Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

numerous and varied. He was a keen and able controversialist (with a strong anti-gnostic bent), and defended Christianity against heathens, Jews, and heretics.

Hegesippus, an ecclesiastical writer of the second century, of Jewish descent and a member of the Church at Jerusalem, published (about 180 A.D.), five books of Memorials, fragments of which have been preserved by Eusebius. Hegesippus had previously visited Rome (where he appears to have spent many years), taking Corinth on the way, and making inquiry as to the Apostolic tradition. According to Eusebius, he found "everywhere the same doctrine."

Clementine Homilies (in Greek) and Recognitions (in a Latin translation by Rufinus) are based on the same original (an account of Peter's discourses to the heathen), but are in some respects widely different, the Homilies being strongly Ebionite in doctrine, the Recognitions more adapted for the use of the orthodox. They consist largely of a romantic story of the travels of Clement (the future Bishop of Rome) in attendance on Peter, whose discourses he records; and they were evidently designed to exalt Peter as the apostle of the Gentiles at the expense of Paul, who is covertly referred to under the name of Simon Magus. The Homilies are twenty in number, and are addressed to James, the head of Jewish Christianity; the Recognitions derive their name from the hero's finding in succession his lost mother, brothers, and father. In their present form, the compositions may be assigned to the end of the second or beginning of the third century.

Hippolytus (170-235 A.D.), a hearer of Irenæus, and a Roman ecclesiastic of great importance in his day, whether as presbyter or bishop, wrote many books, of which the principal extant is his Refutation of all Heresies. Part of this work, under the name of Philosophoumena, used to be attributed to Origen, but in 1842 a MS. containing seven of the ten books of which the work is composed was discovered on Mount Athos, and it is now generally acknowledged to have been written by Hippolytus. Its chief value for us lies in the account which it gives of the Gnostic heresies of the second century, tracing them to heathen sources. Hippolytus was ultimately banished to the mines of Sardinia, where he is believed to have perished.

Origen (186-254 A.D.), a pupil of Clement Alex. and a man of immense industry and learning, exerted a wide influence by his lectures in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cæsarea, Athens, and elsewhere. He was a most voluminous writer on biblical, theological, and philosophical subjects. Eusebius tells us that he kept more than seven shorthand writers employed, besides as many copyists, and several female caligraphists. His chief work extant (besides Commentaries and Homilies in Latin translations) is his Eight Books against Celsus, in defence of Christianity. His life was one of struggle and hardship. In the Decian persecution he underwent torture, and died soon afterwards at Tyre.

Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (about 230270 A.D.), was an intimate friend of Origen. His only writing extant is a letter to Cyprian, which has been preserved in the form of a Latin translation.

Cyprian, a wealthy teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, was converted 246 A.D., became bishop of his native city in 248 or 249, and suffered martyrdom 258 A.D. His extant works consist of controversial treatises and official letters.

Eusebius (260-339 A.D.), Bishop of Cæsarea, and friend of Constantine the Great, has been called the "Father of Church History," as Origen the "Father of Biblical Criticism." His Ecclesiastical History, in ten books, gives an account of the Christian Church down to 324 A.D. Although Eusebius himself seems to have been of a rather weak judgment, the facts and quotations with which his History teems make it a mine of wealth for the historian and the critic. Of his other works, the most valuable are his Gospel Preparation and Gospel Demonstration, both of an apologetic nature.

Athanasius (299-373 A.D.), Bishop of Alexandria, and the champion of orthodoxy in the great Arian Controversy, wrote numerous letters and treatises, chiefly of a doctrinal

nature.

Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386 A.D.), appointed bishop of his native city in 351, left a large number of catechetical addresses, which are valuable for the information they yield regarding the doctrine and the ritual of the early Church.

Apostolic Constitutions, an ecclesiastical miscellany in

eight books, not earlier (in its present form) than the middle of the fourth century.

Gregory Nazianzen (329-389 A.D.), son of a bishop of Nazianzus, was in his youth a fellow-student at Athens with Basil the Great and the Emperor Julian. At one time Archbishop of Constantinople, he was famous for learning and eloquence, and left an immense number of orations, epistles, and poems.

Basil the Great, born in Cæsarea (Cappadocia) in 330 A.D., succeeded Eusebius in the bishopric in 370, and died 379. A man of great elevation of character, he was the author of many works of a theological nature, still extant.

Gregory of Nyssa (332-395 A.D.), younger brother of Basil, held various positions in the Eastern Church, and was one of the most powerful defenders of the orthodox faith, opposition to Arius and Apollinaris. His writings are numer ous, and include both controversial and exegetical works.

in

Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in Cyprus (367-403 A.D.), published in 377 A.D. his chief work (Panarium), dealing with eighty different heresies. He was famous for his learning and piety, but was deficient in breadth of view, and his statements are often inaccurate. was strongly opposed to the school of Origen.

He

Chrysostom (golden-mouthed) was born at Antioch in 347 A.D., appointed Patriarch of Constantinople in 397, and martyred 407 A.D. He was the greatest preacher of the Greek Church, and left many valuable writings, the most important of which are his Homilies.

Jerome or Hieronymus (341-420 A.D.), the greatest scholar of the Latin Church, and the translator of the Vulgate, left a variety of biblical and ecclesiastical works. In his later life he dwelt in a hermit's cell, near Bethlehem.

Augustine, born in Numidia in 354 A.D., was converted, after a stormy youth, by Ambrose of Milan in 386, and became Bishop of Hippo, in North Africa, about 396. He moulded the theology of his own and later times, and left numerous writings, the most famous of which are his Confessions and City of God. He died in 430, during the siege of

Hippo by the Vandals.

APPENDIX B

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES IN THE GOSPELS (p. 19).

(For a fuller statement see Blunt's Scriptural Coincidences.)

(1) Cf. Matt. xiv. 1, and Luke ix. 7, with Luke viii. 3 (and Acts xiii. 1) for an explanation of Herod's having "heard of all that was done" and speaking "unto his servants" about Jesus-viz. that there were believers at Herod's court ("Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward," and “Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch ").

(2) Cf. Matt. xiv. 19, 20; Mark vi. 39, 43; Luke ix. 17 ; John vi. 10, 13; with Matt. xv. 35, 37; Mark viii. 6, 8 (in the light of Matt. xvi. 9, 10) for a remarkable distinction carefully observed (1) between the two kinds of baskets (only discernible in the original, (δώδεκα) κοφίνους in the one case, (Tà) orvpídas in the other); (2) between "the grass" and "the ground"; and (3) between "the men" and "the people."

(3) Cf. Matt. viii. 16 with Mark i. 21 and Luke iv. 31 (in the light of Matt. xii. 10) for an explanation of the fact that the sick were only brought to Jesus for healing "when the even was come"-viz. that it was the Sabbath day, during which it was considered by the Jews to be unlawful to heal.

(4) Cf. Matt. xii. 46; Mark vi. 3; Luke viii. 19; John ii. 12; xix. 25-27 (and Acts i. 13, 14)—all these passages concurring in giving the impression, although in an indirect. manner, that Joseph was already dead.

(5) Cf. John xxi. 15 with Matt. xxvi. 31-33 and Mark xiv. 27-29-the two latter (which record Peter's boasts) supplying an explanation of the former passage, where "Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these?"

(6) Cf. Matt. iv. 13 (“ he came and dwelt in Capernaum") with Luke iv. 23 and x. 15-with reference to Capernaum as a favoured scene of Christ's ministry.

(7) Cf. Matt. xxvi. 67, 68 ("Prophesy unto us, thou Christ who is he that struck thee?') with Luke xxii. 64the latter explaining the former by the addition "they blindfolded him "-although evidently an independent narrative.

(8) Cf. Matt. xxvi. 65 (in the light of John v. 18, x. 33) with Luke xxiii. 2—the former referring to Christ's trial before the Jewish Council on a charge of blasphemy, the latter to His trial before Pilate on a charge of sedition, the accusation in each case corresponding to the tribunal.

(9) Cf. Matt. xxvi. 71 with John xviii. 16-the latter explaining indirectly how Peter should have been recognised in "the porch "—viz. because he "was standing at the door without " until "the other disciple, which was known unto the high-priest, went out and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter."

(10) Cf. Mark vi. 31 with John vi. 4 ("Now the passover was at hand ")-the latter supplying an explanation of the great number of people in the neighbourhood at the time.

(11) Cf. John vi. 5, 8 with Luke ix. 10 and John i. 44, with reference to the connection of Philip and Andrew with Bethsaida, in the neighbourhood of which the miracle was wrought.

(12) Cf. John iii. 13, vi. 62, xx. 17 (where our Lord's Ascension is indirectly referred to) with the actual record of that event in Luke xxiv. 50-53.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »