(John Laurence), an illustrious German divine, was born in 1695, of a noble family, which might seem to open to his ambition a fair path to civil promotion; but his zeal for the interests of religion, religion, his thirst after knowledge, and particularly his taste for sacred literature, induced him to consecrate his talents to the service of the church. The German universities loaded him with literary honours; the king of Denmark invited him to settle at Copenhagen; the duke of Brunswick called him thence to Helmstadt, where he filled the academical chair of divinity; was honoured with the character of ecclesiastical counsellor to the court; and presided over the seminaries of learning in the duchy of Wolfenbuttle and the principality of Blackenburgh. When a design was formed of giving an uncommon degree of lustre to the university of Gottingen, by filling it with men of the first rank in letters, Dr Mosheim was deemed worthy to appear at the head of it, in quality of chancellor; and here he died, universally lamented, in 1755. In depth of judgment, in extent of learning, in purity of taste, in the powers of eloquence, and in a laborious application to all the various branches of erudition and philosophy, he had certainly very few superiors. His Latin translation of Cudworth's Intellectual System, enriched with large annotations, discovered a profound acquaintance with ancient learning and philosophy. His illustrations of the Scriptures, his labours in defence of Christianity, and the light he cast upon religion and philosophy, appear in many volumes of sacred and profane literature; and his Ecclesiastical History, from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the present century, is unquestionably the best that is extant. This work, written in Latin, has been translated into English, and accompanied with notes and chronological tables by Archibald Macalpine, D.D. and from this translator's preface to the second edition, 1758, in 5 vols 8vo, this short account is taken.