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732.[2]
24. The empire of the Caliphs soon declined from its original
splendour, and its ruin finally proceeded from the same cause that
produced the downfall of Rome, the employment of barbarian
mercenaries. The soldiers levied by the Caliphs, were selected from
the Tartar tribes that had embraced the religion of Mohammed; they
were called Turcomans or Turks, from Turkistan, the proper name of
western Tartary. These brave, but ferocious warriors, soon wrested the
sceptre from the feeble caliphs, and completed the conquest of western
Asia. The crusades for a time delayed the fate of the Greek empire,
but finally the Turks crossed the Hellespont, and having taken
Constantinople, (A.D. 1453,) established their cruel despotism over
the fairest portion of Europe.
_Questions for Examination._
1. How were the barbarians first brought into the Roman empire?
2. When did the first great movement of the Northern tribes take
place?
3. Where did the Vandals first settle?
4. From whence did the Alans come?
5. In what countries did the Vandals establish their power?
6. Where did we first find the Goths settled?
7. To what countries did the Goths remove?
8. How long did the kingdom of the Visigoths continue?
9. What branch of the Goths settled in Germany?
10. From what did the Franks derive their name?
11. Which was the ancient, and which the modern France?
12. What is the history of the Allemanni?
13. In what countries did the Saxons and Angles settle?
14. Whence did the Huns come?
15. How far did their ravages extend?
16. What territory did the Burgundians seize?
17. How did the alliance between the Lombards and Avars injure the
former people?
18. Where was the kingdom of the Lombards established?
19. What is told respecting the Slavi?
20. Who were the Normans?
21. What is the history of the Bulgarians?
22. What great conquests were achieved by the Arabs under Mohammed and
his successors?
23. By whom was the Saracenic career of victory checked?
24. How was the empire of the Turks established?
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Taylor's History of France.
[2] Here also the heroic Black Prince took John, king of France,
prisoner. See Taylor's France.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye oceans, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole.--_Heber_.
1. Judea became a Roman province some years before the birth of Jesus
Christ, and the Jews, who had hitherto been conspicuous for their
attachment to their native land, were induced, by the spirit of trade,
to spread themselves over the empire. 2. The exclusive nature of their
religion kept them in a marked state of separation from their fellow
subjects; the worshipper of Osi'ris scrupled not to offer sacrifices
to Jupiter; the Persian, the Indian, and the German, bowed before the
Roman altars; but the sons of Abraham refused to give the glory of
their God to graven images, and were regarded by their idolatrous
neighbours at first with surprise, and afterwards with contempt. 3.
The appearance of the Messiah in Palestine, and the miraculous
circumstances of his life, death, and resurrection, did not fill the
world with their fame, because his preaching was principally addressed
to his countrymen, the first object of his mission being "the lost
sheep of the house of Israel."
4. The disciples, after their Divine Master was taken from them,
proceeded to fulfil his last commandments, by preaching the gospel "to
every nation," and an opportunity of spreading its blessings was
afforded by Jewish synagogues having been previously established in
most of the great cities through the empire. Independent of the
sustaining providence of its Almighty Author, there were many
circumstances that facilitated the progress and prepared the way for
the final triumph of Christianity. 5. In the first place, Paganism had
lost its influence; men secretly laughed at the fabulous legends about
Jupiter and Rom'ulus, the sacrifices had become idle forms, and the
processions a useless mockery. Philosophers had not scrupled to cover
with ridicule the whole system of Heathenism, and there were not a few
who professed themselves Atheists. 6. Without some system of religion
society cannot exist; for a sanction stronger than human laws is
necessary to restrain the violence of passion and ardent desires. The
innate feeling that our existence is not dependent on our mortal
frame, disposes men to search for some information respecting a future
state; the heathen system was at once obscure and absurd; the
philosophers avowedly spoke from conjecture; but by the Gospel, "life [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]