Part 5 (1/2)

A. Scholz, in condemning the principle that Christians are tied to the O.T. canon, rather amusingly supposes: ”Wenn Jemand sich bei den Juden jetzt als Prophet geltend machen und ein Buch schreiben wurdem so musste es nach diesem Grundsatz von den Protestanten als kanonisch wohl anerkannt werden” (_Esther und Susanna_, Wurzburg, 1892, p. 140). But such argument is mere polemic, which cannot be seriously taken into account in establis.h.i.+ng the position of this or the other additions.

Something is needed much deeper and more convincing in character.

EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ART

LITERATURE.

In the N.T. _possible_ references may be found in St. Matt. xi. 29 (tape???? t? ?a?d??) from v. 65 (87); II. Tim. i. 18 (e??e?? ??e??) from v. 15 (38); [in Numb. xi. 15 only does the phrase elsewhere occur, but in another tense]; Heb. xii. 23 (p?e?ata d??a???) from v. 64 (86).

Our 'apocryphon' is often referred to or quoted by early Fathers to a remarkable extent, considering the brevity of the piece and its merely episodic character in the main narrative. The following are specimens:

JUSTIN MARTYR (167?), _Apol._ I. 46, ?? a?????? de ??a? ?a? ??a??a?

?a? ??a??a? ?a? ??sa?? ?a? ???a? ?a? ?????p?????. The names of the Three occur in this form and order in v. 88 of the Song only.

CLEM. ALEX. (220) in his _Eclogae propheticae_, -- I, quotes several verses with ?? t? ?a???? ????apta?.

HIPPOLYTUS (230) recognizes the Song of the Three in his comment on Daniel, _in loc._, as well as in the Fragment preserved in the ”Catena Patrum in Psalmos et Cantica” (_Ante-Nic. Christian Lib._ p. 484). In the former place he comments on the words ?a? d?e?e?t? ? f???, and says that the Three ?d??s????t? in reference to v. 50; in the latter, on the verse ”O Ananias, Azarias,” etc., he notes that everything is called to praise, ??a ? ?? ??e??e??? a?te???s??? ???s??.

TERTULLIAN (240) _de Orat._ -- 15, says that they prayed, ”in fornace Babylonii regis orantes.” In -- 29 he quotes vv. 26, 27.

ORIGEN (254) _Comm. in Ep. ad Rom._ I. c. 10, II. c. 9, VII. c. 1; _Comm. in Matt._ XIII. c. 2 (naming the LXX); and in _de Oratione_ XIII.

XIV.

CYPRIAN (258) _De lapsis_ 31 and _De dom. orat. 8_, quotes this piece, in the latter case agreeing with T rather than ??. Pseudo-Cypr. (some of whose writings Professor Swete, _Patristic Study_, 1902, p. 67, deems to be contemporary with Cyprian or nearly so) in _Oratio_ II. 2 says ”misisti angelum tuum c.u.m roribus tuis,” agreeing with ??.

EUSEBIUS (342), in his first _Fragm. on Daniel_, comments on iii. 49, ?se? p?e?a d??? d?as?????? (T), and quotes Psalm xxviii. 7 as ill.u.s.trative. (In Constantine's ”To the Convention of Saints,” given in the translation of Eusebius (Camb. 1683), much mention is made of Daniel in Babylon, but there is no clear indication of knowledge of the additions.)

ATHANASIUS (373) quoted the Song in _Ep. Pasch._ x. 3; and in _Agst.

Avians_ II. 71 he employs the Song to ”arraign the Arian irreligion”

(Newman's translation).

EPHREM SYRUS (378). His commentary on Daniel does not embrace the additions, but in his _Morning Hymn_, rendered by H. Burgess (Lond.

1853), we have ”Sprinkle me with Thy dew, like the young men in the furnace.”

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (386) quotes both the Prayer of Azarias (v. 29) and the Song (v. 54) in _Catech._ II. 18 and IX. 3 respectively, without hesitation (ed. Reischl, Munich, 1848).

AMBROSE (397) _in Luc._ VII ”Cantaverunt Hebraei c.u.m vestigia eorum tactu flammae rorantis humescerent.”

HIERONYMUS GRaeCUS THEOLOGUS (cent. IV?) _de Trin._ treats the hymn, flames and dew in the furnace, ?a ?????? ??sa, as an emblem of the Three in One.

SULPICIUS SEVERUS (400?) _Hist. sacr._ II. -- 5 shews knowledge of this Song by writing of the Three as ”deambulantes in camino psalmum Deo dicere cernerentur.”

CHRYSOSTOM (407) _De incomprehensibili Dei natura_ V. 7, ?? t?e??

pa?de? ?? ?a??? d?????... ?????s??, ??? ?st?? ??? ?.t.?. _In Isaiam_ VI. ?pe? ?a? ?? pa?de? ?? t?e?? t??t? a?t? ??e??? s?ed?? ?? t? ?a???

??te?? ??? ?st?? ??? ?????a? t? t?a. _Hom._ IV. _ad pop. Antioch._ (de statuis) t?? ?e??? ??e??a? ??pep?? e??a?. Also _De incarnatione_ VI.

RUFINUS (410) _adv. Hieron._ lib. II. upbraids Jerome for not reckoning the piece canonical.