Page images
PDF
EPUB

11. The prologue to St. Paul's epistles contains the history of Paul, collected from the Acts of the Apostles, and from his epistles, chiefly from the former; and then an enumeration of his epistles; and after that, in the third section, a farther account of St. Paul's actions in the order of time, partly taken from Eusebius's Chronicle, and Ecclesiastical History. He says, That beside many other labours in the course of his life to bring men to the practice of virtue, Paul wrote fourteen epistles, containing instructions for every part of a holy conversation.' He enumerates the

[ocr errors]

epistles in this order to the Romans; two to the Corinthians; to the Galatians; to the Ephesians; to the Philippians; to the Colossians; to the Thessalonians; to the Hebrews; the epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Phile

mon.

12. Euthalius placeth Paul's epistles, according to the proficiency which they had made, to whom they were sent; beginning with the least perfect, and proceeding to the more perfect. This is evident, from several things: for he says, the epistle to the Romans is placed first, as containing instructions for those who had yet learned only the first principles of the gospel; this notion appears also in what he says upon the epistle to the Ephesians, the fifth in order: and then he says, that the epistle to the Philippians, the sixth in order, is written to the faithful who had made progress, and had brought forth good fruit. And at the end of his enumeration of the fourteen epistles, he expressly says, they are placed according to the order of men's proficiency.

u

13. I do not think this to be an observation of any importance; but as it is uncommon, I have taken notice of it. And it is very true the apostle Paul's epistles are suited to promote the benefit of cliristians of all ranks, and of every degree of attainment in religious knowledge and virtue, whether greater or smaller.

14. I choose now to conclude this chapter with St. Paul's

195.

• Αναγκαιον δε ηγησαμην εν βραχει και τον χρονον επισημειωσασθαι τε κηquyμaros Пavλs, x. λ. Ib. p. 529-535. Et Conf. Ecumen. T. i. p. 1939 Ετι δε και όλως δια της υφης των δεκατεσσάρων επιτολών τέτων την όλην ανθρωποις διέγραφε πολιτείαν. Ib. p. 523. Περιέχει εν ή προς Ρωμαίους επιτολη κατηχησιν εις Χρισον-διο πρώτη τετακται. Οία προς αρχην έχοντας εις θεοσεβειαν γραφεισα. Ib. p. 523. * Vid. p. 524. ι Έκτη τετακται ή προς Φιλιππησίες, κατα προσαυξησιν πιςοις όμε και καρποφοροις, κ. λ. p. 525. in.

r

" Όντως ἡ πασα βιβλος περιέχει παντοιον είδος πολιτειων κατα προσαυξησιν. Μαρτυριον Παυλο το αποτολες.

p. 528.

6

martyrdom, before" mentioned, drawn up in the year 396, and ascribed to the learned and pious writer who first divided St. Paul's epistles into chapters, or sections. It

is to this purpose: In the time of Nero emperor of the Romans, Paul the apostle, having exercised a good exercise, completed his testimony [or suffered martyrdom] ' at Rome, being beheaded with a sword, in the thirty and 'sixth year of our Saviour's passion, on the fifth day of the month Panemus, according to the Syro-Macedonians; which, with the Egyptians, is the fifth day of Epiphi; and with the Romans, the third before the Calends of July [that is, the 25th of June]; upon which day the holy apostle completed his testimony, in the sixty-ninth year of the advent of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The space of time, therefore, since his martyrdom, is three hundred and thirty years to this present consulship, the fourth of Arcadius, and the third of Honorius, august emperors and brothers; that is, the year 396 of our Lord's nativity, according to the common account.

[ocr errors]

6

CHAP. CXLIII.

DIONYSIUS, FALSELY CALLED THE AREOPAGITE.

1. THAT the books of the Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and other works, with the name of DIONYSIUS the Areopagite, are spurious, and were not composed by Dionysius, member of the Athenian senate, and disciple of Paul, mentioned in the Acts, is now the general opinion of learned men; but all are not agreed about the time when they were written.

year

2. Daillé, who examined those writings with great diligence, was of opinion, that they were not published before the beginning of the sixth century; possibly about the year 520; Pearson has since argued, that they were written about the year 330; Cave placeth this author at the ▾ See p. 68. * Επι Νέρωνος το Καίσαρος Ρωμαίων εμαρτύρησεν αυτοθι Παυλος ὁ αποτολος, ξίφει την κεφαλην αποτμηθείς, εν τῳ τριακοσῳ και έκτω ετει το σωτήριο παθώς τον καλον αγωνα αγωνισάμενος, εν Ρώμη, κ. λ. Ap. Zacag. Monum. p. 535, 536. omninoque videri istum, vel quinto præcipiti seculo, vel, etiam ineunte sexto vixisse, neque ante annum Christi circiter 520, fetus suos Dionysio immani fraude suppositos Dionys. Areop. et Ignat. I. i. c. 32. p. 184. Genev. 1666. © H. L. T. i. p. 225.

Vind. Ignat. P. i. cap. 10.

a

362, supposing he might be the elder Appollinarius, who flourished about the middle of the fourth century; but the opinion of Daillé, or what is not very different, has generally prevailed. Samuel Basnaged agrees exactly with him, and confutes Pearson's arguments; nor does Tillemont scruple to show the weakness of Pearson's reasonings: Pagi freely owns, that they were not quoted before the year 532, and were not written till after the council of Chalcedon: Nourri supposeth thats they were written between the years 431 and 451, but not made public till some time after. James Basnage, whom I transcribe below, says, they were written in the latter part of the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century. So general a concurrence of opinions is there for that time. I refer in the margin to some other writers. David Blondel speaks of this author as writing about the year 490: and I place him at that time likewise, to oblige those who may suppose these works to have been written forty or fifty years before they were taken notice of.

h

3. All this is said for the sake of a Catalogue' of the

d Ann. 51. a. 60, &c. note 4. Mem. Ec. T. ii.

e S. Dionys. l'Areopagite, f --- cum nec Eusebius, nec Hieronymus, nec Gennadius, nec ullus eorum, qui quinque primis ecclesiæ seculis vixere, mentionem illorum fecerint-et anno tantum 532 in Collatione Constantinopoli Catholicos inter et Severianos habitâ hæretici aliquid ex Dionysio Areopagità Catholicis objecerint, hique illorum auctoritatem flocci fecerint. Quare libri illi post pacem ecclesiæ a Constantino Magno redditam, et post Concilium Chalcedonense, elucubrati ab aliquo Dionysio, juniore. Ann. 834. n. 18. Conf. ib. Ann. 875. n. 18. et Ann. 107. n. 8.

Nourri App. ad. Bib. PP. Diss. 10. n. 9. p. 386. Paris. 1694.

En effet ce fut à la fin du cinquième, ou au commencement du sixième siècle, que parurent les œuvres de Denys l'Areopagite, qui furent citées la première fois l'an 533, dans la dispute des Acephales. L'auteur, qui a emprunté ce nom, a fait assez obscurement, et à sa maniere mystique, le catalogue des livres sacrés. Mais il en dit assez pour faire comprendre qu'il excluoit du Canon tous les livres que les Juifs en ont chasses. Hist. de l'Eglise, 1. viii. ch. 10. p. 443. i Vid Usser. Diss. de Scriptis

Dionysio Areop. suppositis. Ad calcem libri de Scriptur. Sacr. et Vernac. p. 281, &c. Launoi de duobus Dionysiis. Fabr. Bib. Gr. T. v. p. 3—5. Du Pin, Bib. des Aut. Ec. T. i. p. 34-38. Asseman. Bib. Or. T. i. p. 451. * Des Sibylles, 1. ii. ch. 20. p. 219. à Charenton. 1649.

1 Πασα μεν γαρ ἱερα και ἁγιογραφος δελτος ή την εκ θε8 των οντων γενητην ὑπαρξιν τε και διακοσμησιν, η την νομικήν ἱεραρχίαν και πολιτειαν, η των τε θεις λογο κληροδοσιων διανεμήσεις και κατασχέσεις, η κριτων ἱερων, η βασιλεων, σοφων, η ἱερέων ενθεων συνεσιν, η παλαιων ανδρων εν ποικιλία και πλήθει των ανιόντων ακατασειςον εν καρτερια φιλοσοφίαν, η των πρακτέων σοφας ὑποθηκας, η θειων ερωτων ασματα και ενθεως εικόνας, η των εσομένων τας υποφητι και προαναῤῥήσεις, η τας ανδρικας Ιησε Γεωργίας, η τας αυτε μαθητων Θεοπαράδοτες και θεομίμητες πολιτείας και ιερας διδασκαλίας, η την κρυφίαν και μυσικήν εποψίαν τε των μαθητων αγαπητε και θεσπεσις η την ὑπερκόσμιον Ιησε Θεολογίαν τοις προς θεωσιν επιτηδείοις ὑφηγησατο, και ταις ἱεραις των

books of the Old and New Testament, found in the third chapter of this author's Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; but expressed in an obscure and mysterious manner, suited to his usual way of writing.

4. I have put the whole in the margin, for the use of those who read Greek: it is not easy to be translated; but we may make a few remarks. James Basnage, in the place above cited, is clearly of opinion, that this writer mentions no books of the Old Testament, but those of the Jewish canon. It is also plain, that one of those books is the Song of Songs. And Daillém says, he omits no sacred book, either of the Old or the New Testament: however, the be'loved disciple' alone is expressly mentioned. It is manifest, that the author received the Revelation: and it is probable, he thought St. John's gospel to be the last written book of the New Testament; it being mentioned last, and next after the book of the Revelation.

6

CHAP. CXLIV.

GENNADIUS.

1. GENNADIUS, of Marseilles, is placed, bya Cave, at the year 495, about which time his book of Illustrious Men must have been written. In the last chapter of that book he mentions his own works: the conclusion of which chapter is, That he had written a treatise or treatises concerning the Millennium; and concerning the Revelation of the

6

τελετων και θεοειδεσιν αναγωγαις συνεῤῥίζωσεν. Dionys. Αreop. de Eccles. Hierarch. cap. 3. sect 4. p. 287, 288. Antverp. 1634.

m

quo loco scripturæ, tum veteris tum novæ, absolutissimum canonem exhibet, singulaque utriusque volumina recenset, non quidem usitatis ac solennibus in ecclesia nominibus illa nuncupans, (a quo ille ubique, velut a quodam piaculo, diligentissime sibi cavet,) sed tamen ita perspicue designans ac describens, ut facile sit intelligere, nullum ab eo prætermissum esse divinum librum. Dall. ubi supra, l. i. c. 16. p. 101.

a Vid. Cav. H. L. T. i. et Conf. Fabr. ad Gennad. cap. ult. G. J. Voss. de Hist. Lat. ii. c. 18. H. Noris. Hist. Pelag. 1. ii. c. 16. Du Pin, Biblioth. T. iii. P. ii. p. 277. b Ego Gennadius, Massilia presbyter, scripsi adversus omnes hæreses libros octo, et adversus Nestorium libros tres, et tractatus de mille annis, et de Apocalypsi beati Johannis, et hoc opus, et epistolam de fide meâ misi ad beatum Gelasium, urbis Romæ episcopum. Gennad. de V. I. cap. C.

blessed John, that work, and an epistle concerning his faith, sent to Gelasius, bishop of Rome.'

2. The book of Illustrious Men is still extant: and I have often referred to it. The epistle to Gelasius, Concerning his Faith, is also generally supposed to be extant, though it now goes by a different title, it is in the Appendix of the eighth tome of the Benedictine edition of Augustine's works.

3. But the chief reason of my placing Gennadius here is a regard to his treatises concerning the Millennium, and St. John's Revelation; which I suppose to afford a good argument that he received the Revelation as a work of St. John the apostle and evangelist.

CHAP. CXLV.

GELASIUS, BISHOP OF ROME.

b

e

1. GELASIUS, an African, succeeded Felix III. in the see of Rome, in the year 492. A decree in a council of seventy bishops, concerning canonical, ecclesiastical, and apocryphal scriptures, is ascribed to him. The genuineness of which decree is denied, or disputed, by a Pearson, Cave, Samuel and James Basnage; but vindicated by Pagi, and Jeremiah Jones. But, whereas it has been generally placed at the year 494, Pagi says, it was not published before 496. It is not necessary that I should enter into an argument about a thing of so late a date: I shall only allege that part of the decree, which relates to the books of the New Testament.

2. After a particular enumeration of the books of the Old Testament, follows: The order of the scriptures of the

440.

De Ecclesiasticis Dogmatibus liber, Gennadio tributus.
Vindic. Ep. Ign. P. i. cap. 4.
Ann. 496. n. 9, 10.

p. 189, 190.

Hist. L. T. i. p. 462, 463. d Hist. de l'Egl. 1. viii. c. 8. n. 7. p. 439, f New and Full Method, &c. vol. I. * Ann. 494. n. 2-6. Item ordo scripturarum Novi et æterni Testamenti. Evangeliorum libri quatuor. Secundum Matthæum liber unus. cundum Lucam liber unus. tolorum liber unus.

ScSecundum Marcum liber unus. Actuum AposSecundum Joannem liber unus.

Epistolæ Pauli apostoli numero xiv.
Ad Romanos epistola una.

Ad Corinthios epistolæ duæ. Ad Galatas

epistola una. Ad Thessalonicenses epistolæ duæ. Ad Ephesios epistola una.

« PreviousContinue »