τοὺς ̔Εβδομήκοντα, that of Aquila κατὰ ̔Ακυλάν. But why does he stop short in his inference? If the argument proves any thing, it proves, not merely that the existing Greek gospels were translations, but also that Matthew, Luke, &c. were the translators. The true answer however is, that the force of the preposition Kara depends entirely upon the word with which it is connected. The title To evayyéλov κατὰ Ματθαῖον means “ the glad tidings of salvation as delivered by St. Matthew:" or as paraphrased by Hammond, "That story of Christ which Matthew compiled and set down." For though the word evayyéλov was employed at a very early period to signify 136 a written book, yet it continued to be used in its primitive meaning; as by Tertullian, when he calls 137 St. Matthew, fidelissimus Evangelii commentator, the most faithful expositor of the life and doctrine of Christ. We will take this opportunity of remarking, that our author, in speaking of the Scriptures, sometimes calls them 138 Instrumentum, sometimes Testamentum; but 136 See de Res. Carnis, c. 33. De Carne Christi, c. 7. Adv. Marcionem, L. i. c. 1. L. iv. cc. 1. 3. L. v. 1. Scorpiace, c. 2. 137 De Carne Christi, c. 22. See also de Res. Carnis, c. 33. The word commentator is similarly used adv. Marcionem, L. iv. c. 2. 138 Vetus Instrumentum. Apology, c. 47. divinarum Scripturarum. Adv. Judæos, c. 1. are joined together adv. Praxeam, c. 20. utriusque testamenti. Ex instrumento says on 139 one occasion that the latter term was in more general use. He calls them also Some 111 learned men have contended that the Epistle, which in our Bibles is inscribed to the Ephesians, should be entitled to the Laodiceans. Tertullian 142 in one place says, that the Heretics alone gave it that title; 145 in another, that Marcion had at one time manifested an intention to alter the title of the Epistle. Semler's inference is that some of the Epistles were without inscriptions, and received in consequence a variety of titles. There are in Tertullian, as well as in the other Fathers, quotations purporting to be taken from Scripture, but which cannot be found in our present copies. Thus in the 139 Alterum alterius instrumenti, vel (quod magis usui est dicere) testamenti. Adv. Marcionem, L. iv. c. 1. 140 Et inde sunt nostra digesta. Adv. Marcionem, L. iv. c. 2. Si quid in sanctis offenderunt digestis. Apology, c. 47. 141 Lardner. History of the Apostles and Evangelists, c. 13. 142 Prætereo hic et de aliâ epistolâ, quam nos ad Ephesios perscriptam habemus; Hæretici vero ad Laodicenos. Adv. Marcionem, L. v. c. 11. 143 Ecclesiæ quidem veritate, Epistolam istam ad Ephesios habemus emissam, non ad Laodicenos: sed Marcion ei titulum aliquando interpolare gestiit, quasi et in isto diligentissimus explorator. Adv. Marcionem, L. v. c. 17. 144 Tract de Idololatriâ, c. 20. Nam sicut scriptum est ecce homo et facta ejus, ita, ex ore tuo justificaberis. The commentators have not been able to trace the former of the two quotations, and some suppose it to have been taken from the book of Enoch. 145 On three different occasions Tertullian quotes the words Dominus regnavit a ligno as a portion of the tenth verse of the 95th (or 96th) Psalm; from which, according to Justin Martyr, the words corresponding to a ligno had been erased by the Jews. In the Tract de Carne Christi, c. 23. we find the following sentence: Legimus quidem apud Ezechielem de vaccâ illâ, “quæ peperit et non peperit;" the words are also quoted by 146 Clemens Alexandrinus, but he does not refer to any particular portion of Scripture. In the 147 Tract de Exhortatione Castitatis, Tertullian says, Cautum in Levitico, Sacerdotes mei non plus nubent; but the 148 prohibition, as it stands in our Bibles, is that a Priest shall not marry a widow or divorced female. Tertullian's writings afford many exemplifications of the justice of Porson's remarks respecting the 144 Matthew xii. 37. 145 Adv. Judæos, cc. 10. 13. Adv. Marcionem, L. iii. c. 19. See Thirlby's note on Justin Martyr against Trypho, p. 298. D. 146 Strom. L. vii. p. 890. Ed. Potter. See Porson's Letters to Travis, p. 275. 147 c. 7. Compare de Monogamiâ, c. 7. 148 Leviticus xxi. 7. 13, 14. want of correctness and precision observable in the quotations of the Fathers from the Scriptures. 149 He sometimes refers his readers to one part of Scripture for passages which belong to another; and he so mixes up the quotations with his own words, that it is difficult to distinguish between them. The 150 consequence has been that his inferences and explanations have been mistaken for various readings; and have in some instances found their way into the text of the Sacred Volume." 151 We proceed to the seventh Article; on which it will be sufficient to remark that-as the Heretical opinions of Marcion were founded on the notion that the God, who created the world and gave the law, was opposed to the Supreme God-he maintained as a necessary consequence, that the Old Testament was contrary to the New our author, therefore, who undertakes to confute him, 152 must have 149 Thus in the Scorpiace, c. 13. a passage extant in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, is quoted as from the Epistles to the Thessalonians. 150 See an instance in Porson's Letters to Travis, p. 273. or in Semler's Dissertation, Sect. 9. 151 The author might have produced numerous other instances in confirmation of the statements made in this paragraph; but he was unwilling to swell the bulk of the volume. 152 See particularly adv. Marcionem, L. iv. c. 11. where are some judicious observations respecting the relation in which the Law stands to the Gospel. held that the two Testaments were not at variance. 153 We have seen that Tertullian, when arguing against the Heretics, uniformly represents the rule of faith maintained in the Apostolic Churches to be the same which the Apostles originally delivered. He does not indeed state that they compiled any creed or public declaration of belief, to which all the members of the Church were bound to give their assent. 154 But in the commencement of the Tract de Virginibus Velandis, he describes what he calls the one, fixed, unchangeable rule of faith; which will be found to contain nearly all the articles of what is now termed the Apostles' Creed. Those which are there wanting may be supplied, either from another summary of faith 155 in the second chapter of 153 Chap. iv. note xi. 154 Regula quidem fidei una omnino est, sola immobilis et irreformabilis, credendi scilicet in unicum Deum omnipotentem, mundi conditorem, et Filium ejus Iesum Christum, natum ex Virgine Mariâ, crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato, tertio die resuscitatum a mortuis, receptum in cœlis, sedentem nunc ad dexteram Patris, venturum judicare vivos et mortuos per carnis etiam resurrectionem. Compare de Præscriptione Hæreticorum, c. 13. 156 Nos vero, et semper, et nunc magis ut instructiores per Paracletum, deductorem scilicet omnis veritatis, unicum quidem Deum credimus; sub hâc tamen dispensatione, quam oikovoμíav dicimus, ut unici Dei sit et filius, Sermo ipsius, qui ex ipso processerit, per quem omnia facta sunt et sine |