The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 64
CHAP. 64. Belief of the Ancient Greek Church about the Canonical Books.
LEt us hear the Verdict of the Ancients upon this matter, beginning at the Greek and Eaſtern Church, as more ancient then the Latine and Weſtern.
The Council of Laodicea more ancient then that of Nice, (a)foreign.Can. 58. ſpeaks thus, We muſt not ſay in the Church particular Pſalms, nor Books not Canonical, but only the Canonical Books of the Old and New Teſtament. Then they add a liſt of the Canonical Books, where they put not Tobit, nor Judith, nor Wiſdom, nor Eccleſiaſticus, nor Suſanna, nor the Hiſtory of Bel and the Dragon, nor the Maccabees.
It will not ſerve to anſwer, that this was a particular Council, and that it conſiſted only of two and thirty Biſhops, ſince ſeveral Univerſal Councils have approved it, eſpecially the Councel of Trull, Can. 2. in theſe words,(b)foreign. We ratifie the Canons of Laodicea, of Phrygia. Wherefore the Ancient Church and all that have laboured about that Code, as Balſamon, Zonaras, Harmenopulus, have inſerted it in that Council of Trull.
(c)Regourd 4. Demonſt. p. 327.The Jeſuite Regourd anſwereth, that the deciſions of the Church are not made all at one time. For he confeſſeth that at that time, that is, above three hundred years after the birth of Chriſt, thoſe Books were not yet received as Canonical. And he ſaith, that they were received ſoon after. How much he is miſtaken in that, we ſhall ſhew hereafter. In the mean while the Reader is deſired to remember this Confeſſion, that the Apoſtles, and the Church of their times did not acknowledge thoſe Books for Canonical. Will theſe men be wiſer then the Apoſtles?
Melito Biſhop of Sardis, that lived near the time of the Apoſtles, as Euſebius relates it, in the firſt Book of his Hiſtory, chap. 26. in an Epiſtle to Oneſimus makes the enumeration of the Canonical Books, but makes no mention of Tobit, nor of Judith, nor of Wiſdom, nor of Eccleſiaſticus, nor of Maccabees. Being (ſaith he) returned into the Eaſt, and having ſtayed in the place where theſe things have been preached and done; I have diligently ſet in order the Books of the Old Teſtament, and have ſent them to thee; Of which theſe are the names; Five Books of Moſes, Geneſis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Jeſus ſon of Nave, the Judges, Ruth, four Books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, the Pſalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wiſdom, Eccleſiaſtes, The Song of Songs, Job: the Prophets, Iſaiah, Jeremiah; A Book of twelve Prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra. He follows altogether the Canon of the Hebrews, but that he inſerteth in it the Book of Wiſdom. Whereupon Baronius, An. 172. Sect. 5. ſpeaks thus(d)Melito ex Canone Hebraeorum tantum quos recitat libros recenſuit. Melito tells only the books that are in the Canon of the Hebrews. And Bellarmine in the 1. Book of the Word of God, chap. 20. ſaith.(e)Multi veterum in Canone exponendo Teſtamenti Veteris, aperte ſecuti ſunt Hebraeos. Many Ancients, as Melito, Epiphanius, Hilarius, Hieronymus, Ruffinus, expounding the Canon of the Old Teſtament, have altogether followed the Canon of the Hebrews, that is, they have rejected the Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, &c. It would be very ſtrange if the Fathers had left the Canon of the Chriſtians to adhere unto that of the Jews. For why ſhould they follow the Canon of the Jews, that is, that which is found in the Hebrew Bible which is the Original, but that they believed that there was none other? We have ſeen above, how Hierom, the moſt learned of all the Fathers, in his Preface upon Daniel, ſaith that the Fables of Suſanna and of Bel and the Dragon have not the authority of Holy Scriptures, becauſe they are not in the Hebrew; wherefore he ſaith, that he hath given them the black mark of a ſpear [obelo praenotavimus] as it were to cut their throat. And more clearly yet in his Preface upon Ezra and Nehemiah. (f)Quae non habentur apud illos [Hebraeos] nec de viginti quatuor ſenibus ſunt, procul abjicienda.We muſt caſt away very far, all that is not received among the Hebrews, and which is none of the four and twenty Elders. He makes an alluſion to the four and twenty Elders mentioned, Rev. 4. according to which number ſome of them reckoned the Books of the Old Teſtament, as he ſaith himſelf in his Prologus galeatus, and in his Preface upon the Book of Kings. (g)Apocrypha neſcit Eccleſia. Ad Hebraeos igitur recurrendum éſt, unde & Dominus loquitur.The Church acknowledgeth not the Apocrypha; we muſt then return to the Hebrew after which alſo Jeſus ſpeaketh. This Father holds all to be Apocrypha which is not found in the Hebrew of the Old Teſtament.
Origen upon the firſt Pſalm, according to the Teſtimony of Euſebius in the ſixth Book of his Hiſtory, chap. 24. ſpeaks thus, We muſt not be ignorant, that there are (as the Hebrews teach) two and twenty Books of the Old Teſtament, which among them is the number of their Letters. Then he makes an enumeration of thoſe two and twenty Books conformable unto the Hebrew Bible, which is the Original Text; And to give a particular brand to the Maccabees, he ſaith(h)foreign. Without are the Maccabees.
Euſebius in his Chronicle tranſlated by Hierom upon the 116. Olympiad. (i)Maccabaeorum hiſtoria Hebraea hic Graecorum ſupputat regnum. Verum hi…libri inter divinas ſcripturas non recipiuntur.The Hiſtory of the Maccabees doth from hence reckon the reign of the Grecians, but theſe Books are not received among the Divine Scriptures. And in the firſt Book of the ſame Chronicles, being come to the time of Nehemiah and Ezra, and having related their Hiſtory, he addeth,(k)In codice Graeco Scaligeri, pag. 44. foreign, &c foreign. As far as Ezra and Nehemiah the Hebrew Scriptures have been delivered by the bleſſed Apoſtles, the Diſciples of the Lord Jeſus, to be preached. But that which is happened and done to the Jews ſince, untill the Incarnation of the Lord, Joſephus relates it in his Writings of the Maccabees, and Africanus after him. He acknowledgeth that ſuch Writings as are poſteriour to Ezra, were not given to the Church by the Apoſtles, and that the Church did not receive them to preach them, and that they are grounded only upon the teſtimony of Joſephus, whom he holds to be the Author of the Maccabees.
(l)Demonſtr. 4. p. 349.The Jeſuite Regourd anſwereth according to his cuſtom, that if Euſebius had known the determination of the third Council of Carthage, he would have altered his language, that is, he wanted ſo much to be well inſtructed in that matter. But how could Euſebius know the determination of the third Council of Carthage which ſate many years after his death? That Jeſuite hath little knowledge of Hiſtory.
Among the works of Athanaſius, there is a Book entituled Synopſis, which M. du Perron holds to be none of the works of Athanaſius. Both(m)Bellar. l. 1 de verbo Dei 4 c.. §. ex Graecis. Bellarmine, and Baronius on the year 342. §. 41. receive it as genuine and true. In that book there is an enumeration of the Canonical books of the Old Teſtament, and the Author ſaith that they are two and twenty in number according to the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. Then he addeth,(n)foreign, &c. Beſides theſe, there are others alſo of the Old Teſtament, not Canonical, which are read only to the Catechumeni; the Wiſdom of Solomon, the Wiſdom of Jeſus the ſon of Sirach, Eſther, Judith, Tobit, &c. Perhaps by Eſther he means the reſt of Eſther. Of the Maccabees particularly he ſaith, Among theſe books [not Canonical] are reckoned the four Ptolemaical books of the Maccabees.
Whether that book be of Athanaſius, or of ſome other Author, we care not, ſince we have an Epiſtle of Athanaſius where that holy mans opinion is ſet down in expreſs terms. All the books of the Old Teſtament (ſaith he) are two and twenty in number. Then he addeth.(o)Athanaſii Epiſt. foreign, tom. 2. p. 920. foreign &c. Hunc eundem locum invenies apud Balſamonem, edit. nova Pariſienſi. p. 921. & 922. Beſides theſe books there are others alſo which are not put in the Canon, but are propounded by the Fathers to be read by the new comers, and ſuch as will inſtruct themſelves in the word of piety; namely, the Wiſdom of Solomon, the Wiſdom of Sirach, Eſther, Judith, &c. As for the Maccabees he doth not ſo much as name them among the Apocrypha.
The Jeſuite Regourd flieth to his ordinary ſhift, ſaying in his fourth Demonſtration, p. 347. that then the Church had determined nothing about that matter. By ſpeaking ſo he confeſſeth that the Apoſtles did not hold the books of Tobit, Judith and the Maccabees for Canonical, and that they have determined nothing about it, which is as much as ſaying that the Roman Church of this time is better inſtructed then the Apoſtles. So much the Jeſuite Stapleton intimateth,(p)Stapl. de Authorit. Scripturae, l. 2. c. 4. §. 14. p. 360. Cur (inquam) Sapientiam, Eccleſiaſticum, Tobiam, Judith, & alios Veteris Teſtamenti libros Apoſtolorum temporibus non confirmatos, ſed à poſterioribus Conciliis in Canonem receptos, eo nomine rejiciendos affirmas? In the time of the Apoſtles (ſaith he) Tobit, Judith, and other books of the Old Teſtáment were not confirmed, having been received into the Canon by the poſteriour Councils. God forbid that we ſhould preſume to be more clear-ſighted then the Apoſtles.
Cyrillus Biſhop of Jeruſalem in his 4. Catecheſis in the chapter of holy Scriptures, makes a liſt of the books of the Old Teſtament; and ſaith that they are but twenty two. All the others, (ſaith he, ſpeaking of the Apocrypha) are caſt out, and are of a ſecond rank. In that Catalogue he puts neither Tobit, nor Judith, nor Eccleſiaſticus, nor Wiſdom, nor Suſanna, nor the Maccabees. He wholly follows the Canon of the Hebrews, and declares why he doth ſo.
Read (ſaith he) theſe two and twenty books, and have nothing common with the Apocrypha. Again, Meditate carefully thoſe only, whom alſo we read in the Church ſafely (q)foreign.. The Apoſtles and the antient Biſhops, leaders of the Church, who have taught them, were far wiſer then thou. Cyrillus then hath followed the Canon of the Hebrews to obey the command of the Apoſtles.
Gregory Nazianzen, called by excellency the Divine, hath made verſes purpoſely of that matter, which begin thus,(r)foreign.
As many books to th' Old Covenant belong
As there are letters in the Holy tongue.
Then he makes an enumeration of thoſe two and twenty books, without Tobit, Judith, Bel, Suſanna, Eccleſiaſticus, and the Maccabees. It is too much peremptorineſs to affirm without proof, as M. du Perron doth, that theſe verſes are none of Gregories, ſeeing that they reliſh the vein of his other verſes, and are inſerted among them.(ſ)Lib. 1. de verbo Dei, cap. 4. §. Ex Graecis. Bellarmin receiveth them without difficulty.
Other verſes we have of the ſame time in Iambick meeters, made by Amphilochius Biſhop of Iconium, which are found among thoſe of Gregory, and are ſet down by Balſamon. In thoſe verſes he makes a Catalogue of the divine books, among which neither Judith, nor Tobit, nor Eccleſiaſticus, nor Wiſdom, nor the Maccabees are found.
Epiphanius Biſhop of Salamin in Cyprus, who is almoſt their contemporary, ſaith the ſame, in the book of weights and meaſures: where after he hath reſtrained the Canonical books to the number of twenty two, he addeth: For the two books written in rows of ſentences, namely, that which is called the Panaretus of Solomon, and that of Jeſus ſon of Sirach, are indeed uſefull and profitable, but (t)foreignare not put in the number of the Oracles. Wherefore alſo they were not put in the Ark of the Covenant. The ſame he ſaith in the hereſie of the Epicureans, which is the VIII; and in that of the Anomoeans or Aetians, which is the 76. It is true that there he makes a Catalogue of the divine Scriptures, among which he puts Eccleſiaſticus and Wiſdom, but he ſets them after the Revelation, removing them from the Old Teſtament, which he would not have done, had he not found ſome difficulty in receiving them. As alſo in the hereſie of the Epipicureans he ſaith that there is doubt made of thoſe books. Howſoever he omits all the other books that are in queſtion, the Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, &c. They that ſay that Epiphanius followed the Canon of the Jews, ſay true; for he acknowledged no other. And they that ſpeak ſo, ought to produce ſome other place of Epiphanius where he ſpeaks of two ſorts of Canons, and diſtinguiſheth the Canon of the Jews from that of the Chriſtians.
To theſe I add Chryſoſtome in the fourth Homily upon Geneſis, ſpeaking of the books of the Old Teſtament.(u)Pag. 32. foreign. All the divine Scriptures (ſaith he) of the Old Teſtament were firſt written in Hebrew. How comes it to paſs then that the books contended about, as Judith, Eccleſiaſticus and the Maccabees, are not found in the Hebrew, if they be divine Scriptures?
Damaſcenus, (x)An. 750.though much poſteriour in time, muſt not be omitted, becauſe our Adverſaries value him much as a great Patron of the adoration of images. In the fourth book of the orthodox faith, chap. 18. he ſaith that there are two and twenty books in the Old Teſtament according to the number of the Hebrew letters. Then he makes a whole Catalogue of thoſe books wherein he puts neither Tobit, nor Judith; nor the Maccabees, nor Wiſdom, nor Eccleſiaſticus. Of theſe two laſt he ſpeaks thus; The Panaret, that is the Wiſdom of Solomon, and the Wiſdom of Jeſus(y)foreign. are books full of vertue, and good; but they are not put in this number, and were not put in the Ark. An errour which he borrowed from Epiphanius, to believe that the ſacred books were incloſed in the Ark. See 1 Kings 8.9. 2 Chron. 5.10.