Where, indeed, is character more imperatively ed, and where do its proportions display themselves effectively, than in the legislative halls of a great n On such a responsible scene, crowded with mom interests, and overshadowed by awful temptations, acter appears invested with a solemn propriety. A it stands at the stormy source of national action, wi perspective of history for its background, and the a gleam of Christian promise on its brow-moderati its wisdom, and propelling by its energy, those co and interests that are to influence the destiny of ages world does not exhibit a sublimer spectacle.

E. W

THE student of church history naturally cheris peculiar reverence for the names next in order upo list of worthies after the apostles themselves, namely Apostolic Fathers. Nor is that reverence commonly ited to them. Even to their successors, the early tian Fathers, though one step farther removed from days of special illumination, we quite unconsciously t fer a portion of the glory of the New Testament t As we grope our way through the conflicts and ness of ages back to the earlier Christian times, and at less than a century's remove from the Apostle we seem to exchange friendly salutations with the loved disciple," and to catch the apostolic hue of C tian truth.

The reasons of this seeming may not be altog obvious. It may be that "distance lends enchantme the view." It may be that the scantiness of their pers history throws around them an air of mysterious dig and enhances in our minds their real greatness. A

may be that our imaginations are inflamed by the simple proximity of the Fathers to the days of wondrous providences. But whatever may be the reasons of such investiture of greatness, the fact itself is undeniable on the one hand, and the lack of sufficient historical warrant therefor is equally undeniable on the other.

The Apostolic Fathers were in part cotemporary with the apostles themselves, and are supposed to have been instructed by them. Their writings, however, contrast most strikingly with those of the apostles in the New Testament, both in regard to their subject-matter, and the mode of its presentation. To account for this, is a problem, the solution of which requires a recognition of other than merely human influences. These writings fall within a period of about sixty years, reaching from A. D. 90, to A. D. 150. Had the Apostolic Fathers written with the same general and specific helps as were enjoyed by the apostles, qualified by those influences only which naturally arise in a changing, or even deteriorating, state of society, we might still have found change, but it would have been gradual change. We should not have seen a sudden dropping down from a heavenly altitude nearly to the level of earth-born philosophies.

Admit the hypothesis of the divine interposition, and the problem becomes easy of solution. The apostles, by the divine afflatus, were lifted far above the general level of their times. They were alike distinguished from those who went before them, and those who followed after. Deprived of this divine aid, the Apostolic Fathers, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their times, were compelled to grapple with the great problems of Christianity as best they could. The claim of its simple facts became too manifest to be resisted by them. With the admission of those facts, there were introduced into human consciousness new moral forces which struggled continually for dominion. The guidance of inspiration having been withdrawn, it cannot be thought surprising that this struggle was but partially successful. It is the work of ages for the mind to perceive the full relations of a new thought to the mass of one's former ideas. And it is a still greater work, when that relation is perceived, to subject the whole soul to the sway of the new truth; to bring all

one's passions, affections, and aspirations, into loya its power.

However feeble was the dominion of Christianity ing the period immediately succeeding the apostles season of weakness was a necessary prelude to the development of its power. Neander well remarks phenomenon singular in its kind, is the striking diffe between the writings of the apostles and the writin the Apostolic Fathers, who were so nearly their cot raries. In other cases, transitions are wont to be gra but in this instance we observe a sudden change. are here no gentle gradations, but all at once an a transition from one style of language to another; a nomenon which should lead us to acknowledge the of a special agency of the Divine Spirit in the souls apostles. After the times of the first extraordinary ations of the Holy Ghost, followed the period of the development of human nature in Christianity; and as in all other cases, the beginnings must be smal feeble, before the effects of Christianity could pen more widely, and bring fully under their influenc great powers of the human mind. It was to be s first, what the divine power could effect by the foolis of preaching."1

Christianity having been thus established amon spiritual forces of the time, and its leading facts, v had thus far engrossed almost exclusive attention, acknowledged, there soon grew up a necessity for de ing the principles it involved. This work devolved large measure upon those immediate successors o Apostolic fathers known as the early Christian Fathe

Although the philosophy of Christian truth, previo A. D. 150, had been comparatively little dwelt upo the corrupting influence of Paganism had already b to be felt. As Christianity won to itself admirers the walks of philosophy no less than from the lower es of society, it attracted proportionally the attenti men of learning from beyond the ranks of its profes It was by no means unnatural that the subsequent d opment of Christianity should be largely moulded b Pagan thought with which it was continually in conta 1 Neander's History of the Christian Religion and Church. pp. 656 and 657.

Two circumstances, especially, would lead almost of necessity to such a result. Those Christians who themselves had been converted from Paganism, must have seen Christianity through Pagan eyes; and, while it won their honest admiration, it could but be more or less colored by the medium through which they saw it. But though the distortion of Christianity began here, it by no means ended here. A strong desire to make the new religion as acceptable as possible to their old companions, would lead the new converts, especially from the ranks of the philosophers, to employ Pagan formulas in the statement of Christian truths. Christianity would thus be made to wear more and more the hue of unsanctified philosophy. It is quite obvious that the kernels of most of the heresies which sprang up in the earlier times, were but Pagan ideas striving to palm themselves off as Christian verities. And the form of Christianity which at length gained general acceptance and became the orthodoxy of the Church, was far from being unaffected by the unhallowed contact.

While Paganism was thus moulding Christianity on the one hand, Judaism was exerting a similar influence on the other. And the divine sanction which had attended Judaism, gave it peculiar power. That power early showed itself in dissensions respecting Jewish ceremonies among the apostles themselves.

Notwithstanding Christianity was thus contaminated on either hand, its development was carried forward with surprising rapidity. In the double work, however, of defining Christianity as a system of truths, and of exhibiting its bearing upon existing religions, the wisest of the Fathers found an ample field for the exercise of their judgment, and abundant opportunity for the testing of their philosophical acumen.

As the work progressed, new controversies were continually arising, and new obligations of duty were supposed to be enjoined upon the professors of Christian truth. These requirements were represented to be more or less imperative, according to the temper and cast of mind of those who urged them. Hence there was no less controversy respecting Christian duty than there was respecting Christian truth.

The extent to which the corruptions of Christianity

might thus reach during the first century or two, ma proximately inferred from certain phenomena of our time. Within a single century, the religious fai Germany, for instance, has oscillated from a de Bible foundation to the extreme of Rationalism, and again. The sect of Mormons, also, planting thems upon the baldest absurdities to which the human has ever assented, has risen within a quarter of a cen from the feeblest beginnings, and in spite of the sev reverses of fortune, to be a prosperous and influe community. But an illustration still more to our pr purpose, is found in the revival of some of the ea heresies of the Church-if those views can be called esies of the Church, which had found previous pla the systems of Paganism. I allude to the supposed munications with spirits, and the gaining through the a knowledge of divine things, which have taken su hold upon the public mind within some half dozen y Without entering into any criticism of these phenom we may be permitted to remark that the scholar will them substantially anticipated in the pretensions of s of the heretical sects of the second or third century, still earlier by the fanciful theories of some of the Pa philosophers. Such rapid growth of errors in our time, serves to illustrate what may have happened in days of the Christian Fathers.

It will be seen, therefore, that in studying the celebrated of the Christian Fathers, though we ma instructed by their style of thinking, by their form argumentation, and by their historic facts, we ca surrender ourselves to their guidance. Not only we deny them any portion of that authority which longs to the apostles; but we cannot assume, à pr that they are tolerable expositors of Christian truth.

Having thus glanced at some of the leading circ stances attending the early conflicts and developmen Christianity, and thereby cleared the way for a dis sionate consideration of the subject more immediatel hand, we pass to a notice of the life and character of of the most eminent of the Christian Fathers. If life shall appear to lack the stirring incidents which m the career of Constantine, or that character to be d