MOSHEIM'S

INSTITUTES

OF

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY,

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

A NEW AND LITERAL TRANSLATION FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN,
WITH COPIOUS ADDITIONAL NOTES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED,

BY

JAMES MURDOCK, D.D.

Jerusalem

בירושלם

REVISED, AND SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ADDED.

BY

JAMES SEATON REID, D.D.

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW.

LONDON:

SIMMS AND MINTYRE,

13, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND DONEGALL STREET,

BELFAST.

1848.

גאונים

270

MOS (IN-2) 1848

PREFACE.

WHEN the enterprising publishers of this volume applied to me to edit a new edition of Maclaine's translation of these Institutes of Mosheim, I declined to undertake the task, on account of the numerous defects of that translation, and the impossibility of rectifying them without undergoing the labour of an entirely new version. At the same time, I directed their attention to this excellent translation by Dr. Murdock, which had been very favourably received both in the United States and in this country; and stated my belief that a cheap reprint of it in one volume was much wanted, in order the more effectually to supersede Maclaine's unsatisfactory translation, and to furnish English readers with an accurate version of a work which, under many disadvantages, has long been one of our most popular works on Ecclesiastical History. The publishers adopted this suggestion, and I have accordingly endeavoured to execute the task assigned me with diligence and fidelity, but without the advantage of having had time to make any special preparation before engaging

in it.

The first American edition of Dr. Murdock's translation was used so far as the fourth century, when the second and, I believe, last edition of 1845 was obtained from New-York, and thenceforward adopted as the basis of this edition. I have ventured to revise the translation in various places, either to bring it closer to the original text, or to correct a few inaccuracies of style. Several lengthy documents elsewhere accessible in English, and some details of inferior interest, have been occasionally omitted from the notes of the translator, lest the work might prove too bulky for a single volume; and I have supplied throughout a number of additional notes which are marked with the letter-R.

In compiling these notes, my object was not so much to supply new facts or corrections overlooked by preceding editors, because it appeared to me that the text had been already rather too much overlaid by supplementary matter of this sort. My principal aim was, to point out to the student additional sources of information, and especially to direct the English reader to those works in his own language, whether original

בית הספרים הלאמ והאוניברסיטאי יי ו ע ל י !!!

works or translations, which illustrated the topics discussed in t.. or the accompanying notes. I was induced to keep in view the wants oí this class of readers from the conviction that this work of Mosheim had long furnished, and I have no doubt will continue to furnish, a larger number of English readers than is generally supposed, with all the knowledge they possess of the history of the church. I thought it right, therefore, to render this new edition, adapted as it is from its cheapness for general use, as profitable as possible to those who may not be conversant with ancient or modern languages. At the same time, I hope the learned reader, and especially the professional student, will derive from the notes I have supplied, some further assistance in their study of this branch of history, in addition to what the erudite translator had already so abundantly furnished in his many valuable notes, both original and selected.

I cannot take leave of this work without expressing my regret that more time had not been allowed me for preparing for and perfecting this edition. The greatest care however has been taken, both by the publishers and myself, to render all the quotations and references as faithful and correct as possible; and this new edition is now offered to the public in the confident hope that, though capable of further improvement, it will be found more complete and valuable than any other which has yet appeared.

J. S. R.

GLASGOW COLLEGE, October, 1818.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.

CENTURY FIRST.