norance and inability to meet pagans in debate; that St. Paul’s ‘prove all things, hold fast that which is good,’57 and Jesus Christ’s ‘be ye approved bankers’58 gave distinct support to the study of the whole field of knowledge; and that whatever is worth studying in non- Christian literature is capable of being separated from the rest and known as the truth. So- crates himself was acquainted more or less extensively with the works of Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Xenophon, from among the classic writers, besides those of Porphyry, Libanius, Julian, and Themistius of a later period, and perhaps with those of many others. One more characteristic of Socrates must be mentioned; viz., his respect for the church and its institutions. He had a high regard for clergymen in virtue of their ordination. And although, as already shown, he took occasion to express himself critically of the highest dignitaries, such as Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria, yet the person of a bishop or presbyter is in a certain sense surrounded by sacredness to him. Monks are models of piety. In his eulogy of Theodosius the Younger,59 he compares the emperor’s devoutness to that of the monks, making the latter, of course, the high-water mark in that respect. But even as respects the ordinances of the church, his regard for them was not slavish or superstitious. He advocates extremely broad views in regard to the observance of Easter, considering a very precise determination of it too formalistic to be consistent with the liberty of the New Dispensation. So, likewise, in regard to many other of the ceremonies of the church, he takes pains to show by a description of the various ways in which they were performed in different quarters that they were not essential, but of subordinate importance.60 57 1 Thess. v. 21, with which he combines Col. ii. 8. The latter passage can only be acted upon, according to Socrates, as the ground of a knowledge of that philosophy which is to be guarded against as vain. 58 Γίνεσθε δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται. This saying is sometimes attributed to Paul, but more usually to Jesus. It occurs in Clem. Hom. II. 51; III. 50; XVIII. 20; Ap. Const. 36, 37; Epiph. Hær. 44. 2; Orig. (in Joan.) IV. 283; Clem. Alex. Strom. I. 28; Eus. H. E. VII. 7, 3. 59 VII. 22. 60 V. 22. 12 Life of Socrates.