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'for then the knowledge of the true God, and freedom from idolatry was sufficient for salvation'." And this he proves from these words of the apostle, 'glory, honour, and peace to every one that doth good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.'

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St. Jerom

also saith, that "from those words of St. John concerning Christ, He is the true light that enlighteneth every one that comes into the world; it is plain, naturâ omnibus inesse Dei notitiam, nec quenquam sine Christo nasci, et non habere in se semina sapientiæ, et justitiæ, reliquarumque virtutum; unde multi sine fide et evangelio Christi, vel sapienter faciunt aliqua vel sancte; 'that the knowledge of God is by nature in all men, and that no man is born without Christ, or who hath not in himself the seeds of wisdom and justice, and of all other virtues, whence many, without faith and the gospel of Christ, perform some things either wisely or holily'."

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FIFTH CENTURY. The author of the treatise De Vocatione Gentium saith," we firmly believe, and piously confess according to the scriptures, that the care of the divine providence was never wanting to mankind in general, who, though he chose to himself a peculiar people instructed by his laws, nulli tamen nationi hominum bonitatis suæ dona subtraxit, yet hath he not withdrawn from any nation the gifts of his goodness,' but let them receive the voices of the prophets, and of the law, in testimoniis elementorum, 'in the evidence of the elements;' (or, first principles of natural religion;) for he gives them his laws in their minds, easque in cordibus eorum digito suo inscribit, and writes them with his finger in their hearts," that they may obtain the knowledge of God, not by human reason, but by his instruction. And we believe that the help of the divine grace was never wholly withdrawn from any; for the eternal goodness of God doth not so withdraw itself from those men, ut illos ad cognoscendum se atque metuendum nullis significationibus admoneret, as to admonish them by no intimations that they should know and fear him;” for the heaven and earth, and every creature is so ordered to the advantage of man, that by the contemplation of them, by the experience of so great goodness, and the receipt of so many gifts, ad cultum et dilectionem sui imbuerentur authoris, implente omnia

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In Gal. c. 1, f. 70, M.

u_Cap. 7.

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Spiritu Dei, they may be instructed to worship and love that God whose Spirit filleth all things.' For," saith he, "datur unicuique sine merito unde tendat ad meritum, et datur ante ullum laborem, unde quisque mercedem accipiat secundum suum laborem, to every one is given that, without any worthiness, by which he may tend to what is worthy; and that is given, without his labour, from whence he may receive a reward according to his labour;" for the experience of all ages teaches us the just mercy of God, and his merciful justice, that he was never wanting in nourishing men's bodies, nec docendis juvandisque eorum mentibus defuisse, 'or in instructing and assisting their minds;'" for there was always exhibited to men a certain measure of teaching from above, in which, though the grace was more sparing and obscure, sufficit tamen sicut Deus judicavit quibusdam ad remedium, omnibus ad testimonium, 'was yet sufficient in God's account for a remedy to some, and for a testimony to all;'* and they who never heard of the gospel were yet men, quibus illa mensura generalis auxilii qua desuper omnibus hominibus est præbita, non negatur, 'to whom is not denied that general measure of aid which is afforded to all men from above,'" the manifold and ineffable goodness of God so far consulting the good of all men, ut neque ulli pereuntium suppetat excusatio de abnegato sibi lumine veritatis, that none that perish shall be able to say in their excuse, that the light of the truth was denied them;' seeing it may be proved that not only in the last days, but in all ages past, gratiam Dei omnibus hominibus affuisse, 'the grace of God was afforded to all men'."

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w Lib. 2, c. 1.

* Cap. 2.

y Cap. 3. b Cap. 10.

* Cap. 5.

a Cap. 9%

Postscript.

WHEN I had put these papers to the press, I met with a treatise of the Rev. Doctor John Edwards, in which he hath done me the honour frequently to attempt the refutation of the expositions, given in my Annotations, of texts relating to these controversies; all which shall, by divine assistance, be fully vindicated from his exceptions in due time. But leaving that work to a farther opportunity, I shall at present only. consider his weak attempts to free the doctrines he hath so zealously espoused, from the imputation of novelty; and to demonstrate, that not one of them was, in his sense, maintained before St. Austin's time, and that some of them were not owned by any Ecclesiastical writer for a long time after. And,

1. Whereas he absolutely denies that election to life and salvation is on the account of faith, or works foreseen, Vossius in his Pelagian History, declares, that "all the Greek Fathers always, and all the Latin fathers, who lived before St. Austin, held that they were predestinated to life whom God foresaw that they would live piously and righteously; or, as others say, whom he foresaw, would believe and persevere to the end."" And this he proves from the testimonies of Justin M. Irenæus, Clemens of Alexandria, Chrysostom, Theodoret and others of the Greek Church. And among the Latins, from the testimonies of Tertullian, Hilary, St. Ambrose, Hilarius Diaconus, and St. Jerom.

Prosper, in his epistle to St. Austin, enquires of him how he may avoid this imputation of novelty; "for," saith he, "having had recourse to the opinions of almost all that went before me, concerning this matter, I find all of them holding one and the same

a Græci patres semper, patrum Latinorum vero illi qui ante Augustinum vixerunt, dicere solent eos esse prædestinatos ad vitam, quos Deus pie recteque victuros prævidit, sive, ut alii loquuntur, quos prævidit credituros et perseveraturos. Lib. 6, Thes. 8, p. 538,-545. Vide etiam Petavium de Deo. Lib. 9, cap. 3.

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opinion, in which they have received the purpose and the predestination of God according to his prescience; that for this cause God made some vessels of honour, and others vessels of dishonour, because he foresaw the end of every one, and knew before how he would will and act under the aid of grace." " And, after this ingenuous confession, was this very Prosper fit to be produced by the Doctor as a witness of the antiquity of these doctrines? To what end also doth he cite St. Austin as a witness of their antiquity, who manifestly owns, that he was formerly of the other opinion? This his own words import, as you may see in Vossius, p. 545, 546, 547.

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Again, is it not wonderful to find the Doctor saying so dogmatically, that "this election without the foresight of good works is asserted by that St. Jerom, who on that place of Malachy, 'Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated,' saith, 'The love and hatred of God ariseth either from his foreknowledge of things future, or from works'?" In his commentary on the Galatians, he brings in the Hereticks, that is, the Valentinians, Basilidians, and Manichees, disputing thus, "that a just man would not be chosen before he had done any good, nor would the sinner be hated before he had sinned, unless the nature of those that perish, and of those that are saved were different;' ." and answers, "that this happeneth from the foreknowledge of God, who loves him whom he knows will hereafter be righteous, before he is born, and hates him whom he knows will be wicked, before he sins; not that there is iniquity in the love and hatred of God, but because he ought not to deal otherwise with them, whom he knows will be hereafter just or wicked." And speaking of those words, 'God hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy,' Eph. i, 4, he saith, "that this belongs to the foreknow

Illud autem, qualiter diluatur, quæsumus patienter insipientiam nostram ferendo demonstres, quód retractatis priorum de hac re opinionibus pene omnium par invenitur et una sententia, qua propositum et prædestinationem Dei secundum præscientiam receperunt, ut ob hoc Deus alios vasa hono ris, alios contumeliæ fecerit, quia finem uniuscujusque præviderit, et sub ipso gratiæ adjutorio in qua futurus esset voluntate, et actione, præsciverit. Ed. Coloni Agrip. p. 886. c Page 503.

d Porro dilectio et odium Dei, vel ex præscientia nascitur futurorum, vel ex operibus, alioquin novimus quod omnia Deus diligat, nec quicquam corum oderit quæ creavit. F. 127, H.

e Nunquam aut justus diligeretur, antequam aliquid boni faceret, aut peccator odiretur ante delictum, nisi esset pereuntium, et salvandorum natura diversa.

f Ad quod potest simpliciter responderi, hoc ex Dei præscientia evenire, ut quem scit justum futurum, prius diligat quam oriatur ex utero, et quem peccatorem, oderit antequam peccet, non quod in amore, et in odio iniquitas Dei sit, sed quo non aliter eos habere debeat, quos scit vel peccatores futu ros esse, vel justos. Com. in Galat. F. 70, L. 11.

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ledge of God, to whom all future things are as already done, and to whom all things are known before they be done, even as St. Paul was predestinated in his mother's womb." And still more wonderful is it, that the Doctor should attempt to prove this was St. Jerom's sentiment from his first book against Ruffinus; when in the only place relating to that matter, he repeats the very words last cited, and immediately adds, certe in expositione illâ nullum crimen, surely there is no fault in that exposition' He, indeed, in that place rejects the opinion of Origen, that'souls were elected before the foundation of the world, propter sanctitatem, et nullum vitium peccatorum, for their holiness, and freedom from all sin'," by this good argument, that "the text saith they were chosen, not because they were holy in another world, but that they might be holy in this." But then he adds, that he refers this election not to the original of souls, sed ad Dei præscientiam, 'to the foreknowledge of God.'

To proceed to his second article concerning free-will: here he asserts in the general, that "the opinion of several of the Fathers concerning man's free-will and God's grace, is the very same that he hath maintained." Now to shew the manifest falsehood of this assertion, let it be noted,

First. That the freedom he allows to man's will in this matter is only a freedom from co-action, not such a freedom from necessity as consists in not being determined to one part: "whereas," saith Vossius," the liberty of the will, according to the ancients, is a liberty not only from co-action, but from necessity; and almost all of them used this argument against the Manichees, (who doubtless held that man acted spontaneously, and not by compulsion,) that if man acted necessarily, there was no place left for precepts or prohibitions, for rewards or punishments.'

The Doctor proceeds thus: "St. Basil in many places of his writings doth clearly and plainly assert the absolute necessity of

g Quod autem electos nos ut esscmus sancti, et immaculati coram ipso, hoc est Deo, ante fabricam mundi testatus est; ad præscientiam Dei pertinet, cui omnia futura facta sunt, et antequam fiant, universa sunt nota. Sicut et Paulus ipso prædestinatur in utero matris suæ. Com. Ephes. F. 90, C. k Page 151, 152, 258.

h F. 73, Lit. H. M.

i Page 503.

7 Libertas arbitrii, secundum veteres, non solum est libertas a coactione, sed etiam a necessitate. Hist. Pelag. 1. 7, Th. 1, p. 699. Absque hoc esset, rueret imperium paternum, herile, civile, quando ut homines sponte agant, tamen, si necessario agant, non mandato aut prohibitioni, non præmiis aut pœnis ullus sit relictus locus. Itaque hoc argumento patres plerique omnes adstruere solent arbitrii libertatem adversus Manichæos, qui et ipsi, sine dubio, sponte, nec coacte, hominem agere fatebantur sad necessario omnia agere credebant, p. 702.

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