OF THE

LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

S. IRENEUS,

BISHOP OF LYONS AND MARTYR:

INTENDED TO ILLUSTRATE

THE DOCTRINE, DISCIPLINE, PRACTICES, AND HISTORY OF THE CHURCH,

AND THE TENETS AND PRACTICES OF THE GNOSTIC HERETICS,

DURING THE SECOND CENTURY.

BY

JAMES BEAVEN, M.A.

OF ST. EDMUND HALL, OXFORD,

AND CURATE OF LEIGH, IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,

& SOLD BY J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD,

AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL.

0692.81

1864,

Gift

Convers Francis, D.D. (Class of 1515.)

LONDON:

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

To the Memory

OF

EDWARD BURTON, D.D.

LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,

BY WHOSE ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK

WAS FIRST LED TO STUDY, WITH CARE AND ATTENTION,

THE WRITINGS OF

This Father and Martyr,

IT IS NOW DEDICATED AND INSCRIBED;

AS A HUMBLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HIS EXTENSIVE LEARNING,

HIS REMARKABLE SINGLENESS OF MIND,

AND THE CORDIAL ASSISTANCE HE EVER RENDERED

TO YOUNGER TRAVELLERS

IN THE SAME PATH WHICH HE HIMSELF PURSUED.

PREFACE.

It was, perhaps, somewhat presumptuous in a person occupying so humble a station in the sacred ministry to offer to the Church a work which would necessarily induce comparisons between itself and the similar productions of a Prelate of the Church-a Divine of the highest rank and character. The author can, however, at least say, that it was no foolish ambition which led to his employing himself on such a work. Having been led by circumstances to a repeated perusal and study of the writings of S. Irenæus, he saw the great value of his testimony to the leading principles and doctrines of the Church of England. He had himself derived much benefit from the works of Bishop Kaye on others of the Fathers; he thought that if he could do nothing more than to draw out the substance of the doctrine and opinions of Irenæus for the use of the student in theology, in a more accessible form than that in which he himself had to look for it, accompanied by the text of the portions from which he had formed his state