AN ENCYCLOPEDIA ECCLESIASTICA; OR, A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH: CONTAINING A FULL AND COMPENDIOUS EXPLANATION OF ALL ECCLESIASTICAL RITES AND CEREMONIES; A DISTINCT AND ACCURATE ACCOUNT of all deNOMINATIONS OF CHRISTIANS, FROM TOGETHER WITH A DEFINITION OF TERMS USUALLY OCCURRING IN ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. BY THOMAS ANTHONY TROLLOPE, LL.B. LATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET; J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; AND HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY. PREFACE. THE object of the present publication is to convey a more full and accurate account of the several subjects mentioned in the title page, than has hitherto been attempted. Many works, in some respects of a similar nature, have at different times been given to the public; but none of these, as far as the author is aware, have been extended to the various matters proposed to be treated of in these pages, nor do any of them contain so complete and ample a detail of circumstances connected with them as is here intended. Considerable ecclesiastical learning, and laborious investigation and research, are, however, the characteristic marks of many of these writers, and without the advantage of their guidance and assistance, it would almost be impossible to undertake a work of this nature with any hope of rendering it useful or instructive. The present author, at least, would have found it far too Herculean a task; he has gladly availed himself, therefore, of the learning and labours of those who have gone before him in the same track, and thinking it indeed his duty to those through whose assistance alone the work could have been undertaken, if not to the public at large, to render it as complete as possible, he has consulted the works of others wherever he found it necessary, and in many cases, perhaps, may have plucked from them their fairest flowers. Let it not, therefore, be considered the intention of the author to depreciate the works of others by offering his own as a present desideratum in ecclesiastical history. They have all their respective merits, of which he is fully sensible, but still, from the dif ferent nature of the work in contemplation, which will be evident from the volume now published, he conceives it cannot but be attended with utility; and if executed with care and attention, must be particularly advantageous to those who have not the opportunity of consulting the numerous writings over which the several subjects treated of are scattered, nor leisure sufficient for the arduous undertaking, One of the principal, certainly one of the most interesting subjects intended to be inquired into and explained in the following pages, is the variety of religious opinions which arose in the very dawn of Christianity, and which, changing from time to time, continued to corrupt the pure doctrines of the Gospel, and still exists in every part of Christendom. So great, indeed, has been the variety of the opinions and tenets of those, who all profess to take the Gospel as their guide; so many and so unbecoming have been the controversies which have divided its followers; and such calamitous events have been the fruit of these dissensions, as not only to be the cause of much lamentation to its friends, but often of great triumph to its enemies. It may not, therefore, be uninteresting to inquire into the principal causes of these differences and dissensions, and to examine whether they afford any good ground for the scoff of the infidel, or whether they do not rather tend to illustrate the truth of the Gospel dispensation. 1. When our Saviour first manifested himself as the promised Messiah, his humble appearance on earth was so contrary to the hopes and expectations of the Jews, that few of them were disposed to receive him. The doctrines taught by him were also so novel, and at the same time so hostile to their worldly interests and passions, and so contradictory to all their received notions and established usages, that for the most part they were opposed and rejected. Those, also, who were willing to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, and to receive his doctrines as the word and dispensation of the Deity, were for the same reasons inclined to form erroneous notions as well of the character and person of our Lord, as of the nature and true interpretation of these doctrines. Of the latter they had no means of forming any notion, except by analogy to precepts already known to them, and by interpreting them consistently with ideas already familiar to their minds. Hence the converted Jew was anxious to unite the doctrines of the Gospel with the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses; and the Gentiles at one time, to reconcile them to the superstitions of the heathens, and at another to engraft them on the theory of the Greek Philosophers. And hence, in the first infancy of the church, we may trace the origin of those dissensions, factions and disputes, which have never since ceased to trouble it. 2. The minds of men are so differently constituted by nature, and are endued with such different degrees of capacity and powers of industry and attention, that we find them very differently affected by the same mode of reasoning or argument. There is scarcely any ordinary subject, therefore, that has not afforded cause for controversy and dispute, and we can have no reason to expect any greater unanimity in matters of religion. If the investigation of the most simple theory is sufficient to furnish ample materials for disquisition, can we be surprised that a uniformity of opinion should not prevail on subjects which the faculties of man can but imperfectly comprehend? Or can we wonder that its doctrines should have been so differently understood, or its precepts so variously applied? In whatever situation, indeed, of life we may be placed, upon whatever pursuits or undertaking we may be employed, it seems to be the intention of Providence that we shall have many difficulties to encounter. These stimulate the soul, and call forth its best and latent energies, as inaction renders it lethargic. The mine must be dug before it will yield its treasure; the ground must be duly prepared before the husbandman can reap the harvest, and the acquisition of all knowledge is the fruit of labour and study. Obscurities in science and philosophy, by exciting care and investigation, bring forth and improve the inventive faculties of the mind, and strengthen |