AND HISTORICAL RESEARCH UPON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 149 



iii. The Apologv of Aristides. 



During the year following the publication of the Diatessaron 

 by Ciasca, another remarkable discovery occurred at the 

 St. Katharine Monastery, where Tischendorf had found the 

 Sinaitic Codex in 1849, and where Mrs. Lewis, accompanied 

 by her sister, Mrs. Gibson, was to discover ihe Sinai Syriac 

 Palimpsest of the Four Gospels on February 8th, 1892. In the 

 spring of 1889, Professor Eendel Harris found among the Syriac 

 manuscripts there the Apology of Aristides, a document which 

 was well known and widely distributed in the time of Eusebius, 

 who tells us that " This work is also preserved by a great 

 number even to the present day." He had just spoken of the 

 Apology of Quadratus, which was presented to Hadrian, accord- 

 ing to Eusebius, in the eighth year of his reign. Eusebius {Eccl. 

 History, Book IV, Chapter iii), tells us — 



" To him Quadratus addressed a discourse, as an apology for the 

 religion we profess, because certain malicious persons attempted to 

 harass the brethren. The work is still in the hands of some of the 

 brethren, as also in our own, from which any one may see evident 

 proof, both of the understanding of the man and of his apostolic 

 faith." 



In another place {Ibid., Book III, Chapter xxxvii) he speaks 

 of him as " of the first rank of the Apostolic succession," shows 

 that he was a devoted missionary, and, what is of more special 

 interest in our present inquiry, that when he went abroad to 

 preach " to those who had not yet heard the faith," he and his 

 companions " delivered unto them the hooks of the holy Gospels^ 

 In speaking of his defence of the Christians, he says — 



" Aristides, also, a man faithfully devoted to the religion we 

 profess, has left to posterity a defence of the faith addressed to 

 Hadrian. This work is also preserved by a great number, even to 

 the present clay." 



What a flood of light the Apology of Quadratus would pour 

 upon this time of triumphant progress and intense suffering, if 

 it should be discovered, as that of his fellow apologist has been ! 

 We can only hope for this, and turn to the consideration of 

 that of Aristides, the converted Greek philosopher, who is thus 

 spoken of in a mediaeval martyrology, which gives his Saint's 

 Day as August 31st — 



" The blessed Aristides, most renowned for faith and wisdom, who 

 presented books on the Christian religion to the Prince Hadrian, 



