HOPEFUL INDICATIONS. 363 CHAPTER I. NEW LIFE IN THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES-AN ERA OF REVIVALS INAUGURATED. Section 1.-A Survey of the Period. WITH the opening of the present century appeared numerous indications of an immense advance of Christ's kingdom. Formidable oppositions were still arrayed against it, but some old institutions, long standing in its way, were falling in pieces, and a few nations which had long rejected the Gospel were opening their doors to receive it. In India there was a favorable change in the administration of civil affairs. Infanticide was prohibited,* and European education and Christian chaplains, teachers and missionaries had entered. China, under the tuition of European monopolies, began to sympathize a little with European ideas, and was about to admit an installment of missionary † teachers. The Turkish Empire, successively humbled by Venice, Russia and Austria, and finally by France and England, had settled into a state of submission, and was slowly adopting the ideas, arts and education of Western Europe. Africa, also, the land of darkness and parodoxes, was conscious of new influences encircling her. In 1787 Sierra Leone, purchased as a refuge for emancipated bondsmen, became a dependency of the British crown. In 1795 the regeneration of the Cape of Good Hope commenced under English influence. From 1796 to 1800 the world became acquainted with the wonderful explorations of Bruce and Mungo Park. In 1799 Vanderkemp commenced his labors among the Kafirs and the Hottentots, and Egypt and the Barbary States were learning to stand in awe of Christian nations. * In 1802. ↑ Dr. Morrison went to Canton in 1807. Europe had been shaken by the throes of the French Revolution, the power of papal intolerance was broken, and Napoleon Bonaparte was making gigantic strides across the Continent reconstructing its governments and institutions. In the East Indies the influence of Dutch supremacy was already felt, and Christian schools and usages were being established. Great Britain also showed signs of progress. In her American war she had learned useful lessons about popular liberty, and was favorably inclined to a fuller recognition of civil and religious rights. New Christian institutions were organizing for the spread of Christ's kingdom. On the Continent of Europe the Netherlands Missionary Society was formed in 1797, the Berlin Missionary Society in 1800, and a little later Gutzlaff went to the coast of China bearing the Gospel. In Great Britain six missionary societies had been organized between 1792 and 1800; the Religious Tract Society in 1799, three Bible Societies between 1800 and 1809. Sunday-schools had sprung up in England and were being adopted in Protestant countries on the Continent. Such is the world-wide survey of the religious situation at the opening of this century. A general survey of the period (1800-1850) now to be considered, especially in respect to the unfavorable circumstances with which the cause of religion had to contend, and also a brief view of some of the more striking peculiarities and movements of the times, will prepare us to appreciate the rare achievements of American Christianity in the first half of the nineteenth century. Unfavorable Circumstances. The progress of American Christianity during this period was not unattended with disadvantages. The war of 1812 and the exciting circumstances preceding and following it, covering a period of ten years, were a serious detriment to the cause of piety. The embargo and non-intercourse acts, from 1807 to 1810; the capture of more than nine hundred American vessels in ten years, and the Indian hostilities on the frontiers under British instigation, kept the country constantly excited long before the war commenced. During the war (1812-1815) frequent scenes of savage butchery by Indians and British soldiers on the northern and western borders, the capture and burning of the national capitol, the attacks upon Baltimore and New London, Conn., and the threatening attitude of the British fleet toward New York and Boston, at times inflamed the popular heart to frenzy. Then followed the wars with Algiers TEMPERANCE AND Other reforms. 365 and the Florida Indians. Moreover, considerable division of opinion existed among American citizens in regard to the war of 1812. Party politics ran high and domestic disputes pervaded all classes, from the halls of legislation to the fireside. In consequence of these things the work of religion in many places was sometimes either greatly embarrassed or wholly checked. After 1820 the country was free from foreign irritations, and the rapidly-extending populations were becoming established in their new centers. The two decades from 1830 to 1850 are among the most important in the history of American Christianity. If inferior to the former three in the inauguration of new religious agencies, they were nevertheless characterized by other movements which distinctly marked them upon the pages of history. The churches were in the wake of the great religious revivals which exerted such extensive and sweeping power from 1826 to 1832. Immediately after the latter date the spiritual interest abated somewhat, and there commenced a series of great and powerful agitations. It was preeminently an era of agitations-ecclesiastical, reformatory, socialistic, Native-American, and that occasioned by the Mexican war. In the year 1830 the great temperance reformation, slowly inaugurated in the preceding decades, was moving forward under a powerful influence, and soon attracted universal attention, enlisting the best minds of the nation in its behalf. It powerfully shook the whole land, penetrated every locality, kindled its fires on other shores, and became an object of world-wide inquiry and admiration. The close of this period (1850) is believed to have been the time of the best temperance habits in this country since the introduction of distilled liquors as a beverage. The great antislavery reform started upon a bolder and wider career soon after 1830, and down to the close of the period most powerfully stirred the nation, producing strife, bitterness, divisions and mobs. The fight was a severe one, and the results were long unfavorable, producing distress and anxiety. Instances of mob violence were common in the largest cities. After 1843 the question of slavery entered largely into political action in primary assemblies, in elections and in the halls of legislation; while the churches were at no time exempt from this seriously-disturbing influence. From 1841 to 1850 the subject of Sabbath observance was kept prominently before the attention of the country, and very great improvement in the habits of the people was every-where visible. The internal difficulties over questions of policy and principle arising out of these reformatory agitations disturbed and rent asun der several of the largest religious denominations. Previous to 1830, schisms were produced by Arian and Socinian doctrines which had crept into the churches. The schisms of the next two decades were not occasioned by theological differences, if we except some alienations caused by the spread of "New Divinity" among the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists, but by great questions of ecclesiastical polity or policy. The divisions which occurred in the three greatest denominations-the Presbyterians (1838), the Methodists (1844), and the Baptists (1845)—were preceded and followed by long and exciting agitations, which seriously diverted the churches from their appropriate work. The "New Divinity," the "Bushnell" and the "Tractarian" controversies also engrossed the attention of many, while the excitements connected with the Mormon movement and exodus, and the Millerite, or Second Advent agitation had a very pernicious effect. Socialism was first introduced by Robert Owen in 1826. Later came the more widely-felt epoch of American Socialism, when Fourierism was introduced (1842) and recommended to public favor by men of superior literary culture and influence. Fourierism attracted much attention and spread like an epidemic, so that in less than ten years thirty-four socialistic communities were organized. Many persons were considerably influenced and religiously unsettled by socialistic speculations. Christianity was tested in withstanding this assault. Almost simultaneously the Native American excitement agitated the leading cities, and the common school contest was inaugurated by the Roman Catholics under the leadership of Bishop Hughes. In this period Naturalistic and Materialistic ideas were introduced in connection with the teachings of Combe and the phrenologists, and the first installments of Rationalism and Spiritualism were received. Such were the agitations which affected the condition of the churches during this period, distracted their attention, divided their energies and embarrassed their religious action and influence. Emphatically an era of agitation, the atmosphere was full of the dust of strife and the din of tumults. The virtue and conserving power of Christianity were sorely tested; how much more her aggressive power! And yet new benevolent, evangelizing and educational agencies were organized in large numbers, and the churches greatly increased their number, strength, and efficiency. The statistics of the churches from 1800 to 1850 show a surprising increase, reduplicating upon the population, and exceeding any previous ecclesiastical growth in ancient or modern times. The growth of the |