[629:2] Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian of the fifth century, has expressed himself with remarkable candour on this subject.  “It appears to me,” says he, “that neither the ancients nor moderns who have affected to follow the Jews have had any rational foundation for contending so obstinately about it (Easter).  For they have altogether lost sight of the fact that when our religion superseded the Jewish economy, the obligation to observe the Mosaic law and the ceremonial types ceased....  The Saviour and His apostles have enjoined us by no law to keep this feast:  nor in the New Testament are we threatened with any penalty, punishment, or curse for the neglect of it, as the Mosaic law does the Jews.”—­Ecc.  Hist. v. c. 22.

[629:3] This system seems to have been in existence in the time of Tertullian.  See Tertullian, “Ad.  Martyr.” c. 1., and “De Pudicitia,” c. 22.

[630:1] Cyprian speaks of a confessor spending his time “in drunkenness and revealing,” (Epist. vi. p. 37,) and of some guilty of “fraud, fornication, and adultery.” (De Unit.  Ecc. p. 404.)

[630:2] Thus Cyprian says—­“Lucianus, not only while Paulus was still in prison, gave letters in his name indiscriminately written with his own hand, but even after his decease continued to do the same in his name, saying that he had been ordered to do so by Paulus.”—­Epist. xxii. p. 77.

[630:3] Cyprian, Epist. x. p. 52.

[631:1] Apostasy in time of persecution was considered a mortal sin.  Adultery was placed in the same category.  Cyprian, Epist. lii. p. 155.  At one time Cyprian himself held the sentiments of the stricter party.  See his “Scripture Testimonies against the Jews,” book iii.  Sec. 28, p. 563.

[633:1] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 279, and lxxiv. p. 295.

[633:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii. p. 277, 278.

[634:1] In Stieren’s “Irenaeus,” i. 824, there is a different reading of this passage, according to which some continued the fast forty days.

[634:2] Euseb. v. 24.

[636:1] John x. 11, 27, 28.

[636:2] Eph. v. 25-27.

[636:3] Matt, xxviii. 20.

[636:4] 1 Pet. i. 5.

[636:5] Matt. xvi. 18.

[637:1] Eph. iv. 3.

[637:2] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:3] Eph. iv. 13.

[637:4] No writer since the Reformation has discussed the subject of the Church with more learning and ability than the Rev. Dr Hodge of Princeton.  Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with all the bearings of the question should consult his “Essays and Reviews,” New York, 1857.  Also the “Princeton Review.”  See also an article of his taken from the “Princeton Review” in the “British and Foreign Evangelical Review” for Sept. 1854.

[637:5] Matt. xiii. 47-50.

[638:1] 1 Cor. i. 11, 12.

[638:2] Gal. i. 6, iii. 1.

[638:3] Rev. iii. 1.