there is nothing in this ftory that will prove it a forgery of that time; for the book may be fuppofed extant long before, but by this artifice of the Monks impofed upon the world, as more valuable and extraordinary.

The Anabaticon therefore, and the Revelation of Paul, being one and the fame book, it only remains now, that I endeavour to prove it Apocryphal : and that it is fo, is evident by Prop. IV, V, and VI. I add alfo, by Prop. VIII, as the whole defign of it was contrary to a known and undoubted fact. 2 Cor. xii. 4, &c. St. Paul there says, he heard unutterable words (αξξητα ῥήματα ἃ ἐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι) which it was not in the power of any man to declare: which if it be true (as the book itself supposes), then they attempted in writing what was utterly impoffible to be wrote, and so unhappily blundered, as that the whole design of their work was a mere contradiction to the title. (See Auftin above.)

Tertulliana has a paffage in his Book againft the Hereticks, which (if my judgment do not much fail me) may be very justly applied to this Revelation of Paul; and if it may, will afford a good argument to prove it Apocryphal. He is treating concerning the harmony of the Apostles' doctrines; and then adds,

Sed et fi in tertium ufque cœlum ereptus Paulus, et in Paradifum delatus, audiit quædam illic; non poffunt videri ea fuiffe, quæ illum in aliam doctrinam inftructiorem præftarent; cum ita fuerit conditio eorum, ut nulli hominum proderentur.. Quod fi ad alicujus confcientiam manavit nefcio quid illud, et hoc fe

24.

De Præfcript. adv. Hæret. c.

Yea, and though Paul was taken up to the third heavens, and being brought into Paradife, heard fome certain things there, they cannot be thought such, as would make him capable of preaching any new doctrines; feeing they` were of that fort, that they could not be revealed or communicated to any man. But if any one imagine he have the knowledge of these strange re

b Loc. cit.

aliqua hærefis fequi affirmat, aut Paulus fecreti proditi reus eft, aut et alius poftea in Paradifum ereptus debet oftendi, cui permiffum fit eloqui quæ Paulo mutire non licuit.

velations, and there be any fort of Hereticks, who declare they will be governed by them, (let them confider), that either Paul must have been guilty of betraying the fecret committed to him, or else they muft produce fome other perfon, who has fince been taken up to Paradife, who had permiffion to speak those things freely, of which St. Paul durft not utter a word.

Nothing can be more probable, than that these words have a reference to the written Revelations we are treating of. It is certain by the paffage, that there were fome who pretended to know what St. Paul faw in the third heavens, and that there were a peculiar fort of Hereticks, who governed themselves according to them. How little different this is from what Epiphanius above fays of the Gnofticks and Caianites, every unprejudiced reader will acknowledge, who compares the places. In this interpretation I have the fatisfaction to agree with Pamelius a, who remarks on these words of Tertullian thus You fee there have been fome who affirmed they both knew and read in a writing of St. Paul's own, the fecrets he heard in Heaven; affirming that he both preached them, and committed them to writing. This learned writer afterwards cites the place of Epiphanius concerning the Anabaticon, that of Austin and Gelafius concerning the Revelation, as all speaking of one and the fame book.

Upon the whole then, it is evident it was a spurious piece; and that as neither Paul did nor could write it, so neither could any one else give any true account of what that book pretended to. I only add, that Dionyfius Alexandrinus, a noted writer early in the third century, affures us, Haine dà tão

a Annot. in Loc. Tertull.

Apud Eufeb. Hift. Ecclef. lib. vii. c. 25.

Y 2

ἐπιστολῶν

ἐπιτελῶν ὑποφήναντός τι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων αὐτὸ, ἃς ἐκ ἐνέγραψε xalavras. That though Paul in his Epistles has made fome mention of his Revelations, yet he never committed them to writing; and that as Mr. Du Pin fays, the Egyptians boast of having this Revelation by them to this very daya: fo Dr. Grabe tells us of a manuscript in the library of Merton College in Oxford, intitled thus, The Revelation of Paul, (containing what paffed) in those three days; when upon his being called and converted by Chrift, he fell upon the ground, and saw nothing; being an account of the Revelations he had from St. Michael, concerning the various and dreadful punishments of purgatory and hell, and who it was that first prevailed upon the Lord to grant reft to the fouls in purgatory on every Lord's day afterwards, to the end of the world. But neither of these were the old Revelation, of which I have been treating, but much later forgeries.

CHA P. XXXI.

The Acts of Peter; or, The Travels of Peter, and the Recognitions of Clemens, differing Titles of the fame Book now extant. The Preaching and Doctrine of Peter the fame Book. The Gospel of Peter. Mark's Gofpel formerly afcribed to Peter; and the Reasons of it. Peter's Gospel not composed by Leucius, as Dr. Grabe and Dr. Mill suppose, but a Forgery of the Hereticks called Docete, and perhaps the fame as the Gospel of Bafilides. This proved probable by feveral Arguments.

Numb. XLVIII.

UND

The ACTS of PETER.

NDER the name of this Apostle I find mention among the antients of feveral fpurious pieces; and particularly by feveral of certain Acts; viz.

a Hift. of the Canon, Vol. II. c. 6. §. 6. p. 130.

Spicileg. Patr. t. 1. p. 85.

I. By Eufebius.

Τόγε μὴν τῶν ἐπικεκλημένων It is certain, that the book

2. By Athanafius b.

3. By Jerome 4 in the Life of Peter. Libri autem ejus, e quibus unus Aftorum ejus infcribitur, alius Evangelii, tertius

the Canonical books, which he had before given.

d Catal, vir. illuftr. in Petro. Y 3

Prædicationis, quartus Apocalypfeos, quintus Judicii, inter Apocryphas Scripturas reputantur.

Gofpel, a third his Preaching, a fourth his Revelation, a fifth his Judgment, are reckoned among the Apocryphal Scriptures.

4. By Epiphanius a, concerning the Ebionites. Χρῶνται δὲ καὶ ἄλλαις τισὶ βίβλοις, δῆθεν ταῖς περιόδοις καλεμέναις Πέτρε, ταῖς διὰ Κλήμεντα γραφείσαις, νο θεύσαντες μὲν τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς, ὀλίγα δὲ ἀληθινὰ ἐάσαντες.

5. By Gelafius, Itinerarium nomine Petri Apoftoli, quod appellatur fancti Clementis libri octo (alii decem) Apocryphum. ·

6. By the fame, Actus nomine Petri Apoftoli Apocryphi.

They make use of some other books, fuch as thcfe called The Acts (or Journeys) of Peter, wrote by Clemens, in which they have left very little that is true, but inferted many fpurious accounts.

in his Decree.

The Journeys under the name of Peter the Apostle, which are called The eight (other copies read ten) Books of Clemens, are Apocryphal.

a little after.

The Acts under the name of Peter the Apofle are Apocryphal.

Concerning these Acts of Péter it seems very hard to form any certain determination: I have here recited the teftimonies of the Arts and Periods, or Travels of Peter, together, as of one book. The latter title undoubtedly belongs to that book now extant, called, The Recognitions of Clement; and whether the former also did not, I confess I cannot tell. For though Gelafius does indeed mention them as diftinct, yet it is obfervable, that in the first editions of that Pope's Decree there was no such distinction, nor any mention at all of the Acts of Peter. Dr. Grabe supposes them to have been dif

a Hæref. 30. §. 15.

b

Spicileg. Patr. t. 1. p. 78.

ferent