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SECTION VIII.

ORIGENUS ALEXANDRINUS. A. D. 230.

ORIGEN of Alexandria, sometimes sirnamed Adamantius, was born about A. D. 185; his father's name was Leonidas, who suffered martyrdom A.D. 202. He succeeded Clement in the school of Alexandria, was ordained a presbyter at Cæsarea about A.D. 228, and died at Tyre, A.D. 253. He wrote much, and many things are still extant under his name, great part of which are only translations by Ruffinus, who took great liberty in altering and interpolating his works; so that it is not easy to know when we read Origen, or when Ruffinus. Perhaps many of the errors and mistakes he is charged with may be owing to the ill usage he has met with this way. It is said to be a tenet of his, that souls pre-existed in another state; and that according as they behaved themselves in the other world, they either obtained the order of angels, or were thrust down to the earth, and united to bodies predestinated either to life or death, according to their past merits, which he sometimes calls †, preceding causes and more ancient ones. This notion of his is mentioned by Jerome ‡, and rejected by him; who rightly observes, that men are chosen in Christ, not because they were or had been holy, but that they might be so. Origen's sentiments on this head were very peculiar, and are not allowed of on either side of the question before us; and therefore passages of this kind are very injudiciously cited by Dr. Whitby §, in this controversy. Indeed it cannot be denied, but that there are other passages in the writings of this father which countenance the doctrine of predestination, upon the foresight of man's future purposes, desires, and actions in this life, which do not accord with his above notion, and shows either that he contradicts himself, or has not had justice done him. And though one might not expect to meet with any thing in favour of the absolute and unconditional scheme in such a writer, yet there are several things said by him which agree with it. And,

1. He agrees with us in his sentiments of prescience and predetermination in general; he held, that nothing comes by chance, but that all things are appointed by God; yea, that the case of lots is not fortuitous, but according to divine predestination. Thus, speaking of the division of the land of Canaan to the Israelites, he has these words T, "Upon casting lots the inheritance is distributed to the people of God, and the lot moved, non fortuitu, sed secundum hoc quod prædestinatum est a Deo, "not by chance, but according to what is

* Vide Fabricii Bibl. Græc. 1. 5, c. 1, s. 26, p. 213. Origen. Philocal. c. 21, p. 65. 3, fol. 145; and c. 5, fol. 148.

Hieron. ad Avitum, tom. ii. p. 51; Eph. p. 90, C. D. E.

| Vide Origen, in Rom. p. 424, 425; 133, tom. iii.. & 1. 7, fol. 191, 192.

Пegi Agxwv, 1. 2, c. 9, fol. 133; 1. 3, c. 1, fol. 142, &e.;

L, adv. Ruffin. Apolog. p. 68, M. 69; B. Comment. in
§ Discourse, &c. p. 96; ed. 2. 96, 97.
cd. Huet. in Numb. tom. i. fol. 117; in Rom. 1. 1, fol.
In Josuam Homil. 23, fol. 173, H.

predestinated by God." His sense of the prescience of God is*, that "foreknowledge is not the cause of things future, but the truth he says is, that το εσωμενον αιτιον του τοιαν δι ειναι την περι αυτου προγνωσιν, that a thing being future, is the cause of God's foreknowledge of it; for not because it is known it is future, but because it will be, therefore it is known." To the same purpose he says in another placet, "Not therefore any thing will be because God knows it to be future, but because it is future it is known by God before it comes to pass." Which entirely accords with what we assert, that God did not decree any thing because he foresaw it, but he foresaw it because he decreed it.

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2. He gives plain intimations, as if he thought that there was a certain number of men chosen by God, and given to Christ. By the elect in Matt. xxiv. 30, who will be gathered together from the four winds, he understands ‡ "all that are loved by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus." God, he says §, is indeed the God of all, tηs ekλoyns eσti Oeos, He is the God of the election, and much more of the Saviour of the election." And elsewhere mentioning those words in John xvii. 5. And now, Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was; he makes this observation, "the world here is to be understood of our world above the earth, απο γαρ τουτου του κοσμου εδωκε τω υιω ο πατηρ aveрonovs, for out of this world the Father hath given men to the Son, for whom alone the Saviour prays the Father, and not for the whole world of men." "And again it may be enquired, he says, whether all men may be called the servants of this king, or some truly whom he foreknew and predestinated?"

3. He asserts a predestination to grace, and particularly to faith, which is not consistent with predestination, upon a foresight of it. In one of his books he has these words **; "It seems that the knowledge of God is greater than to be comprehended by human nature, hence are so many mistakes in men concerning God, but by the goodness and love of God to man, and through wondrous and divine grace, the knowledge of God comes επι τους προγνώσει Θεου προκαταληφσθεντας, to them who were before comprehended in the foreknowledge of God; or, according to the version of Gelenius, who to this were predestinated." And in another part of his works, speaking of the conjunction of angels to men, and their care of them, he says, that "an angel begins from the time of a man's conversion and faith to be joined τω προγνωσθεντι κατα τον δε τον χρονον πιστευειν και προρισθεντι, to him that is foreknown and preordained to believe at that, even at that very time;" which shows that he held, that some are predestinated to believe, and that at a certain time; and so it has been, and is, that as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

4. It is also manifest, from a certain passage of his, that he held that election does not spring from men's works, but from the mere

* Comment. in Gen. p. 8. † In Rom. 1. 7, fol. 192, E. § Comment. in Joannem, p. 48.

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In Matt. Homil. 30, fol. 62, B. ¶ Ibid. p. 345. tt Comment. in Matt. p. 332.

| Com. in Matt. p. 326.

**Contra Cels. 1. 7, p. 361, 362.

will and pleasure of God; his words are these *; "All these things look this way, that the apostle may prove this;" that if either Isaac or Jacob, for their merits, had been chosen to those things which they, being in the flesh sought after, and, by the works of the flesh, had deserved to be justified; then the grace of their merit might belong to the posterity of flesh and blood also, but now, since, electio eorum non ex operibus facta sit, sed ex proposito Dei, ex vocantis arbitrio, "their election does not arise from works, but from the purpose of God, from the will of him that calleth;" the grace of the promise is not fulfilled in the children of the flesh, "but in the children of God; that is, such, who likewise, as they, may be ex proposito elegantur, chosen by the purpose of God, and adopted for sons.'

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SECTION IX.

CECILIUS THASCIUS CYPRIANUS. A. D. 250.

66

CYPRIAN was an African by birth; he was first a Presbyter, and afterwards Bishop of Carthage: he was made bishop of that place A. D. 248, and suffered martyrdom A. D. 258, under Valerianus and Gallienus. Het wrote many excellent things, some of which are preserved to this day. The great Augustin thought him to be of the same mind with himself in the doctrine of predestination, which he gathered from those words of his‡; In nullo gloriandum quando nostrum nihil sit; "we must glory in nothing, since nothing is ours;" according to John iii. 27. A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. And 1 Cor. iv. 7, What hast thou, that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Upon which Austin makes this remark §; "this Cyprian most truly saw, and most confidently asserted; per quod utique prædestinationem certissimam pronunciavit, whereby also he hath pronounced predestination to be most certain:" for if we must glory in nothing, since nothing is ours, neither must we glory truly of our most persevering obedience; nor is that to be said to be so ours, as if it was not given us from above; and that itself therefore is the gift of God; which God foreknew that he would give to his own, who are called with the calling of which it is said, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and must be owned by every Christian; hæc est igitur prædestinatio, quam fideliter et humiliter prædicamus; "this is therefore the predestination which we faithfully and humbly preach." And a little after, having repeated the same words of Cyprian, his observation is this; "where, says he, without any ambiguity, he declares the true grace of God, that is, which is not given according to our merits, and which God foreknew that he would give; his Cypriani verbis procul dubio prædestinatio prædicata est: in these words of Cyprian, without all doubt, predestination is asserted."

*In Rom. 1. 7, fol. 195, G.

+ Vide Hieron. Catalog. Script. s. 77; Dallai Apolog. part 4, p. 768.
§ Aug. de bono Persever. 1. 2. c. 14.

Cyprian, ad Quirin. 1. 3, c. 4, p. 373.

There are some books ascribed to Cyprian, which are called in question by learned men, whether they are his or no, such as those which are entitled, De Disciplina et bono Pudicitiæ, and De Cardinalibus Operibus Christi: their style is thought, by Erasmus, not to agree with Cyprian's; but Pamelus affirms them to be his*: however, the former of these is allowed to be written by a learned man, and suspected to be done by Cornelius, bishop of Rome, cotemporary with Cyprian; and the latter to be the work, antiqui et docti autoris, "of an ancient and learned author," and thought to be written in the age of Cornelius and Cyprian; though in a very ancient copy in the library of AllSouls college in Oxford, it goes under the name of Arnoldus Bonavillacensis; and, therefore, must be the work of a far later writer, even of one that lived in the times of Bernard; wherefore, as the genuineness and antiquity of these treatises are questioned, I shall lay no stress upon the testimonies I now produce out of them. In the first of these the author exhorts the saints to chastity, from such considerations as these: "Knowing," says he, "that you are the temple of the Lord, the members of Christ, the habitation of the Holy Ghost; electos ad spem, consecratos ad fidem, destinatos ad salutem; elected to hope, devoted to faith, appointed to salvation." And in the latter of these §, the compiler of it ascribes the several distinct acts of grace to the persons in the blessed Trinity, and among the rest, particularly election to the Father; his words are these: " In this school of divine learning, the Father is he that teaches and instructs, the Son who reveals and opens the secrets of God unto us, and the Holy Spirit who fills and furnishes From the Father we receive power, from the Son wisdom, and from the Holy Spirit innocence. Pater eligit, the Father chooses, the Son loves, the Holy Spirit joins and unites. By the Father is given us eternity, by the Son conformity to his image, and by the Holy Spirit integrity and liberty." In another place || he speaks of the elect, as of a certain number that shall be saved, when Christ shall return to judge the world: "When, says he, all mankind collected together, shall see the hands they have pierced, the side they have bored, the face they have spit upon, and the irreversible sentence being openly declared, occurrentibus salvatori electis, 'the elect meeting the Saviour,' the ungodly shall remain deputed to infinite torments." And, in another part of the same work ¶, speaking of the manna in the wilderness, he thus 66 himself: expresses There was," says he, a full measure "through the whole week, the sabbath-day vacant; for which the preceding sixth day, doubling the quantity of the usual food, prefigured the rest of the eighth day, in which, without labour and care, in deliciis epulabuntur electi, the elect shall feast with delight, and shall be satisfied in their own land; possessing double, being enriched with an happy perpetuity, and a perpetual happiness of body and soul." There is a passage referred to in the true Cyprian, by Dr. Whitby**, to prove that it is in the power of man to believe or not: but since this belongs to the article of freewill, the consideration of it must be deferred till we come to it.

us.

*Vide Rivet. Critici Sacri, l. 2, c. 15.

,

James's Corruption of the Fathers, part 1, p. 18. De bono Pudicitiæ, p. 417. § De Baptismo Christi, p. 455. De Ascensione Christi, p. 484. De Spiritu Sancto, p. 486. **Discourse on the Five Points, p. 90; cd. 2. 95.

SECTION X.

NOVATIANus. A. D. 250.

NOVATIAN*, a presbyter of Rome, was contemporary with Cyprian. He is not so well spoken of by some, partly because of his disagreement with Cornelius, bishop of Rome, about the succession in that see; and partly because he held that such who apostatized, though they repented, were not to be received again into the communion of the church; but, in other points, he was judged to be orthodox, and his book, De Trinitate, is highly esteemed of; in which stands a full and memorable testimony to the doctrine of predestination of a certain number of men to glory, before the foundation of the world; for, proving the deity and eternity of Christ from John xvii. 5, Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was, he shows, that this is not to be understood of predestination, or of Christ's having this glory only in the purpose and decree of God: "For, says het, if he is said to be glorious in predestination, and predestination was before the foundation of the world, the order must be kept, and before him there will be, multus numerus hominum in gloriam destinatus, a large number of men appointed to glory;" for by this appointment Christ will be thought to be lesser than the rest to whom he was pointed out last. For if this glory was in predestination, Christ received this predestination to glory last of all; for Adam will be perceived to be predestinated before, and so Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the rest; for since, with God, personarum et rerum omnium ordo digestus sit, "the order of all persons and things is digested," many will be said to be predestinated before this predestination of Christ to glory, and by this means he will appear to be lesser than other men, who is better and greater, and more ancient, than the angels themselves. His meaning is, that if the passage of Scripture cited, is only to be understood of the predestination of Christ to glory, and not of his having a real glory; then since there is a large number of men who also are predestinated to glory before the foundation of the world, whose predestination, as Adam's, and others after him, cernetur, to use his own word, "will be perceived" before the predestination of Christ; not that the act of their predestination itself was before his, but the manifestation of it in time; it would cast some reflection upon him, and make him look as though he was inferior to other men, as a man.

* Vide Hieron. Catalog. Scrip. Eccl. s. 80.

† Novatian, de Trinitate, c. 24, p. 75,5.

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