disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe, who said that he was bound to maintain the practice of the presbyters before him. Which things being so, they communed with each other; and in the church, Anicetus yielded to Polycarp, out of respect no doubt, the office of consecrating, and they separated from each other in peace, all the church being at peace; both those that observed and those that did not observe, maintaining peace. And this same Irenæus, as one whose character answered well to his name, being in this way a peacemaker, exhorted and negociated such matters as these for the peace of the churches. And not only to Victor, but likewise to the most of the other rulers of the churches, he sent letters of exhortation on the agitated question.

CHAPTER XXV.

All agree to one opinion respecting the passover.

THE bishops indeed of Palestine, whom we have just men tioned, Narcissus and Theophilus, and Cassius with them, the bishop of the church at Tyre, and Clarus of Ptolemais, and those that came together with them, having advanced many things respecting the tradition that had been handed down to them by succession from the apostles, regarding the passover, at the close of the epistle, use these words: "Endeavour to send copies of the epistle through all the church, that we may not give occasion to those whose minds are easily led astray. But we inform you also, that they observe the same day at Alexandria, which we also do; for letters have been sent by us to them, and from them to us, so that we celebrate the holy season with one mind and at one time."

CHAPTER XXVI.

The elegant works of Irenæus that have come down to us.

BESIDES the works and epistles of Irenæus abovementioned, there is a certain very brief and most important discourse by him On Knowledge, against the Greeks; another also, which he dedicated to his brother named Marcion, as a proof of the apostolic preaching; a book also of various disputes, in which he mentions the Epistle to the Hebrews; and the book called the Wisdom of Solomon, quoting certain passages from them. These are the works of Irenæus that have come down to us. But after Commodus had ended his reign in the thirteenth year, and Pertinax had held the government not quite six months, Severus was created emperor, and ruled the state.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The works of others that flourished at the time.

NUMEROUS Works, indeed, of ancient ecclesiastical writers are still preserved by many, the monuments of a virtuous industry. Those which we would select of them, might be the commentaries of Heraclitus On the Apostle; the works of Maximus, also, on that question so much agitated among the heretics, The Origin of Evil; also, On the Creation of Matter. Also, the works of Candidus On the Hexaemeron.* And Apion's work on the same subject. Sextus, also, On the Resurrection, and a certain other treatise of Arabianus, with many others, of whom, as we have no data, we can neither insert the times nor any extracts in our history. Innumerable others there also are, that have come down to us, even the names of whom it would be impossible to give. All of these were orthodox and ecclesiastical writers as

• The Greek name, designating the six days of the creation.

the interpretation which each gives of the sacred Scriptures shows; yet they are not known to us, because the works them selves do not give their authors.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Those that followed the heresy of Artemon, in the beginning. Their character and conduct; and their attempt at corrupting the Scriptures.

In a work written by a certain one of these authors against the heresy of Artemon, which Paul of Samosata again attempted to revive among us, there is a narrative well adapted to the history we are now investigating. This writer, not long since, in refuting the heresy mentioned, which asserts that Christ is a mere man, since its leaders wish to boast as if it were the ancient doctrine, besides many other arguments that he adduces in refutation of their impious falsehood, he gives the following account: "For they assert," says he, "that all those primitive men and the apostles themselves, both received and taught these things as they are now taught by them, and that the truth of the gospel was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter. But that from his successor Zephyrinus, the truth was mutilated. And perchance what they say might be credible, were it not that the holy Scriptures contradict them; and then, also, there are works of certain brethren older than Victor's times, which they wrote in defence of the truth, and against the heresies then prevailing. I speak of Justus and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all which the divinity of Christ is asserted. For who knows not the works of Irenæus and Melito, and the rest, in which Christ is ar.nounced as God and man? Whatever psalms and hymns were written by the brethren from the beginning, celebrate Christ the word of God, by asserting his divinity. How then could it happen, that since the doctrine of the church has been proclaimed for so many years, that those until the times of Victor, preached

the gospel after this manner? And how are they so devoid of shame to utter these falsehoods against Victor, well knowing that Victor excommunicated that currier Theodotus, the leader and father of this God-denying apostacy, as the first one that asserted Christ was a mere man. For had Victor entertained the sentimènts which their impious doctrine promulgates, how could he have expelled Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?" Thus much with respect to Victor. But after this author had superintended the church, Zephyrinus was appointed his successor about the ninth year of the reign of Severus. The same author that composed the book already mentioned respecting the founder of this heresy, also adds an account of another event that occurred in the times of Zephyrinus, in these words: "I shall remind many of the brethren of a' fact," says he, "that happened in our days, which, had it happened in Sodom, I think would have led them to reflection. There was a certain Natalius, who lived not in remote times, but in our own. This man was seduced on a certain occasion by Asclepiodotus, and another Theodotus, a moneychanger. Both of these were disciples of Theodotus the currier, the first that had been excommunicated by Victor, then bishop, as before said, on account of this opinion or rather insanity. Natalius was persuaded by them to be created a bishop of this heresy, with a salary from them of one hundred and fifty denarii a month. Being connected, therefore, with them, he was frequently brought to reflection by the Lord in his dreams. For the merciful God and our Lord Jesus Christ, would not that he who had been a witness of his own sufferings, should perish, though he was out of the church. But as he paid but little attention to these visions, being ensnared both by the desire of presiding among them, and that foul gain which destroys so many, he was finally lashed by holy angels, through the whole night, and was thus most severely punished; so that he arose early in the morning, and putting on sackcloth and covered with ashes, in great haste, and bathed in tears, he fell down before Zephyrinus the bishop, rolling at the feet not only of the clergy but even of the laity, and thus moved the compassionate church of Christ with his tears. And, although he implored their clemency with

much earnestness, and pointed to the strokes of the lashes he had received, he was at last scarcely admitted to communion." To this, we will also add other extracts from the same writer respecting this sect: "The sacred Scriptures," says he, "have been boldly perverted by them; the rule of the ancient faith they have set aside, Christ they have renounced, not inquiring what the holy Scriptures declared, but zealously labouring what form of reasoning may be devised to establish their impiety. And should any one present a passage of divine truth, they examined first whether a connected or disjoined form of syllogism* can be formed from it. But they abandon the holy Scriptures for the study of geometry,† as being of the earth they talk of the earth, and know not him that cometh from above. Euclid, therefore, is industriously measured‡ by them. Aristotle and Theophrastus, are also admired, and as to Galen, he is even perhaps worshipped by some. But as to these men who abuse the acts of the unbelievers, to their own heretical views, and who adulterate the simplicity of that faith contained in the holy Scriptures, by the wily arts of impious men; where is the necessity of asserting that they are not right in the faith? For this purpose they fearlessly lay their hands upon the holy Scriptures, saying that they have corrected them. And that I do not say this against them

• Logicians call the syllogisms here spoken of, hypothetical and disjunctive. In the former, the premises are supposed; in the latter, they are separated by a disjunctive conjunction, whence their names.

†The author whose words are here quoted, plays upon the word geometry, in its original. The word literally means earth or land-measuring. The science appears to owe its origin to the necessity of frequently measuring the lands in Egypt, after the inundations of the Nile; and when reduced to its more abstract principles, it still continued to bear its original name. The author here quoted seems to reprove, in these men, an absorbing devotedness to a science, the study of which is doubtless a powerful auxiliary in disciplining the human mind, independently of its practical utility. It was considered so important a preparatory discipline among the ancients, that the words is my owμarpytos wii sirikön were written over the gates of their philosophical schools.

Measured.] Another play upon the word geometry, the force of which is entirely lost in a translation. The author had already hinted that this was only an earthly study; and now he sarcastically remarks, Euclid is earth measured by them.