He traces the golden thread of Christian life through the darkest
centuries. He does much to save the church of God from reproach, and God's
own gracious promise from contempt, by showing how much there has been of
Christian grace and truth under the worst forms and in the worst ages. He
has thus made his History what he said it should be, "a speaking proof of
the Divine power of Christianity, a school of Christian experience, and a
voice of edification and warning sounding through all ages for all who are
willing to believe." Of the original sources of history, particularly for
the earlier centuries, his knowledge was profound, and his use of them
masterly. How thorough and how fair he is, can be fully appreciated only
by those who explore for themselves the fountains from which he drew his
materials. His chief defect is in the matter of form. He had but little
dramatic power. He gives us the inward life, but not the outward stir and
shock of history. Nor is he remarkable for analytical sharpness in his
delineation of the growth of Christian doctrine. It is in the sphere of
experience and life that he succeeds the best. His own doctrinal views
were not, at all points, quite up to our English and American standards of
orthodoxy.
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