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But though Mr. Marsh opposes his opinion with respect to the first epiftle of St. Clement, he feems to coincide with him in rejecting as fpurious all the other writings of the apoftolical fathers.

"Not only the adverfaries, but alfo the friends of Chriftianity, have fufpected the authenticity of the writings afcribed to the apoftolic fathers, notwithstanding the immenfe erudition bestowed on them by Cotelier, Ulher, Pearson, Le Clerc, and others, at the end of the laft, and beginning of the prefent century. Lardner has clearly fhewn that all the works of Clement are purious, except his first epistle to the Corinthians, but even that is fufpected by our author; and Dr. Semler, who has made a more particular study of ecclefiaftical history perhaps than any man that ever lived, doubts the authenticity of all the writings afcribed to the apoftolic fathers." (P. 360.)

Of Dr. Semler's writings, referred to by Mr. Marfh, we know nothing; but if they really weaken the reafoning of Bishop Pearson fo much, as, with unprejudiced minds, to bring into doubt the authenticity of the fhorter epiftles of Ignatius, which were published by Voffius, we do not fay that we fhall be forry for the confequence, for we truft that truth is the first and most important obje&t of all our pursuits. In that cafe, however, we fhall certainly be tempted to queftion the authenticity of a great part of the New Teftament, and a much greater part of the Old. That the adverfaries of Christianity ever questioned the authenticity of thefe epiftles is a piece of information quite new to us; but we have long known that, among believers, prefbyterians and independents have wifhed to question their authenticity, and that, when they faw that Pearson's arguments could not be anfwered, they have come forward with the loud, though abortive, cry of interpolation. The reafon of this is very obvious. No man can admit the authenticity of the epiftles of Ignatius, and call in question the apoftolical inftitution of diocefan epifcopacy. This is the real caufe of the objections urged by our antagonists to the authenticity of these epiftles, but they dare not directly_avow it, left they should be convicted of the groffeft prejudice. They change, therefore, the mode of their attack. "Without pretending, fay they, to ascertain precisely what was the original constitution of the Christian church, we are, at least, fure that its government is not more important than its faith; but Ignatius, in the writings which are now afcribed to him, infifts upon obedience to the bishop with fuch inceffant zeal that it seems to be, in his opinion, by far the most important, if not the only, duty of a Chriftian." This feems to them fo very abfurd, that reverence, as they pretend,* for the memory of an apoftolic father, compels them to conclude that the epiftles of Ignatius, if not abfolute forgeries, have been grofsly interpolated, and are unworthy of regard.

1

* See Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen's Lectures on Ecclefiaftical Hifiory.

But

But this is not a fair account of the contents of Ignatius's epiftles. He infifts, indeed, ftrenuoufly on the duty of obedience to the bishop because otherwise the people could not have "one fupplication, one mind, one hope, &c." and fuch exhortations were peculiarly proper at that period, when the title of Bishop was first given exclufively to the highest order of the Chriftian priesthood. Hitherto the governors of churches had been called αποστολοι, οι αγγελοι, and the churches of Afia Minor had been under the fuperintendance of St. John the Apostle, and feven angels or bishops, as appears from the Apocalypfe. St. John died about the beginning of the fecond century, when, as we learn from Theodorite, it was refolved to drop the title of apoftle. and fubftitute that of bifhop in its place; and as the people had been accustomed to call their fpiritual governor arociohos, or ayychos, it became Ignatius, who had been, for forty years, honoured with these titles himself, and whofe influence must have been great on account of his age and his approaching martyrdom,† to convince thofe to whom he wrote, that the reverence due to the office was not diminished by the change of its name. This is, indeed, fo very obvious, that what has been ufually urged as an objection to the epiftles of Ignatius, appears to us internal evidence of their authenticity, for if credit be due to Theodorite's account of the refolution entered into on the death of St. John, exhortations more seasonable could not have been given.

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From the teftimonies of Hæretics, and efpecially of Marcion, who lived in the beginning of the fecond century, our author infers, in the seventh fection, that in all the countries which lay between Sinope and Rome, the books, which he calls Homologoumena, were acknowledged to be genuine. The teftimonies of this kind, which afford fuch pofitive evidence, have not been collected with the fame diligence as thofe of the orthodox fathers; though they are certainly entitled to equal credit. In the eighth fection much ftrefs is defervedly laid on the teftimonies of Jewish and Heathen writers, more especially of Celfus and Porphyry, two enemies of the Chriftian name, and, therefore, witneffes the moit unexceptionable of the authenticity of the New Testament. In the ninth fection it is fhewn that there were verfions of the New Testament in Syriac and Latin in the end of the first or beginning of the fecond century; and, in the tenth fection, the internal evidence of the authenticity of the Homologoumena is ftated with great perfpicuity and force..

Among the incidental obfervations unnoticed by Mr. Marsh in his general view of the first part of this work, one occurs in the eleventh fection which throws light on a particular part of St. Paul's conduct, of which we do not remember to have any where else seen a rational

* In 1 Tim. Cap. iii.

+ Our learned readers need not be informed that Ignatius was under fentence of death when be wrote the epiftles in queftion.

account.

account. The object of the fection is to fhew the coincidence of the accounts delivered in the New Teftament, with the history of the times to which those accounts relate; and the part of St. Paul's conduct to which we allude, is the appearance which he made before Ananias and the council in Jerufalem. Here, as our author obferves, the learned have met with confiderable difficulties.

1. Who this Ananias was? a queftion which Krebs has explained in his remarks taken from Jofephus, having fhewn him to be the son of Nebedeni. 2, How can it be reconciled with Chronology that Ananias was called at that time High Prieft, when it is certain from Jofephus, that the time of his holding, that office was much earlier. 3. How it comes to pals that St. Paul fays, I wist not, brethren, that he was the High Priest; fince the external marks of office must have determined whether he were or not: a jest would have ill fuited the gravity of a tribunal, and a falfehood fill lefs the character of St. Paul.

"On all these obfcurities is thrown the fulleft light, as foon as we examine the fpecial hiftory of that period.-Ananias, the fon of Nebedeni, was High Priest at the time that Helena, queen of Adiabene, fupplied the Jews with corn from Egypt, during the famine which took place in the fourth year of Claudius, mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Acts. St. Paul, therefore, who took a journey to Jerufalem at that period, could not have been ignorant of the elevation of Ananias to that dignity. Soon after the holding of the first council, as it is called, at Jerufalem, Ananias was difpoffeffed of his office, and fent prifoner to Rome, whence he was afterwards released, and returned to Jerufalem.-In the mean time, Jonathan, though we are not acquainted with the circumftances of his elevation, had been raifed to the fupreme dignity in the Jewith church. Between the death of Jonathan, who was murdered by order of Felix, and the High Priesthood of Ifmael, who was invested with that office by Agrippa, elapfed an interval, in which this dignity continued vacant. Now it happened precifely in this interval that St. Paul was apprehended in Jerufalem: and the Sanhedrim being deftitute of a prefident, he (Ananias) undertook, of his own authority, the discharge of that office, which he executed with the greateft tyranny. It is poffible, therefore, that St. Paul, who had been only a few days in Jerufalem, might be ignorant that Ananias, who had been difpoffeffed of the Priesthood, had taken upon himself a truft to which he was not entitled; he might, therefore, very naturally exclaim, I wist not, brethren, that he was the High Priest! Admitting him, on the other hand, to have been acquainted with the fact, the expreffion must be confidered, as an indirect reproof, and a tacit refufal to recognize ufurped authority." (PP. 51-53.)

This detail, which our author fupports by direct references to Jofephus, not only throws the cleareft light on a paffage which has hitherto been involved in obfcurity, but also fhews that the whole hiftory of St. Paul's imprisonment; the confpiracy of the fifty Jews, with the confent of the Sanhedrim; and their petition to Feftus to send him from Cæfarea to Jerufalem, are facts which correfpend to the hiftory of the times.

In the twelfth fection the author removes the objections which have been fometimes made to the authenticity of the New Testament

from

from the contradictions real or apparent between the hiftorical parts of it and the accounts of profane authors. Wherever the evangelifts really differ from Jofephus and other writers, he proves, in the most fatisfactory manner, that, independent of infpiration, which in the prefent inquiry he properly overlooks, the fulleft credit is due to the former authors; that they had the beft means of information, as well as the smallest inducement to deviate from the truth; and that of the contradictions, which at first sight appear real, fome are only apparent.

In proving the authenticity of the New Testament, Michaelis, like Lardner, makes no ufe of the teftimony of fpurious writings. Hence, he refers not to the Canons called Apoftolical, though in one of them we have a catalogue of the books of the Old Testament as they are received by proteftants, and of the New, with the exception of the Apocalypfe, which alone is omitted. We readily admit that he has completely proved the authenticity of the books called Homologoumena, without calling in the aid of writings which are in any fenfe fpurious; but the Canons, to which we allude, though neither dictated by the apostles, nor written by St. Clement, are entitled to a degree of refpect, to which no work forged in the name of an individual can juftly lay claim. They are indifputably of high antiquity; for they are referred to as antient ecclefiaftical canons by Athanafius, Bafil the Great, and the council of Nice. They seem to have been compiled by feveral fynods in the third century, and collected, not all at once, but gradually, as they were enacted; and it is certain that they formed the rule of difcipline for the eaftern part of the primitive Church. They afford, therefore, an illuftrious proof of the fenfe of that Church refpecting the authenticity of the books attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and James; for though the canon mentions the Apoftolical Conftitutions, attributing them to Clement, it is obvious from the manner in which that work is introduced, that a distinction was made between it and the canonical writings. Indeed it appears evident to us that the whole clause relating to Clement and the Conflitutions, has, at fome period fubfequent to the council of Laodicea, (anno 367,) been tagged to the Canon by fome unfkilful hand*; for the Laodicean Canon, which enumerates

the

The learned and primitive Bishop Beveridge thinks otherwife. The books of the New Teftament are, in the canon, enumerated thus; "The four gofpels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; fourteen epiftles of Paul; two of Peter; three of John; one of James; one of Jude; two epiftles of Clement; and the Constitutions for you bishops, publithed by medi epov Clement, in eight books, which are not to be divulged to all, because of the mystical things contained in it; and the acts of us the apostles." The bishop infers from the infertion of the words & pou, that the collector of thefe canons, and the publisher of the constitutions neither was, nor pretended to be the Clement whofe two epiftles are mentioned after the epiftle of

Jude:

the facred books, feems to be a mere tranfcript of the apoftolical canon ; and in it no mention is made either of Clement's Epiftles or of the Conftitutions.

OF

(To be continued.)

Pinkerton's Modern Geography.

(Continued from Vol. XVII. p. 386.)

Fa work comprehending fo immenfe a mass of multifarious information, it is evident that any account which we can give must be very circumfcribed and partial. A detailed analysis of it is plainly impoffible. We can, therefore, characterise it only in general terms, and, by producing fome fpecimens, enable our readers to eftimate for themfelves, the kind and degree of inftruction and amufement which it is calculated to afford. Of the plan we have been at confiderable pains to exhibit a pretty full and correct idea; and of the execution we cannot but speak, on the whole, in the language of the moft decided approbation. Nor has our opinion been formed on a hafty and inattentive, but on a cool, deliberate, and, in many inftances, repeated, perufal. We therefore recommend this fyftem to the public, with the utmost confidence, as a capital production, with which there is nothing in the English language that deferves at all to be compared. It is a monument undoubtedly of fingular industry, of extenfive knowledge, and of difcriminating judgment. One eminent advantage the reader will find in it, which he will find in no preceding fyftem; and that is the fcrupulous punctuality with which the author has conftantly quoted his authorities. This, it will univerfally be acknowledged, is an improvement of the higheft magnitude, which, while it places, in the most confpicuous light, the patient research and candid good faith of the writer, is productive of many defirable consequences to the reader. It not only infpires him with rational truft in the capacity and fidelity of his inftructor, but by indicating the proper fources of information, furnishes him, in any cafe of difficulty or doubt, with the readieft means of deciding for himself.

Our first extracts from Mr. P.'s book shall be his sketches of English and of French manners, which, we think, are well drawn, and likely to prove acceptable to the generality of our readers.

"The English are generally esteemed to exceed in the ufe of animal food; but, after the recent importations of French emigrants of all claffes, this pofition begins to be doubted. If ftomachic dilea es be really more

Jude: and he offers fome plaufible arguments in fupport of his opinion that the Constitutions were published, and the Apoftolica: Canons collected by Clement of Alexandria. It appears to us, however, that he must be miltaken; for Clement of Alexandria could not have called the acts of the Apos des αι πράξεις ήμων των αποστόλων.”

frequent

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