serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto Him?" They walk after their own lusts, and say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.' And some may mark their prosperity and ask, "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?" This question we may not always be able to answer; nor is there any necessity that we should. Surely if we believe in the truth, the justice, and the wisdom of God, it is not too much for him to require of us that we should feel perfectly satisfied that all is permitted for the best. The proud king of Canaan might think there was no God, or that if there was, God was unwilling or unable to chastise his cruelties. Sinners often argue in this way: they say, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." God is meanwhile using them for his own purposes. The tares grow together with the wheat until the harvest; and in the time of harvest he will to the say "Gather reapers, up the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather ye the wheat into my barn."

None, it might be supposed, could be so far deceived by the pride of their heart as to suppose that God could not bring them down, even though they should, as the prophet expresses it, "set their nest among the stars." But God has shewn them that he can not only overthrow them, but that he can do so by the weakest instruments. Sisera was never more confident of safety than when he slept in the tent of Heber. Yet even there, and by the hand of her whom he most trusted, God overtook his enemy. There may be sinners now who say, "Peace and safety;" but even ere the words are passed their lips, "sudden destruction cometh upon them." We may be indeed at peace with the world; but it is that hollow peace which subsisted between Jabin and the house of Heber ; -a peace which interest may break, and which, if maintained, can never make head against God. We may be even at peace with our consciences; but it may be that they are silenced, and not reconciled. We may say, peace, peace, when there is no peace." But seek peace with God through Jesus Christ; plead his sanctifying atoning blood to wash out the stains of an imperfect but sincere and faithful obedience; and with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, and the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come near thy dwelling. The world will proffer fair, and when she has allured us to slumber in her tabernacle she will remorselessly complete our destruction. But God deals otherwise with us. He calls us indeed to take up the cross, and to tread a narrow way; but he shews us at the same time the "recompense of reward." "Blessed

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is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."

MISCELLANEOUS.

ON THE EARLY FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

No. XII.

HEGESIPPUS, MELITO.

Ὧν καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς τῆς ̓Αποστολικῆς παραδόσεως καὶ τῆς ὑγιοῦς πίστεως ἔγγραφος Kaтĥλlev oplodoğía.-Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV. 21.

Of the two Fathers, who form the subject of the present article, the former is known as the author of 66 a History of the Affairs of the Church," from the first preaching of the Apostles to his own times. This work, which was comprised in five books, is now entirely lost, with the exception of a few fragments, preserved by Eusebius; from whom, and from the fragments themselves, the little that is known of the writer is principally gathered. HEGESIPPUS is said to have been a convert from Judaism to Christianity, and his perfect acquaintance with the Jewish traditions and the Judaising sects sufficiently attests his origin. (See Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV. 22.) With a view, as it should seem, to ascertain the existing state of Christian doctrine and discipline, he undertook a journey to Rome, introducing himself, as he proceeded, to the Bishops of the several Churches which lay in his route, and obtaining an account of past and passing events from each respectively. At Corinth he made some inquiries with reference to the letter addressed to that Church from Clement of Rome; and learned from Primus, who then presided over that see, that the divisions which it had been the object of that epistle to settle, had not re-appeared, but from that time forward the true faith had remained pure and uncorrupted. Upon his arrival at Rome, he completed his history, through each successive episcopate, to that of Anicetus, whom he found in possession of the episcopal chair; and "during each succession," he observes, including those of Soter and Eleutherus, the immediate successors of Anicetus, "the same institutions prevail, as the Law, and the Prophets, and the Lord, i. e. the Christian dispensation, ordain."* This testimony must, doubtless, be understood with some limitation, as before this period heresies had begun to appear in the infant Church, though it is probable that their progress had been less visible in those districts where the primitive

* Fragm. ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV. 22. γενόμενος δὲ ἐν Ῥώμῃ, διαδοχὴν ἐποιησάμνην μέχρις ̓Ανικήτου, οὗ διάκονος ἦν Ελεύθερος· καὶ παρὰ ̓Ανικήτου διαδέχεται Σωτὴρ, μεθ ̓ ὃν Ελεύθερος· ἐν ἑκάστῃ δὲ διαδοχῇ καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει οὕτως ἔχει, ὡς ὁ νόμος κηρύττει, καὶ οἱ προφῆται, καὶ ὁ Κύριος. The expression διαδοχὴν ποιεῖσθαι has somewhat puzzled the critics, many of whom would read diaтpißhy for diadoxhv. But there is no authority for this conjecture, and the context is strongly corroborative of the common reading. Hegesippus meant to say, that he arranged his history according to the succession of the Bishops of Rome; and the phrase is analogous to λoyov Toleîσ0αι in Acts i. 1. Grabe and Basnage, after Pearson, thus understand the passage.

Bishops were situated. Hegesippus is generally supposed to have been born in the beginning of the second century; and he died, according to the Alexandrian Chronicle, in the reign of Commodus. In Jerome's Catalogue (c. 22.) the account of him precedes that of Justin; but, as far as the date of his writings is concerned, he was certainly posterior to that writer, for his history was not finished at the elevation of Eleutherus to the see of Rome, which took place A. D. 169, some years after Justin's martyrdom. Probably Jerome was misled by Eusebius, who says that he was "in the first succession of the Apostles:”* but this expression may simply mean that he was, as Stephen Gobar calls him, an ancient and apostolical man." Lardner

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places him at the year 173.†

There is a passage in Photius, in which this Stephen Gobar, a tritheistical writer of the sixth century, accuses Hegesippus of disputing the authority of the quotation adduced by St. Paul, in 1 Cor. ii. 9, (“ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” &c.); and opposing to it the words of Christ in Matt. xiii. 16. It seems probable, however, that Hegesippus did not impugn the citation itself, but some false interpretation which had been fixed upon it. Possibly his observation, which we must take upon the credit of his accuser, was directed against those heretics, who pretended that Christ was a mere phantom; or against the Gnostics, who were accustomed to apply the passage exclusively to themselves, as being gifted with a more intimate knowledge of divine things. (See Clem. Alex. Strom. IV. pp. 615, 628, and elsewhere.) Dupin and others of the moderns, however, have regarded this Father as a writer of weak understanding, and little credit; though the ancients, who had far better means of judging, seem to have decided otherwise. His history is represented by Jerome as containing a great variety of useful information, written in a plain and simple manner, and in a style similar to that of the writers of the New Testament. Such, at least, appears to be the import of Jerome's words; and the subjoined fragment, containing an account of the martyrdom of James the just, is calculated to confirm his statement.

Διαδέχεται δὲ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν μετὰ τῶν ̓Αποστόλων, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰάκωβος, ὁ ὀνομασθεὶς ὑπὸ πάντων δίκαιος ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου χρόνων μέχρι καὶ ἡμῶν· ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ Ἰάκωβοι ἐκαλοῦντο, οὗτος δὲ ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ ἅγιος ἦν. Οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐκ ἔπιεν, οὐδὲ ἔμψυχον ἔφαγεν· ξυρὸν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀνέβη· ἔλαιον οὐκ ἠλείψατο, καὶ βαλανείῳ οὐκ ἐχρήσατο. Τούτῳ μόνῳ ἐξῆν εἰς τὰ ἅγια εἰσιέναι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐρεοῦν ἐφόρει, ἀλλὰ σινδόνας. Καὶ μόνος εἰσήρχετο εἰς τὸν ναόν· ηὑρίσ κετό τε κείμενος ἐπὶ τοῖς γόνασι, καὶ αἰτούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ ἄφεσιν ὡς ἀπεσκληκέναι τὰ γόνατα αὐτοῦ δίκην καμήλου, διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ κάμπτειν ἐπὶ γόνυ προσκυνοῦντα τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ αἰτεῖσθαι ἄφεσιν τῷ λαῷ. Διὰ γέ τοι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ, ἐκαλεῖτο Δίκαιος καὶ Ὠβλίας, ὅ

* Hist. Eccl. II. 23. ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης τῶν ̓Αποστόλων γενόμενος διαδοχῆς. + Ap. Phot. Cod. 232. ἄρχαιός τε ἀνὴρ καὶ ̓Αποστολικός.

† De Vir. Ill. I. 22, p. 89. Quinque libros composuit sermone simplici, ut, quorum vitam (Apostolorum, scil.) sectabatur, dicendi quoque exprimeret characterem.

ἐστιν ̔Ελληνιστὶ περιοχὴ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ δικαιοσύνη· ὡς οἱ Προφῆται δηλοῦσι περὶ αὐτοῦ. Τινὲς οὖν τῶν ἑπτὰ αἱρέσεων τῶν ἐν τῷ λαῷ, τῶν προγεγραμμένων μοι ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν, ἐπυνθάνοντο αὐτοῦ, Τίς ἡ θύρα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ; Καὶ ἔλεγε τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν Σωτῆρα. Ἐξ ὧν τινὲς ἐπίστευσαν, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός. Αἱ δὲ αἱρέσεις αἱ προειρημέναι οὐκ ἐπίστευον οὔτε ἀνάστασιν, οὔτε ἐρχόμενον ἀποδοῦναι ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Οσοι δὲ καὶ ἐπίστευσαν, διὰ Ἰάκωβον. Πολλῶν οὖν καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων πιστευόντων, ἦν θόρυβος τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων λεγόντων, ὅτι κινδυνεύει πᾶς ὁ λαὸς Ἰησοῦν τὸν Χριστὸν προσδοκάν. Ἔλεγον οὖν συνελθόντες τῷ Ἰακώβῳ παρακαλοῦμέν σε, ἐπίσχες τὸν λαὸν, ἐπεὶ ἐπλανήθη εἰς Ἰησοῦν, ὡς αὐτοῦ ὄντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Παρακαλοῦμέν σε πεῖσαι πάντας τοὺς ἐλθόντας εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ Πάσχα περὶ Ἰησοῦ· σοὶ γὰρ πάντες πειθόμεθα. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ μαρτυροῦμέν σοι καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς, ὅτι δίκαιος εἶ, καὶ ὅτι πρόσωπον οὐ λαμβάνεις. Πεῖσον οὖν σὺ τὸν ὄχλον περὶ Ἰησοῦ μὴ πλανᾶσθαι. Καὶ γὰρ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς καὶ πάντες πειθόμεθά σοι. Στῆθι οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ἵνα ἄνωθεν ἧς ἐπιφανὴς, καὶ ᾖ εὐάκουστά σου τὰ ῥήματα πάντι τῷ λαῷ. Διὰ γὰρ τὸ Πάσχα συνεληλύθασι πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ μετὰ καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ἔστησαν οὖν οἱ προειρημένοι γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι τὸν Ἰάκωβον ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ναοῦ, καὶ ἔκραξαν αὐτῷ, καὶ εἶπον· Δίκαιε, ᾧ πάντες πείθεσθαι ὀφείλομεν, ἐπεὶ ὁ λαὸς πλανᾶται ὀπίσω Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος, ἀπάγγειλον ἡμῖν, Τίς ἡ θύρα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος; Καὶ ἀπεκρίνατο φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· Τί με ἐπερωτᾶτε περὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; καὶ αὐτὸς κάθηται ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς μεγάλης δυνάμεως, καὶ μέλλει ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Καὶ πολλῶν πληροφορηθέντων καὶ δοξαζόντων ἐπὶ τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ τοῦ Ἰακώβου, καὶ λεγόντων ὡς ἀννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαβὶδ, τότε πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔλεγον· Κακῶς ἐποιήσαμεν τοιαύτην μαρτυρίαν παρασχόντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ· ἀλλὰ ἀναβάντες, καταβάλωμεν αὐτὸν, ἵνα φοβηθέντες μὴ πιστεύσωσιν αὐτῷ. Καὶ ἔκραξαν λέγοντες· ὤ ὤ, καὶ ὁ δίκαιος ἐπλανήθη. Καὶ ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν γραφὴν τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ γεγραμμένην "Αρωμεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστί· τοίνυν τὰ γεννήματα τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν φάγονται. Αναβάντες οὖν κατέβαλον τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ ἔλεγον ἀλλήλοις Λιθάσωμεν Ἰάκωβον τὸν δίκαιον. Καὶ ἤρξαντο λιθάζειν αὐτὸν, ἐπεὶ καταβληθεὶς οὐκ ἀπέθανεν, ἀλλὰ στραφεὶς ἔθηκε τὰ γόνατα λέγων· Παρακαλῶ, Κύριε Θεὲ Πάπερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς· οὐ γὰρ οἴδασι τί ποιοῦσιν. Οὕτω δὲ καταλιθοβολοῦντων αὐτὸν, εἷς τῶν ἱερέων τῶν υἱῶν Ῥηχὰβ υἱοῦ Ῥαχαβεὶμ τῶν μαρτυρουμένων ὑπὸ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου, ἔκραξε λέγων Παύσασθε, τί ποιεῖτε; εὔχεται ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ὁ δίκαιος. Καὶ λαβών τις ἀπ' αὐτῶν, εἷς τῶν γναφέων, τὸ ξύλον ἐν ᾧ ἀπεπίεζε τὰ ἱμάτια, ἤνεγκε κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦ δικαίου· καὶ οὕτως ἐμαρτύρησε· καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, καὶ ἔτι αὐτοῦ ἡ στήλη μένει παρὰ τῷ ναῷ Μάρτυς οὗτος ἀληθὴς Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ Ἕλλησι γεγένηται, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν. Καὶ εὐθὺς Οὐεσπασιανὸς πολιορκεῖ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, αἰχμαλωτίσας αὐτούς.-(Ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. II. 23.)

Our blessed Lord speaks, in Mat. xix. 12, of those "who make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake;" in reference to those zealous ministers of religion, who are content to live in a state of celibacy, unincumbered with the cares of the world, in order to devote themselves exclusively to the service of their Maker. Such an one was MELITO, Bishop of Sardis, in Lydia, as we are informed by Polycrates, in a fragment preserved by Eusebius. (Hist. Eccl. V. 24.) He was a native of Asia, and probably of Sardis, but the date of his birth, as well as of his election to the Bishoprick, are equally unknown. By some, indeed, he has been regarded as the angel of the Church of Sardis, to whom the letter is addressed in Rev. iii. 1; but as this supposition would extend his continuance in the See to a period of more than seventy years, it must be at once relinquished as a vague conjecture. There is not the remotest hint in any author, who has mentioned his name or his writings, that he lived to so great an age as to warrant the notion. It should seem however, that he was endued by the Holy Spirit with the gift of prophecy; for to this effect is the testimony of Polycrates (ubi supra); and Jerome quotes Tertullian to the same purpose.

There can be little doubt that a man of that character and disposition which is attributed to Melito, was continually employed in advancing the interests of the Church, in defending the purity of her doctrine, and maintaining the strictness of her discipline. It was in this spirit that he took part in the controversy respecting the time of keeping Easter, which was then at its height; and that he travelled into Palestine, at the instigation of his friend Onesimus, for the purpose of settling the Canon of the Old Testament. His Catalogue is still in existence (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV. 26); and it is the first which is to be found in any Christian writer. He also addressed an Apology for Christianity to the Emperor Aurelius, with a view to obtain a suppression of those persecutions which then prevailed; and it may be fairly inferred, from the few short extracts which are to be found in Eusebius, that it was well calculated to assist the cause, in the promotion of which Justin and others of his contemporaries had united their endeavours. The date of this Apology is placed in the Alexandrian Chronicle, and in that of Eusebius, at the year 170; and it is evident, from the fact that Lucius Verus, the brother and colleague of Aurelius, was now dead, that it could not have been written before that year. It should seem, however, from the manner in which the Emperor's son Commodus is mentioned in a passage still extant, that he was already admitted into a share of the empire. Hence Basnage and Lardner assign it to the year 177; and Tillemont, understanding the expression in question of the investment of Commodus with the tribunitian authority, to the year 175.

The writings of Melito, all of which are unfortunately lost, were very numerous. Besides the "Apology," and the treatise respecting Easter, Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. IV. 26.) and Jerome (Vir. Ill. c. 24.) enumerate the following:-1. Rules of Life, and on the Life of the Prophets; 2. On the Church; 3. On the Lord's Day; 4. On the Nature and Formation of Man; 5. On the Senses; 6. On the Soul, the Mind, and the Body; 7. On Baptism; 8. On Truth; 9. On the