CHAPTER III.

THE EARLY CHURCH, FROM HERMAS TO ORIGEN.

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."-REV. 20: 6.

THE

HE early church was eminently pre-millennial in her cherished expectations of the Lord's advent. His coming and kingdom was her constant hope, and she deemed it, says Massillon, one step in apostacy not to sigh after his return." And this faith and hope, with her, was practical: even Gibbon admitting it to be "an opinion which may deserve respect, from its usefulness and antiquity." With her, too, Millennarianism was connected with all that is orthodox. On this point Mosheim is somewhat unfair. He places Chiliasm among the heresies of Cerinthus, in the first century, and yet affirms it had "met with no opposition till the third." The infidel saw and rebuked this unfairness. Says Gibbon, this "learned divine is not altogether candid on this occasion."

We have introduced Hermas into this catalogue, who, while he may be apocryphal, is still antique. Like Paul, he writes of a "world to come." Clement, too, advocates a future kingdom at the Redeemer's advent. Of Barnabas, we observe in the language of Professor Bush: "the genuineness of this epistle is disputed, but as far as the present argument is concerned, it is immaterial who the real author

was.

There is sufficient testimony that it is the production of a very early period of the Christian church.' Ignatius says nothing of the millennium. His hope lay in the better resurrection. So also Polycarp, who was a strenuous advocate of the personal advent of Christ. Papias' testimony is both interesting and credible. Of Justin Martyr, the fol lowing testimony is borne by Semisch: "Justin dwells with. deep emotion on this hope. It was in his esteem a sacred fire, at which he kindled afresh his Christian faith and practice. That this hope in its pure millennarian character and extent might possibly be vain, never entered his thoughts. He believed that it was supported by scripture. He expressly appealed to the New Testament Apocalypse, and such passages in the Old Testament as Isaiah 65: 17, in evidence of the personal reign of Christ in Jerusalem. From the Apocalypse, and Isaiah 65: 22, in connection with Genesis 2:17; 5:5, and Psalm 90:4, he deduced the millennial period. How could he doubt it?"

And Irenæus-how explicit and weighty his testimony. In the language of Edward Winthrop, we ask, "Is it credi ble that that excellent and pious father, with the advantage of being instructed by Polycarp, who was himself instructed by St. John, did not know what the beloved disciple held, as to the fact, whether the second coming of Christ would usher in the millennium, or be delayed to its close. We think not." Still, it is said by Post-millennialists, that the Hebrew church believed the same, and that the early Christians drew their Chiliasm from this source. "It is, therefore," writes Bishop Russell, a Rabbinic fable." "No mistake," says David N. Lord, "could be greater. Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Tertullian, and Lactantius, expressly found their doctrines of the millennium on the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse, and the prophecies of Isaiah 65th, Zech. 14th, and other pas

* Bush on the Millennium, p. 10. † Letters on Prophecy p. 43.

sages of the Old Testament, that are alleged by millennarians as foreshowing the reign of Christ and the saints on the earth. Not a hint is uttered by them that they were led to their belief in that reign by Jewish interpretations, or traditions; or that they drew their notions of it in any manner from the opinions that were entertained by the Jews of the reign of the Messiah."* Such are the men to whose authority and writings we are about to refer. The opponents of pre-millennialism, cannot quote them without being condemned. "Jerome never mentions Justin Martyr," says Mede, "being afraid of the antiquity and authority of the man." In the midst of these early Christians we love to linger, while as yet the dark cloud of apostasy had not come over the path of the church.

But we give place to permit the early Christian Fathers to speak for themselves. Let us listen with patience and candor to the voice of the Church.

HERMAS, ABOUT A. D. 100.

Says Dr. A. Clarke: "This writer is generally allowed to be the same that Paul salutes, Rom. 16: 14." Dr. Hagenbach remarks that his work, "The Shepherd or Pastor," "enjoyed a high reputation in the second half of the second century, and was even quoted as a part of Scripture." According to Eusebius, this book was regarded as a part of the sacred canon by some in the days of Irenæus. ||

Dr. Burton and Prof. Stuart date its production about A.D. 150. Dr. Elliott allows the same and pronounces it a spurious publication, but as Irenæus calls it a useful book, and both Jerome and Eusebius say it was read in the churches, we give a few extracts for what they are worth, remarking,

*Theological and Literary Journal, vol. p. 426.

† Succession of Sac. Lit. p. 90. Hist. of Doctrines, Vol. i. p. 56. Eccl. Hist., B. v. ch. viii.

that the real Hermas mentioned by Paul, is supposed to have died about A.D. 81.

Hermas predicts great tribulation for the church, and says: "Happy ye as many as shall endure the great trial that is at hand." He says: "This world is as the winter to the righteous men, because they are not known but dwell among sinners; but the world to come is as summer to them."

Again he says: "The Great God will remove the heavens and the mountains, the hills and the seas: and the end will be accomplished that all things may be filled with his elect, who will possess the world to come." "This age," he says, "must be destroyed by fire, but in the age to come the elect of God shall dwell." Hermas no where describes a millennial era or rest for the church till the end of time.*

CLEMENT, A. D. 96.

Phil. 4: 3. Says epistle extant, ac

The third Bishop of Rome, and " fellow laborer " of Paul, whose name is "in the book of Life." Eusebius, "Of this Clement there is one knowledged as genuine, of considerable length, and of great merit. This we know to have been read for common benefit, in most of the churches, both in former times, and in our own."+

Nor does he deny the genuineness and authenticity of the second Epistle, though he does not speak of it so approvingly. Clement wrote about A. D. 95. In his first Epistle, he says, "Let us be followers of those who went about in goat skins and sheep skins, preaching the coming of Christ. Such were the Prophets." Again, alluding to some who scoff at the apparent delay of the advent, he says,-" You see how in a little while the fruit of the trees comes to maturity.

Of a

* Hermas, pp. 270, 288. Library of the Apostolical Fathers-Ox

ford Translation.

Eusebius, B. iii. ch. xvi.

truth, yet a little while and His will shall be accomplished suddenly, the Holy Scripture itself bearing witness that He shall quickly come and not tarry; and the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Holy One whom ye look for." In his second Epistle he says, "If therefore we shall do what is just in the sight of God, we shall enter into his kingdom, and shall receive the promises, which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. Wherefore let us every hour expect the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, because we know not the day of God's appearing." He uses the phoenix to demonstrate the possibility of the resurrection.*

Dr. Duffield, says "there is not in Clement's writings the most remote hint of a millennium of religious prosperity before the coming of Christ." Roman Catholics count him a saint. Clement of Alexandria calls him "an Apostle," which Jerome qualifies by styling him "an Apostolic man.” companion of Paul, how valuable his testimony-he plainly putting the kingdom at the coming of Christ. Clement was martyred A. D. 100, by being drowned in the sea, under the reign of the Emperor Trajan.

BARNABAS, A. D. 71.

He was the companion of St. Paul. He was a Levite, and was born on the Island of Cyprus. He was brought up with Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, and is declared by Clement to have been one of the seventy sent out by the Saviour.† He first introduced Paul to the other Apostles (Acts 9: 27.) "He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and faith." An Epistle is extant bearing his name, in which the writer speaks as though he were Barnabas the Apostle. It was read in the churches at an early period, and was cited by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others, the latter styling *Sce His. Epistles, pp. 21, 30, 357.

† Quoted by Euseb. Eccl. Hist., B. ii. Ch. i.