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The Manichecs. Sect. VI. 403
Augustine speaks of it as an undoubted and well known
tliinfj-, that the'" Manichees read, admired, and commended
St. Paul's epistles.
In another place he speaks" of their having", reading-,
and commending, or commenting- upon, the epistles of the
apostles.
He also speaks" of their receiving the g-ospel, and the
canonical epistles: meaning by this last expression, as I
apprehend, the epistles conunonly received by other cfiris-
tians as a part of their canon ; not those sometimes called
catholic, as'' Reausobre thought. The first sense is agreeable
to Augustine's use of the word in other'' places.
I suppose there is no doubt but they received thirteen
epistles of the apostle Paul.
Photius, speaking of Agapius, in the"^ passage above cited,
says, he quotes passages of the divine gospel, and of the
epistles of the divine Paul.
Faustus* readily says, ' he receives the apostle ;' thereby
meaning- Paul, or the epistles of that apostle. And in his
yet remaining work he quotes expressly, and by name, many
of them: as well as frequently without naming them: as'
the epistle to the Romans, the" first and' second to the
Corinthians, to''' the Galatians, to'' the Ephesians, toy the
Coiossians, to^ Titus.
5. Let us now consider whether the Manichees received
the epistle to the Hebrews. There is some reason to think
they did: for there are references to it in* the Acts of
Archelaus. Serapion in his book^ Against the Manichees,
"" Certe et ipsi Manichaei legunt apostolum Paulum, et laudant et honorant •,
et ejus epistolas male interpretando multos decipiunt. De Gen. contr. Manich.
1. i. c. 2. n. 3. " Et tamen epistolis apostolorum, quibiis haec omnia
constantur, tenetis, legitis, prsedicatis. Contr. Faust. 1. 12. c. 24.
° ut quidquid est in evangelic vel epistolis canonicis, quo adjuvari
haeresim suam putent, id esse a Christo et apostolis dictum teneant atque suadeant.
Contr. Faust. 1. 22. c. 15. p T. i. p. 292.
•i Qui etiam in scripturis canonicis Testamenti Novi, hoc est in veris evan-
gelicis et apostolicis Uteris, non accipiunt omnia,— ad Ceret. Ep. 237. [al.
253.] et passim.
> See p. 398. note °.
' Apostolum accipis ? Et maxime. Faust. 1. xi. c. i.
' Aut si vobis secundum quod ad Romanes scribit, credere cordi est. 1. xi.
c. 1. " ' Quapropter idem rursum' apostolus ad Corinthios dicit.
—1. 24. c. 1. fin. " Scnbensque ad Corinthios. 1. xi. c. 1. et passim.
* Quippe Paulus inde Galatas arguit. 1. 8. c. i. Et ad Galatas de semet-
ipso. 1. 24. c. 1. " Dicit ad Ephesios. Id. 1. 24. c. 1.
y Necnon et ad ipsos Colossenses idipsum denuo dicit. ibid.
^ De Gentium [lege] vero si quis ambigit, audiat Paulum qui, scribens ad
Titum de Cretensibus, dicit. Id. 1. 19. c. 2.
» Arch. c. 5. p. 7. c. 43. p. 77.
•* Scrap, p. 46. m. and see before, p. 271.
2 D 2