to assimilate their confession, that Jesus is Christ and the Son of God, with St. Peters confession, without at- tributing to them any limited meanings of the term, such as were devised at a later time. The passages may be seen quoted and commented upon in the third chapter of Sinker's work, in which Dorner's remark is quoted, " that the words," from Levi, xviii, " imply that the relation of Christ to the Father is as close as is that of a human son to his father." Christ's birth of a virgin is referred to in Joseph, xix ; his pre-existence in Dan, vi ; Simeon, vi. On these points we may believe the Naza- renes to have been orthodox. The ethics of the '•Tes- taments" are suiHciently characterized in the remark, " that the view held as to the law of God is the same which we find in St. James's ICpistle. the old Mosaic law completed and developed by Christ, and that thus the author recognises the moral bearing of Christianity, not as a contrast, but as a continuation of the old relig- ion" (.Sinker's Testum. xii Padiarc/i. p. 121). The sub- ject of priesthood — the priesthood of our Lord primari- ly, of the ministers of the Gospel secondarily — requires a more distinct notice. Judah (sec. 21) is made to say, "God gave Levi the priesthood, to me the kingdom, and subjected the kingdom to the jiriesthood. To me he gave things of earth, to him things of heaven. As heaven surpasses earth, so God's priesthood surpasses an earthly kingdom." The "Testaments" represents Christ as combining in himself the offices of High-Priest and of King, and states consequently that he is to spring from the tribe of Levi as well as from the tribe of Judah (Sim. vii ; Dan. v). This identifies, or at least tends to identify, Christ's priesthood with the priesthood of Aaron, contrary to the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews. This opinion of the descent of the Virgin Mary from both Judah and Levi might doubtless be held by men of piety and catholicity, who might fur- ther repudiate the inference to which it seems natural- ly to lead ; but, on the other hand, it is certain that the opinion, made to rest, as it must, upon much legend- ary matter, woidd connect itself with heresy more read- ily than the historical Davidic genealogy. It would suit the purpose of those who denied that the Word was made flesh to represent the genealogy as a myth, set- ting forth a transmission of ofiice. It wouUl be more complete if it set forth a transmission of priesthood as well as the royalty of our Lord. The (inostics were all of them Docette (Iren. cxi, 77), and there is notliing unreasonable in the supposition that Docetic teachers in later times laid hold of this opinion, if it were current in the community of the Nazarenes, and endeavored through it to instil their heresy. In that case we should have a reason for the disipiisition regarding the priesthood and the royalty, with which Epiphanius in- troduces his account of the Nazarenes, the relevancy of which is not otherwise very clear. The opinions of the author of the "Testaments" regarding the ministrj- of the Church are stated clearly in the Testament of Levi. In sect. 3 the universe in the times of the Gospel is described as of seven spheres. Three represent the outer world — the world (if unbelievers; the third con- taining the encampments of tlie ministers of retribu- tion on the ungodly. The fourth, fifth, and sixth repre- sent the Church, taking the word church in its widest .sense; the fourth being the sphere of the saints, the fifth of the ministry, the sixth of ministering angels of intercourse. The fifth is occupied by angels of the face of God. They minister and make atonement be- fore the Lord for all the ignorances {a'yj'oiaif,) of the just. Thej' offer to tlie Lord the reasonable service of a sweet -smelling savor and an unbloody offering. Again, in sect. 8, after the robing of Levi, it is said that Levi's offspring shall be divided into three ranks of office. Two appear to belong to the body of Levites and to the Aarouic [jriesthood; the third clearly be- longs to the Christian ministrj-. For the third possess- es a new name; a King arises from Judah and creates a new priesthood, which is Kara tvv tvitov rwy iSrruiv
NAZARENES
875
NAZARETH
etg iravra to. tSiM]. The ethnic type is the priesthood of Melchisedek. A passage in Theophilus of Antioch makes this designation easier: "Melchisedek was the first priest of all the priests of the Most High God. From his time priests were found in all the earth" (To Autol. ii, cap. 31). This new priesthood shall set in order the table of the Lord, and of it shall be priests, judges, and scribes; i.e. priests in ministering, judges in discipline, scribes in teaching. The only objection which can be made to this description is that the Christian ministry is made to descend from Levi. If the newness of their priesthood were lost sight of, the Christian ministry would be at once identified with the Aaronic priesthood. From this affiliation of the minis- ters of the Gospel to Levi we are inclined to contend, supposing that the "Testaments" justly represent the belief of the Jewish Christians, that the lower or spurious sacerdotalism which has found place in the Church is of Judaic, not of Gentile, origin. That the Hebrews found a difficulty in appreciating a true import of the history of Melchisedek is clear from the Epistle to the Hebrews. A sense of this difficulty may have led the author of the " Testaments" to refrain from an explicit mention of Mel- chisedek. Of another author of this school, Aristo of l*ella, we have very short fragments (Kouth, Reliquice, p. 93-97). One fragment is important. Aristo speaks of Jesus as the Son of God, the Creator of the world (see Wescott, On the Canon, p. 105-107 ; and Prof. Lightfoot, ;S7. Paul and the Three, p. 294, n. 2).