century. But it contains allusions and arguments which seem to imply that the destruction of the Temple had been a recent occurrence; and, for this and other reasons, some would assign it to about 80 A.D., and accept the tradition that it was the work of Barnabas.

The Shepherd of Hermas.-This is the name of a work which was held in high esteem both by the Eastern and Western Church for hundreds of years, from about the middle of the second century. It bears to be written by one Hermas, whom Origen, without any definite or sufficient reason, identifies with the Hermas of Rom. xvi. 14. It consists of three parts: (1) Visions seen by Hermas (in Rome and the neighbourhood); (2) Commandments, and (3) Similitudes which were delivered to Hermas by one who appeared to him in the guise of a shepherd, “the angel of repentance,”—the whole book being a call to repentance. Internal evidence has led some to assign it to the latter part of the first century; but if we are to accept a statement regarding it in the Muratorian Canon, it would appear not to have been composed till the middle of the second century.

Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, published an Exposition of Oracles of the Lord about 135 A.D. Only a few brief passages of the work have been preserved for us (by Irenæus and Eusebius), but Papias is frequently referred to by other writers. Eusebius characterises him as "a man of very mean capacity," though very learned; and both he and Irenæus refer to his peculiar views, of a materialistic nature, on the subject of the Millennium. The chief object of his work above-mentioned seems to have been to interpret the Gospels in the light of all the traditions he could collect from the Lord's disciples or those acquainted with them. According to Irenæus, Papias was a hearer of the Apostle John, a companion of Polycarp, and a man of the olden time; but Eusebius inferred (rightly or wrongly) from his language (which he quotes) that there were two persons of the name of John, and that it was not John the Apostle, but John the Elder, that Papias was acquainted with. The words of Papias are as follows:-" If I met anywhere with any one who had been a follower of the Elders, I used to enquire as to the discourses of the Elders-what was said by Andrew,

or by Peter, or by Philip, or by Thomas or James, or by John or Matthew, or any other of the Lord's disciples, and what Aristion and the Elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I did not think that I would get so much profit from the contents of books as from the utterances of a living and abiding voice." There is room for difference of opinion as to the correctness of this inference by Eusebius. 66 Teaching of the

The Didaché or

is the name of the work referred ork referred to Twelve) Apostles "

by Eusebius and others -Clement of Alexandria even quoting it as "C Scripture"; but no MS. of it was known till 1873, when Bryennius discovered at Constantinople a document containing both it and the epistles of Clement and Barnabas, and several other ancient writings. The first part of it is founded upon a still earlier work called "The Two Ways" (probably of Jewish origin, and perhaps also used in the epistle of Barnabas), which sets forth the way of righteousness and life, and the way of unrighteousness and death, somewhat after the manner of the Epistle of James. The second part is of a more ecclesiastical nature, and relates to prayer and fasting, the two sacraments, and various classes of teachers and officebearers in the Church, concluding with an exhortation to watch and be ready for the second coming of the Lord. It was probably composed in the end of the first or the beginning of the second century.

Aristides, an Athenian philosopher, is mentioned by Eusebius and other writers as the author of a famous Apology. It is only within the last few years that the work has been discovered, in a Syriac translation, in St. Catherine's, Mount Sinai which has led to the identification of a portion of the original, embodied in an early Christian romance (The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat). It was addressed to the Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.), or to his successor, Antoninus Pius (who was also called Hadrian), or possibly to both, and it may safely be assigned to 125-140 A.D. It is the oldest extant Christian Apology. That of Quadratus, which was written about the same time, is still undiscovered; but a quotation from it is given by Eusebius, who speaks highly of the work.

Basilides, a famous Gnostic speculator, taught at Alexandria in the reign of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.).

We

learn from Eusebius that he wrote twenty-four books on the Gospel, and that a satisfactory refutation of his heresy was produced by Agrippa Castor. A considerable portion of his writings has been found in Hippolytus' Refutation of all Heresies, recovered in 1842 and published in 1851; and various accounts of his teaching are found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, Irenæus, and Epiphanius. "He seems to have sought to embrace all the universe in one plan, of which Jesus Christ is the centre, and to have broken down in the attempt to combine Egyptian speculation with Scripture truth." Although his name is often mentioned by subsequent writers, he founded no school of importance, his only eminent disciple being his son Isidore.

Valentinus, another Gnostic, whose fame eclipsed that of Basilides, came to Rome (from the East) about 138 A.D., and taught there for about thirty years. From Irenæus, Hippolytus, and other ancient writers who discuss his views, we learn that he devised an elaborate system of Aeons or emanations from the Deity, forming the Pleroma or universe, for which he professed to find support in the New Testament, although he was in reality more of a Pythagorean than a Christian.

Marcion, the son of a Bishop of Sinope in Pontus, but excommunicated on account of his heresy, became a Gnostic leader of great influence at Rome and elsewhere (about 140 A.D.), with followers in many lands not only in his own day but for generations afterwards. He set the New Testament in opposition to the Old, and represented the God of Redemption as essentially different from and superior to the God of Creation. To suit his purposes he framed a Gospel for himself, being a mutilated Gospel of Luke; and of the rest of the canonical books he only acknowledged ten epistles of Paul (excluding Hebrews and the Pastoral Epistles), to which he gave the name of Apostolicon. His opinions are to be learned mainly from Tertullian and Epiphanius, who undertook to refute them.

The Epistle to Diognetus is " one of the noblest and most impressive of early Christian apologies in style and treatment." It is addressed by an anonymous author to an educated Pagan in answer to his inquiries about Christianity. While certainly not the work of Justin Martyr (to whom it

has sometimes been attributed), it probably dates from the second century. The only MS. containing it (of the thirteenth century) was destroyed in Strassburg in 1870 during the Franco-German War. It consists of twelve short chapters, but the last two are probably of a much later date, and bear traces of an Alexandrian origin.

Justin Martyr, a native of Samaria, of Greek descent, after having tried various forms of Greek philosophy, especially Platonism, was converted to Christianity and

14

became its zealous advocate at Rome, Rome, Ephesus, and elsewhere.

Of his numerous writings there have been preserved to us (besides a few fragments) two Apologies addressed to Roman Emperors in vindication of the Christian life, and a Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, being the account of a discussion at Ephesus, in which Justin sought to prove that Jesus was the Christ. He wrote before the middle of the second century, and was martyred about 165 a.d.

Tatian, a native of Mesopotamia, was a teacher of rhetoric, well versed in Greek literature and philosophy. He came under the influence of Justin Martyr in Rome about 162 A.D., and became a zealous member of the Church; but on his return to the East, after the death of Justin, he fell into Gnosticism of a peculiar type, and was regarded as the father of the Encratites (ascetics). Among numerous other works he wrote an Apology under the name of an Address to the Greeks, which is still extant, and a kind of Harmony of the Four Gospels which he called Diatessaron.

Athenagoras, an Athenian philosopher of the school of Platonists, wrote an Apology (176 A.D.) strongly resembling that of Justin, and a treatise on the Resurrection, both of which are extant and exhibit considerable intellectual power.

Melito, Bishop of Sardis, a man of wide influence in Asia Minor, wrote on a great variety of subjects. Among his works (only fragments of which have come down to us) was an Apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius (177 A.D.), designed to avert the rising persecution by vindicating the character of the Christians.

Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch (171-184 A.D.), was & prolific writer; but the only undoubted work of his that has come down to us is his Apologia ad Autolycum, in three

books, in which he bases his argument for Christianity largely on the Old Testament.

The Muratorian Fragment, discovered by Muratori in a MS. of the eighth century, in the Ambrosian Library at Milan (1730-1740 A.D.), contains a list of the canonical books. It is in very bad Latin, apparently a translation from the Greek, but copied from an older MS. that had been previously mutilated. It is usually assigned to about 170 a.d.

Lyons and Vienne, Letter from the Churches of to the Christians of Asia and Phrygia (177 A.D.), which has been preserved by Eusebius, tells the story of a dreadful local persecution, in which forty-eight Christians suffered martyrdom.

Irenæus, a native of Asia Minor, and a disciple of Polycarp, was appointed Bishop of Lyons 178 A.D. He had previously visited Rome as a delegate from the persecuted Church in Gaul, and had come into contact with many of the leading heretics. In order to counteract their teaching (especially that of Valentinus the Gnostic) he composed a Refutation, in five books, which has been preserved to us in a Latin translation, with fragments of the Greek and of a Syriac translation. It abounds in quotations from nearly all the books of the New Testament, and also embodies a number of traditions of 66 'Elders". '—men of a former generation, some of whom had been disciples of Apostles. Most of his other writings have perished.

Clement of Alexandria was head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria from 190 to 203 A.D., during which time he accomplished much literary work. His three chief writings that have come down to us are (1) his Address to the Greeks, designed to show the superiority of Christianity to all the religion and culture of heathenism; (2) The Tutor, a text-book of Christian discipline; (3) the Miscellanies, a kind of harmony of the truths of philosophy from a Christian point of view.

Tertullian (circa 160-230 A.D.), a native of Carthage, was a married presbyter of the Church, but in his later years a votary of Montanism ("the Irvingism of the second century "). He wrote both in Greek and Latin, but only his Latin works have been preserved to us, which are very