AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Ancient and Modern, FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; IN WHICH THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND VARIATIONS OF CHURCH POWER In their connexion with the State of Learning and Philosophy, AND The Political History of Europe During that Period, BY THE LATE LEARNED JOHN LAWRENCE MOSHEIM, D. D. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, AND ACCOMPANIED TO WHICH IS ADDED, AN ACCURATE INDEX. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. V. London: PRINTED BY J. HADDON, 12, Tabernacle Walk; FOR W. BAYNES, 54, PATERNOSTER ROW; Sold also by J. Parker, J. Cooke, and M. Bliss, Oxford; and J. Deighton, Cambridge. 1810. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. SECTION I. THE GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XVII. SECT. I. Propagan founded at 1. THE HE arduous attempts made by the pontiffs, CENT. in the preceding century, to advance the glory and majesty of the see of Rome, by ex-in tending the limits of the Christian church, and The Col spreading the gospel through the distant nations, lege de met with much opposition; and as they were da fide, neither well conducted nor properly supported, Rome. their fruits were neither abundant nor permanent. But in this century the same attempts were renewed with vigour, crowned with success, and contributed not a little to give a new degree of stability to the tottering grandeur of the рарасу. They were begun by Gregory XV. who, by the advice of his confessor Narni, founded at Rome, in the year 1622, the famous Congregation for the propagation of the faith, and enriched it with ample revenues. This congregation, which consists of thirteen cardinals, two priests, one monk, and a secretary [a], is designed to propa gate [a] Such is the number of members belonging to this Congregation as they stand in the original Bull of Gregory XV. See Bullarium Roman. tom. iii. p. 472. edit Luxemburg.Cerri mentions the same number, in his Etât Present de l'Eglise Romaine, p. 259. But a different account is given by VOL. V. Aymon. B |