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says, lived so early as the year 220, and therefore within a hundred and twenty years after St. John's death. On the other hand, this is one reason why w Mr. Wetstein thinks this Harmony spurious; for he says this story was not in the copies used by Ammonius or Eusebius. For my own part, I am unwilling to argue hence, that this Harmony is not genuine in the main; because it may have been interpolated, and very probably has been so, in many places and for the same reason I should not choose to argue from this Latin Harmony, that the paragraph of the woman taken in adultery' was originally in St. John's gospel. They who are desirous to see more of the dispute concerning this paragraph, may do well to consult Mill and others.

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2. In this Harmony many of our Lord's discourses and actions are much out of place; as, the history of the miracle of turning water into wine at Cana in Galilee, our Lord's conversation with the woman of Samaria, Nicodemusa coming to Jesus by night; and many other things, which may be easily perceived to be so by any man of judgment.

3. The author seems to have supposed that the Lord's prayer was delivered but once. I infer this, because he inserts the occasion of the prayer mentioned Luke xi. 1, into Matt. vi.; and joins with our Lord's directions concerning almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, recorded in the last-mentioned place, after this manner: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they' think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Beb not ye therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Then one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father,"

Herein I take him to have been partly in the right: the prayer which Christ taught his disciples, was not delivered more than once. For I do not suppose that our Lord ever spoke at one time all those discourses, the substance of

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Prolegomena ad N. T. ed. accurat. cap. 6. p. 66, 67.

× Mill, ad Johan. cap. vii. 53. et Proleg. n. 251. sq. 892. Vid. et Bez. et Hammond. et Cleric. ad Joh. cap. vii. 53. Grot. ad cap. viii. i. Basnag. Ann. 32. num. 1. y P. 273. C.

a P. 285. C. D.

z P. 279. A. B. b Nolite ergo assimulari eis: scit enim Pater vester quid opus sit vobis, antequam petatis eum. Tunc dixit unus ex discipulis ejus ad eum: Domine, doce nos orare, sicut et Joannes docuit discipulos suos. Et ait illis, Cum oratis, dicite: Pater noster, qui es in cœlis, &c. p. 271. G.

which is recorded, Matt. v. vi. vii. But St. Matthew thought fit to place near the beginning of his gospel a summary of our Lord's doctrine delivered by him at divers times, and in divers places. The particular occasions, times, and places of many things recorded in those three chapters of St. Matthew, may be found in St. Luke's gospel. A large part of our Lord's sermon on the mount, as it is called, recorded by St. Matthew, is the same with that in Luke vi. ver. 20-49. The occasion of the Lord's Prayer is given in Luke xi. 1.—The time and occasion of our Lord's delivering those arguments against the love of riches, and against solicitude, which are recorded in Matt. vi. 19-34, are to be sought in Luke xii. 13-34, where are the same precepts and arguments, and the occasion of them. The like may be said of some other matters in those three chapters of Matthew. And the finding so many parts of the discourse which we have in that evangelist recorded again in St. Luke's gospel, at several. places, greatly confirms the supposition, that all that long discourse, called our Saviour's sermon on the mount, was not delivered at one and the same time. I may not stay to consider every little objection and difficulty attending this observation; it is sufficient for the present to have proposed it to the consideration of the judicious.

4. In this Harmony is no doxology; it is likely it was wanting in the author's copies both of St. Matthew and St. Luke. The prayer concludes here with that petition: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' 5. The words of John xi. 7, 8, are thus put in this Harmony: Then after that, saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say unto him, Rabbi, [or master,] into Judea! The Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?'

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Deinde, post hæc, dicit discipulis suis, Eamus in Judæam iterum. Dicunt ei discipuli, Rabbi, in Judæam ! nunc quærebant te lapidare Judæi: et iterum vadis illuc ? p. 188. G.

CHAP. XXXVII.

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JULIUS AFRICANUS.

JULIUS AFRICANUS is placed by Cave at the year 220, who likewise supposes that he died in an advanced age, about the year 232. But I know of no very good reason for thinking that Africanus was then in an advanced age, or that he died so soon. Tillemont, however, thinks it undoubted, that he was older than Origen; (who was born, as he says, in 185; since in a letter to him he calls him his son.' Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, (having in the preceding chapter spoken of Origen, particularly of his preaching at Cæsarea, and some of his most celebrated scholars, who had come from distant parts to be instructed by him,) writes of Africanus to this purpose: At that time flourished Africanus, author of the work 'entitled Cesti. There is extant a letter of his to Origen, ' in which he suspects the history of Susanna, in the book ' of Daniel, to be spurious and a forgery, whom Origen answers at large. There are come down to us also these ' other pieces of the same Africanus: A chronological work, ' in five books, accurately written, in which he speaks of 'his having taken a journey to Alexandria, excited by the 'fame of Heraclas; whom we have before related to have 'excelled in the knowledge of philosophy, and other parts ' of Greek learning, and to have been appointed bishop of that church. There is also another epistle of Africanus 'to Aristides, concerning the supposed differences in the 'genealogies of Christ, which are in Matthew and Luke, 'where he evidently demonstrates the harmony of the 'evangelists out of a history he had received.' When Africanus took this journey to Alexandria, Heraclas was only presbyter and catechist: he was not bishop of that city before the year 231.

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There is another short account of this great man in St. Jerom's Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers. • Julius f

a Provectâ jam ætate mortuus est, circa 232. Cav. H. Lit. P. i. p. 72.

b Tillem. Mem. Ecc. T. iii. P. ii. p. 32.

c

Xaipɛ, kupiɛ μg kaι vie. African. Ep. ad Orig. in.

d Eus. 1. vi. cap. 31.

e

Τε δ' αυτε Αφρικανε και αλλα τον

f De Vir. Ill. cap. 63.

αριθμον πεντε χρονογραφιων ηλθεν εις ήμας επ' ακριβες πεπονημενα σπεδάσε ματα. Ibid.

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Africanus, whose five books of Chronology are extant, in 'the time of the emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, successor ' of Macrinus, undertook an embassy for the restoration of the city of Emmaus, which was afterwards called Ni'copolis. There is an epistle of his to Origen concerning the history of Susanna, wherein he says, that history is 'not to be found in Hebrew, nor is it agreeable to the 'Hebrew etymology, which is there written aо το σχινε

σχισαι, και απο το πρινε πρισαι: in answer to whom Origen ' wrote a learned epistle. There is another letter of his to 'Aristides, in which he copiously treats of the difference ' which there seems to be in the genealogy of our Saviour in 'Matthew and Luke.'

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This settles the time of Africanus; the emperor whom St. Jerom means being Heliogabalus, whose reign began in 218, and ended at 222. The embassy for that city shows the country where he chiefly resided, and affords an argument that he was a man of repute in the world; but whether he was a native of Palestine, or of Africa, is not certain. Suidas says, Africanus, called Sextus, a philosopher of Libya, [or Africa,] wrote the Cesti, in 24 books.' He also gives an account of the design of that work: and says that Origen answered the same author's objections against the history of Susanna. But it may be questioned whether the author of the Cesti was not a different person from our Julius Africanus. However, since the more ancient writers have not particularly informed us that he was of Africa, I think it best not to rely too much on Suidas.

In Eusebius's Chronicle, (I mean Jerom's Latin version of that work,) at the fourth year of the fore-mentioned emperor, of Christ 221, the same matter is thus expressed: Ink Palestine the city Nicopolis, which before was called • Emmaus, was founded; Julius Africanus, author of the Chronology, undertaking an embassy for that purpose.' This Emmaus has been generally supposed by learned men to be the same with that mentioned by St. Luke, ch. xxiv. 13. But Reland' argues, that Emmaus, afterwards called

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8 Legationem pro instauratione urbis Emmaüs suscepit quæ postea Nicopolis appellata est. Ibid. Hujus est epistola ad Origenem super quæstione Susannæ ; eo quod dicat in Hebræo hanc fabulam non haberi, nec convenire cum Hebraïcâ etymologiâ, ato, &c. Ibid. i Suid. in V. Αφρικανος. k In Palæstinâ Nicopolis, quæ prius Emmaüs vocabatur, urbs condita est, legationis industriam pro eâ suscipiente Africano, scriptore Temporum. Eus. Chr. p. 173.

1 Vid. Adr. Reland. Palæstin. Illustrat. lib. ii. cap. 26. p. 426, 427.

Nicopolis, was another place, situated at a greater distance from Jerusalem.

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- Eusebius mentions four pieces of Africanus; the Cesti, the Chronology, and two letters, one to Origen, the other to Aristides. St. Jerom has omitted the first of these: Photius mentions them all four; he calls the chronological work a history, and gives a great commendation of it, when he says, That m though Africanus is concise, he omits 'nothing that is necessary to be related.' Photius adds, That he begins at the Mosaic creation, and from thence 'reaches down to the nativity of Christ. He likewise succinctly relates things from Christ to the Roman emperor Macrinus.' So Photius. Nevertheless it has been observed by several learned men, from a fragment of Africanus himself, that this work was brought down by him to the year of Christ 221, the third or fourth year of Heliogabalus, successor of Macrinus.

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From the passages already transcribed, we are in a good measure able to form a judgment concerning the genuineness of any other books which may be ascribed to Africanus. And whether the Cesti were written by him, is disputed. Valesius," Joseph P Scaliger, and 4 Du Pin think the author of that work to have been a different person. They suppose there were two of this name; our Julius of Palestine, author of the Chronology and a christian; the other an African, called Sextus, author of the Cesti, and a gentile philosopher. Tillemont says, that if this work was composed by Africanus, and the accounts left us of it be right, it was written by him whilst he was a heathen, and before his conversion to christianity. Cave speaks in the same manner, in the first part of his Historia Literaria; but he mentions it only as a conjecture; and I think it is mere conjecture. Africanus was a christian; this we know; but we have no ground to say he was originally a heathen, no ancient author having said any such thing; and Cave, in the second part of that work, delivers it as his judgment, that this piece was not written by Africanus. From the same learned writer I learn that the Cesti were published, though not very correctly, at Paris, in 1693; but I have not been so happy as to see them. I think it observable, n Vid. Scaligeri Animadv. in Eus. Chron. p. 232. Pagi, Crit. in Bar. 220. sect. 2. Tillemont, Jule Africain, note 2. • Vales. Annot. in Eus. 1. vi. cap. 31. P Scal. Animadv. in Eus. Chr. p. 232. a Pin, Nouv. Bib. Julius Africanus. s Interim Africani

m Cod. 34.

S

Till. Mem. Ecc. Jule Africain, init.

nostri opus esse non videtur; etsi aliter visum veteribus, et recentiorum plurimis. Cav. Hist. Lit. P. ii. p. 50.

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