Page:Three introductory lectures on the study of ecclesiastical history.djvu/86

78 battles, wanderings, dangers, escapes, death-beds, obsequies, of every age and country, rise, or may rise to our view, as we read it.

Nor is it only in special passages that the history of the Church sets before us the greatness of its origin. It is on looking back upon a mountain range which we have left, that we often for the first time understand its true character. The peaks which in a nearer view were all confused, now stand out distinct; the line of heights is drawn out in its full length; the openings and passes disentangle themselves from the surrounding valleys; the nearer and lesser objects now sink to their proper level, as they are seen backed and overtopped by the lofty range behind and above them. Even so do we, at the distance of eighteen hundred years, see in many respects the truths of Scripture with a clearer vision than they who lived even amidst their recesses or at their very foot. We who have traversed the long levels of Ecclesiastical History can see what they of old time could not see, the elevation of those divine words and acts, as compared with any that followed. We can see, as they could not see, the wide circumference of objects which those words and acts overlooked, embraced, comprehended. We can distinguish, as they could not distinguish, the relative importance, the due proportions, the general outline, of the various heights, and can sketch our picture and direct our steps accordingly.

The very extent of our departure from the original