We believe in one God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth: And in Jesus Christ His Son,
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Born of the Virgin Mary.
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He was pierced by the Jews, He died and was buried: The third day He rose again: He ascended into Heaven.
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He is about to come to judge.[165]
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[165] _Texts and Studies_, edited by J. A. Robinson, M.A. (Cambridge: University Press, 1891). There are several passages in Justin's _Dialogue_ with Trypho which seem to be extracts from the primitive Creed. Thus in chap. xvii. we read the following words of Justin to Trypho: "For after you had crucified Him ... when you knew that He had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven." In chap. xxxviii. Trypho objects to Justin: "For you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this crucified Man was with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud; that He became man, was crucified, and ascended up to heaven, and comes again to earth and ought to be worshipped." The date of the _Apology_ of Aristides is fixed by the Armenian version of the _Chronicle_ of Eusebius at 124 A.D. The _Paschal Chronicle_ apparently assigns it to 134 A.D.
This _Apology_ of Aristides is a most valuable contribution to Christian evidence, and raises high hopes as to what we may yet recover when the treasures of the East are explored. The _Diatessaron_ of Tatian was a wondrous find, but the recovery of the long-lost _Apology_ of Aristides endows us with a still more ancient document, bringing us back close upon the very days of the Apostles. As this discovery has only been published when these pages are finally passing through the press, I must reserve a farther notice of it for the preface to this volume.