There is no _direct_ historical testimony known to be earlier than the first apology[3] of Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor, _cir._ A.D. 139. There are certain fragments written by Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, which may be of an earlier date, but this is uncertain. There are also quotations apparently from the third and fourth Gospels, by Basilides,[4] the Gnostic heretic who flourished at Alexandria as early as A.D. 125. There is an epistle to the Philippian church, attributed to Polycarp which Dean Stanley thinks dates about A.D. 130. Its genuineness is not universally admitted. There is an epistle, conceded to be genuine, from the church at Rome to the church at Corinth, of the probable date of A.D. 95. There are epistles attributed by some to Ignatius, who suffered martyrdom, _cir._ A.D. 107, but their genuineness is controverted. There are in addition three other writings known as the Epistle of Barnabas, the Letter to Diognetus, and the Pastor Hermas. They are by unknown authors, and of uncertain date, but were probably written in the latter part of the first or the first part of the second century. And these are all that have come down to us in any form from the first one hundred years after the crucifixion. That we have no more is easily explained. This period was one of intense activity and violent persecutions. Five (as some reckon them) of the ten general persecutions were within[5] this period. The first was under Nero, A.D. 64, the second under Domitian, A.D. 95, the third under Trajan, A.D. 100, the fourth under Antoninus the Philosopher, and the fifth under Severus, A.D. 127; and, as some of these continued several years, there was scarcely an intermission for three-quarters of a century. The horrible tortures and cruel deaths under Nero are well-known, and, under Domitian, forty thousand were supposed to have suffered martyrdom. It is no matter of surprise, therefore, that so little has reached us from this early period. Christians were making history, not writing it, and of their writings the most perished. There were hundreds and thousands who well knew what memoirs of our Lord were accepted by the churches in this period, from whose lips no voice comes except in the volume of universal tradition. [1] Renan’s Life of Jesus, p. 43. [2] The Old Faith and the New (1874), p. 45. [A] See also _post_, c. 18. [3] A.D. 138 or 139 is the date most usually assigned to this most important work, although some place it as late as A.D. 150. If his statement in it that “Christ was born 150 years ago” were to be taken strictly, it would make its date A.D. 146 or A.D. 144, according as we allow four or six years as the error for the beginning of the true Christian era; but he may have used the number in a general way. His martyrdom is variously stated at A.D. 165 and A.D. 167.