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.
LESSON VII.
1. How did Rehoboam bring about the accomplishment of the sentence on
Solomon?
2. What tribes were left to him?
3. How was he prevented from making war on Jeroboam?
4. Who was the Egyptian king who invaded Judea?
5. Who succeeded Rehoboam?
6. Who succeeded Abijah?
7. What was Jehoshaphat's great error?
8. Into what danger did Ahab send him?
9. What great deliverances were vouchsafed to Jehoshaphat?
10. How did Jehoram act on coming to the throne?
11. How was he punished?
12. What became of Ahaziah?
13. Who was Athaliah?
14. Why could she not entirely destroy the seed royal?
[Footnote 1: These references are to the Prayer-Book version.] 15. What
prophecy was fulfilled by these massacres?--_2 Sam_. xii. 10.
16. How was Joash preserved?
17. How was he restored to the throne?
18. How did Joash reign?
19. What was the sin of Amaziah?
20. What was the sin of Uzziah?
21. How was the sin of Uzziah punished?
22. Who reigned in Uzziah's stead?
23. Who began to prophesy in Uzziah's time? A. Isaiah.
24. What was the character of Ahaz?
25. How was the sin of Ahaz punished?
26. What were Isaiah's chief prophecies of our Lord? A. _Isaiah_, vii.
14.--ix. 6.--xi.--xii.--xxxii.--xxxv.--xl.--xlii.--l. 5, 6.--li. 13,
14, 15.--liii.--lxiii.
LESSON VIII.
1. Where had the greatness of Joseph's children been foretold?
A. _Gen_. xlix. 25, 26. _Deut_. xxxiii. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
2. How did Jeroboam forfeit these blessings?
3. What warnings did he receive?
4. Who overthrew the house of Jeroboam?
5. What kings reigned next?
6. What city did Omri make his capital?
7. How had the site of Samaria been made remarkable?--_Deut_, xxvii.
8. What was the difference between the sin of Jeroboam and the sin of
Ahab?
9. How was Ahab influenced?
10. What prophet warned him?
11. What proofs were given that the Lord is the only God?
12. Who were the chief enemies of Israel?
13. What was the fate of Ahab?
14. Who became prophet after Elijah? 15. Who executed judgment on the
house of Ahab?
16. How long was the house of Jehu to continue?
17. How did Joash disobey Elisha?--_2 Kings_, xiii. 19.
18. What prophets succeeded Elisha?--A. Hosea and Amos.
19. What was Hosea's prophecy of Redemption?--_Hosea_, xiii. 14.
20. What was Amos' prophecy of Redemption?--_Amos_, ix. 11-15.
21. What was the end of the house of Jeroboam?
22. Who were the two allies against Judah?
23. What generous action was done by the Ephraimites?
LESSON IX.
1. Who founded the Assyrian Empire?
2. What is the description of Nineveh?
3. What prophet was sent to warn the Ninevites?
4. How did the Ninevites receive the message?
5. What prophetic book besides Jonah is concerned with Nineveh?
6. Which King of Nineveh was contemporary with Ahaz?
7. Why did Ahaz seek the alliance of Tiglath Pileser?
8. What victories did the Ninevites gain?
9. What was the effect upon Judah?
10. What profanation did Ahaz commit in the Temple?
11. Who was the successor of Ahaz?
12. Who was the last King of Samaria?
13. What partial reformation took place in Israel?
14. What was the punishment of the Israelites?
15. Where were the Israelites placed?
16. What was the next conquest attempted by the Assyrians?
17. How was the danger turned away?
18. What apocryphal book mentions the history of an Israelite captive?
19. What great mercy was vouchsafed to Hezekiah?
20. How did he show that he was uplifted?
21. What was the rebuke for his display? 22. Who was the King of Nineveh
after Sennacherib? A. Esarhaddon, also called Sardocheus, and Asnapper.
23. What apocryphal history is supposed to have taken place at this
time?
24. How did Esarhaddon fill the empty land of Samaria?
25. What request was made by these heathen colonists?
26. Of what race were they the parents?
27. What additions were made to the Holy Scriptures in Hezekiah's time?
28. What is Micah's chief prophecy?--_Micah_, v. 2, 3, 4.
29. Who reigned after Hezekiah?
30. How were the crimes of Manasseh punished?
31. What was the end of Nineveh?
32. What is the present state of Nineveh?
LESSON X.
1. What was the character of Amon?
2. What reformation did Josiah make?
3. What discovery was made in cleansing the Temple?
4. Why was the Law of Moses so awful to Josiah?
5. What answer did Huldah make to Josiah's inquiries?
6. What was the great merit of Josiah?
7. What prophecy did Josiah exactly fulfil?--1 _Kings_, xiii. 2. 31, 32,
8. Who were the prophets of Josiah's time? A. Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and a
little later, Habbakuk.
9. What was Josiah's situation with regard to his neighbours?
10. Why was he forced to go out to battle?
11. How does Jeremiah speak of Josiah's death?---_Jer_. xxii. 10.
12. How had Isaiah foretold it?--_Isaiah_, lvii. 1.
13. What two names had the successor of Josiah?
14. What fate did Jeremiah foretell for him?--_Jer_. xxii. 11, 12.
15. Whither was Jehoahaz carried captive?
16. Who was set up instead of Jehoahaz?
17. What did Jeremiah predict concerning Jehoiakim? _Jer_. xxii. 18, 19.
18. By whose favour had Jehoiakim been set up?
19. Who was Jehoiakim's enemy?
20. What injury did Nebuchadnezzar inflict in 606?
21. What prophet was then carried captive?
_A_. Daniel.
22. What was the promise of Jeremiah?--_Jer_. xxv. 12.
23. Why was Jeremiah persecuted?
24. What was the great wilfulness of these kings?
25. What was the end of Jehoiakim?
26. By what names was his son called?
27. What does Jeremiah say of Jehoiachin?--_Jer_. xxii 24 to 30.
28. Was he really childless?
_A_. Either he was childless, and Salathiel was his adopted son of
another branch of David's family, or else it meant that his son should
not reign.
29. What became of Jehoiachin?
30. What prophet was carried off in this captivity?
31. Who was the last King of Judah?
32. What message did Ezekiel send Zedekiah?--_Ez_. xxii. 25, 26, 27.
33. What was Ezekiel's lamentation for the sons of Josiah?
--_Ez_. xix. I-9.
34. What were Ezekiel's chief prophecies of the Redeemer?
--_Ez_. xxxiv. 23, 24.--xxxvii. 24, 25, 26.
35. What was Zedekiah's duty?
36. How did he show his want of faith?
37. What was the consequence?
38. What was the prophecy of Ezekiel that Zedekiah thought
impossible?--_Ez_. xii. 13.
39. What were the sufferings of Jeremiah in the siege of Jerusalem?
40. What prophecies of Moses had their first fulfilment in this
siege?--_Deut_. xxviii. 52, 53.
41. Who boasted over Jerusalem?
42. What was the desolation of Jerusalem?
43. Which book in the Holy Scripture mourns over it? A. The book of
Lamentations of Jeremiah.
44. What became of Jeremiah?
45. How did the remnant act who were left in Judea?
46. Who was the prophet who spoke against Edom? A. Obadiah.
47. What was the great prophecy of Jeremiah?--_Jer_. xxiii. 5, 6.
48. What was the year of the taking of Jerusalem?
LESSON XI.
1. Who were the Chaldeans?
2. What does Isaiah say of the origin of the Chaldeans?--_Is_. xxiii.
13.
3. Who was their chief god, and how was he worshipped?
4. Describe Babylon.
5. What were the prophecies of the state of the Jews in
captivity?--_Lev_. xxvi. 33, 34.--38, 39.--_Jer_. v. 19.
6. What change for the better passed over the Jews?
7. Who were the royal children brought up as slaves?
8. How had their slavery been foretold?--_Is_. xxxix. 7.
9. What instance of self-denying faith was given by them?