TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

ONLY a few words seem necessary by way of preface to the following translation. It was begun towards the close of 1840; but early in the present year the Translator having requested Dr. Neander to favour him with any corrections or additions which he might have made to the second edition (published in 1838), was informed, in reply, that a third edition was passing through the press: at the same time, an offer was most kindly made of forwarding the proof-sheets, by which means the translation will appear within a few weeks after the original, in its most approved form.

It may be proper to state, that there were circumstances which rendered it desirable that as little delay as possible should occur in the preparation of the English work. This demand for expedition may have perhaps occasioned more inadvertencies than the modicum of negative reputation allotted to literary workmanship of this kind can well afford. The Translator trusts, however, that he has, on the whole, succeeded in giving a tolerably correct representation of the original, though, had time been allowed for a more careful revision, several minor blemishes might have been removed, and the meaning of some passages have been more distinctly brought out.

The Author's great and long-established reputation as an Ecclesiastical Historian, would render it unnecessary, even if not somewhat unseemly, to usher in this work with a lengthened descant on its merits. The impartial and earnest nquirer after truth will not fail to be delighted with the marks it everywhere presents of unwearied research, extended views, and profound piety. No one would regret more than the excellent author, if the freedom of his inquiries should give pain to any of his Christian brethren; still his motto must be, "Amicus Socrates, magis amica Veritas." He is completely at issue with the advocates of certain views which

TTO

have lately been gaining a disastrous prevalence in this country. The decided terms in which he asserts the noble equality and brotherhood of Christian men, in opposition to the anti-christian tenet of a priesthood, in the sense not of religious instructors, but of exclusive conveyers of supernatural influence,' will be little relished by those who would attempt to share the incommunicable prerogatives of the one Mediator." But, as Dr. N. justly remarks in one of his earlier communications (for all of which the Translator is glad of an opportunity to express his heartfelt gratitude,) "the gospel itself rests on an immovable rock, while human systems of theology are everywhere undergoing a purifying process, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. WE LIVE IN THE TIME OF A GREAT

66

CRISIS!"

This translation has been prepared at a distance from those helps which would have been within my reach at an earlier period, and soon after a change of residence had separated me from three friends especially, with whom most of the important topics in these volumes had been submitted to frequent and earnest discussion. Without the formality of a dedication, my sense of the value of their friendship prompts me to make this allusion, which is connected with some of my most pleasing recollections. I wish also to express my obligations to Dr. Edward Michelson, of the University of Leipzig, who not only gave up his intention of publishing a translation of this work, on being informed that I was engaged in a similar undertaking, but most readily favoured me with his opinion. on various passages during the preparation of the manuscript. I have received, too, from a friend of Dr. Neander, with whose name I am not acquainted, the results of a very careful examination of the first six proof-sheets, which I gratefully acknowledge, and only regret that the whole work could not be submitted to his review previous to publication.

(1) By no writers has this error been more ably exposed than by Archbishop Whately and Dr. Arnold; by the former, in "The Errors of Romanism traced to their origin in human nature;" and by the latter, in the introduction to a volume of discourses, lately published on "the Christian Life."-"To revive Christ's church is to expel the antichrist of priesthood, which, as it was foretold of him, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God;' and to restore its disfranchised members, the laity, to the discharge of their proper duties in it, and to the consciousness of their paramount importance," p. 52.

NORTHAMPTON, November 2, 1841.

J. E. R.

DR. F. EHRENBERG,

ROYAL CHAPLAIN, MEMBER OF THE SUPREME CONSISTORY,
ETC. ETC.

MY DEEPLY REVERED AND VERY DEAR FRIEND,

I trust you will receive this work with all its defects as the offering of a sincere heart; as a small token of my cordial veneration and love, and of that sincere gratitude which I have long felt impelled to express, for the edification I have derived from your discourses. May a gracious God long allow you to labour and shine among us for the welfare of his church, with that holy energy which he has bestowed upon you, with the spirit of Christian wisdom and freedom, the spirit of true freedom exalted above all the strife of human parties,— which the Son of God alone bestows, and which is especially requisite for the guidance of the church in our times, agitated and distracted as they are by so many conflicts! This is the warmest wish of one who with all his heart calls himself yours.

Thus I wrote on the 22d of May, 1832, and after six years I again repeat with all my heart, the words expressive of dedication, of gratitude, and of devout wishes to the Giver of all perfect gifts. Since that portion of time (not unimportant in our agitated age) has passed away, have to thank you, dear and inmostly revered Man, for many important words of edification and instruction, which I have received from your lips in public, as well as for the precious gift which has often administered refreshment to myself and others. Yes, with all my heart I agree with those beautiful sentiments which form the soul of your discourses, and bind me with such force to your person. God grant that we may ever humbly and faithfully hold fast the truth which does not seek for reconciliation amidst contrarieties, but is itself unsought the right mean! God grant (what is far above all theological disputations,) that the highest aim of our labours may be to produce the image of Christ in the souls of men,-that to our latest breath we may keep this object in view without wavering, fast bound to it in true love, each one in his own sphere, unmoved by the vicissitudes of opinion and the collisions of party!

Let me add as a subordinate wish, that you would soon favour us with a volume of discourses, to testify of this "one thing that is needful." A. NEANDER.

BERLIN, 30th May, 1838.

From the fulness of my heart I once more repeat the wishes and thanks before expressed, and rejoice that it is in my power to dedicate the third edition of this work to you, my inmostly dear and revered friend. A. NEANDER.

BERLIN, 2d August, 1841.

(1) Alluding probably to a volume of Sermons already published.—TR.

PREFACE TO VOLUME I. OF THE FIRST EDITION.

Ir was certainly my intention to have allowed my representation of the Christian religion and church in the apostolic age to follow the completion of the whole of my Church History, or at least of the greater part of it; but the wishes and entreaties of many persons, expressed both in writing and by word of mouth, have prevailed upon me to alter my plan. Those, too, who took an interest in my mode of conceiving the development of Christianity, were justified in demanding an account of the manner in which I conceived the origin of this process, on which the opinions of men are so much divided through the conflicting influences of the various theological tendencies in this critical period of our German Evangelical church; and perhaps, if it please God, a thoroughly matured and candidly expressed conviction on the subjects here discussed, may furnish many a one who is engaged in seeking, with a connecting link for the comprehension of his own views, even if this representation, though the result of protracted and earnest inquiry, should contain no new disclosures.

As for my relation to all who hold the conviction, that faith in Jesus, the Saviour of sinful humanity, as it has shown itself since the first founding of the Christian church to be the fountain of divine life, will prove itself the same to the end of time, and that from this faith a new creation will arise in the Christian church and in our part of the world, which has been preparing amidst the storms of spring-to all such persons I hope to be bound by the bond of Christian fellowship, the bond of "the true Catholic Spirit," as it is termed by an excellent English theologian of the seventeenth century. But I cannot agree with the conviction of those among them who think that this new creation will be only a repetition of what took place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, and that the whole dogmatic system, and the entire

(1) We meet with a beautiful specimen of such a spirit in what has been admirably said by a respected theologian of the Society of Friends, Joseph John Gurney; "It can scarcely be denied, that in that variety of administration, through which the saving principles of religion are for the present permitted to pass, there is much of a real adaptation to a corresponding variety of mental condition Well, therefore, may we bow with thankfulness before that infinite and unsearchable Being, who in all our weakness follows us with his love, and through the diversified mediums of religion to which the several classes of true Christians are respectively accustomed, is still pleased to reveal to them all the same crucified Redeemer, and to direct their footsteps into one path of obedience, holiness and peace." See Observations on the distinguishing Views and Practices of the Society of Friends, by Joseph John Gurney, ed. vii. London, 1834. Words fit to shame theologians who are burning with zeal for the letter and forms, as if on these depended the essence of religion, whose life and spirit are rooted in facts.

mode of contemplating divine and human things,' must return as it then existed.

On this point, I assent with my whole soul to what my deeply revered and beloved friend, Steudel, lately expressed, so deserving of consideration in our times, and especially to be commended to the attention of our young theologians. He admirably remarks, "But exactly this and only this, is the preeminence of the one truth, that it maintains its triumphant worth under all changes of form;" and Niebuhr detected in the eagerness to restore the old, an eagerness for novelty; "When the novelty of a thing is worn away by use, we are prone to return to the old, which then becomes new again, and thus the ball is thrown backwards and forwards."3

In truth, whatever is connected with the peculiarities of the forms of human cultivation, as these change, goes the way of all flesh; but the Word of God, which is destined by a perpetual youthfulness of power to make all things new-abides for ever. Thus the difference existing between these persons and myself, will certainly show itself in our conception of many important points in this department of history, but in my judgment these differences are only scientific, and ought not to disturb that fellowship which is above all science. But I can also transport myself to the standing-point of those to whom these objects must appear in a different light; for the rise of such differences is in this critical period unavoidable, and far better than the previous indifference and lifeless uniformity. And even in zeal for a definite form, I know how to esteem and to love a zeal for the essence which lies at the bottom, and I can never have anything in common with those who will not do justice to such zeal, or, instead of treating it with the respect that is always due to zeal and affection for what is holy, with Jesuitical craft aim at rendering others suspected, by imputing to them sinister motives and designs.

4

It was not my intention to give a complete history of the Apostolic

(1) Well might the noble words of Luther be applied to those who cling to the old rotten posts of a scaffolding raised by human hands, as if they were needed for the divine building. "When at a window I have gazed on the stars of heaven, and the whole beautiful vault of heaven, and saw no pillars on which the builder had set such a vault; yet the heavens fell not in; and that vault still stands firm. Now there are simple folk who look about for such pillars, and would fain grasp and feel them. But since they cannot do this, they quake and tremble, as if the heavens would certainly fall in, and for no other reason than because they cannot grasp or see the pillars; if they could but lay hold of them, then the heavens (they think) would stand firm enough."

(2) In the Tubingen Zeitschrift für Theologie, 1832, part i. p. 33.

Blessed be

the memory of this beloved man, who left this world a few months ago, and is no longer to be seen in the holy band of combatants for that evangelical truth which was the aim, the centre, and the soul of his whole life, and the firm anchor of his hope in death, when he proved himself to be one of those faithful teachers of whom it may be said "whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."

(3) One of the many golden sentences of this great man in his letters, of which we would recommend the second volume especially to all young theologians.

(4) Provided it be the true zeal of simplicity, which accompanies humility, and where sagacity does not predominate over simplicity; but by no means that zeal which, in coupling itself with the modern coxcombry of a super-refined education, endeavours to season subjects with it to which it is least adapted, in order to render them palatable to the vitiated taste that loathes a simple diet; and thus proves its own unsoundness. A caricature jumble of the most contradictory elements, at which every sound feeling must revolt.