Some of the exhortations and visions subsequently gathered into The Apocalypse belong to this time. So also do the Hymns of rejoicing which grace the opening chapter of the Third Gospel. These Hymns reflect the emotions of the Christian refugees who fled to Pella from the horrors of the fall of Jerusalem in 70. Luke i.46-55, is a Hymn of four strophes framed on Old Testament models; there are some striking parallels to it in the Psalms of Solomon. Luke i.68-75, a Hymn in three strophes, reflects the rising hope of approaching relief.

The growing need for guidance in worship gave rise to other forms of literature, of which the earliest extant specimen is found chapters vii.-xv. of The Teaching of the Apostles, a work also known as The Didache. These chapters originally formed a separate book, entitled The Teaching of the Lord by the Twelve Apostles to the Nations which contained a compendium of Christian teaching as given to the Gentiles; it preserves "an idyllic picture of primitive guileless Christianity," the earliest existing noncanonical representation of the primitive Christian community. SYMEON of Jerusalem is credited with its authorship, about the year 65.

The free simplicity of the Church of that day appears in such passages as these:

if thou art able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect; but if thou art not able, what thou art able, that do (Chap. vi.).

baptise into the name of the Father, and of the Son. and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if thou hast not running water; baptise in other water, and if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water upon the head thrice, into the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit (Chap. vii.).

The latest Hebrew-Christian writing in the New Testament is the Epistle of James, a homily written in fluent Greek at the beginning of the second century, 100-120. The fact that Jesus and His work receive the barest notice suggests that the address was prepared for Jewish readers to whom definite Christian doctrine would have been distasteful.

The Epistle contains a variety of practical observations and moral exhortations, many of which are written in the style of the "Wisdom" literature.

Let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate:
And the rich, in that he is made low:

Because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the the grass;

And the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it

perisheth:

So also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.

(Chap. i.9-11.)

The third chapter has been extracted from the work of some Alexandrian writer, as the three disjointed passages, iv.11-12; iv. 13-17; v.1-6, have been borrowed from a Jewish Apocalypse. A "considerable number of otherwise unrecorded sayings of Jesus" add much to the interest and value of this late non-apostolic work.

CHAPTER III

GENTILE CHRISTIANITY

Hebrew Christianity was ruined when Jerusalem was overthrown in 70 by the armies of the Roman general Titus; but the Hebraic spirit was not killed, it needed reinterpretation and fresh expression. Both came from PHILO, B.C. 20-A.D. 50, the illustrious Jew of Alexandria, who revived the glory of the first school of his city, not however as a poet, like Apollonius Rhodius or Theocritus, but as the defender of the Old Testament against the inroads of Hellenism. His writings exercised a strong and lasting influence on Christian literature; the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Fourth Gospel, bear traces of it.

The Epistle of Barnabas, written between 70 and 79, is not the work of the comrade of PAUL, but of a strongly anti-Judaistic writer of Alexandria, whose object was to show that Christianity displaces Judaism. In his opinion, ceremonial Judaism was of semi-heathen origin; but the inward, spiritual Judaism which was perfected or superseded by Christianity was inspired of God.

This writer often makes foolish and trifling use of allegories (chapters 6-11), but he has command of eloquent imagery and lofty idealism to emphasise the message of his letter "Let us become spiritual, a perfect temple unto God."

The anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews elaborates the theme of Barnabas in almost classical language, and with a grace of style that makes it "the first piece of Christian literature in the technical sense of the word." With great skill

it maintains the argument that Christianity supersedes Judaism, supplanting its sacrifices, its priesthood, and its covenant (x.1-10). Many passages of this Epistle take rank with the finest specimens of religious eloquence; e.g. the "Eulogium of the Hebrew Martyrs" (xi.32-40), and the "Vision of the Race of Life" (xii. 1-2).

Philo's influence on Christian writing is seen at its best in this Epistle which was most probably written for the benefit of the Alexandrian Church, 80-90.

The plea put forward by these works, viz., that Christianity was altogether emancipated from the Law, was not accepted without challenge. Judaic traditions were strong in many sections of the Church, and were bound to find utterance. One of the earliest of the books written to maintain those traditions was The Teaching of the Apostles, often called the Didache, a composite work that reached its present form by a process of addition. The first six chapters consist of a Jewish tract entitled The Two Ways, written about 50, to contrast the way of light and the way of darkness. This tract was used by a Christian writer as an introduction to his own work The Teaching of the Lord by the Twelve Apostles to the Nations, written about 65. Finally a third writer, 72-80, completed the work in its present form, by adding chapter sixteen.

The Genealogies of the First and Third Gospels belong to the same school. The Genealogy in Matthew i.1-17 and the Birth Stories in Matthew i. 18-21; ii.1-18, 19-23, were probably once part of a Hebrew-Christian document. The Genealogy given in Luke iii.23-38, was, on the other hand, part of an Aramaic or of a Palestinian-Greek docu

ment.

The First Gospel as a completed whole is an invaluable document of the renaissance of the Hebrew Christianity of this period. It is free from the crudities of the now lost Gospel according to the Hebrews, but preserves a deep rev

erence for the Old Testament, although it insists upon the distinctive character of Christianity, and its need for a separately organised Church. In fact it is in this Gospel that the Church speaks for the first time in Christian literature with confidence and power (xviii.15-18).

Originally intended to be a manual of the Faith for the use of teachers, this Gospel makes generous quotations from the Book of Testimonies, gives copious passages from the Sayings and offers various devices to assist memory, perhaps in imitation of the famous Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph, 50-135.

The Apocalypse or Book of the Revelation, 95-106, although a product of the school of Asia Minior, also reflects the spirit of Hebrew Christianity especially in its desire for Divine vengeance. Some of the material in it was taken from Jewish sources (e.g. vii. 1-8; xi.1-13; xii.) and some was borrowed from earlier apocalyptic writings (e.g. vii.917; xiv.6-12; xviii.; xx.).

Apocalyptic literature is the "literature of picture and symbol whose use and value lie wholly in their vivid presentation . . . . of that which no picture or symbol can adequately represent." The New Testament Apocalypse is the greatest of all the Christian apocalypses, and it is also one of the most vexing problems of the early literature of the Faith. The range of vision, the magnificent imagery, the depth of feeling and splendour of assurance that characterise it make it supreme in its class. Some of the finest examples of Christian writing are found in this work of unknown authorship (cf. vii. 13-17; xviii.2-19; xix. 11-16; xxi.1-4).

The troubled stream of Hebrew Christianity runs to earth after this, leaving only a few signs of its existence in out-of-the-way places.

An otherwise unknown ARISTO of Pella left a now lost Dialogue between a Hebrew Christian, Jason, and an Alexandrian Jew, Papiscus, c. 130-170. This Dialogue con