Chapter I: Front Matter

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The American Church History Series

Consisting of a Series of Denominational Histories Published Under the Auspices of the American Society of Church History

General Editors

REV. PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D., LL. D. RT. REV. H. C. POTTER, D. D., LL. D. REV GEO. P. FISHER, D. D., LL. D. BISHOP JOHN F. HURST, D. D., LL. D. REV. E. J. WOLF, D. D. HENRY C. VEDDER, M. A. REV. SAMUEL M. JACKSON, D. D., LL. D.

Volume XIII

American Church History

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY

by

LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON

New York The Christian Literature Co. MDCCCXCVII Copyright, 1897, by The Christian Literature Co.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAP. I.--PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATION FOR THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 1-5

Purpose of the long concealment of America, 1. A medieval
church in America, 2. Revival of the Catholic Church, 3,
especially in Spain, 4, 5.

CHAP. II.--SPANISH CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA 6-15

Vastness and swiftness of the Spanish conquests, 6. Conversion
by the sword, 7. Rapid success and sudden downfall of missions
in Florida, 9. The like story in New Mexico, 12, and in
California, 14.

CHAP. III.--FRENCH CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA 16-29

Magnificence of the French scheme of western empire, 16.
Superior dignity of the French missions, 19. Swift expansion
of them, 20. Collision with the English colonies, and triumph
of France, 21. Sudden and complete failure of the French
church, 23. Causes of failure: (1) Dependence on royal
patronage, 24. (2) Implication in Indian feuds, 25. (3)
Instability of Jesuit efforts, 26. (4) Scantiness of French
population, 27. Political aspect of French missions, 28.
Recent French Catholic immigration, 29.

CHAP. IV.--ANTECEDENTS OF PERMANENT CHRISTIAN COLONIZATION 30-37

Controversies and parties in Europe, 31, and especially in
England, 32. Disintegration of Christendom, 34. New experiment
of church life, 35. Persecutions promote emigration, 36, 37.

CHAP. V.--PURITAN BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN VIRGINIA 38-53

The Rev. Robert Hunt, chaplain to the Virginia colony, 38.
Base quality of the emigration, 39. Assiduity in religious
duties, 41. Rev. Richard Buck, chaplain, 42. Strict Puritan
régime of Sir T. Dale and Rev. A. Whitaker, 43. Brightening
prospects extinguished by massacre, 48. Dissolution of the
Puritan "Virginia Company" by the king, 48. Puritan ministers
silenced by the royal governor, Berkeley, 49. The governor's
chaplain, Harrison, is converted to Puritan principles, 49.
Visit of the Rev. Patrick Copland, 50. Degradation of church
and clergy, 51. Commissary Blair attempts reform, 52.
Huguenots and Scotch-Irish, 53.

CHAP. VI.--MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS 54-67

George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, 54; secures grant of Maryland,
55. The second Lord Baltimore organizes a colony on the basis
of religious liberty, 56. Success of the two Jesuit priests,
57. Baltimore restrains the Jesuits, 58, and encourages the
Puritans, 59. Attempt at an Anglican establishment, 61.
Commissary Bray, 61. Tardy settlement of the Carolinas, 62. A
mixed population, 63. Success of Quakerism, 65. American
origin of English missionary societies, 66.

CHAP. VII.--DUTCH CALVINISTS AND SWEDISH LUTHERANS 68-81

Faint traces of religious life in the Dutch settlements, 69.
Pastors Michaelius, Bogardus, and Megapolensis, 70. Religious
liberty, diversity, and bigotry, 72. The Quakers persecuted,
73. Low vitality of the Dutch colony, 75. Swedish colony on
the Delaware, 76; subjugated by the Dutch, 77. The Dutch
evicted by England, 78. The Dutch church languishes, 79.
Attempts to establish Anglicanism, 79. The S. P. G., 80.

CHAP. VIII.--THE CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND 82-108

Puritan and Separatist, 82. The Separatists of Scrooby, 83.
Mutual animosity of the two parties, 84. Spirit of John
Robinson, 85. The "social compact" of the Pilgrims, in state,
87; and in church, 88. Feebleness of the Plymouth colony, 89.
The Puritan colony at Salem, 90. Purpose of the colonists, 91.
Their right to pick their own company, 92. Fellowship with the
Pilgrims, 93. Constituting the Salem church, and ordination of
its ministers, 95. Expulsion of schismatics, 97. Coming of the
great Massachusetts colony bringing the charter, 98. The New
England church polity, 99. Nationalism of the Puritans, 100.
Dealings with Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, and the
Quakers, 101. Diversities among the colonies, 102. Divergences
of opinion and practice in the churches, 103. Variety of sects
in Rhode Island, 106, with mutual good will, 107. Lapse of the
Puritan church-state, 108.

CHAP. IX.--THE MIDDLE COLONIES AND GEORGIA 109-126

Dutch, Puritan, Scotch, and Quaker settlers in New Jersey,
109. Quaker corporation and government, 110. Quaker reaction
from Puritanism, 113. Extravagance and discipline, 114.
Quakerism in continental Europe, 115. Penn's "Holy
Experiment," 116. Philadelphia founded, 117. German sects,
118. Keith's schism, and the mission of the "S. P. G.," 119.
Lutheran and Reformed Germans, 120. Scotch-Irish, 121.
Georgia, 122. Oglethorpe's charitable scheme, 123. The
Salzburgers, the Moravians, and the Wesleys, 124. George
Whitefield, 126.

CHAP. X.--THE EVE OF THE GREAT AWAKENING 127-154

Fall of the New England theocracy, 128. Dissent from the
"Standing Order": Baptist, 130; Episcopalian, 131. In New
York: the Dutch church, 134; the English, 135; the
Presbyterian, 136. New Englanders moving west, 137. Quakers,
Huguenots, and Palatines, 139. New Jersey: Frelinghuysen and
the Tennents, 141. Pennsylvania: successes and failures of
Quakerism, 143. The southern colonies: their established
churches, 148; the mission of the Quakers, 149. The gospel
among the Indians, 150. The church and slavery, 151.

CHAP. XI.--THE GREAT AWAKENING 155-180

Jonathan Edwards at Northampton, 156. An Awakening, 157.
Edwards's "Narrative" in America and England, 159. Revivals in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 160. Apostolate of Whitefield,
163. Schism of the Presbyterian Church, 166. Whitefield in New
England, 168. Faults and excesses of the evangelists, 169.
Good fruits of the revival, 173. Diffusion of Baptist
principles, 173. National religious unity, 175. Attitude of
the Episcopal Church, 177. Zeal for missions, 179.

CHAP. XII.--CLOSE OF THE COLONIAL ERA 181-207

Growth of the New England theology, 181. Watts's Psalms, 182.
Warlike agitations, 184. The Scotch-Irish immigration, 186.
The German immigration, 187. Spiritual destitution, 188.
Zinzendorf, 189. Attempt at union among the Germans, 190.
Alarm of the sects, 191. Mühlenberg and the Lutherans, 191.
Zinzendorf and the Moravians, 192. Schlatter and the Reformed,
195. Schism made permanent, 197. Wesleyan Methodism, 198.
Francis Asbury, 200. Methodism gravitates southward and grows
apace, 201. Opposition of the church to slavery, 203; and to
intemperance, 205. Project to introduce bishops from England,
resisted in the interest of liberty, 206.

CHAP. XIII.--RECONSTRUCTION 208-229

Distraction and depression after the War of Independence, 208.
Forlorn condition of the Episcopalians, 210. Their republican
constitution, 211. Episcopal consecration secured in Scotland
and in England, 212. Feebleness of American Catholicism, 214.
Bishop Carroll, 215. "Trusteeism," 216. Methodism becomes a
church, 217. Westward movement of Christianity, 219. Severance
of church from state, 221. Doctrinal divisions; Calvinist and
Arminian, 222. Unitarianism, 224. Universalism, 225. Some
minor sects, 228.

CHAP. XIV.--THE SECOND AWAKENING 230-245

Ebb-tide of spiritual life, 230. Depravity and revival at the
West, 232. The first camp-meetings, 233. Good fruits, 237.
Nervous epidemics, 239. The Cumberland Presbyterians, 241. The
antisectarian sect of The Disciples, 242. Revival at the East,
242. President Dwight, 243.

CHAP. XV.--ORGANIZED BENEFICENCE 246-260

Missionary spirit of the revival, 246. Religious earnestness
in the colleges, 247. Mills and his friends at Williamstown,
248; and at Andover, 249. The Unitarian schism in
Massachusetts, 249. New era of theological seminaries, 251.
Founding of the A. B. C. F. M., 252; of the Baptist Missionary
Convention, 253. Other missionary boards, 255. The American
Bible Society, 256. Mills, and his work for the West and for
Africa, 256. Other societies, 258. Glowing hopes of the
church, 259.

CHAP. XVI.--CONFLICTS WITH PUBLIC WRONGS 261-291

Working of the voluntary system of church support, 261.
Dueling, 263. Crime of the State of Georgia against the
Cherokee nation, implicating the federal government, 264.
Jeremiah Evarts and Theodore Frelinghuysen, 267. Unanimity of
the church, North and South, against slavery, 268. The
Missouri Compromise, 270. Antislavery activity of the church,
at the East, 271; at the West, 273; at the South, 274.
Difficulty of antislavery church discipline, 275. The southern
apostasy, 277. Causes of the sudden revolution of sentiment,
279. Defections at the North, and rise of a pro-slavery party,
282. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill; solemn and unanimous protest of
the clergy of New England and New York, 284. Primeval
temperance legislation, 285. Prevalence of drunkenness, 286.
Temperance reformation a religious movement, 286. Development
of "the saloon," 288. The Washingtonian movement and its
drawbacks, 289. The Prohibition period, 290.

CHAP. XVII.--A DECADE OF CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS 292-314

Dissensions in the Presbyterian Church, 292. Growing strength
of the New England element, 293. Impeachments of heresy, 294.
Benevolent societies, 295. Sudden excommunication of nearly
one half of the church by the other half, 296. Heresy and
schism among Unitarians: Emerson, 298; and Parker, 300.
Disruption, on the slavery question, of the Methodists, 301;
and of the Baptists, 303. Resuscitation of the Episcopal
Church, 304. Bishop Hobart and a High-church party, 306. Rapid
growth of this church, 308. Controversies in the Roman
Catholic Church, 310. Contention against Protestant
fanaticism, 312.

CHAP. XVIII.--THE GREAT IMMIGRATION 315-339

Expansion of territory and increase of population in the early
part of the nineteenth century, 315. Great volume of
immigration from 1840 on, 316. How drawn and how driven, 316.
At first principally Irish, then German, then Scandinavian,
318. The Catholic clergy overtasked, 320. Losses of the
Catholic Church, 321. Liberalized tone of American
Catholicism, 323. Planting the church in the West, 327.
Sectarian competitions, 328. Protestant sects and Catholic
orders, 329. Mormonism, 335. Millerism, 336. Spiritualism,
337.

CHAP. XIX.--THE CIVIL WAR 340-350

Material prosperity, 340. The Kansas Crusade, 341. The revival
of 1857, 342. Deepening of the slavery conflict, 345. Threats
of war, 347. Religious sincerity of both sides, 348. The
church in war-time, 349.

CHAP. XX.--AFTER THE CIVIL WAR 351-373

Reconstructions, 351. The Catholic Church, 352. The Episcopal
Church, 352. Persistent divisions among Methodists, Baptists,
and Presbyterians, 353. Healing of Presbyterian schisms, 355.
Missions at the South, 355. Vast expansion of church
activities, 357. Great religious and educational endowments,
359. The enlisting of personal service: The Sunday-school,
362. Chautauqua, 363. Y. M. C. A., 364. Y. W. C. A., 366. W.
C. T. U., 367. Women's missionary boards, 367. Nursing orders
and schools, 368. Y. P. S. C. E., and like associations, 368.
"The Institutional Church," 369. The Salvation Army, 370. Loss
of "the American Sabbath," 371.

CHAP. XXI.--THE CHURCH IN THEOLOGY AND LITERATURE 374-397

Unfolding of the Edwardean theology, 374. Horace Bushnell,
375. The Mercersburg theology, 377. "Bodies of divinity," 378.
Biblical science, 378. Princeton's new dogma, 380. Church
history, 381. The American pulpit, 382. "Applied
Christianity," 385. Liturgics, 386. Hymns, 387. Other
liturgical studies, 388. Church music, 391. The Moravian
liturgies, 394. Meager productiveness of the Catholic Church,
394. The Americanizing of the Roman Church, 396.

CHAP. XXII.--TENDENCIES TOWARD A MANIFESTATION OF UNITY 398-420

Growth of the nation and national union, 398. Parallel growth
of the church, 399; and ecclesiastical division, 400. No
predominant sect, 401. Schism acceptable to politicians, 402;
and to some Christians, 403. Compensations of schism, 404.
_Nisus_ toward manifest union, 405. Early efforts at
fellowship among sects, 406. High-church protests against
union, 407. The Evangelical Alliance, 408. Fellowship in
non-sectarian associations, 409. Cooperation of leading sects
in Maine, 410. Various unpromising projects of union: I. Union
on sectarian basis, 411. II. Ecumenical sects, 412. III.
Consolidation of sects, 413. The hope of manifested unity,
416. Conclusion, 419.

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY.