The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-02-14
Richmond, Va, Wednesday, Fob. IA.
GA NON IA RRAR'S EARL Y
DA VS. OF CHRLSTIANITY."

Mr.. John B. Alden, New York, has
brought out a cheap edition of Canon
Farrar's Early Days of Christianity
1t is gotten up in one octave volume of
754 pages, and sold at the remarkably
low price of 65 cents. 1t is book which
the student reioices to get hold OF, be-
cause it is full of matter, and the writer
discusses current questions in free spirit
and in an independent manner. Canon
Farrars style is extremely agreeable, and
he always seems fully up with all the
learning on the subject of which he treats.
There is a great deal in these Early
Days of Christianity which is very in
structive and very suggestive 1t is a
graphic picture of the Roman world and
the Christian Church during the last half
of the first century. With wonderful
vividness does he delineate the spiritual
death and fearful depravity which had
settled upon the world in the beginnings
Of the Empire.
And yet Canon Farrar is dangerous
writer; this is not a book for the un-
learned or the young; it has value to
the well-informed student, because he
knows how to guard himself against its
errors, of which there are not few of no
little magnitude in the volume. And
Canon Farrar, when he wants to defend
new opinion, has loud, dogmatic way
of asserting that there is no doubt on the
subject, which overbears the ordinary
reader. When he wants to prove that
the Epistle to the Hebrews was not writ
ten by Paul, he just says, "Of course it
was not, and every scholar moaO knows
that''-when they know no such thing.
See the powerful defence of the Pauline
authorship in volume III, New Tesla
ment, of the Bible Commentary, by the
Rev. DR.. Kay The theory of Canon
Farrar is that it was written by Apollos
Its canonicity he does not question.
NERO is the Anti Christ of the Book of
Revelation, and that work was written
by St. John about A. D. 68, instead of
during the reign of Domitian, about
A. d. 90-95. This is the Rationalistic
theory about this book, and of course
gives an entirely new aspect to the whole
series of visions The same view was
propounded in this country forty years
ago by Prof. Moses Stuart. The First
Beast, according to Canon Farrar, is
NERO (the letters of whose name IN He
6reoO make up the mystical number 666);
the Second Beast is VEsPAsIANl Canon
Farrar admits that it is exceedingly dit
fcult to get over the explicit testimony
of Iren@us that the Apocalypse was
written by John edwards the close of
the reign of Domitian," but takes the
ground that the date of a book can more
certainly be determined by internal than
by external evidence
The Second Epistle OF Peter he does
not decide to reject as uncanonical, but
ne represents the evidence against it as
almost overwhelming. In this connec-
ton he relies especially on some new evil
dence adduced by DR.. Abbott, going to
show that certain words and phrases &C.
cur in this epistle which do not occur
elsewhere in the Bible, but do occur in
Josephus, which according to DR.. Far
rar) make it certain that the author of
Second Peter had either read Josephus,
or Josephus had read the epistle. But
the Antiquities Of Josephus were not
written until A. D. 90, and his earliest
writings not before rs A. D. Canon
Farrar is strongly inclined to think that
the author of the epistle borrowed from
Josephus We have no space here to
discuss this; but see what it would lead
us to:
/. That this epistle, which from the
internal marks, appears clearly to belong
TO the third quarter Of the first century,
was written at the close of the century,
about the time that the Epistle Of Gle
ment to the Corinthians was written.
2. That the writer (writing evidently to
Jews) never nlL,lde8 to the destruction OF
Jerusalem, or gives any prophetic hint
Of its impending ruin. g. If the epistle
is later than Jude, the forger strangely
copies freely from that unimportant frag-
ment, which was viewed very doubtfully