tters will be accepted as valid testimony at all events for
the middle of the second century. The question of the genuineness of the
latter will be waived. I fear that my indecision on this point will
contrast disadvantageously with the certainty which is expressed by the
author of _Supernatural Religion_. If so, I am sorry, but I cannot help
it.

IV. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA.

[MAY, 1875.]

Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, is the most important person in the history
of the Christian Church during the ages immediately succeeding the
Apostles. In the eyes of his own and the next generations, Clement of
Rome appears to have held a more prominent position, if we may judge
from the legendary stories which have gathered about his name; but for
ourselves the interest which attaches to Polycarp is far greater. This
importance he owes to his peculiar position, rather than to any marked
greatness or originality of character. Two long lives--those of St John
and of Polycarp--span the period which elapsed between the personal
ministry of our Lord and the great Christian teachers living at the
close of the second century. Polycarp was the disciple of St John, and
Irenaeus was the disciple of Polycarp. We know enough of St John's
teaching, if the books ascribed to him in our Canon are accepted as
genuine. We are fully acquainted with the tenets of Irenaeus, and of
these we may say generally that on all the most important points they
conform to the theological standard which has satisfied the Christian
Church ever since. But of the intermediate period between the close of
the first century and the close of the second, the notices are sparse,
the literature is scanty and fragmentary. Hence modern criticism has
busied itself with hypothetical reconstructions of Christian history
during this interval. It has been maintained that the greater part of
the writings of our Canon were unknown and unwritten at the beginning of
this period. It has been supposed that there was a complete
discontinuity in the career of the Christian Church throughout the
world. The person of Polycarp is a standing protest against any such
surmises. Unless Irenaeus was entirely mistaken as to the teaching of
his master, unless the extant Epistle ascribed to Polycarp is altogether
spurious, these views must fall to the ground. It is indispensable for
the advocates of the Tuebingen theory respecting the origin of the
Christian Church and the Scriptural Canon to make