History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A. D. 100-325

judicial calmness, and conservative tact are fast wheeling into the line of progress, as is evident

from the collective works on Christian Antiquities, and the Christian Biography, and from Bp.

Lightfoot’s Clementine Epistles, which are soon to be followed by his edition of the Ignatian

Epistles. To the brilliant French genius and learning of Mr. Renan we owe a graphic picture of the

secular surroundings of early Christianity down to the time of Marcus Aurelius, with sharp glances

into the literature and life of the church. His 

Historie des Origines du Christianisme

, now completed in seven

volumes, after twenty year’s labor, is well worthy to rank with Gibbon’s immortal work. The Rise

and Triumph of Christianity is a grander theme than the contemporary Decline and Fall of the

Roman Empire, but no historian can do justice to it without faith in the divine character and mission

of that peaceful Conqueror of immortal souls, whose kingdom shall have no end.

The importance of these literary discoveries and investigations should not blind us to the

almost equally important monumental discoveries and researches of Cavalier de Rossi, Garrucci,

and other Italian scholars who have illuminated the subterranean mysteries of the church of Rome

and of Christian art. Neander, Gieseler, and Baur, the greatest church historians of the nineteenth

century, are as silent about the catacombs as Mosheim and Gibbon were in the eighteenth. But who

could now write a history of the first three centuries without recording the lessons of those rude

yet expressive pictures, sculptures, and epitaphs from the homes of confessors and martyrs? Nor

should we overlook the gain which has come to us from the study of monumental inscriptions, as

for instance in rectifying the date of Polycarp’s martyrdom who is now brought ten years nearer to

the age of St. John.

Before long there will be great need of an historic architect who will construct a beautiful

and comfortable building out of the vast material thus brought to light. The Germans are historic

miners, the French and English are skilled manufacturers; the former understand and cultivate the

science of history, the latter excel in the art of historiography. A master of both would be the ideal

historian. But God has wisely distributed his gifts, and made individuals and nations depend upon

and supplement each other.

The present volume is an entire reconstruction of the corresponding part of the first edition

(vol. I p. 144–528), which appeared twenty-five years ago. It is more than double in size. Some

chapters (e.g. VI. VII. IX.) and several sections (e.g. 90–93, 103, 155–157, 168, 171, 184, 189,

190, 193, 198–204, etc.) are new, and the rest has been improved and enlarged, especially the last

chapter on the literature of the church. My endeavor has been to bring the book up to the present

advanced state of knowledge, to record every important work (German, French, English, and

American) which has come under my notice, and to make the results of the best scholarship of the

age available and useful to the rising generation.

In conclusion, I may be permitted to express my thanks for the kind reception which has

been accorded to this revised edition of the work of my youth. It will stimulate me to new energy

in carrying it forward as far as God may give time and strength. The third volume needs no

reconstruction, and a new edition of the same with a few improvements will be issued without

delay.

Philip Schaff.

Union Theological Seminary,

October, 1883.

Illustrations from the Catacombs.

Alphabetical Index.

5

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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SECOND PERIOD

ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIANITY

or,

THE AGE OF PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM

from the

DEATH OF JOHN TO CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

a.d. 100–325.

"THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS IS THE SEED OF THE CHURCH"

6

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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SECOND PERIOD

ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIANITY

or,

THE AGE OF PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM

from the

DEATH OF JOHN TO CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

a.d. 100–325.

§ 1. Literature on the Ante-Nicene Age

I. Sources

1. The writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Apologists, and all the ecclesiastical authors of the

2nd and 3rd, and to some extent of the 4th and 5th centuries; particularly Clement of Rome,

Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of

Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, Epiphanius, and Theodoret.

2. The writings of the numerous heretics, mostly extant only in fragments.

3. The works of the pagan opponents of Christianity, as Celsus, Lucian, Porphyry, Julian the

Apostate.

4. The occasional notices of Christianity, in the contemporary classical authors, Tacitus, Suetonius,

the younger Pliny, Dion Cassius.

II. Collections of Sources, (besides those included in the comprehensive Patristic Libraries):

Gebhardt, Harnack, and Zahn: Patrum Apostolicorum Opera. Lips., 1876; second ed. 1878 sqq.

Fr. Xav. Funk (R.C.): Opera Patrum Apost. Tübing., 1878, 1881, 1887, 2 vols. The last edition

includes the Didache.

I. C. Th. Otto: Corpus Apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi. Jenae, 1841 sqq., in 9 vols.;

2nd ed. 1847–1861; 3rd ed. 1876 sqq. ("plurimum aucta et emendata").

Roberts And Donaldson: Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edinburgh (T.& T. Clark), 1868–’72, 25

volumes. American edition, chronologically arranged and enlarged by Bishop A. C. Coxe, D.

D., with a valuable Bibliographical Synopsis by E. C. Richardson. New York (Christian

Literature Company), 1885–’87, 9 large vols.

The fragments of the earliest Christian writers, whose works are lost, may be found collected in

Grabe: Spicilegium Patrum ut et Haereticorum Saeculi I. II. et III. (Oxon. 1700; new ed. Oxf.

1714, 3 vols.); in Routh: Reliquiae Sacrae, sive auctorum fere jam perditorum secundi, tertiique

saeculi fragmenta quae supersunt (Oxon. 1814 sqq. 4 vols.; 2nd ed. enlarged, 5 vols. Oxf.

1846–48); and in Dom. I. B. Pitra (O. S. B., a French Cardinal since 1863): Spicilegium

Solesmense, complectens sanctorum patrum scriptorumque eccles. anecdota hactenus opera,

selecta e Graecis, Orientialibus et Latinis codicibus (Paris, 1852–’60, 5 vols.). Comp. also

Bunsen: Christianity and Mankind, etc. Lond. 1854, vols. V., VI. and VII., which contain the

Analecta Ante-Nicaena (reliquicae literariae, canonicae, liturgicae).

The haereseological writings of Epiphanius, Philastrius, Pseudo-Tertullian, etc. are collected in

Franc. Oehler: Corpus haereseologicum. Berol. 1856–61, 3 vols. They belong more to the next

period.

The Jewish and Heathen Testimonies are collected by N. Lardner, 1764, new ed. by Kippis, Lond.

1838.

III. Histories.

1. Ancient Historians.

7

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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