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72 Credibility of the Gospel History:
Cyprian :
' Thats he will not be positive it is the work of
that father ; but, if it be falsely ascribed to him, yet it is
not spurious, or suppositious, but manifestly ancient, and
written about that time.' It is indeed, so far as I am able to
judge, all over ancient ; abating only the errors of the copies,
which seem to be not a few.
There are in it divers marks of antiquity : the author''
concludes his chronology at the fifth year of Gordian, and
the consulship of Arrianus and Papus, which is the year of
our Lord 243. It is likely, therefore, that' he wrote not
much after that time. Pagi'' thinks this book was published
in that very year. Farther, the author says, ' that' Christ,
having been baptized in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, was
crucified in the sixteenth year of the ^ame reign ;' which
opinion is ancient, and is more than once insisted on by
him. I might add, that"^ the doxology at the conclusion of
this work is ancient and unexceptionable.
If Pagi be in the right, that the fifth year of Gordian,
mentioned in this piece, is the year of its publication, this is
an additional argument, beside the difference of style, that
it is not Cyprian's ; it being probable that he was not converted
so soon.
1. Though I do not by any means suppose this to be a
work of St. Cyprian, it deserves to be taken notice of on
account of its antiquity. And it is valuable for the testimonies
it contains to some facts, as well as the books of the New
Testament, which I am now to observe.
2. This writer says, expressly, that" there are four gospels;
8 Ego me vatem non spondeo. Sed si psaudepigraphus sit, at spurius non
est, et supposititius ; sed antiquum esse liquet: et Cypriani aetata scnptum,
res ipsa docet. Not. p. 63. ^ A quo tempore, id est, a passione,
usque ad annum quintum Gordiaiii, Ariano et Papo consulibus, suppleti sunt
anni ccxv. p. 70. b. ' Vid. Not. ed. Ox. p. 70.
•^ Fellus V. C. in notis ad Computum de Pascha, cujus S. Cyprianum auc-
torem credit, quique perducitur usque ad annum quintum Gordiani, observat,
Chionicorum Scriptores res perducere ad annum aliquem insigniorem etiam
paulo praeteritum ; idque in eo opera videri factum, nimirum ad annum Gordiani
Imp. ultimum. Verimi auctor non ad ultimum Gordiani annum, sed ad
ejus Quinquennalia respexit, quibus scriptores de more opera sua publicabant.
Pagi Crit. in Bar. A. D. 243. ' Hi sunt apostoli, quorum sermonibus
aedificati recognovimus Dominum nostrum anno sexto decimo imperii
Tiberii Caesaris passum, cum esset ipse annorum xxxi. p. 69. b. quibus
suppletis Dominus Jesus a nativitate sua baptizatus est a Johanne anno quinto
decimo imperii Tiberii Caesaris; cujus anno sexto decimo passus est, et resurrexit.
p. 70. b. " Ac propterea Deo Patri Omnipotenti, qui nos ad
gratiam tantam vocavit, et divina sacramenta manifestavit,per Jesum Christum
filium ejus Dominum et Salvatorem nostrum semper sine cessatione gratias
agamus. p. 70. b. " Et sic, per banc multifomiem trinitalem, et
ipsae duodocira horse evangelium unum in quatuor partes divisum ostenderuut.