An ecclesiastical history, ancient and modern, from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the present century: In which the rise, progress, and variations of Church power are considered in their connexion with the state of learning and philosophy, and the political history of Europe during that period. by Mosheim, Johann Lorenz - 1797

Philadelphia: Pr. by Stephen C. Ustick, 1797. 6 vols. 8vo (22 cm, 8.625"). I: xxiii, [1 (blank)], [1] pp., pp. xviii–xxxi, [1 (blank)], 420 pp. II: [2] ff., 571, [1 (blank)] pp. III: [2] ff., 456 pp. IV: [2] ff., 510 pp., [1 (blank)] f. V: [2] ff., 496 pp. VI: [2] ff., 387, [1 (blank)], 8 pp., [10] ff.

Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1694–755) was a professor of theology at Göttingen and his Institutiones historiae ecclesiasticae "was marked by hitherto unprecedented objectivity and penetration, and he may be considered the first of modern ecclesiastical historians" (ODCC). First published in 1726, this work was originally composed in Latin; Archibald Maclaine made this first of two translations into English in 1764.
    Of this first, 1797 American edition, vols. II–VI were printed 1798–99. Printed with ample notes, it has a series of chronological tables at the end. An eight- page Vindication of the Quakers disputing Mosheim's view of that denomination is also appended at the end of vol. VI, just before the list of subscribers. These latter include such noted names as John Adams, then President of the United States, and John Jay, then governor of New York.
    
    Evans 32513 and 34154; ESTC W31794. On Mosheim, see: Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 944. Contemporary sheep, spine modestly gilt with nice gilt-lettered morocco labels and old-fashioned paper library shelf labels; leather scuffed of old and with joints open, sewing holding. Foxing, browning, and staining, variously, the latter obscuring letters in a few places without loss of sense; some endpapers partially detached. Bookplates on some pastedowns. Untattered and a good, useable set.