iv PAG. 95 102 CAP. XIX. XX. XXI. ARGUMENTA CAPITUM LIBRI TERTII, ETC. Quæ causa fuit, ut Verbum Dei caro fieret: et, Adversus eos qui dicunt illum putative apparuisse. Adversus eos qui dicunt eum ex Joseph generatum Quare magnanimus fuit Deus in inobedientia hominis: et ostensio quoniam pro eo qui salvatur homine factum est, ut projiceretur in hunc mundum de Paradiso XXII. Ostensio quoniam Verbum Dei caro factum est XXIII. Ostensio, quia Ecce Virgo in utero accipiet, sed non, Ecce adolescentula, sicut quidam interpretantur 105 108 110 XLII. Quemadmodum secundum suam regulam qui a Valentino sunt extra veritatem ostendantur 136 M. 173. SANCTI IRENEI ADVERSUS HERESES. LIBER III. PREFATIO. Tu quidem, dilectissime, præceperas nobis, ut eas quæ a Valentino sunt sententias absconditas ut ipsi putant in manifestum proderem, et ostenderem varietatem ipsorum, et sermonem destruentem eos inferrem. Aggressi sumus autem nos, arguentes eos a Simone patre omnium hæreticorum, et doctrinas et successiones manifestare, et omnibus eis contradicere: propter quod cum sit unius operis traductio eorum et 'destructio in multis, misimus tibi libros, ex quibus primus quidem omnium illorum sententias continet, et consuetudines et characteres ostendit conversationis eorum. In secundo vero destructa et eversa sunt quæ ab ipsis male docentur, et nudata et ostensa sunt talia qualia et sunt. In hoc autem tertio ex Scripturis inferemus ostensiones, ut nihil tibi ex his quæ præceperas, desit a nobis; sed et, præterquam opinabaris, ad arguendum et evertendum eos qui quolibet modo male docent, occasiones a nobis accipias. Quæ enim est in Deo caritas, dives et sine invidia exsistens, plura donat quam postulet quis ab ea. Memento igitur eorum quæ diximus in prioribus duobus libris; et hæc illis adjungens, plenissimam habebis a nobis adversus omnes hæreticos contradictionem, et fiducialiter ac instantissime resistes eis pro 2sola vera ac vivifica fide, quam ab Apostolis Ecclesia percepit, et distribuit filiis suis. Etenim Dominus omnium dedit Apostolis suis potestatem Evangelii, per quos et veritatem, hoc est Dei Filii doctrinam, cognovimus; quibus et dixit Dominus: Qui vos audit, me audit: et qui vos contemnit, me con- Luc. x. 16. temnit, et eum qui me misit. 1 A more likely reading seems to be detectio, Xerxos, and in the sequel I would certainly propose detecta, as being closely parallel with nudata following. 2 Something definite is here evidently meant, received by the Apostles from Christ, and inherited from them, and VOL. II. handed on to her sons by the Church; 1 1. Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognovi- 1 ABUND. MS. præconiaverunt. See Vol. I. p. 97, note 2. 1 Tim. iii. 15, where these terms are predicated of the Church. 3 Gen. abs. as in Acts i. 8. The AR. copy has the ablative, and virtule. In calling the reader's attention to the parallel testimony of Papias, in the history of Eusebius, it may be premised that it affords the earliest information that we possess respecting the composition of the two first Gospels; that although the historian speaks with little respect of his authority, Papias according to him having been σφόδρα σμικρὸς τὸν νοῦν, (see also 455, G.), still that it is impossible to treat with disrespect one whose sole wish was to ascertain the truth, and who took the best method of tracing it out, as he says: οὐ γὰρ τοῖς τὰ πολλὰ λέγουσιν ἔχαιρον ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοὶ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τάληθῆ διδάσκουσιν· οὐδὲ τοῖς τὰς ἀλλοτρίας ἐντολὰς μνημονεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τὰς παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τῇ πίστει δεδομένας, καὶ ἀπ ̓ αὐτῆς παραγινομένας τῆς ἀληθείας. Εἰ δέ που καὶ παρηκολουθηκώς τις τοῖς πρεσβυ- With respect to the Gospels of S. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἱστόρηται τῷ Παπίᾳ περὶ τοῦ Μάρκου· περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ματθαίου ταῦτ ̓ εἴρηται· Ματθαῖος μὲν οὖν Εβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ τὰ λόγια συνεγράψατο, ἡρμήνευσε δ ̓ αὐτὰ ὡς ἠδύνατο ἕκαστος. ΕUSEB. ibid. See DUPIN, Diss. Bibl. T. II. I, 2. I 2 GR. III. i. i. 1. 2. *Ὁ μὲν δὴ Ματθαῖος ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραίοις τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ LIB !!! 1 2. αὐτῶν, καὶ γραφὴν ἐξήνεγκεν εὐαγγελίου, 3τοῦ Πέτρου καὶ Μ 2. Ita Matthæus in Hebræis ipsorum lingua scripturam v. 8. G. 199. edidit Evangelii, cum Petrus et Paulus Romæ evangelizarent, et 1 In another place EUSEBIUS mentions the Hebrew Gospel of S. Matthew, in connexion with the missionary labours of Pantænus: ὧν (εὐαγγελιστῶν sc. τοῦ λόγου) εἰς γενόμενος καὶ ὁ Πάνταινος, καὶ εἰς Ἰνδοὺς ἐλθεῖν λέγεται· ἔνθα λόγος εύρεῖν αὐτὸν προφθάσαν τὴν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν τὸ κατὰ Ματθαῖον Εὐαγγέλιον, παρά τισιν αὐτόθι τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπεγνωκόσιν· οἷς Βαρθολομαῖον τῶν ἀποστόλων ἕνα κηρύξαι, αὐτοῖς τε Εβραίων γράμμασιν, τὴν τοῦ Ματθαίου καταλείψαι γραφήν· ἣν καὶ σώζεσθαι εἰς τὸν δηλούμενον χρόνον. H. E. V. 10. S. JEROM speaks of a copy of S. Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew as existing in his day in the Library collected at Cæsarea by Pamphilus Mart. But VALESIUS says, Vereor ne id potius fuerit Evangelium secundum Hebræos, quo utebantur Nazarai; and the learned have generally acquiesced in his notion; but it is difficult to imagine that S. JEROM should have mistaken an heretical compilation for a genuine production of the Evangelist. His words are remarkable: De Novo nunc loquor Testamento, quod Græcum esse non dubium est; excepto Apostolo Matthæo, qui primus in Judæa Evangelium Christi Hebraicis literis edidit; and afterwards, Matthæus ...primus in Judæa propter eos qui ex circumcisione crediderunt, Evangelium Christi Hebraicis literis verbisque composuit quod quis postea in Græcum transtulerit non satis certum est. Porro ipsum Hebraicum habetur usque hodie in Cœsariensi Bibliotheca, quam Pamphilus Martyr studiosissime confecit. Mihi quoque a Nazarais, qui in Berrhæa urbe Syriæ hoc volumine utuntur, describendi facultas fuit. In quo animadvertendum, quod ubicunque Evangelista, sive ex persona sua, sive ex persona Domini Salvatoris, Veteris Scripturæ testimoniis utitur, non sequatur Septuaginta Translatorum auctoritatem, sed Hebraicam, e quibus illa duo sunt, Ex Ægypto vocavi Filium meum, et Quoniam Nazaræus vocabitur. See the Præf. in Evang. ad Damasum, and his Catalog. Scr. Eccl. de Matth. Compare also Vol. I. p. 213, note 2. 2 Traditio Irenæi de scripto S. Matthai Evangelio isto demum tempore, quo Paulus Romæ fuit, in mentem mihi aliquando veniebat cogitanti, quid causæ subsit, ob quam Apostolus Ephes. iv. 11, scripserit: "Ipse dedit quosdam quidem Apostolos, quosdam autem Prophetas, alios vero Evangelistas, alios autem Pastores et Doctores;" ast in loco parallelo I Corinth. xii. 28, "Quosdam quidem posuit Deus in Ecclesia, primo Apostolos, secundo Prophetas, tertio Doctores;" omissis plane Evangelistis. Atqui si per Evangelistas cum Ecumenio scriptores SS. Evangeliorum accipias, plana juxta dictam traditionem datur ratio. Scripserat nempe Paulus ad Corinthios, priusquam Romam venisset, nulla adhucdum a quoquam Apostolorum, vel Apostolicorum, Evangelii Scriptura edita; ast epistolam ad Ephesios ex carcere dedit paulo antequam Roma discederet, ubi jam S. Matthæus Evangelium exaraverat; Marcus vero et Lucas in procinctu hujus operis erant. Cui tamen meæ conjecturæ non adeo multum confido, sed doctiorum judicio eam lubens submitto. GRABE. From the words of IRENEUS it would seem that the composition of S. Matthew's Gospel might almost synchronise with that of S. Luke; although Dr Burton has collected from this passage that S. Luke wrote subsequently to S. Matthew and S. Mark. Compare p. 6, n. 1. 3 EUSEBIUS says that S. Peter's first visit to Rome was occasioned by the departure of Simon Magus for the Euseb. H. E. GR. III. i. I 111. 111 1.3 τοῦ Παύλου ἐν Ῥώμῃ εὐαγγελιζομένων, καὶ θεμελιούντων τὴν MASS III. ἐκκλησίαν. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτων ἔξοδον, 3 Μάρκος ὁ μαθητὴς fundarent Ecclesiam. Post vero horum excessum, Marcus disci Metropolis when cast out of the Church in the East. He also defines the time approximately as being in the reign of Claudius. Οὐ μὴν εἰς μακρὸν αὐτῷ τῷ Σίμωνι sc.) ταῦτα προὐχώρει παραπόδας γοῦν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ Κλαυδίου βασιλείας, ἡ πανάγαθος καὶ φιλανθρωποτάτη τῶν ὅλων πρόνοια, τὸν καρτερὸν καὶ μέγαν τῶν ἀποστόλων, τὸν ἀρετῆς ἕνεκα τῶν λοιπῶν ἁπάντων προήγορον Πέτρον, ἐπὶ τὴν 'Ρώμην ὡς ἐπὶ τηλικοῦτον λυμεώνα βίου χειραγωγεί. ΙΙ. 16. He adds that upon this occasion he introduced the Gospel at Rome, which is hardly consistent with the terms of S. Paul's Epistle to the Christians of Rome written before the death of Claudius. But HIPPOLYTUS here again throws in a ray of light. He ascribes to collision with the Apostles that discomfiture of Simon at Rome, that the historian attributes to the zeal of S. Peter; for he says of the heresiarch, ἕως καὶ τῆς 'Ρώμης ἐπιδημήσας ἀντέπεσε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις. Phil. VI. 20. Now it is very certain that Simon Magus was at Rome for some time before the arrival of any Apostle; so long indeed as to have secured the confidence of a considerable body of disciples, by whom a statue was inaugurated in his honour. HIPP. Philos. VI. 20; EUSEB. H. E. II. 16; see Vol. I. 191, 194. There can be little doubt, therefore, but that the impostor spread his poison in the imperial city during the reign of Claudius, and when, within little more than a year of that Emperor's death, the two Apostles visited Rome, and purged it from the Simonian taint, the historian would be very likely to refer to the days of Claudius events that took place as his successor was entering upon the second year of his reign. The imprisonment of S. Paul precludes the idea of anything like personal collision between this Apo stle and Simon. It may be added that the chronology here followed is that of Burton. 1 ἐν Ρώμῃ εὐαγγελιζομένων. It is a necessary inference from this passage that S. Peter and S. Paul were at Rome at the same time, i. e. during the two years' captivity of S. Paul, that closes the history of the Acts of the Apostles. There were many disciples there before the commencement of his captivity, as is manifest from the Epistle to the Romans; but they appear neither to have had an Ecclesiastical Polity, nor to have been under the regular regimen of the Church. This irregular planting of the Gospel at Rome dated from the first Christian Pentecost, and several expressions in the Epistle seem to indicate a crude unsettled state of things there. (Compare GRABE, note 2.) Jealousies of caste still subsisted there, as between Gentile and Jew, c. xv. S, &c. They are spoken of, as depending rather upon mutual exhortation and instruction, than upon any more authoritative communication of evangelical truth, I am persuaded that you are... able also ȧýλους νουθετεῖν, ν. 14, (stronger than παρακαλεῖν), and the Apostle expresses his intention to visit them, according to a purpose entertained ἀπὸ πολλῶν ἐτῶν, with the hope that he might come èv πληρώματι εὐλογίας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Xploтoû, v. 29, i. e. in the collation of spiritual gifts, which as yet they had not, and in the establishment of that Apostolical order and government among them which should complete their incorporation with the Body Catholic of Christ's Church. But when S. Paul did at length visit them, he was in bonds, and though he possessed a restricted liberty of action, he could not superintend in person the systematic foundation |