ians seize?

17. How did the alliance between the Lombards and Avars injure the
former people?

18. Where was the kingdom of the Lombards established?

19. What is told respecting the Slavi?

20. Who were the Normans?

21. What is the history of the Bulgarians?

22. What great conquests were achieved by the Arabs under Mohammed and
his successors?

23. By whom was the Saracenic career of victory checked?

24. How was the empire of the Turks established?

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Taylor's History of France.

[2] Here also the heroic Black Prince took John, king of France,
prisoner. See Taylor's France.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.

Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye oceans, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole.--_Heber_.

1. Judea became a Roman province some years before the birth of Jesus
Christ, and the Jews, who had hitherto been conspicuous for their
attachment to their native land, were induced, by the spirit of trade,
to spread themselves over the empire. 2. The exclusive nature of their
religion kept them in a marked state of separation from their fellow
subjects; the worshipper of Osi'ris scrupled not to offer sacrifices
to Jupiter; the Persian, the Indian, and the German, bowed before the
Roman altars; but the sons of Abraham refused to give the glory of
their God to graven images, and were regarded by their idolatrous
neighbours at first with surprise, and afterwards with contempt. 3.
The appearance of the Messiah in Palestine, and the miraculous
circumstances of his life, death, and resurrection, did not fill the
world with their fame, because his preaching was principally addressed
to his countrymen, the first object of his mission being "the lost
sheep of the house of Israel."

4. The disciples, after their Divine Master was taken from them,
proceeded to fulfil his last commandments, by preaching the gospel "to
every nation," and an opportunity of spreading its blessings was
afforded by Jewish synagogues having been previously established in
most of the great cities through the empire. Independent of the
sustaining providence of its Almighty Author, there were many
circumstances that facilitated the progress and prepared the way for
the final triumph of Christianity. 5. In the first place, Paganism had
lost its influence; men secretly laughed at the fabulous legends about
Ju