsus to aid in his work); and consequently we do notread that the "laying on of hands" formed any part of theirministrations. [Sidenote: St. Peter believed to be the founder of theChurch in Antioch. ] There is, however, a very ancient tradition whichtells us that St. Peter visited Antioch and founded the Church in thatdistant city whilst on his way to the still more distant Rome, afterhis miraculous escape from Herod's prison (A. D. 44); and in the ancientChurch of England Feb. 22 was observed in commemoration of "St. Peter'sThrone at Antioch, " that is, of his episcopal rule there. 

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[Sidenote: Obstacles to the conversion of the gentiles. ]

It was some years before the conversion of Cornelius and his gentilehousehold was followed by any extended proclamation of the good tidingsof the Gospel to the heathen world. It was not God's Will that allobstacles should be at once cleared away from the onward path of theChurch; and the question of the relation in which the heathen were tostand to the Law of Moses after their conversion to Christianity, presented many difficulties. St. Peter and the other Apostles seem tohave waited patiently until God should vouchsafe to show them how thesedifficulties might best be overcome; and on the Church in the largegentile city of Antioch it first devolved to send forth missionaries tothe heathen. 

[1] St. Matt. Xvi. 16-19. 

[2] Acts x. 48. It does not seem to have been the usual custom of theApostles to administer Holy Baptism themselves. See 1 Cor. I. 14-17. 

[3] In reference to the martyrdom of St. James, we may remember theprophecy of his Divine Master (St. Matt. Xx. 23). "James tasted the_first_ draught of Christ's cup of suffering; and his brother John hadthe _longest_ draught of it. "--Wordsworth on Acts xii. 2. 

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CHAPTER III

The Extension of the Church throughout the World

A. D. 45-70

Section 1. _The First Mission to the Gentiles. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 45. ]

[Sidenote: St. Paul and St. Barnabas sent to preach to the heathen. ]

It would seem that in the special Eucharistic offerings and Lentendiscipline mentioned by St. Luke[1], the Church in Antioch was seekingguidance of her Divine Head as to her duties with respect to the gentileworld in the midst of which she was placed; and that the command of theHoly Ghost to consecrate St. Paul and St. Barnabas as Apostles to theheathen was an answer to her cry. 

We are not told whose "hands" were "laid" on the two newly-made Apostlesin the solemn Consecration Service which followed, but it is likely thatSt. Peter was at that time at Antioch, and also that the Church in thatcity was already governed by a Bishop of its own. [Sidenote: Theycomplete the Apostolic number. ] It may here be remarked that the numberof the Apostles was now completed. Those whom they ordained to be {31}Bishops or Overseers in the Church of God, as St. Timothy at Ephesus, andSt. Titus at Crete, though they received in the "laying on of hands"power to execute such of the highest offices of the Apostolic function aswere to be perpetually continued to the Church, yet were not fullyApostles. [Sidenote: Difference between Bishops and Apostles. ] They hadgrace given to them to confirm, to ordain, and to communicate the powerof ordaining to others, but they were not endowed with the extraordinaryand supernatural gifts bestowed by the Holy Ghost for the Foundation ofthe Church; nor did they receive the same direct and outward call as wasvouchsafed to the Twelve by our Lord Himself, and to St. Paul and St. Barnabas by the special appointment of the Holy Spirit. They were not to_found_ the Church, but to _build up_ on its Apostolic foundations. 

[Sidenote: Mission to Cyprus. ]

The first missionary journey of St. Paul and St. Barnabas was to Cyprus, the native country of the latter. Here the preaching of the Gospel, begun in the Jewish synagogue[2], was continued before the heathenproconsul Sergius Paulus; and through it and the judicial blindnessinflicted by St. Paul on the false prophet Elymas, the gentile ruler waswon to Christ. [Sidenote: St. Paul, the chief Apostle of the Gentiles. ]St. Paul had now begun to take the lead as the chief Apostle of theGentiles; it was he who, at Antioch in Pisidia, preached that sermon tothe Jews which they would not heed, but which found acceptance with theheathen whom they despised. [Sidenote: Missionary journey through AsiaMinor. ] The Jews persecuted and blasphemed, but the Gentiles believed;and, in the account given {32} us of the labours of the Apostles here andat Iconium, we are reminded of the multitude of conversions and of thegladness of heart of the converted in the first days after the great Dayof Pentecost[3]. 

[Sidenote: A. D. 46. ]

At Lystra the Apostles found themselves for the first time in the midstof a thoroughly heathen population, without any admixture of Jews; buthere also they did not hesitate to preach the first Christian "Apologyagainst Heathenism, " and to display the miraculous powers with which theHoly Ghost had gifted them. [Sidenote: The Apostles confirm and ordain. ]Their Jewish persecutors followed them and drove them to Derbe, thefarthest limit of their journey; and from thence they retraced theirsteps, visiting each place where they had preached the Gospel, "confirming" their numerous converts, and "ordaining" Elders orPresbyters to have the care of those who were thus admitted to the fullcommunion of the Church. 

Section 2. _The Ministry of the Apostolic Church. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 46. Ordination of priests. ]

This[4] is the first mention we have of the ordination of Elders, orPresbyters (or Priests[5], as we are most in the habit of calling them), though the fact of the existence of such officers has already been hintedat[6] as well-known and recognized. Thus we see that, as when at first"the number of the disciples was multiplied, " the Apostles delegated partof their work to the Order of Deacons, so {33} afterwards, when theChurch continued to grow and increase, they provided for her needs byinstituting the Order of the Priesthood, conferring on others, in God'sName and by His Authority, a larger portion of the ministerial grace theyhad themselves received from Him. [Sidenote: Functions of thePriesthood. ] The distinguishing Grace given to those who were called tothe Office of Elder or Presbyter by the "laying on of hands, " was, as itstill is, the power of consecrating and offering the Holy Eucharist, thatso, according to St. Paul's words to the Elders of Ephesus, they may"feed the Church of God[7], " not as in the case of the Deacons, with "themeat that perisheth, " but with "the Bread of God, which cometh down fromHeaven. "

[Sidenote: Consecration of Bishops]

Of the Ordination of Bishops[8], apart from the Apostolate, we have nomention in the Book of the Acts; but that the Apostles did ordainsuccessors to themselves, so far as their office was to be perpetual inthe Church, we have ample proofs in the Epistles of St. Paul to St. Timothy and St. Titus. [Sidenote: Their functions. ] To both these holymen, Bishops or Overseers of the Church in Ephesus and Creterespectively, St. Paul gives injunctions as to their duties, particularlyin ordaining Elders or Priests, the distinguishing work of a Bishop[9]. 

Section 3. _The First Council of the Church. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 46-51. ]

For a "long time" after the return of St. Paul and St. Barnabas toAntioch, with the news that God had, through their {34} instrumentality, "opened the Door of Faith to the Gentiles, " the Church in that city seemsto have continued to flourish in peace and prosperity. [Sidenote:Difficulties as to the observance of Jewish rites. ] But difficulties withregard to the observance or non-observance by the Gentile converts of therite of circumcision and other precepts of the Mosaic law, arose todisturb this quiet. 

[Sidenote: A. D. 52. Hebrew Jews go to Antioch. ]

The Hellenist clergy in Antioch, less wedded to Judaism, had apparentlyreceived into communion, without doubt or question, those amongst theheathen around the city who had been added to the number of the faithfulby Holy Baptism; but when tidings of this freedom of communion reachedthe more severely Hebrew Christians at Jerusalem, certain Hebrew Jews ofthem hurried to Antioch, anxious to bring the converts there under theyoke of the law. Though unauthorized in this mission by the rulers ofthe Church in Jerusalem[10], they urged with such persistency thenecessity of circumcision for the salvation of all, that the oppositionof St. Paul and St. Barnabas only raised "no small dissension anddisputation, " and it was agreed that the advice of the Apostles andPresbyters at Jerusalem should be sought on this important question. [Sidenote: St. Paul and St. Barnabas go to Jerusalem. ] St. Paul and St. Barnabas then, "and certain others with them" (amongst whom was Titus, anuncircumcised Gentile convert[11]), went up to Jerusalem, where at thistime happened to be St. Peter and St. John, as well as St. James, theBishop of that Church[12]. 

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[Sidenote: The First Council. ]

The Apostles and Elders, under the presidency of St. James[13], mettogether in the First Council of the Church, a large body of the laitybeing also present, not indeed to take part in the discussion, but tohear it, and to receive and acknowledge the decision arrived at[14]. 

St. Peter, who had first been commissioned to carry the tidings of theGospel to the Gentiles, boldly proclaimed the sufficiency of "the Graceof the Lord Jesus Christ" for their salvation[15], and St. James, who wasprobably himself a very strict observer of the Jewish law, yet did nothesitate to declare that it had no binding force on those who were notJews by birth. [Sidenote: St. James presides as Bishop of Jerusalem. Decree of the Council. ] He, as President of the Council, proposed thedecree to which the rest agreed, and which was in substance, that theGentile Christians should be commanded so far to respect Jewishprejudices as to "abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, " whilst they were also enjoined to keepthemselves from the sin of "fornication, " into which the Gentile worldwas so deeply sunk. 

The decrees of the Council did not enter into or provide any solution ofthe minor difficulties connected with the intercourse between Jews andGentiles in the Church of Christ. Doubtless "it seemed good to the HolyGhost" that these questions should be left to be solved by time andexperience and the general exercise of His Gift of Wisdom. 

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[Sidenote: Claim for Divine Authority. Guidance of the Holy Spiritvouchsafed to General Councils. ]

We can hardly fail to be struck by the confident language in which theFirst Council of the Church claims for its decisions the full weight ofDivine Authority; and though it differed from later Catholic Councils inthat it was presided over by inspired men, yet we may well believe thatto those General Councils which really deserved the name, the Holy Spiritvouchsafed such a special measure of His guiding Power, as might sufficeto preserve their decisions from error, and enable them to hand downunblemished the deposit of Truth which Christ left with His Church. 

Section 4. _St. Paul's Second Apostolic Journey. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 53. St. Peter's probable visit to Antioch. ]

St. Paul and St. Barnabas bore back to the Church in Antioch the decreeof the Council at Jerusalem, and it was probably about this time that St. Peter paid to Antioch the visit of which we read in the Epistle to theGalatians[16], when his fear of "them which were of the circumcision, "led him to shrink from continuing to eat and drink with the Gentiles, anddrew down St. Paul's stern rebuke. [Sidenote: Separation of St. Paul andSt. Barnabas. ] The difference of opinion about St. Mark soon afterseparated the two Apostles, whose labours amongst the heathen had beentill now carried on together, and St. Paul began his missionary travelswithout an Apostolic companion[17]. He went first through Syria and hisnative country Cilicia, {37} "confirming" the baptized, and then to thescene of his first contact with actual heathendom at Derbe and Lystra. St. Paul's course of conduct with regard to the circumcision of St. Timothy, a native of Lystra, shows us clearly how fully his mind hadgrasped all the bearings of the question between Jews and Gentiles[18]. [Sidenote: St. Paul's indifference to circumcision in itself. ]Circumcision and uncircumcision were alike matters of indifference tohim, in no way affecting salvation, excepting so far as they might tendto the edification of others. He did not blame those converted Jews whostill thought it needful to observe the Mosaic law, but he resisted tothe uttermost all attempts to make that law binding on the Gentiles, andwould not sanction any thing which might seem to imply that theLife-giving ordinances of the Gospel were not sufficient for every need. St. Timothy, uncircumcised, would have obtained no hearing from Jews forthe Gospel he preached, and therefore he was circumcised as a measure ofChristian expediency. 

[Sidenote: St. Paul crosses over to Europe. St. Luke joins him. ]

After founding Churches in the semi-barbarous regions of Phrygia andGalatia, St. Paul was led by the express direction of the Holy Spirit toan altogether new field of labour, and it is here, just on the eve of St. Paul's departure from Asia for the continent of Europe, that St. Lukejoins the Apostolic company. [Sidenote: Jewish influences give way toGreece and Rome. ] The Church was now spreading far westward and cominginto closer contact with the philosophy of Greece and the power of Rome, whilst Jewish influences shrank into insignificance. There was nosynagogue in the large and important Roman colony of Philippi, {38} andonly women seem to have resorted to the place of prayer outside the wallsof the city, whilst at Thessalonica, where the one synagogue for thewhole district was situated, the accusation of the Jews against thepreachers of the Gospel was no longer of a religious, but of a politicalnature. [Sidenote: Opposition to the Gospel political. ] "These all docontrary to the decrees of Caesar[19]. " In same way the malice of therulers of the Jews against the Divine Head of the Church had found ventin assertions of His plotting to destroy the Temple, or to make Himself aKing, according as the Jewish populace or the Roman governor was to bestirred up against Him[20]. 

But if Jewish prejudices no longer offered the same formidable oppositionto the soldiers of the Cross, as before in Palestine and the neighbouringcountries, the Apostle and his fellow-labourers had now to encounterfresh enemies not less deadly. [Sidenote: Vice and superstition mixedwith intellectual unbelief. ] In the highly civilized cities of Greecethey encountered on the one hand the full tide of heathenism with all itsdegrading vices and superstitions, and on the other, Pagan philosophywith its hard sceptical temper and intellectual pride. Influences suchas these may account for the comparatively small results which seem tohave followed the preaching of St. Paul at Philippi, Thessalonica[21], and Berea, and the prominence given to women as being more easily touchedby the good tidings of the Gospel. [Sidenote: Open conflict with Satan. ]At Philippi is noticeable the conflict between the visible power of Satanand the Power of {39} One stronger than he, in the casting out by St. Paul of the evil spirit of Python from the soothsaying woman. This wasan earnest of the final issue of that great contest between the kingdomof Satan and the Kingdom of God, which was now beginning in the verystrongholds of darkness, and is to continue to the end of time. 

We may also remark the first mention of the title and rights of a Romancitizen claimed by St. Paul for himself and St. Silas after their illegalimprisonment. 

[Sidenote: A. D. 54. Athenians little inclined to believe. ]

At Athens St. Paul came in contact with the most intellectual andphilosophical minds of heathendom; but heathen philosophy made theAthenians very little inclined to accept the supernatural mysteries ofthe Christian Faith. They listened indeed with eager curiosity to the"new thing" which the great Apostle proclaimed "in the midst of Mars'Hill;" and yet when their intellectual pride was required to bow itselfdown, to acknowledge something more than a Neology, and to believe in thesupernaturalism of the Resurrection, they only "mocked" the teacher. St. Paul, therefore, departed from the city where his cultivated mind hadbeen stirred at the sight of so many great intellects "wholly given toidolatry[22]. " [Sidenote: Athens afterwards a Bishopric. ] But yet hisvisit was not without its fruits; and Dionysius, a member of the greatCouncil of the Areopagus, is believed to have been the first Bishop ofthe Church in Athens[23]. 

{40}

[Sidenote: Corinth the centre of the Church in Greece. ]

From Athens St. Paul went to Corinth, and it was in this luxurious andprofligate city that he founded a Church which became the centre ofChristianity in Greece. [Sidenote: St. Paul turns from the Jews. ] Theobstinate unbelief and blasphemous opposition of the Corinthian Jewscaused St. Paul, for the first time, to withdraw himself entirely fromthe services of the synagogue; but he continued at Corinth a year and sixmonths, being protected, according to God's special promise to him, fromall the machinations of his Jewish enemies. [Sidenote: Opposes theerrors of Greek philosophy. ] This lengthened stay was probably occasionednot only by the presence of "much people" who were to be converted toChrist, but also by the necessity of strengthening the Corinthianconverts against the subtleties of the heathen philosophy by which theywere surrounded, and with which St. Paul was well fitted to cope by hisearly education. The errors of Gnosticism seem also to have penetratedat this time as far as Corinth. 

[Sidenote: A. D. 55. A. D. 56. ]

After leaving Corinth, St. Paul paid a hasty visit to Ephesus, and then, for the last time, returned to Antioch. 

Section 5. _St. Paul's Third Apostolic Journey. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 56. ]

[Sidenote: Ephesus the centre of the Church in Asia Minor. ]

The next journey of the great Apostle of the Gentiles led him firstthrough Galatia and Phrygia, "strengthening" the Churches he had alreadyfounded, and then brought him to the rich and important maritime city ofEphesus, destined to be a third great centre of the Gentile Church, andto hold in Asia Minor the same position as did Corinth in Greece {41} andAntioch in Syria. Here again St. Paul was forced to withdraw altogetherfrom the Jewish synagogue, after three months of earnest preaching andteaching. 

Ephesus was the great seat of the worship of the heathen goddess Diana, or Artemis, and was also full of those who practised "magical arts" orsorceries, so that its inhabitants were doubly enslaved by the Evil One. But the kingdom of darkness could not stand against the Kingdom of Light. [Sidenote: Great power given to the Church. A. D. 57. A. D. 58. ] Great aswas the power of Satan, still more mighty was the Power which the LordJesus gave to His Church. "Special miracles" were wrought in the placeof "lying wonders;" the Jewish exorcists were confounded, and thesincerity of the Christian converts was proved by the costly sacrifice oftheir once-prized books of magic. "So mightily grew the Word of God andprevailed[24]. "

St. Paul passed between two and three years at Ephesus, during which timehe is supposed to have founded the Church in Crete, leaving St. Titus asits Bishop, whilst Ephesus was placed under the episcopal charge of St. Timothy. But eventually the riot excited by Demetrius drove the Apostlefrom that city. [Sidenote: A. D. 59. A. D. 60. ] [Sidenote: His visitationcharge to the Elders of Ephesus. ] On his return to the neighbouring cityof Miletus, after his journey through Greece and Macedonia, we read ofhis sending to Ephesus for the clergy of that place, and delivering tothem a solemn charge respecting their duties to the flock which God hadentrusted to their care[25]. 

It is during St. Paul's long sojourn at Ephesus that we have the firstindication of his intention to visit the {42} remoter regions of theWest, and more particularly its capital, imperial Rome[26]. He probablyat that time expected to see its wonders under different circumstancesthan those of a prisoner, though before he finished his homeward journeyto Jerusalem, he had supernatural warnings of what was coming uponhim[27] from the malice of his Jewish enemies. 

Section 6. _St. Paul at Rome. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 60. ]

The anxiety which St. Paul ever felt to avoid giving unnecessary offenceto his fellow-countrymen, and his readiness to follow the precepts ofJudaism when they did not interfere with the liberty of Christianity, were, in God's good Providence, the indirect means of his being sent topreach the glad tidings of salvation, not in Rome only, but in still moredistant countries. [Sidenote: St. Paul goes to Rome. A. D. 63-65. ] Itwill not be necessary to enter into the particulars which drew upon St. Paul the unjust indignation of the Jews, and induced him to appeal fromtheir persecutions and the popularity-seeking of Festus to the justice ofthe emperor: we need only remember that the conclusion of the Book of theActs shows him to us a prisoner "in his own hired house" at Rome, andthere preaching and teaching "with all confidence, " first, as ever, tothe Jews, and afterwards to the Gentiles. 

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Section 7. _Extent of the Labours of the Apostles. _

We are told but little in Holy Scripture as to the particulars of theApostles' work in founding the Church of God, except in the case of St. Paul, and we are not allowed to trace even his labours to their end. [Sidenote: Preaching of the Apostles in all known countries. ] From othersources we learn that the twelve visited almost every known country ofthe world, so as to give to each separate race of men then existing anopportunity of refusing or accepting the offer of the salvation of whichthey were the ministers and stewards. We are also told that all, exceptSt. John and perhaps St. Matthew, crowned their life of toil in theservice of their Lord by a martyr's death. St. Peter and St. Paul bothsuffered at Rome in the First Persecution under Nero, and most likely onthe same day, A. D. 67. 

The following Table[28] will show the probable field of the labours ofeach Apostle, so far as the record of it has come down to us:--

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Supposed Fields of Apostolic Labour. 

 Name of Churches. By whom Founded. 

 Palestine and Syria All the Apostles. 

 Mesopotamia (Turkey in Asia) St. Peter and St. Jude. 

 Persia St. Bartholomew and St. Jude

 India St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas. 

 Thrace (Turkey in Europe) St. Andrew. The flourishing Church of Constantinople afterwards sprang up on this field of his labours. 

 Scythia (Russia) St. Andrew. 

 North Africa (Egypt and St. Simon Zelotes. St. Mark Algeria) specially connected with Alexandria. 

 Ethiopia (Central Africa). St. Matthew. 

 Arabia. St. Paul. 

 Asia Minor (Turkey in Asia) St. Paul and St. John. 

 Macedonia (Turkey in Europe) St. Paul

 Greece St. Paul. 

 Italy St. Peter and St. Paul. 

 Spain St. Paul. 

 Gaul (France) and Britain St. Paul and St. Joseph of Arimathea. 

[1] Acts xiii. 2. 

[2] The _first_ offers of salvation continued to be made to the Jews, even after the recognition by the Church of her mission to the Gentiles. 

[3] Acts xiii. 48, 49, 52; xiv. 1. 

[4] Acts xiv. 23. 

[5] "presbyter, " afterwards shortened into "Prester" and "Priest, " isderived from the Greek word "Presbyteros, " "an Elder. "

[6] Acts xi. 30. 

[7] Acts xx. 28. 

[8] The word "Bishop" is derived from the Greek "Episcopos, " andsignifies an overseer. 

[9] 1 Tim. V. 1, 19, 22. 2 Tim. I. 6. Titus i. 5; ii. 15. 

[10] Acts xv. 24. 

[11] Gal. Ii. 3. 

[12] Gal. Ii. 9. 

[13] St. James, as Bishop of the Diocese, taking precedence in thisinstance even of St. Peter. 

[14] Compare Acts xv. 6. 12. 

[15] This is the last mention of St. Peter in the Book of Acts. 

[16] Gal. Ii. 11-14. 

[17] Acts xv. 36-41. The last mention of St. Barnabas in the Book ofActs. 

[18] Compare Acts xvi. 3; and Gal. Ii. 3, 4. 

[19] Acts xvii. 7. Comp. Acts vi. 11. 

[20] Comp. St. Mark xiv. 58; and St. Luke xxiii. 2. 

[21] Both Philippi and Thessalonica eventually became the seats offlourishing Christian Churches, to whom St. Paul wrote Epistles. 

[22] Acts xvii. 16-33. 

[23] There are some reasons for thinking that men of cultivated minds andhigh social position were preferred for Bishops in the early as well asin later ages of the Church. 

[24] Acts xix. 1-20. 

[25] Acts xx. 17-35. 

[26] Acts xix. 21. 

[27] Acts xx. 23; xxi. 11. 

[28] From Blunt's "Household Theology. "

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CHAPTER IV

Final Settlement of the Church by St. John

A. D. 67-100

It seems probable that most of the Apostles had entered into restbefore the Destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, and that St. John theDivine was the only one of the Apostolic body who long survived thatevent. 

[Sidenote: St. Peter began to found the Church, St. John completed itsfoundation. ]

To St. Peter, one of the "pillars" of the Church, it had been given tobegin the great work of laying the foundation of the Mystical Temple ofGod; to St. John, the other of the two, was allotted the task ofperfecting what had been begun, so that a sure and steady basis shouldnot be wanting on which the New Jerusalem might rise through time toeternity[1]. 

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Section 1. _Second Council at Jerusalem. _

[Sidenote: A. D. 67. ]

[Sidenote: Purposes of the Second Council. ]

There is good reason for believing[2] that after the martyrdoms of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, andabout the time of the invasion of the Holy City by Vespasian, a SecondCouncil of such of the Apostles as still survived was held for thepurpose of electing a successor to the See of Jerusalem, and definitelysettling the future government of the Church. [Sidenote: Bishops onlyrarely appointed at first, ] Bishops had already been consecrated incertain cases, as at Ephesus, Crete, and Rome; but during the time thatthe Apostles were still engaged in founding and governing the differentbranches of the great Christian community, the appointment of Bishops(in the sense of heads of the Church) seems to have been the exceptionrather than the rule. [Sidenote: but now everywhere to replace theApostles. ] A new era was, however, now coming upon the Church; herFounders were gradually being withdrawn from her, and it was necessarythat she should receive such a complete and permanent organization aswould enable her to transmit to succeeding ages the saving grace ofwhich the Apostles had been the first channels, that so what had beenfounded through their instrumentality might be continued and extendedthrough the ministry of others. 

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[Sidenote: The establishment of the Apostolical Succession the specialwork of St. John, ]

This work of organization was fitly entrusted to St. John, who for somany years was left upon earth to "tarry" for the Lord, on Whose Breasthe had leaned, and Whose teaching had filled his soul with adoringlove, and with those depths of spiritual knowledge which are stored upfor us in the "Theological Gospel. " [Sidenote: and the necessaryconsequence of his teaching. ] It seems natural that he to whom it wasgiven most fully to "enlighten" the Church respecting the BlessedMysteries of the Incarnation and of the Two Holy Sacraments, shouldalso be charged with the care of providing for the continualtransmission of the sacramental grace of the Incarnation through the"laying on of hands, " and that he who saw and recorded the gloriousritual belonging to the Heavenly Altar, should organize that system bywhich Priests might be perpetually raised up to show forth the sameOffering in the Church below. 

Thus, though up to the time of St. Paul's martyrdom (A. D. 67) Episcopalrule, as distinct from Apostolic, would seem to have been exceptional, before the death of St. John (A. D. 100), government by the Bishops hadundoubtedly become the recognized rule and system of the Church. 

Section 2. _Development of the Church. _

Before entering into any details respecting the final settlement by St. John of the Order, Discipline, and Worship of the Church, it may bewell to remind ourselves that the Mystical Body of Christ onlygradually attained her full shape and constitution, following, likeGod's other works, His law of growth and {48} development, and adaptingherself, according to her Lord's designs for her, to the needs of hermembers. [Sidenote: Development in the minds of the Apostles as to thework of the Church. ] There is no reason to suppose that the Apostles, even after the Day of Pentecost, had clear ideas of the destiny whichwas in store on earth for the Church which they were engaged infounding. The gathering in of the Gentiles, the existence of theChurch entirely apart from the Temple and its services, the place shewas to occupy in the long reach of years before the Day of Judgment[3], all these were only made known to them by the course of events and theteaching of experience, conjointly with, as well as subordinate to, thegeneral guidance of the Holy Spirit. So, too, as regards doctrine. [Sidenote: As to doctrine. ] We cannot for a moment doubt that theApostles, who had been taught by the Incarnate Truth Himself, andinspired by the Holy Ghost, held firmly "all the Articles of theChristian Faith;" but we may also believe that their insight into theseverities would be deepened, and their expression of them becomeclearer, as adoring meditation and the Teaching of the Comforterbrought more and more to their remembrance the Words and Works of theirLord, and unbelieving cavils forced them more and more fully "to give areason of the Hope that" was in them[4]. The same thing may be noticed{49} respecting the Faith of the Church. [Sidenote: Development of theteaching of the Church. ] Held firmly in its fulness from the beginning, it was yet only gradually set forth in Creeds, Liturgies, andDefinitions of Faith, according as the love and belief of Christiansrequired expression, or the errors of heretics drew forth clearerteaching on the truths they attacked. [Sidenote: Reserve in theteaching of the Church. ] To this we may add, that the early Church wasvery careful to keep the knowledge of the deep mysteries of the Faithfrom those who were not Christians. It was only after their initiationby Holy Baptism that those who had, as Catechumens, been instructed inthe rudiments of Christian doctrine, were admitted to a full knowledgeof the belief and practice of the Church, especially as regarded theHoly Eucharist, which was very commonly spoken of under the name of theHoly Mysteries. 

Section 3. _St. John at Ephesus[5]. _

[Sidenote: St. John's work at Ephesus. ]

About the time that Jerusalem was besieged by the armies of Vespasian(A. D. 67), St. John withdrew to Ephesus (whence for a while he wasbanished to Patmos by the Emperor Domitian[6]); and from this city hetravelled about through the neighbouring country, organizing, amongstothers, those Seven Churches of Asia Minor, to whose Angels or Bishopshe was bidden to write the Seven Epistles contained in the Apocalypse. 

{50}

[Sidenote: Fitness of Ephesus as a centre of organization, ]

Here in Ephesus, the eye of Asia, the great mercantile seaport of thethen known world, his influence could most easily make itself feltamongst the far-off members of the Christian body, which by this timehad extended throughout the whole Roman empire. All the civilizedworld was then subject to the sway of Rome, except India and China; andit may be that even these two latter countries were not excluded fromthe influence of the Gospel. It is not, of course, meant thatChristianity was the recognized religion of all or any of the Romanprovinces; but that in each of them the Church had a corporateexistence, and was a living power, drawing into herself here one, andthere another of the souls who were brought into contact with her, andreally, though gradually, spreading through and leavening the earth. 

[Sidenote: and of orthodox teaching. ]

Again, at Ephesus St. John could best combat and confute, both by hiswords and writings, the subtle and deadly heresies which wereespecially rife there. "False Christs, " such as Simon Magus, the firstheretic, Menander, Dositheus, and others, no longer troubled the InfantChurch with their blasphemous impostures, but in their stead falseteachers had arisen, seeking to "draw away disciples after them" intothe more subtle error of misbelief about our Lord and His Incarnation. [Sidenote: Errors of the Corinthians. ] [Sidenote: The Docetae, andother variations of Gnosticism. ] Thus the Jew Corinthus taught thatChrist was a mere man, born like other men, though united to Divinityfrom His Baptism to His Crucifixion; whilst to the errors of theCorinthians the Docetae added that the Body in which our BlessedSaviour suffered, was only a phantom, and a body but in appearance;both these heresies, {51} and others of a similar nature, appear tohave been variations of that Gnosticism to which St. Paul refers in hisEpistles, as "science" (or gnosis) "falsely so called[7], " and whichwas long a source of danger and trouble to the Church. Gnosticism maybe traced back to that Simon Magus, with whom St. John first came incontact at Samaria, and in all its varied distortions of the greatCatholic doctrine of the Incarnation, through an admixture of Jewishand heathen error, there was always an unvarying denial of our Lord'sDivinity. 

[Sidenote: St. John's universal patriarchate. ]

For about a third of a century St. John continued to exercise a kind ofuniversal patriarchate over the Church, being regarded, we cannotdoubt, with almost unbounded reverence and affection by all itsmembers, and perhaps first presenting that idea of one visible earthlyhead of the Church, which afterwards found its expression in thepopedom. 

Section 4. _St. John's Writings. _

[Sidenote: St. John's writings close the Canon. ]

The Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation of St. John, written as they wereat a long interval after the rest of the New Testament, and closing theCanon of Sacred Scripture, may be usefully referred to, as giving ussome idea of the appearance of the Church when its government andtheology were finally settled. 

[Sidenote: How his Gospel differs from the other three. ]

St. John's Gospel differs from those of the other three Evangelists inhaving been written for men who from their infancy had grown up in theFaith of Christ, and who {52} were thus more ready to enter into andprofit by deep sacramental doctrine; whilst at the same time thedangerous heresies which were beguiling souls from the truth, calledfor more detailed and dogmatic teaching than had at first been needed. [Sidenote: Dwells on our Lord's Divinity, ] Hence in place of an accountof our Lord's Human Birth, St. John sets forth His Eternal Godhead andwonderful Incarnation, leaving no space for unbelief or cavil, when heproclaims for the instruction of the Church, that "the Word was God, "and yet that He also "was made Flesh. " [Sidenote: and on the twoSacraments. ] Again, the last Gospel does not bring before us theInstitution of the two great Sacraments of the Christian Covenant;though it, and it alone, does record the teaching of our Blessed LordHimself with regard to the New Birth in Holy Baptism, and the constantNourishment of the renewed life in the Holy Eucharist. 

[Sidenote: The Epistles correct heresies. ]

Having established the Faith in His Gospel, St. John in his Epistlessternly censures heresy and schism, thus witnessing to the end of timethat the charity of the Church must never lead her to countenance falsedoctrine. 

[Sidenote: The Apocalypse sets forth Discipline and Worship. ]

We may look to the Book of the Revelation for some light as to thediscipline and worship of the Church of St. John's days. We have therein the mention of the Seven Angels or Bishops, each ruling over his ownChurch and answerable for its growth in holiness, a confirmation of thefact that episcopacy was now fully _organized_ as the one form ofChurch government which had replaced the extinct hierarchy of theformer dispensation. Nor does it seem unreasonable to believe that St. John's vision of the Worship of Heaven {53} was intended to supply tothe Christian Church a model to be copied so far as circumstancesshould permit in the courts of the Lord's House on earth, much as theelaborate system of Temple Worship, which was entirely swept away withthe destruction of Jerusalem, had been in all things ordered "accordingto the pattern" which the Lord had "showed" first to Moses andafterwards to David. That the Primitive Church did thus consider theHeavenly Ritual set forth in the Apocalypse as the ideal of worship onearth, is proved by the accounts which have come down to us of thearrangement of Churches and the manner of celebrating the HolyEucharist in early times. 

[Sidenote: Arrangement of Churches in primitive times. ]

"The form and arrangement of Churches in primitive times was derived, in its main features, from the Temple at Jerusalem. Beyond the porchwas the narthex, answering to the court of the Gentiles, andappropriated to the unbaptized and to penitents. Beyond the narthexwas the nave, answering to the court of the Jews, and appropriated tothe body of worshippers. At the upper end of the nave was the choir, answering to the Holy Place, for all who were ministerially engaged inDivine Service. Beyond the choir was the Berna or Chancel, answeringto the Holy of Holies, used only for the celebration of the HolyEucharist, and separated from the choir by a closed screen, resemblingthe organ screen of our cathedrals, which was called the Iconostasis. As early as the time of Gregory Nazianzen, in the fourth century, thisscreen is compared to the division between the present and the eternalworld, and the sanctuary behind it was ever regarded with the greatestpossible reverence as the most sacred {54} place to which man couldhave access while in the body; the veiled door, which formed the onlydirect exit from it into the choir and nave, being only opened at thetime when the Blessed Sacrament was administered to the people thereassembled[3]. The opening of this door, then, brought into view theAltar and the Divine Mysteries which were being celebrated there. [Sidenote: Its resemblance to what the Apocalypse tells us of Heaven. ]And when St. John looked through the door that had been opened inHeaven, what he saw is thus described: 'And behold a Throne was set inHeaven . . . . And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats;and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed inwhite raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold . . . . Andthere were seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne . . . . Andbefore the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. ' Here isexactly represented an arrangement of the altar familiar to the wholeEastern Church and to the early Church of England, in which it occupiesthe centre of an apse in front of the seats of the Bishop and Clergy, which are placed in the curved part of the wall. And, although thereis no reason to think that the font ever stood near the altar, yetnothing appears more likely than that the 'sea of glass like untocrystal' mystically represents that laver of regeneration through whichalone the altar can be spiritually approached. Another strikingcharacteristic of the ancient Church was the extreme reverence whichwas shown to the Book of the Gospels, which was always placed upon thealtar and surmounted by a cross. So {55} 'in the midst of the Throne, and round about the Throne, ' St. John saw those four living creatureswhich have been universally interpreted to represent the fourEvangelists or the four Gospels, their position seeming to signify thatthe Gospel is ever attendant upon the altar, penetrating, pervading, and embracing the highest mystery of Divine Worship, giving 'glory andhonour and thanks to Him that sat on the Throne, who liveth for everand ever. ' In the succeeding chapter St. John beholds Him for whomthis altar is prepared. 'I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the Throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stooda Lamb as It had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, whichare the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. ' It cannotbe doubted that this is our Blessed Lord in that Human Nature on whichthe _septiformis gratia_ was poured without measure; and that Hisappearance in the form of 'the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, andblessing, ' represents the mystery of His prevailing Sacrifice andcontinual Intercession. But around this living Sacrifice there isgathered all the homage of an elaborate ritual. They who worship Himhave 'every one of them harps' to offer Him the praise of instrumentalmusic; they have 'golden vials full of incense, which are the prayersof saints, ' even as the angel afterwards had 'given unto him muchincense, that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints uponthe golden altar which was before the Throne;' they sing a new song, mingling the praises of 'the best member that they have' with that oftheir instrumental music; and they fall down before the Lamb with thelowliest gesture of their bodies in humble adoration. Let it {56} alsobe remembered that one of the Anthems here sung by the Choirs of Heavenis that sacred song, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;' the Eucharistic use of which is traceable inevery age of the Church[9]. "

The ritual of the early Church naturally gathered round the HolyEucharist as the central act of worship in which the Lord was mostespecially present, and therefore to be most especially honoured. Fromthe first days of the Church this had been the one distinctivelyChristian service; and now that the Temple services had ceased, itbecame more apparently even than before, the fulfilment andcontinuation of the sacrifices of the elder dispensations[10]: whilstit was also the Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Cross and theRepresentation on earth of the continual offering-up of "the Lamb as Ithad been slain, " before the Throne of God in Heaven. 

[1] St. Peter and St. John had been specially trained by their DivineMaster for their special work. They with St. James, the firstApostolic martyr, had witnessed His Transfiguration, His Agony, Hisraising of Jairus's daughter, and had been admitted into more intimatecommunion with Him than the other Apostles. 

[2] From passages in the works of St. Irenaeus and Eusebius. See "SomeAccount of the Church in the Apostolic Age, " by Professor Shirley, pp. 136-140. 

[3] The Apostles appear to have believed at first that our Lord'sAscension would be very speedily followed by His triumphal return toJudgment, and the glorification of His faithful people. 

[4] On this point we may remember that St. John, who saw deepest intothe Divine Life, did not write his Gospel till near the end of hisearthly labours, almost sixty years after the Day of Pentecost. 

[5] Ephesus is known to this day by the name of Aya-soluk, from AgiosTheologos, or holy Divine, the title given to St. John. 

[6] Or perhaps by Nero, as some ancient writers say. Nero's full namewas Nero Claudius Domitianus, which may have caused this confusion. 

[7] 1 Tim. Vi. 20. 

[8] As St. Chrysostom says, "When thou beholdest the curtains drawn up, then imagine that the heavens are let down from above, and that theAngels are descending. "

[9] Annotated Book of Common Prayer, Ritual Introduction, pp. Xlix, 1. 

[10] We are told that St. John adopted the vestments of the High Priestof the old covenant, and especially "the plate of the holy crown, " withits inscription, "Holiness to the Lord, " thus exhibiting very forciblythe continuity of the two priesthoods. 

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CHAPTER V

The Primitive Church

A. D. 100-A. D. 312

[Sidenote: Persecution increases round the Church. ]

We have already had occasion to notice the beginnings of thepersecution which the Church was to undergo for the sake of her Headand Spouse, not only those of a local and unorganized character, whichare spoken of in the Book of Acts, but also some of a more cruel andsystematic nature under the Roman Emperors Nero and Domitian. From thedeath of the last of the Apostles to the conversion of the EmperorConstantine, A. D. 312, the Church passed through a succession of fiercetrials, in which her members were called to undergo similar sufferingsto those which had been borne by the holy Apostles St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John, and their fellow-martyrs[1]. 

Section 1. _Causes of Persecution. _

In considering the causes which led to the persecution of the Church bythe heathen around her, we {58} must, of course, place first as theroot and ground of all, the malice of Satan, and his hatred of God, andof the means appointed by God for saving souls. [Sidenote: Satan'senmity the great cause of persecution. ] The Kingdom of God and thekingdom of Satan must ever be at war, and the fierce and variedsufferings inflicted by the cruel heathen on all who bore the name ofChrist were so many assaults of the great adversary seeking tooverthrow the Church in an open and deadly struggle. But thelife-giving Presence of her Incarnate Lord, and "the patience and thefaith of the Saints, " were mightier weapons than "all the fiery dartsof the Wicked, " and "the gates of Hell" were not suffered to "prevailagainst her. "

[Sidenote: Other minor causes. ]

There were, however, other and secondary causes which led to thepersecution of the Church. The Romans were not usually intolerant ofreligions which they did not themselves profess; their worship of theirown false gods had come to be a form, as far as the educated classeswere concerned, and what belief they had was given to philosophy ratherthan religion. Hence they were not unwilling that the nations theyconquered should keep to their own respective creeds and religiousceremonies, so long as they did not interfere with Roman authority. But the religion of Christ required more than this. It could not beconfined to any one country, nor be content with bare toleration, norrank itself with the many forms of Pagan misbelief. It claimed to bethe only True Religion, the only Way of Salvation, before which thesuperstitions of the ignorant, and the philosophy of the learned mustalike give way. It made its way even into "Caesar's household. "Besides this, Christians, owing to the nationality of the FirstFounders {59} of the Church, were often confounded with, and called bythe same name as the Jews, who had a bad repute under the empire forrebellious and seditious conduct, and we know how, even in the days ofSt. Paul, the charge of sedition had begun to be most unjustly fastenedupon the followers of the Meek and Lowly Jesus. This charge ofdisaffection to the powers of the state received an additional andplausible colouring from the fact that the consciences of the faithfulmembers of the Church would not suffer them to pay, what they and theheathen around them considered to be Divine honour, to the emperor orthe heathen deities, by sacrificing a few grains of incense whenrequired thus to show their loyalty to their ruler and his faith. Overand over again was this burning of incense made a test by which todiscover Christians or to try their steadfastness, and over and overagain was its rejection followed by agonizing tortures and a crueldeath. 

[Sidenote: Nero's persecution. ]

The persecution in the reign of Nero is immediately traceable to theaccusation brought against the Christians by the emperor, that they hadcaused the terrible fire at Rome, which there seems little doubt was inreality the result of his own wanton wickedness, whilst that underDomitian appears to have been connected with the conversion of some ofthe members of his own family, his cousin Flavius Clemens being thefirst martyr sacrificed in it. 

Section 2. _Number and Duration of Persecutions. _

The following table[2] will show how the early days of the Church weredivided between times of persecution and intervals of rest. 

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 _Chronological Table of Persecutions and Intervals of Rest. _

 A. D. 

 64-68. Persecution under Nero. Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul. 

 68-95. Time of peace. 

 95-96. Persecution under Domitian. Banishment of St. John. 

 96-104. Time of peace. 

 104-117. Persecution under Trajan. Martyrdom of St. Ignatius. 

 117-161. Time of peace. Apologies of Aristides, Quadratus, and Justin Martyr. 

 161-180. Persecution under Marcus Aurelius. Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, and the martyrs of Lyons. 

 180-200. Time of peace. 

 200-211. Persecution under Severus. Martyrdom of St. Perpetua and others in Africa. 

 211-250. Time of peace, excepting-- 235-237. Partial persecution under Maximinus. 

 250-253. Persecution under Decius. Martyrdom of St. Fabian. 

 253-257 Time of peace. Disputes concerning the _lapsed_. 

 257-260. Persecution under Valerian. Martyrdom of St. Cyprian. 

 260-303. Time of peace, excepting-- 262. Persecution in the East under Macrianus. 275. Persecution threatened by Aurelian. 

 303-313. Persecution under Dioclesian, Galerius, and Maximinus. 

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Section 3. _Nature and Extent of Persecutions. _

[Sidenote: Terrors of persecution. ]

Words can hardly be found strong enough to express the many and variedtortures which were inflicted on the Christians of the Primitive Churchby their heathen countrymen. Death itself seemed too slight apunishment in the eyes of these cruel persecutors, unless it waspreceded and accompanied by the most painful and trying circumstances. It was by crucifixion, and devouring beasts, and lingering fierytorments that the great multitude of those early martyrs received theircrown. Racked and scorched, lacerated and torn limb from limb, agonized in body, mocked at and insulted, they were objects of pityeven to the heathen themselves. Persecuting malice spared neither sexnor age, station nor character; the old man and the tender child, thepatrician and the slave, the bishop and his flock, all shed their bloodfor Him Who had died for them, rather than deny their Lord. 

We have no possible means of estimating the number of this vast "cloudof witnesses, " but authentic accounts have come down to us which provethat some places were almost depopulated by the multitude ofmartyrdoms; and when we remember the length of time over which thepersecutions extended, the blood-thirsty rage of the persecutors, andthe firm perseverance with which the immensely large majority ofChristians kept the Faith to the end, we may form some idea as to the"multitude" of this noble army of martyrs "which no man could number. "

[Sidenote: Persecution did not check the growth of the Church, ]

So widely did the Church spread during the age {62} of persecution, inthe face of all the fierce opposition of her enemies, that it was foundat times to be impossible to carry out in their fulness the cruel lawsagainst Christians, on account of the numbers of those who were readyto brave all for the sake of Christ. As has been often said, "Theblood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. "

[Sidenote: nor revive decaying heathenism, ]

Paganism was gradually dying away in the Roman world, notwithstandingall the craft and power of Satan, whilst no number of martyrdoms seemedto check the growth of the Body of Christ. Vain and short-sighted, indeed, was the boast of the Emperor Dioclesian during the last andmost bitter of all the persecutions, that he had blotted out the veryname of Christian. No sooner had the conversion of Constantine broughtrest to the Church, than she rose again from her seeming ruins, readyand able to spread more and more through "the kingdoms of this world, "that they might "become the kingdoms of Christ. "

[Sidenote: and thus helped to prove the Divine origin of the Church. ]

We may well believe that no institution of human appointment could havestood firm against such terrible and reiterated shocks. Nothing lessthan a Divine Foundation, and a strength not of this world could haveborne the Church through the ages of persecution, not only without lossof all vital principle, but even with actual invigoration and extensionof it. 

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Section 4. _Effects of Persecution on the Worship and Discipline ofthe Church. _

The fierce trials of the age of persecution were not without theirinfluence on the inner life of the Church, both as regarded Worship andDiscipline. 

The cruel oppressions to which they were constantly liable, droveChristians to conceal their Faith from the eyes of the heathen worldwhenever such concealment did not involve any denial of their Lord, orany faithless compliance with idolatrous customs. [Sidenote: Seekingmartyrdom forbidden. ] Indeed, it was a law of the Church that martyrdomwas not to be unnecessarily sought after, and the wisdom of thisprovision was more than once shown by the failure under torture ofthose who had presumptuously brought upon themselves the sufferingsthey had not strength to bear, and which did not come to them in thecourse of God's Providence. 

[Sidenote: Holy Rites and Books kept hidden. ]

The strictest secrecy was enjoined upon Christians as to the religiousRites and sacred Books of the Church, and we read of many martyrs whosuffered for refusing to satisfy the curiosity of their Pagan judgesrespecting Christian worship, or for persisting in withholding fromthem the Christian writings. 

[Sidenote: Church ritual temporarily checked. ]

Another natural effect of persecution was to check for a time thedevelopment of the ritual of the Church, and to render necessary theuse of the simplest and most essential forms even in the celebration ofthe Holy Eucharist. The immense subterranean excavations at Rome, known by the name of the Catacombs, are an abiding {64} proof to us ofthe straits to which the primitive martyrs and their companions werereduced, when these sand-galleries were at once their Church and theirburying-place, and in some instances the scene of their martyrdom also. 

[Sidenote: Church discipline very severe]

The discipline of the Church was made extremely strict by thelengthened continuance of severe persecution. In those days when somany gave proof of the strength and reality of their Faith by theirpersevering endurance of unspeakable agonies, any shrinking back waslooked upon as very unworthy cowardice, and as an almost hopeless fall, to be hindered if possible by the merciful severity of the Church asshown in warnings and punishments. Even those who had so far succumbedto trial as to give up the Sacred Books were called "Traditores, " andconsidered as very criminal; those who had consented to pay Divinehonours to the emperors or to the heathen gods, fell under still moresevere censure, whilst such Christians as led sinful and immoral liveswere considered most worthy of blame and punishment. Very heavypenances were laid upon all who thus fell away, in proportion to theirguilt, before they were again admitted to the Communion of the Church;and in some extreme cases the punishment was life-long, and onlyallowed to be relaxed when the penitent was actually in danger ofdeath. [Sidenote: for a time. ] But this very severe discipline wastemporary in its nature, as was the danger to the Church which calledit forth, and was somewhat modified by the Letters of Peace whichmartyrs and confessors were allowed to give to excommunicated persons, authorizing their readmission to Church privileges. 

[Sidenote: Church government modified also for a time. ]

A temporary modification in the government of the {65} Church was alsobrought about by these times of suffering. Bishops, under the pressureof persecution, were sometimes forced to leave their flocks, or werefirst tortured and then banished, and their places had to be filled asfar as they could be by the presbyters, with the advice of the distantBishop; whilst at Rome, in the middle of the third century, there was ayear's vacancy in the see after the martyrdom of Fabian, on account ofthe impossibility of bringing neighbouring Bishops into the midst of astorm which was raging with especial fury against the rulers of theChurch. 

[1] St. John was a martyr in will, though not in deed, beingmiraculously preserved from injury in the caldron of boiling oil, intowhich he was plunged by order of Nero or Domitian. 

[2] From Dr. Steere's "Account of the Persecutions of the Early Churchunder the Roman Emperors. "

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CHAPTER VI

The Church under the Roman Empire

A. D. 312-A. D. 680

[Sidenote: Persecution arrested by conversion of Constantine. ]

[Sidenote: Outward triumph of the Church. ]

The conversion of the Emperor Constantine to the Faith worked a greatchange in the condition of the Christian Church. Even so early as theyear 312, when the appearance to him of the luminous Cross in the skywas followed by victory over his enemies, Constantine began to issueedicts of toleration in favour of the Christians; and from the time ofhis sole supremacy, A. D. 324, Christianity and not Paganism became theacknowledged religion of the Roman empire. 

Section 1. _The altered Outward Circumstances of the Church. _

[Sidenote: Consequent change in discipline and ritual. ]

Such a change in the outward circumstances of the Church could not butproduce a corresponding alteration in its discipline and mode ofworship. The Kingdom of God on earth became a great power visible tothe eyes of men, no longer hid like the leaven, but overshadowing theearth like the mustard-tree; and the power and influence of ImperialRome were employed {67} in spreading the Faith instead of seeking toexterminate it. Christians were not now forced to shun the notice oftheir fellow-men; banished Priests and Bishops came back to theirflocks; heathen temples were converted into Churches, and new Churcheswere built with great splendour. The vast resources of Roman wealthand refinement were employed to render the Worship of Almighty Godcostly and magnificent, and the ritual of the Church was probably morefully developed and brought more into harmony with the prophetic visionof St. John than circumstances had ever before allowed. 

[Sidenote: The first Christian city. ]

In Constantinople, built by the Emperor Constantine on the ruins ofByzantium, we have the first instance of a city which, from the time ofits foundation, was entirely Christian. 

[Sidenote: Endowment of the Church. ]

The Church was now no longer dependent on the alms of privateChristians; the revenues which had formerly been devoted by the stateto the maintenance of the heathen temples and their ministers, weretransferred to the support of Christian Churches and their Clergy, andto the relief of the poor. Christian schools were also founded andendowed by the emperors; and learning, as well as wealth, was thusbrought in contact with the Faith. 

[Sidenote: Church honoured by the world. ]

Christian Rome soon became a great instrument in God's hands forextending the influence of the Church even amongst little-known anduncivilized nations; and as persecution ceased to try the earnestnessof those who embraced the religion of Christ, and the name of Christiancame to be treated with respect instead of with scorn, the Church beganto assume a position somewhat like that which she holds in our own day. [Sidenote: Discipline relaxed. ] The profession of {68} Christianityunder these circumstances was naturally more of a matter of course withmany of those who had grown up under its shadow, than when, in earliertimes, such a profession was likely to involve loss and suffering, andeven death itself, and discipline was gradually and necessarily relaxedfrom the severity needful in the days of persecution. 

Section 2. _Internal Trials of the Church. _

[Sidenote: Heresy gathers strength in prosperity, ]

The Church being thus firmly settled and delivered from outer enemies, was now to find troubles within. Even from the days of St. John theDivine heresies respecting the Person of our Blessed Lord had beenrife; but these open denials of the Divinity of the Great Head of theChurch had been successfully opposed without their leaving behind themany very lasting trace. [Sidenote: and is of a more dangerous nature. ]Errors of a more subtle class followed, amounting in reality tounbelief in our Saviour's Godhead, but expressing that unbelief byassailing the teaching of the Church respecting His nature as Very Godor as Very Man. 

[Sidenote: Arianism. ]

This species of error culminated in the heresy of Arius, who deniedthat the Second Person of the Holy Trinity was co-equal, co-eternal, and of One Substance with the Father, and whose false teaching was morewidely listened to and followed than that of any of his predecessors inmisbelief. Arianism, and various forms of error consequent upon it, long afflicted the Church, especially in the East, and the EmperorConstantine himself seems at one time to have had a leaning towards thetheories of Arius. 

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Section 3. _The General Councils. _

[Sidenote: The remedy provided for heresy. ]

The full tide of the Arian heresy was, however, not suffered to comeupon the Church without a barrier being raised up by God to stem thetorrent. The Emperor Constantine was providentially guided to calltogether a Council of Bishops from every part of the world, to decidewhat was and always had been the Faith of the Church respecting theNature of our Blessed Lord. This is the first instance of what areknown by the name of General Councils of the Church. Other councils, called provincial synods, had indeed been frequently held from theearliest times; but they were of a much more limited and partialcharacter, and their decrees were binding only on the province in whichthey were held, and not on the Church at large. 

[Sidenote: Nature of General Councils. ]

General Councils were called together by the Christian emperors, and, from the nature of their constitution, were not possible until all ornearly all the Christian world was governed by a ruler professing theFaith of Christ; nor has such a general synod been held since thebreaking up of the universal empire of Rome helped to overthrow theexternal unity of the Church[1]. [Sidenote: Their number. ] FourGeneral Councils are officially {70} acknowledged by the Church ofEngland as binding on her members, and to these are commonly added two, held somewhat later at Constantinople. 

[Sidenote: I. Council. ]

I. The First General Council was called together by Constantine theGreat, A. D. 325. It was held at Nicaea in Bithynia, and was attendedby 318 Bishops. The great work of this Council was the positive andexplicit assertion of what the Church had always implicitly believedconcerning the Nature of our Divine Lord, and His Oneness with theFather. It was at this Nicene Council that the great St. Athanasius, then only a deacon, first distinguished himself by his opposition tothe heresies of Arius. The teaching of the Council was embodied in thecreed which is known to us as the Nicene Creed[2], and which was signedby all the assembled Bishops with only two exceptions, these beingprobably personal friends of Arius. Besides the condemnation of Arius, the Council settled the time of keeping Easter, and passed twentyCanons which were confirmed by the Emperor. 

[Sidenote: II. Council. ]

II. The Second General Council was held at Constantinople, A. D. 381, in the reign of Theodosius the Great. It was summoned principally tocondemn the heresy of Macedonius, who had been Patriarch ofConstantinople, and who had added to the Arian heresy a denial of theDivinity of God the Holy Ghost. At this Council 150 Bishops werepresent, and it is especially remarkable for having completed the Creedof Nicaea[3], which is hence also called the Creed of Constantinople. 

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[Sidenote: III. Council. ]

III. The Third General Council was summoned by the Emperor Theodosiusthe Younger, A. D. 431, and met at Ephesus. It was held to consider theheresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who taught that theBlessed Virgin was the Mother of our Lord's Human Nature only, andthat, therefore, the title of Theotokos, or "Mother of God, " ought notto be given her. This assertion was, in fact, only a refinement ofArianism, implying as it did that our Saviour had not always been Godas well as Man, and it was accordingly condemned by the Council, Nestorius being at the same time deposed from his see. 

[Sidenote: IV. Council. ]

IV. The Fourth General Council met at Chalcedon during the reign ofthe Emperor Marcian, A. D. 451. Six hundred and thirty Bishopsassembled at it and condemned the false teaching of Eutyches, whoasserted that our Blessed Lord was God only, and not Man also. 

[Sidenote: V. Council. ]

V. The Fifth General Council was summoned at Constantinople by theEmperor Justinian, A. D. 533, and was attended by 165 Bishops. In itthe decisions of the Four First Councils were confirmed, especiallyagainst the Nestorians. 

[Sidenote: VI. Council. ]

VI. The Sixth General Council was also held at Constantinople, A. D. 680, by command of the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, and condemned adevelopment of Eutychianism. 

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 Table of Councils. 

 Where held. Date. Emperor. Object. 

 I. Nicaea 325 Constantine Against the Arians. The Great

 II. Constantinople 38l Theodosius Against the the Great Macedonians. 

 III. Ephesus 431 Theodosius Against the the Younger Nestorians. 

 IV. Chalcedon 451 Marcian Against the Eutychians. 

 V. Constantinople 553 Justinian Against a development of Nestorianism. 

 VI. Constantinople 680 Constantine Against a Pogonatus development of Eutychianism. 

Section 4. _Intellectual Development in the Church. _

[Sidenote: Christian learning developed in peace. ]

This portion of the History of the Church, comprising as it does thefirst period in which the master-minds within her fold were left freeby the cessation of outward persecution to resist the increasingattacks of heresy, may be looked upon as offering to our view thegreatest intellectual development which the Church has experiencedsince the times of the Apostles. [Sidenote: The Fathers. ] Learned andeloquent men abounded, "mighty in the Scriptures" and "steadfast in theFaith, " and their commentaries and sermons have come down to us as anabiding heritage and a continual witness to the teaching of the Churchin early times. St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, and St. Augustine, are but a few out of many whose writings are still held inhonour by our own as well as by every other branch of the CatholicChurch. 

[1] A General Council is the highest possible way in which the voice ofthe Church can be heard. But its authority is much increased by thefact that to become really a _general_ Council its decrees must begenerally received by the Christian world. This was the case with thefirst six General Councils, but has not been entirely so with anysimilar gatherings of later ages. 

[2] That part of the Creed which follows the words, "I believe in theHoly Ghost, " was added later. 

[3] The subsequent addition in the clause, "Who proceedeth from theFather and the Son, " will be noticed later. 

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CHAPTER VII

The Early History of Particular Churches. 

A. D. 67-A. D. 500

Section 1. _The Church of England. _

[Sidenote: St. Paul's visit to England. ]

The CHURCH OF ENGLAND is believed, with good reason, to owe itsfoundation to the Apostle St. Paul, who probably came to this countryafter his first imprisonment at Rome. The writings of Tertullian, andothers in the second and third centuries speak of Christianity ashaving spread as far as the islands of Britain, and a British kingnamed Lucius is known to have embraced the Faith about the middle ofthe second century. [Sidenote: Martyrdom of St. Alban. ] The Diocletianpersecution made itself felt amongst the British Christians, theconversion of the proto-martyr St. Alban (A. D. 303) being followed bythat of a large number of his countrymen, many of whom also sufferedfor their faith. 

The persecution ceased (A. D. 305) under the influence of Constantius, who, before his accession to the imperial dignity, had been viceroy inBritain. His son and successor Constantine was, if not born inEngland, at any rate of English parentage on the side of his motherHelen, better known as the Saint and Empress {74} Helena. [Sidenote:English bishops at Councils. ] Three English Bishops, those of York, Lincoln, and London, attended the Council summoned by Constantine atArles, A. D. 314, a proof that at this time the Church of England wasthoroughly organized and settled. English Bishops were also present atthe Councils of Sardica, A. D. 347, and of Ariminium, A. D. 359. 

[Sidenote: English Church depressed by Saxon invasion. ]

When the Romans abandoned Britain early in the fifth century, theSaxons took advantage of the defenceless state of the inhabitants tosettle in the island, at first as colonists and afterwards asconquerors. The intermingling of these fierce heathens with theChristian population had a depressing influence on the Church; and theBishops and Clergy, belonging as they did to the weaker and conqueredportion of the community, seem to have been unable to do much towardsthe conversion of the invaders. [Sidenote: Diminution and retreat ofClergy. ] Gradually, as the Saxons became more and more powerful in theisland, the number of Bishops and Clergy in the accessible portions ofof England grew smaller and smaller; and such as remained were at lastcompelled to take refuge with their brethren, who had retired to themountain fastnesses, rather than live in slavery. Hence the records ofthe Church of England in the sixth century are chiefly confined tothose dioceses which were situated in what we call Wales, or in othermountainous districts. 

Section 2. _The Church of Ireland. _

The CHURCH OF IRELAND is said by some to have been first founded in theApostolic age, but this seems doubtful. The first certain informationwhich we have {75} respecting the presence of Christianity in theisland, is that in A. D. 431, a Bishop named Palladius was sent thitheron a mission by Pope Celestine. He appears, however, not to have metwith much success, and he soon left the country and died, probably inScotland. [Sidenote: St. Patrick the Apostle of Ireland. ] A few yearslater, about A. D. 440, the celebrated St. Patrick began his mission inIreland. He is generally considered to have been a native of NorthBritain, who, at the age of sixteen, was taken prisoner by pirates, andcarried as a slave to Ireland. On regaining his liberty, he resolvedto devote his life to the conversion of the country of his captivity;and having been consecrated Bishop, he returned to Ireland, and spentfifty years as a missionary in that hitherto heathen land. At the timeof his death, A. D. 493, the Church was firmly rooted in Ireland, andpossessed a native priesthood and a native Episcopate. 

[Sidenote: Late development of dioceses and parishes in Ireland. ]

It may, however, be mentioned, that neither the diocesan nor theparochial systems were developed in Ireland until a very late period, whilst, from the very large number of Bishops existing there in earlytimes, we are led to infer that in Ireland, as before in the earliestages of the Church, each missionary was invested with episcopal powers, and that the office of priest, separate from that of Bishop, was atfirst almost unknown. Gradually there sprang up Cathedral chapters, whose members acted as curates to the Bishop, and to this succeeded theparochial system. 

Section 3. _The Church of Scotland. _

The CHURCH OF SCOTLAND may, perhaps, like the Church of England, traceits foundation to the labours {76} of St. Paul, and seems to beincluded in Tertullian's mention of the far-off limits to whichChristianity had reached in his days. [Sidenote: St. Ninian the firstauthenticated missionary in Scotland. ] Little is, however, known ofvery early Church history in Scotland until the beginning of the fifthcentury, when St. Ninian, who is said to have been the son of a Britishchief, preached to the Southern Picts, A. D. 412-A. D. 432. We havealready seen that St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was a Scotchman, and the fruits of the benefits thus conferred on the one country werereaped by the other in the next century, when St. Columba went fromIreland and founded the celebrated monastery of Iona in one of theisles of the Hebrides. [Sidenote: Intercourse between Irish and ScotchChurches. ] Iona, like the Irish monasteries of the same period, sentout many missionaries, and the monks of the two countries appear tohave kept up friendly communications with each other. 

Section 4. _Continental Churches. _

The CHURCH OF ITALY, as we have already seen (pp. 42, 43), was foundedby the joint labours of St. Peter and St. Paul, but the circumstancesof its foundation were very different from those of the Churches of ourown islands. [Sidenote: Difficulties encountered by the Church inItaly from high civilization] Christianity in Italy had to make its wayamongst a highly civilized people, a nation of deep thinkers andphilosophers, whose opposition to the truths of the Gospel was a farmore subtle thing than the rude ignorance of barbarians. [Sidenote:and political power. ] Besides this, the infant Church in Italy wasbrought face to face with the might of the Roman emperors who were atthat time the rulers of the known {77} world; and though theirpersecution of their Christian subjects extended more or less to allparts of the empire, yet Italy was the chief battle-field on which thefirst great contest between the Church and the world was fought. Hencethe history of the early Church of Italy is a history of alternatingpersecutions and times of peace[1], during which Christianity wasconstantly taking deeper root and spreading more widely through thecountry, until the conversion of Constantine, A. D. 312, led to theestablishment and endowment of the Church. [Sidenote: Decay of theRoman empire. ] As the Church was growing stronger and taking deeperroot, the worn-out Roman empire was gradually decaying and fading away, and, practically, it came to an end with the division of East and West, A. D. 395. 

Resistance to the inroads of the barbarians was no longer possible. Rome was sacked successively by different nations of Central Europe, and at length the kingdom of the Goths in Italy was established underTheodoric, A. D. 493. [Sidenote: Arianism of barbarian conquerors. ]These rude nations, though professing Christianity, had received withit the heretical doctrines of Anus, owing to their teachers havingbelonged to those eastern portions of Europe, which, from theirnearness to Asia, were most infected with this heresy. 

The CHURCH OF FRANCE was probably founded by St. Paul, but we have nocertain account of its early history. [Sidenote: Asiatic origin ofEarly French Bishops, ] "Trophimus the Ephesian" is believed to havebeen the first Bishop of Arles, and Pothinus, another Greek Asiatic, occupied the see of Lyons at the time of the persecution under MarcusAurelius, A. D. 161-A. D. 180, during which he suffered martyrdom. His{78} successor was St. Irenaeus, a native, probably, of Smyrna, who wasmartyred under Severus, A. D. 202. This long-continued connexion withthe Churches of Asia Minor left its traces on the liturgy and customsof the Church of France, and through it of Britain and Ireland, theselatter Churches adhering to the Eastern mode of computing Easter evenafter the Western reckoning had been adopted in France. [Sidenote: andof French Liturgy. ] The liturgy used in France, as well as in Britainand Spain, is known to have been founded on that used in Ephesus and inthe other Asiatic cities, which was almost certainly that used by St. John himself. 

[Sidenote: Intercourse between English and French Churches. ]

A Council was summoned by Constantine, A. D. 314, at the French city ofArles, and one French Bishop at least was present at the great NicaeanCouncil, A. D. 323. About a century later (A. D. 429), St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and St. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, were sent over toBritain to assist in combating the errors of Pelagius, the neighbourChurches of England and France maintaining apparently very friendlyrelations. Many of the barbarian tribes who overran France in thebeginning of the fifth century, though professing Christianity, weredeeply infected with the Arian heresy. The Franks, however, who wereheathens at their first entrance into the country, embraced theorthodox faith, and eventually became masters of the kingdom underClovis, A. D. 486. 

[Sidenote: St. Paul and St. James in Spain. ]

The CHURCH OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL traces its foundation to St. Paul, whospeaks of his intended visit to Spain, Rom. Xv. 24; and there is also atradition that St. James the Great preached the Gospel here. ThisChurch, too, is spoken of by St. Irenaeus, and again by Tertullian. {79} Its first known martyr was St. Fructuosus, A. D. 259, and its firstCouncil that of Elvira, about A. D. 300. The names of nineteen SpanishBishops are mentioned as present at it. The Council of Nice, A. D. 325, was under the presidency of Hosius, the Bishop of the Spanish dioceseof Cordova. [Sidenote: Arianism of Visigoths. ] About A. D. 470, theVisigoths, who were Arians, passed over from France into Spain, andwere only gradually converted to the Catholic Faith. 

We must look to a later period (see Chapter XI. ) for the foundation ofother Churches of the West in Northern and Central Europe, that is tosay, the SCANDINAVIAN CHURCHES, including NORWAY, SWEDEN, and DENMARK, as well as those contained in the large extent of country to which weoften give the comprehensive name of Germany. 

The Churches now comprehended in EUROPEAN TURKEY and GREECE were, as wehave already seen (pp. 37 to 40), the fruits of the labours of St. Paul, and, like the Church of Rome, had wealth and learning toencounter instead of poverty and ignorance. The Book of Acts recordsvery fully the earliest history of these Churches, and a largeproportion of St. Paul's Epistles are addressed to them. [Sidenote:Liability of the Greeks to heresy. ] The theorizing and philosophicaltendencies of the Greeks made them very liable be led away by hereticalteachers, and we find that the Church in Greece, from St. Paul's timedownwards, was continually disturbed by the presence of those whotaught or listened to "some new thing. " Hence all the GeneralCouncils, summoned for the authoritative settlement of the faith of theChurch, were held either in Greece, or in that part of Asia which hadbeen colonized by Greeks. Arianism in particular, {80} for a longperiod, caused the most violent dissensions throughout the Easternworld, and these were the occasion of that first Great Council ofNicaea which, though not actually held in Greece, was only separatedfrom it by the narrow strait of the Bosphorus. [Sidenote: Origin ofjealousies between Rome and Constantinople. ] The building ofConstantinople, A. D. 330, gave a Christian capital to Greece, and, indeed, to the whole of the Eastern Roman empire; and from this timemay be dated the jealousies and struggles for supremacy which tookplace between the Church in Italy and the Church in Greece, andresulted eventually in the Great schism between East and West[2]. 

[Sidenote: St. Andrew in Russia. ]

The CHURCH OF RUSSIA is believed to have been founded by the ApostleSt. Andrew, who extended his labours northwards from Thrace (which nowforms part of Turkey in Europe), to that portion of Scythia lying northof the Black Sea, and now constituting the southern part of EuropeanRussia. The bulk of the present Russian empire was, however, convertedat a much later period. 

Section 5. _The Church in Africa. _

[Sidenote: St. Simon Zelotes and St. Mark in Africa. ]

The first evangelizing of North Africa, including what we now know asEgypt, Algeria, and Morocco, is ascribed to St. Simon Zelotes and St. Mark, the latter of whom founded the CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA, of which hebecame the first Bishop. Christianity appears to have {81} made veryrapid progress in Africa, since, in the fifth century, the Churchnumbered more than four hundred African Bishops. [Sidenote:Patriarchate of Alexandria. ] Alexandria, from its wealth andimportance, as well as from its reputation for learning, was looked upto by the other African Churches, and its Bishops were acknowledged aspatriarchs throughout the Christianized portion of the continent. [Sidenote: Its school. ] The Alexandrian school of philosophy was veryfamous, and was at one time presided over by the Christian philosopherClement of Alexandria, who died about A. D. 216. His pupil Origen was, for a while, at the head of the same college, and employed his vastlearning both before and after his ordination, in comparing the extantcopies of the Old Testament Scriptures, in order to bring the text ofthe original languages to a state of the greatest possible correctness. He died A. D. 253. 

[Sidenote: Heresies at Alexandria. ]

The Church of Alexandria was much distracted by inward troubles. InA. D. 306, the schism of Meletius led many astray, and amongst them thetoo notorious Arius, who began to publish in Alexandria the heresysince known by his name, about the year A. D. 320. [Sidenote: St. Athanasius and Arius. ] St. Athanasius, who became Patriarch ofAlexandria, A. D. 326, was the chief instrument raised up by God forcombating the errors of Arius, a work which he carried on unflinchinglyboth before and after his elevation to the episcopal throne, though hisdefence of the orthodox faith brought upon him long and severepersecution, including an exile of twenty years from his diocese. TheArian heresy, though checked, was however not exterminated, and longremained a source of trouble and weakness to the whole Church. [Sidenote: St. Cyril and Nestorius. ] St. Cyril, {82} who afterwardssucceeded to the patriarchate of Alexandria, A. D. 412, was also calledupon to defend Catholic truth against the errors of Nestorius, whilsthis successor, Dioscorus, openly embraced the false teaching ofEutyches, and denied the Manhood, as Arius and Nestorius had beforedenied the Divinity, of our Blessed Lord. The evil example of thepatriarch was followed by a large proportion of African Christians, whorefused to receive the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 431, or to submit to Catholic Bishops. 

[Sidenote: St. Cyprian. St. Augustine. ]

Two other well-known names which adorn the records of the Church inNorth Africa may be mentioned: St. Cyprian, a native of Carthage, andafterwards Bishop of that city, who suffered martyrdom, A. D. 258, andSt. Augustine, a native of Numidia (or what we now call Algeria), whowas educated at Carthage, was consecrated Bishop of Hippo, A. D. 393, and died A. D. 430. He left behind him a great number of writings, theinfluence of which has been largely felt by the Church of England. 

[Sidenote: St. Matthew in Ethiopia. ]

The CHURCH OF ETHIOPIA, now represented by Abyssinia, was planted bySt. Matthew, the way having, perhaps, been prepared by that "man ofEthiopia, " the eunuch "under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, " of whomwe read in Acts viii. 27-39. Little is clearly known of the earlyChristian history of this region; but the Ethiopian Church appears tohave come under the patriarchal rule of the Bishop of Alexandriatowards the beginning of the fourth century. Though keeping clear ofArianism, the Ethiopian Christians became deeply tinged with theEutychian heresy, by which Dioscorus and his successors were unhappilyled away. 

{83}

Section 6. _The Eastern Church. _

Of the Churches now comprehended in Turkey in Asia, the foundation andearly history of PALESTINE, as represented by the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM, and of SYRIA, as represented by the CHURCH IN ANTIOCH, have beenalready related (Chapters I. And II. ). 

[Sidenote: Death of St. James. ]

St. James the Less, first Bishop of Jerusalem, was martyred A. D. 63, and succeeded by Simeon, the son of Cleopas, in whose episcopate thedestruction of Jerusalem took place, A. D. 70. [Sidenote: Flight toPella. ] The Christians, in obedience to the prophetic teaching of theirDivine Master, had already fled for safety to Pella, whence theyafterwards returned to take up their abode amongst the ruins of theHoly City. In A. D. 132, a rebellious outbreak of the Jews, under theleadership of Barchochebas, drew down on them a severe chastisementfrom the Emperor Hadrian, and the Jewish Christians suffered much frombeing confounded with their rebellious countrymen. The ruins of theancient city were completely destroyed, whilst no Jew was allowed toenter the new city of Aelia Capitolina, which was built on its site. [Sidenote: Extinction of Judaism in Church of Jerusalem. ] The JewishChristians now entirely gave up all profession of Judaism, and thefirst Judaism in _Gentile_ Bishop of Jerusalem was appointed A. D. 135. 

Julian the Apostate (A. D. 361-A. D. 363) presumptuously attempted torebuild Jerusalem, but his attempt was frustrated by a miraculousinterposition, a failure which had already been predicted by St. Cyril, the then Bishop of Jerusalem. 

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[Sidenote: Double Episcopate at Antioch. ]

The CHURCH IN ANTIOCH having been probably founded by St. Peter, thatApostle is believed to have left behind him two Bishops in the city, the one Evodius, having the episcopal care of the Jewish converts, whilst Ignatius was placed in charge of the Gentile Christians; but, onthe death of Evodius, A. D. 70, Ignatius became sole Bishop. [Sidenote:St. Ignatius. ] This holy man is said to have been the child whom ourLord took in His arms and set in the midst of His disciples. He wasintimate with some or all of the Apostles, especially with St. John, and was martyred by being thrown to wild beasts at Rome, A. D. 107. Thesynods held at Antioch were very numerous, and far larger than anyothers, approaching almost in size and importance to General Councils. [Sidenote: St. John Chrysostom. ] It was at Antioch that the celebratedand eloquent St. John Chrysostom was born about A. D. 347: he becameBishop of Constantinople, and died A. D. 407, after undergoingpersecutions which almost amounted to a martyrdom. 

[Sidenote: St. Paul and St. John in Asia Minor. ]

We have already seen (pp. 31, 32) that the CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR owetheir foundation chiefly to St. Paul, whilst their perfect organizationand development was entrusted to St. John the Divine (pp. 49 to 51). The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse seem to have been in a specialmanner the charge of the latter Apostle, Ephesus, the chief of them, being the home of his later earthly years, and the scene of his deceaseand burial. [Sidenote: The "Angels" of the Seven Churches. ] St. Timothy, the first Bishop of Ephesus, had been succeeded probably byOnesimus; St. Polycarp (martyred A. D. 167) had the episcopal charge ofSmyrna; {85} Archippus, it is believed, had followed Epaphras atLaodicea. The names of the other "Angels" spoken of in the Apocalypsehave not come down to us, but there is no doubt that at the time whenthe seven inspired Epistles were addressed to these Churches, there wasin each of them a firmly established episcopacy, and that this form ofgovernment was followed by all other Churches throughout the world. There is little that needs recording of the history of these Churchesof Asia Minor, unless we except the Great Council of Ephesus, held inthat city, A. D. 431, to condemn the heresy of Nestorius (p. 71). 

[Sidenote: St. Bartholomew in Armenia. ]

The CHURCH OF ARMENIA, now included in Asiatic Turkey, is believed tohave been first founded by St. Bartholomew. The country is said tohave been further evangelized by a mission sent by St. Gregory theIlluminator in the third century. It is known that, in the followingcentury, a flourishing Church existed there. 

[Sidenote: Several Apostles in Parthia. ]

The CHURCH OF PARTHIA, or PERSIA, embraced the country lying betweenthe Tigris and the Indus, with Mesopotamia and Chaldea; what we nowcall Persia, Cabul, and Belochistan; as well as part of Arabia andTurkey; and is said to have been planted by St. Peter, St. Bartholomew, St. Jude, St. Matthew, and St. Thomas. The inhabitants of this regionwere of different races: Greek colonists; many Jews, the residue of theBabylonish Captivity; Arabs, and ancient Persians. Till the fourthcentury the Parthian Church appears to have flourished in peace. Itwas beyond the jurisdiction of the persecuting emperors of Rome, andthe Parthian monarchs, though not Christians themselves, protected ortolerated their Christian subjects. [Sidenote: Persecution there. ] TwoBishops were sent from {86} Parthia to the Council of Nicaea, A. D. 323, but shortly afterwards, A. D. 330, persecution broke out, occasionedapparently by the jealousy felt by the king towards the now Christianemperors of Rome, and the intercourse kept up between the fellowChristians of the two empires. Sixteen thousand martyrs are said tohave shed their blood for their Faith, and amongst them was St. Simeon, the Patriarch of the Church, and Bishop of Seleucia. Anotherpersecution took place in the beginning of the fifth century, andshortly afterwards Persian Christianity became strongly infected withthe errors of Nestorius, the Shahs apparently favouring the heresy onaccount of its having been discouraged by the Roman emperors. 

[Sidenote: Uncertainty as to the first conversion of Arabia. ]

There is no record of the actual founding of the CHURCH IN ARABIA. Weknow, from Gal. I. 17, that St. Paul "went into Arabia" soon after hisconversion, but there is no mention of his having preached the Gospelthere at that time, when indeed he was not yet called to be an Apostle;and the Arabia to which he went was probably the northern portionstretching up to the east of Syria, almost to Damascus itself. TheApostle of the Gentiles may probably have revisited this country at alater period; but, at any rate, we know that Christianity was firmlyestablished there early in the third century, and that Origen made twoseveral journeys thither between A. D. 220 and A. D. 248, to combatheresies which troubled the Arabian Church. The Bishop of Bostra, orBozrah, was present at the Council of Antioch, A. D. 269. [Sidenote:Nestorianism and Eutychianism in Arabia. ] In the fifth century theerrors of Nestorius, and, a little later, of Eutyches, made greatinroads amongst {87} the Christians of Arabia, several even of theBishops being led away by them. 

[Sidenote: St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew in India. ]

There is an ancient tradition that St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew laidthe foundations of the CHURCH IN INDIA, but very little is known of itsearly history. Pantaenus is said to have been sent as a missionaryfrom Alexandria to India towards the end of the second century, thoughit is a matter in dispute whether by India in this case we are tounderstand the country now known under that name, or Ethiopia, orArabia Felix. 

There are still Christians in India who reverence St. Thomas as theirfounder, and use a liturgy which goes by his name. Nestorianism spreadto India in the fifth century. 

The Church is believed to have been planted in CHINA by St. Thomas andSt. Bartholomew, and the Chinese are mentioned by Arnobius in thefourth century amongst those nations which had received the Gospel. Itdoes not seem, however, that Christianity existed for any length oftime in this country. 

[1] See Chap. V. 

[2] In speaking of the Greek Church of the present day, we usuallyunderstand the whole body of orthodox Eastern Christians, and notmerely those dwelling in Greece itself. 

{88}

CHAPTER VIII

The Inroads of Mahometanism

A. D. 609-A. D. 732

[Sidenote: Arianism prepares the way for Mahometanism. ]

The various heresies, and especially the heresy of Arius, which had sowidely troubled the peace of the Eastern Church, though they were notsuffered by God's Mercy to cause a lasting schism, yet left behind thema certain weakness resulting in the decay of many of the Churches ofthe East, and finally in their overthrow by the false faith of theimpostor Mahomet. The present state of the Churches of Ephesus, Sardis, and Laodicea, if viewed in the light shed upon it by theprophetic Epistles of St. John the Divine, may serve to show us how Godwithdraws His Blessing from a Church no less surely than from anindividual Christian, when His Grace is obstinately rejected anddespised. 

Section 1. _Mahomet. _

[Sidenote: Mahomet's birth, ]

The false prophet Mahomet was born A. D. 569, of the chief family in theArabian tribe of the Koreish; but it was not till after he had amasseda large fortune, partly by diligence in trade {89} and partly by awealthy marriage, that, at the age of forty, A. D. 609, he declaredhimself to be a prophet. [Sidenote: and claim to be a prophet andreformer. ] This announcement was at first confined to the members ofhis own immediate family, till, at the end of four years, Mahometproclaimed that he had a mission from God to reform the state ofreligion in his native city, Mecca, and to put down the idolatry whichprevailed there. [Sidenote: Flight to Medina. ] The opposition whichthe false prophet encountered from his fellow-citizens did not hinderhim from making many converts to the religion he was beginning toinvent for himself and for them, until at length (A. D. 622) aninsurrection, caused by the preaching and success of Mahomet, obligedhim to fly for his life from Mecca, and take refuge at Yatreb orMedina[1]. 

[Sidenote: Founds a new religion. ]

Here he was gladly received both by Jews and Arabs, rival races, whodivided the city between them. The Jews were ready to welcome him astheir expected Messiah, whilst the Arabs had heard of his fame fromtheir brethren at Mecca; and Mahomet seems from this time to haveentirely laid aside the character of a mere reformer, for that of thefounder of a new revelation. The Koran and the Sword were now calledin to aid in their respective ways in extending the power of theambitious adventurer. [Sidenote: Cruelty. ] Violence and bloodshedenforced the pretended inspiration by which Mahomet claimed to beacknowledged as _the_ Prophet of God, and the civil and religious headof the nation; and the last ten years of his life present an almostunbroken {90} course of warfare, which too often degenerated intosimple robbery and murder. [Sidenote: and conquests of Mahomet. ] Hemade himself master of the whole of Arabia, including the city ofMecca, where he destroyed the idols against which he had in earlierdays protested, and then made an ineffectual attempt to take possessionof Palestine. [Sidenote: His death. ] Mahomet died on June 8th, A. D. 632, partly from the effects of poison, which had been given to himsome years before, and partly from the consequences of a life of excessand self-indulgence. 

Section 2. _The Religion of Mahomet. _

The false faith of which Mahomet was at once the prophet and thefounder, seems to have taken for its basis the traditionary religionthen prevalent amongst the Arab tribes. These traditions were probablycompounded of dim remnants of the Truth which had been revealed toAbraham and handed down through his son Ishmael, and of a very corruptform of Sabaeanism, which included the worship of the heavenly bodies, as well as of idols, and which had been the religion of Terah and hisfellow-countrymen. [Sidenote: Mixture of truth and error inMahometanism. ] Upon this foundation was engrafted a mixture of Persianphilosophy, and of such perversions of Christianity and of Scripturaldoctrine as Mahomet could gather from a Persian Jew and a Nestorianmonk. [Sidenote: Opposition of the Koran to Christianity. ] The Koran, which Mahomet pretended to have received from heaven by the mouth ofthe archangel Gabriel, makes mention of our Blessed Lord and of many ofthe facts of Old Testament History, but its teaching is essentially{91} anti-Christian and blasphemous, inasmuch as it denies the Divinityof Christ, and represents Him as a Teacher and Prophet far inferior toMahomet himself. An intended contradiction of the Christian doctrineof the Holy Trinity is also conveyed in its opening sentence, which isthe Mahometan confession of faith, --"There is but one God, and Mahometis His prophet. "

[Sidenote: Mahomet's Iconoclastic tendencies. ]

Mahomet's energetic opposition to idolatry was, no doubt, a goodfeature in his religious system, though, like that of theIconoclasts[2], it was carried to an extravagant extent, and thisagreement, with their undue fears and prejudices on this head, seems tohave been a sufficient inducement to many unstable Christians to denythe Lord, for Whose Honour they professed such deep concern, and togive themselves up to an impostor who was perhaps the nearest approachto Anti-Christ which the world has yet seen. 

Christian people are found even in these days who do not hesitate tospeak with some degree of favour of the great apostasy of which Mahometwas the founder, because of its opposition to idolatry, its recognitionof our Blessed Lord as a Prophet, the certain admixture of truthcontained in its grievous error, and the alleged moral teaching andbeauty of language of particular passages in the Koran. [Sidenote:Moral effects of Mahometanism. ] Any such favour or tenderness is, however, altogether out of place in professed worshippers of Him WhomMahomet so grievously blasphemed, whilst the grossly sensual andimmoral lives led by the false prophet and the large proportion of hisfollowers down to {92} the present time, serve to show us that wrongbelief and wrong practice go hand in hand, and that whatever show ofmorality there may be in some few of the precepts of the Koran, it hasno influence on the conduct of those who profess to be guided by it. 

Section 3. _The Spread of Mahometanism. _

[Sidenote: Mahometan conquests]

The work of conquest which Mahomet had begun was continued by hissuccessors. Abu Bekr, the father of Mahomet's favourite wife, was thefirst of the four Caliphs who pushed the power of the Mahometan armsbeyond the confines of Arabia, and laid the foundations of the futureempire. [Sidenote: of the Holy Land, ] Jerusalem was taken by Omar, thenext Caliph, in A. D. 637, and, with the exception of a short intervalduring the Crusades, the Holy City has ever since remained in the handsof the unbelievers. [Sidenote: Egypt, ] Omar made himself master ofEgypt as well as of Syria, and showed his savage contempt for learningby burning the famous and valuable collection of MSS. Contained in theAlexandrian library. [Sidenote: Persia, and North Africa. ] UnderOthman, Persia and the North of Africa were added to the empire, andafter the death of Ali, son-in-law to Mahomet and fourth Caliph, theseat of government was removed to Damascus. 

[Sidenote: Other portions of Asia and part of Europe. ]

The Caliphs of Damascus carried on the same system of warfare andbloodshed, took possession of Asia Minor, of the Northern parts ofIndia, of Spain, and overran the South of France, where, however, A. D. 732, the Mahometan troops received such a check at Tours from the handsof {93} Charles Martel, as hindered them from extending their conquestsany farther in Western Europe. 

[Sidenote: Present extent of Mahometanism. ]

At the present day Mahometanism is the professed faith of theinhabitants of the Northern half of Africa, of Turkey in Europe, ofArabia, Persia, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, and some parts of India, andits adherents number ninety-six millions. We shall perhaps realizestill more strongly the havoc which this soul-destroying apostasy hasbeen suffered to work, if we remember that some of the countries whereit now reigns unchecked were formerly the seats of flourishingChristian Churches, the Church in Africa boasting of such great Saintsas St. Cyprian and St. Augustine, whilst Palestine and Asia Minorwitnessed the first foundation of the Church, as well as its earliestsettlement in the form it was permanently to retain. 

[1] It is from this Hegira (or Flight) of Mahomet, July 16th, A. D. 622, that Mahometans compute their time. 

[2] See Chap. VIII. 

{94}

CHAPTER IX

The Division between East and West

A. D. 680-A. D. 1054

[Sidenote: Outward unity of the Church broken]

So far we have contemplated the Church of Christ as one in externalcommunion, no less than by the inner bonds of charity and ofsacramental life; but we now come to a period in which this externalunity began to be to a certain extent dissolved, and that in greatmeasure by the same outward influences which had at first secured itscohesion. [Sidenote: with the breaking up of the Roman Empire. ]Heresies and schisms, especially the great heresy of Arius, had indeedtroubled the Church and threatened to break the visible union existingbetween its branches in different countries; but it was not until afterthe dissolution of the Roman empire that the breach really came. 

Section I. _Jealousy between Rome and Constantinople. _

[Sidenote: Reasons for Roman ascendancy. ]

During the flourishing days of the empire the city of Rome hadnaturally been looked up to with great reverence by all the otherChurches of the world. Its political importance as the centre ofgovernment, the vast number {95} of its martyrs, its comparativefreedom from heresy, and its connexion with the lives and deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, all tended to give it a moral ascendancy which wasgradually claimed as a right. This, however, did not take placewithout protests on the part of other Bishops, nor even without verydefinite disclaimers of any wish for or right to supreme authority onthe part of the Bishops of Rome themselves. 

[Sidenote: Ambition of an Eastern Patriarch. ]

Constantinople, as being the new Rome and capital of the Easternempire, was especially jealous of the claims of the mother city, andone of her Patriarchs, John the Faster, in the sixth century, first setthe evil example of assuming the title of "Universal Bishop, " a titlewhich the Roman Pontiffs have since taken and retained. In proportionas the political division between East and West became more complete, so also did the tendency towards separation in ecclesiastical mattersincrease. [Sidenote: Beginnings of disunion. ] Western dioceses, nowpeopled by the barbarian nations who had overrun Europe, still lookedup to Rome as their centre and head; whilst the Eastern Bishops, underthe sway of the decaying empire, clung to Constantinople. [Sidenote:Its crisis. ] The controversy respecting the use of Images, and thatabout the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as from theFather, were, however, the means of actually bringing about thecessation of all outward communion between East and West. 

Section 2. _The Iconoclast (or Image-breaking) Controversy. _

[Sidenote: Dislike of images]

There had been from very early times an extensive though not universalfeeling in the Church, against the use of painting or sculpture in {96}Divine Worship. This feeling was occasioned partly by dread of theidolatry still prevalent amongst the heathen, and partly, especially inthe East, where it was strongest, by the remains of Judaism stilllingering in the Church of Christ. [Sidenote: lost in the West, butretained in the East. ] As heathenism died out, it was gradually felt inthe West that the strong reasons formerly existing against theadornment of Churches with pictures and images had passed away; but theEastern Church, with that dread of change which distinguishes it tothis day, clung as before to the old sentiment. 

[Sidenote: Image-breaking legislation]

In the eighth century, Leo III. , "the Isaurian, " then reigning atConstantinople, passed a decree for the removal of all images andpaintings from Churches, and his violent conduct in the matteroccasioned such discontent in the West, that Italy withdrew altogetherfrom the nominal allegiance she had hitherto paid to the emperors, about A. D. 730. [sidenote: dissolved the link between Eastern andWestern Empires. ] Other emperors were as fanatical in theirIconoclastic (or image-breaking) prejudices as Leo, and theirextravagance excited a reaction in the other extreme in the Westernempire. [Sidenote: Reactionary decrees in the West. ] In A. D. 786, aCouncil, which was held at Nicaea, not only protested against theviolent fanaticism of the East, but sanctioned the veneration of imagesand pictures to an extent which we find it hard to justify, and whichwas, in fact, deemed unjustifiable by many in the West, who yet wishedfor their retention as decorations and aids to devotional feeling. Charlemagne, under the influence of our English Alcuin, opposed thedecision of the Council, and held provincial synods (especially one atFrankfort, A. D. 794) {97} to condemn what was, at any rate, very likeimage-worship. 

[Sidenote: Charitable supposition regarding them. ]

Probably dread of Judaism and Mahometanism, with their hatred of ourBlessed Lord and of His Image, as well as of all sculpture, had someinfluence on the decisions of the council of A. D. 786, and we mayreasonably hope that it was not really intended to encourage anyworship or veneration contrary to the express law of God. At any rate, the Iconoclast controversy aided very strongly to put an end to allpolitical union, and with it to all public ecclesiastical intercourse, between East and West; though the bonds of external communion were notyet broken, and they were still one both in faith and practice. 

Section 3. _The Controversy respecting the Double Procession of theHoly Ghost. _

[Sidenote: Western addition to the Nicene creed. ]

We have seen[1] that the summary of Christian belief, known to us asthe Nicene Creed, was completed at the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381; but with this exception, that the article defining the faith ofthe Church concerning the Third Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, asserted only that "the Holy Ghost . . . . Proceedeth from the Father, "without the addition of the words "_and the Son_;" and it was thecontroversy as to the admission or non-admission of these words intothe Creed which caused the formal division between Eastern and WesternChristendom. The question is said to have first arisen in the fifth{98} century; and gradually the words in dispute came to be sung in theWest during Divine Service. [Sidenote: Decrees against it. ] In theninth century an appeal was made on the subject to Pope Leo III. , whodecided in a provincial Council that no such addition could lawfully bemade to the Creed, and ordered it to be engraved on silver platesexactly as the Council of Constantinople had left it. Towards the endof the same century another Council was held at Constantinople, whichalso decreed the disuse of the addition, and then the matter droppedfor about a hundred and fifty years. [Sidenote: Dispute stirred upagain for political purposes. ] Its revival seems to have been chieflyowing to political jealousies and to the struggle for supremacy whichwas continually going on between Rome and Constantinople. We may beallowed to believe that the dispute was, in reality, a question of merewords, and that the two branches of the One Church did, and still do, hold the "One Faith, " although differing in their mode of expressingit. [Sidenote: Actual schism in consequence. ] Still theultra-conservatism which has always distinguished the Eastern Church, and the unyielding temper which has been no less conspicuous in theChurch of Rome, did in time bring about a formal schism; and in A. D. 1053, the Pope Leo IX. Issued a sentence of excommunication against thePatriarch of Constantinople and all who adhered to him. In thefollowing year the Patriarch Michael Cerularius summoned a synod atConstantinople, and retorted the excommunication upon the Latins. Twoattempts at reconciliation were afterwards made, one in A. D. 1274, following the close of the last Crusade, and another which, afterlengthened negotiations, came to an equally unsuccessful termination atthe Council of Florence, A. D. 1430. 

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[Sidenote: Outward union never since restored. ]

Since that time the two great Branches of the One Vine, whilst stilldrawing Life and Nourishment from the same Divine Root of Jesse bymeans of the same Holy Sacraments, have yet abstained from all acts ofoutward communion, and have failed to recognize in each other thoseessential marks of Catholicity which God's Mercy and Providence haspreserved to them even in the midst of all their respective defects ofCharity, or their errors in theory and practice. 

[1] Chap. VI. , sec. 3. 

{100}

CHAPTER X

The Church of the Middle Ages

A. D. 900-A. D. 1500

[Sidenote: Foundation of the temporal power of the Popedom. ]

The temporal power of the Popes gradually increased after the ninthcentury, when part of the territory since known as the States of theChurch was bestowed on them by Pepin, whose son, the famous EmperorCharlemagne, confirmed the donation. The change thus wrought in theposition of the Popes, who to their spiritual office of Bishop nowadded the temporal one of sovereign, was productive of a correspondingchange in the claims they made upon the submission of the rest ofChristendom, and these altered claims first assumed a definite form inthe eleventh century. 

Section 1. _The Supremacy of the Popes. _

[Sidenote: Papal claims to spiritual supremacy. ]

The Bishops of Rome had at first limited their ideas of universalsupremacy to spiritual things: it was as Universal Bishop that theydesired to be honoured and obeyed, and we have seen in the precedingchapter that a certain priority seemed to accrue to them by force of{101} circumstances. Rome had come to be regarded as the Mother of theChurches, much as Jerusalem was in the first ages of Christianity, andappeals for advice and help were at first voluntarily made to thelearning and piety of the Bishops of Rome. [Sidenote: Further claimsto temporal authority. ] Later, instead of advisers they claimed to beabsolute judges in ecclesiastical matters, and when the temporalpossessions of the Popedom made the chair of St. Peter an object ofambition to covetous, designing men, the character of Bishop was toooften merged in that of Prince, and spiritual power ceased to satisfythose who thought it their duty or their interest to enforce what wasin fact an Universal Sovereignty. 

[Sidenote: Plausibleness and actual advantages of Papal supremacy. ]

It is not difficult to understand that the idea of one Visible Head andCentre of Christendom would appear to have much to recommend it; noreven that the power of the Popes was in reality the source of manyblessings in the lawless state in which European society found itselffor many centuries after the fall of the Roman empire. An authoritywhich could reduce rebellious subjects to obedience, overawe refractorynobles, or check the tyranny of an irresponsible sovereign, couldhardly fail to be productive of some good effects when wielded bydisinterested men, and with singleness of purpose. [Sidenote: Itscorruptions and dangers. ] But in the hands of worldly-minded andambitious prelates, such as too many of the Popes undoubtedly were, this usurped prerogative of interference in the affairs of foreignstates became an engine of mighty evil, and in the course of time itwas felt to be such an intolerable yoke by the people of Europe thatcontinued submission to it became impossible. 

{102}

[Sidenote: What the Reformation really was. ]

The Reformation was in fact a casting off of an unjustifiableusurpation in temporal as well as in spiritual things, and a violentreaction against that course of events which, from the eighth centurydownwards, had been tending to reduce the different sovereigns ofWestern Christendom to the rank of vassals of the Roman See. 

Section 2. _Some account of the Popes of the Middle Ages. _

A clearer view of the rise and results of papal supremacy may perhapsbe gained by entering into a somewhat more detailed account of suchPopes as from various causes occupy conspicuous places in the historyof the Roman Church. [Sidenote: St. Leo the Great, and the first"papal aggression. "] In order to do this effectually, it will benecessary to go back a little farther than the date at the head of thechapter, to the time of St. Leo the Great (A. D. 440-A. D. 461), whoseclaim to interfere between St. Hilary, Bishop of Arles, andChelidonius, Bishop of Besanįon, may be looked upon as the first "papalaggression" of which history gives us an example. Chelidonius had beendeposed by a General Council of the Church of France under thepresidency of Hilary, and so deeply did the French Bishops resent theunjust attempts of Leo to set aside their decision, that the Bishop ofRome found an appeal to the secular power necessary for the purpose ofenforcing his claim to exercise jurisdiction over a foreign Church. But even the authority of Valentinian III. , Emperor of the West, didnot succeed in obliging Hilary to cede the liberties of the Church ofFrance, and it is a significant fact that the Bishop of {103} Arles isreverenced as a saint by the whole Western Church, although his senseof what was due to his position as a member of the French episcopatewould not suffer him to yield his just rights, in order to obtain areconciliation with one so personally worthy of esteem and honour asSt. Leo. 

[Sidenote: Papal claims strengthened and extended by St. Gregory]

The good and wise St. Gregory the Great (A. D. 590-A. D. 604), though hestrenuously disclaimed for himself, and denied to others, the right ofassuming the title of "Universal Bishop, " appears to have had verystrong ideas respecting the authority which he conceived to belong tothe successors of St. Peter, whilst his talents and holiness gave himan extensive influence over his contemporaries. [Sidenote: and HadrianI. ] Succeeding Popes laid claim to more extended powers, especiallyHadrian I. (A. D. 772-A. D. 793), who first advanced the doctrine thatthe whole Christian Church was subject to the see of Rome. [Sidenote:Rise of the temporal power of the Popes under Leo III. ] His successor, Leo III. (A. D. 795-A. D. 816), having crowned Charlemagne Emperor of theWest, A. D. 800, received from that monarch the sovereignty of Rome, andthus became a temporal prince as well as a Bishop, and about the sametime there began to appear certain forged canons (or Church laws), professing to be ancient decrees collected by St. Isidore of Seville, in the seventh century, and having for their object to give primitivesanction to Roman Supremacy. [Sidenote: "Pseudo-Isidore" Decretals]These "Pseudo-Isidore" Decretals, as they were afterwards called, werefrequently appealed to, apparently in good faith, by subsequent Popes;and their genuineness was generally believed in, almost withoutquestion, until the time of the Reformation in {104} the sixteenthcentury. By about the middle of the ninth century these decretals weremade use of to settle ecclesiastical questions, and Nicholas I. (A. D. 858-A. D. 867) laid great stress upon them when the liberties of theFrench Church were again defended by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, ina very similar case to that in which St. Hilary had offered oppositionto St. Leo. [Sidenote: Hincmar's opposition to papal claims. ]Hincmar's zeal in opposing the usurpations of the Roman see had somelittle success during the episcopate of Hadrian II. (A. D. 867-A. D. 872), but its effects passed away when John VIII. (A. D. 872-A. D. 882)espoused the cause of Charles the Bald, and thus enlisted the interestsof the crown on his side. 

The troubles and disorders consequent on the breaking up of the greatempire of Charlemagne, had had a very injurious effect on morals andreligion; and unworthy persons, to whom the temporal possessions of thePopes had by this time become an object of ambition, took advantage ofthe depressed state of the Church to seize upon the bishopric of Romeeither for themselves or for others in whom they had an interest. [Sidenote: Unspirituality caused by temporal power. ] Hence the historyof the papacy during the next century and a half is full of drearyrecords of corruption and wickedness. The elevation of John XII. Tothe papal throne at the age of eighteen (A. D. 955), and his evil life, called forth the interference of the Emperor Otho the Great, whodeposed him and elected Leo VIII. (A. D. 963-A. D. 965) in his stead. [Sidenote: Interference of Emperors of the West. ] From this time theemperors frequently interfered to check the continual disputes betweenPopes and anti-Popes, which often ended in the murder of one of therivals. Silvester II. (Gerbert) (A. D. 999-A. D. 1003), {105} who wasmade Pope through the influence of Otho III. , was prevented by deathfrom carrying out the reforms he meditated, and at length, in A. D. 1046, the Emperor Henry III. Was called upon to decide between threeclaimants to the papal throne. He settled the question by appointing aGerman, Clement II. (A. D. 1046-A. D. 1047), after the synod of Sutri hadput aside the claims of the original disputants. Henry thus took theelection of the Popes entirely out of the hands of the Clergy of Rome, with whom it had hitherto nominally rested, and appropriated it tohimself. [Sidenote: This interference unjustifiable. ] This was anundoubted usurpation on the part of the secular power, though Henryseems to have been in earnest in his endeavours to check the simonywhich had been so disgracefully prevalent in the papal elections, andto appoint Bishops who might be worthy of their position. [Sidenote:Hildebrand's influence. ] [Sidenote: Overthrow of secular interference. ]Leo IX. (A. D. 1048-A. D. 1054) and his successor, Victor II. (A. D. 1055-A. D. 1057), aided and influenced by the famous Hildebrand(afterwards Gregory VII. ), succeeded in effecting considerable reformsin religion and morals, and were very zealous in discouragingsimoniacal appointments to offices in the Church, but a gradual andincreasing resistance was growing up against the imperialencroachments, and after the death of Henry, Pope Nicholas II. (A. D. 1059-A. D. 1061) was enabled to obtain a decree that the election of thePopes should, for the future, rest with the Roman Cardinals, subject tothe consent of the Roman Clergy and people, and with some vaguereference to the emperor's wishes. 

[Sidenote: Hildebrand Pope. ]

At length Hildebrand, the counsellor and support of {106} severalpreceding Popes, was himself called to the see of Rome under the titleof Gregory VII. (A. D. 1073-A. D. 1083), and at once devoted the energiesof his powerful mind to the work of reforming the Church. [Sidenote:His reforms] The two means on which he chiefly relied for accomplishinghis object were the enforcing of celibacy on the Clergy, and theabolition of simony, under which head he included every species of layinvestiture. [Sidenote: and their consequences. ] The prosecution ofhis plans soon brought him into a violent dispute with the weak andwicked Emperor Henry IV. , who was as eager to secure the right ofbestowing upon Bishops the ring and pastoral staff, as well as of theirsole appointment, and thus reduce them to the state of mere secularvassals, as Gregory was by the same means to secure theirecclesiastical obedience to the see of Rome, and their totalindependence of any civil power. [Sidenote: Result of the contest. ]The contest lasted till the death of Gregory in exile, and was carriedon by his successors, until during the popedom of Calixtus II. (A. D. 1119-1124) a compromise was agreed upon by which the emperor left toeach Church the free election of its Bishops, who were to receive thering and staff from the altar, and the temporalties of their sees fromthe crown. 

[Sidenote: Wars between Rome and Germany. ]

This arrangement did not, however, bring peace between the Popes andthe emperors, the Popes siding with the Guelphs in the long civil warsof the next two centuries, in opposition to the Ghibelline emperors. Hadrian IV. (A. D. 1154-A. D. 1159), or Nicholas Breakspear, the onlyEnglish Pope, found it expedient to seek the assistance of the EmperorFrederic Barbarossa, to aid him in quelling the insurrection headed byArnold of {107} Brescia; but Alexander III. (A. D. 1159-A. D. 1181) cameinto fresh collision with Frederic, who was at length obliged to submitand beg for peace. [Sidenote: Climax of the papal power under InnocentIII. ] The minority of Frederic II. Was favourable to the ambitiousschemes of Pope Innocent III. (A. D. 1198-A. D. 1216), and under him thepower of the popedom reached its greatest height. He laid both Englandand France under an interdict, placed on the imperial throne, and thendeposed, Otho IV. , and took measures for the suppression of theAlbigenses, which eventually resolved themselves into the dreadedInquisition. The old strife was continued by Gregory IX. (A. D. 1227-A. D. 1241), who excommunicated Frederic II. , and the sentence wasrenewed by Innocent IV. (A. D. 1243-A. D. 1254). The treatment of theemperor by these successive Popes was something akin to a persecution, and was apparently occasioned by a feeling of opposition to anyauthority which conflicted with the claims of Rome, and by a hatred ofthe Ghibelline race. 

[Sidenote: Decline of the temporal power of the Popes. ]

From the death of Innocent IV. The excessive power of the Popes may besaid to decrease. Gregory X. (A. D. 1271-A. D. 1276) and the EmperorRudolf of Hapsburg were good, earnest-minded men, who put an end to thelong-standing feud between Rome and the empire, and after a successionof short pontificates, Boniface VIII. (A. D. 1294-A. D. 1303) usurped thepapal throne in the place of the "hermit Pope, " Celestine V. [Sidenote: Interference of the King of France in papal affairs. ]Boniface was a thoroughly bad and unscrupulous man, and at last died ina fit of disappointed rage at being taken prisoner by the troops of hisequally unscrupulous enemy, Philip IV. Of France, who had refused toacknowledge the {108} authority of the papal legate. Philip caused thedeath of Benedict XI. (A. D. 1303-A. D. 1304), whose honest goodness hefeared, and then used his influence to procure the election of ClementV. (A. D. 1303-A. D. 1314), on condition of his pledging himself to aidin the French king's schemes to plunder and oppress the Church. Clement, having thus sold himself, was not allowed to leave France, andthe papal court was fixed at Avignon. The Pope was now completely atthe mercy of Philip, who robbed the Church at his will, and plunderedand murdered the Knights Templars with the connivance of Clement. [Sidenote: The Popes at Avignon. ] The sojourn of the Popes at Avignon(A. D. 1305-A. D. 1376) was a great blow to the temporal power of thepapacy, and was often called by the Italians the Seventy Years'Captivity. Meanwhile the Popes were again plunged into contests withthe German emperors: Louis of Bavaria was excommunicated, and hisempire laid under an interdict, on account of his refusal to accept hisdominions from John XXII. (A. D. 1316-A. D. 1334). The papal authorityin Italy had become almost nominal except in Rome itself, and eventhere it was much weakened by the rebellion under Rienzi, A. D. 1352. Pope Innocent VI. (A. D. 1333-A. D. 1362), soon after his election, senta legate to Rome, with orders to reduce not only the city itself toobedience, but all that was then included in the States of the Church;and this having been successfully accomplished, the Popes began tothink of returning to Rome. [Sidenote: The return to Rome. ] The courtat Avignon had become fearfully corrupt, and some of those who composedit, and loved its evils, were ready to oppose any change; but Urban V. (A. D. 1362-A. D. 1370), a really upright man, spent some of hisepiscopate at Rome, and his {109} successor, Gregory XI. (A. D. 1370-A. D. 1378) removed thither with his court two years before hisdeath. The Cardinals however still clung to Avignon, and though, incompliance with the earnest wishes of the Roman people, they elected anItalian to be Pope under the name of Urban VI. (A. D. 1378-A. D. 1389), yet they were so offended at his zealous but indiscreet endeavours toreform the evils around him, that they declared him deposed, and set upan anti-Pope at Avignon. [Sidenote: The consequent schism. ] The schismthus begun lasted nearly forty years (A. D. 1378-A. D. 1417), England, Germany, North Italy, Poland, and the Scandinavian kingdoms siding withthe true Popes, while France, Scotland, Spain, and South Italy heldwith the anti-Popes. [Sidenote: Its results. ] The troubles andcorruptions of the Church now multiplied, Popes and anti-Popes alikemade the acquisition of power and revenue their great object, andwickedness was left unrebuked both in Clergy and laity. A greatimpulse was given to the sale of indulgences or pardons, an evilpractice which brought in large sums of money to the papal exchequer, and at the same time led to such abuses as probably to become aprincipal proximate cause of the Reformation. 

[Sidenote: Council of Pisa. ]

At length there was an universal longing for the cessation of the greatschism in the Western Church, and a Council was held at Pisa, A. D. 1409, where it was agreed by the Cardinals belonging to the two partiesto depose both Pope and anti-Pope, and to elect another who took thename of Alexander V. , with an understanding that he was at once toreform and pacify the Church. But neither Pope nor anti-Pope wouldresign, so that there were three claimants instead of two, and verysoon after his {110} election Alexander V. Died. John XXIII. (A. D. 1410-A. D. 1415) was elected in his place, but he proved to bethoroughly devoid of principle, and the Council of Pisa having provedunsuccessful in promoting unity or reformation, another was convoked atConstance, A. D. 1414, under the presidency of the Emperor Sigismund I. [Sidenote: Council of Constance. ] This Council was attended by therepresentatives of all the monarchs of the West, as well as by a verylarge number of Bishops and Clergy, and it was decreed that the threeclaimants to the papal throne should be deposed. John XXIII. Wasthrown into prison, and, after considerable delay, Martin V. (A. D. 1417-A. D. 1431) was chosen to succeed him. The Council shortly afterbroke up, without having done any thing towards the much desiredreformation of the Church, although the English, French, and Germandeputies had been very earnest in their endeavours to advance somescheme of reform. [Sidenote: Council of Basle. ] Another Council met atBasle, A. D. 1431, whence it was transferred by Pope Eugenius IV. (A. D. 1431-A. D. 1447) first to Ferrara, and afterwards (A. D. 1439) toFlorence. This opportunity was also lost in a dispute between theCouncil and the Pope, and there seemed to be nothing more to hope forfrom Councils as a means of reformation. 

[Sidenote: State of the papacy at the end of the fifteen century. ]

Nor were the personal characters of the Popes who filled the see ofRome during the remainder of the century, such as to encourage anyexpectation that their influence would be employed to revive religion, or to encourage holy living. Worldliness and ambition, revenge andimmorality, cast a deep shadow over the records of the papacy at thistime, until the century closes with the reign of Alexander VI. , or{111} Roderigo Borgia (A. D. 1492-A. D. 1503), who was elected bybribery, and whose shameless vice and cruelty brought greater scandalsupon the Church than any of his predecessors had done. 

Section 3. _The Monastic Orders. _

Monastic orders, though not by any means an invention of the MiddleAges, may yet fairly be said to have attained their height, both ofprosperity and of usefulness, during this period of Church History. [Sidenote: Early rise of monasticism. ] We may trace the origin ofChristian monastic life to very early times, when persecution drovemany Christians to a life of loneliness and privation in desert places. The mode of life thus begun from necessity was afterwards continuedfrom choice, and in the hope of more complete self-devotion to God'sservice; and the solitary hermits and anchorites of primitive agesbecame the forerunners of an elaborate system of religious communitiesof men and women. 

[Sidenote: Later influences brought to bear on it. ]

St. Basil, in the fourth century, brought monasticism into a moredefinite form, and St. Athanasius during the same century introduced itinto Europe from the East. In the West the religious life spread andflourished under the fostering care of such men as St. Augustine andSt. Gregory the Great, whilst by St. Benedict in the sixth century itwas developed into the famous Benedictine rule, to which, with fewexceptions, all the European monasteries conformed, and which was theparent of various minor orders or subdivisions[1]. 

{112}

[Sidenote: Beneficial results of monasticism. ]

It is not easy to estimate the vast amount of good which the labours ofthe Benedictine monks conferred on the Church of the Middle Ages, goodwhich has left many traces to the present day. Not only did theyprovide in a vast number of instances for the spiritual wants of theparishes in and near which they lived, as well as for the education ofthe young, both rich and poor, but they were also the philosophers, theauthors, the artists, and the physicians, nay, even the farmers and themechanics of Mediaeval times. They built cathedrals and churches, maderoads and bridges, copied books when writing stood in the place ofprinting, and were in general the props and pioneers of civilization. Amongst the very large number of men who embraced the monastic life, itis no marvel that some were not all they professed to be, or thatoccasional causes for scandal arose, but the popular idea of theuniversal corruption of the inhabitants of the monasteries isunsupported by facts, and much of what helped to give rise to thisfalse notion is traceable to the doings of the mendicant or preachingfriars. These begging orders were offshoots from the regulars, andwere but too often very unworthy representatives of the parent stock[2]. 

Section 4. _The Crusades. _

Amongst the events which stand out most distinctly in the history ofthe Church in the Middle Ages, the long series of warlike expeditionsknown as the {113} Crusades bear a prominent part, stretching out asthey do from the end of the eleventh to nearly the end of thethirteenth centuries. 

The empire of the Arabs had died out, but they had been succeeded intheir schemes of conquest as well as in their adherence to the falsefaith of Mahomet, by the savage Turks, whose ferocity and hatred ofChristianity were especially displayed in the ill-treatment of thoseChristians whose piety led them to visit the scenes of our BlessedLord's Life and Death. [Sidenote: Cause of the Crusades. ] Theindignation excited in Europe by the stories of outrage and desecrationwhich were from time to time brought back by pilgrims to the Holy Land, at length found an outlet and expression in the First Crusade, whichwas preached, A. D. 1095, by Peter the Hermit, with the sanction both ofthe Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. This expedition resultedin the taking of the Holy City by the armies of the Cross (A. D. 1099), and the establishment in it of a Christian sovereignty. 

[Sidenote: Their transient results. ]

The First Crusade was the only one which had any real success, and eventhis was a transient one, for less than ninety years afterwards (A. D. 1187) Jerusalem was again taken by the Saracens, and has never sincebeen a Christian power. But though the deliverance of the Holy Landfrom the yoke of the infidels was not accomplished by the Crusades, andthough they caused much misery and bloodshed, and were stained by muchlawlessness and plunder, yet the advance of the barbarous andanti-Christian influences of Mahometanism was checked, the Churches ofEurope were saved from the soul-destroying apostasy which had over-runso large a portion of Asia, and the Crescent waned before the Cross. 

{114}

[Sidenote: Reasons for their ill-success. ]

Much of the ill success with which the Crusaders met during several ofthese expeditions, may be traced to jealousies and heart-burningsbetween the different princes and nobles who took part in them, whilstdisagreements on a larger scale were amongst the evil fruits of theunhappy division between Eastern and Western Christendom. LatinChristians appear in too many instances to have made use of theopportunities afforded them to injure and oppress their weaker brethrenof the Greek Church, even whilst marching against the common foe ofboth, and the Fourth Crusade (A. D. 1203) was actually diverted from itslegitimate purpose in order to conquer Constantinople, and establish aLatin Emperor, as well as a Latin Patriarch within its walls. 

[Sidenote: Good directly brought about by them. ]

Still, whatever may have been the want of single-mindedness on the partof many of the professed soldiers of the Cross, whatever the amount offailure with regard to the immediate objects of the Crusades, it isclear that much good was brought about through them by God'sProvidence, not only in the check given to the encroachments of theunbelievers, but also more indirectly in the quenching of risingheresies, in the greater purity of life which in many cases accompaniedthe taking of the Cross, the weakening of the feudal system, theimpulse given to learning and civilization. Earnestness andself-devotion such as were shown by Godfrey de Bouillon, St. Louis ofFrance, and no doubt by many more amongst the Crusaders, were rewardedand blessed, though not in what might have seemed at first sight theonly way of success. 

{115}

Section 5. _State of Religions Relief and Practice during the MiddleAges. _

[Sidenote: Popular idea of the Middle Ages, ]

There is a wide-spread notion that the Middle Ages were also "DarkAges, " full of ignorance and superstition, with hardly a ray ofknowledge or true religion to enlighten the gloom, and also that theChurch was the great encourager of this state of things; indeed, thatit was mainly due to the influence of the monks and of the Clergygenerally. 

[Sidenote: not founded in history. ]

This belief is however quite unhistorical. No doubt there wasabundance of ignorance as well as of superstition, its naturalconsequence, but there are ample means of accounting for both in thepolitical condition of Europe at that time, nor is it needful to blamethe Church for what was in fact due to the sins and errors of the world. 

[Sidenote: Real causes of ignorance and vice in the Middle Ages. ]

The confusion incident to the breaking up of the old Roman empire, andthe occupation of its different provinces by less highly-civilizednations, had been followed by other disorders after the death ofCharlemagne and the partition of his dominions; and the constant stateof warfare and aggression in which most of the princes of that timelived, was not calculated to leave their subjects much leisure forintellectual culture. Besides this, we must take into account thecrushing influence of the feudal system, which gave the nobles almostabsolute power over their serfs or dependants, thus encouraginglawlessness on the one hand, and causing degradation on the other. Thescarcity and costliness of books before the invention of printing wasanother {116} formidable obstacle to any universal spread of education, all which causes tended to bring learning into contempt amongst therestless barons and their followers, restricting it chiefly to theClergy and the monks. Thus not only theology, but secular knowledgebesides, found a home in the Church, which was at once the guardian andthe channel of literature. 

[Sidenote: No scarcity of the means of grace in Mediaeval times. ]

There are also good grounds for believing that the provision made bythe Church for the spiritual necessities of the people was not, at anyrate, less abundant than is the case at the present day. Indeed, thereis no doubt that both Churches and Clergy, and consequentlyopportunities for worship and instruction, were far more in proportionto the number and needs of the population than they can be said to benow in our own country, even after the persevering and liberal effortsof late years. [Sidenote: Difficulties respecting Services and Bibleson the vernacular, ] If it is objected that the want of free access tothe Holy Scriptures, and the use of the Latin tongue in the publicservices of the Church, were calculated largely to outweigh anyadvantages which the people of those days might possess, we mayremember that those comparatively few who could read were just thosewho would have access to the necessarily rare copies then existing ofthe Word of God, and that to them also the Latin version would be morecomprehensible than any other. Again, with regard to Latin services, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to translate thedevotions of the Church into any of the slowly-forming dialects of thedifferent European nations; whilst Latin was more universally spokenand understood than French is now, and was probably intelligible to alarger number of men and women during a {117} considerable portion ofthe Middle Ages than any one of the other languages used. 

[Sidenote: but the wish for them not wholly disregarded. ]

As the various languages of Europe became gradually developed, a desirenaturally arose amongst those who spoke them for services in thevernacular; and this desire was not left altogether ungratified evenlong before the Reformation. Thus, in England, the Epistles andGospels and the Litany were translated into the native language in theServices of the Church, and interlinear translations were made of manyportions of the Mediaeval Prayer Books[3]. Neither must we imaginethat the translations of Holy Scripture put forth by the Reformers, oreven that earlier version to which Wickliffe gave his name, were by anymeans the first efforts made to produce the Holy Bible in thevernacular. From Anglo-Saxon times downwards, we have traces of Biblestranslated for the use of those who preferred such versions; and to thetruth of this statement may be quoted the testimony of John Foxe, the"martyrologist, " who says, "If histories be well examined, we shallfind, both before the Conquest and after, as well before John Wickliffewas born as since, the whole body of the Scriptures by sundry mentranslated into this our country tongue[4]. "

[Sidenote: State of learning in the Middle Ages. ]

The Mediaeval Church was, in reality, a great supporter of learning. Our two great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were not lessflourishing during the Middle Ages than at present; and nearly all ofthe colleges and halls at both Universities were founded in those days{118} of supposed darkness. Nor was this care for literature confinedto the Church in England; Universities of equal note were to be foundabroad at Paris, Pavia, Bologna, Salamanca, and other places, whilstthe Schoolmen, or professors, who taught in these seats of learning, and who numbered amongst themselves the most acute thinkers andreasoners of the time, such as St. Anselm, Peter Lombard, AlbertusMagnus, and St. Thomas Aquinas, were all attached to some ReligiousOrder. Enough of the results of their labours have come down to ourdays to show us that it is neither wise nor just to despise the mentalwork which they accomplished, even though their conclusions may notalways be in accordance with our own. 

It is not meant by what has been said above to infer that the MediaevalChurch was altogether free from blemishes, or to deny that theseblemishes did, as time went on, increase to an extent which renderedreformation not only expedient but necessary. [Sidenote: The effectsof Roman influence. ] We have already seen that the supremacy claimed bythe Popes over the whole Church was productive of great, though, byGod's good Providence, not unmitigated, evil in a political point ofview; and much of the error in faith or practice on the part ofChristians of those days, seems traceable to the tendency on the partof Rome to crystallize opinions into dogmas, and then to impose thosedogmas on the Church. Thus the "Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, "and the mechanism of "pardons, " or indulgences, grew out of thefloating belief held by such holy men as St. Augustine, that the soulsof the faithful would undergo some more perfect purification afterdeath than is attainable in this world; while the elaborate system ofinvocations of, and devotions to, the Blessed {119} Virgin Mary and thesaints, were built up out of a not only harmless but justifiable faithin the intercessions of the Saints for the Church on earth, and thewish to obtain a share in their prayers. So again, the denial of thecup to the laity, which was justly felt by many to be such a grievousprivation, was the natural consequence of the over-refinements of theRoman Church respecting the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist[5]. 

[Sidenote: The right spirit in which to regard the Mediaeval Church. ]

But whatever imperfections may have clung to the Visible Church in theMiddle Ages, whether owing to external hindrances, or to the humanfrailties of her members, we have no right to doubt that she was stillthe one great instrument in God's Hands for the salvation of souls. Neither should we dwell so exclusively on what is often an exaggeratedestimate of the extent and duration of these blemishes, as to ignorethe zeal and self-devotion which grudged neither expense nor labour inthe service of God and the adornment of His House and Worship, thecharity which truly "cared for the poor, " the faith and holiness whichshone forth in the public and private lives of such men as St. Ferdinand of Spain, St. Louis of France, and Rudolf of Hapsburg, Emperor of Germany, and were, doubtless, not wanting in the case ofcountless numbers of their fellow-Christians, whose names, little knownand soon forgotten on earth, are for ever written in God's Book ofRemembrance. 

[1] Especially the Cluniacs, founded by Berno, Abbot of Clugny, A. D. 910, and the Cistercians, founded by Robert of Citeaux, A. D. 1098, andrendered illustrious by St. Bernard, afterwards Abbot of Clairvaux(A. D. 1113-A. D. 1153). 

[2] The order of Franciscan Friars was founded by St. Francis ofAssisi, A. D. 1207, and that of the Dominicans by St. Dominic ofCastile, A. D. 1215. They were originally intended to supplement thereal or supposed defects of the Clergy and the regular orders, and toaid in the suppression of heresy. 

[3] See "Key to the Prayer Book, " pp. 1-8. 

[4] See "Key to the Bible, " pp. 18-23. 

[5] The practice of communion in one kind made its way very slowly, especially in England, where it was perhaps never universal. A decreeof the Council of Constance in A. D. 1415 gave its first authoritativesanction. 

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CHAPTER XI

The Mediaeval History of Continental Churches

A. D. 900-A. D. 1500

[Sidenote: No Mediaeval Church history in Asia or Africa. ]

Before proceeding to the consideration of the different EuropeanChurches in Mediaeval times, it may be well to remark that from theyear 500 the Christian history of Asia and Africa is almost a blank. Arianism, partly imported into Africa by the Vandals, who crossedthither from Spain, and partly of native growth, as well as theopposite error, Eutychianism, took from the African Church allspiritual life and vigour, so that the apostasy of Mahomet met with noformidable obstacles when in the seventh century it swept like a floodover what had been Christian Africa. It is true that the Copts inEgypt and the native Christians of Abyssinia appear to have preservedthe Apostolic Succession, but both these Churches are in a state ofgreat depression, and the Faith they profess is mingled with muchignorance and superstition, as well as with positive error. 

A similar process took place in Asia. Arianism, chiefly in its laterdevelopment of Nestorianism, with Eutychianism and other errors, ateout the heart of the Church, faith grew weak, and love grew cold, and{121} Mahometanism once more triumphed almost unchecked. Although theChurches of Asia are not all utterly extinct, yet they share more orless in the state of ignorance, superstition, and depression which is anatural consequence of the serious errors with which their professionof Christianity is intermixed, as well as of the way in which the fewdespised Christians are mingled with their richer and more numerousMahometan neighbours. 

Section 1. _The Church of Italy. _

[Sidenote: Lombard kingdom in Italy. ]

The kingdom of the Goths in Italy was not of long duration, and theirsuccessors and fellow-Arians, the Lombards, only obtained possession ofthe northern portion of the Peninsula, whilst Rome and Southern Italybecame once more subject to the emperors of the East. Gregory theGreat (A. D. 390-A. D. 604) began the work of converting the Lombards tothe Catholic Faith, and in the middle of the seventh century Arianismhad disappeared from Italy. [Sidenote: Renewal of the tie between Eastand West. ] The renewal of the connexion between the Eastern and WesternEmpires, and the attempt of the Emperor Justinian to subject the see ofRome to that of Constantinople, placed Gregory under the necessity ofvindicating the independence of the Church of Italy, and of denying theright of any one Patriarch to assume authority over another. St. Gregory's holiness and learning, and the wisdom of his endeavours toreform corruptions, were most beneficial to the Church over which heruled. [Sidenote: Its rupture. ] The Image-breaking Controversy put anend to the nominal tie between the Eastern emperors and the Church ofItaly (about A. D. 730), and almost the whole {122} of the peninsulasoon after became part of the dominions of Charlemagne. This greatEmperor's influence was used in Italy, as elsewhere, to foster the workof the Church, which however suffered severely from the state oflawlessness and confusion incident on the breaking up of Charlemagne'sempire after his death, A. D. 814. [Sidenote: Depression of the Churchin Italy. ] The Church of Italy in the ninth century had also to undergothe inroads of the Mahometans in the South, and of the heathen Magyars(or Hungarians) on the North, as well as of the Northmen, who ravagedand pillaged the churches and monasteries on the coasts. Otherdepressing influences were to be found in the secularization of theBishops of Rome through the increase of their temporal power, and theusurpation by the German emperors of the right of election to thepopedom, which properly belonged to the Clergy of Rome. [Sidenote:Gregory VII. 's reforms. ] The corruptions which from these and othercauses had crept into the Church of Italy, drew towards them theattention of the famous Hildebrand, afterwards Pope Gregory VII. (A. D. 1073-A. D. 1085), and his efforts at reformation were not without abeneficial effect. [Sidenote: Heresies of the Albigenses] Early in thetwelfth century the heretical sect of the Albigenses, whose doctrinesresembled those of the ancient Manicheans, spread from the South ofFrance into Italy, where they received the name of Paterini. [Sidenote: and Waldenses. ] Both they and the kindred sect of theWaldenses came under the notice of Innocent III. (A. D. 1198-A. D. 1216). The Albigenses were exterminated with circumstances of greatcruelty[1], but the {123} Waldenses survive to the present day in thevalleys of Piedmont. [Sidenote: Evil effects of the residence atAvignon on the Italian Church. ] The seventy years' residence of theBishops of Rome at Avignon (A. D. 1305-A. D. 1376) was felt by the Churchof Italy to be an injury and a great evil, and in the forty years'schism which followed the return of the chief pastor of the Italians tohis own episcopal city (A. D. 1378-A. D. 1417), only the kingdom of theTwo Sicilies sided with the anti-Popes. [Sidenote: Other depressinginfluences. ] Meanwhile the constant warfare between the Guelphs and theGhibellines in Italy, the feuds between the different republics, theworldliness and evil lives of too many of the Popes, and the luxury andimmorality which increased riches, consequent on increased commerce, brought with them, had all tended to a state of things in which thepurifying influences of the Church as "the salt of the earth" weresorely needed. [Sidenote: Desires for reformation. ] Longings for areformation of men's lives and morals were smouldering in many breasts, and in the city of Florence these hidden wishes were kindled into aflame by the zeal and eloquence of the monk Girolamo Savonarola, whohowever fell a victim to his zeal, A. D. 1498. 

[Sidenote: Liturgy of the Italian Church. ]

The ancient Liturgy of the Church of Italy was derived from one bearingthe name of St. Peter, and revised by St. Gregory, A. D. 590. ThisRoman or Gregorian Liturgy, though with certain later additions, isstill in use throughout Italy, the only exception to this rule beingthe cathedral and diocese of Milan, which still preserve a Liturgyknown as that of St. Ambrose, who was Bishop of Milan from A. D. 374 toA. D. 397. 

{124}

Section 2. _The Church of France. _

[Sidenote: Orthodoxy of the Franks. ]

The Franks alone of all the barbarians who swept over Europe at thetime of the decay of the Western Empire, were Catholic from their firstconversion to Christianity; and to this circumstance the French kingsowed their title of Eldest Sons of the Church. It was by the influenceof a French princess, Bertha, the Christian wife of Ethelbert, king ofKent, that St. Augustine and his companions were favourably received inEngland; whilst another princess of the same race, Ingunda, who marriedthe son of the Visigoth king of Spain, is said to have brought aboutthe conversion of her husband from Arianism to the Catholic faith, byher own constancy under persecution. [Sidenote: The Church underCharlemagne. ] During the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne (A. D. 768-A. D. 814), the French monasteries became seats of learning, andamongst the learned men who assisted the Emperor in his efforts for thereligious and intellectual improvement of his people, may be mentionedthe English Alcuin, who held an honourable position at the French courtas the instructor and adviser of the monarch and his sons. [Sidenote:The French Liturgy. ] The Gallican Liturgy, a branch of the PrimitiveLiturgy of Ephesus, was entirely disused by order of Charlemagne, andthe Roman service used in its stead. [Sidenote: Conversion of theNorthmen. ] From about A. D. 870 the Northmen, who had long been ascourge to France, began to settle down in that country, and weregradually converted to the Christian Faith, their chief, Rollo, marrying a Christian princess, A. D. 911, and being baptized in thefollowing year. [Sidenote: The Crusades. ] A French {125} hermit, Peterof Auvergne, was the instigator of the First Crusade, which waspreached by him at Clermont, and joined by a large number of Frenchnobles, the command of the expedition being given to Godfrey deBouillon, Duke of Lorraine. The system of Crusades thus inauguratedfor the defence of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land, and the winningback of the Holy Places from the hands of the Mahometans, was turned toa cruel and unjustifiable use in the thirteenth century, when InnocentIII. Proclaimed a Crusade against the Albigenses in the South ofFrance, in which multitudes of these unhappy and misguided men wereslaughtered. 

[Sidenote: Rupture between France and the Pope. ]

During the reign of Philip IV. (A. D. 1285-A. D. 1314) a collision tookplace for the first time, between the Church and Kingdom of France andthe authority of the Pope. Hitherto the disputes between the Popes andthe French monarchs had been on personal rather than on politicalgrounds, and had given no opportunity for defining the exact limits ofpapal authority in France. [Sidenote: Comparative independence ofFrench Church. ] But meanwhile the French Clergy had not lost theirfeeling of nationality, and the kings of France had been able to usemuch more independent action in the appointment of Bishops than was thecase in other countries. Hence the Bishops and Clergy joined with theking in resisting the sentence of excommunication pronounced by thePope on Philip and his kingdom. Neither King nor Pope appear to havebeen influenced by any religious feeling in their contest, and afterthe miserable death of Boniface VIII. (A. D. 1303), and the murder ofhis successor, Philip's unprincipled interference in the {126} electionof Clement V. Was productive of great evils. [Sidenote: Evil resultsof the conduct of Philip IV. ] The cruel massacre of the KnightsTemplars, the corruptions of the Papal Court in France, and moreindirectly the Great Schism in which the Church of France espoused thecause of the anti-Popes, may all be traced to the conduct of Philip IV. 

Section 3. _The Church of Spain and Portugal. _

[Sidenote: Conquest of Spain by the Moors. ]

Before the end of the sixth century, the Visigoths, who had settled inwhat is now Spain and Portugal, had been converted from Arianism to theCatholic Faith. In A. D. 711 the Mahometan Moors crossed over fromAfrica to the South of Spain, and in A. D. 713 all the Peninsula, exceptthe small mountain district of Asturias, had fallen into their hands. The more independent and hardy amongst the Spanish Christians tookrefuge in this inaccessible portion of the country, whilst others dweltamongst the Moors, and appear for a time to have been allowed theexercise of their religion unmolested by any systematic persecution. [Sidenote: Persecution of the Spanish Church. ] About A. D. 830, however, the policy of the Moorish conquerors underwent a change, and during thenext hundred years multitudes of Christians in Spain suffered martyrdomfor their faith. [Sidenote: The re-conquest of Spain by theSpaniards. ] After the death of Hachem, the last Caliph of Cordova (A. D. 1031), and the subdivision of his dominions, the Christians of Asturiassucceeded in making head against their oppressors, and gradually wonback from them district after district, until Ferdinand III. (A. D. 1214-A. D. 1252) succeeded in reducing the Moorish possessions to thesingle province {127} of Grenada. This last remnant of Mahometandominion was wrested from the Moors A. D. 1492, and Spain, as well asthe separate kingdom of Portugal, was once more entirely Christian. [Sidenote: Effect of national circumstances on Spanish Christianity. ]It is perhaps hardly to be wondered at, that the continual state ofreligious warfare in which Spain was so long plunged should have givena somewhat stern character to Spanish Christianity. The Inquisition, when introduced into Spain by the mistaken zeal of the good QueenIsabella towards the end of the fifteenth century, found a readierwelcome than elsewhere, and gained an additional tinge of severity in acountry which had been brought into such close contact with one of thedeadliest forms of unbelief. 

[Sidenote: The Spanish Liturgy. ]

The original Liturgy of Spain was, like the ancient Liturgy of France, a form of that used at Ephesus. It received the name of Mozarabic, from having been in use by Christians living _in the midst of Arabs_, or Moors, and was not discontinued in the Church of Spain until A. D. 1080, when after much resistance on the part of the Spaniards it wasabolished by order of Alphonso VI. , King of Castille and Leon, underthe influence of Pope Gregory VII. , and the Roman rite substitutedthroughout the country. 

Section 4. _The Church of Germany. _

[Sidenote: Conversion of Germany by French]

The large tract of country which is now comprehended under the name ofGermany was won to the Church by a long series of missionary labours. In the beginning of the seventh century Frankish missionaries laid thefoundations of a Church in Bavaria and on the banks of {128} theDanube, thus paving the way for the conversion of Southern Germany. [Sidenote: and British missionaries, ] Central Germany, then calledFranconia, was the scene of the labours of Kilian, an Irish missionary(A. D. 630-A. D. 689), whilst the English Bishops Wilfrith (A. D. 677) andWillebrord (A. D. 692-A. D. 741), preached with much success to theFrieslanders in the Northwest of Germany, now included in Holland. [Sidenote: Labours of St. Boniface] It is, however, to a Devonshireclergyman, Winfrith, better known as St. Boniface (A. D. 715-A. D. 755), that the title of Apostle of Germany is generally given, not only onaccount of his unwearied missionary labours in still heathen districts, but also on account of his success in organizing and consolidating thedifferent branches of the German Church. He became Archbishop ofMentz, and Metropolitan, and at last suffered martyrdom at the hands ofsome heathen Frieslanders at the age of seventy-five. 

The Emperor Charlemagne endeavoured to compel the rude Saxons in theneighbourhood of the Baltic to embrace the Christian faith; buteventually he was induced to trust less to the force of arms for theirconversion, and more to the missionary work of the Church. [Sidenote:and of Willehad. ] Amongst the prominent members of this Saxon mission, we find another English priest, Willehad, a native of Northumbria, afterwards Bishop of Bremen, who died A. D. 789. 

The first attempts to plant the Church in Moravia were made by Germanmissionaries in the ninth century. [Sidenote: Eastern missionaries inMoravia] These do not appear, however, to have been very successful, and about A. D. 860, two Greek monks, Cyril and Methodius, entered uponthe same sphere of labour. Methodius was afterwards consecratedMetropolitan of Pannonia {129} and Moravia by the Pope; but there wasconsiderable jealousy on the part of the Latinized Germans towardstheir Eastern fellow-labourers, and eventually the Moravian Church wassubjected to the Bishops of Bohemia. 

[Sidenote: and Bohemia. ]

The first Christian Duke of Bohemia was converted about A. D. 871, whilst staying at the Moravian court, probably by Methodius; but theChurch made very slow progress in Bohemia until after the conquest ofthat country by Otho the Great (A. D. 950), and the foundation of theBishopric of Prague by King Boleslav the Pious (A. D. 967-A. D. 999). InBohemia, as well as in Moravia, the influence of the Greek missionariesmade itself felt in the impress it left upon the ritual and usages ofthe two Churches, especially in the fact that the native Sclavoniclanguage was used in Divine Worship; but in the end German influencesprevailed in both countries, and the national "use" gradually made wayfor the Latinized ritual common in Germany. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of North Prussia, ]

Until towards the middle of the tenth century, the Church made but verysmall progress in the northern portion of what is now the kingdom ofPrussia. These regions were then occupied by a Sclavonic race calledWends, who yielded an unwilling submission to the Western emperors, anddisliked Christianity as being the religion of their conquerors. Between A. D. 964 and A. D. 968, several bishoprics were founded in thiscountry by Otho the Great, and amongst them the metropolitan see ofMagdeburg. A revolt of the Wends frustrated for the time the successof the emperor's plans, but in the next century Gottschalk, who becameking of the Wends A. D. 1047, and was himself a Christian, did all inhis {130} power to aid the missionary work of the Church among hispeople. He was martyred by his subjects, A. D. 1066, and heathenismtriumphed once more. During the twelfth century, the Wendish kingdomwas dissolved, and its territories divided amongst different Germanprinces, after which the Church gradually regained and extended itshold on the country. The northern Wends, who obstinately adhered totheir Pagan superstitions, were at last converted chiefly by thelabours of St. Vicelin, who became Bishop of Oldenburg, A. D. 1148. 

[Sidenote: of Pomerania, ]

The conversion of Pomerania was first attempted by the Poles, who, onobtaining possession of the country at the end of the tenth century, founded a bishopric at Colberg, A. D. 1000. It was not, however, untiltheir more complete subjection to Poland about a hundred years later, that any marked result was obtained. Otho, Bishop of Bamberg, whoplaced himself at the head of the Pomeranian mission A. D. 1124, was atlast enabled to overcome the fierce opposition which the heathennatives offered to the work of the Church, and by A. D. 1128Christianity had gained a firm footing amongst them. 

[Sidenote: of Prussia Proper. ]

From Pomerania the Church extended itself eastward to Prussia Proper, about A. D. 1210. Here, too, Christianity was very distasteful to thenatives, partly as being the religion of their enemies the Poles. About A. D. 1230, the "Order of Teutonic Knights" was instituted for thepurpose of subjugating Prussia; and, after a depopulating warfare offifty years' duration, the remaining inhabitants embraced Christianity. Before the end of the thirteenth century, the German element had quitesuperseded the Sclavonic in Prussia, as well as in Pomerania, and inwhat had formerly been the kingdom of the Wends. 

{131}

[Sidenote: Extent of Roman influence in Germany. ]

The Church in Germany, taken as a whole, was very much under Romaninfluence, partly, perhaps, on account of the early connexion betweenthe emperors of the West and the see of Rome, and partly from theconstant state of civil warfare into which Germany was plunged from thetwelfth to the fourteenth centuries. In these contests the nearneighbourhood of the Popes to the Italian possessions of the WesternEmpire gave them a hold on the affairs of Germany which they were notslow to use, and the turbulent German nobles were disinclined to resentan interference which was so often exerted in their behalf against anunpopular sovereign. The temporal power of the Popes was, however, much weakened by the great Schism; and though the Church of Germanyacknowledged the true Pope, there was, amongst its members, a verywidespread sense of the urgent need of some searching reformation. Tothis feeling may be traced, not only the unhappily disappointedexpectations with which so many persons looked to the Councils ofConstance and Basle, but also the unsound and exaggerated teaching ofsuch men as John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 

Section 5. _The Church of Hungary. _

[Sidenote: Conversion of Hungary. ]

The Hungarians or Magyars were descended from a Tartar or Finnishtribe, who settled in Pannonia towards the close of the ninth century, and thence made fierce inroads on Italy and Germany. In A. D. 948, twoHungarian chiefs were baptized at Constantinople, and the daughter ofone of them afterwards marrying Geisa, Duke of {132} Hungary (A. D. 972-A. D. 997), Christian influences were, by degrees, brought to bearupon the Hungarian people. About the same time German missionariesbegan to labour in Hungary, but it was not until the reign of St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary (A. D. 997-A. D. 1038), that thecountry was completely evangelized. [Sidenote: Hungary Latinized. ]Stephen did all in his power to aid the work of the Germanmissionaries; Hungary was divided into dioceses, and the originallyeastern origin of the Hungarian Church, as well as the Sclavonic originof the people, forgotten under the desire felt by the king to keep on afriendly footing with the German emperors and the Popes. 

[Sidenote: Attacks of the Turks. ]

The Church of Hungary suffered severely from the invasion of the MongulTartars, A. D. 1241, and when, about a century later, some of theseTartars returned from Asia and settled in Europe under the name ofTurks, Hungary, owing to its frontier situation, was constantly liableto their attacks. During the fifteenth century, Hungarian bravery wasthe great barrier that opposed the spread of Mahometanism over WesternEurope. Even after the fall of Constantinople, the Turks vainlyendeavoured to make themselves masters of their Christian neighbours, and found themselves obliged to retreat discomfited from the siege ofBelgrade, A. D. 1456. 

Section 6. _The Church of Poland. _

[Sidenote: Conversion of Poland. ]

The Church of Poland was founded about A. D. 966, when a daughter of theChristian Duke of Bohemia married Miecislav, Duke of Poland, andintroduced Christianity into her adopted country. 

{133}

[Sidenote: Romanizing the church of Poland. ]

The Polish Church at first bore traces of its Eastern origin in itsliturgy and ritual, but these traces were removed by Casimir I. (A. D. 1040-A. D. 1058), who, previous to his accession, had been a monk in aFrench or German monastery, and who made a point of bringing the Churchof his own country into uniformity with the other Churches of the West. 

Section 7. _The Scandinavian Churches. _

[Sidenote: Conversion of Denmark]

About A. D. 822, a mission was sent from France to Denmark under Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims, which resulted in the conversion of Harold, Kingof Jutland, who was baptized at Mayence, A. D. 826. At the request ofHarold, a fresh mission to Denmark was organized and headed by Anskar, a monk of Corbey, near Amiens, who is often known as the "Apostle ofthe North. " [Sidenote: and Sweden. ] From Denmark Anskar made his way toSweden, A. D. 831, where he was favourably received by the king, and ayear or two later was consecrated Archbishop of Hamburg, withjurisdiction over the whole northern mission. [Sidenote: Slow advanceand vicissitudes of the Church. ] At first the progress of the Church, both in Denmark and Sweden, was very slow and fluctuating, and theravages of the northern pirates, or Vikings, caused great loss andsuffering; but after some years, Anskar was enabled to disarm theopposition of Eric the heathen King of Denmark, and to make afavourable impression upon the Swedish nobles. After his death in A. D. 865, the Church in Denmark went through many vicissitudes owing toirruptions of the Northmen and other invaders, as well as to nativeopposition. {134} Svend, who reigned over Denmark A. D. 991-A. D. 1014, though brought up a Christian, persecuted the Church until hisre-conversion during a victorious sojourn in England. [Sidenote:English missionaries in Denmark] Svend's son and successor, Canute theGreat (A. D. 1014-A. D. 1033), was very zealous in his endeavours to undothe evil effects of his father's violence, and sent missionaries fromEngland, by whom the bulk of the Danish nation were converted toChristianity. 

[Sidenote: and Sweden. ]

In Sweden, too, the Church made but slow progress after the death ofAnskar, until, in the beginning of the eleventh century, the King OlafSkötkonung, having been himself baptized about A. D. 1008, invited toSweden certain English clergymen, who laboured there with greatsuccess. The first bishopric in Sweden was placed at Skara in WestGothland, and filled by Turgot, an Englishman. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of Norway, by English missionaries. ]

The knowledge of the Gospel was first brought, in the tenth century, into Norway from England by Hacon, who is said to have been educated atthe court of Athelstan, and who endeavoured, with the aid of Englishpriests, to bring about the conversion of his subjects. Hacon was, however, induced, by the bitter opposition of his countrymen, to yielda weak compliance to their idolatrous practices, and the Churchlanguished and almost died out until the reign of Olaf Trygovasön (A. D. 993-A. D. 1000), who had been baptized in the Scilly Isles during apiratical expedition. The labours of the English missionaries werefinally successful in the reign of Olaf the Holy (A. D. 1017-A. D. 1033), who was earnest in his efforts to further the work of the Church. Itmay be remarked that Norwegian Bishops were usually consecrated eitherin England or France, {135} though all the Scandinavian Churches werestill professedly dependent on the Archbishopric of Hamburg. 

[Sidenote: Conversion of Iceland, ]

In Iceland some traces of early Christianity, probably the result ofthe labours of Irish missionaries, were still remaining when it wascolonized by Norwegian settlers in the ninth century; and towards theend of the tenth century successive attempts were made by a SaxonBishop and by missionaries from Norway, to revive and deepen theseimpressions. The opposition of the heathen colonists was, however, ofso determined a character, that it was only by the gradual conversionof the mother country, and the labours of new bands of missionaries, chiefly English and Irish, that Paganism was by degrees overcome. 

[Sidenote: Greenland, ]

From Iceland the Church made its way to Greenland, another Norwegiancolony, which was converted mainly by the instrumentality of anIcelandic missionary, in the first half of the eleventh century; butthis ancient Church died out in the fifteenth century. About the sametime Christianity spread through the Norwegians to the Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands. 

[Sidenote: and Lapland. ]

The Church was first planted amongst the Lapps by Swedish missionariesin the thirteenth century, but it was not until the sixteenth and twofollowing centuries that Christianity became the religion of thecountry. 

Section 8. _The Churches now comprehended in European Turkey andGreece. _

We look in vain in the history of the Church in Eastern Europe for themissionary activity which {136} bears so prominent a place in theannals of Western Christendom. [Sidenote: Lack of missionary zeal inthe East. ] The minds of Eastern Christians were still much occupied bycontinued contests between the Catholic Faith and developments ofalready condemned heresies, and to these succeeded the scarcely lessabsorbing controversy about Image-breaking. Nor was there in the Eastthe same pressing contact with Paganism, which made it in the West apolitical necessity no less than a religious duty at once tochristianize and civilize the ever advancing hordes of heathenbarbarians. [Sidenote: Conversion of Bulgaria. ] The evangelization ofBulgaria was, however, begun early in the ninth century, by thecarrying off of the Bishop of Adrianople and many of his flock, in avictorious inroad of the Bulgarians, A. D. 811. Half a century laterthe Bulgarian King Bogoris, influenced by his sister, who had beenbrought up a Christian at Constantinople, put himself and his countryunder the tuition of the Greek patriarch Photius. Soon after, becomingweary of his Eastern instructors, he applied for aid to the WesternChurch, and, in A. D. 867, the Pope Nicholas I. Despatched two ItalianBishops and other missionaries to Bulgaria. [Sidenote: Collisionbetween Greek and Roman missionaries. ] This interference of the RomanChurch, in an already occupied field of missionary labour, addedconsiderably to the jealousy between East and West, and helped to bringabout the eventual and lamentable schism. Bogoris soon after returnedto his allegiance to Photius, insisted on the withdrawal of the RomanMission, and obtained a Greek Archbishop of Bulgaria fromConstantinople. 

[Sidenote: Peculiar position of the Eastern Church. ]

The state of external isolation in which the Church of the EasternEmpire was placed by the {137} Schism of A. D. 1054, had a tendency toincrease its exaggerated spirit of conservatism, which was alsoencouraged by the indolent unenterprizing temper of the Greeks of thelater empire, whose blood had not been quickened by the same admixtureof races as had given new life to the worn out nations of the West. [Sidenote: Effects of the Crusades. ] Under these circumstances thecrusades were hardly less a cause of terror to the Greeks than were theadvances of the Turks themselves, and tended to widen rather than toheal the unhappy breach between the Latin and Greek Churches. [Sidenote: Unjustifiable proceedings of the Latins. ] The foundation ofa Latin Patriarchate at Jerusalem, after the taking of that city inA. D. 1099, could not but be accounted an usurpation on the part of thePope, which was, however, far surpassed in injustice by the erection ofa Latin empire and a Latin Patriarchate in Constantinople itself, A. D. 1204. During the time that this oppressive arrangement lasted (i. E. Till A. D. 1261) the rightful Patriarch took refuge at the court whichthe Eastern emperors held at Nicaea in Asia Minor, and the fugitivesthere clung to their national Church, and her rightful independence. [Sidenote: Attempts at reunion. ] The Emperor Michael Palaeologus, afterdriving out the Latins from Constantinople, endeavoured once more toeffect a reunion between East and West, partly from political andpartly from personal motives, and a formal act of union was signed, A. D. 1274. Neither the Greek Clergy nor the Greek people would, however, consent to give up their own national religious customs, norto acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope; and this shadow of union diedout with the death of the Emperor, its originator. [Sidenote: Invasionof the Turks. ] In the fourteenth century {138} the Turks weretreacherously invited over to Europe as allies of the usurper, JohnCantacuzenus (A. D. 1347-A. D. 1353), and so firm a footing did theygain, that the rightful Emperor, John Palaeologus (A. D. 1341-A. D. 1391), found himself obliged to appeal to Rome for aid, promising inreturn to reconcile the Greek Church to the Roman communion. Theaffairs of Western Europe, were, however too unsettled to admit of suchaid being afforded, and the Emperor was obliged to give up all hispossessions to the Turks, except Constantinople, Thessalonica, part ofthe Morea, and a few islands. Another appeal was made, with the sameresults, by his son, Manuel Palaeologus (A. D. 1391-A. D. 1425). [Sidenote: New attempts at reunion. ] John VII. (A. D. 1425-A. D. 1448)opened fresh negociations with the West, and he and the Patriarch ofConstantinople, together with twenty-one other Eastern Bishops, appeared (A. D. 1438) at the Council of Ferrara (afterwards transferredto Florence). At this council a decree of union was once more signedby the Greeks, on condition of their receiving aid against the Turks(A. D. 1439). This fresh attempt at union was repudiated by the EasternChurch at large, but a troop of French and Italian crusaders startedfor the East. Constantinople was, however, doomed, and the good andbrave Constantine Palaeologus (A. D. 1448-A. D. 1433) was the last, as hewas one of the best, of the Greek emperors. [Sidenote: Fall ofConstantinople] The city fell, after an obstinate defence, on the 29thMay, A. D. 1453, and Constantine was among the slain. The Turkspillaged and slaughtered indiscriminately, and turned into a mosque thebeautiful Church of St. Sophia, built by the Emperor Justinian inhonour of the "Holy Wisdom" of God. 

{139}

[Sidenote: and the Greek Empire. ]

All the Greek Empire had now fallen into the hands of the Turks, exceptthe small mountainous district of Albania, which held out until thedeath of George Castriota (dreaded by the Turks under the name ofScanderbeg), A. D. 1467. The rocky strip of land known as Montenegrohas been enabled to maintain an unbroken independence. 

[Sidenote: State of the Church of Greece under Turkish rule. ]

The Church of Greece was now no longer the dominant and recognizedreligion of the country, but it was not extinguished. The numerousmountain monasteries, inaccessible from their construction andposition, were the chief strongholds of the Christian Faith; and so, "cast down, but not destroyed, " the Church in Greece struggled on, until, after nearly three centuries of Turkish rule, Greece itself oncemore became a Christian kingdom. 

Section 9. The Church of Russia. 

[Sidenote: Decay of the Church after its first planting in Russia. ]

The Church, founded in the South of Russia by St. Andrew, appears notto have spread to the other parts of this vast country, and to havedied out, perhaps under the influence the hordes of barbarians whopoured westward from Asia to Europe. 

[Sidenote: Foundation of the present Church. ]

The Church of Russia, as it now exists, owes its foundation chiefly toGreek Missionaries, who began their labours about A. D. 866, amongst thetribes bordering on the dominions of the Eastern Empire. Before themiddle of the next century Christianity had gained a footing in theancient capital of Kiev, and about A. D. 933 the Princess Olga wasbaptized at {140} Constantinople. [Sidenote: It flourishes underVladimir. ] In the reign of her grandson, Vladimir (A. D. 986-A. D. 1014), the Church made great progress in Russia. Vladimir made a publicrecognition of Christianity, and by his marriage with the sister of theGreek Emperor strengthened the links which bound Russia toConstantinople. The Greek missionaries were aided in their labours, churches and bishoprics were founded, and the Holy Scriptures andService Books translated into the native Sclavonic language; the Greekmonks, Cyril and Methodius, who have been already mentioned asinstrumental in the conversion of Bohemia and Moravia, taking also anactive share in the Christianizing of Russia. [Sidenote: Independenceof the Russian Church, ] In the reigns of Yaroslav and his successor(A. D. 1019-A. D. 1077), the empire became completely Christian, and theChurch of Russia was placed on an independent footing, with a nativeprimate at its head. Innocent III. (A. D. 1198-A. D. 1216) attempted towin over Russia to the Roman communion, by offering to confer the titleof King on Prince Roman, but his offer was at once rejected. [Sidenote: which it has steadily refused to give up, ] Russia sufferedseverely from the ravages of the Mongul Tartars, A. D. 1223, and PopeInnocent IV. Took advantage of the distressed condition of the Russianchurch and the removal of the Greek Patriarchate from Constantinople toNicaea, to make another attempt at detaching Russia from communion withthe Greeks. David, Prince of Galicia, professed himself willing toreceive the crown and title of king from Rome, but this arrangement wasnot of long duration, and about A. D. 1230 a Metropolitan of the RussianChurch was consecrated by the Greek Patriarch, to fill up the vacancywhich had taken place {141} ten years before during the Tartarinvasion. Kiev, the original seat of the Russian Patriarchate, wasburnt and pillaged by the Tartars, and the see was transferred toVladimir, A. D. 1299, and thence during the early part of the nextcentury (A. D. 1320) to Moscow, where it has since remained. 

[Sidenote: and has preserved unbroken. ]

For more than two centuries, until A. D. 1462, Russia was oppressed bythe yoke of the unbelieving Tartars, but the Church still maintainedher independence, and steadily resisted the various attempts which weremade to bring about a reunion between East and West, by the subjugationof the former to the unjust claims of the latter. 

[1] The preaching Friars having been in vain employed for theconversion of the Albigenses, their efforts were supplemented by theinstitution of the Inquisition. 

{142}

CHAPTER XII

The Mediaeval Church in Great Britain and Ireland

A. D. 500-A. D. 1500

Section 1. _The Church of England. _

[Sidenote: Trials of the English Church under the Saxons. ]

We have seen (p. 74) that the native Church of England had notsucceeded in converting the Anglo-Saxon invaders who gradually tookpossession of the country, and that such as remained of the Bishops andClergy had been compelled for the most part to take refuge inmountainous, and therefore inaccessible, districts. It was, however, only in A. D. 587, that Theonas, Bishop of London, and Thadiocus, Bishopof York, retreated from their sees, and they were both living in exilein Wales, when, ten years later, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregoryto found a mission in England. 

[Sidenote: Roman usurpation. ]

It seems uncertain whether St. Gregory was aware of the previousexistence of a Church in these islands; at any rate, he acted as ifignorant of the fact, by bestowing on St. Augustine a spiritualsupremacy over the whole country; and the good Italian missionary, whenbrought into actual contact with the living representatives of anational Church already five hundred years old, appears to haveconsidered himself justified in endeavouring to bring its {143} Liturgyand usages into agreement with the Roman pattern. [Sidenote:Consequent disputes. ] All this was not unnatural, especially under thecircumstances of weakness and depression in which the Church of Englandwas then placed; but it was equally natural that such interferenceshould be felt to be an usurpation, and resented accordingly, and thatmuch misunderstanding and bitterness should be the consequence. Thereprobably was a recognition of the claims of the elder race of EnglishBishops in the fact, that St. Augustine was consecrated to the see ofCanterbury rather than to that of London, of which the rightfuloccupant was still living, and that neither the latter diocese, northat of York, appear to have been filled up until after the deaths ofTheonas and Thadiocus. [Sidenote: English independence partiallyrecognized. ] It was also eventually found expedient to leave to theEnglish Church its own national Liturgy and ritual (originally derivedthrough a Gallican channel from that of Ephesus), instead of insistingupon an exact conformity to Roman rites. [Sidenote: Some account ofthe English Liturgy. ] This ancient English Liturgy, revised in theseventh century by St. Augustine, underwent a second revision at thehands of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, about A. D. 1083; and, thoughcertain variations existed in some dioceses, the "Use of Sarum, " as itwas called, became the general "use" throughout the southern portion ofEngland, and was even at length considered to be _the_ Liturgy of thecountry. It is from this Sarum Use that our present Post-ReformationLiturgy is derived. 

A very considerable amount of new life and energy was infused into theChurch of England by the mission of St. Augustine. Though the nativeBishops and Clergy could not bring themselves to look cordiallyon those {144} whose religious zeal was not always tempered withjustice or courtesy towards their predecessors in the field of theirmissionary labours, still both foreigners and natives worked for thesame cause, each in their own way, and a new evangelization of thefreshly-heathenized population ensued[1]. [Sidenote: Amalgamation ofEnglish and Roman successions. ] By degrees the two lines of Bishopsbecame blended in one succession, which has continued unbroken untilthe present day. 

[Sidenote: English missionary zeal. ]

The Church of England, thus strengthened and quickened, soon began togive abundant proofs of its vitality by sending out missionaries toconvert the heathen in other lands. A large part of Germany and theNetherlands owes its Christianity to English Bishops and Clergy, suchas Winfrith or Boniface, Willebrord, and a host of other lesswell-known or altogether forgotten names. The eighth century wasespecially distinguished by these missionary labours abroad, whilst, athome, were to be found such good and learned men as the Venerable Bede(A. D. 672 or '3-A. D. 735), an early translator of the Holy Scriptures, and his friend Egbert (A. D. About 678-A. D. 776), Archbishop of York, and founder of a famous school in that city, where the illustriousAlcuin (about A. D. 723-A. D. 804) was a scholar. 

[Sidenote: Invasion, and conversion of the Danes. ]

In A. D. 787, the Church of England began to suffer severely from theravages of the heathen Danes or Northmen; but, by the wisdom and valourof the good King Alfred (A. D. 871-A. D. 901), {145} they were for awhile subdued, and numbers of them settled as peaceable colonists inEngland, where they gradually embraced Christianity. 

[Sidenote: King Alfred. ]

Alfred was very zealous in his endeavours to repair the spiritual andintellectual losses which the Church of England had undergone duringthe contest with the Danes, whose ravages had almost entirely sweptaway all native scholarship. The king was especially eager to secure aliterature in the vernacular for his subjects, and himself translatedinto "simple English" parts of the Holy Bible, and other religiousbooks. In these labours he was assisted by a small body of learnedmen, including the two Aelfrics, Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and Wulfstan, supposed to have been Bishop of Worcester. Theconversion of the Danes who had first settled in England toChristianity prepared the way for the evangelizing of later colonists;and when, through the crimes and weakness of the later Anglo-Saxonprinces, the country fell altogether into the hands of Danish invaders, Canute the Great (A. D. 1016-A. D. 1033) not only embraced Christianityhimself, but secured for his native country the services of Englishmissionaries. [Sidenote: Evangelization of Scandinavia. ] In fact, atthis time Scandinavia seems to have been the chief mission-field of theEnglish Church. 

[Sidenote: Roman influence comparatively small under the Saxons. ]

We can hardly be wrong in gathering from all this, that Roman influencehad only to a certain limited extent been introduced into the Church ofEngland by St. Augustine's mission, and that, as time passed on, theforeign element had become absorbed in the national one. With theNorman conquest of A. D. 1066, the {146} case was, however, altered. [Sidenote: Much increased under the Normans. ] The claims of the Popesto temporal as well as to spiritual authority were by that timedefinite and authoritative; the Conquest itself had been undertaken bythe permission of Alexander II. , and the authority of the foreignconquerors, (as the Norman and early Plantagenet kings continued tobe, ) required foreign support. Hence the Bishops of Rome gained anamount of political influence in England which was thoroughlyunconstitutional, and which could probably never have been attained byany foreign power, had the English sovereigns immediately after theConquest felt themselves more firmly fixed upon the throne they hadseized. 

[Sidenote: Denationalizing of the Episcopate. ]

The appointment of foreigners to the highest ecclesiastical offices inEngland, was one means by which the Norman sovereigns sought to securethemselves against disaffection amongst their new subjects; but thereal result of this policy was to foster the claims of the Popes toreligious and secular supremacy in this country; for these foreignecclesiastics, though English Bishops, were not loyal subjects of theEnglish crown, nor were their interests identical with those of theirflocks. [Sidenote: Lanfranc. ] Thus the Italian Lanfranc, whenappointed Archbishop of Canterbury by William the Conqueror (A. D. 1070), did not hesitate to obey the summons of the Pope to Rome for thepurpose of receiving the pall, and thus acknowledging that he held hisBishopric from the Papal see. [Sidenote: St. Anselm. ] His successor, St. Anselm (A. D. 1093), also an Italian, and a man of great learningand holiness, was prepared to carry out a similar line of conduct; butthe covetous and irreligious tyrant, William Rufus, was seeking at{147} the same time to reduce Bishops to the state of mere nominees andvassals of the crown, and a long contest ensued[2]. The dispute wascarried on into the next reign; and at length, in A. D. 1107, acompromise was agreed upon, by which it was arranged that Bishopsshould receive investiture from the Pope, and, at the same time, takean oath of allegiance to the king. [Sidenote: St. Thomas ofCanterbury. ] Anselm's unflinching advocacy of Papal claims cost himyears of exile from his diocese, and much suffering; but, in thefollowing century, similar conduct involved still more seriousconsequences to St. Thomas ā Becket, the then Archbishop of Canterbury. The new question in dispute was the right of clerical offenders to betried in the spiritual courts, instead of coming under the jurisdictionof the civil power; but, in reality, it was only another form of theconstant endeavours of the English monarchs to free themselves from theforeign bondage which was, to some extent at least, self-imposed. Becket fell a martyr to his own sense of duty and the king'sdispleasure, A. D. 1170. 

[Sidenote: Roman influence strongest in England. ]

Papal usurpation in England reached its height when, in A. D. 1208, Innocent III placed the kingdom under an Interdict, for refusing toreceive as Archbishop of Canterbury his nominee, Stephen Langton, whowas unacceptable both to king and people; and soon after proceeded toexcommunicate John, and depose him from his throne. The king'scowardly and unconstitutional conduct in resigning his kingdom into the{148} hands of the Pope's legate (A. D. 1213), and receiving it again atthe end of three days as a tributary vassal of the Roman see, causedEngland to be looked upon for some years as only a fief of Rome. 

[Sidenote: Kept up by the Friars;]

In the reign of Henry III. (A. D. 1216-A. D. 1272), Roman influence inEngland was greatly sustained by the introduction of the PreachingOrders of Franciscan and Dominican Friars, who, being many of themforeigners, and all of them independent of any episcopal control, andsubject to Papal jurisdiction only, were very energetic in theirendeavours to maintain and extend the authority of the popedom. 

[Sidenote: by the habit of appeals;]

By this time, too, appeals to Rome against the decisions of Englishcourts had come to be a great bar to national independence. Suchappeals had been altogether unrecognized in England until the days ofStephen, and the practice was again forbidden in Henry II. 's reign bythe Constitutions of Clarendon (A. D. 1164); but, after Becket's death, the prohibition was once more repealed. It is easy to see howseriously this system of appeals must have delayed and interfered withthe regular course of justice in this country, and how capable it wasof being made a political engine in the hands of the Pope, or of thosewho held with him. The exemption of most of the monasteries from thesupervision of the Bishops was also a serious evil, interfering as itdid with the Divinely-appointed functions of the episcopacy, andopening the door to disorders which the distant and usurped authorityof the Popes had not power to remedy. 

[Sidenote: by large money payments. ]

In the fourteenth century another means was resorted to of increasingthe power of the Popes at expense of the monarch and people of {149}England, by the payment of annates, or first-fruits, on the appointmentof each Bishop; and so heavy did this burden become, that between A. D. 1486 and A. D. 1531, 160, 000 pounds (or about 45, 000 pounds a year ofour money) was paid to Rome under the head of annates. 

[Sidenote: All these evils borne under protest. ]

It is not to be supposed that these encroachments of a foreign powerwere accepted without a murmur or remonstrance on the part of thepeople of England; on the contrary, there was a constant undercurrentof discontent, which found occasional expression in some official orpopular protest. Such, on the one hand, was the statute of_praemunire_, passed in the reign of Richard II. (A. D. 1389), toprohibit Papal interference with Church patronage and decisions inecclesiastical causes; and, on the other, the irregular proceedings ofWickliffe and the Lollards, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which, though they eventually degenerated into seditious agitation, hadtheir rise in a feeling of opposition to Romish abuses and usurpations. This feeling was increased by the fearful state of profligacy intowhich Rome, and indeed all Italy, was plunged during the fifteenthcentury, which effectually destroyed the character formerly enjoyed bythe Roman Church, whilst it could not but affect the spiritual healthof the other Churches over which Rome exercised so wide an influence. Wiser and calmer men than Wickliffe saw the need of some reformation, though they questioned, and, as the event showed, rightly, the wisdomand the justice of the steps he took towards his object. Wickliffe'steaching in the fourteenth century had, in fact, little or nothing todo with the real Reformation of two hundred years later, except thatsome of his dangerous theories on political matters took deeper rootthan did his {150} religious peculiarities, and bore fruit in much ofthe unprincipled licence which was an unhappy, though by no means anessential, feature of the Reformation era. 

[Sidenote: English longings for reformation. ]

England, in common with the other nations of Europe, was willing tohope for great benefit from the councils of the Church held in thefifteenth century; and, at each of them, we find English Clergy makinggrave and urgent protests against the abuses which they saw aroundthem, and pleading for a return to purer and better ways. Thus, at theCouncil of Pisa, A. D. 1400, one of the English Bishops who attended itpresented a memorial which complained of the evils resulting from thewant of episcopal control over the monasteries, from the practice ofappeals to Rome, and from the ease with which dispensations fornon-residence and pluralities were obtained[3]. Again, at the Councilof Constance (A. D. 1415) a sermon was preached by Dr. Abendon, anOxford professor, which painted in very strong language the worldlinessand covetousness of the non-resident Bishops and Clergy; and theseprotests were followed up by an official appeal to the Pope for areformation, on the part of the Kings of France and England, A. D. 1425, as well as by official instructions given to the English deputationdespatched to the Council of Basle (A. D. 1431), to use their influencefor the same end. 

{151}

Section 2. _The Church of Ireland. _

The Church of Ireland was not, like the Church of Great Britain, towhich it owes its foundation, a prey to the depressing influences ofthe heathen Saxons; and, at the time of the mission of St. Augustine, the daughter was in some measure enabled to repay to the mother thebenefits which the British St. Patrick had conferred on the scene ofhis missionary labours. A constant intercourse was kept up between thenumerous monasteries of Ireland and those of Wales and Scotland, someof the abbeys in the latter countries being founded and frequented byIrishmen. [Sidenote: Early reputation of Ireland. ] Ireland, in thesixth and seventh centuries, had a great reputation for learning andmissionary zeal, both of which were called into play to help in thereconversion of a large portion of England, as well as to encourage theefforts of English Churchmen in retaining in the National Church thenational characteristics, with the loss of which it was threatened fromthe large admixture of foreign elements introduced by St. Augustine. [Sidenote: Irish missionary work in England and elsewhere. ] Nor weretheir missionary labours confined to England: they shared in the toilsand honours of the conversion of Germany, and are believed to havepenetrated as far as Iceland and Greenland. [Sidenote: Unjustifiableconduct of England. ] The aid given by Irish ecclesiastics in preservingthe religious liberty of the Church of England was ill requited in thetwelfth century, when the English, having taken possession of Ireland, forced the Irish Church to abandon her distinctive Liturgy by a decreepassed at the synod of Cashel, A. D. 1173. The state of anarchy andrestless discontent into which {152} Ireland was thrown by the presenceof English invaders, had a very unfavourable effect on the Church ofthe country, as had also the appointment of Englishmen to Irishbishoprics, and the consequent non-residence of the Bishops. It iscurious that the influence of English conquerors should have tended toextend Roman authority in Ireland, much as the policy of Normanconquerors produced the same effect in England. Before theReformation, the state of the Irish Church had become thoroughlyunsatisfactory, and was felt to be so by many of the Irish themselves. 

Section 3. _The Church of Scotland. _

[Sidenote: St. Columba. ]

The country of the Southern Picts, christianized by St. Ninian (see p. 76), having fallen into the hands of the heathen Anglo-Saxons, something like a fresh evangelization became necessary; and this wasaccomplished by the labours of St. Columba and his successors, who, having crossed over from Ireland (first about A. D. 560) for the purposeof preaching to the Northern tribes of Scotland, extended their missionsouthward. [Sidenote: Irish or Scotch missionaries in England. ] Themonastery of Iona, or Icolmkill, was for some time inhabited by Irishmissionaries, and became the chief source of missionary labour not onlyin Scotland, but also in the North of England, the Scotch or Irishmissionaries using all the weight of their influence to uphold theindependence of the National Church against the Roman tendencies of St. Augustine and his successors. St. Aidan (died A. D. 651), Bishop ofLindisfarne, or Holy Island, and the head of the mission for theconversion of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia, was a monk of Iona. Hisdiocese included {153} Yorkshire, and extended to Scotland; and, inconsequence of this, the Archbishops of York long laid claim toexercise metropolitan authority over the whole of North Britain. 

Roman influence gradually made itself felt in Scotland, in greatmeasure through the monastic system, which received a great impetusunder David I. (A. D. 1124-A. D. 1153). [Sidenote: Longings forreformation. ] The constant wars with England, and the confusion andbloodshed they entailed, had a very unfavourable effect on theprosperity and spiritual activity of the Church of Scotland, so thatfrom Scotland, no less than from England and Ireland, there arose thatcry for a return to older and purer ways, which ended in theReformation. 

[1] The native Clergy seem to have laboured chiefly in the north, wherethey were aided by Scotch and Irish missionaries. St. Aidan, Bishop ofLindisfarne, or Holy Island (who died A. D. 651), may be mentioned as asuccessful agent in the conversion of Northumbria and Mercia. 

[2] This dispute between St. Anselm and the English king was anotherform of the long strife between the Popes and the Emperors of the West, which is known as the War of Investitures. 

[3] Many of the Bishops, at this time, were foreigners, who lived awayfrom their sees, and did not even understand the native language oftheir flocks. The Kings of England and the Bishops of Rome seem tohave equally abused their powers of patronage in this respect. 

{155}

INDEX

 Abendon, Dr. , at Constance, 150 Abyssinia, Church of, 82 Africa, Church in, its early history, 80 ------, Church in, its mediaeval history, 120 Aidan, St. , 144, 152 Alban, St. , his martyrdom, 73 Albigenses, 122 Alexandria, Church of, 80 ------, School of, 81 Altar, its arrangements in Eastern and Early English Churches, 54 Ambrosian Liturgy, 123 "Angels" or Bishops, The Seven, 49, 52, 85 Annates, Payment of, 149 Anselm, St. , 146 Anti-Popes, 109 Antioch, Church of, 23, 28, 84 ------, St. Paul and St. Barnabas at, 28 "------ St. Peter's Throne at, " 28 ------ first sends Missionaries to heathen, 29 Antioch disturbed by disputes about circumcision, 34 Antioch, Probable visit of St. Peter to, 36 Apocalypse, The, 52 "Apology against Heathenism, " The first Christian, 32 "------ Judaism, " The first Christian, 20 Apostle, St. Matthias chosen to be, 8 Apostles, extent of their labours, 43 ------ trained by our Lord, 5 ------ taught by the Holy Ghost, 5, 6, 48 ------, Commission given to the, 6 ------ a living Gospel, 12 ------ Creed, an instance of traditional teaching, 13 ------ St. Paul and St. Barnabas complete the number of, 30 ------, how they differ from Bishops, 31 ------, their deaths, 43 Apostolic office, Nature of, 5 _n. _ ------ Doctrine, 12 ------ Fellowship, 18 Apostolical Succession in England, 144 Appeals from England to Rome, 148 Arabia, Church of, 86 Arianism, 68, 81 ------ in Greece, 79 ------ in France, 78 ------ of the Goths, 77 ------ prepares for Mahometanism, 88 Arles, Council of, 78 Armenia, Church of, 85 Athanasius, St. , 70, 72, 81 Athens, its intellectual pride, 39 ------, St. Paul at, 39 Augustine, St. , 82 ------, and Church of England, 142 Authority of the Jerusalem Council, 36 Avignon, The Popes at, 108, 123

 Baptism, Nature of, 2, 3, 4 ------, its necessity, 26 ------ of St. John different from that of our Lord, 7 _n. _ ------ of the Three Thousand, 10 Barchochebas, 83 Barnabas, St. , Conversion of, 11 ------, ordained Apostle, 30 Basil, St. , 111 Basle, Council of, 110 Becket, St. Thomas ā, 147 Benedictine rule, The, 111 Bible, The, in Middle Ages, 117 Bishop, Meaning of the word, 33 _n. _ ------ and Priest originally one office, 5 _n. _ Bishops, Consecration of, by the Apostles, 33 ------ rarely appointed at first, 46, 47 ------ especially subject to persecution, 65 Bohemia, Church of, 129 Boniface, St. , in Germany, 128 Books, Christian, kept hidden, 63 Bread, The Breaking of the, 7, 13 Breakspear, Nicholas, 106 Bulgaria, Conversion of, 136

 Canute, Conversion of, 145 Cashel, Synod of, 151 Catacombs, Use of the, 63 Corinthians, Heresy of the, 50 Chalcedon, Fourth Council of, 71 Charlemagne, 122, 124, 128 China, Church of, 87 Chrysostom, St. , 84 Church, Definition of, 1 ------, a Kingdom, 1 ------, the fruit of the Incarnation, 2 ------ the New Jerusalem, 8 ------, its gradual development, 47, 48 ------, its Divine Foundation proved by persecution, 62 Church, Growth of, unchecked by persecution, 62 Church Militant, a preparation for Church Triumphant, 4 ------, Outward recognition of the, 66 ------ Government modified by persecution, 65 Churches, Primitive, their arrangement, 53 Circumcision, Apostolic Decision respecting 35 ------, Wish to impose it on Converts, 27, 34 Columba, St. , 76, 152 Confirmation by the Apostles, 22, 24, 32, 37, 40 Continental Churches, their early history, 76-80 ------ in Middle Ages, 120 Constance, Council of, 110 Constantine, his English parentage, 73 ------, Conversion of, 66 ------, Council summoned by, 69 Constantinople, Creed of, 70 ------, Building of, 67, 80 ------, Second Council of, 70 ------, Fifth Council of, 71 ------, Sixth Council of, 71 ------, Fall of, 138 Conversion of the Three Thousand, 10 ------ Five Thousand, 11 ------ of Gentiles, Obstacles to, 29 Conversions after appointment of Diaconate, 17 Corinth, its luxury and unbelief, 40 ------, St. Paul at, 40 Cornelius, Conversion of, 25, 26 Council of the Church, First, 35 ------, Second, at Jerusalem, 46 Councils, General, their nature, 69 _n. _ ------ guided by the Holy Ghost, 36 Creed, Apostles', 13 Crusades, 113, 125 ------, Effect of, in the East, 137 Cyprian, St. , 82 Cyril, St. , 81

 Danes, Conversion of, 145 ------ and Church of England, 144 Deacon, Meaning of the word, 17 _n. _ Deacons, their work, 18 Decretals, The false Papal, 103 Denial of Cup to Laity, 119 Denmark, Church of, 133 Development, Intellectual, in the Church, 72 Diocesan system, its late development in Ireland, 75 Dioclesian, his false boasting, 62 Discipline, its strictness increased by persecution, 64 ------ relaxed, 68 Division between East and West, 95 Docetae, Heresy of the, 50 Domitian's persecution, 49, 59

 Eastern Church, 83 ------, its want of missionary zeal, 136 East and West, Division of, 94 Elders. _See_ Priests. Endowment of Church, 67 England, Church of, its early history, 73 ------, in Middle Ages, 142 ------, its Liturgy, 143 English Bishops at early Councils, 74 Ephesus, St. John at, 49 ------, Heresies at, 50 ------, Council of, 85 ------, Liturgy of, 124 ------, Third Council of, 71 Episcopacy, its permanent organization, 46 Ethiopia, Church of, 82 Eucharist, Daily, 7, 13 ------, the chief act of worship, 14, 56 Eucharistic Sacrifice, 2, 3, 13, 14, 56 Eutyches, his heresy, 71 Expectation, Days of, 7

 Fathers, value of their writings, 72 Ferrara, Council of, 110 Florence, Council of, 110 Forty Days, The teaching of the, 6 Foundation of Church, its Divine Origin, 4, 7 France, Church of, its early history, 77 ------, its mediaeval history, 124 ------, its Liturgy, 78 French Bishops from Asia, 77 French interference in Papal affairs, 107 Friars, Franciscan and Dominican, in England, 112, 148

 Gallican Liturgy, 124 General Councils, 69-71 Gentiles called into the Church, 26 Germany, Church of, 127 Gnosticism, Simon Magus the author of, 22, 51 ------ at Corinth, 40 ------ at Ephesus, 51 Gospels, Holy, great reverence shown to them, 54 "Grecians, " Who meant by, 16 Greek Church, What meant by, 80 _n. _ ------, its early history, 79 ------, its mediaeval history, 135 ------ under Turkish rule, 139 ------ Empire, End of, 139 Greeks, their liability to heresy, 79 Greenland, Conversion of, 135 Gregory, St. , 103 ------, and Church of England, 142 ------ VII. , 106 "Hebrews, " Definition of, 17 ------ and Grecians, Dispute between, 17 Hegira, the Mahometan Era, 89 _n. _ "Hellenists" or "Grecians, " Definition of, 16 Heresy, how opposed, 69 Hilary, St. , 102 Hildebrand, 105 Hincmar, 104 Hungary, Church of, 131

 Iceland, Church of, 133 Iconoclast controversy, 95, 121 Ignatius, St. , 84 Ignorance, Causes of, in Middle Ages, 115 Incense, its burning made a test, 59 ------, its use in heaven, 55 India, Church of, 87 Indulgences, 109, 118 Innocent III. , 107 Inquisition, Origin of, 107 Interdict, England placed under, 147 Investiture, Disputes about, 106, 147 Iona, Monastery of, 76 Ireland, Church of, its early history, 74 ------, its Liturgy and customs, 78, 151 ------, its mediaeval history, 151 ------, English influence in, 152 Irenaeus, St. , 78 Irish missionary labours, 151 Italy, Church of, its early history, 76 ------, its mediaeval history, 121 ------, its Liturgy, 123

 James, St. , the Great, his martyrdom, 27 ------ the Less, first Bishop of Jerusalem, 27, 35, 83 ------ presides at the First Council, 35 Jerusalem, The Apostolic Church in, 27, 83 ------, First Council at, 35 ------, Second Council at, 46 ------ taken by Saracens, 113 Jewish Worship, and scheme of Redemption, 4, 56 John, St. , his special work in the Church, 45, 47, 49 ------, his sacramental teaching, 47, 52 ------, his universal patriarchate, 51 ------, his writings, 51 ------, his Epistles, 52 ------, his Revelation, 52 ------, his martyrdom in will, 57 _n. _ ------, King, Unconstitutional conduct of, 147 Judicial powers first exerted in the Church, 16 Julian the Apostate, 83

 Koran, The, 90

 Labours, Apostolic, Extent of, 43 Lanfranc, 146 Langton, Stephen, 147 Lapland, Conversion of, 135 Latin, Use of, in Middle Ages, 116 Law, Christ's obedience to the, 15 Lay investiture, Disputes about, 106 Letters of Peace, 64 Lollards, The, 149 Love of the First Christians, 13 Luke, St. , joins St. Paul, 37

 Macedonius, his heresy, 70 Mahometanism, 88 ------ in Spain, 127 Martyrdom, seeking it forbidden, 63 Martyrs, Immense number of the, 61 Matthias, St. , chosen to be Apostle, 8 Mediaeval Church, its true state, 119 Meletian schism, 81 Middle Ages, Learning in, 117 ------, Religion in, 116 Ministry, Christian, Three-fold nature of, 2, 5 _n. _ ------, Jewish, replaced by Christian, 4 Miracles, Gift of, 11 Monastic Orders, The, 111 Monasticism, its good results, 112 Moors in Spain, 126 Moravia, Church of, 128 Mozarabic Liturgy, 127 Music, its use in heaven, 55

 Nero's persecution, 49 _n. _, 59 Nestorius, his heresy, 71, 82 Nicaea, Council and Creed of, 70 Nicolas of Antioch, 18 Ninian, St. , his mission in Scotland, 76 Norman influence on English Church, 146 Northmen, Conversion of, 124 Norway, Church of, 134

 Ordinances or traditions, 13 _n. _

 Paganism not revived by persecution, 62 Papal supremacy, its dangers, 101 ------ Supremacy in France, 125 ------ aggression, The first, 102 Parochial system, its late development in Ireland, 75 Parthia, Church of, 85 Passover replaced by Eucharist, 3 Patrick, St. , his mission to Ireland, 75 Paul, St. , Conversion of, 23. ------, his fitness for the Apostolate, 24 Paul, St. , ordained Apostle, 30 ------, the Chief Apostle of the Gentiles, 31 ------, his first Apostolic journey, 31 ------, his second Apostolic journey, 36 ------, his third Apostolic journey, 40 ------, a prisoner, 42 ------, in England, 73 ------, Martyrdom of, 43 Pelagianism, 78 Pella, Flight to, 83 Penances, their severity, 64 Pentecost, The Day of, 8 ------, The effects of, 9 Persecution, Causes of, 57 ------ under Herod Agrippa, 27 ------, Progress of, 11, 57 Persecutions, Nature and extent of, 61 ------, Table of, 60 ------, Effect of, on the Church, 63 ------ cease under Constantine, 66 Persia, Church of, 85 Peter, St. , results of his first Sermon, 10 ------, his special work in the Church, 45 ------, his first Apostolic journey, 24 ------, his imprisonment and deliverance, 28 ------, Martyrdom of, 43 Peter the hermit, 125 Pharisees, their opposition to the Gospel, 19 Philip, St. , the Deacon, 21 Pisa, Council of, 109 ------, English Bishops at, 150 Poland, Church of, 132 Pomerania, 130 Popes of the Middle Ages, 102-111 ------, Worldliness of the later, 110 ------ and anti-Popes, Disputes between, 109 Portugal, Church of, its early history, 78 ------, Church of, its mediaeval history, 126 Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, 77 Praemunire, Statute of, 149 Presbyters. _See_ Priests. Priest, Meaning of the word, 32 _n. _ Priests, First ordination of, 32 ------, their functions, 33 Prussia, Church of, 129 Purgatory, 118

 Reformation, what it was, 102 ------, Longings for, 123, 131, 150 Reunion between East and West attempted, 137 Ritual, Early Christian, 53 ------ checked by persecution, 63 ------, Heavenly, as shown in the Apocalypse, 53 ------ developed in prosperity, 67 Roman Empire, its decay, 77 Roman influence in Middle Ages, 118 ------ influence in Germany, 131 Rome, St. Paul at, 42 ------, its influence in extending the Faith, 67 Russia, Church of, its foundation, 80, 139 ------, Church of, its independence, 140

 Sacrifice, The Christian, 2, 3, 13, 14, 56 Sacrifices under the patriarchal dispensation, 3 ------ under the Mosaic dispensation, 3 Sadducees, their opposition to the Gospel, 12, 19 Samaria, Conversion of, 21 Sarum Use, 143 Satan, his enmity against the Church, 58, 62 Saul of Tarsus, 19 Saxon and English Church, 74, 142 Scandinavian Churches, 133 Schism, The first, in the Church, 16 ------ between East and West, 98 ------, The forty years', 109 Scotland, Church of, its early history, 75 ------, its mediaeval history, 152, 153 ------, Saxon influence in, 152 ------, Roman influence in, 153 Seven Churches, The, 84 Simon Magus, his unbelief and end, 21, 22 Sin, First deadly, in the Church, 16 Spain, Church of, its early history, 78 ------, Church of, its mediaeval history, 126 ------, Church of, its Liturgy, 127 Stephen, St. , ordained Deacon, 18 ------, his preaching and inspiration, 19 ------, results of his Martyrdom, 21 Supremacy, Papal claims to, 100 Sweden, Church of, 133

 Table of "Fields of Apostolic Labour, " 44 ------ Persecutions, 60 ------ Councils, 72 Teaching of the Church, Reserve in, 49, 63 ------ its gradual development, 49 Temple Services, Attendance of the Apostles on, 13, 15 Temporal power of the Popes, its rise, 100 "Theological Gospel, " The, 47 Theotokos, 71 Timothy, St. , his circumcision, 37 ------, Bishop of Ephesus, 33, 41 Titus, St. , Bishop of Crete, 33, 41 Tongues, The gift of, 9, 11 Tradition, its value, 13 "Traditores, " 64 Turkey, European Church in, its early history, 79 ------ in Europe, Church in, its medieval history, 135 Turks, their inroads in the East, 138

 "Universal Bishop, " Title of, 95 Universities in Middle Ages, 117

 Vernacular Bibles in Middle Ages, 116 Visigoths, Arianism of, 79

 Waldenses, 122 Wales the refuge of British Clergy, 74 Wickliffe, 149 Worship, Jewish and Christian, 3