Alaska sentinel., 1907-05-23
THREE HUNDRED YEARS or AMERI.
 CAN CHRISTIANITY
BY REV. H. P. coRSER.

Church at the three hundredth anniver.
 -sary of the first service, in the English lan-
 guage, held on the American continent.)
 Once wag wrote over the gate of cene- tery, Here is where the dead lie, and here Is where the living lie"
 This Is true, to some extent of history. It Is not until lately that readers could find real true history of even the fathers of our country. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Hamilton have been pictured more as demigods than real flesh and blood men
 What is true of secular history is true to some extent, at least of church history. Writers of church history are found apolo- gizing for the sins of their religious ances. tors, idealizing them, making them out different from men.
 For example: Congregationalists some times apologize for the peculiar brand of liberty established by our Puritan ancestors, Episcopalians for Archbishop Land, and call Charles I a martyr, Presbyterians try to ex- cuse Calvin for burning Servetus, and Qua kers pass over, slighdngly, some of the Fagaries of their ancestry. The effect of thts has been to keep Christians far apart when they should be brought together.
 Let it be our purpose, therefore, to give as Complete history as few words will allow tf the religious life of our country during the past three hundred years
 It was the Sunday after Ascension Day in 1907 that the first service was held at James, town, Virginia. The colonists landed on Wednesday, first built their fort and then turned their attention to the church. The E-S |, ;,, ,,Io bod logs cut down for seats, an awning for a roof and board between two trees for an altar. A church was soon built, and in this church the first representative assembly on the American continent was convened.
 Preparations were made for a college within decade after the colonists landed but owing to an Indian massacre this was postponed in Virginia for many years.
 Virginia and Maryland were the strong holds of the English Church for over half a eehtury. Outside of these two states for a long time, there were only four other Epis- Copal Churches in the country, one at Bos- ton one at Providence, one at New York 'Old Trinity, ''. and one at Philadelphia New England, outside of Virginia and Ma tyland, was first to feel the power of this Church. At one time the president of Yale College came into the Church, and this started rnoveinent which has made New England, from that time until this, another Stronghold of the Church
 Following soon after the coming of the Firginians, were the puritans. The Puri- tans came from the best blood of England. They were keenly intellectual and had in .l-,, F,ss -E .f-t. They planted good colleges along with their Churches. Harvard. Yale Dartmouti', Will Hams and almost a score of others were founded by them
 They made the error of imagining the evils that they had fled from in England to flave been due to the government and forms Of the English Church rather than due to the uniting of Church and State, and so, ti1ey established some of the evils from which they had fed. The consequence was bersecutions and men ike the Quakers and Baptists, like Roger Williams, had to leave and form new colonies,
 The Puritan. or as it is ION known tlre Congregational Church, has surFeiei much Because of its lack Of a strong government t' has divided and subdivided again
 The next strong religious force after the Puritan was the Ptesbytirisn. Its first Church was on Long Island. The incoming of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish into New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and also of the EHuguenots from France. made this Church Strong from the very first. It had all the merits of the Puritan Church and the ad- vantage of a strong central government. Its teacqing, sometimes, was harsh. Some of Tohnathan Edwards sermons would be i'm. possible today. It was, from the first, very suenuous in its missionary work, and this has given 1t in this country the strong lead That it has held ever since
 The middle of the seventeenth century Witnessed religious decline throughout | he colonies. IL brought forth a Tom Paine and hosts of followers. This was counter @-cted largely by the great Methodist move i-nent. Charles and John Wesley were Priests of the Church of Englann until the . H.a A.