DEDICATED

AS A TOKEN OF FRIENDSHIP

TO CHARLES AND ARTHUR SCRIBNER

WITH AFFECTIONATE RECOLLECTIONS OF THEIB

FATHER AND BROTHER

PREFACE.

I HAVE thought it practicable to bring within the compass of this volume, in a not unreadable form, the most important facts of Church History. On the question what it is wise to insert in such a work, and what it is best to exclude, no two persons would judge precisely alike. I must anticipate that readers will occasionally be disappointed in seeking what they do not find, or in finding what they may think it as well to have left out.

There are two particulars in which I have sought to make the narrative specially serviceable. In the first place, the attempt has been made to exhibit fully the relations of the history of Christianity and of the Church to contemporaneous secular history. It has been common to dissect Church history out of the general history of mankind. To some extent this process of division is required. Yet it must never be forgotten that they are really inseparable parts of one whole. I have tried to bring out more distinctly than is usually done the interaction of events and changes in the political sphere, with the phenomena which belong more strictly to the ecclesiastical and religious province. In the second place, it has seemed to me possible to present a tolerably complete survey of the history of theological doctrine. It is true that compressed statements must be made; but the important point is, not what amount of space is occupied, but whether the exposition is clear and exact.

There are two reasons, at least, why it is natural to feel some diffidence in sending forth a work of this kind from the press. One is the difficulty of traversing so wide a field without falling into inaccuracies of more or less consequence. It is pleasant to remember that-where there is painstaking and an

intention to tell the truth-an author's most lenient judges are the historical students, who know by experience how difficult it is to avoid errors. The other source of embarrassment is the necessity of pronouncing judgment on so great a number of persons, and on so many matters which are still more or less in dispute. Fully sensible of the responsibility of such a task, I can only say that I have fulfilled it with an honest desire to avoid all unfairness. It has appeared to me better to express frankly the conclusions to which my investigations have led me, on a variety of topics where differences of opinion exist, than to take refuge in ambiguity or silence. Something of the dispassionate temper of an on-looker may be expected to result from historical studies, if long pursued; nor is this an evil, if there is kept alive a warm sympathy with the spirit of holiness and love, wherever it is manifest.

As this book is designed, not for technical students exclusively, but for intelligent readers generally, the temptation to enter into extended and minute discussions on perplexed or controverted topics has been resisted. For example, as regards the earliest organization of the Church, while I feel a strong interest in the inquiries which have been prosecuted lately by Hatch, Adolf Harnack, Heinrici, Weizsäcker, and others, relative to the presbyterial office and kindred topics, I have abstained from recording any results which, as it appears to me, still await satisfactory proof. With the conclusions of Lightfoot, in his Edition of Clement, and in his "Philippians," I concur at present, although I am ready for further light.

The plan of dispensing with foot-notes has prevented me from making reference occasionally to modern writers on different portions of the subject, where it would have been a pleasure, if not an obligation, so to do. Besides Neander, Gieseler, and the other masters, who have passed away, there are numerous living scholars, in Great Britain as well as on the Continent, to whom I can offer no tribute but that of silent thankfulness from one engaged in the same studies with themselves. I will not deny myself, however, the satisfaction of owning my not infrequent indebtedness to the writings of my learned and esteemed friend, Dr. Schaff. Church History, like the other sciences, has made no inconsiderable progress in the

last few decades. The publications of Baur and of other authors of the Tübingen school induced more exhaustive researches into the early history of Christianity and the Church; and these have corrected the exaggerations which grew out of a bias of philosophical opinion and the undue fascination exercised by a plausible theory containing in it elements of truth. The Tübingen criticism threw light on the subjects which it handled, but its best service was the indirect one of stimulating inquiry.

I have received important assistance in composing this book from my pupil, Mr. Henry E. Bourne, who was graduated at the Yale Divinity School the present year. On the basis of manuscript notes of my lectures, at my request, and under my supervision, he undertook to write out a number of chapters, to be afterwards submitted to me for amendment. He more than fulfilled his task, as well in regard to the contents as the Form of these chapters; for he incorporated matter of much value, derived from his own reading. I owe, moreover, to the diligence of this promising young scholar the making of the Index.

My friend, Mr. William L. Kingsley, has once more given me the benefit of his criticisms in the revisal of the proofsheets.

NEW HAVEN, September 1, 1887.

G. P. F.