Note 34 — II. THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH.

So widely spread had these doctrines become by the end of the second century that Clement of Alexandria devotes the third book of his Stromata to their discussion and refutation. It is not worth while to examine their peculiarities minutely here. The curious reader can find all that he is likely to want concerning them in Irenæus, Hippolytus, Clement, Epiphanius, and Philastrius, without plunging further into the vast sea of controversial patristic theology.