This name is given to those Christian writers who are alleged to have
had intercourse with the Apostles. These writings are said to date
from about 97 to 150 a.c. Dr. J. Donaldson says: "Of these writers
investigation assures us only of the names of three, Clement, Polycarp
and Papias. There is no satisfactory ground for attributing the 'Epistle
of Barnabas' to Barnabas, the friend of Paul, nor the 'Pastor' of Hermas
to the Hermas mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans."* Yet it is to
be noticed that both these works were read in the primitive churches as
Scripture, and are included in the Sinaitic Codex, which is asserted to
be the most ancient manuscript of the New Testament extant.
* "The Apostolical Fathers," chap, i., p. 101, 1874.