III. MODERN CHRISTIANITY; Luther to the present time, 1517-1880.
1. Age of Protestant reform and papal reaction; Luther to peace of Westphalia, 1517 1048. Protestant churches in Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Scotland, America; Puritans, Jesuits, Jansenists; massacre of St. Bartholomew; Protestants ban ished from Bohemia; thirty years' war; treaty of Westphalia promising religious tolera tion.
2. Age of struggle for religious liborty; peace of Westphalia to the French and English wars in America, 1648-1750. Flight of Huguenots from France; non-conformists driven from their livings in England; growth of Greek church in Russia; increase of Protest antism in American colonies.
3. Age of revolution, conflict, and progress; 1750-1880. American independence, with separation of church and state; French revolution from absolute monarchy through democracy and imperialism to a republic; general uprising of the people, and advance in civil and religious liberty; growth of the United States, war of the rebellion, aboli tion of slavery, revival of evangelical religion ; conflict of Christianity with various forms of irreligion and secularism—English deism, French infidelity, German rationalism, materialism; free church of Scotland; disestablished churches in Ireland; growth of ritualism; papal infallibility declared; bible societies, steam navigation, railroads, tele graphs, journalism; improvement of common schools, colleges, technical schools; extension of Christianity over the world.
Time SOURCES of ecclesiastical history are, first, the written; comprising acts of councils, creeds, liturgies, hymns, church laws, papal bulls, and encyclical letters, writ ings of the fathers, schoolmen, reformers, and anti-reformers; second, the monumental, including crosses, crucifixes, pictures, vestments, furniture, coins, churches, chapels; some of this class are partly written, as inscriptions on walls, pictures, tablets, and tombs. He who is thoroughly familiar with the imagery of the catacombs will sym
pathize more fully with the heart of the early church, during the period of persecution, than he would be able to do after the profoundest study of books alone. The basilicas, modeled after the grand secular edifices of Greece and Rome, illustrate the external enthronement of Christianity; the Byzantine churches record the splendor of the impe rial age; the Gothic cathedrals are trophies of mediaeval glory; those of the renaissance are memorials of the attempt to make pagan culture live again in Christian times. The ecclesiastical historian, besides general intelligence, culture, and learning, should possess the critical and ju4icial faculty, that he may discriminate between conflicting testimonies, and may interpret correctly the witness which he accepts. He should have an insight into speculative ,thought, mettipliy,sical_ distinctions and ethical, ideas; should be acquainted with,Nilinan nature, scientifieally`lind practically; shoUld be in sympathy with the spirit of Christ, as exhibited in the New Testament, and have, in his inmost being, an experience of spiritual truth. His style, in addition to all other attainable good qualities, should present a brilliant panorama rather than a lifeless schedule; should acquire a majesty worthy of the movement of the divine idea through the ages which he unfolds; and should throb with human sympathy as he narrates the endless story of sorrow and fear and hope, spiritual death, and spiritual life.