day. The argument is therefore recognized to be without value.(l) Tischendorf, who systematically adopts the earliest possible or impossible dates for all the writings of the first two centuries, decides, without stating his reasons, that the grounds for the earlier date, about a.d. 69, as well as for the episcopate of Clement from a.d. 68-77(2) are conclusive; but he betrays his more correct impression by classing Clement, in his index, along with Ignatius and Polycarp, as representatives of the period: "First and second quarters of the second century:"(3) and in the Prolegomena to his New Testament he dates the episcopate of Clement "ab anno 92 usque 102."(4) The earlier episcopate assigned to him by Hefele upon most insufficient grounds is contradicted by the direct statements of Irenæus, Eusebius, Jerome, and others who give the earliest lists of Roman Bishops,(5) as wrell as by the internal evidence of the Epistle itself. In Chapter xliv. the writer speaks of those appointed by the apostles to the oversight of the Church, "or afterwards by other notable men, the whole Church consenting.... who have for a long time been commended by all, &c.,"(6) which indicates successions of Bishops since apostolic days. In another {222} place (Chap, xlvii.) he refers the Corinthians to the Epistle addressed to them by Paul "in the beginning of the Gospel" [--Greek--], and speaks of "the most stedfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians" [--Greek--], which would be absurd in an Epistle written about a.d. 69. Moreover, an advanced episcopal form of Church Government is indicated throughout the letter, which is quite inconsistent with such a date. The great mass of critics, therefore, have decided against the earlier date of the episcopate of Clement, and assign the composition of the Epistle to the end of the first century (a.d. 95-100).(1) Others, however, date it still later. There is no doubt that the great number of Epistles and {223}