Excerpt from History of the Christian Church
Among the various departments of Theology, one of the most important, yet one of the least cultivated in our Churches, is that of Ecclesiastical History. The History of the Church presents the life of the Church; its development, growth, and limitations; the watchful care of its Head, and the insidious attacks of its enemies. Many a pleasant delusion and long-cherished prejudice will indeed be swept away by an impartial examination of the facts recorded; but all the more clearly will it appear that the promised presence of the Saviour with His Church has never failed, nor His truth been allowed to perish. In many respects, the introduction of the Gospel has been a sending of the sword upon the earth, and the History of the Church a continual struggle. No sooner had early controversies been settled and the Church attained external and internal peace, than a new and more protracted contest arose. But the Reformatory and anti-Romish movement, which may be said to have commenced with the reign of Charlemagne and the establishment of Christianity among the Germanic tribes, continued both within and without the Church in the one case, with the admixture of much superstition, in the other, with that of much error till, widening as it proceeded, it issued in the glorious Reformation of the sixteenth century. To make oneself acquainted with all this; to watch the fulfilment of so many promises; to trace Dogmatics, if not to its source, yet along its course; to study the internal life of the Church, and to become familiar with the outward events which affected it, is surely one of the most important J.and interesting pursuits. The thoughtful student will learn the History of the Church neither according to transient events, nor according to mere controversies, nor according to artificial divisions; he will observe the internal connection of events and their gradual unfolding, and trace in them the operation of causes long existent, and the gracious interposition of Him who directs the course of His Church.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге History of the Christian Church (Classic Reprint) (J. H. Kurtz)