INTRODUCTION. IN my proposals for printing this "History of the Church of Christ" I promised "An Ecclesiastical History on a new Plan." The reader therefore will naturally expect some distinct account of a plan, which, in a subject so generally known, lays claim to novelty, in order that he may judge for himself, whether it appears sufficiently interesting to engage his perusal of the work itself. It is certain, that from our Saviour's time to the present, there have ever been persons whose dispositions and lives have been formed by the rules of the New Testament; men who have been real, not merely nominal christians, who believed the doctrines of the gospel, loved them because of their divine excellency, and suffered gladly the loss of all things, that they might win Christ, and be found in him.* It is the history of these men which I propose to write. It is of no consequence with respect to my plan, nor of much importance I believe in its own nature, to what external church they belonged. I intend not to enter with any nicety into an account , of their rites and ceremonies, or forms of churchgovernment, much less into their secular history. Even religious controversies shall be omitted, except those which seem to bear a relation to the essence of Christ's religion, and of which the history of his real church seems to require some account. Let not the reader expect, that the actions of great men (great in a secular view I mean) will be exhibited to his notice. Nothing but what belongs to Christ's kingdom shall be admitted, and genuine piety is that alone which I intend to celebrate, It must have struck a careful observer, that such a history is as yet a great desideratum. Maliçe has been fed even to satiety, by the large displays of ecclesiastical wickedness. The wildest and the most visionary heretics have filled the historic page, and their follies, both in principle and practice, have been deemed worthy of a particular enumeration. The internal dissensions of churches have been minutely described. The intricacies and intrigues of popery, and indeed of every other secular system, which pretends to wear a religious garb, have been developed with a studious particularity; the connexion between the church and the state has afforded very ample materials of what is commonly called church history; and learning and philosophy have been much more respected than godliness and virtue. No doubt some more ancient voluminous church historians, as well as Mosheim in his Compendium, have given us much useful information, and if one can look on them as civil historians altogether, they are not to be blamed. Had they incorporated into their secular narratives an account of the progress of godliness itself, I should not have dared to reprehend them as ecclesiastical historians. But they evidently give a much larger proportion to the history of wickedness, than to that of piety in general. Hence the evils which have been practised in christian countries seem even greater than they really were; and the disagreeable effect which the reading of Mosheim had on my own mind is probably no singular case, that real religion seems scarce to have had any existence. Infidel malice has triumphed, though very unreasonably, on account of these things; the vices of christians, so called, have certainly been exaggerated on the whole; and deists and skeptics have taken advantage, partly from hence, and partly from the poverty of our information concerning Mahometans and Pagans, to represent them 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 secks 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 scenes 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 causes the scarcity of materials for what properly deserves * Fox'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 real 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. An history of the perversions and abuses of religion is not properly an history of the church; as absurd were it to suppose an history of the highwaymen that have infested this country to be an history of England. 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. Such a 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. succession of pious men in all ages must therefore have existed; and it will be no contemptible use of such an history as this, if it prove, that, in every age, there have been real followers of Christ. Other uses cannot fail to offer themselves. To see and trace the goodness of God by his providence and grace, in every age, taking care of his church, 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 ascertained, and we shall have frequent occasion to state what the gospel is, and what it is not. Hence the triumphs of the skeptic 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 |