[Ancient]
Reading edition
EDITED BY JOHN HENRY BLUNT, M.A.
EDITOR OF "THE DICTIONARY OF THEOLOGY," "THE ANNOTATED BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER;" AUTHOR OF "HOUSEHOLD THEOLOGY," ETC. ETC.
"This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations."—St. Matt. xxiv. 14
RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON Oxford, and Cambridge MDCCCLXXVII [New Edition]
PREFACE
This Volume offers to the reader a short and condensed account of the origin, growth, and condition of the Church in all parts of the world, from the time of our Lord down to the end of the fifteenth century, the narrative being compressed into as small a compass as is consistent with a readable form.
In such a work the reader will not, of course, expect to find any full and detailed account of so vast a subject as Pre-Reformation Church History. Its object is rather to sketch out the historical truth about each Church, and to indicate the general principles on which further inquiry may be conducted by those who have the opportunity of making it.
It is hoped that those whose circumstances do not admit of an extended study of the subject will find in the following pages a clear, though condensed, view of the periods and Churches treated of; and that those whose reading is of a less limited range will be put in possession of certain definite lines of thought, by which they may be guided in reading the statements of more elaborate histories.
It may be added, that the writer's stand-point throughout has been that of a loyal attachment to the Church of England, as the authorized exponent and upholder of Catholic doctrine for English people.
M. F. B. P. July, 1869.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH AMONG THE JEWS 1
II. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH AMONG THE HEATHEN 25
III. THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 30
IV. FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE CHURCH BY ST. JOHN 45
V. THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 57
VI. THE CHURCH UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE 66
VII. THE EARLY HISTORY OF PARTICULAR CHURCHES 73
VIII. THE INROADS OF MAHOMETANISM 88
IX. THE DIVISION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST 94
X. THE CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES 100
XI. THE MEDIAEVAL HISTORY OF CONTINENTAL CHURCHES 120
XII. THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 142
INDEX 155