Epochs of church history

Contents

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53 63

CHAPTER PAGE

Chapter I. Preparation Of The World For The Gospel

We are sometimes asked why the religion of Christ was reserved to so late a period in the world's history, why the nations were left to wander in darkness, error and sin? This is only another form of the question, why sin was permitted to enter the world, and death by sin ? In other words, it is a part of the greater question as to the origin and prevalence of evil in the world. Strictly speaking, these and kindred questions belong to the province of philosophy. The gospel is etymologically and in fact, God's good news to a sinful world and a lost race, revealing the means of recovery. As such, it does not directly concern itself with the problem of evil in its origin, but with the more important, pertinent, and practical problem of its removal.

But as to the era of Christianity, it is not difficult to show how truly the apostle spake, when he declared that " in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son." In all the works of God there is a certain correspondence and harmony : thus, the lower generally precedes the higher, and time is a great element and essential factor. Many were the ages, and marvelous the changes, which prepared the way for the introduction of the human race on earth, in any form, and in the simplest conditions of its existence. Man was "a mighty hunter" before he lived in the pastoral state, and was driven to this by the failure of game ; afterward, and by the operation of the same law, he added agriculture; and to agriculture, manufactures ; and to manufactures, commerce ; and to commerce, civilization, including all the elevating and refining influences of modern states and society. The changes in the life of our western Indians present the phases through which the whole race has passed, and their history is, therefore, a picture of all human history.

Mankind, in the use of their proper faculties, grew in many directions. They built great cities, founded mighty empires, invented alphabets, and cultivated to a high degree of perfection, literature and the arts. But good living was the very particular in which man failed. It is true that they could see and approve the right, but they pursued the wrong. Moral evil, wrong-doing, was so wide-spread in the ages immediately preceding the gospel, that the foundations of society were undermined, the pillars were shaken and tottered to their fall.

In other respects, events were so ordered as to prepare the way for the new and higher type of life which was to be introduced by the movement on the face of society and in the hearts of men of the same Divine Spirit, which, brooding over primeval darkness, said, " Let there be light." Physical powers preceded mental, and mental, moral. The mental was about as far as man could go of himself, and even on that line he did not, and could not, walk upright. The. Assyrians and Egyptians could build cities and send forth armies. The Phoenicians could invent letters, and the Greeks, art. Rome reduced the world to her sway, but could not govern herself. But the Greek language furnished a fit vehicle to convey the ideas of Christianity, which no other existing language could adequately express. In like manner Rome reduced chaos to order in the political relations of mankind, and so opened the world to the preaching of the gospel and the planting of churches. In the olden time, "mountains interposed made enemies of nations," which were always at war with each other. As long as this was regarded as the normal condition of things, general intercourse and intercommunication were impossible, and without these, the gospel could not be " preached in all the world and to every creature."

The dispersion of the Jews, too, favored the dissemination of religious knowledge in such a form and degree as prepared the most advanced races to receive the gospel. And it is precisely on these lines that the gospel has advanced from that day to this, and will advance to the end. By general laws, God educated the race, not all, but parts of it, up to the point where the reception of Christian ideas becomes, humanly speaking, possible. Then in the order and by the will of Providence, the gospel is preached to and received by them. The leaven cast into each city, nation and race, works and will work till the whole is leavened. And this work will go on till Christ comes the second time to raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness.

This sketch is so brief, too brief to admit of developing the points already made, that, in concluding it, we must with still greater brevity touch on two others often enforced from the pulpit, viz. : the sense of sin and guilt which the gospel of Christ alone can remove, our dread of the extinction of conscious existence at death, and our consequent longing for immortality, which the gospel alone brings to light. The world by its wisdom knew nothing of these things, and never could have known them. They are beyond its ken. By the gospel they stand or fall, and we and all men are shut up to the gospel for the fulfillment of our highest hopes, as well as the removal of our deepest fears. Despair on all these points had settled down upon the ancient world. The educated classes were skeptical in all things, and the wealthy led dissolute lives. The masses were sunk in superstition and ignorance, the dupes of charlatans and pretenders to supernatural knowledge and power. Unrest and despair of deliverance were well-nigh universal. The hour before the dawn was the darkest. When all hope of human help had proved vain, " the day-star" from on high shone forth, and soon the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in its rays, upon a world of pagan darkness. And to-day the light of the gospel shines with increasing luster. " Its beams upon the nations rise ; they rise, but never set."

Chapter II. Relation Of The Jewish Church To The Christian

The point of the preceding chapter was, that in Chureh, as in other histories, there are epochs and eras, each of which is gradually developed from that which preceded it. It is equally true that Christianity itself is a development from Judaism, not indeed, on a natural, but on a supernatural plane. All attempts to explain the origin of Christianity on natural principles, as something evolved from the human consciousness, have signally failed, and ever must fail. The gospel is God's good news to man, .first fully announced by Christ and His apostles, but partially disclosed in the earlier times by the prophets. God spake to the fathers by the prophets, but to us He has spoken by His Son. " The law came by Moses." First, the moral law, which Moses summed up in ten commandments, and Christ in two. Then, the ceremonial law, a part of which was of local and tribal significance, and a part, and that the greater part, both centered and culminated in Christ, at whose crucifixion the veil of the temple was rent in twain, signifying that the veil was removed, that the old law had departed, and that the new law, fulfilled by Christ, was then and there ushered in under " the New Covenant " signed and sealed by the Savior's blood. This is the general statement. But beyond this, the inquiry always arises, " What is the precise value of the Old Testament to us ? " How are we to regard it ? Is it still binding ? If it is in any degree, how far ? And is it incumbent on Christians, as such, to defend the ancient law and the Jewish Scriptures? The best, the conclusive answer to these questions is given in the epistle to the Hebrews. That epistle is a part of the canon (Inspired Scriptures) of the New Covenant, or Testament, and it is entirely devoted to a discussion of these questions, which arose in the apostolic age, and demanded a satisfactory solution then, as they do now. The agitation of this subject was inevitable among both Jews and Gentiles. Salvation is confessedly of the Jews. To them, in olden time, were committed the sacred oracles, containing a revelation of the Divine purposes and promises of mercy to man. To the Jews, Moses seemed the great Master whom they themselves were bound to obey, and, equally, all others admitted to the rites and privileges of the Jewish faith.

But Moses himself testified to the Jews, •-* A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like unto me ; him shall you hear in all things." And not

Moses only, but all the prophets, foretold the coming of a new and brighter day, the sealing of a new and better covenant, and the absolute authority of the future Messiah, or Anointed One. Christ having come, and declared by His resurrection to be the Son of God, claimed and exercised this absolute authority over all who called him Lord. To the Christian, whether of Jewish or Gentile birth, Christ is the Son, the first-born and heir of all things, by whom all things were made, and in whom they consist ; i.e., all things center in Him, and He is the source of all authority and power in heaven and on earth. Moses was but a servant in the household of faith, of which Christ is the ruler and head. Of course, it follows from this that, if on any points, Judaism is or appears to be at variance with Christianity, Judaism must give way. And the reason is obvious. Judaism was a local and transient phenomenon, Christianity a universal and permanent principle. Judaism was for the Jews, Christianity is for all men. Judaism was for a day, Christianity is for all time. In its very structure, the Jewish religion was necessarily limited and superficial, a temporary expedient, which, having accomplished the end of its appointment, was no longer to be maintained as a part of the Divine economy in the great scheme of human redemption. The sacrifices of the law were no longer to be offered, nor the high priest to enter into the most holy place ; for Christ had by His own blood offered, once for all, " a sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, full, perfect and sufficient for the sins of the whole world."

It appears, then, that while the Old Testament (or Covenant) preceded the New, it preceded only to prepare the way for the New. Though of higher antiquity, it was of lower authority. As in nature, so in grace, the inferior types, the lowest orders appear first, and are followed by the higher. It is neither irreverent nor far from the truth to say, that in all God's works the forces He creates and applies have to serve an apprenticeship before they are set free to do the higher work for which they were destined from the first. In God's plan, the preparatory stage seems to be necessary to the prepared. The Jews were " a people prepared of God " in comparison with the pagan world, and Christians are, in like manner, compared with the Jews. " The prophets prophesied until John, since then the kingdom of God is preached," and all men are invited to enter it, that therein they may richly enjoy the highest blessings which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

Nor is there any respect of persons with God, but in every nation he that serveth and loveth, is accepted of him. And let it never be forgotten that the foundation of all these blessings is laid in the gospel of

His Son, "in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell." He is the Head of God's Household of Saints, the Corner Stone of the living Temple, in which assemble all who " worship the Father in spirit and in truth," the King of Zion, the city of God, reigning in the hearts of all who obey the gospel.

Thus far, we have considered the Jewish Church or Covenant from the standpoint of the epistle to the Hebrews, which is, and ever must be, final and conclusive with all who profess and call themselves Christians. But what answer shall we give to those who doubt or deny the inspiration of the prophets.

Let them compare Abraham's knowledge of God, with the abominable idolatries which prevailed in all the world when Abraham lived. Was Abraham by nature so superior to all other men, or was he called of God from his father's house and his early home beyond the flood ? Again, compare the Mosaic law embodied in the Ten Commandments, with the ethics of Moses' contemporaries, whether in Egypt, Assyria or Greece. Compare David's Psalms with the poems of Homer, as to the Divine nature and attributes, — the prophecies of Isaiah with the ethical speculations of the Greeks, the most gifted of mankind. Only by Divine inspiration can we account for such marvelous differences in favor of the Jews, " a stiff-necked and stubborn people."

EPOCHS OF CHURCH HISTORY. IO,

On the other hand, it must be admitted that the highest standard of the Old Testament falls below the requirements of the new law, i. e., the gospel. The tone of David's Psalms, in certain particulars, e. g., as apparent indulgence of personal resentment and anger. It seems hardly possible that any one can be insensible to this disparity, or would deny it, unless hampered by a theory of inspiration which assumes that it must always be the same in kind and degree. Dismissing, then, all theories, let us accept the facts which compel us to recognize the rays of heavenly light — the enlightenment which God alone could give, but which He was pleased to give, not without measure to the prophets, but only to His dearly beloved Son, who is also the Sun of righteousness, shining by His own pure light, unmixed with any degree of darkness, and with perfect healing in His rays.

The relation of the Jewish Church to the Christian was similar to the relation of the colonies to the United States. The United States, as such, are not to be confounded with the colonies, though derived from them. But superior as are the states, they cannot be understood without a careful study of the colonial period, which preceded the Declaration of Independence and the War of the Revolution. The colonies became independent states with an independent existence, a new character and a higher career. The old constitutions and laws were no longer operative or binding as colonial enactments. If some features of them are recognized, it is because they are incorporated into the new constitutions of the several states, and that of the United States.

So when the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, a new life was breathed into the New Covenant, and the old dispensation was "ready to depart and vanish away."

Chapter III. The Place Of Christ In Church History

The Advent of the Lord is the central fact in history, and draws a distinct division line between the ancient pagan, and the modern Christian, world. All that is distinctive, and most that is desirable, in modern society, is derived from His gospel. Whatever is most elevated in man, or refined in woman, is traceable to the influence of the Christian religion. The estate of matrimony, the duty of parents, the docility of children, parental affection and filial love, the charities of the rich and the contentment of the poor, the relief of the sick and needy, popular education and political rights, — all these things and others related to them, are indebted to Christianity either for their existence, or for their stability, purification and perpetuity. Hospitals for the sick, homes for the poor, for children and for the aged, asylums for the insane and idiotic, municipal and state appropriations for the systematic suppression of the sources of poverty, ignorance, vice and crime, were unknown to the world before Christ, but have sprung up like flowers along the paths made by the missionaries of the gospel.

That we really owe to the gospel this higher conception of the duty of the favored to the unfortunate and even criminal class, is evident from the consideration, that, while these ideas prevail in every Christian country, they are as remote from all existing, as they were from all ancient, pagan communities. Wherever truly preached and truly received, the gospel has proved itself the power of God to the breaking down of the kingdom of sin, Satan, and death, even in the present evil world ; while it, and it alone, has "brought life and immortality to light," that blessed hope which lights our earthly life as a day-star from on high. Without this hope, life itself is a doubtful blessing, seeing we are encompassed by so many trials and temptations, and exposed to so many distresses which lead to, and end in, death. A man who does not extend his views beyond the present sensible world, cannot raise himself above the interests, the vexations, the pleasures and the passions which naturally engross and enslave the soul. All his thoughts are confined to the narrow circle of a month or a year, and he cannot open his mind to those impressions and aspirations which are based on the hope and " power of an endless life." Faith in a future world, if sincerely cherished, cannot fail to expand our views, elevate our aims and purify our desires, the affections of the heart "from which are the issues of life." This glorious hope of a happy immortality, is indissolubly bound up with the assurances of Him who overcame death in His own person, and who showed Himself " the resurrection and the life."

He also taught a doctrine of perfect morality, and a pure, spiritual religion, in opposition to a religion of endless rites and unreasonable ceremonies. The difficulties we encounter in our efforts to estimate the exalted character of Christ, arise, in part, from its incomparable elevation. It is high, we cannot attain unto it. But the higher we can raise ourselves, the more clearly shall we be able to discover its divine lineaments, though we shall never be able to comprehend it fully. Another serious obstacle is our familiarity with the letter of the gospel. Our situation in this respect is analogous to that of persons who live amidst sublime, natural scenery, waters like Niagara, or mountains like the Alps. At such sights as these, a stranger is fixed in exquisite delight. All his thoughts are engrossed and his emotions absorbed in contemplation of the scene. He feels that no language could describe its beauty, or image its sublimity. But those who have lived long in the immediate neighborhood of such objects, generally survey them without emotion, and even without thought. And such is too commonly the case with us in respect to the originality, the benevolence, the moral grandeur and sublimity of our Savior's character. If we could shake off the torpor which benumbs our sensibility, and rouse ourselves to perception and feeling, this character would appear far different to us.

Though He lived in an age when religion was supposed to consist in superstitious rites and vain externals, an age when men thought it more essential in the sight of God that the hands should be washed, than that the heart should be cleansed ; when, in brief, the prevalent system of religious faith had become a complication of irrational dogmas, folly and falsehood, we see the Savior as far removed from such conceptions, as light is from darkness, or heaven from earth. As a religious teacher, He penetrated to the seat of the affections in man, and touched the springs of human actions. Hence He laid more stress on purity of thought than on outward appearances. He inculcated nothing which in the light of modern science can be pronounced unreasonable or untrue. He never courted applause or popularity by accommodating His views to the prejudices of His hearers. He never favored the purposes of bigots, or countenanced the pretensions of hypocrites. On the contrary, He stripped them of their disguises, denounced their superstitious observances, and inveighed against their iniquitous perversions of the Scriptures.

The benevolence of Jesus was a trait of His character no less conspicuous. As it was unlike anything ever conceived before, so it has ever since remained unapproached. Though capable of the strongest personal and private attachments, His affections were as universal as man, and His beneficence an exact expression of them. A benevolence comprehending all nations and times was something entirely new. The founders of previous religions and philosophies had never looked beyond the boundaries of the kingdoms in which they lived. The most venerated teachers of antiquity despaired of elevating the masses of society, or of enfranchising their minds from degrading superstitions. But our Savior, throughout His ministry, made this the principal end of His activities. Nor was His compassion a barren sentiment. It did not evaporate in unavailing sighs and expressions of sympathy, but was practically exercised in rescuing a beloved daughter from the dominion of death, in calling back to life the son of a poor widow, the staff and support of her declining years, in summoning from the very grave a deceased brother, and restoring him alive to his weeping sisters.

Nor was the Savior insensible to the lesser woes and griefs of man. He could pity the sorrows of Bartimeus, poor and blind — the distraction of the lunatic, the grief of the Centurion, whose favorite servant was sick, the maternal anguish of the Syro- Ehcenician woman, and the despair of the impotent man, who, when the water was troubled, had no one to put him into the healing pool. How inimitable, too, the simplicity and pathos with which the evangelists record these touching instances of the compassion of our Lord. Take, for example, that relating to the widow of Nain.

And not long afterward, when persecution had followed Him relentlessly from day to day, when wickedness had employed all its weapons against Him, its pride and cunning, its malice and envy, had accused Him of being a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, a blasphemer and an emissary of Satan, — when His life, passed in bitterness and sorrow, was drawing to its close, and He knew that it would be terminated by an ignominious and cruel death, we see Him standing on an eminence which overlooked Jerusalem, and gazing upon the Holy City, He weeps over it, and with inexpressible tenderness exclaims, " O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them who are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! "

This affecting passage not only reveals the feeling of deep commiseration which our Savior had for His deluded persecutors, but may be cited as illustrative of the dignity of His character, a dignity which is without example or approach in the lives of the most illustrious of mankind, and is all the more remarkable from the contrast it presents to the lowliness of His outward condition. Other examples of this superhuman dignity of Christ, are furnished by the narrative of His interview with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well, in His conversation with Nicodemus, in the discourse with the Jews about the bread of life, in the consolatory discourse to His disciples, recorded in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of St. John, in His replies to the interrogations of Pilate, and especially, when expiring on the cross, He uttered those remarkable words to the penitent thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Indeed, from first to last, however difficult and trying the situations in which He was placed, our Lord never spoke a word, or performed an action, unworthy of the Son of God.

Whence, then, we ask, had this man this wisdom and these mighty works ? What wonder that great David, being a prophet, and so able to foresee and foretell the future greatness of this his greater Son, should call Him " Lord," and declare that His soul should not be kept in hades, nor His flesh see corruption.

Chapter IV. His Rejection By The Jews

In all history we do not find a nation so completely possessed by an idea, as the Jews were with the expectation of a Messiah, of whose coming into the world Moses and the prophets had spoken, and by whom Israel was to arise and shake off her foreign yoke and heathen rule. She, who then sat solitary among the nations, was in God's good time to become mistress of all, in a far higher sense than the sovereignty which Rome exercised over Judea, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and all lesser Asia.

The Jews' familiarity with Messianic ideas, then* was as great as ours. But their situation differed from ours in this, that the range of their thoughts and sympathies was far narrower. Their only literature had this for its constant theme, in which Messiah was more prominent as the central figure, than the hero of any epic. Not only their canonical, but many of their apocryphal, books were full of it. Their traditions also turned on this point, and their Targums, or commentaries, rivaled the Talmud in references to it. The result was the gradual, but sure growth of a national consciousness of a great destiny to be unfolded to the eyes of the nations when "the Christ" should come. Add to this the fact that at this particular epoch there was a wide-spread expectation of His appearing, and we perceive at once with what interest they studied " the signs of the times," and with what eagerness reports were received and circulated which seemed to have any relation to the appearance of the great king, or the nearness of that kingdom, " to which the twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come." In these words, St. Paul accurately and graphically describes the situation, but then as now, there were important differences among the people, both in respect to their point of view, and the degree of their spiritual enlightenment and consequent ability to apply correctly the prophecies they all professed to receive. How general was the expectation, and how profound the interest, will appear, if we attend to the account of John the Baptist's appearance and ministry. However great his power as a preacher, the multitudes would not have poured into the desert to hear him, unless moved by a common impulse. When we read, therefore, that "Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about " went out to hear him, we know that it was by a common impulse, and that the movement was one of those moral upheavals, of which we have many examples in history, but none equal to this. Nor are we left to conjecture as to the origin of the movement, or the nature of the impelling force and guiding motive. The explanation appears in the testimony that " all men mused in their hearts whether this was Christ." And that all classes shared the impulse appears, farther, from the fact that the Scribes and Pharisees sent a formal deputation to inquire, " Who art thou ? " the thought being the same as when the Baptist asked Jesus, " Art thou He that should come, or look we for another ? "

The Baptist declares himself as " a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord/' whose appearance was near. "I," said he, "baptize you with water unto repentance, but He will baptize you with fire not many days hence." " I must decrease, but He must increase." " He is preferred before me, because He was before me." " He that is from heaven is above all." He is " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Such was the testimony of the Baptist, the earlier and later, until he was cast into prison, when Jesus Himself appeared in the cities and villages of Galilee, and " began to preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

But before we proceed further, let us recall some of the incidents of the Annunciation, and the infancy of Jesus — scenes dear to the great painters, and sacred to all Christians;

Let us note first, the name given Him by the angel,

"Jesus," because "He shall save His people from their sins," the keynote of the four gospels, and all that follows after. Next, we hear the song of the angel, " Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." Now appear the heavenly host, singing, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." O, what a glorious song to be taken up by the, universal choir of Christ's church, and sung through the ages in all lands, and in every tongue, till all shall hear and know the joyful sound. Immediately follows the visit of the shepherds, significant of the Savior's sympathy with the poor and lowly, and a pledge of the amelioration His religion would effect in their condition. After this come the magi to worship Him who was " born king of the Jews," showing spiritual insight and appreciation of the divine dignity of " the babe of Bethlehem." Still more suggestive is the account of the aged and devout Simeon, to whom " it was revealed that he should not taste of death till he had seen the Lord's Christ." The clearness of his spiritual vision is made evident by his prediction that this child was "set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel," "a sign to be spoken against," and to His mother the warning, " yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own heart, also," adding, " Lord, now lettest Thou