St. Barnabas is the next of the Apostolic Fathers demanding our
attention. Here, again, it is very doubtful if we have any of the
authentic words of the companion of Paul, so highly extolled by Renan,
and declared by the author of the Acts of the Apostles to have been "a
good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith" (xi., 24).
The epistle ascribed to St. Barnabas, although generally received as
his for many ages, and repeatedly cited as Apostolic by Clement of
Alexandria, and also cited by Origen, and found, together with the
"Shepherd" of Hermas, in the Sinaitic Codex, is repudiated by most
modern scholars, and declared by the author of "Supernatural Religion"
to be an instance of "the singular facility with which, in the total
absence of critical discrimination, spurious writings were ascribed by
the Fathers to Apostles and their followers" (vol. i., p. 233, 1879).
Although the weight of authority is against its authenticity, it is
still supported as genuine by such scholars as Schmidt, Grieseler, and
Samuel Sharpe; and it must be admitted that most of the arguments used
against it have been based upon its contents not coming up to what
critics have supposed ought to be the Apostolic standard. At any rate,
it is an-interesting relic of the early Church which is considered
genuine by the most important section of Christendom, the Roman
Catholics. In Jerome's time it was still read among the Apocryphal
Scriptures, and in the Stichometria of Nicephorus (ninth century) it is
put among the disputed books of the New Testament.
Barnabas is still more questionably fathered with a gospel of his own,
which is no longer extant. But as it appears to have contained a very
peculiar statement to the effect that Jesus did not actually die upon
the cross, and that it was Judas who was crucified in his stead, which
statement has been taken up, from whatever quarter, by the Mohammedans,
this gospel is, of course, set down as a Mohammedan forgery.
The Catholics have a tradition that Barnabas was converted after
witnessing the miracle at that wondrous pool of Bethesda, where the
angel came down troubling the waters. He was a Levite of Cyprus, and his
name was formerly Joses. It is noteworthy that upon entering the Church,
Christian converts took new names, a custom common to the Buddhists.
Clement of Alexandria says he was one of the seventy Apostles. He is
stated to have converted Clement of Rome, and to have been stoned by the
Jews about the year 64. All these statements rest on the mere authority
of the Church, not the slightest proof being forthcoming either for or
against them. Nothing was known of his tomb until the year 478, when the
Cypriotes, being required to submit to the episcopal sway of Peter
the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch, his coffin, with the Gospel of Saint
Matthew inside, turned up in the nick of time to avert the calamity and
assert the independence of a place having such indubitable relics.
The Church of Toulouse yet claims to have his body, and eight or nine
churches pretend to having possession of his head. Of the value of this
wondrous head we shall presently have sufficient proof.
"The Acts of Barnabas," a so-called apocryphal book, gives an account,
by Mark, of the journeyings and martyrdom of this Apostle (Vol. XVI.,
"Ante-Nicene Christian Library"). The Evangelist tells how Paul was
quite enraged against him so that, although he gave repentance on
his knees upon the earth to Paul, he would not endure it. "And when I
remained for three Sabbaths in entreaty and prayer on my knees, I was
unable to prevail upon him about myself; for his great grievance against
me was on account of my keeping several parchments in Pamphylia" (p.
294). Paul, according to this story, refused to accompany Barnabas if he
took Mark with him, and Barnabas elected to stand by Mark. They removed
a fever from one Timon by laying their hands upon him. "And Barnabas
had received documents from Matthew, a book of the Word of God, and a
narrative of miracles and doctrines. This Barnabas laid upon the sick
in each place we came to, and it immediately made a cure of their
sufferings" (p. 297). Once in their journeyings they found a certain
race being performed, and upon Barnabas rebuking the city, the western
part fell, so that many were killed and wounded, and the rest fled for
safety to the Temple of Apollo. But our purpose is with the Apostolic
epistle which goes under his name.
Joses may have been a ready speaker, as is judged by his Christian name
of Barnabas, or _Son of Exhortation_; but he certainly cannot be classed
as a brilliant letter writer. His epistle, like many other Apostolic
documents, would be considered dreadfully prosy but for its age and
reputation. Though no great hand at _composing_, Barney had a remarkable
faculty for dealing with _types_. Types are an attractive study to
theologians; biblical stories--like that of Jonah and the whale,
for instance--which, taken in a plain and natural way, are evident
absurdities, serve capitally as divine types and symbols. At this sort
of interpretation Barnabas was, as we shall see, a perfect master. He
outdoes the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, by the way,
Tertullian ("De Pudicitia, 20") ascribes to Barnabas.
He prides himself upon his exegesis of Scripture, which he does not
hesitate to ascribe to divine inspiration. "Blessed be our Lord," he
exclaims, "who has placed in us wisdom and understanding of secret
things" (c. vi., p. 110, vol. i., "Ante-Nicene Christian Library"); and,
further on, he boldly avows inspiration on behalf of what Osburn calls
"a tissue of obscenity and absurdity which would disgrace the Hindoo
Mythology" ("Doctrinal Errors of the Apostolic and Early Fathers," p.
25, 1835).
According to Barnabas, the Mosaic legislation had Christ in view rather
than the sanitary condition of the Jews. He even manufactures a law of
Moses in order to make out a type of Christ having vinegar to drink. He
says (c. vii., pp. 112, 113) "Moreover, when fixed to the cross, he
had given him to drink vinegar and gall. Hearken how the priests of the
people gave previous indication of this. His commandment having been
written, the Lord enjoined, that whosoever did not keep the fast should
be put to death, because He also Himself was to offer in sacrifice for
our sins the vessel of the Spirit, in order that the type established in
Isaac, when he was offered upon the altar, might be fully accomplished.
What, then, says He in the prophet? 'And let them eat of the goat, which
is offered with fasting, for all their sins.' Attend carefully: 'And
let all the priests alone eat the inwards, unwashed with vinegar.'
Wherefore? Because to me, who am to offer my flesh for the sins of my
new people, ye are to give gall with vinegar to drink: eat ye alone,
while the people fast and mourn in sackcloth and ashes."
Some have supposed these spurious regulations were taken from
traditions, but the Rev. J. Jones says: "I rather look upon it as _a
pious forgery and fraud_, there being nothing of the sort known to have
been among the Jewish customs, and this book having several such frauds
in it" ("A New and Full Method of Settling the Canonical Authority of
the New Testament," vol. ii., p. 377, 1827). If it is not either of
these it is very clear that we have lost some important portions of
God's inspired word in the Pentateuch. Barnabas also has a chapter on
the red-heifer, which was sacred to Typhon among the Egyptians, as a
type of Christ, and says (chap, viii., p. 115) "The calf is Jesus."
It appears, too, that Abraham was a Greek scholar some time before the
Greek language was known, and that he circumcised his servants as a
type of Christianity. Barnabas knew, probably by inspiration, the exact
number who were circumcised, and tells us (chap, ix., p. 116): "Learn,
then, my children, concerning all things richly, that Abraham, the first
who enjoined circumcision, looking forward in spirit to Jesus, practised
that rite, having received the mysteries of the three letters. For [the
Scriptures] saith, 'And Abraham circumcised ten, and eight, and three
hundred men of his household." "What, then, was the knowledge given to
him in this? Learn the eighteen first, and then the three hundred. The
ten and eight are thus denoted--Ten by I, and Eight by H, you have [the
initials of the name of] Jesus. And because the cross was to express the
grace [of our redemption] by the letter T, he says also 'Three Hundred.'
He signifies, therefore, Jesus by two letters, and the cross by one. He
knows this, who has put within us the engrafted gift of His doctrine. No
one has been admitted by me to a more excellent piece of knowledge than
this, but I know that ye are worthy."
Verily Barnabas must have been full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.
No wonder he was "expressly set apart and sent forth to the work of
an apostle by the order of the Holy Ghost" (Acts xiii., 2--4). The
importance which he places upon numbers may be compared with that
assigned by the author of the book of Revelation. Barney tells us that
the world will last 6,000 years because it was made in six days, and the
inference is doubtless as true as the fact (?) on which it is based. His
system of finding types in the Old Testament has lasted in the Christian
Church to our own time, and derives countenance from several passages
of Paul. This most excellent piece of knowledge concerning Abraham
is hardly more far-fetched than saying that Levi paid tithes to
Mel-chisedek because he was potentially in the loins of his forefather
Abraham when he met him (Heb. vii., 9,10), or that Agar was a type of
Jerusalem (Gal. iv., 25).
Barney applies to Jesus the passage, Isaiah xlv., 1, "Thus saith the
Lord to his annointed, to _Cyrus_." This the Rev. J. Jones (p. 384)
calls "a wilful and designed mistake." But his reference to prophecies
are scarcely more disingenuously ingenious than Matthew's making Jesus
go to Egypt, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by
the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son;" he dwelt at
Nazareth, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets,
He shall be called a Nazarene" (ii., 23); or, saying that Jesus spoke in
parables, "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which
have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (xiii., 35). His
loose system of quotation may also be paralleled from the sacred
volume. In Matt, xxvii., 9, the passage from Zechariah xi., 12, 13, is
attributed to Jeremiah; in Mark i., 2, a quotation from Malachi iii., 1,
is ascribed to Isaiah; in 1 Corinth, ii., 9, a passage is quoted as Holy
Scriptures which is not found in the Old Testament, but is taken, as
Origen and Jerome state, from an apocryphal work, "The Revelation of
Elias."
One more specimen of this Apostolical Father will suffice. It occurs
chap, xi., p. 118, and is as remarkable for the Levite's understanding
of the laws of Moses as for his information upon natural history: "'And
thou shalt not eat,' he says, 'the lamprey or the polypus, or the cuttle
fish.' He means, 'Thou shalt not join thyself to be like to such men as
are ungodly to the end and are condemned to death.' In like manner as
those fishes above accursed, float in the deep, not swimming like the
rest, but make their abode in the mud at the bottom. Moreover, 'Thou
shalt not,' he says, 'eat the hare.' Wherefore? 'Thou shalt not be a
corrupter of boys, nor like unto such.' Because the hare multiplies,
year by year, the places of its conception; for as many years as it
lives so many [----Gr.----] it has. Moreover, 'Thou shalt not eat the
hyena.' He means, 'Thou shalt not be an adulterer, nor corrupter,
nor like them that are such.' Wherefore? Because that animal annually
changes its sex, and is at one time male and at another female.
Moreover, he has rightly detested the weasel. For he means, 'Thou shalt
not be like to those whom we hear of as committing wickedness with the
mouth, on account of their uncleanness; nor shalt thou be joined to
those impure women who commit iniquity with the mouth. For this animal
conceives by the mouth.'" We will leave this shocking old Father with a
very serious question, as to the value of his testimony to the truth of
Christianity.