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< 265 )
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REVIEW.
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Untitled Article
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Art . I . —The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Tliird Centuries ^ illustrated from the Writings of Tertullian . By John , Bishop of Bristol , [ Lincoln , ] Master of Christ ' s College , and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge . Second Edition . 8 vo . pp . 588 . In the introduction to this very able and interesting work we are informed that it contains the substance of a course of Lectures delivered by the author , as Regius Professor of Divinity , in the Lent and Easter terms of 1825 . Two
previous courses had been devoted to the writings of the earlier Fathers ; " and the plan which he then pursued was , first to give a short account of the author ' s life ; next an analysis of each of his works ; and lastly , a selection of passages , made principally with a view to the illustration of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England . " But in proceeding to the works of Tertullian , " it occurred to him that a different mode might be adopted with advantage , and that they might be rendered subservient to the
illustration of Ecclesiastical History in general . " Not , however , intending to compose an Ecclesiastical History of the second and third centuries , but only to assist in collecting materials for a future historian , it was necessary to fix upon some plan for the arrangement of these materials . The Professor chose that of Mosheim , not because he regarded it as the best which could be devised , but because his History is in most general use among theological students in this country . Mosheim , it will be remembered , divides the
history of the Church into two branches , external and internal : comprehending under the former , the prosperous and the adverse events which befel it during each century ; and under the latter , the state of learning and philosophy , the government , the doctrines , the rites and ceremonies of the Church , and the heresies which divided its members during the same period . Under these heads , therefore , all the matter which the writings of Tertullian supply to illustrate the ecclesiastical history of the period during which he flourished , is arranged in the work before us . But while the learned Professor is thus filling up MosheinVs outline , he does not lose sight of the
object which in his former researches he had chiefly in view ; but by comparing the information he collects relating to the doctrines , the government and the rites of the Church in the second century , with the Thirty-nine Articles , he endeavours to obtain the sanction of the Presbyter of Carthage to the doctrines and the usages of the Church of England ; and at the same time , whenever he can , he shews that his authority cannot be pleaded by the Church of Rome . It was also necessary for him , as he observes , " so far to adhere to his original plan as to prefix a brief account of Tertullian
himself , in order that the student might be enabled accurately to distinguish the portion of ecclesiastical history which his writings serve to illustrate , as well as justly to appreciate the importance to be attached to his testimony and opinions , " ( P- ^ O Th e whole work , therefore , is divide ^ i nto seven chapters , thus entitled : I . Tertullian and his Writings * II . The external History of the Church . III . The State of Letters and Philosophy . IV . The Government of the Church . V . The Doctrine of the Church . VI . The
Ceremonies of the Church . VII . The Heresies and Divisions which troubled the Church . The first chapter is introduced by the short article on Tertullian in * Je *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/33/
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