ems to be investigated in the
history of dogma, and one which unfortunately cannot be completely
solved, is to show what necessities led to the setting up of a new canon
of Scripture, what circumstances required the appearance of living
authorities in the communities, and what relation was established
between the apostolic rule of faith, the apostolic canon of Scripture,
and the apostolic office. The development ended with the formation of a
clerical class, at whose head stood the bishop, who united in himself
all conceivable powers, as teacher, priest, and judge. He disposed of
the powers of Christianity, guaranteed its purity, and therefore in
every respect held the Christian laity in tutelage.

But even apart from the content which Christianity here received, this
process in itself represents a progressive secularising of the Church,
This would be self-evident enough, even if it were not confirmed by
noting the fact that the process had already been to some extent
anticipated in the so-called Gnosticism (See vol. I. p. 253 and
Tertullian, de praescr. 35). But the element which the latter lacked,
namely, a firmly welded, suitably regulated constitution, must by no
means be regarded as one originally belonging and essential to
Christianity. The depotentiation to which Christianity was here
subjected appears still more plainly in the facts, that the Christian
hopes were deadened, that the secularising of the Christian life was
tolerated and even legitimised, and that the manifestations of an
unconditional devotion to the heavenly excited suspicion or were
compelled to confine themselves to very narrow limits.

But these considerations are scarcely needed as soon as we turn our
attention to the second series of developments that make up the history
of this period. The Church did not merely set up dykes and walls against
Gnosticism in order to ward it off externally, nor was she satisfied
with defending against it the facts which were the objects of her belief
and hope; but, taking the creed for granted, she began to follow this
heresy into its own special territory and to combat it with a scientific
theology. That was a necessity which did not first spring from
Christianity's own internal struggles. It was already involved in the
fact that the Christian Church had been joined by cultured Greeks, who
felt the need of justifying their Christianity to themselves and the
world, and of presenting it as the desired and certai