candor and simplicity of spirit, the unobtrusive but pervading glow of Christian piety, which have thus far so eminently characterized every portion of this great work.

If such a volume should soon be given to the world, the publishers of the present translation will doubtless take measures to have it converted into English, and added as a necessary complement to their edition of Neander's Church History.

BURLINGTON, JULY 31, 1851.

J. TORREY.

DEDICATION

OF THE FIRST PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

TO MY DEAR AND HONORED FRIEND,

DR. RITSCHL,

BISHOP IN STETTIN.

EVER since I had the happiness to be thrown by official relations, when you were still here amongst us, into closer contact with you, and through your examinations over the department of practical theology, as well as by cordial intercourse, to become more accurately acquainted with your peculiar spirit, your way of interpreting the signs of these times, laboring with the birth-throes of a new age of the world, and your judgment as to what the church in these times needs before all things else, I felt myself related to you, not by the common tie of Christian fellowship alone, but also by a special sympathy of spirit. And when you left us, called by the Lord to act in another great sphere for the advancement of his kingdom, your dear image still remained deeply engraven on my heart. In your beautiful pastoral letters, I recognized again the same doctrines of Christian wisdom, drawn from the study of the Divine Word and of history, to which I had often heard you bear testimony before; and when I had the pleasure of once more seeing you face to face, it served to revive the ancient fellowship. Often has the wish come over my mind of giving you some public expression of my cordial regard. To the bishop, who in his first pastoral letters so beautifully refers the servants of the church to that which is only to be learned in the school of life, in History, I dedicate a part of the present work, devoted to the history of the kingdom of God. And I feel myself constrained to dedicate to the bishop of the dear Pommeranian church, that volume of my work in particular which describes the active operations of its original founder. That kindred spirit, even in its errors, you will greet with your wonted benevolence.

May the Lord long preserve you by his grace for his church on earth, and bless your work.

These times, torn by the most direct contrarieties, vacillating between licentiousness and servility, between the bold denial of God and the deification of the letter, needs such men, who recognize the necessary unity and the necessary manifoldness, and who understand how to guide free minds with love and wisdom, being themselves the disciples of eternal love and wisdom. May all learn from you not to hunt after new things which are not also old, nor to cling to old things which will not become new; but, as you advise in your first pastoral letter, to form themselves into such scribes as know how to bring out of their good treasures things both old and new, just as the truth which they serve is an old truth and at the same time always new.

BERLIN, MARCH 5, 1841.

With my whole heart, yours,

A. NEANDER.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

TO THE FIRST PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

I HERE present to the public the first part of the history of that important period, so rich in materials, the flourishing times of the Middle Ages; thanking God that he has enabled me to bring this laborious work to an end, while engaged in discharging the duties of a difficult calling.

I must beg the learned reader would have the goodness to suspend his judgment respecting the arrangement and distribution of the matter till the whole shall be completed. Notwithstanding that M. H- in his recension of the two preceding volumes, in the literary leaves of the Darmstadt Church Gazette, has expressed himself so strongly, I have still thought proper, in this volume also, to incorporate the history of Monachism with that of the church constitution. No one, doubtless, except M. H- will believe me to be so childish or so stupid as to have done this merely because it is customary to speak also of a constitution of Monachism. The reasons which have induced me to adopt the plan I have chosen, will readily present themselves to the attentive reader; though I am free to confess that another arrangement is possible, and that the reference to the Christian life is made prominent by me in the second. section also, as it belongs indeed to the special point of view from which I write my Church History. I should have many things to answer to the above-mentioned reviewer, if the judgment of a reviewer were really anything more than the judgment of any other reader or non-reader. That the remark concerning Claudius of Turin, was neither unimportant nor superfluous, every one may easily convince himself, who takes the least interest in a thorough scientific understanding of the history of doctrines. As to my theological position, I demand for that the condescending tolerance of no man; but shall know very well how to defend it on scientific grounds.

I regret that the second volume of Barthold's History of Pommerania did not reach me till after the printed sheets of the whole section were already lying before me.

I must direct the attention of the readers of my Church History, to the Atlas of Ecclesiastical History, soon to be given to the world by Candidate Wiltsch, of Wittenberg, which will prove a welcome present to every friend of the history of the church.

In conclusion, I thank my worthy friend, the preacher elect, Selbach, for the fidelity and care with which he has assisted me during the transit of my work through the press, and wish him the richest blessing in his new sphere of labor in the kingdom of God.

BERLIN, MARCH 5, 1841.

A. NEANDER.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

TO THE SECOND PART OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

I REJOICE that I am here able at length to present to the public the fruits of my favorite studies for many years, an exhibition of the Christian life, of the development of the theology and of the history of the sects during the flourishing times of the Middle Ages. Would that the many new facts which ever and anon have presented themselves as the result of my inquiries, may serve, as some of my earlier labors have done, to call forth new investigations, which might tend to promote the cause of science by confirming that which I have advanced, filling up what I have left defective, or stating the other side of facts where I have stated but one side. I regret that my attention was drawn too late to Dr. Gieseler's Programme on the Summas of Rainer, and that I received it too late to be able to avail myself of it in treating the history of the sects. I regret it the more, as I am aware how much the labors of this distinguished inquirer have aided me in other investigations where our studies have happened to be directed to the same subjects. It is a great pity that, by, this custom of academical programmes, many an important scientific essay, which published by itself or inserted in some journal might soon be generally dispersed abroad, is to many entirely lost or at least escapes their notice at the particular moment when they could have derived the most benefit from it. The latest volume of Ritter on Christian Philosophy, is a work also to which I could not of course have any regard. Also the Essay of Dr. Planck, in the Studien und Kritiken, J. 1844, 4tes Heft, on a tract cited in my work, the Contra quatuor Galliae Labyrinthos of Walter of Mauretania, is a production to which I must refer my readers, as having appeared too late for my purpose.

I have to lament, that of the ten volumes of the works of Raymund Lull, there are two which I have not been able to consult, as they are nowhere to be met with. If it be the fact that these two missing volumes cannot be restored, it is certainly desirable that some individual would do himself the honor of completing the edition from the manuscripts in the Royal Library of Munich.

I have not compared my earlier labors on the subject of Abelard, with this new representation of the man. By those writings of his which Dr. Rheinwald* and Cousin have first presented to the world, an impulse has been given to many a new inquiry and new mode of apprehending the character of that celebrated individual.

In continuation of the present work there will follow, if God permit, an account of the times down to the period of the Reformation, in one volume.

The Archivarius not barely of "Modern Church History," to whom I wish the most abundant support of all kinds in the very important undertakings in behalf of literature in which he is engaged, an edition of the collected writings of Valentine Andreae, one of the great prophetic men of Germany; the Acta of the council of Basle, after the plan of the one which Hermann of Hardt has furnished of the council of Costnitz; and the Coutinuation of his Acta Historico-Ecclesiastica, a work, which must prove so important for the present and for future times.

I heartily thank Professor Schönemann, for the extraordinary kindness with which, as Superintendent of the Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel, he has communicated its treasures for my use, without which it would have been out of my power to complete many an investigation of which the results are to be found in this volume. And in conclusion, I thank my dear young friend H. Rössel, not only for the care he has bestowed on the correction of the press, but also for the pains and skill with which he has drawn up the Table of Contents, and the Register.

BERLIN, DEC. 3, 1844.

A. NEANDER.