A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

PART I.

The Reason of the Title. An Account of those Authors that have written upon the same Subject. A general View of the Design of this Work.

THE Name of Bibliotheca, or Library, is not only given to those Places that contain great Numbers of Books; but also to Collections that have been made by several Authors, and to those Books that treat of their Works. Thus Collections of the Works of several Fathers, are called Bibliothecae Patrum: A General History drawn out of vast Numbers of Historians, such as Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca Historica: A Book that treats of the Sacred Volumes of Scripture, such as Sixtus Senensis's Bibliotheca Sancta; or rather, Bibliocheca Sacrorum Codicum: A Treatise upon those Authors who have written concerning Matters of Religion, as this of ours is, Bibliotheca Authorum Ecclesiasticorum: And, in short, any Book that speaks indifferently of all sorts of Authors, and Writings, composed upon different Occasions, may be called a Bibliotheca.

This is not the first time that such sort of Libraries have been made: Apollodorus, an Athenian, a most learned Grammarian, that lived under the Reign of Ptolomaeus Euergetes, Two Hundred and Forty Years, or thereabouts, before the Nativity of Jesus Christ, com∣posed a Bibliotheca of the Original of the Gods; that is to say, of the most ancient History, as it lies disguised under Fictions and Fables. In imitation of him, Diodorus Siculus, that lived in Augustus's Time, composed a Bibliotheca of General History; which was taken out of an infinite Number of Authors. To these, we must join those Authors that have written the Lives of Illustrious Persons; such as Hermippus, Antigonus, Satyrus, Heraclides, Aristoxe∣nus, and Diogenes Laertius, amongst the Greeks; and amongst the Latins, Varro, Tully, Ne∣pos, Santra, Hyginus, and Suetonius; who have composed the Lives of the Philosophers, and other Authors.

To descend now to those Christians that have made Catalogues of their own Authors: Are not Clemens Alexandrinus's Stromata a Bibliotheca of the Opinions and Judgments of an incredible Number of Writers? May not the History of Eusebius be called a Library of Ec∣clesiastical Authors? since his whole Book is little else but an Account of their Lives, a Ca∣talogue of their Works, and a Collection of several memorable Passages. But St. Jerom is the first of the Christians, that has expresly treated of Ecclesiastical Authors; which Book was translated into Greek by Sophronius. Gennadius of Marseilles, Isidore of Sevil, Ildefon∣sus of Toledo, continued it down to their own Times. Honorius Bishop of Autun made a small Abridgment of these four Authors. Sigebert of Gemblours, and Henry of Ghent, con∣tinued their Books down to St. Bernard's Time. And Lastly, Auberius Miraeus, who pub∣lished these Authors under the Title of Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, continued the History of these Ecclesiastical Writers down to our Times. Trithemius, who lived about Two Hun∣dred Years ago, made a distinct Book upon the same Subject. We ought not to forget the Roman Council, held under Pope Gelasius the First, in the Year 494, in which there is a

Catalogue of the Sacred Books, and of Catholick and Apocryphal or Heretical Authors. Amongst the Greeks, the learned Photius composed an excellent Bibliotheca, in which he gives a short Summary of the Books that were read; and passes his own Judgment upon near Three Hundred Volumes of different Authors, that not only treat of Religion, but also of History, Rhetorick, Philosophy, Grammar, Physick, Medicine, and other profane Sciences. But never was more Industry and Labour bestowed upon all sorts of Books, and especially Ecclesiastical, than has been in these last Ages, wherein we have revived (if I may use the Expression) all manner of Learning and Knowledge, and carried Criticism to a Perfection and Heighth that it never arrived to before. The Roman Catholicks and Pro∣testants have seemed to rival each other in composing of these Bibliotheca's. Erasmus, who caused some of the Fathers to be printed, writ several Prefaces and Annotations upon their Works, that contain abundance of judicious Reflections; and though he is sometimes over∣hasty in rejecting some particular Books, yet however we must own that he opened the Way for those that followed him. Since him, most of those Persons that have obliged the World in publishing these Authors, have written their Lives, and made some Critical Ob∣servations upon their Works. But to confine my self at present, only to those that have writ∣ten upon Ecclesiastical Authors, Sixtus Senensis, in his Bibliotheca Sacra, has not only treated of the Authors of the several Books of the Bible, but likewise of their Commentators too: And since there is scarce any Ecclesiastical Author to be found, who has not writ something or other about the Scripture, he was obliged to speak of most of the Fathers, and a great Number of other Ecclesiastical Writers. Cardinal Baronius also, whose principal Design was, to collect together every thing that had a relation to the History of the Church, in his Annals, has written the Lives of the greater part of the Ecclesiastical Writers, and mentioned their Books. Bellarmine writ a distinct Treatise of Ecclesiastical Authors, which reaches down to the Year 1500. wherein, after he had briefly taken notice of their Pro∣fession, and the Time when they lived, he makes a Catalogue of their Works, with some Criticisms upon them. This little Book is very valuable for the great Variety of Things contained in it, but yet it is very imperfect, and his Critical Remarks upon the Works of these Authors are not always exact. Possevin, in his great Apparatus, that is disposed in an Alphabetical Order, has supplied part of those things that are wanting in Bellarmine's Book. An Italian Master of the Sacred Palace, has made some useful Reflections and Notes upon several Books. Halloixius treats very largely of Ecclesiastical Authors, but speaks very lit∣tle of the Writers of the first Ages. After him, Father Labbé, a Jesuit, composed a Book of Ecclesiastical Writers, as a Supplement to Bellarmine, but it is very imperfect; and he himself tells us, that it was only an Extract out of a great Universal Library, that he had been preparing a long time: But whether he never liv'd to finish it, or for whatever other Reason it was, it has not as yet seen the Light. I shall say nothing of those that have made Critical Animadversions upon these Authors since his Time, because they have only copied from other Criticks that wrote before them, without adding any thing remarkable of their own. I shall likewise pass them over that have criticised upon some particular Books; as, Sirmondus, Launoy, and Morinus, upon the Books attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopa∣gite; because it will be time enough to take notice of them, when I shall treat of the Books upon which they have criticised.

But we ought by no means to omit those Books which the Protestants have written upon these Ecclesiastical Authors, because, though they are full of Errours, Falshoods and Inve∣ctives, and sometimes treat the Fathers with little Respect; and have besides, upon false Con∣jectures rejected several Books which they disliked, as not being agreeable to their own Opinions, and discovering their own Errours; though, I say, it must be owned, that al∣most all the Treatises written by them upon this Subject, abound with such Faults as ought to be abhorred by all Catholicks; yet we must do them the Justice to confess, that for what has a Relation to the Critical Part, they have sometimes seen more clearly than the Catholicks themselves, and have discovered some Things that we are obliged to acknow∣ledge and approve. The Centuriators were the first amongst the Protestants that seriously attempted to write the Lives of Ecclesiastical Authors, and to make Critical Remarks upon them; and it must be owned, that their Books are very useful even to the Catho∣licks themselves. Conrardus Gesner's Bibliotheca, Abridged by Josias Simlerus and Frisius, and augmented by some others, is no ill Dictionary of these Authors. Perkins and Cook have published an accurate Examen of Spurious Books; but they have done it rather upon the Faith of other People, than by their own proper Light. Scultetus's Work upon the Fathers of the Four first Ages of the Church, is more considerable, not only for several

Points of History and Criticism, that are there very succinctly set down; but also for the Analysis, or Abridgment of their Writings, which he has performed with great Exactness, but in a Scholastick Way, and consequently tedious. Vossius's Treatises upon the Greek and Latin Historians, Poets and Philosophers, amongst whom he has placed several Ecclesiasti∣cal Writers, are excellent Things in their kind, and shew a great deal of Learning. River has taken the greatest pains, is the most exact, and has performed the part of a Critick best upon Spurious Works; but then his Book is not exempt from those Faults that are common to Protestants, as we have observed above. I shall not mention those that have spoken of the Ecclesiastical Authors by the bye; as, Tossanus, Hottinger, Aubertin, Maresius, Sandius, and many others: As also those that have composed particular Treatises upon some Books; as, Blondel upon the false Decretals of the Popes, and the Books of the Si∣byls; Daillé upon the Canons and Constitutions of the Apostles, and upon the Epistles of St. Ignatius; Pearson, and some other English-Men, upon the same Letters; Vossius upon the Creeds; Beveridge upon the Apostolick Canons; Alix upon Tertullian; and several others.

There is not one of all these Books which we have mentioned, that comprehends all that might be said upon these Ecclesiastical Authors. Some of them contain nothing, in a manner, but their Names, and a Catalogue of their Works: Others only give a short Ac∣count of their Lives, and handle what relates to the Critical Part very succinctly. The greatest part of them wholly employ themselves in Examining the Spurious and Suppositi∣tious Books. Photius is the only Man amongst the Ancients, that has made an Abridgment, and passed his own Censure upon the Books he mentions; but then the Ecclesiastical Authors he treats of are few in Number; and besides, he passes over some of them very superficially, and slightly. Scultetus is the only Modern Writer, who has given the World an Epitome of the Doctrine of the Fathers; but then he speaks little or nothing of their Lives, and has made no Critical Reflections upon their Works: The perplexed manner wherein he treats of these Matters, renders him disagreeable to the Reader: And besides, he only concerns himself with the principal Authors of the Four first Centuries. Halloixius has wrote upon fewer of these Authors; and his Work, which is of a prodigious Bulk, is by no means exact, and he is full of false and useless things. Having thus observed the Mis∣takes or Failures of all these Works, I undertook to make a Bibliotheca of Ecclesiastical Authors, more ample and perfect than those that have hitherto appeared in the World; and that I might the better succeed in my Design, I endeavoured to render it as like as was possible to what we commonly call a Bibliotheque, or Library. Thus, as we ordinarily range the Books in those places, according to the Order of their Matter and Time, I have likewise in this Work disposed the Ecclesiastical Authors according to the Order of Time; and it will be an easie matter to reduce them into a Method, according to their Subjects, by the Assistance of a Table at the End of every Volume. When we enter into any Libra∣ry, the first thing we generally take notice of, are the Titles of the Books; and in this Li∣brary also, at the first opening of the Leaves, the Reader may see the Names of the Au∣thors, and a Catalogue of their Works. But since it is not enough barely to consider the Titles of Books, so that we must of necessity read them over if we would be learned, I have not contented my self with making a Catalogue of their Treatises only, but I have drawn up an Abridgment or Summary of what is contained in them, observing at the same time what particular Opinions are to be found in their Writings. If in other Libraries, you often see the Pictures of Great Men and Famous Authors, either Painted upon Cloth, or Engraven upon Copper; here also you will see their Pictures drawn after a more Lively and more Natural manner; not only in the History of their Lives, but also in the Judg∣ment that we have given of their Stile, their Spirit, and their Genius. Lastly, As in great Libraries Men are not content with having only one Edition of an Author, but en∣deavour if they can to procure all, or at least a great part of them; so in this, I have taken notice of all the different Editions of Authors, that came to my knowledge, and I have endeavoured to omit as few, as was possible. However this Library of mine, will contain more Volumes upon Ecclesiastical Matters, than any other Collection of Books can pretend to show; because, it not only comprehends those that we now have; but likewise gives an account of those that are lost; the Number, whereof is exceeding great; and then it may boast of another advantage wholly peculiar to it; and that is, It helps to distinguish those Books that are forged, from those that truly belong to the Authors, whose Names they bear, which are confounded and mingled together in common Libraries. This is the design of my Undertaking, a small but very considerable part whereof I now present

to the Publick, which only concerns the Three first Ages of the Church; with a Reso∣lution to publish a Continuation of the other Ages (a good Part of which is already done) and so to bring it down to our own Times, if God gives me Abilities and Strength enough to finish so long a Work, and if the Reception it meets withal in the World satisfies me, that my Endeavours may be of some advantage to the Publick. I am not so vain as to flatter my self with having performed so great a Design, as perfectly as it ought to be, whatever Diligence, Pains or Exactness I have used in the Performance: But this at least, I may venture to assert, That of all the Books that have been written upon Ecclesiastical Authors, there is none that comprehends so many things. If I have failed in my under∣taking, I have this to comfort my self, that I have drawn such an Idea of a Work as may employ the Learned a considerable time for the Publick Benefit; and if they will be pleased hereafter to acquaint me with the Faults which I may have possibly committed, or inform me of those things which I have let slip, and communicate to me part of their Observa∣tions, as well upon the Authors that are in this Volume, as upon those that I shall examine in the next; I hope this Work will be able to acquire some sort of Perfection, according to my hearty VVishes, for the common Benefit of Mankind, the Advancement of Learning, and the Advantage of Religion it self.