Here is a specimen of the way he draws an inference. In arguing against the authority of the four Gospels, he says, vol. ii. p. 457, "No two of them agree even about so simple a matter of fact as the inscription on the cross." Now the exact words, as given in each Gospel, are as follows: Matthew gives the inscription in eight words—"This is Jesus the King of the Jews;" Mark in five words—"The King of the Jews;" Luke in seven words—"This is the King of the Jews;" and John in eight words—"Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."
This needs no comment. Could anything be more natural than such slight discrepancies? Would four shorthand reporters of the present day have been more exact?
The first early writer he examines is Clement, Bishop of Rome, who, towards the close of the first century, wrote an epistle to the Corinthians. It is attached to the ancient copy of the Scriptures known as the Codex Alexandrinus, written in the fifth century, and preserved in the British Museum.
This writer's fame surpassed all others in the first century. His first Epistle to the Corinthians, written in Greek, is deemed to be genuine; but, says Dr. Mosheim, "it seems to have been corrupted and interpolated."
Eusebius assures us it was received by all, and reverenced next to the Holy Scriptures, and therefore publicly read in the Churches for some ages, even till his time.[21]
The epistle itself makes no mention of the author's name. It purports to be addressed by "the Church of God which sojourns at Rome to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth." But in the Codex Alexandrinus the title of "The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians" is added at the end. Internal evidence shows it was written after some persecution of the Church, either that of Nero, A.D. 64-70, or Domitian, at the end of the century. The epistle contains these words:—
"Especially remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, which he spake teaching gentleness and long-suffering. For thus he said, Be pitiful, that ye may be pitied; forgive, that it may be forgiven you; as ye do, so shall it be done to you; as ye give, so shall it be given to you; as ye judge, so shall it be judged to you; as ye show kindness, shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you."
Our author himself shows that these precepts cannot be mere floating tradition. He says such "seems impossible" (vol. i. p. 226). They are evidently the words of Jesus taken from a written source, but he contends that they are not a quotation from the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in the Gospels as we have them, but from some other Gospel which is not extant. He says: "When the great difference is considered between the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, and still more between these and the passage in Mark, it is easy to understand that that other Gospel may have contained a version differing as much from them as they do from each other."
I remark, supposing that Clement had before him all three versions, which differ from each other, what is more natural than that he should give the sense without adhering to the exact words of any. Only an inquirer who has a bias against Christianity would think of disputing the quotation.
If Epiphanius "clearly wrote without having the Gospel of Luke before him," as our author states on page 100, and if Tertullian "evidently quotes that Gospel from memory," as he also says on the same page; why should it be assumed as a matter of course that Clement had the writings before him? He also may have quoted from memory.
There is something strangely marvellous about the disappearance of these imaginary lost records of the Sermon on the Mount. We know that in the year A.D. 139 Justin Martyr wrote that the "Memoirs of the Apostles," called "Evangels" (gospels), were read after the prophets every Lord's Day in the assembly of the Christians. Where were they then? Were they identical with these memoirs called Gospels? Where were they about the year A.D. 180, when Irenæus proves that four Gospels were held in the highest esteem, and were read in all the Churches; alluding to them as the four columns of the Church, and comparing them to the four quarters of the world, the four principal winds, and the four figures of the Cherubim? Where were they when he says: "So well established are our Gospels, that even teachers of error themselves bear testimony to them: even they rest their objections on the foundations of the Gospels"?[22] This hypothesis of our author is certainly going out of the way to find the reason for a thing. It is to be remembered that what is evidenced by Irenæus, who wrote about A.D. 180, and was the pupil of Polycarp, is highly important. Dr. Mosheim says his five books against heresies, the only writings of his extant, are a splendid monument of antiquity.[23] From the evidence of Irenæus, it is clear that the four Gospels must have been occupying a special and authoritative place in the Church some time before the time he wrote his five books on heresies, about the year 180. Tischendorf, who knows as much as any man about the Scripture manuscripts, says: "It is a well-established fact that, already between A.D. 150 and 200, not only were the Gospels translated into Latin and Syriac, but also that their number was defined to be only four, neither more nor less." The Syriac version of the New Testament called the Peshito, a work of immense value, as the language is almost identical with that spoken by Christ, a translation admirably executed, "is generally assigned," says Tischendorf, "to the end of the second century, though we have not any positive proof to offer;" and "the Latin version had acquired before this period a certain public authority." As the man who translated Irenæus's five books from Greek into Latin follows the Italic version, and as Tertullian, in the quotation which he makes from the Latin translation of Irenæus copies that translator, Tischendorf justly argues that some time must have elapsed between that date when the translation is known to have been in existence, and the period when they were first separated from other Church writings, and attained a prominent and sacred character. Thus we get to the apostolic age for the origin of all the four Gospels, and there seems to be no interval of time sufficient to account for our author's primitive Gospels to have disappeared, leaving no trace of their existence. It is enormously more probable that the four Gospels alluded to by Irenæus and Tertullian contained the records from which Clement quoted the passage of the Sermon on the Mount, than that there were primitive independent writings which were soon lost, obtaining no recognition when the separate Gospel manuscripts became associated with the Old Testament, and were read after them in the Christian assemblies. Our author says the passage quoted by Clement, referring to the Sermon on the Mount, is decidedly opposed to "the pretensions made on behalf of the Synoptics." I do not quite know what "pretensions" he alludes to, but I am not defending pretensions, either ecclesiastical or non-ecclesiastical. It is not necessary, in the defence of the Gospels, to assert that the four Evangelists whose names are attached to them wrote every word; that they only contain records of what those disciples were either eye-witnesses of, or, in the case of Mark and Luke, heard Peter and Paul preach. The formulæ, "according to Matthew," "according to Mark," "according to Luke," "according to John," do not imply that, in the most ancient opinion, these recitals were written from beginning to end by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.[24] It is enough to know that the writings so far emanated from those disciples as to justify the titles they bear, and their reception by the early Church, as the true record of the important transactions to which they refer. That reception of them was sufficiently near to the date of their composition to preclude the probability that the early Christian Church had not the means of testing their genuineness or historical data, while their internal evidence is such as to confirm their truthfulness and authority.
"As to Luke," says Rénan, "doubt is scarcely possible. It is a regular composition, founded on anterior documents, the work of one man, who selects, prunes, and combines. The author is certainly the same as that of the Acts of the Apostles. Now the author of the Acts is a companion of Paul, a title which applies to Luke exactly. The name of Lucus (contraction of Lucanus) being very rare, we need not fear one of those homonyms which cause so many perplexities in questions of criticism relative to the New Testament. It is beyond doubt that the author of the Third Gospel and of the Acts was a man of the second generation, and that is sufficient for our object. The date can be determined by considerations drawn from the Gospel itself. The twenty-first chapter, inseparable from the rest of the work, was certainly written a short time after the destruction of Jerusalem. We are here upon solid ground, for we are concerned with a work written entirely by the same hand, and of the most perfect unity. If the Gospel of Luke is dated, those of Matthew and Mark are dated also; for it is certain that the Third Gospel is posterior to the first two, and exhibits the character of a much more advanced composition."
"Every one drew largely on the Gospel tradition then current. The Acts of the Apostles and the ancient Fathers quote many words of Jesus which appear authentic, and are not found in the Gospels we possess. The life of Jesus in the Synoptics rests upon two original documents—first, the discourses of Jesus collected by Matthew; second, the collection of anecdotes and personal reminiscences which Mark wrote from the recollections of Peter. We may say that we have these two documents still, mixed with accounts from another source, in the two first Gospels, which bear, not without reason, the name of the Gospel according to Matthew, and of the Gospel according to Mark. It was when tradition became weakened, in the second half of the second century, that the texts bearing the name of the apostles took a decisive authority, and obtained the force of law."
I have selected these passages from Rénan's "Life of Jesus," as they bear upon the view of the origin of the Gospels which may be entertained with consistency by those who accept their authority, without insisting upon any such pretensions as our author seems to combat, and which are not necessary for their defence.
I object also to the case being tried upon an indictment which includes a uniform, plenary, and verbal inspiration. Nor is it, I submit, necessary to defend the view that the Old and New Testaments include no words but what are of Divine authority.
I maintain that God has supernaturally revealed His character and His will in the Bible, but I know not where the hard and fast line is which separates the human from the superhuman in our versions of these sacred documents, the general characteristic of which is that they are inspired productions; that therein "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."[25] "Not the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."[26]
"God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers," and having subsequently spoken by His Son, authenticates His message, which, we cannot doubt, the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to record, by a special inspiration, as He did in pre-Christian times.
It is human nature for man to pervert even his best of blessings. Jews and Christians alike have done so. When we think of the translators of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek altering the prophetical dates, to mislead as to the coming of Messiah, as was done in the Septuagint Version; of the genealogy of Joseph being fitted into three periods of fourteen generations each, to square with Jewish notions of numerical precision and completeness; of the verse in John's first epistle (v. 7) inserted in the text to add strength to the theological phraseology of a creed; and of the first verses of the eighth chapter of the Fourth Gospel being left out in several of the most ancient MSS., evidently owing to some great authority, such as Eusebius (who was ordered by Constantine to prepare copies of the Scriptures), having suppressed them; we cannot but be suspicious that human infirmity and meddlesomeness have, to some extent, interfered with the transmission of the Divine oracles. The fountain is undoubtedly pure, but has not the channel been polluted through which the Divine truths have been transmitted?
We have next a reference to the "Epistle of Barnabas" and the "Pastor of Hermas," both of which are attached to that ancient copy of the Scriptures known as the Codex Sinaiticus, recently found by Tischendorf, in a monastery in the desert of Sinai, and now preserved at St. Petersburg. It is the most ancient MS. of the Scriptures we can refer to, and is supposed to have been written in the fourth century.
After the New Testament, in this valuable MS., is placed the epistle ascribed to Barnabas. It is complete. It was written some time between the year 70 and the close of the first century, and it contains these words:—"Let us therefore beware lest we should be found as it is written, Many are called, few are chosen." These words certainly appear to be quoted from the twenty-second chapter of Matthew, but our author says there is a similar passage in the apocryphal book of Ezra—"There be many created, but few shall be saved," and he asks us to believe it is quoted from the latter. As we have not the same bias as he has, we decline, for obvious reasons, to do so, although he points out that the verse in Matthew is not in the oldest codex. Unfortunately the one in the British Museum is defective at that part, but the verse appears in later MSS. He says, had the Epistle of Barnabas been seriously regarded as a work of the apostle of that name, it could scarcely have failed to attain canonical rank. If this be our author's opinion, there was more discrimination used by the men who decided what writings were admissible into the canon than he has elsewhere given them credit for. The Epistle of Barnabas also contains the following important passage:—
"But when he selected his own apostles, who should preach his gospel, who were sinners above all sin, in order that he might show that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners, then he manifested himself to be the Son of God."
Our author says that the words "he came not to call the righteous, but sinners," very probably a pious scribe added in the margin, and they were afterwards included in the text of the epistle.
I remark that this is quite a gratuitous assumption. I see no probability of anything of the kind, and I agree with Tischendorf, who asks, "Could any one mistake the words being a quotation from Matt. ix. 13?" But our author insinuates that this chapter should be dissected, and the miraculous eliminated. He says the words of Jesus, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick," "evidently belong to the oldest tradition of the Gospel;" and he gives the opinion of Ewald, who ascribed them (ver. 1214), apart from the remainder of the chapter, originally to the collection of discourses[27] from which, with two intermediate books, he considers our present Gospel of Matthew was composed.
These are the sort of conjectures upon which our author builds his argument. The ninth chapter of Matthew is too full of the miraculous to be accepted as a whole. It records how Jesus forgave sins, to the sick gave health, to the blind sight, to the dumb speech, and to the dead life; all of which is out of keeping with his bias and the German rationalism with which he has such profound sympathy.
Tischendorf finds a further analogy between the Epistle of Barnabas and the Gospel of Matthew in the words, "David prophesied, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool;" and inquires, "Could Barnabas so write without the supposition that his readers had Matt. xxii. 4 before them? and does not such a supposition likewise infer the actual authority of Matthew's Gospel?" Because the passage is in the Psalms, our author ridicules Tischendorf's inference. It is, to say the least, quite as probable that Barnabas quoted from the Gospel as from the Psalms, and there is propriety in Tischendorf's opinion and inference.
In designating his argument "rabid" and "preposterous," our author exposes himself to arrows winged with similar feathers. When he unwarrantably pretends to know that the earliest records of what Jesus did and taught did not contain anything but what comports with the German school of theology which he favours, and which he has done his best to make familiar to English readers, without exposing himself personally to the odium which attaches to such opinions in a Christian community, he has no claim to indulgence from those who examine his language and animadvert thereupon.
Considering that, according to his own showing, the belief was, at all events, prevalent in the Christian Church in the middle of the second century that these writings of the apostles were authentic, and that he cannot account for their being so esteemed, so soon after the events occurred to which they refer, as to be universally read in all the Christian Churches; it is, to say the least, unbecoming in him to exalt his conjectures into oracles. Other critics, quite as inquiring, able, and learned, more modestly say, "The subject presents a variety of embarrassing circumstances, so that it is difficult to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion." He lays himself open to be classified with those who "rush in where angels fear to tread." There is a close analogy between those who say in their hearts there is no God, and those who say He has never spoken; and we know what is said in the Bible of the former.
I will give here a specimen of the way our author quotes to suit his own argument, and you will see whether the epithet "preposterous" is at all applicable to him.
In showing how much John was opposed to Paul on the question of Gentile Christians observing Jewish rites, he says, "Allusion is undoubtedly made to Paul in the Epistle to the Churches, in the Apocalypse;" and, "It is clear that Paul is referred to in the address to the Church of Ephesus." The first passage is Rev. ii. 2, "I know thy works and thy patience, ... and how thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them false;" implying that John was so opposed to Paul as to deny his being an apostle, which is grossly improbable.[28] But the full absurdity of the idea is more manifest in the next quotation from Rev. ii. 14: "But I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols," &c. It would not have answered his purpose to finish the sentence, so he stops at the word "idols," and puts "&c." When I mention that the words which are represented by the "&c." are "and to commit fornication," you will agree with me, that not only is the idea of John saying that Paul had taught the Christians at Pergamos to sin in this respect the climax of absurdity, but that an author who quotes so unfairly, and reasons so strangely, is not to be implicitly trusted, nor his conclusions accepted. He has adopted the erroneous notion of Baur, the late eminent Professor of Theology at Tübingen, and other German writers, that the difference between the Jewish and Christian converts, in reference to circumcision and other Jewish observances, amounted to a party contest, which caused Paul and Peter and James to be seriously at variance. Now we know the facts of the temporary disagreement, and they certainly do not justify such a conclusion. The hypothesis of such a Pauline and a Petrine contest needs only to be brought into contact with the letters of Paul, in which he refers frequently to the Gentile Churches sending help to the Jewish church at Jerusalem, and it is at once exploded. He tells the Galatians how it was arranged at Jerusalem, after the matters in dispute had been discussed, that he and Barnabas, receiving the right hand of fellowship, should go to the heathen, and James, Peter, and John to the circumcision; only the latter stipulated that the poor at Jerusalem were to be remembered, which Paul says, "I was forward to do." And he instructs the Corinthians in his first epistle as to their collections on the first day of the week before he came, that their liberality might be ready to send to the poor saints at Jerusalem. There is here the very opposite of such extreme hostile and disgraceful party feeling as must have existed if John could indulge in such language regarding Paul as our author attributes to him. There were false men, such as Simon the sorcerer; false apostles, such as Paul alludes to; and corrupters of morals, such as the Nicolaitanes; so that there is not the slightest necessity to think of Paul and his dispute about Jewish rites, to make the words of the Apocalypse intelligible.
Clement's letter, written from Rome to the Corinthians, probably about the year 94 or 95, supplies us with evidence as to the nature of the difference between Peter and Paul, as well as proves the epistle to be genuine. He says, "Do take up the writings of the blessed apostle. What did he say to you in the beginning of the Gospel? Truly, by Divine Inspiration, he gave you directions concerning himself and Peter and Apollos, because even then ye were splitting into parties. But your party spirit at that time had less evil in it, because it was exercised in favour of apostles of eminent holiness, and of one much approved of by them. But now consider who they are that have subverted you. These are shameful things, brethren, very shameful, that the ancient and flourishing Church of Corinth have quarrelled with their pastors, from a weak partiality for one or two persons."
Clement contrasts the eminent holy Peter and Paul and Apollos with the persons who were subverting them, and the latter were undoubtedly the sort of false apostles that John alludes to in the Apocalypse. The evidence of the Second Epistle of Peter is not to be set aside because our author includes it among the questionable writings of the New Testament; and Peter there speaks of Paul as "our beloved brother, who according to the wisdom given him hath written unto you."[29] It is not convenient for such critics to allow the letter to be genuine, on account of this very passage. But there is ample proof, from internal evidence, as shown by Dr. Macnight, Dr. Blackwell, and Dr. A. Clarke, that it is a genuine letter. What a weak case he must have in hand who has to resort to such means to defend it!
The foregone conclusion that miracles are incredible, hampers all the investigations of these German scholars, and compels them to resort to all sorts of conjectures and devices to account for things which, on the basis of Evangelical views, are neither mysterious nor inharmonious. If it be true of Germany that her ablest theologians are now exploding such fallacies, the argument of our author is one, the force of which is expended, a gun brought into the field of battle when the fight is nearly over. It may do some damage, but cannot affect materially the issue of the contest. The outspokenness of the sceptics has roused the believers, and the result, we cannot doubt, will be for the furtherance of the gospel.
"The natural and spiritual miracles of the sacred narrative are only the notes of a higher harmony which resound throughout the discords of earthly history. To our dull sense indeed they may seem disconnected, but the more we listen the more we perceive a connected law of higher euphony, now presaging, and finally bringing about the solution of all dissonance into an eternal harmony. Surely then a believer may look down with pity upon the spirit of the age and its declaration, that the harmony of the Kosmos is destroyed by the miracles of the Bible." (Beyschlag.)
The "Shepherd of Hermas" is next alluded to, but as it is not pretended that it contains any quotation from, or reference to, any passage of the Old or New Testament, it is simply a negative witness in this case. It is found in the Codex Sinaiticus, after the Epistle of Barnabas. The following is Mosheim's description of the work: "The book entitled the 'Shepherd of Hermas' (so called because an angel is the leading character in the drama) was composed in the second century, by Hermas, the brother of Pius, the Roman bishop. The writer, if he was indeed sane, deemed it proper to forge dialogues held with God and angels, in order to insinuate what he regarded as salutary truths more effectually into the minds of his readers. But his celestial spirits talk more insipidly than our scavengers and porters."
What a contrast between the writings of the New Testament and those left out of the canon does such a book as this "Shepherd of Hermas" exhibit! Bunsen thus alludes to it: "That good but dull novel which Niebuhr used to say he pitied the Athenian Christians for being obliged to hear read in their meetings." "From the very dawn of Catholic literature, beginning with 'Hermas the Shepherd,' it had been the object of the Christian writers to render the Greek and Roman mind, by degrees, independent of the heathen philosophers, and to create a Catholic literature and library, more particularly for the use of children and catechumens."[30]
Failing to distinguish between what was intended to be true, what was meant to be fiction, and what was fraudulently spurious, theologians have often been misled, and important doctrines have been thereby perverted.
"I cannot dispense with miracles as historical explanations of certain indubitable historical facts. I do not find that they make rents in history, but by their aid alone am I able to get over its gaping chasms."
THE EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS—THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP—JUSTIN MARTYR—HEGESIPPUS—PAPIAS—THE CLEMENTINES—THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS.
Next our author examines quotations in "the Epistles of Ignatius," though he says they really appertain to a very much later period, for they are "all pronounced, by a large mass of critics, spurious compositions." He suffered martyrdom, it is said, on the 20th December, A.D. 115, when he was condemned to be cast to wild beasts in the amphitheatre, not at Rome, but at Antioch, in consequence of the fanatical excitement produced by the earthquake which took place on the thirteenth of that month.[31] If any of his fifteen letters, says our author, could be accepted as genuine, the references to them might be important. Dr. Mosheim says his whole epistles are extremely dubious. The shorter of the two versions of Ignatius is, however, generally allowed to be genuine. Tischendorf says "its genuineness is now generally admitted." In it we find, "What would a man be profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" which of course is a quotation from Matt. xvi. 26.
The next document mentioned is the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, who, Irenæus says, was in his youth a disciple of the Apostle John. He was Bishop of Smyrna, and ended his life by martyrdom, A.D. 167. Irenæus knew Polycarp personally. It is said that the epistle was written before A.D. 120. Our author ascribes it to a later date, and says that there are potent reasons for considering it spurious. As, however, Irenæus, Polycarp's disciple, believed it to be genuine, we shall take the liberty of differing from our author, and of believing it to be so. The epistle contains the following: "Remembering what the Lord said, teaching: Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you; be pitiful, that ye may be pitied; with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again; and that blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Also: "Beseeching in our prayers the all-seeing God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord said, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Also: "If, therefore, we pray the Lord that he may forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive."
Our author demurs to these being quotations from our Gospels, and says they might have been from orally current accounts of the Sermon on the Mount, or from many of the records of the teaching of Jesus in circulation.
Hegisippus is the next early writer referred to. He made use of the "Gospel according to the Hebrews." Jerome says (confirming Eusebius) "that the Gospel according to the Hebrews is written in the Chaldaic and Syriac (Syro-Chaldaic) language, but with Hebrew characters."
We have, says our author, direct intimation that Hegesippus made use of the Gospel according to the Hebrews. "He was one of the contemporaries of Justin—a Palestinian Jewish Christian. In order to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the state of the Church, he travelled widely, and came to Rome when Anicitus was bishop. Subsequently he wrote a work of historical memoirs in five books, and thus became the first ecclesiastical historian of Christianity. This work is lost, but portions have been preserved by Eusebius, and one other fragment is also extant." It must have been written after the succession of Eleutherius to the Roman bishopric (A.D. 177-193), as that event is mentioned in the book.
"The testimony of Hegesippus is of great value, not only as a man born near the primitive Christian tradition, but also as that of an intelligent traveller amongst many Christian communities" (p. 430).
Hegesippus says, in the fifth book of his Memoirs, that "these words ('Good things prepared for the righteous neither eye hath seen nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man,' from 1 Cor. ii. 9) are vainly spoken, and that those who say these things give the lie to the Divine writings and to the Lord saying, 'Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear,'" &c. This fragment is preserved by Stephanus Gobarus, a learned monophysite of the sixth century.
"Nothing is more certain," says our author, "than the fact that, in spite of the opportunities for collecting information afforded him by his travels through so many Christian communities, for the express purpose of such inquiry, Hegesippus did not find any New Testament Canon, or, that such a rule of faith did not exist in Rome in A.D. 160 and 170."
I ask, How in the world can our author be certain of this, when only portions of Hegesippus are extant? This applies generally to his argument that the silence of the early writers is of "as much importance as their supposed allusions to the Gospels." Such a mode of reasoning is aptly commented upon by the Rev. Kentish Bache, in his letter to Dr. Davidson on the Fourth Gospel. He says: "When but small portions of a work have been preserved to our use, it is no wonder that these portions should make no mention of many circumstances interesting and important, which the writer must certainly have known and told of. If I tear a few leaves from the middle of my English History book, I shall find on them (the few leaves) no record of the Norman Conquest or of the Battle of Waterloo. Would it thence be a fair conclusion that these events are unhistorical and fictitious?"
Papias is next referred to. He was Bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, in the first half of the second century, and is said to have suffered martyrdom under Marcus Aurelius, about A.D. 160-167. About the middle of the second century he wrote a work in five books, called, "Exposition of the Lord's Oracles," which is lost, excepting a few fragments preserved by Eusebius and Irenæus. We have the preface to his book, which states: "I shall not hesitate to set beside my interpretations all that I rightly learnt from the Presbyters, and rightly remembered, earnestly testifying to its truth. For I have not, like the multitude, delighted in those who spoke much, but in those who taught the truth; nor in those who recorded alien commandments, but in those who recall those delivered by the Lord to faith, and which come from truth itself. If it happened that any one came who had followed the Presbyters, I inquired minutely after the words of the Presbyters—what Andrew or what Peter said, or what Philip or what Thomas or James, or what John or Matthew, or what any other of the disciples of the Lord, and what Aristion and the Presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say; for I held that what was to be derived from books was not so profitable as that from the living and abiding voice." "It is clear (says our author) from this that even if Papias knew any of our Gospels, he attached little or no value to them, and that he knew absolutely nothing of the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament" (p. 445).
I remark that it is far from clear that he attached no value to our Gospels from anything he says in the fragments extant, and of course we know nothing of those portions that are lost. We know that he was making a book, consisting of what he could gather from tradition about "the truth," "to set beside his interpretations" about the "commandments delivered by the Lord to faith." There were Gospel writings in circulation, and he was supplementing what they recorded. There is positively no evidence to make us think that our present Gospels were unknown to him. He does not, in the fragments we have, mention Paul's writings, nor the Gospel of Luke, nor the Fourth Gospel, but he does allude to a book by Matthew and another by Mark, and Eusebius tells us that Papias makes use of passages taken from Peter's first epistle and John's first epistle. So, on the whole, the testimony of Papias, instead of being against is in favour of the Synoptics, and also of the Fourth Gospel; for the silence inference applies no more to it than it does to Paul and Luke's writings, and the statement of Eusebius about John's Epistle is not to be set aside, for if John wrote it, it will be allowed he wrote the Gospel. His evidence respecting Mark is important, for the fragments contain a statement that "Mark recorded what fell from Peter, writing accurately, and taking especial care neither to omit nor to misrepresent anything;" and Papias says that "Peter preached with a view to the benefit of his hearers, and not to give a history of Christ's discourses." Our author's inference is that it is some other person of the name of Mark that is connected with the Second Gospel, and not the Mark that Papias refers to. This is very far-fetched and improbable, for the description tallies well with our Second Gospel, and quite admits of the supposition that Mark had every opportunity of obtaining from eye-witnesses the historical materials of his Gospel. No one supposes that every statement in the book emanated from Peter's discourses.
Papias is the only early writer that our author acknowledges furnishes any evidence in favour of the Synoptic Gospels. He cannot deny that he records that Matthew composed discourses of the Lord in the Hebrew tongue, but he says "that totally excludes the claim of our Greek Gospel to apostolic origin." The boldness of this assertion can only be properly met by an equally explicit denial that it does anything of the kind. If the translation be a faithful one from a Hebrew version, it is of course entitled to the epithet apostolic if the original possessed it. Our author must have some peculiar notions about verbal inspiration if this be the rule he lays down. But he altogether overlooks the supposition that Matthew's Gospel was not originally written in Hebrew, notwithstanding this statement of Papias.
Tischendorf, in his book issued by the Tract Society, entitled, "When were our Gospels Written?" maintains that the assertion of Papias "rests on a misunderstanding," and he briefly states his reasons for this view. He says: "This Hebrew text must have been lost very early, for not one even of the very oldest Church fathers had ever seen or used it." "There were two parties among the Judaisers—the one the Nazarenes and the other the Ebionites. Each of these parties used a gospel according to Matthew, the one party using a Greek and the other party a Hebrew text. That they did not scruple to tamper with the text, to suit their creed, is probable from their very sectarian spirit. The text, as we have certain means of proving, rested upon our received text of Matthew, with, however, occasional departures, to suit their arbitrary views. When then it was reported, in later times, that these Nazarenes, who were one of the earliest Christian sects, possessed a Hebrew version of Matthew, what was more natural than that some person or other, thus falling in with the pretensions of this sect, should say that Matthew was originally written in Hebrew, and that the Greek was only a version from it? How far these two texts differed from each other no one cared to inquire; and with such separatists who withdrew themselves to the shores of the Dead Sea, it would not have been easy to have attempted it."
"Jerome, who knew Hebrew, as other Latin and Greek fathers did not, obtained in the fourth century a copy of this Hebrew Gospel of the Nazarenes, and at once asserted that he had found the original. But when he looked more closely into the matter, he confined himself to the statement that many supposed this Hebrew text was the original of Matthew's Gospel. He translated it into Latin and Greek, and added a few observations of his own on it. From these observations of Jerome, as well as from other fragments, we must conclude that this notion of Papias cannot be substantiated; but, on the contrary, this Hebrew has been drawn from the Greek text, and disfigured moreover here and there with certain arbitrary changes. The same is applicable to a Greek text of the Hebrew Gospel in use among the Ebionites. This text, from the fact that it was in Greek, was better known to the Church than the Hebrew version of the Nazarenes; but it was always regarded, from the earliest times, as only another text of Matthew's Gospel."
The references to Justin Martyr occupy nearly one hundred and fifty pages of the work. He was one of the most learned and one of the earliest writers of the Church not long after the apostles. His conversion took place about the year 132, and his martyrdom, A.D. 165.
In his second "Apology," A.D. 139, and in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew, are many quotations of passages found in the Gospels. He quotes from all the four Evangelists, and our author's elaborate attempt to prove the contrary is certainly not successful. His objection, based on slight discrepancies in the words while the sense is identical, is frivolous in the extreme. Supposing there were in Justin's hands a primitive work which supplied the passages, and that work was embodied in the canonical compilation, they can be truthfully said to be quotations from the latter. The objection to his quotations on the grounds that they are not verbatim, is neutralized by the fact that neither are his quotations from the Old Testament always exact.
It has been shown that "if Justin did not quote from our Gospels, there must have been in his hands, in the second century, a variety of accounts of Christ's life, to which he, a leading Christian apologist, attached the greatest importance; and yet, in the course of the few following years, those accounts must have disappeared, and four others, of which this eminent Christian apologist knew nothing, must have taken their place. This would have been what Canon Westcott justly calls a 'revolution,' for it would have, in a single generation, entirely changed the records of the life of Christ publicly used by the Christians."[32]
Justin quotes from a book entitled the "Memoirs," which he says "are called Gospels," and our author tries to make out that the passage quoted is an interpolation. It is not the only instance where the "wish," and not the proof, "is father to the thought."
In Justin's work, the "Apology," occur the words, "And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins;" which are found in the apocryphal Gospel of James, as said to the Virgin Mary, while in Matthew's Gospel they are spoken to Joseph. It is urged that Justin must, therefore, have quoted them from a lost Gospel; but why should it be supposed so when they are in the apocryphal Gospel of James, which, Origen says, was everywhere known about the end of the second century, and which, there is good ground for believing, was written in the early part of that century?
A few other passages in Justin's work, which are not found in our Gospels, may be accounted for by supposing them to be quotations either from lost Gospels, genuine or apocryphal, or tradition may have supplied them. There is no certain inference to be arrived at.
Justin tells us in his first "Apology" (A.D. 139), that the memoirs of the apostles called evangels were read after the prophets every Lord's Day in the assemblies of the Christians.
This must have reference to the writings which alone, a few years later, were universally known as the Four Gospels, or the Acts of the Apostles.
The second volume of the work opens with an examination of "the evidence furnished by the apocryphal religious romance generally known by the name of 'The Clementines,'" which includes the Homilies, the Recognitions, and a so-called Epitome—the Homilies and Recognitions being, he says, "the one merely a version of the other," and the Epitome a blending of the other two. As there are in the Clementine Homilies upwards of a hundred quotations of expressions of Jesus, or references to His history (not less than fifty passages from the Sermon on the Mount), it is important to ascertain, if possible, when they were written, and from what writings they quote. The date cannot be determined. The range of probability is from the middle of the second century. If much later, the inquiry does not amount to much, because we know, from ample evidence, such as that of Irenæus, that the Four Gospels as we have them were in existence, and read in the Churches, in the middle of the second century. We presume, therefore, our author takes an early date for granted, or he would not have occupied forty pages in their examination.
The first quotation which, he says, agrees with a passage in our Synoptics, occurs in the third Homily, p. 52: "And he cried, saying, Come unto me all ye that are weary;" which agrees with Matt. xi. 28. Because the quotation is not continued, but the following words are an explanation of what "Come unto me," &c., means—"that is, who are seeking truth, and not finding it,"—we are to deem it "evident that so short and fragmentary a phrase cannot prove anything." I exclaim, Indeed! Not in a book that contains a hundred references to the words of Jesus! Not, considering that they are especially the words of Jesus, that no one else so said to the weary, "Come unto me!" Most readers will surely think the contrary should be inferred!
Among the quotations are words resembling the text of Matthew xxv. 26-30: "Thou wicked and slothful servant: thou oughtest to have put out my money with the exchangers, and at my coming I should have exacted mine own."[33] If this were the only reference to the Gospels as we have them, the quotation is sufficiently near to make the inference certain that such writings, in some shape, must have been in existence when the Clementine Homilies were written. This our author acknowledges, but he says (vol. ii. p. 17): "If the variations were the exception among a mass of quotations perfectly agreeing with the parallels in our Gospels, it might be exaggeration to base upon such divergences a conclusion that they were derived from a different source. The variations being the rule, instead of the exception, these, however slight, become evidence of the use of a different Gospel from ours."[34]
I remark, supposing this be so, that the author of these Homilies had, in the year 160, other Gospel manuscripts before him, it is not pretended that our Gospels contain all that was known of the sayings of Jesus, and all the events of His public ministry. We are told in the Fourth Gospel: "There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."[35] If the author of the Fourth Gospel did not include many things which he knew had been previously written about, why should we be surprised to find the authors of the Synoptic Gospels record only portions?
We know that Paul wrote an epistle to the Church at Laodicea, which is not preserved to us. We hold that Paul was as much an inspired writer as any of the apostles, and instead of making all sorts of difficulties about the books we have, we ought to be grateful that they are extant. We read in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, iv. 16: "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea."
I wonder whether our author has an objection to the genuineness of the Epistle to the Colossians, because Epictetus, who was born at Hierapolis about A.D. 50, which was within a few miles of Colosse and Laodicea, and who would be likely to know, at that time, what was there going on, does not refer to Paul and the Churches there?
But it is useless to disprove the assertion that there are no quotations from the Gospels, for we are met at every turn with the objection that those specified are probably quotations from the numerous lost Gospels known to have been in circulation. He says: "The great mass of intelligent critics are agreed that our Synoptics have assumed their present form only after repeated modifications by various editors of earlier evangelical works. The primitive Gospels have entirely disappeared, supplanted by the later and more amplified versions (p. 459). The first two Synoptics bear no author's name, because they are not the work of any one man, but the collected materials of many. The third only pretends to be a compilation for private use, and the fourth bears no simple signature, because it is neither the work of an apostle nor of an eye-witness of the events it records" (p. 401). I remark, if Luke's Gospel does only pretend to be for private use, does that affect its value? If Matthew wrote at all, and our author acknowledges he did in Hebrew, his work would be likely to be translated into Greek, either by himself or some one else, and many copies circulated. Supposing the original in Hebrew to be lost, it is not probable the Greek copies could be all collected from various places, and all altered and supplemented. How could any one do this? He might write and issue a new version, but he could not suppress the original one unless all the existing copies were under his own control. As we have a certain work preserved, and no other, pretending to be Matthew's, it is highly probable that what Matthew contributed to the Church is that Gospel. A fictitious one would be less likely to be preserved than a real one, though we are asked to believe the contrary. Our author suggests that if we had the original writings we should find them minus the miracles, which is altogether inconsistent with what he has said about the prevalence of miraculous notions among the Jews at the time. At any rate, if the books in circulation did not relate miracles, they would not be in harmony with the gospel preached by Paul, and believed by the first Christians. Supposing that there were, as Luke intimates, and as our author asserts, many original writings, what more likely than that Matthew should collect some of them, and embody them, with his own record, in one book, under his own name? It is quite true that we meet with references to apostolic writings under other titles than those in the New Testament: we read of,—
"The Gospel according to the Hebrews."
"The Gospel according to the Egyptians."
"The Memoirs of the Apostles."
"The Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew."
"The Gospel of the Lord."
"The Discourses of Peter."
"The Collection of Discourses."
Although we do not know how these were embodied in our New Testament Scriptures, it is probable that they were in some way included, or the copies of the present Gospels may not all have uniformly borne the same titles as we know them by. In our day it is not usual for an author's name to appear in the body of his work, and often a title-page gives more than one title.[36] How few persons can give the exact title of the book known as "Butler's Analogy." The value of a book does not depend essentially upon the person who wrote it. We do not know who wrote the Book of Job, many of the Psalms, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and other portions of the Bible, but it would be unwise to reject their teaching on that account.
Our author says: "No reason whatever has been shown for accepting the testimony of these Gospels as sufficient to establish the reality of miracles" (p. 249). I remark, the question is, Do they show such insufficient testimony as to warrant the conclusion that the general evidence based on a great variety of proofs is not to be accepted?
The Epistle to Diognetus is a short composition, which has been ascribed to Justin Martyr, but its authorship is uncertain, and the date of its composition. It is not quoted or mentioned by any ancient writer. The two concluding chapters are supposed to have been written by a different hand. To the first quarter of the second half to the end of that century the date is variously assigned. It is written in pure Greek, and is elegant in style. Bunsen, in his valuable book, "Hippolytus and his Age," asserts that "the epistle is certainly the work of a contemporary of Justin the Martyr;" that he believes he has proved that the first part is a portion of the lost early Letter of Marcion, of which Tertullian speaks; and that "the very beautiful and justly admired second fragment, which in our editions of Justin's works is given at the end of that Patristic gem, the Epistle to Diognetus,"[37] does not belong to that letter, but is the conclusion of the great work, in ten books, by Hippolytus, "The Refutation of all Heresies." Our author, in the eighteen pages devoted to the Epistle to Diognetus, says nothing of this, although it is both important and interesting. He says the supposed allusions in the Fourth Gospel may be all referable to Paul's epistles, that the date and author are unknown, and that the letter is of no evidential value. His two brief allusions to Bunsen's work show that the ignoring of that eminent man's opinion was not unintentional; while the absence of any reference to Bunsen's elaborate proof that Hippolytus wrote the "Refutation," is also significant.
"It remains a possibility that Christ actually was what He supposed Himself to be."
BASILIDES—VALENTINUS—MARCION—TATIAN—DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH—MELITO OF SARDIS—CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS—ATHENAGORAS—EPISTLE OF VIENNE AND LYONS—PTOLEMÆUS, HERACLEON, CELSUS—CANON OF MURATORI.
Our author says of Basilides, "He was founder of a system of Gnosticism, who lived at Alexandria about the year 125. With the exception of a very few brief fragments, none of his writings have been preserved, and all our information regarding them is derived from writers opposed to him. Eusebius states that Agrippa Castor, who had written a refutation of the doctrines of Basilides, 'Says that he had composed twenty-four books upon the gospel.' This is interpreted by Tischendorf to imply that the work was a commentary upon our four Gospels, a conclusion the audacity of which can scarcely be exceeded" (p. 42). I remark that by "the gospel" would be meant the gospel which was preached by the apostles, and Tischendorf is not far wrong in supposing that the written records of it in the hands of the first Christians was the subject of the commentary. Our author has certainly not proved the contrary. He says: "We know that Basilides made use of a Gospel, written by himself it is said, but certainly called after his own name; ... but the fragments of that work which are extant are of a character which precludes the possibility of the work being considered a Gospel." Neander affirmed the Gospel of Basilides to be the Gospel according to the Hebrews. I remark that that is not only probable, but that the Gospel to the Hebrews may have been the Hebrew translation of the Greek Gospel of Matthew, with its additions and modifications, to suit the Jewish Nazarene sect, who, we know, had a Hebrew text of their own, which they did not hesitate to alter and adapt to their own views. Basilides, says our author, expressly states that he received his knowledge of the truth from Glaucis, the "interpreter of Peter," whose disciple he claimed to be. Basilides also claimed to have received from a certain Matthias the report of private discourses which he had heard from the Saviour for his special instruction. Canon Westcott writes: "Since Basilides lived on the verge of the apostolic times, it is not surprising that he made use of other sources of Christian doctrine besides the canonical books. The belief in Divine inspiration was still fresh and real."[38] Our author says: "It is apparent, however, that Basilides, in basing his doctrine on these apocryphal books as inspired, and upon tradition, and in having a special Gospel called after his own name, ignores the canonical Gospels, offers no evidence for their existence, but proves that he did not recognise any such works as of authority." I remark, the question is not their authority, but, Did they exist? Basilides wrote a book, called it a Gospel, or commentary of the Gospel, and made as much use as suited his heretical purpose of the canonical records, of tradition, and of other books. This seems to be what we can arrive at. Hippolytus, writing of the Basilideans and describing their doctrines, uses the singular pronoun "he"—"he says," in a passage of which our author gives an unintelligible translation. This pronoun is an inconvenient witness. Our author wants it to be "they," in order that the disciples of Basilides living at a later period, when the Gospels were generally recognised, may be meant, and not Basilides, who lived A.D. 125. Hippolytus has a sentence of Basilides, which our author translates as follows:—"Jesus, however, was generated according to these, as we have already said. But when the generation which has already been declared had taken place, all things regarding the Saviour, according to them, occurred in a similar way as they have been written in the Gospel." This means that the things referring to the Incarnation were as written in the Gospel, not as preached, but as written; and if Basilides, as the founder of the sect, is referred to, the statement testifies to the existence of the Gospels in the year 125, and the doctrine of the Incarnation being in them. But our author says the statement is not made in connection with Basilides, but his followers; that it is made about A.D. 225, by Hippolytus, and affords no proof that either Basilides or his followers used the Gospels or admitted their authority. "The exclusive use, by any one, of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, for instance, would be perfectly consistent with the statement" (p. 48). "No one who considers what is known of that Gospel, or who thinks of the use made of it in the first half of the second century by perfectly orthodox Fathers, before we hear anything of our Gospels, can doubt this" (p. 48). I remark, that those who adopt Tischendorf's view, that Matthew was written in Greek, and a corrupted version in Hebrew, used in certain countries, will not have to resort to any such explanation as our author suggests. His examination in detail of the several quotations is important, because it exhibits his want of appreciation of the evidence they afford. The first passage Tischendorf points out is found in the "Stromata" of Clement of Alexandria, and it is certainly from our Gospel of Matthew,[39] however that work may have been compiled (for it is not necessary to insist that no other records than Matthew's own are included in the book which, we contend, was at very early date read in the Churches, and is what we now have). "They say the Lord answered, All men cannot receive this saying. For there are eunuchs who are indeed from birth, but others from necessity."[40] Our author says "this passage in its affinity to, and material variation from, our First Gospel, might be quoted as evidence for the use of the Gospel according to the Hebrews, but it is simply preposterous to point to it as evidence for the use of Matthew. Apologists ... seem altogether to ignore the history of the creation of written Gospels, and to forget the very existence of the πολλοἱ of Luke." We value his acknowledgment, and find no difficulty, notwithstanding the silence of some apologists, in reconciling our belief in the four Gospels with the facts or probabilities of what can be ascertained as to their "creation." We allow that the word Luke uses (πολλοἱ) refers to many, which is consistent with the idea that many committed to writing what they knew, and that their records were embodied in the Synoptic Gospels.
The next passage referred to by Tischendorf is one quoted by Epiphanius: "And therefore he said, Cast not ye pearls before swine, neither give that which is holy unto dogs."[41] "It is introduced in the section of the work of Epiphanius directed against the Basilideans. As in dealing with all these heresies there is continual interchange of reference to the head and later followers, there is no certainty who is referred to in these quotations, and in this instance nothing to indicate that the passage is ascribed to Basilides himself. His name is mentioned in the first line of the first chapter, but not again until the fifth chapter" (p. 50).
I remark, it was the founder of the sect and not the followers who wrote the book, and those who opposed the heresy would, although they alluded to the sect, have regard to the founder when they referred to the doctrines held, and quoted the written opinions which distinguished the party on gospel matters. To make the matter as plain as I can, I will suppose a case as an illustration of the point. Supposing that in Pliny's letter to Trajan there were found these words referring to the Christians: "They say, the rule which should be observed in regard to an enemy is, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you"—would it be right to assert that the quotation is no proof that Christ so taught, but His disciples, long afterwards? This is something like what our author's objection, referring to the pronouns "he" and "they" in Hippolytus, amounts to. "They" does not mean "he" when thus used; and "he," when actually used in the first line of the first chapter, and afterwards means, "they;" that is, "He (Basilides) says," means "They (his followers at a later date) say."
The plural pronoun is used, indicating the sect, Basilides and his followers. Therefore our author says there is uncertainty as to who he is when used in the same sentence. He says "Hippolytus is giving an epitome of the views of the school with nothing more definite than a subjectless φησἱ (he says) to indicate who is referred to. None of the quotations which we have considered are directly referred to Basilides himself, but they are introduced by the utterly vague expression, 'He says' (φησἱ), without any subject accompanying the verb."
The suggestion (p. 51) that Hippolytus "consciously or unconsciously, in the course of transfer to his pages, corrected the text," is very unsatisfactory. An intelligent reader cannot fail to see how an obvious inference is avoided, and how ingenuity is taxed to make words square with foregone conclusions.
Tischendorf asks: "Who is there so sapient as to draw the line between what the master alone says, and that which the disciples state, without in the least repeating the master?" (p. 59) and our author says, "Tischendorf solves the difficulty by referring everything indiscriminately to the master" (p. 59). To say that Tischendorf does this is reckless assertion.
When our author has to account for such a passage in Basilides as, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee," he says it happens to agree with the words in Luke i. 55; and resorts to his usual mode of avoiding the acknowledgment that such a verbatim quotation is against his hypothesis, by saying, "There is good reason for concluding that the narrative to which it belongs was contained in other Gospels." The following sentence is startling, and apt to mislead those who do not take the trouble to be sure of his meaning. He says (p. 67): "Nothing, however, can be clearer than the fact that this quotation, by whomsoever made, is not taken from our Third Synoptic, inasmuch as there does not exist a single MS. which contains such a passage." What does he mean? We turn to Luke i. 35, and read: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Does he mean the whole passage is not in any MS? No: he means the following, with the slight variation at the end, is not in any MS. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore the thing begotten of thee shall be called holy." Only the words in italics are different in the two passages, and the meaning is the same, the only difference being that the latter does not include the words "the Son of God." The remark that the quotation happens to agree with the passage in Luke i. 35, should not be unnoticed.
Happens! Mark the peculiar inappropriateness of the word. It indicates our author's whereabouts, and is a beacon in the book to warn the reader. Events transpire, and they happen to agree with prophetic visions which plainly foretold them! Reason being unequal to an explanation, coincidence must be resorted to. Was it an accident that, "at one particular point in history, and in one special individual, the elements of a new religious development, which, per se, were already extant, should have concentrated themselves in a new life?" This, says Baur, is "the wonder in the history of the origin of Christianity which no historical reflection can further analyse." Did it happen that the Messiah came as was predicted centuries before?
Did Paul happen to have a vision just at the time when the whole course of his life underwent a change, and from being a chief persecutor of the faith he became a chief apostle—no less an apostle than the most prominent among the Twelve? If the Saviour did not meet him on the way to Damascus he could not be an apostle; and as he was an honest man, and no impostor, could what happened to him have been other than what he asserted? Baur was in a great difficulty about the matter, and said, "No analysis, either psychological or didactic, can clear up the mystery of that act in which God revealed His Son in Paul." Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews should return to their own land after seventy years of exile, and they happened to do so!
The artful way in which the evidence from the writings of Hippolytus is disposed of is one of the most notable things in the book we are reviewing. The reader's attention is taxed to keep up with the sophistical argument, and our author finds it necessary to explain why he has been forced to go at such a length into these questions, as to risk "being very wearisome" to his readers (p. 73).
These remarks apply to a great extent to the examination of the evidence of Valentinus, described as "another Gnostic leader, who, about the year A.D. 140, came from Alexandria to Rome, and flourished till about A.D. 160." "Very little remains of the writings of this Gnostic, and we gain our only knowledge of them from a few quotations in the works of Clement of Alexandria, and some doubtful fragments preserved by others" (p. 56).
Marcion, the son of a bishop of Pontus, became a conspicuous heretic in the second century, and there was a book called "Marcion's Gospel," which has long furnished a field for criticism. He was a Pauline heretic, denouncing the Jewish party which insisted upon dragging Jewish observances into Christianity. He went to Rome about A.D. 139-142, and taught there some twenty years. His opinions were widely disseminated. His collection of apostolic writings, which is the oldest of which we have any trace, includes (says our author) a single Gospel and ten Epistles of Paul—viz., Galatians, Corinthians (2), Romans, Thessalonians (2), Ephesians (in the superscription of which there is, "to the Laodiceans)," Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon.
The Gospel of Marcion is not extant, but it is referred to by his opponents, who affirmed that his evangelical work was an audaciously mutilated version of Luke's Gospel. Our author gives a brief account of the various opinions which have prevailed about the book during the last hundred years, and considers the discussion upon it far from closed. Is it a mutilation of Luke, or an independent work derived from the same source as his, or is it a more primitive version of that Gospel? Whence are the materials from which the portions of the text extant are derived? Tertullian and Epiphanius denounced Marcion's heresy. The former called him "impious and sacrilegious," which, our author says, implies anything but fair and legitimate criticism. I remark, Did he deserve the epithets? Would Paul, who tells the Colossians to "beware lest any man spoil them through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ," have been less emphatic in his denunciations in such a case? Marcion was more Pauline than Petrine, but would Paul have failed to censure in the strongest language such a misrepresentation of Jehovah and the Old Testament economy as Marcion disseminated?