putting it into writing will involve an
effort after logical completeness. There will be a tendency on the part
of the writer to fill up gaps; to state local customs as if they
obtained universally; to introduce his personal equation, and to add to
that which is the custom that which, in his opinion, _ought_ to be. (b)
There will be a strong tendency to fortify that which has been written
with great names, especially in days when there is no very clear notion
of literary property. This is done, not always with any deliberate
consciousness of fraud (although it must be clearly recognized that
truth is not one of the "natural virtues," and that the sense of the
obligations of truthfulness was far from strong), but rather to
emphasize the importance of what was written, and the fact that it was
no new invention of the writer's. In a non-literary age fame gathers
about great names; and that which, _ex hypothesi_, has gone on since the
beginning of things is naturally attributed to the founders of the
society. Then come interpolations to make this ascription more probable,
and the prefixing of a title, then or subsequently, which states it as a
fact. This is precisely the way in which the Apostolical Constitutions
and other kindred documents have come into being. They are attempts,
made in various places and at different times, to put into writing the
order and discipline and character of the Church; in part for private
instruction and edification, but in part also with a view to actual use;
frequently even with an actual reference to particular circumstances. In
this lies their importance, to a degree which is only just being
adequately realized. They contain evidence of the utmost value as to the
order of the Church in early days; evidence, however, which needs to be
sifted with the greatest care, since the personal preferences of the
writer and the customs of the local church to which he belongs are
continually mixed up with things which have a wider prevalence. It is
only by careful investigation, by the method of comparisons, that these
elements can be disentangled; but as the number of documents of this
class known to us is continually increasing, their value increases even
more than proportionately. And whilst their local and fugitive character
must be fully recognized and allowed for, is it unjustifiable to set
them aside or leave them out of account as heretical, and therefore
negligible.

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