The Chosen People: A Compendium of Sacred and Church History for School-Children

Things were happier in England. After the death of Henry VIII., Archbishop Cranmer, and the other guardians of his little son, Edward VI., set to work to clear away the corruptions from the Church in England, so as to make it as like as they could to what it had been in the Apostles' time. The Bible had been translated, and they put the whole Prayer-Book into English, leaving out all that savoured of idolatry, all the notions about purgatory, and everything of error, and keeping the real old precious services of the early Church, restoring to the people the blessed privilege of the Cup, while the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, went on in an uninterrupted line, as from the beginning. On Edward's early death, his sister, Queen Mary, who was married to Philip II., the son of the Emperor, thought all these changes very wicked, and endeavoured to put them down. Four Bishops, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and Hooper, were burnt for their share in them, with many other persons, and England was again reconciled to Rome; but Mary only reigned five years, and her sister Elizabeth was a sound Churchwoman, and held fast by the Catholic English Church in her reformed state.

Philip II., the son of Charles V., managed to accomplish another sitting of the Council of Trent, and the Church of Rome considers it a true council, though there were only two hundred and fifty-five Bishops, and they condemned the Protestants without hearing their defence. It did some good to the Romish Church by putting down the sale of indulgences, and some bad practices of the clergy; but it bound her to all the errors renounced by the Reformers, and put her into a state of schism from the Catholic Church.

The Lutheran Protestants in Germany, and the Calvinists in France, Holland, and Scotland, as they could have no bishops, made up their minds that none were needed, though this was quite contrary to Scripture, and to the ways of the Apostles. There was a sad time of warfare through all the centre of Europe; and the Spaniards and French horribly persecuted the Protestants and Calvinists, thinking in their blindness that they were thus doing God service; but Queen Elizabeth stood up as the firm friend of all the distressed Reformers; and at last matters settled down again, though not till all Christianity had been grievously shattered and rent, and there was no more outward unity.

There were four branches of the Church Catholic keeping their Bishops, the Greek, the Roman, the English, the Swedish; but none of these were in outward communion the one with the other, though still owning one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and waging the same fight with the Devil and his works. The Roman Church was spread over all Italy, Spain, France, and great part of Germany, and tried to force down all differences of opinion by cruel and bloody means, caring more for unity than for truth, and boasting of being the only Catholic Church, instead of only one branch of it. The Lutheran doctrine was taught in Norway, Denmark, and many parts of Germany, and the Calvinist teaching gained a great hold in Holland, Scotland, and on such French as were not Roman Catholic. The Greek Church meanwhile stood fast through much tribulation in the Turkish dominions, and had gradually won the whole great Russian Empire, where, as the people ceased to be barbarous, they became most devout members of the ancient unchanging Greek Catholic Church.

LESSON XXXIII

COLONIZATION

"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes."—Isaiah, liv. 2.

Just as the Reformation was beginning, fresh lands were being found beyond the Atlantic Ocean, where the knowledge of the Gospel might reach. Christopher Columbus, a gallant Genoese mariner, and deeply religious man, was full of the notion that by sailing westwards he might come round to India, and thence make a way for winning back the Holy Land. After much weary waiting, and many entreaties, he obtained three little ships from Queen Isabel of Spain; and with them, in the year 1492, came to the islands which he named the West Indies, lovely places, full of gentle natives with skins of a dark ruddy colour, wearing, for their misfortune, golden ornaments. To get gold was the great longing of the Spaniards, and they did not care what cruelties they used so that they could obtain it. The Pope, finding in the prophecies that the isles of the sea should belong to the Church, considered that this gave him a right to give them away to whomsoever he pleased; so he made a grant of all to the west to the Spaniards, all to the east to the Portuguese. Thereupon great numbers of the Spaniards went over to America; they conquered the two great empires of Mexico and Peru, and settled in the West-Indian Islands, robbing the poor natives of their gold and silver, making slaves of them, and hunting them with blood-hounds when they tried to run away. Many good priests who went out as missionaries did all they could to hinder these horrors, but in vain; and when at last the poor delicate Indians began to dwindle away and die off, the plan was resorted to of bringing negroes from Africa to work in their stead. Though it was a good man who thought of it, in the hope of saving the Indians and making the negroes Christians, it came to most horrible cruelty, and was a disgrace to Christian Europe.

However, these faithful priests worked hard in teaching and converting the Indians all over South America. One brotherhood, called the Jesuits, had great establishments, where they trained up large villages of Indiana in Christian habits, and taught them to be very faithful and industrious. But at home, in Europe, these Jesuits did harm by stepping out of their work as ministers, interfering with governments more than was right, and trying to keep up the authority of the Pope more than real Catholic truth. They taught so many false stories as articles of faith, that at last clever people, wise in their own conceit, began to believe nothing, and became like the fool who said in his heart, "There is no God." So there came to be a bad feeling against all the clergy, and the Jesuits, who had made themselves very meddling and troublesome, were put down at the entreaty of several kings. When they were taken away from their converts in South America, it turned out that the poor Indians had not steadfastness enough to take care of themselves; so all their well-ordered establishments were broken up, and the people ran wild again. All the Spanish settlers, of whom there were many, still held fast to their Church, and all the coast of the Continent of South America is Roman Catholic.

The English and Dutch had not been slow to find their way to the West, but they went to the colder North instead of to the South, and sought good land more than gold. Some of the English had, during Queen Mary's reign, made friends with some of the Dutch and German Calvinists, who fancied that whatever Roman Catholics had done must be wrong, instead of only a part, and who cared nothing for the ways of the Apostolic Primitive Church. So when the true Catholic faith was upheld by Queen Elizabeth; by James I., who caused our translation of the Bible to be made by forty-eight learned Hebrew and Greek scholars; and by Charles I., who gave Bishops and a Prayer-Book to Scotland, there were many persons who grew impatient and angry that more changes were not made. These broke away from the Church, calling themselves Puritans and Independants, and living in a state of schism. Some, too, thought the king had too much power; and in Charles's time a great many went away and settled in North America, that they might have freedom, and worship in their own way. Those who stayed at home went on to that rebellion against Church and King, which ended in the Scottish Calvinists betraying King Charles, and the English Independants putting him to death for upholding the Bishops, after Archbishop Laud had been beheaded. For nearly eleven years the Bishops were put down, the clergy persecuted, and the use of the Prayer-Book forbidden in England, while all sorts of sects rose up and explained the Bible as they pleased. When, at length, Charles II. came back, and the Church was re-established in England, many more went to the colonies; and though there was a Church settlement in Virginia, the great mass of the North American colonists were Calvinists or Presbyterians, as they are called, because presbyters are their highest order of their ministry, though they cannot be really commissioned priests, never having been ordained by Bishops come down from the Apostles.

The English began to spread fast on every side, as their nation grew stronger and more numerous. They conquered several of the West-Indian Isles, and the Church was there established; but, to their disgrace, they carried on the slave-trade, to supply the settlers with workmen. In the East-Indies, too, they began to acquire large tracts by conquest and by treaty, and a few churches were built there; but they had not tried to convert the great number of heathens who became subject to them, fearing that, should they take offence, they would shake off their dominion. Such clergy as did go out were ordained in England. There was as yet no Bishop to overlook the colonial Churches, so that they could not take deep root.

Still the English Church was living as a witness of the truth at home, with many a great and holy man within her, such as Bishop Taylor, whose beautiful writings are loved by all; Bishop Ken, whose loyalty to Church and King witnessed a good confession, and whose hymns are like part of the Prayer-Book; Bishop Wilson, whose devotions for home and at the Holy Eucharist are our great guide, with more good and humble men and women than the world will ever know of; and this, under God's mercy, saved the nation from falling into the unbelieving state of France, where people thought it fine to laugh at all religion. There, in the end of the eighteenth century, a terrible outbreak took place against all authority, human or Divine; the King and Queen perished by the hands of their subjects; quantities of blood was shed, and for a time it seemed as if the country was given up to demons; the faithful clergy fled or remained hidden; and though at last people began to return to their senses, the shock to loyalty and religion has never been entirely recovered in that country.

LESSON XXXIV

THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

The fearful effects of infidelity in France roused good men everywhere; and the Church began to show that power of reviving and purifying herself, which proves that the Lord abideth with her for ever.

Some time before things had come to this pass, an English clergyman, named John Wesley, had been striving to awaken people to a more religious life; but he did not sufficiently heed the authority of the Church; and his followers, after his death, quite separated themselves from her, and became absolute schismatics, with meeting-houses and ministers of their own, calling themselves Methodists. Still his fervour and earnestness stirred up many within the Church; and from that time there was much more desire to fulfil the mission of Christians by bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Sunday-schools began to be set up to assist the catechizing in Church enjoined in the Prayer-Book, and often instead of it; and there was a growing eagerness to convert the heathen abroad. The great possessions and wide trade of England seemed to mark her as especially intended for this work. Some persons went about it by giving their money to any Missionary Society that made fair promises, without heeding whether it were schismatic or not; others had more patience, and trusted their alms to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which was managed by the English Bishops.

The American colonies had, by this time, grown impatient of the English Government, and had shaken it off, calling themselves the United States. The Church people among them obtained some Bishops from the Scottish branch of the Church, which the Calvinists had never been able to put down; and every one of the many United States has now a Bishop of its own.

Calcutta was the first English colony to receive a Bishop, in the year 1814. The second Bishop was Reginald Heber, whose beautiful hymns seem the birthright of our Church, like those of Bishop Ken, one hundred and fifty years before. Still very little was done with the natives of India; they were attached to their foul old religion, and Government forbade any open measures against it, though here and there was a conversion; and there have at length come to be three Bishops' Sees, and in the south of the peninsula, in the See of Madras, there are a hopeful number of Christians. The work would everywhere proceed better if there were no schism, so that all Christians could work together. Ceylon also has a Bishop, and many are there gathered in. On the borders of China likewise there is an English Bishopric; and within that empire the French Roman Catholics have been working steadily for many years to win a few of those obstinate heathen to the faith, but with little success, and often receiving the crown of martyrdom.

The French are very ardent missionaries, bearing joyously all kinds of privations, and forming their stations wherever they see any hope of gaining converts. The Sisters of Charity—good women under a vow to spend their lives in nursing and teaching—do much to show what the real fruit of Christianity is; and they are to be found wherever there is trouble or distress. There is a great college at Rome, called the Propaganda, where every language under the sun is taught, in order to fit persons for missionary work.

Our own St. Augustine's College at Canterbury is intended to prepare young men to become English missionaries; and north, south, east, and west, are the good tidings spreading, now that the days are come of which Daniel said: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."

The English West Indies were first forbidden to import slaves; next, all the slaves were set free; and there are now four Bishoprics for their black and white population. All negroes seized in the ships of other nations, on their way to be made slaves, are brought back to Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, there set free, and taught to be Christians under a Bishop of our Church; and the Christian blacks are beginning to carry the message of salvation into the other parts of Africa, where the climate is so hurtful to Englishmen, that only the negro race could there do the work.

South Africa has three Bishops to rule their English settlers, win the Dutch farmers to the Church, and convert the Hottentots and Zulus. And from them a Missionary Bishop has been sent out to the heathen tribes in the interior of the continent.

North America contains nine great Bishops' Sees, and the huge Island of Australia six. New Zealand, scarcely discovered till within the last fifty years, has three Bishops of her own, ruling over a population of English, and of Christian natives, men whose fathers were cannibals, but who are now hearty Christians; and it is the centre whence a Mission Bishop is seeking to gain to the Church the inhabitants of the beautiful islands that thickly dot the Pacific Ocean. Many of these islanders have become Christian, under the teaching of missionaries from the other Societies; and though great numbers still remain savage heathens, yet the light of the Gospel is in the course of shining upon all the islands far away. Everywhere the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, are being taught, and each convert is gathered in by baptism and fed by the Holy Eucharist, as when the apostles first went forth; and no one can mark the great spread of the Church within the last fifty years, without feeling that the blessing of God is with her. The Greek Church has done less; but though still enslaved in Turkey, in Greece she is free, and the yoke of the Mahometan is there shaken off, after her long patience and constancy.

There are dark spots in all this brightness, for Rome still teaches the same errors mixed up with the truth, and the spirit of unbelief is to be found far and wide, questioning and explaining away all the mysteries it cannot understand.

We know that it must be so, for it was to fight with sin that Christ came into the world, and left His Church there; and St. Paul prophesied that evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Daniel too, foresaw that the little horn should spring up, and do very wickedly; and all the tenor of prophecy in the Epistles declares that times of trouble and temptation must try the Church.

It seems that there has been, even from the Apostles' times, an evil spirit opposing himself to our Lord, and therefore called by St. John the Anti-Christ. His manifestations have broken out in many ways—in Arianism, in Mahometanism, perhaps in the great errors of Rome, and more lately, in Infidelity, and in Mormonism; and it would seem that there is to be some much more dreadful development of "that wicked one" exalting himself against Christ, and severely trying the elect. But we have a certain promise, that come what may, Christ will never forsake His chosen flock; and those who try to hold fast the faith once delivered to the Saints, and to keep the law of love, clinging to their own true branch of the Church, may be sure that He Who has redeemed them, will guard them from all evil, and that they will share in His glory when He shall come with all His holy angels to put all enemies under His feet. Then He shall sit on His great white Throne, and gather His elect from the four winds to dwell in the eternal Jerusalem, which needs neither sun nor moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof.

QUESTIONS

LESSON I

1. In what state was the Earth when first created?

2. To what trial was man subjected?

3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man?

4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being borne by one who was innocent.

5. What was the first promise that there should be such an atonement?—Gen. iii. 15.

6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow?

7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable?

8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring?

9. How did Seth's children fall away?

10. What was Enoch's prophecy?—Jude, 14, 15.

11. Who was chosen to be saved out of the descendants of Seth?

12. How was the world punished?

13. In what year was the Flood?

14. Where did the ark first rest?

15. What were the terms of the covenant with Noah?

16. Which of Noah's sons was chosen?

17. What was the prophecy of Noah?—Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27.

18. What lands were peopled by Ham's children?

19. What became of Shem's children?

20. What became of Japhet's children?

LESSON II

1. Whom did God separate among the sons of Shem?

2. What were the terms of the covenant with Abraham? A. Abraham believed, and God promised that his descendants should have the land of Canaan, and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed.

3. What was the token of the covenant with Abraham?

4. Which son of Abraham inherited the promise?

5. Who were the sons of Ishmael?

6. What measure was taken to keep Isaac from becoming mixed with idolators?

7. Which of Isaac's sons was chosen?

8. Why was Esau rejected?

9. What was the promise to Esau?—Gen. xxvii. 39, 40.

10. By what names were the descendants of Esau called?

11. Where did the Edomites live?

12. What sea was named from them?

13. What were the habits of the Edomites?

14. Who is thought to have been the great prophet of Idumea?

15. What was the prophecy of Job?—Job, xix. 25, 26, 27.

16. How was Jacob's name changed?

17. Who were to be in the covenant after him?

18. What prophecy was there of the Israelites going into Egypt?—Gen. xv. 13.

19. Which son of Jacob was to be father of the promised Seed?

20. What was Jacob's prophecy of the Redeemer?—Gen. xlix. 10.

LESSON III

1. Who were the Egyptians?

2. What kind of place was Egypt?

3. What remains have we of the ancient Egyptians?

4. What were the idols of Egypt?

5. How long were the Israelites in Egypt?

6. How were they treated in Egypt? 7. What prophetic Psalm is said to have been composed in Egypt?—_P_s. I. xxxviii.

8. Who was appointed to lead them out?

9. How was Moses prepared for the work?

10. How did God reveal Himself to Moses?

11. What wonders were wrought on the Egyptians?

12. What token of faith was required of the Israelites at their departure?

13. What feast was appointed in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt?

LESSON IV

1. How many Israelites did Moses lead into the wilderness?

2. How were they supported there?

3. What was the difference between the covenant with Abraham, and the covenant on Mount Sinai?

4. How did the Israelites forfeit the covenant?

5. How was God entreated to grant it to them again?

6. What signs of the covenant did they carry with them?

7. How was Moses instructed in their observances?

8. What was the Tabernacle to figure?

9. What did all the ceremonies shadow out?

10. Why were the Israelites to be kept separate from other nations?

11. How were they trained in the wilderness?

12. How long did they wander there?

13. Why did not Moses enter the land of Canaan?

14. What were the two great prophecies of the Redeemer which were given in the wilderness?—Num. xxiv. 17. Deut. xviii. 15.

15. What books were written by Moses?

16. What Psalm was written by Moses?—_P_s. xc.

LESSON V

1. In what year did the Israelites enter Canaan?

2. What kind of country was Canaan?

3. Where was the first seat of the Tabernacle in Canaan?

4. How was the inheritance of the tribes arranged?

5. Why did not the Israelites occupy the whole of their territory at once?

6. Who were the Phoenicians?

7. What were the chief cities of the Phoenicians?

8. Who were the chief gods of the Canaanites?

9. How were the Israelites governed?

10. What was the consequence of their falling from the true worship?

11. Who were their chief enemies?

12. In what book in the Bible is this history related?

13. For how long a period did the rule of the Judges last?

14. What crime brought on them the loss of the Ark?

15. How was the Ark sent back?

16. What was the prophecy of the Redeemer during this period? —1 Sam. ii. 35.

17. Who was the first of the Prophets and last of the Judges?

LESSON VI

1. When did the Israelite kingdom begin?

2. Who was the first king of Israel?

3. On what conditions was Saul to reign?

4. What was Saul's great error?

5. Who was chosen in Saul's stead?

6. Of what tribe was David?

7. What was David's great excellence?

8. What were David's exploits?

9. How was David prepared for the throne?

10. What terrible massacre did Saul commit in his hatred of David?

11. What prophecy was thus fulfilled?—1 Sam. ii. 32, 33.

12. What was the beginning of David's kingdom?

13. What was the end of Saul?

14. Who reigned over the rest of Israel?

15. What became of Ishbosheth?

16. What were David's conquests?

17. What is the meaning of the name Jerusalem?

18. How did David regulate the service before the Ark?

19. Which are David's chief prophecies of our Lord?—_P_s. ii.—xvi.

20. Which Psalm marks David as our Lord's forefather?—lxxxix.

21. Why was not David permitted to build the Temple?

22. How long did David reign?

23. What was the site of the Temple?

24. How was the Divine Presence marked there?

25. For what was Solomon's reign remarkable?

26. How did Solomon fall away?

27. What was to be his punishment?

28. What are the prophecies of Solomon? A. Prov. viii. and ix.—where our Lord is spoken of as the Divine Wisdom.—_P_s. xlv. The Song of Solomon on the mystical union of Christ and His Church.—Eccles. iv.