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taken by us at large, after having seen what is said by Eusebius, and other ecclesiastical writers of former times.

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3. In the 45th chapter of the second book of his History he says, Thus we have spoken of 'the twelve apostles, and their names: it is now proper to shew, who of them have left writings which are in the Testament; such as the four sacred gospels, the divine Acts of tire apostles, and the catholic epistles, and the rest, and their order; and also such as are spurious, and are rejected by the church. And in the first place, of the divine gospels: two only of the twelve, Matthew and John, have left memoirs of our Lord's life on earth; and two of the Seventy, • Mark and Luke; and it is said that they were all compelled to write, as it were out of necessity. Matthew first, who had been a publican, and had preached the saving word to the Jews, when he was about to go abroad among Gentiles, thought it best to write in his native language an ⚫ account of his preaching, to supply the want of his presence: which he did at about fifteen ⚫ years after our Saviour's ascension. Long after this Mark and Luke published their gospels, at the command [or by the direction] of Peter and Paul. John, who had hitherto preached by ' word of mouth only, wrote the last of all, about six and thirty years after the Lord's ascension 'to heaven.' [Then he gives an account of the other three gospels having been brought to John, and the reasons which induced John to write another gospel after them.] These are the genuine gospels of the apostles, delivered to us from the beginning, and acknowledged by the whole church to be of unquestioned authority. The same Luke also composed the book of the Acts of the apostles, and, as is said, at the command of Paul...The divine James, the Lord's brother, composed one of the catholic epistles, which is sent to the twelve tribes. Peter published two epistles, and the excellent John three: Jude, brother of James, and perhaps of the Lord likewise, one. These seven epistles the church has long received as genuine, and readily ⚫ placeth them among the rightful books of the New Testament. To these are to be added the fourteen epistles of the divine Paul....Lastly, we know the Revelation of John also to have been delivered to the church. All other are spurious and falsely inscribed;' that is, all other, which bear the names of apostles, and thereby make a claim to be a part of sacred scripture.

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4. In the next chapter, which is the concluding chapter of that book, he observes, and chiefly as from Eusebius of Cæsarea, that some of the ancients had rejected or doubted of divers of the 'forementioned books. The four gospels were received by all, as also the book of the Acts. The writings, about which there were doubts, are these: the epistle of James the Lord's brother, which is the first of the catholic epistles; and the seventh, which is the epistle of Jude his brother; and the second epistle of Peter. About receiving these some of the 'ancients hesitated. Of the three epistles of John one only was received without contradiction; the other two were ascribed by some to another John, an elder, who lived at Ephesus after John....And some have supposed, that the Revelation also was written by the same John. All the epistles of Paul have been unquestioned, except that to the Hebrews....But though there 'were for a while doubts about these, we know that at length they have been received by all the • churches under heaven with a firm assent; and they are esteemed as the inviolable principles ⚫ and elements of our religion. It is fit also that we should know what are the other writings, which are spurious and falsely inscribed:' which he mentions so agreeably to Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, already transcribed into this work, that there is no necessity to take at length what follows.

5. What we learn from this writer of the fourteenth century is, that all the books of the New Testament, which are now received by us, were generally received then. We have also the satisfaction to find, that there were then no other books whatever, of authority, beside these; which

• Όσοι γε μην συγγραμματα καταλελοιποίες εισιν, ὰ καὶ ὡς ενδιαθηκα κατελέγησαν· ετι δε και περι των ἱερων τεσσάρων ευαγγελίων, των τε θείων πράξεων αποςολικών, και των επιδο λων των τε καθολικων, και της τάξεως αυίων, έξης μεν εν δήλον, όσα τε νόθα, και τη εκκλησία αποβλητα... Υπομνημαία μεν εν των τε κύριε διατριβων, δυο μόνες των δώδεκα ισμεν συγγραVaμeres... L. ii. c. 45. p. 213.

Χρόνω δε πολλω ύσερον. . . Ib. p. 213. C.

• Ταυτά γνησια των αποςόλων ευαγγελια, και ανωθεν παρα δεδομενα, και αναμφήρισα παρα πασής εκκλησίας γινωσκεται. Ο δ' αυλος Λεκας και το των αποςολικων Πράξεων βιβλιον συνίατίει, ὡς φασι, Παυλο κελευσαντος. Ib. p. 215. C.

4 Ας δε έπλα εσας, ὡς γνησίας ή εκκλησία προσιείας ανωθεν, και εν τοις οικείοις των της νεας διαθήκης βιβλίων εγκρίνει ως μαλιςα. p. 215. D.

• Υσαίον δε και την τε Ιωάννα Αποκαλυψιν επισαμεθα παραδεδομενην τη εκκλησία. Τα δε παρα ταυία νόθα τε και παρεγγραπία. Ib. · p. 216. A.

* Εν αμφιβόλοις δ' ησαν. x. X. Lii. c. 46. p. 216. B.

8 Ταυία μεν ει και αμφίβολα τοις προτερον εδόξαν, αλλ' εν άπαν σαις ες ύσερον ταις ὑπ' ἔρανον εκκλησιαις το αντιρξηλον εσχηκοία εγνωκαμεν· καὶ ὡς αρχαι και σοιχεια της καθ' ήμας ευσεβειας diwria diapereci. x. λ Ib. p. 217. B. C.

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were esteemed the inviolable principles and elements of our religion;' or the rule of Christian belief and practice; or, as he called them before, and again likewise, the books in the testament,' a word, equivalent to canonical, as was formerly observed by us. Moreover, it affords reason to believe, that there never were any other writings received or quoted by Christians, as of authority, beside these; which he also calls the genuine scriptures of the church: for this studious monk represents here the genuineness of former times, as well as of his own. The genuineness of some of these had been doubted of; but there never were any others of authority beside them.

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6. This article of Nicephorus, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, subjoined to all the rest, may serve for a conclusion of this book, as containing a summary account of what has been said, and representing what was to be proved; which, I hope, we have proved, and may reasonably put down here, Q. E. D.

APPENDIX.

Containing an account of the Ecclesiastical Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret.

I. OBSERVING, upon a review, that I have hitherto given no distinct account of the ecclesiastical historians, Socrates and Sozomen, though they have been quoted several times, I shall do it now briefly; referring also to some learned moderns, who may be consulted by those who have leisure.

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Both those writers and Theodoret are continuators of Eusebius of Cæsarea: all three Aourished in the time of Theodosius the younger, whose reign commenced in 408, and ended in 450; and their histories were all published near the end of that reign. They are very valuable monuments of antiquity; but there are in them many stories of miracles; not well attested, and improbable in their circumstances.

Valesius and many other learned men have supposed that these three historians wrote one after another, first Socrates, then Sozomen, and lastly Theodoret, and that the latter borrowed from the other, and aimed to supply what had been omitted: but to me the opinion of Pagi appears more probable; which is, that they all set about their works severally about the same time, and all published at no great distance of time from each other, near the end of the reign of Theodosius, as before said.

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II. Socrates was born and educated at Constantinople: he studied under the grammarians Helladius and Ammonius, both heathens, who, when their temples were destroyed at Alexandria, in 391, left that city, and came to reside at Constantinople. For a while Socrates pleaded causes afterwards leaving the bar, he set about writing his Ecclesiastical History, which comprehends, in seven books, the space of about a hundred and three and thirty years, from the year 306, when Constantine was declared emperor, to the seventeenth consulship of Theodosius, or the year of Christ 439; and he is spoken of by Cave as flourishing in that year.

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... και τας άλλας αντιλεχθείσας μεν, χρονῳ δε πλείσω βεβαιωθείσας, και παρα πασι ταις ενδιαθήκαις καταλεγειας. Ibid. p. 218. A. b Vol. ii. p. 393.

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.. ώς αν ταυτας τε ειδεναι ἔχομεν, ὅσαι γνησίας της εκκλησίας γραφαι. Ibid.

Cav. Hist. Lit. Fabr. Bib. Gr. 1. v. cap. 4. T. vi. p. 117 129. H. Vales. de Vit. et scriptis Socrat. Sozom. et Theodoret. Pagi Ann. 427. n. xv. xvi. 439. n. ix. x. xi. Basnag. Ann. 439. n. v. 440. n. vii. 430. n. vi. Du Pin. Bib. T. iii. P. ii: Tillem. M. E. T. 15. Theodoret. J. Le Clerc. Bib. A. et M. T. xvi. p. 103.... 156.

e Socrates, Sozomenus, et Theodoretus, uno eodemque tempore rerum ecclesiasticarum historiam scribere agressi sunt; idem omnes scribendi principíum sumsere, eumdemque fere finem historiæ suæ imposuere, ab iis temporibus exorsi, quibus Eusebius historiam suam terminaverat. Pagi Critic. in Baron. ann. 427. n. xv.

...Verum Theodoretus de Socratis et Sozomeni historiâ supplenda non cogitavit. Sed, cum utroque longe doctior esset, et in Oriente versaretur, in quæ uterque incidit, vitavit: et quia res in Oriente, quam quae in urbe Regiâ gestæ, melius callebat, ideo in illis quam istis fusior et diligentior est. Contra vero Socrates et Sozomenus easdem leviter attigêre. Quare non dubito, quin tres isti scriptores, qui omnes sibi idem argumentum proposuere, non solum sub extremis Theodosii Junioris temporibus, quod de Socrate et Sozomeno infra videbitur, sed etiam eodem tempore historias suas ecclesiasticas in lucem emiserint.... Ita non audiendus Valesius in eo quod autumat, ex tribus historiæ ecclesiasticæ scriptoribus alterum alterius scrinia compilâsse, et ex illis eum, qui alteri aliquid addidit, aut alterum interdum emendavit, hunc posteriorem videri scripsisse. Id. ib. n. xvi. f Socrat. I. v. cap. 24. h Vid. 1. vii. cap. ult.

* Ib. cap. 16.

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Socrates is particularly esteemed for his judicious observations upon men and things. Every reader of this work is able to form some notion of his judgment, by recollecting the passages that have been alleged from him upon divers occasions; wherein he shews himself to have been a man of great moderation, and an enemy to persecution, which also he defines in this manner: he is speaking of Julian: he says, that emperor avoided the excessive cruelty that 'was practised in the times of Dioclesian: nevertheless he persecuted; for that I call persecution, when any disturbance is given to men that live peaceably and quietly. The particular, in which he instanceth, is Julian's edict, prohibiting Christians to read the ancient Greek and Roman authors.' And there are in him many other places well worthy of observation; in some of which he makes very free remarks upon the squabbles and contentions of the Christian clergy of those times.

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Socrates always speaks with great respect of the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and has expressly quoted the Acts of the apostles, epistles to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Galatians, Colossians, and Hebrews: he likewise takes notice of a various reading 1 John iv. 3, or John's catholic epistle,' as his expression is; upon which Mill and others may be consulted.

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III. HERMIAS SOZOMEN was born of reputable parents in Palestine, and in early life was educated in a monastery; afterwards he studied the law at Berytus, and then went to Constantinople, where he was an advocate, and continued to plead causes, whilst at his leisure hours he wrote his Ecclesiastical History: which contains, in nine books, an account of affairs from the third consulship of Crispus and Constantine, Cæsars, to the seventeenth consulship of Theodoşius, emperor, in whose time he wrote, and to whom his work is dedicated, that is, from the year 324 to the year 439, or one hundred and fifteen years. He is placed by Cave as flourishing about the year 440.

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Beside the history of which I have been speaking, Sozomen had before written, in two books, a summary account of the affairs of the church, from the ascension of Christ to the defeat of Licinius; but that work is not now extant.

Sozomen likewise, as well as Socrates, was a man of moderation, as must have been perceived by all from several passages alleged from him in this work.

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It may be also observed of him, that he always speaks with great respect of the sacred scriptures.

What he says of the Revelation of Peter and the Revelation of Paul, was taken notice of formerly.

IV. THEODORET wrote, in five books, the history of things from the rise of the Arian controversy, or where Eusebius left off, to the death of Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, that is, from the year of Christ 324 to 429, being the space of one hundred and five years.

Theodoret's testimony to the scriptures was exhibited formerly.

a Tandem vero abjectâ causidicinâ, ad scribendam ecclesiasticam historiam se contulit. Quâ in re et judicio et diligentiâ usus est singulari. Ac judicium quidem declarant observationes et sententiæ passim in libris ejus intextæ, quibus, meo judicio, nihil est illustrius. H. Vales. de vita et scriptis Socrat. et Sozomen.

Sed quantum dictionis elegantiâ vincit Sozomenus, tantum Socrates judicio vincit. Nam Socrates quidem tum de viris, tum de rebus ac negotiis ecclesiasticis, optime judicat. Id. ibid. b See vol. i. p. 54, 55, 57, 309, 352, 428.

- Και την μεν ὑπερβάλλεσαν επί Διοκληπιανε ωμοιηία ὑπερες θελα. Ου μην πανῃ τε διώκειν απεσχείο. Διωγμόν δε λεγω το ἱπωσεν ταρατίειν τες ἡσυχαζονίας. Εταρατίε δε ώδε. Νομῳ εκέλευσε χρισιανες παιδεύσεως μη μετεχειν. Socr. 1. ii. c. 12.

u Vid. I. v. cap. 22. 1. i. c. 24. in. c. xxvii. p. 64. B. l. iii. cap. 24. et 25. in. l. iv. cap. 1. et 6. 1. v. in Pr. L. v. cap. 22. p. 288, 289.

f L. iii. cap. 16. p. 188. C.

8 L. iv. cap. 23. p. 232. A.
h L. V. cap. 22. p. 283.

1 Ότι εν τη καθολικη Ιωάννα γεγραπία εν τοις παλαιοις άντιγράφοις, §1. παν πνεύμα, ὁ λύει τον Ιησεν, απο το νεο ουκ εςι, L. vii. cap. 32. p. 374. Sozom. 1. v. cap. 15. p. 617. Ib. 1. ii. cap. 3. p. 446. A. B. m Vid. Sozom. Pr. p. 397. n Vid. l. i. cap. 1. p. 401.

See vol. ii. p. 53, 54, 352.

P Vid. Soz. 1. v. cap. 15. p. 617. cap. 21. p. 629, D. 1. vii.
cap. 12. p. 718. C. 1. vii. cap. 19. p. 735. A.
9 See vol. ii. p. 388.

Vid. Theodoret. H. E. 1. i. cap. 1 et 2. ét 1. v. cap.
See p. 10, &c. of this volume.

ult.

A

GENERAL REVIEW

of

THIS WHOLE WORK,

ESPECIALLY OF

THE SECOND PART.

THE design of this work, from the beginning, and all along, has been to shew the truth of the evangelical history, and thereby the truth of the Christian religion; for if the facts related in the gospels, and confirmed by the epistles of the New Testament, may be relied upon, the Christian religion is from Heaven.

The things there related to have been done by Jesus, and by his disciples by virtue of powers derived from him, must be allowed to afford good proof that he came from God, and that his doctrine is true and divine: and as Jesus, in the circumstances of his birth, life, and death, and exaltation, and in the success and progress of the principles taught by him, answers the description of the great person foretold and promised in the Old Testament, he is at the same time shewn to be the Messiah.

In the former part of this work the facts occasionally mentioned in the New Testament were confirmed by passages of ancient authors; and a long deduction there is in that part of various particulars concerning the estate and character of the princes and governors, in whose time these things are said to have happened, and concerning the state of the Jews at that time in Judea, and out of it, and their religious opinions, customs and practices, as also of other people to whom the apostles went; all found to be agreeable to the accounts of Josephus and Philo, and many heathen authors of the best note, and contemporary with our Saviour and his apostles, or living very near their time.

We have supposed this to be a very cogent argument, that the books of the New Testament were written before, or soon after, the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in the 70th year of the Christian æra.

And if these books were written by persons who lived before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, if they were written at the time in which they are supposed to have been written, the things related in them are true and incontestable. The force of this argument may be seen represented in the conclusion of that part.

Consequently the former part of this work, though it immediately and directly concerned only those facts which are occasionally mentioned in the New Testament, affords a very forcible argument for the truth of the principal facts of the New Testament; by which all know to be intended the miraculous though mean birth of Jesus, and all the wonders of his life and ministry, his death, resurrection and ascension; the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon his apostles afterwards, their preaching in his name the doctrine received from him and confirming it by miraculous works, and planting the gospel, and forming, in a short space of time, churches of disciples at Jerusalem, and in all the parts of Judea, and in many other cities and countries.

In this second part we have proceeded to shew more directly the truth of the evangelical

history, by producing testimonies to the antiquity, genuineness, and authority of the books of the New Testament, now generally received by Christians, as containing an authentic account of the religion taught by Christ and his apostles.

And in this book is a history of all, or almost all, the catholic writers of the first four centuries, and of the principal Christian writers of the following centuries, to the beginning of the twelfth with an article, by way of conclusion, from Nicephorus Callisti, a learned author at the beginning of the fourteenth century, containing a summary account of all that has been said, and representing what was to be proved; which, I hope, has been proved.

And whoever is desirous to know what books were received as sacred scripture, by any writers of the church in past ages, may here find a distinct account of it in the chapters that bear their names.

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1. As we are now to review this book, the first observation which offers is this: We have seen a goodly catalogue of eminent men, who have believed in Jesus as the Christ, and their Lord and Master, whose religion was not set up with worldly allurements. Says Jerom, in the prologue to his book of Ecclesiastical writers, Let the enemies of our religion, who say the church had no philosophers, nor eloquent and learned men, observe who and what they were 'who founded, established, and adorned it: let them cease to accuse our faith of rusticity, and ⚫ confess their mistake.' So said Jerom with regard to Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, who had been the most noted adversaries of the Christian religion in the first four centuries. The same may be still said to those called deists in our time. And may I not add, Let those conceited Christians, who unmeasurably despise the primitive times of Christianity, learn to pay some respect to their Christian ancestors, in whom both learning, and an honest, fervent zeal, were united. They are not the rule of our faith, but they have directed us to the sacred scriptures, where it may be found: and they have borne testimony to the truth of the things contained therein, by an open and stedfast profession, amidst a great variety of difficulties and discouragements, reproaches and sufferings.

And though every one who has read this work is able to supply a fuller catalogue, I shall also rehearse in part the names of eminent Christians of the early ages, from an epistle of the same masterly hand to Magnus, a Roman orator, upon a different occasion. Jerom, having at

a Discant ergo Celsus, Porphyrius, Julianus, rabidi adversus. Christum canes; discant eorum sectatores, qui putant ecclesiam nullos philosophos, et eloquentes, nullos habuisse doctores, quanti et quales viri eam fundaverint, exstruxerint, et adornaverint, et desinant fidem nostram rusticæ tantum simplicitatis arguere, suamque potius imperitiam agnoscant. Proleg. in libr. de Scr. Ec.

b Curram per singulos. Quadratus, apostolorum discipulus, et Atheniensis pontifex ecclesiæ, nonne Adriano principi, Eleusine sacra visenti, librum pro nostrâ religione tradidit? "et tantæ admirationi omnibus fuit, ut persecutionem gravissimam illius sedaret ingenium. Aristides philosophus, vir eloquentissimus, eidem principi apologeticum pro Christianis obtulit, contextum philosophorum sententiis. Quem imitatus postea Justinus, et ipse philosophus, Antonino Pio et filiis ejus senatuique librum contra Gentiles tradidit, defendens ignominiam crucis, et resurrectionem Christi totâ prædicans libertate. Quid loquar de Melitone Sardensi episcopo? Quid de Apollinario Hieropolitanæ ecclesiæ sacerdote, Dionysioque Corinthiorum episcopo, et Tatiano, et Bardesane, et Irenæo, Pothini Martyris successore, qui origines hæreseôn singularum, et ex quibus philosophorum fontibus emanârint, multis volumitibus explicârunt? Pantænus Stoicæ sectæ philosophus, ob præcipuæ eruditionis gloriam, a Demetrio Alexandriæ episcopo missus est in Indiam, ut Christum apud Brachmanas et istius gentis philosophos prædicaret. Clemens, Alexandrinæ ecclesiæ presbyter, meo judicio omnium eruditissimus, octo scripsit Stromatum libros..... Quid in illis indoctum, imo quid non de media philosophiâ est? Hunc imitatus Origenes decem scripsit Stromateas, Christianorum et philosophorum inter se sententias comparans et omnia nostræ religionis dogmata de Platone, et Aristotele, Numenio, Cornutoque confirmans. Scripsit et Miltiades contra Gentes volumen egregium. Hippolytus quoque et Apollonius, Romanæ urbis

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senatores, propria opuscula condiderunt. Extant et Julii Africani libri, qui temporum scripsit historias, et Theodori, qui postea Gregorius appellatus est, viri apostolicorum signorum atque virtutum, et Dionysii Alexandrini episcopi; Anatolii quoque Laodicenæ ecclesiæ sacerdotis, necnon presbyterorum Pamphili, Pierii, Luciani, Malchionis, Eusebii Cæsariensis episcopi, et Eustathii Antiocheni, et Athanasii Alexandrini; Eusebii quoque Emeseni, et Triphyllii Cyprii, et Asterii Scythopolita, et Serapionis confessoris; Titi quoque Bostrensis episcopi, Cappadocumque Basilii, Gregorii, Amphilochii; Qui omnes in tantum philosophorum doctrinis atque sententiis suos refarciunt libros, ut nescias quid in illis primum admirari debeas, eruditionem seculi, an scientiam scriptura

rum.

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Veniam ad Latinos. Quid Tertulliano eruditius, quid acutius? Apologeticus ejus, et contra Gentes liber, cunctam seculi obtinent disciplinam. Minucius Felix, causidicus Romani fori, in libro, cui titulus Octavius est,... quid gentilium literarum reliquit intactum? Septem libros adversus Gentes Arnobius edidit, totidemque discipulus ejus Lactantius, qui de Irâ quoque et Opificio Dei duo volumina condidit. Quos si legere volueris, Dialogorum Ciceronis in eis reperies. Victorino Martyri in libris suis, licet deşit eruditio, tamen non deest eruditionis voluntas. Cyprianus, quod idola dii non sunt, quâ brevitate, quâ historiarum omnium scientiâ, quorum verborum et sensuum splendore perstrinxit? Hilarius, meorum confessor temporum et episcopus, duodecim Quintiliani libros et stylo imitatus est et numero.... Juvencus presbyter sub Constantino historiam Domini Salvatoris versibus explicavit; nec pertimuit evangelii majestatem sub metri leges mittere. De cæteris vel mortuis vel viventibus taceo, quorum in scriptis suis et vires manifestæ sunt et voluntas. Ad Mag. Orat. ep. 83. al. 84. T. 4.

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