ftantinople, might be confulted; he certainly meant the Canons, as they had been subscribed by the Bishops in that Council: for he propofed, that Examination might be made, whether their own Greek Copies, or those pretended by the Church of Rome, agreed with that Original. And was the distance of Time fo much lefs between the Council of Nice, and that Council of Carthage, than it was between the Writing of St.Paul's Epiftles, and Tertullian's Appeal to them? or, was there lefs care taken in preferving his Epiftles, than in preferving the Canons of the Council of Nice, that Tertullian could not mean the fame, that Alypius did by the word Authentick? It is faid, that Pantenus, contemporary with Tertullian, found the Gofpel of St. Matthew in the Hebrew Tongue among fome Chriftians in India, that had been left there by St. Bartholomew, which therefore was of equal Authority with an Original.

t

Juftin Martyr afcribes the Gospels to the Apostles; he transcribes the Christian Doctrine at large out of them, and declares that they were read in the Chriftian Affemblies every Sunday. "St. Irenæus, a Difciple of St. Polycarp, who was made Bishop by St.John, gives a particular account of the Writings of the Four Evangelifts, and fays, there were Four Gospels and no more, and that these were written by St. Matthew, and St. Mark, and St. Luke, and St. John: * He likewife transcribes the most material Paffages of the Acts of the Apostles at large. Tertullian undertook the Defence of the Four Gofpels against Marcion. And thefe Fathers frequently quote thefe and the other Writings of the Apostles; fo do likewife Clemens Romanus and Ignatius, who lived and converfed with the Apostles themselves. But in our Difputes with Infidels, particular regard is to be had to the History

* Apol. 2.

u Iren. lib. 3. C. II. y Tertull. adv. Marcion. lib. iv. c. 2, 5.

* ib. c. 12.

of

3

of the Gospel; for our Proof against them depends upon Matter of Fact. Both Grotius and F. Simon have proved, that the Gospel written in Hebrew by St. Matthew, was preserved to the time of St. Jerom and Epiphanius; and that tho' the Nazarens had made fome Additions to it, yet they had made no Alterations in the Original Text. F. Simon moreover fays, that the Gospel of St. Matthew had been tranflated undoubtedly out of Hebrew into Greek, before the NaZarens had inferted their Additions; these being to be found in no Greek Copy. The Ebionites had corrupted the Hebrew Copy, which they used, and had left out what they pleased; but the Copy of the Nazarens, Epiphanius fays, was most entire, only he is not certain whether they retained the Genealogy of Chrift; but it is most probable in F. Simon's judgment, that they did retain it, tho' the Ebionites omitted it. So that tho' there were fome Additions made by the Nazarens, yet as far as the proof of our Religion against Infidels is concerned, the Hebrew Gospel, in its Original Hebrew, as it was written by St. Matthew, remained exactly perfect for divers Ages. Till the Sect of the Nazarens ceafing, and the Hebrew Tongue growing out of ufe, the Greek Tranflation only was preserved. This Tranflation of St. Matthew's Gospel is afcribed to one of the Apostles or Evangelifts, tho' it be not certain to whom of them it belongs. Papias fpeaks of the Times before there was any Authentick Verfion, when he fays, that every one tranflated it, as he could, for his own ufe. It appears from him however, that there were Greek.

a

b

2 Grot. Mat. F. Sim. Crit. Hift. on the N. Teft. c. 7. 8.

Ἔχεσι ἢ τὸ και Ματθαῖον ευαγγέλιον πληρές ατον Εβραιςί. παρ' αὐτοῖς γ σαφῶς τό το καθῶς αξ ἀρχῆς ἐγράφη Εβραϊ τοῖς γράμμασιν ἔτι σώζε)· ἐκ οἶδα ἢ εἰ καὶ τὰς γυελογίας τὰς SITO Abegaμ axe xess welcino. Epiphan. Hæref. 29. Ἀβραὰμ ἄχει

Num. 9.

Eufeb. Hift. lib.iii. c. 39.

Versions

Verfions of the Gospel of St. Matthew made immediately upon its firft publication, and from hence we may be affured, that St. John revised and approved the present Version (which is by fome attributed to him) by whom foever it was made at first. For this Gospel in the Greek Tongue being most in use, and thereby preferved, when the Original Hebrew has been fo long ago loft, it is not to be fuppofed that St. John fhould have no regard to it in that Review which he took of the other Gofpels, that were written originally in Greek. We read in Photius, that he revised the Gospels which were brought to him written in divers Languages, the Verfions as well as the Originals, and therefore this of St. Matthew's Gospel cannot be supposed to have been omitted.

с

One of the Miraculous Gifts was that of Difcerning of Spirits, whereby Perfons endued with it were enabled to distinguish true Revelations from Impostures, I Cor. xii. 10. And St. John wrote his Gospel and his Epistles to confute thofe Hereticks, who were the chief Forgers of counterfeit Books of Scripture, or the moft notorious corrupters of the true Books: and his Life was, by the Providence of God, prolonged, that he might be able both to vindicate and perfect the Canon of Scripture. We find that he difcovered an Imposture, which was framed concerning St. Paul, and that he read and approved the Gospels which had been written before his own; and there is no reafon to doubt, but he had feen all the other Writings of the New Testament, and fo finished the Canon of Scripture himself. And the Scriptures of the New

е

c Phot. Cod. ccliv.

Hier. Catal. in. St. Luc.

quod

• Τῶν προαναγραφέντων τειῶν ευαγγελίων εἰς πάντας ήδη, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν διαδεδομθύων, Σποδέξας τ' φασὶν, ἀλήθειαν απ Tois cm Jughoarla. Eufeb. Hift. lib. iii. c. 24. quum legiffet Matthæi, Marci, & Lucæ volumina, probaverit quidem Textum Hiftoriæ, & vera cos dixiffe firmaverit. Hieron. Catal. in St. Joan.

Teftament were read in the Churches and Affemblies of Christians from the beginning, as thofe of the Old Teftament had been in the Synagogues of the Jews, by which means they became fo divulged and published, that they could be neither loft nor falfified.

VIII. The Books of the New Teftament were acknowledged to be genuine by the Adverfaries of the Christian Religion. To fay nothing of St. Paul's Epiftles, which he frequently quotes, the Gospels were allowed by Julian the Apoftate to belong to the Authors, whofe Names they bear. Trypho owns he had read the Gospels, and makes no queftion or fcruple about the Authors. Celfus quotes the Scriptures frequently, and Hierocles (as Lactantius, who had heard him difcourfe, fays) was as converfant in them, as if he had once been a Christian, yet neither` of them moved any difpute, concerning the Authors of the Books of the Scriptures; but in referring to them upon all occafions, fhewed that they had nothing to object on that Head. And when Celfus fays, that fome of the Chriftians made alterations in the Gofpels, this is a confeffion that fome only did it; and Origen fhews, that they were Hereticks, viz. the Marcionifts and Valentinians, and perhaps the Disciples of Lucanus or Lucianus, for in this he could not be pofitive tho' this Lucanus was a follower of Marcion. But when Celfus made that Objection, he would certainly have alledged, that they were afcribed to wrong Authors, if he could have found any colour for fuch a pretence.

IX. There are ftill extant Copies of great Antiquity. The Cambridge Copy in Greek and Latin, containing the Four Gofpels,, and the Acts of the Apoftles; and that which is fuppofed to be the fecond part of it, containing St. Paul's Epiftles, in the

f Cyrill. Alex. contr. Jul. lib. x. Lactant. Inftitut. lib. v. c. 2, 3.

Juft. Mart. Dial.
Orig. cont. Celf. lib. 2.

French

1

French King's Library; and another the like Copy, which is in the Library of the Benedictines of * St. Germains, are concluded to be a thousand Years old at leaft: Morinus thought them to be ancienter than St. Ferom's time. The Alexandrian Copy is believed to have been written by Thecla, above one thousand three hundred Years ago. Morinus acknowledgeth it to be of above twelve hundred Years date. "Bishop Walton fuppofes the Alexandrian MS. to be at least as old as that in the Vatican, which is allowed to be twelve hundred Years old. There is " one Syriack MS. of the Gospels in the Library of the Duke of Florence, of above a thousand Years Antiquity, and another not much lefs ancient. A°Gothick Tranflation of the Four Evangelifts formerly belonging to the Abbey of Werdin, is likewise of above a thousand Years Antiquity: Tơ omit the ancient Latin MS. both in our own, and in other Countries, Mafius had a Syriack MS. of the Bible .written above a thoufand Years before; and Morinus mentions a Coptick MS. of the Four Evangelifts, in the Library of the Oratorians at Paris, which has no diftinction of Verfes or Words, which is a certain fign of great Antiquity. And what ancient Books are there, of which the Originals are still extant? or of which there are fo ancient Copies, as of the Scriptures?

r

X. Sufficient Reasons may be given, to fhew how it came to pass, that the Authority of fome Books was at firft doubted of.

k F. Simon Crit. Hift. of the N. Teft. Part 1. c.31. Mabil. de

Re Diplom. lib. 5. Tabell. 1.

1 Epift. 54. inter Antiqu. Eccl. Orient.

Prolegom. ix. 34.

n F. Simon Crit. Hift. of the N. Teft. Part 2. c. 14.

Gruter. Infcrip. p. 146.

Vid. Mabill. Iter. Italic. & Uffer, de Symb.

Maf. Præf. in Jofua.

I Morin. Exercit. Bibl. lib. 1. Exercit. 6. c. 22.