FRAGMENTS FROM THE LOST WRITINGS OF IRENÆUS.
I.
ADJURE thee, who shalt transcribe this book,[1] by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His glorious appearing, when He comes to judge the living and the dead, that thou compare what thou hast transcribed, and be careful to set it right according to this copy from which thou hast transcribed; also, that thou in like manner copy down this adjuration, and insert it in the transcript.
II.
These[2] opinions, Florinus, that I may speak in mild terms, are not of sound doctrine; these opinions are not consonant to the church, and involve their votaries in the utmost impiety; these opinions, even the heretics beyond the church's pale have never ventured to broach; these opinions, those presbyters who preceded us, and who were conversant with the apostles, did not hand down to thee. For, while I was yet a boy, I saw thee in Lower Asia with Polycarp, distinguishing thyself in the royal court,[3] and endeavouring to gain his approbation. For I have a more vivid recollection of what occurred at that time than of recent events (inas-
- ↑ This fragment is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. v. 20. It occurred at the close of the lost treatise of Irenæeus entitled De Ogdoade.
- ↑ This interesting extract we also owe to Eusebius, who (ut sup.) took it from the work De Ogdoade, written after this former friend of Irenæus had lapsed to Valentinianism. Florinus had previously held that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenæus opposed in a treatise, now lost, called περὶ μοναρχίας.
- ↑ Comp. vol. i. p. 476, and Phil. iv. 22.
