General Preface

GENERAL PREFACE.

To provide the student of the Ante-Nicene Literature with a copious General Index was necessary to the work which, in eight volumes, comprises the original twenty-four and not a little additional material. But the General Editor felt, at every step of his own undertaking, the need of a systematized Bibliography, to which scholars intolerant of merely superficial attainment might be referred for the entire mastery of any particular subject. It is not unlikely that our countrymen are about to enter on such studies as require the aid of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, in the spirit of honest and very earnest research, and it is cheering to observe that patient industry and unwearied continuous effort in the investigation of great questions is no longer to be considered impossible in our hurried and hasty American modes of life. He, then, who means to understand these volumes thoroughly, and to use them for the benefit of others, must have the keys of knowledge at hand. To supply such keys is of itself the task of none other than a specialist and an expert. The introductory notice of the Rev. Dr. Riddle will inform the reader that I am indebted to him for committing to Professor Richardson the labour of compiling the Bibliography which I had proposed, and which, in my opinion, has been so admirably performed. His work, though it falls below his own standard of all that could be desired, is practically exhaustive, and I rejoice to present it to American scholars as honourable to our literature, and especially to its author. It is most creditable to the Theological Seminary at Hartford that such a work has been completed within its walls, and largely by the aid of its library, which must be especially rich in a collection of rare works, indispensable to a performance of this description. May I venture to say, in behalf of the Commonwealth of Letters and the interests of Learning in America, that I have reason to believe that for this wealth of resources we are all debtors to the enlightened munificence of Newton Case, Esq., of Hartford.

I have felt it due to my sense of obligation to those who have added such an important supplement to my own work on the Ante-Nicene Fathers not only to express in this way my warmest thanks, but to add in a note,¹¹ brief biographical data, which will record here their previous labours in behalf of learning and of Christianity.

A. C. C.

August 2, 1887.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

1. Riddle, Matthew Brown, D.D., was born in Pittsburg, Penn., Oct. 17, 1836; B. A. (Jefferson Coll., Penn.), 1852; theological education at New Brunswick, N.J., 1859; Chaplain New Jersey Regiment, 1861; at Hoboken, N.J., Pastorate (Reformed), 1862-65, and at Newark, N.J., 1865-69; studied in Europe, 1869-71. Since then, Professor of New Testament Exegesis in the Hartford Theo-

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logical Seminary. Elected to a corresponding professorship in the "Western Theological Seminary," at Allegheny, Penn., Feb. 15, 1887, he is about to enter upon his new duties at that place, in the immediate vicinity of his native town. For a list of Dr. Riddle's learned and valuable contributions to Theological Literature, see the Schaff-Herzog Supplement, p. 180. His important contributions to this series will be found in the seventh and eighth volumes. He was conspicuous as a member of the New Testament company of the American revisers in the recent Bible revision.

2. Pick, Bernhard, Ph.D., was born at Kempen, Prussia, Dec. 19, 1842; educated at Breslau and Berlin, and in the "Union Theological Seminary," New York, 1868. Engaged in pastoral duties in New York and elsewhere (Lutheran) from 1868 till 1881, and now in Allegheny, Penn. Member of the German Oriental Society (Halle-Leipzig), 1877, and of the American Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1881. His literary and theological works are noted, as above, p. 168. In compiling Indexes to later volumes of this series, as well as in the authorship of the General Index, he has rendered most valuable service.

4. Richardson, Ernest Cushing, born at Woburn, Mass., Feb. 9, 1860; B. A. at Amherst, 1880; theological education (Congregationalist), at the Hartford Theological Seminary, 1882-4. Since 1884 he has conferred great services upon his Alma Mater, as Librarian of that Seminary, a position for which his eminent qualifications may be inferred from the Bibliography here subjoined. His publications are enumerated in the Schaff-Herzog Supplement, p. 179. He is announced to edit Eusebius' "Life of Constantine," and to translate the "Lives of Illustrious Men" of Jerome and Gennadius for the "Post-Nicene Fathers," edited by Dr. Schaff, and now in course of publication. He has had, since 1884, a prominent position as Assistant Secretary to the "American Library Association," and is one of the Lecturers in the Columbia College "School of Library Economy."