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THE

BRITISH MAGAZINE.

JANUARY 1, 1838.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORIANS.

NO. VI.

(Continued from vol. xii. p. 611.)

THE labours of the Magdeburg Centuriators and Baronius had the immediate effect of establishing two separate and hostile schools of church-history. Ecclesiastical antiquity was henceforth the field on which the champions of the Romish and protestant parties fought their fiercest battles; and the history of the church was regarded by too many as little else than a branch of polemical divinity. All things considered, this was perhaps inevitable. The questions in dispute were most of them so purely historical, that the history itself could not but become matter of controversy. It is, however, greatly to be regretted, that the subject should have been first handled on both sides by men holding extreme opinions. This tended to place the ties in more complete repulsion, and to lay down and perpetuate party views of the plainest facts. We still feel the consequences. For though time and inquiry has produced mutual concessions, and multiplied the points on which all agree, many writers on both sides still obstinately maintain certain favourite positions in a spirit which betrays more of the violence of the controversialist than the calmness of the historian.

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The merit of the "Centuries” and the “ Annals" as works of learning had likewise the effect of discouraging further investigation into the history of the periods over which they extended. It was felt that both parties had a sort of authorized work on church-history, which it was rather a point of honour to defend than a point of duty to improve. We may generally observe, that a great effort of literature is followed by a state of comparative inactivity, analogous to the exhaustion which succeeds an unusual exertion of the natural body. It was so in the case before us. Much was done in the former half of the seventeenth century for particular portions and departments of the history and antiquities of the church, but we meet VOL. XIII.-Jan. 1838.

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with no complete or original work. The protestants attacked Baronius; the Romanists+ attacked the Centuriators; and posterity has availed itself of the truth which was elicited in the contest. The disputants themselves, however, respectively adhered to their own principles, and scarcely attempted to disengage the truth from the baser materials which had been worked up with it by controversial his

torians.

By the end of the sixteenth century, the prejudices with which the work of the Centuriators was at first regarded by many of the German protestants appear to have died away, and it was universally received as the church-history of the Lutheran party. But it was a cumbrous and expensive work, which could never be generally used by any but professional students. It was moreover imperfect, inasmuch as it did not extend beyond the thirteenth century. Hence the occasion for abridgments and continuations, which were the only contributions made by the members of the Lutheran community to the knowledge of church-history for upwards of an hundred years. LuCAS OSIANDER was the first of this class of writers, and his labours appear to have enjoyed the greatest popularity. He reduced the "Centuries" into an Epitome, which, together with a continuation of the history of the church to his own time, was published in separate volumes between 1592 and 1613. This compilation§ long maintained its ground in Germany. It was translated into German as the volumes appeared; and a Swedish translation was published in 1635. Being itself a work of some extent, it was made the basis of other abridgments; and thus may be regarded as having contributed to extend

• Fabr. Bibl. Græc. xii. 170-175; Walch, Bibl. Theol. iii. 151–159. + Fabr. Bibl. Græc. xii. 163; Walch, Bibl. Theol. iii. 125-127.

Epitomes Historiæ Ecclesiastica Centuria I. II. III. In quibus breviter et perspicue commemoratur, quis fuerit status Ecclesiæ Christi à nativitate Salvatoris, usque ad initium anni Christo ccc. Recitatur autem in specie, quomodo Evangelii doctrina in orbe terrarum sparsa sit: quæ hæreses in Ecclesia exortæ : quæ persecutiones contra Ecclesiam motæ : quibus mediis hæreses oppressæ, et persecutiones sedatæ sint: quos præclaros doctores Ecclesiæ singulis temporibus habuerint: inter quos et Romanorum Episcoporum vitæ recensentur. Sed et Romanorum Imperatorum acta describuntur. Lucas Osiander. D. Tubingæ, 1592.

§ In the epistle dedicatory to the Duke of Wirtemberg, prefixed to the first volume, Osiander thus explains the motives which led him to undertake the work: "Multa laude digni sunt viri doctissimi, qui infinito propè labore, ex omnibus, quos habere potuerunt, Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis Historiam congesserunt, (quam Magdeburgicam vocamus) eamque in certas Centurias annorum distribuerunt. cùm autem utilissimus ille labor multis tomis comprehendatur: et plerunque Theologiæ studiosi magnitudine sumptuum ab emptione deterreantur: Multi verò, et quidem magni viri politici, magnitudine negociorum gravissimorum impediantur, quò minùs tam prolixa scripta evolvere queant; cùm tamen Theologicis lucubrationibus legendis vehementer delectentur; cœpi ego cogitare, an non ea, quæ copiosè in illa Magd. Hist. Eccl. (et plurimis interdum locis) referuntur, possent in Epitomen quandam ita redigi, ut nihil rerum scitu admodum necessarium omitteretur: et simul etiam singulorum annorum series observaretur Plurinùm igitur adjutus

Magdeburgicis illis Centuriis (sine quibus laborem hunc nequaquam aggredi ausus fuissem) collegi trium priorum Centuriarum quasi compendium quoddam: quod nuncin lucem dare volui, ne eos, qui dudum editionem à me efflagitârunt, diutius suspensos tenerem."

and perpetuate the views of the Centuriators much more than their own voluminous work.

The remarks which have been made on the relation in which the Lutherans stood to the work of the Centuriators, are still more applicable to that in which the Romanists stood to the labours of Baronius. The work of Baronius was altogether an official work. It was known to exhibit the views of Rome. Its author possessed literary advantages which were denied to less favoured scholars. It would have been to incur at once the charge of heresy and presumption to attempt to rival his undertaking;* and accordingly, for more than half a century, no such attempt was made by a member of the Romish church.† But the work of Baronius was imperfect. The illustrious author had published only the annals of the first twelve centuries. If, as it has been asserted, he had prepared three centuries more, they were never given to the world, and it was left to other scholars to continue the mighty undertaking of the father of Romish ecclesiastical history. The magnitude and difficulty of the work did not deter adventurous scholars from treading in his steps, and the historian of church-history must not omit a notice of their labours.

ABRAHAM BZOVIUS, a Polish§ Dominican, was the first writer who attempted a continuation of the Ecclesiastical Annals. He composed a work in twelve folio volumes,|| of which the first eight appeared between 1616 and 1635. These brought the history of the church down to the year 1564. Another volume was given to the world in 1672, many years after his death, which continued the history to the year 1572. But no more was published. Though written upon the same principles as those adopted by Baronius, it never enjoyed the same reputation as the work which it was designed to continue.¶

Translations of Baronius were begun in several of the modern languages; but none of them proceeded beyond the first or second volume.-Fabr. Bibl. Græc. xii. 167; Walch, Bibl. Theol. iii. 145.

It would, however, be unjust to that communion not to add, that the errors of Baronius have been criticised as severely by Romish as by Protestant writers.-See Schmid. Supplem. Sagittar. Introd. in Hist. Eccles. p. 155-160.

Fabr. Bibl. Græc. xii. 166.

He has sarcastically been described as Gente Polonus, audaciâ historicus, desiderio cardinalis.-Ittig. Hist. Eccles. Sel. Cap. tom. i. Præfat. § 16.

Schmid. Supplem. Sagittar. Introd. in Hist. Eccles. p. 174-5.

Hic non modo in eundem, quem Baronius, impegit lapidem; verum eum etiam superavit, scilicet in turpi, et nefanda Papæ ac Romanæ sedis adulatione: in reliquis ingenio, judicio, rerum usu, ac eloquio multum inferior Baronio. Sagittarii Introd. in Hist. Eccles., p. 319. Bzovium ordinis potius sui quam ecclesiæ annales scribere tradit Godeau in præfat. ad historiam ecclesiasticam Gallico idiomate conscriptam. Ittig. ut suprà. His work was said to be more properly the Annals of his Order than of the Church. He is thus described by the ingenious Jesuit, Theophile Raynaud :—“ Perexigui judicii scriptor, nec tam autor quàm consarcinator; emisit multa volumina continuationis Ecclesiasticæ Historia post Baronium, cui succedaneam in eo argumento operam navavit; ut objectu contrarii, magis elusceret Baronii accuratio, juxta Philonis observationem lib. quis rer. divinar. hæres. Bzoviani sunt potiùs Annales Dominicorum, quàm Annales Ecclesiastici: Est enim totus in rebus domesticis efferendis, ac dilatandis; nisi cum aliquid Ordini probrosum, quod convellere non posset, malis avibus in historia seriem incidit. Tunc enim supra piscem tacitus abit. At cum agitur de mordendis et risui omnium exponendis Fratribus Minoribus, probat exquisitè diligentiam."-De Immunit.

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The author was unfortunate enough to expose himself not only to the displeasure of the Duke of Bavaria, but to the still more formidable hostility of the Franciscans and the Jesuits; and candid readers were offended by his servile attachment to the interests of the court of Rome.

HENRI DE SPONDE (Spondanus), the next writer who attempted a similar work,+ had been brought up a protestant, but conformed to the church of Rome, and became Bishop of Pamiez. His work is much less extensive than that of Bzovius. He brought down the history of the church from 1198 to the time at which he wrote, in two folio volumes, which appeared in 1659. He has been often praised for his sound judgment; and his historical writings have been thought to bear marks of his protestant education,§ though he does not yield to his predecessors in devotion to the papal cause.

But the work || which is best known and most esteemed as a continuation of Baronius was written somewhat later. ODORICUS RAYNALDUS, a native of Trevisi, was a priest of the Oratory, a congregation which, as he tells us, considered itself interested, by a sort of hereditary right, in the work of Baronius. Like his great predecessor, he was allowed access to the literary stores of the Vatican, and his continuation of the ecclesiastical annals contains ample proof of the advantages enjoyed by its author. It extends from the year 1198 to 1565. Eight volumes appeared during his lifetime, between 1646 and 1663, and a posthumous volume** was printed in 1677. Though Raynaldus

Autorum Cyriacor. Diatr. vii.; Opera, Tom. xx. p. 302. It is, however, but fair to remark, that the tract in which this occurs is a virulent libel against the Dominicans -well worthy of perusal, by the way, as affording a curious illustration of the concordia discors of the church of Rome.

* On account of the severity with which he treated the memory of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria.

+ Annalium Eminmi. Cardinalis Cæs. Baronii Continuatio, ab anno M.C.XCVII. quo is desiit, ad finem M.DC. XLVI. Per Henricum Spondanum Mauleosolensem Appamiarum in Galliâ Narbonensi Episcopum. Tomus I. Lutetiæ Parisiorum, Impensis Societatis Typographicæ Librorum officii Ecclesiastici jussu Regis constitutæ. 1659. Cum privilegio Christianissimæ Majestatis.

Cave, comparing him with Bzovius and Raynaldus, says: "Etsi reliquis mole cedat, fide tamen, diligentiâ, atque judicio accuratiori longè superat.-Proleg. ad Hist. Lit. § vi. 1.

§ Schröckh, Kirchengeschichte, i. 233.

Annales Ecclesiastici ab anno мCXCVIII. ubi Card. Baronius desinit, Auctore Odorico Raynaldo, Tarusino, Congregationis Oratorii Presbytero. Tomus xiii. Romæ excudebat Mascardus. 1646. Superiorum permissu, et privilegio.

In his dedication to the Pope he says: "Cùm Cæsar Cardinalis Baronius, summæ pietatis ac sapientiæ vir, atque universæ Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ pater, quem Sanctitas Tua, amore et officiis, dum in terris fuit, est prosecuta, ac post obitum, meritis laudibus ad cœlum tollere nunquam destitit, hujuscemodi Historiæ scribenda provinciam hereditario quodam jure alumnis Congregationis nostræ reliquerit; eamque Historiam ex scrinio potissimum Sedis Apostolicæ, et antiquissimis Vaticana Bibliothecæ monumentis excerpendam præscripserit; mihi, cui ab ingenii artisque adminiculis plane imparato tam arduum munus obtigit, omnino visum est deberi Opus uni Sti. T. quæ Vaticana tabularia, in quibus tot insunt thesauri quot volumina, reserari mihi ac patefieri jussit."

** In two parts, the first bearing the date 1676; the second 1677. Ittigius says, (præfat. § 15,) that it was not published till 1689.

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