rests in even greater obscurity than that of Melito. Two scraps, copied into a much later book, perhaps refer to the Easter (Paschal) dispute which unfortunately wasted so much Christian zeal. One extract may be given, but the authenticity is doubted: "There are some who through ignorance quarrel about these things, being affected in a way that should be pardoned; for ignorance should not be followed by accusation, but it stands in the need of instruction. And they say that the Lord ate the sheep with his disciples on the 14th, and that he himself suffered on the great day of unleavened bread; and they affirm that Matthew says exactly as they have understood the matter to be; whence their understanding of it does not harmonise with the law; and the gospels, according to them, seem to differ."* About 180 Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, penned three essays on the Christian faith, addressed to a certain pagan Autolycus. In the preface of the second essay the Christian apologist says: "When we had formerly some conversation, my very good friend Autolycus, and when you inquired who was my God, and for a little paid attention to my discourse, I made some explanations to you concerning my religion; and then, having bid one another adieu, we went with much mutual friendliness each to his own house, although at first you had borne somewhat hard upon me. For you know and remember that you supposed our doctrine was foolishness." No doubt, at this period, many such argumentative encounters took place between eager Christians and critical Greeks. Theophilus, in reply to the challenge, "Show me thy God," retorts, "Show me your self," and contends that, as men have ears to hear and eyes to see, so they also possess a spiritual insight which enables them to perceive the divine. As to God, "in glory he is incomprehensible, in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power incomparable, in wisdom unrivalled, in goodness inimitable, in kindness unutterable. For if I say he is Light, I name but his own work; if I call him. Word, I name but his sovereignty," etc. God is known by his works-the march of the stars, the orders of animals and plants, the dews and rivers, and the tempests. Theo * Donaldson's "History of Christian Literature," vol. iii., chapter xi. 66 philus smiles at the fancies of polytheism, at the numerous Jupiters, one of whom, "who is king of the Cretans, has a tomb in Crete; but the rest, possibly, were not thought worthy of tombs." Autolycus, in his turn, has laughed at the very name of Christians. Theophilus replies that the Christian is the anointed and useful (Chrestos); both men and vessels are the better for an effusion of oil. While the Greek poets and fabulists were inspired by dæmons, Moses and the Jewish prophets were carriers of a holy spirit which nerved them to the delivery of God's message. An elaborate account of the Six-days Creation and the primitive records of Genesis leads up to a quotation from the Sibylline books, the writer, with much simplicity, supposing that the Sibyl was a prophetess among the Greeks and the other nations." Theophilus identifies the voice of God in the Garden of Eden with the Logos, and he remarks: "The holy writings teach us, and all the spirit-bearing men, one of whom, John, says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God"-this being the earliest-known attribution of the Fourth Gospel to John. Spurning the pagan taunts that the Christians encouraged promiscuity, incest, and childeating, Theophilus mocks at the unholy deeds of the classical gods and goddesses, and sketches the mild virtues of the Christian communities-their humanity, just dealing, chastity, love to enemies, respect for law. "Truth governs, grace guards, peace screens them; the holy Word guides, wisdom teaches, life directs, God reigns." The third essay winds up with minute calculations by which Theophilus hopes to prove the desperate inferiority of the Greek to the Hebrew and Christian chronology. And he concludes that, until the death of the Emperor Verus, "all the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5,698 years, and the odd months and days."* Miltiades of Athens added to the swarm of Apologies which testified to the aggressive confidence of the Christians; but his work has disappeared. Hermias sneered at the inanities and incongruities of pagan speculation in his "Satire on the Heathen Philosophers." Starting with a * Translation of the three letters in vol. iii. of the "Ante-Nicene Christian Library;" Donaldson's "History of Christian Literature,” vol. iii. passage from Paul, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," he smites gaily at the theories of the sages, and thus flippantly derides their contradictions: "I confess I am vexed by the reflux of things. For now I am immortal, and I rejoice; but now again I become mortal, and I weep; but straightway I am dissolved into atoms; I become water, I become air, I become fire; then after a little I am neither air nor fire; one makes me a wild beast, one makes me a fish. Again, then, I have dolphins for my brothers. But when I see myself, I fear my body, and I no longer know how to call it, whether man, or dog, or wolf, or bull, or bird, or serpent, or dragon, or chimæra. I am changed by the philosophers into all the wild beasts, into those that live on land and on water, into those that are winged, manyshaped, wild, tame, speechless and gifted with speech, rational and irrational. I swim, fly, creep, run, sit; and there is Empedocles too, who makes me a bush !"* Some time between 177 and 193 Hegesippus composed five books of "Memoranda," of which, unhappily, only a few brief citations lie scattered in the pages of Eusebius. He was born in Palestine, of Jewish parents, and travelled to Rome by way of Corinth, visiting Christian societies on the way. The chief fragment of Hegesippus relates to the apostle James. We have previously quoted (p. 12) the curious description of James the Nazarite, who, clad in linen, knelt in the Temple till his knees assumed a thickness such as one sees in camels. He was, says Hegesippus, always asking forgiveness for the people. "On account then of his exceeding righteousness he was called Righteous and Oblias-that is, bulwark of the people and righteousness, as the prophets make manifest with regard to him. Some of the seven sects that were in the people, which have been already described by me [Hegesippus] in my Recollections, asked him, What is the gate of Jesus? And he said that he [Jesus] was the Saviour. In consequence of this some of them believed that Jesus was the Christ." Hegesippus goes on to tell how the Scribes and Pharisees, alarmed at the growth of the Jesus-enthusiasm among the people, begged James to use his influence to keep them loyal to the * Kurtz's "History," vol. i., section 30; Donaldson's "History of Christian Literature," vol. iii. Law. But James answered: "Why do you ask me with regard to Jesus, the Son of Man? Yea, that person sits in heaven on the right hand of the great Power, and is to come upon the clouds of heaven." The rulers cried in angry astonishment, "Oh, oh! even the Just has gone astray. Let us stone James the Just." They flung stones at him, and the last fatal blow was struck by a fuller's club. Some time after the death of James, according to another fragment, the purity of the Church commenced to decline"Thebuthis began to corrupt it secretly because he was not made an overseer." Various sectarian leaders sprang up-"Simon, whence the Simonians; Cleobius, whence the Cleobians; Dositheus, whence the Dositheans; Gorthæus, whence the Gortheans; Masbotheus, whence the Masbotheans. After these came the Menandrians, and Marcionites, and Carpocratians, and Valentinians, and Basilidians, and Saturnilians. They introduced each one his own opinion separately, and differently. After these came false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, who divided the unity of the Church with corrupt doctrines against God and his Christ." A third fragment recounts an anecdote of two poor men who were summoned before the emperor Domitian as being possible claimants to the throne of Judæa, for they were "grandsons of that Judas who was called the brother of the Lord according to the flesh." The two peasants pleaded that their whole property consisted in a small plot of land; they displayed their hands, all knotted with toil, in proof of their industry; and they explained that the kingdom which they looked for was celestial, and not earthly. Domitian set them free. A fourth fragment gives a few details of the torture and crucifixion of Simeon, the son of Cleopas, at the age of 120, in the reign of Trajan. A fifth fragment enumerates these seven Jewish sects :- Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists, Masbotheans, Samaritans, Sadducees, and Pharisees."* Probably to the second half of the second century belongs an Apology which pleases the ear with a gentler tone than that of the sarcastic Tatian or jaunty Hermias. This is the Epistle to Diognetus by an author unknown. The initial sentences are: "Since I see, most excellent Diognetus, that * Donaldson's "History of Christian Literature," vol. iii. THE STREAM OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 255 thou art exceedingly anxious to understand the religion of the Christians, and that thy inquiries respecting them are distinctly and carefully made, as to what God they trust and how they worship him, that they all disregard the world and despise death, and take no account of those who are regarded as gods by the Greeks, neither observe the superstition of the Jews, and as to the nature of the affection they entertain one to another, and of this new development or interest, which has entered into men's lives now and not before: I gladly welcome this zeal," etc. The writer reproves the worship of gods made of wood or iron-" are they not soulless, senseless, motionless ?" Somewhat uncharitably he blames the "fussiness and pride" of the Jews in their regard for sabbaths, festivals, and ritual in the taking of food. Then, with mingled pathos and elation, he describes the expansion of the Christian genus, its courageous self-assertion, its patient suffering. [The passage has been quoted in an earlier section; p. 210.] The secret of Christian progress lies in this, that the Invisible God founded the religion by sending to the world "not a subaltern, or angel, or ruler, or one of those that direct the affairs of earth, or one of those who have been entrusted with the dispensations in heaven, but the very Artificer and Creator of the Universe himself, by whom he made the heavens, by whom he enclosed the sea in its proper bounds, whose mysteries all the elements faithfully observe "-whom the sun, moon, stars, and all the infinitudes of the cosmos obey. "He sent him as sending God; he sent him, as a man unto men; he sent him as Saviour; as using persuasion, not force; for force is no attribute of God." For a time God had revealed the scheme of redemption "to his Son alone," and meanwhile seemed to treat mankind with neglect and indifference. But the unfolding of the plan manifested the divine kindness. "He parted with his own Son as a ransom for us, the holy for the lawless, the guileless for the evil, the just for the unjust." The writer gives himself up to rapture at the thought: "O the sweet exchange! O the inscrutable creation! O the unexpected benefits! That the iniquity of many should be concealed in one Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify many that are iniquitous !" And since he has sent "his only-begotten Son" to man, man is called upon to show gratitude, to love God, to imitate God, and |