]
[Footnote 21: The edition of the works of these Apostolic
Fathers used here is that of Cotelerius as revised by Le Clerc,
Antwerp, 1698.]
* * * * *
THE EPISTLE OF ST. BARNABAS.
In the work entitled The Catholic Epistle of Barnabas, which was written
probably by a Jew converted to the Christian faith, about the close of
the first century, or certainly before the middle of the second[22], I
have searched in vain for any thing like the faintest trace of the
invocation of saint or angel. The writer gives directions on the subject
of prayer; he speaks of angels as the ministers of God; he speaks of the
reward of the righteous at the day of judgment; but he suggests not the
shadow of a supposition, that he either held the doctrine himself which
the Church of Rome now holds, or was aware of its existence among
Christians. In his very beautiful but incomplete summary of Christian
duty [Sect. 18, 19. p. 50, 51, 52.], which he calls "The Way of Light,"
we perceive more than one most natural opening for reference to that
doctrine, had it been familiar to his mind. In the midst indeed of his
brief precepts of religious and moral obligation, he directs the
Christian to seek out every day "the persons of the saints," but they
are our fellow-believers on earth; those saints or holy ones, for
administering to whose necessities, the Scripture assures us that God
will not forget our work and labour of love [Heb.
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