{"product_id":"2940011891045","title":"Old Saint Augustine: A story of three centuries","description":"PREFACE:\u003cbr\u003eTHE TIME AND THE ACTORS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the beginning of the story we must go back over three hundred years to the middle of the Sixteenth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was an age of romance, when the caravels of Columbus had but just pierced the cloud of mystery and gloom shutting out the west, and all Europe was ringing with tales of the wondrous new-found realms beyond the sunset. It was an age of credulous beliefs and magnificent undertakings, when bold-hearted adventurers sailed forth in search of El Dorados and empires rich in barbaric treasure. It was the age of Rome's temporal dominion, when he who held the Keys of St. Peter laid claim to the entire New World, and parceled it out among his faithful children. An age of faith, when in every happening devout believers recognized the direct personal manifestation of a controlling supreme God; of intense religious feuds, when difference of creed meant enmity the most unrelenting and cruelty the most merciless; of fanaticism, when deluded men, believing themselves chosen instruments of the Most High, mistook the instigation of the Devil for the inspiration of God; of heroes, when at the hands of such bigots brave men knew how to die rather than surrender the faith that was dear to them; finally, of a new knight errantry, when, indignant at a sovereign's apathy, individuals took upon themselves single-handed the task of avenging their martyred countrymen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese were the times and the actors; and such were the motives that we shall find reflected in the opening chapters of St. Augustine's strangely chequered history.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47080907571440,"sku":"2940011891045","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940011891045_p0.jpg?v=1763551005","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940011891045","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}