The Impossibility of Knowing What Is Christianity; A Paper Read Before the London Ministers' Conference, December 17th, 1873 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874. Excerpt: ... PRIMITIVE CHURCH HISTORY. EUSEBIUS. SO well as our materials afford scope for using our judgment, Eusebius, A.d. 315, appears to be not only the earliest historian of the Christian Church, but also almost the only authority we have regarding the persons, documents, events, and chronology relating to that period, from A.d. 1 to A.d. 249, which is commonly regarded as the subject of Primitive Church History. Dr James S. Reid in his edition of Mosheim's "Institutes," p. 132, styles Eusebius, "this chief source of our knowledge of ecclesiastical history." Believers in nearly all the great works which at one time or other, have been considered to be of oracular authority, have claimed for such works divine authority or inspiration. Thus, it was said that Apollo dictated our " Iliad " to "Homer,"--that Jehovah dictated our "Pentateuch" to " Moses,"--that the "Septuagint" version of the Old Testament was written under the influence of divine illumination; ("for," says Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, i. 22, "it was the counsel of God carried out for the benefit of Grecian ears,")--that the Holy Spirit dictated to the various writers the various tales and tracts contained in our "New Testament,"--that the Archangel Gabriel assisted Mohammed in the composition of the "Koran,"--and last, not least, that Constantine the Great (" 0, what a falling off was there ") assisted Eusebius in the compilation of his "Ecclesiastical History." It is stated (Dr William Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology "), by the late Mr George E. L. Cotton, that "when Constantine visited Caesarea, he offered to give Eusebius anything which would be beneficial to the Church there; Eusebius requested him to order an examination to be made of all documents connected wi...