It is not enough that it should be established, even beyond doubt, that the writer in question lived in the second century. For no one will insist that _all the men_ who lived at that time were proper exponents of the views held by Christians in that period. It is, therefore, but reasonable that, before any man is brought forward to testify in so important a matter, he should have either a name which will show that he was qualified, both morally and intellectually, to act the part of a public teacher of the opinions held in his time, or, at least, that what he has written must be of a nature to commend his utterances to our judgments. Neither of these requisitions, however, is met in the case of the Barnabas (if his name was really Barnabas) quoted above.[10] That his epistle has been employed in a gigantic fraud, no one will dispute. It is headed, “The general Epistle of Barnabas.” At its close, as given in the apocryphal New Testament, is the subscription, “Barnabas, the apostle, and companion of Paul.” Now, if he wrote these words himself, the gentleman will admit that he is unworthy of the slightest confidence, since he has told a deliberate falsehood. If, on the other hand, it be insisted that this was the work of subsequent generations, then we must move with extreme caution. In the region where this epistle lies, are the unmistakable footprints of men base enough to pervert the facts, and to employ its contents for an unworthy purpose. The only alternative left us, therefore, since the author of the document is unknown to history, is that of examining what he has said, with reference to its character. Before doing this, however, it will be well to state—by way of putting the reader on his guard—that the history of this epistle is of a nature to awaken the most serious suspicion. By consulting the Am. Cyc., Art. Epistle of Barnabas, he will find it there stated that this epistle was lost to the world for eight hundred years, namely, from the ninth to the seventeenth century, and that, when it came to the surface after its long disappearance, it was found in the hands of one Sigismond, a Jesuit of that age. The desperate character of the order to which this man belonged, and the recklessness with which its members treat documents of the most sacred character, when they can thereby serve a favorite purpose, need no comment here. Prof. Stowe, while arguing favorably to the epistle, in some respects, employs the following words, which have in them great significance, in view of what has been said above: “We admit that the epistle of Barnabas is strongly interpolated.”—_Hist. of Books of the Bible_, p. 423.