who says of it : " One of the most remarkable Morks of the present age, in which the author reviews, with cu- rious erudition and in a profoundly pliilosophical spirit, the various changes that have taken place in the I{o- man hierarchy ; and, while he fully exposes the mani- fold errors and corruptions of the system, he shows throughout that enlightened charity which is the most precious of Christian graces, as, unhappily, the rarest." Dean Jlilman also earned the gratitude of the Christian world by an edition of Gibbon's Ihvline and Fall if the Roman Empii-e, which presented the great historian with more ample illustration tlian lie had before re- ceived, and set at rest many exceptions taken by Gib- bon against Christianity. Tlie notes were further elu- cidated and verilicd by Dr. W. Smith, and Gibbon's works are now sought for only in this amended form. Other works ofMilman are a Life of Keals, aiu\ Ihhnw
itod
sermons, delivered as the Bampton Lecture, and enti- j Prophecy, a sermon, published in 18G5. He also tied The Character and Conduct of the Apostles consid- an illustrated review of Horacc,with a Life of the poet ered as the Evidence of Christianity (8vo), and in 1829, translations from the Agamemnon of ^tschylus, Bac- Viithout his name, 7'he JJistory of the Jews (Loud, and ----••-
N. Y. 3 vols. 18rao). This work was written in so lib- eral a spirit that orthodox ecclesiastics could hardly fail to be offended. Its weak point was a want of adequate learning, especially in the department of Biblical criti- cism. A new edition, greatly improved, and more crit- ical, yet still far from being very accurate, or built on solid foundations, prefaced by an interesting introduc- tion, was published in 18Go (Lond. and N. Y. 3 vols. 12mo). In this new form the work lias had a large cir- culation both among Jews and Gentiles. It is to this day the only worthy record of the " chosen people of God" in the English tongue. In 1840 he came again before the public as a historian ; tliis time with a /Jis- tory of Chi-istianity from the Birth (f Christ to the Ab- olition of Payanism in the Roman Empire (Lond. 3 vols. 8vo ; J^. Y., ilarjiers, 1 vol. 8vo). In this work he pro- fesses to view Christianity as a historian, in its moral, social, and political influences, referring to its doctrines no further than is necessary for explaining the general effect of the system. It is a far better effort than his previous work, and marks tlie advance of un accom- plished and liberal-minded student. His scholarly at- tainments received the acknowledgment of the Church by various appointments. In 1849, after having been honored successively with the rectory of St. IMargaret's, Westminster, and the canonship of Westminster, he was promoted to the deanery of St. I'aul's. This position he held until his death, "Sept. 24. 1808.
The works already mentioned will secure for dean Mil- man an honorable place in the literary history of Eng- land, but they are by no means his ablest productions. His greatest work, and one of the most valuable produc- tions in the English language, is his J/Ulory of Latin Christianity, inclndiny that ifthe Popes to the Pontificate of Mrholas V (Lond". and N. Y. 18.J4, 8 vols. 8vo) ; a con- tinuation of the author's History of Christianity, nw\ yet in itself a complete work. To give it that completeness, dean jMilman has gone over the history of Christianity in Borne during the lirst four centuries. It brings the his- tory down (o tlie close of the pontilieate of Nicholas V, that is, to 14')5. It is a work of great learning, liberal- ity, and chastened eloquence; it displays a broad grasp of human nature in its religious workings ; something of the philosopher, and still more of the poet, is seen in the strong and vivid spirit of symjiathy with which he deals with men of the most different o|iinions. The work has secured for its author a ])ositiou in the lirst rank of English historians. " No such work," says the Qu. Rev. of London, '• has appeared in English ccclesi-
chanals of Euripides, etc. He was a frequent contrib- utor to the [London] Quarterly Revieic. A collected edition of his "Poetical Works," including Fazio, a tragedy, which has frequently been on the stage, was published in 1840, and, besides the works above men- tioned and his smaller poems, contains the Nala and Damayanti, translated from the Sanscrit. Since his death Annals of St. Paid's Cathedral (1808), and Savonarola, Erasmus, and other Essays (1870), have been jmljli.shed.
Dean Milman was also an important contributor to English hymnology. Some of his productions are famil- iar to every English-speaking Christian ; in the Anf;lican Church he is a particular favorite, and as the author of " When our heads are bowed with woe," '• Bound ujion the accursed tree," " Bide on, ride on in majesty," and the more subjective composition, " Brother, thou art gone before us" (from the Martyr tfA ntiorh'). has established a household name, and has secured jiopular love. As he occupied for years the pulpit of one of the largest and most intluential of English churches, we a])pend the fol- lowing portrayal of dean jNIilman from the Saturday Rev. (Oct. 18G8): "He was no speaker; he had not the verj' least of platform tricks; with a superb scorn, he dis- dained the arts which win fame at jiublic meetings ; and in a certain sense he was not a good jireacher. He was too refined, too much habituated to limitations, ttio sen- sitive, and too careful, to be able to tiing out those broad statements which must be hazarded by the popular preacher. But in a certain sort of preaching he was tirst-rate. His eulogium on the duke of Wellington — we doubt whether it is published— struck us, as we were fortunate enough to hear it, as eijiial to the best of the French models of pulpit eloquence." See Vapereau, Diet, des Conlemporains, s. v. ; AUibone, Diet, of Brit, and A7ner. A iithors, s. v.; Enylish Cyclop, s. v.; xMen of the Times, s. v. , Hagenbach, Hist. Doctrines, ii, 423 sq. ; Schaff, Chri.<st in Sony, ]\ 20G-209 ; Lecky, J/ist. of Eu- ropean Morals from Avyustus to Charlemayne (Pref- ace) (18G9) ; Ed'inh. Rev. Jan. 1808 ; Jan. 18G4 : and Jan. 18G9; Lond. Qu. /iVr. April, 181G; July, l.si.S; May, 1820, and Ajiril, 18G9; Blarhrood's J/(/.v. :March and Julv, 1822, Dec. 18G8; Xorth Brit. Rev. Nov. 1854; March, 18G9 : Eraser's May. Oct. 1854 ; Christian Re- membrancer, 1854, Oct. ]i. 2GG ; Kitto, Journ.of Sac. Lit. 1854, Oct.; West minst. Rev. 1870, Oct. p. 219 ; Princeton Rev. 1842, p. 238 ; Pen Pictures of popular Enylish I'reack- ers (Lond. 18.V2), p. 17.')- 178.