244/623....627. Mahomet subdues the Jews Qualifications of the Prophet 245 Mahomet the Apostle of God, and 629....632. Conquest of Arabia the last of the Prophets 250 629, 630. First War of the Mahome. 251 tans against the Roman Empire 282 Precepts of Mahomet.... Prayer, 609 Mahomet preaches at Mecca 2631634 613....622. Is opposed by the Koreish 265/644 of Othman 622 And driven from Mecca 266 Discord of the Turks and Persians ib. 622 Received as Prince of Medina 2671655 Death of Othman He declares War against the Infi- 655, or 661....680. Reign of Moawiyah 301 His defensive Wars against the Posterity of Mahomet and Ali 305 ib. Permanency of his Religion The Conquest of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa and Sfiain, by the Arabs or Saracens....Empire of the Caliphs, or Successors of Mahomet.... State of 310|639....655. Progress of the Syrian Con- Character of their Caliphs 912 querors 356 314 EGYPT. Character and Life of 319 The Cities of Memphis, Babylon, 321 Voluntary Submission of the Copts 637....651. Conquest of Persia 322 or Jacobites 361 324 Siege and Conquest of Alexandria 363 710 The Conquest of Transoxiana 331 647 Africa. First Invasion by Ab- The Arabs return to Damascus 335 The Præfect Gregory and his Daughter 374 Pursuit of the Damascenes 338 665....689. Progress of the Saracens in 635 Sieges of Heliopolis and Emesa 342 670....675. Foundation of Cairoan 345 692....638. Conquest of Carthage 347698....709. Final Conquest of Africa 382 of Aleppo and Antioch 350 Adoption of the Moors 352709 Spain. First Temptations and 633....639. The Cor.querors of Syria 354) State of the Gothic Monarchy 710 The first Descent of the Arabs 387 Propagation of Mahometanism 400 711 Their second Descent and Victory 388 Fall of the Magians of Persia 401 Ruin of the Gothic Monarchy 390749 Decline and Fall of Christianity in 712, 713. Conquest of Spain by Musa 392 Africa 714 Disgrace of Musa The Two Sieges of Constantinople by the Arabs.... Their Invasion of France, and Defeat by Charles Martel....Civil War of the Ommiades and Abbas- sides... Learning of the Arabs....Luxury of the Caliphs....Naval Enter- prises on Crete, Sicily, and Rome....Decay and Division of the Empire of the Caliphs....Defeats and Victories of the Greek Emperors. The Limits of the Arabian Con- 846 Invasion of Rome by the Saracens 447 408 849 Victory and Reign of Leo IV. 449 668....675. First Siege of Constantino- 852 Foundation of the Leonine City 451 409838 The Amorian War between Theo- 677 Peace and Tribute 716....718. Second Siege of Constanti- 841.... 870. Disorders of the Turkish Failure and Retreat of the Sara- 1890....951. Rise and Progress of the Invention and Use of the Greek 900 Their Military Exploits Fire 721 Invasion of France by the Arabs 420 800....936. Revolt of the Provinces 459 731 Expedition and Victories of Abde- The independent Dynasties 460 rame 732 Defeat of the Saracens by Charles 1829...907. The Edrisites ib. ib. ib. 746....750 Elevation of the Abassides 426 1874...999. The Samanides 750 Fall of the Ommiades 755 Revolt of Spain Triple Division of the Caliphate 430 892.. 1001. The Hamadanites 462 750....960. Magnificence of the Caliphs ib. 933. .1055. The Bowides ib. ib. 754,&c. 813,&c. Introduction of Learn- 960 Enterprises of the Greeks ing among the Arabians 434 Reduction of Crete Their real Progress in the Sciences 436963...975. The Eastern conquests of 781...805 Wars of Harun al Rashid Conquest of Cilicia against the Romans 823 The Arabs subdue the Isle of Crete Or THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. CHAP. XLVII. Theological History of the Doctrine of the Incarnation.... The Human and Divine Nature of Christ....Enmity of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Constantinople.... St, Syril and Nestorius.... Third General Council of Ephesus..., Heresy of Eutyches....Fourth General Council of Chalcedon.... Civil and Ecclesiastical Discord.... Intolerance of Justinian.... The Three Chapters.... The Monothelite Controversy.... State of the Oriental Sects:..... The Nestorians....II. The Jacobites.... III. The Maronites....IV. The Armenians....V. The Copts and Abyssinians. Christ. AFTER the extinction of paganism, the Christians in CHAP. peace and piety might have enjoyed their solitary triumph. XLVII. But the principle of discord was alive in their bosom, and the incarthey were more solicitous to explore the nature, than to prac-nation of tise the laws, of their founder. I have already observed, that the disputes of the TRINITY were succeeded by those of the INCARNATION; alike scandalous to the church, alike pernicious to the state, still more minute in their origin, still more durable in their effects. It is my design to comprise in the present chapter, a religious war of two hundred and fifty years, to represent the ecclesiastical and political schism of the Oriental sects, and to introduce their clamorous or sanguinary contests, by a modest inquiry into the doctrines of the primitive church. 1 By what means shall I authenticate this previous inquiry, which I have studied to circumscribe and compress ?... If I persist in supporting each fact or reflection by its proper and special evidence, every line would demand a string VOL. VI. B 1. A pure CHAP. I. A laudable regard for the honour of the first proselytes, XLVII. has countenanced the belief, the hope, the wish, that the Ebionites, or at least the Nazarenes, were distinguished man to the only by their obstinate perseverance in the practice of the Ebionites. Mosaic rites. Their churches have disappeared, their books . are obliterated; their obscure freedom might allow a latitude of faith, and the softness of their infant creed would be variously moulded by the zeal or prudence of three hundred years. Yet the most charitable criticism must refuse these sectaries any knowledge of the pure and proper divinity of Christ. Educated in the school of Jewish prophecy and prejudice, they had never been taught to elevate their hopes above an human and temporal Messiah. If they had of testimonies, and every note would swell to a critical dissertation. But the numberless passages of antiquity which I have seen with my own eyes, are compiled, digested, and illustrated, by Petuvius and Le Clerc, by Beausobre and Mosheim. I shall be content to fortify my narrative by the names and characiers of these respectable guides; and in the contemplation of a minute or remote object, I am not ashamed to borrow the aid of the strongest glasses : 1. The Dogmata Theologica of Petavius, are a work of incredible labour and compass; the volumes which relate solely to the incarnation (two folios, fifth and sixth, of 837 pages), are divided into xvi books...the first of history, the remainder of controversy and doctrine. The Jesuit's learning is copious and correct; his latinity is pure, his method clear, his argument profound and well connected: but he is the slave of the fathers, the scourge of heretics, and the ereny of truth and candour, as often as theyare inimical to the Catholic cause. 2. The Arminian Le Clerc, who has composed in a quarto volume (Amsterdam, 1716) the ecclesiastical history of the two first centuries, was free both in his temper a d situation ; his sense is clear, but his thoughts are narrow ; he reduces the reason or félly of ages to the standard of his private judgment, and his impartiality is sometimes quickened, and sometimes tainted, by his oppo. sition to the fathers. See the heretics (Corinthians, Ixxx. Ebionites, ciii. Carpocratians, cxx. Valentinians, cxxi. Basilidians, cxxiii. Marcionites, cxli, &c.) under their proper dates. 3. The Histoire Critique du Manicheisme (Amsterdam, 1734, 1739, in two vols. in quarto, with a posthumous dissertation sur les Nazarenes, Lausanne, 1745) of M. de Beausobre, is a freasure of ancient philosophy and theology. The learned historian spins with incom. parable art the systematic thread of opinion, and transforms himself by turns into the person of a saint, a sage, or an heretic. Yet his refinement is some. times excessive: he betraysan amiable partiality in favour of the weaker side, and, while he guards against calumny, he does not allow sufficient scope for superstition and fanaticisin. A copious table of contents will direct the reader to any point that he wishes to examine. 4. Less profound than Petavius, less independent than Le Clerc, less ingenious than Beausobre, the historian Mosheim is full, rational, correct, and moderate. In his learned work, De Rebus Christianis ante Constantinuin (Helmstadt, 1753, in quarto), see the Naza. renes and Ebionites, p. 172...179. 328...332. The Gnostics in general, p. 179, &c. Cerinthus, p. 196...202. Basilides, p. 352...361. Carpocrates, p. 363... 367. Valentinus, p. 371...389. Marcion, p. 404...410. The Manichæans, p. 829...837, &c. 2 Και γαρ παντες ημεις τον Χρισον ανθρωπον εξ ανθρωπων προσδοXwme EN TEXTrofai, says the Jewish Tryphon (Justin. Dialog. p. 207.) in the name of his countrymen ; and the modern Jews, the few who divert their thoughts from money to rel gion, still hold the same language, and allege the literal sense of the prophets. |