The Conquest of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa and Spain, by the Arabs or 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. They retreat before the Franks 746....750 Elevation of the Abassides Triple Division of the Caliphate 750....960. Magnificence of the Caliphs ib. 933. 1055. The Bowides Its consequences on private and 936 Fallen State of the Caliphs of Bag- public Happiness 433 dad ib. 754, &c. 813, &c. Introduction of Learn- Their real Progress in the Sciences 436 963...975. The Eastern conquests of 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:....I. The Nestorians....II. The Jacobites.... III. The Maronites....IV. The Armenians....V. The Copts and Abyssinians. AFTER the extinction of paganism, the Christians in CHAP. XLVII. Christ. peace and piety might have enjoyed their solitary triumph. 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 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 CHAP. I. A laudable regard for the honour of the first proselytes, are obliterated; their obscure freedom might allow a lati- 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 characters 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 enemy of truth and candour, as often as they are 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 and situation; his sense is clear, but his thoughts are narrow; he reduces the reason or felly of ages to the standard of his private judgment, and his impartiality is sometimes quickened, and sometimes tainted, by his opposition 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 treasure 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 sometimes 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 fanaticism. 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 Constantinum (Helmstadt, 1753, in quarto), see the Nazarenes and Ebionites, p. 172...179. 328...332. The Gnosticsin 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 προσδο κωμεν γενησεσθαι, 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. |