ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY,

IN

A COURSE OF LECTURES,

DELIVERED AT

FOUNDERS' HALL, LOTHBURY, LONDON.

BY

WILLIAM JONES, M. A.

Author of "Lectures on the Apocalypse," &c.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

HOLDSWORTH AND BALL, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; WAUGH AND INNES, EDINBURGH; M.ogle, glasgOW; AND

R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN.

1831.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE subject of Ecclesiastical History, which has never been devoid of interest to the friends of Divine Truth, has lately acquired an unusual degree of importance from the extraordinary occurrences that are transpiring on the theatre of Europe. In these occurrences may be found the accomplishment of prophecies that were delivered and committed to writing seventeen or eighteen hundred years ago, and some a much longer period. The sceptic may turn this assertion to ridicule, and even statesmen and philosophers, who are too much absorbed in their speculations to regard "the work of the Lord, or consider the operation of his hands," may be perplexed and confounded by passing events; yet to the humble Christian, who is attentive to the signs of the times, and whose daily prayer is, "Thy kingdom come," no subject can be more consolatory and cheering. The fact is, that the period allotted for the reign of Antichrist, in the mysterious plans of Providence, and not obscurely pointed out in the sacred records, is now rapidly approaching its consummation, and the present convulsion of the nations is the harbinger of the triumphs of the kingdom of Christ over every opposing power, and of the accomplishment of the grand things that are recorded concerning it.

To draw the attention of men to this all-important subject was the author's motive in commencing this Course of Lectures, and with the same object in view