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probably the Bishop of Smyrna to whom our Divine Master sends his prophetic promise of the martyr's crown in the Apocalypse. His pupil, Irenæus, tells us how he used to speak of the beloved disciple, and of "others who had seen the Lord."

We must reflect that while St. John survived, after his return from exile, Ephesus was temporarily the focus of apostolic illumination. If "old wives' fables" were to be heeded, the obscure Evaristus, Bishop of Rome, was St. John's superior, and had settled "who should be greatest," as Christ himself did not, by claiming from St. Peter a principality over the glorious survivor of Zebedee's children! Nothing of the kind disgraces the true history of Evaristus. Down to the first or second year of the second century the beloved disciple "tarried," as his Master had said, prolonging the age of the Messiah, and sealing the canon of the New Testament. Nor while Polycarp survived, to whom Christ himself had spoken in his message to the churches, could the apostolic age be regarded as ended. To him Anicetus deferred, and rendered homage at Rome. The date of his martyrdom closes the period which, in strict reckoning, is that of the Apostolic Fathers. As a school, the see of Antioch comes subsequently into view, and its consummate flower is Chrysostom, the great primate of Constantinople, the goldenmouthed John.

14. PRIMITIVE SCHOOLS.-ALEXANDRIA.

1

Of the primitive schools the see of Alexandria was the first, and stands without rival, or even one that can pretend to be its second. It may owe its foundation to the catechetical classes of Apollos; Theophilus may not improbably have received his first instructions there; it ceased not to shed over the Christendom of three centuries the all-animating inspiration of its theology; and to it we owe the master spirit of that great Council of Nicæa, Athanasius, its burning and shining light. Here we find the genius of Clement, and the untiring toil of Origen, and the labours of others not unworthy to be named with them, who for centuries maintained. a divine mastery over Christian thought applied to the exposition of the Scriptures. We must reflect that its early relations with Antioch were intimate, and pupils of Polycarp were probably enrolled in its schools; 2 while, not unreasonably, we may admit that St. Mark was its first bishop, and made it "the Evangelical See." It framed the primitive testimony into literature, and gave it symbolic and liturgic idioms. From voices attuned in her choirs sounds forth the organ-music of the Great Confession, that anthem-like roll and swell of the successive utterances of the Nicene Creed. That

clothing of wrought gold" which adorns the Bride of the Lamb was wrought, as in a loom, at the feet of her Gamaliels. Truly, if "a mother and mistress of churches" ever existed, we must find in

1 My reasons may be seen in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. vi. p. 236. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 166, and vol. viii. p. 796.

Alexandria the only see to which antiquity makes any such award. When it comes into notice, under Pantænus, it is already a Christian university. He is called "the Sicilian bee," and, lured by the scent of flowers sweeter than those of Enna, he flew from its fair fields to the Alexandrian storehouse where honey was dropping from the comb. Under him. it became a beehive indeed, and, if it be not overworking the metaphor, it had no drones; all were workers and soldiers, among whom Truth was queen and mother both. Its cells were stored with scriptural nectar, and its great doctor, Clement, has immortalized its spirit in the wit by which he spake. His sayings, to pursue the figure merrily, are specimens alike of sweets and of stings. How uncloying the flavour of his words about Jesus! how keen and pungent his conflict with false philosophy and untruth! They writhe and perish like summer moths, pierced by his winged words and fanned by their airy impulse into oblivion.1

15. MANY DOCTORS.- ATHANASIUS.

I have time only to name the bright succession of doctors who adorned the see of St. Mark, like those apocalyptic stars which Christ held in his own right hand. To Pantænus, and Clement, and the colossal figure of Origen, succeed Gregory Thaumaturgus, Heraclas, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and Alexander of Cappadocia, with whom the sub-apostolic period expired in the Decian persecution. Theognostus, a pupil of

1 See Note S.

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Origen, and Pierius, who is called "Origen Junior by St. Jerome, with Theonas, Phileas, Pamphilus, Peter the Canonist, and Alexander, the patron of Athanasius, carry on the brilliant succession. And these illustrious names, every one, have planetary lustres revolving about them; while, all together, they shine as the firmament, till the day dawns and the sunlight of the Gospel breaks over all the world. Then appears Athanasius, "clothed with the sun," he who afterwards stood "against the world," Athanasius, in whose great heart the Catholic faith found shelter for a moment while others forsook it and fled, but only to break forth, when "the fire kindled and he spake with his tongue" the "truths that wake to perish never." Even in our own vain and self-asserting times, it has been conceded that the treasures of Alexandrian Christianity are a forecast of modern thought, and must still continue to enrich the universe.1

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16.

THE PUNIC SCHOOL. - TERTULLIAN AND
CYPRIAN.

Carthage, like a candlestick of many branches, borrows its lustre from the Alexandrian Pharos. This appears in Tertullian, who teaches in crabbed Latin, but with original force and perspicuity, what he learned in Greek. Here begins "Latin Christianity"; here first we find a "Western theology," which became anthropology rather, and which lives on and works yet, and ever will work among men, in the master spirit of Augustine. To Ter

1 See Note T.

tullian, erratic genius as he was, must be attributed this marvellous creation, the illustrious Punic school. But it took shape under Cyprian, who recognized his obligations to his masterly predecessor, delighted to pay him honour as the autocrat of his thought, and rectified his mistakes, throwing a mantle over his faults. To Cyprian must be attributed the clearest exposition of the primitive polity to be found in history. He builds up the system of Ignatius, as Ignatius reflects it from the Scriptures. To him we owe the ideal of the Episcopate, as the primitive Christians had received it; and through all his writings breathes the spirit of St. Peter, imploring the clergy not to make themselves "lords over God's heritage." Intrepid in vindicating his order, uncompromising in maintaining the autonomy of national churches, this noble confessor and martyr is yet the textbook of the laity who wish to know their place and privileges in the Church. I love his free spirit; the great synodical features of Catholic polity of which he is the champion; the maxims which he has left to Christendom. He is the great" Anglican " of antiquity, if I may anachronize so boldly. To his system, rightly understood, we of the Anglican communion may boldly refer our cause, as against Pope and Puritan. I love St. Cyprian. He finds a modern counterpart in our own Bishop Bull. Must I merely mention the noble names that are entwined with his in the creation of Latin thought? Study for yourselves the works of Minucius Felix, of Commodian, of Arnobius and Lactantius.

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