TESTIMONIES

OF

THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS

TO

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.

BARNABAS, A.D. 72.

WE learn from the Acts of the Apostles, iv. 36. that Barnabas was a Levite of the country of Cyprus, and that he travelled often in company with St. Paul, and afterwards by himself. There is nothing certain known as to the time or manner of his death. Whether the Epistle, which bears his name, was really written by him, has been disputed among the learned. Pearson, Cave, Du Pin, Hammond, Vossius, Bull, Wake, and Lardner, were inclined to think it genuine : Coteler, Tillemont, and Jortin doubted about it; and Basnage pronounced it spurious. Horsley gives it as his own opinion, that "an inspired apostle could not be the writer of "such a book." But though we may reject the Epistle, as not being the work of Barnabas, it seems impossible to deny that it was written at an early period. It is quoted in several places by Clement of Alexandria, who himself wrote at the end of the second century. He expressly ascribes it to "the apostle Barnabas," and his quotations from it are

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all to be found in the work which has come down to us. It must therefore have been written before the end of the second century. Dr. Priestley himself quoted it among the writings of the apostolic fathers and though I place it as the earliest work, from which this series of testimonies is taken, I do not venture to decide the question, whether Barnabas was the real author or no. If he was not, the Epistle should probably be ranked after those of Clement and Ignatius; and the evidence adduced from it belongs to the second century, not to the first. Lardner, who believed it to be genuine, thought that it was written about the year 71 or 72. The whole of the Epistle has not come down to us in Greek, the four first chapters and part of the fifth being lost but there is an old Latin translation, which has preserved the whole of it.

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1. Barnabæ Epistola, c. 5. p. 60.

and what is more, the Lord endured to "suffer for our souls, though he is the Lord of the "world: to whom God said before the constitution "of the world, Let us make mana"

It appears therefore, that the notion of Christ being one of the persons to whom God said, Let us make man, is as old as the time in which this Epistle was written and in c. 6. p. 19. the words of Genesis are quoted as spoken by the Father to the Son. The passage also asserts expressly the preexistence of Christ, and the atonement made by

a Et ad hoc Dominus sustinuit pati pro anima nostra, cum sit orbis terrarum Dominus; cui dixit die ante constitutionem sæculi, Faciamus, &c. Instead of die ante constitutionem sæculi,

bishop Bull proposed reading Deus ante, &c. which seems a good conjecture. The sense is the same in either reading, and if Deus is not in the text, it must be supplied.

his sufferings; both of which doctrines have been denied by modern Unitarians.

This being the first passage in which the words of Gen. i. 26. are quoted, I may mention, that the Arians perfectly agreed with the orthodox party in their interpretation of them. Thus in the Creed which was drawn up by the Arians at the council of Sirmium, A. D. 351. we find this clause; "If any one say that the Father did not speak the "words, Let us make man, to his Son, but that he spoke them to himself, let him be anathema "" 2. Barnabæ Epistola, c. 5. p. 16.

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The following passage also proves the preexistence of Christ, and that he created the world." For "if he had not come in flesh, how could we men "have been saved, when we looked at him? for "when men look at the sun, the work of his hands, "which will cease to exist, they have not power to "face its rays c." It is to be observed that his hands can only mean the hands of Christ: it was Christ therefore who created the sun. Compare Gen. i. 16. And GOD made two great lights, &c. Athanasius says expressly, that Christ is the Maker and Lord of the sun d

3. Barnabæ Epistola, c. 6. p. 19.

The following passage evidently implies the divinity of Christ, and his union with the Father, inasmuch as it refers to him those words which Ezekiel

Β Εἴ τις τὸ, Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον, μὴ τὸν πατέρα πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν λέγειν, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν λέγοι τὸν Θεὸν εἰρηκέναι, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. Ath. de Synodis, vol. I. p. 743.

• Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦλθεν ἐν σαρκὶ, πῶς ἂν ἐσώθημεν ἄνθρωποι βλέποντες αὐτ

τόν ; ὅτι τὸν μέλλοντα μὴ εἶναι ἥλιον, ἔργον χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχοντα βλέ ποντες οὐκ ἰσχύουσιν εἰς ἀκτῖνας αὐτοῦ ἀντοφθαλμῆσαι.

4 Ο ηλίου Ποιητὴς καὶ Κύριος. De Incarn. 17. vol. I. p. 62.

(xi. 19. and xxxvi. 26.) attributes to God the Father: "Lo! saith the Lord, I will take away from "them, i. e. from those whom the Spirit of the Lord

foresaw, their stony hearts, and will give them "hearts of flesh: because He was about to be ma"nifested in the flesh, and to dwell among us: for "the dwelling-place of our heart, my brethren, is a holy temple to the Lord." Thus he who was manifested in the flesh was the person who spoke those words in Ezekiel; and we learn from xi. 17. that this was the Lord God.

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4. Barnabæ Epistola, c. 7. p. 20.

"If then the Son of God, being Lord, and who is "to judge quick and dead, suffered, that his stripes

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might give us life, we will believe that the Son of "God was incapable of suffering, except for our "sakes f." If Christ had been a mere man, it would be absurd to say, that he was incapable of suffering such an incapability could not be predicated of any human being whatever. See Acts ii. 24.

CLEMENS ROMANUS, A.D. 96.

Clement is mentioned by St. Paul (Phil. iv. 3.) as one of his fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life. He was undoubtedly bishop of Rome; but there are difficulties in ascertaining the order and date of his succession. Some writers place him immediately after St. Peter: but Irenæus 8, who is the oldest authority, names as the three first bishops, Linus, Anencletus, Clement. Many dates

* Ιδού, λέγει Κύριος, ἐξελῶ τούτων κ. τ. λ. ὅτι ἔμελλεν ἐν σαρκὶ φανεροῦσθαι, καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν κατοικεῖν.

· Εἰ οὖν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὢν Κύριος, καὶ μέλλων κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ

νεκροὺς, ἔπαθεν, ἵνα ἡ πληγὴ αὐτοῦ ζωοποιήσῃ ἡμᾶς, πιστεύσομεν, ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἠδύνατο παθεῖν, εἰ μὴ διὰ ἡμᾶς.

III. 3, 3. p. 176.

have been assigned for the beginning of his bishopric: some have put it as early as A. D. 61, others as late as 93; and while some think that he sate till the end of the first century, others contend that he resigned his see in 77. This variety of opinions, as to the time of his being bishop, necessarily leads to uncertainty as to the date of his Epistle to the Corinthians. Archbishop Wake thought that it was written between the years 64 and 70: but those who think that he was not bishop till 93, must also conceive that the Epistle was not written till after that time. Lardner ascribes it to the year 96; and I have adopted that date in preference to an earlier one, that I might not seem to give to any of these testimonies a greater antiquity, than what the most scrupulous critic would be obliged to allow.

The Epistle was written in the name of the church of Rome to the church of Corinth, on the occasion of some jealousies and dissensions among the Corinthian brethren: and the following testimony to the writer of it is particularly valuable, as coming from Irenæus, who had himself conversed with persons who had seen the apostles. "After Anen"cletus, Clement succeeded to the bishopric, who "had seen the apostles, and laboured with them; and "who had the preaching of the apostles still sound"ing in his ears, and their teaching before his eyes: nor was he the only one; for many were still remaining, who had been taught by the apostles. No "small dissension having arisen among the brethren "at Corinth in the time of Clemens, the church at "Rome sent a most seasonable letter to the Corin"thians, exhorting them to peace, and renewing "their faith, and reminding them of the doctrine

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