the Lord's supper; as they macerated their bodies by continual fastings, and lived a severe life of celibacy and abstinence, so they were called Encratites, † Hydroparastates, and Apotactites. T

cap. xiii. None, however, of the ancients wrote professedly concerning the doctrines of Tatian.

+ Temperate.

Drinkers of water.

Renouncers.

ATHENAGORAS was a native of Athens, and a philosopher, converted to Christianity. He wrote a treatise on the resurrection, and an Apology for the Christians, both of which works are still extant. He died A. D. 177.

:

The romance of Theagenes and Charis was falsely ascribed to him it is the production of a Frenchman, Martin Fumée, and was published in French, as a translation from a Greek MS. brought out of the East, but no such MS. ever existed.

Athenagoras [says Dr Mosheim] deserves a place among the estimable writers of this age. He was a philosopher of no mean reputation; and his apology for the Christians, and his treatise upon the Resurrection, afford striking proofs of his learning and genius. [vol. i, p. 163.]

DUPIN writes only a few lines on this Father; and Dr Wotton in a note mentions that his works were published in Greek and Latin at Paris, 4to, 1511.

In the second volume of Gallandii Bibliotheca is "ATHENAGORE Legatio pro Christianis," also, "De resurrectione mortuorum."

BICKERSTETH, in his "Christian Fathers of the first and second centuries," states that Athenagoras

published two short treatises, one in defence of Christianity, addressed to the Roman emperors, and the other on the Resurrection of the Dead, which have been preserved to us.

There is nothing in the works of Athenagoras on the subject of Baptism. Indeed, Bickersteth observes :

The design of Athenagoras to meet the objections of the heathen prevents his entering much into the peculiar privileges and blessings of the Gospel.

XXI. MELITO, BISHOP OF SARDIS.

Melito, bishop of Sardis, [according to Dr Mosheim, vol. i, p. 168] is said to have written several treatises, one concerning faith, another on the creation, a third respecting the Church, and a fourth for the illustration of truth; but it does not appear from the titles of these writings, whether they were of a doctrinal or controversial nature.

The editor of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History adds the following

note :

Melito, besides his Apology for the Christians, and the treatises mentioned by Dr Mosheim, wrote a discourse upon Esther, and several other dissertations, of which we have only some scattered fragments remaining; but what is worthy of remark here, is that he is the first Christian writer who has given us a catalogue of the books of the Old Testament. His catalogue, also, is perfectly conformable to that of the Jews, except in this point only, that he has omitted in it the book of Esther.

The fragments of Melito are given in the first volume of Gallandii Bibliotheca, and in Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ, vol i,

pp. 111-154. The following, in Routh [p. 121], is headed : Ex libro iii de Incarnatione Christi, adversus Marcionem scripti.

Οὐδεμία ἀνάγκη τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσιν, ἐξ ὧν μετὰ τὸ βάπ τισμα ὁ Χριστὸς ἔπραξε, παριστᾶν τὸ ἀληθὲς καὶ ἀφάνταστον τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ σώματος τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως. Τὰ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα, φησὶν [Melito,] ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ πραχθέντα, καὶ μάλιστα τὰ σημεῖα, τὴν αὐτοῦ κεκρυμμένην ἐν σαρκὶ θεότητα ἐδήλουν καὶ ἐπιστοῦντο τῷ κοσμῷ. Θεὸς γὰρ ἂν ὁμοῦ τε καὶ ἄνθρωπος τέλειος ὁ αὐτὸς τὰς δύο αὐτοῦ οὐσίας ἐπιστώσατο ἡμῖν· τὴν μὲν θεότητα αὐτῷ διὰ τῶν σημείων ἐν τῇ τριετίᾳ τῇ μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα· τὴν δὲ ἀνθρωπότητα αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς τριάκοντα χρόνοις πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος, ἐν οἷς διὰ το ἀτελὲς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ἀπεκρύβη τὰ σημεῖα τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος καίπερ Θεὸς ἀληθὴς προαιώνιος ὑπάρχων.

The Latin is as follows:

Non est necessarium his, quos ratio non fugit, ex actionibus Christi post baptismum adstruere, et demonstrare animæ et corporis ejus, et humanæ naturæ nobiscum convenientis, veritatem, et ab omni fictione remotionem. Nam quæ post baptismum a Christo gesta sunt, inquit, maxime miracula, latentem ejus divinitatem potissimum mundo comprobabant et confirmabant: quum enim idem Deus simul et homo perfectus esset, duas naturas suas nobis patefecit ; divinitatem quidem per miracula triennio illo post baptismum patrata: humanitatem vero suam triginta illis annis baptismum antegressis, quibus carnis vilitas tegebat et abscondebat divinitatis signa, tametsi revera Deus esset sempiternus.

In English thus :

It is not necessary, in the case of those who are not devoid of reason, to prove to them, from Christ's