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Theophylatt, πῶς γὰρ τῶν γένιων ἁμαρτανόντων αυτός ἂν ἐκολάσθη; for bow should be be punished for the Sin of bis Parents, fay Chryfoftom, Cyril of Alexandria, Ifidore Pelufiota and Theophylact, this being, saith Theophylact, & dinavov, nor juft. And this they prove from Deat. xxiv. 16. Ezek. Chap.xviii. and xxxiii. The Marcionites and Cerdonians endeavored to prove that the God of the Old Teftament, though he were juft, could not be good, because he threatened to punish the Sins of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth Generation. (e) Original Antwers, Orige That it was as little confiftent with Justice as with Goodness, that ons Man finning, another should be punished. (f) St. Jerom owns, That there is Matter of Scandal in the Second Commandment, it being unjust to punish one for the Sin of another; but that which follows, faith he, sølves the Difficulty, it being only the Generation of those that hate God, as their Fathers did, and who were Copartners with them in their Iniquity, who are thus threatened. (g) Theodoret saith it would be, duobis, a ricked thing to adhere to the Letter, God himself having pronounced thas the Son fhould not die for the Iniquity of the Father; but every one should die for his own Sins. And (h) Cyril of Alexandria faith, This Punisbment would much exceed, tàv rỡ dinals Deopòv, the Law of Justice. And hence they both agree in this sense of the commandment, That though God lang deferred the Parents Punishment, yet would be do it in the third and fourth Generation.

And on these words, The Fathers have eaten sour Grapes, and the Childrens Teeth are set on edge, St. Jerom taking notice of the objection of the Marcionites and Cerdonians against God's goodnefs and juftice, in that he, winking at the Sins of the Fathers, punished them in their Children, he answers that the fense of these words is this; That as it is rè. diculous, and inconsequent to say the Fathers have eaten sour Grapes, therefore the Childrens Teeth are set on edge; So is it unjust and per verse to say, the Father finning, the Children should be punished.

Lastly, Whereas the Heretics objected, That it was cruel for the eating of a little Meat to inflict such Punishment, not only upon Adatn

(e) Solent nos Hæretici fugillare, quod non fit boni Dei fermo, qui pro peccatis alterius alium plecti dicat,fed fecundum ipforum rationem qui dum legis mandatum, licet non bonum, juftum tamen dicunt, ne ipfi quidem poffunt offendere quomodo fecundum lenfum fuum juftitiæ fuæ convenire videtur, fi alius. alio peccante, puniatur, Hom. 8. in Exod. F. 44. lit. f. ἐδὲ γαρ ἔνι ἁμαρτάνοντας ἑτέρα κολάζεσθαι ἕτερον, Chryf. ibid. έδε, δίκαιόν ἐςὶ ἁμαρτίας τῶν πατήρων παῖσι μελὲς ἀδικασιμέπι Tidica, Theophylact, ibid. Similia habet Cyrillus in locum.

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(f) Injuftum videtur ut alius peccet, & alius puniatur, fed illud quod fequitur his qui me oderunt, fcandalum folvit, non enim ideo puniuntur quia deliquerung Patres eorum-fed quia patrum extiterunt amulatores, & oderunt Deum Hæreditario malo, & impietate ad ramos quoq; de radice crefcente, Hieron, in Ezek. f. 194. tit. i. Eftque loci iftius is fenfus quomodo fi quis velit dicere Patres uvam acerbam comederunt, & dentes filiorum obftupueront, ridiculum effet, & nullam habebs confequentiam, fic iniquum eft, & perverfe peccare Patres, & filios nepotelq; ciuciari, ibid lit. 1.

(β) Ὅτι γαρ τῷ γυμνῶ προσέχειν τῷ γράμματι δυσσεβὲς ὁ Θεὸς διδάσκει τα Tíz vader, in Exod. qu. 40.

(h) Com, in Joh. 9-1, 8, 3

and Eve, (i) τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ἐκείνων βεβλαςηκόσι, but on those also who proceeded from their Loins: The Fathers(who gencrally held that the punishment of that fin was only mortality, and the want of that which Adam having loft, could not derive on his posterity) declare that God fubjected them to this mortality, not out of anger, but out of wisdom and clemency, to beget in them an hatred of fin, and that fin might not be eternal in them. Against the doctrine of the ValentiniTM an and Baflidian Heretics that some. Men were QuorQaûno, evil by Nature, or that matrimony was evil, because it produceth feed polluted, in yarns, from the birth, we have produced the testimonies of (k} Irenæus, Clemens of Alexandria,and others: To which add, That the doctrine which taught that men were finners from the birth, is exprefsly con

B. demned by (1) Crysoftom, Cyril of Alexandria, and Theophylact in

agre

their commentaries on the ninth chapter of St. John's Gospel, where
they teach, (1ft.) That the question of the difciples, Whether be that was
born blind had finned, was, pursos ducuros xai ioPaλuém, a foolish Ques-
tion grounded upon Error it being therefore not to be laid that
ἔτος ἐκ γενετῆς γὰρ ἐςὶ τύφλος, he had finned because he was blind from
bis Birth. (adly J Because as it was abfurd to imagine that the child
who had done no evil fhould be punished for the fin of his parents, fo
was it to imagine that he could be either a finner before he was born, or
from his birth. In fine, that the doctrine of thefe Manichees was an
ciently confuted upon the fame principles by which the doctrine of these
men is equally confuted, hath been abundantly made good in our fourth
difcourfe, Chapt. the 4th and the stb. 266

Nor feems it easy to difcern any advantageous difference betwixt the doctrine of thefe Decretalifts, and thofe condemned Heretics; or how it would be worfe with thofe who lie under their abfolute decree of rep than robation, if it indeed were with them, according to the doctrine of thofe Heretics For,

ft. Are they not as certainly wicked by the fall of Adam, and as certainly damned after God's decree, De non dando auxilium neceffarium

(1) Ου τοίνυν ὀργῆς ἡ τιμωρία αλλ οικονομία, σοφίας μεγίσης, ἵνα γας μισή
τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος ως αιτίαν θανάτω γεγενημένην μετὰ τὴν παρ
ράβασιν τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐπιφέρει το θανάτε τὴν ψῆφον ὁ πανσόφος.
Theodoret. in Gen. qu. 37.

(k) Ejecit cum de Paradifo, & a ligno vitæ longe tranftulit, non invidens ei lig-
num vitæ, quemadmodum quidam dicunt, fed miferans ejus, ut non perfeveraret
femper tranfgreffor neq, immortale effet quod effet circa eum peccatum, & malum
interminabile, & infanabile, prohibuit autem ejus tranfgreffionem, interponens mor-
tem, & ceffare faciens peccatum. Iren 1. 3. c. 37. O ads μeyáλm ivigyeoias
πάρεχε τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ μὴ διαμείναι ἀυτὸν εἰς τὸν ἀιώνα ἐν ἁμαρτία ὄντα,
Theophyl. ad Autol, I. 2. p. 103. Τον θάνατον ὁ θεὸς πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς
&
ἁμαρτίας ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἕκρατο. ἵνα μὴ ἐν ἀθανάτοις ἡμῖν ἀνατείλασα, αθάνατος κα
Method. apud Epiph Hær. 64, § 69. "Ira un ådávator ʼn rò nanóv.
Naz. Orat. 38. p. 169. Bafil. Hom. Quod Deus non fit Author Mali. To. 1. p. 368.

(ι) Ουδέ γαρ ἔνι ἁμαρτάνοντος ἑτέρε κολάζ εσθαι ἔτερον ἔπει, ει τέτο δεν σομεν κακείνο δώσομεν, ὅτι πρὸ γενέσεως ημαρτεν, ὥσπερ ἐν ειπων ὅτι ἔτε ἔτος ἡμαρτεν ἐ τελο λέγει ὅτι ἔνι ἐκ γενετῆς ἁμαξειν, έτως, ειπων ἔτεοι γονεις αυτό ποτο ειπεν ὅτι ἔνι διὰ γονέας κολασθῆναι. Chryfoft. ibid.

ad vitandum peccatum, of not affording to them the Help necessary to avoid that fin to which he hath threatened Damnation, as they would be by being left under the power of the heathen Arimanius, or of the antis god of Manes, which by the Fathers are pronounced blasphemous doctrines?

<adly. Are they not as certainly wicked, and de maffa perdita, by bes ing born of Adam, and being left remedilefly in that state of perdition, as they would be according to the doctrine of the Stoicks, and Origenifts, the Marcionites and Valentinians, by being compounded of that flesh or matter which did neceffitate them to fin? Or is there any great difference betwixt being Póσu Paño, naturally evil, which was the doctrine condemned by the Fathers in thofe Heretics, and being púơu tixva bgyñé, by Nature Children of eternal Wrath, as being born of human naturė lapfed, which is their fenfe of the Apostle's words?

SECTION III. It also may deferve to be considered that the most stiff and eager patrons of thefe doctrines, laid the foundation of them not in holy Scripture, which is our only rule of faith, or in the doctrine of Chrift, our only teacher and our guide in matters of faith, but rather in thofe impure ftreams of the Scholaftical Divines, who had but little knowledge of the text, and lefs on the fenfe of Scripture; or in the doctrine of St. Austin who writ much and fast, and oft against his former, and his better felf.

Of this (not to mention Dr. Twiss and Rutherford) the good Bishop (m) Davenant is a remarkable inftance; for when he comes to lay down the imputation of original fin, we hear of little or nothing from the holy Scriptures, but his whole fcheme is borrowed from the Schools.

Thus when he tells us of God's imaginary compact with Adam, That if he prevaricated be should procure not only to himself but to all bis Pos terity, the Death both of the Body and the Soul, as he attempts not to prove this from Scripture, fo doth he in it manifeftly contradict the exprefs words of God, In the Day that thou eateft thereof, thou sbalt die the Death; for that phrase, Thou shalt Die the Death, frequently occurs in the law of Moses, and always fignifies death temporal, as the (n) places below cited fhew. Moreover God gives this reafon of that threat, for Duft thou art, and unto Duft shalt thou return, which cannot in the least relate unto the foul. I conclude then with (0) Origen, That that fentence, σώματος καταδίκην ἐμφαίνει καὶ ἐ ψυχῆς, imports the Condemnation not of the Soul but of the Body only,

adly. When he adds, that Adam finning, geffit perfonam generis humani ex Dei decreto, suftained the Person of all Mankind by the Decree of God; as he cites this from the Schoolmen, fo the plain import of it is, That all mankind were made finners, not by any action of their own, but purely by God's decree.

3dly. When he adds from the fame Schoolmen, that the Pofterity of Adam are guilty of his firft Sin, Ex Arbitrario Dei Decreto, by the Arbitrary Decree of God, but not of his other Sins, nor were they interested in bis Repentance, because God's Decree extended not to thofe Sins, or

(m) Animadv. upon Hoard. from p. 244 to 248, and from p. 294 to 298. () Gen. xvi. 2. Ex. ii, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20. Lev, ii. 9, 10, 11, 13, 15. 1 Sam, XIV. 24 (0) Dial, contra Marcion. p 51.

that Repentance: He in effect affirms that his Pofterity, who had no more hand in his first, than in his following fins, were by God's arbitrary decree made guilty of that fin alone, from which they would otherwife have been as free as from his other fins; and who then was the author of that fin, since Adam was only personally the author of his own fin, and it was God's decree only which made him the author of our fin, or rather us the author of his fin!!! And,

4thly. From the fame Schoolmen he adds, That an Infant may be prop erly guilty of Sin, and so obnoxious to Damnation, because Voluntas Adami, quodammodo est voluntas parvuli ex Dei Decreto, The will of Adam is in some sort the Will of the Infant by virtue of God's decree ; and fo the poor innocent is fent to hell by the arbitrary decree of God alone which made Adam's will his will, when otherwife Adam might have finned on to the day of his death, and the poor child might have died as he was born an Innocent. That the Schoolmen are his only warrant for all these fond and horrible imaginations, you may fee in the places cited. The 5th of the Romans, v. 12, 19. being fo far from proving any of these notions, that they are evidently contuted by it, as you may fee in the notes there; nor was any fuch inference from those words owned by any of the Fathers till St. Austin's time, as you may learn from the commentaries of Origen, St. Chrysoftom, and Theodoret upon the place.

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As for their other patrons, St. Auftin, Prosper and Fulgentius, it must be granted they were good Latin Scholars, but yet they wanted fkill both in the Hebrew and the Greek tongues, and fo it was not to be expected that we should learn the true fenfe of the Scripture from them.

Some there are who tell us that thefe Decrees and difpenfations of God in reference to men's eternal ftate are Myfteries; and truly as they are managed and afferted by them, I fear they may be fo in the worst fenfe. And if they understand the word as it feemeth to be ftill used by St. Paul, for a doctrine not yet revealed, fee the Note on 1 Cor. ii. 7. they grant that which I chiefly have endeavored in thefe difcourfes to make good, viz. that their doctrine is not taught in holy Scripture.

Others perhaps may fay that fome things here afferted are Pelagianism, and others Semipelagianism, it being usual for men hard preffed to fall to railing; but the first chapter of the Third Discourse will be fufficient to convince them they cannot justly faften either of these names upon me, though Semipelagianism never was condemned by the church of God, and they who in St. Auftin's time maintained it, were by him owned as good Catholics and Chriftian Brethren, as you may fee in Voffius, Hiftor. Pelag. 1. 6. Th. 18. P. 621.

SECTION IV.-Laftly, If any man fay I contradict the doctrine of the Church of England touching these points, he will condemn almost the whole body of that Church, it being certain that after the restoration, almost all the Bishops, and the great body of the Clergy, who were eminent for learning, were of my opinion concerning thefe Five Points, and ftill, I believe, are fo. He therefore out of reverence both to the living and the dead, ought rather to affirm only that I expound fome of her Articles otherwife than he would do,or thinks they ought to be expounded. It hath been ufually faid that the Church of England contrived her Articles in fuch a latitude as to leave place for men of contrary judg

ments to subscribe them; and if it be confidered that in her Catechism The declares that she learns from her Creed, to believe in God the Son who hath redeemed me and all Mankind: That in her prayer at the confecration of the facrament she declares, That Jefus Chrift by his own oblation of bimself upon the Cross, háth made a full, perfe&t and fufficient Sacrifice, Oblation and Satisfaction for the fins of the whole world. And in her third Collect on Goodfriday the prays, that all Jews, Turks, Infidel's and Hereticks may be saved among the number of true Israelites; and that the other doctrines here pleaded for, do follow from that of univerfal redemption, as hath been thewed in the clofe of that discourse, there will be fufficient reason to be of this opinion ; but of this more in the Bishop of Sarum's excellent discourse upon that artiale, p. 168, 169.

In fine, the church of England by (p) Canon doth enjoin all preachers especially to take care that they never teach any thing to their people, as religiously to be believed and held, which is not agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Teftament, and that which the Catholic Fathers, and the Ancient Bishops gathered from that very Doctrine. That this rule hath been carefully observed by us, and is as constantly tranfgreffed by them who do maintain the contrary doctrines to be Articles of Chriftian faith, I hope, hath fully been demonftrated in these papers, which are fubmitted to the judgment of the learned reader,

By his Friend, and Servant in the Gospel,

DANIEL WHITBY.

Imprimis vero videbunt nequid unquam doceant pro concione quod a pop ulo religiofe teneri & credi velint; nifi quod confentaneum fit doctrinæ Veteris aut Novi Teftamenti, quodque ex illa ipfa doctrina Catholici Patres & veteres Epifcopi collegering. Sparrotu's Collection, p. 238.

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