GAZA

[s. 265] : A town in Palestine, situated 26 miles N. W. of Beersheba, on the road leading to Egypt, between the Mediterranean and the desert, about It is built partly on three miles from the sea. the sides of the steep hill which was crowned by the ancient town and partly on the plain below. It is the seat of a Greek, and also of an Armenian, Fn-tslns-hsien Geddie, JoUu It is a station for the caravan traffic between Egypt and Syria, and has a population bishop. CMS Station of the 15,000, mainljr Arabs. (1878), with 5 mi ionaries, men and women, and a hospital. of GEDDIE, John: Born at Banff, Scotland, 1815; brought up and educated in Nova Scotia, whither They his parents immigrated in his infancy. were earnest Christians, strongly imbued with a mi ionary spirit, and at his birth dedicated him to be a mi ionary. He received his academical and theological education at Dalhousie College. There being then no organization in Nova Scotia to send him to a mi ion field, he was ordained in 1838, and settled as pastor of the churches of Cavendish and New London,in Prince Edward Island. Soon after his ordination he wrote a series of letters on foreign mi ions, addre ed to the ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, which were published in the provincial papers, and resulted in the commencement of a foreign mi ion by the Synod. The field selected was the South Seas, and Mr. Geddie, offering his services, was accepted as their first mi ionary. He had been settled seven years, and had a wife and three children. To prepare himself more fully for his work, he took le ons in printing, and obtained some instruction in mediHe left for the South Seas in 1846 via cine. Cape Horn, stopping at the Sandwich Islands and waiting two months for a ve el for Samoa. There he remained eight months waiting for the “John Williams” from England. At Honolulu and Samoa he obtained much valuable knowledge from seeing the working of the London and American Societies’ mi ions. On the advice of the mi ionaries of Samoa he chose for his field Aneitium Island, New He brides, and Rev. Mr. Powell, one of the most experienced of their number, was appointed to a ist in establishing the Mr. and Mrs. Geddie had a hard and mi ion. trying experience in dealing with a low and savage Hurricanes, diseases and deaths were people. attributed by the natives to the mi ionaries; the natives stole their property, threatened to burn Mr. Geddie their houses and take their lives. had, however, great aptitude for so treating the and in his confidence, their heathen as to gain efforts to di uade them from the cruel custom of strangling widows his succe was marvel- Gradually several attended his instrucous. tions, and in two years forty-five a embled on the Sabbath to listen to his words and to worship God. Mr. Geddie had great readine in acquiring the native language, and a remarkably retenHe made early and extensive use tive memory. of the pre ; was an excellent translator of the Scriptures; had great inventive power and was fertile in expedients he could turn himself with facility to building a church, translating a Gospel, administering medicine, printing a primer, teaching a cla , or preaching a sermon, traversailing round it or on foot, sing the island In 1850 some of the chiefs and even in his boat. sacred men joined him, of whom one, Waihit, supposed to have power over the sea, a man of fierce and cruel temper and much feared by the people, had his mind opened to the truth, and showed great eagerne to impart to others the truth he had himself discovered. Another chief of great authority in the district, and who joined To prove his sinthe worshipers, was Nohoat. cerity, which many doubted, he cut off his long: Geleb Geoerrapliy hair, abandoned polygamy, and, tho sixty years old, attended the school every morning and the worship on the Sabbath. Official persons among the heathen, whose craft was in danger, and other parties, not native, whose proceedings were interfered with by the new teachers, combined in repeated attempts to rid themselves of the mi ionary. In 1851 his house, in which himself and family were sleeping, was set on fire at midnight. The excitement among the friendly natives over this dastardly act, tho held in check by the mi ionary, convinced the perpetrators that such opposition could be continued only at Subsequently, when the people of a their peril. heathen district planned to attack the people of a Christian village, the Christians from all parts of the island a embled to reason with the hostile people, and to persuade them to live in peace. These events rallied and strengthened the friends of Mr. Geddie, and from that day the Christian cause triumphed. In 1852 the first converts, 13 in number, were baptized, and a Christian church formed on Aneitium. In 1854 the whole populaMr. Geddie tion had abandoned heathenism. translated the Gospels of Matthew and John and most of the Epistles of Paul into the Aneitium language, and printed them himself. His health being impaired he visited Nova He Scotia in 1864, after 18 years’ absence. took with him the Book of Psalms, which he had translated, and had it published at Halifax. He was received at home with great enthusiasm. The Queen’s University at Kingston conferred on him the degree of D.D., and the Synod honored him with the appointment of Moderator, which he declined. He returned to the island in 1866. In 1871 he went to Melbourne to carry part of the Old Testament through the pre and was seized with paralysis, but recovered sufiiciently to be removed to Geelong in Victoria, where he had left his wife and children. There he died, December 15, 1872. A GELEB: settlement in Eritrea, Eastern Africa, situated about 70 miles N. W. of Ma aua. Station of the Evangelical National Mi ionary Society of Sweden (1874), with 2 mi ionaries and their wives and 1 mi ionary woman. GENADENDAL. See Gnadendal. GEOGRAPHY of the Expansion of Christen dom: At the beginning of the geographical expansion of Christianity we can, on an ordinary atlas map, cover up all there was of Christen dom in the world with the point of one finger; at the end of a century a whole hand will not suffice; at the end of three centuries the whole Roman Empire must be included; by the close of the 10th century all of Europe, including the Ru ias, has become Christian; while Persia, Syria, Africa and Spain are lost to Mohammedanism; the 15th century map shows lo es in Asia Minor and the Balkan regions, gains on the Iberian peninsula, and displays a new hemisphere which brings the full extent of the mi ionary problem to the heart of Christen dom. From that day the march was steadily forward, until at the close of the 19th century every section of the globe has been reached with more or le effect. /. The Pentecostal Church: The geographical conditions which surrounded the infant church a embled in that upper room in Jerusalem make very manifest the small extent of the 248 known world. As far as civilization was con A stretch cerned, it was a Mediterranean world. of three you sand miles east and west, and of fifteen hundred miles north and south, contained The war it all. Britain was still unconquered. like Part hi an was the greatest organized enemy of Rome. This Scythian monarchy had learned some of the refinements of civilization from the downtrodden Persians, but was still e entially India was known to navigators, and barbaric. caravan routes were open through to China.’ Travelers occasionally brought in accounts of strange lands and peoples, but all about this con-.^ fined area of terra cognita lay the great cloudland of terra incognita. The immediate task before Christianity was the conquest of the center of civilization the Roman Empire. The geographical character is- — tics of this to the Mediterranean civilization as related company of Christian believers in Jeru- (1) It was an empire of Christianity must needs handle centers of population, especially in the West. From four to five you sand cities must be reached. (2) The Mediterranean furnished easy acce from It was covered with sails employed city to city. in a thrifty commerce. (3) Roman roads connected all parts of the empire, so that news was Along these splendid highways carried rapidly. trudged the me enger of the Gospel from city to city. (4) One hundred million people were thus by land and waterways compactly drawn together in a territory containing le than two million square miles. Geographically considered, no portion of the globe furnishes so interesting a field for religious conquest as the territory of the old Roman Empire. Roman civilization spread itself outside its own regions by two methods commercial and military and Christianity must needs follow in the track of armies and merchants. The caravan routes all led into the common basin of the Mediterranean, from Central Africa through Sahara by several ways, down the Nile; from Yemen along the Red Sea; from the Persian Gulf through the Syrian desert; from Me so pot am i a, the center of the trade of Central Asia, to which came the treasures from the Persian Susa, Hyrcania and Bactria, which in turn drew upon China through Static Merc a to rum, and from Hindu stan and Farther India via Clisobra. Turning to the sea the routes are quite as numerThe whole coast of southern Asia was ous. familiar to the merchants, and regular routes by sea were open, finding their natural termini in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Another thrifty line of commerce came pouring into the outlet of the Mediterranean from distant Britain, and daring navigators pushed along the coast of the North Sea and penetrated the Baltic lands in search of trade. That a little later Christianity should be found firmly planted in far-away places The door was open, and the is not surprising. salem deserve notice. cities. — — disciples could easily go in. Garrisons of Roman soldiers were stationed all along the borders of the empire. These military barracks soon became centers from which Christianity spread outside the civilized world, and these isolated spots along the Rhine, the Danube, the Euxine and the Euphrates became oases of the faith. When the armies pushed beyond the boundaries of the empire, Christianity was sure Christian soldiers captured to go with them. Geleb and enslaved by barbarians were the means of converting whole nations. Another geographical condition of the greatest importance to Christianity was the wide extent of territory over which the Greek and Latin languages were spoken. At the opening of the Christian era Hellenistic Greek was the lingua Greek colonies had franc a of the Roman world. been established all around the Mediterranean, and these had determined the language of com Greek letters and arts had conquered merce. Rome more effectually than the legions of the republic had overcome the peninsula of Hellas. The New Testament was composed in this universal language, and all through the early cenchurches were Hellenistic. Christian Later on the Latin tongue took the supremacy in the Western world, evidenced by the fact that it still remains the liturgical language of the majorturies ity of Christians.. More important, however, to the Christian Church than any of the conditions mentioned was the geographical distribution of the Hebrew Everywhere synagogs were the early race. preaching places of the apostles, and the majority of the Christians of the 1st century were of Jewish extraction. Christianity, as the fulfilment of the Old Testament religion, naturally turned to the believers in that revelation. Providentially, it seems, these seven millions of people, with their monotheism, their nobler conceptions of God and their purer ethics of life, had been scattered broadcast over the Roman world, and even beyond its boundaries. There were about four million Jews in Syria and Palestine at the opening of our era. One million lived in Me so pot am i a and down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. One million more were dwelling along the Nile and in the Delta, Alexandria having a large quarter entirely devoted to this people. A million more were estimated to have been distributed elsewhere about the Mediterranean. Paul and the other apostles found them everywhere. Most cities had a Jewish section. This race was especially numerous along the north coast of Africa, in Spain, up the Rhone and about Rome, the commercial center of the world. The Sibylline Oracle says that “every land and every sea” was filled with them. Strabo, writing of the century before our era, says that the Jewish people had already come into every city and that it was not easy to find a place in the world which had not received this race and was not occupied by them. We find them in Southern Arabia (Yemen), Ethiopia (Aby in i a), Armenia, Parthia, Iberia, Crimea, Hyrcania, and even China. Wherever there were Jews the door was open to the preachers of the Me iah. With a Roman government to police the world, with highways and harbors facilitating journeys by land and sea, with a universal language at their command, and with Jewish people and prayer-houses distributed all over the empire, the apostles went forth to conquer. As the centuries went on we shall find the Christian churches most numerous and thriving where these conditions were most favorable. //. The Apostolic Church: At the close of the 1st century a very inadequate presentation of the extent of the advance of the Christian Church is po ible. The persecuted Church was more or le in hiding for three centuries, and the notices of geographical matters in Christian or heathen GeoKrapby Legends and are only incidental. doubtful traditions have thrown a haze over the whole subject. By the time of the death of the apostle John there were Christian churches all over Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece There seems to roper, the islands and Italy. E e every probability that Paul may have carried out his desire to visit Spain between the two imprisonments at Rome. Peter was probably at Babylon and Mark in Egypt. Beyond this there is little certainty. The list of the converts on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii: 9-12) would lead us to infer that Christianity got a footing in Parthia, Media, Elam, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Cyrene, Rome, Crete, Arabia “and in every nation under heaven” (Acts ii: 3). Ethiopia (of doubtful location) may have learned of Christ through the eunuch baptized by Philip. The apostle James familiarly addre es “the twelve tribes which are of the dispersion.” Peter addre es the “sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.” He sends greetings from Babylon (Rome? in Egypt? or on the Euphrates? probably the latter). The innumerable traditions about the apostles and early disciples must be dismi ed as such as that of Paul unreliable and misleading in Britain, Lazarus in Gaul, Thomas in India, Bartholomew in Parthia, Andrew in Ru ia, Thaddeus in Ede a, Philip in Scythia, Matthew Yet in Ethiopia and Judas the Zealot in Arabia. these men were certainly busy somewhere, preaching the Gospel and building up churches. This is certain Christianity found a lodgment during the 1st century from Spain to Babylon It (3,000 miles) and from Rome to Alexandria. had taken the whole Mediterranean as its field of were Jerusalem there at work. In 30 A. D., at most 500 Christians; 100 A. D. there were probably 500,000. A map of the Christian world at this date, containing only certainties, would not give a true impre ion of the geographical extent From the unexampled spread a of Christianity. little later, it may well be inferred that there was a large growth in these early times before the The map should show the great persecutions. routes Paul took on his mi ionary journeys and on his way to Rome. The cities of jElia Capitol in a (Jerusalem after 70 a. d.), Samaria, Joppa, Caesarea, Ptolemais (Acre), Tyre, Sidon, Damascus, Salamis, Antioch, Tarsus, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antiochia, Hierapolis, CoIo k, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, Pergamum, Ephesus, Smyrna, Philippi, The alonica, Bersea, Corinth, Cenchreea, and Rome should be plainly marked. The following cities and countries should be put down as probable: Babylon, Ede a, Arabia, Petraea, Alexandria, Cyrene, Ancyra (in Galatia), Perga, Troas, Athens, Rhodes, Crete, Mileta, It is Puteoli, Carthage and Southern Spain. po ible that Dalmatia, Britain and the Rhone Clement of Rome valley should be included. 102 A. D.), in his first epistle to the (30 A. D. church at Corinth (§ 42), says there was “preaching everywhere in country and town.” The Apostolic Church was to all intents and purposes a Greek-speaking church. It was largely drawn from the Jewish element, altho Gentiles took more and more a prominent part. Christian prejudice against the Jew as a Jew had not yet arisen. The hopeful, buoyant tone of the literature — — — — apostolic letters indicates a growing succe in The churches do not seem to have the work. Geograpliy been thoroughly organized as one church and consequently there were no internal geographical divisions. ///. The Ante- Nicene, Church: The Church of the 2d and 3d centuries is under a denser cloud than that of the 1st. The absence of apostolic writings leaves us to rely upon the casual refer The era ences of historians or other indications. of representative Church councils was just begin Just in Martyr (105-167), the still more ning. reliable Epistle to Diognetus of the same century, IrenjEUS, bishop at Lyons, on the upper Rhone (130-202),and TertuUian, who wrote in the 2d and 3d centuries, unite in representing the Christians as a “great multitude,” “a majority of every state,” “dispersed even to the ends of the earth,” and including “every sex, age and condition, and persons of every rank also.” Among nations enumerated are the Gaetulians (Moors), “all the limits of Spain,” “the diverse nations of the Gauls,” “the haunts of the Britons, inacce ible to the Romans, but conquered by Christ,” the Sarmatians, Dacians, Germans and Scythians. Church councils and martyrologies furnish some information concerning the spread of Eight sav Christianity in this obscure period. age Roman persecutions of the Church took place imperial recogbefore Christianity won for itself nition, and the universality of several shows how widely the faith had spread. The fact that the wisest Roman emperors ordered the severest persecutions, because they feared the spread of its secret religio-political cultus, as they considered it, is another indication of the numerical strength It is estimated that by the of the Christians. opening of the 4th century there were 10,000,000 Christians in the Roman empire, as contrasted with the 500,000 at the close of the 1st century. A conservative gue as to the number of churches at the close of this period places them at 1,000 Oriental and 800 Occidental, but the data Important Church are very unsatisfactory. councils were held at Carthage (254), Elvira (Spain, 305), Aries (Gaul, 314), Ancyra (Asia Minor, 314) and Nioasa (Asia Minor, 325). Contemporary documents give the names of the bishops or presbyters who were present, but not a third of the churches could have been represented. Martyrologies help out somewhat. The 525 cities where there were churches at the time Christianity was coming out from under persecution were distributed as follows: In Europe, 188 in all (Britain 3, German lands 3, Gaul 38, Spain 45, Italy 52, Southeastern Europe 37); in Asia 214 (Asia Minor 136, Northern Syria 36, Palestine 24, Arabia 18); in Africa 123 (Egypt and Lybia 28, North Africa 95). A map indicating this condition of things would be sprinkled all over with cities containing Christian churches. Multiply them by three or four and it becomes apparent why the secular mind of Const an tine the Great led him to throw in his lot with the Christians. Besides York, Lincoln and London, represented at the Council of Aries (314), there were doubtle churches scattered all over the land as far north as the Roman wall. All along the Rhine and Danube frontier we see a string of Christian for Roman soldiers were the mi ionaries tre es. dangerous region. The Euxine was around with churches. Italy, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Southern Spain and the Rhone valley were thickly dotted in this fringed all 260 with churches. Christianity is still strictly municipal, as might have been predicted. / V. The Imperial Church (311-600) With Const an tine’s decree of amnesty to Christians (311) the Church entered upon a new era. Christianity became a state religion. The centers of civilization were won. Within the empire paganism was slowly going to pieces. Under Julian the: Apostate it made one spasmodic effort to regain ascendancy, and then gradually disappeared, or was absorbed by the Church or by some of the its heretical sects. At the close of this period there were probably thirty or forty million Christians in the territory occupied by the empire when at its widest extension. Besides the heretical sects already mentioned, some of which did most of their work in this period (Arianism, Donatism and Man ich seism) are to be noted the Nestor i ans at work in the far East early in the 5th century, the Monophysites in Syria and Egypt a little later, and a century after, the Monothelites. Outside the empire, this propaganda, which had been going on for several centuries, non came to notice and was carried on more systematically. Armenia, the battle-field between Roman and Persian, was the first nation, as such, to embrace Christianity, early in the 4th century. The whole country seems to have received the new religion. Schools and churches were built and the Bible was translated. Since that time the Armenian Church has had continuous life. During day s of persecution Christianity made its way around the border of the Euxine, pushed into the interior of the Caucasus range and won over A most inter the Albanian and Iberian tribes. esting mi ion of this period was to the Goths, various tribes of whom had been moving along the north shore of the Euxine and up the Danube. During their inroads they penetrated in the 3d century as far as Ephesus and Athens. A large number of Christian captives from Cappadocia were dragged northward acro the Danube to the Dacian rendezvous of these rude north men, and thus the first Gospel seeds were planted. Progre must have been made, for the Gothic bishop Theophilus was present at the council of Nicsea The apostle of the Goths, however, came (325). a little later in the person of Ulfilas, a son of Cappadocian captives. Beginning early in the 4tli century (313), his work was spread over the He and his converts went through century. fiery persecutions (350 and 370), but the work of conversion seems to have gone on with increasing momentum. Both the East and West Goths were reached effectually, and through all their wanderings di eminated a more or le helpful Christian faith. From the first Christianity had been pushing Me so pot am i a must have had rapidly eastward. Bishops came to a large Christian population. Nicsea from as far east as Arbela and Nisibis. Persia had been reached at an early period. During the reign of Sapor II. (390-379) terrible persecutions indicate a large Christian populaWhen the Nestor i ans were driven from the tion. Roman dominions, they commenced their mi ionary march eastward, making a first lodgment in Persia in the 5th century, at a time when Christianity was tolerated, and in the 6th and 7th centuries, sending mi ionaries southwestward into Arabia, to the southeast into India and Ceylon, and eastward to China; but it is impo ible to know the extent of the spread of Christianity 251 The St. Thomas Christians in these vast regions. in India and the Christians of the Syrian cult at Urmia in northwestern Persia are all that have remained faithful up to modern times. Turning to Africa there was a most interesting expansion of Christianity in Aby in i a during Under the Syrian mi ionary, Fruthis period. mentius, this great upland of Africa seems to have received the Gospel. Axum, the capital, was reached. The Bible was translated into Ethiopic, and long before the Mohammedan invasions the whole nation had become Christian. The king or Negus was in communication with the court of Constantinople, and at various times championed the cause of Christianity in Arabia. Nubia and the upper Nile were reached, but not as effectively as the mountainous regions of Aby in i a proper. It is not certain when mi ionary work on the peninsula of Arabia began. Doubtle the deserts south and east of Syria furnished a refuge to Christians during times of Roman persecutions, and the much-frequented caravan routes gave easy acce to all parts of the peninsula. Hermits betook themselves to the rocky fastne es of Pella and the Sinaitic peninsula, and at an early date came in contact with Bedouin tribes. During the 4th century there were mi ionaries among the Hi my a rites in the extreme southwest of Arabia, and a traveling bishop followed the wandering tribes of the Syrian desert. A number of tribes were completely won over to Christianity the Gha anites, the inhabitants of Najran, part of the tribes of Tay and Kudaa, the Rabia, Taghlab, Bahra and Tunukh tribes, as well as the Arabs of Hira (Nestor i an influence). first — There was also a terrible persecution of the Christians of Najran by the Jewish usurper, Dhu Nowas. By 600 Arabia was thickly sprinkled over with indications of Christianity. Turning to the extreme northwest limit of the known world, we find the Christian faith in this period laying hold of an island that long before it learned of Christianity was called “The Sacred Island.” are told of the anger of Druids against Cormac, a prominent monarch in Hibernia or Scotia Major or Ireland about the middle of the 3d centruy, who turned from them “to the adoration of God.” For many years Christianity seems to have quietly spread from individual to individual. It was not, however, until the 5th century that Christianity had any substantial following in Ireland. The career of Patrick, a native of Britt any in Gaul, as a mi ionary to Ireland began early in that century and lasted probably until very near its close. Through his exertions the faith seems to have spread in every direction and to have taken po e ion of the island, altho paganism still lurked about. The inroad of the pagan Picts from the north of Great Britain and the heathen Angles, Saxons and Danes from the east, during this century, drove the British Christians into the western mountains, and you sands of them must have flocked acro the channel to Ireland. Thus reenforced, Patrick made the most substantial advance, so that at his death (492?) the whole island was Christian, altho the statement that he founded 365 churches in the island must be received as legendary. Columba, or Columbkille (521-597), after a rather impetuous career on his native island, in 563, with twelve companions retired to lona, We Geogrrapby off the Scottish coast, and established a monastery which became a beacon-light of the faith in north we.stern Europe. Britain proper was lost to Christianity, and the heathen Saxons and kindred tribes exterminated the faith except in Cornwall, Wales and Cambria. The Isle of Man seems to have been Christian i zed during this period. Clovis the Frank became a Christian after the Roman type and led his followers to accept the Gospel. The German border was in constant turmoil owing to the ceasele invasions from the north and east. The Gothic hordes that swept over the country had received a crude sort of Christianity, and so had the Vandals; but Attila the Hun was a heathen. Many of the Christian institutions founded in the 4th century were swept away. However, Val ent in us preached the Gospel in the Tyrol (441), Paul in us was martyred at Ratisbon (470), Sever’us, bishop of Treves, was making efforts to spread the truth in Germany (435), and Sever in us in Noricum and Pannonia (453). The Burgundians, the Franks and the Lombards were reached effectively, as well as the Alans and the Suevi. The Slavonians and Avars in lUyria and Mcesia received Christianity about 550. Few, if any, Teutonic or Slavonic tribes were converted during this era Ijefore they entered the confines of Christen dom. At the close of this period, however, all about the borders of Christen dom there was a lacework of Christian mi ions. The only striking lo was southern Britain, which was soon to be won back. V. The Feudal Church (600-1095): Great changes took place in the geography of Christen dom during the feudal period, gains and lo es balancing each other. The greatest organized enemy of Christianity, Islam, began its decimating work early in the 7th century. Arabia, Syria, Persia, Egypt, the north coast of Africa to the Atlantic, Spain and the Mediterranean islands were succe ively conquered. Christianity was wiped out in Arabia, Nubia and North Africa. Feeble churches remained in Persia, Egypt and Syria. In Spain Christianity still was vigorous. The mountainous regions of the peninsula were never wholly conquered, and even in the conquered portions Christianity flourished under the In the lenient reign of the Caliphate of Cordova. Asturias and Navarre the Christians were independent of Muslim rule. In Egypt and Nubia the monophysite Christians for the most part turned traitors, caring le for orthodoxy from Constantinople than fancied protection from Medina. Nestor i an ism was cut in two by the conquest of Persia and already began to decline, tho its work went on in the Far East. Timothy, Patriarch of Syria (778-820) sent mi ionaries to China and India. In 845 Christians were proscribed in China, altho they had been tolerated The Taurus range all through the 8th century. and the highlands of Armenia remained the frontier fortre es of the Eastern Church for many centuries, but as this period was closing, were being succe fully penetrated by a new scourge from the East the Turk. All through Europe mi ionary work made Pagan England substantial geographical gains. was reclaimed and thoroughly Christian i zed. fierce struggle, but between The heathen made a the Irish Church on the north and west and Augustine and his zealous followers on the south, the victory of Christianity was inevitable, and, — GeoKrapby England with Ireland, Scotland and Wales, was thoroughly Christian at the close of the feudal period. In the meanwhile the fervid mi ionary zeal of the Irish Church was at work on a larger arena. In the 7th century Ireland was called “the Isle of Saints,” largely because of its numerous monastic establishments. Having won over the Picts and Scots to the faith, you sands of Irish monks looked longingly toward the heathen wilds of the Continent. Columbanus (born about 543), a disciple of Comghall, Abbot of Bangor, went from place to place, and finally settled among the Vosges Mountains, on the German frontier. St. Gallus, his disciple, gave name to an illustrious monastery and to a Swi canton. Other Irish mi ionaries set the rather sluggish churches of the Continent examples of simplicity, piety and mi ionary zeal that electrified the whole of western Christen dom. From Gaul went forth Am and us (died 681 or 684) and Eligius (died 659), from England, Willebrord (Clement) and Boniface (Winfrid), “the apostle of Germany.” The Frisians were slowly won over from an unusually savage paganism. The last and overwhelming argument came from the sword of Pepin D’Heristal. Willebrord made a futile attempt to reach the Danes. A century later Ansgar (800-865) became the apostle of Denmark. About this time the sword of Charlemagne compelled the stubborn Saxons to cast away their idols and accept the Cro . Sweden was reached by Ansgar, but the real influence that brought Denmark, Sweden and Norway to Christianity came somewhat later from England. Siegfried, Trygvason and St. Olaf were the leaders. In 912 Rollo the Norman obtained Neustria and was baptized as Robert, Duke of Normandy. While the Belgians, Normans, English, Frisians, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Saxons and other Teutonic tribes in Germany were being won over largely if not exclusively by the Irish, English and Gaelic mi ionaries, the Roman Church was fighting for life itself with marauders from the north and Saracens from the east and south. North Africa and Spain were entirely lost. Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica soon fell before the crescent. Later, as the flood-tide of Islam began to subside, the mi ionary efforts from Rome became more noticeable. The heathen Magyars cro ed the Car path i an Mountains in the 9th century and settled on the Thei and Danube. In 972 their leader, Geyza, married a Christian prince , Sarolta, daughter of the Transylvanian prince Giula, who had been converted during a stay at Constantinople. German mi ionaries fushed down into the country more and more. n 994 Adelbert of Prague baptized with the name of Stephen Goyza’s son Voik, who was afterward famous as St. Stephen, the patron- Hungary. Under his lead Hungary became thoroughly Christian i zed and has ever saint of been a firm adherent to the Roman Church. Turning to the Greek Church we find a more promising field for mi ionary zeal. The Bulgarians are first heard of as a race of Finnish or Tatar blood, living on the Volga. In the 7th century a portion of them moved southwest, cro ed the Danube and spread over the country between that river and the Balkan Mountains. The Slavonic tribes occupying this region submitted to the newcomers, but in turn gave their language to their barbaric conquerers. The 2S2 Bulgarians received Christianity during the 9th century. Cyril, the theologian, and Method i us, the painter, both natives of Salonica, were the apostles of this race. King Borogis was impre ed by a painting representing the Judgment Day, and the conversion of the whole nation followed. After a sharp contest between the ecclesiastical powers at Rome and Constantinople, the Bulgarians received an archbishop from the Greek Church, and have ever since been loyal to that body. The Servians and Croats were reached by these same mi ionaries. Christianity reached the Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, also a Slavonic race, a little later in this same century (9th). Method i us spent the last years of his life in this work. The Czechs had already been reached by German mi ionaries, but not until the baptism of Barziway, the Duke of Bohemia, and his wife, and the arrival of Method i us, was much progre made. Even then there were several reactions. Under Boleslas II. Christian influence predominated and a bishopric was established at Prague (973) A century later all traces of paganism had vanished, and in 1092 the sacred forests were cut and the last heathen priests were banished.. The most important conquest of Christianity during this period was the conversion of the Ru ians at Kief. The traditions linking the Apostle Andrew to this country must be set aside entirely. During 955 Prince Olga visited Constantinople, and was so impre ed with the Christian ceremonial that she was baptized and adopted the Christian faith. Returning to her northern home, her attempts to spread the faith were for a long while inefi’ective. When her grandson Vladimir came to the throne, mi ionaries from Muslims, Jews, Roman and Greek Christians urged upon him their respective religions. After some superflcial investigation the decision was in favor of Greek Christianity, which brought with it the hand of the sister of the Byzantine emperor in marriage. In 988 Vladimir, his court, and all his subjects were baptized at one time in the river Dnieper at Kief. The story of the spread of Christianity throughout the vast European tracts owned by Ru ia to-day is obscure. The consequences of the conversion of Vladimir, however, are immeasurable. Greek mi ionaries from Moravia reached another Slav race, the Poles, early in the 10th century. In 966, their ruler, who had married a Bohemian prince , was baptized, and a large number of his court and people followed him. The gain of territory that must have astonished Christen dom most during this period was far acro the Northern Atlantic, in Iceland and Green land. Iceland was visited in the latter part of the 8th century by Irish monks, and was settled a century later by Norwegian pagan emigrants. Through their mother country they became acquainted with the Gospel, and by the year 1000 Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the settlement. Green land was discovered in the 9th century and two small Christian settlements were established. Christen dom also made notable gains during this period through the checking of the Saracens at Constantinople by Leo III., the I saurian, and at Tours by Charles Martel (752). Crete and Cyprus were soon won back by the Byzantine Empire. The Muslims were out of place in France, and soon were driven out of Narbonne, Aries and Nimes. In Spain Charles the Great 853 pushed them back to the Ebro. In 1017 Sardinia was reclaimed from the Saracen, and, in 1050, Corsica. Such was the geographical status of the feudal Altho it was a dark age, and Mohamchurch. medanism almost pre ed out the life of the church, it must be considered on the whole an age The dark age was above of astonishing progre . It prepared the soil for the all a mi ionary age. more substantial harvests that were to be reaped a later and happier era. Its gains were mainly superficial and so were its lo es. Vital Christianity was not swept away by Islam. VI. The Crusading Church (1095-1500): The geographical gain of Christen dom during this period was almost altogether military in character. The appeal everywhere was to the sword. It was a desperate fight for life with Islam and paganism in Spain, Sicily, Palestine, Asia Minor, the Balkan peninsula, Ru ia and along the Balin tic. The Crusades did little or nothing for the expansion of Christen dom. They may, however, have put a check upon the Seljuk Turk, which gave Europe a respite before the more serious onset of the Ottoman Turk. The first crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II. at Clermont, 1095, and in 1290 Acre, the last Christian stronghold in Syria, fell, bringing the Crusades to an end. The Crusades broke the aggre ivene of the Seljuks, but the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders weakened the Byzantine Empire so that it was powerle against the Ottoman Turks, who appeared on the scene of action during the middle of the 13th century. By 1299 they were firmly established on the borders of the already le ening Byzantine Empire, with Brusa as their capital. With the ex:;eption of Trebizond, Cilicia, the strip of land along the Bosphorus, and a few fragments, the Christian emperors of Constantinople had lost all their Asiatic po e ions by 1340. The well-disciplined Ottoman army entered Europe 1354, and held Adrianople within seven years. Then followed a rapid advance to the Danube and down along the Hellenic peninsula. Servia and Wall a chia from being dependent states soon became a part of the Sultan’s dominions. A momentary check, caused by the victory of Tamer lane over Bajazet at Angora, 1402, gave Constantinople a brief respite; but in 1453 the last vestiges of the Eastern Roman Empire fell with the capital city. The movement of the Ottoman now was northward. The heroism of the Christian nations of Southeastern Europe, unaided to any valuable extent by Western Europe, was of no avail against the Muslim armed with the most approved The whole southern shore of the Euxine was gained. The remainder of the Greek mainland followed, with Albania and Bosnia. Euboea fell and the other islands followed, the brave Knights of St. John holding on to Rhodes to the last. Early in the next period the Janizaries cro ed the Danube, took Hungary, Transylvania, Podolia, and controlled the whole coast of the Black Sea. During the last part of the 17th century the tide turned and European Christen dom has ever since slowly but surely been recovering its territory from the Muslims. In the meanwhile another Mongol horde, gag an as to religion, had been penetrating hristendom further to the north. Genghis Khan, after spreading his rule through vast battalions, weapons. Geography regions in Asia, moved westward north of the Caspian, invaded Ru ia, captured Moscow, Kief, burned Cracow and defeated the German armies under Henry the Pious at Wahlstatt (1241). Then the Mongols retired from Europe, leaving the “Golden Horde” on the lower Volga, which for two centuries kept Ru ia in turmoil. At length, late in the 15th century, Moscow and Novgorod and other dependent Ru ian states threw themselves against the several khanates into which the “Horde” had been broken up, and, under such leaders as Ivan the Great and Ivan III., succeeded in making the Tatars dependent. The long-drawn battle between Ru ian and Tatar (Turk) still goes on, and must to the end. The Nestor i ans seem to have been favored by the Tatars of this time, who accepted their mi ionaries. The mysterious Prester John was a Tatar prince converted in the 12th century. Late in this period another Mongol appears Tamer lane a descendant of Genghis Khan, but a Muslim who made himself master of the countries from China to the Mediterranean and from the Volga to Egypt. He defeated the “Golden Horde,” and thus indirectly helped the Ru ian Christians, but in his bloody advances in Asia he made havoc with the Nestor i an churches in the far East and Central Asia. Christianity was almost completely blotted out A few colonies of Nestor i ans of those regions. remained, which were visited by Roman Catholic mi ionaries in the 13th and 14th centuries. Tamer lane died in 1405. Turning to the southwestern corner of Europe there were in this period substantial geographical As in Ru ia so in Spain, gains for Christen dom. no outside forces were called in during the long, At the middle of the 14th succe ful crusade. century the Moors were hemmed up in the mounAt length, through tainous retreats of Granada. the joint efforts of the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castile, Ferdinand and Isabella, the last rampart was taken, and in 1492 Boabdil, the last Saracen ruler, sailed away to Africa. Turning to the land of the Baltic, a most interesting gain to the territory of Christen dom during this period, came through the valor of the TeuIn the 11th century some progtonic knights. re had been made among the Wends, a Slavonic people living on the Baltic between the Elbe and Gottschalk, their ruler, suffered the Vistula. martyrdom in 1066. Vicelin worked among them in the following century succe fully, and In the Wends slowly accepted Christianity. 1155 Saint Eric, the Swedish king, undertook the conquest and conversion of Finland, acro This crusade against the Gulf of Bothnia. heathenism went on for centuries with varied sucChristianity of Finland was super the ce , but The Knights ficial until after the Reformation. of the Sword, or Sword-bearers, conquered Lapland early in the 13th century, and Pru ia was gained by the Teutonic Knights, or Knights of St. — — Mary, a little later. Lithuania and Pomerania were next won. Heathenism gave way to the Cro at nearly every point, and at last Ru ian Christianity was met more than half way by the militant faith from the west. Enough has been said to justify the calling of Very this the crusading era of Christen dom. little mi ionary work of the ordinary kind was stirring centuries. In 1265 these during done mendicant friars were sent among the Moguls by Innocent IV. In 1315 a disastrous attempt was Geography German ETansellcal made to convert Muslims in Africa. Francis cans in Northwestern Persia are said to have had several you sand adherents at the close of the 14th In 1344 the Canary Islands, off the century. Atlantic coast, became a fief of the Pope. The Madeiras (1418-20), the Azores (1432-57) and the northwest coast of Africa (1486-97) received misThe Cape of Good Hope was reached, sionaries. the way to the East Indies opened up, and a new world was discovered just at the close of this period and the whole geographical problem that faced the Christian Church began to be understood. Colonizing Church (1500-1700): VII. The Great as had been the expansion of Christen dom in each of the previous periods, that of the 16th and 17th centuries was unexampled. The Ru ian Church, after the defeat of the “Golden Horde,” quickly spread all over the territory now occupied by European Ru ia. In 1580 Gen. Yermak cro ed the Ural Mountains, and within eighty years the Pacific was reached and over 4,000,000 square miles were added to the territories of Christen dom the whole upper half Church of the largest continent in the world. and state went hand in hand. The zeal of the Church carried it over the straits to Japan, and acro the arm of the sea to Alaska. But the great expansion of Christen dom took place acro the Atlantic, largely under the banners of Spain, Portugal and France, and through the instrumentality of Do mini cans, Francis cans, and Jesuits. The fervid imagination of the Church was set on fire by the great discoveries of this peiiod. The chivalric spirit threw itself into the work of the discoverer and the mi ionary. By 1585 Mexico was conquered and brought nominally to Christianity, somewhat in the same way as the greater part of Europe had been. little later Central America, Peru, Chile and the rest of South America, with the exception of the extreme southern peninsula, were dealt with in a similar fashion. Paraguay was a republic under the Jesuits as early as 1586. California, New Mexico and Horida were reached. The earliest attempt of Protestants to do foreign mi ionary work was also colonial in quality. Under the patronage of Coligny a mi ionary colony was undertaken in Brazil in 1555, but the venture which, after all, was more political than religious in its character, soon collapsed through the treachery of the leader. In 1559 — A Gustavus Vasa began mi ion work in Lapland, and substantial progre was made. Another attempt at planting a mi ionary colony in America, made by Coligny under Ribaut in Florida, was unsucce ful, the colonists having been savagely butchered by the Spaniards in the so-called “last crusade.” In the meantime the English colonies in North America brought substantial gains to the territories of Christen dom. France pushed up the St. Lawrence and the Jesuit mi ionaries found their way to the great lakes. In the meantime actual mi ionary work was pushed vigorously in the East. The Francis cans were the vanguard. The bishopric of Goa was established in 1520. In 1528 the Capuchin order was founded. In 1540 the Societas Jesu was established at Rome. Francis Xavier went to India and Japan. Father Ricci was in China. In 1622 the Propaganda was organized at Rome. Great but ineffectual efforts were made to do mi ionary work in Africa, especially on the Congo and in Morocco. In 1688 the S54: mi ionaries were expelled from Japan, and a terrible ma acre of native Christians occurred. The Dutch followed upon the heels of the Portuguese East Indies. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was chartered. Ceylon was taken (1636), as well as Java, Formosa, Amboyna, Sumatra, Celebes and other islands. The natives were forcibly Christian i zed. The map of the globe by the year 1700 was fairly complete. The great discoveries had all been made. The Christian world was at last fully aware of the nature of the world-problem. Siberia, South America, Central America and Mexico, the West India Islands and the Atlantic seaboard in North America were the special additions to the territory of Christen dom; in all fully 12,000,000 square miles. yill. The Church Evangelistic (1700): It is not until we enter this period of the geographical expansion of Christen dom that we find the Church pushing forward at all systematically to the conquest of the globe for Jesus Christ, and regaining the apostolic principle that such expansion only is gain as carries with it the hearts of the people of any territory newly occuin the pied. The Propaganda was founded at Rome in 1622, but during the 18th and 19th centuries all the religious bodies of Western Christen dom have one by one awakened to the duty of overcoming paganism and Mohammedanism. With experiments of the German pietists in the Danish mi ion in Tranquebar in 1705, and the organization of the little Moravian Church at Herrnhut in 1732, a new spirit appeared among Protestant A desire to obey the command of Jesus began to spread which was not alloyed by political aims or entanglements. Men in the Christians. different denominations began to feel for means of securing the extension of the kingdom in lands entirely closed to the influence of the Gospel. Among these prophets of a new era for the Protestant world, Carey stood almost alone in 1792, but his words carried conviction, and the great mi ionary societies sprang up one after another and sent out their me engers until the pagan world is covered with a network of the agencies of evangelization; the Gospel is being preached and printed in every great language and in numbers of le er dialects; the children and youth of heathendom are having their minds molded in Christian schools and a new type of manhood, purer, kindlier and more spiritually-minded, is attracting the people to enquire whence it has come. summary of progre and results during this period will be found in the article Modem Mi ions, and need not be repeated here. As we look on the map and discover small parcels of pagan territory like Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Zealand and other islands of the Pacific which have been entirely Christian i zed within a century, and as we see men who were heathen like the people of these islands, like those of Southern India, of Japan, of South Africa, of A New Uganda, who are seriously taking up the work of evangelization, it is clear that this period of the expansion of Christen dom is to continue until the maps of the world show no point which has not heard and adopted in some sort the gracious laws of the King of Kings. 272