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I. Tertulliana, in his Treatife of Baptifm, mentions it thus.

Quod fi qui Pauli perperam fcripta legunt, exemplum Thecla ad licentiam mulierum docendi tingendique defendunt, fciant in Afia prefbyterum qui eam Scripturam conftruxit, quafi titulo Pauli de fuo cumulans, convictum, atque confeffum, id fe amore Pauli feciffe, loco difceffiffe.

But if any read the Apocryphal Books of Paul, and defend the right of women to preach and baptife, by the example of Thecla, let them confider, that a Prefbyter of Afia, who forged that book, and adorned his performance with the title of Paul, was convicted (of the forgery), and confeffed that he did it out of respect to Paul, and thereupon left his place.

2. Jerome, in his Life of Luke ". Periodos Pauli et Theclæ, et totam baptifati leonis fabulam, inter Apocryphas Scripturas computamus. Quale enim eft, ut individuus comes Apoftoli inter cæteras ejus res hoc folum ignoraverit? Sed et Tertullianus, vicinus eorum temporum, refert Prefbyterum quendam in Afia, onedasny, i. e. amatorem Pauli, convictum apud Joannem quod auctor effet libri, et confeffum fe hoc Pauli amore feciffe, et loco excidiffe.

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The Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the whole ftory of the baptifed lion, I reckon among the Apocryphal Scriptures; for what fort of thing muft it be, which the constant companion of the Apostle should be ignorant of, and no other thing which he did? But Tertullian, who lived near those times, relates, that a certain. Prefbyter of Afia, an admirer of Paul, being convicted by St. John, that he was the author of the book, confeffed that he did it out of love to Paul, and fo left his place.

b Catal. vir. illuft. in Luca.

3. Gelafius,

3. Gelafius, in his decree.

Liber, qui appellatur Actus Thecla et Pauli, Apocryphus.

The Book, which is called The Acts of Thecla and Paul, is Apocryphal *.

с

I need not be at much pains here in making any critical remarks on this book. The learned Dr. Grabe has lately published, out of a manufcript in the Bodleian library, a book intitled, Μαρτύριον τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἐνδόξε πρωτομάρτυς, καὶ ἀποςόλε Oixλas, The Martyrology, or Acts of the pious and celebrated firft Martyr, and Apoftle Thecla. This he believes to be the very fame with the Acts of Paul and Thecla, mentioned by Tertullian, Jerome, and Gelafius; and indeed there is this good argument to support his opinion, that what Tertullian faith was urged out of these Acts, viz. the example of Thecla, to countenance the practice of women's preaching and baptifing, is to be found in this manufcript which he has published; fee p. 114, 116, &c. I must therefore look upon this as a book extant, and fo fhall defer the confideration of it to the next volume of this work, where I defign (God willing) to produce this and other fuch pieces now extant, in their original languages, with an English translation.

Co

Numb. XLIV. The ACTS of PAUL.

Oncerning this old Apocryphal piece, we have but very little that is certain now left. It is mentioned;

1. By Origen, giving a defcription of Chrift".

Unde et recte mihi dictus videtur fermo ille, qui in Acti

Mr. Toland (Amyntor. p. 30.) has the goodneis to refer us to a place in St. Auftin, and another in Epiphanius, where thefe A&ts are mentioned: but I must do him the juftice to tell him, there is no fuch

Wherefore that faying feems to me right, which is written

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bus Pauli fcriptus eft, Quia in the Acts of Paul, That this hic eft Verbum, animal vi- is the Word, a living animal.

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Thefe are the feveral places where these Acts are mentioned. I readily agree with Dr. Grabe, they were not the fame with the Acts of Paul and Thecla in the last number; but muft utterly diffent from him in saying, that Eufebius places it in the catalogue of books which were doubted of only by fome: whereas nothing can be more plain, than that he ranks it with the vós, or fpurious books; which are in the worst class.

a Tom. 21. in Joann. pag. 298. Hift. Eccl. 1. 3. c. 3.

c. C. 25.

Hæref. Apocrypha quæ eft 87.

See it above in this part, Chap.
XXI.

e Lib. cit. p. 86.

Nor

Nor is it lefs abfurd in Dr. Milla to fuppofe, that thefe Acts of Paul were compiled by fome faithful Chriftians about the year of Chrift LXIX. to fupply (as he calls it) imperfectam hiftoriam Pauli quam tradiderat Lucas, i. e. those imperfect accounts which are contained in the (now received) Acts of the Apoftles which were written by Luke. For befides that he offers no manner of argument for his hypothefis, it is fufficient to destroy it, that Eufebius reckons it among the spurious books, and Philaftrius among those filly books, which contained abundance of strange stories, about dogs and beafts speaking, &c. and for that reason, that the fouls of men were like the fouls of thofe animals. Although I cannot but here own, that perhaps Philaftrius may speak of those Acts of Paul which are mentioned by Photius", and attributed to Leucius Charinus by him.

As to the two paffages taken out of thefe Acts by Origen, it is plain he appeals to them, and the book whence he takes them, not as being of authority. Accordingly he introduces them thus: The faying feems to me right, and if any one please to admit that which is written in the Acts of Paul, &c. which are forms of speech he would never have used concerning any book, which he thought to be of undoubted authority. Befides, to fay nothing of the first of those paffages, which is moft obfcure and unintelligible, to fay no worse, viz. That he is the Word, a living Animal; the latter is borrowed from a moft ridiculous hiftory, which is ftill extant in the fabulous Lives of the Apoftles under the name of Abdias (viz. in the Life of Peter, c. 19.) The story in fhort is, "That after the "decree of Nero to apprehend Peter at Rome, he was at length ❝ prevailed upon by his friends, contrary to his own inclina❝tions, to endeavour his escape; accordingly having in the "night fled as far as the city gates, he faw Chrift coming to "meet him: to whom he faid, Lord! Whither art thou going? Chrift anfwered, I come to Rome to be crucified again (which

a

130.

Prolegom. in Nov. Teftam. §.

b Cod. CXIV. See the place at large above, Chap. XXI.

(C are

are the words of the paffage in Origen): Peter understood "this as an intimation that he ought to fuffer, and thereupon "returned, and was crucified."

Upon the whole, then, it is reasonable to conclude these Acts of Paul Apocryphal, by Prop. IV, V, VI, and IX; and therefore that Mr. Whifton is much mistaken, when he says it is to be looked upon in some sense as a facred book a.

Numb. XLV. The Preaching of PAUL and PETER.

THIS

b

HIS antient Apocryphal book appears very clearly to have been the fame with that intitled, The Preaching of Peter; not only from fome paffages in Clemens Alexandrinus, but from the account which Lactantius gives of it. Peter and Paul, says he, preached at Rome, and that preaching continues ftill, being committed to writing: but though it went under both the name of Paul and Peter, yet it generally was called by the name of Peter; and therefore I fhall defer the confideration of it, till I come to confider the books under his name in the enfuing chapters. See Chap. XXXIII. Numb. LII.

Numb. XLVI. A BOOK under the NAME of PAUL.

A

S for this book, although I indeed placed it in the catalogue, Part I. yet upon an after and more careful enquiry into it, I find it fo evident, that it was a book forged by one Lucian, a Confeffor, in the middle of the third century, in the name of Paul the Martyr, and not St. Paul the Apostle, as some have thought, that I fhall think it enough to refer the reader to the places in Cyprian where this is most manifest. See Epift. 22, 23, in the beginning of each.

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