The Christian Church in the First Century

THE present volume intends to instruct the general reader in the knowledge of the early Fathers of the Christian Church. It may thus be learned how the Church passed through the Apostolic era into that of the “Apostolic Fathers”. These Fathers belong to the period between the close of the New Testament Canon and the days of St Irenaeus (AD 160) a period during which the record of the progress of the Church and of its heroes is very scanty. From the time of the great Bishop of Lyons onwards we have an abundant Church literature, and much fuller details in history than before. We see at that epoch how the Church had spread itself far and wide, but the seed had grown almost secretly. There were many writers during the interval whose works have perished, though, it is even now possible that some of them may yet be found buried away in the lumber rooms of Eastern monasteries...