CHAPTER VI. —THE FATHERS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES
Introduction.
CHAPTER VI. —THE FATHERS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES
Introduction.
adverted to the writings of the
apostolical fathers, and endeavored to estimate their real value and
importance, especially in so far as concerns the interpretation of Scripture,
and the correct exposition of the scheme of divine truth; and having also
attempted to explain the application, and to estimate the value of a
knowledge of the heresies of the early ages, I propose to give a brief
survey of the principal writers of the second and third centuries, chiefly for
the purpose of adverting to the influence they exerted, and the measure of
practical importance that may still attach to their writings. For this
purpose, I intend to collect together, in one view, those facts connected with
the principal fathers of these two centuries, however otherwise simple, and
however well known, which it seems to me most important to remember, and which
are best fitted to furnish an antidote to some of the notions upon this
subject which are zealously advocated in the present day.
