all other righteous men, who have gone before, with great triumph, glorifies God even the Father, and blesses our Lord the governor both of our souls and bodies; and shepherd: Vid. Cote of the Catholic church which is over all the & Vet. Lat earth. 6 Whereas therefore ye desired that we would at large declare to you what was done; we have for the present given you a summary account of it by our brother Marcus: 7 Having therefore yourselves read this epistle, you may do well to send it forward to the brethren that are farther off; that they may also glorify God who makes such choice of his own servants, 8 And is able to bring all of us by his grace and help to his eternal kingdom, through his only begotten Son Jesus Christ; to whom be glory, and honour, and power, and majesty, for ever and ever. Amen. 9 Salute all the saints; they that are with us salute you; and Evarestus, who wrote this epistle, with his whole house. 10 Now the suffering of the blessed Polycarp was the second day of the present month Xanthicus, viz. the seventh of the Calends of May;" being the great Sabbath about the 8th hour. ler. in marg. Interpr. Rather April: See Annot. Us ser. n. 105, Chron. Diss. 11 He was taken by Herod, Philip the & Pearson Trallian being high priest; Statius Quadratus 1. c. 18: n. pro-consul; but our Saviour Christ reigning for evermore : 12 To him be honour, glory, majesty, and an eternal throne, from generation to generation. Amen. 13 We wish you, brethren, all happiness; by living according to the rule of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: with whom, glory be to God 4. the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of his chosen saints. 14 After whose example the blessed Polycarp suffered; at whose feet may we be found in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. AN ADVERTISEMENT RELATING TO THE This epistle was transcribed by Caius out of the copy of Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp; who also lived and conversed with Irenæus. And I Socrates transcribed it at Corinth, out of the copy of the said Caius. Grace Ad finem be with all. Exempl. UsБег. р. 30. And after which, I Pionius, again wrote it from the copy before mentioned; having searched it out by the revelation of Polycarp, who directed me to it; as also I shall declare in what follows; having gathered these things together, now almost corrupted through process of time; that Jesus Christ our Lord may also gather me together with his elect to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be glory for ever and ever. Amen. PART SECOND. A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE CATHOLIC EPISTLE OF ST. BARNABAS. Why the pieces that follow are put in a second part, separate from the foregoing. The history of St. Barnabas, chiefly from the acts of the Apostles. Of his name, education and travels; especially with St. Paul. How he came to be separated from that Apostle. What he did afterwards. Of his death; and the invention of his relics; and of the Cyprian privileges established on that account. Of the present epistle-that it was truly written by St. Barnabas. The principal objections against it answered. An apology for its allegorical interpretations of Scripture. The latter part of it, originally belonging to this epistle. That it was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. The design and usefulness of it. 1. WHEN I first entered upon the design of publishing the present collection, I intended to have here put an end to it; the following pieces under the names of Barnabas and Hermas, together with the second epistle of St. Clement; however undoubtedly very ancient and confessed by all to come but little, if any thing, short of the Apostolical times; having yet neither been so highly esteemed among the ancients, nor so generally received by many of the present times, as those I have already mentioned. But when I consider the deference which others among the primitive Fathers have paid to them, and the value which is still put upon them by many, not inferior either in learning or piety to those who speak against them; I thought I could not better satis fem. Alex. fy all than by adding them in a second part to the foregoing epistles that so, both they who have a just esteem for them might not complain of being defrauded of any part of what remains of the Apostolical writings; and those who are otherwise minded might look upon them as standing in a second rank, and not taking place, (which otherwise they must have done) of those undoubtedly genuine and admirable discourses, that make up the former part of this work. 2. And here the first piece that occurs, is the Catholic epistle of St. Barnabas, the companion of St. Paul, and disciple of our Saviour Christ; being generally esteemStrom. lib. ii, ed to have been one of the seventy f that were chose by seb. Hist him; however our countryman, Bede, s calls the ver dict of antiquity in question as to this matter, upon this In Act. iv. account, because St. Luke, Acts iv. seemeth to intimate p. 410. Eu ccles. lib. i. rap. 12. & that he first came to the Apostles after the ascension of our Lord, and then embraced the Christian faith. To this it may be added; that he is there called a Levite of Cyprus, not one of the seventy disciples, which would have been much more for his honour to have been mentioned. The mistake of Clemens Alexandrinus, &c. if it were one, sccins to have arisen from hence, that Joseph Barsabas, or as other manuscripts have it, Joses Barnabas, the competitor of St. Matthias, Acts i. (as on the contrary some manuscripts, Acts iv. have Joseph Barsabas) who probably was of the seventy as well as Matthias, was confounded by them with our Barnabas; of whom, whatever becomes as to his discipleship, we are sure, that the Holy Ghost by St. Luke has left us this advantageous character of him, Acts xi. 24. That he was a good man, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost. 3. It is not my design to enter on any long account of the life of a person so largely spoken of in the Holy Scriptures, and of whom little certain can be written, besides what is there recorded. His country was Cyprus, Chron. ad a famous island in the Mediterranean sea, where there inhabited in those days so great a number of Jews, that in the time of Trajan they conspired against the Gen-d tiles, and slew of them two hundred and forty thousand ann. 117. men. Upon which being cast out of the Isle, they were Dion. lib. never suffered upon any account to set foot again in it, ine, &c. upon pain of death. 68. Xiphil * Acte iv. 36, 4. His name was at first Joses, but by the Apostles changed into Barnabas, which being interpreted, says St. Luke, is the son of consolation; and, as we may conjecture from the place where it is first mentioned,* 37. was given him by the Apostles as an honourable acknowledgment of his charity, in selling his whole estate for the relief of the poor Christians; and upon the account of that consolation which they received thereby. 5. His first education, Metaphrastes tells us was at the feet of Gamaliel; by whom he was instructed, together with St. Paul: which perhaps moved that great Comp his Apostle upon his conversion to apply himself to him, as life, num. 2. the properest person to introduce him into the acquaintance of the other Apostles, and afterwards to embrace him as his chief friend and fellow labourer in the work Apud Barad ann. 34. on. Annal. num. 262. Dr. Cave in of the Gospel. For they are both mentioned to have † Acts xi. 26. taught much people at Antioch; and that for a whole year together and in the 13th chapter are numbered among the prophets and teachers of the Christian church there, ver. 7, where we read that they did aλoupy w kupew, which some in a special manner interpret of the celebration of the holy Eucharist. Here then we find them both by teaching and administering that blessed sacrament, discharging the work of a priest or presbyter, as we now understand that word. But they still wanted the apostolical character. By virtue of which they might do that ordinarily, which as prophets, they could only do in extraordinary cases, and by an express direction of the Holy Spirit; namely, found churches, and ordain Elders or Bishops in every place. This dignity there |