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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXXVIII: Quod quaedam sanctorum scripta ecclesiasticus canon propter nimiam non receperit uetustatem, ne per occasionem eorum falsa ueris insererentur.

Iam uero si longe antiquiora repetam, et ante illud grande diluuium noster erat utique Noe patriarcha, quem prophetam quoque non inmerito dixerim, siquidem ipsa arca, quam fecit et in qua cum suis euasit, prophetia nostrorum temporum fuit. quid Enoch septimus ab Adam: nonne etiam in canonica epistula apostoli Iudae prophetasse praedicatur? quorum scripta ut apud Iudaeos et apud nos in auctoritate non essent, nimia fecit antiquitas, propter quam uidebantur habenda esse suspecta, ne proferrentur falsa pro ueris. nam et proferuntur quaedam quae ipsorum esse dicantur ab eis, qui pro suo sensu passim quod uolunt credunt. sed ea castitas canonis non recepit, non quod eorum hominum, qui deo placuerunt, reprobetur auctoritas, sed quod ista esse non credantur ipsorum. nec mirum debet uideri, quod suspecta habentur, quae sub tantae antiquitatis nomine proferuntur, quandoquidem in ipsa historia regum Iuda et regum Israel, quae res gestas continet, de quibus eidem scripturae canonicae credimus, commemorantur plurima, quae ibi non explicantur et in libris dicuntur aliis inueniri, quos prophetae scripserunt, et alicubi eorum quoque prophetarum nomina non tacentur, nec tamen inueniuntur in canone, quem recepit populus dei. cuius rei, fateor, causa me latet, nisi quod existimo etiam ipsos, quibus ea, quae in auctoritate religionis esse deberent, sanctus utique spiritus reuelabat, alia sicut homines historica diligentia, alia sicut prophetas inspiratione diuina scribere potuisse, atque haec ita fuisse distincta, ut illa tamquam ipsis, ista uero tamquam deo per ipsos loquenti iudicarentur esse tribuenda, ac sic illa pertinerent ad ubertatem cognitionis, haec ad religionis auctoritatem, in qua auctoritate custoditur canon, praeter quem iam si qua etiam sub nomine uerorum prophetarum scripta proferuntur, nec ad ipsam copiam scientiae ualent, quoniam utrum eorum sint, quorum esse dicuntur, incertum est; et ob hoc eis non habetur fides, maxime his, in quibus etiam contra fidem librorum canonicorum quaedam leguntur, propter quod ea prorsus non esse apparet illorum.

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The City of God

Chapter 38.--That the Ecclesiastical Canon Has Not Admitted Certain Writings on Account of Their Too Great Antiquity, Lest Through Them False Things Should Be Inserted Instead of True.

If I may recall far more ancient times, our patriarch Noah was certainly even before that great deluge, and I might not undeservedly call him a prophet, forasmuch as the ark he made, in which he escaped with his family, was itself a prophecy of our times. ¹ What of Enoch, the seventh from Adam? Does not the canonical epistle of the Apostle Jude declare that he prophesied? ² But the writings of these men could not be held as authoritative either among the Jews or us, on account of their too great antiquity, which made it seem needful to regard them with suspicion, lest false things should be set forth instead of true. For some writings which are said be theirs are quoted by those who, according to their own humor, loosely believe what they please. But the purity of the canon has not admitted these writings, not because the authority of these men who pleased God is rejected, but because they are not believed to be theirs. Nor ought it to appear strange if writings for which so great antiquity is claimed are held in suspicion, seeing that in the very history of the kings of Judah and Israel containing their acts, which we believe to belong to the canonical Scripture, very many things are mentioned which are not explained there, but are said to be found in other books which the prophets wrote, the very names of these prophets being sometimes given, and yet they are not found in the canon which the people of God received. Now I confess the reason of this is hidden from me; only I think that even those men, to whom certainly the Holy Spirit revealed those things which ought to be held as of religious authority, might write some things as men by historical diligence, and others as prophets by divine inspiration; and these things were so distinct, that it was judged that the former should be ascribed to themselves, but the latter to God speaking through them: and so the one pertained to the abundance of knowledge, the other to the authority of religion. In that authority the canon is guarded. So that, if any writings outside of it are now brought forward under the name of the ancient prophets, they cannot serve even as an aid to knowledge, because it is uncertain whether they are genuine; and on this account they are not trusted, especially those of them in which some things are found that are even contrary to the truth of the canonical books, so that it is quite apparent they do not belong to them.