_The Two Ways_ uses throughout the
second person singular. It appears to be a composite work. First (vii.
1-xi. 2) is a short sacramental manual intended for the use of local
elders or presbyters, though such are not named, for they were not yet a
distinctive order or clergy. This section was probably added to _The Two
Ways_ before the addition of the remainder. It orders baptism in the
threefold name, making a distinction as to waters which has Jewish
parallels, and permitting a threefold pouring on the head, if sufficient
water for immersion cannot be had. It prescribes a fast before baptism
for the baptizer as well as the candidate. Fasts are to be kept on
Wednesday and Friday, not Monday and Thursday, which are the fast days
of "the hypocrites," i.e. by a perversion of the Lord's words, the Jews.
"Neither pray ye as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His
Gospel." Then follows the Lord's Prayer, almost exactly as in St
Matthew, with a brief doxology--"for Thine is the power and the glory
forever." This is to be said three times a day. Next come three
eucharistic prayers, the language of which is clearly marked off from
that of the rest of the book, and shows parallels with the diction of St
John's Gospel. They are probably founded on Jewish thanksgivings, and it
is of interest to note that a portion of them is prescribed as a grace
before meat in (pseudo-) Athanasius' _De virginitate_. A trace of them
is found in one of the liturgical prayers of Serapion, bishop of Thmui,
in Egypt, but they have left little mark on the liturgies of the church.
As in Ignatius and other early writers, the eucharist, a real meal (x.
1) of a family character, is regarded as producing immortality (cf.
"spiritual food and drink and eternal life"). None are to partake of it
save those who have been "baptized in the name of the Lord" (an
expression which is of interest in a document which prescribes the
threefold formula). The prophets are not to be confined to these forms,
but may "give thanks as much as they will." This appears to show that a
prophet, if present, would naturally preside over the eucharist. The
next section (xi. 3-xiii.) deals with the ministry of spiritual gifts as
exercised by apostles, prophets and teachers. An apostle is to be
"received as the Lord"; but he must follow the Gospel precepts, stay but
one or two days, and take no money, but only bread enough for a day's
journey. Here we have that wider use of the