lear, as his only quotation of it comes from one of the eucharistic
prayers. The allusions of early writers seem to point to Egypt, but
their references are mostly to the first part, so that we must be
careful how we argue from them as to the provenance of the book as a
whole. Against Egypt has been urged the allusion in one of the
eucharistic prayers to "corn upon the mountains." This is found in the
Prayer-book of Serapion (c. 350) but omitted in a later Egyptian
prayer; the form as we have it in _The Didach[=e]_ may have passed into
Egypt with the authority of tradition which was afterwards weakened. The
anti-Jewish tone of the second part suggests the neighbourhood of Jews,
from whom the Christians were to be sharply distinguished. Either Egypt
or Syria would satisfy this condition, and in favour of Syria is the
fact that the presbyterate there was to a late date regarded as a rank
rather than an office. If we can connect the injunctions (vi. 3)
concerning (abstinence from certain) food and that which is offered to
idols with the old trouble that arose at Antioch (Acts xv. 1) and was
legislated for by the Jerusalem council, we have additional support for
the Syrian claim. But all that we can safely say as to locality is that
the community here represented seems to have been isolated, and out of
touch with the larger centres of Christian life.

This last consideration helps us in discussing the question of date. For
such an isolated community may have preserved primitive customs for some
time after they had generally disappeared. Certainly the stage of
development is an early one, as is shown, e.g., by the prominence of
prophets, and the need that was felt for the vindication of the position
of the bishops and deacons (there is no mention at all of presbyters);
moreover, there is no reference to a canon of Scripture (though the
written Gospel is expressly mentioned) or to a creed. On the other hand
the "apostles" of the second part are obviously not "the twelve
apostles" of the title; and the prophets seem in some instances to have
proved unworthy of their high position. The ministry of enthusiasm which
they represent is about to give way to the ministry of office, a
transition which is reflected in the New Testament in the 3rd Epistle of
John. Three of the Gospels have clearly been for some time in
circulation; St Matthew's is used several times, and there are phrases
which occur only in St Luke's, while St John's Go