ART. VI.-TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. THE discovery and publication of an early patristic document, that was supposed to be entirely lost, and the further fact that this ancient treatise, on examination, proves to be of very considerable value, is an event of not a little interest, in these times of active and learned biblical research; and precisely this we have in the case of "TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES." Nine years ago-in 1875-Philotheos Briennios, then metropolitan of Serses in Mesopotamia, discovered in the Library of the Holy Sepulcher, in Constantinople, a manuscript volume of which almost nothing appears to have been before known, but which proved on examination to be of great value. It was written in cursive Greek, and is dated A. D. 1056; the scribe or copyist signs himself "Leon, copyist and sinner." The book is made up of 120 leaves or folios of parchment, and contains, first, "Chrysostom's Synopsis of the Books of the New and Old Testaments;" then the "Epistle of Barnabas;" next in order are two "Epistles of Clement;" then comes the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," occupying pages 76–80 of the manuscript, and this is followed by "Twelve Epistles of Ignatius"-the current seven, besides one to the Virgin Mary, and four others. The "find" was chiefly prized by the finder for its complete copies of the "Epistles of Clement," neither of which had been found entire in any of the known mannscripts; and these were soon after published, having been carefully edited by the discoverer. But the pages of the

"Teaching" did not escape his notice, for he announced its discovery in his edition of the Clementine Epistles. The newfound book was examined by a number of eminent patristic scholars, but, as far as appears, without suspecting its real character. It is manifest that Bishop Briennios had no correct appreciation of the value of this portion of his discovery, for he said nothing about it when, in addition to the Clementine Epistles, he called public attention to the fact that the book contained the complete Greek text of Barnabas and the "Epistles of Ignatius," both of which he proposed to prepare for publication. Bishop Lightfoot seems to have very faintly suspected that there might be something worthy of attention in the

"Teaching," for in the appendix to his new edition of "St. Clement of Rome" he remarked in passing, while recognizing the great value of "the new Greek of Barnabas," that "what may be the value of the 'Doctrina Duodecim Apostolorum' remains to be seen." And what is still more strange, certain German scholars were engaged in restoring the lost book from fragments preserved in other works, while the complete manuscript, whose discovery had been made public, was disregarded. For eight years after its discovery the "Teaching" remained quietly in the hands of the good bishop, who, during that time, and apparently as a labor of love, carefully edited it, and then gave it to the public, "with an abundance of learned illustrations." This was done in 1883.

A book answering very fully to this is referred to by several of the early apostolic fathers, and, indeed, there can be no doubt of both its genuineness and its antiquity. It is cited by Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius speaks of it in his History as Tv Αποστόλων οἱ λεγόμεναι διδαχαί; and Athanasius names it in one of his epistles. Both the Apostolical Constitutions and the Apostolical Epitome were evidently in part drawn from this work. From these sources the attempt was made, by Krawatzky and others, to reconstruct the lost document, with most remarkable success, as is seen by comparing their work with the original. A catalogue of the books of the Scriptures, canonical and uncanonical, attributed to Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, (A. D. 806–814,) includes among the latter the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," and it is placed between the "Gospel of Thomas" and the "Epistles of Clement." This is the latest reference anywhere found to the document. The "Teaching' probably belongs to the second century. Some would even place it in the last decade of the first, but about the middle of the second is its most probable date. Its whole tone is in harmony with the recognized writings of that time, and while it contains nothing which forbids its assignment to that date, its antiquity is corroborated by an abundance of collateral evidence.

In respect to its form and substance the "Teaching" appears to have been designed to serve as a manual to Christian converts and believers, and a directory for certain ordinary relig ious services. The first six chapters relate to moral duties. Then follow instructions respecting baptism, fasting, and

prayer, the eucharist, with forms of prayer and thanksgiving. After these are given somewhat definite instructions in respect to religious teachers; cautions against impostors and pretenders; exhortations to duly reverence the genuine; the Lord's day services; directions respecting the appointment and the treatment of bishops and deacons; of brotherly love and duty, and of personal devotion and watchfulness--the whole made the more impressive by a reference to Christ's expected coming "in the clouds of heaven, and all his saints with him."

In tone and style the tractate is Petrine rather than Pauline; Judaistic or Syrian rather than Ephesian or Roman, and it has therefore been inferred that its place of origin must have been somewhere in the East, perhaps Antioch, or some other place in Northern Syria. Its forms of thought and its references and illustrations are distinctively Jewish; and yet there are manifestly purposed oppositions to certain Jewish opinions and practices—as when a difference respecting the fast-days is prescribed, or the "Lord's day" substituted for the Sabbath, as the time for the assembling for public worship. But, as with the Jews, the hours of prayer and the days for fasting are definitely prescribed. The ethical element has the first place; great emphasis is laid on certain observances—fasting, almsgiving, and forms of prayer. On the other hand, there is a notable absence of reference to the peculiar facts and doctrines of the Gospel; to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and the forgiveness of sin in virtue of his atoning sacrifice. In these things the "Teaching" is not unlike the Epistle of James, presenting chiefly the ethical and disciplinary side of religion. These things indicate that its locality must have been elsewhere than in Western Asia or Europethe regions in which the specifically Pauline conceptions of Christianity prevailed.

Respecting the date of its composition the internal evidence agrees very well with the external, fixing it not later than the carlier part of the second century. The coincidences of both thought and language between it and both Hermas and Barnabas render it almost certain that either these quoted from that, or that from these; and it seems the more probable that the "Teaching" was the original. Certainly, ritualistic tendencies early manifested themselves in the Church; at first in

very small proportions, but steadily increasing in extent and exactness. Signs of the beginning of these things are clearly manifest in this tractate, which appear in the "Pastor of Hermas," and the "Epistle of Barnabas" still further developed. The Apostles' Creed, also, lies in this line of development, for while in the "Teaching" no confession of faith is prescribed to the candidate for baptism, the Creed, which must have been a somewhat later production, and which was required of candidates, is a rather comprehensive statement of Christian credenda. The Apostolical Constitutions, which belong to a still later time, carry the ritualistic prescription much further. As, therefore, the place of the preparation of this manual was pretty certainly somewhere toward the east of north-east of the Mediterranean Sea, so also its date very naturally falls within the first half of the second century.

The references to various classes or orders of Christian teachers and inchoate ecclesiastical arrangements indicate an existing transitional state of things. Not much is said about apostles, but evidently their place is supplied by the "prophets," who seem to have been a class of itinerant evangelists, with more or less authority according as they were or were not recognized as "true prophets." But clearly they could exercise only a moral and advisory authority in the Church; and even in that day the abuse of the "religious tramp" had become so large that each new-comer was required to prove his claims to work for his own support, or to pass on. The local churches were becoming individualized, with the two cardinal conditions of self-government and self-support. There were "bishops," but these were manifestly of the same kind or order, as elders or presbyters; and there were "deacons," stewards of the temporalities, who, however, were expected to be like their predecessors at Jerusalem, "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom;" but they were such as in the Church of our day would be styled laymen. The distinction of three orders in the ministry seems to have been as yet unknown; and as that began to appear scarcely earlier than the end of the second century, these things agree with the conclusion before reached as to the date of this writing.

The instructions respecting baptism, fasting, and the eucharist indicate a very considerable growth of ritualism, as

pared with what is found in the New Testament, and yet much less than appears in the Apostolical Constitutions. In the New Testament nothing is required but to profess faith in Christ, and purposed repentance, and the form of the administration has been left so undefined that nobody knows certainly what was the mode of apostolical baptism. In the "Teaching" a preparatory process is dictated, which, however, relates almost entirely to certain details and formalities. No profession of faith is required, no creed recited, but only the subject is to be baptized in the name of the holy Trinity. As to the mode much more is required, but just what it was is very uncertain. "Living" [running?] water must be used, for which requirement neither authority nor reason is given; but the requirement was not absolute, for other water might be used; and if cold water was not at hand, then warin water would serve, and in the absence of both, [in sufficient quantity,] then it was sufficient if water were poured on the head three times, in the name of the Sacred Persons. The reading of the text, and especially the force of the word in, (¿v,) seems to imply that the baptized must enter the water of baptism; but whether so that his whole body should be immersed, or only so as to cover his feet, the text does not determine--the ancient iconographs favor the latter, and the only thing that seems to be considered indispensable was the threefold affusion upon the head, into (eic) the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In respect to who were or could be subjects of baptism, it has been claimed that the necessary implication is that none but adults could comply with the required conditions, and because, nothing is said about any others the inference is that no other subjects were thought of as possible. But, at most, this evidence is only negative, and so leaves room for another conclusion; and as there were no vows to be taken nor creed to be professed, and as it is known that even little children were subjected to fastings in patristic times, the implication referred to is far from being conclusive. No word is said about either the moral or spiritual significance of baptism, though it is named as a prerequisite to uniting in the eucharist, which has a remote glancing at the magical effects of baptism, that afterward become the prevailing belief.

The encharist--the Lord's Supper of Protestantism-appears

46-FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXVI.