vices of Christians, so called, have certainly been exaggerated on the whole; and Deists and Sceptics have taken advantage, partly from such exaggeration and partly from the poverty of our information concerning Mahometans and Pagans, to represent BOTH as more virtuous than Christians.

What account can be given of this unhappily partial view of Church History ?-Genuine godliness is fond of secrecy: Humility is of its essence: She seeks not the praise of men, but the praise of God; and hides even the good she does from the world more studiously than wickedness conceals its evils; Her sincerest votaries have, likewise, been chiefly private persons, such as have seldom moved in the public and noisy spheres of life. The most celebrated historians who hitherto have appeared, seem not to have had so much relish for godliness, as to be induced to take any pains to draw her out of her modest obscurity.* The prevalence of wickedness in all ages has heightened the difficulty. From these

* Foxe's Book of Martyrs is, however, one striking exception to this remark. The Magdeburgensian Centuriators, whom I did not meet with till I had finished this Volume, are likewise, in part, exempted from the charge of writing Ecclesiastical History in the secular manner, which I have reprehended. Yet while they omit, or very lamely recount, some most important Christian facts, they relate with tedious exactness many uninteresting particulars. They seem, however, to have been men of real piety, industry, and learning, and may be of much use to me in subsequent parts of the history, should I continue it.

The volume of Mr. Newton is well known, and its merit has been acknowledged by men of piety and judgment. I once thought of beginning only where he ended. But as there is an unity of manner and style which belongs to every author who plans and executes for himself; and, as in some points I really found myself to differ in sentiment from this very respectable writer, I altered my opinion, contented in this place to acknowledge, that, so far as I can recollect, the perusal of his instructive volume of Ecclesiastical History first suggested to me the idea of this work.

A history of the perversions and abuses of religion is not properly a history of the Church; as absurd were it to suppose a history of the highwaymen that have infested this country to be a history of England.

causes the scarcity of materials, for what properly deserves the name of Church History, is much greater than any person, who has not examined the subject, can even conceive. I have all along, however, to the best of my ability and opportunity, consulted original records, and have never contented myself with copying the sentiments of modern historians.

I hope I shall be allowed to call the plan I propose, a proper one. Certainly, the terms " Church,' and Christian," do in their most NATURAL and PRIMARY SENSE respect only GOOD men. The Divine Founder of our religion has promised, THAT THE

GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.

To see

Such a succession of pious men in all ages must, therefore, have existed; and it will be no contemptible use of such a history as this, if it prove, that, in every age, there have been REAL followers of Christ. Other uses cannot fail to offer themselves. and trace the goodness of God, taking care of his Church in every age by his Providence and Grace, will be, to the devout mind, a refreshment of the most grateful nature. The honour of Christianity will be supported; the value of its essential doctrines will be ascertained; and we shall have frequent occasion to state what the Gospel is, and what it is not. Hence the triumphs of the Sceptic will appear to be unfounded in truth; when it shall be evident on the whole, that Christ's religion has ever existed, and brought forth its proper fruits, to which no other system can make any just pretension; and finally,— that the evils of which Christians, so called, have been guilty, arose not from the Gospel itself, but from the hypocrisy of those who assumed that worthy Name, to which neither their faith nor their practice gave them any right. These, and other obvious advantages of such a history, have determined me to attempt it. I feel oppressed with the greatness of

the subject: Nevertheless, with God's help, I mean to proceed. IN MAGNIS VOLUISSE SAT EST.

I have two things further to promise: 1st, To assure the Reader that I shall think it my indispensable duty to give him real facts; and, if I be sometimes rather more copious in reflections than the severe laws of history allow, he will do well to observe, that the fashionable misrepresentations of ancient story require considerable attention.

And, 2dly, I fairly warn the Reader not to expect from me any indulgence in the modern taste of Scepticism. I shall not affect to doubt the credibility of ancient respectable historians. And, as it is hardly possible to avoid altogether the infection of the age in which one lives, I seem to myself sufficiently secured, by the torrent of prevailing opinions, from the other extreme of superstitious belief. Both ought to be avoided but that which supports itself by the appearance of extraordinary sense, by the authority of great names, and by the love of applause, must of course be the more ensnaring. The present age, in matters of religion, may justly be called the age of self-sufficiency: We condemn the ancients by wholesale, and without giving them a hearing: we suspect their historical accounts, without discrimination: malevolence and profaneness are both encouraged by such conduct: we fancy ourselves so ENLIGHTENED, as to be without any parallels in discernment we are amazed, that our ancestors should so long have been deluded by absurdities; and, we are very little aware how much some future age will pity and blame us, for follies, of which we imagine ourselves perfectly clear.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND VOLUME,*

BY THE REV. JOSEPH MILNER, M.A.

THE period of time, which the Volume now presented to the Reader embraces, will exhibit the Church of Christ in a very different situation from any in which it appeared, during the whole course of the three first Centuries.

The fourth Century opens with a persecution more systematically planned, and more artfully conducted, than those which Christians had ever known. Indeed victory at first showed itself in favour of the persecutors, and Christianity seemed to be near an end. All the powers of cruelty and artifice, and of violence and calumny, associated, were exerted to the utmost in the course of these transactions; and, if the Church still survived the storm, and rose more terrible from her losses, the only reason was, because her DEFENDER is invincible.

We next behold the Church established and protected by civil polity, and the whole system of Paganism, which had been the pride of ages, gradually dissolved, and sinking into insignificance and contempt. The advantages and abuses, attendant on Christian Establishments, display themselves, on this occasion, in a very conspicuous point of view. I have endeavoured, with faithfulness and candour, to point out both; at the same time that the regard due to truth itself, and to the characters of the most illustrious and the most exemplary Christians in past ages, seemed to require a defence of Ecclesiastical Establishments. I hope no real lover of truth and

* Centuries IV., V., Vol. i. from p. 474 to the end; and Vol. ii. from p. 1 to p. 324.

liberty will censure the attempt: for it must be owned, that the most direct attacks, in the way of argument, and I wish I could say only in that way, have repeatedly been made against them, as if they were unchristian in their whole nature. It cannot, therefore, be reckoned unfair to desire men, freely to give to others the liberty which they allow to themselves, if they would prove that their love of liberty is genuine and sincere.

The Arian controversy nearly fills the rest of the Century; it was my duty to give a faithful history of its rise, progress, and effects. And, if the personal character of Arians appear more criminal than many of my readers have been taught to imagine, I confidently refer them to the most authentic records of antiquity. I am not conscious of having disguised any one fact, or exaggerated any one enormity.

But it is with far greater pleasure, that I have contemplated the fifth Century. The history of Pelagianism I judged to be a desideratum in our language; it was necessary to lay it before the reader with some degree of circumstantial exactness, supported too by incontestible documents. If the account of the writings and labours of Augustine be thought to extend to an immoderate length, I can only say, that the importance of the doctrines of GRACE, with their practical effects, will, perhaps, be considered as a sufficient apology. Nothing can be introduced more pertinent to the whole design of this History, than the revival of religion, of which he was the providential instrument: its effects remained for many centuries: and I scarcely need say to those, who have read the former Volume even with superficial attention, that my plan often requires me to be brief, where other historians are immoderately tedious and to be circumstantial, where they say little, or are silent altogether.