8. The mention ot/ormeaHon (vopvtid) appears to be quite foreign to the nature of the other injunctions, and opposed to the above view of these apostoUcal ordinances. It blends a purely moral precept with enactments that refer only to matters of outward ob- servance. The coi\jectural emendation (wopci £ac, or XOtpeiag, for wopvtiag, m both passages) that proposes to refer this clause to the eating of swine's flesh is negatived by the &ct that no such abstinence is al- ia^ to in tiie Noachian precepts ; and the forced ex- planation of the term (xopviia for ^wria iropvic^), as alluding to a sacrifice purchased by the hire of a har- lot, is suffidentiy refuted by the objection that this would refer to a state of matters so grossly sinful as conld not be thought of among Christians. Undoubt- edly the only proper course is to bring hito view the greater freedom of intercourse between the sexes that prevaOed among the Greeks and Romans, -which was an abomination to the more serious Jews, and appear- ed to them, in &ct, a refined species of hariotry. By the word in question, therefore, which comprehends not only gross violations of the seventh command- ment, but also more polished sins of this kind, the as- seipbled brethren enjoin upon the heathen Christians greater care and. circumspection in their intercourse with the female sex, that they might give no ofibnce to the Jewish Christians (Olshausen, Comment, in loc. iii, 886, Am. ed.). Another reason for the insertion of this rule respecting chastity probably was the shameless violation of purity that every where took pBioe Iq connection with the pagan festivals, and con- stituted an additional reason for a total disconnection with all idolatrous rites (Conybeare and Howson, 8t, Paul, i, 217). See Schaff, ApoeL Chureh, § 69 ; and
FOBWIOATIOir.
Among special treatises on this subject are the follow- ing : Baege, ITfp^ dXtayriftariav (Jen. 1748) ; Benzel, De deereto apoetoHco (iMad, 179S) ; Dannhauer, Acarvwo;- 9IC eoneiUi Hieroe, (Argent. 1648) ; Deyling, De irop- vtig. vetUa (in his (Hm, eacr. ii, 469 sq.) ; DMeriein, De senstt decreti apo$t, (Btttsov. 1769 sq.) ; Dorscheus, De aangume ei ntffocato (Rostock, 1688) ; Hasaeus, id, (Brem. 1708); Moebius, id, (Lips. 1688); Hannecken, De eanffuine eecario (Giess. 1678) ; Heidegger, 1% con-- eU, ffieros. (Tigur. 1678); id. De sanguine et mgocaio (Amst. 1662) ; Langgnth, De coneU, apott, eanone (Erf. 1681) ; Leonhard, De decreto cone, Hierog, (Jen. 1725) ; Nitzsch, De decreto apoetoHco (Yiteb. 1795 ; also in Yel-
DECRETALS
124
DECURIONES
thineDii Commmi, yi, 885^18) ; Nfcselt, De coma. Hie- roi. (Lips. 1678); Schdttgen, De ritibus in iynode Hierot, prokibitis (Starg. 1723) ; Veltheni, Hist, cone, Hicros, (Jen. 1693) ; Wandalin, Circa sangminem e$aarium (Vi- teb. 1678) ; CarpzoT, De amtrovergiit tkeologieii (Lips. 1695) ; Kripner, De etca idolis immUatortan (Jen. 1720) ; CradoB, De lege Mosaica inter ChrisUcmoe (Lips. 1770) ; Weemse, The teven Precept* of Noah (in his Expotitionj ii, 40) ; Spencer, De Legib, Hdtr, i ; Harrington, Worht, ii, 265 ; Kind, Sermont, ii, 27 ; Wedgewood, Decrees of the holy Apostles (ljond,lB6iy. See Coxtncil of Apos- tles. DECREES OF Ck>D. See PsEDEsmrATioir. Decretals, letters from the popes of Rome deciding points of ecclesiastical law. For the history and col- lection of the decretals, see Canon Law ; ^Clbmbn- TINB8. The decretals compose the chief part of the canon law.
DECRETALS, Pseudo-Isidorian. By this name a collection of sporioos letters of popes is designated. They were first brought into ose in the 9th century, in connection with the so-called Spanish collection of canons and decrees. See CAift>N8. The author of this collection placed at its head a sporioos preface of Isidore Mercator (according to some manoscripts, Peccaior), and for this reason they were ascribed, as early as the 9th century, to Isidore of Seville (q. v.). During the Middle Ages they were generally consid- ered genuine, but in the 15th centory doubts of their gentiineness were expressed by Nicholas de Cusa [see Cusa] and others, and in the 16th the BCagdeburg centuriators (q. v.) and other Protestant historians so condosiTely established their sporionsness that it is now admitted even by Roman Catholic writers. The birth-pkoe, age, author, and motives of these let- ters are still controverted questions, and have called forth a large nomber of thorough investigations, by which several important points have been established with a high degree of probability. There is a large number of manuscripts (more than fifty) of this collec- tion extant, and it is believed that a more careful study and comparison of them will lead to new results. The order of the documents, according to Codex Tati- canns (No. 680), a manuscript of the 12th century, is as follows : The prefiice is followed by a letter of Aure- lius to Damasus, and the answer of the latter, both spurious; the Ordo de cekbrando coneilio, borrowed from the fourth Council of Toledo ; a list of councils, and a spurious correspondence between Jerome and Damasus. Then begins Part I, consisting of 50 apos- tolic canons; 59 spurious letters of the popes, fh>m Clement to Melchiades (in chronological order); a treatise, De prmitiva ecdesia et sgnodo Nioana, and the spurious Donation of Constantino. Part II begins with a section of the preface of the genuine Spanish collection of canons, and another section of the coUeo* tion of Quesnel, and contains the Greek, African, Gal- lic, and Spanish councils, agreeing in all essential points with the Spanish collection. Part III begfts likewise with a section of the preface of the genuine collection, which is followed by the decretals of the popes from Sylvester to Gregory II (f 781) ; among them 85 spurious ones. The total number of spurious decretals in the collection is 94^ Whether all of them tkelonged to the original collection, or whether a part were of later manu&cture, is still a controverted pdnt The sources used by the compiler axe the works of Cassiodorus and Rufinus, the lAber PontiJtcaUsj the VulgaicLf the works of the fathers, the theol<^cal liter- ature up to the 9th century, the genuine decretals and decrees of councils, the so-called Capitula AngilranU (q. v.), and the Roman law collection, especially the Visigothic Breviarium Alaridanum (see Knnst, defon- tibus et consiUo Ps. Isidorianm coUectioniSj Gottingen, 1832). The opinion of Rosshirt (^Zu den kirchmreeht- '«n Quellen des ersten Jahrtausends undsudenpsendo-