Reformation a reaction against the monopolization of the care for the poor in the hands of the Church manifests itself in the towns. The town authorities begin to have an influence upon the badly administered hospitals, and the charities dispensed by the guilds emancipate themselves from the guidance of the priests. The principles of the Reformation were hardly anywhere else so successful as in establishing certain principles for the regulation of Christian charities, for which the active cooperation of the Christian congregation and of the municipal authorities was generally secured. The author then enters into an elaborate discussion of the views of the medieval Church regarding private property, poverty, almsgiving, beggary, and shows how injurious an influence these views had to exert, and actually did exert, upon the social condition of the medieval States. A book which was published at the time of the Reformation states that in Germany of every fifteen persons only one worked, and the fourteen others were idlers and beggars.

ZEITSCHRIFT FUR WISSENSCHAFTLICHE THEOLOGIE. (Journal for Scientific Theology. Edited by Hilgenfeld.) Third Number, 1880. 1. E. VON HARTMANN, The Philosophical Presuppositious in the Dogmatic System of Lipsius. 2. GRIMM, On Koheleth iii, 11. 3. HILGENFELD, The Gnostic Valentinus and his Writings. 4. SPIEGEL, Dr. Bertheaus' Essay on Albert Rizäfus Hardenberg. 5. KNEUCKER, The Baruch Question. 6. TOLLIN, Servetus' Anthropology and Soteriology. 7. EGLI, Critical Remarks on Genesis xxiii. 8. NESTLE, Remarks on Ezra vi, 51.

The theological school named after Valentinus is said to have been the most influential of all the Gnostic parties, and to have contained a large number of talented and eminent teachers. (See M'Clintock and Strong, Cyclopædia, art. Gnosticism.) In the above article Professor Hilgenfeld collates the scanty information on Valentinus which is found in ancient writers, publishes the very meager fragments which are extant of his writings, and, in conclusion, attempts to construct a brief summary of his doctrinal system. In the following lines we give a brief abstract of Professor Hilgenfeld's article. Epiphanius found no account of the home of Valentinus in the writers on the ancient heresies. He only mentions the report that Valentinus was born on the sea-coast of Egypt, and received a Hellenistic education in Alexandria. As we know that the Gnostic Basilides taught at Alexandria under the Emperor Hadrian, it is well possible that Valentinus may have received

impressions from him. Valentinus subsequently taught himself at Alexandria very successfully without falling into the reputation of being a heretic. According to Epiphanius, Valentinus found many adherents in different parts of Egypt without being regarded as a heretic. It is less probable that, as the same Epiphanius states, Valentinus taught even in Rome for some time without giving offense, and that he did not apostatize from the Orthodox faith until he took up his residence in Cyprus. Valentinus arrived in Rome, according to the testimony of Irenæus, under Bishop Hyginus, (between 136 and 140.) He taught there acceptably during the episcopate of Pius, (between 140 and 155,) and remained until the time of Bishop Anicetus, (about 155 or 156.) It is likely that in Rome he soon fell out with the ruling Church, for in the writings of Justin, about 147, he is mentioned as a heretic. Tertullian commits an obvious blunder when he places the arrival of Valentinus at Rome in the episcopate of Eleutherus, (between 175 and 189,) but he confirms the report that Valentinus was not yet a heretic when he arrived at Rome. It is even by no means impossible that, as the same Tertullian states, Valentinus fell out with the Church because he failed in his aspiration to be elected bishop. Why should he not have aspired, at the death of Hyginus, at the Roman see? Do we not find among the occupants of this see the Patripassian Kallistos, the Arian Felix, and Honorius, the author of Monothelism. The Chronicles of Eusebius, which twice mention Valentinus, also favor the opinion that he was not yet an outspoken heretic when he arrived at Rome during this episcopate of Hyginus. Valentinus resided in Rome for about twenty years, as the active head of a heretical sect. It appears probable that the sojourn of Valentinus on Cyprus, to which island he came by shipwreck, took place before his arrival in Rome, that he fell out with the ruling Church neither in Egypt nor on Cyprus, but in Rome, where he arrived about 140 and died about 160. Thus Valentinus belongs to the inventors of heresies who, according to Clement of Alexandria, began to make their appearance in Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, (117 to 138,) and continued to agitate the Church during the reign of Antoninus Pius, (138 to 161.) The same Church writer states that Valentinus boasted of be

ing a disciple of Theodas, an acquaintance of Paul. All the ancient Church writers represent him as a man of great genius. Valentinus founded a school which spread not only in Egypt and Rome, but also in Syria and Gaul, and maintained itself especially in the East for more than a century. The doctrinal system of the master was partly developed, partly transformed by some of his scholars. Irenæus, who treats very fully of Valentinianism, refers chiefly to the schools of Ptolemy and of Marcus, between which he found considerable disagreement. Irenæus, however, is himself more an opponent of, than a reporter on, the Gnostics, who in general appear different in their own writings from what the writers of the early Church represent them to be. The works of Valentinus are lost, but many fragments are preserved in other writings. They were collected by Grabe in the first volume of his Spicilegium SS. Patrum ut et haereticorum seculi post Christum natum, I, II, III. (Oxford, 1700.) One of these fragments which is taken from Adamantii Dial de secta in deum fide, sec. iv, (Origenis Opp. i, 840, sq.,) does not seem to be a fragment, of Valentinus at all, but rather part of a dialogue in which a Valentinian is introduced. On the other hand, Grabe did not yet know the celebrated work, entitled Philosophumena sive omnium haeresium refutatio, which has been handed down to us under the name of Origen, but was probably compiled by Hippolytus, and which was for the first time published from a Parisian manuscript by Miller, (Oxford, 1851,) and again with a Latin translation by Duncker, (Goettingen, 1859.) In this work Hilgenfeld finds two fragments of works of Valentinus, one of which he believes to have been part of a work called Zopía, which is mentioned by Tertullian, while the other is a part of the Psalms of Valentinus, which are likewise mentioned by Tertullian. Neither of the Zopía nor of the Psalms of Valentinus had Grabe been able to give any fragment. Hilgenfeld publishes the complete text of all the fragments, both the old and the new, explains them, and then concludes his article by an attempt to construct from these fragments an outline of the system of Valentinus. He believes that the fragments give us a more faithful picture of the remarkable man than the writings of his opponents. The chief points in the Valentinian system were, according to Hilgenfeld, as follows:

impressions from him. Valentinus subsequently taught himself at Alexandria very successfully without falling into the reputation of being a heretic. According to Epiphanius, Valentinus found many adherents in different parts of Egypt without being regarded as a heretic. It is less probable that, as the same Epiphanius states, Valentinus taught even in Rome for some time without giving offense, and that he did not apostatize from the Orthodox faith until he took up his resi dence in Cyprus. Valentinus arrived in Rome, according to the testimony of Irenæus, under Bishop Hyginus, (between 136 and 140.) He taught there acceptably during the epis copate of Pius, (between 140 and 155,) and remained until the time of Bishop Anicetus, (about 155 or 156.) It i likely that in Rome he soon fell out with the ruling Church: for in the writings of Justin, about 147, he is mentioned as heretic. Tertullian commits an obvious blunder when 1 places the arrival of. Valentinus at Rome in the episcopate Eleutherus, (between 175 and 189,) but he confirms the rep that Valentinus was not yet a heretic when he arrived at Rom It is even by no means impossible that, as the same Tertulli states, Valentinus fell out with the Church because he fail in his aspiration to be elected bishop. Why should he have aspired, at the death of Hyginus, at the Roman s Do we not find among the occupants of this see the P passian Kallistos, the Arian Felix, and Honorius, the autho Monothelism. The Chronicles of Eusebius, which twice n tion Valentinus, also favor the opinion that he was not ye outspoken heretic when he arrived at Rome during this copate of Hyginus. Valentinus resided in Rome for a twenty years, as the active head of a heretical sect. It ap probable that the sojourn of Valentinus on Cyprus, to w island he came by shipwreck, took place before his arriv Rome, that he fell out with the ruling Church neit Egypt nor on Cyprus, but in Rome, where he arrived 140 and died about 160. Thus Valentinus belongs to tì ventors of heresies who, according to Clement of Alexa began to make their appearance in Rome during the re. Emperor Hadrian, (117 to 138,) and continued to agit.. Church during the reign of Antoninus Pius, (138 to The same Church writer states that Valentinus boasted