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“ discovers, fays he, the highest Esteem for the“ Visions of Hermas, and one would imagine“ that he had the Revelations in equal Venera-“ tion, had he not unfortunately let drop some" Words, which plainly shew he considered themtc no otherwise than as a mere Rhapsody of Abfur-tc ditiesliSt. Jerome discovers the highest Esteemfor the Visions of Hermas, he must certainly lookupon it as a canonical and inspired Book . But no-thing of this appears in his Works. He fays in hisCatalogue of Writers, " that it was publickly read“ in some Greek Churches; that it was truly an" useful Book , and that many of the Ancients“ cited from it, but that it was in a manner un-“ known to the Latins Further, in his Com-ment on Hofea, ch. vii. he quotes Hermas, butnot without this previous Clause, si cni tamenplacet recipere illius Ledlionem , if any one be incli-ned to admit a Passage from him. Jerome there-fore had not the highest Esteem for the Visionsof Hermas, and he had certainly the Revelationsin more than equal Veneration. For he quotesthem without Ceremony , declares them to be theWork of an inspired Apostle, and cries them upabove all other Scriptures. If after this he hascontradicted himself so far, as to hint that theyare a mere Rhapsody of Absurdities, why is theDifcourJ'er so far wanting to his Argument, as notto give us his very Words, or at least to direct uswhere we may find them! But it is still his Me-thod to give out general and unsupported Cen-sures.
The next Article against Jerome is this: “ In“ his Preface to Daniel , he looks upon the His-
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