Notes on New Testament literature and ecclesiastical history

Preface

The two fragments presented in this volume, include all that Dr. Alexander left in a condition fit for the press, of his remarkable Biblical and Historical Lectures. It had long been his purpose to write out these Lectures on Old and j\Tew Testament History and Literature, but two causes operated to prevent this : First, the pressure of his professional labours, including the preparation of his Commentaries ; and secondly, the rapid strides he was constantly making in the knowledge of his subjects, never brought him to the point when he could satisfy his own mind that he was ready to print. It was this fact that gave such vivacity and originality to his instructions, his lectures to each succeeding class being the outpouring of his

IV PllEEACE.

own acquisitions. These fragments alone remain

to us. The brief skeletons of his biblical research,

be arranged, and never filled out, by any living

man.

I have felt some hesitation in printing beyond

§ 401, on account of its unfinished condition, but

hoping that even these notes may be suggestive to

the student of Ecclesiastical History, I concluded to

insert them.

S. D. A.

Njsw York, Nov.

CONTEXTS.

XETT TESTAATEXT LITEEATUEE

Statement of subject,

Definitions, Etymologies,

Literature in general,

Specific applications,

Sacred Literature, .

The name Bible,

Scripture,

Biblical and Scriptural,

Biblical Literature, .

Its wider application,

Interpretation to be exclud ed,

Narrow application,

History of the science,

Uses of the study, .

Isagogical theory and meth od,

Home's scheme,

Usual division,

Historical method, .

The two compared, .

Division of the whole subject,

Old and New Testament,

Grounds for the distinction

Objection answered,

Order to be observed,

Hew Testament Literature,

Twofold method,

German Introductions,

Guericke and Reuss,

Historical arrangement

Section 1 2-4

9 10

11 12

10 14 15 16

19, 20

23 24

31, 22

Isagogical arrangement, . 34 Topics of General Introduction, . . .35 Seven preliminary questions, . . 36-39 Objection answered, . 40 Proposed arrangement, 41, 42 Proposed reduction by elimination, . . .43 Remaining topics, . . 44 Intermediate topic, . . 45 Xew Testament Canon, . 46 Definitions and Etymologies, 47 Question stated — Twofold

method, . . .48

First fact, . . .49

Second fact, . . 50

Authority ascribed to Fathers and Councils, . 51 This testimony confirmed, . 52 Testimony of Athanasius, . 53 Gregory of Xazianzen — Cyril of Jerusalem — Council of Laodicea, . . .54 Canon of Eusebius, . . 55 " Origen, . . 56 " Cyprian — Clemens Alexandrinus — Irenoeus, . 57 Mnratori Canon — Peshito, . 58 Testimony beyond this point, 59 Xo secondarv Canon, . CO Doubtful Fob:;?, . . 61

VI

CONTEXTS.

Uniformity of Explanation necessary, . .62

Doubts respecting Epistle to the Hebrews,

Doubts respecting Epistle of James,

The four smaller Catholic Epistles, .

The Apocalypse,

General result of this examination,

Books excluded by settlement of the Canon,

The second topic of General Introduction,

Four leading questions,

First question, What is the original Language of New- Testament?

Second, Why was New Tes tament written in differ ent Language from Old Testament ?

Its most satisfactory solu tion,

Objection to this and its an swer,

Twofold answer to third question, why the Grecl< Language was selected,

Preparation of this Lan guage for Christian Reve lation,

The fourth question,

Comparative Philology,

Classification of Languages,

Difference between these families of Languages,

The true relation between Greek and Latin, .

Their origin still in doubt,

Difference of the Greek and Roman greatness,

Greek Dialects,

How they differ,

Macedonian Ascendancy,

Alexandria, .

The Jews brought in contact

with the Greeks, . . 88

Hellen— Hellas, . . 89

Hellenist applied to the Jews, 91 Hellenistic Dialect, . . 92

Hellenistic Literature, . 93

The depositories of Hellenistic Literature, . . 94 The Septuagint, . . 95 Josephus's origin of Septuagint, . . .96 Discrepancies in this account, . . .97 The oldest undisputed testimony, . . .97 Question as to the extent of

the Translation, . . 98

The most valuable part of

the Pentateuch, . . 99

How regarded by the Jews

before the Advent, . 100

Other Greek versions, . 101

Extreme opinions — Grinfield's doctrine, . .102 How supported, . . 103 Answer to these arguments, 104 The true mean between these

extremes, . . . 105

Twofold use of Septuagint —

Old Testament use, . 10G

Uses with respect to New

Testament, . . 107

Uses with respect to quotations, . . . 10S Its philological relation to

the New Testament, . 109

Its technical use, . .110

Best mode of studying the

Septuagint, . .111

Best helps for such a study, 112 Old Testament Apocrypha, . 113 Their uses, . . .114

Their division into classes, . 115 How defined — their admission to the Septuagint, . 116 Their differences, . .117

CONTEXTS.

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6ECTIOST

How to be used by students

of the Xew Testament, . 118 Writings of Philo and Jose-

History of Philo, . . 120

The character of his learning, 121 The value of his writings, . 122 History of Josephus — his

first work, . .123

His second great work, . 124 A third work still extant, . 125 His testimony in respect to

The language in which he

Apostolic Fathers, . .128

Clement of Rome, . . 129

Barnabas, Epistle of, . 130

Polycarp, . . .132

Ignatius, . . .133

Epistle to Diognetus, . 135

These works entitled to attention, . . .136 New Testament Apocrypha, 137 Gospels of the Hebrews,

Egyptians, Peter, &c, . 138 Gospel of Xicodemus — Acts

of Pilate, . . .139

Comparison with Old Testament Apocrypha, . 1-10 Their bearing on the question of the Canon, . 141

Their philological nse, . 142

The Greek of the Xew Testament, . . .143 The Revival of Letters, . 144 "Was not a religious movement, . . . 145 The Biblical Humanists, . 14G Erasmus, . . . 147 Beza — Henry Stephens, . 148 Opposition to their views, . 148 A reaction, . . . 149 Hebraists and Purists, . 150 An incidental good from

this controversy, . . 151

Ernesti— Winer, " . 152, 153 Difference between Idiom

and Dialect, . . 154

Xew Theory developed by

Thiersch, . . . 155

Contrasted with Winer's doctrine, . . . 15G Hellenistic inferior to Attic

Dialect, . . . 157

Conclusion of latest German

Writers, . . . 15S

The way of investigating

the Dialect, . . 159

Lexicons, &c., . . 160

Green's treatise of Xew Testament Grammar, . 162

Important preliminaries to

this study, . . 1

Two preliminary questions, 2

Etymology of terms the first

thing, . . .3

Etymology of English word

History — its definition, 4

One exception, . . 5

Distinction between Objective and Subjective History, . . G An example of this, . 7 Subjective History — its definition, . . .8 Can never be exhausted, 9 All History eclectic, . 10 Elimination and division of

History, . . .11

What is meant by Elimination, . . .12 What is to be eliminated

from History, . .13

How elimination differs from

division, . . .14

Division either mechanical

or rational, . .15

Civil and Religious History, 16 History of the Church, 17

Definition of Church History, 18 Etymology of the word

The use of this Greek word in the Classics and the Bible,

The widest application of the phrase " Church History,"

The early existence of the Church, .

The promise of a Saviour (Gen. 3, 15),

How this promise gives complexion to Church History,

The extent of Church History, ■■ t.

Its division into Biblical and Ecclesiastical, . 27, 28

The difference between them essential — one inspired, the other uninspired,

Subdivision of Biblical History into Old Testament and New Testament History,

The three divisions of Church History, Old Testament, New Testament, and Ecclesiastical, unequal in chronological dimensions,

Its relation to Biblical or Sacred History, .

The relation of Ecclesiastical

2-1

CONTEXTS.

IX

SECTIOX

History to other sciences or fields of knowledge, 34

Its relation to Geography, Chronology, and Archaeology, . . .35 Historical Geography, . 36 Chronology, . . 37 Uses of Historical Chronology, . . .38, 39

Archaeology,

Cannot be separated from History, . . 41, 42

Limitation of Archaeology, 43

Auxiliary Studies — Statistics — Diplomatics, and Historical Philosophy. . . 44

Utility of History in general, 45

Abuse of the Maxim, " History is Philosophy teaching by Examples," . 46

Benefits of Ecclesiastical History, . . .47, 48

Salutary moral influences of the study of History, . 49

The sources and materials of Ecclesiastical History, 50

Uninspired, numerous, and diversified, . .51

Have been divided into Monumental and Documentary, . . .52

What the first class includes, 53

The authorities of this class are originals, . . 54

The arch of Titus and ancient Christian tombs examples, . . .55

Not as abundant as Documentary, . . .56

Division of Documentary History into Private or Personal, Public or Official, . . .57

Definition of Public Documents, . . .58

Documents of the first authority, . . .59 1*

6ECTIOX

The extent of these materials, . . .60 An inferior class, . .61 Their extent, . . 62 A third class, . . 63 Symbolical Books, Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms, &c, . . .64 Ancient Liturgies, . . 65 Rules and Statutes of Religious bodies, . . 66 The Catalogue of materials

not exhausted, . . 67

Definition of Private Documents, . . .68 The highest class of these, 69 Another class, . . 70 A residuary class, . .71 This class not to be underrated, . . .72 Who have used these materials, . . 73, 74, 75 The first three centuries almost a blank in works on Ecclesiastical History, . 76 Works of Hegesippus, . 77 Julius Africanus, . .78 Not extant, . . .79 Why Ecclesiastical History was neglected at this period, . . 80, 81, 82 Eusebius and his writings, 83, S4 Epiphanius — Philostorgius —

Sidetes, . . .85

Socrates — Sozomen — Theo-

Theodorus — Evagrius, . 87

Histories of the Latin Church mere translations — Sulpicius Severus — Orosius — Rufinus — Cassiodorus, . £8 Byzantine Historians, . S9

Effect of the subjugation of Western Roman Empire upon historical works, 90

William of Tyre — Matthew Paris, . . .90

CONTEXTS.

Gregory of Tours — Beda

Venerabilis, . .91

Church History debased by

increase of superstition, 92 The lowest ebb of historical knowledge in the age before the Reformation, . 93 Revival of Letters, . . 94

Relation of historical knowledge to Reformation, . 95 Polemical writings of the great reformers — in what sense historical, . . 96

The first complete Ecclesiastical History — a product of Lutheran Reformation, 97 Elacius, . . .98

His scheme of associated

The first appearance of the

Its effect upon the age, 102, 103 Its effect upon the Church

Baronius, . . . 105

His " Annals,1' . . 10G

Reprinted several times, 107

These works the parents of a

vast and varied Literature, 108 Fra Paoli, . . .109

Scheme of Calixtus, . 114

Spener — Seckendorf — a new method of writing Church History, . . .115

Pushed to extreme by Godfrey Arnold, . .110 The Historians of the latter half of eighteenth century more moderate, . 117 John Laurence Mosheim, • . 118 His works, . . .119

Their character, . .120

The influence of his writings

upon his successors, . 121

Rise of German Rationalism

or Neology, . .122

Its effects upon Church History, . . .123 Monographs, . .124 Their value, . .125 Neander, . . .126 His works — Gieseler, . 127 Neander and Gieseler contrasted, . . .128 Their works contrasted, 129, 130 Guericke, . . .131 Jacob i, . . .132 Schaff— Lange, . .133 Hase, . . .134 Kurtz, . . . 135 Effect of modern German changes upon Roman Catholic Historians, . .136 Cultivation of History in

England, . . . 137

J. C. Robertson— J. J. Blunt, 140 Charles Hard wick, . .141

" Ecclesiastical History " of

What is meant by it, . 144

It is essential, 145, 146, 147

Anecdotic composition, . 148 The chronological arrangement of events, . 149, 150 The topical arrangement of

The combination of these essential to the production of history, 153, 154, 155

Ancient writers on Ecclesiastical History seldom rise

CONTEXTS.

XI

BECTIOX

above Chronological Arrangement. . .156

Magdeburg Centuriators, . 157

Their Chronological Arrangement, . * . 15S

Topical arrangement, 159, 100

Their immediate purpose was polemical, . . 161

This method constructed a ])riori, . . .162

Intended for the early centuries, . . .163

Not intended to be perpetual, 164

It has given character to subsequent historiography, . 165

The real merit of the plan of the Centuriators, . 166

Cannot be read continuously, 1 67

The Romanists adopt a simpler form, . .163

A change in the mode of treating Ecclesiastical History became necessary, . 169

The change was gradual — reaches its culmination in the Institutiones of Mosheim, . . 170, 171

Mosheim's use of the Centurial Arrangement, . 172, 173

Its disadvantages, . . 17-4

Methods of Ecclesiastical Historiography increase during the last half century, . . . 175

Germans retain the Biblical system and change the chronological arrangement of subjects, . 176

The nature of this change, 177

Their change in the topical arrangement, . . 178

Type of all these modern methods, . . . 179

Regarded by the Germans and their imitators as the ultimatum of improvement, . . . 180

Objections to it, . . 181

Objection of this school to the old arrangement, . 182

The objection partially admitted, but with two qualifying circumstances, 183, 184

A more specific charge against the centurial arrangement, . . 185

A qualifying circumstance in favour of old arrangement, . . .188

The modern German school not united on one scheme, 189

Difficulties of the modern periodical arrangement, 190

Partial changes in the topical and rubrical arrangement, . . .191

The essence of the rubrical arrangement, . . 192

Objections to this system, . 193

The historical objection, 194, 195

Objection drawn from analogy, . . .196

Objection from practical effects, . . . 197, 198

An improvement of both chronological and topical arrangement proposed, . 199

Change in the topical part, . 200

Change in chronological division, . . 202

How this is to be accomplished, . . 203, 204

Its advantages, . . 205

The difference between this method and the one it supersedes, . . . 206

This course of History divided into two unequal parts, . . .207

The first division a general survey, . . . 208

Confusion avoided by view-

Xll