nd the latter still
prefers to place them and the Epistle of Polycarp after the year A. D.
130. The earlier date reached by the Bishop of Durham is to him 'a mere
possibility which is highly improbable, because it is not supported by
any word in the Epistle, and because it rests only upon a late and very
problematic witness (Eusebius).' Dr. Harnack's present view is, in all
essentials, the same as that which he previously held. He has had the
advantage--which he courteously acknowledges--of examining Bishop
Lightfoot's 'painstaking consideration' of his views held in 1878; but
nevertheless he considers that the Bishop's method of considering the
whole question is 'not the proper' one--that his 'admittedly profound
learning has contributed little or nothing to the main question,' and
that 'he has not rightly comprehended the problem.'[85] Yet the ordinary
reader, who examines Dr. Harnack's re-statement of some of his views,
will feel that to ask the Bishop of Durham to re-examine them will be
but to ask him to slay afresh the slain. Dr. Harnack still clings, for
example, to his view, that Polycarp is attacking the Docetism of
Marcion; a view which, if sound, would convince the writer of an
anachronism; because in pretending to write between A. D. 100 and 118 he
has introduced a heresiarch not then notorious. But his view has been
shown by Bishop Lightfoot to be fallacious; and all that Dr. Harnack can
now answer is to repeat his preference for his own interpretation of
two passages adduced in the argument.

From the amenities of this battlefield of friendly criticism we turn for
a few concluding remarks to the second and shorter life--that of
Polycarp--which these monumental volumes discuss.

In point of method and treatment, the consideration of the history and
writings of this saint of the early Church follows the same lines, as
those followed in the case of St. Ignatius. First, the biography proper.
Next, one of those collections of passages and documents which render
these volumes so remarkable. In seventy pages the student will find a
_corpus_ of original extracts embellished with notes explanatory and
critical--Such as Imperial acts and ordinances relating to or affecting
Christianity; Acts and notices of martyrdoms. Passages from heathen
writers, containing notices of the Christians; Passages from Christian
writers illustrating the points at issue--most helpful to him in
apprehending not only the history of the p