Αποςόλων, Κλημέντια. ραδεγραμμένα δέ εἰσι πάντως, καὶ νόθα, καὶ απόβλητα. Καὶ ἐδὲν τύτων τῶν ̓Αποκρύφων μάλισα ἔγκριζον ἢ ἐπωφελές, ἐξαιρέτως τῆς νέας Διαθήκης ἀλλὰ πάντα, δίχα τῶν ἀνωτέρω διαληφθέντων καὶ ἐγκριθέντων παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς σοφοῖς καὶ Πατράσιν, Αποκρυφῆς μᾶλλον ἢ ἀναγνώσεως ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄξια τάτε ἄλλα, καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ καλέμενα ἐν αὐτοῖς Εὐαγγέλια, ἐκτὸς τῶν παραδοθέντων ἡμῖν τεσσάρων τέτων. Gofpel according to Thomas, the Doitrine of the Apofiles, and the books under Clefalle, fpurious, and to be rement's name. They are all jelted. And none of thofe Apocryphal books of the New Teftament have been either approved, or are ufeful; but they have all been judged Apocryphal (i. e. rather worthy to be concealed than read) by the antient Wife Men and Fathers, which contain any thing contrary to the books above reciteda; as alfo all other Gofpels, befides thofe four delivered to us. By Philaftrius b. Among whom are the Manichees, Gnofticks, Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and many others, who having fome Apocryphal books under the Apoftles' names, i. e. fome distinct Acts, defpife the Canonical Scriptures as not worthy to be read: but there fecret, i. c. Apocryphal Scriptures, though for the conduct of life they ought to be read by the more able Chriftians, yet ought not to be read by all, because the ignorant hereticks have added * Hæref. 40. cui titul. Apocry phi. & tu & tulerunt, quæ voluerunt and taken away many things, hæretici. Nam Manichæi Apocrypha beati Andreæ Apoftoli, i. e. Actus quos fecit veniens de Ponto in Græciam, quos confcripferunt difcipuli tunc fequentes Apoftolum; unde & habent Manıchæi & alii tales, Andreæ beati & Joannis Actus Evangelifta, beati & Petri fimiliter Apoftoli, & Pauli pariter Apoftoli; in quibus quia figna fecerunt magna & prodigia, ut & canes & beftiæ loquerentur, etiam & animas hominum tales velut canum & pecudum fimiles imputaverunt effe hæretici perditi. according to their own fancies. For the Manichees (make use) of Apocryphal books under the name of St. Andrew the Apofle, i. e. the Acts which he did in his journey from Pontus to Greece, which the Disciples, who followed that Apostle, wrote: So alfo the Manichees and other fuch (hereticks) have the Acts of St. Andrew and John the Evangelift; also of St. Peter the Apostle, and the Apostle Paul; in which, because they wrought many miracles, fuch as making dogs and beafts to speak, thofe wretched hereticks imagined the fouls of men to be like the fouls of dogs and beasts. 4. By Epiphanius, speaking concerning the Encratites. Κέχρηνται δὲ γραφαῖς πρωτου τύπως ταῖς λεγομέναις ̓Ανδρέα καὶ ̓Ιωάννε πράξεσι, καὶ Θω μᾶ, καὶ ̓Αποκρύφοις τισί. They principally made ure of thofe Scriptures, which were called the Acts of Andrew, and John, and Thomas, and fome other Apocryphal pieces. The fame author, in the herefy of the Apotacticks and Origenians, fays, they made use of the fame book; the paf fages are produced above, in the place referred to in the margin. • Hæræf. 47. §. 1. Part 2. c. 5. R 2 5. By 5. By Pope Gelafius". Libri omnes quos fecit Lentitius, feu Leucius, filius Diaboli, Apocryphi. All the books which were made by Lentitius, or Leucius, that fon of the Devil, are Apocryphal. These are all the places which I have obferved, in which thefe Apocryphal Acts are exprefsly mentioned by name: there are indeed fome other places where they are referred to, but not named, as I fhall fhew in the end of this chapter; and only add here fome account of their author Leucius, and some reasons for rejecting his books. Concerning Leucius I have met with very little, befides what has been produced above, in any writers within the limits of my time. Pacianus, a writer of the fourth century, mentions one Leucius, whom the Montanifts falfely afferted to be a great promoter of their herefy "; accordingly Dr. Grabe, and Dr. Mill, fuppofing Pacianus to speak of the fame Leucius, of whom I am now writing, conclude, he lived in the fecond century, viz. fays Dr. Mills, about the year of Chrift 140, i. e. a little before the rife of the Montanists, who pretended to be encouraged by him. The faid Doctor adds, that Leucius was a follower of Marcion, who lived in the second century, and had the fame peculiar doctrines which are ascribed to Lucianus, who was a companion of Marcion, and therefore that he probably was the very fame perfon as Lucianus, who was most certainly a remarkable interpolator of the Canonical Gospels, and a forger of Apocryphal Gospels. This conjecture, I confefs, fhews not only much learning and ingenious criticism, but at first view seems very probable; but upon a strict enquiry will, I believe, appear to be groundless: For, 1. Leucius, of whom I am writing, the author of these Apocryphal Acts now under confideration, was a Manichee; so he is expressly called by St. Austin and Pope Gelafius, and bis fpurious writings contained the peculiar favourite doctrines of the Manichees: Now it is a matter well known, that the Manichees were not in being till the time of Aurelius Probus, or Dioclefian, i. e. not till the latter end of the third century; wherefore it is evident, either that the Montanists were mistaken in saying Leucius was a favourite of their sect, which are indeed the words of Pacianus (Phryges animatos fe a Leucio mentiri), or else the Leucius there mentioned must be a different perfon from him of that name, of whom we are speaking; or else, which perhaps may be the truth of the cafe, the word animatos means the reviving or encouraging their principles, and not, as Dr. Mill thinks, the first spreading of them. Whichever it be, it is plain, Leucius did not live before the latter end of the third, or beginning of the fourth century after Chrift; and confequently, that Leucius and Lucianus were really different perfons, who lived at above an hundred years diftance from each other. 2. Whereas Dr. Mill fays, Leucius was the follower of Marcion as well as Lucianus, and therefore probably the fame perfon, living in the second century, and for this cites Photius, Cod. cxiv. This, I aver, is utterly falfe, there being no fuch thing faid in that place of Photius, nor the name of Marcion fo much as mentioned there. But that learned Doctor feems to have been led into this mistake for want of consulting Photius himself, and by misunderstanding the following words of Dr. Grabe. Leucius, Marcionis fucceffor, Secul. II. cujus actus fummatim perftrinxit Photius, Cod. cxiv. The reason of my mentioning this is, to give the reader a specimen of Dr. Mill's negligence in citations, which is but too vifible in other parts of his famous work on the New Teftament; As for inftance, I remember, somewhere he collects a various reading from the Syriack Version, whereas that most perfectly agrees a Phot. Bibl. Cod. 114. Cyril of Jerufalem fays, the Manichees arofe 70 years before him, p. 141. Spicileg. Patr. tom. 1. p. 78. in that place with our prefent Greek: but the Doctor, either not understanding the Syriack language, or not confulting it, made only use of the Latin translation of the Syriack, which indeed is in that place faulty, and not only different from the Greek, but its original, viz. Syriack. 3. As to the agreement of the fentiments of Leucius and Lucianus, which the Doctor urges to prove them to have been the fame perfons, it is eafily answered, that Leucius adopted into his fcheme the principles of most of the former hereticks, as I have above fhewed out of Photius, and will appear more fully hereafter; and therefore nothing can be concluded hence to prove Leucius to have been the fame with Lucianus, or to have lived in the second century. Leucius therefore living in the fourth century, we are from the writers of that later age to take all our accounts of him ; and indeed we do not find his name in any one before Austin, Jerome, and Philaftrius, who all lived towards the latter end of that age. He seems to me to have been the father of those hereticks, who are called by St. Austin a Seleuciani, from his name Seleucus (which I above proved to be the fame name with Leucius), who were alfo called Hermiani. They held, that the world was not made by God, but co-eternal with him; that God did not make men's fouls, but Angels, out of fire and air; that Chrift does not fit at the right hand of the Father in a human body, but that he lodged his body in the fun according to that, Pfalm. xix. 4. He hath fet his tabernacle in the fun. They deny any future refurrection, and place it only in the daily procreation of children. These feem to have been the followers of this heretick, and these his principles, if he may be faid to have had any, who received thofe of all fects. As to thefe Acts, published by Leucius, there needs little more to be faid to prove them fpurious. They are afferted to be fo by all who mention them, and rejected as monftrous and impious forgeries: Apocryphal therefore by Prop. IV, V, and VI. I add alfo by Prop. VIII, and IX. as containing things falfe and fabulous, trifles contrary to truth; fuch are ■ De Hæref. Num. 59. T. Opp. 6. thofe |