C URRENT LITERAT (IRE.
THE HISTORIC CHURCH.
The Historic Church. By J. C. V. Duren, MD. (Cambridge University Press. 5s. net.)—Mr. Durell treats of the "Sub- apostolic Age," by which he means, roughly speaking, the last two decades of the first century of our era and the second century. The authorities dealt with begin with Clement of Rome and end with Hippolytus. Many subjects are discussed. With most of them we are concerned; but perhaps that which touches us most closely is Church government. In Clement of Rome, whose Epistle to the Corinthians is the earliest non-canonical document that we possess, we see two Orders, Bishops and Presbyters, being two titles of the same office. At that time, then—i.e., at the close of the first century—the ministry consisted of those who served (discoed) and those who surveyed (episcopoi), .also called, with special reference to their standing in the Church, presbuteroi. In Ignatius, whose Epistles cannot be put later than the second decade of the second century, we have monar- chical episcopacy. If we had these two authorities only, the matter would be sufficiently plain. But then the " Didache " has to be considered, if, indeed, it is of the date to which Mr. Duren assigns it, about contemporaneous with Ignatius. Here we have what is called a "charismatic ministry." The " prophets" and " apostles " may be taken to correspond to the " missioners " of our own day. Some authorities, however, hold the " Didache " to be of a much later date. It would not be easy to find anywhere a condition of things corresponding to the Con- gregational ideal, a number of independent communities, owning no common authority by which their teaching and discipline are to be regulated,
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