Apelles is said to have been excommunicated by Marcion. He afterward had a sect and a gospel of his own. He was a Gnostic. There were various Gnostic sects. One of their cardinal doctrines was that Jesus was a man, begotten by man. Some of them held that he became Christ, the Son of God, at the time of his anointing and baptism.

"When," says Baring-Gould, "Gnosticism fixed on the anointing as the communication to Christ of his divine mission and Messiahship, their mention of it was cut out of the gospels in possession of the church, and consequently the canonical gospels are without it to this day."-[Lost and Hostile Gospels, p. 202.

Others believed that Jesus and Christ were different. That Jesus suffered, but Christ only in appearance. These were called Docetæ. Christ, as distinct from the man Jesus, had a pre-exist

ence.

According to the fathers, Apelles denied the resurrection of the dead. He published a collection

of revelations which he had received from a noted courtezan, by the name of Philumene.'

Not much reliance is placed upon these assertions. They are considered slanders by Dr. Lardner and other candid historians. Especially are such statements against prominent women, who held heretical opinions, entitled to but little credit.

Neander defends the character of Apelles, and considers his intimacy with Philumene altogether blameless.2

THE GOSPEL OF APELLES.

But little is known of this gospel. Jerome, in the preface to his Commentary on Matthew, and Venerable Bede, in his Commentary on Luke, refer to the Gospel of Apelles, as one of those alluded to in Luke: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth," etc. (Luke, 1. 1.) According to these writers, then, the Gospel of Luke was written in the latter part of the second century.

PEREGRINUS.-A. D. 150 to 169.

Lucian, author of the Dialogues, A. D. 165, gives a history of Peregrinus. He says he learned a wonderful doctrine of the Christians, by conversing with their priests and scribes, near Palestine.

"And in a short time, he showed they were but children to him; for he was prophet, high priest, ruler of a synagogue; uniting all offices in himself alone. Some books he interpreted and explained; others he wrote. They spoke of him as a god, and took him for a law-giver,

(1.) See Tertullian, de Præs. adv. Hær. c. 30; Epiph. Hær. 44; Austin, de Hær. ad Q. 23 in Ap.

(2. Church History, vol. 2, p. 151.

and honored him with the title of master. They still, therefore, worship that great man who was crucified in Palestine, because he introduced into the world this new religion." I

Lucian was contemporary with Peregrinus, having been born A. D. 124,2 and living until after 180.3 The same writer says further, that Peregrinus was a person who rambled from place to place, and from one sect of philosophy to another. "Having been guilty of parricide and other crimes, he was obliged for a while to leave his native country and travel abroad." He was afterward imprisoned. While in prison, he was visited by Christians, who administered to his necessities. The Governor of Syria set him at liberty. He then returned to Parium, his native place, and afterward, about the year 169, he ascended a funeral pile, which he had voluntarily prepared, and perished in the flames, in the sight of all Greece.

Peregrinus was also called Proteus. is mentioned by some of the fathers.*

Athenagoras refers to it thus:

His death

"Of the statues of Alexander and Proteus, (the latter, you are aware, threw himself into the fire near Olympia), that of Proteus is likewise said to utter oracles."-[Plea for the Christians, ch. 26.

There is reason to believe that the picture drawn by Lucian, was, like his portraiture of Alexander Abonotichus, and his casual mention of Apollonius of Tyana, colored by the pen of prejudice.

(1.) De Morte Peregrin. t. 1, p. 565.

(2.) Moyle's Works, vol. 2, p. 363.

(3.) Lardner, vol. 4, p. 149.

(4.) Tertullian, ad Mart. cap. 4, p. 157; Athenagoras, see above.

From other writers there are more favorable accounts:

Ammianus Marcellinus, (3d century), mentions his death, and calls him an illustrious philosopher.'

Philostratus (210), refers to his death, and speaks of him as a cynic philosopher."

Aulus Gellius, (2d century), speaks of him as follows:

"I saw, when I was at Athens, a philosopher named Peregrinus, and surnamed afterward Proteus; a man of dignity and fortitude, who resided in a little cottage, without the city. As I used to go to him frequently, I heard from him many useful and excellent remarks, among which this is what I chiefly remember:

"He said, 'A wise man would not be guilty of sin, although gods and men were alike ignorant of it.' For he thought a wise man would avoid sin, not from the fear of punishment or disgrace, but from his sense of duty and love of virtue."-[Noctes Atticæ, bk. 12, ch. 11.

He then represents Peregrinus as quoting these lines of Sophocles:

"Nor vainly think your skill can aught conceal;
Time, that knows all things, shall all truths reveal."

It is as difficult to reconcile this sprightly picture by the author of the Attic Nights, with what is said by Lucian, as it is to reconcile the extant Epistles of Apollonius with the notice which Lucian chose to take of that philosopher.

MARCELLINA.-A. D. 160.

Marcellina was the founder of a sect called Mar

(1.) Amm. 1. 29, cap. I.

(2.) De Vit. Soph. 1. 2, n 1, sec. 13.

cellians. crates.

She was a Gnostic-a disciple of Carpo

The fathers are almost entirely silent concerning her. If we are left in ignorance of desirable information, her name has at least been handed down free from detraction and calumny.

SOTER.-A. D. 164.

Soter was Bishop of Rome, about A. D. 175. Dr. Lardner puts him down as one of the writers of the second century, whose works are lost, and dates his writings, A. D. 164. He may have flourished as a writer before he was made bishop.

PHILIP.-A. D. 170.

This writer is in the same category with the preceding. He is mentioned with Soter and others, as writers of the second century, whose works are lost.'

MONTANUS.-A. D. 170.

Dr. Priestly thinks many of the Montanists were Unitarians.

Epiphanius gives extracts from the writings of Montanus, and shows him to have been a millenarian.

Apollonius, the Christian writer of the third century, became an active opponent of Montanism, and endeavored to counteract the impulse which had been given to it by Tertullian. This great father had left the catholic church, and had gone

(1.) Lardner, vol. 1, p. 436.