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prophets, apostles, and gospels; gospels and apostles, and the like.

3. For which he expresseth the greatest regard for he considers the scriptures as dictated by the Spirit of God, as containing the revelation of the mind of God to us; from whence, as well as by reason, he proves the doctrine of a Providence, which he is treating of.

III. I shall now observe a few select passages.

1. Het supposeth the number of "five thousand,” mentioned, Acts iv. 4, to be additional to the "three thousand," in ch. ii. 41, making in all eight thousand. Nevertheless, I do not think that to be the true sense; nor yet, that the number was now "five thousand," including the "three thousand" converted by Peter's first sermon: for many of them had come from divers and remote parts to Jerusalem, to be present at the feast of Pentecost; and probably, soon after the feast was over, returned to their several countries and dwellings nor does St. Luke say, that now five thousand were added' to the apostles, or to the church; but he that at this season, says, many of them which heard the word believed," or were converted; " and the number of the men was" made, εγενήθη, "five thousand;" with the addition of converts now made, the whole number of believers at Jerusalem amounted to five thousand. Many of the first three thousand were dead or removed; but from time to time new converts had been made, and at this season many believed;' whereby the number of believers at Jerusalem became five thousand.'

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• Talis profecto secta est, quales sectatores sunt. Hoc sunt absque dubio quod docentur. Apparet itaque, et prophetas quos habent impuritatem docere, et apostolos quos legunt nefaria sanxisse, et evangelia, quibus inbuuntur, hæc, quæ ipsi faciunt, prædicare. De Gubern. 1. 4. p. 92.

P Evangelia legunt, et impudici sunt. Apostolos audiunt, et inebriantur. Ib. p. 91. 4 Loquens in voluminibus suis sermo divinus sic ait. De Gub. 1. ii. p. 31. Quod ut plenius capias, audi quid in alio scripturarum loco idem testatur Spiritus Sanctus. Ibid. Sicut etiam per divinas literas sacer sermo testatus est. L. iv. in.

Sed tamen cum per scripturas sacras scire nos quasi de arcano animi ac mentis suæ quædam voluerit Deus noster, quia ipsum quodammodo scripturæ sacræ oraculum Dei mens est, quidquid vel agnosci per suos, vel prædicari Deus voluit, non tacebo. De Gub. 1. ii. p. 43.

• Ecce evidentur dicit volumen sacrum, cuncta quotidie nutu divinitatis regi, et incessabiliter a Deo omnia gubernari. De Gub. 1. ii. p. 33.- Superest, ut quia testimoniis sacris et respici ac regi a Deo omnia jam probavimus, &c. Ib. p. 35. * Quæ fuerit quippe tunc multitudo ecclesiæ principalis, ex hoc solo cognosci potest, quod in principiis statim ipsis octo hominum millia biduo ecclesiæ accessisse referuntur. Adv. Avar. 1. iii, p. 277.

2. He calls Timothy apostle, meaning, undoubtedly, apostle in a lower sense only, as equivalent to apostolical, or a companion and disciple of apostles.

3. He celebrates the fortitude and patience of the primitive christians.

4. He insists very much upon the general corruption of manners among christians in his time; and largely shows, that it is unbecoming the christian profession, and dishonourable to Christ himself.

5. Salvian assures us, that they who were called heretics received the same scriptures that other christians did; the same prophets, the same apostles, and evangelists.

6. He says, moreover, that heretics err innocently, at least sincerely they believe what they profess to be true; and they think themselves to be orthodox. As they are heretics in our esteem, so are we in theirs: and how they will be treated in the day of judgment upon account of this their erroneous opinion, the Judge alone knows.

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" Legimus Timotheum apostolum carne infirmissimum fuisse. De Gub. 1. i. c. 10. ▾ Omittamus ergo illa, quæ beatissimus Paulus pertulit, immo quæ in libris postea de religione conscriptis omnes admodum christianos legimus pertulisse; qui ad cœlestis regiæ januam gradibus pœnarum suarum adscendentes, scalas sibi quodammodo de eculcis catastisque fecerunt. De Gub. 1. iii. p. 50. Quotusquisque est, qui non se luto fornicationis involvat? Et quid plura? Grave et luctuosum est quod dicturus sum. Ipsa ecclesia, quæ in omnibus esse debet placatrix Dei, quid est aliud, quam exacerbatrix Dei? Aut præter paucissimos quosdam, qui mala fugiunt, quid est aliud pene omnis cœtus christianorum, quam sentina vitiorum? De Gub. 1. iii. p. 57.-In hanc enim morum probrositatem prope omnis ecclesiastica plebs redacta est, ut in cuncto populo christiano genus quoddam sanctitatis sit, minus esse vitiosum. Ib. p. 58.

* Quo fit, ut etiam nos, qui christiani esse dicimur, perdamus vim tanti nominis, vitio pravitatis. Nihil enim prodest nomen habere sanctum sine moribus; quia vita a professione discordans abrogat illustris tituli honorem. Ib. p. 62. y De nobis enim dicitur illud, quod supra diximus: Ecce quales sunt, qui Christum colunt. Si enim bona discerent, boni essent. Postremo sancta a christianis fierent, si Christus sancta docuisset. Estimari itaque de cultoribus suis potest ille qui colitur. Quomodo enim bonus magister est, cujus tam malos videmus esse discipulos? Vide christiani quid agant, et evidenter potest de ipso Christo sciri, quid doceat. De Gub. 1. iv. p. 91, 92. Eadem enim etiam illos legere quæ nos legimus, eosdem apud illos prophetas Dei, eosdem apostolos, eosdem evangelistas esse. L. v. p. 99. a Hæretici ergo sunt, sed non scientes. Denique apud nos sunt hæretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantum se catholicos esse judicant, ut nos ipsos titulo hæreticæ appellationis infament. Quod ergo illi nobis sunt, hoc nos illis. Nos eos injuriam divinæ generationi facere, certi sumus, quod minorem patre filium dicant. llli nos injuriosos Patri existimant, quia æquales esse credimus. Veritas apud nos est. Sed illi apud se esse præsumunt-Errant ergo; sed bono animo errant, non odio, sed affectu Dei, honorare se dominum atque amare credentes. Qualiter pro hoc ipso falsæ opinionis errore in die judicii puniendi sint, nullus potest scire, nisi judex. Ib. p. 100.

CHAP. CXLII.

EUTHALIUS, BISHOP OF SULCA, IN EGYPT.

1. EUTHALIUS has been already mentioned in this work. I must now give a more distinct account of him, and his performances in the service of the gospel: still referring to others, those who are desirous of farther information, or who may be willing to compare several accounts together.

2. Euthalius, as is supposed, was at first deacon in the church of Alexandria, or some other city in Egypt: and afterwards bishop of Sulca; probably, in Egypt, though its situation is not certainly known.

3. In the year 458, he published an edition of St. Paul's epistles; and afterwards, about the year 490, an edition of the Acts of the Apostles, and the seven catholic epistles, having first compared them with the exact copies in the library of Cæsarea in Palestine.

4. It is generally supposed, that all the books of the New Testament were at first written by the apostles and evangelists in one continued tenor, without any sections or chapters the most ancient distinction, which we know of, is that of Eusebius's canons for the four gospels. In the year 396, some learned christian, whose name is not known, divided St. Paul's epistles into chapters or lessons. This is collected from what Euthalius says in his prologue to St. Paul's epistles: those chapters Euthalius made use of in his own edition of the same epistles. He added some other lesser sections, or subdivisions: he likewise collected all the testimonies, or passages, cited by St. Paul, from the Old Testament, or from other writings, marking the sec

a See Vol. iii. ch. lix. and ch. lxxv.

b Vid. Zacagn. Collectan..

in Præf. n. 45, &c. Cav. Hist. Lit. Tom. i. Oxon. 1740. Fabr. Bib. Gr. T. viii. p. 367, &c. Mill. Proleg. n. 941, &c. Wetsten. Proleg. ad N. T. edit. accurat. p. 73, 74. Oudin. de Scr. Ec. T. i. p. 1266.

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Vid. Zacagn. Collectan. p. 513. et Conf. hujus operis T. iii. ch. lix. d Vid. Zacagn. in Præf. n. 48. p. 57.

* Καθ' ἑκατην δε συντόμως επιτολην εν τοις έξης προτάξομεν την των κεφα λαιων εκθεσιν, ένι των σοφωτατων τινι και φιλοχρισῳ πατέρων ἡμων πεπονημενην. Ου μην αλλα και την των αναγνώσεων ακριβεσάτην τομήν, την τε των θείων μαρτυρίων ευαποδεκτόν εύρεσιν ἡμεῖς τεχνολογήσαντες ανεκεφαλαι woaμela. Euthal. Prol. ap. Zac. p. 528, 529. Conf. ib. p. 536, 537.

tions in which they were to be found. This Euthalius did when a deacon: afterwards, when bishop of Sulca, at the desire of Athanasius, who was made bishop of Alexandria in 490, he published an edition of the Acts of the Apostles, and the seven catholic epistles; now dividing these also into lessons, chapters, and verses, which had never been done before; collecting also all the passages of the Old Testament, and other writings, quoted by Paul or Luke in the Acts, or by other apostles in the catholic epistles. And to the several parts of this work he prefixed a prologue or preface: I mean to St. Paul's epistles, the Acts, and the catholic epistles.

5. There are several things in the manuscript copies of Euthalius, now extant, which are not certainly known to be his. At the end of his prologue to St. Paul's epistles, is a martyrdom of Paul, or a note concerning the time of St. Paul's last suffering: which is also in Ecumenius, prefixed to his Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. That note, as it seems, was written by the learned author before mentioned, who first divided St. Paul's epistle into chapters. There are also Arguments prefixed to all St. Paul's epistles, which are not known to be Euthalius's; nor the writer's who first divided those epistles into chapters. Zacagni thinks, they belong to neither: forasmuch as Euthalius does not particularly mention them in his account of what that more ancient author had done; nor in the account of his own performance. Zacagni therefore concludes those arguments were composed by some learned man afterwards: and the transcribers of Euthalius's work in after times, inserted those Arguments, as an useful improvement of his edition. All those Arguments are likewise in Ecumenius: and in Mill's edition of the New Testament, they are prefixed to St. Paul's epistles severally, with the name of Ecumenius, as author.

6. The Argument likewise of the Acts of the Apostles, and the Peregrination of St. Paul subjoined to it, and the Arguments of the catholic epistles, Zacagni does not ascribe to Euthalius: he thinks there is no good reason to

Vid. Prolog. in Act. Ap. ap. Zacagn. p. 405, 409. et Prolog. in Cathol. Ep. p. 477. Vid. et p. 481. Ap. Zac. Collect. p. 535, 536. h Præf. n. 50. p. 60. k Ibid. p. 425-427.

Et Conf. Zac. in Præf. n. 48. p. 57.

i Ap. Zac. Coll. p. 421-425. Dubitari tamen potest, an argumentum Actuum apostolorum, et Peregrinationes Pauli apostoli eidem subjunctæ, Euthalii opus existant, quippe quod ipse in fine prologi in apostolorum Actus nonnulla de Lucâ evangelistâ eorumdem scriptore posuerit, quæ cum argumenti vices supplere possint, parum verisimile est, Euthalium de novo ejusdem libri argumento conscribendo

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say they are his, since Euthalius himself is silent about them. The forementioned Argument is in Ecumenius also, prefixed to the Acts of the Apostles: and the Peregrination is in Ecumenius, after the Acts, or before the epistle to the Romans. The arguments of the catholic epistles are also in Ecumenius: and in Mill's New Testament they are prefixed to the said catholic epistles with the name of Ecumenius.

7. I shall now mention a few observations, and make some extracts.

8. It hence appears that, in the fifth century, all the seven catholic epistles were received at Alexandria, and in other parts of Egypt.

9. Possibly, we may also hence conclude, that the Revelation was not received there; or at least that it was not publicly read, nor so generally recommended to the use of all christians, as the other books of the New Testament: for if it had, it might be reasonable to expect, that it should have been now divided into lessons, chapters, and

verses.

10. Euthalius ascribes the Acts of the Apostles to Luke. In his prologue to the Acts, he says, That" Luke the evangelist, disciple of Paul, was a physician of Antioch, and that he wrote two books: one of which, and the first, is that of the gospel; the other is this book of the Acts of the Apostles; in which he relates the ascension of Christ to heaven; the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the holy apostles; and how the disciples preached the doctrine of Christ; and what miracles they wrought by prayer and faith in him; and the divine call of Paul, from heaven, and his apostleship, and successful preaching; and, in a word, the labours of the apostles for Christ, in the midst of many dangers and difficulties.' In the prologue to St. Paul's epistles, he again calls the Acts, Luke's second book.

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cogitâsse. Accedit, quod nunquam asserat Euthalius, se in Novi Testamenti libris, quos illustrandos suscepit, argumenta ulla scripsisse, et quæ Pauli epistolis in ejusdem editione præfiguntur, ea alterius auctoris esse, superius ostensum est. Quamobrem idem prorsus de Actuum apostolorum et catholicarum epistolarum argumentis censendum esse videtur, ea nempe, uti et alia epistolarum Paulinarum argumenta, post vulgatam Euthalii editionem, ab aliquo pio viro edita, et ab antiquis librariis eidem inserta fuisse, quo suis codicibus majorem existimationem conciliarent. Zacag. Præf. n. liv. p. 66. Conf. Eund. p. 421. not. 4. m.Ecum. T. i. p. 192.

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Αντιοχεύς γαρ ετος υπαρχων το γενος, ιατρός δε επισήμην, προς Παυλε μαθητευθείς, δυο βίβλες συνεγραψατο, μιαν μεν, και προτέραν, την τε ευαγγελία, δευτεραν δε ταύτην την περί των αποτολικών πράξεων. Ibid. p. 410.

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Και Λεκας ἱστορει εν τη δευτερα βιβλῳ ἑαυτω. Prol. in Paul. Ep. ib. p.

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