The Lord's

The peculiar ideas of sacredness, which gathered more and more about the eucharist, would naturally have an influence in this direction. The bread and wine were contributed by the flock and distributed by the deacons, the clergyman's prayer of thanks Supper. giving to the rite its name-the Eucharist. The bread and wine were conveyed to those who were not able to leave their houses. In North Africa and in other places, after the beginning of the third century, an increasing conviction that the rite was clothed with a mystical efficacy, led to the custom of bringing children to the sacrament. The ordinary practice was for the communion to be received on Sunday of each week. The reception of the Lord's Supper attended every event in life which was deemed of extraordinary moment. Among these occasions were the anniversaries of the death of loved friends. The day when a martyr died was kept as his birthday, or the day of his entrance into a higher life. On these natal days of the martyrs, Christians gathered about their burial-places; their good deeds and their sufferings were called to mind, and the sacrament was received. That prayers for the dead, who, though believers, were conceived of as sions of mar- still imperfect, were offered up on these and some other occasions, we have proof as early as the beginning of the third century, and the custom is then spoken of as one long established. An instance of prayer for the dead among the later Jews is given in the Second Book of Maccabees.' During the second century these observances were mostly kept within bounds. In the third century, a very high value began to be attached to the intercessions of martyrs, both before and after their death.

The interces

tyrs,

Character of patristic works,

CHAPTER IV.

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND DOCTRINE.

THE Fathers, as the writers of the first six centuries are called, partake in general of the literary faults which characterize the period of decadence in Greek and Roman literature. Some of them, among the earlier authors especially, show in their style their lack of education. Among the patristic writers, however, are some who, in point of learning, are fully equal to the best of the contemporary classical authors, and even surpass

them in vigor of expression and weight of matter. For a considerable time all Christian writings were in the Greek language. The services of the Church, even at Rome, were at first held in that tongue. So far did the Greek influence prevail that not until the beginning of the third century did Latin writings of any importance appear, and even then it is not in Rome, but in one of the provinces in North Africa, that theological works are first composed in this language.

The Apostolic Fathers are a group of writers thus named from the supposition that they were personally conversant with one or The Apostolic more of the apostles. They are earnest and practical, Fathers. but, as a rule, are not on a high level intellectually. The earliest of these books is the Epistle to the Corinthian church. by Clement of Rome, to whom Paul is thought to refer. It was sent about the year 96, when divisions were prevailing there, and the epistle is written, in the name of the Roman church, in order to pacify contention. The concluding portion of it, which has lately been discovered, is a prayer which it is possible that Clement was accustomed to use in divine service. What is called the Second Epistle of Clement is a homily by an unknown author (about 140). Seven epistles of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, exist in a longer and shorter Greek form. The three which exist in the Syriac language are the result of an abridgment of the corresponding Greek epistles. The seven as found in the shorter Greek are probably genuine. That they are wholly free from interpolation we cannot be sure. These epistles were written while the author was a prisoner on the way to Rome to suffer martyrdom. They manifest a thirst for the martyr's crown. They insist, with tedious iteration, on the necessity of order in the churches, to be secured by obeying the bishop. Yet in the letter to the Romans, there is not the slightest hint that a bishop of Rome existed at that time. This is an argument for the early date of all the epistles, for they appear to be all from one author. The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, the date of which is about 150, is not unworthy of the venerable martyr who had sat at the feet of the Apostle John. Perhaps a score of years earlier, a certain Hermas, not the Hermas to whom Paul refers,' wrote "The Shepherd," composed mostly of visions and parables, in an apocalyptic vein. They purport to be communications from an angel, rebuking the sins of Hermas himself and of the Church. There is internal evidence of the early date of the work. For example, bishops are not distinguished from

Rom. xvi. 14.

presbyters. It was thought to be highly edifying, and for a period was very widely circulated in the early Church. Hermas was the Bunyan of those days, but without the genius of the tinker of Elstow. The epistle ascribed to Barnabas was not written by him. Its date, however, is probably not later than 120. We can affirm with confidence that it was composed early in the second century. But the author blunders in his description of Jewish ceremonies in a way impossible to a Levite like Barnabas. The writer was a Gentile Christian, probably an Alexandrian, who is opposing judaizing fomenters of division. He explains that the ritual of the Jews has passed away, and by the free use of allegory seeks to bring out the spiritual meaning of the ordinances, for the edification of Christian believers. The gem in this class of compositions is the anonymous Epistle to Diognetus. It is spirited in style, and has no doctrinal fault save an antipathy to Judaism, which is pushed to an extreme. Valuable fragments of Papias, a contemporary of John the Apostle, are preserved in citations of the ancient Church historian, Eusebius.

Few post-apostolic writings are of earlier date than "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," a manuscript copy of which was discovered in 1875. It is a manual, the first part of which is composed of instructions in practical duty for catechumens. These are followed by rules respecting the reception to be accorded to different classes of Christian teachers and their proper demeanor, together with regulations bearing on the rites of worship and on discipline. The little work concludes with exhortations to vigilance and to the holding of frequent meetings for mutual edification, in view of the dangers and terrors of the latter days and the expected advent of Christ. The first six chapters of the "Teaching" are thought by some scholars to have been a Jewish manual of instruction for the young, which was adopted, enlarged, and edited by a Christian writer.

The Apologists.

While Christians were persecuted by magistrates and mobs, they sought to convince their adversaries, and to overcome prejudice, by arguments addressed to reason. The Christian cause was defended by the class of writers called Apologists. Some of their works were inscribed to emperors to dissuade them from persecution, and some were appeals to the body of heathen or of Jews. A part of the Apology of Aristides of Athens (124) has lately been found. Among the works of this class which survive from the second century, are three treatises of Justin, "philosopher and martyr." He had studied different systems of Greek philosophy, giving his adhesion finally to the Platonic. After his

conversion he still wore the philosopher's mantle, and, without holding any office in the Church, travelled from place to place, teaching the gospel by conversation with such as were willing to confer with him. At Rome he addressed his First Apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, about 138. Afterwards, in 161, he inscribed a Second Apology to Marcus Aurelius. His third work, the Dialogue with Trypho, is an attempt to convince Jews of the messiahship of Jesus, and to answer their usual objections to the Christian faith. The writings of Justin Martyr, besides bringing before us the reasoning by which heathen objections and calumnies were met, lift the veil for the first time upon the doctrinal views of Christians not long after the apostolic age. Tatian, a Syrian by birth, was an itinerant philosopher, like Justin, by whom he was converted. He attacked the heathen mythology in a "Discourse to the Greeks," which was composed not far from 160. He was the first to weave the four Gospels into a single narrative that has been recently recovered, the "Diatessaron," or Gospel of the Four. In 177, Athenagoras, previously an Athenian philosopher, wrote an apologetic work bearing the title "An Embassy concerning the Christians." A contemporary, Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, addressed a work in vindication of the gospel to a friend named Autolycus. Hermias, who had been a philosopher, wrote a book of a satirical cast, entitled, "Mockery of the Heathen Philosophers." The apologies just named are all extant. Among the lost writings, the "Memorials" of the Apostolic and post-Apostolic Age, written in the middle of the second century by Hegesippus, a Christian of Jewish extraction, might, perhaps, be classified under this head. It was the earliest of the Church histories after the days of the apostles.

There is one apologist who wrote in Latin, and who wrote with no small degree of vigor and elegance. This is Minucius Felix.

Minucius
Felix.

His date and place of residence are not ascertained. He is thought to have been a lawyer at Rome, and it is not improbable that he wrote his "Octavius" before the close of the second century. It is an imaginary dialogue between a Christian and a heathen.

The ablest writers of this period were the Alexandrian teachers. Alexandria was the seat of a great university, with its large libraries, The Alexan its learned professors, and its throng of inquisitive and drian teachers. active-minded youth. There, in the Jewish philosophy of Philo, Plato's teaching had been blended with the doctrine of Moses and the prophets, and by means of allegory the Old Testament had been made to re-echo with a modified sound the teaching

ure.

Clement, c. 200.

of the Greek schools of thought. In such a community, as Chris tians multiplied, the instruction of catechumens often required doc trinal explanations much more advanced than were requisite in ordinary churches. Thus the catechetical school developed itself into a theological seminary, where abstruse points of divinity were handled and young men were trained for the clerical office. The Alexandrian theology was the first serious attempt among those who adhered to the great facts and truths of the gospel, to adjust the relations of Christian doctrine to reason and philosophy. It was the first attempt to build a bridge between Christianity and the wisdom of the Gentiles. As far as philosophy was concerned, the influence of Plato was still predominant, as had been the fact in the school of Philo. The method of allegory which characterized the Rabbinical schools was continued in the interpretation of ScriptThe first of the Alexandrian Church teachers of whom we have an account, was Pantænus. Whatever merit belonged to him was eclipsed by the fame of his pupil and successor, Flavius Clemens-Clement of Alexandria, as he is commonly designated, to distinguish him from the Roman apostolic father of the same name. Clement had travelled far and wide, had been a diligent student of philosophy, and was versed in the ancient classics. He exhibits in his works a fertile though discursive genius, and a mind both deep in thought and broad in its sympathies. He leads the way in discerning the points of affinity between choice utterances of the heathen sages and the teachings of the New Testament. Eminent as Clement was, he was outstripped in the qualities that make up a great theologian by Origen, called, from his herculean labors, the Adamantine. This illustrious scholar and thinker was a pioneer in the department of systematic theology; he wrote the most prominent and valuable of the early defences of the gospel against the attacks of heathenism-his work in reply to Celsus; he spent twenty-seven years in preparing his edition of the Old Testament, the Hexapla; and, by his commentaries, he did a greater service in the exposition of Scripture than any other of the early patristic writers. He sanctioned, however, by his example, the allegorical method of exegesis to which we have referred. His influence as an instructor of the clergy, as well as an author, was very extensive. The enmity of his envious bishop, Demetrius, did not rob him of the esteem of the churches. The tendency of Origen's thought was spiritual as well as speculative. This appears in the Alexandrian ideas respecting the resurrection, the sacraments, and

Origen, 185-254.