Excerpt from The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A. D. 325, The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, IrenæusThis volume, containing the equivalent of three volumes of the Edinburgh series of the ante nicene fathers, will be found a library somewhat complete in itself. The Apostolic Fathers and those associated with them in the third generation, are here placed together in a handbook, which, with the inestimable Scriptures, supplies a succinct autobiography of the Spouse of Christ for the first two centuries. NO Christian scholar has ever before possessed, in faithful versions of such compact form, a supplement so essential to the right understanding of the New Testament itself. It is 'a volume indispensable to all scholars, and to every library, private or public, in this country.The American Editor has performed the humble task of ushering these works into American use, with scanty contributions of his own. Such was the understanding with the public: they were to be presented With the Edinburgh series, free frorn appreciable colour or alloy. His duty was (r) to give historic arrangement to the confused mass of the original series, (2) to supply, in continuity, such brief introductory notices as might slightly popularize what was apparently meant for scholars only, in the introductions of the translators (3) to supply a few deficiencies by short notes and references, (4) to add such references to Scripture, or to authors of general repute, as might lend additional aid to students, without clogging or overlaying the comments of the translators, and (5) to note such corruptions or distortions of Patristic testimony as have been circulated, in the spirit of the forged Decretals, by those who carry on the old impos ture by means essentially equivalent. Too long have they been allowed to speak to the popular mind as if the Fathers were their own, while, to every candid reader, it must be evident that, alike, the testimony, the arguments, and the silence of the ante-nicene writers confound all attempts to identify the ecclesiastical establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, with the Holy Catholic Church of the ancient creeds.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.