Page:Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, 1842.djvu/9



edition of Eusebius here offered to the public, is the first that has been issued in this country. It had its origin in the want of health, to sustain the ordinary labours of the ministry, and a wish to promote the knowledge, and advance the cause of religion. The nature of the work, and the estimation in which it has usually been held by the learned and pious, sanction the measure the Publisher was induced to adopt, as being well calculated to answer the design. Circumstances attending the rise and early progress of Christianity, in a great measure peculiar to the character, condition, and wants of an infant Institution, established by Divine authority, and protected to its completion by evident tokens of the Divine presence and approbation, highly interesting in their nature, and extremely important to be known, invest the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, (especially as it succeeds immediately to the Acts of the Apostles, and is for a considerable period the only work of the kind,) with a degree of value, to subsequent ages, that no other uninspired document is entitled to claim. The undersigned is firmly persuaded that its extensive circulation will, as it furnishes the means in a good degree of comparing modern with primitive times, and of viewing them in contrast with each other, tend to increase useful knowledge, promote soundness and unity in the faith, advance the cause of the Church, and maintain peace and quietness among all Christian people. In the confident opinion, that a general acquaintance with primitive Christianity would effect much for its cause, he has frequently wished to see the more important works of that period accessible to the community at large. The following was selected as an experiment, in the confident expectation of success; and is now at length issued, though the Rh