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THE REFORMATION AND ITS RESULTS TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA.

PUBLIC

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1862.


THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
474906

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS,
1909

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

:

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

ONLY three sections of the present volume of Gieseler's Church History have ever before been published in an English translation. These were contained in the Fifth Volume of the Edinburgh edition, and are here given in a revised version, extending to page 122 of this volume. The history of the Reformation, in its general as well as in its religious bearings, was one of the favorite objects of Dr. Gieseler's indefatigable researches. In no part of his great work is he more thorough; in none is the value of his labors more generally recognized. Dr. Redepenning, the editor of the later volumes, says "that the crown of his labors in church history is found in his exposition of the doctrinal development in the period of the Reformation to the Peace of Westphalia." Certainly in no part of his work does he add more to the desiderata of our English literature. Neander's history does not reach to the Reformation; our popular histories of the Reformation do not introduce us to the sources. Though the account of the English and Scotch Reformation is comparatively meagre, yet this can easily be supplied from other accessible works.

The present volume contains the whole history of the Reformation to the Peace of Westphalia. The history of the Roman Catholic Church during the same period will be given in the Fifth Volume, which will also comprise the history of the whole Church from 1648 to the present times, as published by Redepenning from Dr. Gieseler's notes.

Apart from its precise and condensed statement of facts and results, the chief value of this work to the student is perhaps to be

found in its accurate citations from the original authorities. To retain this characteristic even in the translation seemed to be indispensable. But as many of the notes are in German, and as the bulk of the volume would be too much enlarged by giving both the German and a translation, the plan has been adopted of inclosing in brackets a condensed statement of the main points, which may prove sufficient for the general reader.

As to the value of this history, the verdict is unanimous among all German, English, and American scholars, of every ecclesiastical denomination. It is an indispensable help and guide to all interested in such investigations. It is so thorough and exact, that it is itself an authority. It is so impartial, that even when we differ from its judgments it gives us the data by which we may fortify our dissent. And it fosters in every student the love of historic truth and the spirit of Christian charity.

UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,

New York, February 25, 1861.

H. B. S.

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