Part 21

c. =Practical and Ascetical Treatises.= His pre-Montanist writings are characterized by moderation as compared with the fanatical rigorism and scornful bitterness against the Psychical, _i.e._ the Catholics, displayed in those of the Montanist period. To the former class belong: _De oratione_ (exposition of the Lord’s Prayer); _De baptismo_ (necessity of water baptism, disapproval of infant baptism); _De pœnitentia_; _De idolatria_; _Ad Martyres_; _De spectaculis_; _De cultu feminarum_ (against feminine love of dress); _De patientia_; _Ad uxorem_ (a sort of testament for his wife, with the exhortation after his death not to marry again, but at least in no case to marry an unbeliever). To the Montanist period belong: _De virginibus velandis_; _De corona militis_ (defending a Christian soldier who suffered imprisonment for refusing to wear the soldier’s crown); _De fuga in persecutione_ (which with fanatical decision is declared to be a renunciation of Christianity); _De exhortatione castitatis_ and _De monogamia_ (both against second marriages which are treated as fornication and adultery); _De pudicitia_ (recalling his milder opinion given in his earlier treatise _De pœnitentia_, that every mortal sin is left to the judgment of God, with the possibility of reconciliation); _De jejuniis adv. Psychicos_ (vindication of the fasting discipline of the Montanists, § 40, 4); _De pallio_ (an essay full of wit and humour in answer to the taunts of his fellow-citizens about his throwing off the toga and donning the philosopher’s mantle, _i.e._ the Pallium, which even the Ascetics might wear).[78]

§ 31.11. =Thascius Cæcilius Cyprianus= [Cyprian], descended from a celebrated pagan family in Carthage, was at first a teacher of rhetoric, then, after his conversion in A.D. 245, a presbyter and from A.D. 248 bishop in his native city. During the Decian persecution the hatred of the heathen mob expressed itself in the cry _Cyprianum ad leonem_; but he withdrew himself for a time in flight into the desert in A.D. 250, from whence he guided the affairs of the church by his Epistles, and returned in the following year when respite had been given. The disturbances that had meanwhile arisen afforded him abundant opportunity for the exercise of that wisdom and gentleness which characterized him, and the earnestness, energy and moderation of his nature, as well as his Christian tact and prudence all stood him in good stead in dealing, on the one hand, with the fallen who sought restoration, and on the other, the rigorous schismatics who opposed them (§ 41, 2). When persecution again broke out under Valerian in A.D. 257 he was banished to the desert Curubis, and when he returned to his oppressed people in A.D. 258, he was beheaded. His epoch-making significance lies not so much in his theological productions as in his energetic and successful struggle for the unity of the church as represented by the monarchical position of the episcopate, and in his making salvation absolutely dependent upon submission to episcopal authority, as well as in the powerful impetus given by him to the tendency to view ecclesiastical piety as an _opus operatum_ (§ 39). As a theologian and writer he mainly attaches himself to the giant Tertullian, whose thoughts he reproduces in his works, with the excision, however, of their Montanist extravagances. Jerome relates that no day passed in which he did not call to his amanuensis: _Da magistrum_! In originality, profundity, force and fulness of thought, as well as in speculative and dialectic gifts, he stands indeed far below Tertullian, but in lucidity and easy flow of language and pleasant exposition he far surpasses him. His eighty-one Epistles are of supreme importance for the Ch. Hist. of his times, and next to them in value is the treatise “De unitate ecclesiæ” (§ 34, 7). His _Liber ad Donatum s. de gratia Dei_, the first writing produced after his conversion, contains treatises on the leadings of God’s grace and the blessedness of the Christian life as contrasted with the blackness of the life of the pagan world. The Apologetical writings _De idolorum vanitate_ and _Testimonia adv. Judæos_, II. iii., have no claims to independence and originality. This applies also more or less to his ascetical tracts: _De habitu virginum_, _De mortalitate_, _De exhortatione martyrii_, _De lapsis_, _De oratione dominica_, _De bono patientiæ_, _De zelo et livore_, etc. His work _De opere et eleemosynis_ specially contributed to the spread of the doctrine of the merit of works.[79]

§ 31.12. =Various Ecclesiastical Writers using the Latin Tongue.=

a. The Roman attorney =Minucius Felix=, probably of Cirta in Africa, wrote under the title of _Octavius_ a brilliant Apology, expressed in a fine Latin diction, in the form of a conversation between his two friends the Christian Octavius and the heathen Cæcilius, which resulted in the conversion of the latter. It is matter of dispute whether it was composed before or after Tertullian’s Apologeticus, and to which of the two the origin of thoughts and expressions common to both is to be assigned. Recently Ebert has maintained the opinion that Minucius is the older, and this view has obtained many adherents; whereas the contrary theory of Schultze has reached its climax in assigning the composition of the _Octavius_ to A.D. 300-303, so that he is obliged to ascribe the Octavius as well as the Apologeticus to a compiler of the fourth or fifth century, plagiarizing from Cyprian’s treatise _De idolorum vanitate_!

b. =Commodianus= [Commodus], born at Gaza, was won to Christianity by reading holy scripture, and wrote about A.D. 250 his _Instructiones adv. Gentium Deos_, consisting of eighty acrostic poems in rhyming hexameters and scarcely intelligible, barbarous Latin. His _Carmen apologeticum adv. Jud. et Gent._ was first published in 1852.

c. The writings of his contemporary the schismatical =Novatian= of Rome (§ 41, 3) show him to have been a man of no ordinary dogmatical and exegetical ability. His _Liber de Trinitate s. de Regula fidei_ is directed in a subordinationist sense against the Monarchians (§ 33). The _Epistola de cibis Judaici_ repudiates any obligation on the part of Christians to observe the Old Testament laws about food; and the _Epistola Cleri Romani_ advocates milder measures in the penitential discipline.

d. =Arnobius= was born at Sicca in Africa, where he was engaged as a teacher of eloquence about A.D. 300. For a long time he was hostilely inclined toward Christianity, but underwent a change of mind by means of a vision in a dream. The bishop distrusted him and had misgivings about admitting him to baptism, but he convinced him of the honesty of his intentions by composing the seven books of _Disputationes adv. Gentes_. This treatise betrays everywhere defective understanding of the Christian truth; but he is more successful in combating the old religion than in defending the new.

e. The bishop =Victorinus of Pettau= (Petavium in Styria), who died a martyr during the Diocletian persecution in A.D. 303, wrote commentaries on the Old and New Testament books that are no longer extant. Only a fragment _De fabrica mundi_ on Gen. i. and Scholia on the Apocalypse have been preserved.

f. =Lucius Cœlius Firmianus Lactantius= († about A.D. 330), probably of Italian descent, but a pupil of Arnobius in Africa, was appointed by Diocletian teacher of Latin eloquence at Nicomedia. At that place about A.D. 301 he was converted to Christianity and resigned his office on the outbreak of the persecution. Constantine the Great subsequently committed to him the education of his son Crispus, who, at his father’s command, was executed in A.D. 326. From his writings he seems to have been amiable and unassuming, a man of wide reading, liberal culture and a warm heart. The purity of his Latin style and the eloquence of his composition, in which he excels all the Church Fathers, has won for him the honourable name of the Christian Cicero. We often miss in his writings grip, depth and acuteness of thinking; especially in their theological sections we meet with many imperfections and mistakes. He was not only carried away by a fanatical chiliasm, but adopted also many opinions of a Manichæan sort. The _Institutiones divinæ_ in seven bks., a complete exposition and defence of the Christian faith, is his principal work. The _Epitome div. inst._ is an abstract of the larger works prepared by himself with the addition of many new thoughts. His book _De mortibus persecutorum_ (Engl. trans. by Dr. Burnett, “Relation of the Death of the Primitive Persecutors.” Amsterdam, 1687), contains a rhetorically coloured description of the earlier persecutions as well as of those witnessed by himself during his residence in Nicomedia. It is of great importance for the history of the period but must be carefully sifted owing to its strongly

## partisan character. Not only the joy of the martyrs but

also the proof of a divine Nemesis in the lives of the persecutors are regarded as demonstrating the truth of Christianity. The tract _De ira Dei_ seeks to prove the failure of Greek philosophy to combine the ideas of justice and goodness in its conception of God. The book _De opificio Dei_ proves from the wonderful structure of the human body the wisdom of divine providence. Jerome praises him as a poet; but of the poems ascribed to him only one on the bird phœnix, which, as it rises into life out of its own ashes is regarded as a symbol of immortality and the resurrection, can lay any claim to authenticity.

§ 32. THE APOCRYPHAL AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHICAL LITERATURE.[80]

The practice, so widely spread in pre-Christian times among pagans and Jews, of publishing treatises as original and primitive divine revelations which had no claim to such a title found favour among Christians of the first centuries, and was continued far down into the Greek and Latin Middle Ages. The majority of the apocryphal or anonymous and pseudepigraphic writings were issued in support of heresies Ebionite or Gnostic. Many, however, were free from heretical taint and were simply undertaken for the purpose of glorifying Christianity by what was then regarded as a harmless _pia fraus_ through a _vaticinia post eventum_, or of filling up blanks in the early history with myths and fables already existing or else devised for the occasion. They took the subjects of their romances partly from the field of the Old Testament, and partly from the field of the New Testament in the form of Gospels, Acts, Apostolic Epistles and Apocalypses. A number of them are professedly drawn from the prophecies of old heathen seers. Of greater importance, especially for the history of the constitution, worship and discipline of the church are the Eccles. Constitutions put forth under the names of Apostles. Numerous apocryphal Acts of Martyrs are for the most part utterly useless as historical sources.

§ 32.1. =Professedly Old Heathen Prophecies.=--Of these the =Sibylline Writings= occupy the most conspicuous place. The Græco-Roman legend of the Sibyls, σιοῦ βούλη (Æol. for θεοῦ βούλη), _i.e._ prophetesses of pagan antiquity, was wrought up at a very early period in the interests of Judaism and afterwards of Christianity, especially of Ebionite heresy. The extant collection of such oracles in fourteen books were compiled in the 5th or 6th century. It contains in Greek verses prophecies partly purely Jewish, partly Jewish wrought up by a Christian hand,

## partly originally Christian, about the history of the world, the

life and sufferings of Christ, the persecutions of His disciples and the stages in the final development of His kingdom. The Christian participation in the composition of the Sibylline oracles began in the first century, soon after the irruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, and continued down to the 5th century. The Apologists, especially Lactantius, made such abundant use of these prophecies that the heathens nicknamed them Sibyllists.--Of the prophecies about the coming of Christ ascribed to an ancient Persian seer, =Hystaspes=, none have been preserved.

§ 32.2. =Old Testament Pseudepigraphs.=[81]--These are mostly of =Jewish Origin=, of which, however, many were held by the early Christians in high esteem.

a. To this class belongs pre-eminently the =Book of Enoch=, written originally in Hebrew in the last century before Christ, quoted in the Epistle of Jude, and recovered only in an Ethiopic translation in A.D. 1821. In its present form in which a great number of older writings about Enoch and Noah have been wrought up, the book embraces accounts of the fall of a certain part of the angels (Gen. vi. 1-4; Jude 6; and 2 Pet. ii. 4), also statements of the holy angels about the mysteries of heaven and hell, the earth and paradise, about the coming of the Messiah, etc.

b. The =Assumptio Mosis= (ἀνάληψις), from which, according to Origen, the reference to the dispute between Michael and Satan about the body of Moses in the Epistle of Jude is taken, was discovered by the librarian Ceriani at Milan. He found the first part of this book in an old Latin translation and published it in A.D. 1860. In the exercise of his official gift Moses prophesies to Joshua about the future fortunes of his nation down to the appearing of the Messiah. The second part, which is wanting, dealt with the translation of Moses. The exact date of its composition is not determined, but it may be perhaps assigned to the first Christian century.

c. The so-called =Fourth Book of Ezra= is first referred to by Clement of Alexandria. It is an Apocalypse after the manner of the Book of Daniel. It was probably written originally in Greek but we possess only translations: a Latin one and four oriental ones--Ethiopic, Arabic, Syriac and Armenian. From these oriental translations the blanks in the Latin version have been supplied, and its later Christian interpolations have been detected. The angel Uriel in seven visions makes known to the weeping Ezra the signs of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, the decay of the Roman empire, the founding of the Messianic kingdom, etc. The fifth vision of the eagle with twelve wings and three heads seems to fix the date of its composition to the time of Domitian.

d. In the year 1843 the missionary Krapff sent to Tübingen the title of an Ethiopic Codex, in which Ewald recognised the writing referred to frequently by the Church Fathers as the =Book of Jubilees= (Ἰωβελαῖα) or the =Little Genesis= (Λεπτογένεσις). This book, written probably about A.D. 50 or 60, is a complete summary of the Jewish legendary matter about the early biblical history from the creation down to the entrance into Canaan, divided into fifty jubilee periods. The name _Little Genesis_ was given it, notwithstanding its large dimensions, as indicating a Genesis of the second rank.[82]

§ 32.3. The following Pseudepigraphs are of =Christian Origin=.

a. The short romantic =History of Assenath=, daughter of Potiphar and wife of Joseph (Gen. xli. 45). Its main point is the conversion of Assenath by an angel.

b. =The Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs=, after the style of Gen. xlix., written in Greek in the 2nd cent., and quoted by Origen. As in the chapter of Gen. referred to parting counsels are put in the mouth of Jacob, they are here ascribed to his twelve sons. These discourses embrace prophecies of the coming of Christ and His atoning sufferings and death, statements about baptism and the Lord’s supper, about the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the rejection of the O.T. covenant people and the election of the Gentiles, the destruction of Jerusalem and the final completion of the kingdom of God. The book is thus a cleverly compiled and comprehensive handbook of Christian faith, life and hope.

c. Of the =Ascensio Isaiæ= (Ἀναβατικόν) and the =Visio Isaiæ= (Ὅρασις) traces are to be found as early as in Justin Martyr and Tertullian. The Greek original is lost. Dillmann published an old Ethiopic version (Lps., 1877), and Gieseler an old Lat. text (Gött., 1832). Its Cabbalistic colouring commended it to the Gnostics. In its first part, borrowed from an old Jewish document, it tells about the martyrdom of Isaiah who was sawn asunder by King Manasseh; in its second part, entitled _Visio Isaiæ_ it is told how the prophet in an ecstasy was led by an angel through the seven heavens and had revealed to him the secrets of the divine counsels regarding the incarnation of Christ.

d. A collection in Syriac belonging perhaps to the 5th or 6th century in which other legends about early ages are kept together, is called =Spelunca thesaurorum=. We are here told about the sepulchre of the patriarch Lamech and the treasures preserved there from which the wise men obtained the gifts which they presented to the infant Saviour. The Ethiopic _Vita Adami_ is an expansion of the book just referred to. This book is manifestly a legendary account of the changes wrought upon all relations of life in our first parents by means of the fall (hence the title: “Conflict of Adam and Eve”), and Golgotha is named as Adam’s burying place. A second and shorter part treats of the Sethite patriarchs down to Noah. The still shorter third part relates the post-diluvian history down to the time of Christ.[83]

§ 32.4. =New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphs.=--The Gnostics especially produced these in great abundance. Epiphanius speaks of them as numbering thousands. But the Catholics, too, were unable to resist the temptation to build up the truth by these doubtful means.

I. =Apocryphal Gospels.=

1. =Complete Gospels= existed in considerable numbers, _i.e._ embracing the period of Christ’s earthly labours, more or less corrupted in the interests of Gnostic or Ebionitic heresy, or independently composed Gospels; but only of a few of these do we possess any knowledge.[84] The most important of these are the following: _The Gosp. of the Egyptians_, esteemed by the Encratites, according to Origen one of the writings referred to in Luke i. 1; also _the Gosp. of the XII. Apostles_, generally called by the Fathers Εὐαγγ. καθ’ Ἑβραίους originally written in Aramaic; and finally, _the Gosp. of Marcion_ (§ 27, 11). The most important of these is the Gospel of the Hebrews, on account of its relation to our canonical Gospel of Matthew, which is generally supposed to have been written originally in Aramaic.[85] Jerome who translated the Hebrew Gospel says of it: _Vocatur a plerisque Matthæi authenticum_; but this is not his own opinion, nor was it that of Origen and Eusebius. The extant fragments show many divergences as well as many similarities, partly in the form of apocryphal amplifications, partly of changes made for dogmatic reasons.

2. Gospels dealing with particular Periods--referring to the days preceding the birth of Jesus and the period of the infancy or to the closing days of His life, where the heretical elements are wanting or are subordinated to the general interests of Christianity. Of these there was a large number and much of their legendary or fabulous material, especially about the family history of the mother of Jesus (§ 57, 2), has passed over into the tradition of the Catholic Church. Among them may be mentioned;

a. _The Protevangel. Jacobi minoris_, perhaps the oldest, certainly the most esteemed and most widely spread, written in Greek, beginning with the story of Mary’s birth and reaching down to the death of the children of Bethlehem;

b. The _Ev. Pseudo Matthæi_, similar in its contents, but continued down to the period of Jesus’ youth, and now existing only in a Lat. translation;

c. The _Ev. de nativitate Mariæ_, only in Lat., containing the history of Mary down to the birth of Jesus;

d. The _Hist. Josephi fabri lignarii_ down to his death, dating probably from the 4th cent., only now in an Arabic version;

e. The _Ev. Infantiæ Salvatoris_, only in Arabic, a compilation with no particular dogmatic tendency;

f. Also the so-called _Ascension of Mary_ (§ 57, 2) soon became the subject of apocryphal treatment, for which John was claimed as the authority (John xix. 26), and is preserved in several Greek, Syriac, Arabic and Latin manuscripts;

g. The _Ev. Nicodemi_ (John xix. 39) in Greek and Lat. contains two Jewish writings of the 2nd century. The first part consists of the _Gesta_ or _Acta Pilati_. There can be no doubt of its identity with the _Acta Pilati_ quoted by Justin, Tert., Euseb., Epiph. It contains the stories of the canonical Gospels variously amplified and an account of the judicial proceedings evidently intended to demonstrate Jesus’ innocence of the charges brought against Him by His enemies. The second part, bearing the title _Descensus Christi ad inferos_, is of much later origin, telling of the descent of Christ into Hades along with two of the saints who rose with him (Matt. xxvii. 52), Leucius and Carinus, sons of Simeon (Luke ii. 25).[86]

§ 32.5.