6o BACON 



CHAPTER XI 



Ecclesiastical History divided into the General History of the Church, 

 History of Prophecy, and History of Providence 



Ecclesiastical history in general has nearly the same divisions 

 with civil history : thus there are ecclesiastical chronicles, lives 

 of the fathers, accounts of synods, and other ecclesiastical mat- 

 ters; but in propriety it may be further divided i. Into the 

 general history of the Church ; 2. The history of prophecy ; and 

 3. The history of providence. The first describes the times of 

 the Church militant, whether fluctuating, as the ark of Noah ; 

 movable, as the ark in the wilderness ; or at rest, as the ark in 

 the temple ; that is, in the states of persecution, migration, and 

 peace. And in this part there is a redundancy rather than a 

 deficiency, but it were to be wished the goodness and sincerity 

 of it were equal to the bulk. 



The second part, viz., the history of prophecy, consists of two 

 relatives the prophecy and the accomplishment ; whence the 

 nature of it requires, that every Scripture prophecy be com- 

 pared with the event, through all the ages of the world, for the 

 better confirmation of the faith and the better information of 

 the Church with regard to the interpretation of prophecies not 

 yet fulfilled. But here we must allow that latitude which is 

 peculiar and familiar to divine prophecies, which have their 

 completion not only at stated times, but in succession, as par- 

 ticipating of the nature of their author, " with whom a thousand 

 years are but as one day," and therefore are not fulfilled punc- 

 tually at once, but have a growing accomplishment through 

 many ages, though the height or fulness of them may refer to a 

 single age or moment. And this is a work which I find defi- 

 cient ; but it should either be undertaken with wisdom, sobriety, 

 and reverence, or not at all. 



The third part the history of providence, has been touched 

 by some pious pens, but not without a mixture of party. This 

 history is employed in observing that Divine agreement which 

 there sometimes is betwixt the revealed and secret will of God. 

 For although the counsels and judgments of God are so secret 

 as to be absolutely unsearchable to man,& yet the Divine good- 

 ness has sometimes thought fit, for the confirmation of his own 

 people, and the confutation of those who are as without God in 



