i';i»i:':i>;:i!-:';-:"ik;', w PRINCETON, N. J. BR 162 .C97 1880 Cunningham, William, 1849- 1919. ^/5^//....The churches of Asia THE CHURCHES OF ASIA The Churches oe Asia A METHODICAL SKETCH OF THE SECOND CENTURY william'xunningham, M.A. MACMILLAN AND CO. 1880. PREFACE. The Kaye Essay for 1879, which is now published, was the occupation of some weeks of vacation, and as such makes no pretension to completeness : whatever interest it may possess is due, not so much to the results, as to the method of historical study which is here imperfectly exemplified. Unless the course of History is wholly for- tuitous, we must recognise that, beneath the confused play of passion which marks every age, definite forces are in operation. To de- termine the nature and order of these forces is the work of the Philosophy of History, and the true task for the student of any period is that of detecting and delineating the force which was mainly operative at that time, of VIU PEEFACE. exhibiting it in conflict with other influences, and of tracing out the results of the struggle. Those who have adopted a Philosophy of History which leads them to recognise moral forces as the chief factors in the course of the life of mankind, will feel that they cannot understand any epoch of history unless they can recognise an " effective idea," and trace its working in the world. They will notice it first as a conviction or aspiration impressing many minds, they will find it also expressing itself in the sayings and doings of multitudes of men, and at length embodying itself m the institutions of Society : by thus following out the conditions which are necessary for united action, and for the growth of institutions, they will be able to exhibit the progress of events in the order in which they were really brought about, not merely in their chronological se- quence. It may even be contended that to learn to apprehend this logical order, as we may call it, of the development of events in any age, is a needful preparation for the PREFACE. IX " liiorher criticism " of tlie documents which survive. Such is the method I have sought to pursue in deahng with the history and internal devel- opment of the Churches of Asia during the second century. I have tried to delineate as clearly as possible, from contemporary evidence, the conviction which impressed all' Christian minds ; I have described the conflicts which ensued when it began to express itself, and make itself felt as an effective force in the world ; I have sketched the actual institu- tions which grew up under its influence ; and thus I have endeavoured to trace the Christian "idea working itself out" in the planting of the Church. Nor does the correctness of the conclusions appear to be seriously impaired because I have carefully assumed an attitude of indifference to the keenest controversies of literary critics. This is not the place to attempt a full justification of the method, or of the Philo- sophy on which it depends : that has already X PKEFACE. been before the world for years. I can only trust that those who have not well considered the nature of History and the best order of historical investigation will not lightly con- demn the method here pursued because they discover erroneous results in a mere occasional Essay. I have always been careful to state my authorities, though I have not burdened my pages with exact references to well-known passages in Epiphanius, Ireneeus, and other Fathers subsequent to the second century, since they can be readily verified from the excellent indices in Migne's Patrologie. The Essay has not received a thorough revision before publication, though the sections on the Quarto-deciman controversy have been en- tirely rewritten, and a few sentences have been added or modified here and there. I have, however, collected in an Appendix a few illustrative extracts from second-century writers. By perusing these original authorities the English reader may obtain a much more PREFACE. • XI vivid conception of early Christian life than by resting satisfied with the most graphic compilations. A table has also been added, in which the chronological sequence of the most important events is roughly indicated. It has seemed to me worth while to repro- duce, as a frontispiece, a design in the Nea- politan catacombs, which illustrates an early allegory of the building of the Church (see p. 79), and incidentally bears witness to the interest it continued to create, for some centuries. Cajieridge, July 18S0. CONTENTS. PACK Frontispiece (p. 79), Title, Preface, ETC., . . . i.-xvi Jintroliuctton. Standpoint, Plan, and Sources of the Investigation. § 1 . Baur, Neander, and Baronius, .... 3 § 2. The story of the manifestation of the Christian idea, 8 § 3. Nature of the evidence required, .... 14 Part I. Conception of the Chrlstian Society current in Asia at THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND CeNTURY. (1.) Pre-Christian Conception of the Divine Society. § 4. The Jewish People and the Jewish Church, . . 23 § 5. The hope of Israel in the time of our Lord, . . 27 (2. ) Genesis of the Christian Conception of the Divine Society: a. Its nature; b. Terms of admission ; c. Life of its members ; d. Its organisation. § 6. Evidence of the Synoptic Gospels, .... 34 §7. 'EiVidiQnce oii\iG Acts of the Apostles, ... 41 XIV CONTENTS. § 8. Evidence of the Epistle of S. James, § 9. Evidence of the Apocalypse, . § 10. Evidence of the First Epistle of 8. Peter, § 11. Evidence of the Asian Epistles of S. Paul, § 12. Evidence of the Fourth Gospel, § 13. Summary, . . . . PAGR 48 49 53 55 58 62 (3.) Current Conception as Tnaintained In Sub- Apostolical writings. § 14. Nature of the Christian Society, .... § 15. Terms of Admission, ...... § 16. Life of the Members, § 17. Organisation : Viceregal Episcopacy, § 18. Civic Episcopacy — existence of self-regulating bodies, ........ 64 67 68 73 Part 11. The Conflict with other Inflctences. (1.) Non-Christian Elements of Society. §19. The environment — Gnosticism, § 20. Judaism : Pharisaic and Essene Ebionitism, § 21. Essene Ebionites and positive religion — Cerintli, § 22. Judaism and Christianity about 100 a.d., § 23. Survival of Greek political ideas, . § 24. Roman administration, (2.) Actual Growth of the Church. § 25. Decay of Viceregal Ei^iscopate, § 26. Functions of Apostle-s, Presbyters, and Deacons, 85 89 94 102 104 110 112 117 CONTENTS. XV § 27. EflFects of the fall of Jerusalem and deaths of the Apostles, 121 § 28. Civic Episcopate : actual influence of Greek life, . 127 § 29. How far are various theories intelligible ? . . 131 § 30. The historical value of the evidence of the Acts of the Apostles, ....... 136 § 31. Growth of heathen antagonism, . . . . 140 § 32. The Custom of the Church, 144 iPart MI. The nature of the Christian Institutions as reflected IN EARLY Controversies. (1.) The Discipline of the Church. § 33. ^Vliat is real religion ? § 34. Marcion — Subjective spirituality, § 35. Montanism — A Christian code, § 36. Stricter discipline, Disciplina arcani, . § 37. The power of the keys. Prophets v. Bishops, ly/'^ (2.) The Annual Commemoration of the Passioti § 38. The conflicting traditions, § 39. The rival uses, ..... § 40. Different modes of calculation, § 41. History of Quarto-decimanism in Asia, § 42. The fundamental agreement, § 43. Conclusion, 151 153 159 172 180 186 193 203 206 210 214 XVI CONTENTS. PAOE A. — Extracts from Contemporary Writers, illustra- tive OF Christian Life during the Second Century, 221 (1.) Church Organisation. 1. S. Clement to the Corinthians, i. 37-44, . . . 222 2. *S'. Ignatius to the Trallians, ..... 228 3. The Pastor of HermaSjYision. in., .... 234 (2. ) Christian Rites. ^. Justin Martyr's i^«Vs< ^po%2/» 61, 65-68, . . . 244 (3.) The Christian Year. j/5. The Apostolical Constitutions, v. 13-20, . . . 251 (4. ) Christian Sufferings. 6. The Martyrdom of S. Poly carp, .... 259 7. Eusebms, History of the Church, V. 1, . . . 273 B. — Chronological Table, 293 Index, . . • 295 INTRODUCTION. ^Introduction. STANDPOINT, PLAN AND SOURCES OF THE INVESTIGATION. § 1. Dr. Baur tells us, at the outset of his work on the First Three Centuries, that the standpoint which he has adopted is a purely historical one ; but while we agree with the Tubingen school in demand- ing a strictly scientific investigation of the growth of the Christian Church, we differ from them in our conception of the nature and methods of historical study; for to us it seems incomplete, even if we succeed in placing " before ourselves the materials given in the History, as they are objectively, and not otherwise."^ Nor can we be satisfied with dis- secting out the various interests in which documents were written, or the tendencies they embody, unless we can also show that these tendencies were capable by their co-action of bringing about the state of * Baur, First Three Centuries, Preface, vol. i. p. x. 4 INTRODUCTION. [SECT. things that was the final result — in fact, unless we can render the course of History intelligible. There are always two questions which may be asked in looking forward from some starting-point over the struggles of any period — What was the upshot of it all ? and, How did that come about ? The answer to the first question is given by the writers of the immediately succeeding age when they tell us of their own time ; the answer to the second can never be approximately complete, but it may be satisfactory so far as it goes, by showing us historic forces at work that were capable of producing the result which actually occurred ; careful criticism of the documents, and stern scrutiny of individual characters, do not rise above the level of literary and biographical studies to that of History, unless they render the actual course of affairs in the world more intelligible, by exhibiting in active operation forces that would tend to produce the very results that came to pass. It is only by viewing them in con- nexion witii the winning forces that we can estimate, not the moral worth, but the historical position of individual men ; and so too, it is only by viewing them in connexion with these forces that we can learn to estimate, not merely the literary and eviden- 1.] STANDPOINT. 5 tial value, but the historical import of the writings that are preserved to us ; we want to know them — not each in itself, but each in its relation to the real course of the world. Indeed, unless we have some such guiding clew, our criticism is necessarily capri- cious and arbitrary ;^ it sets itself the hopeless task of showing us some writer in-himself, rather than the truer one of stating clearly what was his relation to his contemporaries. Such criticism tends to exaggerate the signs of personal feeling and passion, and neglects the assertion of truths which were common to all Christian men; for such criticism, each writer ceases to be a witness to God's truth in his own way, and becomes the mere exponent of an abstract tendency which, just because it is abstract, could never have amalgamated with the abstractions upheld by opposite parties. The delineation of sucli tendencies can never render the course of History intelligible, and no series of mediations and com- promises could produce a real reconciliation which would bring such opposing forces into harmonious working. The criticism which Eitschl urged against Schwegler, and which Baur retorts upon the former,- * G. W. F. Hegel, Phllosophle der Geschichte, Werke, x. 10, 11. * First Three Centuries, i. 100. 6 INTRODUCTION. [SECT. sBems to be almost equally applicable to the more elaborate theory of the Tubingen professor himself. There may have been an implicit assumption in his mind that some convictions were common to all Christian men, but no attempt is made to show explicitly what these convictions were; and thus, the most important of all the active forces is passed over in silence. Some sort of conception of the Christian Church underKes Neander's description of its growth, but not a satisfactory one. The apostles are regarded as missionaries who converted a large number of indi- viduals ; each of these individuals had a firm faith in his heart, any of them might be endowed with the gifts of the Holy Ghost — all were priests to God. The problem which his history really attacks is that of showing how these aggregates of converted indi- viduals organised themselves ; and it almost seems as if he believed that each step that was taken in organising the Christian Society was a departure from the purer life of the past, for the chief influence is ascribed to Judaisers, the ambition of bishops, and the like. To us this account is unintelligible : that these fortuitous elements of ambition and misunder- standing should everywhere lead, sooner or later. 1.] STANDPOINT. 7 and always witliin a brief period, to the same insti- tution, is simply inconceivable. The idea of atoms thus organising themselves into a society is an un- .philosophical one, and the conception of a Church thus built is not only unphilosophical but wholly modern. Though Neander would doubtless have maintained as a verbal proposition that there was a Guiding Hand in all these changes, the belief does not show itself in his work. From its whole tone we should gather that if any deep influence was operating, it was bringing about the decay rather than the development of the Church. He writes as if he believed in the fortuitousness of the develop- ment of the various Christian institutions, and looked upon them as evils which were necessitated by the corruptions that overtook the primitive purity of Christian life. Still less can we accept the view of writers like Baronius, who find a mere identity between the institutions of the past and of the present. If such identity could be proved, it would strike the most terrible blow at any belief in the Church as the divinely commissioned regenerator of the world ; for it would show that she had been capable of no new developments to suit the needs of the new ieras. 8 INTRODUCTION. [SECT. Our Church life of to-day has grown out of that of the first century, but it is fuller and richer, since we possess the religious experience of eighteen hundred years of which the men of that time knew nothing. § 2. These remarks have been written, not with the desire of adequately characterising, and still less with any intention of disparaging, works of well- established reputation, but in the hope that a refer- ence to these three great writers of ecclesiastical history may bring into clear relief the view which is adopted, and imperfectly developed, in the follow- ing pages. There was, as we believe, a great belief which took hold of the minds of the apostles and their first followers, while succeeding centuries showed the progress made in realising it. There was a great hope — the religious heritage of Israel — there was a positive belief that that hope had been fulfilled in Jesus, and that it lay with his disciples to complete the fulfilment : they had an idea before them, and in the history of the first age of the Church, we see that " idea working itself out." Only when we grasp the idea that possessed its first members, does the growth of the Church become intelligible, for only then can we detect 2.] STANDPOINT, - 9 an order in the chaos, or recognise the real course of the events. The idea of a kingdom of God npon earth had fascinated the apostles, and became the dominant principle in all the thought and conduct of their followers. Here it might he distorted by dull misunderstanding, and disfigured there by petty jealousies; but still it was the dominating prin- ciple of their conduct, which, impressed upon the minds of all, came to be expressed in the Christian institutions of the third century. From Hippolytns, and Clement, and Irenseus, and Tertullian, we can gather a clear idea of the Catholic Chvirch of their day, of its organisation, its worship and its doctrine ; and we hold that this was the manifestation of that divine conception which the apostles had set them- selves to work out. We say the manifestation, not the perfect realisation, of the kingdom of God, — that is yet to come; but the Church of that day did show forth to the world a society which, while in the world, was not of it ; where the ties that bound men together, the motives of conduct and the aspira- tions that were cherished, were wholly alien to those of the rest of mankind. When the kingdom of God was thus manifested amonc: men as an actual insti- 10 - INTEODUCTION. [SECT. tution, it had indeed come with power ; true, it had but attained the first stage of its development; it had yet to lose its isolation and lay hold on all sides of secular life, as a kingdom of this world, that through it the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. A very few lines may now serve to indicate the precise nature of the antagonism between the stand- point just described, and each of the three concep- tions which have apparently influenced the methods of treatment adopted by the historians named above. We believe that all Christians held firmly to the faith in a divine kingdom which was established in the world — a spiritual Society — call it what you will. The tendencies of which so much is made were not abstract principles which were tenaciously held by men who were out of all sympathy with one another, — they were different opinions which com- mended themselves to men who had the firmest bond of sympathy, for they shared a common faith. What they had in common was the deepest power that influenced them all, though each man had his personal proclivities ; there were many moulds into which the common Faith was cast, but it was one Faith after all. These various personal proclivities 2.] STANDPOINT. 1 1 are of the deepest interest : they show us what forms the Faith was taking in different minds before it manifested itself in the institutions of the Catholic Church ; but the clashing of different opinions does not, in itself, account for the actual growth of the Church on earth, — that is only rendered intelligible by turning oUr eyes to the Faith in which all were at one. If, unlike Baur, we hold it of the first importance to portray the common convictions and common sympathies which underlay diverging tendencies, we constantly recognise, as Neander fails to do, a guid- ing principle, overruling all the conflicts of the time, and so dominating them as to determine the issue. It was thus that a similar result was attained at length in Jerusalem and Eome, in Antioch and Alexandria; different as were the elements of the Christian society in each case, different as must have been the rivalries and struggles, a similar result was found in all : everywhere was the Church organised upon one model. Once more, we do not, like some Eoman writers, recognise an identity of form in the institutions of the Church of all ages : we see rather one eternal principle which has manifested itself in diverse 12 INTRODUCTION. [SECT. forms. For the Church of Christ on earth has run the course of other institutions^ — the one logical process can be traced in its progress. The later stages of the growth of the Society lie beyond our present scope ; for we have to do with the earliest phases of development, and to note how the faith began to manifest itself to the world as an actual institution. A few words may now describe the plan of this Essay ; it is purely historical, an attempt to explain what the course of affairs really was, not an attempt to investigate the past as if it were authoritative for guidance in the present; when we know what happened then, we shall best know how far it deserves imitation now ; but from our point of view, the Christian Consciousness of to-day, as enlightened by the Holy Spirit present with us now, is the one supreme authority for us;^ and we investigate the past as a matter of the deepest scientific interest, but not with the vain ambition that any private discussion of past history can enable us to usurp the Church's authority in present controversies as to rites, and dogmas, and discipline.^ ^ Cltrbitlan Civilisation, p. 19 t^eq. * Article xxii. 2.] PLAN. 13 We have already said that the principal force to be considered was the idea of a new society, an idea which worked itself out through the private passions of men. Our first task must be to describe, as clearly as possible, the nature of this motive force; and that can be done most accurately by tracing the genesis of the conception of the Christian Society, and by taking special pains to determine the form in which it was current in Asia. We must then notice the opposing influences with which it came in contact, and see it struggling to gain a footing and make itself felt in the world ; our researches on this point can be rendered more definite by confining them to the province of Asia. Lastly, when we have seen the Church firmly planted, we must consider the nature of the institu- tion that had thus grown up ; and this we can learn most clearly by attending to the controversies that arose within its pale ; we may note too, that while certain discussions were making themselves heard all over the Church, the chief interest with regard to them centred in Asia and the neighbouring pro- vinces. AVe may thus gain much by rencjering our inquiries definite, while yet regarding the history of 1 4 INTRODUCTION. [SECT. the Churclies of Asia as fairly typical of the general Church development in tlie second century. § 3. The sketch of the plan of the Essay has put us in a position to discuss the sources of evidence ; we now know the precise points on which we wish for evidence ; it is obvious that sources of informa- tion which might be of the highest value in other inquiries are practically valueless in regard to our special subject. The extant writings are, in the first place, of value to us in so far as they enable us to judge of the current conception of the Christian Society ; canonical writings, being those which were generally received, have of course the chief value for this purpose ; of other writings which were not generally received, we can chiefly appeal to those which have some traceable connexion with the province of Asia, and can thus be quoted as evidence of current opinions there. The one question which may always be neglected is the question of authenticity or authorship ; the one which ought to be definitely settled in each case, before our inquiry could be considered com- plete, is the question of the date of each writing. It is, however, obviously impossible to enter into a 3.] SOUECES OF EVIDENCE. 15 thorough discussion of this series of problems, which have met with so many contradictory solutions, and no real attempt will be made to justify the dates here assigned ; it may be well to notice, however, that even a serious mistake in regard to the date does not destroy the evidence as to the direction of the growth of the current conception of Christianity ; it can, at the outside, only lead to a misapprehension in regard to the rate of development. We use the writings not with the view of quoting the authority of the author for some opinion, still less with the attempt of discovering the purpose with which it was composed. For us, each writing is simply the evidence of a certain conviction as existing about a given date — existing at the very least in the mind of the author, and in the minds of those who readily ac- cepted his teaching. Early writings which were gen- erally received are the documents we wish to study. The same documents may then be drawn upon for evidence in regard to the actual growth of the new kingdom and its relation to its environment ; but in addition to them we can make use of the History of Eusebius, and of other external evidences of the same kind in pagan histories and documents. 1 6 IXTKODUCTION. [SECT. For the discussion of the differences that de- veloped themselves within the Church as an insti- tuted religion, the writings of the defenders of the Catholic Faith against heathens and heretics are of course the chief source of information ; though the Asian origin of the Apostolical Constitutions renders them valuable too, even if they were not collected in their present form till a later date. To specify in greater detail. For the purpose of tracing the genesis of the current conception of the Church, the Synoptic Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Pauline Epistles may be accepted without difiiculty ; as also may the First Epistle of S. Peter, and the Epistle of S. James; for the doubts as to the authenticity of these writings which are due to modern analysis, and which had no place in ancient tradition, have no bearing on our inquiry : if any of them was a forgery, it was a forgery which received universal assent, and thus bears equal evidence to the current conceptions of the day. In the same way we may at once accept the Epistle to the Hebrews without attempting to solve the question of its authorship. Modern inquiry may be regarded as establishing the early date of the Ap)ocalypse, even in spite of the doubt in ancient days ; the 3.] SOURCES OF EVIDENCE. 17 doubts about the Gospel of S. John wliicli were felt long ago, and which have prevailed so widely in our own day, need not prevent our appealing to it as, in any case, a monument of early Ephesian Christianity, and this suffices for our immediate purpose. Turning to the sub-apostolical writings, we find that tlie reception which was accorded to the (first) Epistle of S. Clement of Eome to the Corinthians may allow us to make use of it, even though it has no direct bearing on Asia ; the balance of evidence as to its date seems to be in favour of the time of Domitian, and we may place it at something like 97 A.D. The Ep)istlc of S. Barnahas, though not improbably somewhat earlier, has hardly been so generally received as worthy of reading in church ; its bearing on our subject is however comparatively slight. The Pastor of Hennas, though a Eoman work, written in all probability somewhat before the middle of the century, attained so early to recogni- tion in Asia, that we may examine it with more confidence. The Epistle of Fohjcarp we may place, following M. Waddington, about 155 A.D. ; and the tangled controversy about the Ignatian E2nstles must be cut rather than unravelled. Some critics are in doubt B 18 INTKODUCTION. [SECT. as to the authenticity of either the shorter Greek or the Syrian version;^ there is a practical unanimity in the opiiiion that the longer recension belongs to a later date. Whether the Syrian or short Greek version is the truer representation of the original we iieed not say ; it suffices for us that we cannot place either writing later than 150 A.D., though the belief that the shorter recension is genuine seems to have gained ground rapidly during the last few years,^ and if this be true that version cannot be later than 115 A.D. Many of the fragments and documents embodied in the History of Eusebius are of the highest interest, especially the letter from the Churches of Lyons and Vienne ; their direct connexion with Asia renders this document of special interest. On the other hand, when we come to documents which, though possibly older than some of those mentioned above, were never generally received, we have to tread with greater caution. Many of them contain mere legends which have no bearing on our ^ For the sake of shortness, however, I have ventured to avoid the awkward periphrasis, and to speak of the "author of the Ignatian Ejnstles " as " Ignatius;" so too in similar cases of doul>tful authenticity. - Proleijomena in Gebhardt, liarnack and Zahn's edition. 3.] SOURCES OF EVIDENCE. 19 inquiries : such are, for the most part, the Apocry- phal Gospels and Acts ; others, as the Clementines, were early stigmatised as Ebionite writings, and they can only be used as supplying us with instruc- tive analogies, rather than as a source from which to derive fuller information about the growth of the conception of the Catholic Church. PAET I. THE CONCEPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY CURRENT IN ASIA AT THE BEGINNING OF SECOND CENTURY. iart I. THE CONCEPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY CUKRENT IN ASIA AT THE BEGINNING OF SECOND CENTURY. (1.) Pre-Christian Conception of the divine Society. § 4. In trying to trace the growth of a conception it is necessary for us to divest ourselves of the various personal associations which cluster round a given word. Strange as it is, the word Church, in the minds of some who call themselves Christians, has come to be a symbol for a hated mixture of superstition, bigotry, and social superiority. To others, especially in France, it has a close association with the injustice of the Ancien Eegime, and the tyranny of the Second Empire. To the great majority of men the Church is a religious institution, and as such has little or nothing to do with "secular politics." Unless we can entirely discard the dis- tinctions which have been forced on modern minds by the history of the last eighteen centuries, we 24 CUKKENT CONCEPTION [SECT. cannot arrive at the primary conception of the Church, far less consider its growth. But as we can hardly expect to free ourselves entirely from these associations, we shall perhaps do best to discard the word for the present, and to look at the hope of Israel, and the way in which Jesus fulfilled it ; this may prove the true starting-point for considering the gTowth of the conception of the Christian Insti- tution. Even thus we may not wholly free ourselves from the danger of anachronism ; we habitually read and hear of the Jewish Church, and we are apt to carry with us the modern idea of a religious institution bearing some ill-defined relationship to the political administration of the country ; but the Jewish people was a chosen race, the kingdom of David and the empire of Solomon was a divinely directed institution. It is true that there was a terrible decadence in the monarchy at the time of Manasseh, but was there not also a terrible decad- ence in the priesthood and among the prophets in the time of Jeremiah ? The chosen people were unworthy of their calling, but they were chosen as a people, and as a nation ; it may be that, in changing the government from the tribal to the regal form, 4.] . OF KINGDOM OF GOD. 25 there was a certain acconimoclation to the passions^ of the people, but so there was not less certainly in tlie enactments of the Law with regard to divorce :- in spite of these things we may yet say that the kingdom was divinely instituted, just as the Law was divinely framed : the kingdom of David was for generations the type of the kingdom of the Messiah : in it there was one tribe charged with the performance of religious services ; in it, too, as time rolled on, there were schools of prophets maintained, as well as untrained individual witnesses for God ; but neither the Levites (still less the priests) nor the prophets, were the "Jewish Church;" that was the chosen nation, which was ruled in accordance with a divine tradition, and in the expectation of a divine triumph. It was to the line of the kings, not to the house of Aaron or the schools, that the hopes of those who waited for God in Israel were turned: it was from the line of the kings that their hopes were at length fulfilled. Rothe^ has clearly marked the precise period 1 1 Samuel xii. 17. '^ S. Mark x. 5. ^ Anfdnge der chridllchen Klrche, Einl. p. 69. While acknow- ledging the great assistance received from Rotlie in this and the following paragraphs, I must dissent from his theory of the Church, and still more from the distinction between the Church 26 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT, when the Jewish kingdom ceased to occupy tliis position, and became a mere political power which had neither inherited a religious tradition nor cherished a divine hope. So soon as the sceptre passed into the hands of Herod, the people ceased to look to their ruler as the centre of their religious hopes : then began the separation between their civil and religious institutions ; and in the time of our Lord, there was a Jewish Church in the modern sense, that is, a religious institution with a definite organisation, apart from, and in some sort of antagonism to, the civil government of the country. But if there was for a time a Jewish Church — a religious body governed by the High Priest and Sanhedrin, — the expectation of the people had not changed. Still did they look for a divine kingdom ; only because the nation was oppressed as a nation, only because their civil independence had gone, did their religious life exist in such an abnormal con- dition : what they longed for was a resuscitation of and the kingdom of God, which is closely connected with it. From our point of vieAV, the Church is not merely the means for introducing the kingdom of God, — it really is that kingdom, gradually growing in, and extending around, and end^racing the kingdoms of tliis world. Compare more especially S 12 in Rothe. 5.] OF KINGDOM OF GOD. 27 tlie old state, when the divine Law should he the rule of life, and the divine worship should be truly celebrated, § 5, Various causes have been at work to prevent the ordinary reader from realising, not only the form which the religious hopes of the Jews took, but the passionateness with which these hopes were cherished: partly, because we have memorials of exceptional Jewish life where the hope was prac- tically extinct ; partly because, in other cases, the existence of that passionate hope was such an obvious fact that it was taken for granted rather than expressed. Of the three sects of the Jews, one — and that one which had no little influence on the Asian Churches — had discarded the hope of Israel as a practical religious power. Living in little communities, apart from the life of the nation, seeking by ascetic dis- cipline to attain to a high standard of individual holiness, the Essenes discarded as much of the religious heritage of their nation as conflicted with their own ideal of holiness. In the sacrifices of their nation they would have no part; while the family life, which was so highly esteemed in Israel, 28 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. appeared positively sinful to them: nor liad they scrupled to add on such Oriental observances, however incompatible with the religion of their forefathers, as seemed to them to tend to edifica- tion ; such, for example, as the worship of the sun. No wonder that in minds which were devoted to their private religious well-being, and whose view was limited by the bounds of their little congrega- tion, the hope of Israel had nearly, if not entirely, died out,^ But just because they were separatists, and cut off from the great stream of national life, we may neglect them in estimating the real current of feeling that was at work, A sect whose exist- ence is ignored in the Talmud ^ need not be taken into account here, though the picturesqueness of their life attracted the admiring curiosity of con- temporaries, and even though their influence in particular churches was undoubted. If the hope had died out in the desert round the Dead Sea, it had also ceS'. 3fatthew xviii. 15-20 be taken along with that just referred to, we can have no doubt that they are both to be understood in the same sense,^ as true of the new Christian Society which was to spring out of the existing system, originated by S. Peter, but with powers inherent in itself. A fault was to be confessed to the Church, and discipline exercised by the Church ; the same body in which prayer was to be made, the same body which was to legislate for itself (bind and loose), was to be able to cut off an unworthy member, in all things exercising over itself the same powers — and herein lies the difference from the religious rule that then held sway — as those which the Sanhedrin exercised over the Jewish ' Abundant authority can be produced for this interpretation of the later passage (xviii. 15-20), e.g. Erastus, Vitringa, Olshausen, as quoted by Rothe, An/dnge, p. 93. I can see no grounds for giving a -wider significance to the much-disputed passage about S. Peter. 6.] IN CANONICAL WKITINGS. 39 people. Nor can we doubt that our Lord foresaw there would soon be ample need for the use of these powers of discipline which He thus conferred ; the parables of the Tares and of the Drag-net sufficiently indicate that many of the members of the kingdom would be unworthy of their calling, like lamps which had gone out, or salt that had lost its savour. A kingdom which was thus grafted on to the synagogue system, and which was to grow so unostentatiously, was not of a kind to arouse enthusiasm : to many it did not seem worth strug- gling for : no personal advantage, but a devoted per- sonal loyalty to the king, was the motive which was to work for its realisation. A devotion to Him as He revealed Himself upon earth, a faith in Him as present with His Church even when He ascended, this was the power which was to remove mountains, and in the might of which His people were to con- quer. It was thus that faith was set forth as the one essential for service in this kingdom, faith in Him as being what He professed, and as having the powers which He assumed, and which were chiefly shown forth in the Eesurrection and also in the Ascension. Such was the kingdom as depicted in the Synoptic 40 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. Gospels — a true kingdom, which, beginning as a mere offshoot of the synagogue, was to grow till it became a world-wide realm, A few words may indicate the relation which it was to have to the existing civil societies. There was to be no open antagonism;^ it was not of this world, and there was to be no fighting; nor was there to be any repudiation of lawful authority, even if it was exercised by bad men.^ On the other hand, this passive obedience is not a cringing submission : our Lord stood upon His rights as a Jewish citizen in repudiating the grossly illegal trial to which He was subjected;^ but this refusal to obey lawless authority does not conflict with the injunction to abide by the law of the land. In the time of Jesus it was still possible to obey the civil rulers from a religious motive ; in rendering what was Caesar's to Caesar, men were also rendering what was God's to God. It was from the side of the civil rulers, not from that of the Church, that the active struggle between Christ's kingdom and the secular realms commenced. We have thus tried to delineate the primary idea ^ S. Matt. xxvi. 52. See also S. John xviii. 36. - S. Matt, xxiii. 3. * The illegal character of the trial is clearly shown by Mr. Taylor Innes — Contemporary Review, xxx. 393 seq. 7.] IN CANONICAL AVEITINGS. 41 of the Cliurcli as it appears in the Synoptic Gospels : it was to be a kingdom in this world, but not of it, an organised society which was ultimately to become a world-wide rule, but to begin as a mere synagogue at Jerusalem, with self-regulating powers. We have not said that this was the full conception of the Church in the mind of our Lord Himself, but we do say that this was the conception of the Church to which the writers of the Synoptic Gospels had attained, and which had in it the germ of all that was subsequently revealed and realised. § 7. It will be convenient to take next in order the Acts of the Apostles, and to consider the picture of the Christian Society which is there presented to us, because, though certainly later in date than several of the writings we shall discuss, it gives us a harmonious representation of the Christian life, and this representation afterwards received general assent.^ Whether this harmony was historically true, or merely portrayed by a mediating writer, we need not stop to inquire, though we shall have a word to say on this below (§ 30). What concerns us is that we have here a representation of the first * The rejection of this book by the Marcionites hardly affects the unanimity of the Christian Chux-ch on this matter. 42 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT, years of the Christian Society which was alike accepted as satisfactory in communities which claimed to follow the traditions of S. Peter, or S. Paul, or S. John ; we can then notice more briefly the special details which may be added from a study of the writings ascribed to each of these leaders. a. The opening chapter at once connects the story of the doings of the apostles with the hope of Israel. It is assumed that the Messiah has come, the only question which the disciples ask (i. 6) is as to the time of the fulfilment of the promise. And on the day of Pentecost S. Peter declares to the multitude that the Messiah had indeed come, and thus pro- claims His kingdom. The whole plan of his dis- course is an endeavour to prove that in Jesus Christ the hope of Israel was fulfilled, and that therefore the kingdom had come : then it was, that those who gladly received his word were added to the Church. h. The means of admission to the kingdom were as before, — Eepentance, with its outward symbol of Baptism ; but now we get the demand for allegiance to this king — they were to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thus to profess their willing- ness to be His faithful soldiers and servants to their lives' end. This was the profession of allegiance 7.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 43 which was made when first the gospel was extended beyond the bounds of the sacred city (Ads viii. 12, 37). The controversy as to the terms on which the CJentiles should be admitted need not detain us, as we know how it was settled. No further profession, no further rite, was required from them than from the Jews, only a care for the failings of others was enjoined upon them by the Council of Jerusalem. c. It is when we examine the account which is given of the teaching of the apostles about the nature of the kingdom and of the king, that we find how far they had advanced from the level on which they stood while they were themselves being taught by the Master. The power of their king, as evidenced by that resurrection of which they were witnesses, and as confirmed by their expectations that He would be the Judge of the world, are constantly set forth. These were the two points in which their faith in their Master went beyond the current ex- pectation in regard to the Messiah, and these were the points on which they chiefly insisted; and though they still preached the kingdom of God, they had learned to realise that it was a slowly develop- ing, purifying power, not a force that would suddenly display itself at a given time. 44 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. d. While this was the strain of their doctrine, the duties of practical piety were undertaken on a large scale ; the voluntary surrender of private property, and the distribution for the maintenance of the poor, were as ordinary incidents of the life of the Church as their daily prayer in the Temple or breaking of bread in their common gatherings. We find, too, that the Christian Society suffered from the presence of unworthy members like Ananias and Simon Magus, and that it assumed the powers of discipline which had been conferred upon it. At the Council of Jerusalem we find the Church " loosing " what the Mosaic Law had " bound," in absolving the Gentiles from many of the ancient requirements ; in an earlier day, the Church assumed the power of the keys, in reviewing (and confirming) the admission of Gentile members which had been made by S. Peter {Ads xi. 1, 18). The apostles did not merely pro- claim a doctrine, they organised the Society which Jesus had founded. Evidences of the beginnings of this organisation are to be found in the formation of the diaconate ; we do not care to argue, against Eitschl,^ that this was a mere experiment which was temporarily tried 1 Entsttliunfj der christlichen Kirche, 2te Aufl. p. 355. 7.] IN CANONICAL WRITINCxS. 49 to meet a special emergency ; that may have been so, at least the success of the experiment led to the adoption of the same means for meeting the emer- gency elsewhere ; the diaconate of Jerusalem was a type of the order in the Church. Of greater interest are the hints which are dropped of the method of governing the whole body of Christians ; Jerusalem was the centre of Christian life, as it was of Jewish ; to that Church the Chris- tians looked for supreme earthly guidance, as the Jews did to the Sanhedrin ; from it embassies went out to distant Churches {Ads xi. 22; xv. 27), and letters were addressed. The whole organisation was directed from one centre, and at this centre one man was chief. There was no parallel to the posi- tion which is accorded to James, the brother of our Lord ; and if, as we believe, he was not one of the twelve,^ his position is all the more striking. We hnd him specially singled out in xii. 17, and he occupies a decisive position in the first Council (xv. 13). If we compare with this the language of S. Paul in the Upistle to the Galatians^ we cannot resist the conclusion that James the Just was in a very emphatic sense head of the Church at Jeru- ' Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 261. ■ Gal. ii. 12. 46 CUREENT CONCEPTION [SECT. salem, just as the Church at Jerusalem was the recognised authority for the Christians in many other towns, if not in all. We might compare his position to that of the High Priest for the year, but his seems to have been a permanent office, and it is at least a most probable hypothesis if we say that he, the blood-relation of our Lord, of the royal lineage, was held to be the most suitable viceregent, who should act for Him, and in His stead be chief among the officers of God's kingdom upon earth during an absence that they believed would be brief Presbyters there were in Jerusalem (Acts xv. 23), and in every city (xiv. 23), but there was at the time of S. Paul's second missionary journey only one chief pastor, one vice-regent,^ of the whole Church on earth. The later chapters of the Acts, which tell us of the founding of the Church in Gentile cities, need not detain us; we have always the same course pursued : the church emanates from the synagogue, presbyters are ordained, and there is at least an informal connexion kept up by some of them, * While by no means satisfied with this term, I cannot think of another that implies so clearly the ruling of a kingdom, and that is therefore so appropriate to this earliest phase of the Christian Society. 7.] IN CANONICAL WKITINGS. 47 though not perhaps by the Churches of Asia, with that Jerusalem which was the mother of them alL But there are not a few interesting details with regard to the attitude which was assumed towards existing governments by the leaders in the new kingdom. That attitude was never aggressive, but neither was it one of cringing submission. As our Lord had stood upon His Jewish rights, so SS. Peter and John could refuse to bend before an arbitrary exercise of capricious power (Acts iv. 3, 16-21), or S. Paul could scorn, as a Eoman citizen, to submit to unworthy indignities. In this, as in every other respect, we have a more detailed delineation of the kingdom than occurs in the Synoptic Gospels, but not one of the lines which were there sketched has to be altered. Still is the kingdom set forth as fulfilling the ancient expectations ; still are the old terms of admission enforced, with the sole addition of a profession of that loyalty to the king without which there could be no true service ; the organisa- tion is developed on precisely the lines which our Lord had suggested, and the position which is taken towards the outside world was exactly that which was maintained by Him. 48 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. § 8. The Upistle of S. James bears on its face the fact that it is a letter on practical religion addressed to a specially Jewish audience : it is only incidentally tliat we can gather information regarding the author's idea of the Christian Society : he makes but one explicit mention of the kingdom (ii. 5), and only hints that its "heirs" are rich in faith: no other qualification for participation is suggested : nor is any allusion made to the events of the Gospel story, as, e.g. to the resurrection which justified their faith in the Lord Jesus : we find, however, a mention of the other distinctively Christian doctrine that the Lord would come to be the judge (v. 8^ 9). The author's great desire is to lay down directions for the life of the members of the kingdom : such directions he describes as a Law, but it is a law of liberty, laid down by the Christian consciousness, when enlightened by the God who gives wisdom, and disciplined by self-deniah The sense, too, that loyalty to the king was incompatible with disrespect to the persons of His poor servants, is a further illustration of the fact that the laws of the kingdom are not external ordinances, but have their source in an internal principle. We get some few new hints as to the practice of a.] IN CANONICAL WKITINGS. 49 the early Church : anointing with oil by the pres- byters is spoken of as a familiar use. The nume- rous evils of the time demanded the exercise of discipline, and we find a call to confess their sins to one another, and a suggestion of the priesthood of all Christians in the exhortation to intercessory prayer for absolution (v. 1 6). While, then, there is in this epistle no real addi- tion to the delineation of the Church, there is nothing at variance with the picture already drawn. § 9. Though the Apocalypse presents us with some important modifications of the conception of the kingdom of God, it still adheres firmly to its main outlines. It opens (i. 5, 7) with a reference to the two fundamental beliefs about the person of the king, His triumph over death, and His future coming to judge the earth : it ends with a description of the New Jerusalem which should appear in the second age : but the realm of the blessed is still thought of as a kingdom : there is the throne of God and of the Lamb (xxii. 1, 3, 5), but the writer saw no temple therein (xxi. 22). The main idea is still the same, and its close connexion with the visions of Ezekiel and Daniel brings this clearly into view. D 50 CUKRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. There is however a subsidiary thought which is very noticeable : the new kingdom is a kingdom of priests (i, 6, v. 10, xx. 6). In this there is no de- parture from the Israelite tradition : the phrase was already familiar to the readers of Exodus (xix. 6) and Isaiah (Ixi. 6), but it was not an idea which had taken hold of the minds of the first disciples, while they still thronged the temple services that were performed by the old priesthood. "With this new conception of the Christian Society as a body of priests, is connected a new view of the nature and work of Jesus : He is no longer merely a king. He is the means of consecrating His people for the priestly office. If we turn to the account in Leviticus, viii. 1-32, of the consecrating of Aaron and his sons, we get some sort of help in under- standing the view which now comes into prominence. Christ is the sacrifice by which the people are re- deemed : it is with His blood that they are washed {Lev. viii. 24), and thus it is that they become priests of God, through the Lamb that was slain. This preliminary investigation would be carried beyond all reasonable limits if we attempted to trace the idea of the Christian Society through all the canonical writings ; it is, however, interesting to 9.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 51 notice that the maintenance of this — which is the subsidiary view in the Apocalypse — is the main thesis of the Epistle to the Hebrews. There, the king- dom is barely mentioned (xii. 28) : the person of Jesus is magnified, not as a divine king, but as a divine priest, who, just because He was so wholly above the Jewish priesthood, and because His sacri- fice was so different from theirs, could take away their sins and make them also priests who should offer spiritual sacrifices to God (xiii. 21, 15; x. 12, 22). There is one other interesting modification of the view of the kingdom, in the Apoealypse : it is set now in clear antagonism to the larger portion of the Jewish people; the kingdom had been announced as the fulfilment of their hopes ; it had fulfilled their highest hopes, yet some who had been born to inherit the expectation had held aloof from the Christian Society in which the hope was realised ; but such were no true Jews, they were the syna- gogue of Satan (ii. 9, iii. 9). The true Israel of God was to be found in the Church ; the others, Jews though they might be by blood, had cut themselves off from the blessings of the covenant ; and thus the traditions of the people of God, like the hopes of the people of God, belonged truly to the Christiau, 52 CUKRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. and not by any means to tlie Jews who rejected the Messiah that had come. In this respect also the Epistle to the Hehrews offers an instructive analogy, not in any repudiation of the unbelieving Jew, but by the boldness with which it claims the Jewish tradition as the heritage of the Christians. In a book of this kind we cannot expect to get a clear picture of the details of Church life ; there are, however, some hints in regard to organisation which must not be neglected. The leading position of Jerusalem is not forgotten ; it is still " the beloved city " {Rev. xx. 9) ; its glory will be greater than was revealed; but at the time its supremacy seems to have fallen into abeyance, if indeed it had ever been formally acknowledged in Asia, and divine messages are given from the Lord directly to Civic Churches ;^ the supremacy of the Jerusalem Church and the position of its viceregal bishop are practi- cally ignored in the opening chapters ; and thus we have the idea of Civic Churches as separate, self- regulating communities, not as mere members of one body which was ruled frqm Jerusalem. This at least seems no unfair deduction from the tone in ^ This phrase will be justified by the delineation of the actual growth of the Church l;elow, §§ 23 and 28. 10.] IN CANONICAL WAITINGS. 53 which each Christian community is addressed : on the other hand, we cannot feel that when a writer whose mind is teeming with the phraseology of Ezekicl and Daniel writes of an angel, he can be thinking of anything but a heavenly power, not an earthly ofticer; the passage does not give us any clear idea of the means by which the administration of each Civic Church was to be carried on. § 10. The First Epistle of S. Peter is a most beau- tiful exhortation to the Asian and other Churches, which is full of allusions to the conceptions of the Christian Society which have already been deli- neated ; it contains them all, but in many respects it rises above them, and indeed there is a perfect torrent of mixed metaphor in wdiicli the author strives to convey his conception of the gloriousness of the Christian Society. Such phrases as "royal l)riesthood," the " holy nation " who are to show forth the praises of God, and the idea of redemp- tion through the blood of Christ, need not detain us; with these we are already familiar; there are, however, two or three new phrases which merit our attention. We have the Christian Society figured as a flock fed by the Shepherd and Bishop of our 54 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT, souls (ii. 25), and again as the flocks committed to the charge of the elders (v. 1 and 2). Again there is the analogy between the wanderings and suffer- ings of the Israelites on their way to Canaan, and the pilgrimage of these " strangers " on their way to their inheritance (ii. 11). But the most striking image is that of the living temple founded on Jesus Christ (ii. 4, 5, 6). The Church is no longer figured as a body of men with a king, or as a body of priests with one High Priest who had consecrated them by His own sacrifice,' — there is an organic union between the foundation and the building. A some- what similar figure had been used by our Lord,^ but the new interpretation which S, Peter here gives brings out the difference that underlies the resem- blance : S. Peter was the first stone laid, our Lord was the eternal basis of the whole. It is the organic union between Christ and the Church which is brought out in this figure of the temple, and which marks an advance upon the writings we have already considered ; over and over again is the idea reiter- ated, with special reference to the communion of the Christians in the sufferings of Christ (ii. 20, 21; iv. 1, 2, 13). ' Nor, as also in the Ej)Mle to the Hebrews, as a household, where each slave owes obedience to the heir, iii. G. 2 S. Matt. xvi. 15. 11.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 55 With this infinitely grander conception of the nature of the Christian Society as a true union with Christ, we find a nobler conception of the admission into the body : the admission into that Church is a true regeneration (i. 3), of which Baptism is the out- ward sign (iii. 21) ; not that this regenerated Society thus united to Christ was perfect : malice and guile and hypocrisy and fleshly lusts — these were not wholly things of the past ; nor was the administra- tion of the Church all that could be wished, — the younger members were unruly, and the presbyters were not free from reproach (v. 2, 5). So far as any light is thrown on Church organisation, the writer's idea of it does not differ from that in the Apocalypse, — it presents us with the view of inde- pendent Civic Churches, each ruled by their own presbyters, though it adds this important feature, that they at the same time kept up communication with one another. § 11. If in turning to the writings of S. Paul we limit our attention to the three Asian epistles, this is not because their authenticity is less unquestioned than the rest, but because they are witnesses of Asian Christianity; for we do not so much want to give a complete picture of S. Paul's teaching, as 56 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. to notice what was effective teacliing in that region : their evidence is amply sufficient. We may say at once that these writings show no advance on tlie conception of the Christian Society that has been already drawn, but they concentrate the attention on one point alone — the organic union between Christ and the Church. The reference to the relation of husband and wife is a new attempt to portray this union {Eph. v. 23); but the apostle's favourite image deserves special attention, — the Church is the body of which Christ is the head. Nothing can more fitly illustrate the organic union than this, and therefore on this he specially dwells, both as illustrating the relations of the body to the head and of the menibers to one another {Col. i. 18; Eph. i. 23). In this glorious conception of the body of Christians as partaking in the life of Christ Him- self, dying with Him, and rising with Him, all the feebler representations of the Church are lost. We still hear of the kingdom {Eph. i. 21), and of the inheritance of the covenant (ii. 12), and of the con- secrated priests {Col. i. 21-22), but all is lost in the thought of the body of Christ, one with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him, baptized into Him, guided by His Spirit, heirs of His glory. 11.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 57 It seems strange to turn from this noble view of the Church, to read of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, which were still found in the members, of Christ; and of the administration which might reform these things we get little hint. Nothing is said of the Jerusalem authorities, nothing of the presbyters. We do, however, find one individual named as if responsible^ for the whole (Philcm. 2; Col. iv. 1 7) good order of the community. It is when we turn back from the consideration of the wonderful fervour with which S. Paul speaks of the body of Christ to the primary idea of the kingdom of God which appears in the Synoptics and the Acts, that we find how wonderfully the conception has developed, — when we contrast the appeal which is made to the Colossian Church with that which was uttered by S. Peter at Pentecost. Yet the steps in the development are clear ; there is no sudden break : the links of the chain are all there. The Acts only carries out the ideas of the Synoptics ; S. James only insists on the same idea with a hint, which the Apocalypse amplifies, which by S. Peter is carried one step further, and finds its noblest ' Possibly, however, he is responsible as apostle for the teaching, not as ruler for the order of the Church: vide sub. p. l'J3. 58 QUERENT CONCEPTION [SECT. expression from S. Paul. We find great differences in the manner in which the institution is represented by S. James, in the Hebrews, by S. Paul ; but there is one fundamental faith common to them all, one Lord, one baptism, one body, and one Spirit, There are no struggles of opposing tendencies ; there are different — vague, and again fuller — conceptions of the life that was working in all. § 1 2. Still the change was a startling one : this doctrine, so elevated and so free, towering so far above the Messianic expectation of the Jews, was it after all the doctrine of Jesus ? Might it not be a duty to oppose it in the name of Christ ? ^ Was it a legitimate interpretation of the work of the one Lord ? or did it not conflict with His habits, as far as it went beyond His teaching as worded in the written accounts of His life ? — These were the ques- tionings^ which met their answer in the Gospel of S. John. S. Paul never repudiates the old idea of the covenant and the kingdom of God ; it was even a ' 1 Corinthian.s i. 13. ^ We do not say that these questions gave the motive to this book, but only analyse it for the sake of showing how completely it offers an answer to them. 12.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 59 charge against him that he did not do so : he carries it up with him, just as this Gospel shows us Jesus ever in contact with the disciples' low ideas of His kingdom, and ever trying to raise them to the truer level. It is often said that this Gospel was written to supply a more complete narrative than that of the Synoptics, by giving us a number of incidents which were omitted. But this is not what the Gospel professes to do ; it indignantly repudiates the idea of giving a complete account of the in- cidents of our Lord's life, or a full report of His teaching (xx. 30, xxi. 25) ; it professes to bring into prominence those sides of Christ's life which were not understood at first,^ and which, just because they were not understood till the fuller conception of the Christian Society had dawned on the minds of men through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could not be recorded in the earliest writings.- A very hasty survey will sufficiently show how, both in the in- cidents and discourses, we find a picture of the earthly life of Christ as Head of the Church, not merely as the expected king of Israel. > S. Joh)r vii. .39, xii. IG. - The closest parallel, but still at an infinite distance, to the later conception of our Lord's relation to the Church is iu S. Malt. XXV. 40. 60 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. The conversations with Xatlianael and with the woman of Samaria furnish cases in point ; both of them shared tlie Messianic expectation, but to both He speaks of a spiritual reality which would hardly have satisfied their hopes, — to Nathanael of Himself as the means of ever-continued communication be- tween God and man ; to the woman, of a spiritual worship which transcended all the religious jealousies of tlie day. So, too, to Nicodemus he does not speak of repentance as the condition of entering the king- dom ; He had hoped that a master in Israel might rise above the gross popular conception to grasp the truth that regeneration was the condition of mem- bership ; but it was altogether beyond him. So too in regard to the miracles : in the Synoptics they are the credentials of an earthly mission ; in S. John they are the evidences of a living spiritual power. The quickening power which was shown in the case of the paralytic (chap, v.) is the symbol of the quickening power which will raise the dead to life ; the miraculous feeding of the multitude is a symbol of the way in which He still feeds those who partake of His Body and Blood (chap. vi.). The water poured out on the last day of the feast was a symbol of the Spirit which His followers should receive. 12.] IX CANONICAL WETTINGS. Gl Another striking difference lies in the tone in which the Jewish leaders are spoken of. In the Synoptics they are regarded as blind, and hardened like those who rejected the prophets through culpable ignorance ; here they are open and avowed enemies — the synagogue of Satan ; in none of the New Testament writings is there such bitterness shown towards the " Jews," who not only sought to catch Him in his talk, but sedulously plotted against Him. These few suggestions may suffice to show how in this last Gospel the misunderstood side of the life of Christ is brought into prominence ; He is Himself represented as giving the exalted teaching for which at the end of the first century the minds of Christian men were prepared ; the regal aspect of His work, as king of Israel, is never repudiated, but it is exalted to its true dignity. There is only one wholly new illustration of this intimate union between Christ and the Church : in his First Epistle to the Corinthians S. Paul had spoken of Christ as being the Paschal Lamb; but such language was only allegorical, as long as the feast was actually kept up at Jerusalem. It was only when that had ceased, that men came to feel that Jesus was the true passover, the true God-given 62 CUERENT CONCEPTION [SECT, means, by participation in which men were de- livered from bondage.^ The most striking difference between the Synoptic and the Fourth Gospels has a close connexion with this new view, for the day which is given as the date of the crucifixion is strangely harmonious with the thought of Christ as being the true Paschal Lamb. But of that we shall have to say more when we come to consider the Quarto-deciman controversy (§ 38). § 13. We have tried to present the idea of the Christian Society which was current in the Asian Churches at the end of the first century ; we have believed that this could be most fairly done by trying to present that conception in its genesis as it can be traced in the generally received writings. We have a picture of a Society existing in the world, but not of it; which, like a kingdom, shall spread until it embraces and overcomes all existing societies; which, like a flock, is tended by Christ Himself; which, as a nation, inherits the traditions and shows the hopes of the people of God ; which, like a priesthood, consists of consecrated members offering services to God ; which, as a temple, is built ^ Baur, First Three Centuries, i. 160. 13.] IN CANONICAL WRITINGS. 63 upon the foundation of Jesus Christ ; which is, indeed, the body of the Lord. We find that admission to that kingdom is obtained not merely now by repentance from actual sin, but by that regeneration of which Baptism is the out- ward sign ; we iind that the life of the citizens lies in that faith by which they are not only devoted to their king, or enthusiastic for their traditions and hopes for the Unseen, but actual partakers in the life of Christ ; and that this life found its fitting ex- pression in sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and in deeds of piety : we find that many of the mem- bers of Christ failed terribly to live up to this pro- fession, or to realise the life of Christ in their own sphere, and that teaching and discipline, fasting and prayer, were provided as the means of restoring the fallen. So far we have no divergence : but when we come to speak of the organisation that is hinted at, we find that there are two conflicting views. In the writings relating to the earlier period of the Society, the kingdom is described as ruled from Jerusalem by James and the presbyters who surrounded him : his was a sort of viceregal position, in the temporary absence of the king ; the distant Churches appealed 64 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. to him for guidance, and took their directions from his messengers. On the other hand, in the Apocalypse the supremacy of Jerusalem is ignored, and a message from the king is sent through another channel. The Epistle of S. Peter seems to imply, though not so distinctly, the independence of the Church in each city, as if possessing powers of self-government, while it bears witness to the inter-communication between these various Churches. As to the internal administration we can learn little : of presbyters we hear, but the authority seems to lie in the Church, and not by any means in its officers. How far do subsequent writings, which can be fairly said to represent Asian Christianity, bear witness to the maintenance and effectiveness of this conception of the Church on earth ? (3.) Current Conception as maintained in suh-apostolical writings. a. Nature of the Christian Society. § 1 4. The conception of the nature of the Church which we have found above received little further development ; but we have abundant evidence of its 14.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WRITINGS. 65 living power, for the minds of sub-apostolical writers, in the new illustrations which are put forward in different treatises. Many of the old ones are re- peated. The kingdom of God is still spoken of,^ and the idea of an army ^ is hardly very different from that of a militant kingdom or a body of soldiers equipped with the armour of God {Eph. vi.). The body and its members occurs again,^ but the most popular conception is one that had only been hinted at before : the Church consists of the regenerate, therefore it is a new creation, — the most perfect and last appearing of the works of God, and yet one which was designed from the first, and for which all the rest were but a preparation. These ideas are worked out most fully in the Pastor of Hermas,^ especially in the earlier visions : they are rendered clearer by the figure of the Church as an old woman (not as the Bride of the Apocalypse and of Colossians) : but we find hints of the same thought in the Epistle of S. Barnabas^ and in one of the fragments of Pa'pias.^ Another favourite image in the Pastor is that of ^ S. Clement to the Corinthia^is, i. 50, ii. 12. * Jbid. i. 37 ; see Appendix, p. 222. 3 Ibid. i. 37, 46. ■• I'w. i. 3. Vis. ii. 4. 5 Ep. Barn. vi. « Routh, Eel. Sac. i. 15< 66 CURKENT CONCEPTION [SECT. a tower ;^ it differs from the Petrine illustration of the temple, inasmuch as it views the Church rather as a witness to the world than as a priesthood serving- God : but the same belief in the organic unity between Christ and His people is preserved. The longest of the Visions and the longest of the Simil- itudes are entirely occupied with working out this specially popular conception of the Church : and one statement in this connexion is interesting, where the Church is spoken of as renewing the spirit,^ and as the agency through which teaching came.^ The position of Justin Martyr, as an apologist, led him to expound the views already current, rather than to attempt to put them in a clearer light for the edification of the Church. In the First Apology (10) we find the assertion of the Christian's fellow- ship with God ; and the nature of the kingdom is clearly delineated (11). As against Trypho, he claims that Christians are the true heirs of the covenant — the true spiritual Israel (11), Of these, too, it is true that their filthy garments have been taken away, so that they are purified to be the true high-priestly race of God (115, 116). And if we do not find any distinct assertion of the organic union ^ Vide sub. p. 79 and Appendix, p. 234. 2 Vis. iii. 8. '■" Vis. iv. I. U.] IN SUB- APOSTOLICAL WKITINGS. 67 between Christ and the Church, we need not be surprised that a conception which rose so entirely above the views of heathen, and even of Jews, was not introduced either into the Apology or the Dialogues. § 15. If the sub- apostolical view of the nature of the Church is thus identical with that of the Pauline and' Petrine epistles, we need not be surprised that the same apostolic view of Baptism is maintained. The more we feel the greatness of the privileges into which Ave are admitted in becoming members of Christ's visible Church, the more shall we be likely to value the rite in which that membership is con- ferred.^ Hermas represents the tower as built upon the waters, and refers to the rite many times ;^ and while faith is never undervalued {Sim. ix. 1 2), we find that he held the Catholic doctrine that those children who, brought to the font in faith, are baptized in faith and nurtured among the faithful, are partakers of the kingdom of God {Sim. ix. 29). The question which interests the writer most is in regard to sin after Baptism, but to discuss that * The implied undei'valiiing of the rite in the Epistle of S. Barnahas need not detain ns here. Vide sub. p. 103. " Sim. ix. 16 ; Mand. iv. 3 ; Vis. iii. 2. 68 CCJERENT CONCEPTION [SECT, question here would be to anticipate our treatment of a later controversy. On this, as on many other similar points, Justin Martyr is very clear : if his philosophy of religion is wholly inadequate, his account of Christian doings is invaluable. His description of the performance of the rite, his explanation of its meaning, and assertion of its efficacy in the First A^jology (61) are most interesting:^ equally decisive are the two pas- sages in the Dialogues where the purifying baptism is contrasted with the broken cisterns of the Jews (14), and where Noah is spoken of as a type of the Christ who has regenerated us (138). § 1 6. Many interesting questions come into pro- minence as soon as we consider the life of the Christian Society : we find many hints, but not the complete picture we might expect, in the Pastor of Hermas. There is here little reference to the devo- tional life, and none to common worship : the diffi- culties which the writer feels are those of subduing the lusts of the flesh, and thus practising God's com- mandments ; and there is a singular silence on the means by which personal graces may be strengthened^ * See Appendix, p. 244. 2 Mand. xii. 3, 4, 6. See, however, below, p. 179 note. IG.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WRITINGS. 69 or communicated at first. The virtue on which stress is chiefly laid is that of charity to the poor : and from the frequent recurrence to the same subject, and from the denunciation of the rich as rounded stones, who could not "be used in building the tower, we can gather that, in the Eoman Church of this period, there were many rich members, and that the duties of benevolence were somewhat neglected. The parable of the vine and elm, where one by its strength supports the other, so that it can bear fruit in prayer and devotion {Sim. ii.), gives us a clear view of his ideas on this subject. For a fuller picture of Christian life we are in- debted to the writings of Justin Martyr, where we read how, by their civil obedience (First Apology, 17), by their continence (29), and by their deeds of piety to one another, the Christians carried out the com- mands of their Master (15). It is indeed almost the main argument of the First Apology. But this is a matter of common repute on which it is unnecessary to dwell : the ample evidence of the same which could be drawn from sub-apostolical writers need not detain us. A more careful consideration must be given to the prevalent idea of the worship of the Church : it is 70 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. from his references to this subject that we see that Justin did not fall below the Pauline conception, but believed that the Christian was a real partaker in the life of Christ, and that the Eucharist was the means by which he might thus partake^ {First Apol. 65, 66). Most interesting in this respect, though it occurs in another connexion,^ are the remarks on the blood of Christ in the Dialogue (54). But there is another aspect of Christian . worship ; it is not only the opportunity of receiving strength from God, it is the opportunity of sacrifice — of devoting ourselves to God. The faithful are priests, offering spiritual sacrifices ; and thus, while Justin indig- nantly repudiates the supposition that God needs anything at our hands {Fii^st Apology, 10), he still holds that the Eucharist is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and that in offering the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of the Eucharist to God we glorify His name, at least as truly as was done by the leper who offered the oblation of fine Hour {Dialogue 41). That this aspect of the Eucharist should not be put forward in an apology addressed to heathens, whose sacrifices were not — as in the case 1 See Appendix, p. 246. ^ The Ijlood which M-aslies the Chri.stiau priesthood. 16.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WraTINGS. 71 of the Jews — a help, but a hindrance to the com- prehension of it, need not surprise us. This passage from tlie Dialogue is most interesting, though not isolated evidence, that the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist was explicitly maintained at that time, if any such evidence were needed ; though there can of course be no doubt that those who recognised so clearly the priesthood of all Christians felt that all their worship, as all their life, was a sacrifice to God : and if a martyrdom was a special sacrifice of a life,^ so was the highest act of Christian worship a com- memoration of the one sacrifice for sin. The language of Irenseus, and also the phraseology of the shorter Greek recension of Ignatius, are other expressions of the same view. In Justin also we find an account of the other objects of the Christian gatherings: there was a weekly meeting on Sundays for the reading of the writings of the apostles and prophets, after which instruction and exhortation were given by the presi- dent. The celebration of the Holy Communion is said to follow, and an opportunity is given for the rich and well-to-do to supply the needs of the poor — there was, in fact, a weekly offertory. ' Martyrdom of Polycarp, 14; see Appendix, p. 259. 72 CUKEENT CONCEPTION [SECT. This complete picture is hardly to be amplified by any of the scattered hints which occur in other writings ; we may indeed contrast the state of things here delineated with the unruliness of which S. Paul had heard in the Corinthian Church. We may just call attention, however, to a very decided reference to the teaching of the apostolic doctrine, but one that is possibly interpolated, in a chapter in the Epistle to Diognet'us (11), where we feel how much the author regarded the Church as the true centre of religious life. There seems too to be a suggestion of the weekly offertory in the First Epistle of S. Clement (40), though perhaps we may more rightly find in " the offerings " which are to be regularly presented, a reference to the Eucharist.^ An in- teresting hint in regard to the administration of the common fund is to be found in the Einstle of Ignatius to Polycarp (Syriac), 4. Here we read of the widows, and the charge which the bishop has over them ; while the use of the common funds for purchasing the freedom of slaves is deprecated. The whole recalls to one's mind the description of the voluntary communism of the Jerusalem Churcli : that that attempt was systematically carried out for 1 Drake, Prknthood and Sacrifice, p. 1 1 seq. 16.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WEITINGS. 73 any length of time we cannot suppose : certainly we feel that in the time of Ignatius and Justin the communistic principle occupies a very minor place in Christian life. § 17. We have so far found the sub-apostolical writings maintaining a complete accord with the canonical ones in regard to the idea of the Christian Society ; but a difficulty now presents itself, for we must remember that in the canonical writings there are two different systems of organisation sketched out : on the one hand, that which we have described as the viceregal government of James at Jerusalem, while we have also language which implies the local self-government of the Civic Churches in Asia. In the sub-apostolical writings both of these systems are again implied. The first of these demands but little consideration at our hands, as this view of the government of the Church is not found in writings that originated in, tliough it does occur in some addressed to, /Vsian Churches. In tlie short recension of the Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians^ we find an explicit state- ment of this view ; the bishop is to be thought of as ' See Appendix, p. 2.30. 74 CUEEENT CONCEPTION [SECT. in the place of God, and the presbytery are his council, a sort of Sanhedrin, to be honoured like the apostles (4), while the deacons have no place in ruling, but are to be esteemed like that Jesus who sojourned with His apostles as one who served. There is a hint of the same opinion in the Uj^istle to the Magncsians (6), where the bishop is spoken of as presiding in the place of God ; and similar language occurs in the Epistle to the Smyrnceans (8). This comparison seems unintelligible — one might say blasphemous — unless we keep in view the conception of the Church as a kingdom, and of the first bishop of Jerusalem as ruling that kingdom, as vice-regent for the true king, and as, therefore, in a sense the representative of God. A similar train of thought occurs in the Clementines; the openings of the epistles of SS. Clement and Peter to James may be adduced in point, as may also the language in ill. GO, G2, 66, 70 ; — the bishop " sitting in the chair of Christ;" "to follow some one as leader, honouring him as the image of God ;" " honour therefore the throne of Christ." This view is not consistently maintained, for the accounts of the founding of bishoprics in Sidon, Tripolis, etc., seem to conflict with it ; while the position given to S. James in the 17.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL "WRITINGS. 75 opening epistle is inconsistent with that which S. Peter has in the main body in the homilies ; still we may here recognise a reminiscence of the form of Church government which is described in the earlier chapters of the Acts. § 18. Of much greater interest, in regard to the province in which v;e are specially concerned, are tlie hints which we get as to the other conception of Church government : that of the self-regulation of the Church in each city. First of all we may notice, that it is the Church which regulates itself; we cannot but suppose that just as the wliole body is thought of as a kingdom of priests, so does that body regulate itself through its officers ; it is not represented to us as governed by them as lords over God's heritage, but as self- regulated through them. This is clearly brought out in the First Ejnstle of S. Clement; the supreme authority in the Corinthian Church lay -with the " multitude " there (54): the consent of the whole Church is required for the setting apart of men to fill any office^ (44), and the very argument, against dismissing the worthy presbyters whose case was ^ See Appendix, p. 228. 76 CURKENT CONCEPTION [SECT. under consideration, implies that the body of faith- ful men possessed this power, though it would be most wicked to exercise it at that time (47). The Epistle of Polycarp seems to show that this power had been rightly exercised by the Church in Philippi against an unworthy presbyter named Valens (11). If the Church was thus supreme over itself in matters of discipline, it was equally clear that the officer was not appointed to conduct divine service, but to be the agency through which the Church conducted her common worship. So, for example, in Justin's description of Christian worship, he is careful to note the consensus of the whole assembly in the prayers and thanksgivings of the president ^ {First Apology, 65, 67). We saw that in the Apocalypse and later epistles, the civic, self-disciplining Churches are repre- sented as being in constant communication with one another. The E^nstlc of S. Clement (i. 9), the Epistle of S. Polycarp (13), allude to the practice, and tlie Martyrdom of S. Polycarp and lynatian Epistles bear witness, by their very existence, to the common recognition of this as a habit of the times. If the Civic Churches are shown to us as self- ^ See Appendix, p. 24G. 18.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WKITINGS. 77 disciplining, they are not represented as making any pretence to being "independent," but as always relying on each other for help and counsel. We may notice in connexion with this side of Church life, that though the communications are carried on through the bishops, it is, in some cases at least, the message and advice of the Church that he gives : there is a striking difference from the practice of the apostles, who spoke authoritatively in their own name, and, e.g. the opening of the First Einstle of S. Clement, which contains the salutation of the Church at Eome to the Church at Corinth. This is no longer the case with the epistles of Ignatius, but we must remember that they are the personal messages of a dying man who was separated from his flock, not regular despatches like the other letters ; and though Polycarp addresses the Philip- pian Church, and writes to them about " your " letter, he writes in the name, not of the whole Church, but only of the presbytery. The last word suggests a further question : We find in S. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians a hint of a special responsibility on the part of one individual for the government of the Church : how far is this trait to be observed in the sub-apostolical pictures 78 CUEKENT CONCEPTION [SECT. of Civic Cliarch government ? Is there an individual who is chief ruler ? We find no trace of one in the Epistle ofS. Clement} though that is specially devoted to questions of Church administration ; the mis- applied quotation from Isaiah adds great force to the argument that the author only recognised two orders of ministers in the Church — tlie presbyters (whom he speaks of as bishops) and the deacons ; this would be of the greatest importance if we were trying to unravel the tangled history of the early episcopal succession at Rome, but we must remember that a letter written from Eome and addressed to Corinth does not give us direct evidence as to the state of things in the province of Asia. There is reason to believe that the Church of Eonie did not adopt the Catholic form of Church organisation, with a threefold ministry, so early as the Churches of Asia and some neighbouring districts. It is worth observing that while each of the other six Ignatian epistles^ insists strongly on the respective duties and status of the three orders, that addressed to the Eomans contains no allusions of the kind, as if the * S. Clement to Corinthians, i. 42. See Appendix, p. 226. ^ So far as it goes, this tells in favour of dating these eijistles early — e.(j. considerably before the Pastor of Hernias. 18.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WEITINGS. 79 writer felt they were unsuitable when addressed to the Church in the capital of the world. On the other hand, as already mentioned, the distinction is implied in the opening of the epistle of the Bishop of Smyrna, and is explicitly stated in the Syrian version of the letter addressed to him by S. Ignatius (6), as well as in the salutations and conclusions of the other Ignatian letters. But, as it seems, the clearest light on the subject is to be found in the Pastor of Ilcrmas} There is a twice repeated allegory in which the Church is represented as a tower being built in a plain with strangely different mountains surrounding it : from these mountains various materials for the tower are fetched. The briefer form of the allegory will be found in the Appendix : but the long and elaborate description which forms the Ninth Similitude seems to have made a deep impression on the minds of the readers, for it has been noticed in three dif- ferent instances as the subject of illustrations in catacombs: it occurs twice at Naples,- and once ^ I must in fairness call attention to the entirely different interpretation given by Ritschl, Enatehunrj (ii. Aiif.), 40.3. The passage in Vis. iii. 5, according to the Sinaitic reading, which Ritschl could not have seen, seems to me to affect the argument considerably. ''^ Bellermann, Ueher die dltest. christ. Bei/riibniss., p. 77. 80 CURRENT CONCEPTION [SECT. at Eome.-^ The frontispiece has been copied from the remains of one of the designs in the cemetery of S. Januarius, and reproduced from the great work of Garucci,- by whom it is carefully described. Twelve virgins, of whom only three are here shown, are engaged in building the tower: they are the heavenly powers — Faith, Continence, etc. — under whose influence men are fitted for a place in the Church. We read further in the Similitude that the tower rests on the rock, the eternal Son of God ; that its base consists of two tiers of ten righteous men, then come thirty-five prophets, and then forty apostles and teachers : this helps to delineate the continuity of the old and newer dispensation {Sim. ix. 15). The place which the apostles and teachers take together is not a little remarkable. Still more curious are the three later chapters (25, 26, and 27) describing the persons who came from different mountains : from the eighth, come the apostles and teachers; from the ninth, the deacons who misuse their ministry ; from the tenth, the bishops who exercise hospitality to all, and protect the weak, and lead holy lives. We have here three 1 Dressel, Patrum AposL, note on Vis. iii. 3. * Garucci, Sloria delta Arte cristiana, pt. ii. j). 89, plate 91-2. 18.] IN SUB-APOSTOLICAL WRITINGS. 81 distinct functions, with apparently distinct officers to discharge them. A similar enumeration of apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons occurs in Vision iii. 5, according to the Sinaitic and more important Latin versions.^ Though it is not quite clear in which class we should place the presbyters who are spoken of in Visions ii. and iii., we are inclined to identify the presbyters with the teachers, as it was their duty to read the visions in the Church ( Vis. ii. 4), and apparently the author was one of the number. The only other hint which we get in regard to the presbyters is the doubtful inference from Vis. iii. 1 that they were less worthy of honour than the confessors and martyrs. We should thus be inclined to say that Clement is represented as the bishop of Rome who was charged with the protecting of his own flock, and with keep- ing up communications with Churches at a distance. This interpretation is more than confirmed by a passage in the Apostolical Constitutions (iii. 20), which delineates the duties of bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Thus do we find in the sub-apostolical writings the same two conceptions of Church government ' Sec Appendix, p. 238. F 82 CURRENT CONCEPTION, ETC. [SECT. 18. lying side by side, as we noticed in the canonical books. In every particular we have found a com- plete correspondence between the pictures of Church life from the two sources, even when, as in the matter of organisation, there are two irreconcilable views portrayed in both. We have been treading on remarkably sure ground, in so far as we have succeeded in confining our attention to the dis- cussion of the Curre7it Conception. The early date and probable reception in Asia of the documents we have used is practically established beyond a doubt. Isolated incidents are difticult to group at this distance, but the reproduction of a Current Concep- tion is not so hard to accomplish. But as we believe a great conception of this kind cannot lie dormant : it is a great social force, and is apparent in actual life, since it must express itself in the conduct of those who are influenced by it. We must now briefly review the ground we have already traversed, with the view of finding, not merely the Current Conception, but the development in space and time of the actual institution. We have depicted Christianity as then conceived in itself; we must now see it as related to its surroundings. PART 11. THE CONFLICT WITH OTHER INFLUENCES. Jpavt II. THE CONFLICT WITH OTHEll INFLUENCES. (1.) Non-Christian Elements of Society. § 19. Obviously the first question in passing from the study of the conception to the delineation of its effects in the world, is to try and portray the nature of the world into which it came. Our sources for information, regarding the actual state of eacli of the Asian towns at the time of the founding of the Church, are too slight to enable us to do this successfully; we can only indicate the elements which were present in all of them, without being able to state in what way these elements were actually combined in each town. Judging from the language of the Apocalypse, we should be inclined to say that the Greek element predominated in Per- gamos, the Jewish in Philadelphia, and that both were markedly present in Ephesus ; but we cannot get far beyond a vague suggestion of this kind. 86 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. The three aspects of society with which the new faith came into contact were — (1) Judaism; (2) Greek civic life ; (3) Eoman Imperialism. Its close connexion with Judaism has already been pointed out in considering the growth of the conception of a Christian Society ; it is obvious that the practice of its precepts introduced a new element into the social life of Greek towns, while it was impossible for its professors to escape the omnipresent activity of the Roman administration. We may treat of each of these in turn. It may be a matter of surprise that we have not thought it necessary to mention gnosticism as a phenomenon with which the faith came in contact, and by which it was considerably affected; but, according to our view of gnosticism, it would be a mere confusion to do so. Gnosticism was not by any means an organised sect, such as Montanism, or Novatianism, or Arianism became, or even such as Ebionitism aspired to be ; it had no direct bearing on practical life, and the most opposite moral codes mif^ht be deduced from the teaching of different thinkers. Nor is gnosticism the name of a philo- sophical school that developed and maintained the 19.] GNOSTICISM. 87 same fundamental principles. If Marcion be in- cluded among the gnostic thinkers, there is, we believe, no one philosophical doctrine which can be traced as common to them all.^ Gnosticism was a direction of thought, not a sect of believers nor a system of doctrines ; a gnostic was a man whose habit of mind led him to speculate on the philo- sophy of religion — on the conditions of all possible revelations, like Fichte, or the doings of God in history, like Bunsen; sometimes the speculations of the gnostic led him into antagonism with the Christian Consciousness, as did those of Valentin and Marcion ; at other times his speculations were welcome as a help to the Christian' life, as were those contained in the Gospel of 8. John, the Epistle of S. Barnabas, the writings of the Alexandrian Clement, the works of Henry More and George Berkeley in England, or of Boehme and Hegel in Ger- many. We have had many writings on the philo- sophy of religion that are full of earnest faith and deep devotion, and that have to some extent succeeded in the attempt which was made by heretical teachers in Syria and Alexandria, and in which they failed. If then gnosticism is to be regarded as neither a ^ Baur, Die chrlstliche Gnosis, 105. 88 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. sect nor a system, it is impossible to treat it as a definite tendency, whose results can be traced when it is combined with other social elements. An analogy might be offered if we looked at the history of the Church in England during the last century. We might say that Clarke's justification of religion was a combination of Anglican status and ration- alism, and that Priestley's teaching was a combina- tion of Presbyterianism and rationalism ; but that would give us no idea either of the growth and scope of the habit of mind which we call rationalism, or of the relation of Priestley and Clarke. It would be a far more intelligent statement if we said that Priestley was a Presbyterian who rationalised the gospel history, and Clarke an Anglican who ration- alised the doctrines of the Church. So in the second century : we may have a Jew who speculates, or a heathen who speculates, or a Catholic Christian who speculates, or a heretic who speculates : the current philosophy of the day determined the mere form of their speculations,^ just as the current ' And therefore any of these systems conld be criticised from a purely philosophical standpoint without any religious interest, as was done by Plotinus ; or as the rationalistic form of the arguments of Priestley and Clarke would be from the standpoint of recent philosophy. 20.] FANATICS AND EBIONITES. 89 Aufkldrimg of the eigliteenth century determined the tone of the writings of Clarke and Priestley ; but in all cases the gnosticism of these men was dangerous, because the men who speculated were dangerous ; it is a complete misunderstanding to regard the men as dangerous because they were gnostics. From our point of view their gnosticism is not to be regarded as a definite element, but as a phase of thought which showed itself alike among Jews and Greeks and catholics. § 20. We have already seen something of the various Jewish sects about the time of our Lord. We have seen how Christianity was a true develop- ment of their popular aspirations, and in describing the relation of Christianity to Judaism, we shall most easily depict it by considering to what extent various Jewish parties attained to, or fell short of, the new and fuller Messianic conception. I. We found above (p. 36) that many of His followers were disappointed because Jesus did not go forth suddenly to a mighty triumph ; and the belief which had such a hold on them, that a victorious leader would appear, conquering and to conquer, did not die out at once ; even after the destruction of 90 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. Jerusalem it still held its own, and found vent for itself in the miserable insurrection of Bar Cochab. It is well known that the most cruel measures were taken by that fanatic against the Christians ; their very existence was a protest against his own claims, and he persecuted them most bitterly ; such Judaism as his had become definite in its hatred of Chris- tianity ; the grosser pre-Christian conceptions were consolidated in opposition to the more spiritual doctrine that had been preached. Jews of this type stirred up the people against S. Paul on his first missionary journey ; the hatred which he then en- countered was due to the doctrine he preached, not to the opinions he entertained in regard to the lax practice of the Gentile converts — for this question could not have then come to the surface. Nor can we doubt that a great deal of the persecution to which the Christians were exposed was due to the antagonism of these men. The amount of grievous injury which could be inflicted on Christians by malicious and secret foes will be most clearly seen when we come to consider the legal disabilities under which they were placed. The A^jocalypse seems to imply the presence of this class of Jews at Ephesus. 20.] FANATICS AND EBIONITES. 91 II. The next class may be described as '' pliarisaic " Ebionites. So far as their whole tone of thought is considered, they are hardly to be distinguished from the class just described. The ordinary Jew expected a powerful but not a divine Messiah ; some thought that he was yet to come, some thought he had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; but many of them, who accepted the divine mission of our Lord, had not risen to any very high conception of the nature of His kingdom, nor consequently to a true view of the nature of the king ; professing their adherence to Him or to His vice-regent James, they had not really risen to the true Christian standpoint, and they refused — unlike their bishop — to have any fellowship witli Gentiles who, while really taking Jesus for their leader, lived in disregard of the divine laws, and elaborate traditions that had been designed to regulate the kingdom which had existed long before, and which He came to resuscitate. This particular form of Jewish Christianity was exceedingly active in the time of S. Paul ; the false brethren, the busy emissaries who stirred up dissension at Antioch, and destroyed the peace of the Church in Galatia, were pliarisaic Ebionites, holding fast to the expectation of a realm ruled from Jerusalem, and to the perpetual 92 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [sECT. obligation, in tlie resuscitated kingdom, of the Law that liad been given for the former one. At the same time, the force of circumstances was against their opinions; the centre of Church government passed from Jerusalem even before the destruction of that city, and those who held the view we are discussing must have been driven into utter dis- belief in Jesus, or to a nearer approach to the Catholic position. Not a few of them may have found refuge among the Nazarenes, a sect that seems to have preserved the true tradition of James the Just, and to have recorded it in the Testaments of the Twelve Pairiarehs ; they had attained to a more spiritual view of the kingdom, and did not desire to force the Law upon the Gentile converts, wdiile they did not feel themselves justified in forsaking the practices in which they had been brought up. The Xazarenes were however so much of a local sect that they could have had little more influence on the Asian Churches than that pharisaic Ebionitism, which had, in all probability, been extinct for some time, even at the very dawn of the second century. III. The above sects were derived from the popular and pharisaic Judaism : the last type which we shall have to discuss sprang from Alexandria rather 20.] FANATICS AND EBIONITES. 93 tliaii Jerusalem. Like the rest (excepting the Nazarenes), these Alexandrian Ebionites believed in the precise' identity of the old kingdom and the new; but they reached this idea, not by reducing the new kingdom to tlie level of the old, but by spiritualising the old kingdom, till it did not differ from the new. They thus subjected the Law and the Prophets to the finest criticism, and repudiated every incident that seemed to them derogatory to God, as He was now revealed to them. L^nlike the other forms of Ebionitism, this habit of thought continued to exert a powerful influence, during at least the second century; it therefore deserves fuller treatment at our hands. Not only was it long continued, but it was comparatively widely diffused, for it linked itself to the intellectual habits of the learned scholars of Alexandria, as well as to the pious beliefs of the Essenes who dwelt in the desert or were scattered among their dispersed brethren. The Alexandrian student rejected the anthropomorphism of the Old Testament, as unworthy of his conception of the nature of God : the Essene rejected the per- formance of sacrifices and the institution of mar- riage as incompatible with his own sense of what was pure and holy : very different as the scholar of 94 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. Alexandria and the dweller in tlie desert might be, they had this in common, that they had risen to a more spiritual conception of religion; and in their endeavours to find that spiritual religion in the Old Testament Scriptures, they were forced into rejecting much of the positive teaching they contain, or duties they enjoin. § 21. These Alexandrian orEssene Ebionites may be arranged in three classes according to their under- standing of the positive enactments among the Jews. (a.) Those who rejected Judaism as a positive religion altogether, and adliered only to the spiritual elements contained in the worthless shell. This train of thought is represented by the Epistle of S. Bamahas. The author of this epistle recognises Christ Jesus as the revealer of true religion which had been merely anticipated by the saints of old. It is thus quite compatible with an orthodox view of His person. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that this rejection of the positive side of the Old Testament Scriptures, when it was unaccom- panied by this purifying faith in Jesus, was often an excuse for the gross licentiousness into which too many of the nation fell. 21.] THE TEAC-|8flG OF CERINTH. 95 (13.) On the other hand, it might be said that some of the positive enactments ought to be con- tinued, such, e.g. as circumcision, but that the sup- posed later additions to primitive and pure Judaism should be discarded. This is the standpoint of the Clementine Homilies. In this aspect Jesus was a mere reformer of Judaism, and as such a mere man. (7.) There is another view which serves to com- bine these two. It would commend itself to speculative minds, and may be briefly said to be this : That the positive enactments (or some of them) have a relative value for all time, as means of attaining to the true spirituality. This is of special interest for us, for it seems to have been the teach- ing of Cerinth,^ and it certainly is the sort of doctrine into which a man would be led by trying to find a philosophic justification of the immediately preceding view. Cerinth seems to have been an Ebionite who speculated about his religious belief, and whose speulations gave his teaching a super- ' There is much (lilHculty in getting a clear view of the posi- tion of this hei'etic. Irenajus, P^piphanius, and Hippolytus were too far removed from the period of liis teaching to give iis much help, and they were not very careful in trying to under- stand the views of a heretic. The statements embodied by Kuscl)ius in his History (iii. 28), especially those of the Presbyter Gaius, are of considerable importance. 96 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. ficial appearance of agreement with Christianity which it did not really possess. While Valentinianism and some other systems claimed an affinity with Platonism, the teaching of Ceriuth had more connexion with Oriental than with Greek thought. Like many other speculators, he seems to have regarded God as that empty abstraction, mere Being, which, just because it is only mere being and nothing more, stands out of all relation to the w^orld of created things. But he does not attempt to think out the problem by endeavouring to display, in their mutual connexion, the necessary logical conditions of existence as we find it. He was content to rely on his imagination, and picture personal agencies as the instruments by means of which the world of matter, and life and spirit, came into existence. His philosophic stand- point is not advanced far beyond that of the Ionic teachers : he must have some physical existence by means of which to figure to himself the powers of which he writes, — e.g. Spirit is not thought of as Spirit, but rather as light. But his philosophy was not only called on to explain how the world came to be, but rather to explain how the religious aspiration can be satisfied. 21.] THE TEACHING OF CERINTH. 97 and man rise into a spiritual realm above the fleshly burden which weighs on him here. He did believe in a spiritual kingdom into which man miglit intro- duce himself, and thus he believed in Christ, the true spiritual life which entered at His baptism into the man Jesus : the man Jesus was only a man as other men are, but He first tasted in its full measure of the spiritual life ; but at the end of the world, the nation of purified men, who had while here attained to a measure of spirituality, should also be full partakers of that highest spiritual life, and fully re- deemed from the flesh. This intimate union of the perfect Spirit with the nation of spiritual men was figured as a marriage-feast which should last for a thousand years. Here then we have a philosophy of Ebionitism. With the Epistle of S. Barnabas Cerinth believed in a nation of spiritual men ; he believed that the liighest spiritual life, Christ, had appeared in the man Jesus ; he believed that the spiritual nation would be partakers in the fulness of Christ at the end of the age ; but his doctrines led him to agree with the Ebionites, that the partial observance of the Law was one means by which man might become more spiritual, and thus prepared for the intimate G 98 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. union with Christ : while the distinction which he drew, between Christ as the spiritual principle and the man in whom the Christ had for a time appeared, led him to agree with them as to the mere manhood of Jesus. To try and point out the practical consequence^^ of these teachings : — We have no belief in an actual partaking in the life of Christ here and now, but only a belief that a certain spiritual aristocracy would eventually do so ; and it is by one's own efforts, by intellectual superiority or conformity to the purer law that one can enter into this spiritual aristocracy ; the real attainment lies in one's own efforts, not in the God that is already working in us. By the undue exaltation of the true spirituality as something not fully attainable now, it reduces the measure of spirituality that is possible now to some- thing that spiritual men attained for themselves. This recognition of a spiritual aristocracy might lead to either of two different, but by no means in- compatible, ethical habits ; the pride of spiritual superiority might tempt men to pretend to absolute indifference to the flesh and its passions, — in- difference as to whether they were gratified or not, and moral indifference is but one step from gross 21.] THE TEACHING OF CERINTH. 99 license ; or the necessity of keeping one's place in tlie spiritual aristocracy might force men into a Pharisaic exactness about the most trifling matters in the world. There is some ground for believing that the followers of Cerinth fell into this double mistake of overvaluing some arbitrarily selected means of spirituality, and undervaluing those duties to which their high spirituality made them indifferent. Having thus tried to piece together the fragmen- tary accounts of the teaching of Cerinth, we may notice how far it presents a superficial resemblance to the Apocalypse ; there too we read of a spiritual kingdom of purified priests ; among them those who had risen above the flesh ranked specially high. There too we read suggestions of a bride adorned for the marriage ; there too we have suggestions of the continuance of Jewish society in the mention of the ancient tribes. Lastly, we have throughout, the idea of a kingdom that would come down from God hereafter, while the actual affairs of the Church on earth are controlled by angels. In its main drift and in many of its details there is a wonderful accord between the Apocalypse and the teaching of Cerinth, and we cannot wonder that some Churches 100 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. long viewed with suspicion a book which was so little removed from what the heresiarch might have written. (Eusebius, H.E. vii. 25.) All the more can we fancy the bitterness which S. John or his disciples may have felt towards the man who misread and misapplied his writings thus. We may well believe that the Gospel of S. John was written to correct these heresies ; it was the noblest of all refutations, just because it never stoops to argument, but presents the Catholic Faith in its completeness. It never glosses over the incidents to which Cerinth attached most importance, for the baptism is described just as in the other Gospels ; but it asserts that the Word became flesh, not merely appearing during the life of a man; and, as we have already noted, it brings into the strongest prominence the true Christian doctrine that we may be actual partakers in a divine life now. We have dwelt thus at length on the teaching of Cerinth, because his conflict with S. John is such a striking incident in the history of the Church in the leading city in Asia. We have, moreover, evi- dence that the tone of thought, of which he is the typical representative, was largely present in Asia at an early date, and lasted for a considerable time. 21.] THE TEACHING OF CERINTH. 101 The proof of the first position is to be found in 8. Paul's Episth to the Colossians^ that of the second in the canons of the Council of Laodicea, In the Epistle to the Colossians we have a vigorous re-assertion in the strongest language of the two great truths which were embodied in the Gospel narrative of S. John ; the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Jesus Christ (i. 19; ii. 9), and men might be even now partakers in the life of Christ (i. 24, 27; ii. 6, 10; iii. 3). Not only so, we get not a few indications of the nature of the heresies which the apostle sought to oppose. "We have a reference to a doctrine of emanations, similar to that of Cerinth, in ii. 15, 18; we have continual exhorta- tions to the cultivation of a oneness which was incompatible with any recognition of a spiritual aristocracy (ii. 1 9 ; iii. 11); we have a protest against the petty observances of this aristocracy, and a warning against the fleshly indulgences to which they were, in this fancied superiority, in- different (ii. 20 ; iii. 5). This was not then, merely the personal teaching * Here again the doiibts which have been started as to the authenticity of the Epistle do not affect its vahie as evidence for the actual existence and diffusion of an early Asian heresy of this character. 102 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. of one man, it was an early and widely diffused way of thinking, which had serious results on the life of the Church ; and, as such, it did not die with one man, but held its own way for long years. The Council of Laodicea ^ which assembled about the year 344 a.d. or later, found it necessary to condemn errors, which were at least cognate to the teaching of Cerinth ; Sabbath observance and angel-worship were alike denounced by the bishops there. § 22. We may here pause to sum up the results which we have reached, and sketch the relation of Judaism to the Catholic Church. All that was best in the earlier religion had been absorbed into its successor : the Messianic hope had been more than fulfilled ; the divine kingdom was understood more fully, and the kingdom would overcome all mankind by embracing them, not by destroying them ; and so of the Law, — that too was not destroyed but ful- filled, since a nobler life could be lived in a nobler spirit : true Judaism had passed over into Chris- tianity ; it no longer existed as a real power in the world. Survivals of it there still were : the gross chiliasm of some Catholics ; the angry spite of the ' Liglitfoot, Colosulans, p. 67. 22.] JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 103 synagogue of Satan, the narrow correctness of the Nazarene, the spiritual pride of the Ebionite disciple of Cerinth, these were important features of the age, but the stars in their courses fought against them, — they emphatically were for the age, and not for all time. It is a strange thing to find ourselves thus in the presence of death — the death of a spiritual power — yet a death which is, after all, a resurrection to a liigher life. This thouglit of a kingdom of God upon earth had cheered the hopes of God's people for a thousand years; it had inspired tlie victories of David as of Judas Maccabseus, the labours of Solo- mon as of Nehemiah, the psalms and songs of the prophets : and now it had passed for ever, passed into the belief in one Catholic and Apostolic Cliurch, — the actual kingdom of God upon earth, — for it had done its work, and all that remained outside the Catholic Church was a barren sentiment ^ that has had no practical bearing on the development of Christendom, and a spiritual scorn that was only ^ The Ijelief that the Jews have yet a mission before them is, to some, an article of faith ; but those who maintain that tliey have yet a part to play tacitly admit tliat tliey have contributed little to modern civilisation ; and a faitli wliich can show no iii- tiuence on the history of the world may be described as a barren sentiment. 104 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. too spitefully avenged on the hated Jews of after days. § 23. When, in the province of Asia, Christianity extended beyond the confines of the synagogue and the cosmopolitan crowd in the streets, and began to take a hold upon the dwellers in the town, it came across a political tradition which was wholly unlike that of the Jews ; perhaj^s the greatest difference lay in the fact that the Greeks inherited only the remembrance of their greatness, and not the expecta- tion of its immediate restoration. Vague longings and sentimental hopes might be cherished here and there, but it was not an intense enthusiasm, and eager anticipation like that which burned in the hearts of the Jews. The Greek cities had submitted to the Eoman yoke as the Jewish people would not do, and there was no one centre which could be a rally- ing point for resistance. Greek art and philosophy had sunk so low as to become the fashion at Itome, and the highest development of Greek life, their political liberty — in self-governing cities, — this was a thing of the past. On the other hand there was but little in Chris- tianity, as far as we have traced its leading doctrines, 23.] GHEKK POLITICAL IDEAS. 105 which could appeal to the Greek : the preaching of a new kingdom awakened no echoes in his heart, for the kingly office had long fallen into disuse ; and the story of Jesus, the incidents which proved His power and His Messiahship, were to the Greek, foolishness. In the guise in Vt^hich it appealed most strongly to the Jew, the new gospel presented no interest to the Greek, who despised the squabbles of the Jews, and the disputes about one Jesus who was dead, and whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Nor does it appear that much success attended the preaching of the gospel to the heatlien ; it might cause excitement for a time, as at Lystra; but we gather that even if the unbelieving Jews were the chief centre of open opposition, the Christian con- gregations were formed for the most part of Jews and proselytes, and the synagogues continued to offer the best openings for missionary operations. We have no evidence of much permanent success among the heathen in any one town, until long months or years had been devoted by some patient labourer to Church organisation in that place. Such work had been done by S. Paul and S. Barnabas in Phrygia, as well as in Antioch, by S. Paul in Ephesus and Corinth, by Epaphras in Colossae,by Titus in Crete; and thus 106 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. Christianity was presented to the Greek public, not as a doctrine or a kingdom, but as an actual living Society in their own city. A brotherhood in wor- ship and deeds of piety was springing up in each town, and the epistles of SS. Peter, Paul, and John, addressed to these regions, are long-continued ex- hortations to the cultivation, not so much of personal holiness, as of true Church life. If Greek opinion was thus awakened to the existence of a new social power, there can be little doubt that the Christian Society was, consciously or unconsciously, modelled in accordance with Greek ideas. We have already noticed the conception of Church government which is hinted at in the canon- ical and sub-apostolical writings connected witJi Asia, and we cannot fail to be struck with the analogy which it presents to a federation of free Greek cities. We see that the Christian Society did become, on Asian soil, that which the Greeks had striven to realise — a federation of free democracies ; the Church in each city was self-disciplining, pos- sessing authority over its officers, and worshipping and communicating with other Churches as an unit ; yet the Church throughout the world was after all one, and it was well that each city should interest 23.] GREEK POLITICAL IDEAS. 107 itself in, and care for the needs of all the federation. This democratic constitution has been preserved by tlie Church througli all the middle ages, when the personal power of her ministers was so enhanced. In spite of the influence which has been con- centrated in the hands of territorial magnates, the laity in each English diocese are consulted before any man can be admitted to deacons' orders ; and again, both in their parish, and as assembled from the diocese, before he is ordained a priest ; the consent of the laity is as much recognised as an element in the ordination service, as the imposition of the hands of the bishops and presbyters ; other societies have intrusted the guardianship of tlie popular riglits to selected representatives, — the Church, like the democracies of old, still demands the consent of the assembled people themselves. So long as the free citizens in Greek cities were fired with an enthusiasm for the common weal and regardless of their private interests — so long did the State flourish. So soon as the private interests of the citizens overcame their care for their city, so soon as the pride or ambition of any city asserted itself as against its confederates, so soon did the political power of Greek States begin to wane. It 108 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. is just because there is one Spirit in all the members of the Church in each city, one Spirit in all the branches of the Catholic Church, that the Christian Society has the assurance of a perpetuity to which the free States of Greece could not attain. If we find in the Asian epistles no direct allusion to the political life of old, we can hardly believe that it had no place in the thoughts of the apostle of the Gentiles, who alluded so often to the body and its members — the favourite political illustration of earlier writers. And in the warnings and exhor- tations which we read, we feel how he is directing attention to the same causes of decay as had proved fatal to the political liberties, and exhorts his readers to unity of the spirit. If, as seems not impossible, at the date when these letters were written, the supremacy of Jerusalem and its bishop was partially recognised, S. Paul could scarcely go further than he did in applying to the Christian Society the political ideas of Greece. If Christianity did not attract men by the doctrines it preached, and offered them a Society which, in spite of its real identity, had little superficial re- semblance to their own traditional ideal, it came into positive conflict with their social habits by 23.] GREEK POLITICAL IDEAS. 109 declaring the equality of all. This point has been so often discussed that it is unnecessary to do more than draw attention to it here. It may suffice to notice how prominent a place the duties of slaves occupy in the epistles to the Colossians and Ephe- sians, while that to Philemon has a more direct bearing on the subject. One may notice too, how even in asserting the equality of all as before God, S. Paul, like his Master, makes no aggressive attack on the institutions — evil though they might be — of ancient society ; nor did he refrain from making use of this apt and well understood illustration, when he talks of the household of God and the slaves of Christ. Besides this, there could be nothing but antagonism between the old religion and the new : the glorifica- tion of beauty and passionate enjoyment of the gifts of God had little in common with the spiritual aspirations which Christianity put forward, and the overcoming which it enjoined. Yet some of those who had wearied of this service, who had sought by hidden wisdom and unknown rites to attain perfection found what they sought by initiation (reXet'wo-i?) through Baptism, and in jDartaking of the Bodv and Blood of Christ. 110 OPPOSING INFLUENCES. [SECT. Our sketch of the relation between Christianity and Greece has shown, not how Christianity influ- enced Greece, for the kingdom of heaven did not come with observation, but how Greece influenced the Christian Society. And this she did, not by implanting new doctrines or higher morality or nobler thought, but by modelling the institution of the Church in the form which the wisdom of the nation had worked out long before. Just as the best of the Jewish kingdom survived in the matter of Christian faith, so did the best of the Greek States survive in the forin which the Christian Society took. And thus while the art and philosophy of Greece had become the playthings of her tyrants, the noblest result of her wisdom found its undying realisation in the constitution of the Christian Church, {^24. If there was little affinity between Christi- anity and the life in Greek cities, there was next to none between Christianity and the Eoman admini- stration which existed in Asia: a great military despotism — the embodiment of brute force — it had no kinship with the spiritual power that was rising against it ; only when all that was powerful in 24.] TtOMAN ADMINISTRATION. Ill pagan Kome had been overthrown by barbarians did the Christian Society link itself to the traditions of that empire, on the ruins of which it rose. In that undivided Christian empire much of the Eoman administrative system survived, and the Church appeared in its most splendid, if not in its noblest or final, form; but in the second century no prophet's eye could read any signs of this. Pagan Eome was a brutal force whose proud toleration of all religions was but a mere indifference to the truth or falsehood of any ; the one standpoint from which she judged of the permissibility of a religion was that of political expediency ; and the arguments of a Justin who pleaded for the truth or nobleness of the religion were irrelevant, — they did not prove its convenience. Yet if pagan Eome was a mere opponent, it had done not a little in paving the way for the spread of Christianity ; it cleared away not a few obstructions l)y shaking the foundations of old national faiths, and by opening freer and more constant channels of communication. This it did if nothiug else, and this prepared the soil in which the seed was to be sown. 112 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. (2.) Actual Groivth of the Church. § 25. We have already discussed tlie current conception of the Church as found in early writers. We must now consider the actual progress that was made by the adherents of the new Society in gaining a hold on the world. We need not pause to ask whether the infant Society actually corresponded closely to the concep- tion of it in the minds of its members, for we have no knowledge of the internal condition of the Church, of the nature of its worship, of the character of its service, of the means of admission within its pale, but from the descriptions of Christian writers. The pictures they painted of Church life were surely accepted as accurate by the contemporaries who valued their books ; they have already served to help us in reaching their view of the nature of the Church, they may also serve as evidence of what the Church was. Of the inattention and carelessness which marked the services that Justin describes we know nothing ; but the disorders that saddened S. Paul in tlie first century,^ and that attracted the attention of Diocletian and of Julian, were not improbably present to some degree in the second * 1 Corinthians xiv. 26. 25.] THE VICEREGAL EPISCOPATE. 113 century also. How far the letters of Hadrian^ may be taken as evidence of this in Alexandria is a question of some little difficulty. There is at any- rate no sufficient additional evidence to enable us again to go over this branch of the subject; the current conception of Church life may serve as the best description we can get of what it really was. But on one point we must inquire more closely as to the actual condition of the infant Society : we saw that two inconsistent delineations of Church organisation were alike current: the viceregal epi- scopacy of the Acts^" and Ignatius and the Clemen- tines ; the civic independence of the Ajiocalypse, the Acts, the Petrine and Pauline epistles, and of the Epistle of demerit and Pastor of Hennas ; we must therefore seek for some means by which we may remove this inconsistency and give an intelligible account of the growth of the organisation of the Church. 1 Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 223. ■^ If the Acts be a second-ceutuiy composition in a mediating interest, its value as evidence for the actual condition of the earliest Church organisation is of course greatly lessened (see below, § 30) ; in the meantime we may notice that the actual existence at some time of a viceregal episcopacy, such as is described in the Acts, is confirmed by the facts adduced by later writers. H 1 1 4 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. James the Just has become the subject of so many strange legends that we may be sure there was something striking about his personality : curiously fabricated as is the story of the ascents of James, there is little reason to doubt that he was held in considerable respect by all the dwellers in Jerusalem for his uprightness of life ;^ and we may picture him to ourselves as a firm, unbending character, parti- cularly fitted to exercise an ascendency over others, and thus well able to preside over the whole Chris- tian Church : but as to the amount of influence he exerted over distant communities, it is impossible to judge. Wliile we learn that the decrees of the Jerusalem Council were published in Phrygia and Galatia (Acts xvi. 4), the apostolic delegates did not enter Asia ; and it is possible that the claims of the mother Church were never acknowledged there, for we have no proof that any of the Churches of that province took part in the systematic " remembering of the poor " at Jerusalem, which had been enjoined by S. James (Gal. ii. 10), and which was frequently urged by S. I'aul as obligatory on those whose spiritual benefits had originally flowed from the Church in Judea {Bom. xv. 27). The sense of this * Lightfoot, Oalatians, p. 365. 25.] THE VICEREGAL EPISCOPATE. 11.5 obligation must have been diffused by the weekly offertory (1 Cor. xvi. 2), while the bishop of Jeru- salem would have a means of influencing distant Churches in the delegates who brought their bounty (1 Cor. xvi. 3; 2 Cor. ix. 4; Acts xi. 30, xxiv. 17). But even if this influence w^as considerable, it was not long continued; according to the interesting fragment of the work of Hegesippus preserved by Eusebius,^ a change ca,me over the Church immedi- ately after the death of James the Just. Symeon — also a blood relation of our Lord's, and therefore best suited for the viceregal chair — met with some opposition even in his own congregation, and we have no evidence that he exercised any influence on distant communities, as liis predecessors had done. But though it was impossible that such authority could continue to be exercised over the widely extended Church, especially when it fell into feeble liands, its downfall was hastened by the destruction of Jerusalem. The bishop and presbyters of the mother of all Christian congregations removed to Bella before the dire calamities came; but they could not, as fugitives from their own city, expect to innuonce more prosperous communities; and the 1 H. E. iv. 22. 116 ACTUAL GROWTH, [SECT. judgments that had fallen seemed to be a divine voice declaring that Jerusalem was no longer a favoured city from which authoritative decisions might be expected ; its already shaken prestige was destroyed ; nor when Aelia was founded, and a Gentile bishop ruled in that city, was any pretence put forward to a special autliority : only at a later date did the see attain to patriarchal dignity. Some attempts were indeed made to establish a similar wide ruling episcopate elsewhere, Sozomen remarks that in his day there were in Syria many cities with one bishop among them;^ while in Scythia also, according to an ancient custom "which still prevails," all the Churches of the whole country are under the sway of one bishop.^ On the other hand, we find traces of the same kind of episcopate in Alexandria ; the adherence to the number twelve among the presbyters there, and the relation of the bishop to the twelve, is surely a survival of the relations which existed between James and the brethren.^ In all these quarters we may find traces of the survival of the viceregal episcopate, though no claim could be set up to exercise the power which had been wielded * Sozomen, Ecchdadkal Ilistonj, vii, 19. 2 Ibid. vi. 21, '■' Lightfoot, P/iilij'jnaus, p. 195. 2G.] FUNCTIONS OF APOSTLES, PRESBYTERS, ETC. 117 by the first bishop of Jerusalem : here and there the form lingered on : here and there the idea was re- called, and applied to the chief officer of each self- regulating Christian community; but the thing itself, as a practical, controlling power, had perished long before the destruction of Jerusalem, and had perhaps, though influential in more distant regions, never been effective in the province with which we are chiefly concerned. § 26. What substitute could be found to exercise a. controlling influence over the Christian communi- ties, when this viceregal episcopate had fallen into decay? To answer this question we must look specially at the Church administration in Asia and Greece, and at the various functions which were discharged by the officers in these cities : in the Church, as in other organisms, the development of organs can be best understood if we can trace the specialisation of functions. And we find the three different functions, for the performance of which officers were needed in the (church, by no means hard to distinguish. We know that there was above all things a need of teaching : faith came by hearing, and the duty of spreading 118 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT, the gospel message among those who were witliout, or edifying and exhorting the members, was most essential to the growth of the Church. A still further duty was that of governing the Christian communities, of guiding the worship, in the earliest days of arranging which of various brethren should exercise their gifts so that everything might be done decently and in order, of administering discipline on unworthy members, of deciding about the distribution of alms. And further, there was need of active care in carrying out what the rulers determined, especially in visiting the poor so as to give them their apportioned share. The analogy of clerical duties to-day may help us to understand them : we talk of one priest as a good preacher, of another as a capital organiser, of another as diligent in visiting; one man excels in one, another in another, of these clerical functions, but tliere is need of all in edifying the body of Christ. In the Church of Jerusalem we find at a very early period three different sets of officers who performed these different functions : the main duty of the apostles was that of teaching, they were to be wit- nesses of what they had seen and heard : at the time of the second persecution, tlie body of teachers 26.] FUNCTIONS OF APOSTLES, PRESBYTERS, ETC. 119 was dispersed far and wide ;^ it was then that we first hear of the presbytery (Acts xi. 30), though we need not suppose that up to this time the Christian synagogue at Jerusalem had, unlike all other syna- gogues, been destitute of rulers ; and we first hear of the presbyters as intrusted with the sums which had been collected from distant communities, and which it was still the duty of the deacons to distri- bute. The formation of the diaconate had taken place at an earlier date, and it does not seem neces- sary to suppose that it had, by this time, fallen into abeyance:^ even, however, if this were the case, it was, when revived, the office to which these duties were again assigned. In the Church of Jerusalem the functions of teaching and visiting were performed by apostles and deacons, while that of organising or ruling was intrusted to the presbytery with James at its head.^ Much learning has been expended on the ques- ' Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 303. ■^ As Kitschl argues on what hardly seem sufficient grounds. EnMi'humj, p. 355. Cf. Lightfoot, Phil., p. 185. ^ The relation of the presbytery to James has been indicated above as that of a council to a regent. Tlie matter is discussed, and the admitted reliance of the regent on his council brought out by Bishop Lightfoot, PliiUppians, p. 195. Of. also Acts xii. 17; XV. 2, 3, 4; xvi. 4 ; xxi. 18. 120 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. tions as to the number of those who bore the name " apostles." Perhaps we shall regard these difficulties as hardly worth the pains that have been spent upon them, when we realise that "apostles" were simply the guardians and expounders of the Christian tradition. An apostle might be sent forth on a journey, as were SS. Barnabas and Paul, or located at one centre as Epaphroditus was at Philippi {Phil. ii. 25), and as tradition asserts that S. John was at Ephesus and S. Paul at Eome. The precise functions of an apostle are clearly brought out in S. Paul's Epistles. It was not his special work to admit new members to the Christian Society (1 Cor. i. 17) — that was the duty of the presbyters — but to proclaim the message with which he had been intrusted (1 Tim. ii. 7 ; 2 Tim. i. 11). In the third chapter of the same First Epistle to Timothy we find an equally clear delineation of the characteristics which would fit a presbyter (bishop) and a deacon for ruling, and for parish work respectively. About the latter order we hear comparatively little, but we have evidence of the existence of a presbytery in each Christian community ; and we find that about the date 53 a.d., presbyters had been ordained all througli Phrygia and Galatia to rule the Churcli in 27.] THE VACANT PLACE OF THE APOSTLES. 121 each city, but still in subordination to the central authority at Jerusalem (Ads xiv. 23 ; xvi. 4). § 27. When the death of James and subsequent destruction of Jerusalem caused the viceregal episcopate to decline and cease, the Christian com- munities in distant cities were left without any final court of appeal, and it became necessary to re-organise the system of ruling. Whether in imitation of the method which had been devised at Jerusalem, or from the mere sense of its con- venience, the plan was generally, and as far as Asia is concerned universally, adopted, of giving a special prominence to one of the presbyters, who, as ruler in a special sense, came to be called, pai^ excellence, the bishop.^ In the disturbed state of many com- munities the influence of one man might be effective where great danger would have arisen from the possibility of divided counsel, while for the purpose of communicating with the Christian body in other ' We need not point out that a change, which, as we have reason to believe, took place during the lifetime of the last of the apostles, probably took place with their sanction. It is more important to note that a change, which met with general recognition at first, and with tlie ultimate apiiroval of the universal Christian Consciousness, certainly took place under the guidance of the Divine Spirit, who rules the Church. 122 ACTUAL GKOWTH. [sECT. towns, either personally or by letter, it was well that a single authoritative representative should be used, while the experience which he thus gained in other places would justly increase his influence in his own city. Left more entirely to their own resources in regard to ruling, the independeiit Christian com- munities in each city found that internal discipline and common counsel were alike best discharged when they relied upon the care and wisdom of one man.^ Doubtless the experience of one community was different from that of another, though in many the disturbances were probably due to Ebionites.^ The disadvantages of presbyterial rule were not so early perceived at Rome as at Colosse, but as soon as dissension and unruliness had called out need for active authority, the work of ruling the Christian community was carried on in a new way. Another change had occurred during the same period : the original college of Apostles had almost wholly disappeared; death and persecution hadcarried off one after another, till at length one only was left, ^ Cf. S. Jerome, as quoted by Lightfoot, Philippimis, p. 204. ^ And also to Nicolaitans, who seem to have been Gentile Christians, who did not keep aloof from tlie contaminations of lieathenism, thus letting liberty degenerate into license. 27.] THE VACANT PLACE OF THE APOSTLES. 123 whose declining years were spent in the chief city of Asia. Here was a new difficulty to be faced. Just as the decay of the Jewish episcopate had caused some confusion in regard to ruling the Christian communities, so had the death of the original apostles created a difficulty about the pre- serving and continuing of the Christian tradition. The difficulty was keenly felt, but had scarcely been met at the time when S. John complained of the doings of those who claimed to be, but who were not, apostles. Apostolic authority was urged on behalf of the views of Cerinth,^ and there was need for the committing of the Christian tradition to hands in which it might be carefully treasured. But v/ho could be more fitted for this task than the presbyters of the Church in each city ? It was to them that the function of the apostles was com- mitted when they themselves were taken away. The First Ejpisth to S. Timothy gives us an indica- tion of presbyters assuming the role of teachers, and we can well believe it was no unusual thing, if we are to judge by the analogy of the synagogue ; but when the apostles passed away, the care of the ' Possibly, however, this was the authority not of a feUow apostle, but of S. John himself ; vide supra, p. 100. 124 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT, Christian tradition was definitely committed to this body in each Church.^ We have thus found two different tendencies simultaneously at work, and producing considerable changes in the organisation of the Church : the apostolic doctrine is committed to the presbytery ; while the increased need for administrative vigour and for formal intercourse with other communities led to the concentration in the hands of one in- dividual of many of the duties of " ruling." Thus it was that the bishop came to be the organ by which each community administered internal dis- cipline, and the organ by which each community communicated with all the rest. Much confirmatory evidence may be adduced of the justness of this view, even without appealing to the opinions of S. Clement of Alexandria or Ter- tullian. It is evident from the language in the Pastor of Hernias, that the author regarded the presbytery, and not the bishop, as the successor to the apostolic function of teaching : the bishop, being ^ Though S. Clement is speaking of the duty of ruling rather than that of teaching, it is clear that he regards the presbyters as successors of the apostles, not the bishop, whose office was not yet specialised at Rome. Ct. EplMle to the Corinthians, 44. 27.] THE VACANT PLACE OF THE APOSTLES. IS") a presbyter, was himself a teacher, but he was a teacher because he was a presbyter, not because he was a bishop. We find exactly the same sort of phraseology in Hippolytus : he talks of a bishop as a presbyter, because he is, at the moment, thinking of him in his teaching capacity. Thus too in the Ignatian Epistles, the presbyters are uniformly regarded as holding the place of the apostles : so soon as the two offices came to be clearly distin- guished, we find early writers unanimous in describ- ing the presbyters, and not the bishops, as taking the place of the apostles. On the other hand, the duties of a bishop were onerous and of ever-increasing importance : it was through him that the common services of the Church were arranged ; and thus in separating from him, men were separating from the Church : the bishop was the "centre of unity in each com- munity : " ^ this is especially the view that is taken in the Ignatian Epistles : still more, it was through the bishop's care that new presbyters were ordained, and the continuity of apostolic teaching in each place preserved : lastly, but most important of all, it was through the episcopate that the various ^ Liglitfoot, Philippians, p. 232. 126 ACTUAL GKOWTH. [SECT. Christian communities were kept from falling into isolation, — the episcopate was a living power that connected the scattered societies into one Catholic Church. This is the picture of the early episcopate which we gather from the letters which Ignatius and Polycarp wrote in the exercise of their own episcopal duties. The whole subject may be rendered clearer by the analogy of the three orders in the English Church at present : the deacon is to read the Scriptures and to assist in the sacraments, and instruct the young in the formularies of the Faith ; but it seems that his " teaching and preaching " are regarded as exceptional things, to be only done by special arrangement. It is the presbyter who is the inheritor of the apostolic commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel ; and though the bishop cannot in his new sphere neglect his duty as a presbyter, his real function is to rule : it is as ruling /or the Church — not over it — that he confers the apostolic commissions on new presbyters, and thus maintains the continuous spread of Christian trutli, — it is as the mouthpiece of the Church in his own city that he confers with other bishops on the needs of the people of God, 28.] CIVIC EPISCOPATE AND GREEK LIFE. 127 § 28. We have deduced the adininistratiou of the Church from considering the functions of its officers ; we might easily show its appropriateness to the circumstances in which the Church was placed. Torn with rivalries as to the exercise of spiritual gifts, distracted by wranglings as to the essential duties of Christian life, a firm head was needed to preside at the weekly assemblies to check individual eccentricities, to receive the offerings which were brought by the rich, and to bless the bread and wine which was distributed to those present and sent to the absent. Still more was it necessary that when one brother held aloof from another because of days and me;it, there should be a centre round which those might rally who longed to keep the fellowship of the Spirit in the bond of peace: it was the unruliness of gifted men that made a powerful president necessary in the weekly assemblies, it was the dissensions of Judaisers and Ebionites tliat made men come to regard com- munion with the bishop as the true mark of the member of the body of Christ who was willing to sacrifice his individual vagaries for the sake of maintaining Christian fellowship. It was thus that the dissensions of Judaism 128 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. tended in favour of the individualising of the func- tion of ruling. Nor was it only by its " quickening opposition " that Judaism affected the Church : it had supplied the organ by which the function of treasuring the Christian tradition was now to be carried on : the body of presbyters who now inherited the commission of the apostles had originated in the days when the Christian congre- gations were like other Jewish synagogues in all respects save one — that they cherished' a living faith, while the others sickened under the blighting influence of a deferred hope. We have called attention above to the substantial resemblance between Greek forms of government and the constitution of the Christian Church: we have only hinted at the possibility of an actual historic connexion between the two ; but we may now examine how the case stands. For it is from Asia that we have the earliest evidence of the self- regulation of Civic Churches — in the Apocalypse; and it was in Asia alone that the Greek civic autonomy had at all survived. Greece proper liad been too long and too effectively Eomanised to maintain the same interest in political life as was still felt in the province of Asia, where Augustus 28,] CIVIC p_:piscopate and greek life. 129 bad marked his displeasure by depriving some cities of their autonomous riglits, and conferring special privileges on others.^ Phrygia and the other pro- vinces were under the direct control of the Emperor: Asia still looked to the Senate as its governor, and thus enjoyed a greater measure of freedom from military rule ^ — even though its chief magistrate held the rank of a proconsul. All this gave the dwellers in these towns a great aptitude for self-government, which could now be exercised in a nobler direction than in arranging details of police and rating. If the duty of presiding within the Christian assembly was concentrated in one individual through the squabbles of Judaisers, another of the episcopal functions seems to have been modelled upon a feature in the political life of these autonomous cities ; in constant communication with one another,^ they frequently sent delegates to communicate their views to the Eoman Senate;* and the people of Ephesus, the chief of all these autonomous cities, ^ Merivale, Romans umler the Emqnre, iv. 162. - Le Bas and Waddingtou, Asie Mineure, iii. part i. C63. ^ Compare the communications addressed to Teos in Le Bas and Waddington's Asie Mineure, iii. pt. i. 60-85. ■* Merivale, liomans under the Empire, iv. 29. 130 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. must have been frequently accustomed to the arrival and departure of these delegates, who were the organs of communication between each city and their masters, just as the bishops were the organs of communication between one truly autonomous Christian community and another. We have thus seen that the changes within the Church rendered it impossible that the functions of ruling and teaching should permanently continue to be discharged by the viceregal episcopate from Jerusalem, and by the original apostles respectively; but ruling and teaching were never more necessary for the maintenance of Christ's Church than in these distracted days ; and the organs by which these necessary functions were performed had been most naturally developed in a society formed in the midst of Jewish synagogues and Greek autonomous cities ; the presbytery, though now the guardian of the Christian tradition, was no new institution ; the duties of the bishop as the organ by which the Church in each city ruled itself, were called forth by the disorders of the day ; his duties as a dele- gate were analogous to those that were exercised by the selected decuriones of the autonomous Greek cities. 29.] VARIOUS THEORIES. 131 § 29. We have now tried to describe the actual growth of the Church in the world ; we have dis- covered the nature of its primary constitution, the causes which necessitated a chancje, the circum- stances that helped to determine the direction of the change ; and Ave have seen that there was no sudden revolution, but a gradual evolution of the old constitution out of the new, as circumstances called for the change in one town or anotlier ; especially in Syria and Alexandria did imitations of the original constitiition survive, till a date when men were no longer aware that the civic episcopate was a later form of Church administration, but thought of these local usages as mere curiosities of Christian life. In so far as this has been success- fully attempted, the history of the growth of the Church of Justin Martyr out of the Church of Pentecost has been rendered intelligible. But addi- tional clearness may be given to the view here stated by contrasting it with other theories of the government of the Christian Church in apostolical and immediately succeeding times. The one test which we desire to apply is that of intelligihility ; wherever we come on the creation of a system that has no links with the past, or on a 132 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. well-constituted government for the passing away of which no general cause can be assigned (but only the petty ambitions which exist under every rule), we there come on something which is unaccountable and unintelligible, and which has therefore no place in History ; unless the irrefragable evidence by which it is vouched compels us to recognise it as a wholly exceptional and unaccountable fact. But in regard to most of the theories which we shall have to consider there is no important difference in regard to the nature or value of the evidence adduced. We have only to compare them with our own as regards their success in rendering a simple, intelligible account of the matter in hand. It does not seem necessary to assume with Eothe a council called at the time when almost all, but not all, the apostles were dead, to settle the Church organisation of the future ; from our point of view a council would have been impossible at the time. The first Council had consisted chiefly of the Jerusalem presbytery ; that body could no longer rule, in fact the new difficulties had chiefly arisen as the prestige of that body decayed. Nor could there be any formal meetings of the delegates of Churches, until the self-ruling of each community 29.] VARIOUS THEORIES. 133 was so advanced that they were able to elect, and to abide by the determinations of, qualified repre- sentatives. While the Church of Corinth was torn with schism, how could they select a qualified representative ? The growth of internal discipline and of episcopal meetings for counsel must have gone on sinmltaneously, and no council could have enforced such a dictum as the theory supposes. Neither can we suppose that the apostles origin- ally united all these offices in their own persons, and divested themselves first of one and then of another. Such a view is incompatible with the constitution of the Church, — taught of God by her presbyters, but disciplining herself through her bishops, and ministering to human needs through her deacons. Rather would it be true to say that the apostles always kept to the same work — that of teaching, and refused to take the new duties which were required when new emergencies arose. These were provided for by the Church itself (Acts vi. 3) though the connnission was sealed by apostolic prayers and apostolic hands (Acts vi. 6). The puritan opinion that each Christian com- munity was not only independent, in the sense of '134 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. being self-disciplining, but isolated as well, hardly needs remark. Such a state of things may have existed for a time during the transition from the viceregal episcopate to the civic episcopate, but it was neither the primitive form of Church govern- ment, nor the final one, in all probability, that was reached during apostolic times. It is not too much to say that while the whole view of the Christian Society attributed in the Bible to its Founder and His followers is in an- tagonism to this idea of a series of isolated com- munities, the growth of one episcopate from so many quarters before the middle of the second century is inexplicable, if this isolation of Christian communities had ever existed as a permanent state with which the Christian Consciousness was con- tented. Still more unintelligible does the history become if we adopt the presbyterian theory, and regard the council of Jerusalem as the first General Assembly. What then is the meaning of the position given to James the Just both in AcU and in the Galatians ? If the distinction between ministers and laymen turned, not on a divine commission to teach God's 29.] VARIOUS THEORIES. 135 truth or work for His Church, l)ut on the license of the presbytery to exercise individual gifts, how are \ve to account for the early and entire disappearance of all memory of presbyters who were not teachers ? or for S. Paul's silence on the subject when dis- cussing the question of spiritual gifts ? We have ample evidence of the survival of other forms of government : the want of evidence of the existence of a presbyterian system is in itself a fact that demands explanation on the hypothesis we are con- sidering. Once more, if the system ever existed, by what steps did it pass away ? Those who point to the general tendency of things human to decay do not answer these questions, nor have they attempted to show any connexion between a presbyterian oligarchy and the forms of Jewish life, or the primi- tive synoptic Christian belief in, not a Church, but a kingdom. We have tried to trace, as a question of history, how the episcopate was developed : the theories of the congregationalist or presbyterian re- quire him to show — 1. That the system he advocates once existed ; 2. How it failed, if not through its in- herent weakness; 3. By what steps it gave place in all quarters at an early date to episcopacy. On the other hand, we claim that according to 136 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. our delineation the course of the history becomes intelligible : we have sketched the controlling idea of the day, and have seen how the Christian Con- sciousness gradually attained to a fuller conception of the nature of the divine Society : we have now seen how there was a similar gradual development in the divine Society till it too appeared as a body politic organised everywhere on one system. § 30. So far we have considered various views which have all claimed the same evidence in their support, and it has been our endeavour to show that they in many cases conflict with the alleged evidence. It is, however, often asserted that the alleged evidence, especially that of the Acts, is untrustworthy, because that is said to be a book written with a purpose, — with the view of narrowing the breach between Jewish and Gentile Christianity, and that the facts it contains may therefore be coloured in this interest : a series of elaborate hypo- theses have been started to explain the purpose of the author, which led him, consciously or uncon- sciously, to represent the apostle Paul in a different light from that in which he is represented in his epistles. Before considering these attempted ex- 30.] VALUE OF THE ACTS. 137 planations it is desirable to look at the "facts" that they are intended to explain. It might be worth while to point out that S. Paul does not represent himself as a marvellously con- sistent character whose belief in the " universality " of the gospel was a barrier that cut him off from the Jews, just as truly as the latter were restrained from associating with the apostle of the Gentiles by a belief in the perpetuity of the Law, A lay figure moved by an abstract principle could never have done the work in the world that was brought about by the glorious inconsistency of S, Paul. The same apparent inconsistency which was a cause of offence to the Jews of old is a stumbling-block to the critics of to-day. While then we believe that there is no difficulty that requires to be explained by means of a confused web of unsupported hypo- theses — even if any difficulty can be said to be explained that is only got over thus — we may still assert that the Acts of the Apostles was written by a Gentile Christian with the view of tracing the historic connexion between Gentile Christianity and the original apostles ; but we contend that the Gentile Christianity he describes is of a very early type, and has not yet realised its full measure of 138 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. freedom, not a Gentile Christianity which, born in freedom, has renounced that freedom for the old bondage. And this belief we base chiefly on the entire absence of any of the more spiritual ideas of the Church, and entire absence of any reference to the later form of organisation — a civic episcopate. As has been noted above, there is in the Acts a constant reference to the Messianic hopes, and none to the Church as a spiritual Society ; the difficulties in regard to the Law are of a very early type ; the Gentile Christians are regarded as proselytes, and the question is as to how far the Law is binding on them ; lastly, there is no hint of the civic independ- ence of churches, but only of presbyteries in sub- ordination to the centre of Church life at Jerusalem. A history of this kind written at Ephesus in 117 A.D.^ would have been a worthless anachronism, as much out of place as the publication of a book like S. Matthew's Gospel would have been at the date when the Fourth Gospel was written, carrying on its face a later date with its " advanced " views of Christ and tlie Church ; so far as the Jews of the dispersion were concerned, the old Messianic hope was not a powerful incentive in 117 A.D. ; Alex- ^ The date assigned by Overbeck in De Wette's Handhuch. 30.] VALUE OF THE ACTS. 139 anclrian learning had weakened it, the destruction of Jerusalem had rendered it still feebler : why then is it the chief view put forward in the Acts ? The Pharisaic Judaisers who had difficulties about keep- ing the Law, but few about understanding it, were not at the time an important party at Ephesus. The real question about the Law among the Essene Ebionites was rather, in what sense is it to be under- stood — literally or spiritually ? So too the Gentile Churches had a civic self-government ; the Ebionites admired the viceregal form of episcopacy, and the Acts takes no notice of the later form, far less attempts to justify it. It is admitted that the Acts could not effect a real mediation,^ because it only pared down the differences instead of announcing a nobler truth which embraced the two opposed»and partial views ; but it is difficult to see what purpose it could have served if written so late as 11 7 A.D. in a centre like Ephesus ;^ for it neither seems to bring Gentile Christianity any nearer to the then domin- ant form of Judaising Christianity nor to explain the connexion between Gentile Christianity as it then existed (with its civic self-government) and the 1 Overbeck, op. cit. p. 13. - That Ephesus was the place of pu])licatiou is prolxible from the locjxl allusions. 140 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. Christianity of the original apostles. For the very reason that we believe the Acts was no meaningless work, but was written for a purpose, we are com- pelled to suppose that it was written at such an early date that its statements are to be trusted for all the details of Church organisation about which we have used it. And, if we accept this work, the connexion of the Christian Church with the syna- gogue system cannot be set aside as Baur'^ attempts to do. It may be that in many places Christianity found acceptance in households rather than in more public assemblies ; but we have no reason to suppose that it attracted whole families any more than that it attracted whole sections of synagogues, or that the head of each family was a self-constituted bishop in his own house : family religion is only an off- shoot and never the centre of true Church life. § 31. From two different sides there arose an antagonism between the Eoman authorities and the Christian Church ; the Christians were unpopular from their refusal to participate in much of the un- hallowed social life of heathen cities, and they were apparently disloyal from their refusal to pay ido- ' UrtipruiKj lies Episcopate, pp. 85-89. 31.] HEATHEN ANTAGONISM. 141 latrous respect to the Emperor ; this was the social difficulty felt by individual members. But a much more terrible trial came upon the Church, when its widespread organisation had begun to excite appre- hensions as to the possibility of this extended power being used for political purposes ; then the Christian not only was called on to suffer for the eccentricities of his conduct and the riots they caused, but for having cast in his lot with a dangerous organisa- tion. We have ample descriptions of the earlier form of persecution in the Acts, where the apostles are invariably charged, not with disloyalty, but with causing sedition and uproar; the Jews made the uproar, it is true, but the Christian teacher was the exciting cause ; and in spite of occasional refusals to condemn them, such as was made by Gallio, we cannot doubt that the Christian, as the innovator, generally got the punishment as well as the blame of the disturbance. But not only were the Chris- tians a cause of riots among the Jewish population, but among the Gentiles as well. Demetrius and the craftsmen found that their trade was interfered with, and had personal motives for dislike ; as had cattle- dealers and other traders as well, according to Pliny's 142 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. letter.^ But public opinion is always intensely con- servative on social matters ; the asceticism of the Christian made him an object of dislike, and the fact that Jewish sorcerers and others had found a place in the Society^ made the whole body an object of suspicion, as possessed of diabolic powers of doing mischief. Nero, in blaming the Christians for the burning of Eome, was, in all probability, only giving vent to a popular dislike which had long been cherished, but seemed now to be more than confirmed.^ The tradition which connects the martyrdom of Ignatius with popular excitement, caused by an earthquake, may be alluded to in the same connexion, — whether the earthquake was supposed to be due to Christian necromancy, or to the anger of the gods that such persons were per- mitted to live. It is in the time of Trajan that we have the first hint of the recognition of Christianity as a dangerous political power, and this it only became when it appeared as an organised Society ; to be a Christian was, in the province of Bithynia, a political crime, which was capitally punished. The eastern borders » Pliny, Ep. x. 90. ^ Acts xix. 19. "^ Tacitus, AruK xv. 41. 31.] HEATHEN ANTAGONISM. 143 of the Empire were disturbed ; there was a restless expectation of the return of Nero in many quarters ; and the Jews were scattered everywhere, but seemed never to be amalgamated with their neighbours, or to have entirely discarded the idea of a revolt. The Christians thus came, not unnaturally, to be the objects of political suspicion, and to be condemned to capital punishment. But the answer which Trajan sent to Pliny's letter shows that the Emperor did not consider them as a real danger; if they confessed their guilt, they must of course be punished, but the men were to be practically protected from the sus- picions of the mob, for informers were to receive no encouragement. At the same time, as Neander has pointed out,^ the effect of an imperial condemnation of what had hitherto been ignored — the unlawful- ness of Christianity — was to give an implied sanction to the popular hatred of the religion. In the time of Hadrian we have riotous attacks upon the mem- bers of the Church in Asia ; but a rescript was issued which more carefully insisted on legal processes, and gave a check to mere personal outcry.^ The protection which Hadrian endeavoured to * Neander, Church History (Bolin), i. 138. * See this document as quoted by Justin ]SIartyr ; Appendix, p. 250. 144 ACTUAL GIJOWTH. [SECT. afford lasted during tlie two succeeding reigns ; but there is evidence that in the time of Marcus Aurelius the authorities were becoming embittered against the Christians. The miseries of the time were ascribed to the enemies of the gods, — the base informers who coveted the wealth of the Christians were not discouraged;^ in fact, we can easily under- stand, from the story of our own Mary Tudor, how a gentle and pious nature may be conscientiously relentless in persecuting those who seemed to be bringing down divine anger on the realm: just because Marcus Aurelius was more than a mere politician, was he less just to the Christians than Hadrian had been. Christians were now sought out like other criminals, not merely punished when their existence was obtruded on the public tribunals; and their punishment of death was not awarded only if they continued contumacious, they were now to be examined under torture. § 32, "We can have no doubt that these troublous times called for much care in the ruling of the Church. We hear of frequent councils of bishops being called for this purpose towards the end of * Melito of Sardis, in Eusebius, //. E. iv. 2G. 32.] THE CUSTOM OF THE CHURCH. 145 the century, and as soon as this practice began, we see the episcopate assuming a more weighty func- tion : they had to settle the principles according to which the Church should be ruled; the diverse usages of different communities could be compared, the dangers which had attended a particular course in one congregation^ could be guarded against else- where, and thus a body of canonical usages grew up — the combined experience of the Christian Church as formulated through the bishops. It was as the mouthpiece of the Church in his own city that the bishop spoke, and thus it was that through the councils of the bishops the religious experience of the whole Church was gathered and consolidated :^ thus it was that at length a final decision was attained on the various books of the Old and New Testaments, and that at the last there came to be Canonical Scriptures. Thus too were wise and to some extent uniform ' Polycrates (in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. iv. 22) mentions that, in his time, some of the Christian communities had, along with their bishops, been terribly lax in keeping the Christian pro- fession unsullied. * The often asserted fact that the first councils were sum- moned in consequence of the teaching of the Montanists does not conflict with this view of the influence of persecution : for it was about persecution that the Montanists held the most startling tenets. K 146 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. practices introduced in regard to worship, and on such difficult questions as to the treatment of those who fell from the faith in times of persecution.^ This process of formulating Christian experience gave a new strength and a new unity to the Church : just as the teaching of the apostles, inherited by the presbyters, gave a standard by which to try and condemn false teachers, so did the consolidated experience of the Church give a standard by which to arraign and condemn the laxity of discipline which might find favour in any one city, or the over-severity which might be a danger in another. This reacted also on the position of the bishops in their own community. They were no longer set to rule as the organ of the Christian opinion in their own city, they must now consider Christian opinion throughout the world. It was the access which they had to this, in the councils to which distant bishops came, that raised each of them to a more authorita- tive position in his own community. The bishop must still rule, not as a capricious lord, but as the instrument of the Christian Consciousness ; but he had now ceased to be merely the organ of his own self-governing community, and become the organ ' See Appendix, pp. 261, 276. 32.] THE CUSTOM OF THE CHUltCII. 14 7 by which the Christian experience of the (Jhuvcli throughout the world was applied to the difficulties that arose in each separate city. If the presbyter is called to instruct in the doctrine of the apostles, the bishop is called to rule — not as the caprice of his flock may determine, but in accordance with the inherited experience of the universal Chui-ch. Thus the effect of persecution in creating a necessity for common counsel was to consolidate a body of Christian experience ; and by so doing, to produce a marked difference in the position of the bishop. He is no longer the servant of his own community, the organ by which it governs itself, he is rather the organ by which the universal Church governs in that community. The other effect of persecution in leading to a spreading of the Christian faith has been so often dwelt on that we need not enlarge on it here. Tacitus notices with scorn how the multitude pitied the victims of Nero, and the story of the impression created by the martyrdom of S. Polycarp has been often told ; nor need we argue that these were solitary cases, nor doubt that when the body was thus lifted up as the Head had been, all men were drawn to it. 148 ACTUAL GROWTH. [SECT. 32. One more effect was produced by persecution : the faith was not only spread more extensively, but also held more intensely. But to consider this would lead us to the new epoch to which we must now definitely turn. Indeed, in the present division, we have not been careful to confine ourselves to effects that can be proved to have actually occurred during the first half of the century. The tendency which persecution had, in the early years, to consolidate the Christian experience may be fairly supposed, for we know of its actual tendency in this direction within a very short time later. Even if we have anti- cipated the date of these actual councils, and of the consequent increase of episcopal authority, the sub- ject may be most suitably introduced at this point, so as to complete our view of the growth of the Christian Church as it was affected by the Jewish, Greek, and Eoman elements, in the midst of wliich it grew up. Developed out of Judaism, it received its permanent form under Greek influence, and was consolidated by the necessity of resisting the sus- picious vigour of the Roman administration. PART IIL The nature of the christian institution as reflected in early controversies. gart Hi. THE NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTION AS REFLECTED IN EARLY CONTROVERSIES. (1.) Tlie Discipline of the Church. § 33. We have endeavoured to show that about the middle of the second . century the Church had been planted in many regions, and that the com- pletest form of its constitution was being gradually introduced in all directions : so far we have seen that the history of the Church is the history of its contact with other social forms, a contact by which it absorbed the more valuable elements that they contained, or was consolidated by the necessity of definitely opposing them. But when we consider the middle of the second century, we see that the Church has attained to an organised life of its own; it is no longer so easily affected by influences outside itself : the growth of the Christian Society is now to be found in tracing the controversies that arose 152 CHKISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. within its own pale. The opponents of the faith are no longer heathen or Jews, but heretics, who claim to set forward a better Christianity than that which was current in the Church : it is at this early date that we first find a desire expressed for a " return to primitive purity." Times of fiery trial are not always times of refinement : in so far as the effect of persecution had been to extend the Church rapidly, it had doubtless come to contain many impulsive natures, who were suddenly moved to cast in their lot with the Christians, but whose religion was somewhat emotional, and not a truly formed habit. In so far as the persecution had dis- organised the government of the Church in any community, discipHne must have been relaxed : and the Christian life of a Church which had thus come to be largely recruited with unworthy members, cannot have been an edifying spectacle. Contem- porary Church life failed to satisfy men's ideas of what religion ought to be, and the question was forced on the minds of all thoughtful men — What is real religion, and how may it be mine ? To this question three very difi'erent answers were given by Marcion, by the Montanists, and by the Catholic Church. 34.] MARCION AND SUBJECTIVITY. 153 § 34. There is a striking difference in the language which Christian writers use of other gnostics and of Marcion : the doctrines which other speculators propounded were theories which influ- enced the minds of a few disciples, but had little practical bearing : Marcion, on the other hand, was the founder of a religious sect, who endeavoured to provide his followers with a Christian literature, and who attempted, by his speculations, to find a philosophical justification for his religious position. Marcion is no mere speculative thinker, but a popular power,^ who attempted to support his teaching by historical documents and learned argu- ments ; and thus he attracted infinitely more atten- tion than any of those gnostics who were mere speculative teachers : even if Irenseus never wrote his projected work, we find a considerable space in his Refutation devoted to this one heresy ; and Hippolytus attacks it with a minuteness which he does not use in treating of other doctrines. Ter- tullian, too, has much to say of this heresy, for the Marcionites were a real power which his practical mind was forced to take into consideration. None of the other heresies met with so much refutation ; ' Baur, Dk chrintUche Gnosis, j). 240 seq. 154 CHKISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. of few was the influence so widely spread ; and we cannot venture to suppose that the teaching which emanated from Pontus, before 147 a.d./ and was temporarily welcomed at Eome, found no support in Asia. The Marcionites revolted against the life of the Church, and found true spiritual life, each for him- self, in the recesses of his own heart. The Spirit bears witness to our spirits, and all external aids l)ut detract from the pure religion which dwells in the inmost soul : all external forms or outward expressions can only blemish this pure spiritual religion : such was the central principle of the religious movement which Marcion led. It is one which we may easily understand, for it has re- appeared at different times : one might almost say that a similar exaggeration attended nearly all the attempts to purify the spiritual life of the Church that have been made : it is so easy to make the fatal transition from truth to error, to say that because true religion is a thing of the heart, which must have a hold on man's inmost being, that therefore true religion is a thing in the heart, which only dwells in his inmost being. That is assuredly no '■ Justin Martyr, Firni Apology, 26, 58. 34.] MARCION AND SUBJECTIVITY. 155 true religion which consists of acts of piety and duty, but does not reach the soul ; but still less is that religion true which professes to have reached the heart, and is content to dwell there, rejoicing in subjective sentiments and glorying in subjective graces. Wherever we find men drawing a hard and fast line between " spiritual religion," on the one side, and "external worship " or " good dispositions " or " mere morality," on the other, we may fear lest they are tempted to think of " spiritual religion " as something which can exist apart from these things, and not as something which, just because it is spiritual, must embody itself in one or other, indeed in all of these ways. In the teaching of Marcion we only find this tendency, which is sufficiently familiar to us to-day, carried consistently to its logical issue : ^ his system is the philosophical expression of the belief that true religion is a spiritual thing which can be found in its purity only in the individual heart : a very brief resum^ of his doctrines mav render this clear. ' "So gewiss also im Bewusstseiu eiu Gegensatz ausspricht, so gewiss muss derselbe Gegensatz auch durch die ganze objective Welt hindurchgehen." — Baur, Die christUche Gnosis, p. 292. 156 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. If God be a pure spiritual being, who can only be truly revealed to the spirit, then there can be no true expression of God's will in nature : that is material, finite, sensible, how can it testify of the Eternal, Unknowable Spirit ? Any hints the world may suggest of its Maker and Preserver do not tell us of the Spirit who is apart from Nature, and the religion of nature cannot be the true religion. As material nature is wholly unlike spirit, there can be no likeness or analogy such as Butler worked out between natural and revealed religion : the God of nature is not, and cannot be, the God of Grace ; the Creator is only a Demiurgus, not the true God. But all religions, pagan and Jewish alike, have professed to worship the Creator ; they cannot then have been true religions, or opened the way of coming to the true God: indeed, not to dwell on the contents of pagan beliefs, there are signs of anthropomorphism in the Old Testament, and the Jews were only worshipping a Creator — ruling in nature and with some natural limitations,— not a spiritual, eternal God. So wholly false was their naturalistic faith, that it was rather a hindrance than a help to coming to the truth ; and while Cain and the Sodomites who had rejected the naturalistic 34.] MARCION AND SUBJECTIVITY. 157 faith would gladly turn to Him who went and preached in the place of the dead, Abraham and Noah, and others who had lived by the false faith, would surely harden their hearts against the true. Still more, if there be this gulf between matter and flesh, and spirit, it is impossible for the true God to take upon Him our flesh and dwell amongst us ; He only appeared in the likeness of a man ; unborn because not human, Christ appeared in the world as though He had been flesh, and the Jewish worshippers of the Creator conspired against and condemned this human appearance of the true God — as the flesh ever rebels against the spirit. These doctrines appealed to a side of religious feeling that has asserted itself in nearly every age ; and we cannot wonder that they attained a wide popularity ; but they came into direct conflict with the statements of the Gospels and Epistles. But Marcion was ready with a way out of the difficulty : firmly convinced in his inmost soul of the truth of his doctrine, and possibly believing ^ that the Chris- ' We may give him the benefit of this supposition ; but in auy case, none can dare to condemn him, whose preconceived opinions are so dear to them that they ignore — since they cannot 158 CHKISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. tian writings had been tampered with, he revised that Gospel which happened to present the greatest affinity to his views, and issued an edition of S. Luke, based, it would seem, on a specially accurate text,^ but omitting all reference to the incarnation, and bringing the whole into accordance with his views ; some of S. Paul's epistles were made to submit to a similar revision. The affinity between the Gospel as we have it, and the views expounded above, might be easily shown. Such was the teaching of Marcion : we need not draw out any long statement of its inconsistency with the fundamental truths of Christianity; if Christ did not become flesh, the gulf between the Eternal Spirit and man as he is, is left unbridged. Nor need we repeat the sorrowful tale that such false spirituality tends to the forsaking of Christian fellowship and the neglect of mere "natural" duties ; we have less need of the assertion of Hip- polytus that it was so, because we know that in our own day it is so ; yet it was by such teaching as this erase — any scriptural teaching that conflicts with the doctrines they hohl, or who fear that their faitli may be shattered by textual criticism or more careful translation. ' Hilgenfold, Evanc/elien Jiiatliis, iii. See also Sanday, Goftpela ill the Second Century, Appendix. 35.] MONTANISM. 159 that Marcion pretended to restore the faith and purify the Church. Nor must we yield to the temptation to pause to trace an analogy between the current religious philo- sophy of to-day and that of Marcion. Doctrines which relegate God to the region of the Infinite, and the Absolute, and the Unconditioned, have, like the heretic of Pontus, set an impassable gulf between God and man. The abstract Dualism of Hamilton and Mansel cannot escape the trenchant criticism which has been urged against the abstract Dualism of Marcion ; nor can Belief accept on historical evidence what has been pronounced irrational on logical grounds. But it is not uninteresting to remark that, just as we find among us to-day a survival of the Marcionite hankering after " merely spiritual religion," so too do we find a survival of the system by which Marcion endeavoured to support it. § 35. Although the Marcionites and the Mou- tanists found the same objection to the life of the Catholic Church, the remedies which they recom- mended were of the most strangely opposite cliar- acter. Marcion sought for a spiritual life which 160 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. was uncontaminated by all external things ; Mon- tanus and his followers believed in a divine Spirit which was patently manifested in the words and conduct of living men and women. For Marcion, God is a Spirit, and just because He is a Spirit, He cannot be revealed except in the Spirit ; He cannot be revealed in nature, nor in human form. For Montanus, God is a Spirit who not only has revealed Himself, but is revealing Himself still. The opposition comes out most strongly in noticing the views of the two sects on the history of Eeligion. To the mind of Marcion, all non-Christian religions had natural elements, and were therefore merely and wholly false : to the mind of a Montanist, God had manifested Himself, truly but incompletely, to Adam, to Noah, to the prophets, in Christ ; but now He had at length revealed Himself fully through the Spirit. There is a doctrine of four stages of manifestation as opposed to Marcion's view of the sudden introduction of the truth, or the Ebionite doctrine in the Clementines, that false doctrine must necessarily precede the true.^ Yet, when we consider the form of the last and highest manifestation, it does not at once commend * Clementine Homilies, ii. 15. 35.] MONTANISM. IGl itself as better : the wlVole conscious life of Christ was an embodiment of the Spirit, while in the new prophets it produced a kind of ecstasy in which they were unconscious of what passed. It would be of great interest to us if either the treatises of Tertullian On Ecstasy, or of Melito On Prophecy, had come down to us, as we might expect to have great light thrown on the whole subject ; the difficulty of finding a test by which true and false prophets had been distinguished is referred to in Deuteronomy, and had been felt in the time of Elijah, as well as of Jeremiah : it had pressed upon the minds of men in the time of our Lord {S. Matt. vii. 15), and in the days of the early Church ; and we cannot but doubt that, while the Marcionites — not to mention the heathen — claimed their prophets, a very clear test was sought for in the second century.^ So far as we can judge, it seems that Tertullian claimed that the manner of these new prophets was identical with the manner of the inspiration of apostles and prophets, — that the ecstasy was in itself a proof of inspiration ; and that the matter of the prophecy afforded tlie best evidence whether the inspiration was from above or from a demon: if ^ Ritschl, Etistehunrj, p. 470. L 162 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. there was ecstasy there was inspiration, if the utter- ances harmonised with apostolical teaching, then the Spirit was of God (1 S. John iv. 1), Whether the manner of prophesying was, though undoubtedly similar, exactly identical with that of apostolic times, and with the current conception of inspiration, is a question which cannot be easily settled. In their desire to assert the effectiveness of the divine Spirit, Justin Martyr and Irenteus use language which seems to imply the entire passivity of the prophet : as also does Athenagoras. At the same time, passivity — the want of human volition in the matter — is a different thing from unconscious- ness — the want of knowledge of what is going on. A swimmer may be carried away by a current — he is powerless to resist, and passive, but he is not therefore unconscious : and there may be the same passivity in the presence of a moral force, which is still not unconsciousness. This distinction does not appear to have been drawn by Justin or Athenagoras, and their teaching on the subject does not distinctly differ from that of Tertullian, though the latter seems to imply a belief in the Divine Consciousness as taking the place of the human intelligence, ratlier than as using it : on the other hand, S. Paul speaks 35.] MONTANISM. 1G3 slightingly of an ecstasy which does not appeal to the understanding (1 Cor. xiv. 9), and it seems as if he regarded the truest spiritual gifts as accompanied by understanding. This we may certainly say, however, even if the statements of Justin and Athenagoras do not contradict the later opinions of the Church, these writers are vague and uncertain in treating of a point on which the mind of the Church afterwards became decided : while not deny- ing that the inspired man was overwhelmed by the message he had to deliver, the Councils and Fathers denied that the prophet was non-conscious : passive under the power of the divine Spirit, he was yet an intelligent man, not devoid of his own faculties because he was straining them in God's service. Were we to accept any other doctrine of prophecy tlian this. Biblical criticism would have no function to discharge, for the personality of all inspired writers would be necessarily ignored. Till the time of Montanus, the question of the relations of the divine Spirit to the human consciousness of the prophet had been spoken of vaguely : the effect of the excesses of Montanus was, tliat this relationship was now considered, and to some extent defined : but it is surely an exaggeration to say with Mr. de 164 CHEISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. Soyres^ that the Councils, in asserting that prophets were conscious, branded the teaching of Justin, that prophets were passive, as heretical. The teaching of Justin is less definite, but it is quite consistent with the later view. There was, therefore, nothing in the manner of prophesying that startled contemporaries, nor called for any immediate interference ; nor was there any- thing in the doctrines maintained that differed from the ordinary teaching of the Church. Even if we had not the admission of Epiphanius,^ we might remember that the orthodoxy of their teaching is put forward by Tertullian as the principal note of the reality of the prophet's mission : if further demonstration were needed, it would be found in the careful analysis of Montanist teaching which occurs in the essay referred to above.^ Nor was there anything wholly new in the practical teaching of the prophets : it chiefly consisted of the re-assertion of duties that had been enjoined long before, and which were afterwards recognised, as excellencies at least, by the Church.* In these circumstances there is some difficulty in understanding why this teaching, ^ Montanism, p. 65. - Hmres. xlvii 3 J. de Soyres, Montanism, Book ii. * Ibid. p. 116. 35.] ' MONTANISM. 165 if it was new neither in its manner nor its matter, caused all the ferment it did. The secret was this, that Montanus and his followers attached a wholly- new importance to the prophetic power which had till now occupied a subordinate place in the life of the Church. The prophets gave a new and stricter rule of life. Up to this time the ultimate appeal had lain in the custom of the Church as carried out by the bishops ; but it seemed to the Montanists that this custom was too lax, as doubtless in some cases it was (vide supra, p. 145). They regarded the Spirit, speaking through the prophets, as the source of a purer rule of life — Paracletus, novae disciplinae institutor} Just as Christ forbade what the law of Moses permitted, so did the Paraclete forbid indulgences which S. Paul allowed. Just as Christ spoke against the degenerate customs of the Pharisees, so did the Paraclete witness against the too lax customs of the Church.2 Against this opinion no sound objection can be urged ; but the Montanists went further when they desired to make their new code binding upon all the Church, and thus the accept- ance of these revelations was spoken of as essential iTertullian, De Mono'j. 11. 2pJ^;g^.}^l^ Entstehunij, 492. 166 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. to true Christian life. The precise nature of the excellencies which the Montanists regarded as duties will be described below. In the meantime we may note that the value which the Montanists attached to these revelations was equivalent to the introduc- tion, not only of a higher ideal of life, but of a new code to be imposed upon all. This at once led to a separation in the Christian community between those who accepted the new code and those who did not. Had the Montanists put forward these duties as an ideal to which Christians might have grace given them to attain, there need have been no such schism. But circum- stances made it inevitable. The spiritual men experienced ecstasies or accepted the message of the Spirit thus revealed. The other Christians were faithful, it is true, but only with a psychic {animalis) not a spiritual faith ; indeed, inasmuch as they refused credence to the new prophets and their revelation, they were fighting against the Spirit of God.^ By a strangely different road we have reached a conclusion which is not very unlike that of Marcion. Once more we find a spiritual aristocracy and a practical denial of the truth that the Spirit of 1 Ritschl, op. cit. p. 521 . 35.] MONTANISM. 167 God is truly present working in the hearts of all the members of the Church. The claims of the Mon- tanists were incompatible wdth loyalty to the Christian Consciousness, while the pretensions of the new aristocracy were wholly alien to the demo- cratic spirit of the constitution of the Church. There is reason to believe that in some quarters the claims of the new prophets received episcopal sanction, and that the new code was, as far as possible, enforced by the ordinary rulers of the Church. Schwegler suggests, on insufficient grounds however, that Melito of Sardis was one of these Montanist bishops ; but there can be no doubt that in most cases the bishops were opposed to the innovations. The prophets professed to proclaim a higher rule than the Custom of the Church, but the bishops were the administrators and guardians of the Custom of the Church. As such their office was attacked by the prophets, who claimed, not merely to announce a divine code — not merely to gather round themselves a spiritual aristocracy — but to take into their own hands the ruling of the Cliurch. If they really were the mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost, how could any mere administrative official dare to uphold his decisions against their own ? 168 CHEISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. As stated above, the greater part of the duties set forward by Montanus were subsequently regarded by the Church — probably were regarded by the Church all along — as excellencies. But the pecu- liarity of the new teaching was that it would bear nothing indeterminate, but set forth a code for all the trivial incidents of life. AVhile others claimed full liberty for their own conscience, where the Bible gave no express command, the Montanist asserted that ivhat was not explicitly permitted was implicitly forbidden. In their eagerness to enforce a higher standard than that of the Custom of the Church, the Mon- tanist framed a code which left no scope for the conscience of the Christian man. Partaking of meats offered to idols, wearing of crowns, veiling of virgins, these were matters on which men demanded definite direction as much as on the sins which the apostles had condemned. The clearest instance of this tendency is the care which they bestowed upon the subject of fasting. The Wednesday and Friday fasts were customs of which no clear account could be given : but now the observance of these Stations in a stricter form was enjoined, and two additional weeks of fasting, in June^ and December, were ^ See Appendix, p. 258. 35.] MONTANISM. 169 instituted. The duty was no longer to be done as before, but it was enforced as strictly as the Jewish fasts of old. Not only did the new code attend to these details, it required the highest virtues from all alike. This is particularly plain in the treatment of the question of martyrdom. In the Martyrdom of Polycarj) we read of the sad failure of one who rushed self-confidently into the terrible trial.^ Perhaps the Montanist might not have urged such foolhardiness, but he con- demned in the strongest terms the weakness of trying to escape from persecution. The advice of our Lord {S. Matt. X. 32), was interpreted as a mere tem- porary permission to the apostles, — not as a rule for all time. While Montanism was particularly urgent against the weakness of those who tried to escape, it was terribly relentless against those whose strength failed them in the time of temptation. The public denial of Christ was a sin for which no penitence could atone. Never again might the faithless one join in the company of the faithful or the life of the Church ; only from a distance in humiliating garb could he behold the blessings which he had for- feited. Pardon there might be, but the declaration that such sin is pardoned could not bo fitly made for ' See Appendix, p. 2G1 . 1 70 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. fear of blinding tlie eyes of Christian men as to the heinousness of such guilt.^ This may open our eyes to the danger of such a code. It accentuates external doings, example to others becomes paramount ; the inner disposition of penitence, how sincere soever it be, is ignored. Duties are definitely described, but tliey are to be done as external duties, not from the prompting of a devoted heart. A somewhat similar attempt to enforce a code of external duty to the neglect of the inner spirit is to be found in the treatment of marriage — as a neces- sary evil. Virginity was of course tlie highest state, but in the face of the direct command of the Creator, Montanism was forced, for once, to admit a distinction in regard to duties, and to look on marriage as a necessary institution; it failed to solve the inconsistency by apprehending the doctrine which regards continence in the married state as a true chastity, because this teaching rises above the possible application of any petty code. Looking for a mere external test in this matter, as in all others, it drew an arbitrary line at second marriages, — a principle whicli was probably copied from the Jewish ordinances for the priests. ' J. de Soyres, Montanism, 89, 90. 35.] MONTANISM. T71 The intense religious spirit which announced this rigorous code, and tlie earnest men who tried to live up to it, were just those whose minds would be most likely to kindle at the hope of a speedy coming of the Lord. When the prophets reiterated the assur- ances that had sounded before, their words fell on willing ears, and this vivid expectation served as an additional motive for seeking to conform to the duties thus laid down. Such, then, was a second effort to revive the earnestness and purify the discipline of the Church ; and of it, what shall we say ? Shall we not thank God, who saved His Church from this new danger, of a spasmodic ecstasy which claimed to over-ride the truth that was treasured in the consciences of Christian men ; from the danger of a haughty aris- tocracy that condemned all other Christians as psychical; from the danger of rulers who claimed to pronounce judgments by their personal inspira- tion, not as the mere administrators of the Custom of the Church ; from the danger of a code that left no place for the consciences of God's children, and had no pity for weakness, nor declaration of forgive- ness for penitence ; from a system which, beginning by a claim to special inspiration, led only to petty 172 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. regulations of external conduct ? It was from this threatening danger that God saved His Church, through the firm attitude of the episcopate as a body.^ But such a specious form of error is not easily destroyed; in every age of the Church has there been a need to mourn over the terrible differences between the ideal and the reality of Christian life ; and ever and anon men have sought to purify the community by enforcing a strict religious code of duty : the attempt has been self-condemned where it has been most successful. Let us by all means cultivate a high ideal of the life to which we are called, let us by all means provoke one another to good works of piety and devotion, but woe to the Holy Office, or Prophets, or Presbyteries, that dare to impose an authoritative law, be it as prescribed in the Bible, or revealed by a prophet, if that law has not the sanction of the current Christian Con- sciousness in its favour. § 36. Thus have we seen the failure of two attempts to purify the internal life of the Churcli : ' There were of course some exceptions : Melito of Sardis has been spoken of as a bisliop who was perhaps carried away by the new enthusiasm. 3G.] STRICTER DISCIPLINE. 173 it could neither be done by teaching the pure sub- jectivity of religion with Marcion, nor by enforcing a strict code with Montanus ; both of these efforts could only result in a real schism in the body of Christ by cutting off a spiritual aristocracy from the rest of the faithful ; but another effort was made to work the necessary reform, hy insisting on greater care ill tlie administration of the common means of grace. The Montanist set up a positive test, and only included the worthy. The Church provided a system of negative tests, and only excluded the obviously unworthy ; the sacraments were means of grace for Christian men, not mere seals of Christian perfection ; and if it was before all things necessary to exclude the unworthy from them, it was not less necessary that none but the unworthy should be prevented from receiving the strength God gave through them. The history of the contact of Chris- tianity with other elements of life has shown us to some extent how its external form and constitution were actually determined, the present is a good opportunity for endeavouring to trace the history of the internal life of the Christian Society. Its con- stitution was determined by its contact with those that were without, its institutions by the influence 174 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. of internal disputes ; how far the general delineation which we give of the life of the Christian Society- can be proved to be true for the special communities in which we are particularly interested, will be considered below. In the earliest days of the preaching of Christian- ity, while it was proclaimed principally to Jews and Proselytes, there was little need for providing for the special training of those who desired to join the new Society. They were already accustomed to follow a strict rule of life ; they had already a large measure of knowledge about God and His will : the one condition which seemed necessary for admission was that of faith in Jesus as the Messiah. This is clearly the case all through the earlier part of the Acts of the Apostles, but especially in the story of S. Philip and the Eunuch. So soon as the Church began to attract the heathen, however, a change was necessary, and it became needful to prepare those wlio wished to join, for the life of the new community : it was not merely instruction in theological doctrines, or in the history of Jesus, that was needed, but an actual preparation for living a Christian life: and this could be best done by introducing them to Christian 36.] STRICTER DISCIPLINE. 175 homes. Such adherents were spoken of as Christians, for they had shown a desire to enter on the new life ; but they were not, in the earliest stage of their profession, taken to the actual gatherings of the baptized members of the Church. Of the actual existence of this state of things we have ample evidence from Origen, and in the Clementines : -^ the former distinguishes three classes of catechumens, one of which, the earliest, lived under these restric- tions, and we can have little doubt that it was to households of this sort, as distinguished from the Church in the city, that the apostle sent his special greetings. But if preparation for leading a Christian life was the essential for entering the Christian com- munity, it was also necessary that there should be instruction in Christian doctrine, and this was to be best obtained by bringing the catechumen to the Christian assemblies. It is true that they did not mingle freely with the rest of the brethren, but occupied the room of the unlearned ; but they had the same opportunities for Christian instruction as were offered to the baptized members of the Church : only after they had undergone a period of instruc- 1 Quoted by Rotlie, De disdplina arcani, p. 12. 176 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. tioii, as M^ell as one of preparation, were they ad- mitted to the full privileges of the Christian Society. We have some evidence of constantly increasing stringency in the regulations with regard to cate- chumens ; and we are justified in believing that the practice of a party like the Marcionites, who pro- fessed to be introducing primitive Christian habits that were uncorrupted by later inventions, offers the best possible evidence of what primitive, if not purer, Christianity arranged. We find that one of the charges which TertuUian brings against them is one of very great laxity in this very matter of catechumens. Whether they made no distinction among different class of catechumens, or, as seems more likely, did not separate the catechumens who were under instruction from the baptized, in their assemblies, we cannot certainly say : in either case they preserved a tradition of laxity in regard to the external ordinances of Christianity which was quite harmonious with their overvaluing of mere subjective spirituality. A further evidence of this increasing strictness might be drawn from the practice of a threefold classification which appears in Origen, but we cannot tell how far this is only an Alexandrian, not a Catholic use. 3G.] STKICTER DISCIPLINE. 177 This state of things, when a considerable portion of the Christian congregations consisted of adherents who were not yet members of the Church, had a double effect on worship : the sacraments of the Church came to be spoken of and thought of as mysteries, to which only the initiated were admitted : the analogy with the heathen mysteries was too striking to be missed, though we have every reason to believe, from the tone of Justin's writing, that in his time the sacraments were still publicly celebrated, and were not by any means really mysteries confined to a few participators ; still the language and thought of Christians were affected by the habitual consorting with them of so many of the uninitiated who had no real part in the sacred rite. There can be no doubt too that the seclusion of many of the congregation from the mystery of the body and blood of Christ tended to produce a more exalted .view of the Sacrament itself, and of the office of the minister by whom the worship was conducted : just as the Sacrament was spoken of as a mystery, so did the force of analogy lead men to think of the celebrant as being, in a spiritual sense of the word, a priest — the definite organ through whom the Christian community drew nearer to M 178 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. God ; through his lips the baptized confessed their sins, through his lips the Church prayed for forgive- ness, from his hands His members received Christ's strength for the Christian life ; at his direction they offered sacrifices to God; he was the organ of all the worship of the Church. Such is the nature of Christian worship in the time of Justin Martyr: but it was to undergo a very important change; with tlie progress of the persecution greater strictness became necessary on many grounds : not only was it necessary that the purity of the Church should be preserved, but it was also a matter of the first importance that the members should be protected from the presence of spies and informers ; partaking in the Holy Com- munion was the one undoubted mark of a Christian, and thus it became necessary to separate the great mass (if not all) of the adherents from being present at the celebration of the Christian mysteries : so soon as this was done, they not only were called, but actually became " mysteries " for the initiated alone. They became " mysteries " in a double sense: they were no longer semi-publicly celebrated, and no longer currently spoken of or described: the first 36.] STRICTER DISCIPLINE. 179 change gave rise to misapprehensions in regard to Christian worship. It was when the semi-public celebration of Christian worship ceased, that sus- picions of unhallowed feasts and rites came to be current.^ And it was because the Christian rites were now secret, that the later apologists were unable to bring forward the strongest defence against these allegations by declaring fully what was the nature of the worship in the Christian Church : from the use of this line of argument they were excluded : teaching in regard to the nature of the highest act of Christian worship had already become a disciplina arcani. "We have thus the best possible evidence for fixing the date when this change took place.^ In the days of Justin Martyr the Holy Communion is spoken of as if it were a mystery ; in the tunes of Athenagoras it has actually become such: the one describes it, the other does not.^ The one has no misunderstandings to repel, the other finds that the gravest charges are urged against his brethren. This, ^ See Ai)pcndix, p. 276. ^ Rothe, Z>e cUsciplina arcani, § 13. ' This, too, may perhaps account for the othei'wise unaccount- able silence of the Pastor of Hermas, though there is a difficulty about the date. 180 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. too, is the case with TertuUian, Minucius Felix, and Origen : all have to meet the same misunderstand- ing, and yet all preserve the same reticence. We may say with almost absolute certainty that the general change from the sacraments having only the form, to being really mysteries took place between 150 and 180 a.d. We have hardly any direct evidence which specially connects either Marcionitism or Mon- tanism or the new internal developments of Church life with Asia : we only know that these tendencies were practically universally extended ; for the evidence comes from widely different centres of Christian life. We know, too, of great ecclesiastical ferments in Asia during this period, and we can have no doubt that Marcionitism and Montanism were the causes of these troubles, and none that the stricter discipline was enforced by the councils of the bishops of Asia; if indeed it did not emanate from the quarter where the most important steps had been taken in framing the constitution of the Church. § 37. Such an important step in the development of the internal life of the Church could hardly take 37.] THE POWER OF THE KEYS. 181 place without a corresponding change in its organi- sation. We have seen different functions which the ruler was calleu on to discharge : ruling in the individual congregation to preserve decency and order; consulting for the common weal, and thus formulating the Custom of the Church ; there now came to be another, — deciding who should, and who should not, be admitted to participation in the full Christian life. It is necessary to put the matter in this way to avoid all fear of misapprehension. There never can be a question as to the power of forgiving sins — that rests with God alone. How far He may extend His grace to the ignorant in this world we cannot say; how far He may extend His mercy to the hardened in the next we can but speculate ; but whatever opinion we may hold in regard to the universality of God's redeeming love, we cannot argue that because God's love is extended to all, that therefore the enjoyment of Christian privileges should be open to all. The " power of the keys " is the power of admission to membership in Christ's Church on earth, to the participation in Christian fellowship, and to the blessings of Christian worship. It has reference not to the final decision of the last 182 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. judgment, but to the actual state of salvation — participation in the life of Christ here upon earth. The question which has again and again distracted the Church has been this : How far moral guilt ought to exclude men from the enjoyment of Christian privileges. Discipline at Corinth was exercised on an incestuous offender by the assembled Church. There was a great controversy between Pope Zephyrinus and TertuUian as to the advisability of admitting to full Christian communion those who had thus fallen after being received into the Church : the latter, while fully admitting the power of God's grace to restore such sinners, yet protested strongly against the inexpediency of re- admitting the sinner to Christian fellowship, however penitent he might be, A large part of the business of the Courts Christian in England, and of the Kirk Sessions in Scotland, was devoted to difficulties of the same kind. It was felt that the heinousness of such fleshly lust was aggravated by the fact that the Christian had given way to it after his probation was complete, and when he had been admitted to the full enjoy- ment of Christian privileges by Baptism. The gross sins of a heathen were altogether on a different 37.] THE POWER OF THE KEYS. 183 footing, but the gross sin of a baptized member of the Church showed a defiance of the promptings of the indwelling Spirit, and brought discredit on the Christian fellowship. It was on this account that its guilt seemed so terrible ; not because such guilt was beyond the reach of God's grace, but because such guilt was incompatible with true sympathy in the life of God's people. But there was a still graver crime : the man who, under the pressure of temptation, denied the Faith ^ and blasphemed, might indeed be forgiven, as S. Peter had been, but could never be confidently restored to his place among God's people. Such, at least, was the opinion of Tertullian, and of no inconsiderable section of the early Church, not merely of the Montanists, though they maintained it firmly. As we have seen, in the earliest days the Christian community itself pronounced these decisions, the bishop (or presbyter) being the organ by which the decree was announced. But the decree of Zephyrinus ' All this may be rendered most familiar to us by a considera- tion of the Athanasian Creed, where these distinctions are clear. The final judgment is distinguished from the present condemnation. Tlie men who are pronounced to be condemned already are those who, having failed to keep the Catholic Faitli whole and undefiled, have proved unworthy to continue to participate in Christian fellowship — the state of salvation. 184 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. was indicative of a claim on the part of the bishops to pronounce these decisions of their own authority, and to decide themselves, and without any consulta- tion, who should and who should not be admitted to the Christian fellowship. We have already indicated circumstances which tended to render the bishops independent of the opinion in their own Churches/ but as far as we know, the action of Zephyrinus was the first case when the power was used in such a manner as to provoke a protest. TertuUian^ inveighs bitterly against this new claim, and carefully distinguishes between the succession to apostolical teaching and a succession to apostolical authority; but from our point of view Tertullian made a mistake in referring to apostolic authority at all. We have found no evidence of apostolic ruling, only of apostles' teaching and treasuring the gospel tradition : the power of ruling in apostolic days lay with James and the presbyters, or with the self- regulatins civic Christian communities. And while the bishops — like other presbyters — were successors to the apostolic commission to teach, they had also succeeded to be the sole organs of ruling : Tertullian would have found a remedy in committing the power ^ Vide supra, § 32. ^ De Poenitentid, 21. 37.] THE POWER OF THE KEYS. 185 of ruling to the prophets — men who, as inspired, might have true insight, such as the apostles possessed, e.g. in the case of Ananias ; but this was not a real return to the primitive order — it was onlj the dangerous exalting of ecstatic individuals to personal jDOwer, instead of trying to limit the undue personal power of the bishops by insisting on their acting as administrators, and after consultation, not of their own authority. Tertullian preferred to submit the ultimate decision to one set of individuals rather than to another ; and the failure of the party who based the claim to individual power on per- sonal gifts, strengthened the position of those who rested their claim to individual power on the fact of their holding a particular office. Thus the more careful exercise of discipline led to the exalting of the office of the ruler : a corre- sponding change took place in the liturgical services. In older days the congregation had joined together in prayer to God to forgive the offender : there was no real usurping of God's place wlien it became customary for the bishop to declare that, believing as they did in God's forgiving love, this penitent, whose remorse seemed sincere, should be re-admitted into the Christian fellowship. The otlice may have 186 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. been prostituted in after days to private ends, and the language misunderstood of the personal power of a man ; our work is neither to approve nor con- demn, but only to trace the causes which affected the growth of the Church and its institutions : few of these have been more important in their effects than that need for stricter discipline which tended to change the public worship into the celebration of mysteries, and to exalt the personal power of the officers of the Church. (2.) The annual commemoration of the Passion and Resurrection. § 38. The first great controversy that convulsed the Church had reference to discipline : the next, not a subsequent, but a somewhat later struggle, was a controversy in regard, so far as we can see, to no dogma of faith,but toamatter of opinion — the keeping of the 14th Nisan as a solemn day. The orthodoxy of the Quarto-decimans on all other points is asserted by Hippolytus (viii. 11): indeed the real difficulty of understanding the controversy is entirely due to the fact that we can detect no great principle which was involved in the dispute. The whole matter 38.] CONFLICTING TRADITIONS. 187 may become a little clearer if we begin by attempt- ing to show to what extent the disputing parties were agreed. They apparently agreed as to the days of the week on which the crucifixion and resurrection took place : in every week there was a Friday com- memoration of the crucifixion and a Sunday com- memoration of the resurrection : there was no difference of opinion as to the occurrences which they kept in mind, nor yet as to the manner in which they might be most fitly commemorated : it was by fasting that they kept in mind the suffering of our Lord, and His rising from the dead was fitly marked by a festival. The early and general recog- nition of the weekly fasts and festival hardly re- quires proof: their existence gives evidence of general agreement as to the days of the week on which these crowning events of Christ's life took place, and as to the fittest mode of commemorating each. There was no difference of opinion on these points. But besides tlie weekly, there was from very early times an annual connnemoration of Christ's death and resurrection ; in regard to this there were two entirely distinct grounds of difference, which can be best understood if they are kept entirely apart. 188 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. There was, first of all, a divergence of opinion as to a matter of fact — the precise day of the month on which the crucifixion took place : but there was in addition a difference as to the mode of calculation, for Christians were not everywhere agreed as to the best means of identifying the recurrence of the days of the crucifixion and resurrection. We can have no difficulty in comprehending the precise point in dispute in regard to the date of the crucifixion, for each of the conflicting traditions has been preserved for us : according t ojthe-Syj.iQptic Gospels, Christ partook of the Passover with His disciples on the 14th of Nisan,^_a nd was crucified on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread ; but, on the other hand, the Fourth Gospel is very clear in describing a meal with His disciples, which, however, could not have been the Passover, as He, the true Paschal Lamb, was slain on the 14th of Msan, and lay in the tomb on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The point is so inter- esting that we may look at it more closely, as we can do by following the precise chronology of the Fourth Gospel. 1 I throughout speak of the clays according to modern use, as lasting from midnight till midnight, not after the Jewish jjractice, as lasting from evening till evening. 38.] CONFLICTING TRADITIONS. 189 With the Jews, the preparation for the Passover began on the tenth day of the month, when tlie lamb was selected : it is hardly fanciful to point out that the "anointing of Jesus for his burial," which marked Him out as one that was to be slain, and which led to the decision of the rulers, took place on that very day.^ But ^\ithout pressing this, we may notice that this Gospel distinctly states that the Last Supper took place before the Passover (xiii. 1 and 29). Again, the conduct of the Jewish rulers and of the governor is explained by the fact that the Feast was still in view (xviii. 28, 39). But besides all this, the account of Pilate's conduct is interrupted by the definite statement, " it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour." On the other hand, the Synoptics undoubtedly seem to represent our Lord as actually eating the Passover with the disciples, in which case the crucifixion took place on the Great Sabbath, as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was sometimes called. The whole may be rendered clear by a glance at the accompanying table : — ^ If the irpb ?^ Tj/iepQi' toO Trdcrxa be coniited after the Eomau method. S. John xii. 1. 190 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [sect. Synoptics. Jewish Rites. Fourth Gospel. s. 10 Lamb chosen. M. Anointing at Bethany. M. 11 T. T. Decision of Rulers.* 12 W. W. 13 Th. Last Supper. Th. Last Supper or Passover. 14 Day of Preparation for Feast. Passover slain. F. Crucifixion. F. Crucifixion. 15 First day of Unleav- ened Bread. Great Sabbath. s. S. 16 Second day of Unleav- ened Bread. Su. Resurrection. Su. Resurrection. 17 Third day of Unleav- ened Bread. The inconsistency of the two accounts is obvions ; it would be going altogether beyond our sphere to attempt to discuss fully the intricate question as to which of these conflicting traditions is the more accurate. It may suffice to say that there has never been a sufficient answer to the arguments by which the Alexandrian and Eoman fathers demonstrated the improbability of the High Priest and Pharisees committing so many breaches of the Law as were * In this particular this tradition conflicts with the Catholic use, which commemorates the betrayal on Wednesday. 38.] CONFLICTING TRADITIONS. 191 involved in a condemnation and crucifixion on the Great Sabbath. Nor are there wanting inconsis- tencies in the account given by the Synoptics, so that on examination they appear by a few particulars to confirm the date given in the Fourth Gospel :^ we need not lightly discard the more precise account, even though it was composed at a later period than the others. Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the Synoptic tradition was very widely current, and more especially that it was the more popular one in Asia, or at all events in Smyrna. Eeference has been already made to the epistle of the Church at Smyrna,^ relating the martyrdom of its aged bishop, and it affords most interesting evidence on the question before us, — evidence whicli is all the more important, because it is excluded from the abstract of the early portions of the Martyrdom of Poly car j) that is given by Eusebius (iv. 15), The whole is regarded as a visible repetition of the events of our Lord's Passion ; the events occurred and are re- ported "in order that the Lord might show forth ^ This latter line of argument has been followed with great clearness by Dr. Westcott in his Introduction to the Study of the Gospth, p. 339. * See Appendix, p. 259. 192 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. among us the martyrdom according to the Gospel," The very names of the betrayer and of the judge coincide in the two cases {Martyrmm v.), and though we have no reason to believe that the account is consciously coloured, it is evident that every little incident which could heighten the re- semblance is made the most of. The authors evi- dently regard the martyrdom of Polycarp as having been precisely analogous to the death of our Lord, and they distinctly assert that he was betrayed late, after supper, on the " day of preparation," and was tried, condemned, and , put to death on a " Great Sabbath" {Martyrium, vii. viii.). Even if, as Zahn ^ contends, this could not be, in Polycarp's case, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but another Sabbath that was called great for some unknown reason, it need not be denied that the author is working out an analogy between the bishop's martyrdom and the passion of our Lord as related by the Synoptics ; even if there was a mere similarity between, and not an identity of the days on which the two events happened, that similarity seemed to the author worthy of notice as helping to shew forth the martyrdom according to the Synoptic ' Patrum Apost., Martyrium Pohjcurpi, viii. note. 39.] RIVAL USES. 193 tradition. Hilgenfeld argues that the same tradition was preserved at Smyrna till the period of the Decian persecution, for the presbyter Pionius, who suffered there at that time, was represented as being, in just the same way, a partaker in the sufferings of Christ ; and the analogy is again worked out so as to show that, according to the current belief, Christ suffered, not on the day of the Passover, but on the Great Sabbath.^ Whatever may have been the general opinion elsewhere, we can have no doubt as to the fact that the Synoptic tradition was the one which was accepted in this leading Asian town, and not improbably in the neighbouring Churches to which the encyclical ej)istles would in the first place be sent. § 39. We can easily see that there would be differences in the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection, according as one or other of these traditions was followed. When the Christians in any one town agreed to fix the recurrence of tlie ' Hilgenfeld's Paschastreit, p. 247. This book contains a most complete discussion of the whole controversy in all its bearings, and to it I must acknowledge great obligations, even though I am compelled to dissent from many of the con- clusions, N 194 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. date by the Passover of the Jews, there would be serious variances of practice in their ways of ob- serving the season, if they differed through not accepting the same tradition.^ On the 14th of the month, the day on which the Johannine believers were fasting in remembrance of Christ's death, their neighbours would be recalling the institution of the Holy Communion. On the following day, the 15th, both parties would alike fast — but the one in commemoration of the rest in the tomb, the other in remembrance of the crucifixion. The day after, the 16tli, would be the Easter of the Johannine disciples, while the others would be fasting still, and preparing to keep their Easter feast on the succeed- ing morning. A glance at the table on p. 190 will render all this clear. Now it is obvious that the crucial difference be- tween the two uses would be in the manner of keep- ing the 14th day. If every Friday in the year was ^ The two uses are thus set side by side foi- the sake of clear- ness of argument, not as a piece of actual history ; for we do not know that they ever came into actual conflict exactly thus : we have no record of any of the followers of the Johannine use who identified the recurrence of the Passion in the same way that was adopted by the followers of the Synoptic use. Steitz, in Herzog's Beakyklopadia, argues, on very insufficient grounds, that the conflict in Laodicea, about which Melito wrote, was between Synoptic and Johannine Quarto-decimans. 39.] RIVAL USES. 195 a solemn fast, much more so was the very day of the actual Passion ; to make that day in any sense a festival was surely indecorous.^ But, on the other hand, it was not unseemly for those who regarded the 14th as the day of the institution of the Holy Communion to meet together to do as Jesus had done at that very time. While the followers of the Synoptic tradition " kept " the 1 4th day by doing as our Lord had done, the Johannine disciples did not thus keep the day, but fasted strictly. Thus it was that those who followed the Synoptic tradition in their annual commemoration, of the Passion were called Quarto-decimans ; as we have already seen, the Synoptic tradition was cur- rently accepted in the Asian Churches, and there too we find a stronghold of Quarto-decimanism. A further confirmation of the fact that Quarto- decimanism was allied to the Synoptic tradition, is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions, a work ' Steitz (Herzog\s Realcyhlopdilia) supposes that the earlier portion of the day was kept as a fast in commemoration of Christ's death, and that in the evening there was a solemn communion in commemoration of the victory won ; but the previous fasting was for the guilt of the Jews (Appendix, p. 253), and there is not a tittle of evidence that any section of the Church regarded the time of His descent into Hell, rather than that of the Resur- rection, as the true moment of Christ's victory over Death. 196 CHKISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. which, according to Bunsen, probably emanated from Asia. Though in the interpolated form in which it has come down to us frequent use is made of the Fourth Gospel, the writer's chronology is certainly that of the Synoptics. He writes, " On their very feast-day they apprehended the Lord;" that is, not on the day of preparation, but on the Great Sabbath (v. 15), and an equally clear statement occurs in a later chapter.^ Now it is here that we find an account of the practice of the Quarto-decimans, as distinguished from that of the Jews. Christians were to fast on the first two days of the feast of the Jews, but to hold their feast, commemorative of the Last Supper, while the Jews ate the Passover meal. The work has undoubtedly been interpolated in the interest of the opposite party, and this makes it impossible to know how far the details, with the very strict fasting that is enjoined, can be regarded as the use of either party, or of both ; perhaps we may say that these have no special bearing on the controversy, while both in the strictness of the regulations, and in the Old Testament warnings by which they are enforced, we find a trace of the mode of thought which characterised the Montanists. In ^ V, 17, according to Epiphanius. See Appendix, p. 254. 39.] EIVAL USES. 197 any case we may conclude, from the fact that there was a temptation thus to tamper with the work, that in its original shape it was consistently Quarto- deciman in its teaching. The argument which establishes the connexion of Quarto-decimanism with the Synoptic tradition is so conclusive that it would probably have passed unquestioned had it not led to a curious dilemma. The Quarto-decimans of Asia alleged the example of the apostle John for their use : for this statement there was excellent authority, and no reasonable man would attempt to set it aside. But it would thus appear that S, John, as a man, pursued a practice which was in accordance with Synoptic tradition, but which was inconsistent with the account in his own Gospel. In the face of this inconsistency can we ascribe that Gospel to that apostle ? But after all there is a wider difficulty than any merely personal problem : that there should be two different uses in the commemoration of the Passion, and two different accounts of the date of Christ's death, is surely a fact that demands an attentive consideration, and, if possible, an explanation. 198 CHEISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. We have already seen reasons for preferring the date given in the Fourth Gospel to that in the Synoptics ; we may proceed to ask whether on the assumption that it is historically correct we can at all explain the growth of the other use and tradi- tion. We must remember that during the first twenty or thirty years of the Christian Church, when its usages were being formed, a very large proportion of its members, at any rate in some quarters, were Jews. These Jews did not, generally speaking, lose their interest in the prospects of the covenant people, nor cease to feel the obligation of the Mosaic institutions, even if they did not insist on imposing them on Gentile Christians ; and thus there can be no doubt that a considerable number of Christians would continue — as born Jews — to eat the Passover on the 14th Msan. But to them the rite would have additional associations besides those whicli filled the mind of their brethren who were still blinded. To the Christian Jew that rite would be chiefly interesting because it reminded him of what the Lord had done in instituting the Supper. He would partake of the Passover on the 14th, but in so doing he would be in his heart commemorating 39.] RIVAL USES, 199 the events wliicli had happened on the 13th. As he naturally recalled the Christian events of the 13th, while participating in the Jewish rites of the 14th, so would the two following days be naturally kept in commemoration of tlie crucifixion, the rest in the tomb, and the resurrection respectively ; that is to say, they would be commemorated on the 15th, 16th, and 17th, though they had happened on the 14th, 15th, and IGth. We may thus see that it was per- fectly natural for Jewish Christians who continued to partake of the Passover on the 14th, to throw the whole commemoration of Christ's Passion one day late. We can thus account for the origin of the Quarto-deciman use, on the supposition that the Johannine date is strictly accurate. Nor does it seem strange that this Quarto-deciman use, which would from the first prevail in Jewish Churches, should have affected the current accounts of the crucifixion : an oral gospel which was repeated in communities where the 14th was kept as the day of the Last Supper would be likely to derive a colour from its surroundings : there might still be hints of the true date which a close study could detect, but the belief that Jesus did partake of the Passover with His disciples would be extremely 200 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. likely to impress the narrative. If we may thus derive the Quarto-cleciman use from the practice of the Jewish Christians in continuing to partake of the Passover on the 14th, we may say that the apparent improbabilities in the Synoptic account are explained if we believe that they give us a tradition which had been modified by the actual existence of the Quarto-deciman use. A certain confirmation may arise from the reductio ad im'possihile of the other view. If we make the opposite assumption, and take for granted the accuracy of the Synoptic date, can we frame an hypothesis that will at all account for the origin of the mistaken date in the Fourth Gospel ? or for the Catholic use which was defended by appealing to it ? Hilgenfeld has devoted a considerable portion of his book to this attempt, and with very imperfect success. He takes the Quarto-deciman use as an accurate commemoration of the Passion. He then maintains that the Pauline converts were actively opposed to keeping the 14th, as it was a survival of Judaism. He next adduces the influence of the idea that Christ was the true Paschal Lamb, an idea which was embodied in and chiefly diffused by the 39.] EIVAL USES. 201 Fourth Gospel. The next step is the supposed desire to institute an annual commemoration of the true Passover, in opposition to the worn-out cere- mony of the Jews. These changes, felt chiefly at Eome, were gradually introduced by Eoman influ- ence throughout the world. Each step in this argument seems to involve very serious difficulties. There is the difficulty of accepting the Synoptic account as accurate ; there is difficulty of proving any more active antagonism to Jewish rites than that of S. Paul himself ; there are few signs of any popular apprehension of the thought of Christ as the Paschal Lamb ; it is difficult to see how an alle- gory like this would be effective in forming an annual institution like Easter ; it is still stranger that the Fourth Gospel should have so readily met with approval when it definitely opposed the uni- versal tradition on the very doctrine which it is said to have diffused ; nor, even if there were some sufficient evidence that these changes had actually taken place at Eome, can we believe that that Church had attained to such influence as to be able to overbear the universal Christian tradition, and an honoured Christian practice. When this accumula- tion of difficulties is fairly weighed, we may surely 202 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. say that it seems quite impossible that the Eoman use should have superseded the true method of commemoration, and should have done so through the influence of a false account of the Passion written to impress the public with a favourite allegory. Just as we have seen in the j^receding section that the Johannine date is more probable than the Synoptic, so we may say that the growth of an erroneous Quarto-deciman use and Synoptic tradi- tion is perfectly explicable ; while we cannot explain the origin of the Johannine date and Catholic use, unless it be correct. We may now return from this long train of liypothetical reasoning to consider whether the conclusion that has been reached throws any light on the dilemma, as to the practice of S. John and the narrative in the Fourth Gospel, and we shall find that it does. Tlie apostles John and Philip were Jews, and as such would probably continue to keep the Passover, at any rate till the destruction of Jerusalem. They would thus give their sanction to the Quarto-deciman use as to the commemoration of the Last Supper. But the practice which liad 40.] MODES OF CALCULATION. 203 thus grown ujd, and to which the Church continued to adhere, was not inconsistent with the knowledge that each actual event had occurred on the day preceding that on which it was commemorated. Only, as it became obvious that the Quarto-deciman use was gradually introducing a mistaken tradition, the ajjostle might well wish to put on record the actual date with the special precision which has been used by the author of the Fourth Gospel. § 40. Thus far for the divergence of opinion on a matter of fact. It is now necessary to consider briefly the difference as to the best method of identifying the recurrence of the event. The first point that demands attention is as to the precise day in the Passion-week whose recurrence was noted. We have already seen that the Jewish Cliristians were led to date the commemoration by the day of the full moon on which they partook of the Passover in remembrance of the Last Supper, but the Gentile Christians would not be inclined to join in this rite. The Mosaic law, or long custom which weighed with their brethren, were rather repellent to them, while there was an obvious fitness in making a special festivity of the Sunday 204 CHKISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. after the Paschal full moon. The Sunday after the Paschal full moon was the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, and thus they determined the recur- rence of the event, not by noting the day of the full moon as the beginning^ of the commemoration, but by keeping Easter Sunday as the festival with which it closed. We have thus the further differ- ence that while the Quarto-decimans identified the recurrence of the season by the day of the full moon, the Catholics made use of the Sunday after the full moon for the same purpose. This latter method had the advantage of great practical convenience. It was sometimes so difficult for the Jews of the dispersion to determine on which of two days the moon was full, and the Passover kept, at Jerusalem, that they were obliged to keep the rite on two succeeding days, so as to be sure that they had not missed the day their brethren were observing. This difficulty was immensely diminished by keeping not the day of the full moon, but the Sunday thereafter. But a further advantage was that the adherents of the two different traditions could join in a com- memoration which was determined by a day of the ^ Or middle, if we count the preceding fast. 40.] MODES OF CALCULATION. 205 week. About these there was no dispute : all parties agreed that the crucifixion took place on a Friday and the resurrection on a Sunday: thus while the Quai'to-deciman use was in contradiction to the Fourth Gospel, the Catholic use was equally acceptable to both parties. There was another difficulty which was common to both parties : the annual recurrence of Passion- tide was identified by a full moon : the whole problem of the adjustment of the lunar and solar year lay open : which lunar month was to be kept in any year as that of the Paschal full moon ? Had astronomical science been more popularised this need have led to no difference of opinion ; but it does not appear that the Jews made use of any cycle for determining the Passover, and the earliest known Christian cycles for determining Easter date from the third century.^ Some at all events of the Quarto-decimans simply adopted the Jewish com- putations, but the calendar according to which this reckoning was made was not in general use, and was so incorrect as to lead at times to the fixing of a day inconsistent with the Mosaic ordinances. Those who calculated for themselves appear to have ' Hippolytus at Home, Anatolius bishop of Laodicea. 206 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT, gone by the simple system of watching for the first full moon that fell after the vernal equinox and keeping the succeeding Sunday as Easter. This could of course be easily determined anywhere, and as the Julian Calendar came into vogue, it was defined as the Sunday next succeeding the full moon tliat followed the 21st of March; but of course it was a great improvement when the cycle was intro- duced, and it was known beforehand when Easter would fall — if for no other reason, for the due observance of Lent. § 41. Having thus distinguished the different issues which were mingled in the one dispute, we may briefly sketch the history of this controversy in connexion with the Asian Churches. We first hear of a difference of opinion on the occasion of the visit of Polycarp to Eome. Anicetus the Roman bishop, and Polycarp, did not aUow this slight difference to interrupt the complete harmony of their intercourse, but " neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it, because he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord and the rest of the apostles with whom he associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade 41.] QUARTO-DECIMANISM IN ASIA. 207 Auicetus to observe it, who said he was bound to maintain the practice of the presbyters before him."^ The "it" may without doubt be interpreted as the commemoration of the Last Supper, which the Quarto-decimans kept on the 1 4th, or day of the full moon. Supposing that both bishops were agreed as to the month of the Passover that year, the practice of Polycarp would conflict with the Catholic use. If the full moon fell on a Thursday, the two uses would coincide for the rest of the week, but even then it would be contrary to the Catholic use to '' break the fast" that preceded Easter by this sacred festival; but this would be the least possible amount of disagreement. If the full moon fell on any other day, say Wednesday, then Polycarp's Easter would fall on the Saturday in Holy Week : supposing, that is to say, he kept to the Quarto-deciman method of reckoning. The passage seems to imply, however, that there was no such difference as to Easter ; for it continues, " in the Church Anicetus yielded to Polycarp, no doubt out of respect, the office of consecrating," thus showing their complete agree- ment, in spite of the difference of use about com- memorating the Last Supper on the 14th. ^ Irenseus, quoted l)y Eusebius, H. E. v. 24. 208 CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS. [SECT. The next controversy of which we need take note occurred in Asia itself. Melito, the bishop of Sardis, wTote a treatise on the subject, beginning with these words: "When Sergilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia, at which time Sagaris suffered martyrdom, there was much discussion in Laodicea respecting the Passover, which occurred at that time in its proper season, and in which also these words were written." AVhat the precise point in this controversy may have been it is impossible to guess ; at any rate, it appears that Melito's work was the occasion of another treatise by Clement of Alexandria. This last book urged the Johannine date of the cruci- fixion as quite inconsistent with the Quarto-deciman use : it would be a not unfair inference that Melito was an upholder of Quarto-decimanism, if indeed we did not know it from Polycrates' statement at a later date. But it appears that the bishops of Asia were not by any means unanimous, as about the same time Apollinaris of Hierapolis wrote a book on the same line of argument as Clement's.^ As we have thus evidence of the existence of some leaders in Asia who were opposed to the Quarto-deciman use, we may readily believe that the dispute at Laodicea ' Chronkon Paschah. ■il.] QUAKTO-DECIMANISM IN ASIA. 209 was due to some such difference as that which had arisen between Polycarp and Anicetus, while yet it led to no rupture between them. Last of all, we have an attempt to put an end to all these disputes by publishing an ecclesiastical decree, to which it was hoped that the Synods of all Churches would agree : it insisted on keeping Easter on a Sunday, and distinctly disclaimed the Quarto- deciman usage of " breaking the fast " before the day of the resurrection. Against this decree the Asian bishops, with Polycrates at their head, firmly protested : Victor, bishop of Eome, endeavoured, in a high-handed manner, to coerce them into agree- ment, and called on himself more than one deserved rebuke for his imperiousness. But if little excuse can be made for his manner of maintaining it, the cause he had at heart was proving itself a good one by its success : Palestine and Alexandria testified to their agreement with Eome in adopting and main- taining the Catholic use. That way of keeping the commemoration which agreed with the most accurate narration of the events of the Passion, and which had some important advantages in respect of prac- tical convenience in calculating the date, did finally, 210 CONCLUSION. [sect. and justly, carry the day, and attain to universal adoption. § 42. Nothing can be more striking than the truth which Irenaeus asserts in connexion with this very matter, that these differences of opinion evidenced fundamental unity in the faith as held throughout the world. It was a small difference in opinion which caused an inconvenient conflict in practice, hut the letters and councils which were called into being to help to remove the difficulty leave us ample evidence of the state of the Catholic Church. There was one Faith, one Lord, one Baptism : a similar celebration of holy mysteries that called forth in different places the same gross accusations : a similar commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ in weekly fasts and services. There was one organisation, with deacons appointed to visit and help, presbyters who treasured the apostolical traditions and conducted the worship of the Church, and bishops who ruled, each in his own city, and who, taking counsel together, became the repositories of the Custom of the Church : at this very time they were everywhere defending the free constitution of the Church against the tyranny of " gifted " men, and thus obtaining a more 42.] FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT. 211 personal voice in the duty of enforcing the discipline of the Church, Even in minute details, in the manner of keeping the days of the crucifixion, and of the rest in the tomb, and of the resurrection, the Church was at one : men differed as to the means of identifying these days, and as to the historical tradition which they tried to show forth in their Paschal week. But if there was a difference of opinion on this one point, there is evidence of a deep agreement among Christians on more important subjects : the lan- guage which was coming into current use shows that one most important controversy was practically settled, and that the evil influence of Judaism was extinct. When the Christian system was once formed, men came to find an analogy between the ancient and the newly planted kingdom of God : they applied the ordinances and practices that were recommended of old to their own times : the ordinances for the priests of old were binding on the people in these last days when all the Lord's people were priests of God : yet the special arrange- ments of the new system, with its bishop, pres- byters, and deacons, had an analogy in the High Priest and priests and Levites of the old. The mere 212 CONCLUSION. [sect. fact that this language could come into use, and he understood far and wide, is an evidence of the practical identity of the Christian system every- where, since men could detect its likeness to the institutions of the Old Covenant. The teachers who had speculated on the relation of previous religions to Christianity were now out of date ; the Conscious- ness of the Church had decided that the same God who had established an earthly rule for a time, had now planted an eternal kingdom upon earth ; it drew no crude distinctions between a moral and ceremonial law, holding to one and discarding the other; it held to the Law and the prophets as revealing God's will for the people of the Jews of old, and as there- fore being a guide by which the Christian Conscious- ness may be aided in coming to its decision as to what is right for the citizens of the eternal kingdom : the Old Testament was no longer regarded as a binding authority, but as a storehouse which con- tained many things helpful for attaining to, and continuing in, the state of salvation. The language which rests on a recognised like- ness between the new kingdom and the former nation is none the less interesting because the analogy on which it depended is entirely false. We 42.] FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT. 213 have seen how the three orders of ministers developed from the necessity of exercising three different func- tions, how the bishops attained to greater power as their functions came to be of greater and greater importance; we have seen how the constitution of the Church was borrowed from Greece, how the Custom of the Church grew up within the new society; the memory of the Jewish hierarchy had no influence on this : the actual priests had been the vigorous opponents of Christianity while it was only a sect of Judaism, and with the destruction of the temple it shook itself free from the remaining ties that bound it to the traditions of the Jews. Still more clearly were the ministers, ordained from among each congregation, wholly unlike the hierar- chical caste of the Sons of Levi : the commemorative sacrifice of the Church was in every particular unlike the sacrifices of the Jews : that section of Christians who held most strongly to a code, like the Law of old, were yet most pronounced in their antagonism to the hardened Jews. Only by shut- ting one's eyes to those facts is it possible to pretend tliat the institutioDS of a Christian sacrifice and a Christian priesthood grew up under the corrupting influence of Judaism. 214 CONCLUSION. [sect. § 41. With the close of the second century our task is concluded ; yet it may be well to review in a few lines the course we have travelled. We saw first of all a noble idea of a new kingdom, and found that it was an effective idea, which was forced to make itself felt in the world : we saw the nature of the world in which it appeared, and how in these circumstances its constitution and institu- tions were shaped. We have found at length a great organisation, with a strict system for the training of new members, with the secret celebra- tion of Christian mysteries, with weekly fasts and services, and one great annual feast ; with three orders of officers duly set apart for ruling, teaching, and ministering ; with powers for the due expulsion of unworthy and re-admission of repentant members. As we think of these things, and recall the idea of the kingdom of Jesus, which was preached at Pentecost, we seem to have travelled a wonderful distance : there is no superficial resemblance be- tween the two ; as, indeed, how should there be any such likeness ? The Christianity of 200 a.d. is no longer the Christianity of 33 a.d. ; no longer the same, not because it is less pure and earnest, but because it is more extended and more influential : 43.] SUMMARY. 215 Christ founded a Church that should grow, and that, as it grew, became more highly organised, as well as of larger bulk. To pine for the resuscitation of the Christianity of 33 A.D. is to pine for the seed instead of rejoicing in the fruit : change is a necessary condition, not only of decay, but of progress. We have not only treated Christianity as growing, but we have regarded it as a self -developing principle. Its power of growth lay within ; external elements might be assimilated and modify its character, or external obstacles call forth a special exertion of its energies, but the active life lay within, in the faith of the members, not in any environment. Only thus does the history of Christianity come to be intelligible to us. To call forth a long series of mechanical actions and reactions is to explain nothing : it is easy to describe an abstract Judaism and an abstract Paulism and an abstract gnosticism, and still more easy to produce imaginary compounds of these elementary " isms " in Ebionitism and Mar- cionitism and Montanism ; but this is mere playing with words, it is not studying history. Christianity was a life which had its roots in the life of God : it 216 CONCLUSION. [sect. was not swayed hither and thither by abstract tendencies. We have tried to see what this life was, how it was related to other modes of life, how it was distorted in some of its phases ; but neither in the hands of S. Paul nor of Montanus did it become a mere series of corollaries from some abstract principle ; their doctrines were the intellec- tual expression, not the basis of their faith. And this self-developing growth of Christianity we have treated as a matter of history ; we have sought to understand the past, not to dogmatise about the present. Analogies with later religious phenomena we have not discarded, where these seemed likely to render the past struggles more comprehensible ; but we have no hope of understanding the course of History so long as we look on its records as a con- fused store of weapons for contemporary controversy. One fatal anachronism has blinded too many WTiters : they have sought for anticipations of protestantism, and inasmuch as that word implies only a negation, there has been little difficulty in finding individuals to whom it can be applied. Marcion protested against any objective revelation, Montanus protested against the rights of the Chris- 43.] SUMMARY. . 217 tian Conscieuce as upheld by the episcopate : they were protestants, of a sort ; but they were not protestants in the sense in which we claim that name to-day. The Eeformation of the sixteenth century was a protest against the mere externality of faith and worship which was as widely current in the time of Leo as it was unknown in the times of Clement or Victor ; that Eeformation was not a mere negative protest, but a protest in favour of the neglected truth that men are made righteous by a divine principle working within, not merely by external participation, authoritatively demanded, in divine rites. In this modern self-conscious era we must assuredly all be protestant, and make religion our own, by recognising the worth of the Faith for ourselves, not merely accepting it at the lips of prophets, or receiving it on the authority of the Church ; — we need not therefore pretend to make our own religion, or try to construct our own faith out of our own fancies. If the Faith be thus accepted on its own authority, as witnessed to by the conscience, so too is the rule of life to be en- forced, not by any code or ruler, but by the conscience of each ; — we need not therefore make our liberty an excuse for license. Eather shall we find the fullest 218 CONCLUSION. [sect. 43. measure of spiritual life in seeking to enter into the experience of the Church; by seeking in the doctrine of the Church the expression of our own faith, by- taking the Custom of the Church for our own rule of life, and the worship of the Church for our own ideal of devotion. APPENDIX. ^ppentJix. PASSAGES FROM CONTEMPORARY AUTHORITIES ILLUSTRATIVE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE SECOND CENTURY. The works from wliicli the following extracts are taken are, with one exception, the undoubted pro- ductions of the second century. That exception is the Apostolical Constitutions, regarding the date of which the most various opinions have been ex- pressed ; we have however the authority of Baron Bunsen for regarding it as, in its original, not its present form, a collection of earlier fragments, made during the second or third centuries in some part of Asia Minor. The translations are those of Whiston, Cruse, and the collaborateurs in the Ante-Nicene Library ; but all have been revised after a careful comparison with lately corrected texts. While some passages have been transcribed with only trifling alterations, others have required considerable modification to make them faithful renderinys of texts which con- 222 ILLUSTEATIVE EXTRACTS. tain the results of modern scholarsliip and of recent discoveries. I. — Church Organisation. 1. The (First) Fjnstle of S. demerit to the Corinthians} 37-44. 37. Let us then, men and brethren, with all energy act the part of soldiers, in His holy com- mandments. Let us consider those who serve under our generals, with what order, obedience, and sub- missiveness they perform the things which are commanded them. All are not prefects, nor com- manders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals. The great cannot exist without the small, nor the small without the great. There is an intermixture in all things, and thence arises mutual profit. Let us take our body for an example. The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet nothing without the head ; yea, the very smallest members of our body are necessary and profitable to the whole body. But all work harmoniously together, and are under one common rule for the preservation of the whole body. ^ For this and the two following passages use has been made of the text of Gebhardt, Harnack, and Zahn. I. S. CLEMENT OF ROME. 223 38. Let our whole body, then, be preserved in Christ Jesus ; and let every one be subject to his neighbour, according to the special gift bestowed upon him. Let the strong not neglect the weak, and let the weak show respect unto the strong. Let the rich man provide for the wants of the poor ; and let the poor man bless God, because He hath given him one by whom his need may be supplied. Let the wise man display his wisdom, not by words, but throuo'h good deeds. Let the humble not bear testimony to himself, but leave witness to be borne to him by another. Let him that is pure in the flesh be pure still, and not boast, knowing that it was another who bestowed on him the gift of continence. Let us consider, then, brethren, of what matter we were made, who and what manner of men we came into the world ; as it were out of the grave and out of darkness. He who made us and fashioned us, brovight us into His world, having prepared His bountiful gifts for us before we were born. Since therefore we receive all things from Him, we ought in everything to give Him thanks ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 39. Foolish and inconsiderate men, who have neither wisdom nor instruction, mock and deride us, being eager to exalt themselves in their own conceits. For what can a mortal man do ? or what strenoth is there in one made out of the dust ? For 224 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS. it is written, " There was no shape before mine eyes, only I heard a sound, and a voice saying, What then ? shall a man be pure before the Lord ? or shall such a one be without fault in his deeds, seeing He does not confide in His servants, and has charged even His angels with perversity? Heaven is not clean in His sight ; how much less they that dwell in houses of clay, of which also we ourselves were made ! He. smote them as a moth, and from morn- ing even until evening they endure not. Because they could furnish no assistance to themselves, they perished. He breathed upon them, and they died, because they had no wisdom. But call now, if any will answer thee, or if so be thou shalt see any of the holy angels ; for wrath destroys the foolish man, and envy killeth him that is in error. I have seen the foolish taking root, but their habita- tion was presently consumed. Let their sons be far from safety ; let them be despised before the gates of those less than themselves, and there shall be none to deliver. For what was prepared for them shall the righteous eat ; and they themselves shall not be delivered from evil." 40. These things therefore being manifest to us, and since we look into the depths of the divine knowledge, it behoves us to do in order all things which the Lord has commanded us to perform at stated times. He has enjoined offerings and service I. S. CLEMENT OF ROME. 225 to be rendered, and that not thoughtlessly or irregu- larly, but at the appointed times and hours. Where and by whom He desires these things to be done, He Himself has fixed by His own supreme will, in order that all things, being piously done, according to His good pleasure, may be acceptable to His will. Those, therefore, who present their offerings at the appointed time are acceptable and blessed ; for inas- much as they follow the laws of the Lord, they sin not. Tor his own peculiar services are assigned to the High Priest, and their own proper place is pre- scribed to the priests, and their own special minis- trations devolve on the Levites. The layman is Ijound by the laws that pertain to laymen. 41, Let every one of you, brethren, give thanks to God in his own order, living in all good con- science, with becoming gravity, and not going beyond the defined rule of service. Not in every place, brethren, are the daily sacrifices offered, or tlie free- will-offerings, or the sin-offerings, and the trespass- offerings, but in Jerusalem only. And even there they are not offered in every place, but only at the altar before the temple, that which is offered being first carefully examined by the High Priest and the ministers already mentioned. Those, therefore, who do anything beyond that which is agreeable to His will, are punished witli death. Consider, brethren ; the greater the knowledge that has been vouchsafed P 226 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS. to US, the greater also is the danger to which we are exposed.- 42. The apostles preached the gospel to us by command of the Lord ; Jesus Christ was sent forth by God. So as Christ was sent forth by God, so were the apostles by Christ. Both these appoint- ments, then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God. Having therefore received their commands, and being fully assured by the resurrec- tion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed their first-fruits, first approving them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place, " I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith" (Is. Ix. 17). 43. And what wonder is it if those in Christ who were intrusted with such a duty by God, appointed those ministers before mentioned, when the blessed Moses also, " a faithful servant in all His house," signified in the sacred books all the in- junctions which were given him, and when the other prophets also followed him, bearing witness with I. S. CLEMENT OF ROME. 227 one consent to the ordinances which he had appointed ? For when rivahy arose concerning the priesthood, and the tribes were contending among themselves as to which should be adorned with that glorious office, he commanded the twelve princes of the tribes to bring unto him rods, each one being inscribed with the name of the tribe. And he took and bound them and sealed them with the rings of the princes of the tribes, and laid them up in the tabernacle of witness on the table of God. And when he had shut the tabernacle, he sealed the keys, as he had done the rods, and said to them, "Men and brethren, the tribe whose rod shall blossom has God chosen to fullil the office of the priesthood, and to serve Him." And when the morning was come, he assembled all Israel, six hundred thousand men, and showed the seals to the princes of the tribes, and opened the tabernacle of witness and brought forth the rods. And the rod of Aaron was found not only to have blossomed, but to have fruit on it. What think ye, beloved? Did not Moses know beforehand that this would happen ? Un- doubtedly he knew ; but he acted thus that there might be no sedition in Israel, and that tlie name of the true and only God might be glorified; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 44. Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife about the 228 ILLUSTRxVTIVE EXTRACTS. office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, since they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those whom we have already mentioned, and have afterwards given permanence ^ to the office, that if these sliould fall asleep, other approved men should succeed to tlieir ministry. Those therefore who were appointed by them, or afterwards by other eminent men, with the consent of the whole Church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of Christ with humility, quietly and unassumingly, with the witness of all for a long time, — such men, Ave are of opinion, cannot be justly dismissed from their ministry. For our sin will not be small if we eject from the episcopate those who have blamelessly and holily proffered the gifts. Blessed are those presbyters who, having already finished their course, have obtained a fruitful and perfect release ; for they have no fear of any one depriving them of the place provided for them , For we see that you have removed some men of excellent behaviour from the ministry which they blamelessly fulfilled. 2. The Epistle of S. Ignatius, BisJiop of Antioch, to the TTcdlians, according to the short Greek Recension. Ignatius, who is also called Theojjhorus, to the holy Church which is at Tralles in Asia, beloved of God, the Father of Jesus Christ, elect and God- ^ Head iTriiJ.ov7']v. — Lightfoot. II. S. IGNATIUS. 229 worthy, at peace in body and spirit tlirougli the pas- sion of Jesus Christ, who is our hope in rising again to Him ; which also I salute in the fulness, in the style of an apostle, and pray that ye may joy abundantly. 1. I knew that you patiently keep a blameless and sincere mind, not from habit, but by nature, as Polybius, your bishop, has shown me, who was with me at Smyrna by the will of God and of Jesus Christ, and so rejoiced with me who am bound in Jesus Christ that I beheld the whole multitude of you in him. When therefore I had received, by God's favour, your good-will through him, I gave glory when I found that you were, as I knew, followers of God. 2. For since ye are subject to your bishop, as to Jesus Christ, ye seem to me to live not according to men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died on our account, that ye having faith in His death, may escape from dying. It is therefore necessary (as ye indeed do) that ye, without your bishop, should do nothing; but be subject also to the presbytery as to the apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope, in whom we shall be found continuing. It is also needful that those who are deacons of the mysteries of Jesus Christ should conciliate all in every way, for they are not ministers [deacons] of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God : it is fitting therefore that they should guard against complaints as against fire. 230 ILLUSTEATIVE EXTRACTS. 3. Similarly, let all reverence tlie deacons as Jesus Christ, as also the bishop, who is a type of the Father, and the presbyters as a Sanhedrin of God and as a band of apostles : without these there is no Church. Touching this I am persuaded that you are going on thus ; for I have received and keep by me the sample of your love in your bishop, whose very mien is a great lesson, and his gentleness a power, whom I believe even the godless reverence. Since I love you, I refrain from writing more strongly, although I am able. I do not think [of myself] so highly that, when under sentence, I should lay my commands on you like an apostle. 4. I aspire greatly, in God ; but I take my own measure lest I should perish through boasting. For it is now needful for me to fear greatly, and to give no heed to those who puff me up ; for they that speak to me scourge me. For I long to suffer, but I do not know if I am worthy. For this long- ing is not apparent to many, but me it assails all the more ; therefore I need meekness, with which the prince of this world is overthrown. 5. Am I not able to write to you of heavenly things ? But I fear lest I should offend you who are babes : and bear with me, lest not having been able to receive it, ye should be choked. For though I am bound, and though I am able to understand heavenly things, and the stations of the angels and II. S. IGNATIUS. 231 the gatherings of powers, things visible and invisible, I am not on that account already a [finished] scholar : for many things are lacking to lis in order that we may not lack God. 6. I beseech you therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, to use the Christian nourishment only, and keep from all food of another sort, which is heresy. They, with baneful plausibility, interweave Jesus Christ with themselves, as if they gave a deadly drug with sweet wine, which the ignorant man takes readily, with sorry pleasure — to his death. 7. Be on your guard therefore against such per- sons : and this will be the case with you, if you are not puffed up, and are inseparate from [our] God Jesus Christ, and from your bishop, and from the ordinances of the apostles. He who is within the altar is pure : that is to say, he who does anything apart from bishop and presbytery and deacon, — such an one is not pure in his conscience. 8. Not that I have known of anything of this sort among you, but I warn you, who are my beloved ones, beforehand, since I foresee the snares of the devil. Wherefore taking to you the spirit of meek- ness, renew yourselves with faith, which is the Lord's flesh, and with love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ. Let none of you have a grudge against his neidibour. Give no occasions to the heathen. 232 ILLUSTEATIVE EXTEACTS. lest the multitude in God should be evil spoken of through a few foolish men. " Woe to him by whose vanity my name is blasphemed among any." 9. Stop your ears therefore whenever any one speaks to you at variance w^ith Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David, the son of Mary, who was truly born, and did eat and drink, was of a truth per- secuted under Pontius Pilate, and of a truth crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth. Who was also of a truth raised from the dead, His Pather having raised Him up, according to whose likeness, too, His Father will in Christ Jesus raise up us who have faith in Him, without whom we have no true life. 10. But if, as some that are godless, that is without faith, say, that He only seemed to suffer, who are themselves mere seeming, why am I bound ? and why am I eager to fight with beasts ? In vain then do I die ; and I am then guilty of falsehood about my Lord. 11. Flee then those evil off-shoots which bear deadly fruit, whereof, if any one tastes, he instantly dies : for these are not the planting of the Father. For if they were, they would appear to be branches of the cross, and their fruit would be incorruptible. ]]y it He calls through His passion to you who are His members, for the head cannot be born without ir. S. IGNATIUS. 233 the limbs since God has proclaimed their oneness, and that He is Himself. 12. I salute you from Smyrna, along with the churches of God which are with me, who have refreshed me in all things, both in body and soul. My bonds exhort you, which I bear for the sake of Jesus Christ, praying that I may attain to God. Continue in your unity of mind, and in prayer with each other, for it becomes every one of you, and especially your presbyters, to refresh your bishop to the honour of the Father of Jesus Christ and of the apostles. I beseech you to hear me in love, so tliat I may not, by having written, be a testimony against you. And do ye also pray for me, who have need of your love, along with the mercy of God, that I may be worthy of the lot for which I am destined, and that 1 may not be found reprobate. 13. The love of the Smyrnseans and Ephesians salutes you. Kemember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria, from which also I am not worthy to be called, being the last of them. Fare ye well in Jesus Christ, being subject to your bishop as to the commandment, and similarly to the presbytery ; and do ye, every man, love each other in sincerity of heart. My spirit is offered for you, not only now, but also when I attain to God, for I am as yet exposed to danger, but the Father is faithful in Christ Jesus to fulfil my petition and yours, in whom may ye be found without blame. 234 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS, 3. The Pastor of Hermas. (Part of Vision iii.) 2. . . . Saying this, she wished to go away. But falling down at her feet, I begged her by the Lord that she would show me the vision which she had promised. And then she again took hold of me by the hand, and raised me, and made me sit on the seat to the left, and she sat on the right ; and lifting up a shining rod, she said to me, "Do you see something great ? " And I said, " Lady, I see nothing." She said to me, " Lo ! do you not see opposite to you a great tower, built upon the waters, of shining square stones ?" Now the tower was built square by those six young men who had come with her. But tens of thousands of men were carrying stones to it ; some dragging them from the depths, others removing them from the land, and they handed them to these six young men. They were taking them and building ; and those of the stones that were dragged out of the depths they placed in the building just as they were, for they were polished and fitted exactly into the other stones, and became so united one with another that the lines of juncture could not bo perceived. And tlie building of the tower looked as if it were builded out of one stone. The young III. THE PASTOR OF HERMAS. 235 men rejected some of the other stones which were brought from the dry land, some they fitted into the building, and some they cut down, and cast far away from the tower. Many other stones, however, lay around the tower, and they did not use them in building ; for some of them were mouldering, others had cracks in them, others had been made too short, and others were white and round, but did not fit into the building of the tower. Moreover, I saw other stones thrown far away from the tower, and falling into the public road ; yet they did not remain on the road, but were rolled into a pathless place. And I saw others falling into the fire and burning, others falling close to the water, and yet not capable of being rolled into the water, though they wished to be rolled down, and to enter the water. 3. On showing me these visions she wished to retire. I said to her, " I.ady, what is the use of my having seen all this while I do not know what it means ?" She said to me, " You are a clever fellow, wishing to know everything that relates to the tower." " Even so. Lady," said I, " that I may tell it to my brethren, and that they may be made merry, and, hearing this, they may know the Lord in much glory." 236 ILLUSTRATR'E EXTEACTS. And she said, " ^Nlaiiy indeed shall hear, and hearing, some shall be glad, and some shall weep. But even these, if they hear and repent, shall also rejoice. Hear, then, the parables of the tower ; for I will reveal all to you, and give me no more trouble in regard to revelation, for these revelations have an end, for they have been completed. But you will not cease praying for revelations, for you are shame- less. The tower which you see building is myself, the Church, who have appeared to you now and on the former occasion. Ask, then, whatever you like in regard to the tower, and I will reveal it to you, that you may rejoice with the saints." I said unto her, " Lady, since you have vouch- safed to reveal all to me this once, reveal it." She said to me, " Whatsoever may be revealed will be revealed ; only let your heart be with God, and doubt not whatsoever you shall see." I asked her, " Why was the tower built upon the waters, Lady ? " She answered, " I told you before, and you still inquire carefully, therefore inquiring you shall find the truth. Hear then why the tower is built upon the waters. It is because your life has been, and will be, saved through water. For the tower was founded on the word of the almighty and glorious Name, and it is ruled by the invisible power of the Lord." in. THE PASTOR OF HER MAS. 237 4. In reply I said to her, " Lady, this is great and marvellous. But who are the six young men who are engaged in building. Lady ?" " These are the holy angels of God, who were first created, and to whom the Lord handed over His whole creation, that they might increase and build up and rule over the whole creation. By these will the building of the tower be finished." " But who are the others who are engaged in carrying the stones ?" " These also are holy angels of the Lord, but the former six are more excellent than these. The building of the tower will be finished, and all will rejoice together around the tower, and they will glorify God, because the building of the tower is finished." I asked her, saying, " Lady, I should like to know what became of the stones, and their nature of what sort it is ?" In reply she said to me, " Not because you are more deserving than all others that this revelation should be made to you — for there are others before you, and better than you, to whom these visions should have been revealed — but that the name of God may be glorified has the revelation been made to you ; and it will be made on account of the doubtful who ponder in their hearts whether these things are- or not. Tell them that all these things 238 ILLUSTEATIVE EXTRACTS. are true, and that none of tliem is beyond the truth, but all are firm and sure, and established on a strong foundation. 5. " Hear now with regard to the stones which are in the building. Those square white stones which fitted exactly into each other are apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons, w^ho have lived in godly reverence, and have acted as bishops and teachers and deacons chastely and reverently to the elect of God. Some of them have fallen asleep, and some still remain alive. And they have always agreed witli each other, and been at peace among themselves, and listened to each other. On account of this, their fittings join exactly into the building of the tower." " But who are the stones that were dragged from the depths, and which were laid into the building and fitted in with the rest of the stones previously placed in the tower ?" " They are those who suffered for the Lord's name's sake." " But I wash to know. Lady, who are the other stones which were carried from the land ? " " Those," she said, " which go into the building without being polished, are those whom the Lord has approved, for they walked in the straight ways of the Lord, and practised His commandments." " But who are those who are in the act of beinij brought and placed in the building ?" III. THE PASTOR OF HERMAS. 239 " They are those who are young in faith, and are faithful But they are admonished by the angels to do good, for iniquity was found in them." " Who then are those whom they rejected and cast away ?" " These are they who have sinned and wished to repent. On this account they have not been thrown far from the tower, because they will yet be useful in the building, if they repent. Those then who are to repent, if they do repent, will be strong in faith, if they now repent while the tower is building. But if the building be finished, they no longer find a place, but will be rejected. Yet this privilege only have they, to lie beside the tower. 6. " As to those who were cut down and thrown far away from the tower, do you wish to know who they are ? They are the sons of iniquity, and they believed in hypocrisy, and wickedness did not depart from them. For this reason they are not saved, since they cannot be used in the building on account of their iniquities. Wherefore they have been cut off and cast far away on account of the anger of the Lord, for they have roused Him to anger. But I shall explain to you the other stones which you saw lying in great numbers, and not going into the building. Those which are mouldering are those who have known the truth and not remained 240 ILLUSTEATIVE EXTRACTS. in it, nor have they been joined to the saints. On this account are they unfit for use." " AVho are those that have cracks ?" "These are they who are at discord in their hearts one with another, and are not at peace amongst themselves ; they indeed keep peace before each other, but when they separate one from the other, their wicked thoughts remain in their hearts. These, then, are the Cracks which are in the stones. But those which are shortened are those who have indeed believed, and have the larger share of right- eousness ; yet they have also a considerable share of iniquity, and therefore they are shortened and not whole." " But who are these. Lady, that are white and round, and yet do not fit into the building of the tower ? " She answered and said, " How long will you be foolish and stupid, and continue to put every kind of question and understand nothing ? These are those who have faith indeed, but they have also the riches of this world. When, therefore, tribulation comes, on account of their riches and business they deny their Lord." I answered and said to her, " When, then, M'ill they be useful for the building, Lady ? " " When the riches that now seduce them have been circumscribed, then will they be of use to God. III. THE PASTOR OF HERMAS. 241 For as a round stone cannot become square unless portions be cut off and cast away, so also those who are rich in tliis world cannot be useful to the Lord unless their riches be cut down. Learn this first from your own case. When you were rich, you were useless ; but now you are useful and fit for life. Be ye useful to God ; for you also will be used as one of these stones." 7. " Now the other stones which you saw cast far away from the tower, and falling upon the public road, and rolling from it into pathless places, are those who have indeed believed, but through doubt abandon their true road. Thinking then that they could find a better, they wander and become wretched, and enter upon pathless places. But those which fell into the fire and were burned, are those who have departed for ever from the living God; nor does the thought of repentance ever come into their hearts on account of their devotion to their lusts and to the crimes which they committed. Do you wish to know who are the others which fell near the waters, but could not be rolled into them ? These are they who have heard the word, and wish to be baptized in the name of the Lord ; but when the chastity demanded by the truth comes into their recollection, they change their mind, and again walk after their own wicked desires." She finished her exposition of the tower. But I, Q 242 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS, shameless as I yet was, asked her, " Is repentance possible for all those stones which have been cast away and did not fit into the building of the tower, and will they yet have a place in this tower ?" " Eepentance," said she, " is yet possible, but in this tower they cannot find a suitable place. But in another and much inferior place they will be laid, and that, too, only when they have been tortured and completed the days of their sins. And on this account will they be transferred, because they have partaken of the righteous word. And then only will they be removed from their tortures if the evil deeds which they have done come into their hearts. But if these do not come into their hearts they will not be saved on account of the hardness of their heart." 8. When then I ceased asking in regard to all these matters, she said to me, " Do you wish to see anything else ? " And as I was extremely eager to see something more my countenance beamed with joy. She looked towards me with a smile and said, " Do you see seven women around the tower ? " " I do, Lady," said I. " This tower," said she, " is supported by them according to the precept of the Lord. Listen now to their functions. The first of them, who is clasp- ing her hands, is called Faith. Through her the III. THE PASTOR OF HERMAS. 243 elect of God are saved ; but that other, who is girded and acts with vigour, is called Self-restraint, she is the daughter of Faith. Whoever then follows her becomes happy in his life, because he will restrain himself from all evil works, believing that, if he restrain himself from all evil desire, he will inherit eternal life." " But the others, Lady, who are they ?" " They are daughters of each other. One of them is called Simplicity, another Knowledge, another Guilelessness, another Reverence, another Love, When then you do all the works of their mother, you will be able to live." " I should like to know," said I, " Lady, what power each one of them possesses." " Hear," she said, " what power they have. Their powers are regulated by each other, and follow each other in the order of their birth. For from Faith arises Self-restraint ; from Self-restraint, Simplicity ; from Simplicity, Guilelessness ; from Guilelessness, Eeverence ; from Eeverence, Knowledge ; and from Knowledge, Love. The deeds, then, of these are pure, and reverent, and divine. Whoever devotes himself to these, and is able to hold fast by their works, shall have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God." Then I asked her in regard to the seasons, if now there is an end. She cried out with a loud voice. 244 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTEACTS. saying, " Foolish man ! do you not see the tower yet building ? When the tower is finished and built, then comes the end, and it will be soon finished. Ask me no more questions. Let you and all the saints be content with what I have called to your remembrance, and with my renewal of your spirits. But it is not for your own sake only that these revelations have been made to you, but that you may show them to all. For after three days — this you will take care to remember — I command you, Hermas, to speak all the words which I am to say to you into the ears of the saints, that hearing them and doing them, they may be cleansed from their iniquities, and you along with them." II.— Christian Eites. 4. The Conclusion of the First Apology of Justin Martyr} 61. And we shall also describe the manner in which we who have been renewed through Christ, dedicated ourselves to God, lest if we omitted this we might seem to be at fault in our narration. As many as are persuaded and believe that what is taught and declared by us is true, and engage that they are able to live accordingly, are taught to fast and pray and entreat God for the remission of their ^ From the text edited by Dr. Otto of Jena. IV. JUSTIN MARTYR. 245 past sins, while we fast and pray along with them. Then they are led by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the manner of regeneration in which we also were ourselves regenerated : for they then receive the washing of water in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost. For Christ also said : " Except ye be regenerated ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." For it is clear to all that those who have once been born cannot enter their mothers' wombs. How those who though they have sinned are penitent may escape their sins is, as we have written above, declared by Isaiah the prophet. He has spoken thus : " Wash ye, be clean, put away your iniquities from your souls, learn to do well, judge the fatherless and plead for the widow, and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord, for even though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as wool, and though they be as crimson, I will make them white like snow. But if ye will not hearken, the sword shall devour you ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." For this, we have also learned from the apostles this reason : as in our first birth we were generated without our knowledge or choice by the intercourse of our parents, and have been reared in depraved habits and evil training; so, that we should not remain 246 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS. the children of compulsion and ignorance, but of choice and knowledge, and should obtain in the water remission of the sins we have committed in times past, the name of " God the Father and Lord of all " is pronounced over him who wishes to be regenerated and repents of his sins : he who leads the person that is to be washed to the laver pronounces only this, for no one can utter a name for the God whom none can name, and if any shall dare to say he can, he raves with incurable madness; this washing is termed illumination, since they who learn these things have their understanding enlightened. Also in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who foretold through the prophets all things about Jesus, is he washed who is enlightened. 65. But when we have thus washed him who is convinced and assents, we lead him to those who are called brethren, where they are gathered together, and make, in common, earnest jaetitions for ourselves and for him who has been enlightened, and for all men everywhere, [praying] that we who have learned the truth may be counted worthy, and that we may be found by our works to be good citizens and guardians of that which is enjoined on us, so that we may be saved with an eternal salvation. When we end the prayers we greet each other with a kiss. Then bread is brought to the president of the IV, JUSTIN MARTYR. 247 brethren, and a cup of water and wine mingled ; and when he has taken them, he renders praise and glory- to the Father of all, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and makes a giving of thanks {ev-xapiaria) at some length for our being deemed worthy of these things at his hands. But when he has finished the prayers and the giving of thanks, every one of the people who are present respond by saying Amen : and Amen in the Hebrew tongue signifies. So be it. And when the president has ended the giving of thanks, and all the people have re- sponded, those whom we call deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine and water, over which the thanksgiving was pro- nounced {tov €V')(apL !• += H f5 > - ^ iff S S'^t^ 2 130 k'^ .d «4-( -M Antoninus K* -(i V © "o Pius. 140 3 "^ ^ .^ of Marcion, fl. o .-■ C J? ■*^ Montanus, fl. o >> 150 O Pi Justin, m. Anicetus, ^' S5 160 »■ M. Aurelius. 170 MelitoofSardis. Poly carp, m, Pothinus, m. ycarp. M lagoras. enseus' car Com modus. 180 Athenagoras. Hegesippus. of Pol Athei and Ir Polycrates, fl. Q ^ X 190 ^1§^ Severus. TertuUian, fl. Victor. c5 Ph ^ ? 200 Irenajus, fl, Zephyrinus. INDEX. Aaron, 25, 50, 227. Abraham, 157. Acts, Apocryphal, 19. Acts of the Apostles, 16, 41, 44, 46, 57, 75, 113, 114, 119, 134, 136. Adam, 160. Aelia, 116. Alexander, 287. Alexandria, 11, 28, 87, 92, 94, 113, 116, 131, 209. Ananias, 44, 186. Anatolius, 205. - Anicetus, 206. Antioch, 11, 91, 105, 228. Apocalypse, 16, 49, 51, 52, 55, 57, 64, 65, 76, 85, 90, 99, 128. Apollinaris, 208. Apostles, 32, 42, 57, 80, 120, 122, 125, 132, 133, 185, 226, 227, 229, 231, 238, 248. Apostolical Constitutions, 16, 81, 195, 221, 251. Ascension, 39, 258. Asia, 13, 18, 27, 47, 52, 55, 62, 64, 78, 82, 85, 100, 106, 108, 114, 121, 123, 129, 180, 195, 208, 221, 228, 250, 273. Athanasian Creed, 183. Athenagoras, 162, 179. Attains, 277, 285, 288. Augustus, 128. Aurelius, M., 144, 286. Baptism, 35, 37, 42, 55, 63, 67, 109, 182, 210, 246. Bar Cocliab, 29, 90. S. Barnabas, 105, 120. S. Barnabas, Epistle of, 17, 65, 67, 87, 94, 97. Baronius, 7. Banr, 3, 5, 11, 62, 87, 140, 153, 155. Bellermann, 79. Berkeley, 87. Biblias, 280. Bishops. See Episcopate. Bithynia, 142. Blandina, 277, 285, 288. Boehme, 87. Bunsen, 87, 196, 221. Butler, 156. Cain, 156. Canon of Scripture, 14, 145. Catechumens, 175, 256. Cerinth, 95, 99, 103, 123. ChronicoQi Paschale, 208. Clarke, 88. Clement, of Alexandria, 9, 87, 124. S. Clement of Rome, 81, 217. Epistle of, 17, 65, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 113, 124, 222. Clementines, 19, 74, 95, 113, 160, 175. Cleopas, 253. Colosse, 57, 105, 122. 296 INDEX. Colossians, Epistle to the, 56, 57, 65, 101. Congregationalism, 135. Consciousness, Christian, 12, 35, 48, 121, 134, 136, 146, 167, 172. Corinth, 72, 77, 78, 105, 133, 182, 272. Corinthians, S. Paul's Epistles to the, 61, 112, 115, 120, 163. S. ClemenVs. See S. Clement. Councils, 101, 102, 132, 134, 144, 145, 163, 180. See also Jerusalem, Laodicea. Courts Christian, 182. Crete, 105. Cruse, 221 . Custom of the Church, 147, 167, 168, 171, 181, 210, 218. Daniel, 49, 53. David, 24, 25, 103, 232. Deacons, 44, 74, 81, 119, 126, 210, 226, 229, 238. Demetrius, 141. Deuteronomy, 161. Diocletian, 112. Diognetus, E2nstle to, 72. Drake, 72. Dressel, 80. Drummond, 28, 30. Easter, 194, 204, 206, 207, 254. Ebionitism, 19, 86, 91, 94, 97, 103, 122, 127, 139, 215. Elijah, 161. Epaphroditiis, 120. Epaphras, 105. Ephesians, Ejnstle to the, 56, 65, 77. Ephesus, 17, 85, 90, 105, 120, 129, 138, 233. Epiphanius, 95, 164, 196, 255. Epiphany, 251. Episcopate, Civic, 77, 81, 106, 113, 121, 125, 130, 145, 165, 180, 184, 210, 226, 281. Viceregal, 46, 52, 74, 113, 115, 123, 130, 229, 230, 231, 238. Erastus, 38. Essenes, 27, 93, 94. Eucharist, 60, 70, 72, 109, 177, 247. Eunuch, Ethiopian, 174. Eusebius, 15, 18, 95, 100, 115, 144, 145, 191, 273. Ewald, 32. Exodus, 50. Ezekiel, 49, 53. FiCHTE, 87. France, 23. Gaius, 95, 272. Galatia, 91, 114, 120. Galatians, Epistle to the, 45, 114, 134. Gallic, 141. Garucci, 80. de Gebhardt, 0., 18, 222, 259. Gentiles, 32, 43, 44, 46, 90, 136, 254. Germanicus, 261. Gnosticism, 86 seq., 215. Gospels, Apocryphal, 18, 19. Synoptic, 16, 33, 34, 41, 47, 57, 59 seq., 188 seq. Greek Civilisation, 104, 128. Hadrian, 113, 143, 250. Hamilton, 159. Harnack, 18, 222. Hebrews, Epistle to the, 16, 51, 52, 54, 58. Hegel, 5, 87. Hegesippus, 115. Heinichcn, 273. Herod, 26. of Smyrna, 263, 269, 272. Hierapolis, 208. INDEX. 207 Hilgenfeld, 158, 193. Hippolytus, 9, 95, 125, 153, 158, 186, 205. Holy Office, 172. S. Ignatius, 142, 228. Epistles of, 17, 71, 72, 73, 76, 78, 79, 113, 125. Innes, Alexander Taylor, 40. Irenreus, 9, 71, 95, 153, 162, 207, 210, 272. Isaiah, 50, 78, 226, 245. Israel, 8, 24, 27, 30, 32, 42, 51, 54, 61, 227. S. James the Just, 45, 63, 74, 91, 114, 116, 119, 184. S. James, Epistle of, 16, 48, 57. S. Januarius, 80. Jeremiah, 24, 161. Jerusalem, 11, 31, 37, 41, 45, 47, 52, 57, 61, 63, 72, 73, 74, 92, 114, 116, 118, 121, 132, 204, 225. New, 49. Council of, 43, 44, 132, 134. Jesus of Nazareth, 8, 24, 33, 34, 42, 50, 54, 61, 63, 74, 89, 91, 94, 95, 97, 105, 174, 214, 223, 226, 227, 228 seq., 245 seq., 259, 267, 273, 282. doings of, 39, 48, 187 seq., 249, 251 seq. teaching of, 32, 36, 58 seq., 165, 169, 245. Jewish Christianity, 91, 136, 198. Church, 24, 26. Jews, 27, 30, 45, 51, 52, 58, 61, 07, 68, 71, 89 seq., 103, 136, 141, 156, 174, 189, 198, 205, 254, 267, 270. S. John the Baptist, 34. S. John the Evangelist, 42, 47, 100, 106, 120, 123, 197, 202, 206. S. John, Gospel of 17, 35, 36, 40, 58, 87,100,138, 188 5eg., 252. Judaisers, 6, 90, 127, 129, 139. Judaism, 94, 102, 127, 200, 211, 215. Judas Maccabceus, 103. Julian, 112. Justin Martyr, 66, 68, 69, 73, 76, 111, 112, 131, 143, 154, 162, 164, 177, 179, 244. Keim, 28. Kirk Sessions, 182. Laodicea, 101. 102, 194, 205, 208. Law, 25, 27, 45, 48, 92, 93, 94, 97, 102, 137, 190, 213. Le Bas, 129. Lent, 206, 251. Leo, 217. Levites, 25, 211, 225. Leviticus, 50. Lightfoot, Bishop, 28, 45, 102, 113, 116, 119, 122, 125, 228. S. Luke, Gospel of, 36, 252. Lyons, 18, 273, 281. Lystra, 105. Magnesians, Epistle to the, 74. Manasseh, 24. Mansel, 159. Marcion, 87, 153, 159, 166, 173, 216. Marcionites, 41, 161, 176, 180, 215. S. Mark, Gospel of, 25, 34. S. Mary Magdalene, 253. Mary, the mother of James, 253. S. Mary the Virgin, 232. Mary Tudor, 144. Maturus, 277, 284. S. Mattheio, Gospel of, 32, 34, 35, 38, 40, 54, 59, 138, 161, 169. Melito of Sardis, 144, 161, 167, 172, 194, 208. Merivale, 129. 298 INDEX. Messiah, 25, 29, 32, 34, 42, 52, 59, 89, 174. Minucius Felix, 180. Fiintlauns, 250. Montanism, 86, 145, ISO, 183, 196, 215. Montainis, 100 seq., 173, 216. More, 87. Moses, 226, 258. Mitliras, 248. Naples, 79. Natlianael, 60. Nazarenes, 92, 103. Neauder, 6, 11, 143. Nehemiah, 103. Nero, 142, 143, 147. Nicetas, 263, 269. Nicodemiis, 60. Nicolaituns, 122. Noah, 68, 157, 160. Novatianism, 86. Olshausen, 38. Origen, 175, 176, 180. Otto, 244. Overbeck, 138, 139. Palestine, 239. Papias, 65. Paschal Lamb, 61, 188, 201. Passover, 61, 188 seg., 251. Pastor of Hermas, 17, 65, 67, 78, 79, 124, 179, 235. S. Paul, 31, 42, 46, 47, 55, 58, 90, 105, 106, 112, 136, 165, 201, 216. Epistles of, 16, 55, 58, 67, 106, 113, 120. Pella, 115. Pentecost, 37, 42, 57, 131, 214, 258. Pergamos, 85, 277. S. Peter, 37, 38, 42, 44, 74, 106, 183, 252. S. Peter, First Einstle of, 16, 53, 57, 64, 67, 113. Pharisees, 32, 91, 165, 190. Philemo7i, Epistle to, 57. Philadelphia, 85. S. Philip, 174, 202. Philip the Trallian, 266. Philippi, 76, 77, 120. PhilijJjnans, Epistle of S. Paul to the, 120. Philomelium, 259. PMlochristus, 30. Phrygia, 105, 114, 120, 129, 261, 273, 287. Pilate, 232, 246, 256. Pionius, 193, 272. Platonism, 96. Pliny, 142. Plotimis, 88. Polybius, 229. S. Polycarp, 77, 126, 147, 192, 206. Epistle of, 17, 76, 79. Epistle to, 72. Martyrdom of, 71, 76, 169, 191, 259. Polycrates, 145, 208. Ponticus, 288. Pontus, 154, 159. Pothmus, 281. Presbyters, 46, 55, 74, 75, 78, 81, 106, 115, 118, 120, 121, 125, 126, 183, 184, 210, 228, 229, 231, 233. Presbyterianism, 88, 135, 172. Priestley, 88. Prophets, Hebrew, 25, 256. in the Church, 167 seq. QUARTO-DECIMAN, 62, 186 seq., 255. Quintus, 169, 261. Rationalism, 88. Resurrection, 39, 48, 186 seq., 211, 259. INDEX. 299 Ritschl, 5, 44, 79, 119, 161, 165. Romans, 32, 36, 104, 110, 12S. Romans, Epistle to the, 114. Eome, 11, 69, 77, 78, 80, 122, 124, 201, 205, 200. Rothe, 25, 32, 38, 132, 175, 179. Routli, 65. Sadducees, 31. Sagaris, 208. Samaria, 60. Samuel, First Book of, 25. Sauctus, 278, 284. Sanday, 158. Sanhedrin, 26, 31, 38, 45, 74, 230. Sardis, 144, 167, 172, 208. Satan, 51, 61, 103, 261, 276. Schwegler, 5, 167. Scythia, 116. Sereuius Granianus, 250. Sergilius Paulus, 208. Sidon, 74. Simon Magus, 44. Smyrna, 79, 191, 193, 229, 233, 259. Smyrnceans, Epistle to the, 74. Solomon, 24, 32, 103. de Soyres, 164, 170. Sozomen, 116. The Spirit of God, 12, 37, 97, 108, 121, 154, 157, 160 seq., 226, 245 seq., 268, 283. Stations, 168, 187, 253, 257. Statins Quadratus, 272. Steitz, 194, 195. Symeon, 115. Syria, 87, 116, 131, 233. Tacitus, 142, 147. Talmud, 28. Tertullian, 9, 124, 153, 16i, 162 seq., 176, 180, 182, 183, 184. Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 92. Timothy, Epistles to, 120, 123. Titus, 105. Trallians, Epistle to the, 73, 228 . Tripolis, 74. Trypho, 66. Trajan, 142. Ueltzen, 251. Valens, 76. Valentin, 87, 96. Vitringa, 38. Waddington, 17, 129. Westcott, 191. de Wette, 138. Winston, 221. Zacharias, 275. Zahn, 18, 192, 222. Zephyrimis, 182, 183, 184. PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MA.IESTY, AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The Influence of Descartes on Meta- physical Speculation in England. ' Mr. Cunningham's treatise on Descartes and English specula- tion is a model in its kind ; it is clear, penetrating, succinct, and trustworthy. . . . Mr. Cunningham writes from the point of view of those who hold that Kant and Hegel have constructed the final transcendental justification for sound common sense. . . . He corrects very happily K. Fischer's attempt to derive all English thinking from Bacon, bringing out the direct relation of Locke and indirect relation of his successors to Descartes.' — Academy. ' Mr. Cunningham has read carefully, and thought much upon the philosophical writings of England and Scotland from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth. . . . His results are well calculated to stimulate thought, as they are certain to interest all independent thinkers.' — Nonconformist. 'Displays a range of reading and an amount of careful thinking which render it deserving of high praise.' — Scotsman. ' An excellent monograph, which shows both powers of thought and a philosophical erudition very unusual in the English meta- physical literature of the present time. . . . An acquaintance with the best German works which treat of his subject is a leading feature.' — {American) yonrnal of Speculative Philosophy. A Dissertation on the Epistle of S. Barnabas : To this are added a Greek Text, the Latin Version, with a new English Translation and Commentary, by G. H. Rendall, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. Donaldson writes : — ' It is with peculiar pleasure that we note among the monographs on Barnabas one from an English scholar. Mr. Cunningham's treatise is a valuable contribution to the discussion of the questions connected with the Epistle of Barnabas. It is well written, and marked by thorough independence, mastery of all requisite know- ledge, and a genuine spirit of investigation. Mr. Kendall's edition of the epistle is also worthy of great praise. The editor shows conspicuous ability in dealing with his authorities and in his selection of readings.' — Theological Review. Dr. Sanday writes : — ' His dissertation is very fairly exhaustive. ... It is clearly and neatly written ; it shows considerable skill in tracing the relations of thought and doctrine, and a laudable desire to hold the balance evenly in the discussion of controverted questions. . . . The two fellow-workers have achieved a success. . . . We wish we could hope that there would be more among us in England who at the same stage in their career could look back upon a like account of work done and well done.' — Academy. 'Very scholarly and complete.' — John Bzill. 'A very useful monograph.' — Church Times. ' A more exhaustive critical performance than this has rarely been produced even in this age of exhaustive criticism.' — Nonconfovjuist. ' Mr. Cunningham has gained distinction among metaphysicians by his essay on "Descartes," and he is no less painstaking and skilful in this discussion of a very different subject. . . . The Greek text has been very carefully edited by Mr. Kendall, whose critical and expository notes are admirable, and add greatly to the value of the work.' — Freeman. Christian Civilisation : with special refere^ice to India, LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO. Jutie, 1880. A Catalogue 0/ Theological Books, Published by MAOMILLAI^ K^V> CO. Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C. Abbott (Rev. E. A.)— Works by the Rev. E. A. ABBOTT, D.D., Head Master of the City of London School : BIBLE LESSONS. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ^.dd. ' ' IVise, suggestive, and really profound initiation into religious thought. " — Guardian. 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"Deserves the most attentive study by all who interest themselves in the predominant religious controversy of the day." — Spectator. REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS, referring to his Early Ministry in the Parish of Row, 1825 — 31. Edited with an Introductory Narrative by his Son, Donald Campbell, M. A., Chaplain of King's College, London. Crown 8vo. ']s. 6d. These ' Rettiiniscences and Reflections, ' written during the last year oJ his life, were mainly intended to place on record thoughts ivhich might prove helpful to others. ' ' We recommend this book cordially to all ivho are inta-ested in the great cause of religious refoj-mation." — Times. " There is a thoroughness and depth, as zvell as a practical earnestness, in his grasp of each truth on which he dilates, 7vhich make his reflections ve>"v valuable." — Literary Churchman. THOUGHTS ON REVELATION, with Special Reference to the Present Time. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ^s. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. 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Clergyman's Self-Examination concerning the APOSTLES' CREED. Extra fcap. 8vo. is. 6d. Colenso.— THE COMMUNION SERVICE FROM THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER; with Select Readings from the Writings of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, M.A. Edited by the Right Rev. J. W. Colenso, D.D., Lord Bishop of Natal. New Edition. i6mo. 2s. 6d. Collects of the Church of England. With a beauti- fully Coloured Floral Design to each Collect, and Illuminated Cover. Crown 8vo. 12s. Also kept in various styles of morocco. The distinctive characteristic of this edition is the coloured floral desigit which accompanies each Collect, and which is generally embletnatical of the character of the day or saint to which it is assigned; the floavers 7vhich have been selected a7-e such as air likely to be in bloom on the day to which the Collect belongs. The Guardian thinks it "a successful attempt to associate in a natural and 7inforced manner the flo^vers of o^tr fields and garde?is with the course of the Christian year." 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The follozving are the subjects of the Five Lectttres : — /. " The Ante- cedent Credibility of the Miraculous." II. " The Adequacy of the Gospel Records." III. " The Victories of Christianity." IV. "Chi-istianityand the Individual." V. " Christianity and the Race." The subjects of tht four Appendices are: — A. " The Diversity of Ch7-istian Evidences." B. "Confucius." C. "Buddha." D. " Comte." SEEKERS AFTER GOD. The Lives of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. "A very interesting and valuable book." — Saturday Review. THE SILENCE AND VOICES OF GOD : University and other Sermons. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. '■'■We can most cordially recommend Dr. Farrar' s singularly beautiful volume of Sermons For beauty of diction, felicity of style, aptness op illustration and earnest loving exhortation, the volume is without its parallel." — John Bull. " They are marked by great ability, by an honestly which does not hesitate to acknowledge difficulties and by an earnestness which commands respect." — Pall Mall Gazette. "IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH." Sermons on Prac- tical Subjects, preached at Marlborough College from 187 1 — 76. Fifth Edition. Crown Svo. gj. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. FARRAR (Rev. F. ^N .)— continued. ''''All Dr. Fari-ars peculiar charm of style is apparent here, all that care and subtleness of analysis, and an even-added distinctness and clear- ness of moral teaching, which is what every kind of sermon wants, and especially a sermon to boys J''' — Literary Churchman. ETERNAL HOPE. Five Sermons preached in Westminster Abbey, in 1876. With Preface, Notes, etc. Contents : What Heaven is. — Is Life Worth Living? — 'Hell,' What it is not. — Are there few that be saved ? — Earthly and Future Consequences of Sin. Seventeenth Thousand. Crown 8vo. 6j. SAINTLY WORKERS. Lenten Lectures delivered in St. Andrew's, Holborn, March and April, 1878. Crown 8vo. 6^. EPHPHATHA ; or the Amehoration of the World. Sermons preached at Westminster Abbey. With Two Sermons at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on the Opening of Parliament. Crown 8vo. 6j-. Fellowship : Letters Addressed to my Sister Mourners. Fcap. 8vo. cloth gilt. 3^-. dd. Ferrar.— A COLLECTION OF FOUR IMPORTANT MSS. OF THE GOSPELS, viz., 13, 69, 124, 346, with a view to prove their common origin, and to restore the Text of their Archetype. By the late W. H. Ferrar, M.A., Professor of Latin in the University of Dublin. Edited by T. K. Abbott, M.A., Professor of Biblical Greek, Dublin. 4to., half morocco. \os. bd. Forbes. — Works by GRANVILLE H. Forbes, Rector of Broughton : THE VOICE OF GOD IN THE PSALMS. Cr. 8vo. ds.iyd. VILLAGE SERMONS. By a Northamptonshire Rector. Crown 8vo. 6j. " Such a volume as the present . . . is as great an accession to the cause of a deep theology as the most refined exposition of its fundamental prin- ciples . . . We heartily accept his actual teaching as a tr^te picture of what revelation teaches us, and thank him for it as one of the most profound that was ever made perfectly simple and popular . ... It is part of the Ivauty of these sa-mons that %vhile they apply the old truth to the nein modes of feeling they seem to preserve the whiteness of its simplicity .... There will be plenty of c7-itics to accuse this volufne of inadequacy 0/ doctHne because it says no more than Scripture about vicarious suffering 12 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. and external retribution. For ourselves ive welcome it most cordially as expressing adequately ivhat we believe to he the true burden of the Gospel in a 7nanner which may take hold either of the least or the ?nost cultivated intellect. " — Spectator. Gaskoin.— CHILDREN'S TREASURY OF BIBLE STORIES. By Mrs. Herman Gaskoin. Edited with Preface by the Rev. G. F. Maclear, D.D. Part I. — Old Testament. i8mo. is. Part II. — New Testament. i8mo. is. Part III. — The Apostles. i8mo. is. Hardwick. — Works by the Ven. Archdeacon Hardwick : CHRIST AND OTHER MASTERS. A Historical Inquiry into some of the Chief Parallelisms and Contrasts between Christ- ianity and the Religious Systems of the Ancient World. New Edition, revised, and a Prefatoiy Memoir by the Rev. FRANCIS Procter, M.A. New Edition. Cr. 8vo. los. 6d. A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Middle Age. From Gregory the Great to the Excommunication of Luther, Edited by William Stubbs, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern Histoiy in the University of Oxford. With Four Maps constructed for this work by A. Keith Johnston. New Edition. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. "As a Manual for the student of ecclesiastical history in the Middle Ages, zve knotv no English work which can be compared to Mr. Haj-dwick' s book. " — Guardian. 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THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 13 Hervey.— THE GENEALOGIES OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, as contained in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, reconciled with each other, and shown to be in harmony with the true Chronology of the Times. By Lord Arthur Hervey, Bishop of Bath and Wells. 8vo. los.dd. Hort. — TWO DISSERTATIONS. I. On monofenhs 0EO2 in Scripture and Tradition. II. On the " Constantinopolitan" Creed and other Eastern Creeds of the Fourth Century. By F. J. A. HORT, D.D., Fellow and Divinity Lecturer of Emmanuel Col- lege, Cambridge. 8vo. "js. 6d. Howson (Dean) — Works by : BEFORE THE TABLE. An Inquiry, Historical and Theo- logical, into the True Meaning of the Consecration Rubric in the Communion Service of the Church of England. By the Very Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D., Dean of Chester. With an Appendix and Supplement containing Papers by the Right Rev. the Bishop of St. Andrew's and the Rev. R. W. Kennion, M.A. 8vo. "js. 6d. THE POSITION OF THE PRIEST DURING CON- SECRATION IN THE English CommunioiN Service. A Supplement and a Reply. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Hughes.— THE MANLINESS OF CHRIST. By Thomas Hughes, Author of "Tom Brown's School Days. " Cr. 8vo. ^.6d. "Mr. Hughes makes no profession of scholarship or a-itical ability, but his pages bear the impress of much careful reading and thoughtful study ; and accordingly although he limits himself in set terms, to the considei ■ ation of the character of Christ in 7vhat he calls its ' manly ' aspect he has given to the world a volume, which so truly, and in some places S9 picturesquely and strikingly, represents the, life of our Lord, that we can only express the hope that it may find its way into the hands of thousands of English ivorking w^«."— Spectator. Hutton.— ESSAYS : THEOLOGICAL and LITERARY. By Richard Hutton, M.A. New and cheaper issue. 2 vols. 8vo. I '6s. Hymni Ecclesiae. — Fcap. 8vo. "js.td. This collection was edited by Dr. Navman while he lived at Oxford, Hyacinthe.— CATHOLIC REFORM. By Father Hy.\cinthe. Letters, Fragments, Discourses. Translated by Madame Hyacinthe-Loyson. With a Preface by the Very Rev. A. P. Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster. Cr, 8vo. is. td. H THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. "A valuable contribution to the religiuus literature of the day, and is especially opportune at a time ivhen a controversy of no ordinary import- ance upon the very subject it deals luiih is engaged in all over Europe." — Daily Telegraph. Imitation of Christ.^FouR Books. Translated from the Latin, with Preface by the Rev. W. Benham, B.D., Vicar of Margate. Printed with Borders in the Ancient Style after Holbein, Diirer, and other Old Masters. Containing Dances of Death, Acts of Mercy, Emblems, and a variety of curious ornamentation. Cr. 8vo. gilt edges. 7^. 6d. Also in Latin, uniform with the above. New Edition. Js.6d. Jacob— BUILDING IN SCIENCE, and other Ser- mons. By J. A. 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" Those who have the leisure will do well to read these two volumes. They are fill of interest, and are the result of great research.''^ — Spec- tator. Kingsley. — Works by the late Rev. Charles Kin(;sley, M. A., Rector of Plversley, and Canon of Westminster : THE WATER OF LIFE, AND OTHER SERMONS. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. KINGSLEY (Rev. Q.\^qx\zs)— continued. THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH ; and David. New Edition. Crown. 8vo. 6^. GOOD NEWS OF GOD. Ninth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6-*-. SERMONS FOR THE TIMES. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j-. VILLAGE AND TOWN AND COUNTRY SERMONS. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j-. SERMONS on NATIONAL SUBJECTS. Second Edition. Fcap. Svo. 3 J. dd. THE KING OF THE EARTH, and other Sermons, a Second Series of Sermons on National Subjects. Second Edition. Fcap. Svo. 3^'. 6d. DISCIPLINE, AND OTHER SERMONS. Second Edition. Fcap. 814D. 3J-. dd. WESTMINSTER SERMONS. With Preface. New Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. Kynaston.— SERMONS PREACHED IN THE COL- LEGE CHAPEL, CHELTENHAM, during the First Year of his Office. By the Rev. Herbert Kynaston, M.A., Princi- pal of Cheltenham College. Crown Svo. 6^-. Lightfoot. — Works by J. B. LiGHTFOOT, D.D., Bishop of Durham. S. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. A Re- vised Text, with Introduction, Notes, and Dissertations. Fifth Edition, revised. Svo. cloth. \zs. While the Author's object has been to make this commentary generally complete, he has paid special attention to e^'erything relating to St. Pants personal history and his inteirourse jvith the Apostles and Church of the Circumcision, as it is this feature in the Epistle to the Galatians ivhich has given it an overwhelming interest in recent theological controz'crsy . 'J'he Spectator says, " There is no commentator at once of sounder judg- ment and more liberal than Dr. Lightfoot. '' ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. A 'Revised Text, with Introduction, Notes, and Dissertations. Fourth Edition, revised. Svo. \2s. "A''c commentary in the English language can be compared with it in regard to fulness of injormation, exact scholarship, atul laboured attempts to settle everything about the epistle on a solid fcmndation. " — Athena;um. i6 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. LIGHTFOOT {i::>x.)— continued. ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS AND TO PHILEMON. A Revised Text with Introduction, Notes, etc. Third Edition, revised. 8vo. lis. ' ' // bears marks of continued and extended reading and research, and of ampler materials at command. Indeed, it leaves nothing to be desired by those who seek to study thoroughly the epistles contained in it, and to do so with all known advantages presented in sufficient detail and in conve- nient form. " — Guardian. S. CLEMENT OF ROME. An Appendix containing the newly discovered portions of the two Epistles to the Corinthians with Introductions and Notes, and a Translation of the whole. 8vo. Zs. 6d. ON A FRESH REVISION OF THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 65. The Author shews in detail the necessity for a fresh rjvision of the authorized version on the following grounds: — i. False Readings. 2. Artificial distinctions created. 3. Real distinctions obliterated. 4. Faults of Grammar. 5. Faults of Lexicography. 6. Treatment of Proper N^ames, official titles, etc. 7. Archaisms, defects in the English, errors of the press, etc. " The book is marked by careful scholarship, fatniliarity with the subject, sobriety, and circtimspection."—KX\\&nx\\m. Lome.— THE PSALMS LITERALLY RENDERED IN VERSE. By the Marquis of Lorne. With three Illustrations. New Edition. Crown Svo. 7^. 6d. Maclaren — SERMONS PREACHED at MANCHESTER. By Alexander Maclaren. Sixth Edition. Fcap. Svo. 4^. 6d. These Sermons represent no special school, but deal with the broad prin- ciples of Christian truth, especially in their bearing on practical, e7>ery-day life. A fe7v of the titles are: — ^^ The Stone of Stumbling," ^^Lo7'e and Forgiveness," "The Living Dead," ^'■Memory in Another World," Faith in Christ," " Love and Fear," ''^ The Choice of Wisdom," "The Food of the World." A SECOND SERIES OF SERMONS. Fourth Edition. Fcap. Svo. 4J. 6d. The Spectator characterises them as "vigorous in style, full of thought, rich in illustration, and in an unusual degree interesting. " A THIRD SERIES OF SERMONS. Third Edition. Fcap. Svo. 4J. bd. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. i7 MACLAREN {A..)— continued. " Sermons more sober and yet more forcible, and with a certain 7vise and practical spirituality about them it would 7iot be easy to find." — Spectator. WEEK-DAY EVENING ADDRESSES. Delivered in Manchester. Extra Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Maclear.— Works by the Rev. G. F. Maclear, D.D., Head Master of King's College School : A CLASS-BOOK OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. With Four Maps. New Edition. i8mo. 4^. 6d. " The present volume," says the Prepuce, ^ 'forms a Class-Book of Old Testament History from the Earliest Times to those of Ezra and NeJie- ntiah. In its prcpa7'ation the most recent authorities have been consulted, and wherever it has appeared useful. Notes have been subjoined illustra- tive of the Text, and, for the sake of more advanced students, references added to larger 7vorks. The Index has beett so arranged as to form a concise Dictionary of the Persons and Places mentioned ijt the course of the Narrative. " The Maps, prepared by Stanford, tnaterially add to the value atid usefulness of the book. The British Quarterly Review fczZ/j it "A careful and elaborate, though Inief compendium of all that modern research has done for the illustration of the Old Testament. We know of no work which contains so much itnportant information in so small a compass." A CLASS-BOOK OF NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY, Including the Connexion of the Old and New Testament. New Edition. i8mo. ^s. 6d. The present volume forms a sequel to the Author s Class-Book ef Old Testament History, and continues the narrative to the close of S. Pauls second imprisonment at Rome. The ivork is divided into three Books — /. llie Connection between the Old and New Testatnent. II. The Gospel History. III. The Apostolic History. In the Appendix are given Chronological Tables. The Clerical Journal says, "It is not often that such an amcntnt of useful and interesting matter on biblical subjects is found in so convenient and small a compass as in this ivell-arranged volume. " A CLASS-BOOK OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH OF England. New and cheaper Edition. iSmo. \s. 6d. The present work is intended as a sequel to the two preceding books. ' ' Like them, it is furnished with notes and references to larger works, and it is hoped that it may be found, especially in the higher forms of our THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. MACLEAR (Dr. G. Y .)— continued. Public Schools, to supply a suitable manual of instruction in the chief doctrines of our Church, and a useful help in the preparation of Can- didates for Confr>?iation." 77;^ Literary Churchman j'^j'J', ^' It is indeed the tvork of a scholar and divine, and as such, though extremely simple, it is also extremely instructive. There are fezu clergy who would not find it useful in preparing Candidates for Confiy-niation ; and there are not a few who would find it useful to themselves as luell. " A FIRST CLASS-BOOK OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, with Scripture Proofs for Junior Classes and Schools. New Edition. i8mo. 6d. This is an epitome of the larger Class-book, ineant for junior students and elementary classes. The book has been carefully condensed, so as to contain clearly and fully, the most important part cf the contents of the larger book. A SHILLING-BOOK of OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. New Edition. i8mo. cloth limp. is. This Alanual bears the same relation to the larger Old Testament His- tory, that the book just tnentioned does to the larger work on the Catechism. It consists of Ten Books, divided into short chapters, and subdivided into sections, each section treating of a single episode in the history, the title of ^ahich is given in bold type. A SHILLING-BOOK of NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. New Edition. i8mo. cloth limp. is. A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION FOR CONFIRMA- TION AND FIRST COMMUNION, with Prayers and Devo- tions. 32mo. cloth extra, red edges. 2s. This is an enlarged and improi'ed edition of ' The Orda- of Confirma- tion.'' To it have been added the Communion Office, ivith Notes and Explanations, together with a brief form of Self Hxamination and De- votions selected from the 70orks of Cosin, Ken, Wilson, and others. THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION, with Prayers and Devotions. 32mo. cloth. 6d. THE FIRST COMMUNION, with Prayers and Devotions for the Newly Confirmed. 32nio. (^d. THE HOUR OF SORROW ; or, The Order for the Burial of the Dead. With Prayers and Hymns. 32mo. cloth e.xtra. 2s. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 19 MACLEAR (Dr. G. Y .)— continued. APOSTLES OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE. Cr. 8vo. 4^.6^/. ' ' Mr. A/iiclear 7cnll have done a great zoork if his admirable little volume shall help to break up the dense ignorance which is still prevailing among people at large." — Literary Churchman. Macmillan.— Works by the Rev. HuGH Macmillan, LL.D. F. R. S. E. (For otlier Works by the same Author, see CATALOGUE OF Travels and Scientific Catalogue). THE TRUE VINE; or, the Analogies of our Lord's Allegory. Third Edition. Globe 8vo. 6^. The Nonconformist says, '■^ It abounds in exquisite bits of description, and in striking facts clearly stated. " The British Quarterly says, ' ' A'eaders and preachers zuJio aj-e unscientifc will fiiui nuiny of his illustrations as ' valuable as they are beautifd. " BIBLE TEACHINGS IN NATURE. Twelfth Edition. Globe 8vo. 6i'. In this volume the author has endeavoured to she7v that the teaching of A^ature and the teaching of the Bible are directed to the same great end ; that the Bible contains the spiritual truths which are necessary to make us wise unto salvation, and the objects and scenes of Nature arc the pictures by ivhich these truths are illustrated. "lie has made the world more beautiful to us, and unsealed our ears to voices of praise and messages of loi'e that might otherwise have been unheard."— Vtxx'd'^ Quarterly Review. "Dr. Macmillan has produced a book which may be fitly described as one of the happiest efforts for enlisting physical science in the direct service oj religion. " — Guardian. THE SABBATH OF THE FIELDS. A Sequel to " Bible Teachings in Nature." Second Edition. Globe 8vo. 6s. " This volume, like all Dr. Macmillan'' s productions, is very delight- ful reading, and of a special kind. Tnagi/zation, natural science, and religious instruction are blended together in a veiy charming way."— British Quarterly Review. THE MINISTRY OF NATURE. Fourth Edition. Globe Svo. 6s. " Whether the reader agree or not with his conclusions, he will ac- knoiuledge he is in the presence of an original and thoughtful "Mriler." — Pall Mall Gazette. " There is no class of educated men and women that •will not profit by these essays." — Standard. OUR LORD'S THREE RAISINGS FROM THE DEAD. Globe Svo. 6s. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Maurice. — Works by the late Rev, F. Denison Maurice, M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cam- bridge : The Spectator says, — '■^Feiu of those of our 07un generation whose names 7vill live in English history or literature have exerted so profound and so permanent an influence as Mr. Maui'ice." THE PATRIARCHS AND LAWGIVERS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Third and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 5J-. The Nineteen Discourses contained in this volume were pi-eachcd in the chapel of Lincoln^ s Inn during the year 1851. 77/,? texts are taken from the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, foshua. Judges, and Samuel, and involve some of the most interesting biblical topics dis- cussed in recent times. THE PROPHETS AND KINGS OF THE OLD TES- TAMENT. New Edition. Crown 8vo. los. bd. Mr. Maurice, in the spirit ivhich ani^nated the compilers of the Church Lessons, has in these Sermons regarded the Prophets tnore as preachers of righteousness than as mere predictors — an aspect of their lives which, he thinks, has been greatly overlooked in our day, and than which, there is none we have more need to contemplate. He has foutid that the Old Testament Prophets, taken in their simple natural sense, clear up many of the difficulties tvhich beset us in the daily work of lije ; make the past intelligible, the present endurable, and the future real a7id hopeful. THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. A Series of Lectures on the Gospel of St. Luke. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 9^'. Mr. Maurice, in his Preface to these Twenty-eight lectures, says, — "/a; these Lectures I have endeavoured to asca'tain what is told us respect- ing the life of Jesus by one of those Evangelists who proclaim Him to be the Christ, who says that He did comef-om a Father, that He did baptize zvith the Holy Spirit, that He did rise from the dead. I have chosen the one who is most directly connected with the later history oj the Church, 7uho tvas 7iot an Apostle, ivho professedly ivrote for the use of a num. already instructed in the faith of the Apostles. I have follaived the coiirse ef the writer's narrative, not changing it under any pretext. I have adhered to his phraseology, striving to avoid the substitiition of any other for his:' THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. A Series of Discourses. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 21 MAURICE (Rev. F. Ti.)— continued. The Literary Churchman thus speaks of this vobune : ' ' Thorough honesty, reverence, and deep thought po'vade the %vork, which is eia- tion. Four Lectures delivered in the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, in December, 1854. Crown 8vo. <^s. SERMONS PREACHED IN COUNTRY CHURCHES. New Edition. Crown 8vo. \os. 6d. ^'■Earnest, practical, and extremely simple.'''' — Literary Churchman. " Gcwd specimens of his simple and earnest eloquence. The Gospel inci- dents are realized with a vividness which we can well beliez'e made the common people hear him gladly. Aloreoz'er they are sermons which must have done the hearers good. " — John Bull. Moorhouse.— Works by James Moorhouse, M.A., Bishop of Melbourne : SOME MODERN DIFFICULTIES RESPECTING the FACTS OF NATURE AND REVELATION. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. JACOB. Three Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge in Lent 1870. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^-. 6d. O'Brien.— PRAYER. Five Sermons preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. By James Thomas O'Brien, D.D., Bishop of Ossory and Ferns. Svo. 6^-. " /j? is with muck pleasure and satisfaction that we render our hfimble tribute to the value of a publication whose author deserves to be remembered with such deep respect.'''' — Church Quarterly Review. Palgrave.— HYMNS. By Francis Turner Palgrave. Third Edition, enlarged. i8mo. \s. 6d. This is a collection of twenty original Hymns, rvhich the Literary Churchman speaks of as "'so choice, so perfect, and so refined, — so tender in feeling, and so scholarly in expression." Paul of Tarsus. An Inquiiy into the Times and the Gospel of the Apostle of the Gentiles. By a Graduate. Svo. los. 6d. " Turn where we -will throughout the volume, we find the best fruit ef patient inquiry, sotcnd scholarship, logical argument, ami fairness oj conclusion. No thoughtful reader will rise from its perusal ivithout a real and lasting profit to himself, and a sense of permanent additioir to the cause of truth," — Standard, 24 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Philochristus.— MEMOIRS OF A DISCIPLE OF THE LORD. Second Edition. 8vo. I2s. " The tvinning beauty of this hook and the fascinating poiver ivith which the subject of it appeals to all English minds will secure for it many readers." — Contemporary Review. Picton. — THE MYSTERY of MATTER ; and other Essays. By J. Allanson Picton, Author of "New Theories and the Old Faith." Cheaper Edition. With New Preface. Crown 8vo. ds. Contents — The Myste7y of Matter : The Philosophy of Ignorance : The Antithesis of Faith and Sight: The Essential Nature of Religion: Christian Pantheism. Plumptre — MOVEMENTS in RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge, Lent Term, 1879. By E. H. Plumptre, D.D., Professor of Divinity, King's College, London, Prebendary of St. Paul's, etc. Fcap. 8vo. y. bd. Prescott THE THREEFOLD CORD. Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge. By J. E. Prescott, B.D. Fcap. 8vo. 3^-. 6d. Procter.— A HISTORY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER : With a Rationale of its Offices. By Francis Procter, M. A. Fourteenth Edition, revised and enlarged. Cr. 8vo. \os. 6d. The Athenseum says : — " The origin of every part »f the Prayer-book has been diligently inz'estigated, — and there arefeio questions or facts con- nected with it which are not either sufficiently explained, or so referred t« that persons interested T?iay work out the truth for themselves." Procter and Maclear.— AN ELEMENTARY INTRO- DUCTION TO THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Re-arranged and Supplemented by an Explanation of the Morning and Evening Prayer and the Litany. By F. Procter, M.A., and G. F. Maclear, D.D. New Edition. Enlarged by the addition of the Communion Service and the Baptismal and Confirmation Offices. i8mo. is. 6d. The I^iterary Churchman characterises it as " liy far the completest and most satisfactory book of its kind ive knozu. We tuish it were in the hands of every schoolboy and every sc/ioolmaster in the kingdom." Psalms of David CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. An Amended Version, with Historical Introductions and Ex- planatoiy Notes. By Four Friends. Second and Cheaper Edition, much enlarged. Crown 8vo. 8j. dd. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 25 One of the chief designs of the Editors, in prepa^nng this volume, 'was to restore the Psalta- as far as possible to the order in which the Psalms luere zvritlen. They give the division of each Psalm into strophes, and of each strophe into the lines which composed it, and amend the errors of translation. The Spectator calls it '''one of the most instructive and valuable books that have been published for many years. " Psalter (Golden Treasury). — The Student's Edition. Being an Edition of the above with briefer Notes. i8mo. 3^. 6d. The aim of this edition is simply to put the reader as far as possible in possession of the plain meaning of the writer. " It is a gem, " the Non- conformist says. Pulsford.— SERMONS PREACHED IN TRINITY CHURCH, GLASGOW. By William Pulsford, D.D. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d. Ramsay.— THE CATECHISER'S MANUAL; or, the Church Catechism lUustrated and Explained, for the Use of Clergymen, Schoolmasters, and Teachers. By ARTHUR Ramsay, M.A. Second Edition. i8mo. is. 6d. Rays of Sunlight for Dark Days. A Book of Selec- tions for the Suffering. With a Preface by C. J. Vaughan, D.D. i8mo. Eighth Edition, y. 6d. Also in morocco, old style. Dr. Vaughan says in the Preface, after speaking of the general run oj Books of Comfort for Moiirners, ''It is because I think that the little volume now offered to the Christian sufferer is one of gi-eafer wisdom and of deeper experience, that I have readily consented to the request that I would introduce it by a few words of Preface." The book consists of a series of very brief extracts from a great variety of authors, in prose and poetry, suited to the many moods of a mourning or suffering mind. "■Alostly gems of the first water. " — Clerical Journal. Reynolds.— NOTES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. A Selection of Sermons by Henry Robert Reynolds, B.A., President of Cheshunt College, and Fellow of University College, London. Crown 8vo. is. 6d. Roberts — DISCUSSIONS ON THE GOSPELS. By the Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D. Second Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. i6j. 26 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Robinson.— MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ; and other Sermons preached in the Chapel of the Magdalen, Streatham, 1874 — 76. By H. G. Robinson, M.A., Prebendary of York. Crown 8vo. Is. 6d. Romanes.— CHRISTIAN PRAYER AND GENERAL LAWS, being the Rurney Prize Essay for 1873. With an Ap- pendix, examining the views of Messrs. Knight, Robertson, Brooke, Tyndall, and Cialton. By George J.Romanes, M.A. Crown' 8vo. 5j. Rushbrooke.— SYNOPTICON : An Exposition of the Common Matter of the Synoptic Gospels. By W. G. RusHBROOKE, ^L L., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. Printed in colours. To be completed in Six Parts. 4to. Part I. 35. 6d. Parts II. and III. js. Salmon.— THE REIGN OF LAW, and other Sermons, preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. By the Rev. George Salmon, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin. Crown 8vo. 6^. '^IVe// considered, learned, and p07i'erfnl discourses. " — Spectator. Sanday.— THE GOSPELS IN THE SECOND CEN- TURY. An Examination of the Critical part of a Work entitled "Supernatural Religion." By William Sanday, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Ci'own 8vo. 8.f. 6d. "A very important book for the critical side of the question as to the atithentictty of the Neto Testament, and it is hardly possible to conceive a writer of greater fairness, candour, and scriipidoiisness." — Spectator. Scotch Sermons, 1880. — By Principal Caird ; Rev. J. Cunningham, D.D. ; Rev. D. J. Ferguson, B.D. ; Professor Wm. Knight, LL.D. ; Rev. W. Mackintosh, D.D. ; Rev. W. L. M'Farlan; Rev. Allan Menzies, B.D. ; Rev. T. NicOLL; Rev. T. Rain. M.A. ; Rev. A. Semple, B.D. ; Rev. J. Stevenson ; Rev. Patrick Stevenson ; Rev. R. H. Story, D.D. 8vo. \os. bd. Selborne.— THE BOOK OF PRAISE : From the Best English Hymn Writers. Selected and arranged by Lortl Selborne. With Vignette by WooLNER. i8mo. 4J. bd. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 27 SELBORNE {\.oxA)— continued. It has been the Editor'' s desire and aim to adhere strictly, in all cases in which it could be ascertained, to the genuine uncorrupted text of the authors themselves. The natnes of the authors and date of composition of the hymns, when knoivn, are affixed, while notes are added to the volume, gizing further details. The Hymns are arranged according to subjects. ' ' There is not room for tzvo opinions as to the vahte of the ^Book of Praise. — Guardian. ^^ Approaches as neai'ly as one can conceive to perfection.'''' — Nonconformist. BOOK OF PRAISE HYMNAL. See end of this Catalogue. Service. — SALVATION HERE AND HEREAFTER. Sermons and Essays. By the Rev. John Service, D.D., Minister of Inch. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. ' ' IVe have enjoyed to-day a rare pleasure, having just closed a volume of sermons which rings true metal from title page to finis, and proves that another and very powerful recruit has been added to that small band of ministers of the Gospel who are not only abreast of the religious thought of their time, but have faith enough and courage enottgh to handle the questions which are the f)iost critical, and stir men's minds most deeply, with frankness and thoroughness.''' — Spectator. Shipley. — A THEORY ABOUT SIN, in relation to some Facts of Daily Life. Lent Lectures on the Seven Deadly Sins. By the Rev. Orhy Shipley, M.A. Crown 8vo. 7^-. 6d. ''■Two things Mr. Shipley has done, and each of them is of considerable worth. He has grouped these sins afresh on a philosophic principle and he has applied the touchstone to the facts of our moral life. . . so wisely and so searchingly as to constitute his treatise a powerful antidote to self- deception. " — Literary Churchman. Smith.— PROPHECY A PREPARATION FOR CHRIST. Eight Lectures preached before the University of Oxford, being the Bampton Lectures for 1869. By R. Payne Smith, D.D., Dean of Canterbury. Second and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. The author's object in these lectures is to shnu that there exists in the Old Testament an element, which no criticism on naturalistic principles can either account for or explain away: that element is Prophecy. The author endeavours to pro%d. each. The British Quarterly says, " These Sermons are worthy of all praise, and are ?)iodels of pulpit teaching." COUNSELS for YOUNG STUDENTS. Three Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge at the Opening of the Academical Year 1870-71. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. The titles of the Three Sermons contained in this vohime are: — /. '^ The Great Decision." II. '■'' The House and the Builder." III. '■^ The Prayer and the Counter- Prayer." They all bear pointedly, earnestly, and sympathisingly upon the conduct and pursuits of young students and young men generally. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 35 VAUGHAN (Dr. C. I .^—continued. NOTES FOR LECTURES ON CONFIRMATION, with suitable Prayers. Tenth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. \s. 6d. THE TWO GREAT TEMPTATIONS. The Tempta- tion of Man, and the Temptation of Christ. Lectures dehvered in the Temple Church, Lent 1872. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 6d. WORDS FROM THE CRpSS : Lent Lectures, 1875; and Thoughts for these Times : University Sermons, 1874. Extra fcap. Svo. 4J. 6d. ADDRESSES TO YOUNG CLERGYMEN, delivered at Salisbury in September and October, 1875. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^. 6d. HEROES OF FAITH : Lectures on Hebrews xi. Extra fcap. Svo. 6s. THE YOUNG LIFE EQUIPPING ITSELF FOR GOD'S SERVICE : Sermons before the University of Cambridge. Sixth Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 6d. THE SOLIDITY OF TRUE RELIGION ; and other Sermons. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. y. 6d. SERMONS IN HARROW SCHOOL CHAPEL (1847). Svo. los. 6d. NINE SERMONS IN HARROW SCHOOL CHAPEL . {1S49). Fcap. Svo. $s. "MY SON, GIVE ME THINE HEART," SERMONS Preached before the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1876 — 78. Fcap. Svo. 5J-. THE LORD'S PRAYER. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3.f. 6d. REST AWHILE : Addresses to Toilers in the Ministry. Extra fcap. Svo. 5^. Vaughan (E. T.)— SOME REASONS OF OUR CHRIS- TIAN HOPE. Hulsean Lectures for 1875. By E. T. Vaughan, M.A., Rector of Harpenden. Crown Svo. 6s, 6d. "His words are those of a well-tried scholar and a sound theologian, and they will be read widely a7id valued deeply by an audience far beyond the range of that which listened to their jnasterly pleading at Cambridge." — Standard, 36 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Vaughan (D.J.) — Works by Canon Vaughan, of Leicester; SERMONS PREACHED IN ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, LEICESTER, during the Years 1855 and 1856. Cr. 8vo. ^s. dd. CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES AND THE BIBLE. New Edition, revised and enlarged. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, ^s. 6d. THE PRESENT TRIAL OF FAITH. Sermons preached in St. Martin's Church, Leicester. Crown 8vo. 9^. Venn.— ON SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BELIEF, Scientific and Religious. Being the Hulsean Lectures for 1869. By the Rev. J. Venn, M. A. 8vo. 6s. 6d. These discourses are intended to illustrate, explain, and work out into some of their consequences, certain characteristics by which the attainment of religious belief is protninently distinguished from the attainment of belief iipon most other subjects. Warington.— THE WEEK OF CREATION ; or, The Cosmogony of Genesis considered in its Relation to Modern Sci- ence. By George Warington, Author of "The Historic Character of the Pentateuch vindicated." Crown 8vo. 4J. bd. '■''A very able vindication of the Mosaic Cosmogony by a wnter 7vho unites the advantages of a critical knowledge of the Hebrew text and of distinguished scientific attainments," — Spectator. Westcott. — Works by BROOKE Foss Westcott, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge ; Canon of Peterborough : The London Quarterly, speaking of Mr. Westcott, says, '^To a learn- ing and acciu-acy which comtnand respect and confidence, he unites what are not always to be found in union with these qualities, the no less valuable faculties of lucid arrangement and graceful and facile expressian." AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE GOSPELS. Fifth Edition. CrovraSvo. los. 6d. The at4thor^s chief object in this work has been to sheiv that there is a true mean between the idea of a j'ormal harmonization of the Gospels and the abandonment of their absolute truth. AJter an Introduction on ike General Effects of the course of Modern Philosophy on the popular vieivs of Christianity, he proceeds to determine in zuhat zvay the principles therein indicated may be applied to the study of the Gospels. A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT during the First Four Centuries. Fourth Edition, revised, with a Preface on "Super- natural Religion." Crown 8vo. los. 6d. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 37 WESTCOTT {,T>x.)—contimied. The object of this treatise is to deal 'with the N'eiv Testament as a 7vhole, and that on pttrely historical grounds. The separate books of which it is composed are considered nc^ individually, but as clait?nng to be parts of the apostolic heritage of Christians. The Author has thus endeavoured to con- nect the history of the Ne^o Testament Canon with the growth and con- solidation of the Catholic Church, and to point out the relation existing beti.Deen the atnount of evidence for the authenticity of its component parts and the whole mass of Christian literature. ^'' The treatise," says the British Quarterly, "w a scholarly performance, learned, dispassionate, discriminating, worthy of his subject and of the present state of Christian literature in relation to it." THE BIBLE IN THE CHURCH. A Popular Account of the Collection and Reception of the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Churches. Sixth Edition. i8mo. 45-. dd, A GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ioj-. 6d. The Pall Mall Gazette calls the work "A brief, scholarly, and, to a great extent, an oj-iginal contribution to theological literature. " THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, MANIFOLD AND ONE. Six Sermons preached in Peterborough Cathedral. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. The Six Sermons contained in this volu7ne are the first preached by the author as a Canon of Peterborough Cathedral. The subjects are : — /. ''''Life consec7-ated by the Ascension." II. ^'' Many Gifts, One Sjnrit." III. '''' The Gospel of the Resurrection." IV. '■'Sujfi.ciency of God." V. ''''Action the Test of Faith." VI. ^^ Progress f-om the Confession of God." THE GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTION. Thoughts on its Relation to Reason and History. Fourth Edition, revised. Crown Svo. 6^. The present Essay is an endeavour to consider some oj the elementary truths of Christianity, as a 7niraculous Revelation, from the side of History and Reason. The author endeavours to sheiu that a devout belief in the Life of Christ is quite compatible with a broad vieia of the course of human p-ogress and a frank trust in the laws of our o%vn minds. In the third edition the author has carefully reconsidered the whole argument, and by the help of sez'eral kind critics has been enabled to correct some faults and to remove some ambiguities, which had been overlooked before. ON THE RELIGIOUS OFFICE OF THE UNIVER- SITIES. Crown Svo. 4?. 6d. ' ' There is certainly no man of our time — no man at least who has ob- tained the command of the public ear — whose utterances can compare with 38 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. those of Professor Westcott for largeness ofvieivs and comprehensiveness of grasp There is wisdom, and t77itk, and thought enough, and a harmony and mutual connection running through them all, which makes the collection of more real value than tnany an ambitious treatise." — Literary Churchman. Wilkins.— THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. An Essay, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in Owens College, Manchester. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3^. dd. ^^ It would be difficult to praise too highly the spirit, the burden, the conclusions, or the scholarly finish of this beautiful Essay." — British Quar- terly Review. Wilson.— THE BIBLE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO THE MORE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING of the ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, by Reference to the Original Hebrew. By William Wilson, D.D., Canon of Winchester. Second Edition, carefully revised. 4to. 25J. The author believes that the present work is the nearest apprroach to a complete Concordance of eveiy word in the original that has yet been made: and as a Concordance, it tnay be found of great use to the Bible student, while at the same time it serves the iinportant object of fiirnishing the means of comparing synojiymous zuords, and of eliciting their precise and distinctive fneaning. The knorvledge of the Hebreiu language is not absolutely necessary to the profitable use of the work. Worship (The) of God and Fellowship among Men. Sermons on Public Worship. By Professor MAURICE, and others. Fcap. 8vo. y. 6d. Yonge (Charlotte M.) — Works by Charlotte M. Yonge, Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe :" SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR SCHOOLS AND FA- MILIES. 5 vols. Globe 8vo. is. 6d. With Comments, y. dd. each. First Series. Genesis to Deuteronomy. Second Series. From Joshua to Solomon. Third Series. The Kings and Prophets. Fourth Series. The Gospel Times. Fifth Series. Apostolic Times. Actual need has led the author to endeavour to prepare a reading book convenient for study zvith cJiildren, containing the very zvords of the Bible, zvith only a few expedient 07nissions, and arranged in Lessons of such length as by expciience she has found to suit with children's ordinary THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 39 YONGE (Charlotte Hi.)— continued. power of accurate attentive inte7-est. The verse form has been retained be- cause of its convenience for children reading in class, and as more re- sembling their Bibles ; but the poetical portions have been given in their lines. Professor Huxley at a fneeting of the London School-board, par- ticularly mentioned the Selection made by Miss Yonge, as an example of fioav selections might be made for School reading. '■'■Her Comments are models of their kind.'''' — Literary Cliurchman. THE PUPILS OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. New Edition. Crown 8vo. ds. " Young and old will be equally refreshed and taught by these pages, in which nothing is dtill, and nothing is far-fetched." — Churchman. PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS ; or, Recent Workers in the Mission Field. With Frontispiece and Vignette Portrait of Bishop Heber. Crown 8vo. 6j. The missionaries whose biographies are here given, are — fohn Eliot, the Apostle of the Red Indians ; David Brainerd, the Enthusiast ; Chris- tian F. Schwartz, the Councilor of Tanjore ; Henry Martyn, the Scholar- Missionary ; Willia7?i Carey and foshua Alarshman, the Serampore Mis- sionaries ; the Judson Fatnily ; the Bishops of Calcutta — Thomas Middleion, Reginald Heber, Daniel Wilson; Samuel Marsden, the Aus- tralian Chaplain and Friend of the Maori ; fohn Williams, the Martyr af Errotiiango ; Allen Gardener, the Sailor Martyr; Charles Lreda'ick Mackenzie, the Martyr of Zambesi. THE "BOOK OF PRAISE" HYMNAL, COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY LORD SELBORNE. In the following four forins : — A. Beautifully printed in Royal 32ino., limp cloth, price 6d. B. ,, ,, SmalllSmo., larg'ertype, cloth limp, Is. C. Same edition on fine paper, cloth, Is. 6d. Also an edition "with Music, selected, harmonized, and composed by JOHN HULL AH, in square 18mo., cloth, 3s. 6d. T/ie large acceptance 7uhich has been given to " The Book of Praise''^ by all classes of Christian people encourages the Publishers in entertaining the hope that this Hymnal, which is mainly selected from it, may be ex- tensively used in Congregations, and in some degree at least meet the desires of those who seek uniformity in common woiship as a means t07vards that unity which pious souls yearn after, and which our Lord prayed for in behalf of his Church. '■'■The office of a hymn is not to teach controversial Theology, but to give the voice of song to practical religion. No doubt, to do this, it must embody sound doctrine ; but it ought to do so, 7iot after the manner of the schools, but tvith the breadth, freedom, and simplicity of the Fountain-head. " On this principle has Sir R. Pahner proceeded in the preparation of this book. The arrangement adopted is the following : — Part I. consists of Hymns arranged according to the subjects of the Creed — "God the Creator," "Christ Incai-nate," "Christ Crucified," ^'Christ Risen," '■'■ Christ Ascended," "Christ's Kingdom and jfudg- inent," etc. Part II. comprises Hytnns arranged according to the subjects of the Lords Prayer. Part III. Hymns for natural and sacred seasons. There are 320 Hymns in all. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY J. PALMER. 't Date Due 'TC^-f^- :VU9,'-"^t, DE7 "Si ■ ^ <|)