& à Sancto Cypriano in Epiftolâ ad Pompeium. To thefe I may add, Jofephus quotes its Relation of the Difcourfe of the Three Toung Men, What is Strongeft? And if the many Quotations I have given concerning the fecond Book of Efdras Apocry pha, be well confider'd, it will appear, that there are Sufficient Testimonies for the fecond Book, befides the Prophecies contained in it, concerning the Roman Empire. This fecond Book has the Teftimonies of Irenæus, Tertullian, Clem. Alexandrinus, Bafil, Chryfoftom, Hom 3. Epift. ad Hebr. Ambrose.

Genebr. in his Chronology places this Book in the Canon; at which Bellarmine wonders.

Bibliander acknowledges this Book as Canonical; and Scaliger, Exerc. 308. fays, Arcana multa continentur in libr. Efdr. quorum admirabile & divinum compendium apud me eft, Syrâ conscri ptum linguâ.

The Chriftian Church never thought the Hiftories of the Apocrypha falfe, or Efdras's Prophecy Spu rious: And therefore the third Council of Carthage A. D. 400. of 217 Bishops, (and St. Austin was then prefent) in which the two Books of Efdras are mentioned, 24th Canon, amongst the Apocrypha, ordered them to be read in Churches; and they are called Divine Writings, and part of Canonical Scripture. And that St. Auftin approved of Ef dras as a Prophet, appears by this Quotation, lib. 17. ch. 24. Toto ille tempore ex quo redierunt de Babylonia, poft Malachiam, Aggaum, &

Za.

Zachariam, qui tum prophetaverunt, & Efdram, non habuerunt Prophetas, ufque ad Salvatoris Adventum. Auftin, de Civitat. Dei.

From the Jewish Synagogues in Judæa the Primitive Chriftians received their First Canon of 22 Books: But the learned Jews in Alexandria made a further Collection of Divine Writings, and added them to their Septuagint; and from them the Latin Church received them; and thofe 22 Books collected by Efdras, were called genuine, and allowed by both the Jews at Jerufalem, and the Hellenists in Egypt: But the last Collection is distinguished by the Name of Apocrypha. Epiphanius de men. furis & ponderibus, affirms, ad Ptolemæum mif fos fuiffe 22 libros genuinos, & alios ApocryphoWhen these were all tranflated, the Hellenists preferved them in their Bibles.

If these were called Apocryphal, becaufe their Authors are unknown, then Ruth, Judges, Kings, and Chronicles, and fome Pfalms ought to be fo called.

V. Collier

Eccl. Hift.

In the Conference at Hampton Court, 'tis afferted, that the Cenfure of the Apocry. phal, were the old Exceptions of the Jews, revived by St. Jerom; and that upon Ruffinus's Challenge, he in fome measure renounced his Opinion. St. Jerom's Diftinction was, Thefe Books were Canonical, ad informandos mo res, non ad confirmandam fidem. Thus the grea teft Enemy allows them half Canonical, which

a 2

Seems

Seems very abfurd. His great Objection against Efdras, was, because he mentions the Return of the Jews from their Captivity, their Rebuilding a third City, and a Paradifiacal State on Earth. These things St. Jerom thought to be Jewifh Fables. And at that time the Greeks doubted concerning the Authority of the Revelation, as if it were written by Cerinthus; its Figures were then too mysterious, and could not then be interpreted till many Events had happened in the Roman History. And for the fame reafon Efdras was rejected; be. cause the Events whereby his Prophecies must be in. terpreted, were not then come to pafs; fuch are his Three Heads of the Eagle, which neither the Jews, nor Chriftians could understand: But the Chriftians thought the Return of the Jews, their happy future State, the Third Temple, Cabaliftic Vanities. All which we now find defcribed by the Old Prophets ; and the prefent Age does not deny. That the Want of Interpretation of a Prophecy, may occafion the denying of its Authority, we may obferve by Luther, who in his older Preface to the New Testament, profeffes, he did not understand the Revelations; ac fe Apocalypfim neque pro prophetico, neque pro Apoftolico libro recipere; fed fimilem judicare libro quarto Efdræ.

The Canon of Scripture is only a Catalogue of Books approved by fome Tradition, or allowed Council, to be read in the Jews or Chriftian Churches, for a Rule of Faith and Manners.

All

All Chriftians admitted the Apocrypha for In ftruction; but fince the Secret of Christianity contai ned in the Old Prophets, is more clearly and plainly Jet forth in the Apocrypha, than in any other of the Old Prophets, the whole Church hath admitted them to be read for Edification; and hath Power to prefcribe fuch Books, as well as Homilies and Sermons. In thefe is the Secret of the Refurrection, the Gene ral Judgment, and the World to come, and the My Stery of the Holy Trinity expreffed, by the Word and Wisdom of God, and his Holy Spirit. And the inward and Spiritual Service of God in Truth of Heart, is more clearly opened in the Apocryphal Writings, than in the Law and oldeft Prophets. Therefore these are more edifying to Chriftians, as introductory Doctrines to Chriftianity.

Since the

Latin Church receives all the Apocrypha but Ef dras, I cannot find there are any other Reafons for their rejecting him, but that they could not interpret his Prophecies; and they made fome Exceptions against his Affertion about good Works: But yet they quote him in their Liturgies.

In the Primitive Church, the Apocrypha were prefcribed to Catechumens, in order to Bap. tifm.

The Prophecies of Efdras were commanded to be kept in private, because they related to the Jews under the Perfian, Grecian, and Roman Empires; and tho obscure at first, yet the Events, as they appeared, would explain them. The Jews

might

might be offended at Efdras's defcribing a long time of Captivity, and that many other Nations should tyrannize over them, and that another City more glorious was to be built. 'Tis certain, the great Synagogue of the Jews did not publish Efdras and Tobit, but kept them in private Archives, though both contained Prophecies as well as Baruch.

Nepos wrote for the Millennium defcribed in the Revelations, against the Allegorists, who call'd the Chiliafts Flereticks; and the Revelations Authority was denied in the Third Century, because of the Millennium, by Dionyfius Alexandrinus, who wrote against Nepos.

The reafon of thefe Ecclefiaftical Writings not being written in Hebrew, could not be the reason why they are called Apocrypha; because Ecclefiafticus and the First of Maccabees, St. Jerom fays, were written in Hebrew, and Tobit and Judith in Chaldee. And fince there are fome Prophecies in the Apocryphal Books, their not being written by Prophets, can be no reason why they are called Apocrypha. Therefore there were only Some pru. dential Reafons, why the Jewish Priests at Jerufa. lem would not multiply the Ecciefiaftic Writings above 22, in their Bibles: They thought thofe fuf. ficient for their Hiftories, Prophecies, and Morali.

ty

But the most probable are, that the Apocryphal were collected after the Collection by Efdras and the great Synagogue. Tho' thefe Writings might be in being before that Collection, except Ecclefiafticus and the Maccabees; Efdras, and Tobit, and Baruch,