Excerpt from A History of the Church, From the Birth of Christ to the Present Time: Embracing an Account of the Life of Christ, the Labors of the Apostles, the Primitive Persecutions, the Decline of Paganism, the Mahometan Imposture, the Crusades, the Reformation Yet that branch of history, called ecclesiastical, has been, it is believed, comparatively neglected, - neglected, not by the general student only, but even by the great body of the professed friends Of Christianity. Among the causes of this neglect, especially on the part of those who have no personal interest in religion, this is probably one, viz. The natural repugnance of the human heart to dwell upon that kingdom which is not of this world, and which, in its principles, is at utter variance with those by which they are governed. But, in respect to professed Christians, this must not be admitted. Other reasons may be assigned; and among them, the following is most prominent, viz. The voluminous character of writers on ecclesiastical history, such as Mosheim, Milner, Neal - but more especially the tediously minute and repulsive form, in which their works are written. But neither inordinate length nor dry detail are essential to a faithful ecclesiastical history. The great outlines of it are comparatively few; and incidents sufficiently interesting and important exist, by which to enliven and enrich it. Under this conviction, the present volume has been attempted, and is now presented to the public. The author has not the vanity to believe that the work imperfect; yet he indulges the hope, that he will be found to have improved somewhat upon those who have gone before him in the leading object in view, viz. To present the subject in an attractive form. At this he has sedulously aimed Whether, in his efforts, he has been successful, a candid public will judge. In respect to the writers principally consulted for the materials which form this volume, it will perhaps be necessary only to say, that he has derived assistance from every work adapted to his purpose, within his reach; and which he supposed would render his work more useful and acceptable. To all, it has been his intention to give the credit due; yet, in respect to some, he may have unintentionally failed. It would be in vain to supply deficiencies here. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.