[407:2] It is not easy to understand the meaning of the passage--"Si

habuerimus tempus opportunum, sive ego, seu legatus quem misero pro

vobis." Some words seem to be wanting to complete the sense.

[407:3] [Greek: Smurnan] for [Greek: Surian]. In the beginning of the

Epistle from Smyrna concerning Polycarp's martyrdom, the Church is said

to be--[Greek: hê paroikousa Smurnan.] The very same mistake has been

made in another case. Thus, in an extract published by Dr Cureton from a

Syriac work, Polycarp is called Bishop in _Syria_, instead of in Smyrna.

See "Corpus Ignatianum," p. 220, line 5 from the foot. Such mistakes in

manuscripts are of very frequent occurrence. See "Corpus Ignatianum,"

pp. 278, 300. A more extraordinary blunder, which long confounded

the critics, has been recently corrected by Dr Wordsworth. See his

"St. Hippolytus," pp. 318, 319, Appendix.

[409:1] Pearson alleges that the reason why Tertullian does not quote

Ignatius against the heretics was because he did not require his

testimony! He had, forsooth, apostolic evidence. "Quasi vero Ignatii

testimonio opus esset ad eam rem, cujus testem Apostolum habuit."

"Vindiciae," Pars. prima, caput. xi. He finds it convenient, however, to

mention Hermas, Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and many others.

[409:2] See also in Euseb. v. 28, a long extract from a work against the

heresy of Artemon in which various early writers, who asserted that

"Christ is God and man," are named, and Ignatius omitted.

[409:3] See Neander's "General History," by Torrey, i. 455. Octavo

Edition Edinburgh, 1847. See also Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 415.

[409:4] The number of spurious writings which appeared in the early ages

was very great. Shortly after the date mentioned in the text it is well

known that an individual named Leucius forged the Acts of John, Andrew,

Peter, and others. See Jones on the "Canon," p. 210, and ii. p. 289.

[410:1] This is a literal translation of part of the superscription of

the letter as given by Dr Cureton himself in his "Epistles of Saint

Ignatius," p. 17. In the "Corpus Ignatianum" he has somewhat weakened

the strength of the expression by a more free translation--"To her who

_presideth_ in the place of the country of the Romans." "Corp. Ignat."

p. 230. Tertullian speaks ("De Praescrip." c. 36) of the "Apostolic sees

_presiding over their own places_"--referring to an arrangement then

recently made which recognised the precedence of Churches to which

Apostles had ministered. This arrangement, which was unknown in the time

of Ignatius, was suggested by the disturbances and divisions created by

the heretics. Though the words in the text may be quoted in support of

the claims of the bishop of Rome, they do not necessarily imply his

presidency over all Churches, but they plainly acknowledge his position

as at the head of the Churches of Italy.

[411:1] See Euseb. iii. 36.

[411:2] See preceding note, p. 406.

[411:3] "Corpus Ignatianum," Intro, p. 86, note.

[412:1] See "Corpus Ignatianum," pp. 265, 267, 269, 271, 286.

[412:2] See Blunt's "Right Use of the Early Fathers." First Series.

Lectures v. and vi.

[414:1] It would be very unfair to follow up this comparison by speaking

of the Trustees of the British Museum, as the representatives of

hierarchical pride and power, proceeding, like Tarquin at the

instigation of his augurs, to give a high price for the manuscripts. We

believe that these gentlemen have rendered good service to the cause of

truth and literature by the purchase.

[414:2] Bunsen rather reluctantly admits that the highest literary

authority of the present century, the late Dr Neander, declined to

recognise even the Syriac version of the Ignatian Epistles. See

"Hippolytus and his Age," iv. Preface, p. 26.

[415:1] See "Corpus Ignat." Introd. p. 51.

[416:1] Thus, in his "Epistle to the Corinthians," Clemens Romanus, on

one occasion, (§ 16,) quotes the whole of the 53d chapter of Isaiah;

and, on another, (§ 18,) the whole of the 51st Psalm, with the exception

of the last two verses.

[416:2] How different from the course pursued by Clement of Rome and by

Polycarp! Thus, Clement says to the Corinthians--"Let us do _as it is

written_," and then goes on to quote several passages of Scripture. §

13. Polycarp says--"I trust that ye are well _exercised in the Holy

Scriptures_" and then proceeds, like Clement, to make some quotations.

§ 12.

[416:3] Phil. iii. 3.

[416:4] Eph. vi. 17.

[416:5] Heb. xii. 1, 2.

[416:6] "Epistle to Polycarp." Lest the plain English reader should

believe that the folly of the original is exaggerated in the

translation, I beg to say that, here and elsewhere, the English version

of Dr Cureton is given word for word.

[417:1] Sec. 8.

[417:2] See Period II. sec. ii. chap. ii. p. 403.

[417:3] Epistle to Philemon, 10.

[418:1] See Daillé, lib. ii. c. 13. p. 316.

[418:2] According to some accounts, Timothy presided over the Church of

Ephesus until nearly the close of the first century, when he was

succeeded by Gaius. See Daillé, ii. c. 13. Some attempt to get over the

difficulty by alleging that there was a _second_ Onesimus in Ephesus,

who succeeded Gaius, but of this there is no evidence whatever. The

writer who thought that Ignatius had been at school with Polycarp, also

believed, and with greater reason, that he was contemporary with the

Onesimus of the New Testament.

[418:3] "Epistle to the Romans."

[419:1] Euseb. v. 21.

[419:2] See Period II. sec. i. chap. v. p. 354.

[419:3] Paul was certainly at Rome before Peter, and according to the

reading of some copies of Irenaeus, in the celebrated passage, lib. iii.

c. 3. § 2, the Church of Rome is said to have been founded by "Paul and

Peter" (see Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 428); but Ignatius here uses the

style of expression current in the third century, and speaks of "Peter

and Paul."

[419:4] In the Epistle to Polycarp, Ignatius says, "If a man be able in

strength _to continue in chastity_, (i.e. celibacy,) _for the honour of

the body of our Lord_, let him continue without boasting." Here the word

in the Greek is [Greek: hagneia]. But this word is applied in the New

Testament to Timothy, who may have been "the husband of one wife." See 1

Tim. iv, 12, and v. 2. It is also applied by Polycarp, in his Epistle,

to married women. "Let us teach your (or our) wives to walk in the faith

that is given to them, both _in love and purity_" ([Greek: agapê kai

hagneia]).--_Epistle to the Philippians_, § 4. See also "The Shepherd of

Hermas," book ii. command. 4; Cotelerius, i. 87.

[420:1] This is very evident from the recently discovered work of

Hippolytus, as well as from other writers of the same period. See

Bunsen's "Hippolytus," i. p. 312.

[420:2] Euseb. vii. 30.

[420:3] Some have supposed that this was the church of Antioch, but it

is not likely that Paul would have cared to retain the church when

deserted by the people. Besides, the building is called, not the church,

but "the house of the Church" ([Greek: tês ekklêsias oikos]).

[420:4] If the reading adopted by Junius, and others, of a passage in

the 4th chapter of his Epistle be correct, Polycarp must have been a

married man, and probably had a family. "Let us teach our wives to walk

in the faith that is given to them, both in love and purity,.... and _to

bring up their children_ in the instruction and fear of the Lord." See

Jacobson's "Pat. Apost." ii. 472, note.

[421:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. vii.

[421:2] See his "Epistle to the Corinthians," c. 42, 44, 47, 54.

[421:3] See Westcott on the "Canon," pp. 262, 264, 265.

[421:4] "In the estimation of those able and apostolical men who, in the

second century, prepared the Syriac version of the New Testament for the

use of some of the Oriental Churches, the _bishop and presbyter_ of the

apostolic ordination were _titles of the same individual_. Hence in

texts wherein the Greek word _episcopos_, 'bishop,' occurs, it is

rendered in their version by the Syriac word '_Kashisha_,'

presbyter."--_Etheridge's Syrian Churches and Gospels_, pp. 102, 103.

[421:5] The use of the word _catholic_ in the "Seven Epistles," edited

by Ussher, is sufficient to discredit them. See "Epist. to Smyrnaeans,"

§ 8. The word did not come into use until towards the close of the

second century. See Period II. sec. iii, chap, viii., and p. 337, note.

[422:1] "Epistle to the Ephesians."

[422:2] Daillé has well observed--"Funi Dei quidem verbum, ministerium,

beneficia non inepte comparaveris; Spiritum vero, qui his, ut sic dicam,

divinae benignitatis funiculis, ad nos movendos et attrahendos utitur,

ipsi illi quo utitur, funi comparare, ab omni ratione alienum

est."--Lib. ii. c. 27, pp. 409, 410.

[422:3] Col. ii. 18.

[423:1] "Epistle to the Ephesians."

[423:2] Matt. xxvi. 39.

[423:3] John xxi. 18.

[423:4] 2 Tim. iv. 17.

[424:1] We have here an additional and very clear proof that Polycarp,

in his Epistle, is not referring to Ignatius of Antioch. Instead of

pronouncing the letters now current as treating "of faith and

_patience_, and of all things that pertain to edification," he would

have condemned them as specimens of folly, impatience, and presumption.

Dr Cureton seems to think that, because Ignatius was an old man, he was

at liberty to throw away his life ("Corp. Ignat." p. 321); but Polycarp

was still older, and he thought differently.

[424:2] Sec. 4.

[424:3] See "Corpus Ignatianum," p. 253.

[424:4] The reader is to understand that all the extracts given in the

text are from the Syriac version of the "Three Epistles."

[425:1] "Epistle to the Ephesians."

[425:2] "Epistle to the Romans." Pearson can see nothing but the

perfection of piety in all this. "In quibus nihil putidum, nihil

odiosum, nihil _inscitè_ aut _imprudenter_ scriptum est." ... "Omnia cum

pia, legitima, praeclara."--_Vindiciae_, pars secunda, c. ix.

[425:3] From A.D. 208 to A.D. 258.

[425:4] Thus in the "Acts of Paul and Thecla," fabricated about the

beginning of the third century, Thecla says--"Give me the seal of

Christ, (_i.e._ baptism,) and _no temptation shall touch me_," (c. 18.)

See Jones on the "Canon of the New Testament," ii. p. 312.

[426:1] "Epistle to Polycarp."

[426:2] 1 Cor. xiii. 3.

[426:3] See Blunt's "Early Fathers," p. 237. See also Origen's

"Exhortation to Martyrdom," § 27, 30, 50.

[426:4] According to Dr Lee, a strenuous advocate for the Syriac version

of the "Three Epistles," _this translation_, as he supposes it to be,

was made "not later perhaps than the close of the second, or beginning

of the _third century_." "Corpus Ignat." Introd. p. 86, note. Dr Cureton

occasionally supplies strong presumptive evidence that the translation

has been made, not from Greek into Syriac, but from Syriac into Greek.

"Cor. Ignat." p. 278.

[426:5] Though Milner, in his "History of the Church of Christ," quotes

these letters so freely, he seems to have scarcely turned his attention

to the controversy respecting them. Hence he intimates that Ussher

reckoned _seven_ of them genuine, though it is notorious that the

Primate of Armagh rejected the Epistle to Polycarp. (See Milner, cent.

ii. chap, i.) Others, as well as Milner, who have written respecting

these Epistles, have committed similar mistakes. Thus, Dr Elrington,

Regius Professor of Divinity in Trinity College, Dublin, the recent

editor of "Ussher's Works," when referring to the Primate's share in

this controversy, speaks of "the recent discovery of a Syriac version of

_four_ Epistles by Mr Cureton!" "Life of Ussher," p. 235, note.

[428:1] "Instit." lib. i. c. xiii. § 29.

[429:1] See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," i. p. 27.

[430:1] Period I. sec. ii. chap, iii. pp. 202, 203.

[430:2] See Tertullian, "Adversus Hermogenem," c. x. and iv.

[430:3] [Greek: gnôsis].

[431:1] Ps. cxiii. 6.

[431:2] See Tertullian, "Adversus Marcionem," lib. i. c. 2. About this

time many works were written on the subject. Eusebius mentions a

publication by Irenaeus, "On Sovereignty, or on the Truth that _God is

not the Author of Evil_," and another by Maximus on "_The Origin of

Evil_." Euseb. v. 20, 27.

[431:3] Irenaeus, "Contra Haeres." lib. i. c. 24, § 7.

[433:1] Irenaeus, lib. i. c. 24. According to Clemens Alexandrinus,

Basilides flourished in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius.

"Stromata," lib. vii. Opera, p. 764.

[433:2] [Greek: Buthos kai ennoia, nous kai alêtheia, logos kai zôê].

[433:3] According to some, Valentine was the disciple of Marcion.

Clemens Alexandrinus states that Marcion was his senior. "Strom." lib.

viii. Tertullian says expressly that Valentine was at one time the

disciple of Marcion. "De Carne Christi," c. 1.

[434:1] See Neander's "General History," by Torrey, ii. pp. 171, 174,

notes.

[434:2] See Kaye's "Clement of Alexandria," pp. 316, 317.

[435:1] The Ophites carried this feeling so far as to maintain that the

serpent which deceived Eve was no other than the divine Aeon Sophia, or

Wisdom, who thus weakened the power of Ialdabaoth, or the Demiurge.

[435:2] See Mosheim, "De Caussis Suppositorum Librorum inter Christianos

Saeculi Primi et Secundi." "Dissert, ad Hist. Eccl. Pertin." vol. i.

221.

[437:1] His great text was Rev. xx. 6, 7. Hence some now began to

dispute the authority of the Apocalypse.

[437:2] Others, who do not appear to have been connected with Montanus,

but who lived about the same time, held the same views on the subject of

marriage. Thus, Athenagoras says--"A second marriage is by us esteemed a

specious adultery."--_Apology_, § 33.

[437:3] "Nam idem (Praxeas) tunc Episcopum Romanum, agnoscentem jam

prophetias Montani, Priseae, Maximillae, et ex ea agnitione pacem

ecclesiis Asiae et Phrygiae inferentem, falsa de ipsis prophetis et

ecclesiis eorum adseverando et praecessorum ejus auctoritates defendendo

coegit et litteras pacis revocare jam emissas et a proposito

recipiendorum charismatum concessare."--_Tertullian, Adv. Praxean._, c. i.

[438:1] Euseb. v. 16.

[438:2] It would appear, however, that it maintained a lingering

existence for several centuries. Even Justinian, about A.D. 530, enacts

laws against the Montanists or Tertullianists.

[438:3] Isaiah xlv. 5, 7.

[439:1] Augustin, "Contra Epist. Fundamenti," c. 13.

[439:2] On the ground that their oil is _the food of light_! Schaff's

"History of the Christian Church," p. 249.

[441:1] We find Tertullian, after he became a Montanist, dwelling on the

distinction of venial and mortal sins. See Kaye's "Tertullian," pp. 255,

339.

[441:2] Rom. vi. 23.

[442:1] 1 Thess. v. 22.

[442:2] James i. 15.

[442:3] See Cudworth's "Intellectual System," with Notes by Mosheim,

iii. p. 297. Edition, London, 1845.

[442:4] See Hagenbach's "History of Doctrines," i. p. 218.

[442:5] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 348.

[442:6] The doctrine of Purgatory, as now held, was not, however, fully

recognised until the time of Gregory the Great, or the beginning of the

seventh century.

[443:1] See Mosheim's "Institutes," by Soames, i. 166.

[443:2] Marcion, it appears, declined to baptize those who were married.

"Non tinguitur apud illum caro, nisi virgo, nisi vidua, nisi caelebs,

nisi divortio baptisma mercata."--_Tertullian, Adver. Marcionem_, lib.

i. c. 29.

[443:3] See Neander's "General History," ii. 253.

[443:4] In the "Westminster Review" for October 1856, there is an

article on _Buddhism_, written, indeed, in the anti-evangelical spirit

of that periodical, but containing withal much curious and important

information.

[444:1] Col. ii. 23.

[446:1] The most remarkable instance of this is the condemnation of the

word [Greek: homoousios], as applied to our Lord, by the Synod of

Antioch in A.D. 269. It is well known that the very same word was

adopted in A.D. 325, by the Council of Nice as the symbol of orthodoxy;

and yet these two ecclesiastical assemblies held the same views. See

also, as to the application of the word [Greek: hupostauis], Burton's

"Ante-Nicene Testimonies," p. 129.

[446:2] "The inference to be drawn from a comparison of different

passages scattered through Tertullian's writings is, that the Apostle's

Creed in its present form was not known to him as a summary of faith;

but that the various clauses of which it is composed were generally

received as articles of faith by orthodox Christians."--_Kaye's

Tertullian_, p. 324.

[446:3] These may be found in Routh's "Reliquiae." Eusebius has

preserved many of them.

[447:1] "Si quis legat Scripturas.....et erit consummatus discipulus, et

similis patrifamilias, qui de thesauro suo profert nova et

vetera."--_Irenaeus_, iv. c. 26, § i.

[447:2] "Ubi fomenta fidei de scripturarum interjectione?"--_Tertullian,

Ad Uxorem_, lib. ii. c. 6.

[447:3] As in the case of Origen. In the Didascalia we meet with the

following directions--"Teach then your children the word of the

Lord..... Teach them to write, and to read the Holy Scriptures."

--_Ethiopic Didascalia, by Platt_, p. 130.

[447:4] Euseb. viii. c. 13.

[448:1] Clemens Alexandrinus, "Stromata," lib. vii.

[448:2] Homil. xxxix. on Jer. xliv. 22.

[448:3] Period I. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 184.

[448:4] The fathers traced analogies between the four Gospels and the

four cardinal points, the living creatures with four faces, and the four

rivers of Paradise. See Irenaeus, lib. iii. c. xi. § 8; and Cyprian,

Epist. lxxiii., Opera, p. 281.

[449:1] Such as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.

[449:2] See Westcott on the Canon, pp. 452, 453.

[449:3] "The opinion that falsehood, was allowable, and might even be

necessary to guide the multitude, was," says Neander, "a principle

inbred into the aristocratic spirit of the old world."--_General

History_, ii. p. 72.

[449:4] Such as the numerous works ascribed to Clemens Romanus, and the

Ignatian Epistles.

[450:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiv. p. 294.

[450:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiv. p. 296.

[450:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiv. p. 294.

[450:4] The conflicting traditions relative to the time of keeping the

Paschal feast afford a striking illustration of this fact.

[450:5] See Kaye's "Justin Martyr," p. 75.

[450:6] "Originis vitium." "Malum igitur animae.... ex originis vitio

antecedit."--_De Anima_, c. 41. Cyprian calls it "contagio antiqua."

"Innovati Spiritu Sancto a sordibus contagionis antiquae."--_De Habitu

Virginum_, cap iv.

[450:7] "Per quem (Satanan) homo a primordio circumventus, ut praeceptum

Dei excederet, et propterea in mortem datus exinde totum genus de suo

semine infectum suae etiam damnationis traducem fecit."--_De Testimonio

Animae_, c. iii.

[451:1] "Nothing can be less systematic or less organized than their

notions on this subject; I might say, often even contradictory; such

inconsistency partly, perhaps, arising from the point never having been

canvassed by men with any care, as it eventually was by

controversialists of a later day,... and partly from the embarrassment

of their position; for whilst Scripture and self-experience compelled

them to admit the grievous corruption of our nature, they had

perpetually to contend against a powerful body of heretics, _who made

such corruption the ground for affirming that a world so evil could not

have been created by a good God, but was the work of a Demiurgus_"

--_Blunt's Early Fathers_, pp. 585, 586.

[451:2] "Paedagogue," lib. i.

[451:3] See Kaye's "Clement," p. 432. See also the comments of Neander,

"General History," ii. 388.

[451:4] Pliny's Epistle to Trajan.

[451:5] See various passages in Justin's Dialogue with Trypho, and in

Origen against Celsus.

[452:1] Thus Origen says--"We do not pay the _highest worship to Him who

appeared so lately, as to a person who had no previous existence_, for

we believe Him when He says himself--'Before Abraham was, I

am.'"--_Contra Celsum_, viii. § 12.

[452:1] The origin of this name has been much controverted. It is

probable that it was derived from Ebion, the founder of the sect. See

Period I. sect. ii. chap. iii. p. 206. Among other things the party seem

to have inculcated voluntary poverty.

[452:3] This passage, which is somewhat obscure as it stands in the

original, has been misinterpreted by Unitarian writers from generation

to generation. The rendering which they commonly give of it makes it

quite inconsistent with the context, and with the statements of Justin

elsewhere. See Kaye's "Justin," p. 51.

[453:1] Thus Tertullian says, "The only man without sin is Christ,

because Christ is _also God_."--_De Anima_, cap. xli. Justin Martyr

complains that the Jews had expunged from the Septuagint many passages

"wherein it might be clearly shewn that He who was crucified was _both

God and man_."--_Dialogue with Trypho_, § 71.

[453:2] Euseb. v. 28.

[454:1] Euseb. v. 27, 30. Epiphanius, "Haer." 65, 1.

[454:2] The superscription of this epistle is a sufficient refutation of

much of the reasoning of Mr Shepherd against the genuineness of the

Cyprianic correspondence, as here the names of a crowd of bishops are

given without any mention whatever of their sees.

[454:3] Euseb. vii. 30.

[454:4] [Greek: trias] or trinitas.

[454:5] This is, however, by no means clear, as there is nothing in his

works to indicate that he held such a position.

[454:6] "Ad Autolycum," ii. c. 15. [Greek: tupoi eisin tes Triados].

[455:1] Thus Irenaeus says--"There is ever present with Him (the Father)

the Word and _Wisdom_, the Son and _Spirit_."--_Contra Haereses_, iv.

20, § 1. It may here be proper to add that the early Christians

worshipped the third Person of the Trinity. Thus, Hippolytus

says--"Through Him (the Incarnate Word) we form a conception of the

Father; we believe in the Son; _we worship the Holy Ghost_."--_Contra

Noetum_, c. 12.

[455:2] "Legat. pro. Christianis," c. 10.

[455:3] "Legat. pro. Christ." c. 12.

[456:1] "Monarchiam, inquiunt, tenemus."--_Tertullian, Adv. Praxean_, c.

3.

[456:2] "Athanas de Synodis," c. 7.

[456:3] Hippolytus, "Philosophumena," book ix.

[456:4] He flourished about A.D. 220, and was contemporary with

Hippolytus. See Bunsen, i. 131.

[457:1] Hermias speaks of the Trinity of Plato as "God, and matter, and

example."--Sec. 5.

[457:2] "Doleo bona fide Platonem omnium haereticorum condimentarium

factum. ... Cum igitur hujusmodi argumento illa insinuentur a Platone

quae haeretici mutuantur, satis haereticos repercutiam, si argumentum

Platonis elidam."--_De Anima_, c. 23.

[457:3] "Adversus Praxeam," c. 2, 3.

[458:1] "Paedagogue," book i. c. 5, 6, 11.

[458:2] Opera, p. 74.

[458:3] "Paedagogue," book i. c. 1.

[458:4] "Stromata," book ii.

[458:5] Justin, Opera, p. 500.

[459:1] See Kaye's "Clement," pp. 431, 435.

[459:2] Epist. i. ad Donatum, Opera, p. 3.

[459:3] The philosophers, according to Justin, maintained a general, but

denied a particular providence. Dial, with Trypho, Opera, p. 218. Some

who call themselves Christians adopt this portion of the pagan theology.

[460:1] "Non facti solum, verum et voluntatis delicta vitanda, et

poenitentia purganda esse."--_Tertullian, De Paenitentia_, c. iii.

[460:2] "Hoc enim pretio Dominus veniam addicere instituit."--_Tert. De

Paenit_. c. vi.

[460:3] Clemens Alexandrinus, "Strom." book vi.

[460:4] "Sufficiat martyri propria delicta purgasse."--_Tertullian, De

Pudicitia_, c. 22.

[460:5] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 431. Origen speaks of the baptism of

blood (martyrdom) rendering us purer than the baptism of water. Opera,

ii. p. 473.

[460:6] Epist. lxxvi. Opera, p. 322.

[460:7] Epist. lv. p. 181.

[461:1] Ps. cxix 18, 19.

[463:1] See the Apology of Athenagoras, secs. 3, 10; and Minucius Felix,

c. 10.

[463:2] "Nostrae columbae etiam domus simplex, in editis semper et

apertis, et ad lucem."--_Tertullian, Advers. Valent._ c. 3.

[463:3] Life of Alexander Severus, by Lampridius, c. 49.

[464:1] See Kennett's "Antiquities of Rome," p. 41.

[464:2] Bingham has proved, by a variety of testimonies, that such was

the order of the ancient service. See his "Origines," iv. 383, 400, 417.

The early Christians thus literally obeyed the commandment--"Come before

his presence with singing;" "_Enter into his gates_ with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise."--(Ps. c. 2, 4.).

[464:3] See 1 Cor. xiv. 26. See also Euseb. v. 28.

[464:4] At the end of his "Paedagogue." This hymn to the Saviour was

composed by Clement himself.

[465:1] Euseb. vii. 30.

[465:2] See Bingham, i. p. 383. Edit. London, 1840.

[465:3] Chrysostom in Psalm cxlix. See Bingham, ii. 485.

[466:1] [Greek: hosê dunamis.] See Origen, "Contra Celsum," iii. 1 and

57; Opera, i. 447, 485.

[466:2] "Apol." ii. p. 98.

[466:3] "Suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis denique sine monitore,

quia de pectore oramus."--_Apol._ c. 30. The omission of a single word,

when repeating the heathen liturgy, was considered a great misfortune.

Chevallier says, speaking of this expression _sine monitore_--"There is

probably an allusion to the persons who were appointed, at the

sacrifices of the Romans, _to prompt the magistrates_, lest they should

incidentally omit _a single word_ in the appropriate formulae, which

would have vitiated the whole proceedings."--_Translation of the

Epistles of Clement_, &c., p. 411, note.

[466:4] Opera, i. 267.

[466:5] See Minucius Felix.

[466:6] Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14.

[466:7] See Bingham, iv. 324. In prayer the Christians soon began to

turn the face to the east. See Tertullian, "Apol." c. 16. This custom

appears to have been borrowed from the Eastern nations who worshipped

the sun. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 408.

[467:1] Thus Prideaux mentions how the Persian priests, long before the

commencement of our era, approached the sacred fire "to read _the daily

offices of their Liturgy_ before it."--_Connections_, part i., book iv.,

vol. i. p. 218. This liturgy was composed by Zoroaster nearly five

hundred years before Christ's birth.

[467:2] See Clarkson on "Liturgies," and Hartung, "Religion der Romer."

It is remarkable that the old pagan Roman liturgy, in consequence of the

change in the language from the time of its original establishment,

began at length to be almost unintelligible to the people. It thus

resembles the present Romish Liturgy. The pagans believed that their

prayers were more successful when offered up in a barbarous and unknown

language. See Potter's "Antiquities of Greece," i. 288. Edit. Edinburgh,

1818. The Lacedaemonians had a form of prayer from which they never

varied either in public or private. Potter i. 281.

[467:3] "In the persecutions under Diocletian and his associates, though

a strict inquiry was made after the books of Scripture, and other things

belonging to the Church, which were often delivered up by the

_Traditores_ to be burnt, yet we never read of any ritual books, or

books of divine service, delivered up among them."--_Bingham_, iv. 187.

[467:4] It is worthy of note that, in modern times, when there is any

great revival of religion, forms of prayer fall into comparative

desuetude even among those by whom they were formerly used.

[468:1] See Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 9; and Origen, "De Oratione."

[468:2] 1 Tim. ii. 2.

[468:3] Tertullian, "Apol." c. 39.

[468:4] See Tertullian, "De Praescrip." c. 41.

[468:5] See Guerike's "Manual of the Antiquities of the Church," by

Morrison, p. 214.

[468:6] Guerike's "Manual," p. 213.

[469:1] There is reference to this in the "Apostolic Constitutions,"

lib. ii. c. 57. Cotelerius, i. 266.

[469:2] Euseb. vii. 30.

[470:1] See Bingham, ii. 212.

[470:2] Letter from Pius of Rome to Justus of Vienne.

[470:3] Bingham, ii. 451.

[470:4] See Period II. sec. i. chap. iii. p. 320.

[472:1] See the "Epistle of the Church of Smyrna," giving an account of

his martyrdom, § 9.

[472:2] The Latin version of his words, as given by Jacobson,

is--"Octogesimum jam et sextum _annum aetatis_ ingredior."--_Pat.

Apost._ ii. 565. See also the "Chronicum Alexandrinum" as quoted by

Cotelerius, ii. 194; and Gregory of Tours, "Hist." i. 28.

[472:3] He is represented as _standing_, when offering up a prayer of

about two hours' length (§ 7), and as _running_ with great speed (§ 8).

Such strength at such an age was extraordinary. The Apostle John is said

to have lived to the age of one hundred; but, towards the close of his

life, he appears to have lost his wonted energy.

[472:4] "Apol." ii. Opera, p. 62. See Dr Wilson's observations on this

passage in his "Infant Baptism," pp. 447, 448.

[473:1] Dialogue with Trypho. Opera, p. 261.

[473:2] There may here be a reference to 1 Cor. vii. 14.

[473:3] Book ii. c. xxii. § 4.

[473:4] Thus he says--"Giving to His disciples the power of

_regeneration unto God_, He said to them--Go and teach all nations,

_baptizing_ them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the

Holy Ghost."--Book iii. c. xvii. § 1. Thus, too, he speaks of the

heretics using certain rites "to the rejection of _baptism, which is

regeneration unto God_."--Book i. c. xxi. § 1. Irenaeus here apparently

means that baptism _typically_ is regeneration, in the same way as the

bread and wine in the Eucharist are _typically_ the body and blood of

Christ.

[474:1] That infant baptism was now practised at Alexandria is apparent

also from the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus, who, in allusion to

this rite, speaks of "the children that are _drawn up out of the

water_."--Paedag. iii. c. 11.

[474:2] Hom. xiv. in "Lucam." Opera, iii. 948. See also Opera, ii. 230.

Hom. viii. in "Leviticum."

[474:3] Comment. in "Epist. ad Roman," lib. v. Opera, iv. 565.

[475:1] "De Baptismo," c. 18.

[475:2] Acts ii. 41.

[475:3] Acts viii. 37, 38; xvi. 31-33.

[476:1] "_Parents_ were commonly _sponsors for their own children_ ...

and the extraordinary cases in which they were presented by others, were

commonly such cases, where the parent could not, or would not, do that

kind office for them; as when slaves were presented to baptism by their

masters, or children whose parents were dead, were brought, by the

charity of any who would shew mercy on them; or children exposed by

their parents, which were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the

Church, and by them presented unto baptism. These are _the only cases_

mentioned by St Austin in which children seem to have had other

sponsors."--_Bingham_, iii. 552.

[476:2] Mark x. 14.

[476:3] Compare Mark x. 13-16 with Luke xviii. 15, 16.

[477:1] See Acts xvi. 15.

[477:2] "De Baptismo," c. viii. xvi.

[477:3] "It would be thought by many a cruelty to place a person

_without his own consent_, and in unconscious infancy, in a situation,

so far, much more disadvantageous than that of those brought up pagans,

that if he did ever--suppose at the age of fifteen or twenty--fall into

any sin, he must remain for the rest of his life--perhaps for above half

a century--deprived of all hope, or at least of all confident hope, of

restoration to the divine favour; shut out from all that cheering

prospect which, if his baptism in infancy _had been omitted_, might have

lain before him."--_Archbishop Whately's Scripture Doctrine concerning

the Sacraments_, p. 11, note.

[478:1] Acts ii. 38, 39.

[478:2] Gen. xvii. 12; Lev. xii. 3.

[479:1] Epist. lix. pp. 211, 212.

[479:2] Laurentius, a Roman deacon, who flourished about the middle of

the third century, is represented as baptizing one Romanus, a soldier,

in a pitcher of water, and another individual, named Lucillus, by

pouring water upon his head. See Bingham, iii. 599.

[480:1] Here the validity of the ordinance is made to depend upon the

personal character of the administrator.

[480:2] Epist. lxxvi. p. 321.

[480:3] Epist. lxxiv. p. 295.

[480:4] Epist. lxxvi. p. 317. In like manner Clement of Alexandria

says--"Our transgressions are remitted by one sovereign medicine, the

baptism according to the Word." See Kaye's "Clement," p. 437.

[480:5] Epist. lxx. p. 269.

[480:6] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 1.

[480:7] Cyprian, "Con. Carthag." pp. 600, 602.

[480:8] See Kaye's "Clement of Alexandria," p. 441, and Tertullian, "De

Corona," c. 3.

[480:9] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 7.

[480:10] Tertullian, "De Baptismo," c. 8.

[481:1] "De Resurrectione Carnis," c. 8.

[481:2] "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy

Ghost."--Matt, xxviii. 19.

[481:3] Bingham, iii. 377.

[483:1] Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

[484:1] "Apol." ii. Opera, pp. 97, 98.

[485:1] In an article on the Roman Catacombs, in the "Edinburgh Review"

for January 1859, the writer observes--"It is apparent from all the

paintings of Christian feasts, whether of the Agapae, or the burial

feasts of the dead, or the Communion of the Holy Sacrament, that they

were celebrated by the early Christians _sitting round a table_."

[485:2] This calumny created much prejudice against them in the second

century. See Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho," § 10; and the

"Apology of Athenagoras," § 3. If Pliny refers to the Eucharist when he

speaks of the early Christians as partaking of food together, it is

obvious that they must then have communicated sitting, or in the posture

in which they partook of their ordinary meals.

[485:3] Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14.

[485:4] See Euseb. vii. 9.

[485:5] Justin Martyr, "Apol." ii. 98; and Tertullian's "Apol." c. 39.

[486:1] Epist. lxiii. "To Caecilius," Opera, p. 229.

[486:2] Larroque's "History of the Eucharist," p. 35. London, 1684.

[486:3] Cyprian, "De Lapsis," Opera, pp. 375, 381. This was probably the

result of carrying to excess a protest against the Montanist opposition

to infant baptism. Such a reaction often occurs. It was now maintained

that the Lord's Supper, as well as Baptism, should be administered to

infants.

[486:4] At an earlier period it was dispensed in presence of the

catechumens. See Bingham, iii. p. 380.

[486:5] "De Oratione Dominica," Opera, p. 421.

[487:1] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 357.

[487:2] See Gieseler's "Text Book of Ecclesiastical History," by

Cunningham ii. 331, note 3.

[487:3] "Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, pp. 296, 297.

[487:4] See Kaye's "Clement of Alexandria," p. 445.

[487:5] [Greek: akeraioterôn], Opera, in. p. 498.

[488:1] In Mat. tom. xi. Opera, iii. 499, 500.

[488:2] Epist. lxiii. "To Caecilius," Opera, p. 225.

[488:3] Epist. lxiii. Opera, 228.

[488:4] Matt, xviii. 20.

[489:1] Irenaeus, "Contra Haereses," v. c. 2, § 3. Clement of Alexandria

says that "to drink the blood of Jesus is to partake of the incorruption

of the Lord."--_Paedagogue_, book ii.

[489:2] "Contra Haereses," iv. c. 18, § 5.

[489:3] This feeling prevailed in the time of Tertullian. "Calicis aut

panis etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram auxie patimur."--_De

Corona_, c. 3.

[489:4] Hom. xiii. in "Exod." Opera, ii. 176.

[489:5] Ps. xii. 6.

[490:1] See Kaye's "Justin Martyr," p. 94. Irenaeus, iv. o. 17, § 5.

Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14.

[490:2] "Nonne solemnior erit statio tua, si et ad aram Dei steteris?"

Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14, or, according to Oehler, c. 19.

[491:1] Matt. iii. 5, 6.

[491:2] Acts xix. 17, 18.

[493:1] Acts xvi. 33.

[493:2] "Apol." ii. Opera, p. 93, 94.

[493:1] "De Paenitentia," c. ix.

[493:2] Joshua vii. 6; Esther iv. 1; Isaiah lviii. 5; Ezek. xxvii. 30.

[494:1] See a "Memorial concerning Personal and Family Fasting," by the

pious Thomas Boston. Edinburgh, 1849.

[494:2] Matt. ix. 15.

[494:3] Lev. xxiii. 27.

[494:4] The text Matt. ix. 15 was urged in support of this observance.

See Tertullian, "De Jejun." c. ii.

[494:5] "Wednesday being selected because on that day the Jews took

counsel to destroy Christ, and Friday because that was the day of His

crucifixion."--_Kaye's Tertullian_, p. 418. As Wednesday was dedicated

to Mercury and Friday to Venus, this fasting, according to Clement,

signified to the more advanced disciple, that he was to renounce the

love of gain and the love of pleasure. Kaye's "Clement," p. 454.

[495:1] These Xerophagiae, or Dry Food Days, were even now objected to

by some of the more enlightened Christians on the ground that they were

an import from heathenism. Tertullian, "De Jejun." c. ii.

[495:2] Col. ii. 23.

[495:3] Thus Cyprian, Epist. liii. p. 169, speaks of a penance of three

years' duration.

[496:1] Socrates, v. c. 19.

[497:1] See canon xi. of the Council of Nice.

[497:2] See Cyprian, Epist. xl., p. 53, and "ad Demetrianum," p. 442.

[497:3] See p. 419, note §.

[497:4] See p. 460.

[498:1] Rom. iii. 28.

[498:2] Matt. iii. 8.

[498:3] Isa. lviii. 6-8.

[499:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. i. pp. 465, 466.

[499:2] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[500:1] Apost. Constit. ii. c. 17.

[500:2] Phil. iv. 3.

[500:3] No less than five persons are mentioned as having preceded

Polycarp in the see of Smyrna, viz., Aristo, Strataeas, another Aristo,

Apelles, and Bucolus. See Jacobson's "Patres Apostolici," ii. 564, 565,

note. It is not at all probable that he became the senior presbyter long

before the middle of the second century. Irenaeus, indeed, tells us that

he was constituted bishop of Smyrna _by the apostles_ (lib. iii. c. 3, §

4)--a statement which implies that _at least two_ of the inspired

heralds of the gospel were concerned in his designation to the ministry;

but as he was still only a boy of nineteen when the last survivor of the

twelve died in extreme old age, the words cannot mean that he was

actually ordained by those to whom our Lord originally entrusted the

organization of the Church. The language was probably designed simply to

import that John and perhaps Philip had announced his future eminence

when he was yet a child, and that thus, like Timothy, he was invested

with the pastoral commission "according to the prophecies" which they

had previously delivered. See 1 Tim. i. 18; iv. 14.

[501:1] Sec. 74.

[502:1] Sec. 54.

[502:2] Sec. 44.

[502:3] Sec. 44. All these quotations attest the late date of the

Epistle. Tillemont places it in A.D. 97. Eusebius had evidently no doubt

as to its late date. See his "History," iii. 16.

[502:4] Sec. 57.

[502:5] For many centuries it was considered lost. At length in the

reign of Charles I. a copy of it was discovered appended to a very

ancient manuscript containing the Septuagint and Greek Testament--the

manuscript now known as the Codex Alexandrinus.

[502:6] Euseb. iii. 16; iv. 23.

[503:1] See the Romish Breviary under the 23d of November, where a

number of absurd stories are told concerning him.

[503:2] Sec. 42.

[503:3] They continued to be so used when the Peshito version of the New

Testament was made. That version is assigned by the best authorities to

the former half of the second century. See p. 421, note.

[503:4] It is probably of nearly the same date as the first Apology of

Justin Martyr.

[504:1] [Greek: hoi sun autoi presbuteroi]--evidently equivalent to

[Greek: sumpresbuteroi]. See 1 Pet. v. i.

[504:2] Phil. i. 1.

[504:3] Sec. 5.

[504:4] Sec. 6.

[504:5] Jerome, "Comment. in Tit."

[504:6] 1 Cor. xiv. 40.

[505:1] As in Acts xiv. 23.

[505:2] I make no apology for employing a word which, even the

Benedictine Editor of Origen has adopted. Thus he speaks of the

"senatores et _moderatores_ ecclesiae Dei."--_Contra Celsum._ iii. 30,

Opera, i. 466.

[505:3] Such as Acts xxi. 18; Gal. ii. 12.

[506:1] "At Antioch some, as Origen and Eusebius, make Ignatius to

succeed Peter. Jerome makes him the third bishop, and placeth Evodius

before him. Others, therefore, to solve that, make them contemporary

bishops; the one, of the Church of the Jews; the other, of the

Gentiles.... Come we to Rome, and here the succession is as muddy as the

Tiber itself; for here Tertullian, Rufinus, and several others, place

Clement next to Peter. Irenaeus and Eusebius set Anacletus before him;

Epiphanius and Optatus both Anacletus and Cletus; Augustinus and

Damasus, with others, make Anacletus, Cletus, and Linus all to precede

him. What way shall we find to extricate ourselves out of this

labyrinth?"--_Stillingfleet's Irenicum_, part ii. ch. 7. p. 321.

[506:2] "Polycarp, and the elders who are with him, to the Church of God

which is at Philippi."

[506:3] A Roman deacon of the fourth century. His works are commonly

appended to those of Ambrose.

[507:1] "Primum presbyteri episcopi appellabantur, ut, recedente uno,

sequens ei succederet."--_Comment. in Eph._ iv.

[507:2] "Ut omnis episcopus presbyter sit, non omnis presbyter

episcopus; hic enim episcopus est, qui inter presbyteros primus

est."--_Comment. in 1 Tim_. iii. According to a learned writer this

arrangement extended farther. "Ita, uti videtur, comparatum fuit, ut

defuncto presbytero, primus ordine diaconus locum occuparet ultimum

presbyterorum, novusque in locum novissimum substitueretur diaconus;

decedente vero episcopo, primus ordine presbyter in ejus locum

sufficeretur, et primus in ordine diaconorum novissimam presbyterii

sedem capesseret."--_Thomae Brunonis Judicium de auctore Can. et Const.

quae apost. dicuntur_. Cotelerius, ii. Ap. p. 179.

[507:3] 1 Pet. v. 5. It is a curious and striking fact, arguing strongly

in favour of the antiquity of their Church polity, that among the

Vaudois Barbs of old the claims of seniority were distinctly

acknowledged. The following rule of discipline is taken from one of

their ancient MSS. "He that is received the last (into the ministry by

imposition of hands) ought to do nothing without the permission of him

that was received before him."--_Moreland, History of the Evang. Ch. of

the Valleys of Piedmont_, p. 74.

[507:4] He is speaking immediately before of presbyters. See 1 Pet.

v. 1-4.

[507:5] Matt. x. 2, "_The first_, Simon, who is called Peter." Mark iii.

16; Luke vi. 14; Acts i. 13.

[507:6] Jerome in "Jovin," i. 14.

[508:1] Savigny's "History of the Roman Law," by Cathcart, i. pp. 62,

63, 75.

[508:2] Euseb. iii. 23. [Greek: ho presbutês].

[508:3] In Africa the senior bishop or metropolitan was called _father_.

See Bingham, i. 200. In the second century we find the name given to the

Roman bishop. See Routh's "Reliquiae," i. 287. According to Eutychius,

his predecessor in the see of Alexandria in the early part of the third

century was called "Baba (Papa), that is, grandfather."

[509:1] Euseb. v. 1.

[509:2] He was one hundred and sixteen years of age in A.D. 212 (Euseb.

vi. 11), so that in A.D. 196, or about the time of the Palestinian Synod

at which he presided (Euseb. v. 23), he was a century old.

[509:3] Etheridge's "Syrian Churches," pp. 9, 10.

[509:4] See 1 Tim. iv. 12.

[509:5] That is, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus,

and Hyginus; but some consider Anacletus the same as Cletus, who is

supposed to have died before Clement.

[510:1] Pearson has noticed this fact, and has endeavoured to erect upon

it an argument against the current chronology. See his "Minor Works,"

ii. 527. It would appear that the names of the three bishops of Smyrna

next after Polycarp were Thraseas, Papirius, and Camerius. At least two

of these had passed away a considerable time before the Paschal

controversy. See Greswell's "Dissertations," iv. part ii. p. 600, note.

[510:2] Hist. iv. 5.

[510:3] According to Eusebius his appointment took place _after_ the

destruction of Jerusalem, or about A.D. 71. He was, therefore, at the

head of the Church forty-five years, as his martyrdom occurred in A.D.

116. According to this reckoning he was in his seventy-fifth year when

made president.

[510:4] This explanation of the matter approximates to that given by

Tillemont. "Cela peut etre venu de ce qu'on les choisissoit entre les

plus agez du Clergé pour les faire Evesques: car on ne voit pas qu'ils

ayent esté plus persecutez que d'autres."--_Mém. pour servir à

l'Histoire Ecclesiastique_, tom. ii. part ii. p. 40. It would appear

from Eusebius (iii. 32), that at the time of the death of Simeon there

were still living a number of very old persons who were relatives of our

Lord. Some of these were, probably, elders in the Church of Jerusalem.

[511:1] He is said in the "Chronicon" of Eusebius to have presided

sixteen years.

[511:2] Euseb. v. 12.

[512:1] In the tenth century, the darkest and most revolting period in

the history of the Popedom, there were _twenty-four_ bishops of Rome.

Some of these reigned only a few days; at least one of them was

strangled; several of them died in prison; and several others were

driven from the see or deposed. There have been only twenty-four Popes

in the last two hundred and fifty years.

[512:2] There have been only twenty-eight Archbishops of Canterbury

since 1454.

[512:3] In the middle of the third century we find Firmilian appealing

to it as a witness against the Church of Home. Cyprian, Epist. lxxv.

Opera, p. 303.

[512:4] "Hist." vi. 20.

[513:1] "Hist." iv. 5; v. 12.

[513:2] Such as, after the death of the aged Simeon, when Justus, at the

age of fivescore and ten, was advanced to the presidential chair.

[514:1] Irenaeus, iii. 2. Tertullian, "De Praescrip. Haeret." § 25.

[514:2] "Ad eam iterum traditionem, quae est ab apostolis, quae _per

successiones presbyterorum_ in ecclesiis custoditur, provocamus

eos."--Irenaeus, iii. 2.

[514:3] Irenaeus here speaks in the language of his own times, and

refers to the presidents, or senior ministers, of the presbyteries. In

like manner Hilary says that the change in the mode of appointing the

president of the presbytery was made by the decision of many _priests_

(multorum _sacerdotum_ judicio), though the title _priest_ was not given

to a Christian minister when the alteration was originally proposed.

[514:4] Irenaeus, iii. 3.

[515:1] Period II. sec. i. chap. iv.; and Period II. sect. iii. chap.

vii.

[515:2] According to a very ancient canon, no one under fifty years of

age could be made a bishop. See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 56. Even in

the time of Cyprian much stress was still laid upon age. See Cyprian,

Epist. lii. p. 156.

[515:3] Sec Period II. sect. iii. chap. xi. See also Bingham, i. 198.

[515:4] Münter's "Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae," p. 49. See also

Bingham, vi. 377-379.

[516:1] Bingham, i. 201.

[516:2] Binius, i. 5. Fourth Council of Toledo, canon 4.

[516:3] Bingham, i. 204.

[517:1] Bunsen dates it about A.D. 200. "Hippolytus and his Age," p.

114. The recently discovered treatise of Hippolytus against all heresies

shews that Noetus must have appeared much earlier than most modern

ecclesiastical historians have reckoned.

[517:2] Routh, "Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Opuscula," tom. i. pp. 49,

50. Oxon, 1858. This extract proves that the Church of Smyrna continued

under presbyterial government long after the time of Polycarp. Other

Churches about this time were in the same position. See Eusebius, v. 16.

[518:1] During the Paschal controversy the Churches of Jerusalem,

Caesarea, and others sided with Rome, and then probably adopted her

ecclesiastical regimen. It had, perhaps, been generally adopted in Asia

Minor during the Montanist agitation.

[518:2] Chapter vii. of this section.

[519:1] The word _catholic_ came now into use. The minister of the Word

was called a _priest_, and the communion table, an _altar_.

[519:2] Euseb. v. 12.

[519:3] Euseb. vi. 10. The word [Greek: cheirotonian] here employed is

indicative of a popular choice. See also the "Chronicon" of Eusebius.

[519:4] Münter's "Primordia Eccles. Afric.," pp. 25, 26.

[520:1] Acts x. 1, 45-48; xxi. 8.

[520:2] "Hist." v. 22.

[520:3] "Hist." v. 23; v. 25; vi. 19; vi. 23; vi. 46; vii. 14, &c, &c.

[520:4] "Annal." p. 332.

[520:5] See Lardner's Works, vii. 99. Edit. London, 1838.

[521:1] Eusebius, vi. 26. Towards the close of his episcopate Demetrius

held several synods in Alexandria, at which a considerable number of

bishops were present.

[523:1] It would appear that the "Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebius

was published shortly after Constantine first publicly recognized

Christianity. That event took place in A.D. 324, and with that year the

history terminates.

[523:2] "Vita Malchi," Opera, iv. pp. 90, 91. Edit. Paris, 1706.

[524:1] "Antequam _Diaboli instinctu_, studia in religione fierent, et

diceretur in populis, Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephae,

communi presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae gubernabantur. Postquam vero

unusquisque eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in

toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris, electus superponeretur

caeteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiae cura pertineret, et _schismatum semina

tollerentur_."--_Comment. in Titum._ The language here used bears a

strong resemblance to that employed by Lactantius long before when

treating of the same subject--"Multae haereses extiterunt, et

_instinctibus daemonum_ populus Dei _scissus est_."--_Instit. Divin._,

lib. iv. c. 30.

[525:1] 1 Cor. i. 12.

[525:2] "Hic locus vel maxime adversum Haereticos facit qui pacis

vinculo dissipato atque corrupto, putant se tenere Spiritus unitatem;

quum unitas Spiritus in pacis vinculo conservetur. Quando enim non

idipsum omnes loquimur, et alius dicit _Ego sum Pauli, Ego Apollo, Ego

Cephae_, dividimus Spiritus unitatem, et eam in partes ac membra

discerpimus."-_Comment, in Ephes._, lib. ii. cap. 4. Again, we find him

saying-"Neonon et dissensiones opera carnis sunt, quum quis nequaquam

perfectus, eodem sensu, et eadem sententia dicit. _Ego sum Pauli, et ego

Apollo, et ego Cephae, et ego Christi._ ...Nonnumquam evenit, ut et in

expositionibus Scripturarum oriatur dissensio, _e quibus haereses quoque

quae nunc in carnis opere ponuntur_, ebulliunt."--_Comment, in Epist. ad

Galat._, cap. 5.

[525:3] Philip, i. 1, 2.

[526:1] Acts xx. 17, 28.

[526:2] Our translators, as it would appear acting under instructions

from James I., here render the word "overseers."

[526:3] The Church of Rome, of which Jerome was a presbyter, long

hesitated to receive the Epistle to the Hebrews. Its opposition to

ritualism seems, in the third and fourth centuries, to have been

offensive to the ecclesiastical leaders in the Western metropolis. In

the first century no such doubts respecting it existed among the Roman

Christians. See Period I. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 183.

[526:4] Heb. xiii. 17. The reading of Jerome, here, as well as in the

case of other texts quoted, differs somewhat from that of our authorized

version. He seems to have often quoted from memory.

[527:1] 1 Pet. v. l, 2.

[527:2] It may suffice to give in the original only the conclusion of

this long quotation. "Paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plantaria

evellerentur, ad unum omnem solicitudinem esse delatam. Sicut ergo

presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesiae consuetudine ei qui sibi praepositus

fuerit esse subjectos; ita episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine quam

dispositionis dominicae veritate presbyteris esse majores."--_Comment,

in Titum_.

[527:3] See Period I. sec. i. chap. 10. p. 157.

[527:4] Thus Dr Burton says that "the Epistles of St John were composed

in the _latter part_ of Domitian's reign."--_Lectures_, i. 382. Jerome

was evidently of this opinion, for he says that, in his First Epistle,

he refers to Cerinthus and Ebion, who appeared towards the close of the

first century. "Jam tunc haereticorum semina pullularent Cerinthi,

Ebionis, et caeterorum qui negant Christum in carne venisse, quos et

ipse in Epistola sua Antichristos vocat."--_Proleg. in Comment, super

Matthaeum_.

[528:1] 2 John 1.

[528:2] 3 John 1.

[528:3] Epist. ci. "Ad Evangelum."

[528:4] Period II. sec. iii. chap. 5. p. 500.

[528:5] Sec. 1.

[528:6] The reader may find the quotations in the preceding chapter, pp.

501, 502.

[528:7] Thus Milner says that "so far as one may judge by Clement's

Epistle," the Church of Corinth, when the letter was written, had Church

governors "_only of two ranks_," presbyters and deacons.--_Hist. of the

Church_, cent. ii. chap. 1.

[528:8] As the letter supplies no trace whatever of the existence of a

bishop in the Church to which it is addressed, Pearson is sadly puzzled

by its testimony, and gravely advances the supposition that _the bishop

of Philippi must have been dead_ when Polycarp wrote! "Vindiciae

Ignatianae," pars ii. cap. 13. Rothe is equally perplexed by the Epistle

of Clement. He says that "in the whole Epistle there is never any

reference to a bishop of the Corinthian community," and he admits that,

when the letter was written, "the Corinthian community had no bishop at

all;" but, to support his favourite theory, he contends, like Pearson,

that the bishop of Corinth must also have been dead! "Die Anfange der

Christlichen Kirche," pp. 403, 404. Strange that the bishop of Corinth

and the bishop of Philippi both happened to be dead at the only time

that their existence would have been of any historical value, and that

_no reference_ is made either to them or their successors!

[529:1] See Euseb. iv. c. 11.

[529:2] Euseb. in. 32, and iv. 22.

[529:3] Euseb. iii. 32. It was probably immediately after the election

of Marcus, as bishop of Jerusalem, that Thebuthis became a heretic. See

Euseb. iv. 22. About that time the sect of the Nazarenes originated.

[530:1] Origen, "Contra Celsum," iii. § 10, Opera, i. 453, 454.

[530:2] "Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, p. 253.

[530:3] "Contra Haeres." i. 27, § 1.

[530:4] "Strom." p. 764.

[530:5] Epist. lxxiv. Opera, p. 293. The ancient writers speak of all

the early schismatics as heretics. Thus Novatian, though sound in the

faith, is so described. Cyprian, Epist. lxxvi. p. 315. When, therefore,

Jerome speaks of the early schismatics he obviously refers to the

heretics. Irenaeus says of them--"_Scindunt_ et separant unitatem

ecclesiae."--Lib. iv. c. xxvi. § 2. In like manner Cyprian represents

"heresies and schisms" as making their appearance after the apostolic

age, and as inseparably connected. "Cum haereses et schismata postmodum

nata sint, dum conventicula sibi diversa constituunt."--_De Unitate

Eccles._, Opera, p. 400.

[531:1] The existence of heresy in Gaul in the second century is

established by the fact that Irenaeus spent so much time in its

refutation. Had he not been annoyed by it, he never would have thought

of writing his treatise "Contra Haereses."

[531:2] Valentine himself seems to have been a presbyter. He at one time

expected to be made bishop.

[532:1] Such is the statement of Hilary--"Immutata est ratio,

prospiciente concilio, ut non ordo sed meritum crearet episcopum,

multorum sacerdotum judicio constitutum, ne indignus temere usurparet,

et esset multis scandalum."--_Comment. in Eph_. iv.

[532:2] See Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. pp. 333, 334, 349.

[533:1] At an early period, out of three elders nominated by the

presbytery, one was chosen by lot; subsequently, out of three elders

chosen by lot, one was elected by the people. See pp. 333, 349.

[533:2] "Collocatum."

[533:3] Epist. ci. "Ad Evangelum."

[534:1] A few passages of the letter may here be given in the original.

"Manifestissime comprobatur eundem esse episcopum atque presbyterum....

Quod autem _postea_ unus electus est, qui cicteris praeponeretur, in

schismatic remedium factum est, ne unusquisque ad se trahens Christi

ecclesiam rumperet. Nam et Alexandriae à Marco Evangelista usque ad

Heraclam et Dionysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in

excelsiori gradu collocatum episcopum nominabant."-Epist. ci. ad

Evangelum.

[535:1] Matt. xx. 26, 27.

[535:2] The view here taken is sustained by the verdict of learned and

candid episcopalians. "When elders were ordained by the apostles in

every Church, through every city, to feed the flock of Christ, whereof

the Holy Ghost had made them overseers: they, to the intent that they

might the better do it by common counsel and consent, did use to

assemble themselves and meet together. In the which meetings, for the

more orderly handling and concluding of things pertaining to their

charge, they chose one amongst them to be the president of their company

and moderator of their actions."--_The Judgment of Doctor Rainoldes

touching the Original of Episcopacy more largely confirmed out of

Antiquity, by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh._ Ussher's Works, vii.

p. 75.

[537:1] Pearson has endeavoured to destroy the credit of this

chronology, and has urged against it the authority of the "Annals of

Eutychius!" "De Successione prim. Rom. Episc." He had before laboured to

prove that the testimony of these "Annals" is worthless. "Vindic.

Ignat." pars i. c. xi.

[537:2] The chronology of Eusebius, as arranged by Bower in his "Lives

of the Popes," stands thus:--

Evaristus, A.D. 100 to A.D. 109.

Alexander, A.D. 109 to A.D. 119.

Sixtus (or Xystus), A.D. 119 to A.D. 128.

Telesphorus, A.D. 128 to A.D. 139.

Hyginus, A.D. 139 to A.D. 142.

Pius, A.D. 142 to A.D. 157.

Anicetus, A.D. 157 to A.D. 168.

Soter, A.D. 168 to A.D. 176.

Eleutherius, A.D. 176 to A.D. 192.

Victor, A.D. 192 to A.D. 201.

[538:1] The following is the chronology of Pearson:--

Clement died A.D. 83.

Evaristus, A.D. 83 to A.D. 91.

Alexander, A.D. 91 to A.D. 101.

Xystus, A.D. 101 to A.D. 111.

Telesphorus, A.D. 111 to A.D. 122.

Hyginus, A.D. 122 to A.D. 126.

Pius, A.D. 127 to A.D. 142.

Anicetus, A.D. 142 to A.D. 161.

Soter, A.D. 161 to A.D. 170.

Eleutherius, A.D. 170 to A.D. 185.

Victor, A.D. 185 to A.D. 197.

--"Minor Works," ii. pp. 570; 571.

[539:1] I have endeavoured, from the records of the late Synod of

Ulster, to estimate the medium length of the incumbency of a moderator

for life, being the senior minister of a presbytery of from ten to

fifteen members, and have found that the average of thirty-six

successions amounted to between eight and nine years. In these

presbyteries young ministers generally constituted a considerable

portion of the members. Had they all been persons advanced in life, the

average must have been greatly reduced.

[539:2] During that part of the second century which terminated with the

death of Hyginus, the average duration of the life of a Roman bishop

very little exceeded eight years; whereas, during the remainder of the

century, it amounted to nearly twelve years. According to the chronology

of Pearson the disproportion is still greater, being as eight years and

a fraction to fourteen years. If we insert the episcopate of Anacletus,

it will be nearly as seven to fourteen.

[539:3] In the verses erroneously attributed to Tertullian, the Church

of Rome is represented as in a flourishing state when visited by Cerdo.

"Advenit Romam Cerdo, nova vulnera gestans

Detectus, quoniam voces et verba veneni

Spargebat furtim; quapropter ab agmine pulsus,

Sacrilegum genus hoc genuit spirante dracone.

Constabat pietate vigens Ecclesia Romae

Composita a Petro, cujus successor et ipse

Jamque loco nono cathedram suscepit Hyginus."

[540:1] Euseb. iv. 11. Irenaeus says that Valentine, the most famous and

formidable of the Gnostic teachers, "came to Rome under Hyginus, was in

his prime under Pius, and lived until the time of Anicetus."--_Contra

Haeres._, iii. 4. § 3. Cyprian speaks of "the more _grievous pestilences

of heresy breaking forth_ when Marcion the Pontian emerged from Pontus,

whose master Cerdo came to Rome _during the episcopate of

Hyginus_."--_Epist_. lxxiv. He adds--"But it is acknowledged that

heresies _afterwards became more numerous and worse_."--_Epist_. lxxiv.

Opera, pp. 293, 294.

[540:2] Euseb. iv. 11. See also a fragment attributed to Irenaeus in

Stieren's edition, i. 938.

[540:3] See Mosheim, "Commentaries," by Vidal, ii. 266.

[541:1] Hieronymus, "Comment, in Titum."

[541:2] Ibid.

[541:3] "Tamen postquam in omnibus locis ecclesiae sunt constitutae, et

officia ordinata, aliter composita res est, quam coeperat."--_Comment.

in Epist. ad Ephes._ cap. 4.

[541:4] "Ideo non per omnia conveniunt scripta apostoli ordinationi,

quae nunc in ecclesia est; quia haec _inter ipsa primordia_ sunt

scripta."--Ibid.

[541:5] "Ut non ordo, sed meritum crearet episcopum."--_Ibid._ Hilary

appears to have believed with Jerome that the Church was originally

governed "by the common council of the presbyters," but that, meanwhile,

_with their sanction_, or under peculiar circumstances, deacons might

preach and even laymen baptize. Such, too, seems to have been the

opinion of Tertullian. See Kaye's "Tertullian," pp. 226, 448. Hilary,

however, maintained that this arrangement was soon abrogated. "Coepit

alio ordine et providentia gubernari ecclesia; quia si omnes eadem

possent, irrationabile esset, et vulgaris res, et vilissima videretur."

[543:1] Irenaeus, iii. 3, § 3.

[544:1] See Period II. sec. 1. chap. iv. pp. 334-336.

[544:2] Irenaeus, i. 24, § 1; i. 28, § 1.

[544:3] Thus, Valentine travelled from Alexandria to Rome, and

afterwards settled in Cyprus. Marcion, who was originally connected with

Pontus, and who taught in Rome, is said to have also travelled in Egypt

and the East.

[545:1] "Blondelli Apologia pro Sententia Hieronymi," p. 18. Blondel

makes the vacancy of four years' continuance.

[545:2] Pearson's "Minor Works," ii. p. 571.

[546:1] Epiphanius, "Haeres." 42, Opera, tom. i. p. 302.

[546:2] See Burton's "Lectures," ii. 98.

[546:3] "Speraverat episcopatum Valentinus, quia et ingenio poterat et

eloquio. Sed alium ex martyrii praerogativa loci potitum indignatus de

ecclesia authenticae regulae abrupit."--_Adv. Valent._ c. iv.

[546:4] Tertullian states that Valentine at first believed the doctrine

of the Catholics _in the Church of Rome_. "Be Praescrip." c. 30. When he

came to the city he was admitted to communion. He set up a distinct sect

after Pius was made bishop. It is impossible, therefore, to avoid the

inference that he was mortified because he was not himself chosen.

Tertullian here confounds Eleutherius and Hyginus.

[547:1] The unwillingness even of Tertullian to say anything to its

prejudice has been often remarked. See Neander on a passage in the tract

"De Virg. Veland." in his "Antignostikos," appended to his "History of

the Planting and Training of the Christian Church," in Bohn's edition,

ii. 420. See also the same, p. 429. See also "De Pudicitia," c. 1.

[547:2] They are quoted as genuine by Binius, Baronius, Bona, Thorndike,

Bingham, Salmasius, and many others. Bishop Beveridge speaks of one of

them as of undoubted authority. "In _indubitata_ illius

epistola."--_Annot. in Can. Ap._ See Cotelerius, i. 459. Pearson rejects

them as spurious, whilst contending so valiantly for the Ignatian

Epistles.

[547:3] Such as _Missa_ and _Titulus_. But that Pastor really did erect

a place in which the Christians assembled for worship, as stated in one

of these letters, is not improbable. See Routh's "Reliquiae," i. 430.

Pearson objects to them on the ground that Eleutherius is spoken of in

one of them as a _presbyter_, whereas Hegesippus describes him as

_deacon_ afterwards in the time of Anicetus. See Euseb. iv. 22. But it

is not clear that Hegesippus here uses the word deacon in its strictly

technical sense. He may mean by it _minister_ or _manager_, and may

design to indicate that Eleutherius was the most _prominent official

personage_ under Anicetus, occupying the position afterwards held by the

_archdeacon_.

[548:1] "Presbyteri et Diaconi, non ut majorem, sed ut ministrum Christi

te observent."

[549:1] That, in the time of Marcion, there were Roman presbyters who

had been disciples of the apostles, see Tillemont, "Mémoires," tom. ii.

sec. par. p. 215. Edit. Brussels, 1695.

[550:1] "Presbyteri illi qui ab apostolis educati usque ad nos

pervenerunt, cum quibus simul verbum fidei partiti sumus, a Domino

vocati in cubilibus aeternis clausi tenentur."

[550:2] Pearson ("Vindiciae," par. ii. c. 13) has appealed to a letter

from the Emperor Hadrian to the Consul Servianus as a proof that the

terms _bishop_ and _presbyter_ had distinctive meanings as early as A.D.

134. The passage is as follows:--"Illi qui Serapim colunt, Christiani

sunt; et devoti sunt Serapi, qui se Christi episcopos dicunt. Nemo illic

Archisynagogus Judaeorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum

Presbyter.... Ipse ille Patriarcha, quum Aegyptum venerit, ab aliis

Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Christum." Such a testimony only

shews that Pearson was sadly in want of evidence. This same letter has

in fact often been adduced to prove that the terms bishop and presbyter

were still used interchangeably, and such is certainly the more

legitimate inference. See Lardner's remarks on this letter, Works, vol.

vii. p. 99. Edit. London, 1838.

[550:3] "The Philippians appear to have continued to live under the same

aristocratic constitution (of venerable elders) _about the middle of the

second century_, when Polycarp addressed his Epistle to

them."--_Bunsen's Hippolytus_, i. 369.

[551:1] [Greek: proestôs], Opera, pp. 97-99.

[551:2] "Episcopi, _id est, praesides ecclesiarum_."--Lib. iii. simil.

ix. c. 27. There is a parallel passage to this in Tertullian, "De

Baptismo," c. 17--"Summus sacerdos, _qui est episcopus_." This is,

perhaps, the first instance on record in which a bishop is called the

chief priest. Hence the necessity of the interpretation--"qui est

episcopus." Pastor considered an explanation of the title "episcopus"

equally necessary.

[551:3] Neander supposes this work to have been written A.D. 156.

"General History," ii. 443.

[551:4] See Period II. sec. ii. chap. i. p. 368.

[552:1] So high indeed is its authority that many facts taken from it

are recorded in the "Breviary." Even Bunsen appeals to it. See "Analecta

Antenicaena," iii. 52, 53.

[552:2] Binius makes the following abortive attempt to explain the

statement-"Quòd hierarchicus catholicae ecclesiaeae ordo, quo presbyteri

episcopis, diaconi presbyteris, populus presbyteris et diaconis subditus

est, ab Hygino compositus esse hic dicitur, _non aliter intelligi

potest_, quâm quod Hyginus hierarchiae ecclesiasticae jam tempore

apostolorum a Christo Domino constitutae, et a sanctis Patribus ipso

antiquioribus comprobatae, quaedam duntaxat injuria temporum et

scriptorum deperdita addiderit, vel eadem quae Divino jure instituta, et

a patribus comprobata sunt, hac constitutione sua illustraverit."

--_Concilia_, i. 65, 66.

[552:3] "Hic clerum composuit, et distribuit gradus."--_Binii Concil._

i. 65. Baronius, ad annum, 158.

[553:1] When referring to this statement Baronius says--"Porrò quod ad

gradus cujusque ordinis in Ecclesia, quo ecclesiastica habetur composita

hierarchia, jam a temporibus apostolorum haec facta esse, _Ignatio

auctore_ et aliis, tomo primo Annalium demonstravimus; verum _aliqua

antiquae formae ab Hyginio fuisse addita_, vel eadem illustrata, _aequum

est aestimare_."

[554:1] See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 414.

[555:1] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[555:2] Euseb. iv. 11; iv. 19. Dr Burton has well observed that

Alexandria and Antioch were "the hotbeds from which nearly all the

mischief arose, which, under the name of philosophy, inundated the

Church in the second century."--_Lectures_, vol. ii. p. 103.

[556:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. v. pp. 516, 517.

[556:2] "Quanquam sunt inter scriptores ecclesiasticos qui putaverint

Polycarpum Romam venissè, ut quaereret de festo paschatis: ex his

Irenaei verbis luco clarius elucet, _ob alias causas_ Ioannis apostoli

discipulum Romam profectum esse."--_Stieren's Irenaeus_, i. p. 826,

note.

[557:1] Euseb. v. 24.

[557:2] Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 827.

[557:3] First, as his senior; and secondly, as a disciple of the

apostles.

[557:4] It was a standing rule of the Church that a strange bishop

should be thus treated. See "Didascalia," by Platt, p. 97.

[559:1] "_Paulatim_ vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad

unum omnem solicitudinem esse delatam."--_Comment. in Tit_.

[560:1] Period II. sec. iii. chap. 5, pp. 510, 512, 516, 520.

[560:2] But the presiding elders now began generally to be called

bishops.

[560:3] Thus, though, as we may infer from the testimony of Tertullian,

Christianity was planted in North Britain in the second century, the

universal tradition is that originally there were no bishops in that

country. According to an ancient MS. belonging to the former bishops of

St Andrews, and to be found in the "Life of William Wishart," one of

their number who lived in the thirteenth century, the first bishop

created in Scotland was elected in A.D. 270. See Jamieson's "Culdees,"

pp. 101, 101.

[561:1] Song of Solomon, vi. 9; Ps. xlv. 9. "Sub Apostolis nemo

Catholicus vocabatur.....Cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent,

diversisque nominibus columbam Dei atque reginam lacerare per partes et

scindere niterentur; nonno cognomen suum ecclesia postulabat, quae

incorrupti populi distingueret unitatem?"

[562:1] Pacian, "Epist. to Sympronian," secs. 5 and 8. Pacian is said to

have been bishop of Barcelona. He died A.D. 392.

[562:2] Epist. lxix. 265, 266.

[563:1] Justin Martyr, Opera, p. 99.

[563:2] According to the "Apostolic Constitutions" the deacons were not

at liberty to baptize. Lib. viii. c. 28.

[563:3] "De Baptismo," c. 17.

[563:4] Tertullian thus corroborates the testimony of Jerome.

[563:5] "In the sixth century the clergy of Italy complained to

Justinian that, _owing to the vacancy of sees_, 'an immense multitude of

people died without baptism.' Even so late as the time of Hinemar (the

ninth century) baptisms were still performed by the bishop, and _they

alone were considered canonical_."--_Palmer's Episcopacy Vindicated_, p.

35, note.

[564:1] "It appears to have been the custom at Rome and other places to

send from the cathedral church the bread consecrated to the several

parish churches."--_Stillingfleet's Irenicum_, pp. 369, 370.

"Thomassinus shown that in the fifth century the presbyters of Rome did

not consecrate the Eucharist in their respective churches, but it was

sent to them from the principal church."--_Palmer_, p. 35, note.

[564:2] Thus Rome is called the "principal Church" in regard to

Carthage. Cyprian, Epist. lv. p. 183.

[564:3] Tertullian apparently refers to this when he says--"Una omnes

probant unitate _communicatio pacis_ et appellatio fraternitatis, et

contesseratio hospitalitatis."--_De Praescrip_. c. 20.

[564:4] "Ecclesiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fidei."

[565:1] "Cathedrae apostolorum suis locis praesident." These words

clearly indicate that the Churches founded by the apostles were now

recognized as centres of unity for the surrounding Christian

communities.

[565:2] It is worthy of note that, in the second canonical epistle ever

written by Paul, he warns this Church of the coming of the Man of Sin.

(2 Thess. ii. 3.) It appears from the text that thus early it was

identified with the system which resulted in the establishment of the

Papacy. It is equally remarkable that the bishop of Thessalonica was the

first _Papal Vicar_ ever appointed. See Bower's "History of the Popes,"

Damasus, thirty-sixth bishop; and Gieseler, i. 264.

[565:3] "De Praescrip." xxi., xxxvi.

[565:4] The tendency of "Church principles" to terminate in the

recognition of a universal bishop has appeared in modern as well as in

ancient times. "What other step," says a noble author, "remains to stand

between those who held those principles and Rome? _Only one:_ that the

priesthood so constituted, invested with such powers, is organized under

one head--a Pope....The space to be traversed in arriving at it is so

narrow, and so unimpeded by any positive barrier, _either of logic or of

feeling_, that the slightest influence of sentiment or imagination, of

weakness or of superstition, is sufficient to draw men across."--_Letter

from the Duke of Argyll to the Bishop of Oxford_, p. 23. London, Moxon,

1851.

[566:1] Tertullian says that John, as well as Peter and Paul, had been

in Rome. "De Praescrip." xxxvi.

[567:1] "Contra Haeres." iii. c. iii. § 2.

[567:2] "Maximae et antiquissimae et omnibus cognitae, a gloriosissimis

duobus apostolis Petro et Paulo Romae fundatae et constitutae

ecclesiae."--_Irenaeus_, iii. c. iii. § 2.

[567:3] We find this designation in some of the early canons. See

Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 50.

[567:4] Euseb. v. 24.

[568:1] See the statement of Cyprian in the Council of Carthage,

"Opera," p. 597; and Jerome, in his Epistle to Evangelus, "Opera," iv.

secund. pars. p. 803.

[568:2] "Pontifex scilicet Maximus, quod est episcopus episcoporum,

edicit: Ego et moechiae et fornicationis delicta poenitentia functis

dimitto."--_Tertullian, De Pudicitia_, c. 1. "Neque enim quisquam

nostrum episcopum se esse episcoporum constituit."--_Cyprian, Con. Car.,

Opera_, 597.

[569:1] "Ecclesiae catholicae radicem et matricem."--_Epist_. xlv. p.

133.

[569:2] "Navigare audent et ad Petri cathedram atque ad ecclesiam

principalem unde unitas sacerdotalis exorta est."--_Epist_. lv. p. 183.

"Nam Petro primum Dominus, super quem aedificavit ecclesiam, et unde

unitatis originem instituit et ostendit, potestatem istam

dedit."--_Epist_. lxxiii. p. 280. See also _Epist_. lxx.-"Una ecclesia a

Christo Domino super Petrum origine unitatis et ratione fundata."

[570:1] The word _catholic_ first occurs in the Epistle of the Church of

Smyrna giving an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, but that letter

was probably not written until at least twenty years after the event

which it records. See Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. p. 337. It is

remarkable that the word is not found in Irenaeus, or used by his Latin

interpreter. The pastor of Lyons, however, recognizes the distinction

indicated by the word catholic, for he speaks of the _ecclesiastici_ or

churchmen, and of those "_qui sunt undique_." Stieren's "Irenaeus," i.

430, 502, note. The word catholic was obviously quite current in the

time of Tertullian.

[570:2] Particularly Matt. xvi. 18. Clemens Alexandrinus says that our

Lord baptized Peter only, and that Peter then baptized other apostles.

See Kaye's "Clement," p. 442; and Bunsen's "Analecta Antenic." i. p.

317. See also Origen, "Opera," ii. 245; and Firmilian's "Epistle."

[571:1] Even Polycrates of Ephesus admits that he had been requested by

Victor to convene a synod. Euseb. v. 24. About sixty years afterwards

Cyprian writes to Stephen of Rome requesting him to send letters into

Gaul that Marcianus the bishop, who had sided with Novatian, "being

excommunicated, another may be substituted in his room."--_Cyprian,

Epist_. lxvii. pp. 248, 249.

[572:1] Thus he says--"For neither did Peter, _whom the Lord chose

first, and on whom He built His Church_, when Paul afterwards disputed

with him about circumcision, claim or assume anything insolently and

arrogantly to himself, so as _to say that he held the primacy_."--Epist.

lxxi. p. 273.

[573:1] Gen. xi. 4.

[573:2] Book I. vision iii. § 3, &c.

[574:1] Rev. xiv. 6-8.

[575:1] 1 Tim. v. 17.

[576:1] See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," ii. 305, and iii. 35, 36.

[576:2] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 36.

[576:3] "Apost. Constit." ii. 57.

[576:4] [Greek: kai oute ho panu dunatos en logô tôn en tais ekklêsiais

proestôtôn, hetera toutôn erei (oudeis gar huper ton didaskalon) oute ho

asthenês en tô logo elattôsei tên paradosin].--_Contra Haereses_, i. c.

10. § 2.

[576:5] "Optatus adv. Donat." vii. 6.

[576:6] 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 24, 26, 31.

[577:1] Euseb. vi. 19. It is to be observed that these laymen, having

the sanction of the ecclesiastical authorities, were thus virtually

licensed to preach.

[577:2] "Apost. Constit." vii. 46. There was a Church at Cenchrea in the

time of the apostles. Rom. xvi. 1. Strabo calls Cenchrea a village, lib.

viii.

[577:3] See Bingham, iii. 129.

[577:4] Cyprian, "Council of Carthage." Girba, Mileum, Badias, and

Carpi, the sees of these bishops, were all small places with, no doubt,

a still smaller Christian population.

[578:1] Cyprian, "Council of Carthage."

[578:2] Euseb. vii. 30.

[578:3] See Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age,"

p. 348. Edit., London, 1701.

[578:4] See Period II. sec. i. chap. v. pp. 355, 356.

[578:5] See Bingham, i. 41, 43.

[579:1] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," i. 129; and Wordsworth, p. 257. It would

appear from Celsus that not a few of the Church teachers in the second

century supported themselves by manual labour. See Origen, Opera, i.

484.

[579:2] "Adleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum."--_De

Idololatria_, c. vii. Malchion, one of the presbyters of Antioch in the

time of Paul of Samosata, was the head-master of one of the principal

schools in the place. Euseb. vii. 29.

[579:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxvi. p. 246. In after times the bishop himself

was the grand-executor, having the charge of all the wills of his

diocese!

[581:1] Council of Elvira, A.D. 305, 18th canon.

[581:2] Period II. sec. iii. chap. vi. p. 533.

[581:3] "Nam et Alexandria à Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et

Dionysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum, in excelsiori

gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant; quomodo si exercitus Imperatorem

faciat; aut Diaconi eligant de se quem industrium noverint, et

Archidiaconum vocent."--_Epist. ad Evangelum_.

[581:1] Heraclas now succeeded him. The immediate successor of Heraclas

was Dionysius.

[581:2] "_Apud nos_ quoque et _fere_ per provincias universas

tenetur."--_Cyprian_, Epist. lxviii. p. 256. The arrangement of which

Cyprian speaks was now, perhaps, pretty generally established in the

West, but he may have understood, through his intercourse with

Firmilian, that in some parts of the East a different usage still

prevailed.

[581:3] "Nam _et_ Alexandriae."

[582:1] Eutychius, the celebrated patriarch of Alexandria who flourished

in the beginning of the tenth century, makes this assertion. According

to this writer there were originally twelve presbyters connected with

the Alexandrian Church; and, when the patriarchate became vacant, they

elected "one of the twelve presbyters, _on whose head the remaining

eleven laid hands_, and blessed him and created him patriarch."--_See

the original passage in Selden's Works_, ii. c. 421, 422; London, 1726.

This passage furnishes a remarkable confirmation of the testimony of

Jerome as to the fact that the Alexandrian presbyters originally made

their bishops, but it is probably not very accurate as to the details.

As to the laying on of hands it is not supported by Jerome.

[582:2] The case is different with the modern English archdeacon who is

a presbyter.

[583:1] "A fratribus constitutus et colobio episcoporum vestitus."

[583:2] "Saluta _omne collegium fratrum_, qui tecum sunt in Domino."

[583:3] The practice seems to have continued longer at Alexandria than

at Rome and various other places.

[583:4] The statement of Jerome is not inconsistent with the fact that

the senior elder was originally the president or bishop, for he was

recognized as such by mutual agreement. Neither is it at variance with

the idea that the elders sometimes made a selection _by lot_ out of

three of their number previously put in nomination. There are good

grounds for believing that even after bishops begun to be elected by

general suffrage, the people were in some places restricted to certain

candidates chosen from among the elders by lot. Cyprian apparently

refers to this circumstance when he says that he was chosen _by "the

judgment of God"_ as well as by the vote of the people. Epist. xl. p.

119. The people of Alexandria, towards the close of the third and

beginning of the fourth century, are said to have been restricted to

certain candidates. See p. 333, Period II. sec. i. chap. iv. Cornelius

of Rome is said to have been made bishop by "the judgment of God and of

his Christ" and by the votes of the people. Cyprian, Epist. lii. pp.

150, 151.

[584:1] Euseb. v. 24.

[585:1] "Contra Haereses," iv. c. 26, secs. 2, 4. "Quapropter eis qui in

ecclesia sunt, _presbyteris_ obaudire oportet, his qui successionem

habent ab apostolis, sicut ostendimus; qui _cum episcopatus successione_

charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt; reliquos

vero, qui absistunt a principali successione, et quocunque loco

colligunt, suspectos habere vel quasi haereticos et malae sententiae....

Ab omnibus igitur talibus absistere oportet; adhaerere vero his qui et

apostolorum, sicut praediximus, doctrinam custodiunt, et _cum

presbyterii ordine_ sermonem sanum et conversationem sine offensa

praestant."

[585:2] This was long the received doctrine. Thus, the author of the

"Questions on the Old and New Testament" says--"Quid est episcopus nisi

_primus presbyter_?"--_Aug. Quaest._ c. 101.

[585:3] "Onmis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constituta sit, ubi

praesident majores natu, qui et baptizandi et manum imponendi et

ordinandi possident potestatem."--_Firmilian, Epist. Cyprian_, Opera, p.

304.

[586:1] See Bunsen's "Hippolytus," ii. 351-357. See also Fabricius,

"Biblioth. Graecae," liber v. p. 208. Hamburg, 1723.

[586:2] The earliest of these canons was probably framed only a few

years before the middle of the third century. They were called

apostolical perhaps because concocted by some of the bishops of the

so-called apostolic Churches.

[586:3] The collection to which it belongs bears the designation of the

"Canons of _Abulides_,"--the name of _Hippolytus in Abyssinian_, as

their calendar shews. Bunsen, ii. 352. The canons edited by Hippolytus

were, no doubt, at one time acknowledged by the Western Church.

[586:4] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 43, and "Analecta Antenicaena," iii.

415.

[587:1] Eutychius intimates that the Alexandrian presbyters continued to

ordain their own bishop until the time of the Council of Nice. It is not

improbable that, until then, some of them may have continued to take

part in the ordination, and the statement of the Alexandrian patriarch

may be so far correct.

[587:2] See Bunsen, iii. 45.

[587:3] Where the bishop, as in the case contemplated in a canon quoted

in the text, had to depend for his official income on the contributions

of twelve families, it is plain that the elders could expect no

remuneration for their services. As the hierarchy advanced these ruling

elders disappeared. Hence Hilary says--"The synagogue, and afterwards

_the Church_, had elders, without whose counsel nothing was done in the

Church, which, by what negligence _it grew into disuse_ I know not;

unless, perhaps, by the sloth, or rather by the pride of the teachers,

while they alone wished to appear something."--_Comment on 1 Tim._ v. 1.

Some late writers have contended that these elders (_seniores_) were not

ecclesiastical officers at all, but civil magistrates of municipal

corporations peculiar to Africa. It must, however, be recollected that

Hilary was a _Roman_ deacon of the fourth century, and that he speaks of

them as belonging _to the Church_ before the civil establishment of

Christianity.

[590:1] Thus, Firmilian speaks of "seniores et _praepositi_," and of the

Church "ubi _praesident_ majores natu."--_Cyprian_, Opera, p. 302 and

304.

[590:2] Justin Martyr, Opera, p. 99.

[590:3] In the days of Origen the episcopal office was not unfrequently

coveted for its wealth. Origen, Opera, iii. p. 501. See also Cyprian,

Epist. lxiv. p. 240.

[591:1] Comment, in Matt., Opera, iii. p. 723.

[591:2] See Period II. sec. i. chap. v. p. 354.

[592:1] Euseb. vi. 43.

[592:2] Tertullian, "Praescrip. Haeret." c. 41. This office, even in the

fourth century, was often committed to mere children--a sad proof that

the importance of reading the Word effectively was not duly appreciated.

[592:3] Origen makes mention of them, Opera, ii. p. 453; and Firmilian,

Cyprian, Epist. 1xxv. p. 306.

[592:4] Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 150.

[592:5] As in the case of Fabian of Rome. Euseb. vi. 29.

[593:1] Bingham, i. 356, 359.

[593:2] Cyprian, Epist. lv. pp. 177, 178; xl. pp. 119, 120.

[593:3] Epist. xxxiii. p. 105.

[594:1] Epist. xxiv. pp. 79, 80.

[594:2] Epist. xxxiv. pp. 107, 108.

[594:3] Epist. xxxv. p. 111.

[595:1] Bishops and presbyters appear to have continued to ordain

bishops in the time of Origen. His "Commentaries on Matthew," written

according to his Benedictine editor in A.D. 245 (see Delarue's "Origen,"

iii. Praef.), speak of _bishops and presbyters_ "committing whole

churches to unfit persons and _constituting incompetent

governors_."--_Opera_, iii. p. 753.

[595:2] It would appear that the five presbyters who opposed Cyprian

constituted the majority of the presbytery. Cyprian, Epist. xl. pp. 119,

120. See also Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic

Age," p. 348.

[595:3] Euseb. vi. 29.

[596:1] Cyprian, Epist. xxxi. pp. 99, 100.

[596:2] Cyprian, Epist. iv. p. 31.

[596:3] Cyprian, Epist. xxxiii. p. 106, xxxiv. p. 107, lviii. p. 207,

lxxi. p. 271, lxxvii. p. 327. Euseb. vii. 5.

[596:4] Thus we find him going so far as to complain that his presbyters

"with contempt and dishonour of the bishop arrogate sole authority to

themselves."--_Epist._ ix. p. 48.

[596:5] Epist. xlix. p. 143. See Neander's "General History," i. 307,

and Burton's "Lectures on the Ecc. Hist, of the First Three Centuries,"

ii. 331. Burton repudiates the attempts of Bingham and others to explain

away this proceeding.

[597:1] They are called so for the first time in the Council of Ancyra.

They had before always been called simply bishops. It has been remarked

that we never find any _chorepiscopi_ among the African bishops, though

many of them occupied as humble a position as those so designated

elsewhere.

[597:2] Canon xiii., "Canones Apost. et Concil. Berolini," 1839.

[598:1] In the case of Novatian. Euseb. vi. 43.

[599:1] These presbyters were called _Doctores_. Cyprian, Epist. xxxiv.

p. 80.

[599:2] It would appear that, even at the time of the Council of

Carthage held A.D. 397, a bishop had sometimes only one presbyter under

his care. See Dupin's account of the Council.

[599:3] Bingham, i. 198; and Beveridge, "Cotelerius," tom. ii. App. p.

17.

[600:1] See Period II. sec. i. chap. ii. p. 302, and p. 355.

[601:1] Euseb. vi. 43.

[601:2] Bunsen's "Hippolytus," iii. 50. Another canon says--"_He who is

worthy out of the bishops_ ... putteth his hand upon him whom they have

made bishop, praying over him."--Bunsen, iii. 42.

[601:3] See chapter viii. of this section, pp. 565, 567.

[602:1] Bunsen, iii. 111.

[602:2] Euseb. viii. 1.

[603:1] The following observation of a distinguished writer of the

Church of England is well worthy of consideration. "The remains of

ancient ecclesiastical literature, especially those of the Latin Church,

teach us that the corruption of Christianity of which Romanism is the

full development, manifested itself, in the first instance, _not in the

doctrines which relate to the spiriting life of the individual_, but in

those connected with _the constitution and authority_ of the Christian

society."--_Litton's Church of Christ_, p. 12.

[604:1] "Can. Apost." xiv. "Concil. Nic." xv.

[604:2] Euseb. "Martyrs of Palestine," c. 12.

[604:3] Euseb. viii. i.

[605:1] Acts xxvi. 16-18.

[605:2] Such was the case with the churches mentioned Acts xiv. 23, and

Titus i. 5.

[606:1] Trajan regarded with great suspicion all associations, even fire

brigades and charitable societies. See Pliny's "Letters," book x.,

letters 43 and 94.

[607:1] Such as Mosheim, "Instit." i. 149, 150; Neander, "General

History," i. 281.

[607:2] During the first forty years of the second century Gnosticism

did not excite much notice, and as the Church courts must have been

occupied chiefly with matters of mere routine, it is not remarkable that

their proceedings have not been recorded.

[607:3] We have no contemporary evidence to prove that _ordinations_

took place in the former half of the second century, and yet we cannot

doubt their occurrence.

[608:1] Acts xx. 17.

[608:2] "In Mileto enim convocatis episcopis et presbyteris, qui erant

ab Epheso et a reliquis proximis civitatibus."--_Contra Haeres_, iii. c.

14. § 2.

[608:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxviii. § 256.

[608:4] The new bishop was often chosen before the interment of his

predecessor; and even when the senior elder was the president, it is

probable that the neighbouring pastors assembled to attend the funeral

of the deceased pastor, and to be present at the inauguration of his

successor.

[609:1] See Chapter vi. of this Section, p. 524.

[609:2] The old writer called Praedestinatus speaks of several synods

held in reference to the Gnostics before the middle of the second

century. He may have had access to some documents now lost, but the

testimony of a witness who lived in the fifth or sixth century is not of

much value.

[610:1] "In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de presbyteris electus

superponeretur caeteris."--_Com. in Titum_.

[610:2] Euseb. v. 16.

[610:3] See Routh's "Reliquiae," ii. 183, 195.

[611:1] Mosheim ("Commentaries" by Vidal, ii. 105) has made a vain

attempt to set aside the Latin translation of this passage by Valesius,

as he saw that it completely upsets his favourite theory. But any one

who carefully examines the Greek of Eusebius may see that the rendering

complained of is quite correct. It cannot be necessary to point out to

the intelligent reader the transparent sophistry of nearly all that

Mosheim has written on this subject.

[611:2] Euseb. v. 23.

[612:1] See Period II. sec. iii. chap. v. p. 509.

[612:2] Tertullian, "De Jejun," c. xiii.

[613:1] "Aguntur praeterea _per Graecias_ illa certis in locis concilia

ex universis ecclesiis."

[613:2] "Ipsa repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione

celebratur." Mosheim argues from these words that the bishops attended

these assemblies, not by right of office, but as _representatives of the

people_! He might, with more plausibility, have contended that they were

held only once a year. "Ista _sollemnia_ quibus tunc praesens

patrocinatus est sermo."

[614:1] Euseb. v. 24. Hippolytus complains of a bishop of Rome that he

was "ignorant of the _ecclesiastical rules_,"--a plain proof, not only

that synods were in existence in the West, but also that a knowledge of

canon law was considered an important accomplishment. See Bunsen, ii.

223.

[614:2] Cyprian (Epist. lxxiii.) speaks of a large council held "many

years" before his time "under Agrippinus," one of his predecessors. This

bishop appears to have been contemporary with Tertullian.

[614:3] In his book "De Pudicitia," c. 10, he speaks of the "Pastor" of

Hermas as classed among apocryphal productions "_ab omni concilio

ecclesiarum_"--implying that it had been condemned by African councils,

as well as others.

[614:4] The prevalence of the Montanistic spirit in Asia Minor may

account for this.

[615:1] See Potter's "Antiquities of Greece," i. 106.

[615:2] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," cent. ii. sect. 22.

[616:1] "Per singulos annos seniores et praepositi in unum conveniamus."

[616:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxv. pp. 302, 303.

[616:3] In Africa, however, this arrangement was not established even in

the fifth century. There, the senior bishop still continued president.

[617:1] This canon somewhat differs from the fifth of the Council of

Nice, as the latter requires the first meeting to be held "before Lent."

It is somewhat doubtful which canon is of higher antiquity.

[619:1] "Seniores et praepositi."--_Epist. Cypriani, Opera_, p. 302.

[619:2] "The Councils of the Church," by Rev. E.B. Pusey, D.D., p. 34

Oxford, 1857.

[619:3] Pusey, p. 58.

[619:4] Ibid. p. 66.

[619:5] Ibid. p. 95.

[619:6] As in the case of Athanasius at the Council of Nice.

[619:7] As witnesses and commissioners may still be heard by Church

courts.

[619:8] "Graviter commoti sumus ego et collegae mei qui praesentes

aderant et _compresbyteri nostri qui nobis assidebant"--Cyprian_, Epist.

lxvi. p. 245. "_Residentibus_ etiam viginti et sex _presbyteris,

adstantibus diaconibus et omni plebe."--Concil. Illiberit_.

[620:1] Euseb. vii. 30.

[621:1] Prov. xi. 14.

[621:2] Mosheim's "Institutes," by Soames, i. 150.

[624:1] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," cent. ii. sec. 39; American

edition by Murdock.

[624:2] Acts xxiv. 5.

[624:3] Euseb. iv. 5.

[625:1] The English name _Easter_ is derived from that of a Teutonic

goddess whose festival was celebrated by the ancient Saxons in the month

of April, and for which the Paschal feast was substituted.

[626:1] Pentecost, called Whitsunday or White-Sunday, on account of the

white garments worn by those who then received baptism, was observed as

early as the beginning of the third century. Origen, "Contra Celsum,"

book viii. Tertullian, "De Idololatria," c. 14. We have then no trace of

the observation of Christmas. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 413.

[626:2] See Mosheim's "Commentaries," by Murdock, cent. ii. sec. 71. Dr

Schaff seems disposed to deny this, but he assigns no reasons. See his

"Hist. of the Christ. Church," p. 374.

[626:3] Even as to this point there is not unanimity--some alleging that

our Lord partook of the Paschal lamb on the night preceding that on

which it was eaten by the Jews.

[627:1] This is distinctly asserted by Irenaeus. "Anicetus and Pius,

Hyginus with Telesphorus and Xystus, neither did themselves observe, nor

did they permit those after them to observe it. And yet though they

themselves did not keep it, they were not the less at peace with those

from churches where it was kept, whenever they came to them, although to

keep it then was so much the more in opposition to those who did

not."--_Euseb._ v. 24.

[629:1] It would appear that the Armenians, the Copts, and others, still

observe this rite. Mosheim's "Comment." cent. ii. sec. 71. As to the

continuance of this custom at Rome, see Bingham, v. 36, 37.

[629:2] Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian of the fifth century, has

expressed himself with remarkable candour on this subject. "It appears

to me," says he, "that neither the ancients nor moderns who have

affected to follow the Jews have had any rational foundation for

contending so obstinately about it (Easter). For they have altogether

lost sight of the fact that when our religion superseded the Jewish

economy, the obligation to observe the Mosaic law and the ceremonial

types ceased.... The Saviour and His apostles have enjoined us by no law

to keep this feast: nor in the New Testament are we threatened with any

penalty, punishment, or curse for the neglect of it, as the Mosaic law

does the Jews."--_Ecc. Hist._ v. c. 22.

[629:3] This system seems to have been in existence in the time of

Tertullian. See Tertullian, "Ad. Martyr." c. 1., and "De Pudicitia,"

c. 22.

[630:1] Cyprian speaks of a confessor spending his time "in drunkenness

and revealing," (_Epist._ vi. p. 37,) and of some guilty of "fraud,

fornication, and adultery." (_De Unit. Ecc._ p. 404.)

[630:2] Thus Cyprian says--"Lucianus, not only while Paulus was still in

prison, gave letters in his name _indiscriminately_ written with his own

hand, but _even after his decease_ continued to do the same in his name,

saying that he had been ordered to do so by Paulus."--_Epist._ xxii.

p. 77.

[630:3] Cyprian, Epist. x. p. 52.

[631:1] Apostasy in time of persecution was considered a mortal sin.

Adultery was placed in the same category. Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 155.

At one time Cyprian himself held the sentiments of the stricter party.

See his "Scripture Testimonies against the Jews," book iii. § 28, p. 563.

[633:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 279, and lxxiv. p. 295.

[633:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 277, 278.

[634:1] In Stieren's "Irenaeus," i. 824, there is a different reading of

this passage, according to which some continued the fast forty days.

[634:2] Euseb. v. 24.

[636:1] John x. 11, 27, 28.

[636:2] Eph. v. 25-27.

[636:3] Matt, xxviii. 20.

[636:4] 1 Pet. i. 5.

[636:5] Matt. xvi. 18.

[637:1] Eph. iv. 3.

[637:2] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:3] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:4] No writer since the Reformation has discussed the subject of the

Church with more learning and ability than the Rev. Dr Hodge of

Princeton. Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with all the

bearings of the question should consult his "Essays and Reviews," New

York, 1857. Also the "Princeton Review." See also an article of his

taken from the "Princeton Review" in the "British and Foreign

Evangelical Review" for Sept. 1854.

[637:5] Matt. xiii. 47-50.

[638:1] 1 Cor. i. 11, 12.

[638:2] Gal. i. 6, iii. 1.

[638:3] Rev. iii. 1.

[639:1] Thus, Melito of Sardis is said to have written a work "On the

Church." Euseb. iv. 26.

[639:2] Apostles' Creed. For another form see Bunsen's "Hippolytus,"

iii. 25, 27.

[640:1] 3 John 9, 10.

[640:2] He appears, for certain reasons now unknown, to have been

dissatisfied with some disciples who had been engaged in missionary

work; and he had influence sufficient to procure the excommunication of

the brethren who entertained them.

[640:3] He would be a bold man who would assert that all the pious

members of the Society of Friends are in a hopeless condition.

[641:1] Heb. xii. 23.

[641:2] See Rothe's "Anfange der Christlichen Kirche," p. 575.

[641:3] Cyprian, Epist. lxxvi. p. 316.

[641:4] Epist. lxix. p. 265.

[641:5] Epist. lxii. p. 221.

[642:1] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 397. See also Lactantius, "De Vera

Sapientia," lib. iv. p. 282.

[642:2] Eph. iv. 12.

[642:3] Acts xx. 32.

[643:1] Rev. i. 6.

[644:1] If our authorized version of the English Bible is to be regarded

as a standard of correct usage, the word priest cannot be properly

employed to designate a Christian minister. In the New Testament, as

stated in the text, a minister of the word is never called a _priest_

([Greek: hiereus]), and the latter term, when used in reference to an

official personage in our English Bible, always denotes an individual

_who offers sacrifice_. To call a gospel minister a priest is,

therefore, at once to adopt an incorrect expression and to insinuate a

false doctrine. The English word priest is derived, not as some say,

from the Greek [Greek: presbuteros] through the French _prêtre_, but

from the Greek [Greek: proestôs], in Latin _praestes_, and in Saxon

_preost_. See Webster's "Dictionary of the English Language."

[644:2] Epist. lxix. p. 264.

[644:3] Thus, Tertullian speaks of the "ordo sacerdotalis." "De Exhor.

Cast." c. vii.

[645:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxiii. p. 230; lxiv. p. 239.

[645:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxix. p. 264. Cotelerius, i. 442. The Eucharist

is called a sacrifice by Justin Martyr (see his Dialogue with Trypho.,

"Opera," p. 260) apparently in a figurative sense, but when dispensed by

a minister called a _priest_, such language became exceedingly liable to

misconception.

[645:3] In proof of this see Cyprian, Epist. lvi. p. 200, and lxiii.

p. 231. In the former place Cyprian says--"Mindful of the Eucharist,

the hand which has received _the Lord's body_ may embrace the _Lord

himself_."

[645:4] Heb. v. 4; Acts xx. 28, xxvi. 16.

[646:1] Cyprian, Epist. xlvi. p. 136.

[646:2] Epist. lxix. p. 262. See also Epist. lv. p. 177. "If any amount

of difference of opinion as to the truth or untruth of the teaching of a

geographical priesthood, will justify separation under another Christian

ministry, then it at once ceases to be true that there _can_ be but one

bishop, or one priest, over any given area in which such differences

exist; there then _may_ obviously be as many bishops, or as many

priests, as there may be different bodies of men differing from each

other's teaching in what they deem sufficiently essential points to

justify separation."--_Letter from the Duke of Argyll to the Bishop of

Oxford_, p. 8.

[647:1] Epist. lxix. p. 264.

[647:2] Acts x. 48.

[648:1] Jerome, "Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers."

[648:2] Some of those called heretics had many martyrs. Euseb. v. 16.

[648:3] "De Unit. Ecc." Opera, p. 399.

[648:4] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 401.

[648:5] "De Unit. Ecc." p. 401.

[649:1] Jeremiah xxiii. 21, 22.

[649:2] Phil. i. 15, 18. See also Mark ix. 38, 39.

[649:3] Cyprian himself makes this admission. Epist. lxxvi. p. 319.

[649:4] Epist. lii. p. 156.

[649:5] Epist. lxxvi. p. 319.

[650:1] Rom. x. 13,17.

[650:2] Tertullian did not hold the doctrine of her perpetual virginity.

See "De Monog." c. 8, and "De Carne Christi," c. 23. Neither did he

believe in her immaculate conception. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 338.

[652:1] One of the most distinguished and sagacious of modern

missionaries has called attention to this fact. See Livingstone's

"Missionary Travels in South Africa," p. 107.

[654:1] Maximian, in his famous edict of toleration, lays great stress

on this circumstance. "De Mortibus Persecutorum," c. 34.

[654:2] Cornelius to Cyprian, Epist. xlvi. p. 136.

[654:3] "De Unit. Eccles." p. 397.

[654:4] Epist. lii. p. 156.

[654:5] Matt. xvi. 18.

[654:6] Cyprian, Epist. xl. pp. 120, 121.

[656:1] 2 Cor. iii. 17.

[656:2] Isa. xl. 4, 5.

[656:3] Isa. lii. 8.

[656:4] Zech. xiv. 9.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Ancient Church, by W.D. [William Dool] Killen