T9 



CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY. 



CHRISTIANITY. 



extent, fallen into decay, from their antiquity, and the funds of the 

 charity being unequal to their entire restoration upon a plan of suitable 

 uniformity and convenience, it wai revolved, at a general court of the 

 governors, on the 23th of January, 180S, to open a subscription for 

 that purpoec, when the corporation of London gave 1000/. ; several of 

 the city companies followed the example, and the donations for this 

 purpose up to 1833, chiefly of individuals, amounted to 3S.070/. The 

 great work of rebuilding was commenced in 1825, under the direction 

 of Mr. Shaw, by whom the magnificent hall, only second in size to that 

 of Westminster, the grammar school, some of the dormitories, and the 

 infirmary, were constructed. Since then other improvements have been 

 made. In 1858 the site of the old Qiltspur Street Compter was 

 acquired, and formed into a play-ground ; and in 1859 the entrances 

 from Newgate Street were rendered ornamental. 



The mfiTM^ing governors of the hospital are the mayor and com- 

 monalty of the city of London, represented by the lord mayor, aldermen, 

 and twelve common council-men, who are chosen by the rest of the 

 common council out of their own body, according to an Act of 

 Parliament obtained in 1782, to settle the disputes between the city 

 of London and the hospital Besides the corporation, noblemen and 

 gentlemen of all ranks are governors, who become benefactors to the 

 amount of 4001. The number of governors of this kind is not limited. 

 The right of presentation is vested in the governors in rotation, and in 

 some of the officers by virtue of their offices. The children presented 

 must be not less than seven nor more than ten years of age, and they 

 come out at fifteen, except those boys who become Grecians, when they 

 remain till they are eighteen or nineteen. Of these Grecians, there 

 used to be six, increased in 1857 to eight, who are sent, with consider- 

 able endowments arising from the gift of the hospital itself, and from 

 various scholarships founded by individuals, to the universities of 

 Oxford and Cambridge. 



In 1683 the governors erected a handsome building in the town of 

 Hertford, for both boys and girls. The girls permanently remain here. 

 All the boys are also sent to Hertford, and here they are nursed and 

 instructed until they are rendered capable of receiving the more 

 advanced education of the foundation in London. The establishment 

 at Hertford, when full, contains upwards of 400. 



The accommodation in the two establishments in London and at 

 Hertford is for about 1200 boys, and at Hertford for 70 girls. 



In London there are classical masters, writing masters, mathematical, 

 drawing, and singing masters, with masters for French and German ; 

 and in most of the departments there are also assistant-masters or 

 ushers. It should be observed, that the boys' school is essentially 

 classical ; Latin and Greek are taught to all as the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of their education. Mathematics are also essential to King 

 Charles's foundation, and to those students who aspire to be deputy 

 Grecians or Grecians ; but all may be taught if they apply. Drawing 

 and the living foreign languages are modern improvements. The girls 

 are only taught the common branches of education, and are instructed 

 in matters of domestic economy, o as to fit them for household service. 

 At Hertford there are a classical master, writing master, two ushers, 

 and two mistresses to the girls' school ; besides nurses, &c., at each. 



The gross income of the charity averages about 50,000?. The 

 expenses are kept somewhat below the income, and these accumu- 

 lation* allow for occasional extensions, as in the addition of two 

 Grecians. The governors enjoy the patronage of several ecclesiastical 

 bwnflffr, most of them in the counties of Essex and Surrey. 



CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION 

 OF, is the oldest society in the kingdom established for the education 

 and religious instruction of the poor. It is an incorporated society, 

 and is supported by the members of the Church of England. Its 

 founder may be considered to have been the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray, 

 who, with four others, held their first meeting on March 8, 1698-9, and 

 it was incorporated hi 1701. The chief objects pursued by Dr. Bray 

 were the promotion of charity schools, the planting of the Episcopal 

 Church in British colonies ; the formation of lending libraries, and the 

 furnishing of cheap books and depositories of books for poor clergymen 

 and students for holy orders. With a vast development, these continue 

 to be the objects to which the exertions of the society are directed. In 

 the first year of its existence, industrial schools were projected, and 

 parochial charity schools founded ; there are now nearly 25,000 such 

 schools, with nearly a million and a half of children taught in them. 

 In 1701 the system of school inspection was instituted ; and this was 

 followed by the founding of training institutions for schoolmasters and 

 schoolmistresses. The society continues to give assistance, chiefly by 

 supplying books to schools founded for the gratuitous or cheap edu- 

 cation of the poor on Church of England principles ; and it was the 

 iiutituter, and continues to be the supporter, of the annual assemblage 

 of the charity children of the metropolis in the cathedral of St. Paul's. 



In the colonies and dependencies of the British empire the expendi- 

 ture of the society has been on a larger scale. It sent missionaries to 

 India a* early as 1749, among them the celebrated ftcbwarz; it lian 

 promoted the establishment of all the colonial bishoprics, contributing 

 upward* of SO.OOOi. towards their endowment; it has given above 

 90,0007. for building of colonial churches ; and it has furnished between 

 40,0001 and 0,0001. to various colonial colleges and college-schools. 

 But the chief field of the society's exertions has been the preparation 

 and circulation of books and tracts ; more especially of liil.lcn, Testa- 



ments, and Prayer Books. We have already mentioned [BIBLE 

 SOCIETIES] its labours in that department. These works are supplied 

 to the public at an average annual loss to the society of about 14,0001. 

 The yearly issue is about 135,000 Bibles, 70,000 New Testaments, and 

 345,000 Prayer Books. From the year 1733, wh. n tin- society first 

 began to report its annual issues, nearly nine million I'.iUc - .u, 

 Testaments have been distributed, and nearly cU-vcii million Prayer 

 Books. For purjKwes of Christian education, it also publishes largely 

 both in the form of cheap tracts and of works possessing scientific 

 and literary excellence and beauty of appearance. By these, tl. 

 comparatively cheap, the society does not profess to lose, but the total 

 issue is enormous. The annual average is about three millions and a 

 half; and from 1733 to April, 1859, not less than one hundred and 

 thirty-six millions of books and tracts have been sold. 



The income of the society arises from subscriptions, donations, bene- 

 factions, and the sale of its books. Subscribers and donors haw tliu 

 privilege of purchasing the society's publications at a reduced rate. 1 n 

 the year ending April, 1859, the total receipts were 100.06U, of which 

 61,8482. arose from the sale of works, and the remainder from the 

 sources mentioned above. In the same year the expenditure was 

 100,062?., of which 74.459J. were for the production of the various 

 works sold, 6000J. were spent in various ways on the colonies, about 

 20001. went for salaries and management, and the remainder in miscel- 

 laneous items. An East Indian missionary fund has been recently 

 established, and is kept distinct by the society; but this has been 

 included in the above statement. 



CHRISTIANITY, that system of religion which has for its founder 

 Jesus Christ. 



The history of Christianity may be divided into three periods, of 

 which the first embraces the life and ministry of Jesus Christ ; the 

 second comprehends the acts of the apostles after the death and 

 resurrection of Christ, and the formation of the Christian church ; tin- 

 third period comprehends the history of the church from the termi- 

 nation of the labours of the apostles to the present day, and is a dis- 

 tinct subject from the history of the first two periods, so far as 

 concerns the essential doctrines of Christianity. 



The communities or churches founded by the apostles soon began 

 to differ in various point* of doctrine and discipline. From these 

 differences arose a long series of violent disputes and animosities 

 among the various religious parties or communities into which the 

 whole body of Christians was divided. The frame of civil society also, 

 in all the countries into which Christianity was gradually introduced, 

 was necessarily affected by the new religion. Thus the history of the 

 Christian church immediately subsequent to the cessation of the 

 apostles' mission, and indeed we may say during the time of their 

 mission, is inseparable from the history of all the several political 

 societies among which Christianity was established. The hist 

 Christianised Asia, Africa, and Europe, for several centuries, might 

 with more propriety be called the history of the church in this or that 

 country, than any thing else. The word church is here used in that 

 proper and large sense which is pointed out at the end of the article 

 CHURCH. 



Viewing, however, the history of the church as a distinct subject, 

 and paying no regard to the events of civil society, except so far as 

 they are immediately and intimately connected with the church (the 

 term here being used in a narrower sense), such a history is generally 

 supposed to possess a sufficient unity of subject, as distinguished from 

 civil history, to form a separate and distinct division of historical 

 inquiry. Accordingly we have numerous histories of the church, 

 whose professed object is to develop the progress of Christian doc 

 of the various opinions on matters of faith and discipline which ha\ e 

 divided Christians, and of the various communities or associations 

 into which Christians have been distribute!. But these histories, in 

 all ages, being mainly written by the clergy, are often not so much 

 histories of the great body of Christians iu this or that country, as of 

 those whose immediate interests were often little identified with the 

 interests of those whom it ;- tli.-ir business to iiiHtruct. Such 

 a contracted view of the history of Christianity, and of the history of 

 the church in the several countries where Christianity is established, 

 must always appear unsatisfactory to those who, considering the origin 

 of the religion of Jesus Christ, ita progress, and itn development, OH 

 the great subject of the political drama of the civilised world for 

 eighteen centuries, regard the history of i/if church or of a church, 

 not as in any respect dissociated from civil hixtory, but as a component 

 part of it. Intimately blended with all the relations of life, with all 

 the great events of political society, and now for at least fourteen 

 centuries directing or influencing all the functions of government, and 

 by turns assisting or retarding the progress of knowledge, according 

 to the various forms in which it has been moulded for political pur- 

 poses, a history of the church, distinct from the political history of the 

 same nation and the same period, can have little value, except HO far 

 as it may be a good history of the clergy. Such a history of the 

 church, however, has been often attempted by men neither deficient in 

 industry nor learning ; but the one-sided view which they have taken 

 has never satisfied careful inquirers, and has only hod the effect of 

 forming in the minds of those who read much and think little, a 

 certain confused notion of some ewenti.il dill'd-ence Iwtwecn (lie 

 history of the church and the hintory of those who, in various ages, 



