The Genuine EPISTLES OF THE Apostolical Fathers S. BARNABAS S. IGNATIUS S. CLEMENT S. POLYCARP THE SHEPHERD of HERMAS And the Martyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp Written by Those who were present at their Sufferings Being together with the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament a compleat Collection of the most Primitive Antiquity for about CI Years after Christ. Translated and Publish'd with a large Preliminary Discourse relating to the several Treatises here put together By W. Wake D.D. Chapl. in Ordinary to their 〈◊〉 and Preacher to the Honorable Society of Grays-Inn LONDON Printed for Ric. Sare at Grays-Inn Gate next Holborn 1693. Imprimatur Apr. 11. 1693. Carolus Alston R.P.D. Hen. Episc. Lond. à sacris A CATALOGUE OF THE Several PIECES contain'd in this Book and the Order of them A Discourse concerning the Treatises here collected and the Authors of them PART I. The First Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians The Epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philippians The Genuine Epistles of St. Ignatius A Relation of the Martyrdom of St. Ignatius written by those who were present at his Sufferings The Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp PART II. The Catholick Epistle of St. Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas in Three Books The Remains of St. Clement's Second Epistle to the Corinthians An INDEX to both Parts A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The several Treatises contain'd in the following Collection and the Authors of them The INTRODUCTION 1. HAD I designed the following Collection either for the Benefit or Perusal of the learned World I should have needed to say but very little by way of Introduction to it The Editors of the several Treatises here put together having already observed so much upon each of them that it would I believe be difficult to discover I am sure be very needless to trouble the Reader with any more 2. BUT as it would be Ridiculous for me to pretend to have design'd a Translation for those who are able with much more Profit and Satisfaction to go to the Originals so being now to address my self to those especially who want that Ability I suppose it may not be amiss before I lead them to the Discourses themselves to give them some Account both of the Authors of the several Pieces I have here collected and of the Tracts themselves and of that Collection that is now the first time made of them in our own Tongue Tho' as to the first of these I shall say the less by reason of that excellent Account that has been already given of the most of them by our Pious and Learned Dr. Cave Whose Lives of the Apostles and Primitive Fathers with his other Admirable Discourse of Primitive Christianity I could heartily wish were in the hands of all the more judicious part of our English Readers 3. NOR may such an Account as I now propose to my self to give of the following Pieces be altogether useless to some even of the Learned themselves who wanting either the Opportunity of Collecting the several Authors necessary for such a search or leisure to examin them may not be unwilling to see that faithfully brought together under one short and general View which would have required some Time and Labour to have search'd out as it lay diffus'd in a Multitude of Writers out of which they must otherwise have gather'd it CHAP. II. Of the First Epistle of S. Clement to the Corinthians Of the Value which the Ancients put upon this Epistle Of St. Clement himself who was the Author of it That it was the same Clement of whom S. Paul speaks Phil. iv 3 Of his Conversion to Christianity When he became Bishop of Rome as also whether he suffer'd Martyrdom uncertain Of the Occasion of his Writing this Epistle and the two main Parts of it Of the Time when it was written That there is no reason to doubt but that the Epistle we now have was truly written by S. Clement The Objection of Tentzelius against it of no force How this Epistle was first published by Mr. Patrick Young and translated by Mr. Burton into English Of the present Edition of it 1. THE first Tract which begins this Collection and perhaps the most worthy too is that Admirable or as some of the Ancients have called it that wonderful Epistle of S. Clement to the Corinthians and which he wrote not in his own Name but in the Name of the whole Church of Rome to them An Epistle so highly esteem'd by the Primitive Church that we are told it was wont to be publickly read in the Assemblies of it And if we may credit one of the most ancient Collections of the Canon of Scripture was placed among the Sacred and Inspired Writings Nor is it any small Evidence of the Value which in those days was put upon this Epistle that in the only Copy which for ought we know at this day remains of it we find it to have been written in the same Volume with the Books of the New Testament And which seems to confirm what was before observed concerning it that it was heretofore wont to be read in the Congregations together with the Holy Scriptures of the Apostles and Evangelists 2. BUT of the Epistle it self I shall take occasion to speak more particularly by and by It will now be more proper to enquire a little into the Author of it and consider when and upon what occasion it was written by him 3. AND first for what concerns the Person who wrote this Epistle it is no small Commendation which the Holy Ghost by S. Paul has left us of him Phil. iv 3 Where the Apostle mentions him not only as his Fellow-Labourer in the Work of the Gospel but as one whose Name was written in the Book of Life A Character which if we will allow our Saviour to be the Judg far exceeds that of the highest Power and Dignity And who therefore when his Disciples began to rejoyce upon the account of that Authority which he had bestow'd upon them insomuch that even the Devils were subject unto them Luke x. 17 tho' he seem'd to allow that there was a just matter of Joy in such an extraordinary Power yet bade them not to Rejoyce so much in this that those Spirits were subject unto them but rather says he Rejoyce that your Names are written in the Book of Life 4. IT is indeed insinuated by a late very Learned Critick as if this were not that Clement of whom we are now discoursing and whose Epistle to the Corinthians I have here subjoyn'd But besides that he himself confesses that the Person of whom S. Paul there speaks was a Roman both Eusebius and Epiphanius and S. Hierome expresly tell us that the Clement there meant was the same that was afterwards Bishop of Rome Nor do we read of any Other to whom either the Character there mentioned of being the Fellow-Labourer of that Apostle or the Elogy given of having
their Judgments concerning it Some there are and those the nearest to the time when this Book was written that treat it almost with the same Respect that they would do the Canonical Scriptures Irenaeus quotes it under the very Name of the Scripture Origen tho' he sometimes moderates his Opinion of it upon the account of some who did not it seems pay the same Respect with himself to it yet speaking of Hermas being the Author of this Book in his Comments on the Epistle to the Romans gives us this Character of it That He thought it to be a most useful Writing and was as he believed Divinely Inspired Eusebius tells us that tho' being doubted of by Some it was not esteem'd Canonical yet was it by Others judged a most necessary Book and as such read publickly in the Churches And St. Hierom having in like manner observed that it was read in some Churches makes this Remark upon it That it was indeed a very profitable Book and whose Testimony was often quoted by the Greek Fathers Athanasius places it in the same rank with the Books of Scripture and calls it a most useful Treatise And in another place tells us That tho' it was not strictly Canonical yet was it reckon'd among those Books which the Fathers appointed to be read to such as were to be instructed in the Faith and desired to be directed in the Way of Piety 11. HENCE we may observe as a farther Evidence of that Respect which was paid to this Book heretofore that it was not only openly read in the Churches but in some of the most ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament is joyned together with the other Books of the Holy Scriptures An Instance of this Cotelerius offers us in that of the Monastry of St. Germans in France in which it is continued on at the End of St. Paul's Epistles And in several of the Old Stichometries it is put in the same Catalogue with the Inspired Writings As may be seen in that which the same Author has published out of a Manuscript in the King's Library in his Observations upon St. Barnabas and in which St. Barnabas's Epistle is placed immediately before the Revelations as the Acts of the Apostles and Hermas's Shepherd are immediately after it 12. AND yet after all this we find this same Book not only doubted of by Others among the Ancient Fathers but slighted even by some of those who upon other Occasions have spoken thus highly in its Favour Thus St. Jerome in his Comments Exposes the Folly of that Apochryphal Book as he calls it which in his Catalogue of Writers he had so highly applauded Tertullian who spake if not honourably yet calmly of it whilst a Catholick being become Montanist rejected it even with Scorn And most of the other Fathers who have spoken the highest of it themselves yet plainly enough insinuate that there were those who did not put the same Value upon it Thus Origen mentions some who not only deny'd but despis'd its Authority And Cassian having made use of it in the Point of Free-Will Prosper without more ado rejected it as a Testimony of no Value And what the Judgment of the Latter Ages was as to this matter especially after Pope Gelasius had ranked it among the Apochryphal Books may be seen at large in the Observations of Antonius Augustinus upon that Decree 13. HOW far this has influenced the Learned Men of our present Times in their Censures upon this Work is evident from what many on all sides have freely spoken concerning it Who not only deny it to have been written by Hermas the Companion of St. Paul but utterly cast it off as a Piece of no Worth but rather full of Error and Folly Thus Baronius himself tho' he delivers not his own Judgment concerning it yet plainly enough shews that he ran in with the severest Censures of the Ancients against it And in effect charges it with favouring the Arrians tho' upon a mistaken Authority of St. Athanasius and which by no means proves any such Errour to be in it But Cardinal Bellarmine is more free He tells us that it has many hurtful things in it and particularly that it favours the Novatian Heresie which yet I think a very little Equity in interpreting of some Passages that look that way by others that are directly contrary thereunto would serve to acquit it of Others are yet more severe They censure it as full of Heresies and Fables Tho' this Labbe would be thought to excuse by telling us that they have been foisted into it by some later Interpolations and ought not to be imputed to Hermas the Author of this Book 14. NOR have many of those of the Reform'd Churches been any whit more favourable in their Censures of the present Treatise But then as the Chiefest of the most Ancient Fathers heretofore tho' they admitted it not into the Canon of Holy Scripture yet otherwise paid a very great Deference to it so the more moderate part of the Learned Men of our present Times esteem it as a Piece worthy of all Respect and clear of those Faults which are too lightly charged by some Persons upon it Thus Petavius none of the most favourable Critics upon the Ancient Fathers yet acknowledges as to the present Book that it was never censured by any of the Ancients as guilty of any false Doctrine or Heresie and especially as to the Point of the Holy Trinity Cotelerius one of the latest Editors of it esteems it as an Ecclesiastical Work of good note and a great Defence of the Catholick Faith against the Errors of Montanism Whose Judgment is not only follow'd by their late Historian Natalis Alexander but is made good too in the Defence of it against those Objections which some have brought to lessen its Reputation And for those of our own Communion I shall mention only two but They such as will serve instead of many to all judicious Persons who have at large justified it against the chief of those Exceptions that have been taken at it the One the most Excellent Bishop Pearson in his Vindication of St. Ignatius the Other the Learned Dr. Bull in his Defence of the Nicene Faith in the Point of our Blessed Saviour's Divinity and which he largely shews our present Author to have been far from doing any Prejudice unto 15. SUCH then have been the different Judgments of Learned Men both heretofore and in our present Times concerning this Book It would be too great a Presumption for me to pretend to determine any thing as to this matter and having subjoyn'd the Work it self in our common Language every one may be able to satisfie himself what Value he ought to put upon it That there are many useful things to be found in it but especially in the Second and I think the best part of it cannot be deny'd And for the other Two it must be considered that tho' such Visions as we there read of being
the whole Church in those days what was permitted to be publickly read to the Faithful for their Comfort and Instruction must by this means have received a more than Humane Approbation and ought to be look'd upon by us tho' not of Equal Authority with those Books which they have deliver'd to us as strictly Canonical yet as standing in the first Rank of Ecclesiastical Writings and as containing the true and pure Faith of Christ without the least Error intermix'd with it CHAP. XI Of the Subject of the following Discourses and of the Use that is to be made of Them That in the following Treatises there is deliver'd to us a good account both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in the Apostolical Times This shewn in several particulars What they taught concerning God the Father our Saviour Christ and the Holy Ghost Of Angels and Spirits Of the rest of the Articles of the Apostles Creed Concerning the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper Of the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Authority of them What we meet with in these Treatises concerning the Government of the Church Of the Necessity of Communicating with the Bishops and Pastors of it Of Schismaticks Hereticks and Apostates Of their publick Assembling for the Service of God and what was done by them in those Meetings Of several other Instances of their Discipline particularly of their Fasting and Confession of Sins Of the Care which their Bishops had of the whole Church Of the Respect that was paid to them Of their Martyrs and the Veneration which they thought due to them Of their Practical Instructions and how severe their Morality was shewn in several particulars That upon the whole we may here see what the State of Christianity then was and still ought to be 1. AND now having shewn in the foregoing Chapter what Deference we ought to pay to the Authority of those Holy Men whose Writings I have here collected it may not be amiss in the Third place to enquire What it is which they deliver to us what account we find in them of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in those Times in which they lived 2. IT would be endless for me to go about to make a just Catalogue of all the Particulars of this kind that occur in the following Pieces and I have already in a great measure perform'd it in the Index which I have for that purpose subjoyn'd to them I shall therefore here consider only a few particulars in such Points as may seem most worthy to be remarked and by them as by a short Specimen shew How the Judicious Reader may himself improve it into a more particular History of the Faith and Practice of the Church in the best and most ancient State of it 3. AND 1 st for what concerns the Doctrines of those Times there is hardly any Point that is necessary to be believed or known by us that is not very plainly delivered in Some or Other of the following Pieces 4. HERE we may read what we are to believe concerning the first Article of all of our Creed God the Father That he is One Almighty Invisible the Creator and Maker of all things That he is Omniscient Immense Neither to be comprehended within any Bounds nor so much as to be perfectly conceived by us That his Providence is over all things And that we can none of us flee from him or escape his Knowledg That we are to believe in him to fear him to love him And fearing him to abstain from all Evil. 5. IF from thence we go on to the next Person of the Blessed Trinity Our Saviour Jesus Christ here we shall find all that either our Creed teaches us to profess concerning him or that any Christian need to believe That he Existed not only before he came into the World but from all Eternity That he is not only the Son of God but is himself also God That in the fulness of Time he took upon him our Nature and became Man Was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified under Pontius Pilate That he suffer'd for our Salvation and was raised again from the dead not only by the Power of the Father but by his Own also That he is our High-Priest and Protectour now and shall come again at the End of the World to judge the whole Race of Mankind That there is no coming unto God but by him Insomuch that even the Ancient Fathers who died before his Appearing are yet saved by the same means that we are now 6. AS for what concerns the Holy Spirit the Third Person in the Glorious Godhead he is here set out to us not only as a Person but as distinct from the Father and the Son And to shew what kind of Spirit he is We may here see him joyn'd together in the same Worship with the Father and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 7. AND now I am mentioning the Holy Spirit let me add that we may here see what is needful to be known concerning all the Other Spirits of an inferiour Nature How the Holy Angels minister unto us but especially then when we have most need of them at the time of our Death And that tho' the Devil may attacque us and use all his Arts to draw us away from our Duty yet it must be our own Faults if we are overcome by him and therefore that we ought not to be afraid of him 8. BUT to return to our Creed and the Articles of it Here we may farther see both what a great Obligation there lies upon us to keep up a Communion of Saints in the Unity of the Church on Earth and what is that true Fellowship that we ought to have with those who are gone before us to Heaven That it consists not in the Worship of any tho' never so gloriously exalted by God but in Love and Remembrance in Thanksgiving to God for their Excellencies and in our Prayers to him joyn'd with hearty Endeavours of our own to imitate their Perfections 9. AND whilst we do this we are here assured of the Forgiveness of our Sins too through the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. And that not only of those which we committed before our Baptism but of all such as we shall chance to fall into after if we truly repent of them 10. AS for the next Point the Resurrection of the Body it is not only asserted but at large proved too in the following Discourses There we may see not only that there shall be a future Resurrection but that we shall be raised in the very same Bodies in which we go down into the Grave And that being raised we shall be judged by Christ according to our Works and be either unspeakably rewarded or exceedingly punished and that to all Eternity 11. IF from the Articles of our Creed we go on to the Sacraments of the Church Here we have set out to us the great Benefit of our Baptism and
has multiplied them for his Holy Churches sake is angry with thee because thou hast sinned against me And I answering said unto her Lady If I have sinned against thee tell me where or in what Place or when did I ever speak an unseemly or dishonest Word unto thee Have I not always esteemed thee as a Lady Have I not always reverenced thee as a Sister Why then dost thou imagine these wicked things against me Then she smiling upon me said The desire of Naughtiness has risen up in thy heart Does it not seem to thee to be an ill thing for a Righteous Man to have an evil desire rise up in his heart It is indeed a Sin and that a very great one to such a Man for a righteous Man thinketh what is righteous And whilst he does so and walketh uprightly he shall have the LORD in Heaven favourable unto him in all his Works But as for those who think wickedly in their hearts they take to themselves Death and Captivity and especially those who love this present World and glory in their Riches and regard not the good things that are to come their Souls wander up and down and know not where to fix Now this is the Case of such as are Doubtful who trust not in the LORD and despise and neglect their own life But do thou pray unto the LORD and he will heal thy Sins and the Sins of thy whole House and of all his Saints II. AS soon as she had spoken these Words the Heavens were shut and I remained utterly swallowed up in Sadness and Fear and said within my self If this be laid against me for Sin how can I ever be saved or how shall I ever be able to intreat the LORD for my many and great Sins With what Words shall I beseech him to be merciful unto me As I was thinking over these things and meditating in my self upon them behold a Chair set over against me of the whitest Wool as bright as Snow And there came an old Woman in a bright Garment having a Book in her hand and sate alone and saluted me saying HERMAS hail And I being full of Sorrow and weeping answered Hail Lady and she said unto me Why art thou sad Hermas who wert wont to be patient and modest and always cheerful I answered and said to her Lady a Reproach has been objected to me by an excellent Woman who tells me that I have sinned against her She replied Far be any such thing from the Servant of God But it may be the desire of her has risen up in thy Heart For indeed there is such a Thought even in the Servants of God leading unto Sin Nor ought such a detestable Thought to be in the Servant of God nor should a Spirit that is approved desire that which is evil nor especially HERMAS who contains himself from all wicked Appetites and is full of all Simplicity and of great Innocence III. NEVERTHELESS the LORD is not angry with thee for thine own sake but upon the account of thy House which has committed Wickedness against the LORD and against their Parents And that Act of thy Fondness towards thy Sons in that thou hast not admonished them but hast permitted them to live wickedly and for this Cause the LORD is angry with thee But he will heal all the Evils that are done before thee in thy House For through their Sins and Iniquities thou art wholly consumed in secular Affairs But now the Mercy of God hath taken Compassion upon thee and upon thine House and hath greatly comforted thee only as for thee do not wander but be of an even Mind and comfort thy House As the Workman bringing forth his Work offers it to whomsoever he pleases so shalt thou by teaching every day what is just cut off a great sin Wherefore cease not to admonish thy Sons for the LORD knows that they will repent with all their heart and he will write thee in the Book of Life And when she had said this she added unto me Wilt thou hear me Read I answer'd her Lady I will Hear then said she And opening the Book she read gloriously greatly and wonderfully such things as I could not keep in my Memory For they were terrible Words such as no Man could bear Howbeit I committed her last Words to my Remembrance for they were but few and of great use Behold the mighty LORD who by his invincible Power and with his excellent Wisdom made the World and by his glorious Counsel encompassed the Beauty of his Creature and with the Word of his strength fix'd the Heaven and founded the Earth upon the Waters and by his powerful Vertue establish'd his Holy Church which he hath blessed Behold he will remove the Heavens and the Mountains the Hills and the Seas and all things shall be made Plain for his Elect that he may render unto them the Promise which he has promised with much Honor and Joy if so be that they shall keep the Commandments of God which they have received with great Faith IV. AND when she had made an end of Reading she rose out of the Chair and behold four Young-men came and carried the Chair to the East And she called me unto her and touch'd my Breast and said unto me Did my Reading please thee I answered Lady These last things please me but what went before was severe and hard She said unto me These last things are for the Righteous but the foregoing for the Revolters and Heathen And as she was talking with me Two more appeared and took her up on their shoulders and went to the East where the Chair was And she went chearfully away and as she was going said unto me HERMAS be of good chear VISION II. Again of his Neglect in Correcting his Talkative Wife and of his Lewd Sons and of his Own Manners I. AS I was on the Way to Cumae about the same time that I had been the last Year I began to call to mind the Vision I formerly had And again the Spirit carried me away and brought me into the same Place in which I had been the Year before And when I was come into the Place I fell down upon my Knees and began to Pray unto the LORD and to Honour his Name that he had esteemed me worthy and had manifested unto me my former Sins And when I arose from Prayer behold I saw over against me the Old Woman whom I had seen the last Year walking and reading in a certain Book And she said unto me Can'st thou tell these things to the Elect of God I answered and said unto her Lady I cannot retain such great things in my Memory but give me the Book and I will write them down Take it says she and see that thou restore it again to me As soon as I had receiv'd it I went aside into a certain Place of the Field and transcribed every Letter for I found no
no longer continu'd to these latter Ages may warrantably be despised in the Pretenders of the present days yet we cannot doubt but that at the time when this Book was written the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were very frequent And we need not question but that such Revelations too among the rest were communicated to Holy Men for the Benefit of the Church 16. BUT I shall not pursue this Subject any farther Nor will I add very much to what I have before said with relation to St. Clement and his First Epistle concerning that Part which still remains of a Second under his Name and which concludes the following Collection 17. THAT this Second Epistle was not of so great a Reputation among the Primitive Fathers as the foregoing Eusebius not only plainly tells us but gives us this Testimony of it That he could not find it quoted as the Other was by any of them But St. Jerome is more severe he represents it to us as rejected by them And Photius after him calls it a Spurious Piece And not to mention any more our most Reverend Bishop Usher not only concurs in the same Censure but offers several Arguments too in proof of it 18. AND yet when all is done it do's not appear but that St. Clement was indeed the Author of this as well as of the other Epistle before spoken of tho' it was not so much esteem'd nor by consequence so generally known to the Ancients as that In the Manuscript of St. Thecla we find this set forth under the same Title with the other And in all the other Catalogues of the Ancients wherever One is spoken of the Other is for the most part set together with it As may particularly be observed in the Apostolical Canons one of the most early Collections of this kind 19. NOR does Eusebius deny this Epistle to be St. Clement's but only says that it was not so celebrated as the Other And true it is we do not find it either so often or so expresly mention'd as that But yet if the Conjecture of Wendeline approved by a very Learned Man of our own Country may be admitted Eusebius himself will afford us an Instance of one who not only spake of it but spake of it as wont to be publickly read in the Church of Corinth For discoursing of the Epistles of Dionysius Bishop of that See he tells us that in One of them which he wrote to the Romans he took notice of St. Clement's Epistle in these Words Today have we kept the LORD 's Day with all Holiness in which we have read your Epistle as we shall always continue to read it for our Instruction together with the former written to us by Clement What that Epistle was that Dionysius here speaks of as written by the Church of Rome to that of Corinth and publickly read in the Congregation there it do's not appear nor can we give any account of it unless it was that which St. Clement wrote to them in the Name of the Church of Rome and which Eusebius tells us was publickly read in that Church in those days But then if this be so as I think it most likely that it is we must conclude that the Epistle of which we are now speaking was indeed the first written to them however called his Second Epistle and wont to be read together with that other which he sent in the Name of the Roman Church to them in their Assemblies 20. NOW that which yet more favours this Opinion is that it seems by many Arguments to appear that this Letter which he wrote in his own Name tho' as being sent from a particular Person and not in it self so considerable as the Other it was usually set after that which he wrote by the Order of the Church and in their Name to the Corinthians was yet indeed the first written And for being read in the Churches Epiphanius expresly tells us that this Epistle no less than the foregoing was in his time wont to be publickly read in the Congregation And tho' St. Jerome and Photius indeed speak but meanly of it in those places where they seem to deliver the Judgment of Eusebius rather than their own Opinion yet upon other Occasions they make no exception against the Authority of it but equally ascribe it to St. Clement with the Other of which there is no doubt 21. IT were an easie matter to shew that the same was the Opinion of the other Ecclesiastical Writers of those Times But this having been done at large by Wendeline first and since by Cotelerius and his perpetual Transcriber Natalis Alexander I shall forbear and conclude with this That it is an Epistle tho' not of equal Value with the Other yet of good use and which if it were not written by St. Clement as I make no doubt but it was has yet nothing in it that is in the least unworthy of him 22. AND now having said thus much concerning these two last Pieces and with which the present Collection is concluded I have but this to add That they are Both of them now first of all put into our own Language and presented to the perusal of the English Reader The Former from the Old Latin Version which is by some much complained of tho' by others as stifly defended The Latter from the Original Greek as it was publish'd by Mr. Patrick Young from the Alexandrian Manuscript the only Copy that for ought appears do's at this day remain of it 23. IF any one shall ask how it came to pass that our Learned Country-Man Mr. Burton when he set out the former Epistle of St. Clement in English did not subjoyn this to it the Answer which himself warrants us to return is this That taking what has been said by the Antients before mentioned in the strictest Sense he looked upon this Epistle as a Spurious Piece And which tho' it carried the Name of St. Clement was yet truly no more his than those Constitutions and Recognitions which are also publish'd under the same Name but are generally acknowledged to be none of his as in the prosecution of this Discourse I shall take occasion more particularly to shew 24. AS for the Epistle it self I have concluded it somewhat sooner than the Greek which yet remains of it do's But that which I have omitted being only an imperfect Piece of a Sentence and which would have made the Conclusion much more abrupt than it is now I chose rather to add what follow'd here than to continue it there And to make the Reader the better amends for this Liberty I have not only subjoyn'd what remains of St. Clement but have endeavour'd to make out the Sense of what is wanting in our Copy from the Other Clement who seems to have follow'd this Original FOR the LORD himself being asked by a certain Person when his Kingdom should come answer'd When Two shall be One and that which is without as that
which is within and the Male with the Female neither Male nor Female Now Two are One when we speak the Truth to each other and there is without Hypocrisie one Soul in two Bodies And that which is without as that which is within He means this he calls the Soul that which is within and the Body that which is without As therefore thy Body appears so let thy Soul be seen by its good Works And the Male with the Female neither Male nor Female He means this He calls our Anger the Male our Concupiscence the Female When therefore a Man is come to such a pass that he is subject neither to the One or Other of these both of which through the prevalence of Custom and an evil Education cloud and darken the Reason but rather having dispell'd the Mist arising from them and being full of Shame shall by Repentance have united both his Soul and Spirit in the Obedience of Reason then as Paul says there is in us neither Male nor Female CHAP. IX That the Pieces here put together are All that remain of the most Primitive and Apostolical Antiquity That there are several Other Treatises pretended to have been written within the compass of this Period But none such as truly come up to it Of the Epistle of our Saviour Christ to Abgarus and the Occasion of it That it is not probable that any such Letter was written by him The Epistles ascribed to the Virgin Mary spurious So is the Epistle pretended to have been written by St. Paul to the Laodiceans Of the Acts the Gospel the Preaching and Revelations of St. Peter Of the Liturgy attributed to St. Matthew And the Discourse said to have been written by him concerning the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Of the Liturgies ascribed to St. Peter St. Mark and St. James Of the Gospels attributed to several of the Apostles Of the Apostles Creed and the Canons called Apostolical Of the other Pieces under the Names of St. Clement and St. Ignatius And particularly of the Recognitions and Epitome of Clement Of the History of the Life Miracles and Assumption of St. John pretended to have been written by Prochorus One of the Seven Deacons Of the Histories of St. Peter and St. Paul ascribed to Linus Bishop of Rome Of the Lives of the Apostles attributed to Abdias Bishop of Babylon Of the Epistles of St. Martial Of the Passion of St. Andrew written by the Presbyters of Achaja Of the Works ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite That upon the whole the Pieces here put together are all that remain of the Apostolical Times after the Books of the Holy Scripture 1. AND now having said thus much concerning the several Pieces here put together and the Authors of them it is time to go on to the Other Part of this Discourse and consider what may be fit to be observed concerning them All together and as they are now first of all set forth in our own Language in the following Collection 2. NOW the first thing that may be fit to be here taken notice of is That the following Collection is truly what the Title pretends it to be A full and perfect Collection of all the Genuine Writings that remain to us of the Apostolical Fathers And carries on the Antiquity of the Church from the time of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament to about an Hundred and Fifty Years after Christ. 3. TO make this the more evident it will be necessary for me to consider what those other Writings are which some have endeavoured to raise up into the Rank of Apostolical Antiquity and shew that they are indeed Writings either of no Credit nor Authority at all or at least not of such as they are falsly pretended to be And to the end I may proceed the more clearly in this Enquiry I will divide the several Pieces now to be examined into the Three following Ranks The First of Those which are Antecedent to any I have here collected as being pretended to have been written either by our Saviour Christ himself or by the Virgin Mary or by the Apostles The Second of such Other Tracts as are ascribed to some of those Fathers whose Genuine Remains I have here put together And the Third of such Pieces as are said to have been written by some Other Authors who lived in the Apostolical Times and wrote if we will believe some Men several Books much more considerable than any I have here collected 4. OF the first of these kinds is that pretended Letter of our Blessed Saviour to Abgarus King of Edessa a little City of Arabia a part of which Country was subject to him Now this may seem to be of so much the better Credit in that Eusebius tells us he had himself faithfully translated it out of the Syriac Language as he found it in the Archives of Edessa Nor was it very long after that Ephraem a Deacon of that Church made mention of this Communication between our Saviour and Abgarus as the Occasion of the first Conversion of that Place and exhorted his People upon that Account the rather to hold fast to their Holy Profession and to live worthy of it Evagrius who wrote about Two Hundred Years after this not only confirmed all that had been said by Both these but added from Procopius several other Circumstances unknown for ought appears to either of them And particularly that of the Impression which our Saviour had made of his Face upon a Napkin and sent to that Prince and which he tells us was of no small Advantage to them in the defence of their Town against Chosdroes King of Persia who by this means was hindred from taking of it 5. AND now since the Addition of this new Story to the old account of this Matter it is not to be wondred if the Patrons of Images among the Greeks from henceforth contended with all Earnestness for the Truth of both Insomuch that we find they instituted a particular Festival in Memory of it August the XVI th and transcribed at large the whole History of this Adventure into their Menaeon and recited it upon it 6. AND upon the same account I suppose it is that some of our late Authors tho' they do not care to assert the Truth of this Story are yet unwilling to deny all Credit to it Baronius reports both the Relation and the Epistle from Eusebius but will not answer for the Truth of either Spondanus delivers the same from the Cardinal that he had done from Eusebius and passes no Censure either One way or Other upon it Only in his Margent he observes that Gretser the Jesuit in his Discourse of Images c. had vindicated the Authority of our Saviour's Epistle to Abgarus from the Exceptions of Casaubon in his Exercitations upon Baronius against it Gerard Vossius in his Scholia upon the Testament of St. Ephraem contents himself to refer us to the Authority of the Ancients for the Truth of
Authority But then as Du Pin well observes it is certain that the Ancients knew nothing of it nor are the Acts we now have quoted by any before the time of Etherius before-mentioned And yet how they could have escaped the Search of the Primitive Fathers had they been extant in their days it is hard to imagin 34. BUT much less is the Credit that ought to be given to the pretended Works of Dionysius the Areopagite Which as Alexander confesses two very great Criticks of his own Communion to have deny'd to have been written by that Holy Man so has a third very lately given such Reasons to shew that the Writings now extant under his Name could not have been composed by him as ought to satisfie every considering Man of their Imposture For not to say any thing of what occurs every where in those Discourses utterly disagreeable to the State of the Church in the time that that Dionysius lived Can it be imagin'd that had such considerable Books as these been written by him none of the Ancients of the first IV Centuries should have heard any thing of them Or shall we say that they did know of them as well as the Fathers that lived after and yet made no mention of them tho' they had so often occasion to have done it as Eusebius and St. Jerome not to name any Others had 35. IN short one of the first times that we hear of them is in the Dispute between the Severians and Catholicks about the Year D. XXX.II When the Former produced them in favour of their Errours and the Latter rejected them as Books utterly unknown to all Antiquity and therefore not worthy to be received by them 36. IT is therefore much to be wondered that after so many Arguments as have been brought to prove how little Right these Treatises have to such a Primitive Antiquity nevertheless not only Natalis Alexander but a Man of much better Judgment I mean Emanuel Schelstrat the late Learned Keeper of the Vatican Library should still undertake the Defence of them When they were written or by what Author is very uncertain But as Bishop Pearson supposes them to have been first set forth about the latter end of Eusebius's Life so Dr. Cave conjectures that the Elder Apollinarius may very probably have been the Author of them Others there are who place them yet later and suspect Pope Gregory the Great to have had a hand in the Forgery And indeed the Arguments which our very Learned Mr. Dodwell brings to prove that they were originally written by one of the Roman Church are not without their just Weight But whatever becomes of this thus much is certain that these Books were not written before the middle of the IV th Century and therefore are without the Compass of the present Undertaking 37. AND now having taken such a View as was necessary for the present Design of all those other Pieces which have been obtruded upon the World for Apostolical Writings besides what is either here collected or has been before publish'd in the Sacred Books of the New Testament I suppose I may with good Grounds conclude that the little I have now put together is all that can with any Certainty be depended upon of the most Primitive Fathers And therefore that from these next to the Holy Scriptures we must be content to draw the best Account we can of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church for the first Hundred Years after the Death of Christ. CHAP. X. Of the Authority of the following Treatises and the Deference that ought to be paid to them upon the account of it This is shewn from the following Considerations 1st That the Authors of them were Contemporary with the Apostles and instructed by them 2dly They were Men of an eminent Character in the Church and therefore to be sure such as could not be ignorant of what was taught in it 3dly They were very careful to preserve the Doctrine of Christ in its Purity and to oppose such as went about to corrupt it 4thly They were Men not only of a perfect Piety but of great Courage and Constancy and therefore such as cannot be suspected to have had any Design to prevaricate in this Matter 5thly They were endued with a large Portion of the Holy Spirit and as such could hardly err in what they deliver'd as the Gospel of Christ. And 6thly Their Writings were approved by the Church in those days which could not be mistaken in its Approbation of them BUT Secondly and to proceed yet farther The following Collection pretends to a just Esteem not only upon the account of its Perfection as it is an Entire Collection of what remains to us of the Apostolical Fathers but yet much more from the Respect that is due to the Authors themselves whose Writings are here put together 2. IF First we consider them as the Contemporaries of the Holy Apostles Some of them bred up under our Saviour Christ himself and the rest instructed by those Great Men whom he commissioned to go forth and preach to all the World and endued with an extraordinary Assistance of his Blessed Spirit for the doing of it We cannot doubt but that what they deliver to us must be without Controversie the pure Doctrine of the Gospel What Christ and his Apostles taught and what they had themselves received from their own Mouths This is the least Deference we can pay to them to look upon them as faithful Deliverers of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church in those most early Times When Heresies were not as yet so openly broke out in it Nor the true Faith so dangerously corrupted with the Mixture of those erroneous Opinions which afterwards more fatally infected the Minds of Men and divided the Church into so many Parties and Factions So that here then we may read with Security and let me add with Respect too And not doubt but what these Holy Men deliver to us is as certainly the true Doctrine of Christ as if we had received it like them from our Saviour and his Apostles 3. BUT Secondly The Authors of the following Pieces had not only the Advantage of living in the Apostolical Times and of hearing the Holy Apostles and conversing with them but they were of a very Eminent Character in the Church too Men raised up to the highest pitch of Honour and Authority in some of the most famous Churches of the World Chosen by the Apostles to preside in their own proper Sees at Rome at Antioch at Smyrna One of them set apart by the express Command of the Holy Ghost to be the Companion of the Great St. Paul in his Work of the Ministry and the rest for the most part commended for their rare Endowments in the inspired Writings of the Holy Scriptures delivered to us And therefore we may be sure that such Men as these must needs have been very carefully instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel and have had
Offices were by the Spirit enabled to make of them So 3 dly If we look to those Accounts which still remain to us of them they will plainly shew us that they were endued and that in a very singular manner with this Power and Gift of the Blessed Spirit 19. OF Barnabas the Holy Scripture it self bears Witness that He was a good Man full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith Acts xi 24 Hermas is another of whom St. Paul himself makes mention Rom. xvi 14 as an early Convert to Christianity And what extraordinary Revelations he had and how he foretold the Troubles that were to come upon the Church his following Visions sufficiently declare 20 CLEMENT is not only spoken of by the same Apostle but with this advantageous Character too that he was the Fellow-Labourer of that great Man and had his Name written in the Book of Life Phil. iv 3 And when we shall consider to how much lesser and worser Men these Gifts were usually communicated at that time we can hardly think that so excellent a Man and the Companion of so great an Apostle employed first in the planting of the Gospel with him and then set to govern one of the most considerable Churches in the World should have been destitute of it 21. AS for St. Ignatius I have before observed that he had this Gift and by the help of it warned the Philadelphians against falling into those Divisions which he fore-saw were about to rise up amonst them 22. POLYCARP not only Prophecy'd of his own Death but spake often times of things that were to come And has this Witness from the whole Church of Smyrna that nothing of all that he foretold ever failed of coming to pass according to his Prediction 23. IT remains then that the Holy Men whose Writings are here subjoyn'd were not only instructed by such as were Inspir'd but were themselves Inspir'd too And therefore we must conclude that they have not only not mistaken the Mind of the Apostles in what they deliver to us as the Gospel of Christ but were not capable of doing of it By consequence that we ought to look upon their Writings tho' not of equal Authority with those which we call in a singular manner The Holy Scriptures because neither were the Authors of them called in so extraordinary a way to the writing of them nor endued with so eminent a Portion of the Gifts of the Blessed Spirit for the doing of it Nor have their Writings been judg'd by the common Consent of the Church in those inspir'd Ages of it when they were so much better qualified than we are now to judge of the Divine Authority of those kind of Writings to be of equal Dignity with those of the Apostles and Evangelists yet worthy of a much greater Respect than any Composures that have been made since however Men may seem to have afterwards written with more Art and to have shewn a much greater Stock of humane Learning than what is to be found not only in the following Pieces but even in the Sacred Books of the New Testament it self 24. I SHALL add but One Consideration more the better to shew the true Deference that ought to be paid to the Treatises here collected and that is Sixthly That they were not only written by such Men as I have said instructed by the Apostles and judg'd worthy by them both for their Knowledg and their Integrity to govern some of the most eminent Churches in the World and lastly endued with the extraordinary Gift of the Holy Ghost and upon all these Accounts to be much respected by us But were moreover received by the Church in those First Ages as Pieces of a very great value which could not be mistaken in its Judgment of them 25. THE Epistle of St. Clement was a long time read publickly with the Other Scriptures in the Congregations of the Faithful made a part of their Bible and was numbred among the Sacred Writings however finally separated from them And not only the Apostolical Canons but our most ancient Alexandrian Manuscript gives the same place to the Second that it do's to the First of them And Epiphanius after both tells us that they were both of them wont to be read in the Church in his Time 26. THE Epistle of St. Polycarp with that of the Church of Smyrna were not only very highly approved of by particular Persons but like those of St. Clement were read publickly too in the Assemblies of the Faithful And for those of Ignatius besides that we find a mighty Value put upon them by the Christians of those Times they are sealed to us by this Character of St. Polycarp That they are such Epistles by which we may be greatly profited For says he They treat of Faith and Patience and of all things that pertain to Edification in the LORD 27. THE Epistle of Barnabas is not only quoted with great Honour by those of the next Age to him but as I have before shewn is expresly called Catholick and Canonical And in the ancient Stichometry of Cotelerius we find it placed the very next to the Epistle of St. Jude and no difference put between the Authority of the One and of the Other 28. AND for the Book of Hermas both Eusebius and St. Jerome tell us that it was also used to be read in the Churches In the same Stichometry I before mentioned it is placed in the very next Rank to the Acts of the Holy Apostles And in some of the most ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament we find it written in the same Volume with the Books of the Apostles and Evangelists as if it had been esteem'd of the same Value and Authority with them 29. SO that now then we must either say that the Church in those days was so little careful of what was taught in it as to allow such Books to be publickly read in its Congregations the Doctrine whereof it did not approve Or we must confess that the following Pieces are deliver'd to us not only by the Learned Men of the First Ages of the Church but by the whole Body of the Faithful as containing the pure Doctrine of Christ and must be look'd upon to have nothing in them but what was then thought worthy of all Acceptation 30. NOW how much this adds to the Authority of these Discourses may easily be concluded from what I have before observed For since it is certain that in those Times the Extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed not only upon the Bishops and Pastors of the Church tho' upon them in a more eminent degree but also upon a great many of the common Christians too Since One particular Design of these Gifts was for the Discerning of Prophecies to judg of what was proposed by any to the Church or written for the Use and Benefit of it We cannot doubt but what was universally approved of and allow'd not by a few Learned Men but by