Main Index

History of the Christian Church
by Henry C. Sheldon, Boston University
Thomas Y. Crowell and Company, New York; ©1895
With some revisions and type-setting by Sharon Mooney (2005)
All variations on the original Sheldon History volumes, including text revisions, greek art files associated with the text, and revised format by Sharon Mooney

Early Church, Volume One

THE EARLY CHURCH
Preface
Introduction

I. Nature of the Christian Church
II. Periods
Three divisions in the history of the Christian Church, with their subdivisions or periods.
III. The Roman Empire As Related to the Introduction of Christianity
Condition of immorality throughout the Roman Empire prior to the emergence of Christianity. Frivolous lifestyles of the Roman emperors and the inhumanity Roman entertainment. Sheldon touches on slavery, divorce and infanticide within the Roman Empire, and the reasons behind the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor.
IV. The Jews of the Dispersion
The population and location of Jews at the period related to the Early Church. Henry Sheldon discusses the persecution and religious implications for the Jews to 30 A.D.

FIRST PERIOD (30-313)
Chapter I : The Church Under the Apostles

I. Credibility of the Apostolic History
Comments on differences of personal beliefs between the Apostles and possible error in the Gospels.
II. Founding and Successive Eras of the Apostolic Church
Some of the events which occured between Christianity's beginnings in Judaism to an independent Christianity.
III. The Chief Apostles
Tracing what is known of the lives of the Apostles Peter, Paul, John, and one of the Apostles whose mysterious identity is in controversy, known only as James, "The Just".
IV. Charisms of the Apostolic Age
The recorded decline in miracles, speaking in tongues and prophecy following the Age of the Apostles.
V. Apostolic Church Government
Comments on the positions in Church government, apostles, prophets, evangelists, presbyters or bishops and deacons, and the role of women in the early church.

Chapter II : Struggle of Christianity With Heathenism

I. Spread of Christianity in the Heathen Empire
Statistics from historical records on the spread of Christianity in the early period of the Christian Church by geography and population. Quoting Tertullian, Christianity had became a force to reckon with.
II. The Attacks of Heathen Power
Christianity was yet illegal, the persecution and Martyrdom of Christians by Roman Emperors.
III. Attacks of Heathen Authors
The critics of Christianity before the Roman Empire legalized the religion. Including writers such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, Lucian and Celsus.
IV. Christian Apology
Early Christian Apologetics, as it arose to counter criticism of Christianity and Scripture, during the time of the early Church. Sheldon explores several apologists during the era, including Quadratus, Aristo, Miltiades, Apolinaris of Hierapolis, Theophilus, Justin Martyr, Origen, Athenagoras, Minicius Felix and Clement of Alexandria.

Chapter III: Heresies and Christian Theology

I. Classification of Heresies
Defining Heresies in the Early Church.
II. The Judaistic Heresies
Heresies within early Christianity which sprang from Judaism and the Mosaic Law.
III. Gnosticism
Insightful look back into early Christianity and the causes of Gnostic heresies. Covering the theological views of Gnostics and the men who were responsible for the various systems of Gnosticism.
IV. Manichæism
Exploring the early Christian heretical doctrines known as Manichaeism, which was a mixture of Christianity and Zoastrianism. Persecuted in the Diocletian era, and refuted by Church fathers, this teaching gained followers well into the sixth century.
V. Monarchianism
The Heresy in early Christianity of anti-trinitarian theology.
VI. The Catholic Theologians and Theology
The rise of Catholic theology and refutation of heretical doctrines, the prominent theologians which shaped Catholic and Christian thought in the early era of Church History.

Chapter IV: Church Constitution and Discipline

I. The Clerical Hierarchy
Exploring the history behind the evolution of Catholicism and its hierarchy of clerical positions.
II. Counsels, Canon and Constitution
Covering the Councils and the stringent regulations that were adapted for admission into the cleric during the early church, including rules regarding sexual conduct.
III. Discipline
Theological views on ex communication and confession of sin in the early church.
IV. Schisms Connected with Questions of Discipline. Montanism
Montanism and its influence over the church in the Early Period. The founder and followers of Montanism, and how it spread throughout the near east, taking on new names and ultimately peculiarities were adapted by the Catholic Church.

Chapter V: Christian Worship and Life

I. Sacred Times
Sacred festivals of the Early Church and their origin including the love feast, and the change from the Jewish Saturday Sabbath to the observance of the Lord's Day, which took place on Sunday.
II. Ordinances
Origins of Baptism, and Christening, the sprinkling of water to baptize converts to Christianity in the Early Church.
III. Main Features of Christian Life
Early Christian lifestyle, including popular views on sexual relations, marriage, virginity, celibacy. How Christians viewed slavery in the period of the early church, and views on fasting and treatment of strangers, poor and the widow.
IV. The Catacombs and their Testimony
Archaeological and historical insight into Christian thought during early Christianity when burials of the dead took place inside catacombs. Historian Sheldon discusses when catacombs were commonly used, and the last known recorded date of a burial taking place within catacombs. He discusses symbolic icons found to decorate the catacombs and their possible meaning.
V. Men of Marked Individuality
The lives of Tertullian and Origen, describing the approximate date of birth and an overview on their vastly different lives and personalities.

SECOND PERIOD (313-590)
Introduction
The shift from a pagan majority to a Christian majority in the second period of the Early Church.
Chapter I : The Victory of Christianity over Heathenism, and the alliance with the state.

I. The Administration of Constantine and his Sons
The Emperor Constantine, who overtook the throne and legalized Christianity in the Early history of the Christian Church. Details from historians on the execution of Constantine's wife and sons. Upon the death of Constantine, his sons Constantius, Constantine the Younger, and Constans overtook the Empire and the history of what became of it.
II. Julian the Apostate
Summary of the life of Julian, Emperor, half brother of Constantine and his short reign over the Roman Empire. Julian's abandonment of Christianity, and belief that it would pass away and heathenism return to its original greatness in the Empire.
III. The Policy of the Succeeding Emperors
The Emperors who followed Julian on the throne and their use of power toward Christianity. Includes the account of Hypatia of Alexandria and her brutal murder by Christians, and underlying political motives.
IV. Heathen and Christian Apology
Early Christian Apologetics, as it arose to counter criticism of Christianity and Scripture, during the time of the early Church. Exploring various books written by the early Christian fathers.
V. Nature and Results of the Alliance Between Church and State
As the Christian Church gained influence throughout the Roman Empire, it began to gain political influence. New-found wealth was readily available to the clergy, and many claimed conversion to Christianity for personal benefit. Death penalties were inflicted upon some deemed heretics. Severe punishment upon women encouraged and to supersede laws offering special protection afforded to women.

Chapter II : Christianity on and Beyond the Borders of the Empire
The growth of Christendom in the early Church on and beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Documents some of the martyrs, and the life of St. Patrick in Ireland.
Chapter III : Doctrinal Controversies

I. Causes and Features
Insight into the zealous dogmatism of the early church and its divisions on theological doctrines. Historians account some of the hostilities of the common person, swept away in controversies over doctrinal interpretation.
II. The Arian Controversy
The Arian Controversy which held the belief that Christ was to be esteemed neither truly divine nor truly human, neither God nor man; but a being intermediate between the two. Arianism was considered a heretical doctrine and was driven out by the Church.
III. The Christological Controversies
Further controversies of the early Christian Church on the person of Christ.
IV. The Origenistic Controversies
Athanasius, Epiphanius, Theophilus and other prominent figures in the early church; supporters and opposition to Origen's doctrines.
V. Controversies on Anthropology
The controversy which arose with the monk Pelagius from Britain. His doctrinal system were a denial of inherited corruption in the moral nature of man, a strong assertion of the freedom of the will, and a decided emphasis upon man's ability to work out his own salvation as opposed to his radical dependence upon divine grace.

Chapter IV : Church Constitution and Discipline

I. Election, Education, and Celibacy of the Clergy
The introduction of bishops voting, and celibacy in the clergy.
II. Developments in the Different Ranks of the Clergy
Early Christian deaconesses and the regulations set upon them, the institution of the papacy and power invested into Bishops.
III. Discipline
Penalties for crimes, including murder. The institution of Confession.
IV. Schisms Connected with Discipline
Schisms in the early Christian Church and some of the wanton violence and senseless deaths resulting from spiritual zealotry.

Chapter V : Worship and Life

I. Sacred Times, Rites and Services
Sacred festivals of the Early Church and their origins, including festivals to Mary, the mother of Jesus, the change from the Jewish Saturday Sabbath to the observance of the Lord's Day, which took place on Sunday.
II. Veneration of Saints, Relics, and Images
Relics worshipped by early Christians. Legends of healings by touching divine relics. Worship of martyrs and saints in early Christianity.
III. Miracles of Saints and Relics
Miracles in the early Church and deceptive inventions of the miraculous.
IV. General Tone of Christian Life
The Early Church and corrupted moral behavior of the times, comments by early church fathers.
V. Monasticism
Monasticism marked a move toward alienation of the world and its wealth. Extreme lifestyles and trends in early Christianity, including self-inflicted torture and solitude.
VI. Representative Men
Tracing lives of early prominent men of influence within Christianity. Athanasius, Basil and the two Gregories, Chrysostom, Augustine, Theodoret, Jerome and Ambrose.

Chapter VI : Products in the Artistic Spirit in the Early Church

I. Hymns and Liturgies
The introduction and spread of Hymns and Liturgies in the Early Christian Church.
II. Architecture
Architecture in Early Christianity, the majestic buildings erected as houses of worship; influences on Architectural design.
III. Painting
Artistic expression through painting and sculpture in early Christianity, and changes over time on how artists chose to portray Jesus.

Appendix

I. Catholic Creeds
The Catholic Creeds in Early Christianity.
II. The Ignatian Problem
Fourteen arguments in favor of the Seven Epistles of the Middle Form as the genuine work of Ignatius.
III. The Placing of Hippolytus
Utilizing historical documents to attempt defining the rank and residence of Hippolytus.
IV. The Hatch-Harnack Theory of Early Christian Organization
Theory proposed in 1880 by Edwin Hatch to explain how the Administration evolved within early Christianity, and administration of charities.
V. Roman Bishops and Emperors
Table listing Bishops and Emperors who arose in the Roman Empire, by name and date of ascension.

Mediaeval Church, Volume Two

Introduction

THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH

FIRST PERIOD (590-1073)

Chapter I
The Barbarian Tribes
Chronicle of events during the Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire and the downfall of the Roman Empire.

Chapter II
Extension of Christian Territory by Missionaries
During the Mediaeval period, the first Christian Missionaries who spread the Christian religion into heathen territories and an end of the Barbarian invasions.

Chapter III
Limitation of Christian Territory by Mohammedanism
Mohammed, and by what means he felt distinguished as a prophet, including commentary on the Koran, its influence and impact on civilization.

Chapter IV
Civil Patrons of Christianity
On the life of Charlemagne, Charles Martel and Pepin who restored a certain amount of order and dignity to the peoples of Europe following the Barbarian Invasions and the rise of feudalism.

Chapter V
Controversies

Chapter VI
Church Constitution and Discipline
I. The Relations between Church and State
II. The Clergy in General
III. The Papacy
IV. Discipline

Chapter VII
Worship and Life

SECOND PERIOD (1073-1294)

Introduction
Chapter I
Political Status of the Principle Countries of Europe
Chapter II
The Papal Theocracy and other Features of Church Constitution
I. Gregory VII and his more immediate successors
II. Alexander III. and Thomas Becket
III. Innocent III
IV. The Papacy from Innocent III to Boniface VIII
V. Various Features of Church Constitution

Chapter III
The Crusades
The Crusades were the first great enterprise which enlisted the common zeal of the Christian nations of Europe. All classes of society, from the king down to the peasant, sent forth the armed pilgrims who were to reclaim the holy places of the East. Hundreds of thousands, possibly several millions, of men were sacrificed in these expeditions.

Chapter IV
Monasticism
I. The Cistercians and their Great Representative
II. The Mendicant Orders
THIRD PERIOD (1294-1517)

Introduction

Chapter I
Chief Political Developments

Chapter II
Popes and Councils

Chapter III
Representatives of Criticism and Reform

Chapter IV
The Waldenses
The Waldenses of the Medieval Church. The origin of this sect, and their founder Peter Waldo.

Chapter V
John Wycliffe and his followers
John Wycliffe, Biblical translator, his views as a reformer, his influence upon the Christian Church, and the tormentuous death suffered by Sir John Oldcastle/Cobham.

Chapter VI
John Huss and the Hussites
The life of John Huss, and his influence on Christian History.

Chapter VII
The Mystics
Chapter VIII
Savonarola
Chapter IX
The Mediæval Greek Church
Chapter X
Mediæval Hymns, Architecture, and Painting
I. Hymns
II. Architecture
III. Painting
Appendix
I. The Seven Sacraments
II. Genuineness of the Famous Bull of Adrian IV
III. Sorcery and Witchcraft
IV. Popes and Emperors

Modern Church Part One, Volume Three

THE MODERN CHURCH--PART ONE

FIRST PERIOD (1517-1648)

Introduction

Chapter I Humanism and its Relation to the Reformation
The Renaissance era and Humanism in relation to Christianity, and its key figures at the beginning of the Reformation.

Chapter II The Empire at the Dawn of the Reformation
The empire becomes a mixture of monarchy and confederacy, the peasant revolts, the crumbling system of feudalism.

Chapter III The Reformation in Germany and the Scandinavian Countries

I. Luther till the Leipzig Disputation
The life of Luther, his formative years and aptitude toward learning and teaching. Many of the influences which shaped the life of Luther into a father of the Reformation.

II. Luther from the Opening of the Leipzig Disputation to the Close of the Diet of Worms
Luther lays the foundation for the Reformation, leading to the Diet of Worms in which Luther is condemned as a heretic.

III Luther and the German Reformation from the Diet of Worms to the Close of the Diet of Augsburg
Further struggles between the Catholic Church and the Protestants. Living in seclusion, Luther accomplishes translation of the Bible.

IV The German Reformation from the Diet of Augsburg to the Death of Luther
The Reformation takes hold on the majority of German population. The sexual ruthlessness following in its wake.

V. The German Reformation from the Death of Luther to the Death of Melanchthon
The tensions increase between the Church and Protestants. The lifetime accomplishments of Melanchthon.

VI. The Reformation in the Scandanavian Countries
The effect of the Reformation on Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The leading figures of influence during the Reformation in Scandinavia. Fluxuations between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism by the rulers.

Chapter IV The Reformation in Switzerland

I. The Reformation in German Switzerland
Contemporary to Luther, Swiss Reformer Zwingli and his peculiar doctrines, including Bullinger and his influence on churches abroad.

II. The Reformation in French Switzerland
William Farel, the pioneer of Reformation in French Switzerland. Calvin's arrival, and the severe penalties befalling those who disobeyed Calvin's strict code of conduct. The trial of Michael Servetus.

III. Bonds of Union Between the Reformed Churches in Switzerland and Elsewhere
Efforts by Bucer to establish union between the Swiss and the Lutheran churches prove uneventful.

Chapter V Protestantism in France

I. The Reformation in France during the Reign of Francis I
Tremendous persecution by Catholics upon Protestants in France during the reign of Francis. Protestantism begins its spread through France.

II. The Reformation in France during the Reign of Henry II
Persecution and Martyrdom of Protestant Christian heretics, including France's own political officials, with hope to model the system inquisition in Spain.

III. Protestantism in France from the Death of Henry II to the Accession of Henry IV
Sixteen year old Francis II, those who usurped authority over the throne, charges of treason and executions. Massacres of Huguenots, and their iconoclastic uprising, leading to the civil wars in France. After three civil wars, a peace was concluded in 1570, only to be betrayed by the Queen, Catharine de Medici. The Vatican's reaction to the massacres.

IV. Protestantism in France from the Accession of Henry IV to the Fall of La Rochelle Henry IV., a Roman Catholic grants religious freedom to the Huguenots, and murdered by a zealot. Henry's throne succeeded by Louis XIII.

Chapter VI Protestantism in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands

I. Protestantism in Italy
Publications by Protestants begin circulating in Italy, disguised as works that even made their way into the Vatican and read by adherents of the Catholic religion. Protestantism begins gaining support. Inquisition begins against those suspected of heresy. Some of the Italian martyrs and the cruel means employed for execution.

II. Protestantism in Spain
Writings of Luther make their way into Spain. The New Testament is translated into Spanish. The inquisition begins to stamp out Protestantism. The barbaric means employed to silence the movement and its adherents.

III. Protestantism in the Netherlands
Historians estimate death toll of executions at hands of Roman Catholics. Iconoclastic rebellions, trials for heresy, and religious bigotry increases. Tensions between Christian denominations mount, and talk of war.

Chapter VII Protestantism in Great Britain and Ireland

I. The Reformation in England under Henry VIII
Henry VIII.'s reign, and controversial, unlawful marriage. The King's desire to shift loyalty from the Pope, to himself. Tyndale's work to translate the Bible into English and distribution thereof to the common person. England was set in such a state, that (quoting) those who were against the Pope were burned, and those who were for him were hanged.

II. The Reformation in England during the Reign of Edward VI
Reformation takes hold in England. The statute under which heretics had been burned since the rise of the Lollards is abolished. The Book of Common Prayer, a somewhat more Protestant influence, is introduced.

III. The Roman Catholic Restoration in the Reign of Mary
Queen Mary Tudor and Philip II., both of Spanish lineage, united in marriage, re-opening the alliance with Rome, and a fierce crusade against the Protestants is rekindled.

IV. Protestantism in England during the Reign of Elizabeth
Elizabeth's toleration of Protestant creeds draws the anger of the Pope and Roman Catholics in Europe. Assasination attempts on the Queen and those condemned as conspirators.

V. The Reformation of Scotland
Romish religion made a penal offence. John Knox on Queen Mary of Scots. The Queen becomes center of Roman Catholic plots, leading to imprisonment. Escaping to England, she spends her life as a prisoner.

VI. Protestantism in England and Scotland under James I. and Charles I.
Revised translation of the Bible issued during King James reign, and ready for publication in 1611. Furtherance of toleration toward Protestantism, and grievances of the Puritans.

VII. Protestantism in Ireland
Futile attempts to bring reform in Ireland, in either political and religious thought. Ireland, in its seclusion experienced little change from the mediaeval system.

Chapter VIII The Roman Catholic Church in the Time of the Reformation

I. The Popes and the Council
The Political Climate during the Reformation. The Council of Trent, measures to unify Roman Catholic forces, and a revival of Romanism sweeps through Europe.

II. The Inquisition
Events which occurred during the Inquisition, including the trial of Galileo.

III. The Jesuits
The rise and organization of the Jesuits. Devoted to Roman Catholicism, the Jesuit Society grew into the thousands and met with resistance from even the Roman Church, due to deceptive practices.

IV. Clerical Celibacy
Statistics of Priests who strayed from their vow of celibacy, and participated in concubinage.

Chapter IX The Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia
Events, religious and political that lead up to the war, the devastating effects of the war on Europe, and the peace process.

SECOND PERIOD (1648-1720)

Chapter I. France and other Countries under Roman Catholic Rule

I. Louis XIV. and his Court
Louis XIV., King of France and his lavish lifestyle of excess and adultery. Rome, as well as all other outside powers exercised no controlling influence on the affairs of state.

II. Chief Factors in the Religious and Intellectual Life of the Gallican Church
Vincent de Paul's charitable work. Bossuet's influential sermons. Blaise Pascal's defense of Jansenists vs. Jesuits. Madame Guyon, 17th century prophetess, Fénelon's writings on God.

III. Persecution of the Protestants in France
The monarchy of Louis XIV. was intolerant, a uniform system of faith and worship imposed leading to violent persecution throughout France with thousands of Hugeunots recanting and exiled.

IV. Gleanings from Various Countries under Romish Rule
The intolerance of religion was in full force and in one spectacle eighteen Jews and one Morisco were burned alive. The purchase of souls from purgatory. An overview of the political and religious powers in the last half of the seventeenth century.

Chapter II Great Britain and Ireland

I. The Era of Cromwell and the Commonwealth
The political system of Cromwell allows freedom for many Protestants, renewed prosperity, with the exception to the Quakers which Cromwell made no special pains to lend protection.

II. The Era of the Restored Stuarts
Charles II. and James receive the crown, and the nation is lulled into a state of moral laxity, followed by further intolerance and persecution.

III. The Reigns of William III and Anne
Developments which bring a greater tolerance toward Protestant denominations, including John Locke's Letters concerning Toleration. The political union of England and Scotland.

Chapter III Protestantism in Germany and the neighboring Countries

I. Individual Exceptions to the Current Dogmatism
Controversial fever broke out among German Protestants before the death of Luther, leading to a lengthy reign of dogmatism. Some of the influential authors and their writings during this period.

II. Calixtus and the Syncretists
Calixtus, tolerant toward adherents of all denominations sought to establish some common ground between the divided denominations.

III. Spener and the Pietists
Spener's Pietism was one example of Christian reform, awakening earnest study of scripture. On the whole, Pietism was a blessing to Germany and to Christendom, though teaching abstinence from worldly merriments.

IV. Zinzendorf and the Moravians
Zinzendorf is another note-worthy figure in reformation history. Details of the Moravians' peculiarities; some being the lot, love-feasts, feet-washings, and the fraternal kiss at the communion.

V. Tenor of Protestant History in Sweden, The Netherlands, and Switzerland
The Dutch Republic and some theological developments during the period, such as the Labadists, and the Mennonites, granted full toleration in 1626, bearing similar practices with Baptists and Quakers.

Chapter IV The Eastern Church
Events in Church History which took shape in Russia. Cyril Lucar adopts creed substantially identical to reformed theology. Philip, exalted to martyrdom for reproval of Ivan the Terrible for his cruelties.

Modern Church Part Two, Volume Four

THE MODERN CHURCH--PART TWO

Chapter I Great Britain and Ireland in the Eighteenth Century

I. The Nonjurors
Nonjurors, consisted of men refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty which was required of those holding clerical, academic, or other offices.

II. The Deistical Controversy
Lord Edward Herbert seeks to find essential tenets of true religion, followed by numerous writers who began questioning portions of the Bible and intepretation.

III. The Moral and Religious Condition of England on the Eve of the Great Revival
The relaxation of the law against witchcraft, and a flourishing slave-trade went on, with scarce opposition. Moral decline preceding the Great Revival.

IV. The Great Revival

1. Beginnings of Methodism
The background of John and Charles Wesley, and details on other key individuals who were involved with the Great Revival, with record of violence by mob attacks on the Methodists.

2. Whitefield and Calvinistic Methodism
The life and background of George Whitefield, co-founder of the Methodist denomination. Calvinistic Methodism's influence on England and Wales following Whitefield's death.

3. Charles Wesley and Methodist Hymnology
Charles Wesley was known for his unique gift with sacred poetry. On the lives of John and Charles Wesley, his hymns and mournful passing.

4. John Wesley and Organized Methodism
The rise of organized Methodism, a thing Wesley expresses having not planned. Life of John William Fletcher. Relationship with the Church of England, doctrines of Methodism, and hierarchal positions within the clergy. Wesley's support of the anti-slavery movement and denounce of liquor traffic.

5. Results of the Revival
Institution of Sunday Schools, the work of Bible and Tract distribution, the impact of the Great Revival upon the common people, --in a time of French revolutionary zeal, and bonfires of Bibles honoring Paine.

V. English Dissenters
Gradual change in law affects trends in popular doctrines. Laws against Roman Catholics are relaxed, and the resulting outbreak of intolerance. Laws affecting the variegated denominations, and notable figures shaping Protestant Hymnology.

VI. Principal Developments in Scotland
Events leading up to formation of the United Presbyterian Church. David Hume's skeptical works. A woman burned for witchcraft, 1727, Christmas denounced as superstition.

VII. Ireland from the Revolution to the Union (1691-1800)
The sorrow of Roman Catholics under hostile law, and the oppression of the English against the citizens in Ireland. Laws prohibiting marriage of Roman Catholics and Protestants, position of influence, education, property rights.

Chapter II America in the Colonial Era

I. The Colonies in their Political Relations
Columbus' discovery. The Pope, a Spaniard immediately issues a bull, declaring the Spanish as primary owners of new land. European conquests in the American continents. Slavery, Abolitionists, the colonies and political relation to Europe.

II. The Colonies in their Relations to the Natives
Religious ceremonies and spiritual beliefs of Native Americans, Inca and Maya. Slavery, oppression, massacre and abuses endured by the Natives by the new settlers in America.

III. Roman Catholic Establishments
The burning of Aztec Libraries. Santa Rosa, patron saint of Lima. Inquisition in the South American continent by Catholics. The story of the miraculous Virgin of Guadalupe.

IV. Roman Catholics in the English Colonies
Colonial law governing restrictions and tolerance toward Catholics, Unitarians and Jews. Details on Maryland having passed the act of tolerance in 1649.

V. Church of England Establishments, and the Founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church
Early American colonies' ties to the Church of England, including levied taxation. Laws and penalties for those failing to attend church, including the death penalty.

VI. Congregational Establishments
Various American colonies, their sentiments toward the Church of England. Persecution against variegated denominations. The Salem Witch trial, Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening.

VII. Non-Established Communions

1. Presbyterians
During the eighteenth century, the Presbyterians were in small numbers and yet to become an official. The transformation and events which leads to the establishment of the Presbyterian Church.

2. Baptists
Establishment of the first Baptist congregations through the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The growth of the Baptist denomination, the effect of Calvinism, and denominations breaking off from Baptist faith.

3. Quakers or Friends
Persecution and territorities populated by the Quakers in the United States, their code and beliefs.

4. Methodists
The founders of the American-Methodist Church and establishments of congregations, and growth in the the Revolutionary war era.

5. Lutherans
Beginning with the first Lutherans, Swedes who settled in Delaware, Carolinas and Georgia. Overview of events for the Lutheran church in the Revolutionary War era.

6. Universalists
Organized Universalism traced back to John Murray. Supporters of Restorationism, and pecualiarities of the Universalist creed.

VIII. Questions of Morals and Reform
Colonial Sabbath decision. Opposition to theatre, inhumane conditions of prisons. Alcohol consumption and prohibition. Quakers first in abolition of slavery, followed by Methodists and Baptist Association of Virginia.

Chapter III
France and Other Roman Catholic Countries of Continental Europe from the Death of Louis XIV to the Overthrow of Napoleon I (1715-1815)

I. The Political Movement in France
Hunger and disillusionment provoke the French into political discontent. Many die of want, the King sent to the scaffold. In midst of national upheaval, Napoleon Bonaparte becomes ideal for imperial rule over France.

II. The Skeptical Movement
Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau and Guenée who shaped the era.

III. The French Church Prior to the Revolution
Controversies around the bull Unigenitus. Christian burial rites refused, to reject the bull was graver than 'the primal sin of Adam'. Jansenists and an overabundance of daily miracles, such as convulsions.

IV. The French Church in the Revolutionary Era
V. The French Church in the Napoleonic Era
VI. Chief Events in Austria, Italy, and Spain

Chapter IV
Germany and the Neighboring Protestant States (1720-1821)
I. General Glance at Germany
II. The Wolfian Era
III From Kant to Schleiermacher
IV. Chief Events in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Switzerland

Chapter V
The Russian Church (1725-1825)

Modern Church Part Three, Volume Five

THE MODERN CHURCH--PART THREE

Chapter I
Protestantism in Continental Europe Since Schleiermacher and the Union
I. Main Phases of the Political Movement in Germany
II. The Church in Germany viewed principally in its relation to the State
III. Prominent Developments in German Theology
IV. Outlines of Protestant History in Various Portions of the Continent

Chapter II
Romanism in Continental Europe Since The Fall of the First Napoleon
I. Mediæval Tendencies in the Sphere of Worship
II. Papal Absolutism and Infallibility
III Ecclesiastico-Political Matters

Chapter III
Great Britain and Ireland in the Nineteeth Century
I. General Survey of the Religious Field in England
II.Tractarianism, or Ritualism
III The Broad Church
IV. Some Facts Respecting English Dissenters
V. Church Polity and Religious Thought in Scotland
VI. Ireland
VII. Phases of Science and Philosophy in Britain

Chapter IV
America Since the Colonial Era.
I. The Expirament of a Free Church in the United States
II. Denominational Movements and Crises in the United States
1. Unitarians and Universalists
2. Congregationalists
3. Presbyterians and Reformed
4. Methodists
5. Baptists and Disciples
6. Episcopalians
7. Lutherans
8. Quakers
9. Roman Catholics
10. Mormons
11. Socialistic Communities
12. Denominational Statistics
III. Outlines of Canadian Church History
IV. Principle Developments in Spanish America and Brazil

Chapter V
The Eastern Church

Chapter VI
A Glance at Protestant Missions

Conclusion

Appendix
I. The Bull Unigenitus on the Reading of the Scriptures
II. Popes and Emperors

Preface

PREFACE

THIS CHURCH HISTORY is designed to occupy a middle position between a mere compendium and those ponderous works which by their very mass are discouraging to all but professional investigators. It would have been very easy to have doubled the bulk of the production, but we are confident that in so doing we should not have increased its practical value.

Considerable attention has been paid to the demands of historical perspective. By passing lightly over subordinate themes, we have endeavored to secure space in connection with important topics for the presentation, not merely of conclusions, but also of the grounds of conclusions.

The work is not exclusively for professional students. We apprehend, in fact, that it has some special adaptations to the intelligent layman. At any rate, we have written with the conviction that a good knowledge of church history lies close to the vocation of every earnest-minded citizen. For one thing, it is very desirable that he should have in view such object lessons on the relations of Church and State as are furnished by a candid review of the Christian centuries.

A somewhat larger space would doubtless have been given to doctrinal history, had it not been for the author's conviction that the detailed treatment of this subject belongs to a separate branch. It will be noticed however, that the prominent heresies have been sketched, that the field of Catholic doctrine has been defined in the different eras, and that a relatively full account has been given of the principal theological and philosophical developments which have had place since the beginning of the critical era in the eighteenth century.

We have thought it proper to devote three out of the five volumes to the Modern Church, partly on account of the breadth and complexity of the later church history, and partly on account of the relative lack of comprehensive works for this division of the subject.

In a few instances convenience of grouping has led to a departure from the scheme of periods sketched in the introduction; but the tables of contents and the indexes will afford ready means for locating any topic.

It will be observed that on points at issue between Protestantism and Romanism we have taken more than average pains to brace our statements by documentary evidence.

The foot-notes refer to only a part of the sources consulted, but they indicate most of those having prime importance. In general, we have sought to be mindful of the maxim that, in this age of the world, it is far more important to give facts and arguments than to furnish a catalogue of the names and opinions of persons who have chanced to write about the facts. We are conscious, however, that we hare supplied no ideal illustration of the maxim.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY.
April, 1894.

The French Church Prior to the Revolution

The French Church Prior to the Revolution

In the treatment of the preceding topics the general course of events belonging to the present subject has necessarily been anticipated. There are some special points, however, which may be accorded a brief attention, such as the extent of the protest against the bull Unigenitus; the amount of papal sanction given to the bull; the relation of the controversy to the insinuation of Ultramontanism; the crowning scandal of the controversy effected by imposing the bull upon the consciences of penitents as a condition of absolution; the closing stage of Jansenism; the downfall of the Jesuits; and the fortunes of Protestants.

Mention has been made of the fact that the majority of the bishops adhered to the bull Unigenitus. This adhesion was not the result of any fervent affection for that document. Some of them, doubtless, sharing the animosity of those who instigated the Pope to issue the bull, approved it as a means of annihilating the Jansenist party. A larger number probably were influenced by their double dependence upon King and Pope. They had learned that it was not easy to resist the will of Louis X1V., even when he was acting counter to Rome. In the Unigenitus affair they saw that King and Pope were united. Deeming it, therefore, hazardous to resist, and not being seriously troubled with theological convictions, they subscribed. The ensuing death of Louis gave, it is true, a temporary release from royal pressure; but to retract was a humiliating step, and also of doubtful prudence, since it would expose them to the Pope's displeasure, and would be very embarrassing in case the papal constitution should finally be sustained.

The position of the majority in the episcopate was too well explained to be of much weight with those whose independence was less hampered. In fact the protesting party greatly exceeded that of the subscribers. Voltaire, who had reached the verge of manhood at the publication of the constitution Unigenitus, thus describes the relative strength of the two parties, as the matter stood a few years later: "The Church of France continued to be divided into two parties, the accepters and the rejecters. The accepters were the hundred bishops who had adhered under Louis XIV. with the Jesuits and the Capuchins. The rejecters were fifteen bishops and the whole nation. The accepters enjoyed the support of Rome; the other party that of the universities, the parliaments and the people." Siècle de Louis XIV, chap. xxxvii., edit. 1829-40. Nearly a score of years were requisite to overcome the opposition so far as to secure a nominal assent to the detested constitution. It was only after forty-eight doctors had been expelled that the Sorbonne was constrained to subscribe in an unqualified manner (1729). As for the Parliament of Paris, it gave no voluntary assent, and the registration of the declaration for the execution of the constitution could be obtained only through the arbitrary mandate of the King (1730). Before reaching this result the government had signalized its inflexible resolution by afflicting numbers of the protesting clergy with fines, banishment, or imprisonment. The amount of violence used did not tend to increase the impression of the people respecting the holiness of the papal constitution. It was also a dubious element in the case that the infamous Dubois had been the means of turning the scale in favor of subscription at a crucial point in the controversy, and had been rewarded with a cardinal's hat.

It has been thought that Clement XI. doubted the wisdom of sending forth the bull which was to give him such an unenviable notoriety, and yielded with a measure of reluctance to the pressure of intemperate partisans. However this may have been, both he and the succeeding Popes made no concessions to the appeals with which they were assailed. Near the end of 1716 he issued briefs to various parties in France, wherein he insisted upon unqualified subscription and declared that to demand explanations of the bull was "to hanker after the fruit of the forbidden tree." Two years later, in a communication addressed to all Christians, he pronounced all who had refused or should refuse obedience to the bull contumacious, and sundered from communion with the apostolic see until they should thoroughly repent of their fault. 1 Magnum Bullarium Romanum, Continuatio, Pars ii. pp. 205-207. Innocent XIII. approved the position of his predecessor, declaring in letters to the King and the Regent that the bull Unigenitus condemned nothing but manifest errors. Benedict XIII., notwithstanding his anti-Molinist views in theology, commanded the strict observance of the bull (1725). Finally Benedict XIV,, in a brief, or encyclical letter, of the year 1756, gave this unmistakable decision: "Such is the authority of the constitution Unigenitus that no faithful Christian can refuse to submit to it, or oppose it in any way whatever, but at the risk of his eternal salvation." 2 Jervis, History of the Church of France, ii. 322. That the several Popes who had occasion to render a verdict upon the subject should have taken this ground is entirely explicable. They could not have done otherwise without exposing papal authority to the disgrace of a most glaring contradiction. For the constitution was from the start as plainly an ex cathedra document as it was possible for a pope to construct. It assumed to bind every member of the Roman Catholic Church, not to think, teach, or preach, any of the condemned propositions.

3 Omnes at singulas propositiones præinsertas, tanquam falsas, captiosas, etc., hac nostra perpetuò valitura constitutione declaramus, damnamus, et reprobamus; mandantes omnibus utriusque sexus Christifidelibus, ne de dictis propositionibus sentire, docere, ac prædicare aliter præsumant, quàm in hac eadem nostra constitutione continetur; ita ut quicumque illas, vel illarum aliquam conjunctim, vel divisim docuerit, defenderit, eliderit, aut de eis, etiam disputativè, publicè, ant privatim tractaverit, nisi forsan impugnando, ecclesiasticis censuris, aliisque contra similia perpetrantes a jure statutis pœnis ipso facto absque alia declaratione subjaceat.

To retract was out of the question on the part of those who had no higher interest than their own absolute authority. To explain was nearly equally out of the question. The bull had been issued, not against abstract propositions, but against sentences contained in a specific work. Some of these sentences were as clearly expressive of a definite idea as it was possible for language to frame. To allow, therefore, that they were not condemned in their apparent sense would be equivalent to allowing that they were not condemned at all, and so would expose the Pope to the charge of folly or malice in having sought to discredit the writing of an eminent author by marshaling against it an extended line of bugbears.

The circumstances and the issue of the strife involved a partial victory for Ultramontanism. The Gallican sentiment, cherished by a large part of the nation, was indeed far from being quenched. On the contrary, it was kindled in many minds to an intensity which threatened to burn away all real bonds of connection with Rome. But the exigencies of controversy naturally led the supporters of the papal constitution in the reverse direction. In their attempts to silence opponents they were in a manner driven to magnify the authority of the Pope, and the duty of unqualified obedience. The position taken by the majority of the bishops constrained them for the time practically to ignore, if not formally to deny, the principles of Gallicanism. Some of them indulged in statements of a decidedly ultra cast. Early in the strife the Archbishop of Arles made bold to declare that the opposers of the bull were more guilty than Adam was after the primal trespass. Various writings began to be circulated which advocated the infallibility of the Pope. In one of these the author was pleased to say that it was not less heretical to reject the bull Unigenitus than to deny the incarnation of the Word and the divinity of Jesus Christ. 1 Rocquain, L'Esprit Révolutionnaire avant la Révolution, pp. 8, 17, 36.

Whatever degree of assent the bishops may have given to formal statements of this class, some of them proceeded at length to act as if they were undoubtedly true. In 1749 and the following years a scheme was set on foot to honor the Unigenitus constitution by making it a kind of indispensable passport into paradise. In pursuance of this purpose, De Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, issued the requisition that applicants for sacraments--at least in cases where there was any doubt about their frame of mind--should be required to produce "billets de confession," or certificates signed by orthodox priests, and testifying that the bearers cordially accepted the bull Unigenitus. This requisition was copied in nearly all the dioceses. The result was that some of the most conscientious men in the realm were denied the sacraments in the dying hour, and were left to expire without a title to Christian burial. Great wrath was naturally provoked; but it was a number of years before the tyrannous requisition was abandoned. The disreputable game of the "billets de confession" may well be characterized as a fitting conclusion to a peculiarly disgraceful chapter in religious history. In truth, the atheistic revel of the revolutionary era was scarcely more of a sacrilege against Christianity than was the whole ungodly fracas of which the bull Unigenitus was the central and the most responsible factor.

It may have been noticed that little mention has been made of the Jansenists in the above account. The reason has been that in the great party opposed to the papal constitution the Jansenists proper were not the most considerable fraction. Their Augustinian theology had never been acceptable to the larger portion of the French people. In the later stages of their history they had no great writers to recommend their theology, no names comparable with those which had adorned their early annals. Moreover, an unhappy episode inflicted much damage upon their reputation. As in previous times the zeal of rival parties in the Church had created a fruitful demand for miracles, so it was in case of the Jansenists. During the dark days when the unholy fiat which Jesuit malice had obtained from Rome was being made effectual against their adherents, their excited feelings were ready to claim relief in any appearance of supernatural intervention. The first token which met their watchful eyes was in 1725. A woman claimed to have been miraculously healed while accompanying a procession in which a priest who belonged to the appellant or protesting party was carrying the consecrated host. The Jansenists made much of the event; but soon it became unnecessary for them to dwell upon this single instance. In 1729 and the following years miracles in their behalf were, so to speak, an every-day occurrence. These were connected primarily with the grave of a Jansenist ascetic, François Pâris, in the cemetery of Saint Médard. It was claimed that sick people who visited this grave were supernaturally cured of their maladies. Extraordinary symptoms were sometimes manifested by the patients, such as convulsions, prophesyings, and trances. The like phenomena still appeared in other quarters after access to the wonder-working grave had been prevented by the authorities. Excessive enthusiasm ran into a crude physical rô1e, which justified the name convulsionnaires that was applied to the subjects of this overpowering excitement. At length the sober-minded among the Jansenists themselves were revolted, and constrained to censure the strange proceedings of their brethren as unworthy of religion.

It is needless to say that these miracles, especially when their credit was at its height, were not pleasing to the foes of Jansenism. As Roman Catholics, they were ready to welcome any quantity of prodigies, provided they should be rightly placed; but to have miracles at a Jansenist tomb was simply intolerable. The Jesuits in particular were cut to the heart. The glory of their order, it is true, was sustained by a record of all sorts of prodigies. But most of these occurred afar off, beyond the dim outlines of distant continents. An objector had a chance to say that the wonderful stories which were told had grown in the process of transmission. But here were miracles wrought beneath the eyes of critical Paris, miracles every way as well attested as any which had happened at the shrine of Becket. In their distress they could think of no safer expedient than to give the credit of the whole business to the devil. Not denying the strange workings of a mysterious power, they classed them among lying wonders. This was the position taken by one of their number in a writing published in 1737, under the title "Traité dogmatique sur les faux miracles du temps." Many others coincided with the Jesuits in this interpretation. Indeed the writer of the above treatise might have quoted Pope Clement XII., as well as the archbishop of Paris, in support of the view that the Jansenist miracles were wrought by the farer of the arch Deceiver. In the final result, while the Jansenists suffered discredit, their opponents also made but doubtful gains. The main advantage accrued to those who had no special love for either party, -- to the school of free-thinkers.

1 Barbier, Journal Historique du Règne de Louis XV., années 1729-1732; Grégoire, Histoire des Sectes Religieuses, tome ii. chap. 13; Martin, Histoire de France, tome xv.; Bauer, Kirchengeschichte der Neueren Zeit, pp. 513-518; Jervis, Church of France, ii. 281-287.

Before leaving the Jansenists, we may add a word respecting that memorial of their struggle which has been perpetuated in the Netherlands. In the time of persecution various representatives of their party had found a refuge in this region. Here the resident Roman Catholics awarded them so much sympathy as to fall themselves under suspicion and accusation. Adverse reports were carried to Rome, and the Pope was constrained in 1704 to depose the Archbishop of Utrecht. This measure, instead of subduing the minds of the people served to make them all the more friendly to the Jansenist interest. Finally, inasmuch as the Pope would not recognize the newly elected archbishop, it was decided in 1723 to install him without waiting longer for the papal authorization. From this date the succession has been continued in the episcopal see of Utrecht. At each new election of a bishop request is made of the Pope for confirmation. This is always refused, and so communion with Rome, though not repudiated in principle, is continually postponed.

About the time that the epidemic enthusiasm which spread from the grave of François Pâris was bringing discredit upon the Jansenist cause, the populace found occasion for irreverent witticisms in a book by the Bishop of Soissons, which was devoted to the memory of Marie Alacoque. 1 Barbier, Journal, i. 307, 308; Grégoire, Histoire des Sectes Religieuses, tome ii, chap. 20; Rocquain, L'Esprit Révolutionnaire avant la Révolution, pp. 80, 81. The book was a tribute to a form of religious distemper less violent than that of the convulsionnaires, but not many degrees superior in the sight of rational piety. This Marie Alacoque, whose story the bishop recounted, was supposed, near the end of the preceding century, to have been favored with the sight of the heart of Jesus in his opened breast. Stimulated by this fanciful vision, the mediæval faculty for materializing everything, which enters into the essence of the Romish Church, went to work to organize a specific devotion of the Sacred Heart. The Jesuits patronized the new auxiliary to a sentimental and superstitious worship. It did not, however, make great progress till the latter part of the century, when Clement XIII. gave it his approval.

A question soon arose as to whether the Pope had approved devotion to anything more than the symbolical heart, as distinguished from the physical organ.

A special devotion to the heart of Jesus fostered inevitably a parallel honor to Mary, and there are some indications that the latter was rendered in no grudging measure. One of the fervent writers of the time speaks of the heart of Mary as "the storehouse of divine compassions, the furnace of the celestial fire, the library of the Old and of the New Testament." 2 Grégoire, Histoire des Sectes, tome ii, chap. 20. Another peculiar form of devotion prevailed for a season, at least within a limited circle. As D'Argensan, writing in 1751, informs us, the Queen and a number of the court ladies made use of skulls as an aid to their piety. "They adorn," he says, "these heads of the dead with ribbons and pendants; or they illuminate them with lamps, and they meditate before them for a half-hour." 3 Mémoires, vii. 16, 17.

It is supposed that Clement XIII. had some reference to the existing needs of the Jesuits, for whom he had large sympathy, when he approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart, designing to supply thereby a means of encouragement and union to the members of the Order, and those who shared in their griefs. There was certainly occasion enough for any encouragement that the friendly Pontiff had to offer. The time of reckoning had come for the disciples of Loyola.

The conduct of the Jesuits just before the storm burst upon them cannot be said to have been specially odious. They had not been unusually aggressive and intriguing. The storm was not the offspring of fresh provocation; it was rather the accumulated retribution which the misconduct of generations had earned. There may have been indeed some special provocations at this juncture. But these did not necessarily affect the standing of the whole Order. Had there not been a foregoing history, begetting in many minds the conviction that incorrigible evil was ingrained into this society, it might have successfully met any temporary causes of objection and ill-will.

A Jesuit writer has expressed surprise that it was precisely in Portugal, where the Jesuits seemed to be so firmly entrenched, that the great attack upon them was begun. "At the court," he says, "they were not only the guides of the consciences and conduct of the royal princes and princesses, but also were made the advisers of the King and his ministers in the most important matters. No position in the administration of the State or the Church was awarded without their consent and their influence, so that in truth the higher clergy, the nobles, and the people vied with each other to obtain their intercession and favor." 1 Georgel, quoted by Theiner, Geschichte des Pontificats Clemens XIV. i. 5. These words used in justification of surprise might better be employed for a contrary purpose. The overgrown influence of the Jesuits in Portugal is by itself a large part of the explanation of the attack upon them. To a statesman like Pombal, confident, energetic, and aggressive, it seemed a thing intolerable that a parcel of ecclesiastics should so completely dominate the nation. Having once entered upon the task of reducing their influence, he doubtless found that either he or they would have to go under. He therefore utilized to the full whatever might be turned to the discredit of the Jesuit fathers. He found in their mercantile projects a cause for complaint. Their alleged complicity in the armed rebellion of the natives in Paraguay gave him a vantage ground against them. Still more their alleged complicity in an attempt to assassinate the King (1758) gave him a formidable advantage. In 1759 came the unsparing edict for their banishment. They were sent in a body to their spiritual father, the Pope.

The news from Portugal caused a profound sensation in France, and in all likelihood raised the question in many minds whether the example of the sister realm might not be successfully imitated. As it happened, there was no occasion to harbor this inquiry for a long time. The impolicy of the Jesuits themselves placed effective weapons in the hands of their opponents. One of the fathers of the Order, Antoine Lavalette, who resided in Martinque, had engaged in large mercantile enterprises. The capture of several of his ships entailed so great a loss on the French firms with which he was financially connected that they were compelled to go into bankruptcy. The creditors of the bankrupt merchants then sued Lavalette and his immediate superior. It being hopeless to secure from them the large sum that was owed, they next tried the expedient of making the Order itself, as a corporate body in the realm, responsible. The Marseilles tribunal agreed to their plea. But the Jesuits were not convinced. Being advised that their establishments had no such oneness in law that all could be held to account for the liabilities of each, they concluded that they would try a legal shift rather than pay the money. With strange fatuity they submitted their case to the Parliament of Paris, the very body which had long and fiercely contended against their schemes. In answer to the claim that the Order could not be held responsible for the debt of a member, the Parliament asked for their constitution. This document, till then unknown to the public, was produced. It is needless to say that it made no favorable impression upon the minds of zealous Gallicans. Those who insisted that the State could not endure the unlimited authority claimed by the foreign ecclesiastic dwelling in the Vatican, were naturally jealous of an institute which delivered a powerful company of men within the realm, body and soul, to a foreign head. The determination of Parliament mounted at once beyond the affair of Lavalette. The examination of the books of casuistry which followed was rather a means of justifying its resolution to overthrow the Society than a basis of judgment.

An attempt was made to save the Jesuits by a compromise measure, providing that certain restrictions agreeable to Gallicanism should be accepted by the Order. A scheme of this kind, endorsed by the King, was forwarded to Rome. The response was a rejection of the proposal, uttered either by the Pope or the General, in these unequivocal words: "Sint ut sunt, aut non sint,"--"let them be as they are, or let them cease to be." Public opinion in France dictated the latter alternative. The royal order for the suppression of the Society was issued in November, 1764. This did not prohibit the residence of former members in France. But sentence of banishment was near at hand; it fell upon them in 1767.

Clement XIII. was profoundly disturbed by the overthrow of the Jesuits in France. As a means of censuring past and checking future assaults he issued the bull Apostolicum (January, 1765). This is nothing less than a warm commendation of the Order, wherein the Pope pronounces the charges made against its principles to be malicious and unfounded, and repels them in these terms: "We publish and declare that the Institute of the Society of Jesus savors in the highest degree of piety and sanctity both on account of the high end which it specially contemplates, namely, the defence and propagation of the Catholic religion, and also on account of the means which it applies to the attainment of this end." 1 Bullarii Romani Continuatio, Clemene XIII., iii, 38, 39.

This commendation was vain. The nations did not consider it necessary to ask the Pope what they should think of the Jesuits. Against the tempest which had begun to blow, the apostolic voice was no better than common breath.

The next and most far-reaching visitation upon the doomed Order was in the Spanish dominions, European and American. The decree of banishment was issued in 1767. An insurrection of the preceding year is presumed to have afforded the pretext. Beyond this all is involved in obscurity. There was no public process, and the King did not deign to assign a single specific reason for his summary measure. The following announcement to the Pope gives his motive for this secrecy: "To spare the world a great scandal, I will keep forever in my own heart the abominable plot which has necessitated these rigors. Your Holiness should believe me upon my word. The safety of my life demands of me a profound silence in this matter." 1 Crétineau-Joly, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus, v. 302.

The kingdom of Naples and Sicily was made forbidden ground to the Jesuits (1767), as also the duchy of Parma (1768). In connection with the latter, Clement XIII. conceived that a suitable occasion had been given for the manifestation of his displeasure, some steps adverse to papal control having been added to the unkind treatment of his favorites. Reviving an old claim that this territory was a fief of the papacy, he undertook to treat the Duke of Parma as a rebellious vassal, and launched against him a sentence of excommunication. The boldness of the act was its only recommendation. The duke was related to the sovereigns of Spain, France, and Naples. Resenting the papal onslaught as an insult to the Bourbon family, they made reprisals by seizing papal territory. Nor was this all; they laid a formal demand upon the Pontiff to wholly abolish the Order of Jesuits. Whether Clement XIII. would have resisted this formidable combination was not to be made manifest. His death in 1769 transferred the fate of the Order to the hands of his successor.

Clement XIV. came to the papal throne, if not under an implicit engagement to fulfill the demand of the sovereigns, with far less of disinclination to do so than was cherished by the preceding Pope. Amiable and moderate in disposition, he was ready to study the interests of peace. As the Bourbon governments continued to press their demand, that of Spain being especially energetic and pertinacious, he at length gave them satisfaction. The brief for the dissolution of the Order of Jesuits was issued in 1773. In this writing, after taking note of precedents for dissolving orders, and calling attention to the numerous dissensions of which the Jesuits had been the occasion, and which it seemed impossible to prevent or allay, the Pope thus pronounced his decision: "Actuated by so many and important considerations, and, as we hope, aided by the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, compelled besides by the necessity of our ministry, which strictly obliges us to conciliate, maintain, and confirm the peace and tranquillity of the Christian republic, and remove every obstacle which may tend to trouble it; having further considered that the said Company of Jesus can no longer produce those abundant fruits and those great advantages with a view to which it was instituted, approved by so many of our predecessors, and endowed with so many and extensive privileges; that on the contrary, it was very difficult not to say impossible, that the Church could recover a firm and durable peace so long as the said Society subsisted; in consequence hereof, and determined by the particular reasons we have alleged, and forced by other motives which prudence and the good government of the Church have dictated, the knowledge of which we reserve to ourselves ...we suppress and abolish the said Company."

Clement XIV. died the next year. His sickness was such as to lead some nearest to his person to believe that he had been poisoned. The question as to who administered the poison--supposing death to have been effected by that cause--lies too purely in the region of speculation to be considered here.

Cast out of their own household the Jesuits found refuge with the heretic and the schismatic. Doubtless it was not for the purpose of heaping coals of fire on their heads in the apostolic sense that Frederic II. of Prussia and the Russian Empress Catharine II. gave friendly entertainment to the members of the proscribed Order. Frederic had recently acquired territories largely Roman Catholic in population. He had promised to allow these territories to remain in statu quo as respects religion. The resident Jesuits were acceptable to the people. They were also largely employed as teachers, and it would make some trouble to supply their places. He therefore concluded to let them rest in peace. In communicating with the Pope upon the subject, he mischievously suggested that, inasmuch as he was a heretic, his Holiness was not able to release him from his obligation to keep his word, or from the duty of being an honest man. 1 Crétineau-Joly, v. 465. The motives of Catharine were very much the same as those of Frederic. She thought that she could safely use the Jesuits in the recently acquired Polish territory. Here they were allowed to receive novices. In fact Russian patronage served in a special sense to carry the Order through the period of legal nonentity.

It is interesting to note that adversity brought some dogmatic ameliorations to the minds of the Jesuits. As they were awaiting their fate in France a streak of genuine Gallican light shot across the leaden sky of their Ultramontanism. The illumination was sudden, and doubtless was not very permanent. But while it lasted, it had its effect. One hundred and sixteen fathers, including provincials and superiors, gave their written assent to the strong Gallican articles of the Assembly of 1682. 1 Crétineau-Joly, v. 260, 261; Theiner, Geschichte des Pontificats Clemens XIV., i. 21-23. A few years later some of their brethren in Germany were favored with a similar illumination, in virtue of which they gave their support to theses utterly irreconcilable with Ultramontane maxims. 2 Theiner, ii. 490, 491.

The interior broils of the French Church were not so engrossing in this period as to withdraw attention entirely from the duty of vexing the Protestants. There were intervals indeed during which they received a measure of indulgence. Some of the harsher provisions against them were left very largely in abeyance during the regency of the Duke of Orleans. But a bitter atonement was usually exacted for such a season of relative quiet. To permit the harvest to grow was to create an extra demand for the use of the scythe. So we find the government issuing in 1724 a peculiarly cruel edict. "To the penalty of death decreed against preachers was added the galleys for life for men, and perpetual imprisonment for women, against all who did not inform against them. It was enjoined on curés, or vicars, to visit the sick suspected of heresy, and to exhort them in private and without witnesses. An arbitrary fine was decreed against relatives, friends, or servants, who should prevent the curé from having access to the sick, and the galleys for life against concealed Protestants who should exhort or assist the sick secretly. The law condemning every Protestant, who should be cured after having refused the sacraments, to the galleys for life, and to confiscation of property as a backslider, was confirmed; if the sick man died his memory was to be prosecuted, and his property confiscated. Formerly it was necessary that the refusal of the sacraments should be attested by a magistrate; now the testimony of the curé was sufficient. The parish priest was constituted an official informer. Parents were forbidden to consent to the marriage of their children in foreign countries, without express permission from the King, under penalty of the galleys for life for men, and perpetual banishment for women, with confiscation of property. At the same time the new Catholics (and under this title were comprehended all Protestants, according to the fiction of the law of 1715, which denied that there were any Protestants remaining in France) were ordered to observe in their marriages the formalities prescribed by the holy canons and the ordinances. A11 civil status was thus annihilated for Protestants; there were thenceforth in France, before the law, only Catholics, and backsliders liable to the galleys." 1 Henri Martin, Histoire de France, tome xv., pp. 118, 119, in Eng. translation. An equally unsparing edict was issued in 1745.

While the practice was not perseveringly kept on a level with this barbarous code, there were numerous instances of intolerable vexation. Now and then a preacher was visited with a capital sentence. Bénezet was hanged in 1752, Lafage in 1754, Rochette in 1762.

It was first in 1788, on the eve of the Revolution, that a scant measure of legal toleration was granted to the Protestants. Even then the concession provoked the protest of the clergy. It required a very special tuition to instil into them the lesson of tolerance. The Faculty of Theology in Paris had not yet learned the alphabet of the subject in 1766. In their censure of a work published in that year they declared that religious intolerance was an essential principle of Catholicism. Rocquain, Esprit révolutionnaire avant la Révolution, p. 262. "The Assemblies of the clergy held from the accession of Louis XVI. up to the Revolution continually complained of the attempts of the Protestants to secure liberty of conscience. The following words appear in the report of the Abbé de 1a Rochefoucauld presented in 1789: 'This sect, which in the midst of its ruins retains the audacious and independent spirit which it had from its origin, wishes to usurp for falsehood the rights which belong only to the truth.'" 1 De Pressensé L'Église et la Révolution Française, p. 23.

The Political Movement In France

The Political Movement In France

IN approaching this subject one naturally measures back from the Revolution of 1789. All other enquiries become secondary to that respecting the causes of the great upheaval which overturned the monarchy and the associated institutions.

Giving at once the result of our investigation, we would enumerate these causes as follows: (1) forfeiture of respect on the part of the rulers by moral turpitude; (2) the vacillating policy of the government, or its alternation between concession and despotic authority; (3) bitter religious controversies, in which the government united with a majority of the higher clergy to override the preference of the great body of the people; (4) ambition of the parliaments, and especially of the Parliament of Paris, to reach the position, and to fulfill the functions of a coordinate branch of the government; (5) political writings which discredited the notion of absolute monarchy, and set forth the superior merits of republican or democratic rule; (6) discontent in large masses of the people, provoked by poverty and hunger.

Before the burial of Louis XIV. the eyes of Frenchmen had begun to be opened to the shadowed side of his reign. Looking beyond the glory of royalty they saw the tyranny and the shame. Very few mourned the death of the magnificent despot.

The succeeding rulers were in no wise calculated to make good the deficit in esteem and veneration which had already been incurred. On the contrary, they perpetuated all the shame of the reign of Louis XIV. without reproducing aught of its glory. The Duke of Orleans, who acted as regent during the minority of the King, was an unblushing libertine. Louis XV., in his personal habits, was a disgrace to royalty throughout the greater part of his long reign. As in the times of Henry III., the mistress bore the sceptre, and religion was abased to the semblance of a vapid and despicable superstition by being mixed with moral outrage and indecency. Louis XVI. was doubtless exemplary in his general conduct, but he had not sufficient force of character to recover lost prestige.

The forfeiture of respect which had been wrought in this manner was aggravated by the unsteadiness of the administration. While the monarch affronted the growing taste for self-government by repeating the assumptions of Louis XIV. and claiming once and again to be the impersonation of the entire sovereignty of the realm, he did not maintain himself firmly upon this ground. Yielding at times to popular disquiet, he gave indulgence to the party representing opposing claims. Concessions of this sort, not having the appearance of free gifts, won no gratitude, and only served to encourage to new efforts those who, from interest or principle, were desirous to limit the authority of the crown. The people were neither crowded down to passivity by a strong despotism nor made content by a liberal treatment.

The crowning indiscretion of the government was in the management of religious affairs. Following the behests of the Jesuits and the Pope, it loaned its power to the base enterprise of enthroning a dogmatic constitution -- the bull Unigenitus -- which struck not only at the roots of Gallicanism, but at the foundations of morality itself. A partial exposition of this astonishing document has been given in the preceding volume, and further reference will be made to it presently. What we wish to emphasize here is the fact that the miserable and harassing measures by which the obnoxious constitution was enforced revolted profoundly the greater part of the thinking element in the nation, and well-nigh precipitated an outbreak more than a generation before the Revolution. This is abundantly indicated by reports which have come down to us from the middle part of the eighteenth century. The Memoirs of the Marquis d'Argenson, for example, show that, while yet the school of free-thinkers was in its incipiency, and had done comparatively little toward leavening the popular mind with innovating opinions, a revolutionary stir was in the air. As early as 1743 we find him writing: "Revolution is certain to come in this State; it is crumbling at its foundations; one has only to detach himself from his country, and to prepare to pass under other masters and some other form of government." 1 Mémoires, iv. 83. In 1751 he wrote: "There is much questioning in the minds of the people respecting this impending revolution in the government; nothing else is talked about, and all classes, even down to the peasants, are imbued with the subject." 1 Mémoires, vii. 23. A few months later he recorded this reflection: "Will despotism increase, or will it diminish in France? For my part, I hold to the second alternative, and prophesy even the coming of a republic. I have seen in my days the respect and love of the people for royalty diminish. Louis XV. has not known how to govern either as tyrant or as the good chief of a republic. Evil hour for the royal authority when one undertakes neither rôle!" 2 Ibid., vii. 242. In various passages, D'Argenson indicates with sufficient distinctness his conviction that the revolutionary ferment which he describes had its origin largely in resentments against the pressure and violence with which the theological scheme of a faction was imposed upon the nation. 3 Ibid., vi. 453, 454; viii. 35. In fine, the bull Unigenitus, or the plot which it served, fulfilled no inconspicuous part in laying the train for the explosion which was to leave palace and throne in fragments.

Aside from the general import of the Unigenitus controversy, as exasperating the minds of a large body of the people, it had a special political bearing, inasmuch as it gave to the Parliament of Paris the means of magnifying its own importance. In its proper character this body, like the several provincial parliaments, had no legislative functions. Its special office in connection with the making or promulgation of laws was the formal registration of them. But in course of time it began to esteem its function in registration as something more than simply ministerial. It assumed the prerogative to delay in the matter, and to interpose objections to royal decrees. Under the powerful absolutism of Louis XIV. it was indeed overawed and reduced to a quiescent attitude. But in the subsequent era its bent to independent action was repeatedly manifested. The odiousness of the royal policy in the controversy over the papal constitution gave to it the support of a powerful party. It was inspired, therefore, with confidence to resist the royal will again and again. This continued antagonism was naturally fruitful of political thinking. While the parliament, as actually constituted, was rather a privileged body than a representative assembly, its position over against the monarch was analogous to that of such an assembly, and helped to foster the idea, that government is a matter which belongs to the nation, and not merely to the king. Touching upon this point D'Argenson wrote in 1754: "It is observed that never before have the names of Nation and State been repeated as they are to-day. These two names were not pronounced under Louis XIV., and the very idea which belongs to them was wanting. The people have never been so well instructed as to-day in the rights of the nation and of liberty." 1 Mémoires, viii. 315.

It may be concluded from the above that the movement in favor of limited monarchy and the prerogatives of the nation did not wait for formal political treatises. Writings of this order, however, came forward to reinforce the movement. In 1748 appeared Montesquieu's "Spirit of Laws." This in its general animus was far from being an inflammatory or revolutionary book. Political problems are discussed therein with great circumspection, and with large reference to historical data. Still it requires no great keenness of insight to discover in the treatise an underlying hostility to unrestricted monarchy. Tokens of this hostility are found in the favorable judgment of Montesquieu upon the system of mutual checks appearing in the English government; in his conviction that the union in the same person of legislative with executive or judicial functions is incompatible with liberty; and in his declaration that virtue is a necessary foundation for a republic, while the principle of honor suffices for a monarchy, and that of fear answers the needs of a despotism. His reflections go to enforce the conclusion that the republican is intrinsically the higher form of government, and should be introduced wherever suitable conditions for its maintenance exist.

Fourteen years after the publication of the "Spirit of Laws," Jean Jacques Rousseau gave to France the treatise which became ere long the Bible of the ultra revolutionists. The "Social Contract" was a genuine specimen of doctrinaire politics. It takes indeed some account of the diverse requisites of different stages in the progress of nations, as also of the characteristics resulting from special experiences and environments. Still the practical difficulties which are likely to be encountered in the application of theories are but lightly regarded. General maxims are enthroned, and pushed boldly to their consequences.

According to Rousseau, the State originates in a convention or contract. For the sake of the greater good of order, protection, and secure sustenance, men resign the independence belonging to them in the state of nature. Thus the community is constituted. As in forming the community all make an entire surrender of their separate rights, they stand in their new relations upon a precise legal equality. The surrender being made, not to this or that individual, but to the whole body, no place is left for personal precedence as respects rights or authority. Inasmuch as an entire surrender is made by all, an unrestricted sovereignty is constituted. This sovereignty inheres in the whole body. The people in their collective capacity are the sovereign. The general will is the supreme authority. The executive, whether king or president, has only to fulfill the general will. He is but the agent of the sovereign. For this agent to act in any wise as the principal, or to usurp any part of the sovereignty, is to break the pact on which the community is founded. When the people are in assembly, as they hold the undivided sovereignty, they can cancel any delegated authority, and adopt any new plan of administration which may command their suffrage or the suffrage of a majority. In fine, as is evident from this outline, the political ideal set forth by Rousseau, was that of an omnipotent democracy, held within no definite limits by organic laws, and unembarrassed by any positive guaranties of historical continuity in its action. Grant that he was not himself a revolutionary zealot, and that he spoke of the dangers which accrue from sudden transitions in government, his book was nevertheless well adapted to be the delight of any hasty and impassioned theorists who should determine to establish at once a political millennium. Amid the great hopes and enthusiasms which were evoked by the assembling of the States-General, or the national representatives, in 1789, the "Social Contract " was thoroughly adapted to gratify and to stimulate a throng of eager minds.

If the presentation of new and alluring ideals kindled the desire of change in some minds, there were large numbers in France who needed no speculative incentive to make them long for a different order of things. Their misery was so near the utmost extremity that the notion of change could hardly signify to them anything else than the possibility of relief. The great body of the peasantry lived on the border of abject penury, so that any unusual dearth exposed them to starvation. Many died of want in 1739 and 1740. The like misery was experienced in 1750, 1751, and 1753. There was also a famine in 1770 and in 1773. The winter of 1789, which preceded the opening of the States-General, was a time of great distress. Now it lay in the nature of the case that so much misery should provoke a popular ferment. Men cannot remain quiet under an intolerable lot. The peasantry too had some excuse for revolutionary fever, since no small part of their hardships was due to a most oppressive and unequal system of taxation, which granted large exemptions to the wealthy, and so threw the principal burden upon the poor laborers.

These causes of political crisis were reinforced in some measure by the successful struggle of the American colonies, and the close association of France with them in that struggle. "The American war," says Henri Martin, "at once postponed and paved the way for the Revolution; it afforded a temporary diversion abroad to the most energetic sentiments of France; but these sentiments returned to us, defined and strengthened by the sight of facts more powerful than books and theories." 1 Histoire de France, tome xvi, p. 442 in Eng. translation.

The years which followed the accession of Louis XVI. (1774) were less stormy than some of those which had preceded. The relative calm might have led an observer to think that the forces of upheaval had been dissipated. But it only needed a special occasion to reveal their presence and energy. When the discovery of a serious deficit in the treasury brought the government into embarrassment, and made it willing to issue the call for the assembling of the States-General, it was speedily made manifest that the idea of a great political regeneration was in many minds.

The barriers of conservatism in the States-General were at once broken down by the successful contention of the commons that the nobles and the clergy should unite with them, instead of forming separate houses. The Constituent Assembly which was thus organized yielded more and more to an impetuous demand for change. Many useful reforms were indeed accomplished. Overgrown privileges were canceled, and various elements of crudity and arbitrariness were eliminated from the judicial system of the realm. But the prudent mean failed to be observed. Legislation so far outran the inclination of a large part of the nation that a fearful discord was made inevitable. Not content to take from the nobility anomalous rights which had been transmitted from the feudal system, the Assembly proceeded to sweep away the estate itself. The clergy were treated with almost as scant forbearance, and the Church was remodeled in defiance of its traditions and preferences.

The Legislative Assembly, which met in October, 1791, had less of the restraints of sober wisdom and prudence than its predecessor. The National Convention of the next year marked a still further descent. The enthusiast, the theorist, and the demagogue were now at the front. Men with no political education and no equipment for the task of statesmen except a stock of phrases and abstractions undertook to make over society from top to bottom. With the King sent to the scaffold (January, 1793), and the old institutions overturned, they esteemed themselves ready to bring in the golden age of liberty and equality. Before the glory of the new regime the meagre past faded completely out of sight, and it was thought best to reckon time from the autumnal equinox of 1792, and in place of the weekly festival of the resurrection to substitute the decade of days.

Meanwhile the presence of insurrection and the danger of foreign invasion gave a sombre tinge to enthusiasm. Those who had been most voluble in praise of brotherhood and liberty were quick to assail with inquisitorial rigor any who dared to think otherwise than themselves. To secure liberty for the future, it was thought necessary to smite it to the earth in the present. So the "reign of terror" was inaugurated. Government became the spoil of the most unscrupulous and inexorable. The National Convention was subordinated to the revolutionary club. "Paris holds France down while a handful of revolutionists tyrannize over Paris." H.A. Taine, The French Revolution. The words of Madame de Staël are scarcely too strong to describe the course of events during the fourteen months which followed the proscription of the Girondists at the hands of the Jacobins (May 31, 1793). "There seemed," she writes, "to be a constant descent, like that which Dante describes, from circle to circle, toward a lower plane in hell. To the fierce hate against the nobles and the priests one saw succeed the irritation against land-owners, then against talents, then against beauty itself; finally against everything which remained of the great and the generous in human nature." 2 Considérations sur les Principaux Evénements de la Révolution Française, ii. 112. The number of lives sacrificed by massacre or execution, though far from inconsiderable, may not have been without its parallels. Indeed, for that matter, the unbridled ambition of Napoleon was vastly more cruel than the fury of the Jacobin chiefs. For the thousands who were destroyed at their beck, there were tens of thousands of Frenchmen who found their graves in Spain and Russia. It was the vindictiveness with which all eminence and merit were assailed that made "the reign of terror" a period of unique horror.

As might have been prophesied, and in fact was prophesied, the excesses of the Revolution prepared for the return of despotism. The rule of the Directory was not such as to assure or reconcile the large number who had been alienated by the preceding violence. From a state of fever and over tension there followed naturally a condition of relaxation or relative political indifference. At the same time a new idol was brought forward to share the homage which had been rendered at the shrine of liberty and equality. The eyes of Frenchmen were dazzled by the military glory which the marvelous generalship of Napoleon Bonaparte had secured for their armies. They interposed, therefore, no serious obstacle to the several steps by which the military captain ascended to the imperial dignity (1799-1804).

The rule of Napoleon, whatever elements of respectability it may have embraced, was the nullification of all that the more generous and liberal minds of France had been striving for in the preceding generations. Never before the fall of the Bastile had there been a more thorough despotism than that which he introduced. Intrinsically the Napoleonic regime was a dwarfing absolutism, and had not its effects been offset in a measure by the great enterprise of exterior conquests, it would stand clearly revealed as such in the history of France.