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16 Credibility of the Gospel History.
we have a beautiful edition of them in English, with useful
and valuable notes, by the late Mr. Nathaniel Marshall, published
in the year 1717.
Some pieces have been ascribed to St. Cyprian which are
not his ; but learned men are now so generally agreed what
are his genuine works, what not, that I need not enlarg-e
upon that point. As several of those tracts which formerly
had been reckoned his, and some others, are still usually
bound up together with his works, and are useful, and
written by good hands, I shall make some extracts out of
them m a chapter apart, and there g-ive a short history or
account of each of them.
All St. Cyprian's works, both tracts and epistles, abound
with texts of the scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
But there is one tract, entitled Testimoiiies against the Jews,
to Quirinus, in three books ; which tract is little more than
a collection of texts of scripture under several heads ; for
there is nothing- in it properly Cyprian's, beside two short
prefaces, and those several heads, or the titles of the chap-
ters of the Avork, and the names of the books of scripture,
from which he takes his testimonies. The genuineness of
this tract has been called in question by some, particularly
translation. All my passages out of St. Cyprian, except perhaps two or three,
or four at most, were collected, translated, and put in the order they are now
in, before I was acquainted with it. However, I have made some improvements
by Mr. Marshall's performance, and have now taken care to make
several references to him, which I hope the attentive reader will perceive. As
I have not read over Mr. Marshall's translation, my testimony can be of no
gi-eat value. But so far as I have had leisure and opportunity to read and examine
it, it appears to be, together with the notes, a work of much labour and
study, and to deserve great commendation. Nevertheless there is a particular
or two, which I must remark. Mr. Mai-shall, in his preface, p. 17, 18. expresseth
himself in these very words. ' I know not whether it be worth while
* to take notice of one particular liberty which I have taken, of prefixing the
* title of saint to the several apostles and evangelists, as they occur in our author,
'
'
though he himself has named them simply and plainly, without any such ap-
' pellation.' And afterwards he says : I have here and there also expressed my
' author's sense in the language of holy scripture, where he himself did not mean
' to quote it. But then in such cases, I never refer to the passage in the mar-
' gill, as I always do where he particularly cites any verse or chapter of the
* inspired writers.' But it appears to me, that both these are unwarrantable
and unjustifiable liberties, not proper to be taken in translating ancient authors.
With ri'gard to the first, though of no very great importance; it seems to me
to be rather better to show primitive writers in their own original simplicity
and plainness, as near as possible. With regard to the other liberty, which
Mr. Marsliail says he has taken, it appears to me altogether unjustifiable.
Ordinary readers will be liable -. to be misled by that method and I believe it
must be attended with some bad consequences, which good Mr. Marshall was
not aware of. Perliaps this remark will be illustrated and confirmed by sorae-
wliat to be taken notice of by and by, at numb. 6.