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A HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON
FOREWORD:
A personal note about this book. It is part of "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.
It was published by the Christian Literary Society in 1897. It's by far the best, and most detailed, comprehensive book I've seen about the development of Christianity in America. After you've finished it, take a look at some of the other Christian Literature I have online - these are listed at the bottom of this page.
Enjoy the book and let me know how you feel about it. If you find typos in it, I would appreciate knowing that too.
Tommy Burns,
CONTENTS
PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATION FOR THE
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
SPANISH
CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA
FRENCH
CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA
ANTECEDENTS OF PERMANENT
CHRISTIAN COLONIZATION
PURITAN
BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH IN VIRGINIA
MARYLAND
AND THE CAROLINAS
DUTCH
CALVINISTS AND SWEDISH LUTHERANS
THE
CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND
THE
MIDDLE COLONIES AND GEORGIA
THE EVE
OF THE GREAT AWAKENING
THE GREAT
AWAKENING
CLOSE OF
THE COLONIAL ERA
RECONSTRUCTION
THE SECOND
AWAKENING
ORGANIZED
BENEFICENCE
CONFLICTS
WITH PUBLIC WRONGS
A DECADE OF
CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS
THE GREAT
IMMIGRATION
THE CIVIL
WAR
AFTER THE CIVIL
WAR
THE CHURCH IN THEOLOGY AND LITERATURE
TENDENCIES TOWARD A MANIFESTATION OF UNITY
Conclusion.
(Click HERE to go the Master Index)
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.
Texxan64@yahoo.com
Purpose of the long concealment of America, A medieval
church in America, Revival of the Catholic Church,
especially in Spain.
Vastness and swiftness of the Spanish conquests. Conversion
by the sword. Rapid success and sudden downfall of missions
in Florida. The like story in New Mexico, and in
California.
Magnificence of the French scheme of western empire.
Superior dignity of the French missions. Swift expansion
of them. Collision with the English colonies, and triumph
of France. Sudden and complete failure of the French
church. Causes of failure: (1) Dependence on royal
patronage. (2) Implication in Indian feuds. (3)
Instability of Jesuit efforts. (4) Scantiness of French
population. Political aspect of French missions.
Recent French Catholic immigration.
Controversies and parties in Europe, and especially in
England. Disintegration of Christendom. New experiment
of church life. Persecutions promote emigration.
The Rev. Robert Hunt, chaplain to the Virginia colony.
Base quality of the emigration. Assiduity in religious
duties. Rev. Richard Buck, chaplain. Strict Puritan
regime of Sir T. Dale and Rev. A. Whitaker. Brightening
prospects extinguished by massacre. Dissolution of the
Puritan "Virginia Company" by the king. Puritan ministers
silenced by the royal governor, Berkeley. The governor's
chaplain, Harrison, is converted to Puritan principles.
Visit of the Rev. Patrick Copland. Degradation of church
and clergy. Commissary Blair attempts reform.
Huguenots and Scotch-Irish.
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore; secures grant of Maryland.
The second Lord Baltimore organizes a colony on the basis
of religious liberty. Success of the two Jesuit priests. Baltimore
restrains
the Jesuits, 58, and encourages the Puritans. Attempt at an Anglican
establishment.
Commissary Bray. Tardy settlement of the Carolinas. A
mixed population. Success of Quakerism. American
origin of English missionary societies.
Faint traces of religious life in the Dutch settlements.
Pastors Michaelius, Bogardus, and Megapolensis. Religious
liberty, diversity, and bigotry. The Quakers persecuted.
Low vitality of the Dutch colony. Swedish colony on
the Delaware; subjugated by the Dutch. The Dutch
evicted by England. The Dutch church languishes.
Attempts to establish Anglicanism. The S. P. G.
Puritan and Separatist. The Separatists of Scrooby.
Mutual animosity of the two parties. Spirit of John
Robinson. The "social compact" of the Pilgrims, in state,
and in church. Feebleness of the Plymouth colony.
The Puritan colony at Salem. Purpose of the colonists.
Their right to pick their own company. Fellowship with the
Pilgrims. Constituting the Salem church, and ordination of
its ministers. Expulsion of schismatics. Coming of the
great Massachusetts colony bringing the charter. The New
England church polity. Nationalism of the Puritans.
Dealings with Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, and the
Quakers. Diversities among the colonies. Divergences
of opinion and practice in the churches. Variety of sects
in Rhode Island, with mutual good will. Lapse of the
Puritan church-state.
Dutch, Puritan, Scotch, and Quaker settlers in New Jersey.
Quaker corporation and government. Quaker reaction
from Puritanism. Extravagance and discipline.
Quakerism in continental Europe. Penn's "Holy
Experiment". Philadelphia founded. German sects118.
Keith's schism, and the mission of the "S. P. G."
Lutheran and Reformed Germans. Scotch-Irish.
Georgia. Oglethorpe's charitable scheme. The
Salzburgers, the Moravians, and the Wesleys. George
Whitefield.
Fall of the New England theocracy. Dissent from the
"Standing Order": Baptist; Episcopalian. In New
York: the Dutch church; the English; the
Presbyterian. New Englanders moving west. Quakers,
Huguenots, and Palatines. New Jersey: Frelinghuysen and
the Tennents. Pennsylvania: successes and failures of
Quakerism. The southern colonies: their established
churches; the mission of the Quakers. The gospel
among the Indians. The church and slavery.
Jonathan Edwards at Northampton. An Awakening.
Edwards's "Narrative" in America and England. Revivals in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Apostolate of Whitefield.
Schism of the Presbyterian Church. Whitefield in New
England. Faults and excesses of the evangelists.
Good fruits of the revival. Diffusion of Baptist
principles. National religious unity. Attitude of
the Episcopal Church. Zeal for missions.
Growth of the New England theology. Watts's Psalms.
Warlike agitations. The Scotch-Irish immigration.
The German immigration. Spiritual destitution.
Zinzendorf. Attempt at union among the Germans.
Alarm of the sects. Mühlenberg and the Lutherans.
Zinzendorf and the Moravians. Schlatter and the Reformed.
Schism made permanent. Wesleyan Methodism.
Francis Asbury. Methodism gravitates southward and grows
apace. Opposition of the church to slavery; and to
intemperance. Project to introduce bishops from England,
resisted in the interest of liberty.
Distraction and depression after the War of Independence.
Forlorn condition of the Episcopalians. Their republican
constitution. Episcopal consecration secured in Scotland
and in England. Feebleness of American Catholicism.
Bishop Carroll. "Trusteeism,". Methodism becomes a
church. Westward movement of Christianity. Severance
of church from state. Doctrinal divisions; Calvinist and
Arminian. Unitarianism. Universalism. Some
minor sects.
Ebb-tide of spiritual life. Depravity and revival at the
West. The first camp-meetings. Good fruits.
Nervous epidemics. The Cumberland Presbyterians. The
antisectarian sect of The Disciples. Revival at the East.
President Dwight.
Missionary spirit of the revival. Religious earnestness
in the colleges. Mills and his friends at Williamstown; and at
Andover. The Unitarian schism in Massachusetts. New era of
theological seminaries.
Founding of the A. B. C. F. M.; of the Baptist Missionary
Convention. Other missionary boards. The American
Bible Society. Mills, and his work for the West and for
Africa. Other societies. Glowing hopes of the
church.
Working of the voluntary system of church support.
Dueling. Crime of the State of Georgia against the Cherokee nation,
implicating the federal government. Jeremiah Evarts and Theodore
Frelinghuysen. Unanimity of the church, North and South, against slavery.
The Missouri Compromise. Antislavery activity of the church,
at the East; at the West; at the South.
Difficulty of antislavery church discipline. The southern
apostasy. Causes of the sudden revolution of sentiment. Defections at
the North, and rise of a pro-slavery party. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill;
solemn and unanimous protest of the clergy of New England and New
York. Primeval temperance legislation. Prevalence of drunkenness.
Temperance reformation a religious movement. Development
of "the saloon." The Washingtonian movement and its
drawbacks. The Prohibition period.
Dissensions in the Presbyterian Church. Growing strength
of the New England element. Impeachments of heresy.
Benevolent societies. Sudden excommunication of nearly
one half of the church by the other half. Heresy and
schism among Unitarians: Emerson; and Parker.
Disruption, on the slavery question, of the Methodists;
and of the Baptists. Resuscitation of the Episcopal
Church. Bishop Hobart and a High-church party. Rapid
growth of this church. Controversies in the Roman
Catholic Church. Contention against Protestant
fanaticism.
Expansion of territory and increase of population in the early
part of the nineteenth century. Great volume of
immigration from 1840 on. How drawn and how driven.
At first principally Irish, then German, then Scandinavian. The Catholic
clergy overtasked. Losses of the Catholic Church. Liberalized tone of
American Catholicism. Planting the church in the West.
Sectarian competitions. Protestant sects and Catholic
orders. Mormonism. Millerism. Spiritualism.
Material prosperity. The Kansas Crusade. The revival
of 1857. Deepening of the slavery conflict. Threats
of war. Religious sincerity of both sides. The
church in war-time.
Reconstructions. The Catholic Church. The Episcopal
Church. Persistent divisions among Methodists, Baptists,
and Presbyterians. Healing of Presbyterian schisms.
Missions at the South. Vast expansion of church
activities. Great religious and educational endowments. The enlisting of personal service: The Sunday-school. Chautauqua. Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A.. W.
C. T. U.. Women's missionary boards. Nursing orders
and schools. Y. P. S. C. E., and like associations.
"The Institutional Church." The Salvation Army. Loss
of "the American Sabbath."
Unfolding of the Edwardean theology. Horace Bushnell. The Mercersburg theology. "Bodies of divinity".
Biblical science. Princeton's new dogma. Church
history. The American pulpit. "Applied
Christianity". Liturgics. Hymns. Other
liturgical studies. Church music. The Moravian
liturgies. Meager productiveness of the Catholic Church. The Americanizing of the Roman Church.
Growth of the nation and national union. Parallel growth of the church; and ecclesiastical division. No
predominant sect. Schism acceptable to politicians;
and to some Christians. Compensations of schism.
Nisus toward manifest union. Early efforts at
fellowship among sects. High-church protests against
union. The Evangelical Alliance. Fellowship in
non-sectarian associations. Cooperation of leading sects
in Maine. Various unpromising projects of union: I. Union on sectarian basis. II. Ecumenical sects. III.
Consolidation of sects. The hope of manifested unity.