of tKe 
 
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 Canon Spbnce 
 

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 LIBRARY 
 
 . GIFT OF 
 
 Alfred C. Barnes 
 
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 CAT. NO. 23233 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 BS2940.T5 S74 
 
 Teaching of the twelve apostles : a tran 
 
 3 1924 029 302 655 
 
gg B Cornell University 
 
 iStSlf I.J T -1 
 
 p^ Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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THE 'TEACHING 
 
 OF 
 
 THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 ■f¥««;i;i; 
 
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 li^UINUURCk AND LONDON 
 
The Teaching 
 
 of 
 
 The Twelve Apostles. 
 
 Aibax^i Tiliv buibcKa AnocxoXujv 
 
 9 ZtrnzlSLtion toit^ JlSotes; 
 
 AND EXCURSUS (1. TO IX.) ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE "TEACHING; 
 AND THE GREEK TEXT, 
 
 BY 
 
 CANON SPENCE, M.A. 
 
 VICAR OF S. PANCRASi 
 
 JAMES NISBfiT & CO., 21 BERNEkS STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXV. 
 
 A 
 
■- / 
 
 ^1H 
 
 6 .£0 55- 
 
 7'/«j ^wi may be ordered from 
 
 J. R. Evans, 14 Magdalen Street, Oxford ; 
 Deighton, Bell, & Co., Trinity Street, Cambridge ; 
 And all Booksellers. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF " THE TEACHING OF THE 
 
 TWELVE APOSTLES" AND COMMENTARY ... 7 
 
 EXCURSUS I. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF " THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE 
 
 APOSTLES "..'...;... 77 
 
 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 SOURCE AND AUTHORSHIP OF "THE TEACHING OF THE 
 
 TWELVE APOSTLES" 85 
 
 EXCURSUS III. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF "THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE 
 
 APOSTLES " TO THE " CANON " lOI 
 
 EXCURSUS IV. 
 
 THE RELATION OF THE "TEACHING" TO THE EPISTLE OF 
 
 BARNABAS AND "THE SHEPHERD" OF HERMAS . . I09 
 
 t 
 
 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE COMMEN- 
 TARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE "TEACHING" . II 5 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 PACK 
 THE APOSTLES OF THE " TEACHING " . . . . I25 
 
 EXCURSUS VII, 
 
 THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OF CHRISTIANITY . 1 33 
 
 EXCURSUS VIII. 
 
 THE POSITION OF THE "TEACHER" IN THE EARLY CHRIS- 
 TIAN COMMUNITY 143 
 
 EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 THE BISHOPS AND DEACONS OF " THE TEACHING OF THE 
 
 TWELVE APOSTLES " -147 
 
 "THE OLD paths" . . I57 
 
 GREEK TEXT OF " AiSaxh tQh SiiSeKa AwouT&Xwr" . . 171 
 
TEACHING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 TEACHING OF THE LQRD, THROUGH THE 
 TWELVE APOSTLES, TO THE GENTILES.^ 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 There are two ways, one of life and one of 
 death,^ but the difference between the two ways 
 
 1. TeacMng of the Lord, through the Twelve Apostles, 
 to the Gentiles. — There is a shorter title, " Teaching of 
 the Twelve Apostles," but the longer appears to have been 
 the original name of the document. A yet more abbre- 
 viated form was, " Teaching of the Apostles." 
 
 The designation of the " Teaching io the Gentiles " re- 
 minds us of the Jewish source of the document. 
 
 2. There are two ways, one of life and one of death. 
 — The metaphor of the two ways, the way of life and the 
 way of death, was a favourite one with' Jewish teachers. 
 So Jer. xxi." 8, " Thus saith the Lord : Behold, I set 
 
8 TEACHING OF 
 
 ■\ 
 
 before you the way of life and the way of death." It was 
 used by Jesus Christ in His well-known picture of the 
 broad and narrow ways, the one leading to life, the other 
 to destruction (S. Matt. vii. 13, 14). In imitation of their 
 Master, early Christian writers and preachers constantly 
 used this imagery. " There are two ways of teaching and 
 authority, one of light and the other of darkness ; but there 
 is a great difference between these two ways. For over 
 one are posted the angels of God, who bear light, while over 
 the other are the angels of Satan " (" Epistle of Barnabas," 
 chap, xviii.) The words of Barnabas here so closely re- 
 semble the " Teaching '' of the Apostles, that it is evident 
 that either one must have copied from the other, or else 
 that both writings must have been based on a still older 
 document. (See Excursus IV.) 
 
 Hermas, in the " Shepherd," a treatise written in the 
 first half of the second century, adopts the same imagery 
 of the " two ways." He writes, "The path of righteous- 
 ness is straight, but that of unrighteousness is crooked. 
 But walk in the straight and even way, and mind not the 
 crooked . . . it is hurtful to those who walk in it. . . .* 
 You see then that it is better to walk in this road (that is 
 the path of righteousness). I wish to travel by this road 
 I said. You will travel along it, said He, and whoso- 
 ever turns to the Lord with all his heart will walk in it." 
 (Hermas, " Shepherd," Commandment vi. i.) 
 
 " The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," a writing also 
 composed in the first half of the second century, probably 
 among the Nazarenes, an orthodox Jewish sect whose head- 
 
 * The teacher in this dialogue is the " Shepherd "-angel "sent 
 by the higher angel to guide and instruct Hermas. He is described 
 in Vision v. as a Man of glorious aspect, dressed like a shepherd, 
 with a white goat's skin. 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 9 
 
 is great. ^This is the way of life: First, thou shalt 
 love God who made theej secondly, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself; and all things what- 
 soever thou wouldst not have happen to thee, do not 
 
 quarters after the fall of Jerusalem, a.d. 70, were at Pella, 
 a city of the Decapolis, enlarges upon this thought of the 
 two ways which the writer says God hath given to men. 
 The two ways suggest to him contrasts in everything be- 
 longing to mortals. Good everywhere contending with evil. 
 (" Testa,ments of the Twelve Patriarchs," >' Asher.") The 
 many points of contact between the "Teaching of the 
 Apostles " and the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs " 
 are discussed at length in Excursus II., pp. 95, 96. 
 
 To the extreme and abiding popularity in primitive 
 Christian teaching of the figure of the two ways, Clement, 
 the head of the famous catechetical school of Alexandria, 
 in the last decade of the second century, bears a striking 
 witness in the fifth book of his Stromata, where he writes : 
 " The Gospel proposes two ways, as do likewise the Apostles 
 and all the Prophets* They call the one narrow and cir- 
 cumscribed which is hemmed in according to the command- 
 ments and prohibitions, and the opposite one, which leads 
 to destruction, broad and roomy, open to pleasures and 
 wrath." (Stromata, book v. 5.) 
 
 3. This is .the way of life. — The writer of the " Teach- 
 ing" in the following directions quotes apparently from 
 memory certain sayings of our Lord contained in the Gospels 
 of SS. Matthew and Luke. The passages in question are 
 S. Matt. xxii. 37-39, vii. 12, v. 44-46, v. 39; S. Luke 
 vi. 31, 28-32, the Sermon on the Mount being the- 
 
 * The Prophets alluded to are the men alluded to so frequently 
 under this name in our treatise. 
 
lo TEACHING OF 
 
 thou do to another. Now, this is the teaching* of 
 these words : Bless,them that curse you, and pray for 
 your enemies, and fast for them that persecute you : 
 for what thank have ye if ye love them that love 
 you? Do not the Gentiles also the same? But 
 do you love them that ha^e you and yoq shall haVe 
 no enemy.® Abstain from, fleshly and worldly lusts. 
 If any one give thee a blow on the right cheek, 
 turn to him the other also, and thou shalt be 
 perfect; if any one compel thee to go one mile, go 
 with him two ; if any one take thy cloak, give him 
 thy tunic also ; if any one take from thee what is 
 thine, ask not for it back ; * for indeed thou canst 
 
 principal source. One direction, however, in this way of 
 life, " Fast for them that persecute you," occurs in no 
 Gospel or Epistle of the received Canon of New Testament 
 Scriptures. It not improbably belonged to the oral tradi- 
 tion of the Master's words. 
 
 4. Of these words. — The "words" here referred to, 
 with little doubt, are the words spoken by the Lord Jesus,, 
 preserved in written or oral tradition. 
 
 5. You shall have no enemy. — Another probable oral 
 tradition of the Master's words. Neither the expression nor 
 the thought occurs in any of the Gospels, S. Peter I. iii. 
 13, apparently refers to the same traditional teaching of 
 the Lord. 
 
 6. For indeed thou canst not. — The true Christian 
 portrayed in the " Teaching " could use no force himself ; 
 nor even if injured ought he to have recourse to pagan 
 tribunals. (Btyennios-Wunsche.) 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ii 
 
 not. To every one that asketh thee give, and ask 
 not back ; ' for to all the Father wishes to give of 
 His own gracious gifts. * Blessed is he that giveth 
 ^ according to the commandmentj for '"' he is guilt- 
 less ; ^^ woe to him that taketh ; for if, indeed, one 
 
 7. For to all the Father desires to give of His own 
 gracious gift. — Our Lord speaks somewhat similarly in 
 S. Matt. V. 45. This gracious and sublime view of God 
 among the early Christians was used as a strong argument for 
 a broad, far-reaching charity. Hermas in the " Shepherd" 
 beautifully says : " From the rewards of your works which 
 God bestows on you give to all the needy in simplicity, 
 without pausing as to whom you are to give or not to give. 
 Give to all, for God wishes His gifts to be shared by all." 
 (" Shepherd," Commandment ii.) 
 
 8. Blessed is he that giveth. — So our Lord : " Blessed 
 are the merciful" (S. Matt. v. 7). 
 
 9. According to the commandment, for he is guiltless. 
 — What commandment ? Probably the writer here referred 
 to some traditional commandment of the Lord on the sub- 
 ject of giving. 
 
 10. He is g^uiltless. — The Greek word rendered guiltless 
 dSaios, occurs in S. Matt, xxvii. ,24. (Wunsche.) 
 
 11. Woe to him that taketh. — So Hermas writes: 
 " They who receive will render an account to Gpd why and 
 for what they have received. For the afflicted who receive 
 will not be condemned, but they who receive on false pre- 
 tences will suffer punishment. ,He then who gives is guilt- 
 less." ("Shepherd," Commandment ii.) The whole passage 
 of Hermas reads like a paraphrase of the shorter and more 
 obscure direction here in the " Teaching of the Apostles." 
 
 B 
 
12 TEACHING OF 
 
 taketh who hath need, he shall be guiltless; but 
 ^^ he who hath no need shall give account why he 
 took, and for what end, and * being in sore straits, 
 
 * Or, coming under arrest. 
 
 The doctrine of the- " Teaching " so far is somewhat as 
 follows : — He walketh in the way of life who loveth God, 
 .and his neighbour, as himself. He that hath this love 
 knoweth how to convert his enemies into friends, for without 
 murmuring he endures all things with brave patience, and 
 never renders to any evil for evil. So too the heavenly 
 Father from His own good things thus gives to all that ask, 
 not noticing what the asker be, an enemy or one of the 
 faithful, a just man or a sinner. 
 
 12. He who hath no need shall give account. — The 
 change of scene here is startling in its abruptness, for it 
 evidently refers to what will take place in the next world. 
 Very severely will the impostor there be judged. Indeed, 
 to mark his sense of the gravity of this crime of imposture 
 in the Christian community, the writer of the " Teaching," 
 in speaking of the final doom of the impostor, uses one of 
 the sternest sayings of the pitiful Master. 
 
 The Apostolical Constitutions evidently refer to this 
 direction in the "Teaching" in the fourth book, chap, iii., 
 and speak of it as a saying of the Lord, curiously coupUng 
 it with that other traditional saying of the Master quoted by 
 S. Paul, Acts XX. 35. The passage is as follows : — " Since 
 even the Lord said, the giver was happier than the receiver. 
 For it is said again by Him, Woe to those that have and 
 receive in hypocrisy; or those who are able to support 
 themselves, yet will receive of others : for both of them 
 shall give account to the Lord God in the day of judgment." 
 (Apost. Constit. iv. 3.) 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 13 
 
 shall be examined concerning what he didj and shall 
 not go out thence ^* until he pay the last farthing. 
 But ^*it hath been also said concerning this matter : 
 Let thine alms drop like sweat into thy hands, ^^ so 
 long* as thou k no west to whom thou givest. 
 * Or, until. 
 
 The Apostolical Constitutions in their present form, 
 according to Krabbe, were written towards the end of the 
 third century. Other scholars place thena a century later. 
 Bunsen considers they were based upon materials dating 
 from the second and third centuries. 
 
 13. Until .he pay the last farthing. — The words are 
 apparently quoted from S. Matt. v. 25, 26, and S. Luke 
 XX. 58, 59, and refer, as in the Gospels, to the state of the 
 soul after death. 
 
 14. It hath also been said concerning this matter, 
 Let thine alms drop like sweat into thine hands^ — The 
 " Teaching " is clearly referring here to some unwritten 
 traditional saying of authority spoken, by our Lord or by 
 one of His near followers. There: is nothing, however, in 
 the least resembling it in the Canonical Scripture of the 
 New Testament. It is a very striking addition to the few 
 unwritten traditions of authority which we posssess. 
 
 15. So long a,s thou knowest to whom thou givest. 
 — A remarkable warning in these early days — when lavish 
 generosity to all others was so pressingly enjoined — against 
 indiscriminate almsgivihg. 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^ Now the second commandment of the Teaching is: 
 Thou shalt do tio murder, thou shalt not commit 
 adultery, thou shalt not corrupt boys, thou shalt not 
 commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt 
 not practise magic, thou shalt not use enchantments, 
 thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, nor what 
 has been begotten shalt thou destroy. Thou shalt 
 not desire the things belonging to thy neighbour, 
 thou shalt not swear falsely, thou shalt not bear false 
 witness, thou shalt not speak evil [of any), ^thou 
 
 1. Now the second commandment of the "Teaching" 
 
 is. — The writer of the " Teaching " probably had the 
 Epistle to the Romans (xiii. 9) before him. The coinci- 
 dences with reference to this Epistle are still more marked 
 in chap. iv. of the " Teaching." Several of the precepts 
 here are identical, while others represent sufficiently faith- 
 fully the thought of S. Paul in the concluding verses of the 
 thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans ; warnings 
 against the specially glaring sins of the pagan world in the 
 early days of the empire are given to him who would choose 
 the way of life. 
 
 2. Thou shalt not bear malice. — 06 /jLvnaixax^gug. The 
 same word is used in the " Testaments of the Twelve Patri- 
 archs," " My children, be ye devoid of malice, a/itrielxaxoi, 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 15 
 
 shalt not bear malice. Thou shalt not be double- 
 minded nor double-tongued; for a double-tongue 
 is a snare of death. Thy speech shall not be false, 
 nor empty, but practical. Thou shalt not be covet- 
 ous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor malicious, 
 nor proud. Thou shalt not- take evil counsel 
 against thy neighbour. Thou shalt hate no man, 
 but some thou shalt reprove, and for some thou 
 shalt pray, ^and some thou shalt love more than 
 thy own life. 
 
 and love one another, and do not each of you be careful 
 to take -note of your brother's badness, for this breaks up 
 unity and scatters to the winds all idea of kinship, and 
 harasses the soul, for the malicious man /i\iriiiix.cix.ti; he is 
 pitiless." (" Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,'' 
 " Zabulon," 8.) 
 
 There are several verbal correspondences between the 
 " Teaching of the Apostles " and the "Testaments of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs," but the resemblance in the teaching of 
 'the two documents is very marked. The special features 
 which distinguished the sect of the Nazarenes, gentleness, 
 benevolence, kindness, characterise both these early Chris- 
 tian writings. 
 
 3. And some thou shalt love above thy life. — The 
 writer of the "Teaching" here concludes his grave and 
 simple directions with a charge of exquisite beauty. In that 
 society no one was to be hated. The chooser of the way 
 of life was to select some as the objects of his earnest per- 
 suasions ; some as the subject of his prayers ; and some 
 whom he was to love with the strange sublime love which 
 was the special secret of the Christian. 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 My child, fly from every evil thing, and from every- 
 thing like it. Become not inclined to anger, for 
 anger leadeth to murder ; ^ nor a fanatic, nor con- 
 tentious, nor passionate ; for of all these things come 
 murders. My child, become not lustful, ^ for lust 
 leadeth to fornication, nor a coarse speaker, ^nor 
 one who makes signs with the eyes ; for of all these 
 
 1. Nor a fanatic. — /in^e Zflkarrn, not " a zealot." It 
 seems probable that the Teacher here was warning the 
 Jewish Christians in his flock against sympathising with 
 those brave but mistaken patriots who in the long and 
 bloody struggle with Rome were known as Zealots. 
 
 2. For lust leadeth to fornication. — Apparently the 
 writer had the Epistle of S. James i. 14, 15 in his thoughts. 
 
 3. Nor one who makes signs with the eyes. — Liter- 
 ally " lofty-eyed," b-^iiiKi^^a^iitig. The word is non-classical, 
 and occurs neither in the LXX nor in the New Testament. 
 The Apostolical Constitutions, in their paraphrase of this 
 passage, substitute for it gi-vj/o'c^a^itios, casting lewd or 
 wanton glances. See 2 Peter ii. 14. " Having eyes full 
 of adultery." The same thought reappears in the " Testa- 
 ments of the Twelve Patriarchs," " Issachar,"'chap. vii., and 
 " Benjamin," chap. vi. 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 17 
 
 things Gome adulteries. My child, * become not an 
 omen- watcher, for it leads to idolatry; nor one 
 who uses charms, nor an astrologer, nor one ^ who 
 purifies, nor be even willing to look upon these 
 things ; for of all these things cometh idolatry. My 
 child, ® become not a liar, for a lie leads to theft ; 
 nor a lover of money, nor vain- glorious ; for of all 
 these things come thefts. My child, become not 
 a murmurer, for it leads" to blasphemy ; nor pre- 
 sumptuous, nor evil-minded ; for of all these things 
 
 4. Become not an omen watclier. — Everything which 
 partook of the nature of magic, incantations, philtres, and 
 the like, were to be rigidly kept out of the simple pure life 
 of the early followers of Jesus. Sorcery and enchantments 
 were at all times an especial snare to the Hebrew race. 
 It seems likely that the old Hebrew prohibitions in the 
 case of these crimes induced the Jewish Christian author 
 of the " Teaching " to introduce the matter here. 
 
 5. Nor one who purifies. — wiotxaial^tm, one who en- 
 deavours to avert disease, or even to wipe away the stain of 
 sin by sacrifices. 
 
 6. Become not a liar, for a lie leads to theft. — 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, at the close of the twentieth chapter 
 
 of the first book of the Stromata, definitely quotes this 
 
 passage of the " Teaching " as Holy Scripture. " He who 
 
 ■ appropriates what belongs to barbarians and boasts of it as 
 
 his own, errs, magnifying his own glory and falsifying the 
 truth. It is such a one that is by Scripture called a thief. 
 It is therefore said, Son, be not a liar, for a lie leads to 
 theft.'' 
 
i8 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 come blasphemies. But be meek, for ^the meek 
 shall inherit the earth. Become long-suffering, and 
 pitiful and guileless, and quiet and good, and trem- 
 bling continually at the words which thou hast 
 heard. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, nor shalt thou 
 nourish thy soul with overweening confidence. Thy 
 soul shall not associate with the high,' but with 
 the righteous and lowly shalt thou hold converse. 
 ^ The things that befall thee accept as good, know- 
 ing that without God nothing comes to pass. 
 
 7. For the meek shall inherit the earth. — Almost 
 verbatim from S. Matt. v. 5. 
 
 8. The things that befall thee accept as good, knowing 
 that without God nothing comes to pass. — This sublime 
 resignation and perfect trust was evidently one of the themes 
 taught in the Alexandrian catechfetical school by Clement, 
 who certainly knew this treatise of the " Teaching " and 
 often used it. Writing in the Stromata of the true Gnostic 
 (the perfect Christian man), he says, " We shall take every- 
 thing for good, even though the trials that come in our way, 
 (trials) which Thine ordering brings to us for the training 
 of our steadfastness, seem to be evil" (Stromata, vii. 12). 
 And again, "(The true Gnostic) is not perturbed by anything 
 that happens, nor does he view with suspicion those things 
 which through divine arrangement take place for good" 
 (Stromata, vii. 13). 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ^My child, remember night and day him that 
 speaks to thee the word of God, and thou shalt 
 honour him as the Lord ; for ^ in the place where 
 the glory of the Lord is spoken of there the Lord 
 is. And thou shalt seek out daily s the faces of the 
 saints, that thou mayest find refreshment in their 
 words. Thou shalt not desire division, but shalt 
 make peace between those who are at strife ; 
 thou shalt judge justly, thou shalt not show par- 
 
 1. My cMldj him that speaks to thee the word of 
 God rememher night and day. — Heb. xiii. 7 : " Remember 
 them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto 
 you the word of God." The speakers of the "Word of 
 God " are further on in the " Teaching " divided into distinct 
 orders of Apostles, Teachers, Prophets, Bishops, Deacons. 
 
 2. In the place where the glory of the Lord is 
 spoken of. — The difficult expression xu^drtig, the glory of 
 the Lord, is paraphrased in the Apostolical Constitutions by 
 " Teaching about God." The glory of the Lord here clearly 
 refers to the glory of Jesus Christ. It has been suggested 
 to render it in this passage "the person of the Lord,"/.e. 
 of Jesus Christ ^ 
 
 3. The faces of the saints. — Following the custom 
 of the New Testament, the " Teaching " speaks of all the 
 faithful as the saints, (Bryennios.) 
 
20 TEACHING OF 
 
 tiality in rebuking transgressions. * Thou shalt not 
 hesitate whether it shall be or not. ^Become 
 
 4. Thou shalt not doubt whether it shall be or not. — 
 This might be paraphrased, " Do not hesitate, when thou 
 prayest, whether or not thy prayer will be answered." 
 The writer of the " Teaching " is here alluding to half- 
 hearted prayers. Want of perfect faith and entire trust 
 proceeded from a state of mind which the early Church 
 viewed as utterly unreal and fraught with danger. S. 
 James wrote, "A double-minded man (3AJ/u;^05) is unstable 
 in all his ways," chap. 1. 8. Hermas very strongly writes, 
 " Put away doubting from you, and do not hesitate to ask 
 of the Lord, saying to yourself, How can I ask of the Lord 
 and receive of Him, seeing I have sinned so much against 
 Him? Do not thus argue with yourself, but with all your 
 heart turn to the Lord, and receive Him without doubting, 
 and you will know the multitude of His tender mercies, that 
 He will never leave you, but fulfil the request of your soul " 
 (" Shepherd," Com. ix.) And again, " in none of your re- 
 quests which you make to the Lord without doubting will 
 you be denied, because those who doubt concerning God are 
 of double-soul, and obtain not one of their requests ; while 
 those who are perfect in the faith ask everything, trusting in 
 the Lord; and they obtain, because they ask nothing doubt- 
 ing, not being of double-soul. For every man of double- 
 soul, even if he repent, will with difficulty be saved" 
 (" Shepherd," Com. ix.) 
 
 5. Become not one who for taking stretches out 
 the hands, etc. — A verbatim quotation from Sirach iv. 31. 
 Again and again the Christian is urged by his teachers in 
 these first days to be lavishly generous with his goods. 
 This injunction is specially noticeable in this little treatise 
 of the " Teaching of the Apostles." 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 21 
 
 not one who for taking stretches out his hands, 
 but for giving clenches them tight; if thou 
 possessest anything, by .thy hands thou shalt give 
 *a ransom for thy sins. Thou shalt not hesitate 
 to give, nor in 'giving shalt thou murmur, for thou 
 must be well aware who is the noble Giver of the 
 reward. Thou shalt not turn away from the needy, 
 but thou shalt share all things with thy brother, and 
 * shalt not say that they are thine own ; for if ye 
 
 6. A ransom for thy sins. — This was no new idea in 
 Hebrew theology. We read in Daniel : " Break off thy 
 sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing.^ 
 mercy to the poor," chap. iv. 27. The same teaching is 
 repeated in the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." 
 "For in proportion as a man is pitiful towards his neigh- 
 bour, will the Lord be pitiful towards him" ("Zabulon," 8). 
 
 7. Nor in giving shalt thou murmur. — This ungrudg- 
 ing spirit of giving and helping others was constantly 
 pressed home to the believer of the first days ; so S. Paul 
 teaches when he writes of one who gives " not grudgingly, 
 or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 
 ix. 7) ; and S. Peter, when he draws a picture of the host 
 who was bidden " Use hospitality one to another without 
 grudging" (i Pet. iv. 9). A similar direction is given in 
 the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs" (" Zabulon," 7), 
 and also in Hermas, " Shepherd," Similitude ix. chap. xxiv. 
 
 8. And not say that they are thine own. — A clear 
 reference not only to the thought but to the very words 
 of Acts iv. 32. "And the multitude of them thatbeheved 
 were of one heart and of one soul : neither said any of 
 them that ought of the things which he possessed was his 
 
23 TEACHING OF 
 
 are ^fellow-partakers in that which is immortal, how 
 
 much more in things which are mortal ? ^^ Thou 
 
 . I 
 
 own, but they had all things common." The author of the 
 " Teaching " probably knew of and used the writings of 
 S. Luke, both the Gospel and the Acts. 
 
 9. For if ye are fellow-partakers in that which is 
 immortal, how much more in things which are mortal ? 
 — Apparently a memory of S. Paul. " For if the Gentiles 
 have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their 
 duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things " 
 (Rom. XV. 27). It has been already remarked that it is 
 highly probable that the writer of the Treatise was well 
 acquairited with S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. 
 
 10. Thou shalt not take oS thy hand from thy son 
 and from thy daughter, but from youth thou shalt teach 
 them the fear of God. — This direction respecting the 
 training in' things religious the children of the family, was 
 pressed by S. Paul (Eph. vi. 4) : " Bring them (the children) 
 up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Clement 
 of Rome, in his First Epistle to the Cor., perhaps the oldest 
 undoubted Christian writing not included in our present 
 Canon, but written very few years de/ore* this "Teach- 
 ing of the Apostles," speaks thus : " Let your children be 
 sharers in true Christian training. Let them learn . . . 
 how it saves all those who walk in it with a pure heart " 
 (Clement of Rome, Ep. to Cor. xxi.) 
 
 Hermas, who wrote not many years later, thus teaches : 
 " Do not cease then to admonish your sons, for I know that 
 if they repent with all their heart, they will be written 
 
 * It is even doubtful whether the " Teaching " is not the older 
 of the two. 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 23 
 
 shalt not take off thy hand from thy son and from 
 thy daughter, but from their youth thou shalt teach 
 them the fear of God. Thou shalt not give direc- 
 tions when thou art in anger to thy slave or thy 
 handmaid, who trust in the same God, lest per- 
 chance they shall not fear the God who is over you 
 both J for He cometh not to call men according to 
 their outward position, but He cometh to those 
 whom" the Spirit hath made ready. ^^And, ye 
 slaves, ye shall be subject to your masters, as to 
 
 together with the saints in the book of life." (Hermas, 
 " Shepherd," Visions i, iii.) 
 
 11. The Spirit hath made ready. — The only mention, 
 with the exception of the Baptismal Formula in chap, vii., 
 of the Holy Spirit in the "Teaching." This, however, is a 
 very clear and definite allusion to the work of the Spirit in the 
 human heart. See Epistle to the Romans viii. 29-30. 
 
 1 2. And, ye slaves, ye shall be subject to your masters, 
 as to God's image, etc. — In the pagan world slavery was 
 inextricably interwoven with all relations of society. All 
 that the Christian teacher could do at first was, in the 
 case of the master, to appeal to his consciousness of the 
 universal brotherhood of man, and in the case of the slave, 
 to remind him of his solemn duty to bear with brave patience 
 whatsoever lot God hath ordained for him in this short 
 period of trial called the earthly life. This quiet teaching 
 has, we know, borne splendid fruit, and as a result of Chris- 
 tian teaching, the greatest curse of the old world, without 
 any violent or destructive revolution, has well-nigh vanished 
 from the face of the world. 
 
 S, Paul in Eph. vi. 5-9 clearly set forth the mutual 
 
24 TEACHING OF 
 
 God's image, in modesty and fear. Thou shalt 
 hate all hypocrisy, and everything which is not 
 pleasing to the Lord. Thou shalt by no means 
 forsake the Lord's commandments, but thou shalt 
 keep what thou hast received, ^^ neither adding to 
 
 duties of master and slave, framing his teaching upon the 
 lines of thought above indicated, and gave the first blow to 
 the unnatural institution. He repeated his teaching as 
 regards slaves in his letter to Titus (ii. 9). See, too, his little 
 letter to Philemon, And S. Peter in his First Epistle presses 
 the duty of brave patience and fidelity upon the sad slave 
 class, many of whom had evidently welcomed the teaching 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Ignatius, in the first years of the second century, in his 
 Epistle to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, writes, " Do not 
 despise either male or female slaves, yet neither let them 
 be puffed up with conceit, but rather let them submit them- 
 selves the more for the glory of God, that they may win (for 
 themselves) a better liberty from God. Let them not desire 
 to be set free at the public cost, lest they be found slaves 
 to their own desires." (Ignatius to Polycarp, chap, iv.) 
 
 13. Neither adding to it nor taking from it. — The 
 author of the " Teaching " no doubt here quoted from 
 Deut. xii. 32, "What thing soever I command you, 
 observe to do u : thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish 
 from it.'' It is possible that the writer here had read the 
 words of the curse which S. John in his concluding words 
 of the Revelation pronounces upon the man who adds to 
 or takes away from the words of the divine prophecy. 
 
 Still for a trained Jew, such as evidently the author of 
 this treatise must have been, the Deuteronomy passage 
 most likely was in his mind when he wrote this charge. 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 25 
 
 it nor taking from it. In the church " thou shalt 
 confess thy transgressions, and ^^ shalt not come to 
 thy prayer with an evil conscience. This is the 
 way of life. 
 
 14. Thou shalt confess thy transgressions. — Similarly 
 S. James taught (v. 16), " Confess your sins one to another, 
 and pray," etc. 
 
 There are several very close points of, comparison be- 
 tween the precepts given by S. James in his epistle and 
 the directions in the " Teaching." 
 
 15. Thou shalt not come to thy prayer with an evil 
 conscience. — So Clement of Alexandria taught that "he 
 who holds converse with God must have his soul immacu- 
 late and stainlessly pure." (Stromata, vii, 7.) 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Now this is ^ the way of death : first of all it 
 is evil, and full of curse ; murders, adulteries, 
 lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, enchantments, 
 philtres, robberies, false testimonies, hypocrisies, 
 
 I. The way of death. — The agreement of this chapter 
 with the Epistle of Barnabas, chap, xx., is very close; 
 but a comparison between the two will show how much 
 simpler are the expressions used in the " Teaching." A very 
 similar catalogue of crimes is to be found in Hermas, Com. 
 viii. The terrible catalogue of vices which belong to this 
 " way " portray only too faithfully the state of society of 
 the pagan world in the first century of the Christian era. 
 A shorter summary of the same vices will be found in the 
 Apocalypse (xxii. 15) : "For without (the city) are dogs, 
 and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and 
 idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." The 
 latter clauses of this chapter paint the utter selfishness 
 of the opponents of Christianity. We find in the Epistle 
 of Ignatius to the SmyrnEeans a similar picture drawn. 
 " They have no regard for love, no care for the widow, or 
 the orphan, or the oppressed, the slave or the free ; none 
 for the hungry or for the thirsty." (Ignatius to the 
 Smyrnaeans, c. vii.) 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 27 
 
 duplicity, deceit, pride, baseness, self-will, greed, 
 foul speech, jealousy, audacity, haughtiness, boast- 
 fulness ; persecutors of the good, hating truth, 
 loving falsehood, not knowing the reward of right- 
 eousness, not cleaving to what is good nor to right- 
 eous judgment, on the watdh not for good but 
 .for evil ; far from whom are meekness and brave 
 patience, loving vanities, pursuing after a recom- 
 pense, not pitying a poor man, not * afflicted with 
 the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, 
 murderers of children, corrupters of the image of 
 God, turning away from him that is in need, 
 oppressing him that is in trouble, advocates of the 
 rich, lawless judges of the poor, sinners in everything: 
 may ye be preserved, children, from all these. 
 
 * Perhaps more literally, " not troubling oneself with the 
 aiHicted." 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 See that no one lead thee astray from this way 
 of the teaching, because apart from God does he 
 teach thee. For if thou art able to bear the whole 
 yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect; ^ but if 
 thou art not able, what thou art able, that do. 
 And ^ as regards food, what thou art able, bear ; 
 
 1. But if thou art not able, what thou art able, that 
 do. — Such an observation is especially characteristic of the 
 gentle and tolerant spirit of the writer. The thought in 
 the Epistle of Barnabas, chap, xix., is somewhat similar : 
 " As far as thou art able, thou shalt be pure in thy soul ; " 
 and in the so-called Second Epistle of Clement : " Should 
 we not all be able to win the crown, let us at least come 
 near it " (chap, vii.) (This Epistle is mentioned by Eusebius, 
 H.E. iii. 38, but as of doubtful authority.) 
 
 2. As regards food, what thou art able, bear. — " The 
 context clearly shows that this is not an allusion to fasting, 
 but to theburdensome distinction between clean and unclean 
 meats, from which the Jewish Christians were only slowly 
 emancipated. This is another clear proof of the early date 
 of the treatise." (Archdeacon Farrar.) 
 
 It was a reminder rather than a command from the wise 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 29 
 
 but ^ of that offered to idols be thou indeed on thy A 
 
 guard ; for it is a worship of dead gods. ' 
 
 f 
 
 and kindly Teacher to Christian Gentiles, who would of 
 course be frequently brought into intimate relations with 
 Christian Jews, to do all that in them lay to avoid all giving 
 offence to their fellow-religionists in these matters connected 
 with the old law. They, the Gentile Christians, were not 
 to consider themselves in any way burdened with the old 
 Levitical law, but they were to do all they could not to 
 shock the Jewish conscience. So S. Paul in Rom. xiv. ; i 
 Cor. viii., x. 19, 33. 
 
 3. Of tliat offered to idols, be thou indeed on thy 
 guard ; for it is a worship of dead gods. — " S. Paul's 
 rule about food offered to idols had been much less 
 stringent. He said ask no question, but eat whatsoever 
 is sold in the market, or is put before you, except in cases 
 where by so doing you would offend the conscience of 
 weaker brethren. The writer here is more rigid, probably 1 
 because the compromise had become more dangerous." 
 (Farrar.) 
 
 A remarkable passage in the Letter to Diognetus, a 
 writing which dates from the last years of the first or the 
 very early years of the second century, shows us with what 
 contemptuous abhorrence these 'dead gods' were looked 
 upon by Christian teachers of the first days. " Come 
 and gaze, not merely with your eyes but with your under- 
 standing, on the substance and the form of those whom you 
 pronounce and consider to be gods. Is not one of them ' 
 stone ... Is not a second brass ... Is not a third 
 wood ? . . . Are they not all deaf, are they not all blind, 
 are they not lifeless . . . are they not all liable to rot ? 
 
 These things. ye call gods. These ye serve. These 
 
 je worship ! " (Ep. to Diognetus, c. ii.) 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Now as regards baptism, thus baptize ye : having 
 
 I. Now as regards baptism, thus baptize ye, having 
 first rehearsed all these things. — Two points are clearly 
 indicated here by the writer of our treatise. 
 
 a. No one is to be baptized until. certain definite instruc- 
 tioii has been given. " All these things " refer to what has 
 gone before and to what follows after in this little docu- 
 ment In these the one to be baptized is to be fully 
 instructed, and — 
 
 6. This instruction, while thorough in its be;aring upon 
 practice, was evidently quite simple in its character, such as 
 unlearned folk could grasp. 
 
 Purity, truthfulness, self-denying generosity are enjoined 
 as requisites in the first part of the " Teaching." In the 
 second, the " Baptized " is directed to pray often and 
 regularly, not to neglect the public gathering together for 
 divine worship, and to share constantly in the Holy 
 Eucharist. This, with a few warnings and instructions 
 respecting the Teachers to be listened to and honoured, 
 and a reminder to be ever on the watch for the second 
 coming of the Lord, was the sum of the " Teaching ". which 
 was to be rehearsed in the ears of the candidate for 
 baptism. 
 
 It must, however, be remembered that in chapter iv. of 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 31 
 
 first rehearsed all these things, ^baptize into the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 
 the " Teaching" we read : " My child, remember night and 
 day him that speaks to thee the word of God," riii Xoyov tou 
 ©sod. In this " word of God " doubtless was compre- 
 hended the whole story of the ' redemption of Christ ; it 
 being perfectly clear that at least the Gospel of S: Matthew; 
 and most probably that of S. Luke and the Acts of the 
 Apostles, and much also of the teaching of S. Paul, were 
 well known to the writer of our treatise.* 
 
 2. Baptize into the name of the Father, and of 
 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost — While considerable 
 license was permissible in the description of water used — 
 running or other water,' while immersion or aspersion were 
 alike sanctioned — ^the use of the Baptismal Formula given 
 by the Son — in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity — is 
 declared here to be absolutely necessary for the validity 
 of the rite. The words of the formula were used by our 
 Lord in the institution of the blessed sacrament, S. Matt. 
 xxviii. 19. "Another and most ancient proof that from 
 the beginning the Church in this most holy rite used 
 the words of the Gospel." 
 
 Justin Martyr, who wrote only a few years later (in the 
 first half of the second century), describes Christian baptism 
 in almost the same terms. " As many as are persuaded 
 and believe that the things taught and spoken by us are 
 true, and promise to be able to live accordingly, are taught 
 to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission 
 
 * There is little doubt that the writer of this treatise was also 
 acquainted, if not with the Gospel at least with much of St. John's 
 teaching, possibly oral. Some of the coincidences in thought are 
 very striking. 
 
32 TEACHING OF 
 
 Holy Spirit, ^ in running water. But if thou hast 
 not running water, baptize in other water; and 
 *if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. But if 
 
 of their past sins, we at the same time praying and fasting 
 with them. Then they are brought by us to a place where 
 there is water, and are regenerated in the same way in 
 which we ourselves were regenerated. For in the name of 
 the Father and Lord of the whole universe, and of our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then 
 receive the washing with water (rJ Iv rSi uSari tots Xouj-jJh 
 voiovvrai). For Christ too said, "Except ye be born again, 
 ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Justin Martyr, 
 Apology I. Ixi.) 
 
 3. In runniiig water. — Water iii motion, either as in a 
 fountain or in a stream. A picture in the Catacomb of S. 
 Callixtus at Rome, dating from about A.D. 200, repre- 
 sents a youth standing ankle-deep in water, and receiving 
 baptism by the pouring of water upon his head. [See 
 Northcote and Brownlow's "Roma Sotteranea," ii. Plate xv.J 
 The passage before us apparently recommends just this 
 mode of performing the rite. If this should be impractic- 
 able, then fresh cold water might be similarly used (in a 
 font). If cold water could not be had, warm water would 
 answer. If neither cold nor warm water in sufficient 
 quantity (ankle deep) could be had, then pouring only 
 (upon the head) would suffice." (Professors Hitchcock 
 and Brown, U. S.) 
 
 4. If thou canst not in cold, then in warm. — A pro- 
 vision in the event of sickness or weakness in the case of the 
 candidate for baptism. This direction does not necessarily 
 imply that the "Teaching" was addressed to dwellers in 
 a distant country. In Jerusalem and Palestine, where we 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 33 
 
 thou hast neithefj ^pour water upon the head thrice, 
 into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. 
 But before the baptism ^let the baptizer and the 
 
 r 
 
 believe the writer and those he addressed lived, the weather ^ 
 was often cold enough (S. Luke xxii. 55, 56) to render 
 necessary some such concession in the case of the weak 
 and sickly. 
 
 5. Pour water upon the head thrice. — That is to say, 
 that in the event of there not being at hand a sufficiency 
 of water for immersion, sprinkling the water thrice on the 
 head with the use of the Baptism Formula in the name of 
 the ever-blessed Trinity, would suffice. 
 
 6. Let the baptizer and the baptized fast. — TIjere is 
 no trace in the Gospels of any such injunction on the part 
 of our Lord. Indeed, throughout the Divine teaching there 
 is a marked reticence on the subject of fasting. The undue 
 value set by the Pharisees upon such abstinence (which 
 probably often degenerated into a mere sham and pretence), 
 "I fast twice in the, week" (S. Luke xviii. 12), was no 
 doubt the reason of our Lord's silence. Yet from such 
 passages as " Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by 
 prayer and fasting" (S. Matt. xvii. 21 ; S. Mark ix. 29), and 
 S. Matt. yi. 16, 17, 18, it would seem as though the Master 
 had not omitted to dwell on this subject with His own. 
 In the " Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," a work 
 which scholars variously date from a.d. 70 to a.d. 200 
 (it was probably written in the first quarter of the second 
 century), and which has a close and intimate connection 
 in thought and teaching with this treatise which we are 
 now discussing, fasting assumes a definite and important 
 position in life atid teaching. (See "Testaments of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs," " Joseph," 3.) 
 
4 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 laptized fast, and any others who can ; but the 
 laptized thou shalt command to fast for one or two 
 lays before. 
 
 That fasting in the very early Christian Church was 
 ly no means confined to the Jewish Christians and the 
 ■lazarene school, the testimony of Justin Martyr in the 
 bove-quoted passage on baptism (Apol. i. Ixi.) is de- 
 isive. 
 
 Incidentally this direction, that the baptized should fast 
 ne or two days before, is an indication of the very early 
 late of this " Teaching," as it clearly shows that the writer 
 3 thinking mainly of adult converts. 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. ^ 
 
 But let not your fasts be arranged ^in common 
 with the hypocrites ; for ^ they fast on the second 
 
 1. In commoii witli the hypocrites. — Clear allusion is 
 here made to the Pharisees. The Lord's bitter denuncia- 
 tion of the Pharisee in S. Matt, xxiii. ; His scathing 
 criticism on the customary hypocritical fasting, S. Matt. 
 vi. i6 ; the, contrast presented by the Pharisee, who boasted 
 of his fasting twice a week, with the justified publican, 
 S. Luke xviii. 11-14, — all this had made a deep impression 
 on the writer of the " Teaching." To him evidently the 
 hypocrite was synonymous with the Pharisee ; the name 
 needed no explanation. 
 
 2. They fast on the second day of the week and on 
 the fifth. — In the oral law, as expounded by the Pharisee 
 school, the Jews were instructed to fast on the Monday, 
 the traditional day of the going up of Moses to meet the 
 Lord on Sinai ; and on Thursday, the traditional day of his 
 descent from the holy mount. 
 
 For these days, now become hateful owing to their con- 
 nection with the Pharisees, the teachers of the followers 
 of Jesus substituted as the regular days for fasting, the 
 Wednesday, the day of their Master's betrayal, and the 
 Friday, the day of the crucifixion, here termed the fourth 
 
36 TEACHING OF 
 
 day of the week and on ,the fifth; but do ye fast 
 on the fourth, and the preparation day. ^ Neither 
 pray ye like the hypocrites, but* as the Lord com- 
 manded in His Gospel, '^ thus pray : Our Father 
 
 and the preparation day (S. Matt, xxvii. 62 ; S. Luke 
 xxiii. 54 ; S. Mark xv. 42 ; S. John xix. 42). This is the 
 earliest intimation we possess of the adoption of the Wed- 
 nesday and Friday as the appointed fast-days in the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 3. Neither pray ye like the hypocrites. — The Lord's 
 warnings against the Pharisees, and the persistent enmity of 
 this school to His work, evidently had made, as we have 
 observed above, a very deep impression upon the Jewish 
 Christian community whence issued this writing. Twice 
 the gentle and conciliatory spirit of the author of the 
 " Teaching " is aroused to stern denunciation. " Fast, 
 but not as the hypocrite Pharisees, so sternly condemned 
 by the pitiful Master. Pray, but not as they pray." 
 
 4. As the Lord commanded in His Gospel. — A dis- 
 tinct reference to the Gospel of S. Matthew. There is 
 scarcely any doubt but that when this " Teaching " was 
 written, the Gospel bearing now S. Matthew's name existed 
 in the form in which we possess it, and also that it was 
 known and used in the Christian community addressed 
 by the writer of this treatise. 
 
 5. Thus pray : our Father, etc. — The Lord's Prayer 
 which here follows as the model for all daily, constant 
 prayer, scarcely differs even verbally from that given by S. 
 Matt. vi. 5-13 ; see, too, S. Luke xi. 2-4. Here we have 
 " Thy will be done in heaven," h oujavf), instead of h toTs 
 ovooiiioT(, in the heavens of SS. Matthew and Luke. And 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 37 
 
 which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy 
 kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so 
 on earth ; give us to-day our daily bread, and for- 
 give us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors, and 
 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil ; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. 
 * Three times in the day pray ye thus. 
 
 here we find our dedi tv o^s/X^v, instead of the plural rd, 
 ocfiii'K^aaTa of S. Matthew and rag aftagr/a; of S. Luke. 
 
 The doxology is shorter and slightly different from the 
 one found in the MSS. of S. Matthew, which insert the 
 doxology, the " Teaching " omitting " kingdom " alto- 
 gether. 
 
 6. Three times in the day pray ye thus. — This in- 
 junction is no doubt derived from the well-known example 
 of the Prophet Daniel, another of the' many indications of 
 the Jewish character of our document. " He (Daniel) 
 went into his house ■ and his windows being open in his 
 chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three 
 times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, 
 as he did aforetime " (Dan. vi. 10). 
 
 The special hours the writer of the " Teaching " leaves, 
 as one would expect in so practical an instruction, quite 
 undetermined. Clement of Alexandria gives another reason, 
 however, for the well-known three times in the day. " The 
 distribution of the hours into a threefold division, honoured 
 with as many prayers, those are acquainted with who kfiow 
 the blessed triad of the heavenly dwellings." (Stromata, 
 book vii. 7.) 
 
 The same Clement, however, rather depreciates this fixing 
 definite prayer hours; after mentioning the hours, third, 
 
38 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 sixth, ninth, he goes on to say : "Yet the ' Gnostic' prays 
 throughout his whole life, endeavouring by prayer to have 
 fellowship with God." (Stromata, book vii. c. 7.) 
 
 Harnack calls attention to the curious though unimpor- 
 tant variations in the text of the Lord's Prayer given here 
 in the " Teaching " — 
 
 The text of the A/3a;^^ varies from the text given in the 
 latest edition of " Tischendorf," and that put forth by Drs: 
 Westcott and Hort, in four places (exclusive of the Doxology, 
 which the AiSa^rj inserts), viz., sXiiriii for ikidru, afk/Mv 
 for cKJifixa/isv, and two hitherto unknown readings, viz.. In rifi 
 oDga»w for l» toI; ougavirs, and rrjv o(f>iiX^v for ra d(f>ii'KrifiaTa 
 (S. Luke rag a/tagT/a;). Most remarkable, however, is the 
 text of the Doxology of the Aiia^^, which omits ^ jSaffi- 
 y^ii'a. This omission occurs only in the Sahidic Version. 
 With this exception, all Greek MSS. and versions which 
 contain the Doxology, read ^ ^asiXila, 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ^ Now as regards the Eucharist, thus give 
 thanks;* ^ first, as regards the cup: ^We thank 
 
 * Or, celebrate the Eucharist. 
 
 1. Now as regards the Eucharist. — It is evident that 
 very early in the Church X)f Christ the Lord's Supper, as it 
 is termed by S. Paul (i Cor. xi. 20), vra.s called eu^aiisria,. 
 We find the term used by Ignatius in the first years of the 
 second century in his Epistle to the Philadelphians': " Take 
 ye heed then to have but one Eucharist," chap, iv., and 
 again in his Epistle to the Smyrnaans : " They abstain from 
 the Eucharist and from prayer," etc., chap. vii. ; and again : 
 " Let that be considered a perfected Eucharist which is 
 administered by the bishop, or by some one to whom he 
 has intrusted it," chap. viii. But assuming the very early 
 date of this " Teaching," we have here a still earlier use of 
 the title " Eucharist " for the Holy Sacrament. 
 
 Justin Martyr, writing in the first half of the second 
 century, after describing at length the ritual ,used in the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper, after speaking in 
 detail of the bread and wine, says, "And this food is 
 called among us the Eucharist." (I. Apology, c. Ixvi.) 
 
 2. First, as regards the cup. — The blessing of the cup 
 comes before that of the bread, as in the account of the 
 first institution (S. Luke xxii. 14-19)! So, too, S. Pa.\3l^rs( 
 
40 TEACHING OF 
 
 Thee, our Father, *for the holy vine of ^ David 
 
 mentions the blessing of the cup (i Gor. x. i6). But a, 
 few sentences further on the "Teaching" goes on to speak 
 of eating and drinking in reverse order (the order uni- 
 versally followed in the Church), as does S. Paul (i Cor. 
 xi. 29). The author of the "Teaching'' apparently had 
 S. Luke's account of the institution before him as he wrote. 
 
 3. We thank Thee, our Father. — We have here three 
 Eucharistic prayers — two before the act of receiving the 
 bread and wine, and one a thanksgiving after receiving. 
 These beautiful prayers are in their forms of expression 
 new to theologians. The compiler of the seventh book of 
 the Apostolical Constitutions, who has worked up so much 
 of our treatise of the " Teaching " in his compilation, has 
 completely altered this primitive liturgy. 
 
 " How old," writes Harnack, commenting upon them, 
 " must that third prayer be ? " Who composed them ? in 
 what august assemblies of the Lord's first disciples may 
 not these wotds have been reverently uttered ? Is it not 
 probable that after " Our Father " we possess in these 
 precious reliques the oldest Christian prayers .' The words, 
 " Our Father," with which the first begins, are of course 
 derived from the " Lord's Prayer." 
 
 4. For the holy vine of David, Thy servant. — " The 
 vine of David," " that is Christ." (Bryennios.) The ex- 
 pression " Holy Vine of David " is a strange one.* It is, of 
 course, derived from our Lord's own words in His discourse 
 spoken the evening before He suffered, on the vine and its 
 
 * " Some illustration of this language may possibly be supplied 
 by early Christian art. At Hinton Parva, in Gloucestershire, is a 
 font decorated with a vine, which has its origin in the mouth Of a 
 lamb." — Vean Ho/wson, 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 41 
 
 ^Thy servantj which Thou hast made known to 
 
 branches. " I am the true vine," etc. (S. John xv. i). It 
 reminds us of the connection of His words then spoken 
 with the Eucharist. 
 
 The expression, though to us it seems an unusual one, 
 was evidently well known to Ihe teachers of the early 
 Church. Clement of Alexandria uses it : " This (Jesus), 
 who poured out for us the wine of the vine of David, 
 that is to say. His blood." rig euZfiiavos <!rXoueio;, 
 Section 28. He writes in another treatise, after speaking 
 of the Word symbolically represented as a vine : " For the 
 vine /produces wine, as the Word produces blood, and both 
 drink for health to men. For the body, wine ; for the 
 spirit, blood." (Pedagogue, book i. 5.) And again, writing 
 of the Lord's blood : " Is it not,'' he asks, " symbolically 
 represented as wine ? Who washes His garment in wine, 
 His robe in the blood of the grape." (Pedagogue, book i. 6.) 
 
 5. Of David. — The connection of David as the royal 
 progenitor of King Messiah was a, familiar one, we know, 
 in the first days of the faith, when Hebrew thought still 
 tinged deeply well-nigh every writing and address. See, too, 
 S. Luke xviii. 38, 39, where the blind man of Jericho twice 
 addresses our Lord as " Son of David," and the Master's own 
 words, " How say they that Christ is David's son?" (S. Luke 
 XX. 41, 44.) Compare, too, S. Matthew xxi. 9 and 15, which 
 passages relate how the multitude in the open way and the 
 children in the temple cried Hosanna to the Son of David. 
 
 6. Thy servant. roD vaiSig eov. — The same expression 
 iraig, servant (minister), or son (child), is used for David 
 and the Lord Jesus indifferently by S. Luke (Acts iii. 13, 26, 
 iv. 25, 27, 30), where the Authorised Version in the first two 
 passages renders -aaida by son ; in the third <!raiii; (where it 
 
42 TEACHING OF 
 
 us through Jesus Thy Son ; to Thee be glory for ever. 
 ''And as regards the broken Iread : *We thank Thee, 
 our Father, for the life and the knowledge which 
 Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy Son ; 
 to Thee be glory for ever. * Just as this broken bread 
 was once scattered in grains of corn over the hills, and 
 having been gathered together became one, so let 
 
 is used of David) hy servant ; in the last two •aa.ila. and •saihiq 
 by child. 
 
 7. And as regards the broken bread, xKaeiia. — " That 
 is, the bread broken in the Eucharist." (Bryennios.) 
 
 8. We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and the 
 knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through 
 Jesus Thy servant (or Son). — In a very beautiful passage 
 Clement of Rome teaches the same truth, viz., that it is 
 through Jesus that we attain to life and light and know- 
 ledge. " Through' Him our foolish and darkened under- 
 standing blossoijis up afresh towards His marvellous light. 
 Through Him the Lord has willed that we taste immortal 
 knowledge." (First Epistle to the Corinthians, c. xxxvi, ) 
 
 9. Just as this broken bread was once scattered 
 in grains of corn over the hills, etc. — The image is a 
 strange one, but singularly vivid ; it is peculiar to the 
 " Teaching of the Apostles," and finds in the Holy Eucharist 
 a striking allegory respecting the "last things." The bread 
 
 • broken in the Eucharist once upon a time consisted of 
 separate grains of corn, grown it may be on various and 
 distant hill-sides. These grains, gathered together and 
 ground doTvn into flour, compose this Eucharistic Bread. 
 So — should the faithful communicant pray — so may the 
 Church, now scattered in all lands, be one day gathered 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 43 
 
 ^"Thy Church be gathered together from the ends 
 of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the 
 glory and the power, through Jesus Christ for ever. 
 ^^ But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, 
 
 together into the kingdom. Is it not possible that in this 
 singular and striking simile we have a memory of some 
 unrecorded saying of the Lord ? 
 
 10. Let thy Church be gathered together . . . into 
 Thy kingdom. — The Church of God on earth will become a 
 part of the kingdom of God in heaven. 
 
 1 1. But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist 
 except those baptized into the name of the Lord. -7- 
 Justin Martyr's account of the administration of the Eu- 
 charist was written — ^assuming that this " Teaching " was 
 put forth shortly before the close of the first century — after 
 an interval of less than fifty years. It will be seen, on a 
 comparison of the two descriptions, that there was little 
 difference in the main features. Iii both accounts it 
 appears that all the faithful were expected to receive the 
 holy bread and wine. In both, the faithful only included 
 the formally instructed and baptized. As was to have been 
 expected, a more formal and elaborate ritual seems to have 
 characterised the latter period. Justin Martyr writes : , 
 
 " Having concluded the prayer, we salute one another 
 ■with a kiss. Then is brought to the president of the 
 brethren, bread and a cup of wine mixed with water: 
 and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father 
 of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the 
 Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at some length. . . . And 
 after that the president has given thanks, and all the 
 people have expressed their assent, those men whom we 
 name deacons give to each of those present to partake of 
 
 D 
 
44 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 except those baptized into the name of the Lord ; 
 for as regards this the Lord hath said : 12 Give not 
 that which is holy to the dogs. 
 
 the bread and wine mixed with water, over which the 
 thanksgiving was said, and to those who are absent they 
 carry away a portion. . . . And this food is called among 
 us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake 
 but the man who believes that the things which we teach 
 are true, and who has been washed with the washing that 
 is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and 
 who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as 
 common bread. and common wine do. we receive these. 
 . . The Apostles, in the memoirs (o.'jm/j.vtj/iovii/jiaTa') com- 
 posed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus handed 
 down to us what was enjoined upon them, that Jesus took 
 bread, and when He had given thanks, said, ' This do ye 
 in remembrance of me ; this is my body.' And that after 
 the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks. 
 He said, / This is my blood.' " (Justin Martyr, Apology, 
 I. c. Ixv. and Ixvi.) 
 
 The one rather striking difference in the ritual of the 
 "Teaching" is the omission of the words, "This is my 
 body," "This is my blood." Professor Wordsworth, how- 
 ever, has suggested that this omission may possibly be a 
 relic of a time when the direct expressions, " This is my 
 body," "This is my blood," were avoided to escape the 
 well-known misrepresentations of outsiders. The calumnies 
 about Thyestaean banquets were probably grounded on the 
 testimony of slaves, who gave a garbled account of what 
 they had heard. (See the Octavius of Minucius Felix, c. ix.) 
 12. Give not that which is holy to the dogs. — A 
 verbatim quotation from S. Matt. vii. 6. Of course the', 
 context in which the origiftal occurs is perfectly different. 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ^ Now after ye are filled^ give thanks thus : We 
 thank Thee, ^ holy Father, for Thy holy name, 
 which Thou hast caused to dwell in our hearts 
 and for the knowledge and faith and immortality 
 which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus 
 Thy Son ; to thee be glory for ever. Thou, 
 Almighty Master, didst create all things for Thy 
 name's sake ; Thou didst give both food and drink to 
 men for enjoyment, in order that they might give 
 Thee thanks; but* to us hast Thou graciously given 
 
 1. Now after ye are filled. — In the original fiera, rh 
 Ift.T'KneSrivai. Wiinsche renders the expression : " nach 
 voUendeter Handlung, d.i. nach Genuss von Wein und 
 Brod." Wordsworth paraphrases it : " After the act of 
 reception." It seems that the Eucharist in the Congre- 
 gations addressed in the " Teaching " followed the ayairri, 
 or Love Feast — another sign of the very early date of the 
 treatise. Justin Martyr's description of the holy rite 
 clearly shows us that the Eucharist in the middle of the 
 second century was simply a solemn service, quite un- 
 connected with ally' ayac^ or Love Feast. 
 
 2. Holy Father. — The phrase of S. John xvii. ii : 
 " Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those," etc. 
 
 3. To us hast Thou graciously giveu spiritual food 
 
46 TEACHING OF 
 
 spiritual food and drink and eternal life through 
 Thy Son. Before all things, we thank Thee that 
 Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever. 
 
 * Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver her from 
 every evil, ® and to perfectf her in Thy love, and 
 
 * gather her, ^ now made holy, from the four winds, 
 
 and drink and eternal life through Thy Son. — This is 
 an important testimony of the very early Church to the 
 place which the Holy Eucharist held in their life. In the 
 first years of the second century, Ignatius thus writes of 
 the same sacrament in similar terms : " Breaking one and 
 the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality and 
 the antidote which will prevent us from dying, but (which 
 will enable us) to live for ever in Jesus Christ." (Ignatius, 
 Epistle to Ephesians, c. xx.) 
 
 4. Kememher, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver her 
 from every evil. — There is an apparent reference here to 
 S. John's teaching (xvii. 15) : "I pray not that Thou 
 shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou 
 shouldest keep them from the evil." 
 
 5. And to perfect her (Thy Church) in Thy love. — 
 Another possible memory of S. John : " He that feareth 
 is not made perfect in love " (i John iv. 18) ; and compare, 
 too, verses 12, 17 of the fourth chapter, where the same 
 thought is expressed. 
 
 6. Gather her (Thy Church), now made holy, from the 
 four winds. — A memory, almost verbal, from S. Matt. xxiv. 
 31:" And he shall send his angels . . . , and they shall 
 gather together his elect from the four winds.'' 
 
 7. Now made holy (or sanctified). — The Epistle to 
 the Hebrews completes this statement, and tells us how the 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 47 
 
 into Thy kingdom, which thou hast prepared for her ; 
 for Thine is the power and the glory for ever. Let 
 grace come and *let this world pass away. 'Hosanna 
 to the son of David! Whoever is holy, let him 
 come; whoever is not, let him repent. "Maranatha. 
 
 Church is made holy or sanctified : Through the offering 
 of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. x. 10). 
 
 8. Let this world pass away. — This has been generally 
 the prayer of Christians for the speedy coming of the end. 
 The last words of the Revelation of S. John would seem 
 to encourage such an aspiration. There have been, how- 
 ever, distinguished teachers who have felt otherwise. So 
 TertuUian, who wrote in the last ten years of the second 
 century, in his Apology, chap, xxxix., says : "We pray too 
 . . . for the delay of the final consummation," oramus 
 etiam . . . pro mori finis. 
 
 9. Hosanna to the Son of David. — So S. Matt, xxi, 
 9, 15. Clement of Alexandria, commenting upon this 
 expression of adoration recounted by S. Matthew, thus 
 paraphrases it : " Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed 
 is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Light and 
 glory and praise with supplication to the Lord, for this is 
 the signification of the expression Hosanna." (Pedagogue, 
 book i. chap, v.) 
 
 10. Marauatha, Maran-atha. — Two Syro-Chaldean 
 words, signifying " The Lord is come," used by S. Paul i 
 Cor. xvi. 22.. The prayer thus ended prays, " Let the saints 
 come to meet the Lord. As many as are unbelievers, and 
 not yet washed in the laver of grace, or who have fallen 
 away, let them repent. May the Lord come, and His 
 kingdom." (Bryennios.) 
 
48 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 Amen. ^^But permit the prophets to give thanks 
 in such terms as they please. 
 
 II. Eut permit the prophets to give thanks in snch 
 terms as they please. — On the general question of the 
 " prophets " in the early days of Christianity, see Excursus 
 VII., pp. 125-131. 
 
 This notice at the close of the brief directions respecting 
 the Eucharistic liturgy is a proof that even in these very 
 early days the greatest care was used to guard against all 
 wild and unauthorised speaking in presence of the congrega- 
 tion. A definite form of prayer and thanksgiving in these 
 oft-repeated but solemn services was clearly used, and the 
 prophet alone was authorised to depart from it. 
 
 Justin Martyr, writing of the Eucharistic service some 
 fifty years later, speaks of a somewhat similar license being 
 accorded to the president ,of the brethren, ^goierug. 
 "When our prayer is ended, bread and win'e and watfer are 
 brought, and the president in like manner offers prayer 
 and thanksgivings according to his ability, oatj Sumfiii 
 avrfi." (ist Apology, chap. Ixvii.) 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Whoever then cometh and teacheth you ^ all these 
 things, spoken above, receive him; but if the teacher 
 himself, ^ being misled, teaches another teaching, so 
 
 1. All these things above spoken. — That is to say (a) 
 the things concerning everyday life, generally grounded on 
 the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and contained in the 
 picture of the two ways of life and death, chaps. i.-vi. 
 (d) The things concerning the spiritual aids to such 
 an everyday life, viz. baptism, prayer and fasting, , and 
 the Holy Eucharist, chaps, vii.-x. Such a teacher — basing 
 his teaching upon these broad lines — ^^was to be received 
 and welcomed. 
 
 2. Being misled, teaches another teaching, so as to 
 overthrow this, do not hear him. — So S. John, writing 
 probably at a time not very remote from the date of this 
 " Teaching," warns another group of early Christian con- 
 verts : " If there come any unto you, and bring not this^ 
 doctrine (teaching, diia^rit, the same word is used), receive 
 him not unto your house, neither bid him God-speed ; for 
 he that biddelh him God-speed is partaker of his evil 
 deeds" (2 S. John 10, 11). 
 
 Ignatius makes mention of the same class of false 
 'teachers, apparently travelling from place to place spread- 
 ing their false teaching, iida^rif xax^v, and he praises the 
 
so TEACHING OF 
 
 as to overthrow this, do not hear him; but ^ifhe 
 teach so as to advance righteousness and the know- 
 ledge of the Lordj receive him. as the Lord. But as 
 regards the * apostles and prophets^ according to 
 *the decree of the gospel, so do ye. And every 
 apostle who cometh to you, let him be received as 
 the Lord; but ^he shall not remain more than one 
 
 Ephesians for not suffering such to sow among them. 
 (See Ignatius to the Ephesians, chap, ix.) 
 
 3. If he teach so as to advance righteousness, etc., 
 receive him as the Lord. — To the same effect wrote 
 Ignatius : " For every one whom the Master of the House 
 sends to (s/;) His own household, him shall we receive as 
 we would receive Him who sent him." (Ignatius to the 
 Ephesians, chap, vi.) See too S. Matt x. 40-41, and 
 especially S. John xiii. 20 : "Verily, verily, I say unto you. 
 He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me ; and 
 he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." 
 
 4. As regards the apostles and prophets. — On the 
 question, " Who were these apostles and prophets ? " see 
 Excursus VI.-VII., pp. 120-125). 
 
 5. According to the decree (rh Soy^a) of the Gospel. — 
 The primitive directions which the Lord gave to the Twelve 
 and to the Seventy are apparently referred to here. (See 
 S. Matt. X. 5-12 ; S. Luke ix. 1-6, and x. 4-21.) 
 
 6. He shall not remain more than one day. — Dr. 
 Farrar (Art. in Expositor, May 1884) remarks that "the 
 tone of these directions implies an age of apostolic poverty 
 and simplicity, when a man was to be regarded as a false 
 prophet if he asked for money, or if, being a wandering 
 missionary, he stayed in hospitable quarters over the second 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 51 
 
 day ; if, however, there be need, then the next day ; 
 Tjut if he remain three days, he is a false prophet. 
 But when the apostle departs, let him take nothing 
 except bread enough to last him till he reach his 
 resting-place for the night; but if he ask for money, 
 'he is a false prophet. And every prophet ^who 
 speaks in the Spirit, ^ ye shall not try nor test,; for 
 
 day." See, too, Rev. ii. 2, where St. John writes of would- 
 be apostles thus : "And thou hast tried them which say 
 they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." 
 
 7. He is a false prophet. — That is to say, "a false 
 teacher." (Bryennios.) 
 
 8. Who speaks in the Spirit. — The probable significa- 
 tion here of " speaking in the Spirit," is being in an ecstasy, 
 and yet uttering, while in that state, precepts and warnings 
 of which the hearers could grasp the meaning — verstand- 
 liches welin auch geheimnissvoUes Reden in Zustande 
 hochster Erregung. (Harnack.) 
 
 9. Ye shall not try. — The prophet approved and tested 
 by his way of life — the prophet known as an unselfish, 
 self-denying man, is here referred to. Such an one is not 
 to be lightly and irreverently criticised or judged ; and a 
 terrible woe is denounced against the one who presumes to 
 sit in judgment, or to lightly criticise a prophet thus publicly 
 approved by his way of life. So S. Paul in i Thess. v. 19 : 
 " Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings." 
 
 Harnack suggests that this stern caution to the critics was 
 rendered necessary, for the propliet was already beginning 
 to lose his influence in the communities. (Was not the gift, 
 — X'^J'Jitta m^ot^nniui — even at that early period, perhaps 
 already slowly dying out .') 
 
52 ■ TEACHING OF 
 
 every sin shall be forgiven, but ^^ this sin shall not 
 be forgiven. But not every one who speaks in the 
 Spirit is a prophet, " but only if he have the ways of 
 
 10. This sin shall not be forgiven. — The writer of the 
 "Teaching" in some way included this sin in the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost, referred to in S. Matt. xii. 31 ; 
 S. Luke xii. 10; S. Mark iii. 28-30. 
 
 11. But only if he have the ways of the Lord. — From 
 the context it would seem that "the ways of the Lord," 
 here especially referred to, included an entire self-surrender 
 and self-effacement ; a readiness to spend and be spent for 
 the brethren. He who took the honoured but difficult 
 work of a prophet in those days, who would in very truth 
 be great among the brethren, had to remember that his 
 life-work was to be the servant of others, and it was just 
 tkis that the false prophets ignored ; these were the men 
 who tried to make a gain out of their holy profession. 
 Ignatius and Hermas in their writings toth warn the faith- 
 ful to weigh well the life and practice of the men who made 
 these great professions. Hermas, Comm. xl, well and 
 clearly puts how the true and false prophets are to be tested. 
 " I will tell you about both the prophets, and then you can 
 test the true and the false prophet according to my direc- 
 tions. , Test the man who has the Divine Spirit by his life : 
 He who has the Divine Spirit coming from above, is meek, 
 peaceable, and humble, separate from all wickedness and 
 the empty desires of this world, and is content with fewer 
 requirements than other men. The man who seems to 
 have the Spirit exalts himself and desires the first seat, 
 and is audacious and impudent and garrulous, and lives 
 surrounded by many luxuries, . . . and takes rewards for 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 53 
 
 the Lord. So from their ways shall the false 
 prophet and the prophet be recognised. And ^^ no 
 prophet who in the Spirit orders a Love-Feastj eateth 
 himself of itj unless, indeed, he is a false prophet ; 
 and every prophet who teacheth the truth, if he 
 practise not that which he teacheth, is a false 
 prophet. And ^* every approved genuine prophet, 
 
 his prophecy ; and if he does not get rewards, then he 
 does not prophesy. Can then the Divine Spirit take 
 rewards and prophesy ? It is not possible that the 
 Prophet of God should do this.'' And further on Hernias 
 writes that the false prophet "associates with worthless 
 and vain persons, and deceives them, speaking to them 
 according to their wishes, mere empty words." See also 
 Ignatius to the Ephesians, c. xiv., where he speaks of the 
 tree being made manifest by its fruit. 
 
 12. And no prophet who in the Spirit orders a Love- 
 Feast, eateth himself of it, unless, indeed, he is a false 
 prophet. — "A Love-Feast." This appears to be the mean- 
 ing of the unusual expression rgdvi^av (lit. a table). In- 
 deed all this portion of the eleventh chapter unveils for us 
 new and hitherto unknown phases of the life led by the 
 primitive Christians. But the prophet who requested that 
 such a Love-Feast should be prepared, probably with a view 
 to his showing the mystery referred to in the following 
 clause, must himself not think of sharing in the pleasure of 
 such a feast. 
 
 13. Every approved genuine prophet who summons 
 assemblies for the purpose of showing an earthly mys- 
 tery, but who does not teach others to do all that he 
 himself doeth, shall not be judged by you, for his 
 
54 TEACHING OF 
 
 who summons assemblies for the purpose of show- 
 ing an earthly mystery, but who does not teach 
 others to do all that he himself doeth, shall not be 
 judged by you; for his judgment is in the hands of 
 
 judgment is in the hands of God, for so did the ancient 
 prophets also. — The meaning of this strange charge will 
 be best explained by our constructing for ourselves out of 
 the materials supplied to us in this little treatise a picture 
 of a visit paid to a Christian congregation by one of these 
 prophets of the first days. 
 
 Now a prophet in these early years, when special gifts 
 were still vouchsafed for the building up of the Church, 
 was something more than a preacher who spoke burning 
 words which \vent straight to men's hearts. He possessed 
 at times a distinctly predictive power, which, as in the case 
 of Agabus, related in Acts xi. 28, he would at times 
 dramatise by some striking symbolic act which would serve 
 to excite the spectator's interest. Such a prophet, sen- 
 sible that he had a special message to deliver, would come 
 to some village or city where there was a Christian con- 
 gregation. He would make his errand known to the 
 bishop and deacons of the community, and bid them 
 gather their flock together to partake of a solemn Agape or 
 Love-Feast. In the words of our "Teaching," he would 
 order a table. But the prophet must show the genuineness 
 of his message by keeping aloof himself from the festal 
 scene. He must neither eat nor drink; the Love-Feast 
 must be no indulgence to him. At its close he would 
 show the people "the earthly mystery; "in other words, 
 would perform before them the symbolic action followed 
 by his explanation of it, and its solemn warning lesson, the 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 55 
 
 God ; for so did the ancient prophets also. But 
 whoever, in the Spirit, says : ^* Give me money, or 
 
 delivery of which was the object of his coming among 
 them and summoning them together. 
 
 For the prophet thus to dramatise his message, thus to 
 show an earthly mystery, was strictly in accordance with 
 the old Jewish practice. " So did the ancient prophets," 
 writes the author of the " Teaching." So for instance did 
 Jeremiah bury his girdle by the hole of a rock in Euphrates, 
 and took it up again all marred (Jer. xiii.) So the same 
 prophet appeared among the people with bonds and yokes 
 upon his neck (Jer. xxvii. 2, xxviii. ro). So Isaiah went 
 among the people naked and barefoot three years (Isa. 
 XX. 2, 4). So Ezekiel presented himself before the people 
 with his tile (chap, iv.), with his knife and razor (chap, v.) 
 See, too, chap. xii. 3. So still earlier Ahijah showed him- 
 self with his garment rent into twelve pieces (i Kings xi. 
 
 29-31)- 
 
 But the writer of the " Teaching " saw that in all these 
 spiritual manifestations there was grave danger of imposture 
 for the sake of -gain. So while conceding the possibility, 
 even the desirableness, of permitting such manifestations, he 
 guarded against fraud and evil purpose by first insisting that 
 the inspired prophet should receive nothing for his work, 
 neither food nor money ; and secondly, that he should not 
 teach others to perform like acts. In other words, such a 
 " symbolic act " or " earthly mystery " was not to be a thing 
 of common everyday occurrence ; it was not to be repeated 
 or imitated. 
 
 14. Give me money, or anything else, ye shall not 
 listen to him. — Because the Lord said, " Freely ye have 
 received, freely give " (S. Matt. x. 8). (Bryennios.) So 
 
S6 TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 
 
 anything else, ye shall not listen to him ; ^^ but if for 
 others in need he bids you give, let no one judge 
 him. . 
 
 Micah in his picture of the sin of Israel describes the 
 priests teaching for hire and the prophets divining for 
 money (Micah iii. 2). 
 
 15. But if for others in need he bids you give. — 
 Here the Prophet was to be unhesitatingly obeyed. We 
 have in these words one more reminder to the Christian 
 to be generous to the poor and needy. This point is, as 
 has been observed, one of the characteristic features of 
 the " Teaching." 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 But let every one that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord be received, but ^ afterward, when ye have put 
 him to the test,. ye shall know him; [for ye shall 
 have understanding]* right and left. ^ If he who 
 
 * The words " for ye shall have understanding " are in the 
 original Greek text of the "Teaching," but are here enclosed in 
 brackets thus [ . . . ] to mark the parenthesis, which is evidently 
 necessary for the right understanding of the sentepce. 
 
 1. Afterward, when ye have put him to the test, ye 
 shall know him, [for ye shall have understanding] right 
 and left. — The expression is a curious one, but no doubt 
 the paraphrase of the passage in the Apostolical Constitu- 
 tions gives us the meaning intended by the writer here. 
 " Whosoever comes to you, let him first be examined and 
 then received ; for ye have understanding and are able to 
 discern the right hand from the left, and to distinguish 
 false teachers from true teachers" (Book vii. chap, xxviii.) 
 The expression much in the same sense is used in Jonah ix. 
 1 1. See, too, for a somewhat diiferent use, 2 Cor. vii. 7. 
 
 2. If he who comes is a traveller, help him to the 
 best of your ability. — Among the Jewish people there 
 was much of this moving from place to place. They were 
 a great and numerous race, but in the first century of the 
 
S8 TEACHING OF 
 
 comes is a traveller, help him to the best of your 
 ability j but he shall only stay with you for two or 
 three days, if there be necessity. But if, being an 
 artisan, he wishes to settle among you, let him work 
 and so eat ; but if he have no handicraft, provide, 
 according to your understanding, that no idler live 
 with you as a Christian, Then if he will not act 
 according to this, ^ he is a Christ-trafEcker; beware 
 of such. 
 
 Christian era had no country really of their own. In most 
 of the cities of the Roman empire in the first century 
 there was a Jewish colony. Very stringent regulations were 
 required among the new sect of Christians, at first largely 
 composed of Jews, to guard against imposture, to keep at 
 a distance idle, good-for-nothing men, who would try to 
 live in idleness, trafficking in the, name of Christ. 
 
 The danger was all the greater in the new society, 
 because generosity to the poor and needy was so strongly 
 pressed home to the faithful as an urgent solemn duty. 
 
 This peril appeared in the Church very early. S. Paul 
 several times in his epistles referred to his own sturdy 
 independence of all help. Though as a teacher he was 
 unwearied, yet he supported himself with the labour of his 
 own hands. See for instance his words in Acts xx. 33, 
 34) 3S> ^"^ 2 Thess. iii. 8, and his stern command, " If 
 any would not work, neither should he ' eat " (2 Thess. 
 iii. 10). 
 
 3. He is a Christ trafficker ; beware of suck — As was 
 stated in the last note, following the example of S. Paul, 
 the great teachers who immediately followed the twelve and 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 59 
 
 the hearers of the Lord, were strong in their denunciations 
 of the " Christ-trafficker," p^j/m^trojos as the writer of the 
 " Teaching" calls the lazy impostor. So Barnabas : " Thou 
 shalt not associate thyself, nor be like such men, who know 
 not how by their own toil and sweat to get food for them- 
 selves, but in their lawlessness seize on what belongs to 
 others, and though walking apparently in guilelessness are 
 ■watching and looking around to see whom they may 
 through their greediness strip" (Barnabas, Ep. chap, x.) 
 So too Ignatius : " For there are some men whose practice 
 it is to carry about the Name (of Christ) in wicked guile ; 
 but these all the while are doing things unworthy of God, 
 whom ye must shun as ye would wild beasts." (Ignatius 
 to Ephesians vii.) 
 
 Polycarp, after directing the presbyters to be pitiful and 
 merciful to all, to visit the sick, and not to neglect the 
 widow, the orphan, or the poor, closes the chapter with 
 an exhortation to be zealous in the pursuit of what is good, 
 " keeping ourselves frbm false brethren, and from those who 
 in hypocrisy are bearing the name of the Lord." (Polycarp 
 to the Philippians, chap. vi. ) 
 
( 60 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Xlir. 
 
 But every genuine prophet who wishes to settle 
 among yoii ^is worthy of his support. So too a 
 genuine teacher, he also is worthy, like the work- 
 man, of his support. ^All the first-fruits, then, of 
 
 1. Is worthy of his support. — A short practical chapter, 
 rendered necessary probably in this early Christian manual 
 after the very stringent directions respecting the itinerant 
 prophets receiving no money, and not even sharing in the 
 Love-Feasts. If a prophet, however, or a teacher, should 
 settle permanently in a community, such a one was worthy 
 of his support. 
 
 2. All the first-fruits then of the products of the 
 winepress and the threshing-floor, of ozen and of 
 sheep, thou shalt give to the prophets. — All these 
 arrangements for the support of these resident ministers 
 are based, upon the Mosaic law, and evidently belonged 
 to a community whose leaders were mostly Christian Jews. 
 Twice a reference is made to the Commandment, of course 
 the charge contained in the Levitical law. Then, too, 
 reference is made to the well-known Hebrew ag^ii^iTc, 
 the title usually given to the chief priests, the heads of 
 courses. The prophets in some respects stood to these 
 Christian congregations in the same relation as did the 
 "?Ji"S"f (chief priests) to the Jewish people. The term 
 "sX"S"' '® found in the Gospels. 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 6i 
 
 the products of ^the winepress and the threshing- 
 floor, of oxen and of sheep, thou shalt take and 
 give to the prophets; for they are your chief- 
 priests. But if ye have no prophet,* give to the 
 poor. If thou makest a batch of bread, take the 
 first-fruit and give it according to the command- 
 ment. In like manner, when thou openest a jar of 
 wine or oil, take the first-fruits and. give them 
 to the prophets ; and of money and raiment and 
 every possession take the first-fruits, in the way 
 which seems best to thee, and give them according 
 to the commandment. 
 
 * See Excursus vii. p. 141-. 
 
 3. The winepress and the threshing-floor. — All these \ 
 references, the oxen and sheep, the jars of oil and wine, V^ 
 seem to point to the community especially addressed being 
 composed of dwellers in the country or in a small pro- 
 vinicial town rather than in a great city, such as Antioch, 
 or Alexandria, or Corinth. 
 
( 62 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Now ^on the Lord's Lord's-day, ^when ye are 
 
 I. On the Lord's Lord's-day. — In this community, 
 although so full of Jewish associations, the Lord's-day, not 
 the Sabbath, was the day commended to the faithful to 
 be kept holy. We have here another proof that in the 
 very earliest times the leaders of the new faith directed their 
 followers to meet. together for religious worship. 
 
 Very briefly, the history of the observance of the day was 
 as follows : — On it the Lord rose from the dead. During 
 the "forty days " He selected it as the especial day for 
 appearing to and holding converse with His disciples. 
 The Holy Spirit chose the first day of the week for His 
 .descent in a bodily form upon the Apostles. (In that year 
 the day of Pentecost occurred on the first day of the week.)* 
 
 From casual passages in the Acts it appears that the 
 practice of meeting on the first day of the week was adopted 
 by the Church of Jerusalem. Among the followers of Jesus 
 the custom spread evidently into foreign countries. At 
 Troas (Acts xx. 7) we have, for instance, an account of a 
 special religious assembly, joined with a Eucharistic cele- 
 bration, taking place on that day. We find S. Paul (i Cor. 
 xvi. I, 2) clearly alluding to it as the day well known for 
 
 * See Archdeacon Hessey : " Sunday, its Origin," &c. Bampton 
 Lectures, i860. Lecture II. 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, 6f 
 
 assembling together. In the Apocalypse we read of the 
 Apostle S. John describing himself as wrapt in ecstatic con- 
 templation, and in that state beholding a divine vision on 
 the day styled by him — in a word recently coined perhaps 
 by himself — the Lord's-day, xu»/ax4 (Rev. i. lo). 
 
 If we assume the earlier date for the writing of the 
 " Teaching," then the use of the word xviiaxri for Lord's^ 
 day here, is the earliest recorded after the employment, 
 probably the invention of it, by S. John in the Revelation. 
 
 Ignatius, writing about A.D. io6, in using the new word, 
 clearly shows that the institution was then an established 
 practice in . the Christian Church. " If, therefore," he 
 writes, " those who were brought up under the ancient 
 writings, have come to the possession of a new hope, no 
 longer keeping the Sabbath-day, but living in the observance 
 of the Lord's-day, xaros xug(ax^v Zuvri;, in which also our 
 life has sprung up through Him and His death." (Ignatius 
 to Maghesians, chap, ix.) 
 
 Barnabas, writing only a few years later, graphically' 
 describes the evidently universal observance of the " Lord's- 
 day." " Wherefore we too keep the eighth day with 
 gladness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the 
 dead." (Barnabas, Epistle, chap, xv.) 
 
 " To-day," writes Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, some 
 time about the middle of the second century, to Soter, 
 Bishop of Rome — " To-day was the Lord's-day (and) kept 
 holy, and we read your letter, from the reading of which 
 from time to time we shall be able to derive admonition, 
 as we do from the former one written to us by the hand of 
 Clement." (Eusebius, H.E. iv. 23.) 
 
 The seeming tautology of the Lord's Lord's-day is not 
 so apparent in the original Greek, xara xviiaxfiv Si xv^lov, 
 
 2. Doye assemble, and break bread, and givethanks. — 
 
64 TEACH mo OF 
 
 Justin Martyr's account of the ordinary Sunday service, 
 accompanied with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, 
 is very graphic. " And on the day called Sunday, there is a 
 gathering together to one place of all who live in towns or 
 in the country, and the memoirs (awo/ivti/Mni/iaTa') of the 
 Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read as long 
 as time permits (/isx^i; lyx'^S^'-) * Then when the reader 
 has done, the president (of the assembly) in an address 
 gives an instruction, and (delivers) an exhortation to imitate 
 these noble things (viz^: the words and acts suggested in 
 the above-mentioned reading of the Prophets and Apostles). 
 Then we all rise together and pray, and . . . bread and 
 wine and water are brought, and the president in like 
 manner offers prayer and thanksgivings according to his 
 ability (oirj) dita/ii; aurw), and the people assent, saying, 
 Amen ; and there is' a distribution (made) to each, and a 
 sharing of that for which thanks have been offered (that 
 is to say, the consecrated bread and wine). . . . Here 
 follows a detailed account of the general offertory made at 
 this service for the sick and stranger, the widow and 
 orphan. . . . 
 
 " But Sunday is the day on which we hold our general 
 gathering, since it is the first day on vyhich God having 
 brought about a change in darkness and in matter (v\ti»), 
 made the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same 
 day rose from the dead ... for on the day after that of 
 Saturn, which is the day of the sun, having appeared to 
 His apostles and disciples. He taught them," etc. (Justin 
 Martyr, Apology I., chap. Ixvii.) 
 
 * On the rendering of this unusual expression, see Otio, Justin 
 Martyr, torn. I, Apol. I., chap. 67, p. 159. Two translations seem to 
 have been proposed : (i) "so viel als erforderlich," (2) "so lang es 
 die Zeit gestattet." 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 65 
 
 assembled together break bread, and *give thanks, 
 * after confessing your transgressions, ^in order that 
 
 3. And give thanks. — iii^a^isr^aare. This simple direc- 
 tion to the believers to assemble together every Lord's day, 
 
 . and when assembled to. proceed to celebrate the Holy 
 Eucharist, concerning which fuller directions had been 
 previously given, chaps, ix., x., naturally preceded by some 
 years the more developed ritual described by Justin Martyr 
 as the use of the Christians about the middle of the second 
 century. 
 
 4. After confessing your transgressions. — This public 
 confession of sins before the congregation was evidently 
 very strongly insisted upon by the early Church. It is 
 referred to above at the close of chapter iv. 
 
 5. That your sacrifice may be pure. — On the use of the 
 words " sacrifice " and " altar " in the Eucharist in the very 
 early Church, Bryennios specially cites Igiiatius's testimony. 
 " He that is within the altar is pure, but he that is without 
 is not pure ; that is, he who does anything apart from the 
 bishop and presbytery and deacons, such a man is not 
 pure in his own conscience" (Ignatius to the Trallians, 
 chap, vii.); and compares also the well-known passage, Heb. 
 xiii. 10. The citation from Malachi in the next clause cer- 
 tainly demonstrates the use of the term " sacrifice " by the 
 earliest Christian teachers in connection with the Eucharist. 
 "The Teaching of the Apostles" contributes little to the 
 theological and doctrinal questions which in connection 
 with the Holy Eucharist have now for so many centuries 
 divided earnest and thoughtful men. 
 
 But if the simple words of the, "Teaching of the Apostles," 
 written not improbably in days while the Apostle S. John 
 was still going in and out of the houses of men, bring but 
 
66 TEACHING OF 
 
 your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that hath 
 a difference with his friend come together with 
 you, * until they are reconciled, that your sacrifice 
 ^may not be profaned. * For this is that which was 
 
 a scani contribution to the stores of the theologian, on the 
 other hand they indeed enrich the treasure-house of direc- 
 tions for the practical every-day life of men. 
 
 No Eucharistic treatise could be imagined which would 
 influence the soul so powerfully as this little simple instruc- 
 tion of the primitive Christian teacher to his flock. TAey 
 were to share in this blessed Feast every Lord's-day. They 
 were to tell God their sins. They were not to come hating 
 each other. Very simple but very soul-searching was the 
 preparation, but very peremptory was the command to 
 all never to neglect to share in the divinely-instituted 
 sacrament. 
 
 The writer of this little handbook to the Christian hfe of 
 the first century, without doubt looked on the sharing in the 
 Eucharist, as each Lord's-day came round, as a necessary 
 part of every Christian life. Surely nothing has happened 
 in the eighteen centuries which have well-nigh elapsed since 
 these words were written to alter or to modify a charge 
 which with all reverence we feel this pupil of the Apostles 
 probably received from the lips of one of the holy Twelve. 
 
 6. Until they be reconciled. — See S. Matt. v. 23, 24, 
 in which, though in different language, the same beautiful 
 thought is conveyed. Irenaeus (" Against Heresies," book 
 iv. chap, xviii. i) paraphrases the same divine charge. 
 
 7. May not be profaned. — In S. Matt. xv. n, the Lord 
 shows whence comes such defilement. 
 
 8. For this is that wMch was spoken by the Lord. — 
 The quotation here from Malachi L 11, 14, is another of 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 67 
 
 spoken by ^ the Lord : At every place and time, 
 offer me a pure sacrifice ; for I am a great King, 
 saith the Lord, and my name is ■"■" wonderful among 
 the Gentiles. 
 
 the many indications that a Jewish Christian was the writer 
 of this "Teaching." The passage is not quoted quite 
 accurately, the words " and time " being added here ; and 
 " incense," which is found in Malachi, is altogether left out 
 in the " Teaching." This at first sight would appear a 
 rema'rkable omission. It has, however, been well suggested 
 that this omission was not accidental, but that it agrees 
 with the general conclusion that incense was avoided in 
 the earliest days of the Church on account of it;s heathen 
 associations. 
 
 9. The Lord — aSri) yao sffr/ii !) ^rihTaa birh Kuo/ou. — This 
 is a remarkable contribution to our knowledge of the Chris- 
 tology of the writer of this most ancient treatise. 
 
 It gives us a deep insight into his thoughts respecting 
 Jesus Christ. Just before, in the same short chapter, he 
 had been using the title Lord, Eiig;o;, and unmistakably 
 referring it to Jesus, and with peculiar emphasis on " the 
 Lord's Lord's-day," xara xuoiaxfiv he Kug/ou. 
 
 He now refers to a well-known passage of the Prophet 
 Malachi as that "which was spoken by the Lord," i/^ro 
 xuslov. The same title- being used, as it were, in the same 
 breath, tells us that the writer looked upon Christ as the 
 Lord whose utterances are chronicled in the Old Testament, 
 in the place here referred to, proclaiming Himself a great 
 King, whose name was wonderful among the Gentiles. 
 
 10. Wonderful. — Qav/iaOTov. In the Hebrew, NllJ ; 
 English version, dreadful ; LXX, Ivn^mii. 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ^ AppoiiiirT, therefore, for yourselves bishops and 
 deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek and not 
 
 I. Appoint, therefore, for yourselves bishops and 
 deacons worthy of the Lord. — The question of the 
 ministry in the days of the composition of the " Teaching 
 of the Apostles " is discussed in the dissertations on the 
 terms " Apostles," " Prophets,^' etc. Certain special facts, 
 however, appear from the directions contained in this xv. 
 chapter, a. The apostle alluded to definitely in chap. xi. 
 does not appear among the four descriptions of ministers 
 spoken of here. We are led then to conclude that the office 
 of apostle was too unusual a one to render any special allu- 
 sion to it either as regards — (i) manner of election to it, 
 (2) consideration to be paid to it, necessary in a general 
 instruction like the " Teaching." 
 
 b. The transitional character of the ministry here described 
 is evident. The first description of minister, " the apostle," 
 spoken of a few chapters earlier in this same treatise, is 
 passed over in silence, as though the order in question 
 had no share in the government of the Church of the 
 future. Then the congregation were evidently uncertain with 
 whom rested the election of their resident ministers, bishops 
 and deacons ; the people too were ignorant as to the respect 
 and duty they owed to these resident ministers. Evidently 
 accustomed to the chance though rare visits of apostles, 
 and to the more frequent appearances of prophets and 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 69 
 
 teachers,' with their inspired utterances — their burning and 
 impassioned words of warning and of comfort, with the dra- 
 matic symbolism alluded to above in chap. xi. — it was these 
 that the congregation looked up to naturally with admiration 
 and reverence. Nor is the reason for this evident prefer- 
 ence — which is, however, gently blamed — far to seek. 
 The itinerant prophet and teacher, and the more rarely 
 seen apostle, had something ever fresh to tell the dwellers 
 in village and city. These would narrate m,any a thrilling 
 story of the new converts in distant lands, would give 
 sometimes a bit of inspired teaching which they had heard 
 froiii the lips of one like Paul ; sometimes they would relate 
 a scene from the life of the Master, which their hearers had 
 never heard before ; and all this accompanied now and 
 again by those dramatic representations discussed above 
 under the name of earthly mysteries (chap, xi.) What won- 
 der then if these itinerant niissionaries in the very early days 
 of Christianity were the popular instructors of the people? 
 Hence the gentle rebuke of the " Teaching," " Do not then 
 despise them " — the bishops and deacons, the resident and 
 formally-appointed ministers in the congregation. 
 
 In reading those chapters of our treatise which speak 
 of the various orders in the Christian ministry of the first 
 days, the very early date at which this " Teaching " must 
 have been written becomes apparent. " We have a descrip- 
 tion of the two classes of the ministry, partly itinerant and 
 partly resident, and the restriction of the latter to two orders — 
 except when individual itinerant ministers (prophets) might 
 desire to become resident. We have in fact a gap in our 
 knowledge supplied just as we should expect ; that is to say, 
 we have a description of the transition from the state of 
 things described in. the Acts and the Epistles of Paul and 
 that presupposed in the Ignatian Epistles." (Wordsworth.) 
 
-JO TEACHING OF 
 
 covetous, and ^ true and proved ; for they, too, 
 render you the- service of the prophets and teachers. 
 Do not then despise them ; for together with the 
 prophets and teachers are they the ones who are to 
 be held in honour among you. 
 
 And reprove one another, * not in anger, but in 
 
 2. Men . . . true and proved. — We have another 
 witness, perhaps even more ancient than this, of the care 
 which was exercised from the earliest times in the selec- 
 tion of these bishops, iiriexoitoi. 
 
 Clement of Rome, who was the companion of S. Paul 
 (Phil. iv. 3), thus writes : " For this reason, therefore, they 
 (the Apostles) appointed those (ministers) already referred 
 to, and after gave instruction (xa/'^Era^i;* emvo/irjv &iSiixaei\i\ 
 that when these should fall asleep other approved men 
 should succeed them in their ministry." (Clement of 
 Rome, Epistle i, chap, xliv.) And again, in the same 
 Epistle, Clement writes : " Thus preaching through coun- 
 tries and towns, they appointed the first-fruits (of their toil) 
 — having first proved them by the spirit — to be bishops and 
 deacons of those who should afterward believe." (Chap, 
 xlii.) 
 
 3. Not in anger, but in peace, as ye hare it in tlie 
 Gospel. — The Gospel here referred to is the sense rather 
 than the words of S. Matt. v. 22, and xviii. 15, 17, 35. 
 The next clause : " And let no one speak," etc., is a little 
 
 * /tera|i5 here has the same signification as lierivHTO. There 
 exists some doubt as to the meaning here of the rare word iira/oiL-fyi. 
 Rothe suggests " testamentarische Verfugung." (See Hefele, who 
 has an exhaustive note here, i Clem, xliv.) 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 71 
 
 peacCj as ye have it in the gospel ; and let no man 
 speak to any one who is behaving wrongly to 
 another — do not let him hear anything from you 
 until he repent. * But your prayers and your alms, 
 and all your deeds, so do ye as ye have it in the 
 Gospel of our Lord. 
 
 confused. The whole passage seems a memory rather 
 than a quotation from the passages of S. Matthew's Gospel 
 above referred to. 
 
 Polycarp similarly presses on his readers the necessity 
 of gently judging others, " abstaining from all wrath . . . 
 not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a 
 debt of sin." (Polycarp, Epistle to Philippians, chap, vi.) 
 
 There is a beautiful passage from the Testaments of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs to the same effect, commencing with the 
 words : " Love ye then one another from the heart ; speak 
 to him in peace," etc. ■ (" Testaments of the Twelve Patri- 
 archs," " Gad," chap, vi.) 
 
 4. But your prayers and alms, and all your deeds, so 
 do ye as ye have it in tie G-ospel of our Lord. — A general 
 reminder of the " way " set forth in the " Teaching," basing 
 the whole on such chapters of the Gospel as S. Matt, vi., vii. 
 
( 72 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 'Watch for your life; let your lamps not be 
 quenched, and your loins not be loosed, but be ye 
 ready ; ^ for ye know not the hour in which our 
 Lord cometh. But ^ ye shall come often together, 
 and seek the things which are profitable to your 
 souls, *for the whole time of your faith thus far 
 
 1. Watch for your life; let your lamps not be 
 quenched, and your loins not be relaxed. — A memory 
 of S. Luke xii. 35. See, too, S. Paul to the Ephesiaiis vi. 
 14, where the same imagery is employed. 
 
 2. Watch ... for ye know not the hour in which 
 our Lord cometh. — A quotation verbatim from S. Matt. 
 xxiv. 42. 
 
 3. We shall come often together, and seek the things 
 which are profitable to your souls.— Ignatius in a similar 
 passage more particularly defines the particular way in 
 which the first great teachers would have their flocks come 
 together; "Take heed then more frequently to come 
 together for the purpose of giving thanks to God (in the 
 Eucharist), s/'; lii^agiaTioiv ©sou xat Sis do^av." (Ignatius to 
 Ephesians, chap, xiii.) 
 
 4. For the whole time of your faith thus far will not 
 profit you, unless in the last time ye be found perfect. — 
 A similar urgent charge not to trust in past good works 
 
TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 73 
 
 will not profit you, unless in the last time ye be 
 found perfect. For in the last days the false pro- 
 phets and the corriipters shall be multiplied, and 
 ^ the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall 
 be turned into hate ; for as lawlessness increaseth 
 men shall hate one another, and shall persecute 
 and shall betray one another, and ^ then shall 
 appear the world-deceiver as the Son of God, and 
 shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be 
 given up into his hands, and he shall do lawless 
 
 was given by Barnabas : " Let us in these last days give 
 earnest heed, for the whole past time of your faith will 
 avail you nothing, unless now in this lawless time we, as 
 become sons of God, resist approaching sources of peril." 
 (Barnabas, Epistle, chap, iv.) 
 
 5. The sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love 
 shall be turned into hate. — An anxious warning of the 
 writer to the flock, of the dreadful possibility of even some 
 of the elect falling away under severe pressure and perish- 
 ing. (Bryennios.) 
 
 6. Then shall appear the world-deceiver as the Son 
 of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth 
 shall be given up into his hands — These are the perilous 
 times foretold by S. Paul, 2 Tim. iii. i. See also Jude, 
 verse' 18. It is a clear allusion here to S. Matt. xxiv. 
 3-14. There is indeed no doubt but that the writer of the 
 " Teaching " had this chapter of S. Matthew in the form 
 we now possess it open before him when he wrote this con- 
 cluding section of his treatise. It is most probable, too, 
 that S. Paul's teaching, embodied in 2 Thess. ii, 1-12, had 
 also been read or heard by him. 
 
74 TEACHING OF 
 
 things, such as have never been done since time was. 
 '^Then all created men shall come into the fire of 
 trialj and many shall be offended and shall perish. 
 ^ But they who have endured in their faith shall be 
 
 7. Then all created men shall come into the fire of 
 trial. — Bryennios thinks that here the writer is using the 
 mystic words of Zech. xiiL 8, 9, prophesying the final 
 trial of men by fire. 
 
 8. But they who hare endured in their faith shall he 
 saved under the very curse. — xarddi/ia here ^ xarccvdie/ia, 
 the curse. This is a very difficult passage. Jts meaning, 
 however, appears to be, that the men who have remained 
 steadfast through all the painful trials of their faith to which 
 they were exposed, will be saved through Him whom they 
 have been so sorely tempted to revile and curse, and who, 
 in terrible irony, is here styled "the very curse." From 
 I Cor. xii. 3 we learn that to call Jesus accursed (literally 
 the curse, xaravdhfia) was not an unknown way of reviling 
 the Crucified. So in the Martyrdom of Polycarp we read — 
 
 "Revile Christ, T^m&oinsov rhX^lsTOv" (said the Proconsul), 
 " and I will release thee." Polycarp said, " Eighty-and-six 
 years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong ; how 
 then can I blaspheme my King who saves me?" (Ch. ix.) We 
 Christians believe that our Lord in glory still bears on His 
 glorified body the passion marks. See Rev. v. 6, where 
 enthroned in glory "stood a Lamb as it had been slain." 
 Rev. xix. I probably conveys the same idea, " He was 
 clothed with a garment dipped in blood." Wearing the 
 marks of the passion which they reviled and deemed 
 accursed shall His enemies see Him on that awful day. 
 " They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced " (Zech. 
 xii. 10). See too Rev. i. 7. Barnabas, Ep. c. 7 : "They 
 
THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 75 
 
 saved under the very curse. And *then shall 
 appear the signs of the truth ; ^^ first the sign of a 
 soaring forth in heaven, then the sign of the voice 
 of the trumpet, and the third, the resurrection of 
 the dead ; yet not of all, but as it hath been said : 
 The Lord will come and all the saints with Him. 
 Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the 
 clouds of heaven. 
 
 shall see Him on that day having a scarlet robe about His 
 body down to His feet, and they shall say, Is not this He 
 whom we have despised and pierced, and mocked and 
 crucified ? " 
 
 9. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; 
 first, etc.— Again a memory of S. Matt. xxiv. 3-30 : " Tell 
 us, when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign 
 of Thy coming, and of the end of the world ? " etc. etc. 
 
 10. First the sign of a soaring forth, then the sign 
 of the voice of the trumpet, and the third, the resur- 
 rection of the dead.' — According to the account of the 
 great day by S. Paul, i Thess. iv. 13-17, the order of the 
 " signs " was somewhat different. First, the shout of the 
 Lord (xiXive/j.d), with the voice of the archangel. Secondly, 
 the Lord Himself would descend from heaven. Then the 
 resurrection of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. 
 Then the soaring up into the air of those who may be alive 
 at the dread moment of His coming. 
 
X 
 
EXCURSUS I. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF THE " TEACHING OF THE 
 APOSTLES." 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS I. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF THE "TEACHING OF THE 
 APOSTLES." 
 
 In the library of the Patriarch of Jerusalem at 
 Constantinople, some few years ago, Philotheos 
 Bryennios, now Metropolitan of Nicomedia, found 
 a MS.,* which, among some early Christian writ- 
 ings, contained the long-lost "Teaching of the 
 Twelve Apostles." The Archbishop has lately 
 published the treatise in question, with notes and 
 dissertations in modern Greek. 
 
 The little work is one of rare and peculiar interest, 
 and dates, we believe, from the last quarter of the 
 first century. Its contents might have been read 
 by S. John. It is certainly one of the earliest 
 Christian writings we possess outside the canon of 
 the New Testament ; by some it has been deemed 
 the earliest. It was known and held in high honour 
 
 * The MS. itself is not a very ancient one. It is dated June ii, 
 1056. Tlie scribe, whose name was Leo, signed himself varaplou 
 Kal iXelrov — notary and sinner. 
 
So EXCURSUS I. 
 
 in very early days, and some scholars think it formed 
 the basis of much of the Epistle of Barnabas, and 
 of some portion of " the Shepherd " of Hermas. 
 
 " The Shepherd " of Hermas probably dates from 
 the year of our Lord * 140-145, the Epistle of Bar- 
 nabas from the first years of the second century. 
 The question whether these two famous early 
 Christian treatises borrowed from the " Teaching," 
 or the " Teaching " from them, will be discussed in 
 a separate section :t 
 
 In the last years of the second century Clement 
 of Alexandria, the head of the Catechetical School 
 of the great Egyptian capital, was evidently well 
 acquainted w'ith our treatise. It was not apparently 
 one of the Christian handbooks used in the famous 
 Alexandrian school, but Clement looked upon it 
 as " Scripture," and quoted it as such, with the 
 same respect as he cites a passage from Proverbs. 
 It must, however, be remembered that in much 
 of the Alexandrian teaching the New Testament 
 canon was still in some particulars somewhat un- 
 determined. 
 
 A still more remarkable and pointed reference to 
 the "Teaching" is contained inEusebius, a.d. 330- 
 34G, who, in his often-quoted chapter on the Can- 
 onical Books of the New Testament (H.E. iii. 35), 
 
 * Some, however, would place the date earlier. 
 t See Excursus IV. 
 
EXCURSUS I. 8i 
 
 classes our treatise among the controverted booksj 
 reckoning it in the same catalogue in his second 
 class with " the Shepherd " of Hermas, the Epistle of 
 Barnabas, and one or two other well-known early 
 writings. He writes, " It has" been necessary for us 
 to extend our catalogue to these in spite of their 
 ambiguous character, having distinguished the writ- 
 ings which are true and genuine, and generally 
 acknowledged according to the ecclesiastical tradi- 
 tiouj and the others besides thescj which, though 
 they are not canonical, but controverted, are never- 
 theless recognised by most of our ecclesiastical 
 authorities," (Eusebius, H.E. iii. 351) 
 
 AthanasiuSj a.d. 373, in one of his Festal Epistles, 
 tells us that the " Teaching of the Apostles " was 
 one of the Works recommended by the Fathers to 
 be read by catechumens, as useful for young con- 
 verts, though it was not a book included in the 
 Canon. Athatiasius classes it with " the Shepherd " 
 of Hermas. 
 
 About the time of Athanasius, that is in the 
 last quarter of the fourth century, the unknown 
 (probably) Egyptian author of the* " Epitome of the 
 Decisions of the Apostles," made very considerable 
 use of the "Teaching" in his curious compilation 
 of thirty chapters j the greater portion of chaps, ivj 
 
 * iTTiTO/iii Spw T&v ir/tmv i,T0(rr6\av. Another titlej a! Siara-yai 
 al Sii, KX'/iiievTos Kal xavins iKK\fi<Tia<rnKol twv &ytit)v &TilcrTi\ai'. 
 
82 EXCURSUS I. 
 
 to xiii., more than a third of the whole, is copied 
 from the " Teaching of the Apostles." 
 
 A yet more notable work of the same period from 
 the pen apparently of a Syrian writer, also dating 
 probably from the last quarter of the fourth cen- 
 tury,* " The Apostolic Constitutions," made copi- 
 ous use of this " Teaching." The seventh book of 
 this work is evidently based upon the information 
 and precepts contained in the "Teaching." It 
 literally repeats large portions of our treatise, repro- 
 ducing, however, the statements, with curious addi- 
 tions and ecclesiastical developments. 
 
 We find the "Teaching" again mentioned in a 
 list of canonical and of the more famous ecclesiasti- 
 cal writings of the first age composed by Nicephorus, 
 Patriarch of Constantinople, a.d. 806-815. 
 
 In the West we have no direct testimony that 
 this ancient writing was known or used, all 
 the above-mentioned authorities belonging to the 
 Eastern Church. 
 
 Rufinus of Aquileia, a.d. 410, however, after 
 giving a short list of the canonical books, mentions 
 the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Sirach, Tobit, 
 Judith, and the books of the Maccabees, and then 
 in an ambiguous passage he refers to a little book ' 
 called "The Two Ways, or the Judgment of Peter." 
 
 * Hamack believes that this compilation was made in Syria or 
 Palestine, between a.d. 340 and a.d. 380. 
 
EXCURSUS I. 83 
 
 " In novo vero Testamento libellus qui dicitur 
 pastoris sive Hermas, qui appellatur Duae viae vel 
 Judicium secundum Petrum, quae omnia legi qui- 
 dem in ecclesiis voluerunt, non tamen proferri ad 
 auctoritatem ex his fidei confirmandam." Rufinus, 
 Comm. in Symb. Apost. § 36-38, quoted by Dr. 
 Westcott on the Canon, Appendix D. 
 
 If this "Two Ways, or Judgment of Peter," be 
 identical with our " Teaching of the Apostles," then 
 we have an indication from this important mention 
 of Rufinus, that our treatise was known and held 
 in high esteem in the Western Church at the begin- 
 ning of the fifth century. Its title, "The Two 
 Ways," evidently connects it very closely with the 
 "Teaching of the Apostles." Of the alternative 
 title, "Judicium secundum Petrum,"* Harnack 
 suggests the following explanation: Our treatise 
 is termed "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," 
 or " The Teaching of the Lord, through the 
 ■ Twelve Apostles, to the Gentiles." The question no 
 doubt very early vvas asked, tVho was its author? 
 Who is the writer who so constantly addresses the 
 reader as "My child?" No name would so 
 readily occur to the mind as that of Peter, in early 
 times the usual spokesman of the Apostles, whose 
 authoritative teaching is here put forward, and his 
 
 * It is sometimes called "Judicium Petri," 
 
84 EXCURSUS I. 
 
 name naturally got affixed to the little treatise. 
 Harnack explains "judicium," literally judgment, as 
 signifying rather "declaration" (der Ausspruch, 
 die Willenserklarung). Hilgenfeld, however, has a 
 curious theory, that this " Two Ways, or Judgment 
 of Peter," is another name for " The Epitome of the 
 Decisions of the Apostles" above referred to, and 
 has lately printed * the Epitome tinder the title of 
 the " Two Ways, or Judgment of Peter." 
 
 • Etangeliorum secundum Hebrscosj &c. . . . quse stiper- 
 sunt, ed, A. Hilgenfeld. Editio ii. 1884. — Lipsise. 
 
EXCURSUS II. 
 
 SOURCE AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE "TEACHING 
 OF THE APOSTLES." 
 
( 87 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 SOURCE AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE " TEACHING 
 OF THE APOSTLES." 
 
 The little treatise^ about the length of S. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Galatians, lately discovered, as has 
 been said, by Archbishop Bryennios in a library at 
 Constantinople, was a work well known to the early 
 Church, although for several centuries it has been 
 lost. Briefly to recapitulate its history — It was in 
 some way closely connected in certain sections with 
 two of the oldest and best-known Christian writ- 
 ings, the Epistle of Barnabas and " the Shepherd " 
 of Hermas, more especially with the former. These 
 two writings were composed in the first half of the 
 second century, the Epistle of Barnabas being the 
 earlier written of the two. We have strong reason 
 to believe from internal evidence that the " Teach- 
 ing " is the oldest of the three. 
 
 Towards the close of the second century, Clement, i,D. 190. 
 the master of the great Catechetical School of 
 Alexandria, bears his testimony to our work, even 
 quoting it as Scripture. He evidently was well 
 acquainted with it, and entertained a very high 
 
88 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 opinion of its value, though he does not appear to 
 have used it as one of the text-books of his school 
 of theology. 
 A.D. 340. Eusebius, to whom we owe so much of our know- 
 ledge of what was taught in the Church for the 
 first three hundred years, expressly mentions our 
 book, classing it among those highly-esteemed works 
 not reckoned in the canon of New Testament Scrip- 
 tures, but only second in authority to them. He 
 classifies the " Teaching of the Apostles " in the 
 same list with such sub-apostolic books as the 
 Epistle of Barnabas a:nd "the Shepherd" of Hermas. 
 Athanasius speaks of it as though for a long: period 
 1 it had been one of. the rfegular text-books of the 
 End of 4th Church. The unknown compilers of " The Epitome 
 sthcoitipy. of the Decisions of the Apostles," and of " The 
 Apostolic Constitutions," make copious use of our 
 treatise. 
 
 A.D. 80S. In. the list of Nicephorus of Constantinople it 
 appears in the catalogue of canonical and other im- 
 portant writings in use in the Church. The value 
 A.D. 410. of the testimony of Rufinus of Aquileiain the 
 Western Church has been discussed in Excursus I. 
 
 For centuries the little work was lost sight of, 
 and it is owing to the researches of an eminent 
 scholar and divine of the Greek Church that this 
 long-buried, precious compilation has been brought 
 to the light of day. 
 
EXCURSUS LL 89 
 
 Apart from its. history^, above roughly sketched 
 out, the "Teaching" hears upon its face the marks 
 of the highest antiquity, and can only belong 
 to the very first years, of the Church., When, 
 for instance,, its author wrote, this tteaiise, the 
 " Apostles " were still a living order, fast dying out, 
 it is true, but still a living order.. The "prophet," 
 the inspired preacher and heart-reader, was. at the 
 height of his power:., Indeed our little, treatise is 
 the writing which best, describes the real wonk and 
 vast influence in the Church: of the first days of 
 this primitive prophetic. order, so soon, to pass away. 
 When. the "Teaching;" was written, and nead, the 
 " prpphet." was the principal and most influential 
 personage in. the Christian community, whether 
 rural or urban.. Very early in t;he second century 
 these prophets must have passed away, and their 
 functions were mainly discharged, and their high 
 influence exercised by, the bishops, the dawn of 
 whose power and authority is faintly but still 
 clearly sketched out and coloured in. by our 
 writing.. 
 
 Portions of a simple, primitive liturgy to be used 
 in the celebration of the Holy Communion are set 
 forth, but certain license Is given, to the prophet 
 to change and. alter, the Thanksgiving if he please. 
 Now such a license was never given to the bishops 
 and chief pastors of the early years of the second 
 
90 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 century. But the prophet was evidently an inspired 
 man in the high and peculiar sense of inspiration, 
 was a recipient of some of those sublime gifts of the 
 Spirit — 'xaplafiara — peculiar to those eventful years 
 when the foundation stories of the Christian Church 
 were being laid, and which ".gifts " ceased at a very 
 early date, probably in the first years of the second 
 century. 
 
 Whence came this most ancient writing, so highly 
 valued by the great teachers and fathers of the first 
 three or four centuries, men like Clement of Alex- 
 andria, Eusebius, and Athanasius ? 
 
 The first fact that strikes us is that it must have 
 issued from a Jewish Christian centre. The writer 
 was well acquainted with the Greek language, and 
 probably used it in his daily life, but the constant 
 recurrence of the Hebraistic expressions betrays his 
 familiarity with the Hebrew tongue. His thoughts 
 evidently often travelled back to that loved, sacred 
 speech of his race. 
 
 But other and far more striking indications of its 
 origin meet us as we read between the lines of the 
 little treatise. The directions respecting giving the 
 Jirst-fruits* for the support of the prophet or 
 teacher are clearly based on the Mosaic ordinances 
 in the Pentateuch. The references to the chief 
 
 * " Teachirg," chap. xiii. 
 
EXCURSUS II. 91 
 
 priests in the same chapter are clearly a vivid remi- 
 niscence of the Jewish hierarchy. The remark in 
 chapter xi., " So did the ancient prophets also," 
 would scarcely have occurred to any one save to a 
 Jew. The directions respecting the reception to be 
 given by a Christian community to a travelling 
 artisan would be such as would be rendered pecu- 
 liarly necessary by the Jewish habit of wandering 
 from place to place. The last chapter, which speaks 
 of the times of the end and the coming of the 
 Lord upon the clouds of heaven, is written in the 
 same spirit as that class of writings so familiar to 
 the Jew of that period, writings such as the "Apoca- 
 lypse of Enoch" and the "Book of Jubilee's." 
 
 The preponderating, though not quite, exclusive 
 use of the Gospel of S. Matthew, the Gospel 
 peculiarly and specially designed for the Jewish 
 people, certainly must not be lost sight of in the 
 arguments adduced in favour of our writing pro- 
 ceeding from a Jewish Christian source. Assum- 
 ing, then, with Archbishop Bryennios, and other 
 eminent scholars who have made a study of the 
 work, that the author of the " Teaching " was a 
 Jewish Christian, one who lived in the last quarter 
 of the first century, a question of great interest 
 suggests itself. Where did the writer live, and did 
 he belong to any particular church or school of 
 thought ? Have we any indications in our writing 
 
 ■ G 
 
93 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 which would lead us to a well-grounded hypothesis 
 here ? 
 
 On a careful study of the "Teaching" certain 
 special points impress themselves as evident char- 
 acteristic features of the school of thought to which 
 the writer belonged. For instance : Benevolence to 
 the poor and needy. This runs like a golden thread 
 throughout the "Teaching." A forgiving disposi- 
 tion is enjoined, a high estimate of poverty is taught. 
 The *' apostles," " teachers/' and " prophets," the 
 leaders and guides of the people, they who were 
 to be honoured and revered, must be homeless 
 and landless, possessors of nothing, receivers of 
 nothing save the barest food and shelter. (A special 
 provision was made in the case of a prophet resident 
 in a community.) Fasting was clearly encouraged 
 if not positively enjoined. 
 
 Some notable omissions characterise the " Teach- 
 ing." A certain vagueness in doctrine is very 
 noticeable. Jesus Christ is evidently the centre of 
 the whole life. The commandments enjoined are 
 His. It is His yoke that the believers are to bear. 
 His name occurs in the solemn baptismal formula 
 as the Second Person of the ever-blessed Trinity. 
 His Gospel is referred to as the authoritative source 
 of all teaching. In the Holy Eucharist He is the 
 central thought. His prayer — the Lord's Prayer — 
 is quoted as the one constantly to be used. Prayer 
 
EXCURSUS 11. 93: 
 
 is distinctly offered to Him. His day is to be the \ 
 Christian Sabbath. He is " the Lord," the Great 
 King, the Lord of hosts (Mai. i. 11, 14). He is 
 the Lord who with all the saints is to come on 
 the clouds of heaven at the end. Still we find no 
 clear-cut statfement as to His relationship to the 
 Father ; nothing is said respecting the atonement, 
 or the work of the precious blood. The Holy Spirit, 
 the third Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, is 
 only mentioned twice in this " Teaching of the 
 Apostles." His work and office are left unnoticed. 
 
 The scholarly critic would pronounce the treatise 
 to be rigidly orthodox in the Catholic sense as far 
 as it went, recognising at the same time a certain 
 vagueness in the doctrinal statements. 
 
 Now we possess a writing quite unlike this 
 "Teaching" in form and manner of expression, 
 destined evidently too for a different class of readers, 
 certainly for a different nationality,* very inferior to 
 the "Teaching" in literary power^ full of national 
 prejudices, rather a romance than a sober, solemn 
 instruction. This is the "Testaments of the Twelve 
 Patriarchs," a Jewish-Christian work of great anti- 
 quity and high value, generally ascribed by scholars 
 to the first quarter of the second century. 
 
 * The " Teachifig " is specially adtlressed to the Gentiles- 
 
94 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 We have already observed that the character, aim, 
 and destination of this book was totally different to. 
 the " Teaching," and yet in both many of the same 
 special characteristic features appear, the same notice- 
 able points are pressed, a very high and noble moral 
 code is urged. Practical benevolence to the poor and 
 needy, peacefulness and gentleness among the mem- 
 bers of the community are enjoined ; the special virtue 
 of fasting is set forth, and a high estimate of poverty 
 as a state is made. Again the same vagueness in 
 doctrinal statements appears, and yet a rigid ortho- 
 doxy is manifest as regards the person and office 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ in the comparatively 
 scanty doctrinal references which occur. The death 
 of Messiah is left unnoticed, and the atonement is 
 not dwelt upon in the " Testaments of the Twelve 
 Patriarchs," while throughout the Testaments the 
 notices respecting the nature and office of the Holy 
 Spirit are exceedingly few, and wherever they do 
 occur, vague. 
 
 Thus in these two writings, put forth with a com- 
 paratively short interval between them, addressed 
 to different readers, totally unlike in style, both 
 evidently the work of a Jewish Christian, we find 
 striking points of likeness in things which are urged, 
 a striking likeness too in things which are passed 
 over or omitted. 
 
 One epistle of the New Testament in the matter 
 
EXCURSUS II. 95 
 
 of omissions may be fairly compared with these two 
 writings. In the canonical letter of S. Jaraes^ the 
 most central truth of Christian Theology, the 
 atonement through the precious blood, is scarcely 
 touched upon. 
 
 Shortly before the siege and destruction of Jeru- 
 salem and the Temple, the Jerusalem congregation, 
 largely composed, of course, of Jewish Christians, 
 warned, it is said, by an oracle, left the doomed city. 
 They were under the leadership of Symeon, the (so- 
 called) cousin of the Lord, the son of Cleopas, and 
 nephew of Joseph, who, as Hegesippus tells us, 
 under the title of Bishop succeeded James the Lord's 
 brother (the writer of the Epistle of James) as head 
 of the Jerusalem Church. James had suffered 
 martyrdom at the hands of his countrymen the 
 Jews shortly before the city was besieged. See 
 Eusebius, H.E. iv. aa. 
 
 Bishop Symeon and his flock, largely composed, 
 as we have said, of Jewish Christians, took refuge 
 at Pella, a city of the Decapolis, and in the midst 
 of a population chiefly Gentile,* the Church of the 
 Circumcision was reconstituted. The inner history 
 of this Jewish Church of Pella will probably ever 
 be an unwritten one. Bishop Symeon lived many 
 
 * Compare Bp. Lightfoot, "S. Paul and the Three,'' in Com, 
 on Gal. 
 
96 EXCURSUS IF. 
 
 yearSj dying at an advanced age in the reign of 
 Trajan, a.d. 106-108. 
 
 Some time after the rebellion of Bar-Cochba 
 (Son of a Star) was stamped out, a.d. 132-135, it 
 seems probable from the statement of Eusebius, 
 H.E. iii. 3a, ^^, iv. 5, that the majority of the Pella 
 Christians settled in the new Gentile city of ^lia 
 Capitolina, built by Hadrian on the site of the ruins 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 It seems likely that in this Church of Christian 
 Jews, during their long residence at Pella, with their 
 memories of Judaism, of the ruined city and Temple, 
 a school of Christian teaching, somewhat different 
 to that of Paul or John, would be developed. 
 
 "The tone of the religious society at such a place 
 and time it will not be hard to imagine. We pic- 
 ture to ourselves a gentle recluse body, displaying 
 many of the features that shed so great a charm 
 over the Judaism of the day ; the faithfulness with 
 which in the gloomiest hour its members clung to 
 their ancient religion, the untiring zeal expended on 
 the elucidation of their sacred books, their consistent 
 practical benevolence, — all this free in most part 
 from the dark shades of which such books as the 
 ' Jubilees,' and the treatises, ' Sabbath,' ' Sota,' 
 ' Gittin,' for example, in the Mishna are so strik- 
 ing instances. The intolerance which will allow 
 of no possibility of salvation to those without the 
 
EXCURSUS n. 97 
 
 pale of the sacred nation, the bigotry with which 
 the merest details of the old code are magnified to 
 the rank and above the rank of God's highest 
 lawSj in so far that the actual comment on God's 
 word is avowedly put in a higher position than the 
 word itself,^ — such features as these are happily either 
 absent, or under the genial sunshine of Christianity 
 are passing away. In such a severe and religious 
 atmosphere as this, with a literature consisting, on 
 the one hand, of most of the New Testament, ex- 
 cept the Gospel of S. John, and on the other, of 
 much still studied of old Halachah and Haggadah, 
 law and poetic fancy ; with rites wherein Jewish 
 and Christian features are still found side by side, 
 circumcision and baptism, hallowing of the Sab- 
 bath and of the Loxd's-day, Passover perhaps, and 
 Eucharist, — these are the surroundings amid which 
 we place the author of the "Testaments of the 
 Twelve Patriarchs." * 
 
 From such a community of Jewish Christians a 
 writing like the " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles " 
 might well have emanated, specially addressed to the 
 Gentile populations around them who had been won 
 over to embrace the Christian faith ; nor would it 
 
 * " The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," chap. v. An 
 Attempt to Estimate their Dogmatic and Historic Worth. By K . 
 Sinker, M.A. Cambridge, 1869. 
 
98 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 be a very fanciful hypothesis to recognise the aged 
 Symeon, the son of Cleopas, the nephew of Joseph, 
 himself a personal follower, and according to the flesh 
 a kinsman of the Lord, as the writer who addressed 
 his " children " of the Pella Gentiles in this beautiful 
 and practical manual of Christian life. Symeon 
 ruled the Pella community from about a.d. 69 to 
 A.D. 106. Some time in that period, perhaps about 
 A, D. 80-90, he, or one of his disciples possibly, coni- 
 posed the " Teaching." 
 
 The Nazarenes — an orthodox, though at the 
 same time a narrow Jewish Christian sect, who, 
 while conceding all liberty to the Gentile convert, 
 preferred themselves to adhere as closely as possible 
 to the old Jewish rites — were probably the remnant 
 of the Pella Church, those who declined to migrate 
 with the majority of their fellow- Christians of 
 Pella to ^lia Capitolina (Jerusalem) shortly after 
 A.D. 135, preferring the comparative seclusion of 
 Pella, where unnoticed they could practise their 
 loved Mosaic rites. 
 
 But the "Teaching" evidently issued from one 
 who had a broader conception of Christianity than 
 a Nazarene, and was put out probably some forty 
 or fifty years before what could be designated 
 as Nazarene peculiarities had formally developed 
 themselves. 
 
EXCURSUS II. 99 
 
 The * three writings which we believe to have 
 issued from the Jerusalem Church t which we 
 possess in their entirety, the Canonical Epistle 
 of S. James, the Teaching of the Apostles, and 
 the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, have, as 
 we have seen, certain points in common. The^r*^ 
 — the Epistle of S. James — possesses that indefin- 
 able something — we call it inspiration — which dis- 
 tinguishes the writings included by the general voice 
 of the Church in the New Testament Scriptures 
 from all other writings in the world. S. James 
 confines himself well nigh entirely to practical 
 rules for living the life which the Divine Master, 
 whom men called his Brother, wished His fol- 
 lowers to live. 
 
 We have suggested that Symeon the Lord's 
 kinsman, the successor of James as Bishop of the 
 "Jerusalem" Church now located at Pella, though 
 unable to attain fully { to the wisdom of the blessed 
 
 * Of the dialogue between Jason, a Hebrew Christian, and 
 Fapiscus, an Alexandrian Jew, which probably emanated from the 
 same church and school, we only possess fragments (see Routh, 
 I. l). It was written apparently shortly after the rebellion of Bar-^ 
 Cochba, A.D. 135. From the fragment, however, it would appear 
 that the writer was in essentials orthodox, 
 
 + In the Jerusalem Church we include the Church of Pella, where, 
 as we have above explained, after A.D. 69-70, for so many years all 
 that remained of that Church were congregated. 
 
 J So S. Polycarp wrote of himself as compared with S. Paul. 
 (Epistle to the Philippians, chap, iii.) 
 
loo EXCURSUS n. 
 
 and glorious James, perhaps wrote the "Teaching." 
 But it is a writing immeasurably inferior in heart- 
 moving eloquence to the Epistle of S. James, and 
 yet it is full of beauty and dignity, and possesses a 
 charm peculiarly its own, giving us a unique picture 
 of the Christian society of the first days, with its 
 especial dangers and sublime hopes and sacra- 
 mental safeguards, with its leaders and teachers 
 still sharing in those supernatural gifts {'xaplcTfiara) 
 which, poured out on the Church on the first me- 
 morable Pentecost morning, had not at the period 
 when our little treatise was written yet exhausted 
 their divine influence. 
 
 The third and latest written of these composi- 
 tions, the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," 
 ' while lacking the simplicity and power of the 
 " Teaching," still presents to us a very high and 
 noble moral code, and points to Jesus as the long- 
 looked-for Messiah ; but it contains too many of 
 the special traits of the Nazarenes to permit us to 
 regard it as a great catholic treatise. 
 
EXCURSUS III. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF THE TEACHING OF THE 
 APOSTLES TO THE " CANON." 
 
 X 
 
( 103 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS III. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF THE TEACHING OF THE 
 APOSTLES TO THE " CANON." 
 
 Much of the " Teaching " is based upon some 
 authoritative record of the Lord's sayings when on 
 earth. Now what record did the writer of the 
 little -treatise use ? Was it a document which we 
 now possess? 
 
 Harnack (Band ii. Heft i., pp. 70-76), who 
 bases his conclusions here generally upon the work 
 of Archbishop Bryennios, has given twenty-three 
 passages from the " Teaching," more or less wholly 
 based on sayings of Jesus Christ reported in the 
 Gospels, some of these verbatim, others evidently 
 taken from the same source, though not quoted 
 with verbal accuracy. Of these twenty-three 
 passages, by far the greater number are derived 
 from S. Matthew's Gospel. S. Luke's Gospel was 
 also known and used by the writer of our treatise. 
 There is no positive trace of S. Mark's work. The 
 position of S. John's Gospel in our writing will be 
 alluded to specially. 
 
I04 EXCURSUS III. 
 
 It is noticeable that the quotations and allusions 
 to the Gospel narratives of S. Matthew and S. Luke 
 are only taken from the utterances of our Lord. 
 His acts, miracles, etc., are not noticed. The Ser- 
 mon on the Mount and the great discourse on 
 the " Things of the End/' S. Matt, xxiv., are 
 the portions of the Gospel of which most use is 
 made. There is one clear reference to the Acts in 
 chap. iv. 
 
 From S. John's Gospel no direct quotation 
 appears in the " Teaching," but, on the other hand, 
 in the three Eucharistic prayers contained in 
 chapters ix. and x. of our treatise, there are very 
 many unmistakable references to or "memories" 
 of the words and teaching of the Fourth Gospel. 
 Harnack enumerates twelve of these references or 
 memories. 
 
 It would seem as though the general Eucharistic 
 teaching of S. John was known and received 
 considerably before his Gospel. Indeed the early 
 date of the " Teaching " would well account for its 
 author not being acquainted with a Gospel which 
 perhaps when he wrote had only been put forth in 
 its present form a very few years. But the teach- 
 ing and doctrine of the great Apostle on the subject 
 of the Holy Eucharist, we may well conceive, was 
 known and received in most of the Christian 
 centres prior to the date of the putting forth of 
 
EXCURSUS III. 105 
 
 the Gospel. Harnack* very positively asserts that 
 there can be no doubt but that the Eucharistic 
 prayers contained in the "Teaching" emanated from 
 the sal. Spirit whence proceeded S. John (Gospel), 
 chaps, vi. and xvii. 
 
 There is no direct citation from any of S. Paul's 
 Epistles in our treatise, but that much of his teach- 
 ing was known and received in the community 
 whence our work issued is undoubted. The passages 
 in which the mind of the Apostle Paul influenced 
 the writer are noticed in the notes which accompany 
 the translation of the text. In several passages of 
 the "Teaching" the thought and almost the very 
 words of the Epistles to the Thessalonians (ist 
 Epistle especially), the Romans, the Corinthians (ist 
 Epistle), and the Ephesians, make it well nigh a 
 certainty that the author of the "Teaching" was 
 acquainted at least with these four writings of the 
 Apostle to the Gentiles. 
 
 Five times the Lord's words on the authority of 
 the Gospel aire directly referred to. Chap viii. 
 " As the Lord commanded in His Gospel ; " ix, "As 
 rfegards this the Lord hath said ; " xi. " According 
 to the decree of the Gospel, so do ye ; " xv. "As ye 
 have it in the Gospel:" and again, xv. "As ye have 
 
 * " Dass die Gebete aus dem Geiste stammen, aus welchen Joh. 
 vi. und xvii. geflossen sind, unterliegt keinem Zweifel." (il Band, 
 Heft i., p. 81.) 
 
io5 EXCURSUS III. 
 
 it in the Gospel of our Lord." No Gospel is quoted 
 by name, but some authoritative and well-known 
 written memoir of the' Master's sayings is clearly 
 referred to. That, as we have stated above, is the 
 Gospel we know as "according to S. Matthew." 
 The Gospel of S. Luke, although known to the writer 
 of the " Teaching," is only seldom referred to. 
 
 In chap. i. reference is made to an anonymous but 
 evidently authoritative saying : " It hath been also 
 said concerning this matter, Let.thine alms drop like 
 sweat into thy hands, so long as thou knowest to 
 whom thou givest." This is perhaps one of the 
 unwritten traditional sayings of the Master recorded 
 by none of the Evangelists. 
 
 Such an unwritten saying is quoted by S. Paul 
 in Acts XX. 35. There are some of these scattered 
 in the various writings of the early Fathers. See 
 Dr. Westcott's Introduction to Gospels, Appendix 
 C, where these are gathered together. 
 
 Strangely enough, our writer draws little com- 
 paratively from the Old Testament; only two direct 
 quotations from the canonical books can be found. 
 In chap, xiv., Mai. i. 11, 14' are introduced by 
 the formula, " For this is that which was spoken 
 by the Lord." And at the close of the treatise, 
 Zech. xiv. 5 is quoted with the formal preface, 
 " As it hath .been said." The decalogue of course 
 forms the original basis of some of chaps, ii., iii.. 
 
EXCURSUS III. 107 
 
 and the directions respecting the "first-fruits" in 
 chapter xiii. are framed upon the Mosaic commands 
 of Deut. xviii. 3, 4; Num. xviii. See, too, Ezek. 
 xliv. 30 J Neh. x. 35^ 37- 
 
 Following the example of a * greater writer and 
 teacher of (as we believe) the same Church and 
 school of thought, the author of the " Teaching of 
 the Apostles " makes several quotations from what is 
 termed the Sapiential literature of the Apocrypha. 
 Four times in our little treatise the book of Ecclesias- 
 ticus is directly quoted from, once in chap, iii., and 
 in chap. iv. three times. In chap. i. there is an 
 evident reference to the book of Tobit. 
 
 * S. James, the so-called brother of the Lord. 
 
 H 
 
EXCURSUS IV. 
 
 THE RELATION OF THE " TEACHING " TO THE 
 EPISTLE OF BARNABAS AND " THE SHEP- 
 HERD " OF HERMAS. 
 
( ni ) 
 
 EXCURSUS IV. 
 
 TO THR 
 
 EPISTLE OF BARNABAS AND "tHE SHEPHERD " 
 OF HERMAS. 
 
 Two of the oldest Christian writings we possess,' 
 dating from the end of the first or from the first 
 years of the second century, contain certain pas- 
 sages closely resembling portions of the "Teach- 
 ing." Chaps, i.-vi. in the "Teaching" and the 
 Epistle of Barnabas contain many striking parallel 
 passages. There is also another parallel in chap, 
 xvi. of the " Teaching." Between " The Shepherd " 
 of Hermas and the "Teaching" only in the first 
 chapter of our treatise can a passage be detected 
 exactly parallel with the words of Hermas in Com- 
 mandment ii. {evToXi^ /8), but there is a curious 
 likeness between chap. xi. of the "Teaching" and 
 Commandment xi. {evToX'^ id) of Hermas. 
 
 The question, which of these ancient writings was 
 first composed, and served as material to be worked 
 up by the others? will probably never be decidedly 
 
112 EXCURSUS IV. 
 
 answered. Dr. Farrar, in his article on the 
 " Teaching," Expositor, vol. xli. pp. 384-386, gives 
 as his decided opinion that the author of the 
 "Teaching" wrote his treatise prior to the other 
 two, and that these writers copied from him. He 
 cites various parallel passages to show that the 
 "Teaching" was simpler, less verbose, and less 
 artificial, and supports his judgment respecting the 
 superior antiquity of the " Teaching " by his asser- 
 tion that the stamp of simplicity usually marks the 
 earlier of two similar compositions. 
 
 Zahn,* after a somewhat elaborate discussion of 
 the "Teaching" and the Epistle of Barnabas, 
 comes to the same conclusion, and considers that 
 the "Teaching" was composed before Barnabas 
 wrote his epistle, and that that early writer, in 
 the composition of his famous letter, made use of 
 the "Teaching." But, on the other hand, he 
 believes that " The Shepherd " of Hermas was 
 written at an earlier date than either of the other 
 two. 
 
 Archbishop Bryennios puts " The Shepherd " and 
 the Epistle of Barnabas before the " Teaching." So 
 Harnack, who in the course of an elaborate discus- 
 sion speaks of the Epistle to Barnabas as "rudis 
 
 * Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons. 
 III. Theil, Beilage v. x. " Die Lehre der zwolf Apostel." 
 
EXCURSUS IV. 113 
 
 indigestaque moles ohne Zusammenhang und ohne 
 Disposition" (Band 11, Heft i., p. 83), and believes 
 that the author of the " Teaching " has constructed 
 his admirably arranged compendium of Christian 
 morals out of the chaotic heap of material con- 
 tained in the famous Epistle of Barnabas, 
 
 Dr. Wordsworth's guess perhaps is the nearest to 
 the truthj and suggests a fair solution of the diffi- 
 culty. The exposition of " The Two Ways," in 
 which the coincidences with "The Shepherd" and 
 Barnabas occur, was derived from a common, per- 
 haps from an oral source, possibly from a catechism 
 founded on the Sermon on the Mount, an expansion 
 indeed of the Lo^'d's teaching about the broad and 
 narrow way. 
 
 See the note in the commentary on the text, 
 where is discussed the great popularity — among the 
 teachers in the early Church — of this pictorial de- 
 scription of " The Two Ways." 
 
 It seems highly probable that some such expan- 
 sion of the Evangelists' report of the Master's 
 teaching in this matter was put forth by the rulers 
 of the Church in very early days, and tha,t this 
 expansion was used both by Barnabas and the writer 
 of the "Teaching." 
 
 The one important passage which occurs alike in 
 Hermas, Commandment ii., and in the " Teaching," 
 chap. i. (see note in commentary on text), is ? 
 
H4 EXCURSUS IV. 
 
 saying evidently of great moment, and not impro- 
 bably was based on some saying of the Lord's, not 
 recorded in the Gospel, but embodied in the very 
 earliest apostolical preaching. 
 
 It does not seem necessary to suppose that either 
 Hermas or the author of the "Teaching" copied 
 one from the other. 
 
 The question of the mutual inter-dependence of 
 these very ancient Christian writings, or, what is still 
 more probable, the existence of a still earlier source, 
 possibly oral, from which they both drew, is one 
 which still invites discussion. 
 
 The striking parallels which exist between the 
 Epistle of S. Jude and the ad Epistle of S. Peter 
 will at once occur to the reader. 
 
EXCURSUS V. 
 
 THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE 
 COMMENTARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE 
 " TEACHING." 
 
( H7 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS V. 
 A. 
 
 THE PATRISTIC QUOTATIONS CONTAINED IN THE 
 COMMENTARY IN THIS TRANSLATION OF THE 
 " TEACHING." 
 
 The passages from early Christian writings^ quoted 
 in the commentary which accompanies the English 
 translation of the " Teaching of the Apostles " in 
 this volume, are, for the most part (with many 
 others) quoted or referred to in the learned and 
 exhaustive Greek work of Archbishop Bryennios. 
 
 The passages illustrative of the text, quoted in 
 this volume are, however, save in a few exceptional 
 cases, which are specially mentioned, entirely derived 
 from writings of the first and second centuries of 
 the Christian era ; that is to say, roughly speaking, 
 they were all written within a hundred years of the 
 death of S. John. 
 
 They will give the general reader an idea of the 
 teaching of the great Church leaders on'the various 
 
ii8 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 important subjects handled in the "Teaching" 
 respecting every - day life, doctrine, sacraments, 
 church government, primitive liturgical forms, 
 &c., during the first hundred years which followed 
 the death of S. John and the definite close of the 
 Canon of New Testament Scriptures. They repre- 
 sent the voice bf the Catholic Church, not of one 
 centre but of many. They are the work of Chris- 
 tian teachers who lived and worked in Italy (Clement 
 of Rome), Greece (Dionysius), Gaul (Irenaeus), 
 Carthage and Proconsular Africa (Tertullian), 
 Egypt and Alexandria (Clement of Alexandria), 
 Asia Minor (Polycarp of Smyrna), Antioch and 
 Syria (Ignatius), Palestine (writer of the "Testa- 
 ments of the Twelve Patriarchs"). 
 
 They are the teaching of men, too, of various 
 schools and of different rank and training. 
 
 In Clement of Rome, the man of apostolic dignity, 
 we have the friend of S. Paul ; in Polycarp and 
 Dionysius, the earnest, devoted bishops of the first 
 hundred years which followed the death of S. John ; 
 in Ignatius, bishop and martyr, the great ecclesi- 
 astic, the skilful organiser and administrator of the 
 Church; in Clement of Alexandria, the learned and 
 eloquent teacher of the first and most famous of the 
 early schools of theology ; in Tertullian, the skilled 
 jurist, devoting his great powers to the service of 
 
EXCURSUS V. 119 
 
 Christ; in the nameless writer of the "Testaments 
 of the Twelve Patriarchs," the Jewish Christian 
 teacher seeking to win over his countrymen to the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 B. 
 
 A VERY BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE FATHERS FROM 
 W^HOSE WRITINGS THE PASSAGES aUOTED IN 
 THIS WORK ARE TAKEN, WITH THE APPROXI- 
 MATE DATES OF THEIR LITERARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 Clement of Rome, A.D. 68 or 97, it being uncertain 
 whether the persecution mentioned in chap. i. of 
 his first Epistle to the Corinthians referred to the 
 persecution under Nero or Domitian. There is no 
 doubt but that this Clement was "the fellow- 
 labourer whose name was in the book of life," 
 mentioned by S. Paul (Phil. iv. 3), The first Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, from which quotations are 
 given, is universally acknowledged as genuine. 
 Eusebius, H.E. iii. t6, characterises it as "great 
 and admirable." 
 
 Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, suflFered martyrdom 
 A.D. T07. Thus his letters belong to the very first 
 years of the second century. He was in fact a con- 
 temporary of S. John. Seven of the epistles bear- 
 
120 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 ing his name are generally considered by scholars 
 to be genuine. Of these letters we possess tftro 
 Greek recensions, a shorter and a longer, besides a 
 Syriac version of three (the Epistles to Polycarp, to 
 the Ephesians and the Romans). The quotations 
 given here are from the shorter Greek recension, 
 which more probably represents the original writing 
 of Ignatius. The seven epistles are mentioned by 
 Eusebius, H.E. iii. ^6. 
 
 Polycarp. — Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, a.d. 177, 
 writes of Polycarp " that he was taught by the 
 Apostles, and was brought into communication with 
 many who had seen Christ," adv. Hasr. iii. 3 j Eus. 
 H.E. iv. 14. We possess one epistle of his to the 
 Philippians, the authenticity of which is quite 
 unshaken. He was Bishop of Smyrna, and suiFered 
 martyrdom about the middle of the second century. 
 
 The Martyrdom of Polycarp. — ^This is a letter in 
 twenty-two short chapters from the Church at 
 Smyrna, addressed to the Church in Philomelium 
 (Phrygia), and through that church to all the 
 churches. It is the oldest of all the accounts of 
 martyrdom, and is considered generally authentic. 
 We find a great part inserted by Eusebius, H.E. iv. 
 15. It is commonly ascribed by scholars to the 
 middle of the second century. 
 
 Barnabas. — The Epistle of Barnabas was well 
 known and highly esteemed in the early Church, 
 
EXCURSUS V. 121 
 
 and was generally ascribed to the Apostle, the 
 companion of S. Paul. Clement of Alexandria 
 unhesitatingly does so several times (Stromata, ii. 
 6, xi. 7, &c.) Modern criticism, however, while 
 acknowledging its very early date, declines to accept 
 the ancient tradition which ascribes the authorship 
 to the Apostle Barnabas. Its date was probably 
 early in the first quarter of the second century. In 
 Jerome's time it was still read among the Apocry- 
 phal Scriptures. 
 
 The connection of the " Teaching of the Apostles" 
 with the Epistle of Barnabas and with " The Shep- 
 herd " of Hermas is discussed in Excursus IV. 
 
 Hemms. — " The Shepherd " of Hermas was one 
 of the best-known works of the early days of 
 Christianity. It is divided into three parts : Visions, 
 Commandments, Parables. Its lofty claims to being 
 a divine message, and its winning, popular style, 
 gained it great fame and popularity in the early 
 Eastern Churches. Irenaeus quotes it as Scripture. 
 Clement of Alexandria alludes to it as " making its 
 statements divinely ; " and Origen, commenting on 
 the passage in S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 
 where Hermas is mentioned, remarks that this 
 Hermas is the author of a tract which is called " The 
 Shepherd," and adds, "is, I fancy, divinely in- 
 spired." Modern criticism, however, disbelieves in 
 the Hermas referred to by S. Paul being the author, 
 
122 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 but generally ascribes the book to the years 140- 
 145. It is mentioned in the Muratorian Fragment 
 on the Canon, written about a.d. 170. 
 
 Justin Martyr was born probably at the close of 
 the first century, and in his early life was a student 
 in the school of the Stoics and other ancient schools 
 of philosophy. He became an ardent evangelist 
 and missionary preacher, and suffered martyrdom in 
 the reign of Marcus Aurelius, somewhere about a.d. 
 165. His writings, which have been preserved to us, 
 are among the most important in early Christian 
 literature. 
 
 Clement of Alexandria was originally a pagan 
 philosopher. After his conversion he became an 
 industrious and painstaking student of the history 
 of Christianity, and of its teaching, oral and written. 
 A pupil of Pantaenus, master of the famous theo- 
 logical school of Alexandria, he succeeded him 
 as head of that school about a.d. 189. He was 
 driven from Alexandria in the persecution under 
 Severus, a.d. 203. His works which we possess are 
 the most voluminous which have come down to us 
 from very early Christian times. 
 
 DioTiysius of Corinth, whose testimony respecting 
 the observance of the Lord's day we have quoted, 
 was apparently Bishop of Corinth at the time of 
 the martyrdom of Justin Martyr, a.d. 165. The 
 passage referred to in the commentary on the 
 
EXCURSUS V. 123 
 
 " Teaching " is given by Eusebius, H.E. iv. 23, 
 and is taken from a letter to Soter, Bishop of 
 Rome. 
 
 The Epistle to Diognetus. — The authorship of 
 this very early little work is unknown. It dates 
 most probably from the early years of the second 
 century. Its writer speaks of Christianity as being 
 " a new thing in the world." 
 
 The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. — The ' 
 relation of this curious work to the " Teaching' of 
 the Apostles " is discussed in another place. It 
 was most probably the work of a Christian Jew 
 of the fugitive Jerusalem Church while located at 
 Pella beyond Jordan, and was written some time 
 between a.d. 70 and a.d. 150. 
 
 The Canons of the Apostles and the Constitutions 
 0/ the Apostles. — The connection of these com- 
 pilations, probably dating from the last quarter 
 of the fourth century, with the " Teaching of the 
 Apostles/' is examined in another dissertation.* 
 
 Tertullian and Origen. — Very little use has been 
 made in the commentary of the voluminous works 
 of these two famous writers. The first, Tertullian, 
 principally vvrote in North (Proconsular) Africa 
 during the last quarter of the second century, 
 and the second, the great Alexandrian Master, 
 
 * See Excursus I., pp. 81, 82. 
 
124 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 Origen, succeeded Clement (of Alexandria) as 
 master of the Alexandrian Catechetical School, 
 A.D. 203. He was driven from the Egyptian capital 
 by the persecution of Caracalla, a.d. 316, and died 
 about A.D. 354. The period of his literary activity 
 may be roughly placed in the first half of the third 
 century. 
 
 Minucius Felix is only once referred to in the 
 commentary, on the question of the wild orgies 
 falsely supposed to be connected with the Euchar- 
 istic Feast. He probably wrote his well-known 
 dialogue, the " Octavius," in the reign of Alexander 
 Severus, between a.d. 333-335. 
 
EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 THE APOSTLES OF THE " TEACHING: 
 
i>';': 
 
(' 127 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 The apostle is mentioned only three times in the 
 ''Teaching/' in the early part of chap. xi. He 
 occupies the first place in the enumeration of the 
 official personages connected with the early Chris^ 
 tian Church. He is mentioned with the deepest 
 respect, and whenever he appeared, he was to be, 
 received as "the Lord." But the few words which 
 allude to him, when compared with the far more 
 elaborate directions given respecting the prophets, 
 or with the definite and positive instructions respect- 
 ing the bishops and deacons, lead us irresistibly to 
 the conclusion that in the churches with which the 
 writer of this " Teaching " was familiar, the apostle 
 was a personage rarely seen, and who in consequence 
 had little influence on the Church's everyday life. 
 It would seem that the office of apostle, while still 
 existing, was passing out of the life of the Church. 
 
 Now in the first days of Christianity the apostle 
 indisputably had occupied the first rank. The holy 
 
128 EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 Twelve were termed Apostles^ but the title was by 
 no means confined to them. The appellation, we 
 know, was extended to others, such as to Paul and 
 Barnabas, to James the Lord's brother. In the 
 Epistle to the Romans (xvi. 7), Andronicus and 
 Junias are called distinguished* members of the 
 apostolic body. These chance notes clearly indi- 
 cate that the Apostolic College contained many 
 outside the Twelve whose names have not come 
 down to us. Hermas in ''The Shepherd," writing 
 in the first half of the second century, speaks in 
 general terms of apostles and teachers. He speaks 
 of " forty " of these apostles and teachers. {" Simi- 
 litudes," ix. 15, 16.) In the next chap, (xvi.), how- 
 ever, he writes of these " apostles and teachers, who 
 preached the name of the Son of God, after falling 
 asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, 
 preached it not only to those who were asleep, but 
 themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching." 
 (Sim. ix. 16.) It would thus seem that, when Her- 
 mas wirote, the apostles and teachers to whom he 
 had been alluding were dead. The number speci- 
 fied of these " forty " cannot be pressed when the 
 figurative character of the entire writing of " The 
 Shepherd " is remembered. Hermas again alludes 
 to these apostles and teachers (Sim. ix. 25) in terms 
 
EXCURSUS VI. 129 
 
 which would certainly lead us to think that in his 
 opinion these highly gifted ones had done their 
 work and had entered into their rest. Taken in 
 conjunction with these above-quoted passages, the 
 words of Vision iii. 5 would, as regards apostles 
 and teachers, lead us to the same conclusion. 
 
 Later writers of authority, such as Origen (350 
 A.D.), look upon the title of Apostle as capable of a 
 very wide application (in Joann. iv. p. 430) ; and 
 Eusebius speaks of "numberless" apostles beyond 
 the eleven (H.E. i. 12).* 
 
 The question then arises, who were the apostles 
 mentioned in this very early writing ? 
 
 We have seen that the date of the " Teaching " 
 can scarcely be placed later than the last quarter 
 of the first century. The apostle here mentioned 
 was evidently not one of a numerous order. He 
 was a factor in the life of a community, but not an 
 important one. His rank and position were indis- 
 putable. He is mentioiied in the first place and with 
 the deepest reverence ; but the apostle, great though 
 he was, was not a personage who influenced the life 
 of the community as did the prophet or the bishop 
 and deacon. 
 
 Yet there was evidently a strange charm which 
 accompanied the lofty title, which — not many years 
 
 * fiishop Lightfoot in Epistle to Galatians, note on the name 
 and office of an apostle.. 
 
130 EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 before — had been the special appellation of the 
 Twelve and the great Christian missionaries of the 
 first days — of men like Paul and Barnabas. There 
 was a danger clearly that unauthorised men might 
 assume the name, and with the name something 
 of the power and influence which evidently hung 
 round the ancient title of honour. 
 
 So the writer warns his people against pretenders 
 to the honoured name, ^n apostle, he bids them 
 remember, is one who has given up home and every 
 earthly possession. A real apostle can never stay 
 with them more than a night or two at most : he 
 must receive nothing at their hands but the barest 
 maintenance ; must give his message, and then rest- 
 lessly hurry on to a fresh scene of labour. 
 
 Such a career, such a reception, such a slender 
 guerdon, the writer of the "Teaching" feels will 
 attract no impostor. One content with this, one 
 claiming nothing more, might indeed be worthy of 
 the high title of Apostle of the Lamb. There were 
 other tests by which these true great ones would be 
 known, but this at least would suffice to keep the 
 mere impostor at a distance. 
 
 But from the nature of the scanty allusion here 
 to this office, it is clear that in such a community 
 as that to which the "Teaching" was addressed, 
 the apostle was a rare appearance. 
 
 Nor does this appearance of the apostle in our 
 
/ EXCURSUS VI. 131 
 
 writing necessitate any modification of the old 
 belief which required that an apostle must have 
 with his eyes looked on the Lord Jesus. When 
 the " Teaching " was written, perhaps half a century 
 or little more had scarcely passed since the Master 
 had gone in and out of earthly homes, and the 
 writing seems to be telling of an order once great 
 and powerful in the community, but of an order 
 already passing away. 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
( 135 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 THE PROPHET OF THE FIRST DAYS OP 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 We have heard and read often the well-known 
 words of Eph. ii. ao, words which are framed 
 too in the beautiful setting of an oft-repeated 
 collect which speaks of God, who "has built His 
 Church upon the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
 corner-stone." These words do not refer to the 
 famous prophets of the Old Testament, to men like 
 Elijah or Isaiah or Ezekiel, but to that strange - 
 and powerful order of men, raised up for a little 
 season only, in the Church of the first days, and 
 who in the inspired writings of Paul, and in such 
 venerable compositions like this " Teaching," were 
 described as prophets. 
 
 The Master, writes the Apostle Paul, " gave some, 
 apostles J and some, prophets; and some, evan- 
 gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ... for 
 the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. iv. ii). 
 
136 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 And again, " God hath set some in the Church, first, 
 apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers." 
 (i Cor. xii. 38.) 
 
 But nowhere in the relics which we possess of 
 very early Christian literature do we find such 
 ample information respecting the office and work 
 of a prophet in the Christian Church, as in this 
 little treatise, " The Teaching of the Apostles." 
 
 The question now suggests itself, what was this 
 gift of prophecy which for a season was so widely 
 diffused, and which was used evidently with such 
 powerful effect in laying the early stories of the 
 Christian edifice ? It was not only or even chiefly 
 prediction, that wonderful power of foreseeing things 
 still hidden in the future far and near, though this 
 gift of foreseeing was in some cases by no means 
 excluded, some of the New Testament prophets 
 having evidently possessed it. See Acts xi. 27-30, 
 xxi. 4, and 10-14; i Tim. iv. i. But prophecy 
 seems rather to have been a gift of speech, an extra- 
 ordinary power of preaching, of uttering burning 
 words which went with a peculiar force right home 
 to men's hearts. These prophets of the New Testa- 
 ment were often impassioned and eloquent men, 
 but were evidently something more ; often in 
 moments when the Spirit seized them they would 
 pour out their strange mighty utterances, now of 
 command, now of comfort, now of warning. 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 137 
 
 Inspired by the Divine Word, they could read 
 men's secret thoughts (i Cor. xiv. 35). They could 
 say to one like Timotheus, " Thou art called to 
 war a good warfare for the Master." They could, 
 speaking in the Spirit, give an authoritative charge, 
 as they did at Antioch, " Separate me Barnabas 
 and Saul for the work whereunto I have called 
 them " (Acts xiii. a). As heart- readers they were 
 enabled to work strange and marvellous conversions 
 in the congregations. See i Cor. xiv. 24, 25, where 
 we read how men convinced fell down on their 
 faces and worshipped God. 
 
 Such generally was the power of the prophets 
 alluded to in the "Teaching" — a power mysterious, 
 wonderful, exceptional, which existed in the first 
 hundred years succeeding the Ascension. It made 
 its appearance on that Day of Pentecost when the 
 fiery tongues descended on the heads of the 
 immediate followers of the risen Master, and from 
 that time the gift [yapiafia) spread with a wonder- 
 ful rapidity. It came sometimes through the lay- 
 ing on of the Apostles' hands (Acts viii. 17, xix. 6). 
 Sometimes, apart from any human intervention 
 (Acts X. 44-46, xi. 15), would the Spirit descend 
 upon men, and these inspired ones would prophesy. 
 
 We hear of it in all the great centres of apostolic 
 activity. So at Thessalonica was given the charge, 
 "Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesy- 
 
138 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 ings">(i Thess, v. 19, ao). At Corinth there 
 appears to have been an unusual outpouring of this 
 great gift (i Cor. xii. 14). At Rome a. special 
 direction was given to the early disciples of the 
 Christian community with respect to the use of the 
 prophetic gift. At Ephesus it is alluded to as one 
 of the chiefest gifts bestowed by the Christ on His 
 Church. "Strange as it may seem/' writes Dean 
 
 f Plumptre, "there were in that age men, as truly in- 
 spired as Isaiah or Jeremiah had been, as SS. Peter 
 and Paul were then, speaking words that were as 
 truly as any that were ever spoken inspired words of 
 
 V God, and yet of most of them all record has vanished. 
 Their voices smote the air, and did their work, 
 and died away, and we catch but the faintest echoes 
 of them. Their words were written on the sand, and 
 the advancing waves of time have washed away all, 
 or nearly all, traces of what was once as awful as the 
 handwriting on the wall." 
 
 When we consider the vast and varied influence 
 which these almost forgotten prophets exercised 
 while the ma.ssive early stories of the great Christian 
 edifice were being laid in Greece, in Italy, in Syria, 
 and in Asia, the importance and interest of such a 
 writing as this "Teaching of the Apostles" can 
 scarcely be overrated. For here we have a simple 
 picture of the work and position of these prophets 
 in a quiet provincial community of Christians in 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 139 
 
 the last quarter of the first century ; that is to say, 
 in that period which intervened between the close 
 of the activity of S. Paul and the days so vividly 
 described to us in the letters of Ignatius. 
 
 In the Christian congregations addressed in the 
 "Teaching," the prophets indisputably occupied 
 the most prominent and influential position. It is 
 true that they are named after the Apostles, but 
 while the apostle is mentioned three times, we 
 meet with the prophets in our v/riting^J'teen times. 
 The student as he reads feels that the one (the 
 apostle) belongs rather to a past state of things; 
 while the prophet, on the other hand, was the centre 
 of the busy Christian life painted by the writer of 
 this little treatise. 
 
 There were at this period, which may be gene- 
 rally described as reaching from A.b. 70 to a.d. io5, 
 two descriptions of these prophets, the one itine- 
 rant, the other stationary. The itinerant journeyed 
 from place to place where Christian communities 
 were established. In these he would make a brief 
 halt if he had any special message ; he would pro- 
 bably, after an Agape (Love Feast), deliver it, and 
 then would depart for another scene of labour. 
 The wandering prophet, however, does not appear 
 to have ever been a missionary to Pagan peoples, but 
 rather to have acted as the instructor, the builder-up 
 of the scattered Christian congregations. 
 
140 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 The other and far more important description of 
 prophet was the one who was fixed and stationary. 
 It appears that any wandering prophet, if it pleased 
 him, might become resident in a community, and 
 that then he was entitled to certain offerings from 
 the flock. 
 
 Such a resident prophet stood, said the writer of 
 our treatise, in relation to the flock in the midst 
 of whom he had taken up his permanent abode, in 
 some respects as their "chief priest" [apxiepevi).* 
 Great and exceptional privileges were his. In cer- 
 tain portions of the Eucharistic celebration which 
 was to take place on the Lord's-day of every week, 
 the prophet might depart from the liturgical form 
 and use his own words. 
 
 The deepest respect to these prophets is enjoined 
 upon the members of the community. The only 
 rule that appears to have been binding upon them 
 was that in their life and conversation they must 
 imitate the conduct of the Master. 
 
 The absence of one feature in the varied details 
 respecting congregations, liturgies, and ministers 
 in the " Teaching" is remarkable. There is no re- 
 ference whatever to speaking in unknown tongues. 
 An interpreter is never mentioned; he was evi- 
 dently never required. All instructions, public and 
 
 * See " Teaching," chap, xiii. 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 141 
 
 private, all inspired utterances clearly were of such 
 a nature, and were communicated in such a tongue, 
 as the ordinary folk who made up a city or a 
 provincial congregation could of themselves under- 
 stand. 
 
 It is noticeable that the writer, however, of the 
 "Teaching," after dwelling with considerable detail 
 upon the office, the duties, the privileges and re- 
 sponsibilities of these prophets, suggests the possi- 
 bility of a community being without a prophet at 
 all, and directs how the offerings should be distri- 
 buted, which would, in the event of the presence of 
 a prophet, have been given to him.* 
 
 This would seem just a hint that the writer looked 
 forward to a time, probably not far distant, when 
 the extraordinary powers of the prophets should 
 cease, when this order, like that of the apostles, 
 then evidently fast dying out, would cease to exist. 
 
 * See chap. xiii. — " But if you have no prophet, give to the 
 poor." 
 
EXCURSUS VIII. 
 
 THE POSITION OF THE " TEACHER " IN THE 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. 
 
( HS ) 
 
 EXCURSUS VIII. 
 
 THE POSITION OF THE " TEACHER " IN THE 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. 
 
 The third of the primitive Christian orders, the 
 "Teacher," is mentioned in our treatise, but this 
 order apparently exercised but little influence in the 
 communities addressed in our writing. Only twice, 
 against the fifteen times in which the prophet is 
 mentioned, do we meet with an allusion to the 
 " teacher." 
 
 Like the "prophet," his work was the building 
 up and instructitig the congregation. He too could 
 claim support from the flock, who are likewise 
 bidden to hold him in reverence and honour. But 
 the teachers evidently, as an order, exercised but 
 little influence iu such a community as the one 
 addressed in our treatise. The prophet, and, as we 
 shall see, the bishops and deacons, were taking 
 up their peculiar work. The "teachers," like the 
 apostles, belonged evidently to a former generation. 
 
 Harnack {pages 131-137), with great ingenuity 
 
146 EXCURSUS' VIII. 
 
 and power, traces a connection between these 
 "teachers" of the first days and men like Justin 
 Martyr, and Tatian, and Pantaenus of the second 
 century, and sees in the early Christian theological 
 schools, and especially in the Catechetical School 
 of Alexandria, the outcome of their labours. 
 
EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 THE BISHOPS AND DEACONS OF THE " TEACHING 
 OF THE APOSTLES." 
 
( 149 ) 
 
 EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 The position of the bishops and deacons in the 
 Christian communities addressed in the" Teaching" 
 is to us one of singular interest. 
 
 Whilst the three primitive orders of apostles, 
 prophets, teachers, are alluded to in terms which 
 indisputably suggest that in the mind of the writer 
 of the treatise they were but transitory, occupying 
 only a temporary position in the Church, the bishops 
 and deacons, although the writer gives us com- 
 paratively but scanty details respecting them, 
 are clearly spoken of as permanent officers of the 
 Church. 
 
 For the apostle is alluded to as occupying the first 
 place, but evidently as one rarely appearing in the 
 congregation. His influence in these communities 
 appears to have been but slight in the days when 
 the "Teaching" was put forth. The men who had 
 originally filled this high office had for the most part 
 evidently passed away. 
 
ISO EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 The prophet, as we have already shown, occupied 
 in the Christian community in those early days 
 decidedly the most influential position. He was the 
 instructorj the preacher, the chief minister, too, in 
 the public weekly assemblies for worship. In him 
 were also, it is evident, centred the duties of the 
 teacher of the first days. These teachers are 
 alluded to as a distinct order in our writing, but 
 for air practical purposes their special work was 
 apparently merged in that of the prophet. 
 
 But even this great and important order of pro- 
 phets is spoken of in terms which indicate to us 
 that, in the mind of the writer of the " Teaching," 
 the time would probably come when they too, like 
 the apostolic order, would gradually cease to exist. 
 Provision is specially made in chap. xiii. for com- 
 munities unprovided with a prophet. 
 
 When, however, in chap. xv. the writer comes 
 to speak of bishops and deacons, no such possibility 
 is hinted at. Every community is directed to 
 appoint for themselves these officers of the. Church. 
 While apostles and teachers, and even the prophets 
 then occupying in the churches the position of 
 greatest influence, were looked upon as temporary, 
 the bishops and deacons were evidently regarded by 
 our writer as permanent. 
 
 There was a danger clearly present in our writer's 
 mind that these church< officers (the bishops and 
 
EXCURSUS IX. IS I 
 
 deacons) might be looked upon by the congregation 
 somewhat slightingly because their special functions 
 were administrative, others acting rather as the 
 spiritual guides and teachers of the flock. To 
 guard against this, the community was reminded 
 that these church officers too rendered the services 
 of prophets and teachers. The writer, it seems, 
 looked forward to no distant day when there would 
 be no more directly inspired prophets and teachers. 
 Then their work as spiritual guides and instructors 
 of the flock of Christ, already in part intrusted to 
 the bishops and deacons, would wholly devolve on 
 these permanent officers of the Church. 
 
 Nor need we inquire why these two orders, 
 bishops and deacons, alone are mentioned to the 
 exclusion of the order of presbyters, for in the 
 language of the apostolic age, to which this writing 
 of the "Teaching of' the Apostles " clearly belongs, 
 the bishop and the presbyter were identical. , So 
 S. Paul in the opening of the Epistle to the Philip- 
 pians looked on them when he saluted the bishops 
 and deacons (Phil. i. i). So again (Acts xx. 17), 
 the same apostle, at Miletus, calls for the elders 
 or presbyters of the Church of Ephesus, and in his 
 address to these (verse 28) he appeals to them as 
 "bishops" (eTrto-ztoTTow?). See too i S. Peter i. a ; 
 Titus i. 5-7. 
 
 As late as the last decade of the first century, in 
 the Epistle of Clement of Rome, the terms bishop 
 
152 EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 and presbyter are still convertible. (See first Epistle 
 of Clement to the Corinthian Church, chaps, 
 xlii., xliv.) But \yith the close of the first century 
 the identification of the bishop and presbyter ceases ; 
 the things foreshadowed in the directions of the 
 "Teaching" rapidly come to pass; gradually the 
 extraordinary gifts, bestowed for a particular pur- 
 pose on the Church of the first days, were with- 
 drawn. The first possessors of the gifts {■)(api<rfJLaTa) 
 of prophecy had passed away, and except perhaps in 
 rare and exceptional instances, their powers were not 
 renewed. The apostle of the first generation, as we 
 have seen, had no successor. The prophet of the 
 second generation likewise was the last, or well- 
 nigh the last, of his influential order. These had 
 done their appointed work j the early stories of the 
 vast Christian Temple having been securely laid, 
 these temporary and extraordinary gifts were no 
 more bestowed. 
 
 Early in the second century the genuine Epistles 
 of Ignatius testify with ample fulness to the rise 
 of the episcopal, power. " In the same century," 
 writes Bishop Lightfoot, " to men like Irenaeus and 
 TertuUian Episcopacy is so inseparably interwoven 
 with all traditions and belief of men, that they 
 betray no knowledge of a time when it was not. 
 Even Irenaeus, the earlier of these, who was cer- 
 tainly born and probably had grown up before the 
 middle of the century, seems to be wholly ignorant 
 
Ei:CURSUS IX. 153 
 
 that the word bishop had passed from a lower to a ^ 
 higher value since the apostolic times." (" Epistle / 
 to Philippians/' p. 325.) "Unless/' writes this same 
 scholar, Bishop Lightfoot, " we have recourse to a 
 sweeping condemnation of received documents, it 
 seems vain to deny that early in the second century 
 the episcopal office was firmly and widely estab- 
 lished." 
 
 We can see the various steps which gradually led 
 up to this change in the position of the bishop. It 
 is not needful to have recourse to the conclusion of 
 Professor Rothe, that a general apostolic council 
 immediately after the fall of Jerusalem was held to 
 deliberate on the crisis, and to frame measures for 
 the future government of the Church, and that at 
 this council a system of church government was 
 framed, the centre of which was Episcopacy. Such 
 a theory, however plausible and ingenious, is not sup- 
 ported by history or tradition, nor is it necessary. 
 
 The rise of the new order of things was not sud- 
 den, but gradual. The presbyters in each community ] 
 — we have the quiet witness of our present little / 
 treatise here * — exercised the functions of the inspired \ 
 prophets and teachers along with these specially / 
 gifted men. Before many years they would have 
 to exercise these lofty duties without any help from 
 specially inspired prophets or teachers. The senior, 
 either by rank or age, of these presbyters, would 
 
 * See chap. xv. 
 
154 EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 eventually, in the natural order of things, step into 
 the place of influence once held by the prophet. 
 And so it would come to pass that the chief presby- 
 ter in one community after the- other would occupy 
 the position, and, as far as in him lay, would 
 exercise the influence and perform the duties of the 
 apostle, the prophet, and the teacher. The higher 
 and official title of bishop or overseer would be 
 appropriated naturally by him, the more general 
 name of presbyter remaining to his colleagues, 
 many or few in number. 
 
 This quiet change in the government of the early 
 Church, rendered needful by the gradual dying out 
 of the apostles and prophets, was witnessed by and 
 received the approval of some of the great apostles of 
 the first days and of many . apostolic men. This 
 change had passed, or at least was passing, we may 
 fairly assume, over well-nigh all the Churches surely 
 before S. John had entered into his rest. 
 
 That an arrangement for the future government 
 of the Church — by bishops {hric7Koiroi) as dis- 
 tinguished from presbyters {irpea-^vrepoi) — was 
 organised and approved by apostles and apostolic 
 men, is clear from the testimony of writers of the 
 highest authority of the second century. 
 
 Ignatius, writing in the first years of the second 
 century, in the fullest and most ample terms bears 
 his testimony to the existence in his days of the 
 Episcopal form of government in the Churches. 
 
EXCURSUS IX. I5S 
 
 Now Ignatius was a contemporary of S. John, and Ignatius, 
 a tradition of some authority * relates how he was Martyred 
 consecrated to the office of Bishop of Antioch by ' ' 
 the hands of S. Peter and of others of the blessed 
 Apostles. 
 
 Tertullian ffives his evidence respecting the ori- TertuiUan, 
 
 ° . . North 
 
 ginal settlement of the Episcopal form of govern- Africa. 
 ment very clearly.-f "The order of bishops, where 145, died" 
 it is traced up to its origin^ will be found to have S. 220. 
 John for one of its authors;" and again,J " Let them 
 (the heretics) show us the origin of their Churches, 
 and give us a catalogue of their bishops in an exact 
 succession from first to last, whereby it may appear 
 that their first bishop had either some Apostle or 
 apostolic man living in the time of the Apostles for 
 his author or immediate predecessor. For thus it 
 is that apostolical Churches make their reckoning; 
 the Church of Smyrna counts up to Polycarp, 
 ordained by S. John ; the Church of Rome to 
 Clement, ordained by S. Peter ; «and so all other 
 Churches in like manner exhibit their bishops ( 
 ordained by the apostles, by whom the apostolical ) 
 seed was propagated and conveyed to others." ' 
 
 Clement of Alexandria % writes of S. John, that Clement 
 
 of Akx- 
 
 ■ — ■ — — — ■ andria^ 
 
 head of • 
 
 * Theodoret, Dial. I, t. 5, p. 33. Chrysoslom, Horn, in Ignat. Catecheti- 
 
 t. I, p. 563. cal Scliool 
 
 + Adv. Marcion, Book IV. chap. v. J De Prascrip, c. 32. •*-°- '^9~ 
 
 t Wj 6 <ru^6tievos irXoiaws, "Part 1, a. S- 
 
 L 
 
156 EXCURSUS IX. 
 
 when he was residing at Ephesus, after his return 
 
 from banishment at Patmos, he was in the habit of 
 
 travelling about the neighbouring districts, ordaining 
 
 bishops and setting apart such men for the clergy 
 
 as were indicated to him by the. Holy Ghost. 
 
 irenaeus, Irenaeus gives a catalogue of the twelve first 
 
 Lyms, bishops of Rome that governed successively in that 
 
 city to his own time, and writes of Linus,* the 
 
 , first of these : -f* " The blessed apostles then having 
 
 founded and built up the Church, committed into 
 
 the hands of Linus the office of ihe Episcopate." 
 
 % Irenaeus also writes, " Polycarp, too, was not only 
 
 instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many 
 
 who had seen Christ, but was also appointed Bishop 
 
 of the Church in Smyrna by apostles in Asia, whom 
 
 I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried (with 
 
 us on earth) a very long time." 
 
 This ancient treatise of the "Teaching of the 
 Apostles," written in the last decade of the first 
 century (or perhaps even a few years earlier), in its 
 simple, trutliful picture of the life of a Christian 
 community of the first days,- indicates to us some of 
 the reasons which led apostles and apostolic men to • 
 sanction certain changes in the original constitution 
 of the Church. 
 
 * Both Linus and Clemetjt of Rome are mentioned by S. Paul in 
 connection with the Church of Rome. See 2 Tim. iv. 21, and Phil. 
 iv. 3. 
 
 t Adv. Hcer., Book III. chap. iii. 3. 
 
 % Ibid. 4. 
 
"THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 Practical Thoughts for Life in the Year of Our Lord 1884, 
 suggested by the " Teaching of the Apostles^ a treatise 
 on Christian life, written at the close of the first cen- 
 tury. Being a Sermon preached in St. Paul's Cathedral 
 on Sunday Evening, the 2.id June 1884, by the Rev. 
 Canon ,Spence, M.A., Vicar of S. Pancras. 
 
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for 
 the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall 
 find rest for your souls." — Jer. vi., part of verse i6. 
 
 A NEW light has recently been cast upon the life 
 of the Christian in the first days of the faith. 
 
 A Greek scholar and divine, well known and 
 honouredj has lately discovered at Constantinople 
 a very old Christian writing, one quoted by writers 
 of the second, third, and fourth centuries, but which 
 for many hundred years has been lost. 
 
 Scholarly experts in England and Germany are 
 generally of opinion that this writing dates from 
 the last years of the first century. 
 
 If this be so, we have here, words addressed to 
 men and women who might have seen St. John. 
 The writer most probably had himself sat at the 
 feet of one of those who, had listened to the voice 
 of the Son of God when He talked with men on 
 earth. 
 
 To us, as we read the little treatise — to us the 
 life led in one of these early Christian communities 
 is laid open to our gaze. It reminds me of what 
 
( 
 
 i6d "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 the first uncovering of the buried Campanian city 
 must have been to the devoted classical student. 
 As the veil of ashes and of lava was lifted, the 
 Roman town appeared below, well nigh as fresh and 
 beautiful as on that dread morning when the fire- 
 shower first hid it, and the old Pompeian life could 
 be traced in temple and houge, in the market-place, 
 along the silent street of tombs, though eighteen 
 centuries had passed since the old Roman life, gay 
 and sad, had been suddenly hushed to sleep. 
 
 So in our little writing, when the veil of the dust 
 of centuries was lifted off, we can see something of 
 the Christian life of some eighteen centuries back, 
 with its temptations and dangers, with its mighty 
 helps and safeguards. 
 
 It must have been a state of things not very 
 much unlike — in matter of temptations — that in 
 the midst of which you and I find ourselves. 
 
 The writer of this little treatise or manual of 
 the Christian life, first tells his readers that for men 
 and women there were two ways — one of life, one 
 of death. 
 
 He models his directions respecting the way of 
 life very much on the blessed Sermon on the Mount. 
 Had he not perhaps heard it ? This is something 
 of its teaching : — 
 
 Be kind to bthers, especially your enemies. Be 
 pure, single-hearted, true in speech, true in thought, 
 
"THE OLD PATHS." i6i 
 
 true in action. But above all, this early voice of the 
 Church says — Be generous with thy goods, be hos- 
 pitable to the stranger and the wanderer. 
 
 "Do not be one," quaintly writes this early 
 Christian teacher, " who stretches out his hands to 
 receive, and clenches them tight for giving. If thou 
 hast," he goes on solemnly to urge, "thou shalt 
 give with thy hands as a ransom for thy sins." 
 "Thou shalt not turn from him that needest. Thou 
 shalt communicate with thy brother in all things, 
 and thou shalt not say they are thine own." 
 
 But the teacher of primitive Christianity knew 
 well that the pure generous simple life which he 
 urged upon the rapidly-growing society was not 
 possible without some mighty supernatui^al aid. 
 The wise old master who wrote the little book was 
 aware that men and women, left to themselves, 
 would never cease to be sordid and grasping, im- 
 pure and avaricious. 
 
 The generous almsgiving to the stranger, the 
 widow, and the orphan ; the thoughtful provision for 
 the wandering, homeless wayfarer ; the hard sacri- 
 fice of self; the ardent love of truth and reality, 
 — all these things the old Christian master who 
 wrote this beautiful instruction was conscious were 
 quite foreign to the nature of the dwellers in the 
 cities and villages of the Asia,.the Greece, the Italy, 
 
i62 "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 which he knew of in the first century ; as, alas ! they 
 are to our nature in London now. The teacher 
 here was well aware that no mental energy, no 
 moral effort, no progress of civilisation, could endow 
 any single human soul \vith these strange, sweet 
 tastes. 
 
 He knew — to use the words of a philosopher of 
 our day, — he knew that "the breath of God touches 
 with its mystery of life the dead souls of men, 
 bears them across the bridgeless gulf between the 
 natural and the spiritual, endows them with its own 
 high qualities, and develops within them those new 
 and sweet faculties by which men are said to see 
 the kingdom of God." 
 
 So when he had told them what to do, and how 
 to live so as to please the Lord, he goes on to re- 
 veal to them the secret by which they might breathe 
 into their souls that breath of God which alone 
 conveys these mysterious blessed powers. Four 
 methods are enjoined by which the servant of 
 Christ who has chosen the way of life can, in the 
 dread conflict, strengthen his soul with supernatural 
 help. 
 
 These are Prayer, Fasting, Holy Baptism, and the 
 Eucharist. 
 
 But the centre of the religious life of the Chris- 
 tian of the first days was evidently the Eucharist. 
 All would be servants of the Lord on the first day 
 
"THE OLD PATHS." 163 
 
 of t^ie week. — This was the solemn charge of the 
 writer of this ancient treatise. — Jll on the first day 
 of the week must partake of the sacred Cup and 
 Bread. 
 
 If the ' anxious, troubled soul were conscious of 
 any defilement, clear was the course for that soul 
 and definite the teaching here. 
 
 It said. Do not stay away, but repent. Would 
 God men and women would listen to that wise, holy 
 teaching now ! 
 
 The discovery of this long-buried little book is 
 an intensely interesting one to us. It is no mere 
 treasure for the antiquary and the scholar; for its 
 voice is to that full, busy life you and I probably 
 are leading in London now. And that voice is no 
 uncertain one ; it sweeps away many cobwebs that 
 have grown up and about much of our religious 
 teaching. We have come, many of us, in our just 
 admiration for the love with which it is clear God 
 loves the world, we have come to dream dreams of 
 an unreal sentimentality about Divine forgiveness 
 and universal restoration, forgetting that while God 
 loves the world with a love full of an intense 
 tenderness and of a boundless pity and of a limitless 
 mercy, still it is with a love that is at the same time 
 lofty, noble, and severe. 
 
 Now the voice of the very early Church, which 
 
1 64 "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 we hear in this "Teaching of the Apostles," contains 
 a very distinctive, very positive instruction. There 
 is no middle course for men and women. There 
 are two ways, and only two ways — the way of life, 
 and the way of death. 
 
 It tells us there must be no neutral tints in 
 Christian morals ; it presses on us that we must not 
 be content with just keeping our lives free from dark 
 stains ; we must be ever^lling them with thoughts 
 and acts and words on which we know God will 
 smile; we must be doing something here which will 
 enable Him to say at the end, "Well done, good 
 and faithful servant." Otherwise, whatever men 
 may say and teach, we are travelling along the way 
 to death. 
 
 There is no middle road, remember. We business 
 men and working men of London are told plainly 
 in this primitive writing that we cannot serve God 
 and mammon. We mmt make our choice, we must 
 acknowledge that it is not our first and chief busi- 
 ness to make money and get on in the world, but 
 that our chief work here must be to serve God and 
 our neighbour. fVe have to care for the Lord's com- 
 mandments in the Sermon on the Mount, and to 
 leave Him to take care of our interests. We must 
 sternly and rigidly obey these grave, simple direc- 
 tions, without heeding what will be the outcome of 
 our obeying them — riches or poverty, neglect or 
 
''THE OLD PATHS." 165 
 
 honour, quietly, without show, in the common way 
 of life; by purity, by self-denial, by almsgiving, by 
 kindly, not in showy hospitality. All through the 
 week were the hard-working Christians of the first 
 age to let their light shine before men with a gentle 
 beneficent light ; and on the Lord's day were they 
 to seek and find new strength and supernatural 
 .power to keep that light steadily burning. 
 
 It needed [indeed a strength not of this world 
 to enable them to lead this life, to keep their feet 
 steadily on the way of life. It cost much; not a 
 little giving up of things pleasant, heartache often, 
 headache often, endurance always, and at the end, 
 as earthly guerdon, they were offered exile, imprison- 
 ment, torture, often a death of agony; ay, the re- 
 ward was not yet, not now ! 
 
 But the Christians of the first age shrank from 
 none of these things; they knew well — and our little 
 writing repeats it — where, and when, and how to 
 find strength for this life of self-denial and of 
 martyrdom. 
 
 For us, if we would lead the only life loved of 
 God, — for us the same hard, stern sacrifices of self 
 are needed,-— the same resolute giving up, the same 
 brave facing of heartache often, and headache often, 
 everything the same as in those early days, save the 
 death of agony which closed so many a Christian's 
 life in those first davs. 
 
i66 "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 Thus you and I need, just as much as they needed, 
 "help from above," if we would hold fast to the 
 narrow path of life. It is as hard now as it was 
 then to keep unswervingly on that road. 
 
 The supernatural help which the old teacher in 
 our precious writing told the men and women of 
 the first century they must get, you and I must 
 make our own now. 
 
 We too must use the selfsame methods to call 
 this help down from heaven as he told them to use. 
 Now power to keep steadily on the way of life — he 
 pressed this on them — can only be maintained by 
 prayer and rigid self-denial. "This kind goeth not 
 out but by prayer and fasting." 
 
 For though to-day we love the Master, and cling 
 to Christ and His way of life with a passionate 
 clinging, to-morrow the touch of the world, with its 
 pleasures, distractions, and temptations, will surely 
 relax this clinging hold of ours, and will draw away 
 our love from Him ; therefore do we need con- 
 tinually supernatural help. This is how men and 
 women go wrong, leave their first love, grow cold 
 and listless. They neglect the supernatural help 
 which they might, if they chose, call down. 
 
 The man or woman who would work for God, 
 and walk in the light of the Lord, these must live 
 with God. 
 
 This kind goeth not out but by prayer, yes, and 
 
"THE OLD paths:' 167 
 
 by something more. The wise old teacher whose 
 work is our theme to-night, bade his listeners and 
 his readers yajff as well as pray. Thrice in each week 
 must they learn afresh the high lesson of rigid self- 
 control. 
 
 Men and women believe but dimly now in these 
 old-world ways of winning- power. 
 
 Our modern teachers, in teaching freedom from 
 old restraints and worn-out limitations, have gone 
 too far. 
 
 They forget the true asceticism \yhich Paul taught, 
 and which men like our unknown writer of the first 
 age pressed upon their flocks. He knew too well 
 ■that it is no easy task to do God's will here, no 
 easy task to choose the -right and reject the wrong. 
 He knew that self-indulgent men could never 
 do it. 
 
 For fasting means more than merely denying our- 
 selves the luxuries of the table; it includes all real 
 self-denial, and without rigid self-control, without 
 a self-denying asceticism, we cannot keep in the 
 narrow way of life. " This kind goeth not out but 
 hy prayer and fasting." 
 
 And the highest, noblest form of prayer, our 
 ancient teacher tells us in this writing, is in the 
 Eucharistic Feast. This God Himself ordained. 
 There is He in Spirit present with His own ; there 
 
i68 "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 will His faithful, His beloved, surely gain new 
 strength, bright courage, brave patience, greater 
 and more enduring power, to walk with footsteps 
 unwavering along the way of life. 
 
 The sum then of the teaching of this ancient 
 book, just brought to light, and which belongs to 
 the days of the pupils of the Apostles, comes out 
 clear and distinct. It tells us there are two ways, 
 and only two, along which you and I may travel 
 on our world-journey — the way of life and the way 
 of death. It tells us,.doesthis newly-found "Teach- 
 ing of the Apostles," of a solitary path of safety 
 — tells us with a quiet, passionate earnestness that 
 there is no broad and royal road, along which the 
 redeemed may pass, festive, triumphant, rejoicing! 
 
 It tells us there are only two roads. If we choose 
 not the hard and difficult path with Christ, then 
 our world-journey must lie along the broad thronged 
 road of death and perdition. 
 
 The Divine Wisdom, knowing how weak and frail 
 we are, how girt with foes seen and unseen — the 
 Divine Wisdom, it tells us, has provided supernatural 
 help for those who choose the way of life. 
 
 This help from above comes through prayer and 
 fasting, and then with a still closer communion with 
 the Unseen God in the Eucharist. 
 
 The voice of the old Christian master just dis- 
 covered in that neglected Eastern library, with its 
 
"THE OLD PATHS." 169 
 
 promises and warnings, speaks to different classes of 
 our day and time. 
 
 It speaks to that vast company of young men in 
 our great city, no longer sheltered by the loving 
 defence of a religious home, but who live in an 
 atmosphere of temptation — alone often, friendless 
 often. It speaks to these ; it bids them, in their 
 Master's name, "be true, real men, helpers of the 
 helpless" — bids them choose the stern, hard way of 
 life, the only way which becomes men, and it shows 
 these, too, where to get their strength to choose that 
 way. 
 
 It speaks also to that countless army of women 
 who work in this awful London, many of them 
 scarce able to win their poor daily bread, and yet 
 struggling to be pure and white, — it bids them, for 
 their dear Lord's sake, help their weaker sisters, 
 sadder ones than themselves, bids them help others 
 out of their hard-won earnings and their scant 
 leisure. 
 
 Time would fail me now were I to track the 
 message of the early Church as it whispers its stetn, 
 solemn warning to other and richer ones. 
 
 God, for His dear Son's sake, in His mercy grant 
 that this long-buried writing of the storied past may 
 do its high work among us. I lay down this heart- 
 stirring message of the earliest Church, 
 
 my brothers and sisters, many of you toil-worn 
 
170 "THE OLD PATHS." 
 
 and wearied with the stress of living, my message 
 seems to ring with a ring of sadness and of gloom. 
 Some would ask^ Is such a life of restless striving 
 to keep on the narrow path of duty worth living 
 after all? Yes, a thousand times yes. For hark 
 to its closing words of promise — hark to the triumph 
 song of heaven with which it ends. Watch, says 
 my ancient writer: watch, for Christ is coming — 
 coming to bless His faithful — coming to fetch His 
 own who have suffered for Him here ! Yes, it says, 
 — watch — for the Lord is coming ! 
 
 See, in his closing words our writer paints the 
 picture of Christ's saints soaring up to meet their 
 Lord in the air. Is it not then worth while for a 
 little season to struggle for the narrow path ? 
 
AIAAXH 
 
 AiiAEKA AnOSTOASiK. 
 
 -M 
 
AIAAXH 
 
 TiiN 
 
 AiiAEKA AnOSTOASiN. 
 
 Aibaxn Kupiou bid xiliv buubeKO dntocToXiuv toTc 
 e'Gveciv. - 
 
 Keqp. a'. 'Oboi buo eici, |Liia Trie Cuufic koi jxia toO 
 Gavdxou, biatpopd be TToWf) lueiaSu TuJv buo obuJv. 
 'H nev ouv oboe Ttie Ztufic ecTiv aiittr irpiJUTOV, dY«- 
 Tiriceic Tov 0€6v xov Troirieavid ce" beutepov, tov 
 TrXrjeiov ecu uie eeauTOV TrdvTa be oca ddv GeXri- 
 ci^e \)x\ TiveeGai eoi, Kai cu dWiu \a\ Tioiei. Toutiuv 
 be Tiliv XoYUJV f) bibaxri ecxiv aOrr)' GuXofeiTe touc 
 KttTapuJuevoue u|liTv Kai Trpoeeuxee9e unep tiIiv exSpuJv 
 u|LiiIiv, VTieteuexe bfe ^nep xiJuv biujKovxiuv ufiac" TTOia 
 Ydp xotpic, edv dYaTtaTe roue dYaTTUivxac ujucic; ouxi 
 icai xd ^GvTi x6 auxo iroioOciv; u|LieTe be dYonrSxe 
 xouc luieoOvxac ujaae koi ouX ?Hexe ex9p6v. 'ATiexou 
 TuJv eapKiKUJv Kai KoejuiKtliv em0u|aiiuv. 'Edv xie eoi 
 bill pdiricjua ek xi'iv beSidv eiaYOva, cxpeipov auxili 
 Kai xiiv dXXriv, Kai fei;) xeXeioe- edv dYYapeucr) ce 
 Tic fiiAiov ev, liTiaYe fiex* aOxoO bOo" Mv dpr) xic xo 
 
174 AIAAXH TON IB' AnOITOAQN a.' p.' y.' 
 
 indriov cou, boc auTUJ koi tov xiTUJva' eav Xdpr) tic 
 diTo coO TO cov, uri dTraiTei* oubfe ^dp buvacai. 
 TTavTi Tu) aiToOvTi ce bibou Koi |ur| dTraiTef irfici 
 Tap eeXei bibocGai 6 noTrip ek tiuv ibiiuv xcipic|Lid- 
 Tujv. MaKdpioc 6 bibouc KOTd Triv evToXrjv deuJoc 
 Tdp |cTiv» ouai TO) Xa|updvovTi" el ]uev Ydp xpeiav 
 e'xiuv Xaiapdvet tic, deiJuoc ^CTor o be uri xpeiav e'xuuv 
 bdicei biKTiv, ivari eXa^e Kai eic ti, dv cuvoxfl be 
 T€v6|Lievoc egeTac9riceTai irepi iLv eTrpaHe, koi ouk eSe- 
 XeuceTai eKcTGev nexpic ou dTTobui tov ecxaTov ko- 
 bpdvTriv. 'AXXd Kai Trepi toutou bx] dpryvai' 'Ibpuj- 
 cdTUJ fi IXetmocuvr) cou eic thc x^ipdc cou, nexpic 
 dv TVpc Tivi buJc. 
 
 Keqp. p'. AeuTepa be evToXf) ti^c bibaxfjc. Ou 
 qjoveuceic, oii laoixeuceic, ou TTaiboq396prjceic , ou 
 TTopveOceic, ou KXeqjeic, ou naYeuceic, ou 9apnaKeu- 
 ceic, ou qpoveuceic tckvov ev qpGopqi oube xevvriGev 
 diTOKTeveTc. Ouk dniBuiLiriceic th toO rrXriciov, ouk 
 emopKr)ceic, ou iiJeubo)napTupr|ceic , ou KaKoXoTH- 
 ceic, ou livriciKaKriceic. Ouk ?cr| biYVuuiuiJuv oube bi- 
 yXuuccoc" iraYic Ydp eavdTou f) biYXiuccia. Ouk 
 ^GTtti 6 XoYOC cou ipeubrjc, ou Kevoc, dXXd |ue|aecTUJ- 
 f^evoc TrpdSei. Ouk ecr) irXeov^KTric oube fipiraH oube 
 ifiTTOKpiTTic oubfe KaKorjGtic oube uuepricpavoc. Ou 
 \r\\]ir} pouXfiv irovripdv kuto tou Tt^riciov cou. Ou 
 liici'iceic irdvia SvGpiUKOV, dXXd ouc \xkv dXeYSeic, 
 nepi bk (Lv npoceuSr), ouc be dYairriceic unfep Tfjv 
 \\ivxr\v cou. 
 
 Keq). y'- Te'KVOv |uou, 9eOYe dTTO ttovtoc irovri- 
 poO Ktti drrd iravToc 6|aoiou auToO. Mfi.Y>vou 6pYi- 
 
AlAAXH TQN IB' AnOITOAQN t-' &•' I7S 
 
 Xoc" obrifeT T"P ^ OPT^ '^poc tov cpovov }xr\bk 
 
 ZtlXujTflC ILlTlbe dplCTlKOC iXr\bk GUI^IKOC iK Tap TOUTUJV 
 dTTOtVTUJV CpOVOl T^VVlBVTai. TeKVOV |L10U, nf) fivou 
 
 eTTiGujxTiTric' obtiTeT t^P h eTiiGu^ia irpoc xiiv irop- 
 veiav iLiTibe akxpoXoYOC ^r\hk iji|jriX6cp9a\|aoc' ek 
 yap TOUTiuv diTrdvTUJV juoixeiai tevvtuvTau Tekvov 
 (Aou, |Lifi fivou oiuivocKOTTOc dTteibf] 6briYeT elc Triv 
 elbiuXoXaTpeiav inribe eTtaoiboc }ir\be jLiaGtmaTiKoc 
 IHTibe TtepiKaGaipiuv , fxr\bk GeXe auTot pXeneiV eK 
 fdp TOUTuuv dnrdvTU)v eibuiXoXarpeia Yevvarai. TeKVov 
 |Liou, nn Yivou ij;eiJCTr]C' Ineibf) obriYei to ijieOcina 
 eic TTiv KXoirriv pribe cpiXdpYupoc jaribfe KevoboHoc 
 eK Ycip TOUTUUV dTrdvTtuv KXoTrai Y£VVU)VTai. TeKVOV 
 1X0X3, |Lifi Yivou YOYYucoc eTreibf) 6bTiYeT eic Tr|V [5Xa- 
 ccpriiLiiav inribe auedbtic lutibe Trovripocppiuv eK y^P 
 TOUTUUV dTtdvTUJV pXaccpri|Liiai YevvujVTai. "Ic9i be 
 Trpauc, eTtei ol irpaeTc KXripovoiuricouci Tf)V Yflv. fi- 
 vou |LiaKp60u|Lioc kai ^Xermujv Kal aKCKOc Kal 
 ficuxioc Kal dYaGoc Kai xpeiauuv touc Xoyouc bid 
 TiavToc, ouc fiKoucac. Oux ui|Juuceic ceauxov cube 
 buuceic Tfj vjjuxfl cou Gpdcoc. Ou KoXXriGriceTai f) 
 ijjuxri cou |LieTd uqjtiXuuv, dXXd jneTd biKaiiuv kui tu- 
 TTeivuuv dvacTpcc9via;|. Td cujupaivovTd coi ivepfr\- 
 HaTO luc dYotGd irpocbeSr), eibiiuc oti dTep 0eou oubev 
 YiveToti. 
 
 Ke9. b'. TeKVOV |U0u, toO XoXouvtoc coi tov Xoyov 
 Tou 06oO jxvTicGricri vuktoc kui fmepac, Ti]ur|ceic be 
 auTOV djc Kupiov oGev y^P ^ KupiOTiic XaXeiTai, 
 eKei Kupioc ecTiv. ' GK^tiTrjceic bfe KaG' fiine'pav Td 
 TvpocuuTTU Tuuv QYiuuv, ivo dnavaTTaur) toTc Xoyoic 
 
■176 AIAAXH TON IB' AnOZTOAfiN &'. e'. 
 
 auTuuv. Ou TToGrjceic cxicjua, eipriveOceic bk juaxo- 
 luevouc KpiveTc biKaiuic, ou 'kr\^l\} irpociJUTrov eXe'T- 
 Hai em TrapaTTTuuinaciv. Ou buiJuxriceic, TTorepov ecxai 
 r\ ou. Mf) Yivou Trpoc |Liev to Xapeiv ^Kxeivuuv tdc 
 XeTpac, irpoc be to bouvai cucttuiv ddv e'xTjc, biot 
 TU)v x^'piJuv cou buiceic XuTpuuciv djuapTiuiv cou. Ou 
 bicTttceic bouvai oube bibouc yoTT'^ceic" Tvuicr) ^ap 
 TIC ecTiv 6 Tou piceou KaXoc dvTaiToboTTic. OuK 
 dTTOCTpacprici] tov evbeopevov, cufKOivuuvriceic be 
 ndvTa Ti|i dbeXcpiX) cou kki ouk epeic ibia eivar ei 
 Ydp dv TUJ dGavaTi^j koivujvoi ecTe, ttocu) ^aXXov ev 
 ToTc GvriToTc; Ouk dpeic Triv x^ip*^ cou dTTO tou uiou 
 cou f| dTTO Tfjc euYOTpoc COU, dXXd dTTO veoTriToc bi- 
 bdHeic TOV cp6pov tou Geou. Ouk ^TTiTdEeic bouXiu cou 
 f| TiaibicKT), ToTc eTTi TOV auTov Oeov cXttiZouciv, dv 
 TTiKpia cou, fAr|TTOTe ou ixr\ cpopriGrjCOVTai tov in' dja- 
 cpoTepoic Oeov ou t^P ^PX^Tai Konrd irpocoiTTOV Ka- 
 Xecai, dXX' i.(p' ouc to TTveO|na fiT0i|Liacev. 'YueTc be oi 
 boOXoi uTTOTOTncecBe toTc Kupioic u|liuiv ujc tuttuj 
 GeoO i\ alcxuvr) Kal q)6pui. Miciiceic iTacav utto- 
 Kpiciv Kai ttSv 8 |uri dpecTov tu) Kupiiu. Ou nf) ey- 
 KaTaXmric evToXdc Kupiou, qpuXdgeic be S TTape'Xa^ec, 
 |nr|Te TTpocTiGeic uriTe dcpaipiuv. '6v ^kkXticioi eSo- 
 laoXoYricri Td TTaparrTuuiuaTd cou, Kai ou TTpoceXeuct;i 
 eTTi TTpoceuxr|V cou dv cuveibr|cei TTOvripqi. AuTri dcfiv 
 f) oboe Tfjc Zioific. 
 
 Keqp.e'. 'H bfe tou GavdTou 6b6c dcTiv auTr]" irpuj- 
 Tov TrdvTuuv TTOvripd dcTi Kttl KOTdpac fiecTrj. cpovoi, 
 )LioixeTai, ^TTiGuiuiai, TTopveiai, kXotthi, eibujXoXarpeTai, 
 jaaYeiai, cpapucKeTai, dpTTOYai, i|jeubo|uapTupiai, utto- 
 
AIAAXH T«N IB' AnOZTOAQN €'. s'. I'. 177 
 
 Kpiceic, bmXoKapbia, boXoc, tiirepTicpavia, KotKia, au- 
 Gdbeia, uXeoveHia, aicxpoXoTia, CTiXoTuiria, Gpacurric, 
 ui|joc, dXaSoveia* biuJKTai dYa9uJv, laicoOvxec aKr\- 
 Geiav, d-faTTuJvTec i|»eOboc, oil iivwcKOViec luicGov bi- 
 Kaiocuvric, ou KoXXd)|Lievoi dYaGtli oubk Kpicei biKaiqt, 
 dTpuTrvoOvxec ouk eic to dfaGov, dW ek to irovri- 
 pov u)V ^aKpdv TTpayTric kui UTTO|uovri, ladTdia 
 dTaTTuJvxec, biuuKOVTec dvTaTTobona, ouk eXeoOvxec 
 
 TTTUUXOV, ou TTOVOOVTeC £111 KaTaTTOVOU|HeVU), ou Tivifi- 
 
 CKOVTec Tov TTOiricavTa auTouc, qpoveic TeKVUuv, cpGopexc 
 TrXdc|LtaToc 0eoO, drrocTpecpojuevoi tov evbe6|aevov, 
 KaTaTTOVOuvTec tov GXip6)aevov, irXouciuiv TiapaKXtiToi, 
 TtevriTiuv avo|Lioi fcpiTai, rravGajiidpTriTGi" pucGeiriTe, 
 TeKva, diTO toutuuv dirdvTuuv. 
 
 Keep. s'. "Opa lurj tic ce irXavricT) diro TauTtic ttjc 
 oboO Tfjc bibaxfic, eirei irapeKToc 0eou ce bibdcKei. 
 £i |Liev Ydp buvacai pacTdcoti SXov tov Zuyov tou Ku- 
 piou, TeXeioc ^crj" el b' ou buvacai, 6 buvr) touto 
 TTOiei. TTepl be Tfjc Ppiuceuuc, 6 buvacai pdcTacov • 
 drro be tou eibiuXoGuTOU Xiav irpocexe" XaTpeia ^dp 
 ^Ti Geuuv veKpuiv. 
 
 Keep. t. TTepl be tou paiTTicnaToc, outuj panTicaTe " 
 TaOTH irdvTa irpoeiTrovTec, paTTTicaxe eic to ovopa 
 ToO TTaTpoc Kai tou Yiou Kai tou dyiou TTveupaToc 
 ev libaTi ZuJVTi. '€dy be \)x\ exr|c libuup l(u\, eic fiXXo 
 libiup pdiTTicov ei b' ou buvacai ev vpuxptB, ev 
 GepiLiil). 'Gdv be djucpoTepa |ufi ^'xi]C, ?Kxeov eic Tr|V 
 KecpaXfiv Tpic ubiup eic ovofia TTaTpoc Kai YioO Kai 
 dTiou TTveu|LiaToc. TTpo bfe tou pairTicnaTOC irpovTi- 
 CTeucdTiu 6 paTTTiCiuv Kai 6 parrTiZoiLievoc Kai ei Tivec 
 
178 AlAAXH TON IB' AnOITOAQN Z'. n'- 6'. 
 
 ctWoi buvaviar KeXeuceic be vrjCTeOcai tov ^amilo- 
 juevov irpo ^ific f| buo. 
 
 Keqp. ri' Ai bk vricxeiai ujuujv jufi ?CTUJcav juetd tuiv 
 uiroKpiTUJv* vrjCTeuouci ydp beuxe'pqi cappdruuv kki 
 TTejUTTTi;)* ij|ueTc be vrjcxeucaTe xerpaba xal irapa- 
 CKeuriv. Mrjbe irpoceuxecee lijc ol UTTOKpixai, aW ibc 
 eiceXeucev 6 Kupioc ^v Tiij euaYTe'^'4' auToO, oiiriju 
 Trpoceuxecee" TTdTep fiiuuJv 6 ev tiL oupavil), dYiacGrj- 
 TUJ TO ovojud cou, eXGeTU) fi paciXeia cou, yevTiGriTiu 
 TO 6e\ri|ad cou iLc ev oupavijj Kai dm y*1C' tov dpxov 
 fiinuiv TOV liriouciov boc fmiv criiLiepov Kai dqpec fiiuTv 
 Trjv oqpeiXriv fmijuv iLc Kai fineTc dcpienev toTc ocpei- 
 XeTaic finuJv, Kai |liii eiceveTKTjc fiinac eic ireipaciaov, 
 dXXd pOcai fi|nac dTio toO irovripoO" oti coO dcTiv fi 
 buvaiuic KOI fi boSa eic touc aioivac. Tpic ttic fiine- 
 pac ouTiu TtpoceuxecGe. 
 
 Keqp. 9'. TTepi be Trie euxapiCTiac, outuuc euxapi- 
 CTrjcaTe' irpiuTOV irepi toO iroTTipiou* £iJxapiCToO|Liev 
 coi, TTdTep fi|iU)V, UTiep ttjc dyiac diUTTeXou Aapib toO 
 iraiboc cou, f^c eYViupicac fmiv bid 'IticoO toO uaiboc 
 cou" coi f) b6£a eic touc aiuJvac. TTepi bk toO KXd- 
 c|uaTOC- GuxapiCToOne'v coi, TTdTep fiiuuiv, v-akp Tfjc 
 Ztutic Kai YViJuceuuc, f\c e^vijupicac fnnTv bid MncoO 
 ToO naiboc COU" col f) boHa eic Toiic aiiLvac. "Qcnep 
 rjv toOto KXdcfia biecKopiriciuevov eudvoj tujv opeuiv 
 Ktti cuvaxefev iT^veTO 'iv, outuj cuvax6r|TUJ cou fi 
 dKKXncia duo tOjv irepdTUJV Tflc ffjc eic Tfiv ci'iv pa- 
 ciXeiav" OTi coO ecTiv r\ boga Kai f) buvanic bid 
 'lr)coG XpiCToO eic touc aioivac. Mribek bk (paTeToi 
 jiTibe ineTUJ diT6 Tfjc euxapiCTiac u)nujv, dXX' oi pa- 
 
AIAAXH TQN IB' AnOZTOAQN 6'. i'. la'. 179 
 
 TTTiceevTec eic 6vo|ua Kupiou" nai fap Tiepi toutou 
 eiptiKEV 6 Kupioc* Mri biure to Syiov toTc kuci. 
 
 Keqp. i'. Mexa hk to djatrXricGfivai outoic euxapi- 
 CTricaTE" GbxapicToO|Liev coi, TTdTep a^ie, vnkp toO 
 dfiou ovonaxoc cou, ou KaTecKrjviucac ev toTc Kap- 
 biaic fi)Liix)v, Kai virrfep Tfjc YVuOceujc Kcti niCTeiuc uai 
 d9avaciac, fie eYViupicac fi)uTv hia '\r\cov toO iraiboc 
 cou" col f) boSa eic touc aiuuvac. CO, becTroxa ttuvto- 
 KpdtTop, CKTicac to TtdvTa ?veK6v toO 6v6)aaT6c cou, 
 xpoqpriv Te Kai ttotov ebiUKac toTc dvGpOuTTOic eic dito- 
 Xauciv iva coi euxapiCTricujciv, fiVTv be exapicuu 
 TTveujuaTiKfiv Tpo(pf)v Km TTOTOV Kai l{i3r\v aiaiviov bid 
 ToO uaiboc cou. TTpo TrdvTiuv euxapicToOpev coi 6ti 
 buvaToc ei" col r\ boEa eic touc aiuJvac. NlvrjcGriTi, 
 Kupie, Tflc eKKXticiac cou toG pucacGai auTriv diro 
 TtavToc TTOvripou Kai TeXeiuJcai auTfiv ev ^^ dtdTTij 
 cou, Kttl cuvaSov auTfiv drro tuiv Teccdpujv dve)au)v, 
 TfjV dTiaceeicav eic tvjv cfjv paciXeiav, fiv fiToi|Liacac 
 auTri' OTi cou ^ctiv r\ buva|Liic Kai f) boSa eic touc 
 aidivac. 'GXGeTiu X"Pic Kai TtapeXGeTiu 6 kocjuoc oij- 
 Toc. 'Qcavvd Tifi uliB Aapib. Gi tic Stioc ^tiv, 
 epxecGw ei tic ouk ^'cti, neTavoeiTuu • napavaGd. 
 'A|Lxr|V. ToTc be irpoqpiiTaic dTtiTperreTe eiixapicTelv 6ca 
 GeXouciv. 
 
 Keqp. la'. "Oc av oijv ^XGuJv bibdHfl ujufic TUUTa 
 TrdvTa, Td irpoeipTiiLieva, be'HacGe auTov edv be auToc 
 6 bibdcKUJV CTpaqpelc bibdcKi;) dXXriv bibaxrjv eic to 
 KOTaXucai, nf) auTou aKOucriTe" eic be to TrpocGeivai 
 biKaiocuvriv Kai YVUJciv Kupiou, beSacGe auTov iLc 
 Kupiov. TTepl be twv dTiocToXuJv Kai npocpriTuJv Kaxd 
 
i8o AIAAXH TON IB' AnOITOAQN la'. ip'. 
 
 TO bofixa ToO euaTTeJ^iou, outuj iroiricaTe. TTfic hk 
 drtocToXoc ^pxojaevoc frpoc xi^iac bexSriTU) die Kupioc* 
 ou jueveT be fnuepav |uiav iav be ^ XP^ici, Kai ttiv 
 ciWriv xpeTc be ddv iieivi), ipeuboTTpocpriTTic dcTiv. 
 'GHepxojLievoc hk 6 dnrocToXoc juri^ev Xajapavexiu el)Lifi 
 apxov eujc ou auXicBfi' edv bk dpTupiov aix^, tpeubo- 
 TTpoqprixric ecxi. Kai udvxa irpocprixriv XaXoOvxa ev 
 TTveuiuaxi ou ireipdcexe oube biaKpiveixe* irfica ^dp 
 djaapxia dcpeer|cexai, auxti bfe f) dfiapxia ouk dqpeSri- 
 cexai. Ou irfic be 6 XaXiJuv ev Ttveuiuaxi npocprixric 
 ^cxiv, dXX° edv e'xri xouc xponouc Kupiou. 'Airo ouv 
 xuJv xpoTTiuv Yvujc9r|cexai 6 ipeuboirpocprixric Km 6 
 Tipocprixtic. Kai irac TTpocpr|xtic opiCuuv xpaTteZav ev 
 iTveu)Liaxi, OX) cpdYexai drr' auxric, eibe intiTe ijjeubo- 
 irpocprixric ecxi* ttSc be irpocprixric bibdcKUUv xfiv dXr|- 
 Geiav, ei S bibdcKei ou iroiet, v|jeuboTTpo9r|xr]C ecxi. 
 TTfic be TTpocprixTic beboKi)Liac|Lievoc, dXtiSivoc, ttoiuuv 
 eic laucxripiov koc|uik6v eKKXriciac, nf| bibdcKiuv be 
 TTOieTv oca aOxoc TroieT, ou KpiBrjcetai ecp' upujv luexd 
 0eoO ydp ^'xei xr)V Kpiciv uicauxiuc ydp dTioiricav koi 
 01 dpxaioi TTpoqpflxai. "Oc, b' av eirrri ev Trv6U]uaxi" 
 Aoc HOI dpYupia f| exepd xiva, ouk dKoucecGe auxou* 
 edv bk TTcpi dXXujv ucxepouvxiuv eiTTi;) boOvai, uribeic 
 auxov Kpivexuj. 
 
 Keep, ip'; TTfic be 6 epx6|Lievoc iv ovofxaxi Kupiou 
 bex9r|XU), fe'Tieixa be boKi|uidcavxec auxov yviucecee' 
 cuveciv ydp cHexe beSidv Kai dpicxepdv. Gi luev ira- 
 pobioc dcxiv 6 epx6|Lievoc, PoTiSeTxe aiixu) ocov buva- 
 c6e' ou neveT bk irpoc uiufic ei ht) buo r| xpeTc fjiuepac, 
 la\> ^ dvdYKTi.' ei bk GeXei irpoc ujufic KaBiicai, xe- 
 
AIAAXH TON IB' AnOZTOAQN ip'. it'. i&'. le'. i8i 
 
 XviTrjC djv, epYaZecGuJ Kai qpaYeruj- ei bk ouk lx^\ 
 Te'xvriv, Kara xfiv cuveciv uniliv irpovoricaTe, ttuuc |uf) 
 dpYoc |Lie9' ufiuiv ZnCexai xpicTiavoc. 6i b' ou GeXei 
 ouTUJ TTOieTv, xpiCTeiLiiTopoc icri' irpocexefe druo xiliv 
 
 TOIOUTUUV. 
 
 Keqp. it'. TTac be npocpriTric dXriGivoc, GeXiuv ua- 
 Gf)cai irpoc ufific, oiSioc ecii ttjc rpocptic otCiToO. 'Qcau- 
 TUJC bibdcKaXoc dXrjGivoc ^cxiv ctSioc Kai auroc, uic- 
 Trep 6 epYdtrjc, xfjc xpocpfjc auxoO. TTacav oijv dTiap- 
 Xnv TevVTiiadxuuv XrivoO Kai aXiuvoc, poiuv xe Kai irpo- 
 pdxujv Xapdiv biuceic xoTc Tipocprixaic"' auxoi ydp eiciv 
 oi dpxiepeic xnx&v. '€dv be |uri e'xrixe upocprixtiv, boxe 
 xoTc TTxuJXoic. '€dv cixiav iroific, xtiv drrapxriv Xa- 
 pduv boc Kaxd xfjV evxoXr|V. 'Qcauxiuc Kepdjuiov oivou 
 fj eXaiou dvoiSac, xr)V drrapxriv Xapuuv boc xoTc irpo- 
 9rixaic* dpYupiou bk Kai ifiaxicpoO koi iravxoc Kxr|- 
 luaxoc XapLuv ir\v dnapxriv UJC dv coi boSr), boc Koxd 
 xfjv evxoXr|V. 
 
 Keqp. lb'. Kaxd KupiHKriv be Kupiou cuvaxGe'vxec 
 KXdcaxe dpxov Kai euxapicxricaxe TrpoceHoiuoXoYil- 
 cdjuevoi xd irapaiTXiuiuaxa ij|uaiv, ottiuc KaGapd f\ Gu- 
 cia ujLiuJv fl. TTac be ^'xujv xfjv d|ucpipoXiav jnexd xoO 
 Ixaipou auxoO |ur) cuveXGexiu u|liTv, etuc ou biaXXaTiiJ- 
 civ, iva fif) KoivtuGrj fi Gucia ujaiuv aiixti f"P ecxiv 
 f] prjGeTca utto Kupiou • 'Gv iravxi xottiu. Kai xpoviu 
 TTpoccpepeiv not Guciav KaGapdv oxi paciXeuc ^xifac 
 ei|Lii, Xeyei Kupioc, Kai x6 ovond pou Gau]Liacx6v ev 
 xoTc e'Gveci. 
 
 Keep. le'. Xeipoxovrjcaxe ouv eauxoTc e7riCK6TT0uc 
 Kai biaKOVouc dHiouc xoO Kupiou, dvbpac TipaeTc Kai 
 
i82 AIAAXH TfiN IB' AnOITOASN it. is'. 
 
 dcpiJiapTupouc koi dXriGeic Kai beboKifxacnevouc* ufiTv 
 Tap XeiToupYoOci Kai auToi ir\v XeixoupYiav TUJv 
 upocptiTuJv Kai &ibacKd\iJuv. Mr) oCv \niepibr\re au- 
 Touc" auToi Y^p eiciv oi TeTiptiiaevoi ij|Uuuv jietd tijuv 
 TTpoqpriTiuv KOI bibacKdXuuv. 
 
 'GXeYXefe be d\Xr|Xouc ixr\ Iv opTfl, dXX' ev eipriVri, 
 lijc e'xETe ev tuj euaYTeXiu)' Kai Travxi dcroxoOvTi 
 KttTd ToO dtepou jarjbeic XaXeiTuo uribe irap' ujuuiv 
 dKoueru), euuc o5 juexavoricri. Tdc be euxdc upiuv koI 
 xdc ^Xeriiuocuvac Kai iidcac xdc Trpdgeic oiixw Troirj- 
 caxe, djc e'xexe ev xuj euaYTeXiiu xoO Kupiou fiimliv. 
 
 Keep. is'. fpriTopeixe unep xfjc tuir\c ujuiliv oi Xu- 
 Xvoi unoiv juri cpecGrixuucav, Km ai occpOec u|uaiv )afj 
 ^KXuecGuJcav, dXXd Yivec9e ?xoi|aor ou ydp oibaxe 
 xfjv ujpav, ev ^ 6 Kupioc fiiaiJuv epxexai. TTukvuic hk 
 cuvaxQiicecGe ZrixoOvxec xd dvr|K0vxa xaTc i(JuxaTc 
 ij|LiiJuv ou ydp ujcpeXri'cei ij|uac 6 irfic xpovoc xflc m- 
 cxeuuc uiaujv, edv pr) iv xil» dcxdxiu Kaipiu xeXeiiuGiixe. 
 *€v Tap xaTc dcxdxaic finepaic nXriGuvGricovxai oi 
 vpeuboTTpoqpfixai Kai oi qpGopeic Kai cxpacprjcovxai xd 
 TTpopaxa eic Xukouc koi f] dYdTrr) cxpaqpricexai eic 
 fiicoc' auEavoucrjc ydp xflc dvo|uiac, luicrjcouciv dX- 
 XriXouc Kai biiuSouci Kai Trapabaicouci, Kai xoxe tpa- 
 vr|cexai 6 KOCiuoTiXdvoc die uioc 0eoO Kai TTOir|cei cri- 
 laeia Kai xepaxa, Kai fi fn irapaboGncexai etc xe>pac 
 auxoO, Kai iroiricei dGe'fiixa, S oubeTTOxe fi-fo\ev dS 
 aiuivoc. Toxe riHei f) kxicic xijuv dvGpuiTrujv eic xfiv 
 TTuptuciv xfjc boKinaciac Kai CKavbaXicGncovxai iro^- 
 Xoi Kdi diToXoOvxai, oi b^ uiroiueivavxec Iv xq iiicxei 
 auxuiv ciuGiicovxai utt' aiixoO xoO KaxaGe'juaxoc. Kai 
 
AIAAXH TQN IB" AnOZTOAQN is'. 183 
 
 Tore q)avr|ceTai xd cimeia tfic dXiiOeiac TrpiIiTov, 
 CTineTov ^KTreidceuJC ^v oupavili, elxa criiueTov qpujvfic 
 cdXiTifTOC KOI TO xpiTov dvdcxacic veKpiDv ou irdv- 
 xiuv be, dX\' ujc eppeGti' "HEei 6 Kupioc koi irdvxec 
 01 QYioi fiex' auxoO. Toxe on/exai 6 kochoc tov Ku- 
 piov Ipxofievov dirdvui xdiv veqpeXoiv xoO oupavoO. 
 
 PKINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 
 EDIMDUKGH AND I.ONDON. 
 
SELECT LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW AND EECENT WOEKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO. 
 
 THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITES. 
 By William 'Wmght, D.D. 
 
 Witfi Decipherment of Hittite Inscriptions by Professor Satcb, 
 LL.D.; a Hittite Map by Colonel Sir Chaelis Wilson, F.E.S., 
 and Captain CoNDEK, E.B.; and a Complete Set of Hittite In- 
 scriptions by W. H. Etlands, F.S.A. 
 
 Eoyal 8to, cloth, 17s. 6d. 
 
 INSPIRATION : 
 A Clerical Symposium on " In what Sense and within what Limits 
 
 is the Bible the Word of God ? " . 
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 the Eev. Prebendary Stablet Lbathes, the Eev. Prebendary 
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