TIME PAST. PART I. 2. MODERN HISTORY. 7. OF MODERN HISTORY IN GENERAL, ITS SUBJECT MATTER, AND PECULIAR CHARACTER. HISTORY. Q. YOU SAID, that the rise of the last MODERN of the four great empires, that is to say, THE ROMAN EMPIRE, coincided with THE BIRTH OF CHRIST; did you not likewise say, that THE BIRTH OF CHRIST constituted the great point of division between ANCIENT HISTORY and MODERN HISTORY? A. I did. MODERN HISTORY. Q. According to that statement it would seem, that Modern History commences with the birth of Christ and with the rise of the Last Empire, as with two events parallel and contemporary? A. It is so to be understood; the real difference in time between those two great events being too small to be taken account of in large measures of time; and the first act of universal sovereignty exercised by the NEW EMPEROR of ROME having taken place precisely in the year in which CHRIST was born. Q. What then is the compass of Modern History? A. Modern History comprises all the ages, from the Birth of Christ and the rise of the Last Empire, to the Present Time: a succession of nore than eighteen hundred years. Q. And does Modern History admit * Lnko, ii. |