24 / 504
A
Preface to the Reader,
be
offered up through the
holy Spirit
by the
mouths
of
wild
beafls
to
Jefus
Chrift
thatbe
wrote fundry
Epi files
to fundry
Churches ,
that
were
of
cheifeft note
and name
in the
Cour.
treys
about. The concurrent
Teftimony
of
the
Ancients
in
this matter
of
fart
,
will
give
as
good Affurance
as
in thiskind
we
arc capable
of
;
Éufebiva reckons them
up
in
order
,
fo
loth
Flierome.
After
them
frequent mention
is
made
of
them by
others,&
fpecial
raying: in them
are
tran-
fcribed: And
whereas
it
is
urged by
fome,that
there
is
no mention
of
thofe Epifiles before
the
2K%cene
Ceuncell,before
which
time,it
is
as
evident
as
if
it
were
written with
the
beams
of
the fun,that
many
falfeand fuppofititious writings
had
been
impofed on
and were received
by many in the Church
,
(as
the
ftory
of
Patti
and Tecla
is
mentioned
and rejected by
Ter
-
rull;
de
Baptif
Hernia Paftor by others)
it
is
anfwercd
that they
were mentioned by lren
ems
fome good
while before,Lib.5.cap.28.faith
he.
emadmodum
quidam
de
noflria di.
it
,
prop
-
ter CYvfartyrium
in
Deem adjudicatuu
ad
be
Pisa; quoniam
frumentum rum
Chrifii
&
per
dotter
befliarom
moles
ut
mouldier
penis
Dei inveniar.
Which
words
o
the fubjlance
of
them are
found in
thefe
Epifiles: though
fome fay nothing
is
here
intimated
of
any
Epiflles or
wri
tings
,
but
of
a
fpeech
that might
paffe among the
Chriftians by
Tradition
,
fuch
as
they
had
many among themfelves,
even
of
our
Saviours
,
fome
whereof
are
mentioned by
Grotius
on
there words
of
Paul',
remember
that word
of
Chrift
that
iris
more bleffed to
give
then to
re-
ceive.
What probabilitieor
ground
for
convietion there
is
in
theft or
the
like Obfervations,
and Anfwers
is
lift
to
the judgement
of
all. This
is
certain
that the
6rft
mentioning
of
them
in Antiquities
is
to
be
clearely received,(and
that
perhaps
with
more then the
bare
word
of
him,that
recites and approves
of
the Epiftles
of
jefus
Chrift
to elbgaree
the
King
of
the
(Edefear)
or
of
him
that
reckons
Seneca
among the Ecclefiafticallwriters,upon the
account
of
hie
Bpi
files
to
Paul) or
the
followingTeftimonies,which
areheaped
up in
abundance by
fome
who think
(
but falfely
)
that
they
have
a
peculiar
intereft
enwrapped
in the
Epiftles,now
extant,will
be
of
very fmali weight or
value.
Formy
part I
am
perfwaded,with that
kind
of
perfwafton wherein
in
things
of
no greater
moment
I
am
content
to
acquiefce,that
he
did
-write
7
Epifiles,
and
that
much
of
what
he
fo
wrote
is
preferved
in thofe that
are
now
extant,concerning which the contefts
of
learned
men
have
drawne
deep
and
run high
in
thefe
latter daim, though
little to
the advantag
e
of
the
molt that
have
laboured in
that
caufe,as
thail
be
manifefted in
the proceffe
of
our dif-
coutfe.
ti
victim?).
A
late learned
Datorin
his
differtationrabout
Epifiopacy,ordifpute
for
it
againfi
Sodom-
Blondellum
au
lioto
and 'BIornleilrn
tells us,that we may
take
a
tali
of
his
confidence
inaffertingDiffert:z.cap.
antrum w":11í
§
:j,
that
Salmafiru
and 231ondelluamortaliam
omniemprimi, thought
there
Epifiles
to
be
imesWaermm-
feigned,or counterfeit.
And with
more wordsCap.24.r.he
would
make
us
believe,that
there
tales
m
Mellalinum
Epiftles
of
lgnariee
where allwaies
of
the
fame efteeme
with
that
of
Clemens
from
Rome
to the
cap254:
3.
Corinthians
of
which
he treats at
large
in
his
fourth
Differtation)
or
that
of
Polycarpu to
the Philippianswhich
we
have
in
Eufebius
he addes
in the judgment
of
Salmafess
and Blon-
deilus,
Soles
Ignatius
órXoau
iejus
tarnen
Epiffola pari
temper cum
illis
per
univer/am
ab
amni
ava
patrum
troth-arum memoriam
reverentid Excipiebantar ;
nec
prim
a
mortalium
quovie
in
f
udicinm vocabantur
(
multo minim
tot
in
re
certh Cr
extra
dubium po/ira
inter
plane
e
a
.ga
C
Kíßdyt,a
rejiciebantur)
pant
Presbyteri
Anglicani
patribus
fuir
contumeliam facere capijfent
iifque
amt
fuppetias
ferre,
ant remgratam facere
(quibus
illeeebris
addurli
nefcio)
hi
duo non
ig-
nobiles Presbyteran
a
cauta hyperafpifta
in
feipfos recepiffent.Of his
Two
learned
Ant
one
is dead,
and the
other
almoft
blind
,
or
probably they
would
have
dealt
not
much moregent-
ly
with
the
Do
&or for
his
Parenthefos
(quibes illecebris
addurli nefcio) then
one
of
them
for-
merly did (Salmall:
de
fubfcribendis
&
fignandie Teflamentio fen
fpecimen
Confuta. Animad:
Heraldi:
Cap:
a.
Fag:
19
Neper
guiders)
etiam
nebnlo
in Anglia,
Capellanes
ut
audio
Regis,
Hammendus nomine,libro
Tom
edidit
de
poteftateclavium Salmafo iratue
good
aliam
quam
opfe
feneentiamprobet
ac defendat
, band portal
majors
convtcium,
quad ei diceret,
in
venire,
quam
f
Gramaticum
appellaret
) for
his
tearming him
a
gremmarian,yet
indeed
of
him,
(
fuch
was
the
hard
entertainment
he
found
on
all hands)
it
is
by many
fuppofed
that
he was
illecebrisad-
duflue(and they
ftick
not
to
name
the
bait
he
was
caught
withall
)
wrought
over
in
a
manner
to deftroy
the
faith
of
that,which
he had
before fet up and'eftablfhed.
For the
thing
it
(elfe
affirmed by
the
Dorlar,I
cannot enough admire
with
what
ofcitancy
or
contempt
,
he
confiders his Readers
(of
which
manner
of
proceeding this
is
very
far from
be-
ing
the
only inflance) thathefhould confidently
impofe fuch things upon them. He that
hath
written
fo much about
Ignstim
,
and Both
fo triumph in
his
Authority,
ought
doubtlefs
to