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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.

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La cité de dieu

CHAPITRE XXXVIII.

POURQUOI L’ÉGLISE REJETTE LES ÉCRITS DE QUELQUES PROPHÈTES.

Si nous remontons plus haut avant le déluge universel, nous trouverons le patriarche Noé, que je puis aussi justement appeler prophète, puisque l’arche même qu’il fit était une prophétie du christianisme. Que dirai-je d’Enoch, le septième des descendants d’Adam? L’apôtre saint Jude ne dit-il pas dans son épître canonique qu’il a prophétisé? Que si les écrits de ces personnages ne sont pas reçus coin me canoniques par les Juifs, non plus que par nous, cela ne vient que de leur trop grande antiquité qui les a rendus suspects. Je sais bien qu’on produit quelques ouvrages dont l’authenticité ne paraît pas douteuse à ceux qui croient vrai tout ce qui leur plaît; mais l’Eglise ne les reçoit ‘pas, non qu’elle rejette l’autorité de ces grands hommes qui ont été si agréables à Dieu, mais parce qu’elle ne croit pas que ces ouvrages soient de leur main. Il ne faut pas trouver étrange que des écrits si anciens soient suspects, puisque, dans l’histoire des rois de Juda et d’Israël, il est fait mention de plusieurs circonstances qu’on chercherait en vain dans nos Ecritures canoniques et qui se trouvent en d’autres prophètes dont les noms-ne sont pas inconnus et dont cependant les ouvrages n’ont point été reçus au nombre des livres canoniques. J’avoue que j’en ignore la raison; à moins de dire que ces prophètes ont pu écrire certaines choses comme hommes et sans l’inspiration du Saint-Esprit, et que c’est celles-là que l’Eglise ne reçoit pas dans son canon pour faire partie de la religion, bien qu’elles puissent être d’ailleurs utiles et véritables. Quant aux ouvrages qu’on attribue aux prophètes et qui contiennent quelque chose de contraire aux Ecritures canoniques, cela seul suffit pour les convaincre de fausseté.