THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. I CANNOT persuade myself, that the complaints we hear frequently of the frivolous nature of the public taste in matters of literature, are so far to be relied on, as to make me despair of a favourable reception of the following work. A HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Composed with judgment, taste, and candour, drawn, with uncommon discernment and industry, from the best sources, enriched with much useful learning and several important discoveries, and connected with the History of Arts, Philosophy, and Civil Government, is an object that will very probably attract the attention of many, and must undoubtedly excite the curiosity of the judicious and the wise. A work of this nature will be considered by the Philosopher as an important branch of the history of the human mind, and I need not mention a multitude of reasons that render it peculiarly interesting to the Christian. Besides, there has not hitherto appeared, in English, any complete History of the Church, that represents its revolutions, its divisions, and doctrines with împartiality and truth, exposes the delusions of popish legends, breathes a spirit of moderation and freedom, and, keeping perpetually in the view of the reader the true nature and design of the Christian religion, points out the deviations from its beautiful simplicity, that have been too frequent among all orders of men, and in all ages of the world. The following work has the best claim, of any I know, to these characters,' and its peculiar merit is pointed out, as far as modesty would permit, in the ensuing Preface of its justly celebrated author. The reputation of this great man is very well known. His noble birth seemed to open to his ambition a fair path to civil promotion; but his zeal for the interests of religion, his insatiable thirst after knowledge, and more especially his predominant taste for sacred literature, induced him to consecrate his admirable talents to the service of the church. The German universities loaded him with literary honours. The King of Denmark invited him to settle at Copenhagen. The Duke of Brunswick called him from thence to Helmstadt, where he received the marks of distinction due to his eminent abilities; filled, with applause, the academical chair of divinity; was honoured with the character of ecclesiastical counsellor to that res 1 Some time after I had undertaken this translation, I was honoured with a letter from the learned bishop or Gloucester, in which he was so good as to testify his approbation of my design, and to speak of the work I here offer to the public in an English dress in the following manner; 'MOSHEIM's Compendium is excellent, the method admirable; in short, the only one deserving the name of an Ecclesiastical history. It deserves and needs frequent notes.”— I hope this eminent prelate will not take amiss my placing here a testimony that was not designed to be produced in this public manner. It is, however, so adapted to give those who examine recommendations with discernment, a fa vourable notion of the following work, that I could not think of suppressing it. It is usual, in publishing certain ancient authors, to prefix to them the encomiums they have been honoured with by those whose authority is respected in the republic of letters. I adopt this custom so far as to mention one testimony;-more would be unnecessary; the testimony of a Warburton is abundantly sufficient to answer my purpose, and will be justly looked upon as equivalent to a multitude pectable court; and presided over the seminaries of learning in the dutchy of Wolfenbuttle and the principality of Blackenburg. When the late King formed the design of giving an uncommon degree of lustre to the University of Gottingen, by filling it with men of the first rank in the literary world, such as a HALLER, a GESNER, and a MICHAELIS, Dr. MOSHEIM was deemed worthy to appear at the head of that famous seat of learning, in the quality of chancellor : and here he died universally lamented, in the year 1755, and in the sixty-first year of his age. In depth of judgment, in extent of learning, in the powers of a noble and masculine eloquence, in purity of taste, and in a laborious application to all the various branches of erudition and philosophy, he had certainly very few superiors. His Latin translation of the celebrated Dr. Cudworth's Intellectual System of the Universe, enriched with large annotations, discovered such a profound acquaintance with ancient philosophy and erudition, as justly excited the admiration of the learned world. His ingenious illustrations of the sacred writings, his successful labours in the defence of Christianity, and the light he cast upon the history of religion and philosophy by his uninterrupted researches, appear in a multitude of volumes, which are deservedly placed among the most valuable treasures of sacred and profane literature; and the learned and judicious work, that is here presented to the public, will undoubtedly render his name illustrious in the records of religion and letters. How far justice has been done to this excellent work, in the following translation, is a point that must be left to the decision of those who shall think proper to peruse it with attention. I can say, with the strictest truth, that I have spared no pains to render it worthy of their gracious acceptance; and this consideration gives me some claim to their candour and indulgence, for any defects they may find in it. I have endeavoured to render my translation faithful, but never proposed to render it entirely literal. The style of the original is by no means a model to imitate, in a work designed for general use. Dr. Mosheim affected brevity, and laboured to crowd many things into few words; thus his diction, though pure and correct, became sententious and harsh, without that harmony which pleases the ear, and those transitions which make a narration flow with ease. This being the case, I have sometimes taken considerable liberties with my author, and followed the spirit of his narrative without adhering strictly to the letter. Where, indeed, the Latin phrase appeared to me elegant, expressive, and compatible with the English idiom, I have constantly followed it; in all other cases, I have departed from it, and have often added a few sentences, to render an observation more striking, a fact more clear; a portrait more finished. Had I been translating Cicero or Tacitus, I should not have thought such freedem pardonable. The translation of a classic author, like the copy of a capital picture, must exhibit not only the subject, but also the manner of the original; this rule, however, is not applicable to the work now under consideration. The reader will easily distinguish the additional notes of the Translator from the original ones of the Author; the references that indicate the former being marked with a hand, thus . When I entered upon this undertaking, I proposed rendering the additional notes more numerous and ample, than the reader will find them. I soon perceived that the prosecution of my original plan would render this work too voluminous; and this induced me to alter my purpose. The notes I have given, are not, however, inconsiderable in number: I wish I could say as much with respect to their merit and importance.-I would only hope, that some of them will be looked upon as not altogether unnecessary. HAGUE, Dec. 4, 1764.J INTRODUCTION. I. CCLESIASTICAL HISTORY is a such as princes, magistrates, and pontiffs, who, Elar and faithful narration of the by their authority and laws, their liberality, and transactions, revolutions, and events, that relate to that large community, which bears the name of JESUS CHRIST, and is vulgarly known under the denomination of the CHURCH. It comprehends both the external and internal condition of this community, and so connects each event with the causes from which it proceeds, and the instruments which have been concerned in its production, that the attentive reader may be led to observe the displays of providential wisdom and goodness in the preservation of the church, and thus find his piety improved, as well as his knowledge. II. The church, founded by the ministry and death of CHRIST, cannot be represented with more perspicuity and propriety than under the notion of a society, subjected to a lawful dominion, and governed by certain laws and institutions, mostly of a moral and spiritual tendency. To such a society many external events must happen, which will advance or oppose its interests, and accelerate or retard its progress towards perfection, in consequence of its unavoidable connection with the course and revolutions of human affairs. Moreover, as nothing is stable and uniform where the imperfections of humanity take place, this religious society, besides the vicissitudes to which it must be exposed from the influence of external events, must be liable to various changes in its internal constitution. In this view of things then, it appears, that the history of the church, like that of the state, may be divided, with propriety, into two general branches, which we may call its External and Internal history. III. The External History of the church comprehends all the changes, vicissitudes, and events, that have diversified the external state and condition of this sacred community. And as all public societies have their periods of lustre and decay, and are exposed to revolutions both of a happy and calamitous nature, so this first branch of Ecclesiastical History may be subdivided into two, comprehending, respectively, the prosperous and calamitous events that have happened to the church. IV. The prosperous events that have contributed to extend the limits, or to augment the influence of the Christian church, have proceeded either from its rulers and leaders, or from the subordinate members of this great community. Under the former class, we rank its public rulers, even their arms, have maintained its cause and extended its borders; as also, its more private leaders, its learned and pious doctors, whose wise counsels, pious exploits, eminent examples, and distinguished abilities, have contributed most to promote its true prosperity and lustre. Under the latter class, we may comprehend the advantages which the cause of Christianity has derived from the active faith, the invincible constancy, the fervent piety, and extensive charity, of its genuine professors, who, by the attractive lustre of these amiable virtues, have led many into the way of truth, and engaged them to submit themselves to the empire of the MESSIAH. V. Under the calamitous events that have happened to the church, may be comprehended the injuries it has received from the vices and passions of its friends, and the bitter opposition and insidious stratagems of its enemies. The professors of Christianity, and more especially the doctors and rulers of the church, have done unspeakable detriment to the cause of religion, by their ignorance and sloth, their luxury and ambition, their uncharitable zeal, animosities and contentions, of which many shocking examples will be exhibited in the course of this history. Christianity had public enemies to encounter, even princes and magistrates, who opposed its progress by penal laws, and blood-thirsty persecution; it had also private and inveterate adversaries in a certain set of philosophers, or rather sophists, who, enslaved to superstition, or abandoned to atheism, endeavoured to blast the rising church by their perfidious accusations. and their virulent writings. VI. Such then are the events that are exhibited to our view in the external history of the church. Its Internal History comprehends the changes and vicissitudes that have happened in its inward constitution, in that system of discipline and doctrine by which it stands distinguished from all other religious societies. This branch may be properly termed the History of the Christian Religion. The causes of these internal changes are to be sought for principally in the conduct and measures of those who have presided and borne rule in the church. It has been too frequently their practice to interpret the truths and precepts of religion in a manner accommodated to their particular systems, nay, to their private interest; and, while they have found in some implicit obedience, they have met with warm opposition from others. Hence have proceeded theological broils and civil commotions, in which the cause of religion has often been defended at the expense both of justice and humanity. All these things must be observed with the strictest attention by an ecclesiastical historian. VII. The first thing, therefore, that should be naturally treated in the Internal History of the church, is the history of its ministers, rulers, and form of government. When we look back to the commencement of the Christian church, we find its government administered jointly by the pastors and the people. But, in process of time, the scene changes, and we see these pastors affecting an air of pre-eminence and superiority, trampling upon the rights and privileges of the community, and assuming to themselves a supreme authority, both in civil and religious matters. This invasion of the rights of the people was at length carried to such a height, that a single man administered, or at least pretended a right to administer, the affairs of the whole church with an unlimited sway.-Among the doctors of these early times, there were some who acquired, by their learned labours, a shining reputation, and a universal influence; they were regarded as oracles; their decisions were handed down to posterity, as sacred rules of faith and practice; and they thus deserve to be mentioned, with particular distinction, among the governors of the church, though no part of its public administration was actually in their harids.1 VIII. After giving an account of the rulers and doctors of the church, the ecclesiastical historian proceeds to exhibit a view of the laws that are peculiar to this sacred community, that form, as it were, its centre of union, and distinguish it from all other religious societies. These laws are of two kinds. The first are properly called divine, because they are immediately enacted by God himself, and are contained in those sacred books, which carry the most striking marks of a divine origin. They consist of those doctrines that are the objects of faith and reason, and those precepts that are addressed to the heart and the affections. To the second kind belong those laws that are merely of human institution, and derive their authority only from the injunctions of the rulers of the church. IX. In that part of the sacred history which relates to the doctrines of Christianity, it is necessary, above all things, to inquire particularly into the degree of authority that has been attributed to the sacred writings in all the different periods of the church, and also into the manner in which the divine doctrines they contain, have been explained and illustrated. For the true state of religion in every age can only be learned from the point of view in which these celestial oracles were considered, and from the manner in which they were expounded to the people. As long as they were the only rule of faith, religion preserved its native purity; and, in proportion as their decisions were either neglected or postponed to the inventions of men, it degenerated from its primitive and divine simplicity. It is farther necessary to show under this head, what was the fate of the pure laws and doctrines of Christianityhow they were interpreted and explained-how they were defended against the enemies of the Gospel-how they were corrupted and adulter. ated by the ignorance and licentiousness of men. And finally, it would be proper to inquire bere, how far the lives and manners of Christians have been conformable to the dictates of these sacred laws, and the influence that these sublime doctrines ought to have upon the hearts of men ; as also to examine the rules of discipline prescribed by the spiritual governors of the church, in order to correct and restrain the vices and irregularities of its members. X. The Human Laws, that constitute a part of ecclesiastical government, consist in precepts concerning the External worship of the Deity, and, in certain rites, either confirmed by custom, or introduced by positive and express authority. Rites and ceremonies regard religion either directly or indirectly; by the former, we understand those that are used in the immediate worship of the Supreme Being, whether in public or in private; by the latter, such pious and decent institutions as, besides direct acts of worship, have obtained in the church. This part of sacred history is of a vast extent, both on account of the great diversity of these ceremonies, and the frequent changes and modifications through which they have passed. This consideration will justify our treating them with brevity, in a work which is only designed as a compendious view of ecclesiastical history. The XI. As bodies politic are sometimes distracted with wars and seditions, so has the Christian church, though designed to be the mansion of charity and concord, been unhappily perplexed by intestine divisions, occasioned sometimes by points of doctrine, at others by a variety of sentiments about certain rites and ceremonies. The principal authors of these divisions, have been stigmatized with the title of Heretics, and their peculiar opinions of consequence distinguished by the appellation of Heresies. nature therefore and progress of these intestine divisions or heresies are to be carefully unfolded; and, if this be done with judgment and impartiality, it must prove useful and interesting in the highest degree, though at the same time it must be observed, that no branch of ecclesiastical history is so painful and difficult, on account of the sagacity, candour, and application that it requires in order to its being treated in a satisfactory manner. The difficulty of arriving at the truth, in researches of this nature, is extreme, on account of the injurious treatment that has been shown to the heads of religious sects, and the unfair representations that have been made of their tenets and opinions; and this difficulty has been considerably augmented by this particular circumstance, that the greatest part of the writings of those who were branded with the name of heretics have not reached our times. It is therefore the duty of a candid historian to avoid attaching to this term the invidious sense in which it is too often used, since it is the invective of all contending parties, and is employed against truth as frequently as against error. The wisest method here is to 1 By these our author means the Fathers, whose writings form still a rule of faith in the Romish Church, while in the Protestant churches, their authority dimin ishes from day to day. 2 A term innocent in its primitive signification, though become odious by the enormity of some errors, to which it has been applied, and also by the use that has been made of it, to vent the malignity of enthusiasts and bigots. take the word Heretic in its general signification, | ing and philosophy in the times of old. For it is as denoting a person, who, either directly or indirectly, has been the occasion of exciting divisions and dissensions among Christians. certain, that human learning and philosophy have, in all times, pretended to modify the doctrines of Christianity; and that these pretensions have extended further than belongs to the province of philosophy on the one hand, or is consistent with the purity and simplicity of the Gospel on the other. It may also be observed, that a knowledge of the forms of civil governtions of ancient times, is not only useful, as we remarked above, to illustrate several things in the External History of the church, but also to render a satisfactory account of its Internal variations, both in point of doctrine and worship. For the genius of human laws, and the maxims of civil rulers, have undoubtedly had a great influence in forming the constitution of the church; and even its spiritual leaders have, in too many instances, from an ill-judged prudence, modelled its discipline and worship after the ancient superstitions. XII. After thus considering what constitutes the matter of Ecclesiastical History, it will be proper to bestow a few thoughts on the manner of treating it, as this is a point of too much importance not to deserve a moment's attention. And here we may observe, that, in order to ren-ment, and of the superstitious rites and instituder both the External and Internal History of the Church truly interesting and useful, it is absolutely necessary to trace effects to their causes, and to connect events with the circumstances, views, principles, and instruments that have contributed to their existence. A bare recital of facts can at best but enrich the memory, and furnish a certain degree of amusement; but the historian who enters into the secret springs that direct the course of outward events, and views things in their various relations, connections, and tendencies, gives thus a proper exercise to the judgment of the reader, and administers, on many occasions. the most useful lessons of wisdom and prudence. It is true, a high degree of caution is to be observed here, lest, in disclosing the secret springs of public events, we substitute imaginary causes in the place of real, and attribute the actions of men to principles they never professed. XIII. In order to discover the secret causes of public events, some general succours are to be derived from the History of the times in which they happened, and the Testimonies of the authors by whom they are recorded. But besides these, a considerable acquaintance with human nature, founded on long observation and experience, is singularly useful in researches of this kind. The historian, who has acquired a competent knowledge of the views that occupy the generality of men, who has studied a great variety of characters, and attentively observed the force and violence of human passions, together with the infirmities and contradictions they produce in the conduct of life, will find, in this knowledge, a key to the secret reasons and motives which gave rise to many of the most important events of ancient times. A knowledge also of the manners and opinions of the persons concerned in the events that are related, will contribute much to lead us to the true origin of things. XIV. There are, however, besides these general views, particular considerations, which will assist us still further in tracing up to their true causes the various events of sacred history. We must, for example, in the External history of the church, attend carefully to two things; first, to the political state of those kingdoms and nations in which the Christian religion has been embraced or rejected; and, secondly, to their religious state, i. e. the opinions they have entertained concerning the divine nature, and the worship that is to be addressed to him. For we shall then perceive, with more certainty and less difficulty, the reasons of the different reception Christianity has met with in different nations, when we are acquainted with the respective forms of civil government, the political maxims, and the public forms of religion that prevailed in those countries and in those periods of time in which the Gospel received encouragement, or met with opposition. XV. With respect to the Internal History of the Church, nothing is more adapted to lay open to view the hidden springs of its various changes, than an acquaintance with the History of learn XVI. We cannot be at any loss to know the sources from whence this important knowledge is to be derived. The best writers of every age, who make mention of ecclesiastical affairs, and particularly those who were contemporary with the events they relate, are to be carefully consulted; since it is from credible testimonies and respectable authorities that history derives a solid and permanent foundation. Our esteem for those writers, who may be considered as the sources of historical knowledge, ought not however to lead us to treat with neglect the historians and annalists, who have already made use of these original records: since it betrays a foolish sort of vanity to reject the advantages that may be derived from the succours and labours of those who have preceded us in their endeavours to cast light upon matters that have been for many ages covered with obscurity." XVII. From all this we shall easily discern the qualifications that are essential to a good writer of ecclesiastical History. His knowledge of human affairs must be considerable, and his learning extensive. He must be endowed with a spirit of observation and sagacity; a habit of reasoning with evidence and facility; a faithful memory; and a judgment matured by experience, and strengthened by exercise. Such are the intellectual endowments that are required in the character of a good historian; and the moral qualities that are necessary to complete it, are, a persevering and inflexible attachment to truth and virtue, a freedom from the servitude of prejudice and passion, and a laborious and patient turn of mind. XVIII. Those who undertake to write the history of the Christian church are exposed to receive a bias from three different sources; from times, persons, and opinions. The times, in which we live, have often so great an influence on our manner of judging, as to make us consider the events, which happen in our days, as a rule by which we are to estimate the probability or evidence of those that are recorded in the history of past ages. The persons, on whose testimonies we think we have reason to depend, acquire an imperceptible authority over our sentiments, 3 The various writers of ecclesiastical history are enumerated by SEVER. WALT. SLUTERUS, in his Propylæum year 1696; and by CASP. SAGITTARIUS, in his Introductio Historia Christiana, published at Lunenburg in 4to. in the ad Historiam Ecclesiasticam, singulasquc ejus partes. |