SUMMARY OF CD-ROM CONTENTS:
I. The History of Protestantism by Rev. J.A. Wylie
- Volume 1: 636 Pages (plus about 10 extra steel engravings at front)
- Volume 2: 636 Pages (plus about 10 extra steel engravings at front)
- Volume 3: 660 Pages (plus about 10 extra steel engravings at front)
II. The History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of America by George Bancroft
- Volume 1: 544 pages
- Volume 2: 515 pages
III. Christianity in the United States from the First Settlement Down to the Present Time by Daniel Dorchester (795 pages, 1888)
DETAILS ON EACH VOLUME:
I. The History of Protestantism by Rev. J.A. Wylie (1878)
James A. Wylies History of Protestantism was first published in 1878. It is a massive work of more than 2000 pages that covers the beginnings of Christianity to the Glorious Revolution in Great Britain in 1688. There are 24 individual books in 3 volumes. It is profusely illustrated with hundreds of wood cuts. The following is taken from Wylies work and offers a good summary of the three-volume work:
The men who handed in this protest did not wish to create a mere void. If they disowned the creed and threw off the yoke of Rome, it was that they might plant a purer faith and restore the government of a higher Law. They replaced the authority of the Infallibility with the authority of the Word of God. The long and dismal obscuration of centuries they dispelled, that the twin stars of liberty and knowledge might shine forth, and that, conscience being unbound, the intellect might awake from its deep solemnity, and human society, renewing its youth, might, after its halt of a thousand years, resume its march towards its high goal.
Volume 1:
Book 1: Progress From the First to the Fourteenth Century
Book 2: Wicliffe and His Times, or Advent of Protestantism
Book 3: John Huss and the Hussite Wars
Book 4: Christendom at the Opening of the Sixteenth Century
Book 5: History of Protestantism in Germany to the Leipsic Disputation, 1519
Book 6: From the Leipsic Disputation to the Diet at Worms, 1521
Book 7: Protestantism in England, From the Times of Wicliffe to Those of Henry VIII
Book 8: History of Protestantism in Switzerland From A.D. 1516 to Its Establishment at Zurich, 1525
Book 9: History of Protestantism From the Diet of Worms, 1521, to the Augsburg Confession, 1530
Volume 2:
Book 10: Rise and Establishment of Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark
Book 11: Protestantism in Switzerland From Its Establishment in Zurich (1525) to the Death of Zwingli (1531)
Book 12: Protestantism in Germany From the Augsburg Confession to the Peace of Passau
Book 13: From Rise of Protestantism in France (1510) to Publication of the Institutes (1536)
Book 14: Rise and Establishment of Protestantism at Geneva
Book 15: The Jesuits
Book 16: Protestantism in the Waldensian Valleys
Book 17: Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I (1547) to Edict of Nantes (1598)
Volume 3:
Book 18: History of Protestantism in the Netherlands
Book 19: Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia
Book 20: Protestantism in Hungary and Transylvania
Book 21: The Thirty Years' War
Book 22: Protestantism in France From Death of Henry IV (1610) to the Revolution (1789)
Book 23: Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII
Book 24: Protestantism in Scotland
A paperback version of this work is available for $99.00 but does not include the hundreds of images that are included in this facsimile edition. The online versions also do not include the images. The images alone are worth thousands of dollars.
II. The History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States by George Bancroft (1882)
George Bancroft (1800-1891) is often called the father of American history. Bancroft was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Harvard University and the University of Göttingen, Germany, where he prepared for the ministry. In 1834 he completed the first volume of History of the United States From the Discovery of the Continent. He would expand it to ten volumes over the next 40 years. In addition to the History of the United States, Bancrofts work also included the two-volume work The History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States published in 1882. He placed great emphasis on the use of original sources, building a vast collection of documents and hiring copyists to translate materials from European archives. In these two volumes, Bancroft presents a great deal of background information on the people and events that shaped the Constitution. These two volumes consist of 1,059 pages.
III. Christianity in the United States from the First Settlement Down to the Present Time by Daniel Dorchester (1888)
Daniel Dorchester believed that Christianity is best known and attested by its influence in the actual life of communities. With this in mind, he undertakes in this massive volume the study not only of the religious statistics of the churches in the history of America but also the moral and social phenomena, and the tidal movements and trend of the nations life. Dorchester was careful to guard his study lest he discolor or distort the facts by his [interpretive] lens. The work had been undertaken and prosecuted under conscientious convictions, in the hope that the best interests of Christianity may be served by it, and that it may prove helpful to the Christian ministry and to the public at large. Heres an example:
Ancient paganism was a part of the State and dependent upon it. In both religion had no separate existence. But Christ proclaimed his Church a spiritual kingdom, not of this world, nor dependent on the civil power, that it might be kept free from worldly limitations and contaminations. In the decline of spiritual Christianity, after the apostolic age, religion became corrupted with paganism and sought alliance with the State. When the empire decayed, the Church advanced her influence by new assumptions of power, organized herself with hierarchical orders and prerogatives, and seized the scepter of supreme dominion. For a thousand years she wielded a more than imperial power.
He begins with the Colonial Era by Protestants and Roman Catholics and continues to the time of the books publication. This is not a dry tome loaded with lists of facts. Dorchester engages the reader with the meaning of the Christian religion and its application to the world. As far as I know, there is nothing to compare with it.