_ .i ft. »'•'*«* PRINCETON, N. J. % Shelf. - BR 162 .S52 1892 Slater, W. F. The faith and life of the early church €ln ffaiti) ano Xifr of t\)t (Earlp C&urrl). THE FAITH AND LIFE EARLY CHURCH AN INTRODUCTION TO CHURCH HISTORY W. F. SLATER, M.A. BIBLICAL TUTOR, WESLEYAN COLLEGE, DIDSBURY ITonbon HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCXCIl Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. PREFACE. 'np HE following work does not profess to be a complete and detailed history of Christianity in the first century. Its design is, rather, to investigate those features of the history which are of importance and interest at the present time. Since related subjects had to be discussed in sepa- rate chapters, some repetition was unavoidable : some questions which can scarcely be called secondary have had to yield to the demand for brevity. It is hoped, however, that no really essential element be- longing to the subject has been entirely overlooked. An inquiry into the origin of the Gospels and their relation to the original tradition would have been in order ; but this would have required much time and space, besides that modern criticism is yet engaged in vi PREFACE. a strenuous endeavour to fix the leading points in the history. Dr. Sanday's articles in the Expositor, and Prof. Marshall's theory of an Aramaic original, indicate that the time has not yet come to announce definite conclusions on the critical questions in- volved. The authorities used in the preparation of the work have been generally recognised in the notes. CONTE NTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PAGE Early Purity — Efforts for Reformation : Wickliffe to Wesley — The Anglican Movement : Object and Methods — Patristic Study and Criticism i CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. The Acts : Authenticity and Value— Pentecost : Extension of the Church on Jewish Lines ..... 13 CHAPTER III. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. Position of the Twelve : Recognised by St. Paul and St. John — Peter and James — Hellenists and Proselytes : The Seven— The Church Democratic : No a priori Eorm of Government— Origin of Deacons, Elders, and Bishops : Harnack, Hatch, and Sanday— Cyprianism —Three Orders not Apostolic : Lightfoot— Review of Progress ......... 26 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE NEW DEPARTURE : THE INCLUSION OF GENTILES. PAGE Influence of the LXX. — Philip and Stephen — Conversion of Saul : Peter and Cornelius — Jews Eating with Gen- tiles—Hellenes : Geographical Extension of the Church: Samaria, Antioch — Visit of Barnabas : Neo-Chris- tianity in Antioch — Paul's First Mission : Cyprus, etc. — Barnabas in Tradition : Mark — Elders Appointed in Pisidian Antioch, etc 60 CHAPTER V. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. Tubingen Views — Situation and Unity of the Church — The Judaistic Protest : Two Sections in the Church — Paul's Second Mission : The Gospel in Europe — Paul's Method at Thessalonica and Corinth — The Cross — the Stumbling-block — The Ministry in Corinth — Paul's Continued Conformity to Judaism — Apollos — Variety in Unity 77 CHAPTER VI. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. Paul in Ephesus : a " Nonconformist " — Unity : Evange- listic Success — The Riot in the City : its Results — Macedonia and Achaia Re-visited — Return to Troas — The Agape and the Raising of Eutychus — Morning Communion not Apostolic — Ephesian Elders at Mi- letus — The Visit to Jerusalem — Jewish Christians " Zealous for the Law " — Paul's Arrest and Imprison- CONTENTS. PAGE ment — Voyage and Arrival in Rome — Character of the Roman Church 105 CHAPTER VII. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE: I. The Pauline Churches : The Termination of the Acts — Ministry of the Captivity : Adversaries, Epistles — Church Unity — Colossian Heretics — Was there a Second Imprisonment ? — The Pastoral Epistles . . 129 CHAPTER VIII. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE: II. The Hebrew Churches — Author and Readers of the Epistle to the Hebrews — Epistle of James — 1 and 2 Epistles of Peter : Readers and Doctrine — St. John and the Wider Gospel — Author and Date of the Apocalypse — Did St. John eat with Gentiles ? — Relation of the Asiatic Churches to Paul and Timothy^Tradition of John in Asia 147 CHAPTER IX. THE AGE AFTER THE APOSTLES. The Destruction of Jerusalem, and its Consequences — Flight to Pella — Political Dissolution : Judaism Checked ; Christianity in New Relations ; the Church without a Centre — Failures in the History : Failure of the Tubingen Theory ; Mosheim Incorrect ; Views of Bishop Westcott, Bishop Lightfoot, Dr. Salmon, Dr. Lechler, etc. — The Failure to Recognise the Survival of CONTENTS. PAGE the Jewish Christians — The Party Found in Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome — The Clementines. . 178 CHAPTER X. JEWISH CHRISTIANITY HERETICAL. Importance of the History at this Point : Continuation of the Jewish-Christian Church — A Supposed Second Council — Lechler's Theory Examined — Evidence of the Identity of the Earlier and Later Jewish-Christians — Epiphanius and his History — Nazarenes and Ebionites : Their Adherence to the Law ; Use of a Hebrew Gospel ; Christology ; Opposition to St. Paul — The Clementines — -Unity of the Jewish-Christian Party with Sectional Peculiarities — Anti- Judaism of Ignatius: Condemns the "Church in the House" — Date of the Epistles — Clement, Barnabas, Epistle to Diognetus, Justin Martyr — Can Jewish-Christians be Saved ? — The " Catholic Church " not an Amalgama- tion, but a Gentile Development — The "Middle Wall" Re-erected 216 CHAPTER XI. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. The " Didache " : no Apostolic Ordinances of Government or Worship — Apostolic Churches appealed to — Con- tents of the " Didache '' : Agape, Baptism, Prophets — Epistle of Clement — Little Known of the Apostolic Age in the Following Time — Clement : Do the Cle- mentines Refer to him ? — Was he Bishop of Rome ? — Papal Succession — Doctrine of the Epistle . . 258 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. BAPTISM. PAGE The Dispensation Under John — Nicodemus — New Testa- ment and Adult Baptism : Infant Baptism Cannot Claim the Same Predicates — Peter's Views — Regenera- tion, a Figure : Other Figures — Baptism in Barnabas, Hennas, and Justin — Infant Baptism Legitimate : Dr. Schaff — Opinions that Baptism was a Substitute for Circumcision and Sacrifices 280 CHAPTER XIII. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. Traditional Development — The " Fellowship " : Charity of the Apostolic Churches — The Eucharist : its Relation to the Agape ; its Time and Place — Disorders in Corinth, Ephesus, etc. — Various References in the Pauline Epistles — Daily Observance : Barnabas, Cyprian — Justin Martyr's Account — Doctrine of the Sacrifice — The Separation of the Eucharist from the Agape : not in the Second Century : Schaff, Lightfoot, Pliny, Ignatius, Justin, Hermas, Irenaeus, Clem. Alex., Dr. Bigg, Clementines, Tertullian, etc. — Libels on the Agape : its Final Traces — The " Catholic Church " not in Strict Continuation with the Apostolic 288 CHAPTER XIV. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. The First Heresies of Jewish Origin — Newman on the Arians — Views of Lightfoot, Harnack, etc.— Heresy Traced by Early Writers to Heathen Philosophy — Dr. Hatch— Ideal Unity 318 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. THE CHRIST-PARTY IN CORINTH. PAGE The Divisions in the Primitive Church have not been Recognised — Three Questions about the Christ-Party — I. Were they a Separate Party? — A School within the Church — The Epistle of Clement Furnishes no Information — II. Were They Jews or Gentiles? — Baur, Neander, etc. — III. What were their Tenets? — No Breach of Unity thought to be Possible — The Principal Conjectures are : i. Schmidt : Jewish Rationalists ; 2. The Names Fictitious ; 3. Had a Protevangelium ; 4. Sadducees ; 5. Followers of James ; 6. Opposed to Paul ; 7. Spiritual Pretenders ; 8. Philosophers ; 9. The Orthodox — Probably a Party who Wished to Separate " Jesus " from " Christ " — Godet's View Substantially Correct : Confirmations Given — Instances of Gradations in the Faith of Jesus — Could such Persons be Permitted in the Church ? . 356 CHAPTER XVI. THE CHURCH. The Term Occurs in One Gospel Only — I. Meaning of "Church": Pauline Use; Romish Doctrine; Dr. Hook — II. Conditions of Membership : Faith and Baptism — Limitations and Expansion of the Church — III. The Church Visible— Mr. Gore's Theory — Is "Grace through Social Sacraments?" — A Return to Judaistic Principles — Apostolical Succession in Doc- trine more than in External Order : Paul's Apostleship — The Didache, Epistles of Clement and Barnabas — Christian Unity Hindered by the Claims of the His- toric Episcopate 388 CHAPTER I. JNTR ODUCTORY " In antiquis est sapientia, et in multo tempore prudentia." l ' 1 'HE stream is purest at its source, where its supplies come fresh from the clouds, or from rock-hewn channels untouched by the pestilence of decay. Thenceforth it is stained by the colours of many soils, and its maturest breadth and depth are plethoric with defilement. The primitive settler found the stream pure and attractive, but the citizen of to-day must build reservoirs among the hills if he would obtain the sincere element — free from the poisons of civilisation — and there, in immemorial valleys, he yet finds it flowing sweet and fresh with the dews of creation. The history of the Church does not contravene such a law of nature as this. Its primal condition was the freest from corruption. The Jerusalem of the first Pentecost was not as sinless as paradise, yet it was the Eden of the Church ; the first Chris- tians were not unfallen, but they were "all filled, 1 Job xii. 12. 2 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. with the Spirit." Their " Unity " is the ideal which the Church has never ceased to cherish ; the purity of their faith and life is her standard of perfection to the end of the ages. It was once held as a pious belief that what was called " The Holy Catholic Church " retained these " notes " of apostolicity. Incredible as it may seem to candid reflection, in some sections of the Church that claim is yet made without any reserve. The corruptions of the Papacy and the priesthood and the Church do not abate the pretensions of the Romanist. 1 The Eastern Church, notwithstanding abounding ignorance and supersti- tion, has no doubt of its right to the title " Holy and Orthodox." The Reformation was but a response to a demand, which had long been taking form, that doctrine and 1 The " Church " is said to be holy because of its connection with Christ ; that assumes that an " outward and visible " institution is organically related to the unseen Saviour. Such writers as Mohler criticise the Protestant doctrine of " imputed righteousness," because of its antinomian consequences, but they condone the doctrine under its " Catholic " form. See M order's Symbolik, s. 304, 338, etc. " The Church is called holy, because it is consecrated to God, although it contains many sinners ; and because it is joined as a body with a holy head, Christ the Lord, the fountain of all holiness, from whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the riches of the Divine good- ness are diffused ; and because it has the legitimate worship of sacrifice and the saving use of sacraments." — Cat. Rom. 10, 15. INTRODUCTORY. discipline in the Church should be adjusted to primitive standards. Wickliffe, by his translation of Scripture ; John Huss and others, by their appeal to antiquity, had given some articulate expression to this cry which was coming from the heart of the people. It was the mission of Luther, Calvin, and their friends to give full voice to the challenge which the Church ever since has been stretching all its resources to meet. The ancient Church of Rome had, at the Council of Trent, to redefine its ancient dogmas, and, at subsequent councils, it has an- nounced new dogmas. The divisions of Protest- antism are owing to the incessant renewal of this demand, and also to the inability of church-founders to impress their own ideals on their systems. It seems to be necessary that each age should, in turn make its own pilgrimage to the primitive shrine — to draw inspiration and revival for itself from the first fountains of the faith. The most signal movements in England, since the Reformation, to recover apostolic purity and effi- ciency for the Church, have been that of Wesley in the eighteenth, and that of the Anglican party in the nineteenth century. We do not overlook the Puritan development in the seventeenth century, but that was, really, a continuation of the work of the Reformers of the century previous. For theology, 4 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. and church - government the latter were largely indebted to Luther and Calvin and Knox. But Wesley initiated an independent effort to restore the saving faith and devout methods of the early Church. 1 His acquaintance with ecclesiastical litera- ture was, for his day, fairly critical ; he carefully noted. the practice of the primitive Church; but he did not regard the " Fathers " as infallible, or as inspired exponents of the Gospel, nor did he consider any post-apostolic usage to be absolutely binding. But the Anglican movement has disclosed a very different tendency. It has assumed that Ignatius and Chrysostom, Cyprian and Augustine had Divine authority and infallible guidance in their extension of apostolic ideas. The ordinances of early bishops stand on the same footing as the appointments of Peter and Paul. The cultus of the " one, undivided 1 See Dr. Rigg's essay on the " High-Churchmanship of John Wesley." Mr. Urlin ("J. Wesley's place in Church His- tory") thinks that Wesley regarded Cyprian as a "favourite authority." The following extract from a letter to a friend will show Wesley's final position : " How is it that I assemble Christians who are none of my charge to sing, pray, and hear the Scriptures expounded ? You think it hard to justify this in other men's parishes on Catholic principles. . . . They weigh nothing with me. I allow no other rule, whether of faith or practice, but the Holy Scriptures." We need not add that this used to be the rule of the English Church. INTRODUCTORY. Church " of the fourth century is considered to be as necessary to a full Christianity as the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, or any decree of the Twelve. The warrants of grace are descent by episcopal succession, on which Ignatius and Cyprian insisted, and by indubitable sacramental signs which have never changed. 1 When possible, doctrine may be supported from Scripture ; but where Scripture is silent, tradition gives adequate authority. Indeed, since the " Apostolate " alone has " the Spirit," it alone can expound the sacred oracles. We need scarcely say that these are, exactly, the principles of the Church of Rome ; yet the Anglicans contend with Rome because it has added to the patristic faith and worship. But the Romanist trium- phantly asks : What authority decided that the development of creed and cultus should be limited to the first five centuries ? On the other hand the Evangelical or Nonconformist is ready with his demand for the authority of any doctrine or practice 1 The "Apostolical Succession" is supposed to transmit "the Spirit" in the churches. See Gore: "The Church and the Ministry," ch. ii. " The gift of the Spirit is the unifying- prin- ciple, but the gift of the Spirit is by the laying on of apostolic hands, and therefore can exist in its covenanted fulness only where the apostolic organisation exists." (Gore : " Review of Hatch's Bampt. Lect.," 1S82.) 6 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. which is not based on the direct teaching of Christ and the apostles. Various circumstances have favoured the " Catholic Revival " in our century. Though Protestantism, in Puritan and Methodist forms, powerfully moved the masses of the nation, it did so at the expense of church order. Furthermore, its leaven scarcely reached the wealthier and educated classes, who, with a few honourable exceptions, were content with the observance of traditional forms, or were in- different, or politely infidel. The rude enthusiasm of the revivalist and his flock shocked the sensibili- ties of the genteel. 1 Since earnest but unpolished teachers were acquiring religious influence over the population, there was a danger, as many thought, that the type of Christian excellence would be degraded. They were afraid that the reception of multitudes into the Christian fold might endanger the State itself, by giving unheard-of credit to the democracy. Moreover, the growth of large religious communities outside the national Church seemed to involve its endowments, if not its existence. In time the Nonconformists might demand admission to the Universities, and to offices of the State ! The 1 See J. Foster's " Aversion of Men of Taste to Evangelical Religion."' INTRODUCTORY. Universities, naturally, had never sympathised with the new Puritanism. Wesley and Whitfield never visited Cambridge, and at Oxford were a reproach. College Masters and Tutors were in the orders of the Church, and no Nonconformist could obtain tuition or a degree. The wealth avid prestige of these powerful institutions were wholly devoted to the con- servation of the English Church and to the advance- ment of its members. There had always been a High- church party which cherished its own traditions and aims. Its leaders had, on the one hand, a controversy with Rome, but, on the other, they resolutely with- stood the Nonconformist. Their monopoly of learning and leisure and libraries gave them exceptional advantages in historical investigation and controversy. A succession of divines — Hooker, Usher, Hammond, Beveridge, and Bingham had laboured with untiring zeal to demonstrate the exact apostolicity of the English Church. But in the first thirty years of this century times had changed. It became evident to the friends of Anglicanism that some new exhibition of its claims must be given or the flood would come and carry them all away. It is not necessary to rehearse the story of the " Oxford movement." This is done in the writings of Froude, Palmer, Newman, Mozley, Burgon, Rigg, and many others. The development of this " Plan of 8 THE FAITH AXD LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Campaign " has had a splendid success — not un- attended by reverses, which chasten the elevation of its admirers, nor without the revelation of perils which daunt any but the enthusiastic. It has raised the national conceptions of the solemnities of public worship ; it has enhanced the ideal of pastoral dili- gence, and it has removed a national scandal by the multiplication of places for public worship. It has restored the ancient fabrics, revived a moribund liturgy, encouraged architecture and music, and has carried its contagious passion for the beautiful into circles once exclusively puritanical. But it has also led thousands of the clergy and laity to the feet of the Pope ; it has trained thousands more into the reception of doctrines which the Reformed Church renounced, and into the observance of customs which it condemned as superstitious if not idolatrous. By large numbers of both clergy and people the very name of " Protestant " is cast off. It is no breach of charity to say that the prevalent doctrine in the English Church to-day is that Christianity is identical with episcopalianism, and that salvation is not obtained by " faith alone," but by submission to the Church and its sacraments. The old evangelicalism is surrendered to the " sects," who, by the end of this century, will perhaps be the sole representatives of the doctrines of the Reformers. INTRODUCTORY. It will be the privilege of the church historian of the future to trace all the causes and conditions which have contributed to the rapid advance of this develop- ment of church doctrine : it may not be difficult to show that the course of events was inevitable. For it was necessary if the exaltation of the episcopalian church was to be maintained, that it should carefully differentiate itself from churches of modern growth. Evangelical enterprise in Madagascar, Fiji, and the West Indies, had by magnificent achievements eclipsed the missionary fame of the national Church ; and at home its religious influence was being sur- passed by the zeal of dissenters. The latter professed allegiance to all scriptural and catholic doctrine, but declined to admit the exclusive apostolicity of the " threefold " ministry, or the exclusive virtue of its sacraments. It was at this point that superiority for the national Church could be most conveniently claimed. The dissenter might have scripture and primitive simplicity on his side, but, at any rate, he had not the " succession." To this point, therefore, studies were directed. The writers of the third and fourth centuries who originally unfolded the doctrines of priesthood and church-rights were diligently exam- ined and carefully republished. " Tradition " must be the exponent of Scripture : quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus was claimed as warrant for io THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. such theological, liturgical, and ecclesiastical forms as had the unquestionable merit of being rejected by Nonconformists, yet were free from the corruptions of Romanism. 1 A test of orthodoxy so imposing yet so simple could be appropriated and applied by the lowliest incumbent as readily as by the loftiest dignitary. But modern criticism has not raised the value of the " Fathers " of the third and fourth centuries as expositors of Scripture, as the inheritors of a pure Christian tradition, or as the unbiassed witnesses of a simple faith. The " unanimous consent of the Fathers " can scarcely be claimed for a single dogma. Who would accept the ecclesiastical principles of Tertullian or the entire theology of Augustine ? Few of the church teachers of those times could read the Old Testament in the original. 3 Jerome and Hilary recovered from Scripture the true doctrine respecting the identity of presbyters with bishops which Irenseus and Cyprian seem never to have known. 3 The 1 Hilgenfeld has observed ("ZumUrsprunge des Episkopats" : Zeitsch.fiir Wiss. Theol.,\. 1886) that " only Anglican Protes- tantism has asserted the catholic precedence of bishops as apostolic." Jerome, Hilary, Chrysostom denied it. 2 Bp. Ellicott's article on " Hebrew Learning " in the " Diet, of Ch. Biog." 3 Lightfoot : " Philipp.," p. 97. Wordsworth : " Theoph. An- glic," p. 94, tries to show that Jerome did not hold this view. INTRODUCTORY. " Apostolical Constitutions" cannot now be adduced, except with careful apologies, as an authority for church law ; the " Apostolical Canons " are losing prestige ; and the " Clementines " are below zero. Criticism which, to the discredit of English learn- ing, has been carried on chiefly in Germany, has shown that the patristic opinions of the Nicene and Ante-Nicene periods is not an unalloyed store of apostolic wealth. It has, more especially, shown that between the apostolic and patristic periods there is " a dark interval," and that the relation of apostolic doctrine and practice to those of a later age is not so easily traced as it was once supposed to be. It is now known that between the Christianity of the first centuries, and that of the third and fourth there are dark periods which no testimony illumines, and also contrasts and aberrations which no ingenuity can explain. 1 The Romanist and the Romaniser have now to supplement their ancient motto quod semper y with the addition qnod decretum est. But if criticism has been so successful in under- mining the positions on which so many pious legends 1 " The evidence is not only imperfect, but also insufficient in relation to the effects. . . . Writers of the stamp of Justin and Irenaeus are wholly inadequate to account for either the conversion of the educated world to Christianity or for the forms which Christianity assumed." (Hatch : " Hibbert Lectures," p. 9.) 12 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. were founded, it may be asked whether it has dis- turbed the original bases of the Christian faith? If it has thrown discredit on the longer Ignatius and the decretals of Isidore, has it left intact the Gospel of Matthew and the pastoral epistles ? The rationalist assumes that every composition which professes to relate the miraculous is fictitious. The believer in infallibility so far agrees with him as to declare that " there is nothing between the Pope and Atheism." It is the object of this treatise to examine, once more, the facts and elements of the apostolic history and of its sequel, in order to discover their true significance for the Church of our own day. Few could pretend to engage in such an investigation without some pre- judice ; yet a fresh exploration of matters, which are of the highest moment for every section of professing Christians may have its interest ; it may, if by acci- dent, elucidate some obscure or neglected features of the subject ; and it may, therefore, serve the cause of the highest truth. It needs but an average sense of responsibility to suggest that personal prepossessions should be watched, and that a fair account of the subjects as they arise should be presented. CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. " Les Acts des Apotres sont le document le plus important pour l'histoire que nous avons a raconter." l nrO assume the authenticity of the " Acts of the -*■ Apostles," and to affirm that its author was he who wrote the Third Gospel, is no longer considered uncritical. 2 As the only " lamp shining in a dark place," its value to all explorers of original Christi- 1 Renan : " Les Apotres," xi. 2 On the critical history, see Weiss : " Introduction to New Testament," ii. 326-355. Schwegler : " Nacb. Zeit.," i. 90, said : " The first part proves itself on close inquiry to be a Tendenz- schrift of such a free composition and of such inferior historical trustworthiness that we must at once lay it aside " ; yet he and his allies had to use the history. A tripartite division, answer- ing to Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, has been observed since Hug (Zeller). Though the parallelism between the discourses and achievements of Peter and Paul has been made much of by critics, they have not agreed upon its explanation. Luke and Acts have, with minor differences, the same vocabulary ; and the " we" portions are now admitted by Baur, Zeller, Overbeck, Hilgenfeld, Holzmann, etc., to have been supplied by Luke him- self : see Holzmann : " Einleitung in das Neue Test.," pp. 402- 420 ; Salmon : " Introduction to New Testament," pp. 306-407. 14 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. anity is immeasurable. Without it we should have known scarcely anything of the apostolic Church : yet on some points its communications are very limited. The imperfection of its data must leave us sometimes in doubt, but we must not hastily pro- nounce apparent contradictions to be irreconcilable discrepancies. Like the " Gospels " the " Acts " was adapted to the requirements of its own generation, and omits many things which the later ages of the Church would have gladly known. For instance, Matthew and John refer to the sojourn of the disciples in Galilee between the resurrection and the Pentecost. 1 Mark and Luke, on the contrary, assume that they remained in Jerusalem. 2 Three of the Gospels appear to indicate that the gospel began to be preached immediately after the Resurrection, or, at least, after the Ascension ; whereas, Luke in the Acts relates that the apparitions continued forty days, and that the descent of the Spirit occurred ten days later still. 3 These are but a few instances out 1 Matt, xxviii. 16 ; John xxi. n. 2 Mark xvi. 19, 20 ; Luke xxi v. 49, " Tarry ye in the city until ye be endued with power from on high." 3 Meyer (Luke xxii. 49) supposes that Luke followed a two- fold tradition : one in the Gospel, another in the Acts ; but this is not much better than " the efforts of harmonisers," which Meyer deprecates. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 15 of several difficult places in the evangelical history where the imperfection of our knowledge prevents a satisfactory explanation. However, it seems clear that at the first Pentecost after the Resurrection of our Lord the greater part of the Galilean band of the disciples were in Jeru- salem. " There was a multitude of names — about a hundred and twenty." l Among them were the fisher- men of Galilee, Matthew the publican of Capernaum ; also, the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brethren. 2 The latter were now believers in the Messiahship of Jesus for the Lord had " appeared to James." 3 At this early period it was Peter who assumed the leading part in the testimony of the resurrection, and in the counsels of the disciples. Already they had begun to interpret prophecy as a programme of the history of the kingdom of God. The sin and fall of Judas had been predicted in the " Psalms," and the duty of the Church to fill up his " bishopric " was also plainly set forth. 4 Accordingly, from the small circle 1 Acts i. 15. 2 Acts i. 13. Cf. Acts xvi. 13, where women attended the proseuchse. 3 1 Cor. xv. 7. "Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles." It may be inferred that "apostles" here means others besides the twelve, as Acts xiv. 4, 14 ; 1 Thess. ii. 17, etc. 4 Acts i. 20, tt]v emo-KOTT-qv : R.V. office. Syriac : Theshmes- 16 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. of those who had actually known the Lord as " He came in and went out," was Matthias chosen to be a witness of His life and resurrection. 1 The new apostle was selected by the " lot " from two names which had been approved by the " brethren." The terms de- noting office had then received no technical signifi- cance, and the position to which Matthias had been promoted is called "a diaconate and apostleship," or " overseership." The threefold division into bishop, priest, and deacon does not date from the day of Pentecost. Why the number twelve had to be main- tained cannot be stated, unless that it was the number of the tribes of Israel. 2 As yet the Church included only native Jews, and, so far as is known or probable, no proselyte had part or lot in it. But a great crisis was at hand. The ten days after the Ascension were not so hopeless as the day before the Resurrection. Though the disciples did not know what the consummation might be, there was expecta- tha=ministerium. R.V. has in i Tim. iii. I, "ofece of a bishop," in Luke xix. 44; 1 Pet. ii. 12, v. 6, " visitation," for this word. Cf. Hips Num. iv. 16 ; Clem. Rom., 50. 1 Jesus had lived in Peter's house at Capernaum, Matt. xvii. 24 ; Mark i. 29. 2 Cf. Rev. xxi. 12 with xxi. 14. "Therefore He chose us twelve whom He named apostles, and afterwards other most approved disciples seventy-two, that He might recognise the pattern of Moses :" Clem. Recog., i. 40. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 17 tion and hope in their prayer. Nor did they wait in vain, for on the day of Pentecost the heavenly power came upon them. They were "all filled with the Holy Spirit." l " There appeared unto them tongues parting asunder like as of fire," and they " began to speak with other tongues." 2 Much has been written on the precise character and significance of these external signs of the first great spiritual manifestation in the Christian Church. At present we wish to look at the results of this eventful day. A feast like the Pentecost would bring a host of Jewish devotees from various parts of the world to Jerusalem. 3 Some would have come at the Passover and yet remained ; others would come especially for the joyful " feast of the firstfruits." 4 Some had come from Parthia, Media, Persia, and Mesopotamia in the 1 Jerome reports (" Epit. Paulas ") that when Paula came to Sion they showed her the place where the Holy Spirit had fallen on the 120 believers. Some advocates of the "Apostolical Succession " say that though all believers received the Spirit, only the apostles could impart it. 2 Acts ii. 4. 3 The day of Pentecost did not always occur on Sunday, but did so that year. Already the "first day of the week" was notable for Christians : Ewald : "Hist, of Israel," vii. 90; Smith's " Bib. Diet.," ii. 786. 4 Joseph., "Ant.," xvii. 10, 2 ; "Wars," ii. 3, 1, mentions an occasion when, through a political excitement, there were "man/ tens of thousands" gathered at the Pentecost. iS THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. East; others from Northern Egypt or from Southern Asia ; while distant Rome and islands of the Medi- terranean such as Crete were also represented. For five centuries Israel had been scattering itself over the Greek and Roman world ; but like the dove of the deluge, it found no rest until it returned to the ark from which it went out. The scattered Jews could not yield their spiritual monotheism for the carnal polytheism of the nations. On the contrary, a few Gentiles in many lands had been drawn to the wor- ship of Jehovah. The multitude, now gathered in or near the temple, heard somehow the strange "sound" that had shaken the synagogue of the Galileans. 1 When they thronged into the place of the meeting, they were met by another phenomenon : every man- heard God praised in the language of his own nation, but by men who were reputed to be all Galileans. All wondered, and some mocked, at the marvels they could not explain. To relieve the tension of the moment, Peter — facile princeps in speech or act among the disciples — arose to explain. They had not been idle since the departure of their Master, and the Scriptures had been diligently searched. He had directed them to the sacred oracles, and, " beginning 1 The " upper room " of the Galileans would probably be re- garded as their place of synagogue, and be fully allowed. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 19 from Moses and all the prophets," had shown how "that which concerneth " Him "hath fulfilment." 1 The Galilean disciples seem to have been more familiar with the Greek version of the Old Testament than with the Hebrew. 3 That version, in whole or in part, had been widely used in both Jewish and Gentile circles during the two centuries B.C. Like the star in the east, it had attracted many wise men to Judaea, and, under its guidance, proselytes of many nations were forsaking idols and turning their faces Zion- wards. The mysteries of the Jewish religion, which had been concealed under a dead language and re- pulsive customs, seemed to be opened to the world when Moses and the prophets were translated into Greek. But this translation had given a new com- plexion to many of the promises of the Old Testa- ment. The enlarged meaning thereby given to many terms prepared them to pass easily into Christian formulas. " Sin " and " salvation " acquired a signifi- cance which no heathen writer had ever infused into them : holiness in God and penitent humbleness in man became the correlatives of a moral excellence transcending all the ethical conceptions of Gentile 1 Luke xxii. 37, xxiv. 27. 2 Mr. Thomson (" Books which Influenced our Lord," 1891, p. 5) supposes that our Lord would learn Hebrew in the synagogue school. Aramaic and Greek were both spoken in the country. 20 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. philosophy. One result of the encouragement ap- parently afforded by the language of the Alexandrian version to the new doctrines was that, after being praised by Philo and Josephus, the LXX. was finally abjured by the Jews. They declared it to have been " corrupted by the Christians " ; they banished it from their synagogues and adopted in its stead the transla- tions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. 1 From this version of the ancient Scripture — familiar to his hearers who had all come from Greek-speaking communities through the world — Peter began to quote the prophet Joel. That prophet had predicted a diffusion of the Spirit of God more wide than their fathers had known. Not only should aged prophets or men specially called and gifted speak for God, but men and women of every age and calling. Already Peter seemed to detect in the prophet's words some instinctive apprehension of the wider destiny of the gospel when he repeats the saying : " And it shall be that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." He proceeds to show that David also had spoken of these times of the Messiah. The history of the great King of Israel offered no fulfilment of the pre- 1 Buhl : " Kanon und Texte des Alten Testaments," p. 119 ; Gratz : " Gesch. d. Jud.." iv. 113. THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. dictions in the sixteenth Psalm : they could have no fulfilment except in the resurrection of the Messiah of which he and his brethren were witnesses. Nay, were not these pious spectators and hearers them- selves, who had been brought there with such singular opportuneness, witnesses of His exaltation, since " He hath poured forth this which ye now see and hear." They had that ocular and auricular demonstration that God had " made Him both Lord and Christ." Yet He had been crucified ! Though so plainly de- scribed by the prophets, their rulers had rejected Him : from God He had received the highest honour, from man the lowest infamy. This was the point of the apostle's appeal which pierced the souls of his hearers as had the spear of the Roman soldier the side of the crucified; they were "pricked in their hearts." l In after days the doctrine of Christ crucified became a scandal to the Jew, and St. Paul was permitted almost alone to glory in it, but on this memorable occasion it was, in Peter's hands, the " power of God." About three thousand on that eventful day were brought to repentance and faith, and entered the Church by baptism. They believed in " the name of Jesus Messiah." No theological formulas had yet 1 The Rev. Vers, properly places "whom ye crucified" at the end of the verse : aculeus in fine : Bengel. 22 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. been framed ; no doctrinal confession, beyond the acknowledgment that Jesus the Nazarene, who had been crucified, raised from the dead, and exalted into heaven, was the Christ of God. As we shall see, this confession contained potentially all that was subse- quently unfolded by Paul and John. 1 This sudden and extensive addition to the Church would, doubtless, present enormous difficulties to regular administration and discipline. It was only " in the temple," perhaps, that the entire community could assemble ; but this they did " with one accord." Afterwards, when many of these first converts had left Jerusalem, " all that believed were together, and had all things common " (Acts ii. 44), and others were added daily. Of the " fellowship " of the primitive Church we shall speak in another place, and now only remark that the principal demonstration of their aggregate unity was in the temple service or near Solomon's porch. 2 They had to " begin at Jerusa- lem," and to show that faith in Jesus was the hope of 1 See chap. xiv. 2 Acts iii. 11, v. 13. Wordsworth (Acts ii. 3) evidently has not understood the relation of the Church in Jerusalem to Judaism when he says, " It is not probable that any spiritual dispensation, such as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, would be connected with the temple at Jerusalem." Yet on Acts ii. 46 he can find in the daily attendance at the temple by the Chris- tians "a warning against the sin of schism." THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 23 Israel. But there is no positive evidence that any of the " twelve " ever renounced the observance of Jewish rites. We are told how " Peter and John " went " up into the temple at the hour of prayer." ' When the apostles were liberated from the prison into which the priests had cast them, they were instructed to " stand and speak in the temple all the words of this life." 2 When again brought before the Sanhedrim, they did not cease to teach in the temple that Jesus was the Christ. 3 Their witness was not fruitless even among the sacerdotal class, for " a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." 4 After the death of Stephen, however, the apostles were not allowed to preach in the temple or its precincts. The sect was multiplying too fast to be ignored. Moreover, it was a positive charge against Stephen that he had openly predicted the overthrow of the " holy place." Notwithstanding these suspicions — not always slumbering — the believers continued to attend the temple services, and, as opportunity offered to fulfil the Levitical observances. So pronounced was the devotion to the customs of the fathers that Peter had to make an elaborate defence of his con- 1 Acts iii. 1. * Acts v. 20. 3 Acts v. 4- • € iayye\i£6fievoi tov xP<-TaX rov vojjlov i)TTap)(ovcnv. 2 " Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfilment of the day of the purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them." On the legalism of James, see Eus., " Eccl. Hist.," \l 23- THE CHCRCH OF JERUSALEM. 25 of James, his kinsman Simeon was elected bishop, and the twelve following bishops were all of the circumcision. The Church at Jerusalem, therefore, never lost its unity ; but that unity, outwardly and formally, was Judaic. They who refer to it as the type and warrant of uniformity in the Church should first consider what its principle of unity was. If that unity was sound, then St. Paul and the catholic Church of the next century became heretical and schismatical. If it was not sound, then no uniformity in government or ritual is absolutely authoritative in the Church of Christ. CHAPTER III. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. " Whosoever would become great among you shall be your deacon." — Mark x. 43. F T is allowed by all that the twelve apostles held ■*■ a position of supreme dignity and authority in the primitive Church. The testimony of the evan- gelists respecting the calling and designation of the twelve prepares us for the prominence they assumed at the formation of the Church. 1 The " Acts " show that the " twelve " were the centre of the hundred and twenty disciples who held the faith in the risen Jesus. 2 From a smaller section, consisting of those who had followed the Master from the beginning of His course to its end, Matthias was selected to fill the place of Judas. At Pentecost and afterwards the enlarging Church " continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship." 3 In the new 1 See Matt. x. 2-42, xxviii. 16; Mark i. 16, iii. 13-19, vi. 7-13, xiv. 17-42, xvi. 9-20; Luke vi. 12-17, ix. 1-6, xxii. 14-38, 47, xxiv. 33S3 ; John i. 40-51, xni - l ~ Il > xx - r 9- 2 9- 2 Acts i. 12-14. 3 Acts ii. 42. 26 THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 27 community a general distribution of property was established, but " the prices of those things that were sold " were " laid at the apostles' feet " ; and the apostles administered the " distribution " " as any one had need." x It was they who pronounced the fatal sentence on Ananias and Sapphira, who had introduced a spirit of untruth into the holy fellow- ship. 2 By their hands " many signs and wonders " were wrought among the people. 3 Their prominence exposed them to persecution. The high priest placed some of them in prison. 4 At a later time James, the son of Zebedee, was executed, and, because it pleased the Jews to have the leading Christians degraded, Herod sought to take Peter also. 5 When the Samari- tans had, through the evangelistic zeal of Philip, received the gospel, the apostles sent Peter and John, who " prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost." 6 1 Acts iv. 35. a Acts v. 3. 3 Acts v. 12. 4 Acts iv. 3, v. 19. 5 Acts xii. 1, 2. 6 Acts viii. 14, etc. Wordsworth and others infer from this incident that Philip the evangelist could not "confer the Holy Spirit." This was the prerogative of the apostles, and the same benefit is now administered by bishops in " Confirmation." But Wordsworth does not notice the fact that in Acts ix. 17 Ananias of Damascus, who is only called "a certain disciple" — tis /j.a6j]Trjs, "laid his hands upon" the penitent Saul. He 2S THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Even St. Paul fully recognised the position and authority of the " Twelve." In the Epistle to the Galatians he tells us that at first he did not think it needful to go to those who " were apostles before " him ; but he did subsequently visit [interview. avrfkOov — laroprjcrat,] Cephas. 1 Again he went to Jerusalem, and there met James, and Cephas, and John, who " were reputed to be pillars." 2 The writer of the Apocalypse commends the Church at Ephesus be- cause it had tried " them who called themselves apostles and are not." 3 The same book tells us that the " twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb " are inscribed on the foundations of the new Jerusalem. 4 The universal tradition of the Church, into whatsoever exaggerations it may have fallen, or however false many of its deductions from the fact may have been, bears overwhelming testimony to the pre-eminent elevation and all-commanding influence which the apostles held in the primitive Church. 5 also added, " The Lord hath sent Me that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit." No wonder that later tradition should make Ananias "bishop of Damascus." Lightfoot (" Coloss.," p. 45) says that " to convey the gifts of the Spirit required the presence of an apostle." 1 Gal. i. 17, ii. 14. 2 Gal. ii. 9. 3 Rev. ii. 2. 4 Rev. xxi. 12. 5 Cf. also 1 Cor. xii. 28, and Eph. iv. 11. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 29 It is because the consent of all parties is ungrudg- ingly given to this fact that it is the more needful to inquire what the position of the apostles really was. If they possessed the authority to impose dogmas on the understandings and consciences of men ; if they held any royal jurisdiction over in- dividuals and Churches ; if they alone could dispense the Holy Spirit, it is possible that these rights and powers, in some degree at least, might be communi- cated to their successors. But if they had not these immunities and prerogatives, they could not transmit them. It will be seen then that our conception of the Church and its rulers will depend upon our esti- mate of the apostles: and what do we find ? The references to the evangelists already given fur- nish evidence of the honour yielded to the "twelve ' M But we find there, also, that during our Lord's life there were " contentions " among them. When they were asking one another " who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven," He said, " Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." 2 When the "ten" heard that the mother of Zebedee's children had 1 Weizsacker : " Das Apost. Zeitalt. d. Christl. Kirche," pp. 35, 50, etc., assumes that our Gospels were formed to suit the condi- tions of the Church in the days after the apostles. Even if this were so, it would not go against our position. 2 Matt, xviii. 3. 30 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. asked for the chief places, " they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto Him, and said : " Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Not so shall it be among you : but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister (lit, deacon), and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant." 1 What kind of obedience could these men be accustomed to demand from their followers, when they gave into their hands these sayings of their great Master? If Peter, supposed to have been the " first of the apostles," had always maintained that position, it would be difficult to understand how James became so important in the administration of the Church. The latter was not one of the twelve, and probably owed his position to his relationship to our Lord. At the first council, he, the first of the presbyters, gave the "judgment" of the Church, and wrote the letter containing the decrees which he had announced. 2 1 Matt. xx. 24. 2 x a ' l P flv i Acts xv. 23, may be only a coincidence with James i. 1. The word "decree" was very harmless at first, to. boyjxara, Acts xvi. 14, referred to the conclusions of the Council — the things which " seemed good," e$o£ei>. In the Church it had not yet attained the significance it had in political circles ; as Luke ii. I, Soyfia napa Kalaapos. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 31 When Paul made his second visit to Jerusalem, he found James among the " pillars," and from him and Peter and John, who all seemed to stand on the same level, he and Barnabas received " the right hand of fellowship." We might almost assume that James had a higher authority than Peter ; for, before " cer- tain came from James," Peter joined in the Agape (the daily supper and Eucharist) at Antioch, but when they came and criticised his procedure, he be- gan to withdraw himself. 1 So great was the dignity of James, that he was the first to be called the " Bishop of Bishops." This position is assigned to him in the document on which the Romish Church depends for the earliest notice of 1 Gal. ii. 12. There is no direct evidence that Peter ever returned to the mixed Agape. It is fairly certain that James would never take part in it. Such was " apostolic unity." Who were the rwes dno 'laicapov? Schwegler ("Nach. Zeit.,"i. p. 160) says: "Judaistendieganz vom Standpunkt des Urchristenthums und der Jerusalemitischen Urgemeinde aus die Paulinische Heidenpredigt bestritten." Baur, " Kircheng.," i. 52, naturally concurs. But Ritschl, "Entsteh.," p. 128, insists that they were a small group of Jerusalem Christians who were not supported by the " pillars." Lechler, " Apos. Times," 178, infers from ano that they had been sent by James ; as also Meyer, who refers to Matthew xxvi. 47, " a multitude from the high priests " ; Mark v. 33 : " they came from the synagogue-ruler ; " 1 Thess. iii. 6 : '' Timothy came from you." This disposes of Olshausen's objection that if sent by James \mb would have been used. 32 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH; any connection of Peter with the city of Rome. 1 In the apocryphal letter of Peter to James, prefixed to the Clementine " Homilies," James is addressed as " lord and bishop of the holy Church." Clement again addresses him as, " James, the lord and bishop of bishops, who rules Jerusalem the holy Church of the Hebrews, and the Churches everywhere founded by the providence of God." Such a jurisdiction James probably exercised over Jewish-Christians, not only in Palestine but in other countries. There was, after the conversion of Cornelius, no demonstration of Peter's primacy in Jerusalem ; of its exhibition in Rome there is no record, nor any probable indication. Few of the figments which have beguiled the im- agination of historians have been more groundless than this. But it must not be forgotten that, while all the primitive Christians were attached to the Jewish ritual, yet they were not all of one class. National and local distinctions necessarily existed among them. Some were Galileans, like the apostles ; others were of Judaea ; some, though natives of some foreign city, were yet " Hebrews of the Hebrews," like Saul of 1 " This Clementine literature has had a marvellous share in shaping the history of Christianity by inventing the story that Peter was bishop of Rome, and that he named Clement to suc- ceed him in that see." — (Dr. Salmon, " Int. to New Test.," p. 19.) THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 33 Tarsus ; or, like Barnabas the Levite, of Cyprus. Others again were " Hellenists " — a name which in- cluded more than one class. It comprised, in general, all descendants of Jewish families who resided in countries where the Greek language was spoken. In this way Saul was not only a Hebrew, but a Hellenist. But yet again, it was applied to those descendants of Jewish families who had a Greek father or mother, but still retained the Jewish religion and customs. One great element in the connotation of "Hel- lenists," therefore, is their use of the Greek language. The Palestinian Hebrews, it is now generally thought, used the Aramaic as a vernacular in the times of our Lord and the apostles. We can readily understand that the "Hellenists" would become more lax in their Judaism than the "Hebrews." 1 In most of the foreign synagogues some parts of the service would be per- formed in Greek, although " Moses " might be read every Sabbath day in the sacred tongue. The Hellen- ists, again, would be attracted by systems of interpre- tation, like that of Philo, which almost explained away the Law and its ordinances ; and this would bring them into collision with the literalism of the 1 Ewald : "Hist. Isr.," vii. p. 134; Schaff: "Hist, of Ch.," i. p. 87. 34 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. stricter Jews. Gentile proselytes, on the other hand, were known as " devout men," and those that " feared God." 1 They were called "Hellenes," or "Greeks," as the former were called " Hellenists," or " Grecians." Some proselytes of this class, who had advanced so far in Judaism that they had come to worship at Jerusalem, " desired to see Jesus," and had an inter- view with Him. 2 To this class belonged also the converts at Antioch, to whom the " men of Cyprus and Cyrene " preached, whose case had to be settled by the council in Jerusalem." 3 Though the Hellenists in the Church afterwards displayed a tendency to depart from strict Judaism, they were, up to this point in the history, loyal con- formists. Some, like Stephen, might already have come under suspicion of liberal tendencies (Acts v. n). But the increasing Church was comprising more and more of the Hellenists as well as of Hebrews ; and the first sign of agitation was the allegation of some Hellenists that, " their widows 1 Acts x. 2, xiii. 43, xvi. 14, etc. 2 John xii. 20. 3 In xii. 20 Westc. and Hort retain 'eXX^wo-tuj because it is found in B D n L, but Lachm., Tregelles, Tischend., R.V. follow KAD with "HXkrjvas ; as do also Meyer, Alford, Lechler, Farrar, etc. The "Greeks" were neither "Jews " nor "Barbarians," Rom. i. 14, 16 ; Hellenist was antithetical to Hebrew, Acts vi. 1, ix. 29; 2 Cor. xi. 22 ; Phil. iii. 5. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 35 were neglected in the daily administration." 1 The principal Christian service was the lovefeast, or Agape, with which the Eucharist was associated, and which was always held at the close of the day. 2 The "deaconship " (Sta/covla) had been administered up to this time by the apostles, or by " elders " such as James. 3 But the rapid increase of disciples re- quired that they should transfer this department of their work to other hands. In the difficulty the apostles " call the multitude together." The Church was still a brotherhood, though some were " greater than the rest," because they had been " eye-witnesses of" the " majesty " of the Lord, like Peter and John ; or, like Stephen, had special gifts in the exposition of the Word. The Church was not then the hierarchy or clergy by itself, and the lowliest member was not denied access to its councils. The name of believers most generally accepted throughout the apostolic age was "brethren." 4 The democratic constitution of the Church — which was a thoroughly Jewish 1 Acts vi. 1 ; TTapadfaipovvTo, overlooked, not wilfully neglected. 2 See Chap. xiii. 3 Cf. Jas. i. 27 : " Pure religion ... is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." James v. 14 : " Is any among you sick ? let him call for the elders of the Church." 4 Acts i. 15, x. 23, xi. 1, xii. 17, 29, xv. 1, 3, 23, 36 ; 1 Cor. i. 10 ; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; Phil. i. 14 ; Heb. ii. 17 ; 3 John 3. 36 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. characteristic embodied in their synagogues — pre- vailed throughout these first days. When Paul and Barnabas came to the great council (Acts xv. 4), "they were received of the Church and of the apostles and elders." The " Council " consisted of " apostles and elders with the whole Church." When they returned to Antioch to announce results, they " gath- ered the multitude together." 1 On Paul's last visit to Jerusalem, the writer of the Acts says (xxi. 17), " the brethren received us gladly." The fact is that the Master had ordained no exact form of government for the Church. He had com- manded His servants to " preach the gospel," and to " make disciples of all nations " — " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." But amongst the things commanded there were no ordinances of public worship except baptism and the eucharist. He had promised to be with them unto the end of the world, and that they should receive the Holy Spirit to fit them for their mission. 3 It was in the nature of the case that there 1 Acts x. 5, 30. 2 On the occasion mentioned John xx. 20, when He said " Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins ye forgive they are forgiven," etc., the disciples were present as well as the apostles ; Thomas was not present. Cyprian (Ep. 72) and his followers build the doctrine of " apostolical succession " on this passage : THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURClf. 37 should be no ordinances of public worship distinc- tively Christian, for the believers continued to attend the services of the temple and to support its ritual. Had not the Master done the same thing ? Had He not directed His disciples to reverence the " scribes and pharisees " who sat " on Moses's seat," and what- soever they commanded to " do and observe " P 1 Had He not said that not one " jot or tittle of the law should fail " ? Those who were sent out on the first mission were directed not to " enter the way of the Gentiles, nor any city of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 2 The formation of a visible church apart from Judaism was, necessarily, from the standpoint of the primitive Jewish-Christians, a schism. A new society, with synagogues of its own, with a new order of priests, and a graduated hierarchy through which should be " the chief means of communion with " He speaks to the apostles — only they who are set over the Church are allowed to baptise and to give remission of sins." Hilary (Ambrosiaster, 4th cent.), however, says, " When the Church became established everywhere things were arranged in a different way from the first. For, at first, all (Christians) were teachers, and officiated in baptism. ... As the Church grew it was allowed to all believers to preach, to baptize, and to explain the Scriptures in the congregation." 1 Matt, xxiii. 3. 2 Matt. x. 5. 38 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH God," was a conception far below the horizon of the Pentecostal Church. 1 The Church took form by the "logic of facts." The dialectics of nature, which are the instruments of the Divine Logos, evolved this new creation. The accretion of increasing members in the fraternal life and fellowship made it needful that management should be concentrated somewhere. The apostles, and other senior members of the Church, had at- tended to these details for several years, " exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly." But the expansion of the Church had induced friction. To relieve it, the " multitude is called together," and they are requested to select additional officers, 1 " Without the bishop not only the bene esse of the Church is impossible, but the esse " (Canon Liddon). On this point the doctrine of the Anglican and the Roman Catholics is not quite identical. Dr. Probst ("Kirchliche Disciplin," p. 35) says : " That is the origin of heresies and schisms that one does not obey the priests of God — that one person exclusively is not re- garded as priest at the present time in the Church, and as judge in the place of Christ. The inner union with Christ is conditioned through the outer union with the Church and its head, the pope." The Anglican stops short at the last con- dition. The Rev. C. Gore, "The Church and the Ministry," p. 69, accepts the definition of the Roman Catholic M older, " Symbolik," i. 5, 36, which says : " Catholics understand the visible community of believers, founded by Christ, in which by means of an enduring apostleship . . . the works wrought by Him . . . are continued." THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 39 "wherefore, brethren, look ye out from among you seven men." l If the apostolic Church is to be a model for following times, surely it is emphatically so in this part of its method. When occasion arises, the machinery of the Church is to be extended or adapted. Formularies, modes of discipline, official and hierarchical detail, may be set up or laid aside, ordained or remitted as the exigencies of the Church demand. No violation of the genius of apostolic Christianity can be more complete than to insist upon institutions for their own sake, or to reject new appliances which bear the seal of spiritual success. The word " deacon " did not attain its fixed, ecclesiastical meaning during the apostolic age, but retained (even in Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8) its literal meaning, a minister, or attendant. The " seven " are not called " deacons " in the Acts, and they received ordination as "elders." 2 Philip, one of the seven, is 1 Acts vi. 3, ovs Karaa-T^a-ofiev ; the best editors read indie, fut., "whom we will appoint"; not as A. and R.V., "may appoint." 2 Acts vi. 2. AiaKovelu occurs Acts vi. 2. 4, " to serve tables," " the service of the word " ; Mark i. 13 ; Luke x. 40; John xii. 2, " Martha served " ; Acts xix. 22, xii. 25, Paul and Barna- bas "fulfilled the deaconship" ; Acts xx. 24, "the deaconship which I received from the Lord Jesus " ; 2 Cor. i. 4 ; Col. iv. 17 ; 1 Cor. iii. 5, " What is Paul? What is Apollos ? but deacons by 40 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. afterwards called an evangelist. 1 Irenaeus was the whom ye believed ? " If there is a general term for the minis- try in the New Testament, it is deacon. Bishop Wordsworth (" Comm. Acts," p. 20) says that it is a matter for " thankfulness that God has preserved in England a Church which has not disqualified herself for interpreting the Acts of the Apostles," since other "communions have disabled themselves for expounding it." Let us turn, then, to this quasi-infallible authority for the explanation of Tpair£(ais, tables, in Acts vi. 2. These, Bishop Wordsworth says, were not for money-changing, but the tables of the Church, " where the holy Eucharist was administered at the daily repasts." " Bishop Pearson observes that these tables were partly com- mon and partly sacred : hoc est, in communi victu, sacramen- tum eucharistiae celebrant." Yet St. Peter plainly states that "prayer and the ministry of the word" are more important than the "tables." Bishop Wordsworth tells us (p. 117) that " Christ instructs us that the Christian life is began by Him in baptism, and is continually nourished by Him in the sacrament of the Lord's supper." Yet, here, apostles prepare to leave " the Lord's supper " and to give themselves to the more important duties of prayer and preaching ! It may be a sign of the incapacity to which Bishop Wordsworth refers, that we do not seem to learn much from this instance of Anglican exposition. 1 Tradition has strangely confounded Philip the apostle with Philip the evangelist. Eusebius ("H.E.," iii. 30, 31) reports that Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, told Victor of Rome that "Philip, one of the twelve apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis, and his two virgin daughters " ; cf. Augustine (Serm. 266), and Clem. Alex. ("Strom.," iii. 192). But Acts xxi. 7 says that it was Philip the evangelist who had the four daughters. However, Bishop Lightfoot (" Col.," p. 45) locates Philip the apostle, with THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 41 first to say that the " seven " were " deacons " ; but the tradition became so general that many Churches, including Rome, never had more than seven deacons. 1 But in Acts xi. 30 the term "elder" appears for the first time as the name of an officer of the Church. The disciples of Antioch, who were the first to be called " Christians," resolved to relieve the poverty of the Churches in Judea, and they sent their contribu- tion, through Paul and Barnabas, to the " elders " in Jerusalem. 2 But we are not told that " elders " had John, Andrew, etc., in Asia, which became "the headquarters of apostolic authority." But if Philip were only an " evange- list," could he have helped John to found episcopacy ? On the whole matter of apostolic tradition, so called, we may ponder the words of Ritschl : " Die Kirchenvater haben von den Ver- haltnissen der apostolischer Zeit unglaublich wenig gewuszt und das, was sie wissen, wissen sie meist falsch " ("Die Ensteh. d. altk. Kirche," p. 124). 1 Irenaeus, i. 26, etc. Vitringa, Bohmer (Lightfoot says "by a strange perversity "), Ritschl, Lechler, McGiffert (Euseb., new edit.), and others identify the " seven " with the elders ; Neander, Schaff, Lightfoot, and the episcopalian school gene- rally, regard them as the first deacons. Chrysostom, Horn. xiv. in Act. denies the identification. 2 "An office borrowed from the synagogue and established by the apostles in the churches " (Alford, on Acts xiv. 23, who also speaks of their identity with bishops) Acts xx. 28 ; Tit. i. 5, 7; 1 Pet. v. 2. Lightfoot, " Philip.," pp. 93, 157, says, "It is a fact now generally recognised by theologians of all shades of opinion that in the language of the New Testament the same officer of the Church is called indifferently bishop and elder." 42 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. been appointed. It seems strange that the contribu- tions should have been brought to them instead of to the seven who had been elected to " serve the tables." Had the seven left by this time ? or is " elders " only another name for " deacons," as Vitringa and others have supposed ? The " elders," evidently, were of an importance inferior only to the apostles, for, with them, they received the deputation from Antioch, and joined in the letter sent to the Churches (Acts xv. 23). A yet more striking evidence of their position is afforded by the language of St. Paul at Miletus (Acts xx. 28) when he met the elders of Ephesus. He said to them, " Take heed unto your- selves, and to all the flock in which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops." 1 The " elders " have never ceased in the Church. On their first appearance on the scene they hold a position of importance and responsibility. Paul and Barnabas on their earliest mission " appointed elders for them in every Church." 3 When Paul wrote to Wesley was convinced that this was the true theory by reading in 1742 Lord King's book on the primitive Church. Eventually he claimed authority to ordain presbyters and superintendents (superintendentes = eVio-Kon-oi). 1 R.V. follows the Gr. iv &>, and Lat. " in quo," correcting the A.V., which had " over which." 2 Acts xiv. 23. Wordsworth (Comm.) tells us that " Paul and Barnabas had the episcopal dignity and therefore ordained not THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 43 Philippi, he calls the presbyters bishops. 1 St. Peter exhorts the " presbyters " to exercise their episcopacy " willingly and not of constraint." 2 St. John calls himself a presbyter, and condemns Diotrephes, " who loveth to have the pre-eminence." The earliest Christian writings bear similar witness. Clement of Rome (a.d. 95) speaks of two classes of ministers only, and these are bishops {i.e. presbyters) and deacons. The " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," written, perhaps, by the end of the first century, has the direction, " Elect therefore, for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord." The epistles of Ignatius subordinate the office of only deacons but priests " — a statement which violates historic sense and plainly reads the notions of later centuries into the doings of the first. Wordsworth does understand icar' ^kkXtj- a-lav better than Canon Scott (" Speaker's Comm.''), who says there was only one elder in every church. 1 Phil. i. 1. 2 1 Pet. v. 1, 2, a very instructive passage, in which all the terms meet : 7rpeo-/3urepo(, Troip-alvav, emcrKOTrea). The " elder " had to rule, to supervise, to manage finance — " not for filthy lucre." While St Peter calls himself a " fellow-presbyter,'' the people are called "the clergy" — a>s KaraKvpievoures tu>v Kkrjpwv. The younger men, i/eoorfpot, had subordinate duties. R.V. notes that " some authorities omit exercising the oversight" and Westcott and Hort omit, as the word is absent from N and B. But B. is "distinguished by its omissions" (Scrivener, "Int.," p. 116). Dr. Dobbin calls it "an abbreviated text." There would be dogmatic reasons for omitting enio-KonovvTes. 44 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. the presbyter to that of the bishop, but no such sub- ordination was generally established before the end of the second century. This has been felt by many to be a fatal objection to the date which the learned Bishop Lightfoot has attached to them. He himself allows that there are no positive indications of " bishops," as superior to presbyters, in Philippi, or Corinth, or Rome, at the beginning of the second century. In Alexandria the " bishop " was elected by a vote of the presbyters in the third century. That fact indeed suggests the course of events by which one elder gained elevation over the rest. The presbyters would often find it needful to concentrate their authority in one representative, who could speak for the whole Church on special occasions, and act in the more solemn functions. But the "president" was at first the pastor of a congregation, and not the over- seer of a diocese. " To St. Ignatius the chief value of episcopacy lies in this that it constitutes a visible centre of unity in the congregation." x Gradual, yet rapid development first separated the " minister " or " elder " from the ordinary level of church member- ship. It soon began to be imagined that what the 1 Lightfoot : " Philipp.," p. 233. It is often forgotten that the bishops of the first three centuries were the heads of separate congregations and not governors of groups of churches : (Hatch : " Organiz. of Ch," p. 195.) THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHU'RCH. 45 priesthood had been in Judaism that the presbyterate ought to be in Christianity. 1 Then Ignatius found an analogue for the position of the bishop in the relation of Christ to the apostles. In the doctrinal contro- versies which arose in the second century leaders like Irenaeus and Tertullian found it convenient to. make their appeal to those Churches whose bishops could be traced back to apostolic times. Cyprian (a.d. 260) unfolded in all its proportions the analogy between the Levitical orders of the Old Testament and the ministerial orders of the New. He regarded the hierarchy and temple-service of the old covenant as prophetic symbols of the newer institutions. None but the bishop could answer to the high priest : all sacerdotal grace and authority must be derived from him. In the system of Cyprian, says Dr. Lightfoot, " the episcopate is not so much the roof as the foundation stone of the ecclesiastical edifice ; not so much the legitimate development as the primary condition of a church." 2 The effect of this change 1 The germ of this is in Clement. 2 " Philipp.," p. 241. "The writings of Cyprian mark a new stage in the development of ecclesiastical thought and language. In them the phraseology of the Levitical law is transferred to Christian institutions." (VVestcott : "Ep. to Heb.," p. 458.) " Cyprian stands out in Church history as the typical bishop, and with his weighty sentences he impressed on the episcopal theory an abiding form." (Gore: "The Ch. and the Min." p. 169.) 46 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. was to lower the council of presbyters, heretofore co- assessors with the bishop ; there must be one altar and one priesthood. He who was not with the bishop was not in the church. It was a neo-Christianity : but Cyprian and his successors were able to persuade the Church that it was primitive, apostolical, and even " evangelical." The bishop of Rome learned that he could assume the mitre and ephod, and claim authority over all Churches. Cyprianism is still the prevalent form of Christi- anity in both the Eastern and Western Churches ; even in the " Reformed " Church of England, however much we may regret it, its influence has been and is so predominant that the term " Catholic " has been degraded to the level of a sectarian badge. The Bampton Lecture of 1880 by the lamented Dr. Hatch was epoch-making in this discussion on the origin and import of the Christian ministry. He had the merit of being willing to trace the Church and her institutions to lowly beginnings. His portrait of apostolical lineaments is not borrowed from ecclesiastical art but from life and history. All the conventional schools were startled, not to say shocked, at his production. Many have not even yet ceased to be astonished at the temerity which trans- gressed the limits of tradition and dogma, or offended at the meanness which was content to note the THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 47 natural gradation of events. Yet his theory was not so novel as the illustrations and evidences which his remarkable erudition enabled him to supply to it. Hooker admitted with Suidas that the name " bishop " " hath been borrowed from the Grecians, with whom it signifieth one which hath principal charge to guide and oversee others." l Neander inferred from the use of the word in Greek commu- nities, that the title originated in the Gentile churches. 2 Lightfoot finds a parallel to the elevation of the bishop over the presbyter in Athenian muni- cipal institutions. 3 Hatch followed up these his- torical notes by tracing out the development of the Church especially in its work of charity. Social misery, wide-spread indebtedness, servitude and ill- paid labour had made clubs, societies, and guilds indispensable to the helpless multitudes of imperial and consular regions. The Church found at once a thousand doors open for its social beneficence and brotherhood, and a recognised type of social order which it could employ for its own ends. 4 It was not 1 Hooker : " Ecc. Pol.," ii. 72. 2 Neander : " Planting," i. 143. 3 Lightfoot : "Phil.," p. 194. 4 Mommsen published in 1843 his " De Collegio et Sodaliciis Romanorum," which investigated club-life in ancient Rome ; and Henrici (in Zeits. fiir wiss. T/ieo/., 1876) showed the simi- larity between secular and religious societies. 48 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. improbable that the president of its society should take the name already given to the chief officer of such associations. There were ascociations for many purposes in all parts of the empire : trade-guilds, dramatic guilds, burial-societies. 1 Most of them were religious and were placed under a tutelary deity. The Christian ecclesia would be but another " society " added to the myriad already existing. The " bishop " would receive the gifts of the faithful, and, with the aid of his fellow-elders distribute the funds as " every one had need." As the " president " of the commu- nity, he would be the chief director of its worship, the arbiter in discipline, and an authority in doctrine. 2 The president of an ordinary club bore, usually, one of two names. He was called a " manager " or a " bishop." Both names were in use for municipal chairmen and for those who held office in societies. Administration and finance were the chief items of the responsibility entrusted to such officers. Here Harnack and Sanday depart from the view of 1 Hatch : " Organiz.," p. 26. 2 fTTifieXfrijs, 1 Tim. iii. 5 : " If a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care (eTrt/xeXiyo-erai) of the Church of God." Josephus (" Bell Jud.," ii. 8. 2 and 3) says the Essenes had a community of goods ; and the managers (eVi/xeX^Ta/) were chosen by all for the ministration of the possessions of the community. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 49 Neander, Lightfoot, and others who supposed that there was an exact identity between bishop and presbyter. Hatch assumes that both were of one class — the elders, who were called " presbyters " when thought of as an order, and bishops in regard to their duties. " In their general capacity as a governing body they were known by names which were in current use for a governing body ; in their special capacity as administrators of church funds they were known by a name which was in current use for such administrators." 1 What a dispersion of theories ! At this touch of magic the vision of ecclesiastical imagination vanishes. Bishops, instead of deriving their awful credentials direct from heaven, owe their specific title to " current use." They entered the Church that they might do it service like that which was rendered by similar officers in secular associations. But their pretensions rapidly grew beyond these humble limits. In time they grasped the highest honours and claimed to exercise the most solemn functions of the Church. They claimed to be the " successors of the apostles." History shows how the modest elder of a Christian community, hidden away in some 1 Hatch : " Organisation of the Early Christian Churches/' P- 39- 4 50 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. dark corner of the Ghetto became the triple-crowned priest who blesses the people from the balcony of St. Peter's. Hildebrand traces his pedigree to the fisher- man of Bethsaida, and Leo X. commands Raffaelle to emblazon his courts with the effigy of Paul the tent-maker. Harnack endeavours to demonstrate that even in the apostolic Church there was some slight difference between " bishop " and " presbyter." He refers to the fact that in Philippians i. I bishops and deacons are mentioned but not presbyters, though the latter existed in most places and might, probably, be in Philippi. But Jerome refers to this case in order to prove that the bishops and the presbyters were iden- tical (also Lightfoot, etc.). Harnack also remarks that bishops and elders are mentioned apart in the First Epistle to Timothy (iii. I, 13, v. 17-19). His views on the subject are, however, complicated by doubts respecting the date of the Acts and Pastoral Epistles. If these belong to the second century, they cannot be quoted confidently to prove anything about the Church constitution of the first. Harnack also endeavours to show that the presby- ters were especially entrusted with discipline ; they were officers of the Sanhedrim rather than of the synagogue. The bishop, on the contrary, was the presiding elder, who had to do with the offerings, THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 51 with the worship and general administration. The elders and bishops made up the " presbytery " (jyepovaia, senatus). But we know that such a distinction could not exist when Paul said to the " presbyters " of Ephesus : " The Holy Ghost hath made you bishops." i Moreover, in the Epistle to Titus, which stands or falls with those to Timothy, the elder and bishop evidently held the same office (Tit. i. 5, 7). Dr. Sanday approves, in general, of Harnack's conclusions, though he criticises some of them. 2 He thinks that the bishop had not only to do with the secular management of the Church, but had some authority over persons of lower degree. He ventures to assume that " the bishops were chosen to superin- tend deacons," and that Lightfoot and Harnack have explained the " organic connection between bishops and deacons." The first deacons, he supposes, were appointed to assist the apostles. But if bishops were afterwards appointed to superintend deacons, who superintended elders ? Besides, we should thus have four orders : apostles, bishops, elders, and 1 Acts xx. 28. Here we may quote Jerome on Tit. i. 5 : " The bishops knew they were greater than presbyters by custom rather than by a true ordination by the Lord, and that they ought to rule the Church in connection with them." 2 Expositor, Feb., 1887. 52 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. deacons ; and of these the apostles would have no successors ! Further, the theory of Hatch and Harnack that bishops were placed first at the head of the secular affairs of the Church and had no distinct spiritual functions, can scarcely be maintained. St. Paul's address at Miletus to the bishops of Ephesus implies their responsibility for the religious condition of the Church ; and it is said in the Epistle to Titus (i. 9) that the bishop must be able to " exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers." Does it not become clearer that no exact delinea- tion of the several offices of the ministry is laid down in the New Testament ? The seven elected at Jeru- salem were not called " deacons." Acts xi. 20 shows that the " elders " assisted the apostles in the distribu- tion of the gifts from Antioch, although the seven had been already appointed to duties of this kind. The words " deacon " and " deaconise " in the New Testament have a general significance, and are freely used to describe the exercise of any ministry what- soever. As we have already shown, " deaconship " is used even for service rendered by the apostles themselves. 1 1 See Acts i. 17, vi. 4, xi. 29, xii. 25, xx. 24, xxi. 19 ; Rom. xi. 13 ; 1 Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. iv. 1, v. 18 ; Ephes. iii. 7; 2 Tim. iv 5, " fulfil thy deaconship" ; Rom. xii. 4, magistrates." THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 53 Therefore it cannot be successfully contended that " from the Apostles' times there have been three orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." l Bishop Ellicott tells us that in Phil. i. 1, "the title of office, bishop, is perfectly- interchangeable with the title of age, elder!' 2 Bishop Lightfoot states that it is " a fact now generally recognised by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the Church is called indifferently bishop and elder ; ... in every one of the extant comment- aries on the epistles containing the crucial passages, whether Greek or Latin, before the close of the fifth century, this identity is affirmed." 3 These are remarkable admissions. It might be thought that with these concessions the controversy would end. But episcopacy has been too long estab- lished in supreme authority to be relinquished with- out a struggle. The last appeal is to tradition. Tradition says that St. John presided over the Churches in Asia and appointed bishops. The letters of Ignatius, reported to be a disciple of the apostles, 1 Book of Common Prayer ; Ord. of Deacons, pref. 2 Phil. i. 1. 3 " Phil.," p. 93. The Peshito always translates (ttlo-kottos by Kashisha = elder ; in Tit. i. 5, 7, " appoint elders — for the elder must be blameless." 54 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. assert that in the early part of the second century there were " bishops appointed everywhere in the Church." But there is little evidence that St. John presided over all the Churches in Asia in the way supposed. Tertullian and others appear to have obtained their knowledge of his residence there from the references in the Apocalypse. On such a question, Bishop Lightfoot himself allows that the testimony of Ire- naeus is of little value. He says, that " towards the close of the second century the original application of the term bishop seems to have passed out of use, if not out of memory. So perhaps we may account for the explanation which Irenaeus gives of the inci- dent at Miletus (Acts xx. 28) : ' Having called together the bishops and presbytei's who were from Ephesus.' " St. Paul called the presbyters bishops ; but Irenaeus separates them, and makes them to be two different classes ! " But in the fourth century, when the fathers of the Church began to examine the apostolic records with a more critical eye, they at once determined the fact. No one states it more clearly than Jerome." l Considering that Irenaeus is so constantly referred to as the " disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of 1 Lightfoot, " Phil.," p. 96. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 55 John," it is strange that he should not know the true position of a bishop. Tertullian and Cyprian in the third century followed church-tradition rather than the " Acts " and the " Epistles." It was not for a century or more after Cyprian that Hilary and Jerome recovered from the New Testament the truth of the matter. But it was too late to stem the torrent. Because Jerome shows no sign of acquaintance with the Ignatian epistles, and is doubtful about the date "of the martyrdom of Polycarp, Bishop Light- foot pronounces him to be, " though well versed in works of biblical exegesis, . . . extremely ignorant of early Christian literature." x In this judgment upon Jerome the learned Bishop stands alone among historical critics. Canon Fremantle allows that his translation of the Chronicon of Eusebius is uncritical ; but his " knowledge was great and his sympathies large." 2 The correspondence of Jerome with Rufinus and Augustine contains many references to Scripture and church history, and his treatise on " Illustrious Men " shows that he had extensive know- ledge of previous times. Dr. Dollinger also testifies that " every one acquainted with the literature of the primitive Church knows that it is precisely in Jerome 1 Lightfoot : " Ignatius," i. 632. ' " Diet, of Ch. Bi.," iii. 49. 56 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. that we find a more exact knowledge of the more ancient teachers of the Church, and that we are in- debted to him for more about their teaching and writings, than to any other of the Latin fathers." 1 No doubt it is diappointing that a writer of such repute as Jerome says nothing of the epistles of Ignatius, which Bishop Lightfoot so earnestly desired to defend ; but it scarcely seems justice to describe him as " extremely ignorant of early Christian liter- ature." The grounds upon which the apostolic origin of the " third " order are based are very insecure. Bishop Lightfoot pleads " that if the word deacon does not occur [in Acts vi.], yet the corresponding verb and substantive are repeated." 2 It may be questioned whether the use of the " verb and substantive " will bear the inference which he suggests. Such a pas- sage as Luke xxii. 26 : " He that is greater among you, let him become as the younger (6 vedorepo^), and he that is chief as he that doth serve ( 6 iyyovyLevo<; a>? 6 Sca/covcov)," certainly shows that the " deacon " was content to occupy a place of service and subordina- tion ; but then the apostles, in humility, used the term to represent their own work. If a member of the 1 " Hippolyt. and Callist.," p. 80. 2 "Phil.," p. 186. THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 57 Church became by age, or dignity, or ability, eligible to be placed in the rank of " elder," and thus to exer- cise the office of " bishop," or " ruler," he must fulfil his " deaconship " in lowly love. If any or all of these terms attained exact and technical signification in the Church in after times, it surely must be most unscien- tific to read the later meanings into the early use. Clemens Romanus did not fully apprehend St. Paul's teaching of justification by faith, and Justin Martyr does not adequately reproduce St. John's conception of the Logos: why should we expect Irenaeus to be an infallible exponent of the church principles of Paul or Peter, or assume that Cyprian and Basil understood the original relations of bishops and deacons ? " Biblical theology " no longer quotes the whole scripture as one homogeneous treatise, but carefully discriminates the object and scope of each writer. May not Church History renounce its reli- ance on the " Fathers " as if they were the unvarying exponents of apostolic teaching and practice ? Is not the devastation which rationalism has wrought in theology a revenge of reason upon a system which has renounced its guidance ? In conclusion, then, on this point, we may briefly review the history so far as we have been able to trace it : 1. The Church at first consisted of Jews (chiefly 58 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Galileans) only, who had attended the ministry of our Lord, and had been witnesses of His life, death, and resurrection. Soon after His ascension they made Jerusalem their centre. Their assembly would be looked upon as a synagogue or sect of Galileans, or, as they seem to have been called, " Nazarenes." They were punctilious in the observance of the Jewish ritual, and did not display at once any signs of separation from the Jewish Church. 2. They had no officers except the " twelve " who had been specially called out by the Master as His witnesses. These exercised no lordship over their fellow-believers, who were taught to call no man " Master," and had all things common. The apostles received and distributed the contributions of the community. When these responsibilities extended, seven men were chosen, chiefly from the Hellenist section, to assist them. These do not appear to have received any official designation as " deacon," but one of them is afterwards called an " evangelist." Possi- bly these seven, were now, like the original twelve, separated from all secular labour that they might attend to church work. Soon after we find that others called " elders " had been called to assist in the management of the Church's affairs. 3. As the first members of the Church were Jews only, or Hellenists, or proselytes who had been cir- THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 59 cumcised and submitted to the entire Mosaic ritual, there could be " no sacerdotal caste " among them. 1 To take the name or office of " priest " would have placed them in collision with the claims of the sons of Aaron. But the Christians met where possible daily at a common meal, which took in time the name Agape, or Lovefeast. After supper, he who happened to preside passed round bread and wine in memory of the death of the Lord, and prayers and thanksgivings (eu^apiarlai) were joined by all. 2 1 Lightfoot, " Philipp.," 179. 2 ) Paul's mission is recognised ; (c) that Jews are not required to forsake the law ; but not (ft) that Jews could not eat in the Agape with Gentiles. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. Si continue to attend the " synagogue," in order to hear " the law and the prophets " read ; but in the frequent Agapae, where prayer and exhortation were freely exercised, there was " neither Jew nor Greek." 1 They ate and drank together in the name of the Lord Jesus. The least of the seeds had now grown up into a tree ; from the principal stem a strong and separate branch had sprung. 2 The unity was no longer nume- rical or external, but real and internal. In another century it became a serious question whether the old root belonged to the tree at all. At this primitive stage of which we speak the pretensions of the new shoot were mostly in question. " Certain men came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, saying, Except ye be circumcised after the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved." Paul and Barnabas withstood these apostles of legalism, and were commissioned by the Church at Antioch to go 1 Acts ix. 2. Saul visited the synagogue at Damascus to find Christians : cf. Acts xv. 22. It was at Ephesus (Acts xix. 9) where Paul became a Dissenter and separated the disciples. Schwegler ( " Nachap. Zeit.," ii. 89) asserts that the author of the "Acts" " ein apologetische Interesse verfolgt" when he describes Paul as going to the Jewish synagogue first ; so Baur, Zeller, etc. But Paul (Rom. i. 16 ; 1 Cor. i. 24, etc.) had not forsaken his own people by going after Gentiles. 2 Rom. xi. 15-21. 6 8a THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. up to " the apostles and elders about this question." On their arrival at Jerusalem they found that there were within the Church Pharisees who were ready to withstand them. 1 But the spirit of counsel prevailed. Peter ventured to describe the Mosaic ritual as a " yoke . . . which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." He declares the ground of sal- vation to be, not the law of Moses, but " the grace of the Lord Jesus." He claimed to have been selected to open the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles, and his mission amongst them had been sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. If " he made no distinction be- tween us and them," why should the Church con- tinue to institute and formulate distinctions ? 2 The 1 Schaff., "Hist, of Ch." (a.d. ioo), p. 337, suggests that these 077-6 ttjs alpta-. had been Pharisees (Farrar, " St. Paul," p. 542, " nominally Christians "), but this is conjecture. 2 Lechler (" Apost. Times," i. 194 et seq.) carefully deals with the objections to the account, which cannot be wholly reconciled with St. Paul in " Galatians." Peter and James seem to speak on Paul's side, yet the epistle would not suggest this. The " decree" is never mentioned by St. Paul, who expressly says (1 Cor. viii. 8 ; Rom. xiv. 14) that all food is pure to the pure. On the whole matter Bleek, Wieseler, Reuss, Ritschl, and Meyer agree that St. Paul had the chief apostles with him, really, and this Weizsacker admits, but thinks that the Church did not go with them. Gal. ii. 9 shows that Paul's mission to the Gentiles was recognised. Lechler thinks these brethren ajro 'laicaifBov were really sent by him ; Ritschl (" Die Entst. d. a. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 83 Church had now obtained its charter. No national distinctions, no outward service can make a man a Christian or disqualify him for being one. The con- cordat was advocated by James as well as by Peter. Renan thinks the " decree " is a fiction, and that Peter would not have been so timid before those " from James " if the latter had really defended it. 1 But if the account in " Acts " presents some difficulties when compared with that in " Galatians," it also helps us to understand the epistle. It was by the " decree " that Jewish-Christians were authoritatively separated from the Gentile-Christians. The twelve were to go to the former, and Paul to the latter. Peter was therefore formally wrong when he joined the mixed Agape at Antioch, and the Jacobean representatives had that document in their favour. James had recognised that the time had come for the extension of Christianity without a coincident extension of Judaism. He quotes the scripture which declared that when the house of David was restored, the " residue of men may seek after the Lord." Only " necessary things " are required from the Gentile converts. They are to " abstain from the pollution of K.," p. 127) that they were false brethren, such as got in at Galatia, and who required Timothy and Titus to be circumcised. 1 " Les Apotres," Ixxxi. 8 4 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. idols, and from what is strangled, and from blood." 1 Judas, Barsabas, and Silas are sent with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to report the decision of the Council and to deliver the " decree." The position taken by the Pharisaic section is emphatically re- renounced : " to whom we gave no such command- ment." 2 Judas and Silas themselves meet in the Agape with the mixed Antiochene Church, and "ex- horted the brethren and confirmed them." 1 Acts xv. 20. Ritschl, Wieseler, etc., hold that the four pre- cepts were Noachic, but Meyer objects. The latter also does not allow that it was a recognition of proselytes of the gate in addition to the proselytes of righteousness. Aug., " Cont. Manic," xxxii. 13, says : " The two walls of the circumcision and the uncircumcision, although united in the corner-stone, still retained some distinctive peculiarities, and now that the Church has become so entirely Gentile that none who are outwardly Israelites are found in it, no Christian feels bound to abstain, . . . so general is the conviction that ' not whatentereth into the mouth defileth.' " Can. Apost. 63, and Clem. Horn. vii. 4 speak of the prohibitions as still in force. "The Greek Church regards the decree as binding for all time, the Latin Church fol- lowed Paul" (Schaff, "Oldest Church Manual," p. 183). 2 Mr. Findlay says ("Expositor's Bible": Galatians, p. 112), " It drew from the authorities at Jerusalem the admission that circumcision is nothing." Again, p. 132, that " after this the Judaisers did not require circumcision as necessary to salvation, but to perfection." But the evidence scarcely justifies such a limitation. Acts xxi. 21 shows that all continued to be "zealous for the law." In his epistles to the Philippians and the Colos- aians Paul had to contend against the " circumcision." THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 85 The unfortunate difference between Paul and Bar- nabas led to their separation ; but Paul once more departed on a pastoral and evangelistic tour with Silas. This journey became eventful by the pub- lic introduction of the gospel into Europe. Passing over familiar ground, they came to Derbe and Lystra. At the latter place they found Timothy — most likely a convert under Paul's former ministry. His mother was " a Jewess who believed." x His faith had been in Eunice, and again in Lois, his grand- mother. But the father of Timothy was a Greek, and the son had not received the rite of initiation into Judaism. As Paul wished to go in and out among the Jews, he had Timothy circumcised. Then they went on their way delivering " the decrees for to keep." 2 After this we have no more about this por- tentous document. 1 1 Tim. i. 5. 2 Acts xvi. 4. Baur objects to the account in the li Acts " be- cause it says that Timothy was circumcised, whereas Gal. ii. 3. says that it was Titus. There is much difference of opinion about the case of Titus. Bengel, de Wette, Olshausen, Meyer, Alford, Lightfoot, Weizsacker, say he was not : Tertull. (" C. Marc," v. 3.), Riickert, Farrar, Renan, say he was circumcised. There is ambiguity in — " But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised," — with — "and that because of the brethren privily brought in"; though it is said, also, "to whom we gave place in subjection, no, not for an hour." The omission of ols ov8i (Gal. ii. 5) in D has suggested 86 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Their course was directed westward. Passing through Phrygia and Galatia, they came to Troas, a seaport on the y£gean. There the vision which sum- moned the messengers of salvation into the western world was seen. They came by a rapid course to Neapolis and then to Philippi. This Roman colony had not a Jewish population large enough to support a synagogue, but a few women were found at the proseuche on the Sabbath day. Paul and Silas still felt that the gospel must begin with the Jew. The first convert was a Hellenistic female from Thyatira (cref3o/jLev7} tov deov). After her household had been re- ceived into the Church, a heathen woman came under the power of the truth. She, a temple pythoness, had inquired, first from curiosity, what these Jewish ex- orcists professed to be, and had found that they spoke of " salvation." This, she would suppose, was the great formula of their incantation, and she began to use the term in public. It may be that the spiritual sensibility which had made her a medium for sooth- saying, made her also accessible to the new doctrine. When the demon was cast out, she seems to have sub- sided into a calm, undemonstrative confessor of the that Paul might have given way for prudential reasons. It has not been noticed that he and Barnabas were received in the Koipwla, while Titus is not mentioned. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 87 Lord Jesus. The change alarmed her masters, who soon perceived that " the hope of their gain was gone." The arrest and imprisonment of the apostles did not depress them. In the prison-darkness they did not sadly ponder the adverse providence which had brought them into an enemy's country, nor did they reproach themselves with superstition for following the dream at Troas ; they " were praying and singing praises to God." Hebrew psalms, full of language suitable to the oppressed who yet hoped in God, came to their recollection. The " songs of Zion " were indeed "strange" in that Graeco-Roman city. Such words and cadences had not been heard before by the inmates of the dismal keep, which had often echoed to the groans of heathen despair. The prisoners " were listening to them " when the earth- quake came and set them free. Their watchword, " salvation," had became known to the gaoler. He might have read it in the indict- ment or heard it during the trial. In his alarm he becomes a believer in their mystery, and asks, " What must I do to be saved ? " The apostolic reply has now gone out to men in every nation who seek this gift of God : " Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved." l 1 Acts xvi. 31. The Rev. Vers, follows modern editors and S8 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. The writer of the " Acts " evidently continues his apologetic method. Some might question the pro- priety of admitting such " a sinner of the Gentiles " as the gaoler into the Church, but to them the miracles attending his conversion were a sufficient reply. Lydia was already an adherent of the Jewish faith. The female magician was defiled with paganism, but the miracle of exorcism had signalised her conversion. Who can withstand God ? Yet, though the Jews were rejecting the Christ, and the Gentiles were entering the open doors of grace, Paul on his arrival in Thessalonica first visited the synagogue : " as his manner was, he went unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behoved the Christ to suffer."" 1 As we shall see was his method at Corinth, Paul first laid down his general proposition that the promised Messiah should " suffer." Then, in due time came the particular and A, B, ^, Vulg., Copt, and omit x? l. He began now to state openly what his doctrine was. - 1 Cor. ii. 1. 96 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. would be the first to detect it. They would know what he kept back and the reason of his silence. They would never face persecution again if his courage or fidelity failed him now. 1 The result justified the reticence which he had hitherto maintained. Now that the crowning topic of his gospel was disclosed, and the emphatic testi- mony was given " to the Jews that Jesus is Christ," their complacency was at an end : " they opposed themselves and blasphemed." 2 It would be a mistake to suppose that these pious Jews would " blaspheme," in the ordinary sense of that word, or that it means merely to revile, or to use abusive language. Theirs was the "blasphemy against the Son of Man." 3 1 Paul's subsequent reference to these circumstances is very instructive. He says (2 Cor. i. 19), " For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in Him is yea" (R.V.). It may be noticed that the Greek for " was not yea and nay," and for " in Him is yea," is eyevero va\ kcu nv, and eV avrco yt'yovev. This would more properly be rendered " became, not yea and nay," "has become yea in Him." Tlvofiai does not often lose its sense of "becoming" as distinct from "being." It is pos- sible that the apostle in eyevero, yiyovev refers to the change in his method after Silas and Timothy arrived. In verse 18 the documentary evidence is against eyivero, though it would be appropriate. - Acts xviii. 6. 3 Matt. xii. 31, 32 ; cf. Jas. ii. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 20. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 97 They would say " Jesus — Anathema." l Paul himself, even when after the straitest sect of his religion he was living as a Pharisee, was guilty of this sin. 2 He had called Jesus an impostor : he had derided the Holy One. Weizsacker completely misunderstands the narra- tive, and comes to some strange conclusions. 3 His mistake, however, shows that the full significance of the account has not been perceived. He says : — " The narration is beset with other improbabilities. First Paul gained (gewinnt) through his Sabbath addresses Hellenes as well as Jews, whilst afterwards this is said only of Jews to whom he presents the Messianic argument. Then a particular day forms a climax into which is crowded his banishment from the synagogue, his entrance into the house of a proselyte, the conversion of Crispus and the subsequent vision. This is the way in which, in the Gospels, a collection of stories is heaped with the art of a conscious pragmatism on a single day [!] . . . With the mention of the arrival of Silas and Timothy the activity of Paul among the Jews is represented without reference to what had been said before. This preceding ac- count (Acts xviii. 1-14) is an interpolation." But it is not said that Paul had " gained both Jews and Hellenes " before the arrival of his comrades ; it is only said that " he was persuading " {eireidev ; V., suadebat) them. Moreover, the arrival of Silas and 1 1 Cor. xii. 3. 2 1 Tim. i. 13 ; Acts xxvi. II. 3 " Das apostol. Zeit.," p. 268. The Vulg. interponens nomen Domini Jesu in verse 4 (D, which also has eiridcv : Syr. marg.) has little authority, and is clearly a gloss. 7 98 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Timothy connects itself naturally with what goes before (o>? Be). There can be no doubt that we have here a very striking instance of what are called " undesigned coincidences " between the " Acts " and the Epistles. Paul, now compelled to leave the synagogue, "shook out his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads : I am clean ; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." 1 Not far from the synagogue lived one who was a Roman — by name Titus Justus. Paul had been residing with a Jew — Aquila, but he goes now to dwell with a Gen- tile! Stephanas and his family had joined the Church ; and Crispus, who, though only a proselyte, had, by wealth and probity, become the head of the Jewish congregation, joined the " Nazarenes." It is added that " many of the Corinthians were hearing and were baptized." Paul's word was not in word only, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. He was told : " Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, . . . for I have much people in that city." This church, which would con- sist largely of Jews, speedily became the most numerous after that in Jerusalem. The national varieties in its composition exposed it to divisions 1 Acts xviii. 6. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 99 (1 Cor. i. 12) which cost the apostle so much pain. But its principal members seem to have been Hel- lenists and proselytes. At Cenchrea, one of the pro- nounced friends of Paul was Phoebe the deaconess, to whom tradition gave the credit of conveying his epistle to Rome. 1 Paul continued to labour in Corinth for a year and a half. But when Gallio was pro-consul, the Jews thought it necessary to accuse Paul before him. 2 They charged him with teaching doctrines which were unlawful to Jews. Gallio would not assume the office of a judge of their law and dismissed the case. In the tumult which followed, Sosthenes, who had succeeded Crispus as " ruler of the synagogue," was seized and beaten — a severity which Gallio chose to regard only as a part of the general incident. The apostle's work in Corinth is, then, for the present accomplished. He desires to return to Syria and ' Jerusalem. We may be surprised to find that 1 Rom. xvi. 1. The R.V. follows the best MSS. and omits the subscript, which attributes the transmission to Phcebe. The last chapter of the epistle, in the opinion of some, indi- cates that the epistle was sent to other Churches as well as to Rome ; some dispute its genuineness. However, Renan accepts the tradition respecting Phcebe, saying : " Elle cacha sous les plis de sa vetement toute la future de la theologie chretienne, l'ecrit qui devait regler la foi du monde." 2 Acts xviii. 12. loo THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. this champion for freedom — he who so valiantly con- tended for the liberation of Gentiles from Jewish customs, continued himself to observe the ceremonial law. The Council at Jerusalem had made it clear that Judaism was not necessary for Gentiles, but the Jewish Christians could still practise it. The whole Church at Jerusalem attended the temple still ; they paid for sacrifices and honoured the priesthood. Once more Paul wishes to show that he has not laid aside his claims to orthodoxy. " He had a vow." 1 It has seemed anomalous that Paul should still patronise the Jewish ritual, and both ancient and modern authorities have endeavoured to shift the obligation to Aquila ; but the language leaves little room for doubt, 2 so broad and " catho- lic" was apostolic Christianity. It allowed the Gentiles to worship God without dependence on temple rites : it suffered the Jews zealously to observe the paternal tradition. The " Catholic Church " of 1 Acts xviii. 1 8. s Keipafxo'os in .1 series of participles all referring to Paul must be applied to him. Beza notices that the Vulgate refers it to Aquila, and that Bede had seen a MS. which applied it to both. Reza refers it to Paul, " qui factus est omnibus omnia." Jerome, Theophylact, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, Neander, Ols- hausen, and Alford refer it to Paul ; yet Meyer contends for Aquila, whose name stands last. Wordsworth ably replies to this objection. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND ITS RESULTS. 101 the next century refused to recognise those who practised the Mosaic rites : to be a Jew was to be heretical. In due course it followed that the Church should become the persecutor of the followers of Moses. To arrest and imprison them, to burn their houses, to bring them to death, became acts of merit. Yet the Church which did these things continued to call itself " Catholic and Apostolic." In the prosecution of his purpose Paul sailed first to Ephesus. 1 His friends Aquila and Priscilla went with him. On his arrival he visited the synagogue, for there was as yet no separate Church at Ephesus. He found sympathetic hearers in that city, and, having barely opened his commission, departed on his eastward journey with a promise to re-visit Ephesus another day. In his absence the work was carried on by Priscilla and Aquila. 2 Among those who fraternise with them is Apollos, the Alexandrian orator, who now comes upon the scene. 3 He was " a learned man — mighty in the Scriptures." He is only spoken of by Paul and Luke, and by them only inci- dentally, so that we have no full information respect- ing his opinions and labours. He already knew something about the new doctrine's, for he had 1 Acts xviii. 18. 2 Acts xviii. 19. 3 Acts xviii. 24. 102 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. received the baptism of John, and " had been in- structed in the way of the Lord." 1 But he was only acquainted with the " first principles of Christ," — with " a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands." 2 He had taught that " the kingdom of heaven " was at hand, and had advocated the higher morality which John and Jesus had taught. But he had not known how the glory of the Saviour's person had been unfolded by His resur- rection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost. Apollos bore a Greek name, and was "Alexandrian by race," yet his free admission into the synagogues at Ephesus and Corinth proves that he was a recog- nised observer of the Jewish law. Priscilla and Aquila were able to induct him into the higher truths of the person of Christ, and gave him a commendatory letter to the Church at Corinth, where his exposition of the new faith soon gained attention. Like him, 1 Acts xviii. 25. olros tjv KaTt]-^riy.tvos tt\v 68w tov Kvplov. Meyer says " catechised by the disciples of John." Cathe- chesis was specially established at Alexandria— and Bengel locates Theophilus there — "ut veteres testantur — urbs ilia doctrinarian." Some things in " Acts " would be explained if Theophilus had passed through the same gradations as Apollos. 2 Heb. vi. 1. THE FIRST COUNCIL AND IIS RESULTS. 103 there were doubtless many in various lands who had heard something of the doctrines of John and Jesus, and also of Peter and Paul. 1 Curiosity, or some higher feeling, would often lead to inquiry and faith. Here at Ephesus, on Paul's return, he found some who had received the baptism of John, but had not heard of the Holy Spirit. 2 Five years have now elapsed since the " council " was held at Jerusalem. The Gospel, first confined to Palestine, had spread into Northern Syria, then throughout Western Asia, and finally had crossed the ^Egean into Europe. Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and now Corinth have Churches planted in them. Europe, which is to be the principal home of the Church, opens its doors to the new power. One mightier than Caesar enters Rome, but it is " without observation " ; the little stone cut out of the mountain rolls into Europe, but statecraft at its acutest stage does not detect its advent. But the Church itself bears the marks of advancing time. It is clearer than ever that the gospel is 1 The Clementines ("Homilies" and "Recognitions,") say, "A certain report, which took its rise in the East in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, gradually reached us — it was filling the whole world — that a certain person in Judaea, who was beginning in the spring-time, was preaching the kingdom of God." 3 Acts xix. 2. We shall say more about these cases. 104 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. meant for Greeks as well as for Jews ; nay, there are signs that the Jew may eventually reject it, and that the Gentile will appropriate its benefits for him- self. Already the Church has lost its formal and visible unity. The older Christians — the Jews and rigid proselytes, worship at Jerusalem, offer sacrifices, circumcise their children, and keep the Jewish Sabbaths and feasts. But the recently added Gen- tiles are free from the law of Moses. It is enough that they are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Though these believers study the ancient word which predicted the coming of Christ, they do not ask the sons of Levi to offer sacrifices for them. They meet for prayer and fellowship at an evening meal, when they pass round broken bread and a cup of wine in thankful remembrance of the coming of the Lord, but have neither priest, nor altar, nor sacred place. They do not even look to the "twelve" at Jerusalem for their highest direction and instruc- tion, but to Paul, who " is not a whit behind the chiefest of the apostles." Can anything be more " unscientific " than to found the pretensions of a visible Church with absolute uniformity of " orders " and services on such a basis as that which these facts present ? CHAPTER VI. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. " More and more it spreads and grows, Ever mighty to prevail." ' T)AUL'S work is not done. He has been to Jeru- ■*■ salem, has fulfilled his vow, and now returns to Ephesus about A.D. 55. The city was a great centre of population and wealth, and, what was of greater interest to him, had a large Jewish community. His first converts were " certain disciples " who, perhaps, may have had some association with Apollos, for, like him, they knew only John's baptism. 2 These were baptized " into the name of the Lord Jesus." But Paul went into the synagogue, and for three months was allowed to " speak boldly." Here he did not attempt to withhold his testimony for a moment. However at length he was once more cast out of the synagogue. In fact he became a " schismatic." He " separated the disciples " ; he became a " non- 1 C. Wesley. 2 Acts xix. 1-7. 106 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. comformist " ; he opened a " meeting-house." His " conventicle " was held in " the school of Tyrannus." l Whether Tyrannus was a Jewish teacher or a Greek rhetorician, the Ephesian Church of Jews and Gen- tiles gathered in his hall. It was to this Church that St. Paul addressed his famous argument and exhortation on " Unity." 2 Gentiles, as certainly as Jews, have access to God in Christ, for " the middle wall of partition " had been broken down, since from one Father " every family in heaven and earth is named." But the knowledge of the Divine breadth of the purpose of grace had been hidden from the " ages." To Paul himself it had come as an apo- calypse. 3 He had been in the deepest darkness concerning this eternal design of the infinite Love, which was now " revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the spirit." Ephesus proved to be a splendid position for evangelism. " All they who dwelt in Asia heard the 1 Acts xix. 9 : anoaTas an' avrcou dpi(re tovs nadrjrds. 2 Epistle to Ephes. i.-v. 3 Ephes. iii. 3. R.V. corrects the false reading Eph. iv. 17 : " henceforth walk not as other Gentiles." The Church included both Jews and Gentiles. Meyer's arguments on i. 2, ii. 11, iii. 1, do not prove that all were Gentiles. This does not affect the question whether the epistle was addressed to Ephesus or to a number of Churches, though the latter view seems the more probable. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 107 word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." Visitors from many districts, coming to Ephesus by land or sea, were almost certain to attend some of the con- ferences of Paul, in which he engaged every day. " Special miracles " were wrought by his hand, and Jewish exorcists found rivalry with him to be useless. These supernatural signs had greater influence than Paul's arguments, for " fear fell upon them all." Some who had dabbled in magic confessed their crimes and burnt their books, many of which must have been valuable, for their total worth was esti- mated at nearly two thousand pounds. In this great city Paul spent more than two years, after which, his message having been delivered, his apostleship must be extended to other regions. He had been pressed to revisit Macedonia. Aristarchus of Greece was already in Ephesus, ready to depart with him. Timothy and Erastus had gone forward into Macedonia. But an occasion for immediate departure was now furnished. 1 Judaism had always borne its protest against the idolatry of the pagan world, and had been reckoned an intolerant and ■' malevolent superstition " in conse- quence. Usually it was considered to be an obscure sect, more curious than terrible ; but Paul's preaching 1 Acts xix. 23, xx. 1. io8 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. in Ephesus had threatened the public faith in magic and idols. The multitude determined to assert the pre-eminence of Artemis, their goddess, and refused to listen to Alexander when they knew that he was a Jew. Though the scheme of Demetrius the silver- smith was well laid, it happened that the scrivener of the town was a man of sense, and his counsel against lynch law was successful. 1 Departing from Ephesus, Paul revisits Philippi, Thessalonica, and most likely Corinth. His life and ministry were now filled with toil and solicitude. Privations, the perils of travel, the jealous hatred of his own nation, the enmity of false brethren — amongst whom were some Jewish Christians — and the care of the Churches, constituted the continual torture to which his epistles bear witness. But " grace " was " sufficient." " Always bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus was made manifest." 2 " Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament," said Bacon, " adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater bene- diction." When it was known at Corinth that Paul was about to sail from Cenchrea to Syria, the Jews laid a plot to seize him, and he was compelled to retrace his way to Macedonia on foot. Elsewhere 1 Acts xix. 35. 2 2 Cor. iv. 10. THE GOSPEL LV ASIA. 109 we must speak of the Judaisers, of whose activity in Galatia and Rome he heard during this visit into Greece. At Troas, quite a group of friends was gathering. We may notice that all had Greek names. 1 Here were Sopater of Berea, Secundus, and Aristarchus of Thessalonica, who was a faithful follower of Paul to the end.' 2 Whether Gaius of Derbe was the same person as the Gaius of Macedonia, is disputed, for Gaius was a common name. Tychichus was a trusted friend, who carried the epistles from Rome to Ephesus and Colosse, and, as well as Trophimus, was from Asia, if not from Ephesus. All were probably Gentiles. Trophimus, certainly, was a Greek. It was because Paul took him to Jerusalem and brought him into proximity to holy places that the riot in the city was excited and the apostle arrested. 3 The brief visit to Troas was memorable indeed. To what stories of awakening, conversion, persecu- tion and miraculous deliverances would this gathering of friendly souls be called to listen ! Reports of Judaising activity in Galatia, Ephesus and Corinth, would mingle with testimonies to the progress of 1 Acts xx. 4. 2 Acts xxvii. 2 ; Col. iv. 10. 3 Acts xxi. 29. I io THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH the faith in Philippi, Thessalonica, and elsewhere. Hymns of praise would be followed by prayers for the suffering Churches. The Scriptures would be read again and again for fresh light on great ques- tions, and for encouragement and direction for the future. The narrative at this point is original and direct. The writer was present on that Sunday evening when Eutychus fell out of the window. 1 Luke, the physi- cian, was there at the evening hour when the dis- ciples came together " to break bread," but his skill availed nothing to the restoration of the dead youth. 2 All modern expositors are convinced that in the apostolic times the Lord's Supper was associated with a " Feast of Love " ; and the advocates of " morning communion " find it impossible to deny that this was held in the evening. 3 To this primitive communion we must attach no associations drawn 1 Acts XX. 7-12. 2 r\p6r\ veKpos. 3 Mr. S. Baring-Gould ( "Our Inheritance," p. 174) is so re- solved on having Morning Communion that he says the Chris- tians met in the evening and waited until midnight for the breaking of bread. In the case of Eutychus, he says, " After midnight, as we are expressly informed, ensued the Eucharist." But the reason for the delay was the long address of Paul, together with the accident. He does not see the possible absurdity of his position, viz., that it would postpone the Eucharist to the second day of the week — Monday morning ! THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. from a " mass " in St. Peter's, or from a " morning celebration " administered by a surpliced priest. It consisted of an ordinary evening meal in a private house, at the close of which — or at a certain point in the progress of which — the bread was broken and dis- tributed, and a cup passed round with special prayer and thanksgiving {evyaptaTia). The eucharistic prayer and thanksgiving recognised the goodness of God in creation, in providence, and in the mission of His Son—" the Son of David." x There was no " communion in one kind," such as Rome asserted to be legitimate in A.D. 151 5. All ate the same bread and drank the same cup. But these evening hours were not devoted to eating and drinking only. It was the daily or frequent opportunity for hearing the scriptures read and ex- plained, for the mutual discussion of disputed ques- tions, for the narratives of those who had been eye- witnesses of our Lord's life. " Gifts " and " offerings " were presented for the relief of poor brethren, and 1 See "Didache," ix. 2. A writer in the Church Quarterly Review, April, 1891, says : "The words of St. Paul, Rom. xv. 16, therefore imply not only that the Eucharist is a sacrifice, but that in his time a liturgy was in existence substantially the same as the liturgy of St. James. . . . The liturgy of St. James goes quite back into the apostolic age." It might as well be said that the New Testament " goes quite back into the Old Testament times," because it quotes from it. 112 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. for the charges of the Church. The " elders " were responsible for the receipt and distribution of the funds, and for the provision of things needful for the feast. Exhortation was not exclusively confined to stated officers, but was open to any who had a pro- phetic charisma. The Churches were advised not " to quench the Spirit." If a visitor arrived from another Church, he was encouraged to speak. Paul, the pioneer of the gos- pel, with knowledge and renown like his, would be listened to with fullest veneration. How many things had he to say at this time ! By an unexpected Providence he had been brought to Troas again. Here were met disciples from many Churches. * He was about to depart to Jerusalem, and thence he desired to proceed to Rome, from which city he might not return for years. The Word of God everywhere had been confirmed and illustrated in the life and death of many believers, and had not been without adversaries. Paul might well be " long preaching." It was on the first day of the week that the brethren gathered to break bread. It was evening when they met, but Paul discoursed till midnight. All were interested except the youth Eutychus, who, exhausted by the heat of the lamps (\a/j,Trd8es iKaval) and the lengthened discourse, slept, and THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 113 slipped down into the courtyard below. He was taken up dead, but Paul rushed down, and was soon able to announce that " his life was in him." This incident yet further delayed the Agape, and it was break of day when Paul departed. Having found a suitable vessel, Paul and his friends sailed down the west coast of Asia. The narrative, evidently by one . of the party, reports the progress day by day as they passed Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos, Trogyllium and Miletus. This was a port convenient for Ephesus, which Paul had wished to revisit ; but his face was set towards Jerusalem which he had not seen for three years. There he hoped to persuade the authorities to give him fuller recognition, or to accept his wider views of the gospel. He could at least give explanations to the " elders " in Jerusalem which might exempt him from future annoyance from persons professing to come from them. At Miletus he sends to Ephesus for the " elders of the Church." He reminds them of his constant labour and vigilance, of his impartiality in dealing with Jews and Greeks, requiring from both " repent- ance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." Though his prospects are full of gloom, he entreats them to care for the flock over which God had made them " bishops," and predicts the rise of H4 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. false teachers among themselves. Then, with much emotion, he departed, they sorrowing that they " should see his face no more." Their voyage was continued to Tyre, where they found disciples, though we have no account of the founding of this Church. Here they remained seven days, and certain prophets warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. He received a similar warning at Csesarea, where they remained some days with Philip the evangelist. He belonged to the primitive Church, yet, we are sure, would be in full accord with the larger spirit of Paul's gospel. The prophecy of Agabus moved Paul's companions more than himself, for he was " ready not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." At Jerusalem the brethren received them gladly. 1 Luke, Timothy, Trophimus, perhaps others, were with Paul. On the day following, Paul introduced his companions to James. 2 At this interview all who were in the position of elders were present, including the apostles. To this assembly he related "the 1 Acts xxi. 17. 2 Renan, " St. Paul," p. 508, says : " Paul entra dans cette funeste ville de Jerusalem pour la derniere fois, quelques jours, ce semble, apres la fete de la Pentecote, juillet, 58." He also infers that the apostle was received coldly, and had to pass the first evening alone. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 115 things which God had wrought among the Gentiles by his deaconship. 1 For this success they "glorified God," yet their congratulations were mixed with anxiety. Paul's success among the Gentiles had already been reported at Jerusalem. It was known that he had been in collision with the authorities of the synagogues in Corinth and in Ephesus. Many had spoken of the freedom of his intercourse with Gen- tile believers, and of his liberal inclusion of men of every nation in the spiritual Israel. Not only had he consented that Gentiles should enter the Church without conformity to the law, but they alleged that he had encouraged Jews to lay aside the praxis of Judaism. The narrative at this point deserves care- ful consideration. I. The number of Jewish believers was now very great. Paul was told : " Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law." 2 Per- haps the " many thousands " is not to be taken in exact literalness. Meyer says it is " hyperbolical." Dr. Schaff assumes that all Jewish Christians were in favour of Paul, except a few Pharisaic Judaisers, who were " a small but very active and zealous minority, 1 Acts xxi. 19 : Siaicovia. 2 Acts xxi. 21. ii6 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. full of intrigue." x But the statement of James certainly implies that the majority ( " all " ) were " zealous for the law." Jewish Christianity was a greater fact in the first century than some Church- historians have been willing to allow. The Apoca- lyptic number — one hundred and forty four thousand — might have had something beyond symbolic signi- ficance. The Church which fled to Pella, and which survived for three centuries, must have had the strength of numbers at the beginning. But, how singular was its history ! After boasting of its orthodoxy, and risking all for its attachment to the Jewish law, it was, in after days, rejected by the Church as heretical, and denounced in the syna- gogues as treason. The followers of those who would not have a Gentile in the Church became, in their turn, the victims of Gentile exclusiveness. There can be no doubt that in the times of Ignatius and Justin Martyr it was becoming unlawful to receive a Jew into the Church. 2 The " irony of fate " has seldom been so pronounced. As we shall see, the Jewish community divided or was dispersed into various sections. They made their 1 li History of the Church " (i-ioo), p. 338. 2 " Ignat. ad Mag.," ch. 8, 9, 10 ; " Ad Philad.," ch. 6 ; " Ep. ad Diog.," 1, 3, 4. Justin would receive them on condition that they did not proselytize, " Dial. c. Tryph.," ch. 47. THE GOSPEL TN ASIA. 117 mark on the primitive Church, but chiefly as the originators of the early heresies. For centuries they contended against the higher doctrine of the person of Christ. Their literature — the Clementines, and apocryphal " Gospels " and " Acts " — has served to enhance the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, of episcopal authority, and even of the Papal supremacy through Peter. 2. The Jewish Christians were " all zealous for the law," so far as their observance of it was concerned, but " all," including the apostles, did not insist on its enforcement on Gentiles who had embraced the Messianic faith. Their complaint against Paul was, that he taught Jews to mix with Gentiles and thus to forsake the law. The " multitude " had consented to the decree made eight years before, which allowed easy terms to the Gentiles who came into the Church. Through this "zeal for the law" St. James, and probably most of the original disciples and apostles, never ceased to conform to the Judaic institutions. They would never take the Lord's Supper with Gen- tiles. At Jerusalem no one could join the Agape- Eucharist unless he was circumcised. Paul and Barnabas might take their own course abroad, but Jerusalem could not imitate their freedom. ] Conse- 1 Sieffert, art. " Petrus " in Herzog, " Real-Enk." n8 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. quently, when Paul associated with " Trophimus the Ephesian " in the proximity of the sacred places, it was not to be borne. All interested in the "unity" of the Church should ponder these facts : " these things were our ex- amples." 1 What was the Church " one and indi- visible " at this moment? Did it consist of James and his friends at Jerusalem ? Many of them thought so, and we know what the terms of the unity which they laid down were. Or, after all, were the mixed Churches of Paul in the "visible unity" ? Yet further, what was that Church of the following centuries which called itself " Gatholic"? That Church allowed no one adhering to Jewish customs to be baptized. After Justin's time it was scarcely allowed that one living as a Jew could be saved. In the times of Tertullian and Cyprian no one living after the man- ner of James the Just would have been called a Christian. What then is, or was, the " visible unity " of the Church ? 3. But Paul himself had not thrown off formal allegiance to the Levitical order : " he had a vow." In company with four others he undertook the temple charges usual in such cases. During the time of separation no wine must be drunk, no razor must 1 1 Cor. x. 6. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 119 come upon the head. At the close of the period a he-lamb, a she-lamb, a basket of unleavened bread, with other things must be offered ; so that the " charges " for four persons would be considerable. 1 All this Paul was content to pay if peace could be obtained. He was " to the Jews as a Jew " that he might save some. Conformity enabled him still to visit the syna- gogue and to receive recognition as a son of Abraham. He allowed Jewish converts to follow their own course, but he could not condemn them if they imi- tated his liberty. On the other hand, the Church at Jerusalem still considered it expedient, if not abso- lutely imperative, that its members should walk after the law blameless. If formal Judaism had been renounced by all the Christian parties, the re-appear- ance of Judaistic and anti-Pauline parties in the next century would have been a greater mystery than ever. We learn, further, that the security which Paul was willing to purchase by submission to the scruples of some Jewish Christians was not obtained. There were " Jews from Asia " who, like him, had come to the holy city on pious errands, and had known him in Ephesus. He had been seen by them in company with Trophimus, an uncircumcised Ephesian, and, it 1 Num. vi. 14. 120 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. was suspected, had brought him into the temple. This was enough to raise the fanaticism of devotees longing to distinguish themselves in the defence of decaying Judaism. Paul was furiously assaulted, and, except for interposition of the Romish captain, his life would have ended. As it was, his liberty was gone : henceforth he is "the prisoner of the Lord." The Romish officer thought he had arrested a Galilaean or an Egyptian demagogue who had been trying to delude the people. But his prisoner addressed him in Greek. This was no rustic enthusiast, no prophet from the wilds, no foreign bandit, but a Roman citizen, who could speak in the language of the civilized world. When, how- ever, Paul addressed the concourse from the stairs of the castle of Antonio, he spoke in " the Hebrew lan- guage." x 1 Prof. Neubauer, M.A., writing on " The Dialects Spoken in the time of Christ "(" Studia Biblica," Oxford, 1885, i. pp. 39-74), shows that the post-exilic Jews used Hebrew which was gradually mixed with Aramaic ; that the northern Israelites would naturally employ the Aramaic of their own and surround- ing districts. "When Syriac became the official language in Asia, many Jews made themselves acquainted with it " (p. 48). Prof. Neubauer concludes that the apostles spoke the current Aramaic at Pentecost. He notices that the chief captain was surprised that Paul knew Greek, and that the Christian watch- word, Maran At/ia, was Aramaic. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. From the address we learn that he had been " brought up at the feet of Gamaliel — instructed according to the strict law of the fathers, being zeal- ous for God " : that Ananias of Damascus was " well- reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there " ; that Paul had visited Jerusalem some time after his con- version, and it was made known to him that his word would not be received there. The pupil of Gamaliel, the son of Pharisees, the zealous vindicator of law and tradition, must bear the cross for the rest of his days ; like his Master, he must be " crucified to the world " ; he must be a missionary to the Gentiles ! The crowd listened until he reached that hateful word " Gentiles " and then their patience was gone. They cried, " Away with him " ; by their law he ought to die. 1 When the captain would have examined him by scourging, Paul pleaded Roman citizenship. The next day he was brought face to face with the Sanhe- drim. When he spoke of the sincerity of his past life, Ananias, the high priest, commanded that he should be smitten on the mouth. Paul retorted in haste, for he was not infallible any more than Peter. It is a 1 Ritschl ("Ensteh. d. a. K.,"s. 140) remarks that the "decree" had created a fresh difficulty ; Gentile Christians required recognition as in the true Israel, and unbelieving Jews must be rejected. 122 THE FAIT// AND L/FE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. curious commentary on his words : " God is about to smite thee, thou whited wall," that Ananias was soon after deposed, and finally assassinated by Sicarii. The apostle was more fortunate in his appeal to the Pharisees present, with whom his doctrine of a future life gave him affinity rather than with the Sadducees of the priestly party. But he could not escape from the mortal hatred of the Jews, except by being con- veyed to Caesarea, where he had to stand before the procurator Felix. Before Felix Paul was impeached by no less a prosecutor than Ananias the high priest, with other elders, and a famous orator named Tertullus. x The encomium of the latter on the administration of Felix is contradicted by Tacitus and Josephus. The point of his accusation was, that Paul was " a ring- leader of the sect of the Nazarenes," and that he " assayed to profane the temple." " Nazarenes, which came afterwards to be the title of Jewish Christians only, was as yet the name given by the Jews to all the followers of Jesus. The name " Christian," given in Gentile Antioch, could not have had a Jewish origin. The Jews would not have thus surrendered the Messianic title to a despised sect ; moreover, in j 1 Tacitus, "Ann.," xii. 54 ; Joseph., "Ant.," xx. 8, 9. THE GOSPEL IX ASIA. 123 " Nazarenes " there was contained a denial that Jesus belonged to the family or city of David. Paul did not blush to own that he belonged to a " sect " or heresy. Bigotry usually chooses the most offensive epithets. Paul knew what it was to glow in the persuasion that he belonged to "the people of God." 1 National and ecclesiastical pride had reached its maximum in the circle to which he had be- longed. Excommunication, " boycotting," ostracism, persecution even to death, were the ready and familiar instruments of those who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others." No pas- sions strike deeper than those to which religious hatred appeals. Hostilities of this class survive into our own age. The rivalries of great European Churches respecting the guardianship of the " Holy Places " in Jerusalem produced the last European war in which our own country engaged. The jealousy of the imperial patron of the Greek Churches on the one hand, and that of the imperial patron of the Papacy in Eastern Europe on the other, have raised armies which are a menace to the world and a scandal to the Christian name. The continental Churches still have billets posted up which offer a hundred days' " indul- gence " to all the faithful who will pray " pour l'exter- 1 On " the people," see Neander ; " Planting," i. 281. i2 4 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL V CHURCH. mination des heretiques." No man can be a Noncon- formist in England even now without incurring serious social and educational disadvantages. The silent, yet sure growth of liberty has changed the old conditions, certainly ; but intolerance will not be ban- ished until the best men in all Churches are willing to renounce it, and begin in earnest to study the charity of Christ and Paul. In his defence Paul alleges that he still " believed all written in the law and the prophets." l He had brought alms to his people, he had " purified " him- self by sacrifices, he had raised no sedition, he was a Jew still. But Felix had reasons for delay. Some of the money which Paul had collected might fall to his lot. But in one interview the guilty Roman was con- science-stricken, and he summarily dismissed the apostle from his presence. Two years later Festus took the place of Felix, and before him Paul is called to plead once more against accusers from Jerusalem. 2 By this time Paul was prepared to reject the judicial authority of his people.. He appeals to Csesar. This new step in his de- parture from Judaism would be regarded as a serious aggravation of his apostasy. He objected to Chris- tians entering into law-suits in Gentile courts ; but in 1 Acts xxiv. 14. 2 Acts xxv. 10. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 125 Jewish eyes also it was equally discreditable to carry a cause before a heathen judge. 1 Festus determined that Paul should go to Caesar, but thought it policy, first, to bring him before another local authority. Agrippa II. happened to visit Caesarea at the time, and to him Festus states his case. To Festus the principal point in the charge made by the Jews against Paul seemed to be that " one Jesus " who was dead Paul declared " to be alive." Before Agrippa, who had been educated in Juda- ism, Paul was glad to rehearse his history. He would understand many things which a Roman would never perceive. Paul told him of his own youth spent in Jerusalem, of his ardent devotion to the Pharisaic side of their religion, especially to their great doctrine that the dead should rise. He confessed that he had been a persecutor of Christians until he had been divinely arrested on the way to Damascus, and had been com- missioned to evangelize the Gentiles, and to turn them " from darkness to light," for they too should enter into " an inheritance among them that are sanctified." Festus listened with amazement to this fervid harangue, and pitied the enthusiast whose " learning " had brought him to madness. But 1 Paul said in Rome, Acts xxviii. 19 : " Not that I had aught to accuse mv nation of." 126 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Agrippa knew that his words were of " truth and soberness " ; he " believed the prophets." Yet, with sophistical skill, he evaded the appeal of the accused apostle, saying, "with but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian ! " He might some day begin to listen to the teaching of religion, but of all absurdities, to become a Christian would be the last ! But even he agreed that Paul had done nothing worthy of death, and might have been set at liberty except for his appeal to Caesar, so to Caesar he must go. The gospel, now largely rejected by the Jew, must enter upon a larger field among the Gen- tiles. Jerusalem, the old centre of the Church, was soon to be forsaken, and the vineyard given to others. After much peril and suffering, Paul arrives on the shores of Italy. 1 At Puteoli he met with " brethren," with whom he and his friends tarried seven days ; and at the " market of Appius and the three Taverns " other brethren from Rome came to meet him. Al- ready the nucleus of a Church existed in Rome. Jews and proselytes from Rome were among those converted on the day of Pentecost. Three years 1 Acts xxviii. 14. With him were Luke, Timothy, and others of the brethren mentioned in Phil. ii. 25-30, iv. 18 ; Col iv. 7-14 ; Eph. vi. 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10-12. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA. 127 before his arrival Paul had written his immortal letter to the believers in Rome. Whether these believers constituted a Church based on the Jewish-Christian principle exclusively, like that at Jerusalem, or, whether it was a mixed Church, like those which St. Paul instituted, is rather an important question. 1. It could scarcely have been a Jewish-Christian Church to which St. Paul would say, " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye " ; and "Is God the God of the Jews only ? is He not the God of the Gen- tiles ? " x He would not have asked such a Church, " What advantage then hath the Jew ? " 2 2. Yet, if a mixed Church, the members must have been, generally, proselytes or Hellenists, or at least Gentiles who were familiar with the Jewish Scrip- tures, and easily moved within the circle of Jewish ideas. 3. We learn that the " chief of the Jews " in Rome only knew Christianity by distant report. Of this " sect " they only knew that " everywhere " it was spoken against. Could there, then, have been a " Church " in Rome ? But if not, who were the " brethren " who met Paul at Appii Forum ? Some suppose that the reply of the Jewish representatives was " scarcely honest." 3 Others observe " a cautious 1 Rom. xiv. 1. 2 Rom. iii. 1. 3 Conyb. and Hows., " St. Paul," p. 679. 128 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. official reserve in their demeanor." 1 Neander thinks that the poor Christians might easily have escaped the notice of their wealthier fellow-nationalists.' 2 None of these answers seems to be satisfactory. It seems more probable that the " Church " did not then exist as a separate community. The " brethren " met in each others' houses, and there communicated " to the necessities of saints," and were " given to hospi- tality." 3 According to Romans xvi. 5, Aquila and Priscilla had a " Church in their house." Paul him- self had " his own hired dwelling " where he " re- ceived all that went in unto him." This would allow Jews to invite their countrymen to their Chris- tian celebrations, and Gentiles who could " eat all things " had their own Agapa^. All might, from time to time, attend the synagogues for the reading of Scripture and the prayers ; but there was no united Agape, although the apostle recommends those who are free from Jewish prejudice to receive " him that is weak in the faith." Hence it is clear that the Roman Church was not predominantly Jewish, and that St. Peter, so far, had not laboured in that city. 1 Meyer, Acts xxvi. 15. 2 " Planting of Chr.," i. 311 ; also Ewald, "History of Israel,'' vii. 445. 3 Rom. xii. 13. CHAPTER VII. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. i. The Pauline Churches. " Neither I nor any other like me can emulate the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul." 1 The history supplied to us in " Acts " closes abruptly. Many questions might have been answered if St. Luke had added two or three chapters. We should have been glad to know whether St. Paul was ever released from his captivity ; if so, whether he revisited the Churches in Greece and Asia Minor. Did Peter at last come to the support of the Jewish Christians in Rome ? Did he and Paul die for the Master about the same time, and was one buried on the Vatican Hill, and the other on the Ostian way? 2 What became of the remaining apostles, what were their spheres of labour, and, especially, what was the relation of the beloved disciple to the Churches of 1 Ep. of Polycarp. 2 Euseb., " H.E.," ii. 25. 130 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH., Asia ? On these points there have been bequeathed to the Church not accurate knowledge but vague tra- ditions and vain conjectures. The names to which these legends have been attached have been enough to gain them respect. It was hard to believe that pious reverence could have linked itself with fraud on behalf of such names as those of Peter, Clement, and Ignatius. The work of critical undoing began at the Reformation ; but the Christian faith, which can eventually stand alone on the rock of truth and fact, has not yet seen an end of its fatal fellowship, with untruth in the form of pious legend, or an end of its effects. Paul found an inviting opportunity for labour during his captivity in the years A.D. 62-4. Jews and proselytes from every land visited the imperial city. Many " Greeks," weary of heathen corruption, having heard of the God of Abraham and Moses, came to learn more about the promised salvation. But his adversaries would not let the " Apostle to the Gentiles '' dwell in peace. His freedom under bonds became manifest throughout the whole pretorium where he was under supervision. 1 Since he was bold to preach the gospel, the valour of his rivals in- creased, and they ventured out into the open also. 1 Phil. i. 13. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 131 They preached Christ, however, " out of envy and strife," and "faction," professing to represent the traditional gospel of Jerusalem, of " the twelve," of St. James and St. Peter. They claimed an authority superior to that of Paul ; they were in the " succes- sion." Against the " dogs " of the " concision," St. Paul earnestly warns the Philippians. 1 If any man had a right to boast of tribal descent, of family honours, of legal purity, he more ; but he counted these things as " loss for Christ." This seems to be the earliest trace of a distinctively Jewish-Christian element in Rome. Some Roman- Catholic writers allow that there may have been both a Petrine and a Pauline section in that Church. This view is not unfavourable to the traditional combination of the names of the two great apostles ; it reduces, somewhat, the enormous discrepancies in the history of the Church ; and it gives some plausibility to the pretensions of Ebionite sects like those who accepted the Clementines. To this period belong, without doubt, the epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians. It was amid such circumstances as those which he found at Rome that Paul elaborated his theory of " unity." 2 As we have shown, it had been an "apocalypse" to him that 1 Phil. iii. 2. 2 Ephes. iv. 13. 132 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. the Gentiles were to enjoy the fullest participation in the gospel of peace. The convictions of his birth and education had been diametrically opposed to such a theory, and he knew that it had been hidden from the Church in times past. In God's own time it had come to light that the Gentile is to be " blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." The Jew could not boast of any spiritual good which the Gentiles did not receive by faith. In the original purpose of God, which was more ancient than any covenant with Abraham or Moses, He had " predestinated " men of every race to redemption — to forgiveness, adoption, sanctification, and the in- heritance of life : and had designed " in the dispen- sation of the fulness of the times to sum up all things in Christ." Some of His readers were " Gentiles in the flesh," called, in reproach, " uncircumcision," who had been " separate from Christ, and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel," but now were brought into fellowship with the saints. The Jew who still continued to observe the Jewish law, and the Gentile who laid that ritual aside, were " one new man." Through the one Christ, both have " access in one spirit unto the Father." 1 1 Weizsacker : "Das Apostol. Zeitalt.," s. 495, says that "the Church of Ephesus and Asia was of Pauline foundation, which THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 133 Perhaps the epistle was not addressed solely to Ephesus, but was intended for a wider circle of readers. If so, its doctrine of unity becomes the more important. The exact circumstances, to which the arguments were applicable only existed in the apostolic age. The writer evidently wishes to banish from Christian thought any dependence on national descent ; he would bring all " to apprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.' Yet men of various nationalities, beset by various even antagonistic affinities and sympathies, could only " keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace " by " walking worthy of their vocation " in this world-wide society, and by the cultivation of all " lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, for- bearing one another in love." But the " body " was is a difficulty in regard to the Johannine epoch. . . . The epistle gives a view of the existing relations, which does not answer at all to St. Paul's time." But the fact, rather, is that there were no mixed Churches in the second century, to which period he ascribes this epistle. The composite "unity" scarcely survived St. Paul. Pfleiderer, " Das Christhenthum," s. 684, makes the same mistake. He further makes the epistle to be dependent on the Pauline writings, including the " Hebrews," and to be opposed to a Judaizing gnosis. Nothing can be clearer than that the gnosis which it opposes existed in St. Paul's time. 134 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. one. The Jew ought not to reject the Gentile, nor the Gentile the Jew, since there was " one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all." l Among so many believers, not only national distinctions but personal proclivities might be im- pediments to unity. The ordinary differences among men, always and everywhere, may imperil the peace of society. Moreover, the gifts of the Spirit vary as much as do individual character ; and there would be a tendency in each to exalt his own office or gift (Rom. xii. 3). Some were " apostles," some " prophets," some " evangelists," some " pastors and teachers." This variety of spiritual endowment was given to perfect the saints and to edify the body of Christ, " till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the [more complete] knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." ~ 1 Dr. Gloag : " Intr. to Cath. Epp.," p. 125, says "that there is not the slightest intimation that in the Apostolic times the Jewish and Gentile Churches formed separate congregations : they were united in one body." But it is against probability that all Jewish believers would eat with Gentiles. Besides, " Churches " in the modern sense did not exist everywhere. Believers met in private houses as a rule. Moreover, the Pauline Churches had an organization of their own. 2 Ephes. iv. 13. The A.V. "in the unity of the faith" mis- represents the original. Even the " Vulg " has in unitatem fidei. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 135 In this sketch of Christian unity Paul nowhere speaks of the government of the Church by bishops. 1 He recognises apostles, 2 prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, but no other powers or dignitaries. Some expositors think they can find bishops included under the first term, some under the second or third, yet more under the fourth and fifth. Even if their inclusion under one or another of these terms were possible, it would not establish the great " Catholic" doctrine that "without the bishop the Church cannot exist." The writer demolishes the false unity that was based on Jewish exclusiveness, but seemed not to foresee the more fateful caricature of Christian unity that ascended in its place. His doctrine re- specting the diversity of gifts proceeding from the one spirit, ought to have had more influence on that " controversy about the ministry," which arose after- wards. 3 However, he passes over the " three orders " on which, for fifteen hundred years after, it was supposed that the security of the Church depended. 4 1 The picture of a Church without bishops is a strong argu- ment for the early date of the epistle ; it would not correspond to conditions of the second century. 2 In Eph. ii. 20; iv. 11, "Apostles" do not indicate the Twelve, but a special class — the prophet-evangelists. 3 Ep. of Clem. i. 44. 4 Hooker : " Eccles. Pol.," bk. vii., says, " A thousand five 136 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. " Bishops, priests and deacons " are the only orders omitted, by name, from his catalogue of church- officers. The " presbyters " of Ephesus, whom he called, when at Miletus, " bishops," he does not mention. The only explanation of this must be, that neither " apostle," nor " elder," nor " bishop," nor " deacon," had yet received its fixed ecclesiastical meaning, but still retained its untechnical significance, descriptive of the various relations or duties which belonged to certain members of the Church. 1 No interpretation of these important terms can be more false than that which persists in reading into them the ideas of a later time. The threads of thought which appear in the epistle to the Ephesians, are also woven into that to the Colossians. The death of Christ was intended not only to reconcile God and man, but man with men : hundred years and upwards the Church of Christ hath now continued under the sacred government of bishops. Neither for so long hath Christianity been planted in any kingdom throughout the world but with this kind of government alone ; which, to have been ordained of God, I am for my part as resolutely persuaded, as that any other kind of government in the world whatsoever is of God." In favour of the primitive character of episcopacy, Hooker quotes the pseudo- Ignatius. 1 Liddon (" Bampt. Lect.," p. 334) refers to this passage for proof that Christ "instituted the hierarchy of the Church"— i.e. the three orders. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 137 He " having made peace through the blood of His cross." x The doctrine of the " cross " involved the surrender of the privileges and prerogatives which belonged to the Jew through the law. Christ had suffered the curse of the law, so that the " law" had done with Him and with those who believed on Him. Paul's sufferings had been incurred for the universality of the gospel. He was " the prisoner of the Lord on behalf of" the Gentiles. If he had preached a gospel for the Jew only, he might have laboured in peace. But there were adversaries. The Colossians were in danger of being " moved away from the hope of the gospel." - The Church at Colosse consisted both of Jews and Gentiles. 3 The latter would be told by the Judaizers, who were ever on Paul's track, that they could not be saved unless they came " within the covenant of Israel." Some of these apostles of reaction had armed themselves with a new weapon — the philosophy of the rabbinical schools. Their traffic in the "rudiments of the world" (aroiyda rov Koa/xov) betrays their subservience to that tendency in Jewish 1 Col. i. 20. ■ Col. i. 23. 3 Principally Gentiles : Col. i. 21-27 ; ii. 13. After Paul's separation from the synagogue at Ephesus he does not seem to have gained many Jews. His mission succeeded best among Hellenists and Hellenes. 138 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL V CHURCH. thought which already had mixed astrology, magic, and mysticism with biblical ideas. * They would allow that Jesus had an ^Eon resting on Him, and had a heavenly mission. But St. Paul asserts that "the pleroma of the Godhead" dwells in Him. Be- lievers, whether Jews or Gentiles, " are made full " in Him. Even the uncircumcised are " circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands." They had been " forgiven all their trespasses," for He had " blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was contrary to us . . . nailing it to the cross." Paul gave to them the counsel which he had given before to those in Rome, that no one should "judge" them " in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come." 2 The Jew might observe the national ritual if he chose, but he must not compel the Gentile to observe it also. The exhortation to forbearance was, under these 1 Col. ii. 14. The Greek interpreters generally explain rois 86yfj.aa-w of the doctrines of the gospel, which replaced the dog- mas of Judaism. Bengel makes them decreta gratiae, and Wes- ley follows him : Ephes. ii. 15 ; Col. ii. 14. (Yet Bengel shows that the enmity was that between Jews and Gentiles.) The history of dogmas owes much to this misapprehension. 2 Weizsacker, " Apost. Zeit.," 563 : " Die Elemente der Welt kann nach dem Galater-brief auch judischer Cultus zuriickge- fiihrt werden." THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 139 circumstances, very reasonable. He would have them to put on " love which is the bond of perfect- ness," and " the peace of Christ " to " arbitrate in their hearts." Here the apostle is speaking of the " Agape " where both parties met, " unto which," he says, " ye were called in one body ; and be ye thank- ful." l The two great sections of humanity were made one ; and this unity did not centre in bishops, whom he does not mention, nor in apostles, but in Christ. Their thankfulness would be especially mani- fested in their common feast — the Agape-Eucharist. On these occasions " the word of Christ " was to "dwell among them richly — teaching and advising one another in every sort of wisdom, singing in their hearts to God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes." 2 Then follows an exhortation which ex- positors have usually .stripped of its original associa- tions, and reduced to a general religious instruction : " And everything whatsoever ye do in word or deed, 1 Col iii. 15. BpafteveTa suggests arbitration between parties : the "peace" was already in their hearts and should decide in mutual intercourse. The connection of terms related to the Christian assembly has not been noticed. "Agape," "Eucha- rist," " word," " teaching," " admonishing," " psalms and hymns arid odes," " word and deed." 2 Lightfoot, Ellicott, translate eV vfiiv as " within you," but Meyer and Alford by "in you as a Church," which approaches the above interpretation. 140 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." There can be little doubt that the " word " (\6709) refers to the prayer and exhortation which any one might offer in the congregation, and the " deed " to their gifts towards the Agape provision, or to the need of the Church and its poor. An epistle containing references to the fellowship of Jewish and Gentile believers must have belonged to the apostolic age. 1 The reference to the Agape, as we shall show hereafter, does not by itself imply a date so early as has been generally supposed, but Christians observing the law were gradually ostracized. After the apostolic age, and 1 Rationalistic criticism on this epistle to the Colossians has beaten a retreat. Baur held it to be a reply to the Gnostics of the second century, as did Schwegler, Mayerhoff, and even Weizsacker ("Apost. Zeit.," pp, 560-563). The latter ascribes it to the tendency in Asia Minor to exalt apostles. Peter and John were already great, and now Paul is brought forward. Yet he allows that the representation of the parties in the Church does not correspond to history. Pfleiderer (" Das Chr'm ," s. 683) allows "dass ihm ein echter Paulusbrief zu Grunde liegen " ; and Holtzmann (" Einl. in d. N.T.") thinks it has only been interpolated by the author of Ephesians. He says that its Gnosticism is of a form older than Christianity (p. 281). Ewald and Renan defend the Pauline origin. If the above pic- ture of the primitive Agape had not been overlooked, it would have prevented the error into which the Rationalists have fallen. The freedom of the Christian congregation seems to have been THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 141 especially after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians were repudiated as Nazarenes and Ebionites. We now encounter the question whether St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome terminated for a season, dur- ing which he visited the Churches of Greece and Asia, or whether it continued unbroken until his martyr- dom. Did he himself, on a personal visit, locate Timothy at Ephesus (1 Tim. i. 3), and afterwards address to him the first epistle ? and did he go as far as Crete and leave Titus there ? Did he, finally, address a second epistle to Timothy, leaving in it his last words ? In any case the pastoral epistles supply a view of the ideas and feelings of the Pauline Churches. The Jewish philosophy referred to is not so different from that at Colosse but that it might exist in Paul's time, whereas in the second century such systems had taken a much advanced form. The church govern- ment is that of the first century and not of the second. The epistle to Titus says that he was left in Crete to appoint Presbyters, and Paul adds, " The bishop must lost in the second century, as Montanism advanced on the one hand, and Episcopalianism on the other. The Pauline union of Jews and Gentiles appears to have died out by the end of the first century. 142 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. be blameless." The sectaries there meddled with " fables and endless genealogies." They were plainly- occupied in the Jewish interest, for they desired to be " teachers of the law, though they understand not what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm." l The gospel in these epistles is the universal gospel of Paul. The " grace of God hath appeared bringing salvation to all men." 2 "God willeth that all men should be saved," since there is but " one God and one Mediator." 3 But this true relation of the Medi- ator to the entire race had not been understood until it was announced in Paul's gospel. Here are his words : " There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be borne in its own times ; whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth, I lie not), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." 4 This 1 i Tim. i. 4. Ellicott says " the myths were Judaic." Leo and Theodoret and most church writers have said Paul was opposing Judaism proper. 2 Tit. ii. 11. 3 1 Tim. ii. 5. 4 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Commentators have not all seen that in to papTvpiov Kaipols Idiots " the emphasis rests on the universality," as Huther says. Beza's references to Rom. xvi. 25, Eph. iii. 19, Col. i. 26, etc., show that he was on the right track. The " testimony " was that " for which " (els o) the apostle was called. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 143 " testimony " of a salvation for all men without sub- mission to the ceremonial law had not been borne until he was called to be an apostle. As in his epistle to the Ephesians, the apostle says that the doctrine of one Saviour both for Jews and Gentiles had been hidden from the ages, but was now made known by the Spirit. But there were some who diffused false doctrine. They forbad marriage, and also prohibited " meats " which God had " created for reception with eucharistic thanksgiving." 1 Another ominous development is also indicated as consisting in " profane babblings and antitheses of the Gnosis which is falsely so-called." 2 In the second epistle Paul complains that " all in Asia turned away from him." 3 This was, possibly, the state of things to which he refers in Col. iv. 10, viz., that only Mark and Justus belonging to the circumcision worked with him. As he came nearer to the end of his career his sufferings were increased by the infidelity of his fellow-workers : " At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me." 4 But the Lord stood by him and strengthened him, so that " all the Gentiles might hear." To this great aim he was " faithful unto death." 1 1 Tim iv. 3. Cf. " Didache," xi. ; " Constit. of App.," vii. 2 1 Tim. vi. 20. 3 2 Tim. i. 15. 4 2 Tim. iv. 16. 144 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. To Titus he speaks of the " message " with which he had been entrusted — a mystery " promised be- fore times eternal — but in its own seasons mani- fested." 1 Titus was to appoint presbyters, who would officially, as he explains, be bishops, or over- seers, in every city. The bishop must be able to teach and to " convict gainsayers." Here we may, without any doubt, notice an advance in the idea of the office of the " elder." He was no longer a church member of age and character who might or might not be charged with the management of church affairs. He must be apt to " teach " those who came for instruction, and to refute those who opposed. " For there are many unruly men, vain talkers, and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision " : " giv- ing heed to Jewish fables " — "whose mouths must be stopped." 3 The grace of God was " saving " for men of every class, and did not come by works of righteousness, as of the law, but by " mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 3 Yet believers are to " maintain good works " and to " shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strifes, and fightings about the Law." 4 1 Tit. i. 3. 2 Tit. i. 10, 14. 3 Tit. iii. 4, 5. 4 Tit. iii. 9. Harnack (" Dogmeng.," i. 98) allows that " the THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 145 In these pastoral epistles, then, we find St. Paul moving in his usual circle of ideas. His gospel is for the Gentiles. He proclaims Christianity as a universal religion. At the date of these writings his adversaries had somewhat varied their arguments and terminology, but they are still the advocates of the narrow system maintained by the bigots of Jerusalem at an earlier period. The epistles are so decidedly anti-Jewish as to encourage, at first sight, the Tubin- gen contention that the strife between Paul and the Jewish Christians was unreserved. But the Tubingen writers, and indeed many others, hand their origin over to the apocrypha. We see no reason for this either for linguistic or historical reasons. The " Church " as represented by these epistles, like that of the " Acts " and of the other New Testa- ment writings, had no elaborated or rigid form of government. If there was any model, it was the synagogue with its elders, and not the temple with its hierarchy. The principal responsibility for doc- trine and order was with the elders (presbyters = bishops = superintendents = overseers). In Philippi, Ephesus, Corinth, and Crete there were " deacons " or " ministers." Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and foundations for Hellenizing the gospel in the Church were already laid in the first century ; i.e. A.D. 50-150." 10 146 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Apollos were reckoned to be " apostles." Others had endowments of prophecy, tongues, healing, or administration. Any Christian who possessed a charisma was soon called upon for its exercise. All who believed were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, and all joined in the Eucharistic feast. Beyond this they had no precise ritual ; no order of worship could be absolutely enforced since the Mosaic ceremonies had lost their authority. Nothing fur- ther seemed to be required since all had the common persuasion that the Son of God would shortly be revealed from heaven. CHAPTER VIII. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 2. The Hebrew Churches. " Dark clouds hung over the close of the apostolic age. . . . Christianity is historical, and subject to the common influences of life. 1 A FTER this rapid survey of the condition of the ■*■ Churches raised by the zealous labours of St. Paul and his helpers, let us turn to the Churches which elected to follow the earlier tradition. Of these the principal instance was in Jerusalem, though there might now be communities of Jewish Christians in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch, and elsewhere. Though the epistle to the Hebrews is one of the most important sections of the New Testament, its date, the name of its author, and the exact circum- stances of its composition passed away very early from the memory of the Church. The few items of evidence have been keenly criticized, but it is now most 1 Westcott, "Ep. to Heb.," pref., xxxvii. 147 14S THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. generally allowed that it was addressed to believers resident in Jerusalem, or related to the Church in that city, by some one who had learned the Pauline gospel. Its readers did not belong to the first generation of Christians ; since they had been instructed, not by the Lord Himself, but by His followers. ] Some of their leaders had already passed away. They had passed through a " great conflict of sufferings " since their conversion, but it is not known to what occasion this reference is made. They are addressed as " brethren," but are always supposed to belong to the family of Abraham. The case of the Gentiles is not discussed. When it is said that " Jesus, . . . by the grace of God . . . tasted death for every 1 Heb. ii. 3. Dr. M. Dods gives a careful summary (" Intro, to N.T.'') of the canonical history of the epistle, but favours Mr. RendalPs theory that it was first sent to Antioch. The other view given above is supported by Weiss, (" Introd. to N.TV'ii. 29) ; Riehm ("Der Lehrbegriff des Heb.," 1867, s. 29) ; Huther, Delitzsch, etc. Holzmann ("Einleit. in d. N.T.," p. 343) remarks that inquirers " have wandered over the whole face of the earth" to find the readers of this epistle. Many have referred to Alexandria (Wieseler, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Conyb. and Howson, and Phimptre) ; others to Rome (Kurtz, Zahn, Alford, Holtzmann, Weizsacker, etc.). No one now asserts the Pauline authorship. Some incline to Luther's suggestion that it was from Apollos, but this view lacks authority. Renan (" L'Antechrisl," p. 211) holds that Barnabas wrote it to Roman Christians. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 149 man," it is especially asserted of the Jewish nation. 1 The incarnation came through the Jews : " Since the children are sharers in flesh and blood . . . not of angels did He take hold, but of the seed of Abraham." 2 When the writer refers to the " Cross." he always remembers its " shame," for it is not likely that the Jewish Christian shared in St. Paul's glory- ing in the " Cross." 3 The word is not used by James ; Peter prefers " tree " ; and St. John in the Apocalypse never uses the noun, and in the gospel only four times. The infrequent reference to the cross (aravpos) in the later Jewish-Christian writers is a marked note of their character. It is certain that the use of the sign of the cross could not have originated among Jewish Christians. The " Catho- lics " may have used it at first to distinguish them- selves from the Jews. The object of the writer is to exalt the personality of the Messiah Jesus, and thence to demonstrate the evil consequences of rejecting Him. He, being a Son, is greater than the prophets. The characteris- tics of the Divine " Logos," which Philo had de- 1 Heb. ii. 16. 2 Westcott says " the true Israel-believers." Estius is to be preferred : carnalis Abraham posteritas. 3 Heb. vi. 6, xii. 2. ISO THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. lineated, all belonged to him. Philo spoke of the Logos as " the Divine organ by which the cosmos was prepared," the " image " which the cosmos followed. It was the "brightness" of the glory of God ; the "character" impressed upon His seal. 1 The Logos, he said, was the " firstborn," or " most ancient Son of God" ; "the great High Priest." 2 It was by the Logos — as an instrument sharpened to the keenest edge, that God penetrated things sensible until He reached the indivisible. Therefore it was a " critic of the desires and thoughts of the heart " ; and, as Bishop Westcott says, " five successive epithets — living, powerful, very sharp, penetrating, critical," used by Philo for the Logos, are appropriated for Christ by the epistle to the Hebrews. But Philo spoke of the Logos only as the subjective Reason, and not as the active Word of God. The coming of the Son alone could make this higher meaning of the term intelligible. The writer shows carefully also how superior the Christ is to angels. Following the tradition » Philo, "De Cherub.," 35; " De Monarch.," ii. 5; '• De Plant," N. 5 ; " De Conf. ling.," 14. 2 Philo, " De Somn.,' 1 i. 38. Harnack (" Dogmeng," i. 66) says : " Greek theologoumena do not appear in the Johannean theology ; even the Logos has little that is common with the Philonic beyond the name." THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 151 which had been specially preserved in the Alexan- drian version, he attributes the " Law " to a dispensa- tion under angels. 1 They gave the law to Moses ; under their guardianship the nation had been pre- served ; but now all things are committed to the Son who is greater in the house than the servants. 3 Many had been sent of God, but He is " the Apostle " ; there had been many priests, but He is " the great High Priest." It has been thought that some other destination than Jerusalem is indicated by the fact that the allusions to the worship are taken, not from the temple, but from the tabernacle. But the temple was post-exilic, and, to some extent at least, a de- parture from the earlier and more typical national service. Besides, the priesthood of Jesus conforms to a type earlier than the Levitical ; it answers to the priesthood of Melchizedek, who " blessed " Abraham. 3 As the " holy places made without hands " are supe- rior to the perishable tabernacle which their fathers carried about, so is the sacrifice of Christ better than any hecatomb or holocaust. God now enters into a 1 Gal. iii. 9 ; Acts vii. 53 ; Jos. "Ant.," xv. 5, 3 ; " The Jews learnt their most holy things in the laws from angels " ; cf. LXX., Deut. xxxii. 8 ; Dan. x. 12. - Heb. iii. 1. 3 Westcott, " Ep. to Heb.," xl. 152 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. new covenant with His people, and the old is near to vanishing. By this he does not assume that the Hebrew ritual is about to be exchanged for a more spiritual form of worship, or that no Christian could now practise the ancient ceremonies. The " removal of things shaken as of things made " was to take place at the Parousia, when not only the earth should tremble, but also heaven. 1 The great object of the author is to warn his readers against apostasy, especially as they were not advanced students of the system to which they had professed attachment. 2 Some already had begun to forsake the Christian assembly. They attended Jewish services for prayer and Scripture-reading, but they avoided the further risk which would have been incurred by attendance at the Christian conven- tion. 3 They went to " prayers " in the temple or synagogue, but did not " break bread at home " with their fellow-Christians. We do not see that anywhere the writer invites his readers to forsake Judaism absolutely, though some of his phrases appear to point in that direction. " It is better," he says, " that the heart should be strength- 1 Heb. xii. 27. J Heb. vi. 1. 1 Heb. x. 24, 25 : eVto-waywy^ suggests, perhaps, an additional gathering. The combination of "love and good works" sug- gests that the Agape was now receiving its name. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 153 ened by grace than by meats, which have not profited those who walk in them." l But this may refer to some minute observances of scrupulous sects, such as the Essenes. Again, he says, " We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the taber- nacle." 2 Does this mean that no priest could join the Christian Eucharist ? That would contradict the Acts of the Apostles. 3 " It does not appear," says Bishop Westcott, " that the writer of the epistle implies that Jews by birth, who still observed the law, could not 1 Heb. xiii. 9. Dr. Moulton (Heb. xiii. 13) says, " Each one must for himself make choice either of the synagogue or of the Church of Christ ; between the two there can be no fellowship." Bishop Westcott (" Ep. to Heb.," Pref., xxxviii.) also says, " The Jewish converts had had ample time for realizing the true rela- tions of Christianity and Judaism. Devotion to the Levitical ritual was no longer innocent if it obscured the characteristic teaching of the gospel. The position which rightly belonged to a young and immature Christianity was unsuited to those who ought to have reached the fulness of truth." But the difficulty is, to see how the Church at Jerusalem, while James or Simeon was at the head of affairs, could conclude that the " ritual " should be forsaken. Dr. M. Dods (" Int. to New Test.," p. 183) remarks : "The writer occupies a position regarding the law which is slightly in advance of Paul's. . . . The coming of Christ involves the obsolescence of the law . . . the Jew was as free from it as the Gentile." Surely, such a position was not likely to be accepted at Jerusalem before the destruction of the city — if then. 2 Heb. xiii. 10. 3 Acts vi. 7. 154 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. enjoy the privileges of Christianity." 1 If he had gone so far, he would have challenged the practice of James and of the entire Church at Jerusalem to the end. All he urged was, that they should not fail in their confession of Christ, who had " suffered without the camp " ; and they must share His reproach " For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after that which is to come." 2 These Christians, evi- dently, were expecting that only the heavenly Jeru- salem could take the place of the earthly, and were not prepared to enter into the spiritual breadth of Pauline Christianity. The epistle of James is not lengthy, but has great interest as an emanation from that primary Christian circle of which we know so little. The prominence to which James, the brother of the Lord, so soon attained was greatly owing to his natural relationship to Jesus. 3 He was not a believer in the Messiahship during our Lord's life, but was convinced by His appearance after death. 4 After the death of James, 1 Westcott, " Ep. to Heb.," p. 437-9. 2 Heb. xiii. 14. 3 So with regard to Simeon, his successor (Eus., " Hist. Eccl.," iv 22). On the opinions respecting the relationship, see Schaff, " Hist, of Ch ," i. 272 ; Lightfoot, " Gal.," p. 253 : Farrar, "Early Days," p. 265 ; Epiph., lib. i. 4 I Cor. xv. 7 (eVetra ol>(J)6j] 'laKco/3co). THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 155 the son of Zebedee, he stepped into high position. When Paul visited Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, he saw no one but Peter and James the brother of the Lord. Fourteen years later he found James, Peter, and John to be the " pillars." James took a leading part in the council, pronouncing the verdict in the case, and, perhaps, composing the epistle containing the decrees. 1 On Paul's last visit, James again appeared as one who could represent the Church, advising him to conform to Jewish ritual. 2 We have no further information in the New Testa- ment respecting him. The next testimony is from Hegesippus, a century later, who reports that the piety of James obtained for him the title of the " Just," and the " Bulwark of the people." 3 He was consecrated from birth as a Nazarite, who never shaved his head or indulged in wine or luxurious bathing. He was a pattern of Jewish piety — his knees hardened with kneeling, and had great influ- ence with all devout Jews. At last, in a day of tumult, he was cast down from a pinnacle of the temple ; for the leading Jews had once more begun 1 Acts xv. 23. 2 Acts xxi. 21. 3 Eus. " H. E.," ii. 23. Josephus (" Antiq.," xx. 9. 1) says that James was stoned under Ananus the Sadducee and priest, and that he and others were condemned as " breakers of the law." 156 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. to fear that the increase of believers in Jesus threatened to exhaust the nation. The Clementine literature of the second and third centuries overflows with admiration of James. Peter addresses to him a letter in which he complains that " some among the Gentiles have rejected my legal teaching, and have joined themselves to the lawless and beggarly teaching of the man who is my enemy." 1 This suggests that both James and Peter were at variance with Paul. It is further stated that James allowed the " doctrine " to be communicated to the faithful and circumcised only. Clement addresses James as " the lord, the bishop of bishops, who rules Jerusalem, the Holy Church of the Hebrews, and the Churches everywhere excellently founded by the providence of God." Singularly enough the writer next proceeds to claim the foundation of the Church for Peter. Among other things, he states that Jesus would not have healed the Syro-Phcenician woman unless she had given up Gentilism ; that Simon Magus had been a disciple of John the Baptist ; and that Peter said, " He who keeps not the law is mani- ■festly a deserter." 2 It is upon some such authority that Polycrates reports that James, like John at 1 Ep. of Pet. to Jas., ch. ii. 2 Ep. of Clem, to Jas., i. ; Clem. Horn. 16, 19, 23. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 157 Ephesus, bore the petalon, i.e. a golden plate on the forehead, like the high priest. 1 Such inventions have played an important part in the history of sacer- dotalism. There is not much to be learned from the epistle of James respecting the distinctions of party in the primitive Church. It is addressed " to the twelve tribes of the dispersion," i.e. to members of the Jewish Church and nation who believed in Jesus as the Christ. 2 It very clearly re-echoes the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, especially on the value of prayer. The Gospel is spoken of more as a law of conduct than as a " scheme of salvation." It is " the perfect law of liberty." As Jesus had compared the 1 Eus., " H. E.," v. 24. 2 On the " twelve tribes," a common designation for the Jewish people, cf. Acts xxvi. 7. Therefore, Pfleiderer, who thinks "in den zwolf Stammen eine Bezeichnung fur die Christen iiberhaupt zu sehen " (" Urchrist.,'' p. 869), must be mistaken, though the same view has been held by de Wette, Liicke, Bruckner, Ewald, etc. The Rationalists, pleading for a late date, follow this view, viz., Schwegler, Hilgenfeld ; but Holz- mann, and Weizsacker are so puzzled with the address that they call it a fiction ! Whitby, Lardner, Wordsworth, and Stanley think the epistle was sent to the Jews generally, and Weiss even follows that opinion. But the majority of critics, among whom are Michaelis, Neander, Ritschl, Reuss, Schaff, Bleek, Huther, Salmon, Gloag, Lechler, and Farrar, hold that it was addressed to Jewish Christians. 158 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. careless hearer of His word to a house built on the sand, and the obedient hearer to a house built on the rock, so James holds that the blessing is not for the " hearer that forgetteth," but for the " doer that worketh." x As believers were, chiefly, of the lower class, the dignity if not the merit of poverty is set duly forth. 2 The doctrine of "justification by faith only" is strenuously opposed, but not in direct antagonism to St. Paul. 3 By "faith," James evidently means a mere profession of belief ; St. Paul speaks of faith as a full and obedient confession of Jesus as Christ, as Son of God and Redeemer. By its omissions the epistle has startled many. Because it did not plainly assert the divinity of the Saviour, or the atonement, Luther spoke of it as a " right strawy epistle." Here is nothing about the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, or about the hope which the Gentiles had in Christ. The brief treatise in fact was meant for a section only of the Christian community ; and the cosmopolitan aspects of Christianity are not discussed as they are in the Pauline epistles. It rises no higher than the 1 James ii. 25. 2 Therefore the epistle was attributed by Schwegler to the Ebionites. 3 See a good review of opinion on this subject in Gloag's " Int. to Cath. Epp.," pp. 64-79. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 159 practical level of those primitive Christians who could not enter into a profound disquisition upon dogmas. The apostle says nothing about apostles, or prophets, or deacons. He does mention " the elders of the Church " ; but by the ecclesia he meant the Christian congregation, and by " presbyters " he meant those senior members of it who had gained veneration in it. 1 The first and second epistles of Peter address a similar circle of readers. Though their doctrine comes very much nearer to that of St. Paul, we can scarcely suppose that they were intended for the Pauline Churches in Asia Minor. It is not likely that Peter would speak of Gentiles as " the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion." His readers were probably members of the Jewish families who had heard the gospel in Judea, or had been visited by messengers from the Jerusalem Church. 2 1 The Roman Catholic doctrine of " extreme unction " is founded on James v. 14. T*he Council of Trent pronounced an anathema on all who denied that the " elders " were such as had been ordained by a bishop. The " Apost. Const.," viii. 4, 29, points to the tradition, derived no doubt, like most Chris- tian superstitions, from Jewish sources. Oil, salt, etc., were sacred to the Elcesaites. It may also be noted that the Chris- tian meeting is called a " synagogue " in James ii. 2. 2 We may again refer to Dr. Gloag's " Introd. to Cath. Epp." 160 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. The roots of the epistle are in the Old Testament. Believers have come to a " living hope," of an " in- heritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." l This could never have been said of the mundane Canaan ; for it had been devastated by the heathen, defiled by the people's sins, and now its glory was fading like summer grass. By the Christ believers have been " redeemed " from the bondage of time and sense as their fathers had been from Egypt ; not by " silver and gold," but by the precious blood of Christ, the true Passover. This was not a gratuitous and unauthorized interpretation of the ancient promise, furnished because the literal fulfilment had failed. The prophets had " inquired diligently" concerning this "salvation," and the " angels desire to look into " it. 2 Christ had been foreknown from the foundation of the world, and therefore before a promise had been made to Abraham, or Moses, or David concerning a temporal kingdom. He is the " living stone," rejected of men, but precious to God and to His Church. Every one (pp. 127-133) for an account of the opinions held about the readers of 1 Peter ; but we cannot accept his conclusion that it was addressed to " Christians in general," though that view is widely held. 1 I Peter i. 3, 4. 2 1 Peter i. 3-12. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 161 who believes belongs to a " royal priesthood, a holy nation." It must be allowed that some expressions favour the view that the readers were Gentiles. It is said (i Pet. ii. 10) that they "in time past were no people, but now are the people of God." But this may mean that these Jewish people had been reclaimed by Christian teaching from lives almost wholly heathen. They had " wrought the desire of the Gentiles," and had " walked in lasciviousness," if not in " abominable idolatries." * But now he exhorts them to have " their behaviour seemly among the Gentiles." These Christians were subject to persecution, and were animated by the example of the Saviour. The " cross " is not mentioned, except as the " tree " upon which, in His own body, Christ bore the sins of His people. But the chief use of the sufferings of Christ is as an example of patience under affliction. They furnished the exhibition of that spirit of obedient resignation in which the terrors of the world must henceforth be met. Neither is the author reticent about " the glory that should follow." The resurrec- tion of Jesus is the secret of a new life. He is "on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, 1 i Pet. iv. 3, iii. 9-12. II 1 62 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. angels and authorities and powers being subject unto Him." To these believers in Asia was sent a salutation from those in " Babylon." l This is a memorable reference. If it dates from Rome, it makes it prob- able that Rome is the Babylon of the Apocalypse, and would be the single statement in the New Testament to favour the opinion that Peter went to Rome before the close of his life. It would agree with the statements of Papias and Irenaeus respecting the connection of Mark with Peter at Rome. This, after all, is more probable than that it should refer to Babylon in the East. There were Churches in Mesopotamia very early, but there is no evidence of Peter's life and labour there. Though apparently addressed to Jewish communi- ties, the two Petrine epistles do not take up the question of the salvation of Gentiles, nor do they assert any obligation to follow the Jewish ritual. It is difficult to determine how far Peter and his brethren at Jerusalem were influenced by the career and character of Paul. The latter was no doubt the instrument for leading them into wider views of the purposes of God. Sympathy with Paul in his 1 i Pet. v. 13. " Babylon in our John is a figure of the city of Rome" (" Tertull. c. Marc," iii. 13). THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 163 great trials — especially in his dangerous captivity, might dispose Peter to bear testimony to him as " a beloved brother," whose epistles contained so much that was "hard to be understood." 1 But the chief apostle left the Koivwvla and aytnrt] at Antioch, and there is no positive evidence that he ever returned to the fellowship of the Gentiles. 2 A yet further amalgamation of the apostolic schools seems to have manifestation in the writings of St. John. The fourth gospel exhibits the Christ as the Logos, " enlightening every man who comes into the world." He " came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not." " But to as many as received Him to them gave He power to become children of God." 3 To Nicodemus it was said, that a man does not inherit salvation by natural 1 2 Peter iii. 16. 2 Weizsacker, " Apost. Zeit.," s. 162, says that "there was a separate gospel for each party," but this cannot be allowed. Still, Galatians ii. 9 — "that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision''— shows that there was separateness of action. Ewald, " Hist, of Isr.," vii. p. 358, thinks the visible unity was preserved, and Peter went amongst the Gentiles as Paul continued to preach to Jews in synagogues ; but of the former there is no record. Ewald (p. 460, ibid.) believes that Peter was at Rome in the days of Claudius (so Jerome !). Neander, Lechler, etc., think Peter was in sympathy with Paul. 3 John i. 1 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 23. 1 64 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. birth, by descent from Abraham, but must be re- generate of water and of the Spirit. 1 " God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that," not Jews alone, " but whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." 2 When the Samaritan woman objected : " Ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship," Jesus said, " Neither in this mountain nor in Jeru- salem shall ye worship the Father. God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 3 According to the first gospel, the disciples were directed not to go into " a way of the Gentiles," nor to "enter into any city of the Samaritans," but to go rather to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 4 Mark gives an account of the healing of a woman who was a Greek of Syro- Phoenicia, and Luke expressly recounts a visit which Jesus made into Samaria. 5 John enters into details respecting a journey through this region, yet even then it was declared that " salvation is of the Jews." 6 The same narrative informs us that Jesus healed a " king's officer." 7 But it also discloses frequent con- 1 John iii. 5. 2 John iii. 16. 3 John iv. 23. 4 Matt. x. 5. s Mark vii. 24-30 ; Luke ix. 51-62. 6 John iv. 22. 7 John iv. 46. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 165 troversies between Jesus and the Jews. 1 They " went about to kill Him," and He said that they should " die in their sins." He ventured to tell them that there were other sheep not of that fold, and that those should be brought into the flock under one Shep- herd. 2 In another place we are told how Caiaphas, " high priest that year," uttered an unconscious prophecy respecting the extension of the Messiah's kingdom : " He prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that He might gather into one the children of God that are scattered abroad." 3 The writer of the Gospel does not state how this universal evangel was to be made effective. On the other hand there were " certain Hellenes," who had come up to worship at the feast, and must therefore have been circumcised, who desired to see Jesus.* In the following discourse our Lord speaks of the fruitfulness of His approaching death: " Except 1 John v. 10, vi. 41, vii. 25, ix. 40. 2 John x. 16. The Vulgate translated both avXrj and -noi^v by " ovile : qua voce non grex ipse, sed ovium stabulum declara- tor ; quod unum vix unquam fuit, et non modo falso, sed etiam stulte et impudenter Roma? collocatur " (Beza). The Vulgate • also introduces et where there is no icai. Rec. has yevrjaerai, but R.V. has the better reading (B D L N 3 1, 33, verses), "and they shall become one flock." The reference is to Jews and Gentiles 3 John xi. 47-52. * John xii. 20. 166 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone ; but if it die, it beareth much fruit." By this principle He justified His own sacrifice, and also the sacrifice which He demanded from His followers. 1 He said elsewhere, " He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." The parable might also have its application to the Judaic insti- tution, which seemed to perish with Jerusalem, but revived and flourished more widely in the Church of the Messiah. The death of the cross removed the ancient barriers: "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." 3 We may suppose that a more exact statement of the conditions under which men of every nation should be received was not then suitable. Of such matters it was said, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now : howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." 3 Schwegler questions whether John, who is spoken of as an apostle of the circumcision (Gal. ii. 9) could have changed his standpoint and become the advocate of a catholic Christianity. 4 But the Christology of 1 John x. 24 ; cf. John xvi. 7, etc. 2 John xii. 32. 3 John xvi. 13. * "Nacahap. Zeit." ii. 351. THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 167 the epistles shows that the beloved disciple was far removed from narrow, Ebionite views, and indicates a capacity for progress. There can be no doubt that John means the entire human world by tc6a/j,o ' s used Acts xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. viii. 19 ; Ignat. and Phil. : " It will become you to elect a deacon to act as the ambassador of God (7r/jeo-/3eua-ai)." This, the Long Rec. improves into " elect a bishop." " Ap. Const.,'' vii. 31 has " lay hands on " for " elect by hand." Funk, p. 43, thinks the bishops and deacons were appointed to administer " the Eucharistic liturgy," as Clem. Rom. (1 Cor. 42) ; but he admits that x eL P OTOve ~ lv must mean eligcre, though afterwards it meant " initiation into orders." EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 267 prophets ; the prophets teachers and bishops ; and deacons took their place in their absence. Where there was no resident prophet the firstfruits might be given to the poor. The contributions to the ministry are compared with the offerings under the law : " Thou shalt give the firstfruits to the prophets, for they are your chief priests." : From this interesting document we may learn how limited was the Christian knowledge of some of the early communities or Churches. They recognised 1 The passage (xi. 9-1 1) has been much controverted. Schaff translates 7ray Trpo^ijrrjs 6 pifav rpawe^av iv Trvevpari ov cpdyerai an' civtt)s — " And no prophet that orders a table in the Spirit eats of it unless he is a false prophet." Schaff explains by " a lovefeast ordered in ecstasy," but the meaning of pi£6o> is not clear. Again, in 11, "Every approved prophet who makes assemblies for a worldly mystery, but does not teach others to do what he himself does, shall not be judged by you." The crux is ttolwv els p.vcrTrjpiov KoupiKov eKKXrja-ias. The principal interpretations are, " Symbolical actions like those of prophets" (Bryennius, Zahn, Spencer); "Abstinence from marriage " (Harnack) ; " A lovefeast, of which the teacher does not, for ceremonial reasons, partake." Schaff suggests this (but prefers the first explanation). It has, however, great probability. Some corruption of the text is probable, and chap. 9 might mean that a teacher ordering a table might yet decline to eat of it; and chap. 11, that the teacher might eat himself, but not require others to do the same. The word Kpidijo-erai suggests Rom. xiv. 10, which has a similar con- nection. 26S THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. the " twelve," but knew little or nothing of Paul and his writings. They yet had apostolical ordinances and the ministry, but were not free from scruples about meats. They knew Jesus as Christ and Lord ; but no reference is made to salvation through His death and intercession. They were in danger from false teachers, and history shows how some of them soon lapsed into Ebionite and Gnostic error — only a few emerging into the light and liberty of the sons of God. The Epistle of Clement. The absence of authentic information respecting the last days of the apostles and the Christians of the New Testament Church is almost inexplicable. The fact is, however, most ominous in respect to their probable fate. They vanished in prison, in the amphitheatre, in the mines, in slavery : they " died in the Lord," and only their " works " follow them. Yet it is strange that they left no abiding local traditions. The writers of the following centuries evidently knew little about them beyond the notices in the New Testament. The traditions of Mark in Egypt, of Thomas in India, of Thaddeus in Syria, and of Peter in Rome, are almost equally valueless. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 269 It is possible that the entire tradition of John in Asia rests on the reference in the Apocalypse to Patmos and the seven Churches in Asia. Dionysius the Areopagite was credited with being the first bishop of Athens, and a large work on "Celestial Hierarchy," forged in the sixth century in his name, became the authority for angelology in the Western Church, and assisted the development of the ecclesiastical hier- archy and of church art. The whole story of Simon Magus appears to have been derived from the notice in the "Acts." Scarcely a name appears in the pages of the New Testament which has not been made the nucleus of a church legend. On such treacherous ground every caution is needed when we come to inquire respecting the genuineness and authenticity of such a document as the " Epistle of Clement." If we ask, Who was Clement ? did he write this letter ? does it reveal much respecting the " Faith and Life of the Early Church " ? we must not neglect the warning which modern criticism has made so emphatic. 1. Who was Clement? Dr. Westcott says: "The history of Clement of Rome is invested with a mythic dignity which is without example in the ante-Nicene Church " ; and " traditions which belong to very different men were soon united to confirm the dignity 2-jo THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. of the successor of Peter." r Then, as the question is complicated, it may be convenient to take it in different parts. a. Was he a Jew ? He speaks of the " fathers " as a Jew or Hellenist would, and shows great familiarity with the Jewish Scriptures in the Septuagint form, but no corresponding classical lore. He is also sup- posed to have been connected with the Jewish side of the Church in Rome. Lightfoot concludes that he " was a man of Jewish descent, a freedman, or the son of a freedman, belonging to the house of Flavius Clemens, the emperor's cousin." b. Was he the Clement mentioned by St. Paul in Philippians iv. 3 : " With Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life " ? This was the view of the older church writers since Origen ; although it was not likely that a labourer at Philippi would become so famous at Rome, or that a disciple of Paul would be ordained by Peter. Besides, Clement, the " foreign secretary" of the Roman Church, was known to Hermas in the second century. Yet Irenaeus (iii. 3), building on the supposition that he was Paul's fellow- labourer, says : "He had seen the blessed apostles, and conversed with them, and had the preaching of 1 " Canon," p. 22. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 271 the apostles still ringing in his ears, and their traditions before his eyes." x All the considerations which have influenced modern critics to fix the date of the epistle at the end of the first century, serve to contradict the ancient opinion that its author was Clement, the Philippian Christian. c. Was he the person to whom the " Clementines " are referred ? This is no doubt the intention of these writings ; but everybody allows now that they are fictions, which were elaborated two or three generations after the time of Clement. Lightfoot also urges that the author was a Syrian, who did not know Roman history. They attempt to exalt Clement by a relationship with the imperial family ; but Flavius Clemens, whose wife was banished for being a Christian, died under Domitian (a.D. 95), while the Clementines make Clement to be a relative of Tiberius. Baur thought there might be some- 1 Dr. Salmon (" Diet, of C. Biog.," ii. 555) is of opinion that Irenaeus had Phil. iv. 3 in his mind when he spoke of Clement as the hearer of the apostles. This, then, was another of Irenasus's " mistakes." Dr. S. also says that he was influenced by the work which afterwards became the " Recognitions." Of Linus nothing is known except what is said in 2 Tim. iv. 21. The critics who object to the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles allege that the reference to Linus was inserted in "Timothy" from tradition. The true account appears to be, that tradition borrowed from the epistle. 272 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. thing in this theory of imperial relationship, and even makes the reference to Clement in Philippians an objection to the date of that epistle, because it seemed to betray a knowledge of the current tradition. But the history was exactly the reverse. The tradition of the Romish Church confounded Clement both with the Roman consul Flavius Clemens, and with the friend of Paul in Philippi. d. Was Clement Bishop of Rome ? This is the doctrine of the Romish Church, and is generally held by those who uphold the theory of the apos- tolical succession. But it is involved in the utmost confusion and contradiction. Lightfoot, who thinks that he has established the correctness of the list of early popes, has to renounce the tradition that Clement was ordained by Peter : " The later tra- ditions, which represent him as having been con- secrated bishop by one or other of the apostles, cannot be literally true ; but they are explained by the underlying fact of his discipleship." 1 There are three lists of almost equal authority. The first is that of the early tradition, supported by Irenaeus, Hegesippus, Eusebius, Jerome, etc. Its order places Linus, Cletus, Clement, Euarestus, as the successors of Peter. Of Linus, Irenaeus (iii. 2, 3) says that 1 "St. Clement" (1890), p. 73. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 273 " Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy." 1 The probability is, that the whole story of Linus has originated here, especially as the "Apostolical Constitutions " (vii. 46) says, "Of the Church at Rome, Linus, son of Claudia, was first ordained by me, Paul ; then, after the death of Linus, Clement was ordained second by me, Peter." 2 Eusebius, following the enlarged tradition, gives Linus an episcopacy of twelve years. But the Clementines allege that Clement was the successor of Peter, and this view was held by Ter- tullian and others. Lightfoot is content to call this a fiction. He holds that the first list has more authority. The third list, which is known as the Liberian (after Liberius, pope, A.D. 354), he de- scribes as a "blunder." Yet it has been highly favoured at Rome ; it is " circumstantial, early, and local"; Pope Damasus had it illuminated in the catacombs ; Optatus and Augustine accepted it ; the catalogues of following centuries copied it ; and it is followed by the Liber Pontificalis, a work of highest authority in the Roman Church. Dr. Salmon says: "Among the most authentic 1 2 Tim. iv. 21. - Also Ps. Ignat. ad Trail. 7 : " Deacons . . . Timothy and Linus to Paul, Anacletus and Clement to Peter." 18 274 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. proofs of the connection of Clement with the Romish Church may be placed the mention of his name in its liturgy. . . . The Romish Canon of the Mass to this day recites the names of Linus, Cletus, Clement, and we shall presently see reason to think that the names occur in the same order so early as the second century." 1 His reason is, that if this liturgical order had been fixed after the time of Hippolytus, who was " the first scientific chronologer of the Romish Church," it would have followed his order in mak- ing Clement second after Peter. It is thought that his arrangement influenced that of the Liberiah list. But Hippolytus was not so influential in the Church at Rome. His own See is doubtful ; by some he is regarded as an anti-pope ; and he was, undoubtedly, in violent collision with Callistus. Moreover, he, at the beginning of the third century, had no better authority than Irenaeus and Origen ; and, finally, there is no fixed liturgy which carries its date farther back than the fourth century. If our question was, whether Clement was "a bishop " in Rome, we should not seriously object ; but there is no satisfactory evidence that he was " the bishop" of the Church there. The epistle does not 1 "Diet, of Ch. Biog.,"i. 554. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 275 mention his name. The writer does not speak as a monarchical bishop, and mentions only two orders of ministers — the bishop being but a presbyter. Bishop Lightfoot says : " The later Roman theory supposes that the Church at Rome derives all its authority from the bishop as the successor of Peter. History inverts this relation, and shows that the power of the bishop of Rome was built upon the power of the Church. It was originally a primacy, not of the episcopate, but of the Church." The epistle of Clement attributes its authority to the Church only. Ignatius (Ad Rom.) does not mention the bishop, but of the Church says, " She hath the presidency in the place of the Romans." Origen speaks of Clement as he who " became bishop of the Romans." The metropolis of the world, where Christianity speedily and largely extended, could soon claim to be the first among Churches. It was an afterthought that this pre-eminence might be traced through Clement to Peter. e. Did Clement write this letter ? The tradition that he did is universal. Traces of its language are found in Barnabas, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Hermas refers to him as the minister who communicated with other Churches. Hegesippus (Eus., iv. 22) refers to the letter of Clement to the Corinthians. Dionysius (Corinth, 170 A.D.) says it was read in the Church. 276 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Irenasus (iii. 3, 3) speaks of Linus, Anacletus, and Clement, who wrote " a most satisfactory letter." Most recent writers allow the date to be about A.D. 95. Uhlhorn, Hefele, and Wieseler say 64-68 ; Schwegler, Baur, and Volkmar, the time of Hadrian. What is said about persecution agrees with events under Domitian. Since bishops and presbyters are assumed to be equals, and the biblical quotations are given without reference to author or place, and are chiefly from the Old Testament, it seems necessary to place it within the first century. 1 The name of Clement does not occur, nor the name of any bishop. The Church at Rome was still probably under presbyterian government. It is from " The Church of God which sojourneth in Rome to the Church of God which sojourneth in Corinth." f. What is its doctrine? Christian truth is brought into relation to historic facts rather than to theo- logical system : the letter is practical rather than doctrinal. Dogmatic theology had scarcely arisen ; no Gnostic errors are opposed, and no syllabus of the faith had been constructed. Once there is a refer- 1 In one place the ep. speaks of the temple offerings in the present tense, it poo-fa povrai. This might be the work of some one writing in the name of the Philippian Clement. Lightfoot ("St. Clem.," ii. 125) refers to passages in Josephus, Barn. 7, and Diogn. 3, which tend to remove this impression. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 277 cnce to the Trinity : " Have we not one God, one Christ, and one Spirit of Grace ? " The Christology is debated. He does not call our Lord " Logos," but our " High Priest," " the Protector and Helper of our weakness." He emphasizes the mediation of Christ in general, and shows that all things are "through Jesus Christ." His use of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Pauline writings shows that he believed in the pre-existence of Christ. 1 His statements on the mediatorial work are not always explicit, but refute the notion that he was an Ebionite explaining away the death of Christ. He speaks of " the blood of the Christ," and " the suffer- ings of the Christ." Faith is not with him as it is with St. Paul ; it is more akin to that which is " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 1 See Donaldson, "Ap. Fathers," p. 158; Harnack, "Dog- meng.," i. 129; Lightfoot, "St. Clem.," i. 398; Dorner, " Pers. of Ch.," i. 1, pp. 301, 356. Clement uses as titles of the Saviour : "Jesus Christ our Lord," once ; " Lord Jesus Christ," 13 times; "the Lord Jesus," 3 times (twice with reference to Acts xx. 35) ; " the Lord," 3 ; " the Christ," 10 ; "Jesus Christ," 7 ; "in Christ," 8 ; " Christ Jesus," 2 ; " our Saviour Jesus Christ," 1 ; "Jesus the Christ," 1 ; "Christ," 1. In no case does "Jesus Christ " seem to be a proper name : the old signifi- cance appears in such phrases as "Jesus the Christ," "the flock of the Christ." 27S THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. not seen." Of Abraham, it is said (c. 10), "On account of his faith and hospitality a son was given to him." Again (c. 32), " We, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godli- ness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart, but by that faith through which from the beginning Almighty God has justified all men." After an exhortation to a holy life, he says, " This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Saviour, even Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all our offerings. . . . By Him the Lord has wished that we should taste of immortal knowledge." 1 " The very way in which Clement mentions the death of Christ shows that he attached a mysterious efficacy to it, but he does not explain the mystery." 2 The aspect in which he views the death of Christ is more Petrine than Pauline-. He says (c. 7) that the " blood of Christ being shed for our salvation won for the whole world the grace of repentance." He quotes the account of the great Sufferer (Isa. liii.), and concludes, " You see . . . what is the pattern (viroypa/x^io^, cf. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, ii. 21) that hath been given to us." He does not use the word 1 Clem. " Ep.," ch. 32. 2 Donaldson, "Apost. Fathers," p. 161. EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 279 "cross" (o oravpos). Strictly speaking, the Pauline doctrine never seems to have been understood at Rome. 1 The Council of Trent was probably correct when it asserted that the doctrine of justification by faith alone was inconsistent with its tradition. 1 Harnack (" Dogmeng.," i. 144) remarks that neither Clement nor Barnabas shows a correct acquaintance with Paul's doctrine of justification. CHAPTER XII. BAPTISM. " What is the use of that baptism which cleanses the flesh and body alone ? . . . You have understood all things in a carnal sense." ' F T was the dawn of the gospel day when John the A Baptist went forth into " the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins." 2 He added, however, " I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : He shall baptize you with the Holy- Ghost and with fire." 3 Nevertheless, all who feared God were required to submit to his baptism of re- pentance and preparation for the coming kingdom. He came in the " spirit and power of Elijah," having a commission " to prepare the way of the Lord " ; " there came a man sent from God whose name was 1 Justin M., "Dial. c. Tr.," 43. 2 Mark i. 5. 3 Matt. iii. II. 280 BAPTISM. 281 John." It is sometimes forgotten that the Divine dispensation under which our Lord lived was that of John the Baptist. Hence Jesus said, "All the pro- phets and the law prophesied until John " ; and " among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater." 1 Therefore it was that Jesus came to be baptized of him, that He might " fulfil all right- eousness." " The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptized of him." 2 In our Lord's last controversy with the Scribes and Pharisees in the temple He asked them the question which they dared not answer : " The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men ? answer Me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven ; He will say, Why then did ye not believe him ? " 3 It was for this reason that our Lord said to Nicodemus, " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." At that time Christian baptism had not commenced. The disciples of Jesus (John iv. 1) really administered the baptism of preparation, or John's baptism. The third chapter of St. John's Gospel (ver. 23) says that " John also was baptizing in yEnon near to Salim," 1 Matt. xi. 11. 2 Luke vii. 30. 3 Mark xi. 30, 31. 2§2 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. at that time. Nicodemus understood and marvelled. Was that the way into the kingdom ? Must he, " the teacher of Israel," join the motley crowd which followed the enthusiast in the wilderness, in order to enter the kingdom of God ? Even so ; for " the wind bloweth where it listeth." The breath of heaven was not now secluded under the temple roof, where the altar smoked and the holy books were opened, but had gone out into the wilderness, where the outcasts received its inspiration. If he would have the " Spirit," he must go where the Spirit was. Let him receive the baptism of water, and that should prepare him for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. This passage is usually advanced by the advocates of baptismal regeneration in favour of their theory. If that doctrine is not taught here, it is scarcely to be found in the New Testament. Yet recent commen- tators, because they are willing to appreciate the context, have wavered in its interpretation. West- cott, Alford, and others allow that it may have some reference to the baptism of John. Then, since Christianity, as a religious system, is spiritual rather than symbolic, it is not very probable that an out- ward ceremony, however simple, would be made the initial condition of salvation. It was because the inspirations attending the new faith were so exalted, and the life-transformations consequent en conversion BAPTISM. 283 so marvellous, that the early writers began to speak of baptism as the cause, or instrument of the great change rather than its appointed sign. No writer of the New Testament falls into this great error. But Justin carelessly speaks of baptism as the " illumination," and "regeneration " of Christians. It was Augustine who formulated the church doctrine : " Baptisma . . . contra originale peccatum donatum est, ut quod generatione attractum est, regeneratione detrahatur." It must also be allowed that, so far as the effects of baptism are concerned, the New Testament only speaks of adults who professed repentance and faith. Church teachers, however, apply its expressions, which can only refer to cases where there was baptism plus repentance and faith, to the case of infants, where baptism is minus repentance and faith. It is certain that such a method of calculation would not be recognised in any other province of human thought or interest. At the very beginning Peter said : " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 1 If he says afterwards, " water, which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism," he adds that it is " not the putting away of the filth of the 1 Acts ii. 38. 284 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience to- ward God." 1 If St. Paul says that believers in Christ are "buried with Him in baptism," he explains that they are " raised with Him through faith in the work- ing of God." 2 " Regeneration " is, though it represents a great fact of Christian experience, a figurative term, as are also the terms used by St. Paul, " the new creation," and " being risen with Christ." " Regeneration " was used chiefly by the " twelve," and became the favourite term with church theologians. 3 The fathers, for some reason, did not speak of " Baptismal Crea- tion " nor of " Baptismal Resurrection." Commenta- tors have usually assumed that these terms represent the same aspects of conversion. But " the new creation " implies something more than the " new birth " ; the guilt of sin as well as its defilement, are included in the " old things " which pass away. 4 St. 1 1 Pet. iii. 21. 2 Col. ii. 12. 3 Matt, xviii. 3 ; John iii. 5 ; Jas. i. 18 ; 1 Pet. i. 23 ; 1 John ii. 9 ; iv. 7. On the " New Creation" cf. 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Gal. vi. 15 ; Ps. Ii. 10 ; Gen. i. 3 ; Ep. Barn. 6. 4 Dr. Westcott (John i. 18) discriminates between the Pauline and Petrine terms; but see Weiss, "Bib. Theol.," ii. 134; "Speaker's Comm.," Jas. i. iS ; Huther, iii. 5 ; Lightfoot, Gal. vi 15. Dr. Beet (1 Cor. iv. 15) finds an approach to the doc- trine of the new birth by Paul, but a " direct reference" only in Tit. iii. 5. TvaXiyyeveaia may be accidental: cf. Jos., "Ant.," BAPTISM. 285 Paul scarcely uses the term " Regeneration," but his expressions are seldom employed by the early Fathers. Barnabas (c. 6) says, " Therefore He re- newed (avafcaiv(,(Tas) us " ; and, " Behold we have been refashioned ... by the faith of the promise, and are made alive by the word." Hermas (Pastor) enigmatically says " The seal then is the water ; they descend into the water dead, and they rise alive." Justin Martyr uses both the Galilasan dvayevvav (Ap. i. 66) and also some Pauline expressions, as, " being made new." That he did not separate re- pentance and faith from baptism is clear, since he tells us ("Apol.," lxi.) " As many as . . . believe, . . .' and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission of sins. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated (avwyevvoivraC) in the same manner as we ourselves." All that is said of baptism in the New Testament or in the writers of the first century implies that the subjects who realized the benefits of salvation in connection with it were those who had intelligence to comply with its conditions. 1 xi.g. Liddon (Bamp. Lect., p. 345) says "The instrument of regeneration, . . . according to St. Paul, is the sacrament of baptism." 1 There is a remarkable passage in the " Holy Theophany," 286 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH On the baptism of children, we may quote Dr. Schaff:— "We have presumptive and positive arguments for the apostolic origin and character of infant baptism ; first, in the fact that circumcision as truly prefigured baptism as the pass- over the Holy Supper ; then in the organic relation between parents and children ; in the nature of the new covenant, which is even more comprehensive than the old ; in the universal virtue of Christ, as the Redeemer of all sexes, classes and ages, and especially in the import of his own infancy ... in his express invitation to children ... in the words of institu- tion ... in the express declaration of Peter that this promise was ' to their children,' in the five instances in the New Testament of the baptism of whole families . . . and finally, in the universal practice of the early Church, against which the isolated protest of Tertullian proves no more than his other peculiarities." ' This is an able and condensed summary of the arguments in favour of the baptism of children. If the ordinance were denied to them, it would attribute to the outward rite a significance which does not belong to it. Children have, undoubtedly, a right to be admitted into the congregation of the Lord's attributed to Hippolytus, chap. 10 : "He who comes down in faith to the lover of regeneration, and renounces the devil and joins himself to Christ, who denies the enemy and confesses that Christ is God ... he returns a son of God and joint- heir with Christ." 1 Schaffs " Hist, of Ch." (i-ioo), 470. BAPTISM. 2S7 people, and the Church has no other rite by which they can be visibly recognised. The opinion that baptism came in the place of circumcision seems to have been founded on Colos- sians ii. 1 1 : " Ye were circumcised with a circum- cision not made with hands . . . being buried with Him in baptism." So Epiphanius ("Haer.," xxx.) says, " Circumcision had its period : it was replaced by the greater circumcision, that is, the ransom of regeneration." Justin Martyr ("Dial.," 43) observes, " We have received not moral but spiritual circum- cision . . . through baptism." Of course such a view could not be held among those who favoured Jewish Christianity ; they rather connect it with the abolition of sacrifices. Hence the " Homilies " say (i. 54), " The rising of Christ was at hand for the abolition of sacrifices, and for the bestowal of the grace of baptism," and (55) "The High Priest found fault with the baptism of Jesus as recently brought in in opposition to the sacrifices." CHAPTER XIII. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. " Consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." l ~\ T O custom of the primitive Church has been more obscured by superstition than the Agape- Eucharist. Scarcely any development in nature or history is more wonderful than that which connects a " high celebration " of the " Mass " with the simple feast of the first believers. The doctrine which is supposed to be the chief content of this symbolic rite has not been more entirely changed than the form of its observance. Into the successive stages of this extraordinary transformation we need not enter : we now only have to examine the earliest history of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 2 1 Heb. x. 24. 2 Neither the Latin sacramentum nor the Greek fnvarrjoiov is used for baptism or the Eucharist in the New Test. The former was not used for either before Tertullian. The latter said (" Cont. Marc," iv. 40), '"This is My body,' i.e. the figure of My body . . . wine is used as a figure for blood. . . . He used the figure of wine to describe His blood." 288 THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 2S9 In Acts ii. 42 we are told that the first body of disciples " continued stedfastly in the apostles' teach- ing and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers." The word " fellowship" (kolvqjvlo) has been a difficulty with expositors and historians. Lechler, in his first edition, spoke of it as "most difficult" ; but in the later (English) edition he interprets it as " inner community of spirit and faith." Wordsworth regards it as "visible communion with the apostles," and Meyer as " mutual brotherly association." Other passages in the New Testament will enable us to see that it includes all these things. The " teaching," the " breaking of bread," " the prayers," the praise, and the charity, which belonged to it at the first, never left it in apostolic times. 1 The charity of the Church in its first estate was so abounding that " not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." Lands and houses were sold, and their value laid at the apostles' feet. The first controversy arose when many Hellenists had entered the Church, and some of these thought that " their widows were neglected in the daily ministra- 1 "The significance of the social element in the early Church has properly been made prominent in the later works (Renan, Heinrici, Hatch) on the subject." (Harnack, " Dogm.," i. 104). 19 290 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. tion. " 1 This shows that the tide of beneficence continued to flow, and that the original practice was maintained. When a time of straitness set in at Jerusalem, the Church at Antioch sent relief (ei? hidKovLav) by Barnabas and Saul. 2 When Paul was at Troas, the brethren met on the first day of the week " to break bread," and his " teaching " was pro- longed until midnight, when the accident happened to Eutychus. There had arisen also the great con- troversy whether it was lawful for a Christian " to go in unto a man uncircumcised and to eat with him." Of this we have spoken elsewhere. St. Paul tells the Romans that " it hath been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution (Koivwvia) for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem." 3 To this Macedonian generosity he refers in another place, where he speaks of their "fellowship in the ministering to the saints." i He goes to on declare that " he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he that soweth bounti- fully shall reap also bountifully." When Paul and Barnabas received the " right hands of fellowship " at Jerusalem, they were exhorted to " remember the poor." 5 For the Philippians Paul was thankful on 1 Acts vi. i. 2 Idem, xi. 30. 3 Rom. xv. 26. 4 Cor. ix. 13. s Gal. ii. 9. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 291 account of their " fellowship in furtherance of the gospel." 1 To Timothy, he says, " Charge them that are rich . . . that they be . . . willing to com- municate." 2 Elsewhere he directs the Romans to " communicate to the necessity of the saints, to pursue hospitality." 3 He informs the Philippians " that no Church had fellowship {iicoivwviicrev) with him in the matter of giving and receiving," 4 except them. To the Galatians he says, " Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." 5 The " fellowship" begun in Jerusalem evidently retained its beneficent characteristics in the Pauline Churches. 6 We have seen that the disciples also when they met at Troas did not omit the " breaking of bread." Was this an ordinary meal, or was it the Lord's Supper ? There can be no doubt that it was both. The Eucha- rist, or thanksgiving (euxapLaria) was a special offer- ing of praise, when they thus socially assembled, for the lovingkindness of God, especially in remem- 1 Phil. i. 5. 2 1 Tim. iv. iS. 3 Rom. xii. 13. 4 Phil. iv. 15. s Gal. vi. 6. 6 Horn. Clem., c. 69, "If you love the brethren, take nothing from them, but share with them such things as ye have. Feed the hungry ; . . . above all else . . . come together frequently. ... Let none, therefore, forsake the assembly on account of envy." 292 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. brance of the death and resurrection of the Lord. The time chosen for the celebration was the evening of the day, because then the Lord Himself had eaten the final passover. During the apostolic age the Eucharist did not constitute a separate ceremonial, but was always connected with the evening meal. 1 The Christians in the various cities and towns had no separate buildings for their gatherings, so that the " Lovefeast," which was identical with the " Lord's Supper," and was concluded by the Eucharist, was held in private houses. The proceedings were in- formal ; prayer and exhortation were free, or guided by the Spirit. To the Corinthians, Paul says, " What is it then, brethren ? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation." 2 Elsewhere 1 i Cor. xi. 21 leaves no doubt that the Eucharist was part of the Agape. Sozomen, " Hist. Eccles.," vii. 19, states that in his time the custom was occasionally continued in some places ; " in many cities and villages in Egypt the people gather on the Sabbath evening, and in addition to the usual custom, having had a feast, they partake of the mysteries." Chrysostom (" Horn.," 27, in I. ad Cor.) says that in his time the feast fol- lowed the Eucharist, so Theophylact (1 Cor.) The Council of Carthage laid down the rule that the Eucharist was only to be taken fasting ; and from that time the true character of the Christian feast was forgotten. 2 1 Cor. xiv. 26-33. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 293 7 he advises the Church not to " despise prophesy- ings," nor to "quench the Spirit." 1 Sometimes there were those who " spake with tongues," as at the beginning. When an evangelist, or prophet, or apostle was present, it would be natural for him to conduct the proceedings ; to " take the bread and break it and give thanks " ; to " take the cup " and " give thanks," and "shew forth the Lord's death." 2 In their absence Paul's will was, that " the men should pray everywhere," but that the " women keep silence in the Churches." 3 In Corinth freedom degenerated into disorder, and the " fellowship " was marred by divisions. The men of various parties did not wait to join in the same Eucharist, but " each one taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken." 4 He reminds them of the original institution of the sacred meal, and its solemn obligations. At Ephesus also, there may have been excesses ; for Paul says, " Be not drunken with wine wherein is riot, but be 1 1 Thess. v. 12-28, where are associated the ministry, mutual exhortation, thanksgiving, prophesying, and the holy kiss. 2 Just. Mart., " Apol," 67, the " President " offered prayer: " Didache," x. 7, the prophet may eucharize as much as he pleases. 3 1 Tim. ii. 8, 12 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 34. 4 1 Cor. xi. 21. 294 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. filled with the Spirit." x At Thessalonica some took a mean advantage of the charity of the Church : they feasted but did not work ; but the apostle laid down the rule, " If any will not work, neither let him eat." 2 There are many passages in the apostolical epistles which can only be understood by a reference to the Church gathering for these social services. In Col. i. 4, St. Paul speaks of their " love toward all the saints" ; again (iii. 14) he exhorts them "to put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body [both Jews and Gen- tiles] ; and be ye thankful [koX ev^dpLa-rot, yiveaOe). Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom [i.e. the spoken word] ; teaching and admon- ishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Farther, it is said, " Whatsoever ye do in word [i.e. in the form of prayer and exhor- tation], or in deed [i.e. by contributing to the Church's funds], do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giv- ing thanks (ev^apiarovvTe^ to God the Father through Him." 3 1 Ephes. v. 18. - 2 Thess. iii. 10. 3 See Clem. Al., " Paedag.," ii., where these words are taken in their proper connection with the Agape. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 295 In the parallel passage in Ephesians (v. 1-21) we find the same adaptation to the circumstances of an apostolical community. They are to " walk in love " (dya7n] — love in exercise, as appears from what follows) because Christ loved them and " gave Himself " for them, " an offering and sacrifice to God." Amongst them had been tendencies to evil, and they are warned against uncleanness, covetousness, idolatry ; and even excess in their holy feast. They are not to be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit, " speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," " giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord." The Philippians (iv. 4) also he bids " be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (eu^apicrTca) let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." This " peace of God," then, was not only a personal, but a social experience. So in Col. iv. 2, we find similar language : "Continue [ye] stedfastly (irpoaKaprepeiTe ; cf. Acts ii. 42) in prayer, watching (plur.) therein with thanksgiving (euxapiarla), together (dp.a = simul, Vulg.) praying for us also." Such passages have been too often separated from their original 296 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. associations as addressed, not to individuals, but to Churches. 1 At the beginning the disciples were "daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house." Seven years later, as we are told (Acts vi. i), there was a " daily ministration." The Hebrew Christians were advised (iii. 13) to "exhort one another day by day." Justin Martyr (" Apol," 67) says : " But after- wards continually (del) remind one another of these things. They who have wealth assist all the needy, and we are always (del) with one another." Barna- bas (" Ep.," c. 19) directs the Christian thus : "Thou shalt seek out every day the faces of the saints, labouring by word and going to exhort them, and meditating to save a soul by the word." 2 This daily communion continued, when and where possible, into the following centuries ; since in Cyprian we find it said, "We ask that this bread shall be given to us daily, that we who are in Christ, and daily receive the Eu- 1 Ellicott in Phil. iv. 7 interprets f) dprjpr) r. 9eo0 as " the deep tranquillity of a soul resting upon God" ; so Olshaus., " Meyer, Alf." ; but the "peace " was not merely subjective ; cf. Eph. ii. 14, " He is our peace, who made both one" ; and Col. iii. 15, " Let the peace of Christ rule ... to the which ye are called in one body." 2 The " Teaching " (iv. 2) has this sentence almost exactly. Ignat. at Eph. 13, "Take heed frequently to come together for thanksgiving (elxapio-r .) and praise to God." THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 297 charist for the food of salvation may not be separated from Christ's body." 1 But the principal gathering of the Christians was on the " Lord's day." The following is Justin Martyr's description of a Sunday service, which will show how the original elements of the " Agape-Eucharist " were preserved, with some modification, in the second century. Here are the " teaching," " the prayers," the " breaking of bread," the contributions— all of which were included in the primitive tcoivwvia. But it is not said, now, that they have " all things common," but the wealthy give as they think fit ; there are no " tongues," or promiscuous prayer or exhortation, but the instruc- tion and prayers are by the " president." This, then, is the account : " On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are read . . . Then the president instructs. . . . Then we all rise together and 1 Wesley's sermon on " The Duty of Constant Communion," was written in 1733, but printed in 1788, when he said, " I have not yet seen any cause to alter my sentiments. . . . With the first Christians the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord's Day service. For several centuries they received it almost every day : four times a week always, and every saint's day beside." Cyprian's remark is in his treatise on " The Lord's Prayer." 298 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. pray, and . . . when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president, in like manner, offers prayers and thanksgivings according to his ability [extempore, not formally pre- pared : oar) hvva)jui\7]fxa a^dirrj^ ; but neither in James nor Peter is there any reference to 1 Heb. x. 25 : perhaps inLo-wayayr] may mean attendance at the Christian synagogue as well as at the Jewish. 2 1 Pet. iv. 7 : Rec. with K L inserts the art. bef. Tvpocevxas ■ ABX, W. K., Ti. om. As it is it reminds us of Acts ii. 42 ; cf. Apoc. v. 8. 300 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. the peculiar significance of the Lord's Supper as a commemoration of the death of Christ. In 2 Peter ii. 13, the Revised Version has introduced the word " love-feasts " into the English Bible. 1 It is satisfactory that the direct references to this oldest symbol of Christian fellowship, found in Peter and Jude, are no longer to be concealed ; but it is admon- itory that in each case there is a disclosure of the perils attached to " the feast of love." The abuses which sacerdotal superstition were to attach to it were not, however, in sight in the apostolic age. The Eucharist, or Thanksgiving, was an essential part of the proceedings in the sacred feast. Such a recognition of the Divine bounty when food was taken had been an ancient Jewish custom. This Eucharist is still preserved in the Communion Service, where it is said : " It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, 1 The A.V. has "deceivings" in 2 Peter ii. 13, and "feasts of charity" in Jude 12 -.ayawais and dndrats were easily interchanged. Dr. Lumby ("Speaker's Coram." Jud. 12) says, "The Lovefeasts were in early time joined on to the Lord's Supper " (so Dr. Hinds, "Ch. Hist.," 1846) ; but this is the reverse of the true order. " The significance of the social element in the oldest Churches is in recent works (Renan, Heinrici, Hatch) with great propriety strongly brought out" (Harnack, "Dogmeng.," i. 104). THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 301 Almighty, Everlasting God." In the "Teaching" forms of thanksgiving are provided for use before the cup [taken first, as Luke xxii. 17], before the bread, and " after being filled." In the " Constitutions of the Apostles " these forms are greatly extended. Since the materials of the feast were contributed by the people, they began to be spoken of as their " offerings," or " oblations." " Give thanks, having before confessed your transgressions that your sacri- fice may be pure." x " Those who present their offer- ings at the appointed time are accepted and blessed." 2 The Christian writers of the first two centuries, with one voice, describe the prayers, and praise and gifts of the people as their sacrifices. It was not until the third century had far advanced that the enemy sowed tares while men slept, and introduced the notion that the bread and wine of the Eucharist were to be offered as a repetition of the sacrificial death of Christ. The fraud was made plausible through the previous use of the term " offerings " in an innocent sense. 3 The 1 " Teaching," xiv. 2 Ep. Clem. xi. Just. M., " Dial.," 107 : " Prayers and giving of thanks, when offered by worthy men, are the only perfect and well-pleasing sacrifices to God." 3 In a fragment attributed to Hippolyt. (Ante-Nic. Lib., vi. 439) on Prov. ix. 1, it is said that "the undefiled body and blood are day by day administered, and offered sacrificially at the 302 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 10-17) had said : " We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. . . . Through Him let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not : for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." The question when the Eucharist was separated from the Agape is both interesting and important. Historians have generally accepted the opinion which is thus stated by Dr. Schaff: "Early in the second century the social Agape was separated from the Communion and held in the evening, the more solemn Communion in the morning ; and afterwards the Agape was changed into a charity for the poor." * Weizsacker holds that " Justin Martyr shows that the congregational meeting and the Sacrament were still united, but the feast had fallen away." 2 Bishop Light- foot, also, maintains that the separation had taken place before the date of Pliny's letter to Trajan, A.D. 112. He desires to establish an early date for the epistles of Ignatius, which speak of the Eucharist as spiritual Divine table." The slightest knowledge of the history- will suffice to show that such a statement could not have been made by Hippolytus, A.D. 212. 1 " The Oldest Church Manual," p. 57. 2 " Das Apost. Zeit.," s. 601. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 303 being still in the form of an Agape. He, and most competent judges, however, admit that during the first century the Eucharist was invariably associated with the Agape, or Love-feast. The separation did not take place under the authority of the apostles. The advocates of " apostolical succession," who are usually the strict professors of " primitive practice," are here convicted of a glaring departure from apos- tolic order. Dr. Lightfoot says, that it was found that " the Agape was not essential." x But can this be said of that " fellowship " which had held its ground unchal- lenged through the apostolic period ? Too much is said in its praise throughout the New Testament for it to be regarded as " not essential." Granted that Pliny and other Roman officers forbade and dis- couraged the Christian assemblies, but did they cease to be held ? Bishop Lightfoot says that " these fes- tivals had begun to provoke unfavourable comments." Pliny does not say so, but the opposite, namely, that the feast was " promiscuous, but harmless." He forbade such fraternities chiefly because of what he called their " superstition." Moreover, Pliny's lan- 1 Dr. Duff (" The Early Ch.," p. 120) assumes that the Agape was discontinued because not created by apostolic authority. He forgets Acts ii. 42, and xx. 11. 304 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. guage is too ambiguous and imperfect to be taken as an authoritative account of the habits of Christians. He says that they " met before day to sing a hymn, and to join in a Sacramentum [a confession ?] — then they separated, but met again to take food together." If the assemblies were hindered for a time, they were wholly suspended, but there is no evidence that one part was given up while the other was continued. The Epistles of Ignatius frequently refer to the Christian service, which they call both Eucharist and Lovefeast. " It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast." 1 " In your harmonious Agape Jesus Christ is sung." " Some have no regard for an Agape, nor for the widow and orphan." " Notwithstanding the learned investigations of Bishop Lightfoot into the origin of these epistles, we cannot accept his date for documents which make so strong a distinction between the bishop and the presbyter. They need not be much earlier than the epistle to Diognetus, which reports that " the Chris- tians have a common table." Nor need they be earlier than Justin Martyr, who never uses the words bishop or presbyter, but speaks of the chief minister of the congregation as " Presi- 1 Ignat. ad Smyrn., 8. 2 Ibid., ad Eph., 4. THE AGAPE AND THE EUCHARIST. 305 dent." Justin is commonly quoted as a principal authority for the opinion that the Eucharist was fully separated from the Agape early in the second cen- tury. But he makes no statements which justify that conclusion ; what he does say points in another direction. He relates that the candidate for member- ship is first baptized — probably in the open air (and therefore by day), and afterwards is brought to the meeting of brethren to join in the Eucharist (" Apol.," 65). He mentions the holy kiss, the distribution of bread and wine, the prayers and thanksgiving. The bread is not a crumb or wafer, but food (f} rpocprj avTrj), by which " blood and flesh " are nourished. Nay, more ; he refers to the community of goods as still flourishing: "We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock (et? koivov (pepov- ret]s. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 323 istence of many intermediate phases of doctrine respecting the Saviour's personality, which a more careful criticism of the New Testament has disclosed, was not suspected. The inquiry into this subject ought not to be prejudiced because German rationalism has been the first to explore it. The Tubingen writers asserted that the first Christians were Ebionites ; that they used a gospel which described a merely human Jesus ; and that christological development passed through Paulinism and Gnosticism into orthodox Catholicism. But this violent theory brought its own refutation. Renan, Lipsius, Hilgenfeld, Harnack, Weizsacker, and even Pfleiderer admit that it was a great exaggeration. Harnack goes so far as to say that " the theory did not unlock any problem, though it professed to unlock all." l He, with most of the modern naturalistic interpreters, allows that Jesus after His resurrection, was regarded by His followers as exalted to the Divine glory. This is very different from that foremost assertion of the Tubingen critics, which alleged that the doctrine of the Divinity was wholly elaborated in the second century. Harnack now urges that " the division of original Christendom into Jewish-Christians and Gentile-Christians " is in- 1 Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1886. 324 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. adequate because " it ignores the Judaic forms and spirit in Paulinism." Yet these investigations and speculations were not wholly vain. Like miners, who have dug shafts and bored rocks in many- directions, yet have missed the true vein, they have left their plant and workings to others who are en- riched by their toil. 1 The Christology of the New Testament may be conveniently divided into four parts, which are de- fined for us by the course of the history. i. That which belonged to the period of our Lord's life on earth. ii. The second is found in the proclamations of the day of Pentecost and of the whole ante-Pauline period. 1 The following extract from Schwegler's " Nachapostolische Zeitalter" (ii. 271) will show what the Tubingen view was: " Christology generally goes hand-in-hand with the theological standpoint. The lower the view of Christianity and of its character as a novelty in history, the lower, as a rule, will be its view of the person of Christ, and vice versa. It was natural, therefore, that Jewish-Christians should see in Christ only an ordinary man ; while Marcionitism, exaggerating the historical newness of Christianity, saw something superhuman in Him. The Christology of the first period was therefore Ebionitish, but that of the second was Docetic." But Schwegler forgot that Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, preached from the first Jesus as Son of God, and that there were Jewish Docetics before Marcion. We are sorry that Harnack can still say that " Marcion only fully understood Paul " (" Dogmenges.," i. 63). THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 325 iii. The next includes the conversion and ministry of St. Paul. iv. The last, arising in the same period, extends to the close of the apostolic age. I. In examining the views held concerning our Lord during His earthly life, it is necessary to re- member that the gospel narratives, having been written from thirty to fifty years after His death, were framed to meet the wants of the generation in which they arose. This is especially true of the fourth Gospel, which reveals a mind fully awake to the perilous growth of anti-Christian ideas. None of the Gospels contains a full and exact account of all that Jesus said and did. They must be compared and combined in order to obtain an adequate view of that which they report. The Gospel of Mark is the one which looks most like a compendium of the whole history, while that of Matthew is evidently adapted to Jewish readers. The narrative of Luke explains itself as a compilation, and its design to instruct and edify Gentile readers is evident. That they are all fragmentary, and bear the marks of adaptation to particular classes of readers, may assist rather than impair our regard for their historical solidity. The testimony shows that, though the disciples held the faith that Jesus was the Messiah, they were 326 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. forbidden to make it public. When Peter made his great confession that Jesus was " the Christ, the Son of the living God," they were strictly charged to tell no man. 1 It cannot be correctly said, therefore, that there was no such faith held until after the resurrec- tion. This faith might be dim and intermittent, but, because they believed Jesus to be the Christ, they followed Him. He had been recognised by the anointing at His baptism and by other signs, or the disciples of John would not have left with his consent to follow Jesus. Cleopas and his friend, on their way to'Emmaus, before they had attained the faith of the resurrection, could say, " We hoped that it was He which should redeem Israel." It was intimated, how- ever, that such a faith was a special privilege from God. When Peter suddenly, in the midst of his companions, declared the great conviction — tacitly held, but perhaps never so plainly uttered before — he was told that " flesh and blood had not revealed it " ;. it was an apocalypse from the " Father in heaven." This was the faith, nevertheless, which held that little 1 Matt. xvi. 20 ; cf. Mark viii. 30 ; Luke ix. 21. In each case the reason for silence is annexed : " Because the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things." Matthew alone adds to the declaration, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My Church." THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. ¥-1 band of followers, not wholly unfaithful, around their Master to the end. We should be mistaken, however, if we should attribute to these original disciples a clear, well-de- fined, theologically complete conception of all that is included in the Christhood of Jesus. Nicene ortho- doxy was not then in debate. Faith was centred in the person of Jesus. 1 What He was in reality, or how His Messiahship should be manifested to all men, they did not know. They were looking for a Christ for Israel — a prophet like Moses who should lead the people out of the house of bondage — a son of David who should sit on his father's throne. The testimony of the Baptist, the miracles and teaching and personality of Jesus left them little doubt that He was the Christ. Yet this faith often wavered, and when He was fixed to the cross — which was Anathema — they all forsook Him and fled. Outside this charmed circle there was no gospel yet announcing that Jesus was the Christ. The disciples went everywhere preaching " the kingdom of heaven is at hand." But " the great mystery of 1 We cannot agree with Dr. Schaff ("Hist, of Ch. Ch.," i. 524 ; with whom Weiss, "Bibl. Theol.," coincides), that to the last " Peter's Christology is free of all speculative elements, and simply derived from the impression of the historical and risen Jesus." 328 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. godliness," that the Son of God was " manifest in the flesh," was not ready to be " believed on in the world," for He had not been " received up into glory." During this period there must have been a boundless variety of speculations about His true character. As flash upon flash of His glory beamed out, the awed soul of the beholder would often murmur, " What manner of man is this ? " " Who do men say that I am ? " was His own question at Caesarea Philippi. 1 There was a legion of conjectures. Some said that John the Baptist had risen from the dead ; others alleged that Elijah had come " before the great and terrible day of the Lord " ; or that Jeremiah or one of the prophets had returned to repeat his message. When some asserted that He was the Son of David, it was retorted that in that case He would not have come from Nazareth. These discussions were almost exactly repeated in apostolic times, and they are not unheard of in our own day. But the full realization of the Christhood was not reached until the day of Pentecost. Many were engaged in earnest study of the prophetic word. Thousands were looking for Him of whom " Moses in the law and the prophets wrote." Even in 1 Mark viii. 29 ; Luke ix. 18 : The R.V., after the best read- ings, has in Matt. xvi. 13, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is ? " THE CHKISTHOOD OF JESUS. 329 Samaria there was a hope that the Prophet spoken of in their Pentateuch would come and teach them all things. The miracles convinced Nicodemus, and others in the upper classes of Jerusalem, that Jesus was a teacher from God. Nicodemus was shown that this was the highest judgment on the subject which the worldly mind could reach, and that to reach the higher faith of the true Christhood a man " must be born from above." This teaching is repeated in the first epistle of John (v. 1), " Whoso- ever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God " (iv. 2) ; " Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." It agrees also with St. Paul's dictum (1 Cor. xii. 3) : " No man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." Before the pentecostal Spirit descended devout men could only receive the baptism of water and repent- ance, and attend to the words and deeds of the Son of Man. Meanwhile the multitude said, " This is of a truth the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee?" (John vii. 40,41). His enemies ventured to exclaim, " Give glory to God ; we know that this man is a sinner." We find, then, that the Christhood of Jesus was more or less concealed during His earthly life. The faith which united the disciples had not been 3jo THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. analysed, nor its true contents ascertained ; it was conditioned by their Jewish training, and limited by individual docility and the gift of God. As the light of stars takes years in reaching our world, so the sayings of Jesus, heard on the lake or mountain side, only became luminous when He had gone to the right hand of God. The disciples " beheld His glory," but did not at once perceive that it was the glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. To such a level of faith many Jewish inquirers were brought in after days. They saw that the life and work of Jesus could not be accounted for except by a reference to Divine power. He must have been a good man, and perhaps divinely commissioned. He was a prophet, or had an seon, an angel, or was even a Messiah, but not the very Son of God. 1 It was to convince such persons that " Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," that St. John wrote. 2 He 1 "This opinion suited Ebion, who thought that Jesus was a mere man, descended from David, but not Son of God . . . and so declares that there was an angel in Him" (Tert., " De Carne Ch.," 14). 2 Harnack (" Dogmeng.," s. 71) allows that the fourth Gospel " belongs to the first century barely." The Tiibingens regarded it as " the culmination of the dogmatic development of the Church in Asia Minor in the post-apostolic age " (Schwegler, " Nach. Zeit.," ii. 346). THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 33 1 held that this faith — not the inferior stages of it — gave " the victory over the world." " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?" (i John v. 5). II. On the day of Pentecost all was changed. The gospel trumpet now utters no uncertain sound. Peter proclaims the crucified but risen Jesus to be both Lord and Christ. The seal having been taken from their lips, the apostles, in the temple and in the house, declare " all the words of this life." But let us not exaggerate the step now taken in the enunci- ation of the personal dignity of the Saviour. The final form of the doctrine of the saving Person has not yet been reached. They know that Jesus has been " exalted by the right hand of -God," and that He has " received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost." x Though their hearts had received so great an enlargement, there were higher degrees of the revelation, which at present they were not able to bear. First, they must be impressed with the fact that Jesus had been raised to divine glory. He had passed out of the category of " a mere man." Hence, baptism js administered, and miracles are wrought " in His name." He is still spoken of, historically, as 1 Acts ii. 33. 332 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL V CHURCH. "Jesus of Nazareth," as God's Servant whom He has glorified." x He is called " the Prince of life," but nothing is said publicly of the glory which the Son had with the Father "before the world was." In some of these original declarations all the predi- cates of true Deity seem to be implicit. The first apostolic preaching, like that of the Master, was only gradually comprehended. All that was con- tained in such declarations as : " Him did God exalt with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance and remission of sins," and in " They ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ," was not at once discerned. So far the divine dignity of the Saviour was viewed 1 Harnack and Weiss, etc., hesitate to believe that Peter ever rose above this first stage in the faith ; but his connection with John decides the point otherwise. Weiss's notes (" Bibl. Theol.,") on "Jesus," "Christ," "Jesus Christ," and " Son of God," are instructive. Liddon, "Bamp. Lect.," p. 291, "Peter teaches as men are able to bear his doctrine." The disposition to favour the doctrine of development appears recently in High Church writers, such as the Rev. W. Lock (Expositor, Aug. and Sept., 1891), who writes on "The Christology of the Earlier Chapters of the Acts of the Apostles," and on the " Interpreta- tion of the Life of the Early Church." He notices that irais (Acts iii. 13, etc.) contains a reference to the " Servant " (Isa. liii., etc.), and that it is used chiefly in the " Didache," the " Ep. of Clement," the "Martyrdom of Polycarp," and the "Apostolic Constitutions." THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 333 as having been attained by the glorification of the human Jesus. 1 This was looked upon as a real apotheosis. When Stephen, in his rapture, said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, the Jews suppressed him with fatal violence, just as they had taken up stones against Jesus because He had " said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." It is in this sense, probably, that St. James speaks of " our Lord Jesus Christ " as " the Lord of glory." St. Peter also (1 Eph. iii. 22) shows that the faith which operated in baptism derives its warrant from the " resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven ; angels and authorities and powers (to which classes He could not therefore belong) being made subject unto Him." That this was a true deification, if we may use that term, is clear from the same apostle's direction that they " sanctify in their hearts the Christ as Lord." 2 In the second Petrine epistle the glory of " our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " is yet more fully exhibited. 1 On the Adoption theology, which considers the divinity of Jesus as dependent on His exaltation, and the Pneumatical, which attributes pre-existence to the Person of Christ, see Harnack, "Dogmeng.," s. 133. * I Pet. iii. 15. 334 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. We see, therefore, that the primitive believers were content to recognise that Jesus was the Messiah, without formulating any exact definition of the doctrine of His divine nature. He was " the Christ," " from God." The power which He wielded was ascribed to the Holy Spirit {pv expiaa<;). Ten years after the Pentecost we are told in the narrative respecting Cornelius : " The word which He sent to the children of Israel, preach- ing good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all [i.e. both Jews and Gentiles]), that saying ye yourselves know, which was published through- out all Judaea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached ; even Jesus of Naza- reth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power : who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with Him." l Nothing is yet said about the Logos, who became flesh, or about the Son of God, who became the Son of Man. It is the " Man Christ Jesus" who did " eat and drink" with His disciples even after He rose from the dead, but who is now 1 Acts x. 36 : 6 Oeor r\v per' avrov, cf. John iii. 2 ; Just. Mart., " D. c. T.," 8. " Differences thus far had not been formulated among Christians ... In the Epistle to the Hebrews . . . the doctrine is treated with an emphasis and system which suggest . . . dissidents" (Stanton, " Messiah," p. 159). THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 335 exalted and "ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." But some refused to believe that the crucified Jesus had been raised to the right hand of God ; and some believed in His exaltation, but did not advance to the conception of His pre-existence. In the days of Justin Martyr there were persons who admitted Jesus to be the Messiah, but that " He was a Man and of man." x Trypho said, " Those who affirm Him to have been but a man, and to have been anointed by election, and so to have become Christ, appear to speak more plausibly than the orthodox." The Jew also asked why it was needful for Jesus to be baptized by the Spirit if the eternal Spirit had already been incarnate in Him. To this, Justin who was not quite clear himself about the distinc- tion between the second and third persons in the Trinity, could not make a very satisfactory reply. In the "Pastor" of Hermas it is expressly said that " the Spirit is the Son of God." 2 Cerinthus, Basilides, Valentinus, and all Gnostic teachers sup- pose the " Christ " to have descended on Jesus at His baptism. That invariable tenet of Gnosticism was not the invention of Cerinthus, or Ba*silides, or 1 Just. Mart., " Dial. c. Tr.," 48, 49- 2 Sim. ix. 1, 2. 336 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Marcion, as Irenaeus and Epiphanius seem to report, but was a survival of the early doctrine somewhat perverted. It is needful, therefore, while we recognise with much interest these signs of simplicity in the incipient theology of the Church, not to implicate the primitive Christians in the erroneous develop- ments of a later time. We must not conclude that the apostolic Church ever questioned the doctrine of the divinity of the Saviour, — that they could not, though the truth was not so fully manifested at once. The bright dawn of the Church advanced as the splendour of the Sun of righteousness arose upon it. It was not at once that they who had been the companions of Jesus in His tribulation and patience, and had known Him as a human Friend and Brother, ceased to think of Him as Christ in the flesh, and came to recognise in the glory which had " taber- nacled " among them the Shechinah of God. Yet from the first they had rendered Him divine honours because God had exalted Him. Their experience of His grace justified them in these acts of devotion, and in due time they felt that to withhold from Him the attributes of a divine personality would be to do Him an infinite dishonour. 1 1 Weizsacker (" Das Apost. Zeit," 1886, p. 16) says that Paul THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 337 III. A new era in doctrine began with the con- version of Saul of Tarsus. He knew that the voice which spoke to him on the way to Damascus was supernatural, for he replied, " Who art Thou, Lord ?" The answer, " I am Jesus," filled him with trembling and astonishment. Jesus, whom he had persecuted, was not a crucified man, but the " Lord " of that higher world from which the voice had come ! In a moment, the course of thought, which had been slowly maturing in the minds of the Galilean apostles was accomplished for him. It was this : Jesus could not have entered into glory unless it had been an essential property of the Christ : if He had been glorified as Christ, then He was " Lord," and had been from everlasting. This apocalypse was not only for him, but for the Church. To him it was as when chaos, in its mean- ingless wanderings, first met the newly-born light, when the aboriginal darkness fled before the dawn of the first day. The voice which uttered the first Fiat lux had declared to him the secret of the ages : " Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of has first clearly pursued the doctrine of the superhuman existence of Christ, "but he has not done it in opposition to the older apostles. There was no controversy over it." Tnis is very different from the rationalistic dictum, that " Paul was the inventor of Christian theology." 22 338 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." x He began at once to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God. 2 It had pleased God to reveal His Son in him (Gal. i. 16). Jesus was to him now not merely a glorified Man, but in the same ineffable category with the Father from whom the revelation had come. Already Ananias had called Jesus " Lord." When Peter re- ported the conversion of Cornelius, he reminded his brethren that their Master had said, " John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." Of this gift from the exalted Jesus, however, he further says, " God gave them the like gift as He did also unto us." So that all things were ready for the enlarged conception of the glory of the Redeemer which, through the converted Pharisee, was now given to the Church. The Revised Version of the New Testament, following the best accredited readings, and by its own discriminating fidelity to the text, exhibits many 1 2 Cor. iv. 6. 2 Meyer remarks that " Son " is found in Acts only in ix. 20 and xiii. 33 ; and (with Weiss) that it is equivalent with Mes- siah j but see Lechler, "Apost. Hist.," i. 321. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 339 features of this development of gospel truth which are obscured in the older version. Every one ex- pected to find " Greeks " in Acts xi. 20, instead of " Grecians." The Philippian gaoler was exhorted to " believe in the Lord Jesus." He, as a heathen, would attach no idea to the title " Christ," which appears in the old reading. The omission also, in the account of the eunuch (Acts viii. 37), of the confession that " Jesus is the Son of God " has full authority. The genuineness of the original is greatly corroborated by a case like this where current usage is recognised. If the entire composition had been a post-apostolic " Tendenz-Schrift," the formulas of a later time would have been wrought into its very constitution. On the other hand, we do not see why the R.V. should translate in Acts xiii. 38, "through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins." Only a pronoun is used (Bia rovrov) ; and, as St. Paul always preached Jesus as something more than man, it might have been better to have left it in the indeterminate- ness of the original expression : " This person," or "He." 1 1 Cf. Acts ix. 22 : " Proving that this is the Christ " ; Luke i. 32 : " He shall be great " ; Acts x. 36 : " He is Lord of all." " This man " could scarcely be used for ovtos in this case. Cf. also Acts x. 40, xv. 29 ; 1 John v. 20 : " This is the true God"; 1 Cor. ii. 2. 340 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. The R.V. also gives " railed," as an alternative expression for " blasphemed," in the account of St. Paul's address at the Pisidian Antioch (Acts xiii. 45). It was the Apostle's assertion that Jesus was the very- Christ, which excited, as in other cases, the deadly- opposition of his Jewish hearers, who "contradicted the things spoken by Paul, and blasphemed." The word is evidently intended to represent " the blas- phemy against the Son of man," of which the adversaries of the gospel were so often guilty. Saul himself had been, in this sense, a blasphemer (1 Tim. i. 13). At Corinth the Jews "blasphemed" (Acts xviii. 6). Paul confessed before Agrippa that he had compelled believers to blaspheme ; i.e., to deny that Jesus was Christ. 1 The error of Hymenseus and Alexander (1 Tim. i. 20) probably included the re- jection of Jesus as truly Son of God. James (ii. 7) reminds the Jewish-Christians that their richer neighbours " blaspheme that holy name." Of this kind also was the " blasphemy " of those who said at Smyrna that they were Jews, and were not. To the Church at Pergamos it was said, " Thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny My faith." It is not difficult to gather from the accounts in the " Acts " and epistles of St. Paul's preaching that 1 Cf. Plin., " Ep. - ' xi. 97 : maledicerent Christo. Just. Mart. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 341 there were certain portions of his doctrine which were full of offence to the Jewish mind. He taught not merely that Christianity was the fulfilment of Judaism, but that it was its substitute. Faith had taken the place of works : " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Jewish believers might still observe the law, but the actual obligation had ceased. Paul made the humili- ating death of Christ essential to his system. They who had "died with Christ" had "died to the law." Besides, he left room for no possible division between the person of Jesus, who " suffered under Pontius Pilate," and the Christ, "who being in the form of God . . . emptied Himself." But some who professed to preach the gospel did not advance the full doctrine of Paul. Some, like Apollos at the beginning of his career, had not received adequate instruction, and some were hindered by the fear of men. We have already shown that Paul found at Thessaionica and at Corinth the disposition to attend to an argument from Scripture that the "Christ " should suffer, but not to believe that Jesus, the crucified Nazarene, was " that Blessed One." Some faint-hearted evangelists might make a bad use of Paul's example in his tem- porary suppression — in order to conciliate prejudice — of the chief article in his gospel. He evidently had 342 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. some of these in his view when he says : " We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceit- fully ; but by the manifestation of the truth, com- mending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." After Paul had left Corinth Apollos came. His case is very instructive. He was an Alexandrian, learned in the Scriptures, and eloquent. He had been " catechised in the way of the Lord." Vibra- tions from the ministry of the Baptist and of Jesus had reached distant lands, and the oral gospel, which related the words and deeds of Jesus, had found echoes in many foreign cities. Some had received the baptism of repentance ; many had given them- selves anew to the study of Scripture ; and some, like Apollos himself, were able to speak "carefully the things concerning Jesus," though, with Him, " knowing only the baptism of John." So far, however, Apollos had not understood that Jesus was the Son of God. 1 Aquila and his wife taught him " the way of God more perfectly." Here- tofore, he had spoken of Jesus as " a Man come from God," singularly endowed, who had been baptized by 1 " He was prepared to accept the Messiah, but did not yet understand that Jesus was He" (Lumby, " Acts "). THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 343 John, and anointed with the Holy Spirit. But now he proceeds to Corinth, where he "mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scrip- tures that Jesus was the Christ." The central truth was now added to his faith and his testimony. His doctrine, now, was that of Paul : " Paul planted, Apollos watered." A party arose which claimed Apollos as its head ; but we have no reason to think that he encouraged the formation of that party any more than that Peter and Paul encouraged those who used their names. If, as some believe, Apollos be- came the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we may see what the higher faith in the personality of the " Son " was, into which he was brought by the saintly diligence of Aquila and Priscilla. In Acts xix. we learn that there were certain disciples at Ephesus who had only received the baptism of John, and had not heard that the Holy Ghost was given. These represent an earlier stage in the movement, for they do not seem to have been taught, as Apollos had, " the things concerning Jesus." When they heard the truth, they were will- ing to be baptized into " the name of the Lord Jesus." Such a case shows how the various phases of the earlier opinions might continue long after their first promulgation. But, so far as Paul's mission was con- cerned, none was permitted to regard Jesus as a good 344 THE FAITH AMD LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. man only. The believer must " confess with his mouth Jesus as Lord," " every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord," and this because He had " been originally in the form of God." 1 IV. If we now turn to the later apostolic teaching, we shall find that this advance of doctrine was not received by all, and that it became an occasion of 1 Phil. ii. 5 : 6s- evpopcpf) Qeov inrdpx<>iv. Zeller ("Acts of Apost.," xix. i) strangely objects to the account of disciples of John at Ephesus as unhistorical. It may be noted that the baptisms recorded in the " Acts " were performed in " the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts ii. 38, viii. 12, x. 48, xix. 5). Neander ("Planting," i. 21) thinks that "in the original apostolic formula no reference was made except to this one article " — i.e. the Messiahship. Meyer thinks that Matt, xxviii. 19, " Baptize in the name of the Father," etc., was a statement of the meaning of baptism, but not at once used as a formula. This fuller formula is, however, found in the " Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," c. 7. Mr. Gore ("Incarnation," p. 84) places too much stress on the occurrence in the " Teaching," since we know so little of the real literary history of that document. Mr. Gore says, further (p. 96), " The apostles themselves had been led gradually- on in correspondence with their consciences to ex- plicit belief in Jesus Christ. They led their first disciples by a similar process. To have preached 'Jesus Christ is God, nakedly and simply, would have shocked every right-minded Jew, who would have seen in the assertion a proclamation of a second God, and would have been welcomed by every pagan only too easily, because he believed in 'gods many.' " THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 345 opposition to St. Paul, and of difficulty to the other apostles. So largely are the later writings of the New Testament occupied with replies to those who were disposed to take a low view of the Redeemer's person, that many recent critics have concluded that some of its principal portions originated in the second century. But if the doctrines referred to can be shown to have existed in the apostolic time, that hypothesis is unnecessary. The perpetuation of the lower Jewish conceptions concerning Jesus into a time when the enlightened Christian consciousness became unable to allow them, provided the contro- versial elements which are found in the writings of Paul and John. The clearer discernment of the Master's teaching concerning Himself, the fuller in- terpretation of the Old Testament — both due to the continued operation of the Holy Spirit as our Lord had promised — and revelations like that made to St. Paul, had made necessary the enlargement of the faith, though all could not at once enter into it. St. John shows that some denied that Jesus was " Christ come in the flesh." They admitted that He was " Christ," but this was " in the water only." He, they said, had received an " anointing " or Christ-gift at His baptism, but He was not "the Word become flesh" (i John ii. 20, v. 6); the Divine principle in Jesus was not the eternal Logos which assumed hu- 346 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. manity at His birth, but the Holy Spirit which came upon Him at the Jordan. They could not believe that the " Son of God " had been crucified : but held that the Divine afflatus was a supernatural endowment, altogether external to His true personality, and which left Him at His crucifixion. Against this teaching St. John in his gospel and epistles strenuously con- tends : " These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye may have life through His name." l " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God." 2 " This is the victory that hath overcome the world — our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 3 "Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God : and every spirit which confesseth not Jesus is not of God : and this is the spirit of antichrist . . . now ... in the world." 4 1 John xx. 31. 2 1 John v. 1. 3 1 John v. 4, 5. 4 1 John iv. 2, 3. Haupt and Westcott allow that in ver. 2 we might read, "Every spirit which confesses that Jesus is Christ come in the flesh." Huther favours this view, especially be- cause it would agree with the supposition that John wrote against the Docetism of Cerinthus, and not that of Valentinus. Haupt also inclines to put more value than is usually given to the old reading, " he who dissolves Jesus " — 6 Xvei tov 'Irjaovv (solventes Jesum, "Tert. c. Marc," v. 16). Irenaeus (iii. 16) knew THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 347 The term " Docetism " is used with some ambi- guity among writers on ecclesiastical history. Dr. Salmon remarks that " Docetism proper " was that which denied a real body to Jesus. 1 This was the doctrine of Basilides, Valentinus, and Marcion. Cerin- thus, on the other hand, asserted that Jesus was real, but "Christ" only apparitional. " Ebionitism views the divine in Christ docetically, as Docetism does the human," says Dr. Dorner ; but this is not absolutely correct. 2 All the Ebionites, as well as all the Gnostic sects, spoke of the " Christ " docetically. This is the thread of unity which connects the faltering Jewish believer of the first age with the last Gnostic who vanished from the Church in the fifth century. Poly- carp probably speaks against the later view when he says, " Every one who does not confess Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh is antichrist : and he who does not confess the testimony of the cross is of the devil " ; as does Ignatius (in " Ep. ad Trail.," ix., etc.) : "Jesus Christ . . . who was truly born . . . was truly crucified ... if these things were done only in appearance, then am I also in appearance this reading— " qui solvit Jesum " ; but Origen (Matt. xxv. 14) seems to imply that it was directed against the later docetism : "Haecautem dicentesnonsolvimus suscepti corporis hominem." 1 " Diet, of C. B.," i. 868. 2 " Person of Christ," i. p. 188. 348 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. bound." Both Polycarp and Ignatius connect Doce- tism with the Judaizing heretics. 1 St. Paul speaks to the Colossians (ii. 19) of some who did not " hold fast the Head " — Jewish sectaries, who quenched the glory of Christ in angelological speculation. 2 In the Pastoral Epistles also are re- ferences to those who were zealous of the law but did not consent " to sound words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ." But as the epistles to the Corinthians are universally accepted as genuine, we may refer to them for evidence that the opinions spoken of belonged to the apostolic age. At Corinth Paul had laid the foundation that Jesus is Christ. On this foundation some had built " wood, hay, and stubble." When the Church met, and its members were allowed to exercise their gifts (char- ismata), some ventured to speak disrespectfully of "Jesus." Instead of confessing Him to be "both Lord and Christ," they pronounced Him to be "Anathema" (1 Cor. xii. 3). Those of whom the apostle speaks were professed believers, because he is in this passage treating of the employment of spiritual gifts. 3 They who used these expressions 1 Lightfoot, " Ignatius," i, 371. 2 Lechler, "Apost. Times," i. 137 ; Lightfoot, "Coloss.," p. 181. 3 The apostle addresses his readers as " Gentiles." He de- sires to guard them against the Judaizing teachers who made THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 349 distinguished so positively between the human and the Divine in the Person of the Saviour that they had abandoned all veneration for the suffering Jesus. They believed in " Christ" but despised " Jesus " who had come under the curse of the cross. However, Paul shows that the faith had entirely vanished when " Jesus " was so dishonoured : " No man speaking by the Spirit of God saith — Jesus Anathema." At the same time he declares that no man, unless he is taught of God, can fully appreciate the Redeemer's glory : " No man can say Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit." In 1 Corinthians i. 1-9, the apostle uses the title "Jesus Christ," "Christ Jesus," or "Lord Jesus Christ," in almost every verse, so needful did he find it to reprove those who were unwilling to render to " Jesus " His full glory as " Christ." Some of the adversaries boasted that they were " of Christ " (1 Cor. i. 12). This led him to say, "If any man trusteth in himself that he is of Christ (Xpcarov : — iyoo Be Xptarov), let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ's, so also are we " (2 Cor. x. 7). This special class of votaries "of Christ " did not boast in the name of Jesus any more such statements as the above. They who said, " I am of Christ," seem to have received such doctrine. 350 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. than in that of Paul or Apollos. They did not trust in the baptism of John, though he had been " sent from God," nor in Jesus, though " God was with Him." Their confidence was in "Christ" — that Divine power which had rested on Jesus during His ministry but which forsook Him at the cross. It is of some of the same school, who wished to separate the Divine nature of the Saviour from the human, that St. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians xi. 4. He feared lest they should corrupt the Church and spoil its " simplicity and purity towards Christ." He says, " If he that cometh preacheth another Jesus," i. e. a Jesus who is not identical with Christ, " ye do well to bear with him " : yet he adds, " such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning them- selves into apostles of Christ." We do not know how wide a latitude of opinion was permitted in the apostolic Church. 1 By their original proclivities, and by their modes of life and thought and worship, Jews and Gentiles were so divided, that it was a problem indeed how to " keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." In the epistle to the Ephesians St. Paul maintains that both the "Teat sections of the Church were included in its 1 As Schwegler says, it is a most critical question when the Ebionite views became heretical. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 351 oneness, and that God from eternity had predesti- nated their amalgamation. The various members make but one body, for there is " one Lord, one faith, one baptism." They who separated the " one Lord " into " Jesus " and " Christ " did not retain the one faith. 1 All were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. There might be differences " in the measure of the gift of God " (Eph. iv. 7). Some might see in Jesus more than others. But the Church had been instituted, and its various offices ordained to bring all up to the unity of the faith, and the accurate knowledge (e-rrtyvcoai^) of the Son of God. 2 In this way all should come " unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." They should no more be children, cherishing the im- imperfect theories of the former time, nor be carried hither and thither by crafty teachers, but should " speak the truth in love." All were " built upon the foundation," and "each several building (Jewish and Gentile), fitly framed together, groweth into an holy 1 Cf. 1 Tim. ii. 5 : "one Mediator, Himself Man." In the spurious epp. of Ignat. (ad Tars., 4 ; ad Antioch., 4) this passage is used against those who divided the person of Christ. 2 irviyvuxTis has, usually, a reference to the more accurate knowledge of the Mediator ; see Eph. i. 17, iv. 13 ; Col. ii. 12 ; 1 Tim. ii. 4 ; 2 Tim. ii. 25 ; Heb. x. 26 ; 2 Pet. i. 8. 352 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. temple in the Lord " ; for in the same Father " every family " is named. 1 If we turn to the Epistle to the Colossians, we have the authority of Bishop Lightfoot for saying that there were opponents of St. Paul amongst them, whose views of the person of Christ were " inade- quate and derogatory." 2 They endeavoured to mislead the Colossians by " philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ ; for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Bishop Lightfoot also says, that " when Paul speaks of the true Gospel first taught to the Colossians as the doctrine of ' the Christ even Jesus the Lord,' his language might be directed against the tendency to separate the heavenly Christ from the earthly Jews, as though the connection was only transient." 3 It was against the same errorists that in the same epistle the apostle so emphatically speaks of our 1 The phraseology of Eph. iv. 21 has embarrassed commen- tators : " But ye did not so learn Christ ; if so be ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus." To be instructed in " Christ " was to be taught in "Jesus"— in His history, person, and work. We admit that there is some in- congruity in making icadus ia-riv dXi)6fia = aXr]6cos, yet the re- lation between iv ai™ and iv r&> 'I^croO seems to justify this meaning. 2 "Col.," p. 112. 3 Col. ii. 6. THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 353 Lord as "Christ," "the Christ," "the mystery of God " in Christ. Thus the Colossian heretics were, as Lightfoot intimates, " the link between the Judaizers of the apostolic age and the school of Cerinthus." 1 To illustrate this topic as it deserves would require an exposition of the whole of the New Testament. It is enough for us to have shown that tenets after- wards expanded in the Gnostic systems existed in the apostolic time, and they can be generally traced to Judaizing parties. These false teachers also followed the letter, but not the spirit, of the earliest Gospel, which had spoken of Jesus as one anointed with the Holy Spirit. They could not receive St. Paul's great doctrine that " Christ died " in the person of Jesus. They did not sympathize with him when he said, " Far be it from me to glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me and I unto the world." In that Jewish " world " where Paul had now no chance of wealth or reputation, he might have spoken, without any detriment to himself, of " the cross of Jesus " ; but his offence was, that he 1 Cerinthus is supposed to have been opposed by St. John Lipsius, etc., place him in the latter half of the second century, because pseudo-Tertullian and Philaster say that he followed Carpocrates. 23 354 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. called it " the cross of Christ." St. James, St. Peter, and St. Jude do not employ the term " cross," and its use by St. John (never in the epistles) deserves a special study. In the writings of Clement, Hermas, in the " Didache," and the Clementines, there is little said of the death of Christ, though only the latter belongs to the Ebionite school. These facts sug- gest that the sign of the cross as a sacred emblem most likely arose in the " Catholic " age of the Church. To Jews the heathen abomination would always retain its repulsiveness. Judaistic associa- tions were largely eliminated from Catholicism when, in the days of Tertullian, a.d. 210, the sign had come into general use. The point at which the JewishwChristian separated himself from progressive Christianity was " the cross — to the Jews a stumbling-block." From Calvary he retraced his steps to the shores and valleys of Galilee, where the parables and teachings of the " kingdom," and the report of the mighty works of Jesus, still lingered. A collection of the discourses of Jesus was probably the first Jewish gospel. They who had " seen Christ after the flesh " would, naturally, be the chosen counsellors of the believing Israelite. St. Paul, on the other hand, taught his followers to " set their affection on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." The confession THE CHRISTHOOD OF JESUS. 355 which he required was, " Jesus is Lord." The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews was in unison with St. Paul in his exalted view of Jesus. The appella- tion " Jesus Christ " he does not often use, yet he magnifies the name "Jesus." 1 His saying in chapter xiii. 8, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to- day, and for ever," has been supposed to assert the abiding faithfulness of the Saviour. But it is con- nected with a caution against "divers and strange teachings " : the phrase appears to have been a Christian formula, and is spoken of as " the faith " of their leaders and " the issue " of their life : may it not, therefore, contain a reference to the person of our Lord? The Jewish-Christian was tempted to divide between Jesus and Christ ; here he is reminded that both are " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." 2 1 Heb. ii. 9, iii. 1, xi. 20, xii. 2. 2 Bengel follows the usual interpretation : "Jes. Ch. qui era beri, idem est hodie : heri, ante passionem et mortem : hodie in gloria." CHAPTER XV. THE CHRIST-PARTY IN CORINTH. " The unsolved riddle in the Corinthian controversies." 1 r I y HE eclipse, which soon passed over many in- -*- teresting features of apostolic life, cast its densest obscuration over the divisions of the early Church. The tendencies of tradition, with the lack of independent testimony, have placed such subjects as that which we now propose to consider almost beyond the reach of investigation. If we except a brief essay by Dean Stanley, scarcely anything has been published in England on " the Christ-party." 3 German theologians have given much attention to it, but, as the sequel will show, have come to different 1 Schenkel. 2 "Essays on the Apostolic Age." A paper on this subject was sent by the present writer to a leading theological magazine, before the appearance of Godet's " Corinthians " — which, as will be seen, takes a view of the tenets of this party which is almost identical with his. The paper was excluded " for want of space." The question has not been considered to be one of practical importance to English theology. 356 THE CHRIST-PARTY IN CORINTH. 357 conclusions, and, as we think, have failed to find the right interpretation. If illustration of the imperfec- tion of our knowledge respecting primitive Chris- tianity were needed, the variety and contradiction of opinions on this subject held by the first authorities would supply a striking instance. Few have admitted that the case presented any difficulty. Most writers have assumed that it is easy to decide what would be the opinions of three of the classes mentioned in 1 Cor. i. 12 ; there are scarcely two modern writers who exactly agree respecting the tenets of the fourth class. What Ruckert said half a century ago is still true : " We have a party to seek." 1 More recently, Schenkel tells us that " the Christ-party is yet the unsolved riddle in the Corinthian controversies." 2 The question revolves about three principal ques- tions : — I. Were they who claimed to be "of Christ" (i churches." In like manner he speaks of " the Church in the house." The Church in the house of Aquila at Rome is mentioned twice (Rom. xvi. 5 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19). 1 Philemon had a Church in his house (ver. 2) ; and Nymphas of Colosse (iv. 15) had one also. Such a Church Paul himself had in " his own hired dwell- ing " at Rome (x^cts xxviii. 30) : and there was one in the house of Titus Justus at Ephesus (Acts xviii. 7). The term " Church " does not occur in the epistles of Peter and Jude. St. James (v. 14) speaks of "the elders of the Church ; " but the congregation or place of meeting is called a " synagogue " (Jas. ii. 2). He addresses his letter to " the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion," and not to a Church or Churches. St. Peter, also, addresses his first epistle to the elect who " are of the Dispersion " in Asia. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews only uses the word twice : once he quotes a passage from the Old Testament (Ps. xxji. 23), and again he speaks of the "general gathering and assembly of the firstborn in heaven " (Heb. xii. 23). This comparative neglect of the 1 The relation of such Churches as those in the houses of Aquila and Paul at Rome cannot be explained by a theory of rigid local unity. The epistles of Ignatius opposed such "con- venticles.' 1 392 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. term by the Jewish-Christians cannot be overlooked. If "salvation is by the Church," — if by membership in the one apostolic Church the first Christians " believed themselves to inherit the grace of Christ," how strange that the majority of the New Testa- ment writers should never insist upon it. 3. It is in St. Paul's writings that the word " church " attains its higher import. He uses it to represent not only the local or visible fact of an assembly of persons who professed faith in Jesus Christ — not only in this extensive signification, but also intensively, to denote an institution endowed with special privileges. In this sense he .speaks at Miletus, of " the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood " (Acts xx. 28). In his epistle to the same believers (Eph. i. 22, iii. 10, v. 23) he says that Christ is "head over all things to the Church " ; that the Church is " the body of Christ " ; that " Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it." Can such expres- sions be applied to any " local " or " visible " Church ? Do they not apply to " all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours " ? (1 Cor. i. 2). It is only by the perversion of Scripture, then, that the grace of Christ can be made to depend upon ecclesiastical institutions. Our Lord bade His dis- ciples to submit controversies to the assembly of the THE CHURCH. 393 brethren (Matt, xviii. 17). 1 But the Romish Church uses this passage to enforce its extraordinary de- mands: "Christ said, 'Hear the Church'; therefore you must believe in transubstantiation, in the imma- culate conception of the Virgin Mary, in the infalli- bility of the Pope ; for the Church teaches these things." Dr. Hook, in his famous sermon in the Chapel Royal (a.d. 1838) took this famous passage as his text. He argued strongly against the Romish appli- cation of our Lord's words, yet set himself to make one equally unlawful and yet more absurd. " Hear the Church," he said, for " to separate from such a Church must be a schismatical act " ; and " the con- sistent English Churchman cannot conform to the Presbyterian establishment in Scotland, but in that part of the island attends the services of the Scottish Episcopal Church." Happily the reigning Sovereign has not regarded this arrogant appeal, and has ren- dered a loyal and even hearty adherence to Presby- terian forms in that part of her kingdom. Noncon- formists may claim the Royal example and the political constitution of Great Britain as approving of 1 " —That congregation of which thou and He are members " (Alford). 394 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. their contention, that the " ministry of three orders " is not essential to British Christianity. II. But we must next inquire into the conditions of admission into the Church. These are only " re- pentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," with the reception of baptism as the " outward and visible sign " of the great change. This was the doctrine of the twelve apostles. They were instructed by the Master : " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature : he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." At the beginning Peter said to the awakened, " Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus, unto the remission of your sins." Here we may notice that the thing sought by inquirers was not " admission into the Church," but " salvation." Formal association with the Church was not so much desired as the pardon and sanctification realized in faith. Hence, St. John (i. 12) says,- "As many as received Him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name " ; and (iii. 16) : "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life." Respecting St. Paul's doctrine there can be no THE CHURCH. 395 doubt. He says (Rom. iii. 28), " We reckon that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Rom. iv. 16); "For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace" (Rom. i. 16) ; "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth." There was no detailed statement of doc- trine placed before the candidate for baptism. In Cyprian's time (A.D. 360) it was usual to ask, " Dost thou believe in the remission of sins and eternal life through the holy Church ? " (Ep. ad Magn., 76) ; but no such article was put forward in the apostolic age. Here we must notice, again, the limitation in church membership which existed in the primitive period. Until the first Council (Acts xv.) no Gentile was admitted into the Christian society unless he had conformed to the Jewish ritual. After that Council the pristine formal unity, by which the Christian Church was only a sect within the Jewish Church, ceasCd to exist. There were now two kinds of Chris- tians. One followed Jewish modes of worship, the other were not required to observe these customs. Yet " the body " was one (Eph. iv. 4). God had made "of the twain one new man, so making peace . both having access in one Spirit unto the Father." The Gentiles now became " fellow-citizens with the 396 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone ; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord." 1 Henceforth the unity of the Church is " of the Spirit." Absolute doctrinal unity is not to be ex- pected in the Church, which consists of men of every nation, of diverse education, of a boundless variety of circumstances and prepossessions. Since the Gentile was freed from the yoke of the Jewish ritual, only intolerant violence can enforce uniformity of opinion and worship. The growth of the Church is to be associated with the natural developments of thought and with the progress of the race. St. Paul was not without the idea that the Church may advance to approximate and substantial, if not to exact uniform- ity. He predicts a day when we shall "attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (Eph. iv. 13) ; but that day is yet afar off. 2 1 Eph. ii. 19-22. Bishop Ellicott says, "'Each several building ' is wholly irreconcilable with the context." Meyer, on the other hand, allows that the reading is " linguistically and logically correct." 2 A. V. : " Till we all come in the unity," disguised the true meaning ; 01 irdvres includes Jews and Gentiles. THE CHURCH. 397 III. We may next consider what is known as the " Catholic " theory of the " one, visible " Church. No one except members of mystical sects has denied that the Church is a visible institution. But though the Church is visible so far as it relates to the actual appearance amongst men of a society of persons who hold the faith of Christ, yet it is not wholly visible. " Only (so to speak) the lower limbs of the body of Christ are on earth. The Church is a society in the world, but not wholly in the world, nor existing for the world's ends." 1 Man is visible, but not wholly so : the most real life of the man is not seen ; so is it with the Church. Mr. Gore asks, " Did Christ found a Church in the sense of a visible society ? " (p. 9). To this there can only be one answer: The disciples of our Lord consti- tuted a visible society. A further question is, " Whether believers in Christ were left to organize themselves in societies . . . or, whether the Divine Founder Himself ... in- stituted a society ?" (p. 10). This question is not so readily answered as Mr. Gore seems to imagine. No theory of the Church — not even that which Mr. Gore supports, supposes that our Lord left to His disciples a detailed organization for the Church. 1 "The Ministry of the Church," by C. Gore, M.A. (1889), p. 58. 398 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. There was, indeed, the minimum of organization. The apostles and disciples were left to " organize for themselves " as their circumstances might demand. The apostolic history is an account of what they did. But Mr. Gore wishes to establish the position that the essential "organization " of the "visible society" which Christ founded consisted in its dependence upon the apostles, and that this was perpetuated in the "apostolic succession." He says (p. n) that among " a great number of religious bodies owing their existence to Christian belief, we discern also something incomparably more permanent and uni- versal — one great continuous body, the Catholic Church . . . which all down this period of its continuous life makes a constant and unmistakable claim. Is the claim which this visible Catholic Church has made a just one ? " The only strict result of Mr. Gore's argument on the subject seems to be this : That as our Lord founded a " visible " society, and the Catholic Church is " visible," therefore it must be the society founded by Him. But then the Nazarenes, the Ebionites, the Marcionites were " visible " also, as were the Arians, the Nestorians, in after time ; and, more recently, even the " Catholic " Church is found as Greek- Roman and Anglican. Are all authentic because they are " visible " ? THE CHURCH. 399 But has the " Catholic" Church the very "organiza- tion which was founded by Christ " ? Did He found the Papacy? Was the ministry established in three orders by Him? Can Mr. Gore show that the " Catholic Church " ; which excluded any one who practised the Jewish ritual ; which denounced every one a schismatic unless he belonged to a Church which had bishops, presbyters, and deacons ; which refused to recognise any believer in Christ unless he had received the sacraments from its own ministry, was the veritable " organization " made by Jesus Christ Himself? It would be necessary to prove all this in order that Mr. Gore's contention should be made secure. Assumptions on these questions are out of date. If it is allowed that the " Catholic Church " is the veritable " visible society " founded by Christ, it would be easy to grant also that the Church is the only dispenser of salvation. Mr. Gore maintains that the Church is not the mere fellowship of believers — that is the low, evangelical notion which he and his friends abjure. He holds that the Church is the great institution for the dispensation- of grace to men. Its members and ministers are within the covenant: extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. The great question for every man is : " Dost thou believe in eternal life, and the remission of sins by the holy Church ? " 4 uo THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. We need not say that this doctrine is not taught in the New Testament. Mr. Gore does not present us with a single utterance of our Lord or His apostles in which it is clearly implied. Were Peter, James, and John saved " through membership in the one Apos- tolic Church, Catholic and local," as Mr. Gore tells us was the case with African Christians (p. 16) ? Our Lord said to the apostles, " Ye are clean through the word which I spake unto you," but never taught that their association with Him secured their salvation. On the contrary, He said, " I have chosen you twelve, but one of you hath a devil." The case of Judas ought to settle for ever the pretensions of a " visible " society to save men. It is not until Mr. Gore comes down to the times of Irenaeus and Tertullian that he can find Christian language which appears to favour his theory. " The Church is, to Tertullian's mind, God's institution for man's education and salvation. ... It was through membership in this one apostolic Church, catholic and local, that African Christians believed themselves to inherit the grace of Christ. ' He cannot have God for his Father,' Cyprian was fond of emphasizing, ' who has not the Church for his mother' " (p. 16). We are sorry that we cannot render so much credit to Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cyprian, as accurate exponents of the Christian system, as do Mr. Gore THE CFIURCH. 401 and his friends. However, these writers did refer, in opposition to Gnostic teachers, to the Churches descended from the apostles because they were sup- posed to have the true doctrine. Their theory of the " Apostolic Succession " was not that of later times, which centred all upon the office rather than upon the teaching. It is not, therefore, fair to quote them in defence of the later theory of that subject. We are not surprised to find that Mr. Gore should have difficulty in reducing St. Paul's teaching to harmony with his theory. Failure was inevitable ; but here are his words (p. 29) : , " It is sometimes argued that St. Paul could not have be- lieved in salvation through the Church, because this contradicts his doctrine of the justifying effect of faith. But, in fact, there is no such contradiction. The Christian life is a correspondence between the grace communicated from without and the inward faith which, justifying us before God, opens out the avenues of communication between man and God, and enables man to appropriate and to use the grace which he receives in Christ. There is thus no antagonism, though there is a distinction, be- tween grace and faith. Now grace comes to Christians through social sacraments, as members of one 'spirit-bearing' body. 'By one spirit are we all baptized into one body'; we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Thus the doctrine of the Church as the house- hold of grace is the complement, not the contradiction, of the doctrine of faith." Does St. Paul say, in the passage quoted above, that " grace comes to Christians through social sacra - 26 402 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. ments " ? Yes, the grace of unity and mutual love ; but not the grace of justification, or of regeneration, which are the things in question. He says that the Church is one in spite of its formal divisions : both Jews and Greeks, bond and free, were " all made to drink of one spirit." But in respect to " salvation," about which the dispute is, St. Paul says, " By grace are ye saved through faith " (Eph. ii. 8). They re- ceived grace when " having heard the word of the truth," and having believed in Christ, they " were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise " (Eph. i. 13). What a splendid antithesis Paul would have made if he had first declared that " by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified " ; and then that " grace comes by social sacraments " ! Mr. Gore and his school have evidently gone back to Judaism. 1 It was the Jewish adversaries of St. Paul who insisted that salvation came by " social sacraments " : " Except ye be circumcised ye cannot be saved." Unless they were received into the " visible unity " of the Jewish Church, they had no part in Christ. If St. Paul did not spend his life in opposition to this doctrine, we have never understood him. Of course Mr. Gore and his party can furnish no 1 Farrar, "Lives of the Fathers," i. 331 [on Cyprian]: "Judaism is restored in a slightly different form." THE CHURCH. 4°3 effectual reply to the Roman Catholic claims, so " constant and unmistakable." If we are to follow the development which can be traced in Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Augustine, why should we hesitate to accept that accomplished by Gregory, Leo, and Pius the Fifth and Pius the Ninth? Mr. Gore says that " an essentially different idea of the Church's function finds expression in the general councils and in the Papacy" (p. 61), but the "continuous claim" has chiefly come from those who belong to the Roman unity. Shall we yield to it? They use Mr. Gore's arguments ; they appeal to the same sayings of the fathers ; they interpret Scripture after his method. Newman, and Manning, and thousands more have submitted. Once yield Mr. Gore's major proposition that " salvation is by the visible Church," and thou- sands more would perceive that the Anglican system was a doubtful dependence. It has only been "visible," strictly speaking, since the sixteenth cen- tury. That it happened to be " visible " in the first centuries, in independence of Rome, would present little obstacle. It was for a thousand years in " visible " fellowship with Rome, and made that fellowship its glory. 1 1 " Is there any ground whatever for ascribing this sanction to the Nicene period, and denying it to the modern Papacy?'' (Jacob, " Eccles. Pol," 28). 404 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. It is only by appealing to St. Paul and the apostolic Church that the freedom of Christianity can be maintained. St. Paul also shall furnish us with our reply to Mr. Gore on the subject of apostolical succession. The latter says (p. 71), " It was in- tended that there should be in every Church, in each generation, an authoritative stewardship of grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, and a recognised power to transmit it, derived from above by apostolic descent." But St. Paul did not receive his ministry by " apostolic descent." He was " an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ." Here, at the very beginning of the gospel, is a break in the chain which no ecclesiastical skill can repair. The " persons of the apostles " were passed by, and another ministry not of their " trans- mission " given to the Church. In modern days we have seen operations of " grace" which, according to Mr. Gore, were not according to the " covenant," but to the glory of Christ have resembled what happened in the case of St. Paul. The "apostolical succession," so called, did not send out Carey to India, or Morrison to China, or Ellis to Madagascar, or Hunt to Fiji, or Paton to the New Hebrides ; yet these have added more converts to the Christian faith than, probably, did St. Paul himself. The great apostle never says that " the grace and THE CHURCH. 405 truth which came by Jesus Christ" were conveyed by apostolic authority, or that he had " a recognised power to transmit it derived from apostolic descent." He says the very contrary. Some of the Corinthians were disposed to boast of this apostle or that. Paul says, " What then is Apollos, and what is Paul ? Ministers through whom ye believed." " So then neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth ; but God that giveth the increase." This doctrine of the " succession " was already in the Church. Some denied that Paul was an apostle. He was not one of the twelve ; he had not been regularly ordained ; he was not sent by Peter and James. Against these false doctrines concerning the means of grace, which assailed then, as now, the spiritual foundation of the kingdom of God, St. Paul solemnly warns the Christians of Corinth, and reminds them that their " faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." If we turn to the post-apostolic literature, we find no trace of this doctrine, that salvation is by the Church. The " Teaching " directs that no one should be admitted to the Eucharist but those who have been baptized. 1 Believers are to pray that the Church may be " gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom." Again : " Re- * ix. 4. 406 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. member, O Lord, Thy Church to deliver her from all evil and to perfect her in Thy love, and gather her together from the four winds." 1 But it also ex- pressly enjoins, " Let every one that comes in the name of the Lord be received." 2 The Epistle of Clement was addressed by " the Church of God which sojourns at Rome to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth." It rebukes sedition and exhorts to unity, but does not define precisely what unity is. The conditions, of salvation he represents to be repentance, faith, and well-doing : " We being called by His will, in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom . . . or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart ; but by that faith through which from the beginning Almighty God has justified all men." 3 Divine service is to be rendered at the appointed places and times. Jesus Christ was sent from God ; the apostles were sent by Christ ; the apostles " appointed the firstfruits, having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons." 4 But there were not three orders of ministers ; only two — bishops or presbyters, and deacons. These were appointed " by them, or afterwards by other eminent men, with the consent of the whole Church." 5 1 " Teaching," x. 5. 2 Ibid., xii. 1. 3 c. 32. 4 c. 42. 5 There is great doubt respecting one expression in Ep. THE CHURCH. 4°7 The Epistle of Barnabas earnestly contends against the doctrine of salvation by connection with a visible Church. " The wretched ones [the Jews] wandering in error, trust not in God, but in the temples as being the house of God. . . . Let us inquire, then, if there is still a temple of God. . . . Before we believed in God the habitation of our heart was corrupt and weak . . ' . but having received the forgiveness of sins ... we have become new creatures. . . . He, then, who wishes to be saved looks not to the man (rbv avOpw-rrov, i.e. to the preacher) but to Him who dwells in him." With Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Tertullian another view of the Church was propounded. 1 By Cyprian, Clem., c. 44 : " Our apostles . . . appointed those men- tioned, and afterwards gave instructions (eVivo/*^) that when these should fall asleep other approved men should succeed them in the ministry (Xeirovpyia)." Nirschl (" Patrologie," s. 78), and Hefele (" Patrum Ap. Op.," p. 90) connect it with vopos, and translate it as ordinance. By Hesychius it was rendered in- heritance ; whence Rothe ("Anfange," s. 374) has testamentum, and Lightfoot ("Phil.," p. 201) codicil. The R. C. Probst (" Kirchliche Disciplin," s. 20) takes it as " die Regel der Nachfolge." It was a new word, and no one knows its exact meaning. 1 " Who first distinguished Christianity as the Church of God from Judaism, and how first the idea of the ' Church ' became valid," says Harnack (" Dogmenges.," i. 92) "there is no information. " 4 o8 THE FAITH AND LIFE OF THE EARL Y CHURCH. Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine it was developed and perfected. Henceforth the Church became the sole dispenser of grace, and out of it there was no salvation. On their utterances the persecutors and inquisitors of after days rested for their justification in the treatment of heretics. The Church of Rome still advances this theory as the infallible truth of God. The High-Church party clings to it with enthusiastic devotion. They refuse to recognise the other Christian Churches of Britain as being in any- thing but a state of heresy and schism. No Con- gregationalism no Baptist, no Methodist dreams of excluding any true believer in Christ from the Church, although such a one may hold opinions and use forms of worship differing from his own. But the " English Catholics " take on themselves the responsibility of refusing fellowship to all who do not submit to their ritual. They refuse to recognise the unity of the Church except in the case of full conformity to ordinances which they regard as authoritative. There would be little difficulty in the realization and mani- festation of Christian unity in England, except for the stubborn but unscriptural claim advanced on behalf of " the historic episcopate." INDEX TO AUTHORS AND PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS. Acts of Apostles, 13, etc. Aelia, Church of, 204. Agape, 31, 59, 69, 104, no, 117, 139, 171, 206, 223, 264, 288. Agape, Freedom of, in. Agape, Kestner on, 316. Agape, Separation of, from Eucharist, 302. Anglican Revival, 7. Antioch, Church, 67, 206. Apocalypse, 167. Apocalypse, Angels of, 174. Apostles, The Twelve, 26, 28. Apostolical Constitutions, 10, etc. Apostolical Succession, 17, 36, 214, 261. Aquilla and Priscilla, 92, etc. Aristides, Apology, 220. Augustine, 40, etc. Baptism, 279-287. Baptism, Infant, 286. Baptismal Regeneration, 282. Baring-Gould, Rev. S., no, 191. Barnabas, 67, 70, 71. Barnabas, Epistle of, 252, etc. Baronius, 207, 21S. Beet, Dr., 284, 358. Bengel, 23, etc. Bickell, 315. Bi g¥, Dr., 30S. Bishops, 38, 48. Bishops, Election of, 43, 266. Bishops, identical with elders, 42, 50, 53- Blasphemy, 96, 340. Brethren, 35, etc. Buddseus, 320. Canon Law, 218. Cerinthus, 234, etc. Christhood of Jesus, 318-355. Christian, The name, 70, 122. Christology, 167, 233, 277. Chrysostom, 75, etc. Church, Catholic, 100, 216, 256, 399- Church, Development of, 186, 195- Church Fathers, 41, etc. Church Government, 36, 52, 145, 260. Church, in the House, 128, 173, 252. Church, The, 386-408. Church, Visible, 2>7, 170, 397. Churches, Apostolic, 258. Churches, Duality of, 209,210. 4io INDEX. Churches, Pauline, 68, 80, 135, 141. Clemens Alex., 307, etc. Clemens Rom., 43, 268. Clementines, 17, 32, 154, 214. Clubs, Early, 48. Colossians, Epistle, 131, 137, 352. Conybeare and Howson, 191. Corinth, Christ-party, 356-387. Council, The First, 77, etc. Council, A Second? 217. Creed, The, 327. Cross, The, 90, 149. Cyprian, 36, 45, etc. Deacons, 39, 52, etc. Diet, of Christ, Biog., 202, etc. Dillmann, 180. Diognetus, Epistle to, 253. Dionysius, Areopagite, 91, 369. Docetism, 234, 347, 376. Dods, Dr. M., 148, 153. Dollinger, Dr., 55. Donaldson, Dr., 277. Duff, Dr., 305. Ebionites, 190, 198, 228. Edersheim, Dr., 227, etc. Elders, 41, 58, 75, 113. Elkesaites, 236, etc. Ellicott, Bp., 10, 142. Ephesians, Epistle to, 131. Ephesus, Church of, 101, 113, 207. Epiphanius, 225, etc. Episcopacy and St. John, 53, etc. Epistles, Pastoral, 141. Essenes, 200, 203. Estius, 365, etc. Eucharist. See Agape. Eusebius, 40, etc. Eutychus, no, Ewald, 17, etc. Farrar, Dr. F. W., 380, etc. Fellowship, 27, 289. Findlay, Rev. G., M.A., 196. Funk, Dr., 258. Gfrbrer, 180, 183. Gieseler, 185, 220. Ginsburg, Dr., 204. Gloag, Dr., [57, 189. Gnosticism, 118, 177, 209. Godet, Dr., 356, 374. Gore, Rev. C, M.A., 5, 38, 68, 397- Graetz, Dr., 183, 189, 220, 239. Harnack, Dr. A., 48, 144, etc. Hatch, Dr. E., 11, 46. Havet, 182. Hebrews, Epistle to, 147, etc. Hegesippus, 24, etc. Hellenes, 65. Hellenists, 33, 62, 79. Hermas, 262, etc. Herzog, Real-Enk.,65, 245, etc. Hilary, 37. Hilgenfeld, 10, etc. Hippolytus, 274, etc. Holzmann, 13, etc. Hooker, 47, 136. Huther, 157, etc. Ignatius, 43, etc. INDEX. 411 Irenasus, 41, etc. James, St., 24, 30, 80, 114, 155, 223. James, St., Epistle of, 154. Jerome, 17, 55, etc. Jerusalem, Destruction of, 178. Jerusalem, Effects of Destruc- tion of, 180-188. Jewish Christians, 80, 115, 146, 170, 193. Jewish Christians, Continuity of, 188, 202, 222, 245. Jewish Christians, Heretical, 116, 223-257. Jewish Christians, opposed to St. Paul, 236. Jewish Christians, Proselytiz- ing, 81, 195, 208. Jewish Christians, used an Aramaic Gospel, 231. John, Baptism of, 102. John, St., Gospel of, 163 ; Epistles of, 167, etc. John, St., in Asia, 54, 172, 197, 213, 222, 245. John, Presbyter, 173. Judaism of the Primitive Church, 79, 117, 195. Justin Martyr, 89, etc. Killen, Dr., 250. Krawutzcky, 260. Kurtz, 202. Lechler, 31, 82, 185, 203, 219. Liddon, Dr., ^8, 137. Lightfoot, Bishop, 10, 44, 54, 185, 224. Linus, 273. Lipsius, 218, 225. Lumby, Dr., 342. Marcus, Bishop, 192, 203, 220. Mark, St., 71, 162. Meyer, 338, etc. Milligan, Dr., 72. Ministry, The, Terms for, 136. Minucius Felix, 187. M6hler(R. C), 2, 38. Mommsen, 47. Morning Communion, not Apostolic, no. Mosheim, 192. Moulton, Dr., 153. Nazarenes, The, 122, 192, 224, 229. Neander, 47, 185. Neubauer, 120. Newman, Cardinal, 318. Orders, Variety of, 135, 146. Ordination, 75. Origen, 231, etc. Osiander, 372. Palestine, Language of, 19, ^ 120. Papias, 72. Paul, St., at Corinth, 92, 348. Paul, St., at Jerusalem, 96, 100, 115, 119. Paul, St., Imprisonment of, 120, 126, 130. Paul, St., Judaism of, 81, 100, 115, 119. Paul, St., Martyrdom of, no. Pella, Church at, 192, 224. 412 INDEX. Pentecost, 17. Peter, St., 30, 64, 84. Peter, St., at Rome, 129. Peter, St., Epistles of, 159. Pfleiderer, 140, 157. Philip, 51, 27, 40, etc. Philippi, Gospel in, 85. Philo, 150. Pliny, 59. Pressense, 237. Priesthood, No Christian, 59. Probst (R. C), 38. Prophets, Apostolic, 265. Proselytes, 34. Renan, 13, 59, 169. Reuss, 95, etc. Riehm, 126. Rigg, Dr., 4. Ritschl, 31, 41, 61, 185. Rome, Church of, 127, 131. Rothe, 185, 316. Riickert, 357. Rufinus, 218. Sabatier, 206. Salmon, Dr., 13, 32, 198. Sanday, Dr., 48, 51. Schaff, Dr., 82, 169, 217. Schenkel, 357. Schism, 37, 105. Schlieroann, 1S8. Schwegler, 13, 31, 73, 166. Sectarianism, 123. Septuagint, The, 19, 182. Silas, St., 51, 71. Simeon, Bishop, 154. Simon Magus, 240, 269. Stanley, Dean, 300, 303. Stanton, Dr. V. H., 89, 200, 334- Studia Biblica, 309. Synagogue, The, 62, etc. Teaching of Twelve Apostles, The, 43, 259, etc. Tertullian, 226, etc. Testament of Twelve Patri- archs, 244. Theophylact, 360, etc. Thomson, Dr. J. E., 239. Timothy, St., 142, 171. Timothy, St., Epistles to, 142. Titus, St. 85. Tradition, Value of, 71, 168, 172, 218, 269. Troas, Events at, 109. Trophimus, 109. Tubingen, The School of, 77, 189, 216, 323. Uhlhorn, 245. Unity, 25, 57, 79, 83, 100, 106, 118, 131, 190, 322, 374. Vitringa, 38. Weiss, 13, etc. Weizsacker, 29, 82, 97, 163. Wesley, Rev. J., 41, 42, etc. Westcott, Bishop, 45, 149, 153, 193, 226. Wordsworth, Bishop, 10, 22,27, 40, 101. Worship, Early, 292. Zeller, 78, etc. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. Date Due i 1 J ' - M ^r4 1 < < <.i >-^* , ****__| 1 A 1 ~~l ■1 ■ ■•■;.