ART. VIII.-Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio, quem post Ph. Labbeum, G. Cossartium, N. Coletium, aliosque eruditissimos viros, edidit Joannes Dominicus Mansi, editio instaurata, 31 volumina in folio,-Parisiis et Romæ, apud Victorem Palmé, 1884. TH HERE is not to be found in the annals of the Apostolic age a document of greater interest than that Epistolary decree (Acts xv. 23-29) which the Apostles and the Presbyters' at Jerusalem collectively addressed to the converts from heathenism to Christianity at Antioch and throughout Syria and Cilicia. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 180) styles it the Catholic Epistle of all the Apostles.' The occasion out of which it grew is carefully explained; and the course of action which preceded, attended, and ensued upon its production, is all set down with unusual particularity of instructive detail. First, we have the resolute endeavour at Antioch of certain converts from Judaism to impose the yoke of the Law on believers from among the Gentiles. Then, the stiff opposition which those unauthorized teachers encountered at the hands of Paul and Barnabas,3 who had lately returned to Antioch from their first Missionary journey.* 2 The liberty of the Gentile Church was too weighty a point to be surrendered even for the sake of peace. And thus for the first time was the church of Christ divided and her teachers openly arrayed in hostile controversy.' 5 Next we are told of the resolve of the Antiochene Church to submit the question thus raised concerning the necessity of Circumcision to the Apostles and Presbyters at Jerusalem, — the Mother of all the Churches. Lastly, the going up is related of Paul and Barnabas, (the former by special revelation ), with Titus and certain others, in order that this question might be authoritatively resolved. The Apostles and the Presbyters' in consequence came together formally, in order to consider it. It was the first Christian Council. 'More than two centuries must elapse before another Council assembles, of the constitution and acts of which we have a full and 1 κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστολὴν τὴν καθολικὴν τῶν ̓Αποστόλων ἁπάντων,—σὺν τῇ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος τῇ γεγραμμένῃ μὲν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ̓Αποστόλων, διακομισθείσῃ δὲ εἰς τοὺς πιστοὺς δι' αὐτοῦ διακονοῦντος τοῦ Παύλου. p. 606. 1 xiv. 26-28. 3 ver. 2. 2 Acts xv. 1. Some Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age,-by the late Walter Waddington Shirley, D.D. Regius Professor of Eccl. Hist. and Canon of Ch. Ch.,— 1867: a posthumous work of extraordinary interest and merit. (p. 51.) ver. 3. Also Gal. ii. 1, 3. • ch. XV. 2. Gal. ii. 2. 8 authentic authentic narrative. This stands, as it were, raised on a pedestal of honour, a solitary record of the very earliest mode of holding councils of the Church.' I The President of the Council is S. James, not of the number of the Twelve Apostles, but one whom the unfaltering voice of Tradition declares to have been 'the LORD's brother,' and the first Bishop of Jerusalem. S. Peter having opened the discussion, and Paul and Barnabas having carried it forward, the debate is brought to a close by S. James in a style which does not admit of misapprehension. The first three speakers had shown by an appeal to fact,3-S. James shows by an appeal to Prophecy, that the Gentiles without Circumcision may be received into the Christian Church. At the close of the address of Paul and Barnabas, he is observed to sum up with authority, and to deliver sentence: Wherefore, my decision is' (Siò èyà xpívw).o A letter, faithfully embodying the decision and sentence of S. James, is written as he directs. It purports to proceed from the Apostles and the Presbyters and the brethren,' and ends with these remarkable words :-'For it seemed good to the HOLY GHOST and to us to lay on you no other burden except these necessary things,-that ye abstain from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication.' 7 8 Now, if there be any one point bearing on recent controversy which may be regarded as incontestable in the transaction before us, it is this,-That the Decree, notwithstanding the prominent share which S. James clearly had in framing it, (for indeed he seems to have formulated it alone), was understood to proceed from the Apostles and the Presbyters' assembled in Council at Jerusalem, and to have been nothing else but their work. To consult them is expressly recorded (in ver. 2) to have been the purpose for which Paul and Barnabas repaired to Jerusalem. They it is who (in ver. 6) are related to have assembled synodically. And when (in xvi. 4) Paul and Silas traverse Syria and Cilicia,' the decrees which they deliver to the Churches for to keep are plainly declared to have been ' ordained of the Apostles and the Presbyters at Jerusalem.' much definite asseveration cannot be in vain. It may not at the same time be overlooked, the fact is indeed equally certain, that the Church (Tò Tλños) was a consenting party So 8 ver. 19. verses 28, 29. 6 to to the Decree.1 • The brethren' are mentioned in the superscription of the epistle (ver. 23). They are also referred to in the immediately preceding verse, where it is stated that 'Then it seemed good to the Apostles, and the Presbyters, with the whole Church.' The only fair inference (remarks Dr. Shirley) is, 'that the discussion was confined to the Apostles and Presbyters; but that it was public in the face of the Church; and that the decision was approved by the whole body of the brethren, who also were consulted as to the fittest means of communicating that decision when approved.' 2 What at present gives importance to all this, and is the reason why we have been so particular, shall be speedily explained. In the meantime, how completely the foregoing was the view which the ancients took of the proceedings of the first Christian Council is known to all who have studied their writings: but it may not be without use that the fact should be here distinctly set before the general reader. In referring to the Council or to its decretal Letter, the Fathers without exception ignore any besides the Apostles and the Presbyters' as its authors. Thus Didymus,3—thus Jerome,1-and thus Theodoret.5 But, as a rule, the ancients speak of the decree as the work of the Apostles exclusively. So Irenæus,-so Clemens Al. on two occasions," -and so (in one place) Origen. Tertullian does the same 9 1 Ammonius Presb. (A.D. 450) calls attention to the unwillingness of the Apostles (James and Peter), although they had already determined the case, to put forth a decree in so grave a matter on their personal responsibility, without the Church's consent:-Σημειωτέον ὅτι οὔτε Ιάκωβος οὔτε Πέτρος ἐτόλμησαν, καίτοι κρίναντες αὐτὸ καλὸν εἶναι [viz. in ver. 19, 20], δίχα πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας δογματίσαι Tà TEρì TAS TEрITOμns. (Cramer's Cat. iii. 352). The author of the Constitutiones Apostolicæ thus paraphrases ver. 22:—τότε ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν τοῖς Αποστόλοις, καὶ τῷ Ἐπισκόπῳ Ἰακώβῳ, καὶ τοῖς Πρεσβυτέροις, σὺν ὅλῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ κ.τ.λ. vi. 12. (ed. Cotelerii ii. 345=Galland. iii. 151 b). 2 Dr. Shirley, ut suprà, p. 56.-The decree, in a word, 'was enacted by the Apostles and Elders, and confirmed by the acceptance of the assembled Church.' (Humphry's Commentary, p. 126.) 3 καὶ αὖθις· οἱ ̓Απόστολοι καὶ οἱ Πρεσβύτεροι φησίν, ἔδοξε γάρ κ.τ.λ.—Trin. p. 220. Seniores qui Jerosolymis erant et Apostolos pariter congregatos, statuisse per literas,' &c.-vii. 478 d. 5 οὕτω ἀπὸ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων τοῖς ἐν ̓Αντιοχείᾳ ἔγραψαν οἱ ̓Απόστολοι καὶ οἱ Πρεσβύτεροι.-In 1 Tim. iii. 1. 6 He calls the letter, Apostolorum epistola,' p. 199. · οἱ δὲ αὐτοὶ οὗτοι Απόστολοι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ̓Αντιόχειαν, καὶ Συρίαν, καὶ Κιλικίαν àdeλpoîs èmiσtéλλOVTES.—p. 202. See also the remarkable passage in p. 606, quoted above in page 204. Invenimus scriptum in Actibus Apostolorum, quia convenientes in unum Apostoli statuerunt decreta,' &c.—iv. 655 b. • Primam hanc regulam de auctoritate Spiritus sancti Apostoli emittunt ad cos qui jam ex nationibus allegi cœperant. "Visum est" (inquiunt), "Spiritui sancto et nobis," &c.'-De Pudicit. c. xii. 13 11 thing, and (in one place) Didymus. Also Ambrose,2—and Basil, and Cyril of Jerusalem,and his namesake of Alexandria repeatedly. Also Jerome, and Cassian, and Vigilius Tapsensis,8-and Severus of Antioch, and Theodoret,land Augustine repeatedly, and Socrates,12 and Euthalius (writing soon after A.D. 458,-if indeed it be not rather Pamphilus, the martyr, the friend of Eusebius (A.D. 284), to whose copies (still existing in the library of Cæsarea) Euthalius relates that he enjoyed familiar access while editing the Acts.14 These seventeen writers, (eleven Greek and six Latin),—of the Ind, Ilird, Ivth, vth, and voth centuries-who must be considered to reflect faithfully the spirit of the primitive age, though doubtless by no means unacquainted with the clause in ver. 23 (“ and the brethren "), persistently ignore its existence when they speak of the authorship of the decree. 1 He points out by the analogy of Ambassadors who derive from Kings viceregal authority,—οὕτω καὶ οἱ ̓Απόστολοι οὓς ἔθετο πρώτους ὁ Θεὸς (τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τοῦ Πνεύματος καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ὁμοούσιον εἰδότες) ἐπέστελλον· ἔδοξέν φησιν τάδε καὶ τάδε τῷ ̔Αγίῳ Πνεύματι.—Trin. p. 221. 6 2 Apostoli dixerunt, Visum est Spiritui sancto et nobis.'-ii. 661 f. 3 Ἐὰν δὲ οἱ ̓Απόστολοι λέγωσιν, ἔδοξε κ.τ.λ.—i. 308 e. ... 4 οἱ ἐνταῦθα ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ὄντες ̓Απόστολοι . . . δι' ἐπιστολῆς ἐγγράφου τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἠλευθέρωσαν. οὐ μὴν ἑαυτοῖς ἔδωκαν τὴν αὐθεντείαν τοῦ τοιούτου πράγματος· ἀλλ ̓ ὁμολογοῦσιν ἐγγράφως, ἐπιστέλλοντες. Ἔδοξε κ.τ.λ. . . . δηλοῦντες σαφῶς, ὅτι εἰ καὶ δι ̓ ἀποστόλων ἀνθρώπων ἦν τὸ γραφέν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐξ ̔Αγ. Πν. κ.τ.λ. p. 278 b c. ... 5 οἱ ἅγιοι Απόστολοι . . . σοφῶς ἐπιστέλλουσιν, ἔδοξε κ.τ.λ.-(. 153 e). γεγράφασι γὰρ [οἱ ἅγιοι Απόστολοι] τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν, ὅτι ἔδοξε κ.τ.λ. (ii. 843 b) . φάσκοντες [οἱ ἅγιοι Απόστολοι] τὸ, μηδὲν πλέον κ.τ.λ.(vi. 325 b). 66 Quæ necessario observanda, Apostolorum de Jerusalem epistola monet.'— v. 556 c. 7 6 ... · Apostoli . . . nihil amplius expetebant, nisi ut ab immolatitiis idolorum,' &c.-p. 543. 8 4 Scripserunt Apostoli iis qui ex gentibus erant, hæc, Apostoli et Presbyteri fratres.'-apud Athanas. i. 980 e. • μὴ θαυμάσῃς εἰ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ̔Αγίου Πνεύματος εἶπον οἱ ̓Απόστολοι· ἔδοξε τῷ ̔Αγίῳ Πνεύματι· ἀλλ' ὅρα τὸ ἐπαγόμενον, καὶ ἡμῖν γάρ φησιν· κ.τ.λ.—apud Crameri Cat. iv. 253 and 440. ... 10 “Οπερ διὰ τῶν μακαριῶν ̓Αποστόλων εἰς ἔργον προῆλθεν . . . γράφοντες ὡς ἔδοξε κ.τ.λ.-Caten. iv. 360. "In ipsis Jerosolymis Apostoli jam decreverant, ne quisquam gentes cogeret Judaizare . . . Apostolorum decretum. . . . Quod cum ceteris Apostolis [Paulus] se Jerosolymis decrevisse meminerat,' &c.-(ii. 193 c d). . . . 'Ubi videmus Apostolos, eis qui ex gentibus crediderunt nulla voluisse onera Veteris Legis imponere,' &c.-(iii. i. 776 b). . . . Hoc igitur temperamentum moderamenque Spiritus sancti per Apostolos operantis,' &c.-(viii. 323 a.) 12 Ἐπεὶ ἔγνωσαν οἱ ̓Απόστολοι ταραχὴν . . . πάντες ἅμα γενόμενοι θεῖον νόμον ἐθέσπισαν, ἐν τύπῳ ἐπιστολῆς καταγράψαντες. ν. 22. 13 Euthalius thus summarizes Acts xv. 1-38 (which is his Κεφ. ΚΓ):Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ περιτέμνεσθαι τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πιστεύσαντες, δόγματι καὶ κρίσι τῶν ̓Αποστόλων. Ἐν ᾧ (he proceeds) ἐπιστολὴ αὐτῶν τῶν ̓Αποστόλων πρὸς τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν, περὶ τῶν φυλακτέων. (Galland. x. 211 b.) Η Αντεβλήθη δὲ τῶν Πράξεων, καὶ καθολικῶν ἐπιστολῶν τὸ βιβλίον πρὸς τὰ ἀκριβὴ ἀντίγραφα τῆς ἐν Καισαρείᾳ βιβλιοθήκης Εὐσεβίου τοῦ Παμφίλου.—Ibid. Ρ. 211 b. And And now, a curious history with respect to a point of textual criticism has to be related, to which the reader's attention is specially invited. The seeming discrepancy between the superscription of the Decretal letter (in ver. 23) and the plain facts of the case as recorded in verses 2 and 6, and again in ch. xvi. 4,-struck the ancients at least as forcibly as it strikes any of ourselves. The method of the primitive age on such occasions was an exceedingly simple one. Men did not scruple to bring the sacred text into harmony with their own preconceived notions of what it ought to be. They failed to see the enormity of what they did. They thought, on the contrary, that they were 'doing GOD service.' They supposed that it was in their power to improve upon the work of Apostles and Evangelists, by assimilating-omitting-adding. Accordingly, they reconciled discrepancies,-effaced difficulties, supplied what to themselves seemed lacking. It is passing strange that so it should have been, but so it most certainly was. In the Gospels, but especially in the Acts, liberties of this kind were taken to an extent which, apart from experience, would be simply incredible. Let the learned reader survey (at the foot of the page) the unauthorized accretions to the text which in this single chapter (Acts xv.) are found in Cod. D.1 What wonder, if critics who habitually allowed themselves such license, did not hesitate (in order to establish their own notion of consistency between Acts xv. 23 and Acts xvi. 4),-to erase from the text all mention of the brethren'? . . . Kaì oi ådeλpoí (' and the brethren') accordingly entirely disappears from the Sahidic, or version of Upper Egypt (IIIrd cent.). The same words prove also to have been away from Origen's copies. At present, the ... only 1 In ver. 2 (between πρὸς αὐτούς [for which D exhibits συν αυτοις] and ἔταξαν [for which D gives παρηγγειλαν]), is found,-ελεγεν γαρ ο παυλος μενειν ουτωσ | καθωσ επίστευσαν διίσχυριζόμενοσ | οι δε εληλυθοτεσ απο ιερουσαλημ and (after Ἱερουσαλήμ),-οπως κριθωσιν επ' αυτοισ Between verses 4 and 5, is found,οι δε παραγγειλαντεσ αυτοισ | αναβαινειν προσ τουσ πρεσβυτερουσ In ver. 11 (between κἀκεῖνοι and ἐσίγησε), is found,-συγκατατεθεμενων δε των πρεσβυτέρων | τοισ υπο του πετρου ειρημενοισ. . . . Between verses 20 and 21, is found,και όσα μη θελουσιν εαυτοισ γεινεσθαι | ετεροισ μη ποιείτε. . . Between verses 26 and 27, is found,- -εισ παντα πειρασμόν. In ver. 29 (after Topveías) is found,,και οσα μη θέλετε εαυτοισ γεινεσθαι | ετερω μη ποιειν ... and after πράξετε (for which D exhibits πραξατε), is found,—φερομενοι | εν τω αγίω πνευματι. In ver. 32 (between ὄντες and διά), is found,πληρεισ πνευματοσ αγιου. . . . In ver. 38 (between τὸ ἔργον and μὴ συμπαραλαβεῖν τοῦτον [for which D exhibits τουτον μη είναι συν αυτοισ]), is found, εισ ο επεμφθησαν. Lastly, at the end of ver. 41, is found,—παραδιδουσ τασ εντολασ των πρεσβυτερων | διελθών DE TA EOVN TAUTA. Thus, in all, seventy-seven unauthorized words have been introduced into eleven places of Acts xv. by cod. D. ... ... 2 ἔδοξε τοῖς τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ̓Αποστόλοις, καὶ τοῖς ἐν ̓Αντιοχείᾳ [voluit ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ] συναχθεῖσιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ Πρεσβυτέροις, καὶ, ὡς αὐτοὶ οὗτοι ὠνόμασαν, τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, |