Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER XIV.

PAUL to SENECA Greet­ing.

YOUR se­ri­ous con­sid­er­ation is re­quit­ed with those dis­cov­er­ies, which the Di­vine Be­ing has grant­ed but to few;

2 I am there­by as­sured that I sow the most strong seed in a fer­tile soil, not any­thing ma­te­ri­al, which is sub­ject to cor­rup­tion, but the durable word of God, which shall in­crease and bring forth fruit to eter­ni­ty.

3 That which by your wis­dom you have at­tained to, shall abide with­out de­cay for ev­er.

4 Be­lieve that you ought to avoid the su­per­sti­tions of Jews and Gen­tiles.

5 The things which you have in some mea­sure ar­rived to, pru­dent­ly make known to the em­per­or, his fam­ily, and to faith­ful friends;

6 And though your sen­ti­ments will seem dis­agree­able, and not be com­pre­hend­ed by them, see­ing most of them will not re­gard your dis­cours­es, yet the Word of God once in­fused in­to them, will at length make them be­come new men, as­pir­ing to­wards God.

7 Farewell Seneca, who art most dear to us. Dat­ed on the cal­ends of Au­gust, in the Con­sul­ship of Leo and Sav­inus.

REF­ER­ENCES TO THE EPIS­TLES OF ST. PAUL THE APOS­TLE TO SENECA, WITH SENECA’S TO PAUL.

[Sev­er­al very learned writ­ers have en­ter­tained a favourable opin­ion of these Epis­tles. They are un­doubt­ed­ly of high an­tiq­ui­ty. Salmeron cites them to prove that Seneca was one of Cae­sar’s house­hold, re­ferred to by Paul, Philip iv. 22, as salut­ing the brethren at Philip­pi. In Jerome’s enu­mer­ation of il­lus­tri­ous men, he places Seneca, on ac­count of these Epis­tles, amongst the ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal and holy writ­ers of the Chris­tian Church. Six­tus Senen­sis has pub­lished them in his Bib­lio­theque, p 89, 90; and it is from thence that the present trans­la­tion is made. Ba­ro­nius, Bel­larmine, Dr. Cave, Span­heim, and oth­ers, con­tend that they are not gen­uine.]

THE ACTS OF ST. PAUL AND THE­CLA.

The mar­tyr­dom of the holy and glo­ri­ous first Mar­tyr and Apos­tle The­cla.