History of Latin Christianity, Vol. 5 of 9 Vols.

HISTORY OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY, INCLUDING THAT OF THE POPES TO THE PONTIFICATE OF NICOLAS V, Vol. 5 of 9 Vols., by Henry Hart Milman, D. D. The Author of this scholarly History of Latin Christianity, i.e. Roman Catholic Church, has made every effort to present an impartial and objective view of this important aspect of European History. I will let the Author tell us what his objectives were in writing this History: "My aim has been to write a history, not a succession of dissertations on history; to give with as much life and reality as I have been able, the result, not the process, of inquiry. This, where almost every event, every character, every opinion has been the subject of long, intricate, too often hostile controversy, was a task of no slight difficulty. … In these volumes I trust that I have not fallen below my constant aim - calm and rigid impartiality; the fearless exposure of the bad, full appreciation of the good, both in the institutions and in the men who have passed before my view. I hope that I may aver without presumption that my sole object is truth - truth uttered in charity; and where truth has appeared to me unattainable from want of sufficient authorities, or from authorities balanced or contradictory, I have avoided the expression of any positive opinion. I am unwilling to claim the authority of history for that for which there is not historical evidence. I would further remind the reader that if the course of affairs during these ages should appear dark, at times almost to repulsiveness, still in the dreariest and most gloomy period of Christian history there was always an under-current of humble, Christian goodness flowing on, as the Saviour himself came, "without observation," the light of which we can discern but by faint and transitory glimpses." Such scholarly Histories as this one must not be lost to posterity, and there are those who would remove every book, every memory, of those parts of History that are unfavorable to their beliefs and prejudice. They would convince the world that goodness was the only product of their church or belief system, and we would be lead again and again into the same errors and horrors that factual History might prevent.
Emmett F. Fields