and has hundreds of Expressions more barbarous and improper then this and a complete Body of the Scripture preserv'd without either Forgery or Falsification without either Addition or Substraction c. Which Words are an express assertion that the Doctrine and Discipline and Scriptures which they then had were the same which the Apostles deliver'd and were then receiv'd in all Churches of the World with which Ireneus and the Gauls had any Communication Tertullian (u) l. 4. against Marcion c. 5. appeals to all the Apostolick Churches to the Galatians to the Thessalonians to the Romans to the Colossians to the Ephesians c. and in a word to all the Churches which joyn'd in Communion with them to prove the Copy of St. Luke which the Catholicks had and not that of Marcion to be Genuine and Sincere He adds too that the same Authority will justify the other three Gospels likewise since they were receiv'd (x) Per illas secundum illas from and according to the Copies of those Churches (y) Of Prescript c. 33 34. He produces in another place Testimonies from several Epistles of St. Paul from St. Peter and St. John and then for further confirmation of the Truth of what he urges (z) c. 36. exhorts those who had a mind to exercise their Curiosity in the business of their Salvation to run over the Churches planted by these and the other Apostles where they might find * Rigaltius and after him F. Simon will have no more meant here by Authentick Letters or Writings then that what the Apostles Wrote was still preserv'd in the Original Language in those Places But I would fain know what great matter there was in that The Epistles were first Wrote in Greek and were without question still Extant in Greek not only in the Apostolick but in all those Churches to which that Language remain'd still familiar if not in others too Tertullian certainly design'd something Singular and Peculiar to the Churches planted by the Apostles when he say'd their Authentick Letters or Writings were kept there and consequently must intend the very Originals of them And why these two Learned Men should judge otherwise since this is the most natural though not the only Sense of the Word I cannot guess For 't is certain Manuscripts have been preserv'd many hundred years longer then the time was which pass'd between the Apostles and the days of Tertullian their Authentick Writings or Letters still remaining (a) Authenticae literae expressing the Doctrine and representing the Piety of each of them A little after he brings in the Catholick Church thus arguing with the Hereticks concerning the Scripture (b) c. 37. p. 215. Who are you When and whence came you hither What do you in my ground since you belong not to me By what Right O Marcion do you cut down my Woods What Authority have you Valentinus to turn the Course of my Fountains Who gave you Power Apelles to overthrow my Fences What do you Sowing and Feeding here at your Pleasures The Possession is mine I have enjoy'd it for a long time I first enjoy'd it I derive a certain Original from the Authors themselves whose it was I am the Heir of the Apostles c. Thus Writ Ireneus and Tertullian concerning the Scriptures of the New Testament and what they thus Writ certainly concerns all those Pooks which they held for Genuine and Pure in opposition to the Hereticks of their Times These they tell us were deriv'd from the Apostles by the hands of those Churches which they founded all over the World them they produce for their Vouchers in the present case and appeal likewise to the Doctrine embrac'd in every one of them which was very consonant to the Books of the Catholicks but not to those of the Hereticks Thus much we may easily learn from Ireneus He tells us (c) l. 1. c. 17. That the several sorts of Hereticks with which he had to do had forg'd a great number of Apocryphal and Spurious Pieces These without question contain'd the Principles of their Doctrine and were sent abroad into the World as the chief Grounds and Foundations of what they taught But all was Cheat and Cousenage and the Fictions of their own Brains What they vented was Heretical and Erroneous as this father proves at large from hence (d) l. 3. c. 3 4. that it was contrary to the Faith which the Apostles had planted in all places and which had been larnt and might be learnt every day from the Churches founded by them And again in another Place l. 3. c. 11. p. 259. he rejects some Gospels of the Valentinians because they contain'd Blasphemies and Doctrines contrary to those which had been Publish'd by the Apostles So likewise Tertullian speaks of some of the same Hereticks (e) Of Prescript c. 32. p. 213. Let their Doctrine be compar'd with the Apostles and we shall quickly see by the contrariety thereof that it proceeds neither from any of them nor their Disciples The Apostles did not contradict one another neither did their Disciples contradict them The Churches which they founded agree in the same Doctrines and so do those too which being of a later Original deriv'd their Instruction from them which were planted before them and therefore may be call'd Apostolical as well as they because owning and embracing the same Faith Let the Hereticks show that they deserve that Title upon either of these accounts that these Churches acknowledge the same Doctrine which they do and receive them to Peace and Communion as Brethren But this they cannot do (f) c. 38. p. 216. They are Forreigners they are Enemies to the Apostles because they teach a different Faith And since their Faith is so different we may be sure they have adulterated the Scriptures For they who were resolv'd to teach perversly were under a necessity of corrupting those Books upon which their Doctrine was to be grounded Whereas we who preserve the Doctrine entire have preserv'd the Books so too without changing or adding or taking away We teach nothing but what was to be found in the Scriptures from the beginning before they were corrupted and interpolated Before Marcion had lay'd violent hands upon them employing a Knife and not a Style and cutting away whatever he thought convenient and was contrary to his Errors and Heresies (g) c. 19. †Vbi apparuerit esse veritatem disciplinae fidei Christianae illic erit veritas Scripturarum For where the Truth of the Christian Faith and Doctrine appears there the Genuine and true Copies of the Scripture are certainly to be found Having thus given a large account of the Testimony which these two very Ancient Writers of the Christian Church give to the Books of the New Testament I shall now pass on to remark before I conclude what Opinion an Eminent Heathen even Julian the Apostate that bitter and inveterate Enemy of
Luke is ascrib'd to Paul And we learn from (c) Ecel Hist l. 2. c. 15. Eusebius that both Papias and Clemens of Alexandria attested that the Romans having prevail'd with St. Mark to Write his Gospel what he had done was reveal'd to St. Peter by the Holy Ghost who thereupon Authoriz'd the Work and appointed it to be Read Publickly in the Church And the same (d) L. 6. c. 25. Historian informs us from Origen that St. Paul approv'd and recommended the Gospel of St. Luke †St. Jerom in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers in Luke tells us that many suppos'd that when St. Paul spoke of his own Gospel Bom. 2.16 2 Tim. 2.8 he meant that of St. Luke And he informs us also before in Simon Peter that the Gospel according to St. Mark was say'd to be St. Peters That is I suppose Wrote by his Instruction and with his Approbation being drawn up principally for the use of the Gentiles To which may be added what he tells us in (e) L. 3. c. 24. another Place that the three other Gospels being brought to St. John he Read them over and Perus'd them carefully and when he had so done justified what they had wrote and confirm'd the Truth thereof with his own Testimony Though for Reasons there set down he thought fit to make another Relation of his own and add thereto such Parriculars as had been omitted by the others The Acts of the Apostles as Mr. Dodwell observes Sect. 39. were probably wrote by St. Luke at the same time with the Gospel or History of our Saviour and therefore fall under the same Consideration They were the Second Volum Part or Treatise of the same Book as appears from Acts 1.1 and therefore though St. Luke's Name was not put to them yet it was never doubted in the Church who was the Author His Name was prefix'd to learnt from and preserv'd in the first part the Gospel from which the Acts seem afterwards to have been separated though at first they went together for the convenience of the Readers that so the Gospels all making up one Book by themselves as was usual formerly under the Name of the Book of the Gospels might be the more easily compar'd together Now this makes a great difference between the Writings of these two Evangelists and those of St. Clemens and St. Barnabas though suppos'd Genuine These latter were never recommended or attested by any of the Apostles and therefore could never expect that Reception and Authority in the VVorld which the others found nor to have the same place in the Canon IV. We Read p. 56. in so many words that there is not one single Book of the New Testament which was not refus'd by some of the Ancients as unjustly Father'd upon the Apostles and really forg'd by their Adversaries To which I answer That either our Author Equivocates in this Place or asserts that which he can never prove to be true For as I show'd above p. 10 c. the four Gospels the Acts thirteen Epistles of St. Paul the first of St. Peter and the first of St. John were all along admitted by the Catholick Church and never that appears after a sufficient Promulgation oppos'd by any who held her Communion The Hereticks indeed rejected some one some other parts of the New Testament but to understand them only by the Word Ancients exclusively of the Catholicks was certainly design'd to impose upon the unwary Reader and can never be excus'd from foul dealing since that Expression is commonly taken in another Sense But perhaps it may be here ask'd why the Testimony of Hereticks in a matter of Fact should not be as good as that of Catholicks and why they may not be admitted as Witnesses of what Books were or ought to be esteem'd Canonical as well as others To this I answer 1. That the Catholicks gave clear and evident proof of the Truth of what they asserted when the Hereticks could give none that was of any value For as we learn from (f) L. 4. c. 63. Jreneus (g) I. 4. against Marcion c. 4. Of Presciption c. 36. See these places insisted on hereafter Sect. XXXIV Tertullian and others All the Churches which had been planted by the Apostles and those who held Communion with them were on their side These all agreed in the Books these all agreed in the same Gospels and Epistles which they affirm'd they had receiv'd in a certain succession from the first Age. The Tradition was every where the same as to the Books mention'd p. 10. and might well be esteem'd undoubted since they were no further remov'd from the Disciples of our Saviour in the days of Jreneus then we are now from our Grandfathers The Bishops and Churches of his time convey'd the Canon by Written as well as Oral Testimony to the next Ages and so enabled them to run down the Forgeries of Hereticks as they had done before them who could not give that Proof and Evidence for their Suppositions which the Catholicks did for their True and Genuine Writings They could not deduce them from the Apostles since (h) Jreneus l. 3. c. 4. l. 5. c. 20. Tertul. of Prescript c. 29 30. Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 7. p. 764. the Founders of the several Sects the Authors of these Heresies Forgeries and Corruptions as Valentinus Basilides Apelles Marcion c. were much latter then they And when application was made to the most Ancient Churches in the World which the immediate Disciples of our Lord had taught in their own Persons or to those which joyn'd in Communion with them they all gave in their Testimonies both against the Books and Doctrin And this brings me to a Second Argument 2. (i) Jren. l. 1. c. 17. Coll. cum l. 3. c. 2 c. Tertull. of Prescript c. 32 38. See also Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 3. c. 25. at the end See these places out of Jreneus and Tertullian insisted on more fully hereafter Sect. XXXIV The Books which the Hereticks forg'd contradicted that Doctrin which the Apostles had taught in the Churches they planted This was sufficiently known in those Ages which were at so little a distance from our Saviour by the general Tradition of all the Churches in the World And therefore those * Eusebius l. 3. c. 25. tells us that several Books Publish'd under the Venerable Names of St. Peter St. Thomas St. Matthias c. were and ought to be rejected as Spurious for this Reason among others that they contain'd Doctrins contrary to those which had been Taught and Publish'd by the Apostles whence it was Evident that they were the Forgeries and Contrivances of Wicked Men. Books were justly concluded Authentick that besides good Testimony agreed with and those Supposititious which were repugnant to the Doctrin of the Apostles 3. These Arguments have been judg'd so convincing that the whole Christian World has given a Verdict on their side For the Doctrin of
the least notice of the answer which is to be found in the same place from whence he drew his Objection For this Objection is quoted by our Author from the Second Book of Origen against Celsus p. 77. and there he might have found this answer too that they were the Hereticks the Marcionites the Valentinians and the Lucianists some of whom also (t) L. 1. c. 29. Jreneus and (u) Against Marcion l. 4. c. 5. Tertullian positively accuse of the same tricks who were guilty of these Prevarications For which the Catholicks were no more answerable then the Church of England was for the Murther of Charles the First VII To Celsus in the same Page our Author joyns the Manicheans fitly enough I confess who shew'd other Scriptures and deny'd the Genuineness of the whole New Testament Whether will not Men go or what will they not do to serve a design He knows or at least might know that the Manicheans were as Extravagant and Whimsical a sort of Hereticks as any that troubled the Christian Church They held as (x) Heres 66. Epiphanius informs us That there were two Supreme Gods the one a good the other a bad one that they were always at War with one another that Manes was the Holy Ghost that the Souls of Men after their decease should pass into the Bodies of such Beasts as they had Eaten when they were alive or be united to those Trees which they had planted that the Sun and Moon were Ships which convey'd the faithful of their Sect to Heaven and that the Light of the Moon depended on the number of the Souls in it which when she was full she emptied into the Sun by degrees and so grew dark again These things they believ'd or at least maintain'd with Twenty more of as absurd a Nature And now I pray what does the Opinion which such as these had of the Canon signify They could find nothing in the Books of the Catholicks wherewith to justify their Notions and therefore (w) S. Aug. Treatise of Heresys n. 46. rejected their Authority and made use of others for their peculiar Doctrins But our Author might as well have set up the Alchoran in opposition to the New Testament and for so doing have alledg'd the Judgment and Testimony of the Turks For laying aside the Name they seem to be every jot as good Christians as the Manicheans Here our Author brings in two Passages from Faustus the Manichee to show that He and those of his Sect rejected the whole New Testament That they did so in effect is evident and undoubted for they made it of no Authority by refusing to be concluded by Arguments drawn from thence pretending that it contain'd many Errors which had been foisted into the several Books thereof by the Tricks and Cheats of succeeding Ages long after the Deaths of the Apostles They maintain'd it was full of Corruptions and Falsifications And therefore Faustus boasts (y) St. August against Fausius l. 18. c. 3. that the Manichean Faith alone secur'd the Professors thereof from all danger of Heresy by instructing them not to believe every thing which was written in the Name of our Saviour but to try whether what they Read to have been taught by him was really true sound and uncorrupted For as he goes on there are many Tares mingled with the Wheat which an Enemy during the times of Night and Darkness has Sown and Scattered in almost all the Scriptures for the infecting and poisoning the good seed And again (z) L. 32. c. 1. he asks the Catholicks What reason they had to think it strange if he selecting those Passages out of the New Testament that were most pure and conduc'd to his Salvation should fling away all the rest which had been fraudulently convey'd into it by their Predecessors and sullied the Native Beauty and Majesty of the Truth This was their constant Practice when they were press'd with any Texts which they could not reconcile to their fond Opinions they without more ado slighted their Authority affirming the Testimonies produc'd against them were forg'd and no part of the Doctrin deliver'd by our Blessed Lord and his Apostles And therefore St. Augustine (a) L. 13. c. 5. l. 22. c. 15. l. 32. c. 19. accuses them as receiving the Scriptures only for fashion's sake while by asserting them to be falsified and corrupted they perfectly detracted from their Authority that is if I understood him aright they pretended upon occasion to have a deference for the New Testament whereas really they had none For they charg'd it with Corruption and acknowledg'd nothing as an Article of Faith purely because contain'd in the Books and upon the warrant thereof but because they judg'd it true upon other accounts and for this Reason were willing to own that it (b) L. 33. c. 3. might possibly have been deliver'd by Christ or his Disciples And therefore I readily joyn with our Author and acknowledgd that the Manichees really rejected the whole New Testament not only because there are several passages of Faustus which plainly intimate as much but also because St. Augustine himself seems clearly to have understood them in that Sense For thus we learn from him (c) L. 32. c. 16. that these Hereticks affirm'd their Paraclet Manicheus had taught them that the Scriptures even (d) See the beginning of that Chapter the Scriptures of the New Testament receiv'd for Canonical by the Catholicks were not the Works of the Apostles but wrote by others in their Names And we Read again how the same worthy Teacher had inform'd them (e) L. 32. c. 18. towards the end that the Evangelical Writings part of which they refus'd to admit were not the Apostles And accordingly we shall observe by and by that this Father was so sensible how far these miserable Hereticks had been seduc'd in this matter that he thought himself concern'd directly to answer this Objection and prove against his Adversary Faustus that whatever he and his Party pretended the Gospels and Epistles admitted by the Catholick Church were Genuine and Authentick That therefore we may allow our Author and his Objection against the Canon of the New Testament drawn from the Manicheans all the fair play that can be desir'd I shall state the full Sense thereof in the two following Propositions 1. The Books of the New Testament were not wrote by the Apostles or Apostolical Men (f) See S. Aug. against Faustus l. 33. c. 3. but drawn up several years after them out of reports Traditions and Historical Memoirs 2. Whoever they were that drew them up they falsified and corrupted the pure Doctrins of Christianity by inserting several Errors and contradictions among the Truth And therefore the Manichees admitted the Books just so far and in such particulars as they judg'd them true and rejected the rest as of no value This is the utmost force which can be put into the Objection and we 'll now