hesitatingly, "What is truth?" nor bold enough to dare fearlessly to follow it; or who are unwilling to relinquish the pride of opinion or the interest of place; that those will be convinced, is not expected. But it is hoped, that the sincere inquirer after truth will find essential aid in this volume; and that he who is anxiously seeking to know, What is that Church which hath been declared to be "the body of Christ ?" will be helped forward in his investigation. That it may do this; and also tend to lead "those who profess and call themselves Christians, into the way of truth, and to hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life,”— until the whole of God's elect shall be "knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of his Son our LORD," is the hearty prayer of

THE AUTHOR.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST

OF THE

Fathers of the first and second centuries, quoted in this work.

A. D.

83. CLEMENT, Bishop of Rome. He wrote an Epistle to the Church at Corinth.

90. BARNABAS. He wrote one Epistle, which has been preserved.

107. IGNATIUS, Bishop of Antioch. He wrote seven Epistles, to seven different Churches.

107. POLYCARP, Bishop of Smyrna. He wrote one Epistle to the Philippians.

108. Martyrdom of the blessed Martyr Ignatius Theophorus, written by eye-witnesses to his death.

125. PAPIAS, Bishop of Hierapolis. He wrote a work in five books, called the "Interpretation of our Lord's Declarations;" only fragments remain.

150. HERMAS. He wrote a work containing four Visions, twelve Commands, and ten Similitudes.

150. JUSTIN MARTYR. He wrote two Defenses of Christianity, and a Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.

160. HEGESSIPUS. He wrote Ecclesiastical Memoirs, from the Crucifixion to his own time; only fragments remain. 168. Circular Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, upon the martyrdom of the holy Polycarp.

170. DIONYSIUS, Bishop of Corinth. He wrote several Epistles, which remain only in fragments.

175. IRENEUS, Bishop of Lyons, in Gaul. He wrote a work

in five books, entitled, The refutation and overthrow of False Doctrine which exist only in a Latin translation, and is quoted under the name of Irenæus against Heresy. Also, an Epistle to Florinus; besides many other works, that have perished.

185. CLEMENT, a Presbyter of Alexandria. He wrote a large number of works. The one called Stromata, has been preserved, and fragments of some others.

195. POLYCRATES, Bishop of Ephesus. He wrote some Epistles, which exist only in fragments.

200. TERTULLIAN, a Presbyter of Carthage, whose works are voluminous.

To these we may add the following, to whose works reference has been made, but without regarding them as conclusive authority concerning that early period.

230. ORIGEN.

250. CYPRIAN, Bishop of Carthage.

250. DIONYSIUS, Bishop of Alexandria.

325. EUSEBIUS PAMPHILIUS, Bishop of Cesarea.

330. ATHANASIUS, Bishop of Alexandria.

350. CYRIL, Bishop of Jerusalem.

370. BASIL, Bishop of Cesarea.

370. JEROME.

370. GREGORY, Nazianzen.

370. GREGORY, Nyssa.

374. AMBROSE, Bishop of Milan.

396. AUGUSTIN, Bishop of Hippo.

398. CHRYSOSTOм, Bishop of Constantinople.

412. ISODORE, of Pelusium.

423. THEODORET, Bishop of Cyprus.

435. SOCRATES.

440. SOZOMEN.

590. GREGORY, Bishop of Rome.

595. ISODORE, of Spain.

VIEW

OF THE

PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF THE QUESTION.

FROM the days of the Lutheran Reformation to the present time, the question, What was the organization and order of the Apostolic Church?* has excited much discussion and

66

66

* The word Church, is used in place of the Greek Ecclesia, which denotes an assembly, legally and properly convened, whether common or religious, signifying either the place where the assembly meets, or the persons assembled. Ecclesia" was early adopted into the Latin, but employed by the fathers of that Church to denote the assembly, rather than the place of assembling. Our English word Church, seems to have been derived from the Greek curiacon,-" pertaining to the Lord," signifying, also, a Christian temple,”-apparently through the old Gothic. It was probably introduced into Gothic by Ulfilas, Bishop of the Maso-Goths, in the fourth century, by whom the New Testament was translated into that language. From thence it has spread throughout all the Tentonic languages: Old German, chirihh; German, kirche; Dutch, kerk; Scottish, kirk; Anglo-Saxon, circ, and cyric; Icelandic, kyrkia; Swedish, kyrka ; Danish, kirke; English, Church. It is also found in the Slavonic languages: Russian, tserkov; Bohemian, cyrkew; Lusitanian, zirkwa; Dalmatian, czrikwa; Polish, kosciol. The Portuguese igreja, seems also to have been derived from the same root.

interest among the various religious denominations; each claiming to be exclusively patterned after the Apostolic model. Among such a variety of opinions, however, it is evident, that all cannot have been so formed; but this unanimous claim of an Apostolic sanction, is conclusive evidence that all consider it of great importance. A large proportion, indeed, believe the Apostolic practice to be binding on all succeeding generations; and the few who deny its obligation, show by their constant endeavors to prove their conformity to that model, that they consider its sanction very desirable. Since this subject is deemed by Christians to be one of such magnitude, its consideration cannot fail to be both interesting and useful.

This examination, it should be remembered, is one of pure history, and is to be considered like every other question of that nature. Consequently, we have nothing to do with the supposed tendency of any organization; nor any thing to do with existing organizations, any further than to compare them with the results, thus obtained.

In this examination, there are, however, two distinct kinds of evidence, wholly independent of each other, and both equally relevant ;-the Scriptures, and the writings of the primitive Christians, usually referred to, by the appellation of THE FATHERS. The writings of the Fathers are equally pertinent testimony with the Scriptures, in an inquiry into the organization of the primitive Church, when they speak of facts within their own knowledge, provided they were honest men; and that they are considered honest by all Christendom, is sufficiently proved by the fact, that all Christians have agreed to take their word, as to what constitutes the canon of Scripture. But there are some, at the present time, who deny the relevancy of the testimony of the Fathers; and who insist that we must confine ourselves entirely to the evidence of Scripture, in attempting to determine the Constitution of the