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44 Credibility of the Gospel History.
2. The apostle Peter's first epistle is often quoted by St.
Cyprian. ' Likewise*" Peter, upon whom by the gracious
vouchsafement of the Lord the church is budt, says in his
epistle, (1 Pet. ii. 21,22, 23,) " Christ suffered for us, leaving
you an example, that ye should follow his steps ; who
did not sin, neither was guUe found in his mouth ; who, m hen
he was reviled, reviled not ; when he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed [or yielded] himself to them that judged
him unrighteously :" ' meaning Pontius Pilate. So Cyprian
must have read this text, it being- quoted by him after
the same manner likewise in the*^ books of Testimonies. I
may not stay to consider which reading is preferable,
whether this, or that now more commonly received, to him
that judgeth righteously: I would therefore refer my
readers, for farther satisfaction, tos Mr. Wolff's notes upon
the place.
This epistle is several times quoted in the third book of
Testimonies with this title. The*' epistle of Peter to the people
of Pontus : who are the persons lirst named in the inscrip-
tion of the epistle.
In his other Avorks, Cyprian quotes this as' the epistle of
the apostle Peter, and'' of Peter the apostle of Christ.
3. The second epistle of St. Peter is not at all quoted by
Cyprian. One may be well apt to think it Mas not received
by him as a sacred book ; otherwise it could not have been
omitted by a Avriter whose works so much abound with
citations of scripture, and who had such controversies
about the treatment of heretics. If this epistle had been a
part of Cyprian's canon, it is likely he would have applied
divers passag-es of it to the heretics and schismatics of his
own time, as he does* the texts of St. John's first Epistle
relating to antichrist.
This may well bring to our mind the"' passage formerly
cited out of Firmilian's letter to our author, where we were
willing to suppose that Firmilian had a reference to St,
* Item Petnis, super quern ecclesia Domini dignatione fundata est, in epistola
sua ponit et dicit : Christus passus est pro nobis, relinquens vobis exemplum,
ut sequamini vestigia ejus; qui peccatum non fecit, nee dolus inventus est
-. in ore ejus cum malediceretur, non maledicebat ;
minabatur; tradebat autem se judicanti injuste.
cum pateretur, non com-
De Bono Pat. p. 213,
214. ^ Tradebat autem se judicanti injuste. Test. 1. iii.
cap. 39. 8 Vid. Job. Chr. Woltf. Cur. Philolog. ct Crit. Tom.
V. p. 122, 123. '' De hoc ipso in epistola Petri ad Ponticos. Test.
1. iii. c. 36. vid. et c. 37. 39. ' Secundum quod I'etrus apostolus in,
epistola sua prjumonct et docet, dicens : Sobrii estote, &c. De Zel. et Livore
p. 221. '' Petrasetiain apostolus ejus docuerit, ideo persecution&s fieri,
ut probemur:—r-posuit enim in epistola sua dicens : Ep. 58. [al. 56.] p. 121.
' See below 4. note' and num. 10. " Vol. ii. Ch. 39. num. 14.