A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

TATIAN.

TATIAN Sirnamed the Assyrian, a 1.1 from the Name of his Country, was an able Orator, and S. Justin's Scholar. He remained in the Communion of the Church during the Life of his Master, but after his Martyrdom being puffed up with Pride, which often attends the O∣pinion * 1.2 of Knowledge, he became Head and Author of a new Sect b 1.3, which was called the Heresie of the Encratites, or of the Continent, because these Sectaries condemned Marriage, as also the use of diverssorts of Meats and Wine, leading a sober and austere Life in appearance; besides this, they maintained some of the Errors of the Valentinians, and affirmed that our Fore-Fathers were Damn'd: This Sect was afterwards augmented by Severus c 1.4, from whom they took the Name of Severians: these later rejected the Epistles of S. Paul, and the Acts of the Apostles. But to return to Tatian; he having got a great facility in writing, Composed a great number of Books, and among others an excellent Treatise against the Gentiles, which is most esteemed of all his Works, as also a Gospel Collected from the Four Evangelists.

There is yet extant the Treatise of Tatian against the Gentiles, which was first Printed at Zurick, in the Year 1646. together with the Version of Conrad••s Gesner, afterwards inserted in the Bibliotheca Patrum; and Lastly, annexed to the Works of S. Justin; the Title thereof is as follows: The Discourse of Tatian against the Gentiles, proving that the Greeks are not the Inventors of any of the Sciences, as they boast themselves to be, but that they were all invented by those whom they call Barbarians. This is indeed the Subject of the beginning of his Discourse, but then he adds, that the Greeks corrupted the Sciences, which they received from the Barbarians, and more especially Philosophy. Afterwards he proceeds to the Explication and defence of the Christian Religion; he Treats of the Nature of God, of the Word, of the Resurrection of the Body, and Freedom of the Soul: He confutes the Opinion of Fate, he dis∣courseth of the Nature of the Soul, and of Devils, discovering the Snares that they lay for Men. He intermixeth all these things with several Satyrical Reflections on the ridiculous Theology of the Pagans, and the corrupt manners of their Gods and Philosophers, shewing at the same time, that the Writings of Moses, are more ancient than all other Histories, and giving an admirable Description of the Holy Conversation of the Christians. This Work is extremely full of profane Learning, and the Style thereof is Elegant enough, but exuberant, and not very elaborate; and the Matters therein contained are not digested into any Order. It was certainly Composed by Tatian, before he fell into Heresie, tho' after S. Justin's Death, since he doth not condemn the State of Matrimony in that Book d 1.5. He argues concerning the Generation of the Word, in such Expressions as do not agree with our manner of ex∣plaining it, but they may be interpreted in a Sense which is not Heretical e 1.6. He maintains that the Angels, and Devils consist of Bodies and Souls: He denies the Immortality of the later, affirming that they die, and that they shall hereafter rise again with their respective Bodies, which is a considerable Error.

As for the Gospel that was Compiled by Tatian, S. Epiphanius in his Description of the Heresie of the Nazarenes, hath confounded it with that which was Entituled: The Gospel according to the He∣brews;

and indeed they had this in common, that the Genealogy of Jesus Christ was not in either of them: But the Gospel according to the Hebrews was older than Tatian's; besides the later was only a kind of a Catena or Concordance, wherein this Author had gathered together, what he judged proper to be Collected out of the Four Evangelists. S. Ambrose seems to mention it in the Preface to his Com∣mentaries on S. Luke; when he declares, that some Writers had made one single Gospel out of the Four, by Collecting those passages, which they believed to be most favourable to their Opinions, and omitting the rest. The Gospel of Tatian was Composed after this manner; in which he retrenched the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, together with all that which relates to his human Nature, and his Extrac∣tion from the Stock of David. Baronius thought that that was the Work of Tatian, which is in the Seventh Tome of the Bibliotheca Patrum, under the Name of Ammonius; but this is a distinct Book; for as Valesius observes, it is an Historical Epitome of the Gospels, written by an ancient Orthodox Author, containing many passages, wherein Jesus Christ is called the Son of David; whereas Tatian's Gospel was a Rhapsody of the passages taken out of the four Evangelists, on purpose to induce us to believe that our Saviour was not descended from the Lineage of David. Tatian lived after the Death of S. Justin, and died about the time when S. Irenaeus wrote his Book concerning the Heresies. S. Cle∣ment in the Third Book of his Stromata, cites a Treatise of this Author Entituled, Of Perfection accor∣ding to the Saviour, written by him after his Fall into Heresie; he produceth a passage out of it against Marriage, which he confutes in Pag. 460.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Sirnamed the Assyrian.] At the end of his Trea∣tise against the Gentiles, he declares that he was born in Assyria, and that he had been instructed in the Theology of the Grecians.
• * 1.2

  Tatian.
• b 1.3

  Of a new Sect.] S. Irenaeus Lib. 1. Euseb. Lib. 4. c. 29. S. Jerom, in Catalogo.
• c 1.4

  This Sect was afterward augmented by Severus.] S. Epiphanius affirms, that Severus lived before Ta∣tian, but he is mistaken.
• d 1.5

  He doth not condemn the State of Matrimony in that Book.] On the other hand, Pag. 168. he seems to approve it.
• e 1.6

  A Sense which is not Heretical.] He asserts that the Word was begotten in the time of the Crea∣tion of the World; altho' he was from all Eternity, calling the Generation of the Word his Application, (if we may so term it) to the exteriour Works: He adds, that the Word was not begotten by way of Se∣paration, but after the same manner, as one Fire is lighted or kindled by another; so that God did not remain without the Word, but that the Word pro∣ceeded from him, and remained in him altogether, or at the same time this he explains by the instance of human Speech. These are the Principles of some of the ancient Christians. The Version of this Treatise was Printed together with the Greek Text at Basil, in the Years 1564, 1569, 1575, 15••••. and at Geneva, in 1592.