Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Tertullian: Part Fourth/On the Apparel of Women/Elucidation

Elucidation.

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(The Prophecy of Enoch, p. 15.)

is the author of a useful article on &#8220;Apocalyptic Literature,&#8221; from which we extract all that is requisite to inform the reader of the freshest opinion as seen from his well-known point of view.&#160; He notes Archbishop Lawrence&#8217;s translation into English, and that it has been rendered back again into German by Dillman (1853), as before, less accurately, by Hoffmann.&#160; Ewald, L&#252;cke, Koestlin, and Hilgenfeld are referred to, and an article of his own in Kitto&#8217;s Cyclop&#230;dia.&#160; We owe its re-appearance, after long neglect, to Archbishop Lawrence (1838), and its preservation to the Abyssinians.&#160; It was rescued by Bruce, the explorer, in an &#198;thiopic version; and the first detailed announcement of its discovery was made by De Sacy, 1800.&#160; Davidson ascribes its authorship to pre-Messianic times, but thinks it has been interpolated by a Jewish Christian.&#160; Tertullian&#8217;s negative testimony points the other way:&#160; he evidently relies upon its &#8220;Christology&#8221; as genuine; and, if interpolated in his day, he could hardly have been deceived.

Its five parts are:&#160; I. The rape of women by fallen angels, and the giants that were begotten of them.&#160; The visions of Enoch begun.&#160; II. The visions continued, with views of the Messiah&#8217;s kingdom.&#160; III. The physical and astronomical mysteries treated of.&#160; IV. Man&#8217;s mystery revealed in dreams from the beginning to the end of the Messianic kingdom.&#160; V. The warnings of Enoch to his own family and to mankind, with appendices, which complete the book.&#160; The article in Smith&#8217;s Dictionary of the Bible is accessible, and need only be referred to as well worth perusal; and, as it abounds in references to the entire literature of criticism respecting it, it is truly valuable.&#160; It seems to have been written by Westcott.

The fact that St. Jude refers to Enoch&#8217;s prophesyings no more proves that this book is other than apocryphal than St. Paul&#8217;s reference to Jannes and Jambres makes Scripture of the Targum.&#160; The apostle Jude does, indeed, authenticate that particular saying by inspiration of God, and doubtless it was traditional among the Jews.&#160; St. Jerome&#8217;s references to this quotation may be found textually in Lardner. &#160; Although the book is referred to frequently in the Patrologia, Tertullian only, of the Fathers, pays it the respect due to Scripture.