lxi. 21: "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed ME to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of restitution." He then goes on: "Furthermore it is written concerning the Sabbath,-Sanctify the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and with a clean heart.' And elsewhere he saith: 'If thy children shall keep my Sabbaths, then will I put my MERCY on them;' (alluding to the mercy promised to Abraham;) and even in the beginning of creation he makes mention of the Sabbath; 'And God made, in six days, the works of his hands, and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Consider, my children, what that signifies:-'He finished them in six days.' The meaning is this: that in six thousand years, the Lord will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years, as Himself testifieth, saying: 'Behold this day shall be as a thousand years:' therefore, children, in six days, (i. e. in 6000 years) shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he saith,-He rested the seventh day?' He meaneth, that when his Son shall come, and abolish the Wicked One, and judge the ungodly, and change the sun and moon and stars, then he shall gloriously rest in the seventh day. He adds, lastly: 'Thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart, [alluding here to circumcision being of the heart.] Wherefore we are greatly deceived if we imagine, that any can now sanctify the day which God hath made holy, without having a heart pure in all things. Behold, therefore, he will then truly sanctify it with blessed rest, when we have received the righteous promise; when iniquity shall be no more, all things being renewed by the Lord; and shall then be able to sanctify it, being ourselves holy." See Section xiv. xv. Epistle of Barnabas.

The next testimony is that of Papias. Eusebius and Jerome, though opposed to his sentiments, both acknowledge. him to have been a disciple of John and companion of Polycarp.* The former disparages Papias, as being illiterate, and a man of weak judgment, when he has to deal with his testimony on this point; but he speaks of him as being eloquent and learned in the scriptures, when he adverts to him on another occasion. But to this I shall presently refer again; in the mean while we have nothing to do in the present instance with the judgment of Papias, but only with his veracity; for his evidence respects, not what he thought himself, but what he heard from others: † and all have given him credit for being an

* Eusebii Hist. lib. iii. and Hieron. Ep. xxix. 19.

He states "that what he relates are the very words of the elders, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, Matthew, Aristio, and John the Presbyter, as related to him by those of whom he constantly made the inquiry;" and he pledges himself to the "truth and fidelity of what he reports."

eminently pious and godly man; one proof of which, and also of his wisdom and understanding is, that by the immediate successors of the apostles he was considered qualified to be made bishop of Hierapolis. The works of Papias himself are not known to exist; but Eusebius quotes from them the following passage: "Other things also the same writer, (Papias) has set forth, as having come down to him by unwritten tradition -some new parables and discourses of the Saviour, and certain other things somewhat fabulous. Among these he says that there will be a certain thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when the kingdom of Christ shall be established corporeally · on this earth." Hist. lib. iii. sect. 39.

We next come to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, the contemporary of Papias and disciple of John. His testimony might be considered ambiguous, were it not that Irenæus, whom we shall presently bring forward, speaks of his sentiments on this subject in a manner that shews clearly, that he must have interpreted certain passages of scripture conformably with what has been exhibited. We may be assured therefore, what was the drift and meaning of Polycarp in such passages as the following in his epistle to the Philippians: "If we please [the Lord] in this present world, we shall also be made partakers of that which is to come, according as he hath promised us, that he will raise us from the dead; and that if we walk worthy of him, we shall also reign together with him."-"Who of you are ignorant of the Judgment of God? Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches?"-"The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. grant unto you a lot and portion among his saints, and us with you, and to all who are under the heavens, who shall believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in his Father who raised him from the dead." "Whosoever perverts the oracles of God to his own lusts, and says there shall neither be any resurrection nor judgment, he is the firstborn of Satan."

Justyn Martyr is the next. He was born A. D. 89, and suffered A. D. 163;† and must, therefore, have been arrived at man's estate before the death of Papias and Polycarp. Several of his works are extant, in which we have ample proof of the opinions which were held by the church in his days. In his Dialogue with Trypho, he says: "I, and all that are orthodox Christians, are acquainted with the resurrection of the body and the thousand years in Jerusalem, that shall be re-edified, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and * They consisted of five books, called Aoyov Kupaxwv ingnois a narrative of the sayings of our Lord.

+ Some have placed his martyrdom as early as A. D. 146.

others declare. For Isaiah saith of this thousand years, (chap. lxv. 17,) 'Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind; but be ye glad and rejoice in those which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem to triumph, and my people to rejoice, &c.'Moreover, a certain man among us, whose name is John, being one of the twelve apostles of Christ, in that revelation which was shewn to him prophesied, that those who believe in our Christ shall fulfil a thousand years at Jerusalem; and after that the general, and, in a word, the everlasting resurrection, and last judgment of all together. Whereof also our Lord spake when he said, that therein they shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, but shall be equal with the angels, being made the sons of the resurrection of God."

It will be seen, in the preceding extracts, that Justyn speaks of the opinion as being generally maintained by the orthodox. In the following passage he unceremoniously classes those who dissented from it among heretics: for he introduces the previous remarks, by saying: "I confessed to thee before, that I and many others are of this opinion, &c. And on the contrary, I have signified unto thee, that many, even those Christians who follow not godly and pure doctrine, do not acknowledge this: for I have demonstrated to thee, that these are indeed called Christians, but are Atheists and ungodly heretics, who altogether teach blasphemous, atheistical and unsound things."*

The testimony of Irenæus is equally full and explicit with that of Justyn. He succeeded Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons, about A. D. 171, and was martyred in A. D. 202 or 208.t He wrote, among other works, five books upon the Heresies of his times, which books are still extant. He speaks of St. John the apostle as having lived to the times of Trajan, of Polycarp as a hearer of St. John, and of himself as a hearer of Polycarp.‡

The sentiments of Irenæus on the question before us, are

The genuineness of this passage will be considered in the fourth section of this chapter.

+ See Cave's Lives of the Fathers.

In an epistle to Florinus, he says:-'When I was very young, I saw you in the Lower Asia with Polycarp. I can remember circumstances of that time better than those which have happened more recently; for the things which we learn in childhood grow up with the soul, and unite themselves to it; insomuch that I can tell the place in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and coming in, the manner of his life, the form of his person, and the discourses he made to the people; and how he related his conversation with John, and others who had seen the Lord; and how he related their sayings, and the things which he heard of them concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and doctrine, as he had received them from the eye-witnesses of the Lord of Life: all of which Polycarp related agreeable to the Scriptures,' &c.

principally to be found in the twelve last chapters of his fifth book against Heresies, one or two extracts from which here follows. In the 32nd chapter, having noticed that certain heretical opinions on the subject, arise from ignorance of the arrangements of God, and of the mystery of the resurrection and kingdom of the just; therefore (he says) it becomes needful to speak of them. Then he proceeds: "For it is fitting that the just, rising at the appearing of God, should in the renewed state receive the promise of inheritance which God covenanted to the fathers, and should reign in it; and that then should come the final judgment. For in the same condition in which they have laboured and been afflicted, and been tried by suffering in all sorts of ways, it is but just that in it they should receive the fruits of their suffering, so that where, for the love of God, they suffered death, there they should be brought to life again; and where they endured bondage, there also they should reign. For God is rich in all things, and all things are of him: and therefore I say it is becoming, that the creature being restored to its original beauty, should without any impediment or drawback be subject to the righteous. This the apostle makes manifest in the epistle to the Romans: 'For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, &c. for the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.' The promise likewise of God which he made to Abraham decidedly confirms this: for he says, 'Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever,' (Gen. xiii. 14, 15.) And again, 'Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee,' (ver. 17.) For Abraham received no inheritance in it,-not even a foot-breadth, but always was a stranger and a sojourner in it. And when Sarah his wife died, and the children of Heth offered to give him a piece of land for a burial place, he would not accept it, but purchased it for four hundred pieces of silver, from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite; staying himself on the promise of God, and being unwilling to seem to accept from man what God had promised to give him, saying to him, 'To thy seed will I give this land, from the great river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.' Thus, therefore, as God promised to him the inheritance of the earth, and he received it not during the whole time he lived in it, it is necessary that he should receive it, together with his seed, that is, with such of them as fear God, and believe in him-in the resurrection of the just." Ire

næus then goes on to show, that Christ and the church are also of the true seed, and partakers of the promises, and concludes the chapter as follows: "Thus, therefore, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham; and the same are the children of Abraham. For God repeatedly promised the inheritance of the land to Abraham and his seed; and as neither Abraham nor his seed-that is, not those who are justified by faith-have enjoyed any inheritance in it, they will undoubtedly receive it at the resurrection of the just. For true and unchangeable is God: wherefore also he said, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.""

In the 34th chapter he supports his statements by numerous quotations from the prophets, &c. As it is a matter of great interest and importance to the student of prophecy, to know what was the method of expounding or applying the prophetical scriptures in times so near to the apostles, a brief extract is given as a specimen: "Isaiah plainly declares similar happiness at the resurrection of the just; thus saying, 'Thy dead men shall arise, and those in the tombs shall rise, and they shall rejoice who are in the earth. For thy dew is salvation to them,' (xxvi. 19.) Ezekiel says the same; 'Behold, I will open your graves, and lead you forth from your tombs, in order that I may lead forth from their sepulchres my people, and I will put the Spirit in you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord,' (xxxvii. 12, 14.) And again the same saith: "These things saith the Lord, When I shall have gathered Israel from the nations among whom they are scattered, then shall they dwell in their land, that I have given to my servant Jacob. they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards,' &c. (chap. xxviii. 25, 26.)" Then follow Jer. xxiii. 7, 8; Isa. xxx. 25, 26; lviii. 14; Luke xii. 27, 30; Rev. xx. 6; Isa. vi. 11; Daniel vii. 27; Jeremiah xxxi. 10-15; Isaiah xxxi. 9; xxxii. 1; liv. 11-14, and lxv. 18-28, in the order here placed, and applied to the same doctrine.

And

The next father of any eminence whose sentiments on this head can be ascertained, is Tertullian, bishop of Carthage, who wrote his famous 'Apology,' about A. D. 180. In his third book against Marcion, chap. xxiv. he says: "For we also confess, that a kingdom is promised us on earth: before that in heaven, but in another state, viz. after the resurrection, for it will be for a thousand years in a city of divine workmanship, viz. Jerusalem brought down from heaven: and this city Ezekiel knew, and the apostle John saw, &c. This we say is the city

There follows here a passage concerning a vision of a city, which Tertullian asserts was acknowledged by the Romans to have been seen in Judea. But my object is not to bring forward the extraneous matter introduced by the VOL. II.-4