71

40.

72 Ch. xxvi. 23.

73

ANDRINUS.

66 Stromat. lib. 3. p. 463.

67 Pædagog. lib. 3. c. 9. p.

lib. I.

C.

5. p. 86. et

c. 9. p. 121. et 123. 69 Stromat. lib. 4. p. 503. 70 Pædagog. lib. 3. c. 12. p. 262. et Stromat. lib. 2. p. 391, 392.

72

73

71 Pædagog. lib. 3. c. 4. p. 231. lib. 2. c. 8. p. 176. 26-28. c. 2. p. 158. Besides the works of Clemens Alexandrinus, which are usually found together, there is also a small tract extant, entitled, Tís o owlóuevos λouσos; i. e. What rich man can be saved? published last by bishop Fell at Oxford, 1683; it seems to have full evidence of its genuineness, not only that Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. 1. 3. c. 23. cites a large piece of it as the work of Clemens under this same title, but that Photius, Cod. 111. says, "The Stromata of Clemens Alexandrinus were in a very an"cient copy of that father's works reckoned to be eight; "whereas now there are but seven: the first seven," says he, "had the same title, but the eighth differed, being entitled in 66 some copies, What rich man can be saved?"-The treatise is very small, not making above sixty small pages in the Oxford duodecimo edition, but contains such numerous citations of this and other proofs of the New Testament, that I thought it proper to collect them.

Arg. III. The Gospel of St. Matthew is canonical, because it was read as scripture in the assemblies or churches of the primitive Christians, by Prop. VI. I have above proved (Vol. I. Part I. Ch. X.) from Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Cyprian, &c. that it was the constant custom of the primitive churches to read the sacred scriptures as part of their most solemn divine service; I am now to prove that St. Matthew's Gospel was always among these books; and that will be evident,

1. From Cyril of Jerusalem; who, enumerating the books which ought to be read in the churches, and which were read in the churches, says, "Among the New Testament books "there were only four Gospels, and that all others were spu

"rious and hurtful f." After reciting the other books of the New Testament, he adds a little below, "That all others were "to be rejected, and as not being read in the church, were not "to be read in private by his catechumen"-No one acquainted with Cyril's writing, and the other books of his time, can possibly question whether St. Matthew is included among the four Gospels, which he speaks of, as being read in the churches; especially considering that he frequently appeals to that evangelist's Gospel, as sacred; and in one places does appeal to him, as having wrote a Gospel in testimony of the truth of Christianity, which ought to be credited.

2. From the council of Laodicea, Can. 59. where it is declared, "that no books which were not of the canon should be "read in the churches, and that those which were of the canon " and ought to be read, were the Gospel according to St. Mat"thew," &c.h

66

3. From the testimony of Justin Martyr it seems not unfairly to be concluded, that St. Matthew's Gospel was read in the primitive churches. The proof I aim at is as followeth : That father tells us, that "on every Sunday there was an assembly of the neighbouring Christians, and τὰ ἀπομνημονεύ66 ματα τῶν ἀποστόλων—ἀναγινώσκεται, the memoirs or commen"taries of the apostles were read." Under this word aμμovepara were included those books which we now call Gospels, as is plain from what he said immediately before, viz. v toïs Yevoμένοις ὑπ ̓ αὐτῶν ἀπομνημονεύμασιν, ἃ καλεῖται εὐαγγέλια : i. e. “ in "the commentaries made by the apostles, which are called "GOSPELS :" it follows therefore, that the Gospels, which were made by the apostles, were read in the churches of Christians in the time of Justin Martyr; and that St. Matthew's Gospel was among these is most apparently evident, because Justin in many places of his writings, citing passages out of this Gospel,

† Τῆς δὲ καινῆς διαθήκης τὰ τέσσαρα εὐαγγέλια· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ψευδεπίγραφα καὶ βλαβερὰ τυγχάνει-τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πάντα ἔξω κείσθω ἐν δευτέρῳ· καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις μὴ ἀναγινώσκεται, ταῦτα μηδὲ κατὰ σαυτὸν ἀναγίνωσκε. Catech. 4. §.

22.

Catech. 14. §. 8.

h Non oportet-libros in ecclesiis legere, qui sunt extra canonem, nisi solos canonicos Novi et Veteris Testamenti. Quæ autem oporteat legi, et in auctoritatem recipi, hæc sunt-sc. Novi Testamenti Evangelium secundum Matthæum, &c.

i Apolog. 2. pro Christian. p. 98.