ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODERN. POLITICAL HISTORY OF EUROPE DURING THAT PERIOD. BY THE LATE LEARNED, JOHN LAWRENCE MOSHEIM, D. D. And Chancellor of the University of Gottingen. A SHORT VIEW, OR GENERAL SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. XVIII. observation. 1. THE history of the christian church, during the CENTURY present age, instead of a few pages, would alone require a volume, such are the number and im- Introductory portance of the materials that it exhibits to an attentive inquirer. It is therefore to be hoped that, in due time, some able and impartial writer will employ his labours on this interesting subject. At the same time, to render the present work as complete as possible, and to give a certain clue, to direct those who teach or who study ecclesiastical history, through a multitude of facts that have not yet been gathered together, and digested into a regular order, we shall draw here a general sketch that will exhibit the principal outlines of the state of religion since the commencement of the present century. That this sketch may not swell to too great a size, we shall omit the mention of the authors who have furnished materials for this period of church history. Those that are acquainted with modern literature must know, that there are innumerable productions extant, from whence such a variety of lines and colours might be taken, as would render this rough and general draught a complete and finished piece. |