Page:Three introductory lectures on the study of ecclesiastical history.djvu/42

34 streams penetrate into those dead waters; how shall those dry bones live?"

There may be many answers to this question, but I shall contcnt myself with the most obvious. Remember, that of all these things there is a history. These relics, these institutions, these characters, (take them at their worst,) had each a part to play amongst mankind; they were men of flesh and blood like ourselves, or they dwelt with men of flesh and blood like ourselves; they were living human spirits, or they were the instruments of living human spirits; however decayed, however antiquated they may be, yet in their very age they have an interest which no novelty can give. We cannot, it is true, enter on Ecclesiastical History, whether in its wider or its narrower sense, with the feeling of fresh enthusiasm which inspires the discoverers of unexplored regions, whether of science or history, "the first who ever burst into the silent sea," or secluded ruins, which no eye of man has seen before. But we can enter upon it with the yet deeper delight which fills our minds, as we feel rising beneath our feet the ground of the Seven Hills; or as we gaze, knowing that hundreds of thousands have gazed before us, on the everlasting outline of the Pyramids. So view the history of the Church, even in its most lifeless and withered forms; so view it as part of a whole, as once having lived, as living still in ourselves, as destined to live on in future generations; so