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ings; I mean the primitive fathers of the

Chriftian Church.

"It deferves to be con

"fidered," fays Whitby, "that all antiquity, "till the time of St. Auftin, do with one con"fent concur in the interpretation of the Pfeud. "Ambrofius on this paffage of St. Paul, Thofe "whom he foreknew would be devoted to his

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fervice, them he chofe to the promised re"ward." And Voffius declares, what Whitby and others have noticed after him, that" all "the Greek Fathers always, and all the Latin "Fathers who lived before St. Auftin, were

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wont to fay, that they were predeftinated to "life, of whom God forefaw that they would "live piously and righteously; or, as others

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fay, of whom he forefaw that they would "believe and persevere." Nay more; when Profper undertook to be the advocate of Auftin's opinions concerning abfolute election, he not only found himself unable to answer the objections advanced against the doctrine, that it 66

was contrary to the opinion of the Fathers "and the fenfe of the Church," and "that

• Difcourfes, p. 60.,

Græci Patres femper, Patrum Latinorum vero illi qui ante. Auguftinum vixerunt, dicere folent, eos effe prædeftinatos ad vitam, quos Deus pie recteque victuros prævidit; five, ut alii loquuntur, quos prævidit credituros et perfeveraturos. Voj. Hiftor. Pelag. lib. vi. thef. viii. p..550.

Multi ergo fervorum Chrifti, qui in Maffilienfi urbe

"the things which he brought forward from "St. Paul's epiftle to the Romans had never "been fo understood by any of the ecclefiaftical "men" but himself alfo frankly acknowledged, that " having revised the opinions of "thofe, who had gone before on this fubject, " he found them almost all agreeing in one and "the fame fentiment, whereby they under

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stood the purpose and predeftination of God

according to his prefcience; that for this "caufe God made fome men veffels of honour, "others of dishonour, because he forefaw the "end of every one, and foreknew what, under "the aid of divine grace, would be the will "and actions of each." Nor is that a trifling

confiftunt, in fan&titatis tuæ fcriptis, quæ adverfus Pelagianos hæreticos condidifti, contrarium putant Patrum opinioni et ecclefiaftico fenfui, quicquid in eis de vocatione electorum secundum Dei propofitum difputafti. Profperi Epift. ad Auguftinum, cap. ii.

f Obftinationem fuam vetuftate defendunt; et ea, quæ de epiftola Apoftoli Pauli, Romanis fcribentis, ad manifeftationem divinæ gratiæ prævenientis electorum merita proferuntur, à nullo unquam Ecclefiafticorum ita effe intellecta, ut nunc fentiuntur, affirmant. Ibid. cap. iii.

Illud etiam qualiter diluatur, quæfumus patienter infipientiam noftram ferendo demonftres; quod, retractatis priorum de hac re opinionibus, pene omnium par invenitur et una fententia, qua propofitum et prædeftinationem Dei fecundum præfcientiam receperunt: ut ob hoc Deus alios vafa honoris, alios contumeliæ fecerit, quia finem uniuscu jufque præviderit, et fub ipfo gratiæ adjutorio, in qua futurus effet volumtate et actione, præfcierit. Ibid. c. viii.

confefflon, which (as Grotius remarks1) was freely made by Calvin, Beza, and others of the fame opinion; that the Fathers of the ape ftolical and primitive times thought and spoke differently from them on thefe points. So that it was not without high authority that Melanchon, himself perhaps the most learned of the Reformers, a man pronounced by Calvin to be "acute and prudent and well exercifed "in the Scriptures," and of whom it is well known that Cranmer and our English Reformers entertained the highest opinion, and with whom, there is every reafon to believe, that they concurred in their theological fenti

213.

Brandt's Hift. of the Reformation, book xxiv. vol. ii. p.

Hæc omnia, quæ pofuimus, controverfia apud multos non carent, maxime gratuita fidelium electio. Vulgo enim exiftimant Deum, prout cujufque merita prævidet, ita inter homines difcernere: quos ergo fua gratia non indignos fore præcognofcit, eos in filiorum locum cooptare; quorum ingenia ad malitiam et impietatem propenfura difpicit, eos mortis damnationi devovere. Sic interpofito præfcientiæ velo, electionem non modo obfcurant, fed originem aliunde habere fingunt. Neque hæc vulgo recepta opinio folius vulgi eft; habuit enim fæculis omnibus magnos authores. Calv. Inft. lib. iii. c. xxii. f. 1.

At Ambrofius, Origenes, Hieronymus cenfuerunt, Deum fuam gratiam inter homines difpenfare, prout ea quemque bene ufurum præviderit. Adde et Auguftinum in ca fuiffe aliquando fententia. Ibid. fect. 8.

See Winchester on the Seventeenth Article, p. 60. aud Heylyn's Quinquart. Hift. part. ii. chap. viii. fect. 2.

ments, differed from fome of his brethren of the continent concerning thefe myfterious doctrines; and expreffed himself in terms, not only inconfiftent, but pointedly and strongly at variance, with the fyftem of Calvin; and reprobated fome of his fundamental principles, as herefies which the ancients most severely condemned; as "the dreams of enthusiasm," "the dotage of Stoicifm," and "the ravings "of Manichæan madnefs'."

This statement of the fcriptural fignifications of the term election, may perhaps ferve to guard the inexperienced and unwary against much mifrepresentation, which I apprehend to be employed, and much misconception which

1 Non igitur repugnes Evangelio; non indulgeas diffiden tiæ; non cogites, ut fomniant Enthufiaftæ, expectandum effe violentum motum, quo te rapiat Deus etiam repugnantem, et iterum ruentem in fcelera, &c. Melancthonis Comm. in Rom. ix. Op. vol. iv. p. 160.

His et fimiliter dictis confirmati, veram et perpetuam ecclefiæ fententiam conftanter amplectamur, et nequaquam applaudamus Stoicis et Manichæis furoribus, qui funt contumeliofi adverfus Deum, et pernitiofi vitæ ; qui fingunt homines neceffario fcelera facere; et recte intelligamus dicta, quæ contra veram fententiam detorquentur ad Stoica deliramenta. De Caufa Peccati, Op. vol. ii. p.

237.

Repudianda eft et Cyclopica cavillatio quorundam veterum et recentium, qui dicunt, non ideo peccare Deum, quia impellat ad mala, quia Deo nou fit lex pofita. Hæc Cyclopica ima ginatio execranda eft, &c. Ibid. p. 238.

prevails, on the subject; and to fupply them with a clue for unravelling feveral detached paffages, fome of them, we allow, not deftitute of intricacy, which have been repeatedly explained, but are ftill continually forced upon our notice. It appears to me indeed to be a vital objection to the doctrines of Calvin, that they are grounded upon an imperfect and par tial view of revelation, and reft upon a dubious at least, if not a decidedly falfe, interpretation of fuch detached paffages, inftead of being established on a comprehenfive furvey of holy writ: otherwife tenets could never be maintained, which are fo incompatible with the notions, which the Holy Spirit gives us, of God's attributes and his moral government of the universe; with the general conditions of the Gospel covenant; and with the promises of God, as they are generally fet forth to us in holy Scripture.

But I am venturing upon a point, not foreign indeed from my purpose, but requiring a fuller investigation than it can receive at the prefent opportunity. I fhall here therefore quit the fubject for the prefent with exhorting you, not to fuffer yourfelves to be puffed up with a vain conceit, that you are abfolutely elected to eternal happiness; or to be depreffed with an equally vain apprehenfion, that you are abfolutely reprobated and condemned to

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