Вале 149 A4 PREFACE. THIS "Outline" is designed, primarily, as a manual for class instruction. In its plan it follows rigidly the mechanical form which seems best fitted for such a manual. Indeed, in no other way would it have been possible to include the necessary number and variety of topics within so limited a space. And by this method, it is hoped, an amount of information is brought together and presented with sufficient clearness, which will be of value and interest, not merely to the classes for which it is designed, but for any intelligent reader or student of general history. As to a plan of study, it is recommended that, in first going over the ground, the twelve chapters should be taken in as many lessons, studying only the part in larger type. The general scheme, or course of events, having thus been set clearly before the mind, it may then be best to select particular divisions, or periods, to be studied in more detail. If, for example, the first four chapters, and the four beginning with the Reformation, should be divided into three lessons each, the whole course would then occupy thirty-six lessons, or about the work of a single year; the rest being essential to the plan, but less important to be learned, and less easily illustrated from other sources. Still, it should be remembered, an epitome like this is not history. To make its lessons of any value, they need a broader interpretation than can possibly be given in such a manual. This book, accordingly, refers constantly as the most compact and convenient summary of the subject from its point. of view to the "Christian History in its Three Great Periods" (3 vols.), published by Roberts Brothers, Boston. It may be, indeed, regarded as a complement, or key, to that series. Neither that, however, nor any single work, ought to satisfy the student. For a general guide, to both teacher and pupil, such a work of reference as McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopædia" is perhaps best; or, for the earlier part (eight centuries), Smith's great Dictionaries of Christian Antiquities (2 vols.) and Biography (4 vols.). The single-volume text-book by Philip Smith (Harpers) will serve as a sufficient and well-illustrated manual of reference for the first ten centuries. Milman's histories of Christianity" and "Latin Christianity" ought also to be within easy reach. For the period beginning with the Reformation, abundant books of reference may be readily found, needing no special mention. A more complete list of authorities, with tables of Chronology and other aids, will be found in the "Christian History" before referred to. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., J. H. A. September 1, 1884. |