was, he showed a generous appreciation of
the real good which existed in the Church of Rome: a most unusual
liberality in theologians of the eighteenth century--High Church as well
as Low. He warned his readers most seasonably, that they 'should not be
prejudiced against the real Church, because she then [in the time of
Gregory I.] wore a Roman garb,' for 'superstition to a certain degree
may co-exist with the spirit of the Gospel.' And he certainly acted up
to the spirit of his warning. Of course, his chief heroes are those who
were more or less adverse to the claims of the Roman See, such as
Grossteste, Bradwardine, Wickliff, and Jerome of Prague. But he can
fully appreciate the merits of an Anselm, for instance, whose 'humble
and penitent spirit consoles the soul with a glance of Christian faith
in Christ;'[825] of Bernard, of whom he writes, 'There is not an
essential doctrine of the Gospel which he did not embrace with zeal,
defend by argument, and adorn by his life;'[826] of Bede, who 'alone
knew more of true religion, both doctrinal and practical, than numbers
of ecclesiastics put together at this day.' And he owns that 'our
ancestors were undoubtedly much indebted, under God, to the Roman
See.'[827]

The excellence of his plan, to which he faithfully adheres, might atone
for more faults than Milner is guilty of. We may well bear with a few
shortcomings in a Church history which, instead of perplexing the mind
with the interminable disputes of professing Christians, makes it its
main business to detect the spirit of Christ wherever it can be found.
It is a real refreshment, no less than a real strengthening of our
faith, to turn from Church histories which might be more correctly
termed histories of the abuses and perversions of Christianity, to one
which really is what it professes to be--a history of the good which
Christianity has done.

Joseph Milner died when his history had only reached the middle of the
thirteenth century; but his pen was taken up by a hand which was, at
least, equally competent to wield it. The fourth volume of the history,
carrying the work down to about the middle of the sixteenth century, was
compiled by his younger brother Isaac, of whom we may now say a few
words.

_Isaac Milner_ (1751-1820) was the one solitary instance of an avowed
and uncompromising adherent of the Evangelical school, in the last
century, attaining any high preferment in the Church. Indeed, his claims
could n