Excerpt from An Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern, From the Birth of Christ, to the Beginning of the Present Century, Vol. 1 of 4: In Which the Rise, Progress, and Variations of Church Power, Are Considered in Their Connexion With the State of Learning and Philosophy, and the Political History of Europe, During That Period; To Which Is Added, an Index When I entered upon this undertaking, I proposed rendering the additional notes more numerous and ample, than the reader will find them. I soon perceived that the prosecution of my original plan would render this work too voluminous, and this induced me to alter my purpose. The notes I have given are not, however, in considerable in number I wish I could say as much with respect to their merit and importance. I would only hope, that some of them will be looked upon as not altogether unnecessary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.