f his
illustrious patron.

Eusebius may have been an accomplished courtier, but certainly he is not
entitled to the praise of a great historian. The publication by which he
is best known would never have acquired such celebrity, had it not been
the most ancient treatise of the kind in existence. Though it mentions
many of the ecclesiastical transactions of the second and third
centuries, and supplies a large amount of information which would have
otherwise been lost, it must be admitted to be a very ill-arranged and
unsatisfactory performance. Its author does not occupy a high position
either as a philosophic thinker, a judicious observer, or a sound
theologian. He makes no attempt to point out the germs of error, to
illustrate the rise and progress of ecclesiastical changes, or to
investigate the circumstances which led to the formation of the
hierarchy. Even the announcement of his Preface, that his purpose is "to
record the successions of the holy apostles," or, in other words, to
exhibit some episcopal genealogies, proclaims how much he was mistaken
as to the topics which should have been noticed most prominently in his
narrative. It is somewhat doubtful whether his history was expressly
written, either for the illumination of his own age, or for the
instruction of posterity; and its appearance, shortly after the public
recognition of Christianity by the State, [523:1] is fitted to generate
a suspicion that it was intended to influence the mind of Constantine,
and to recommend the episcopal order to the consideration of the great
proselyte.

About six or seven years after the publication of this treatise a child
was born who was destined to attain higher distinction, both as a
scholar and a writer, than the polished Eusebius. This was
Jerome--afterwards a presbyter of Rome, and a father whose productions
challenge the foremost rank among the memorials of patristic erudition.
Towards the close of the fourth century he shone the brightest literary
star in the Church, and even the proud Pope Damasus condescended to
cultivate his favour. At one time he contemplated the composition of a
Church history, [523:2] and we have reason to regret that the design was
never executed, as his works demonstrate that he was in possession of
much rare and important information for which we search in vain in the
pages of the bishop of Caesarea.

No ancient writer has thrown more light on the history of the hierarchy
than Jerome. His