before the coming of Chrifti, ἐνην καὶ μὴ ὁμολογήσαντας τὸν Χρισὺν TOTE OWOnvas, they that believed not in Chrift might be faved, τητε μὲν γὰρ εἰς Σωτορίαν ἤρκει τὸ τὸν θεὸν ἐιδέναι μόνον ; for then the knowledge of the true God; and freedom from idolatry was fufficient for falvation. And this he proves from thefe words of the apostle, (q) glory, honor and peace to every one that doth good, to the Few first, and alfo to the Gentile. St. Jerom alfo faith, that from thofe words of St. John concerning Chrift, (r) he is the true light that enlighteneth every one that comes into the world; it is plain, naturâ omnibus ineffe Dei notitiam, nec quenquam fine Chrifto nafci, et non habere in fe femina fapientiæ, et juftitiæ reliquarumque virtutum; unde multi fine fide, et Evangelio Chrifti, vel fapienter faciunt aliqua, vel fanêtè; that the knowledge of God is by nature in all men, and that no man is born without Chrift, or who hath not in himself the feeds of wisdom and justice, and of all other virtues, whence many, without faith and the gospel of Chrift, perform fome things either wifely or holily.

Cent. 5. The author of the treaties de vocatione Gentium faith we firmly believe, and piously confefs according to the fcriptures, that the care of the divine providence was never wanting to mankind in general, who, though he chofe to himself a peculiar people inftructed by his laws, nulli tamen Nationi hominum bonitatis fuæ dona fubtraxit, yet hath he not withdrawn from any nation the gifts of his goodness, but let them receive the voices of the prophets, and of the law, in Teftimoniis Elementorum, in the evidence of the elements (or first principles of natural religion;) (t) for he gives them his laws in their minds, eafque in cordibus eorum digito fuo infcribit, and writes them with his finger in their hearts, that they may obtain the knowl edge of God, not by humane reafon, but by his inftruction. And we believe that the help of the divine grace was never wholly withdrawn from any; (u) for the eternal goodness of God doth not fo withdraw itself from thofe men, ut illos ad cognofcendum fe atque metuendum nullis fignificationibus admoneret, as to admonish them by no intimations that they fhould know and fear him; (w) for the heaven and earth, and every creature is fo ordered to the advantage of man, that by the contemplation of them, by the experience of fo great goodnefs, and the receipt of fo many gifts, ad cultum et dilectionem fui imbuerentur Authoris, implente omnia fpiritu Dei, they may be inftructed to worship and love that God whofe Spirit filleth all things. For, faith he, (x) datur unicuique fine merito unde tendat ad meritum, et datur ante ullum laborem,

(q) Rom. ii. 10.- (r) In Gal. c. 1. f. 70. M.(t) Cap. 3.-(u) Cap. 7.-(w) Lib. 2. c.

-(ƒ) L. 1. c. 2. ---2 (*) Cap. 2.

unde quifque mercedem accipiat fecundum fuum 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 labor, from whence he may receive a reward according to his la bor (y) for the experience of all ages teaches us the juft mercy of God, and his merciful justice, that he was never wanting in nourishing mens' bodies, nec docendis juvandifque eorum mentibus defuiffe, or in inftructing and affifting their minds; (z) for there was always exhibited to all men a certain meafure of teaching from above, in which though the grace was more fparing and obfcure, fufficit tamen ficut Deus judicavit quibufdam ad remedium, omnibus ad teftimonium, was yet Jufficient in God's account for a remedy to fome, and for a teftimony to all; and they who never heard of the gospel were yet men, (a) quibus illa menfura Generalis auxilii quæ defuper omnibus hominibus eft 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, fo far confulting the good of all men; ut neque ulli pereuntium fuppetat excufatio de abnegato fibi lumine veritatis, that none that perifh fhall be able to fay in their excufe, that the light of the truth was denied them; feeing it may be proved that not only in the laft days, but in all ages paft, (b) gratiam Dei omnibus hominibus affuiffe, the grace of God was afforded to all men.

(3) Cap. 3.(2) Cap. 5.(a) Cap. 9.-(b) Cap. xo.

HEN I had put thefe papers to the prefs I met with a treatife of the Rev. Dr. John Edwards, in which he hath done. me the honor frequently to attempt the refutation of the expofitions given in my Annotations of texts relating to thefe controverfies; all which hall, by divine affiftance, be fully vindicated from his exceptions in due time. But

leaving that work to a farther opportunity, I fhall at prefent only confider his weak attempts to free the doctrines he hath fo zealoufly efpoufed, from the imputation of novelty; and demonftrate, that not one of them was, in his fenfe, maintained before St. Auftin's time, and that some of them were not owned by any ecclefiaftical writer for a long time after. And,

1. Whereas he abfolutely denies that election to life and falvation is on the account of faith, or works forefeen, Voffius, in his pelagian hiftory, declares, that (a) all the Greek fathers always, and all the Latin fathers, who lived before St. Auftin, held that they were predeftinated to life, whom God forefaw that they would live piously and righteously; or, as others Jay, whom he forefaw, would believe and perfevere to the end. And

(a) Græci Patres femper, Patrum Latinorum vero illi qui ante Auguftinum vix runt, dicere folent, eos effe prædeftinatos ad vitam, quos Deus pie recteque victuros prævidit, five, ut alii loquuntur, quos, præ vidit credituros et perfeveraturos. Lib. 6. Thef. 8. p. 538- 545 Vide etiam Petavium de Deo, Lib. 9. Cap. 3.

this he proves from the teftimonies of Justin M. Irenæus, Clemens of Alexandria, Chryfoftom, Theodoret, and others of the Greek church. And among the Lations, from the teftiLating monies of Tertullian, Hilary, St. Ambrofe, Hilarius Diaconus, and St. Jerom.

Profper, in his epiftle to St. Auftin, inquires of him how he may avoid this imputation of novelty; for, faith he, (b) 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 fame opinion, in which they have received the purJesp. 88 pole and the predestination of God according to his prefcience; that for this caufe God made fome veffels of honor, and others weffels of difhonor, because he forefaw the end of every one, and knew before how he would will and act under the aid of grace. And, after this ingenuous confeffion, was this very Profper fit to be produced by the door as a witnefs of the antiquity of thefe doctrines ? To what end also, doth he cite St. Auftin as a witness of their antiquity, who manifeftly owns, that he was formerly of the other opinion? This his own words import, as you may fee in Voffius, p. 545, 546, 547.

Again, is it not wonderful to find the doctor faying fo dogmatically, that (c) this election without the forefight of good works is afferted by that St. Jerom, who on that place of Malachy, Jacob have I loved, and Efau have I hated, faith, (d) the love and hatred of God arifeth either from his foreknowledge of things future, or from works? in his comentary on the Galatians, he brings in the Hereticks, i. e. the Valentinians, Bafilidians and Manichees, difputing thus, (e) that a just man would not be chofen before he had done any good, nor would the finner be hated before he had finned, unless the nature of thofe that perifh, and of thofe that are faved were different; and anfwers, (f) that this happeneth from the foreknowledge of God,

(b) Illud antem, qualiter diluatur, quæfumus patienter infipientiam noftram ferendo demonftres, quod retractatis priorum de hac re opinionibus pene omnium par invenitur et Una Sententia, qua propofitum et prædeftinationem Dei fecundum Præfcientiam receperunt, ut ob hoc Deus alios vafa honoris, allos contumeliæ fecerit, quia finem uniufcujufque præviderit, et fub ipfo Gratiæ adjutorio in qua futurus ellet voluntate, et actione, præfciverit. Ed. Coloni Agrip. p. 886.

te) Page 503.

(d) Porro dilectio et odium Dei, vel ex præfcientia nafcitur futurorum vel ex operibus, alioquin novimus quod omnia Deus diligat, nec quicquam eorum oderit quæ creavit. F. 127. H.

(e) Nunquam aut junus diligeretur, antequam aliquid boni faceret, aut Peccator odiretur ante delictum, nifi effet pereuntium, et falvandorum natura diverfa.

(f) Ad quod poteft fimpliciter refponderi, hoc ex Dei præfcientia evenire, ut quem fcit juftum futurum, prius diligat quam oriatur ex utero, et quem peccatorem, oderit antequam peccet, non quod in amore, et in edio iniquitas Dei fit, fed quo non aliter eos habere debeat, quos feit vel peccatores futuros effe, vel juftos, Cam, in Galat, F. 70. L. 15,

on the Greed - /s. 328, in breed-ps. The maxinal note.

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 fins; not that there is iniquity in the love and hatred of God, but because he ought not to deal otherwife with them, whom he knows will be hereafter just, or wicked. And speaking of those words, Eph. i. 4. God hath chofen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, he faith, (g) that this belongs to the foreknowledge 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 predeftinated in his mother's womb. And ftill more wonderful is it, that the doctor fhould attempt to prove this was St. Jerom's fentiment from his first book against Ruffinus; when in the only place relating to that matter, he repeats the very words laft cited, and immediately adds, (h) certè in expofitione illâ nullum crimen, furely there is no fault in that expofition. He, indeed, in that place rejects the opinion of Origen, that fouls were elected before the foundation of the world, propter Sanc titatem, et nullum vitium peccatorum, for their holiness, and freedom from all fin, by this good argument, that the text faith they were chofen, not becaufe 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 fouls, Sed ad Dei Præfcientiam, to the foreknowledge of God.

To proceed to his fecond article concerning free will: Here he afferts in the general, (i) that the opinion of feveral of the fathers concerning man's free will and God's grace, is the very fame that he hath maintained. Now to fhew the manifeft falfehood of this affertion, let it be noted,

ft. That the freedom he allows to man's will in this matter is only (k) a freedom from coaction, not fuch a freedom from neceffity, as confifts in not being determined to one part; whereas, faith Voffius, (1) "The liberty of the will, according to the ancients, is a liberty not only from coaction, but from neceffity; and almoft all of them ufed this argumeut a

(g) Quod autem electos nos ut effemus fancti, et immaculati coram ipfo, hoc eft Deo, ante fabricam mundi teftatus eft; ad Præfcientiam Dei pertinet, cui omnia futura facta funt, et antequam fiant, universa funt nota. Sicut et Paulus ipfe prædestinatur in utero matris fuæ. Com. in Ephef. F. 90. C.

(b) F. 73. Lit H. M.-(i) P. 503.(k) P. 151, 152, 258.

(1) Libertas Arbitrii, fecundum veteres, non folum eft libertas a coactione, fed etiam a neceffitate. Hitt. Pelag. 1. 7. Th. 1. p. 699. Abfque hoc effet, rueret imperium paternum, herile, civile, quando ut homines fponte agant, tamen, fi neceffario agant, non mandato aut prohibitioni, non præmiis aut poenis ullus fit relictus locus. Itaque hoc Argumento Patres plerique omnes adftruere folent arbitrii libertatem adverfus Maniches, qui et ipfi, fine dubio, fponte, nec coacte, hominem agere tatebantur, fed neceffario omnia agere credebant. P. 702.