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Cyprian of Carthage. A. D. 2-iS. 27
about the year 384. Kichard Siiiioii° is of the same opinion
concerning- the author of these Commentaries: but'' the
Benedictine editors of St. Anibrose are not so clear upon
this point. This writer, Avhoevcr he be, probably however
of the fourth or fifth century, oniitsi " things strangled."
He even contends that that clause ought to be left out, and that
it is an interpolation of the Greek writers, or Greek sophists,
as he calls them with much scorn and indignation. He
understands the prohibition " from blood," of the blood of
animals, not of homicide. We are obliged to him for one
thing, the assurance be gives us that the Greek niLinuscripts
of his time universally agreed in this clause, " and from
things strangled." If he had known of any Greek writers
or Greek copies of the New Testament, that had favoured
his omission, he would not have been quite so angry with
the Greeks.
Pacian, bishop of Barcelona, about the year 370, is another
writer who* omits " thing-s strangled." He understands
" from blood," to mean homicide ; and says, that the
direction given by the council to abstain from these three
crimes; " things sacrificed to idols," or idolatry; " from
blood," or from murder ; and " from fornication ;" is the
sum and substance of the whole gospel, or christian reve-
lation.
The next writer alleged by Mill is Gaudentius, placed by
Cave at the year 387. He* seems to have read only three
° Hist. Crit. des Commentateurs du Neuf Testament, Ch. ix. p. 133, &c.
P Vid. Admonit. in Commentaria in 13. Ep. Beati Pauli. Ed. Bened.
1 Denique tria h^ec mandata ab apostolis et senioribus data reperiuntur, quae
ignorant leges Romanae, id est, ut abstineant se ab idololatria, et sanguine, sicut
Noe, et fomicatione. Quae sophistae Graccorum non intelligentes, scientes
tamen a sanguine abstinenduni, adulterarunt scriptmam, quartum mandatura
addentes, et a suffocate abstinendum. Anibrosiast. in Gal. cap. 2. p. 215. Ed.
Bened. " Ergo haec iliicita esse ostensa sunt gentibus, quae putabant
licere: ac per hoc non utiqueab homicidio prohibiti sunt, cum jubentur a sanguine
observare. Sed hoc acceperunt, quod Noe a Deo didicerat, ut observa-
rent se a sanguine edendo cum came. Id. ibid. p. 214. F.
' Visum est enim Sancto Spiritui, et nobis, nullum amplius imponi vobis
pondus, praeterquam haec : Necesse est, ut abstineatis vos ab idolothytis, et san-
guine, et fomicatione ; a quibus observantes, bene agetis. Valete. Haec est
Novi Testament! tota conclusio. Despectis in multis Spiritus Sanctus haec nobis,
capitalis periculi conditione, legavit. Reliqua peccata raeliomm operum compensatione
curantur. Haec vero triacrimina,—ut veneni calix, ut lethalis amndo
metuenda sunt Qmdvero faciet contemptor Dei? Quid aget sanguinarius >
Quod remedium capiet fornicator ? Numquid aut placare Dominum deserter
ipsius poterit "' aut conservare sanguinem suuni, qui fudit alieniun ? aut redinte-
grare Dei templum, qui lUud fomicando violavit? Ista sunt capitalia, fratres,
ista mortalia. Pacian. Paraen. ad poenit. T. iv. p. 315. H. Bibl. Patr.
' Et idcirco Beatus Jacobus cum caeteris apostolis decretum tale constituit in
ecclesiis observandimi :
" ut abstineatis vos," inquit, " ab immolatis, et a san-