The Gross Abuses of Public Charities Pointed Out, and the Necessity for the Interference of the Legislature Demon- A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, illustrated by Commen- mentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic Canon, Moham- medan, English, and Foreign Law. By Patrick Colquhoun, LL.D. St. John's, Cambridge, Barrister-at-Law, &c. Last Glimpses of Convocation, showing the Latest Incidents and Synopsis Papismi; or, a General View of the Papacy: with Computations of Romish Errors from the Scriptures, Fa- thers, Councils, &c. By Andrew Willett, D.D. Spirits of the Past. An Historical Poem, in three Books. By Nicholas Michell, Author of "Ruins of Many Lands," &c. 485 A.D., 1814-1823. With some Prefatory Remarks. By the Rev. W. Jowitt, M.A., Incumbent of St. John's Church, Clapham, late Fellow of St. John's, Cambridge. 2. Parish Sermons; Preached for the most part at Trinity The Twin Pupils; or, Education at Home. A Tale addressed to the Young. By Ann Thomson Gray. The Bible, the Missal, and the Breviary; or, Ritualism Self- illustrated in the Liturgical Books of Rome: containing the Text of the entire Roman Missal, Rubrics, and Prefaces, Translated from the Latin; with Preliminarry Dissertations, and Notes from the Breviary, Pontifical, &c. By the Rev. The Revival of the French Emperorship Anticipated from the Necessity of Prophecy. By G. S. Faber, B.D. Observations on the Diseases and Loss of the Teeth, and the Various Means of Supplying their Deficiency, and of the Defects in the Palate and their Treatment. By Alfred The Nature, Symptoms, and Treatment of Consumption. By THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Quarterly Review. JANUARY, MDCCCLIII. ART. I.-The Mission and Martyrdom of St. Peter: Containing the Original Text of all the Passages in Ancient Writers supposed to imply a Journey from the East; with Translations and Roman Catholic Comments, showing that there is not the least Sign in Antiquity of the Alleged Fact, nor even of there having been a Tradition to that Effect. By THOMAS COLLINS SIMON, Esq. London: Seeleys. 1852. WE did not expect to find anything new brought forward so late in the day as this, on so trite and hackneyed a subject as the Roman supremacy-a subject which has been debated for three hundred years by some of the ablest men of their several generations, who might be considered very unlikely to overlook any important fact, or to neglect any valid and cogent argument. But, notwithstanding these prepossessions or prejudices, our expectations have been agreeably disappointed, in the volume before us, by finding the whole question put in a new light, simply through calling our attention to the fact that there existed a written document called "THE PREACHING OF PETER," which was circulated widely in the first age of the Church, among other places, at Rome; and that this book having been lost, the knowledge of Peter's VOL. XXXIII.-B doctrines, acquired through it, was naturally enough interpreted as implying a "Preaching of Peter" in person and not merely by a book. This book appears to have been a collection of the discourses of Peter taken down by his auditors-such as his address to the multitude who witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, or his discourse to the household of Cornelius at Cæsarea, and other similar appeals which are not recorded in the Book of Acts. It can scarcely be doubted that Cornelius would make a record of the transactions of that memorable day when God first imparted his Holy Spirit to him, and by that act opened the door of the Church to the Gentiles. And it is equally probable that Cornelius, who was a centurion of the Italian band, would lose no time in imparting the glad tidings of salvation to his friends at Rome; and strangers of Rome are mentioned among those who were present on the day of Pentecost. But the tares quickly appeared among the good seed; and especially among those who, having received the truth in Judea, had removed to Rome, or some place which was not within reach of the apostles till they finally separated. And the first heresy which troubled the Church seems to have been Gnosticism, of which Simon Magus made himself the champion. To counteract this, a larger and more authoritative and official collection of Peter's discourses seems to have been made early in the reign of Claudius, and this was the book called "The Preaching of Peter :" "The Knpuua Пerpov, called in English' Peter's Proclamation,' Preaching, or Doctrine; and in Latin, Prædicatio Petri,' Doctrina Petri,' &c., was a document which appeared against the Gnostic heresy among the Gentiles at Rome before the siege of Jerusalem, and even as early as the reign of Claudius. It seems to have contained an account of the doctrines taught by Peter and the apostles in Judea, with some of our Lord's predictions respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, and to have been looked upon by the earlier fathers as really the production of St. Peter himself, or at least as having been authorised by him. Clement, the eminent Bishop of Alexandria, in the beginning of the third century, quotes a good deal from it as such. Eusebius also considered it in the same light, although he says that the authenticity of the work extant under that name in his time was by no means universally acknowledged-(Origen having rejected it as spurious, and none of the quotations cited by the Bishop of Alexandria being discoverable in it). The original authentic document was, he tells us, sent to Rome by St. Peter himself, a little before he went to Babylon, for the purpose of counteracting the Gnostic heresy in that city in the reign of Claudius; and this historian has written a whole chapter respecting its success there upon that occasion, with the title On the Knpuqua Пerpov at Rome.' Lactantius also bears witness that this work was sent to Rome prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and, therefore, during the apostle's life time; that it contained our Lord's predictions relative to that event; and that it was the means adopted by the apostles to announce those predictions in that city in such a way that they might afterwards be seen to be such-(Ea prædicatio, in memoriam scripta, permansit, Lact. Inst. iv. 21). I draw attention to these particulars respecting the book called 'Peter's Proclamation,' because its name seems to have been one of the main sources of the modern error about Peter's having left the east........ Does not Lactantius here say, as distinctly as he could well have said it, that it was not in person, but in the written document called Peter's Proclamation,' that the apostles publicly announced our Lord's predictions among the Gentiles at Rome upon the occasion alluded to? And does he not thereby corroborate the account given by Eusebius, that this document was sent to Rome by Peter a little before the final departure of the apostles from Jerusalem? In all which, however, we have not a shadow of reason for supposing either that Peter's Proclamation' contained anything about Peter's being in Europe, or that Lactantius was under the impression that it did” (31). Our author cites all the authorities which are relied on by Roman Catholic writers in proof of St. Peter's having visited Rome as early as the reign of Claudius, and of his suffering martyrdom there in the reign of Nero. And, examining these authorities one by one, he shows that they afford no warrant for either of these suppositions; while the first visit can scarcely be brought within the range of possibility, so as to become consistent with the employment assigned to St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles; and concerning his martyrdom at Rome, Clement, who is said to have been consecrated by him, is pointedly silent concerning the place of execution when he specifies Rome as the place where St. Paul suffered. His words are the following:- "Peter, through unjust dislike, underwent, not one or two, but many sufferings; and, having undergone his martyrdom, he went to the place of glory that was due to him. Paul also, having seven times worn chains and been hunted and stoned, received the prize of such endurance. For he was herald of the Gospel in the west as well as in the east, and enjoyed the illustrious reputation of the faith in teaching as he did the whole world to be righteous. And when he came to the remotest limits of the west, he underwent his martyrdom before the governors of mankind; and thus, freed from this world, went to his holy place, the most brilliant example of steadfastness that we possess" (Ad Cor. c. 5). Clement was at Rome during the time alluded to, and it |