ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGB.APHY. * THERE is a growing conviction abroad that the
history of the Christian Church is not a mere narrative of the changes of sec- tarian opinion, or the developments of a pompous priesteraft, but the exposition of the rise and progress of august and genuine phcenomena. The embodiment of Greek culture, Hebrew re- ligious sentiment, and Roman polity, Christendom, even from a purely secular point of view, is entitled to grave and profound consideration. The Christian principle which dominated it, that of self-sacrifice and human brotherhood, of moral renovation and celestial perfection, poured fresh blood into the veins of an ex- hausted and decrepid world. The principle became a social power ; it founded the Church. Christian through its spiritual origin, Roman in its geographical and historical position, it com- bined the two in its ultimate development ; till, mainly as the Roman Catholic Church, it powerfully promoted and sometimes headed the civilization of Europe during the Dark and Middle Ages. Purity of manners ; personal liberty ; pacific life ; mental development and industrial pursuits, were enjoined and en- couraged by the voice and hand of the Church. The voice, it is true, often faltered and the hand wavered ; /ler can it be denied that practical contradiction was often given to the theory which the Christian commonwealth professed. Still the part taken by the bishops in and after the barbarian invasion—the institution of the Truce of God ; the liberation of the bondsmen, and the pro- tection of the commonalty ; the labours of the Benedictine monks, the preservation of classic literature ; the establishment of schools and colleges ; the architectural genius and philosophical ex- ploration of such men as Lanfranc, Engleberg, William of Wick- ham, Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus, testify to the reality and value of ecclesiastical civilization.
With the general diffusion of sounder views, in every depart- ment of human thought and life, there is no doubt, says Mr. Mau- rice in the preface to the Manual now before us, " a reasonable desire that the history of the Church should be regarded, less than it has been, as a merely professional pursuit, and should be more connected with the general life of the world. The actual in- fluence of the Church upon the world," he seems to admit is better learned from the sceptical and ironical Gibbon, "than from those who have desired to exalt and establish its claims." This desire, however, he conceives may he promoted by a more accurate know- ledge of ecclesiastical arrangements and localities in different periods, such as the present Handbook of Ecclesiastical Geography will impart: Wiltsch's Handbuch der Eirchlichen Geographic and Statistik was published at Berlin in 1846. Professor
gi • Handbook of the Geography and Statistics of the Church. By J. E. T. Wiltsch. Translated from the German by John Leitch, Esq. With a Preface by the Reverend Frederick Denison Maurice, M.A. Vol. I. Published by Bosworth and Harrison. Maurice, feeling the want of some such Manual as a class-book, suggested to Mr. Leitch, favourably known by his translation of 0. Miiller's Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, an English version of it. This version, which appears satisfactorily executed, with an admirable index, marginal notes, and a modest commendatory preface by Mr. Maurice, was completed in the spring. Our remarks must be understood as applying to the first volume, as being the only one we have seen. In the author's view ecclesiastical geography and statistics em- brace generally all the remarkable localities in Church history, but more particularly only the ecclesiastical foundations, in- cluding the seats of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, the principal convents and educational institutions, schools and academies, as well as the places that have acquired significance from the councils held in them. " All places which have figured in Church history are destined for the atlas ; those only that be- long to the Statistics will be noticed in the manual." The main objects to be attained by this study are-1. " To give a clear view of the diffusion of Christianity in relation to other religions, the Jewish, Pagan, and Mahometan. 2. To afford a survey of the re- eiproeal relations of the larger divisions of the Christian Church, with its patriarchates and ecclesiastical provinces, and of the diocesan constitution, wherever independent of a great ecclesiastical head,' including a view of the spread of various Christian sects ; 3. To notice all important places in their degree of hierarchical consideration, as seats of church dignitaries, in- stitutions for theological education, or as celebrated for monasteries, councils, &e. ; 4. To state in chronological sequence the rise and disappearance in each country of different Christian institutions ; 5. To indicate the chief sources of this statistical and geogra- phical information ; as papal letters, old chronicles and mono- graphics, acts of council and their signatures." These objects our author appears to have faithfully kept in view. The citations
are given with great apparent precision ; the notes are succinct though copious and informing ; serving sometimes to denote or.
recall significant distinctions, as that of the triple India or triple. Ethiopia of the ancients. The concurrence of the periods of ecclesiastical history with those of ecclesiastical geography and statistics has induced our author to arrange his materials not only in a chronological but epochal order. The question what events so greatly affected the local relations as to determine the boundaries of these periods, he solves, in result, by the adoption of a five-fold distribution. The first period comprises the propaga- tion of Judaism and Christianity in the Roman and Persian empires, amidst oppression and persecution : from B.C. 33 to A.D. 311. The second period is characterized by the enthronement of the Christian religion as a state religion in the Roman empire. It is that of the great Patriarchates ; of the spread of the Nes- torians and Jacobites in Egypt and the Persian empire ; and of the Armenians. It extends from Constantine the Great till Mahomet : from 311 to 622. The third period includes the dif- fusion of Christianity throughout Europe, as far as to the still heathen Southern and Eastern shores of the Baltic Sea ; its ad- vance in the East and partly in the West, checked by the Mahometans. It lasted from 622 to 1073. The fourth period saw the extension of the diocese of the Pope over the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem ; the foundation, during the Crusades, of new Christian kingdoms in the East; and the rise of Latin churches there. In this period Paganism had re- treated to the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and to the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. It was the period which witnessed the cul- mination of the Romish Church ; which saw the Mahometans in possession of Africa and Asia, and in Europe of the south of Spain and the Balearic Isles. It began 1073 and ended 1216. The fifth and last period was marked by the loss of the Christian kingdoms in the East, by the decrease in Asia of the institutions of all Christian denominations, orthodox as well as schismatic, with the exception of those of the Romish Church and of the Arme- nians and Maronites, by the expulsion of the Mahometans from the West of Europe, their acquisition of Greece, Thrace, Servia, and their subversion of the Roman empire in the East. It witnessed the restriction of Heathenism to the north of the Gulf of Both- nia : commencing 1216, it terminated 1517. Such is a sketch of the ground-plan of this Ecclesiastical Geography. Much of the detail in the structure is interesting only to the student or occasional in- quirer. But many facts are concisely brought together which have a more general value, or strike as with the force of novelty, though they may once have been vivid in the memory. For in- stance, historians and geographers have remarked that Jerusalem is the mid-point of the world known to the ancients. Thus favourably situated it became almost necessarily a centre of dis- tribution for the spread of monotheistic belief ; or, as our author expresses it, " Palestine was the country and Jerusalem in particu- lar the city from whence God's revelation of the Old and New Testament was spread abroad as from the centre of a circle into all lands, east and west, north and south." The first Jewish dis7 persion on record is that of the Galiheans deported into Assyria. The Jews of the Babylonish Captivity were not only permitted the free exercise of their religion, but were held in high honour. Such indeed were the favours and privileges that they received, that when Cyrus permitted them to return to their native country, the majority voluntarily preferred to remain in a foreign land. They who shared in the touching patriotism of the minstrel that wept by the waters of Babylon, while his neglected harp hung murmuring in the willows, were only 42,360 freemen, 7337 ser- vants and maids, and 200 singers—a small minority indeed. From that period the Jews began to disperse, as policy dictated or inclination inspired. " According to Philo's assertion, Babylon,
with the contiguous provinces beyond the Euphrates, was at that time already inhabited only by Jews. Josephus estimates them at many myriads." At an early period they penetrated as far as China ; planted themselves in the islands of the Mediterranean;
then proceeded into Greece, Italy, and Spain. In the year 63 Et.C. the first Jews, among whom were Aristobulus H. and his
children, " came to Rome in a triumphal procession. CEesar re-
lieved them from captivity and granted them important privileges, and even permission to build a synagogue." In 19 A.D. Tiberius sent 4000 emancipated Jews to Sardinia. In 6 A.D. Herodes Archelaus was banished to Vienna, and in 39 A.D. Herodes Anti- pas to Lyons.
The growth of the Romish primacy is well described and illus- trated in this volume. " From the very beginning it is observed, a higher rank was accorded to the Bishop of Rome than to any other bishop." At the Council of Sardinia, 349, it was resolved that a deposed bishop could not be reinstated without the consent of the Romish bishop, and that if such bishop appealed to the Romish bishop his cause should be renewed. At the Council of Constan- tinople, 381, the primacy in point of honour was publicly con- firmed to him by a synodal decree. At the Council of Chalcedon this confirmation was repeated. At the beginning of the seventh century the Roman diocese extended over the entire west, the north-west of Africa, Spain, Gaul, Illyricum, and part of Britain. In all these countries metropolitans had received the pallium from Roman bishops. The pallium was not only the symbol of dependence on Rome, but it seems to have become the condition of the archiepiscopal dignity. This vestment, so fruitful of imperial and papal opposition, was a fabric of white wool, of a oircular form, worn over the shoulders. It had four stripes adorned with four purple crosses, hanging down one over the heart, one on the back, and two on the shoulders. It was fastened with three gold pins, each containing a precious stone. In Gaul va- rious bishops received it from Pope Zacharias, 741. In Britain, a metropolitan at Canterbury accepted it from John VII. about the middle of the tenth century. England was early renowned for its conversion to Christianity. Gregory the Great is said have made all its bishops subordinate to St. Augustin, Archbishop of Canterbury; but in the eighth century the archiepiscopal dignity was transferred to the Bishop of Litchfield. It was, however, restored to the Bishop of Dorobernia (Canterbury), after no very long interval, who also obtained the primacy of all Britain in addition. England was celebrated for its monasteries and schools. " The school of York seems to have maintained the highest renown for scientific energy in the time of Albert." Glastonbury, the favourite resort of Dunstan, " whither he often retired from the world into solitude, became the nursery of the most learned, pious, and devout men in England and Ireland." In the time of Charlemagne a new epoch arose for the educational system in the west. That monarch instituted four classes of schools : 1. The domestic ; 2. The parochial ; 3. The monastic ; and 4. The cathedral. In the monastic school were taught the principles of Christianity ; the so-called trivium or grammar, rhetoric and logic, and the quadrivium or arithmetic, geometry, music), and astronomy. In the cathedral school the .future teachers of the Church were educated. The two remaining schools sufficiently express their purpose by their names. Evi- dently the schoolmaster was abroad in those days. The first volume of Leitch's translation of this Manual of Geo- graphy closes with an account of the third historical period. The work itself appears to us not only a valuable but unique work, supplying as no other English book does an actual want of the student of church history. We detect no heresy or neologism in its pages. Indeed, we would express the opinion, accommodating the words of Professor Maurice, that those who are most suspi- cious of German commentaries on the principles of Church history may, in this instance, safely avail themselves of German industry in collecting information about its external details.
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