1

tact with all nations, to which she stood in various relations.2

2. To explain how a divinely constituted hierarchy in the Church, consisting of a primacy, an episcopate, a presbyterate, and a diaconate, necessarily called into existence an ecclesiastical constitution, which embraces the members of the whole body, assigns to each his appropriate place, and defines the rights and duties of all, and how the Church adapts her discipline to the requirements of every age and country.*

3. To show how the church, assured that she alone was in possession of the deposit of saving and sanctifying truth, impressed the same conviction on the whole body ecclesiastic, and with special emphasis at the breaking out of heresies; and how she has built up a complete system of theological science whose dogmas are marked with the same characteristic.

4. To point out how the Church, by her public worship (herovpria), gave expression to her inner religious life, thus

1 J. A. Fabricii salutaris lux evangelii toti orbi exoriens seu notitia propagatorum christ. sacror. Hamb. 1731. 4to. † Mamachi, orig. et antiq. chr. Rom. 1749, lib. II. Gratianus, Origin and Progress of Christianity in Europe. Paris, 1766-73. 2 parts. Blumhardt, Essay of a General History of the Missions. Basle, 1828. 3 parts. (Incomplete.) † Hiemer, Introduction of Christianity among the German nations. Schaffhausen, 1857, et seqq. 6 vols. Important for Modern History of the Missions: "Lettres édifiantes et curienses des missions étrangères. Paris, 1717-77. 34 vols. Choix de lettres édifiantes, etc., précédé de tableaux géographiques, etc. 3 ed. Paris. 8 vols. (until 1808.) Continuation in the nouvelles lettres édifiantes (until 1820). These are followed by Lyons' Annales de la propagation de la foi, which have been translated into English, German, and Italian. † Wittmann, The Glory of the Church in her Missions since the Schism of the Sixteenth Century. Augsburg, 1841. 2 vols. † Baron Henrion General History of the Missions. Paris, 1846. German translation. Schaffhausen, 1845-52. 4 vols. Brought down to the sixteenth century by Wittmann. Augsburg, 1845. † Hahn, History of the Catholic Missions, from Christ to the most modern times. Cologne, 1837, et seqq. 5 vols.

2 For sources and works upon them, see below, p. 23, note 3. Ephes. iv, 11.

4† Petavius de hierarchia ecclesiastica (Dogmata theol. T. VI.) † L. Thomassini vetus et nova ecclesiae disciplina circa beneficia et beneficiarios. Lucc., 1728. 3 T. f. Mogunt, 1787, et seqq. 10 T. 4to. Protestant edition by Planck. History of the Christian Ecclesiastical Constitution of Society. Hanover, 1803-9. 5 vols.

awakening and nourishing the piety of her children, and vindicating her divine origin and supernatural tendency.

5. To show how the Church instilled into her children her own instinctive hatred of sin, and set before them, with a view to their sanctification, the excellence of a religious and moral life, and in this way led them on to the vigorous maturity of the full age of Christ.1

6. Finally, to prove that through these influences she has shaped a church discipline truly educational in character, meeting all the wants of every age, and the only hope of society.

OBSERVATION. If we hold that the church is a divine institution, perfect in its nature, by which the salvation of man is to be secured, we must also adopt a method of viewing her process of development, different from that common among Protestants. According to the Catholic view of church history, truth exists in the visible church, is objectively known, and should grow daily more clear, make a deeper impression on men's minds, and, as time goes on, gain a fuller expression in public and private life, in politics and morals, in art and science. The Protestant view, on the contrary, asserts that truth exists objectively only in the invisible church, and is but imperfectly known in the visible church, because, by the light of history, we make only a more or less distant approach to it.

The denial, moreover, by Protestants, of a clergy with its various grades instituted by Christ, of celibacy, and of the excellence and prerogatives of virginity, as well as many teachings of a kindred nature, has exerted a vast influence on their method of historical exposition.

Schleiermacher was correct when he said that the essential requisite in any organic view of history, and preeminently of church history, is the identity of first principles, it being quite natural that, in historical research, opposite parties should each draw conclusions favorable to its own interests and views, and antagonistic to all others, on points concerning which they are at issue. The same may be said concerning the different views of morality held by the various schools of philosophy.2

§ 5. Universal and Particular Church History.

It was quite impossible that there should have existed, anterior to Christianity, any clear and connected view of universal history, or that such should have been fully grasped and realized. Polybius had some such idea in his mind, when he expressed the opinion that particular history (§ zavà 1Ephes. iv. 13. Conf. Coloss. ii. 19.

}

2 Schleiermacher, Church History, pp. 3–10.

μépos iotopía) is isolated, unconnected, and without any common purpose to harmonize its parts; that universal history († zadólov iotopia), on the contrary, is like an organic body (owpatozidńs), having an internal principle of life and unity; that though one may have a tolerable knowledge of the various peoples and nations of the earth, it does not follow that he will also have a comprehensive view of the relations of each to all the rest, and the general development of all taken together, any more than one, by considering singly and unconnectedly the parts of any work, can form a just idea of its strength and beauty; and that an intelligent view of history is obtained by combining and connecting the histories of all nations, and showing the influence of each in the common purpose of all, συντέλεια τῶν ὅλων. Still we look in vain through the pages of Polybius for any adequate expression of this idea.

The promise of Diodorus of Sicily was equally illusory. He proposed to connect the various events which had happened throughout the whole world, from the earliest times down to his own day, in such way that the history of the world should be that of one great commonwealth. Notwithstanding the rich materials placed at his disposal in the wellstored libraries of Alexandria and Rome, his attempt at best was but an effort of imagination. The cause of this is to be sought for not so much in the lack of historical knowledge among the ancients, as in the fact that the Greeks and Romans cared little for any history whatever of a general and abstract character. This characteristic is principally traceable to their religion. Polytheism made those nations harsh and exclusive in their dealings with others, and deadened all feelings of interest and sympathy when they were brought in contact with the barbarians.

Christianity, by teaching that there is but one God, the Father of all men, that all have come of common parentage, been redeemed by Christ, and called to a heavenly destiny, gave the fundamental idea of universal history. This idea embodied in the Catholic Church, and realized during her growth and progress, was expressed with wonderful clearness by St. Augustine, the great Bishop of Hippo, in his work

entitled "The City of God." The same line of thought was pursued by Bossuet, in the seventeenth century, in his "Discourse on Universal History."

A church whose members are so united that the evidence of this unity is everywhere revealed in her ministrations and their acts of worship, should bring this principle clearly into view in the course of her history; and hence the universal history of the church should be the history of Christianity itself.

The object, therefore, of universal church history is to trace the action and influence of the Church under all her various attitudes, in every age and country, and to show that her whole course is steadily directed to one definite end, (σvytékea twv ökov) the honor and glory of God. For this purpose, such events are selected as have a wide scope and lasting influence.

Particular church history, on the contrary, is limited to one of the various branches of general church history; such as the spread of Christianity, the constitution of the Church, heresies, liturgy, and discipline; or takes up single countries and distinct periods: thus we have a church history of the first three centuries, of the Middle Ages, of modern times, and of Italy, France, Spain, etc.

CHAPTER II.

METHOD OF WRITING CHURCH HISTORY.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION.-Læbell, on the Different Historical Epochs and their Relations to Poetry, Mystic-epic Period, Transition Period, Herodotus and Thucydides, the Greeks and Romans, the Middle Ages, Modern Classic The Nineteenth Century.-Fr. v. School, Gibbon and John von Müller. W. v. Humboldt, The Scope of History. Raumer, Historical Manual, 1841.

§ 6. Qualities Raising History to the Rank of a Science. Church history, like all history whatever, should be the result of truly scientific research, and written in clear and elegant language. The former elevates it to the dignity of a science, and the latter gives it the characteristics of an art,

and allows the historian to become both æsthetical and rhetorical.1

Church history, besides these general qualities, should have others which are in a certain sense special to it. It should be:

1. Critical. What is true should be carefully sifted from what is false;2 and facts which give a character to any period of church history should be drawn from reliable sources, with an earnest regard for truth and strict impartiality; and when facts can not be fully established, historical conjecture should be used for arriving as near the truth as possible.

2. Religious. A church history which is not truly Christian in spirit and tone, can not be in harmony with its subject, and will be incapable of fairly presenting the various phenomena of the kingdom of God on earth. For it requires a mind in full sympathy with Christianity to grasp and appreciate the manifold phases of Christian life.

3. Philosophical. It should not confine itself to the simple narration of facts, but should, moreover, show their bearing upon each other, trace their causes, and follow up their influence and consequences.

1 The various forms of historical writing are: 1. Chronicle, which like the epos in poetry, is the original form of all historic composition; 2. The annals, or narration of events by years; 3. The histories of modern times; and, 4. Pragmatic history, or philosophy of history, which traces the causes and effects of events.

The words of Cicero on this subject are remarkable: "Erat enim (antiquissimis temporibus) historia nihil aliud nisi annalium confectio, cujus rei memoriaeque publicae retinendae causa, ab initio rerum Romanarum usque ad P. Mucium, pontif. max., res omnes singulorum annorum mandabat litteris pontifex maximus, efferebatque in album, et proponebat tabulam domi, potestas ut esset populo cognoscendi, ii qui etiam nunc annales maximi nominantur. Hanc similitudinem scribendi multi secuti sunt, qui sine ullis ornamentis monumenta solum temporum, hominum, locorum, gestarumque rerum, reliquerunt; non exornatores rerum, sed tantummodo narratores fuerunt. Et post illum (Herodot.) Thucydides omnes dicendi artificio mea sententia facile vicit: qui ita creber est rerum frequentia, ut rerum prope numerum sententiarum numero consequatur: ita porro verbis aptus et pressus, ut nescias, utrum res oratione, an verba sententiis illustrentur." De Orat. II. 12, 13.

2 Cicero: Nam quis nescit, primam esse historiae legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat? deinde ne quid veri non audeat ? ne qua suspicio gratiae sit in scribendo? ne qua simultatis? Haec scilicet fundamenta nota sunt omnibus. De Orat. II. 15.