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430 Credibility of the Gospel Ilistori/.
good deal of respect, as if he thought it a true history. Of
this book 1 have said something'^ aheady.
Faustiis says,' The^ Virgin Mary was not of the tribe of
' Judah, but of Levi: forasnuich as her father was a priest,
' named Joachim.' Augustine,*^ in his answer, calls the book,
whence that particular was taken, an apocryphal piece of no
authority. Beausobre makes no doubt but" that it was some
book of Leucius.
Augustine often speaks of the Manichees using apocryphal
scriptures. In his book against Adimantus he Cjuotes one
of those books, containing^ a history of the apostle Thomas.
In the same work he relates'^ another history of the apostle
Peter, taken from their apocryphal scriptures, and probably
from the same Mork where was the fore-cited history concerning
Thomas : and in tiie twenty-second book of his work
against Faustus he relates the^ same account of Thomas
See Vol. ii. p. 305, and p. 331—333; andBeaus. Hist, de Manich. T, i,
p. 423. ' sed ex tribu Levi, unde sacerdotes : quod
ipsum palam est, quia eadem patrem habuit sacerdotem quendam nomine
Joachim, cujus tamen in hac generatione nulla usquam habita mentio est.
Faust. 1. 23. c. 4.
' Ac per hoc illud quod de generatione Mariae Faustus posuit, quia
canonicum non est, me non constringit.— Hoc ergo potius, vel tale aliquid
crederem, si illius apocrypha scripturse, ubi Joachim pater Mariae legitur,
auctoritate detinerer. Aug. contr. Faust. 1. 23. n. 9.
" Cela se trouvoit, sansdoute, avec d'autres erreurs, dans le livre de Seleucus,
qui avoit ecrit I'histoire de la Vierge. Beaus. T. i. p. 354.
^ Ipsi auteni legunt scripturas apocryphas, quas etiam incorruptissimas
dicunt, ubi scriptum est, apostolum Thomam maledixisse homini, a quo per
imprudentiam palma percussus est, ignorante quis esset, maledictumque illud
continuo venisse ad eifectum. Nam cum ille homo, quoniani minister convi-
vii erat, ut apportaret aquam, exisset ad fontem, a leone occisus et dilaniatus
est.— Sic etenim in ilia scriptura legitur, quod deprecatus fuerit apostolus pro
illo in quem temporaliter vindicatum est, ut ei parceretur in futuro judicio.
Aug. contr. Adim. c. 17. n. 2. T. 8.
" In illo ergo libro, legimus ad sententiam Petri cecidisse homines,
et mortuos esse virum et uxorem. Quod isti magna ccecitate vituperant,
cum in apocryphis pro magno legant, et illud quod de apostolo Thoma comniemoravi,
et ipsius Petri filiam paralyticam lactam precibus patris, et hortulani
filiam ad precem ipsius Petri esse mortuam. ib. c. 17. n. 5.
" Legunt scripturas apocryphas Manichaei, a nescio quibus sutoribus fabularum
sub apostolorum nominibus scriptas.—Ibi tamen legunt apostolum
Tiiomam, cum esset in quodam nuptiarum convivio peregrinus et prorsus
incognitus, a quodam ministro palma percussum, imprecatum fuisse homini
continuara saevamque vindictam. Nam cum egressus esset ad fontem, unde
aquam convivantibus ministraret, ei;m leo irruens interemit, manumque ejus,
qua caput aposfoli levi ictii percusserat, a corpore avulsam, secundum verbum
ejusdem apostoli id optantis atque imprecantis, canisintulit mensis, in quibus
ipse discumbobat apostolus.—Utrum ilia vera sit aut conficta narrafio, nihil
mea nunc interest. Certe enim Manichici, a quibus \\\x scriptura?, quas canon
ecclesiasticus respuit, tanquam veiae ac sincerae acceptantur, saltern hinccogun-
tur fateri, &c. Contr. Faust. 1. 22. c. 79.