First Volume of this Work. N. B. The dates denote the year in which the person died, or resigned the office. Roman Emperors. Bishops of Rome.* CENTURY I. Linus Anaclitus Tiberius 37 Clement Evaristus Alexander Chronologists differ about the dates of their deaths. CENTURY 11. A. D. 70 Xystus or Sixtus 81 Hyginus 127 138 150 Domitian 96 Pius I.... 153 The succession of the Bishops of Rome is an extremely intricate affair. But the following catalogue, which is according to the learned Bishop Pearson, will, perhaps, be sufficiently accurate to serve the purpose of assisting the readers of this history. INTRODUCTION. THE rise and progress of the Christian religion,-its influence on every state and kingdom by which it has been embraced, and the amelioration of the condition of the human race, through its means, by the conversion of rude barbarians to a degree of improvement unknown to classic ages, all concur to render an impartial account of it almost as interesting to the philosopher and the politician as it is to the sincere disciple of the Saviour. The History now offered to the public, has, however, been compiled with a more direct and special view to the information of the latter class of readers than of either of the former; and it may not be without its use, before we enter immediately on the subject itself, to pause, and take a cursory view of the actual state of the world in the age in which the Gospel dispensation had its commencement. Christianity claims an heavenly origin, and professes to have conferred, and indeed still to confer, blessings on mankind to which no other religion has any pretensions. What, from age to age, it is doing for ourselves, few of us need to be told; but without reverting to the condition of our species at the time of its first promulgation, and distinctly marking its progress in the subversion of the idolatrous rites and absurd superstitions of Paganism, we can never appreciate, as we ought to do, the extent of those benefits which have resulted from the introduction and establishment of this VOL. I. d |