|366 more strongly into relief by the turbulence and intemperance of his contemporaries and can therefore sympathise with the feelings which made him pen the introduction to this sixth book in the following terms: Whatever of these there were in the sixth century, we find at all events but faint indications of them in the pages of John's history, except in his own character and though that is disfigured by much of the fanaticism of his time, so that he considers it a Christian duty to persecute heretics and heathens, yet in most respects we can fully feel with him, and admire the moderation of his character, brought out the But beneath there lies the golden thread, unseen too often, yet really there, of the grace which spiritualizes and ennobles man's earthly being and though the general effect of reading ecclesiastical history in most ages of the church's existence is quite as much wonder at the all but total absence of the gentler Christian virtues, as admiration at the zeal which has never seemed to flag: yet one cannot but feel certain that there always have been in the church Christians in deed and in truth, on whose lives the doctrines which they professed had a better influence than merely to serve them as a battle field for contention and dispute.

And so with the history of the church: as a general rule, it is but a history of schism and heresy, of persecution and violence, and of the attempts now of this party and now of that to tyrannize over the consciences of others. For virtue is, for the most part, uneventful, and holds on its calm and peaceful course unseen, except where the wickedness of others seeks to oppress and overwhelm it. |365 surface the bad and turbulent play a more important part than the virtuous and good. Not but that, possibly, there still remained some sparks of true faith for it is the nature of history to record rather the external form than the inner life of the world's progress and on its

It was indeed close, but in a very different way from what he expected: for already the young MahometДЎ, repelled in his first inquiries by the idolatrous aspect which Christianity outwardly bore, was rising to be the instrument of God's just anger against the eastern church For the picture which John has drawn for us, especially in the fourth book, of the narrowness and bigotry, the fierce strifes, the want of self-restraint, the injustice and cruelty and utter absence of Christian charity, which characterized all parties in his days alike, makes us feel that the times were ripe for punishment. IN the sixth and concluding book of John's history, he gives us a brief and affecting narrative of the wars by which the Roman empire was encompassed in his days and as has constantly been the case in all troubled times, the good old man drew his strength and consolation from the belief that his Saviour's coming was close at hand. John of Ephesus, Ecclesiastical History, Part 3 - Book 6

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