VOL. II.

LONDON
SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.

MDCCCXXXV.

B. BENSLEY, PRINTER.

CONTENTS
OF VOL. II.
LECTURE X.
On the Christian point of view in the Philosophy of History.—Theorigin of Christianity, considered in reference tothe political world.—Decline of the Roman Empire.[1]
LECTURE XI.
Of the ancient Germans, and of the invasion of theNorthern tribes.—The march of Nature in the historicaldevelopment of Nations.—Further diffusion and internalconsolidation of Christianity.—Great corruption of theworld.—Rise of Mahometanism.[40]
LECTURE XII.
Sketch of Mahomet and his religion.—Establishment of theSaracenic Empire.—New organization of the EuropeanWest, and Restoration of the Christian Empire.[78]
LECTURE XIII.
On the formation and consolidation of the Christian Governmentin modern times.—On the principle which ledto the establishment of the old German Empire.[117]
LECTURE XIV.
On the struggles of the Guelfs and Ghibellines.—Spirit ofthe Ghibelline age.—Origin of romantic poetry and art.—Characterof the scholastic science and the old jurisprudence.—Anarchicalstate of Western Europe.[152]
LECTURE XV.
General observations on the Philosophy of History. Onthe corrupt state of society in the fifteenth century.—Originof Protestantism, and character of the timesof the Reformation.[194]
LECTURE XVI.
Further development and extension of protestantism, inthe period of the religious wars, and subsequentlythereto.—On the different results of those wars in theprincipal European countries.[228]
LECTURE XVII.
Parallel between the religious peace of Germany and thatof the other countries of Europe.—The political systemof the Balance of Power, and the principle of falseIlluminism prevalent in the eighteenth century.[268]
LECTURE XVIII.
On the general spirit of the age, and on the universalRegeneration of Society.[300]

PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.

LECTURE X.

On the Christian point of view in the Philosophy of History.—The origin of Christianity, considered in reference to the political world.—Decline of the Roman Empire.

A regular history of the life of our Saviour, recounted like any other historical occurrence, would in my opinion be out of place in a philosophy of history. The subject is either too vast for profane history, or in its first beginnings too obscure, whether we consider its internal importance, or in a mere historical point of view, its outward appearance. A thinking, and in his way well-thinking Roman, when he had obtained a more accurate knowledge of the life of our Saviour from the accounts of the Roman Procurator, or other Roman dignitaries in Palestine, might have expressed himself respecting the whole transaction in the following