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FOUR

DISSERTATIONS.

I. The Authority of the Second Epiftle of St. Peter.

II. The Senfe of the Ancients before Chrift upon the Circumftances and Confequences. of the Fall. With an APPENDIX.

III. The Bleffing of Judah, Gen. xlix.

IV. Chrift's Entry into Jerufalem.

DISSERTATION I.

The Authority of the Second Epiftle of
St. Peter.

THE occafion I had, in the first of the foregoing Difcourfes, to confider and compare together the two Epiftles of St. Peter, led me to inquire into the grounds and reasons of the ancient doubt concerning the authority and genuineness of the fecond Epiftle. It will be worth while to examine the fact, and ftate it fairly; which will enable us to judge whether this doubt is well founded or no.

The learned Grotius, in his Annotations on this Epiftle, obferves, "That many of the ancients were "of opinion that this was not an epiftle of St. Peter "the Apostle, induced thereunto by the difference "of ftyle between this and the first Epistle, (acknow"ledged by Eufebius and Jerom,) and by this Epi"file's having been rejected by many churches." Huetius a reports the cafe more accurately, and tells us, that this fecond Epiftle was " inter dubias colloἐσ cata ab aliquibus-propter ftyli cum priore difcrepantiam;""reckoned doubtful by fome, because

Demonftratio Evang. p. 21.

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"the ftyle of it was different from that of the firft

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Epiftle." This is the truth of the case, and this the only reason to be found in antiquity of the doubt concerning this Epiftle. Grotius's fecond reason, “that this Epiftle was not received in many "churches," is too ftrongly expreffed, and not sufficiently warranted. Origen is the firft, as far as appears, who mentions the doubt about this Epistle: "St. Peter," he tells us, "left one Epiftle confeffedly "his; perhaps too a fecond; for of this there is "doubt." Eufebius informs us, "That there never "was any doubt of St. Peter's first Epistle: but as "to the fecond, the tradition was, that it was not "canonical: nevertheless appearing to many (or to "the generality) to be a useful piece, it was used

jointly with the other Scriptures." That this fecond Epiftle was received and ufed by the church in Eufebius's time, appears I think from this very paffage: he says it was "used with the other Scrip"tures," and that all the ground there was to doubt of its authority, was an ancient tradition, which probably was no other than the authority and report of Origen, before cited. That this doubt ever affected whole churches, or that there were churches which rejected this Epiftle, does not appear: if this had been the cafe, it would have been a ftronger objection against the authority of the Epiftle than the

5 Πετρὸς μίαν ἐπιτολὴν ὁμολογουμένην καταλέλοιπεν, ἴσω δὲ καὶ divτípar àμpicárλeras yáp. Origen. apud Eufeb. lib. vi. cap. 25.

• Τὴν δὲ φερομένην αὐτοῦ δευτέραν, οὐκ ἐνδιάθετον μὲν εἶναι παρειλήφαμεν· ὅμως δὲ πολλοῖς χρήσιμος φανεῖσα, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐσπον Sárda ypaçãr. Lib. iii, cap. 3. vide çap. 25.

ancient fufpicion, and more worthy of the hiftorian's

notice.

What fubmiffion is due to the doubts of antiquity, when we have only the doubt tranfmitted to us, without the reasons upon which it was grounded, I need not inquire; but furely, when we have the reafons of the doubt preferved, we have a very good right to judge and inquire for ourselves. And this happens to be the cafe here: St. Jerom takes notice of this doubt, and tells us the reafon of it: "the "fecond Epiftle," fays he, " is rejected by many, (or

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by moft, a plerifque,) because it differs in ftyle from "the firftd."

The whole doubt, you fee, is founded upon a piece of criticism, started at first probably by fome man of learning and figure, and followed implicitly by others. The ufage and authority of the church, for aught that appears to the contrary, were on the fide of the Epiftle, and prevailed at last against the learned obfervation: which was the very cafe of St. Jude's Epiftle, which, for a like reason, was rejected by many, but the general authority of the church prevailed to eftablish it; "autoritatem vetuftate "et ufu meruit, et inter fanctas Scripturas compa“rature.”

That there is a difference in the ftyle of the first and fecond Epiftle of St. Peter, is allowed; but it is not fuch a difference as ought to create any doubt of the genuineness of the Epiftle. One reafon is, be

Quarum fecunda a plerifque rejicitur, propter ftyli, cum priore diffonantiam. Catal. Script. Ecclef.

• Hieron. Catal. Script. Eccl.

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