A KEY

To the Knowledge of

CHURCH HISTORY

[Ancient]

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 I

The foundation of the Church among the Jews

A.D. 33-A.D. 38

Before entering upon an account of the Foundation and After-History of the Christian Church, it may be well to consider what that Church really is.

Section 1. Definition of the Church.

Twofold nature of the Church.

The Church may be regarded in a twofold aspect, as an external Corporation, and as a spiritual Body.

1. An external Kingdom.

In the first light it is a Kingdom, in the world, though not of the world, extending through different and widely-separated countries, often seemingly divided by outward circumstances, but, in reality, having all its parts subject to the same Invisible King, governed by laws which He has given, and by means of those whom He has appointed to be His representatives on earth.

2. A spiritual Body.

In its spiritual sense the Church is the One Mystical Body of Christ, of which men are made members by Holy Baptism, and in which they are nourished and built up by the Holy Eucharist, and the other means of grace. These means of grace are dispensed by Priests, who receive authority and power to execute their ministerial functions from Bishops,