more nor
less uncritical on questions which involve the historical sense, than
other writers of their age. Now and then we meet with an exceptional
blunderer; but for the most part Christian writers will compare not
unfavourably with their heathen contemporaries. If Clement of Rome
believes in the story of the phoenix, so do several classical writers of
repute. If Justin Martyr affirms that Simon Magus received divine
honours at Rome, heathen historians and controversialists make
statements equally false and quite as ridiculous with reference to the
religion and history of the Jews [268:1]. Even the credulity of a Papias
may be more than matched by the credulity of an Apion or an AElian. The
work of the sceptical Pliny himself abounds in impossible stories. On
the other hand individual writers may be singled out among the Christian
fathers, whom it would be difficult to match in their several
excellences from their own or contiguous generations. No heathen
contemporary shows such a power of memory or so wide an acquaintance
with the classical literature of Greece in all its branches as Clement
of Alexandria. No heathen contemporary deserves to be named in the same
day with Origen for patience and accuracy in textual criticism, to say
nothing of other intellectual capacities, which, notwithstanding all his
faults, distinguish him as the foremost writer of his age. And again,
the investigations of Theophilus of Antioch, the contemporary of
Irenaeus, in comparative chronology are far in advance of anything which
emanates from heathen writers of his time, however inadequate they may
appear in this nineteenth century, which has discovered so many
monuments of primeval history. There are in fact as many gradations
among the Christian fathers as in any other order of men; and here, as
elsewhere, each writer must be considered on his own merits. It is a
gross injustice to class the authors whom I have named with such
hopeless blunderers as Epiphanius and John Malalas, for whom nothing can
be said, but in whom nevertheless our author places the most implicit
confidence, when their statements serve his purpose.

Now Irenaeus is not one whose testimony can be lightly set aside. He
possessed, as we have seen, exceptional opportunities of forming an
opinion on the point at issue. His honesty is, I think, beyond the reach
of suspicion. He is a man of culture and intelligence. He possesses a
considerable knowledge of classical litera