him that is called, but him that is chosen, blessed; blessed therefore is he whom he hath chosen. What is the cause of this blessedness? the expected inheritance of everlasting good things; or, perhaps, because according to the apostle, after the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in, then all Israel shall be saved; first, he calls the fulness of the Gentiles blessed, afterwards Israel, who shall be saved last; but not every one shall be saved, only "the remnant which shall be according to the election of grace." And in another place*, he says, "The blessing of the elect, in the time of retribution, he (Christ) foretold by the parable of the shepherd; Come, says he, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." SECTION XIV. CYRILLUS HIEROSOLYMITANUS. A. D. 370. CYRIL, bishop of Jerusalem, died A. D. 386 +. There is but little to be collected out of his writings concerning predestination and election. He signifies, that there are some who are elect, distinct from others, when he says, that "the elect may not be mixed together, with enemies, he (Christ) will send his angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds: he did not despise one Lot, should he despise many righteous? Come, ye blessed of my Father, will he say to them who shall then be carried in the chariots of clouds, and shall be gathered by the angels." And in another place §, he says, "the Holy Spirit is the greatest power, it is something divine and unsearchable; for it lives and is rational, sanctifying through Christ, των υπο Θεου γεγραμμένων α πατνων, all those who are written by God;" that is, in the book of life, or are chosen by God; which agrees with our doctrine, that all those who are chosen by the Father, and are redeemed by the Son, are sanctified by the Spirit. SECTION XV. GREGORIUS NAZIANZENUS. A.D. 370. GREGORY, bishop of Nazianzum, in Cappadocia, commonly called the Divine, was son of a bishop, of the same name and place, a cotemporary with Basil, an intimate acquaintance of his, and preceptor to Jerome . He died A. D. 389. Several of his writings still remain. Austin cites a passage from him in favour of the doctrine of predestination, as held and maintained by him; his words are these ¶: "To these two (meaning Cyprian and Ambrose) who ought to be esteemed sufficient, we may add a third, the holy Gregory; who testifies, that to believe in God, and to confess that we believe, is the gift of God; saying, we pray you confess the Trinity f one Deity; but if ye mean * De Baptismo, 1. 1, c. 2, p. 644. Cyril. Catech. 15, sect. 10, p. 216, 217. Dallai Apolog. p. 795. § Ibid. Catech. 16, p. 224. otherwise, say, that he is of one nature, and God will be deprecated, that a voice may be given you by the Holy Ghost; that is, God will be entreated to permit that a voice may be given you, by which ye may be able to confess what ye believe; for I am sure he will give it. He that hath given the first will also give the second; he that gives to believe will also give to confess." Upon which, and some other testimonies of the above-mentioned writers, Austin makes this remark: "Would any one say, that they so acknowledged the grace of God, as that they dared to deny his prescience; which not only the learned, but even the unlearned own? Besides, if they knew that God so gives these things, that they could not be ignorant, that he foreknew that he would give them, and could not but know to whom he would give them; procul dubio noverant prædestinationem; without doubt they were acquainted with predestination; which being preached by the apostles, we laboriously and diligently defend against the new heretics." Gregory writes, indeed, very sparingly of this doctrine, and gives very few hints of it. The most considerable passage I have met with in him is the following; "Three persons gathered together in the name of the Lord, are more esteemed of by God than multitudes that deny his Deity; would you prefer all the Canaanites to one Abraham? or the Sodomites to one Lot? or the Midianites to Moses, even to these sojourners and strangers? what, shall the three hundred men that lapped with Gideon, be inferior to the thousands that turned away? or Abraham's servants, though less in number, than the many kings and myriads of soldiers, whom they, though few, pursued and put to flight?" How dost thou understand that passage, If the number of the children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved? as also that, I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal? It is not so, it is not, ουκ εν τοις πλειοσιν ευδοκήσει ο Θεός, "God does not take pleasure in the multitude; thou numberest myriads, but God, Tovs owCoμevovs, those that are to be saved; thou the unmeasurable dust; but I ra σkevn τns ekλoyns, the vessels of election." From whence may be collected, as Gregory's judgment, that there were some persons who were chosen of God, and whom he resolved to save ; that the number of them was with him, though that number was very small. In another place †, he speaks of a twofold book of life and of death; "Perhaps you have heard," says he, "Twva Biẞλov ČovтOV KAL Bißλov ov ow Coueror, of a certain book of the living, and of a book of them that are not to be saved, where we shall all be written, or rather are already written." Though it must be owned, he adds κar' ağıav των ηδη βεβαιωμένων εκαστος, “ according to the desert of everyone that have already lived." And in the same way he interprets Matt. xx. 23, which he reads thus: "To sit on my right hand and on my left, this is not mine to give, aλλ' ois dedorai, but to whom IT is given ; and goes on to ask, "Is the governing mind therefore nothing? is labour nothing? reason nothing? philosophy nothing? fasting nothing? watching nothing? lying on the ground, shedding fountains of tears, are these things nothing ? αλλα κατα τινα αποκλήρωσιν και Ιερεμίας *Greg. Nazianzen. Orat. 32, p. 515, tom. i. Ibid. 9, p. 158. Ibid. 31, p. 505. FF αγιαζεται και αλλοι εκ μήτρας αλλοτριούνται, 6 but by a kind of sortition was Jeremiah sanctified, and others rejected from the womb?" I am afraid lest any absurd reasoning should enter, as if the soul lived elsewhere, and was afterwards bound to this body, and, according as it there behaved, some receive prophecy, and others who lived wickedly, are condemned; but to suppose this, is very absurd, and not agreeable to the faith of the church. Others may play with such doctrines; it is not safe for us." And concludes; "To those words, to whom it is given, add to this, who are worthy: who, that they may be such, have not only received of the Father, but have also given to themselves." The notion he here militates against, is manifestly that of Origen's, of the pre-existence of souls, and their being adjudged according to their former conduct, either to happiness or misery; which Gregory was afraid some might be tempted to give into, and which, in order to guard against, led him into this gloss upon the text, and to make this addition to it. SECTION XVI. HILARIUS DIACONUS. A. D. 380. THE Commentaries upon the epistles of the apostle Paul, which go under the name of St. Ambrose, are not his. Austin* cites a passage out of them, under the name of Hilary, whom he calls Sanctus Hilarius, Saint Hilary; but this could not be Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, before mentioned, who was earlier, nor Hilary bishop of Arles, who was later, than the author of these commentaries: for whoever he was, he lived in the times of Damascus, bishop of Rome, according to his own words t; wherefore some learned men have thought him to be Hilary, the deacon of the city of Rome, who adhered to the schism of Lucifer Calaritanus. This author continually refers such passages of Scripture which speak of predestination and election, to the prescience of God; nothing is more common with him, than to say § that God chooses and calls whom he foreknew would believe, would be holy, and devoted to him: which passages are therefore produced by Vossius ||, and Dr. Whitby T, with others, to prove that the fathers held a predestination of men to life, from a prescience that they would live piously, believe and persevere. If by predestination to life, is meant predestination to glory, and not to grace, which is the meaning of the fathers, and of Hilary, we agree with them: we say also, that such whom God foreknew would believe, and be holy, he predestinated to eternal happiness; but then we say, the reason why God foreknew that any would believe, and be holy, is because he determined within himself to give them faith, and make them holy, and so prepare them for glory. Neither Hilary, nor any of the fathers, say, that God foresaw that men would believe of themselves, and make themselves holy by their *Contra duas Epist. Pelag. 1. 4, c. 4. + Comment. in 1 Tim. iii. 15, p. 579. Vide Voss. Hist. Pelag. 1. 2, par. 1, thes. 6, p. 163; Dalli Apolog. p. 787. § Comment. in Rom. p. 241, 292, 294; in Eph. p. 492; and in 2 Thess. p. 567. + * own care, diligence, and improvements of nature, nor that God foresaw that men would believe, and be holy, and therefore predestinated them to faith and holiness; but having determined to bestow faith and holiness upon them, he foresaw they would believe and be holy, and so through these as means he chose them to salvation. That this is the sense of Hilary, appears partly from his suggesting that some are predestinated to believe. In one place he says, "They believe, who are appointed to eternal life;" and in another †, "God of his own grace, of old decreed to save sinners (for God foreknew what would be in man before he made him, and he had sinned), and predestinated how he should be recovered; in what time, and by whom, and in what way, they might be saved: so that they who are saved, are not saved either by their own merit, or by theirs by whom they are called, but by the grace of God; the gift appears to be bestowed through the faith of Christ." And partly this is evident from his account of prescience: "The prescience of God," says he ‡, "is that in which definitum habet, he has it determined' what shall be the will of every one, in which he is to remain, and through which he may be either damned or crowned." Agreeably to which he says §, "By prescience he chooses one and rejects another; and in him whom he chooses, the purpose of God remains; because another thing cannot happen than what God has known; et proposuit in illo, and hath purposed in him,' that he may be worthy of salvation; and in him whom he rejects, in like manner, the purpose which he hath purposed concerning him, remains; for he will be unworthy: as foreknowing this, he is no accepter of persons; for he damns no man before he sins, and crowns none before he overcomes.' To which we heartily subscribe. We say God damns no man but for sin, and crowns none until he has made them more than conquerors, through Christ. It is certain, that Hilary, or the author of these commentaries, was of opinion, that there were some predestinated to life who should certainly be saved; and that others were not, who should certainly be damned; for he says, "The apostle Paul, that he might, by his preaching, save, homines predestinatos ad vitum, men predestinated to life,' was subject to dangers, knowing that he should have the profit of their sought-for salvation." In another place he says, "For unbelievers we must not very much grieve, quia non sunt predestinati ad vitam, because they are not predestinated unto life; for the prescience of God has, of old, decreed, that they are not to be saved." And in another place "The law being abbreviated, the remnant of the Jews are saved; but the rest cannot be saved; qui per definitionem Dei spernuntur, 'because, by the appointment of God they are rejected,' by which he hath decreed to save mankind." Again, he says ++, the apostle Paul," by his own example, teacheth, that part of Israel is saved, whom God foreknew was to be saved, or yet can be saved; and that part of Israel, propter jugem diffidentiam perditioni deputatem, for their continual unbelief, is deputed to destruction.'" Comment. in 1 Tim. p. 576. Ibid. in 2 Tim. p. 592. ** Ibid. in Rom. P. 299. § Ib. p. 298, 299. || Ib. in 2 Tim. p. 594. Ib. in Rom. p. 299. ** Ib. p. 302. †† 1b. p. 308. SECTION XVII. AMBROSIUS MEDIOLANENSIS. A. D. 380. AMBROSE, bishop of Milain, flourished under the emperors Gratian and Theodosius, and died A.D. 397. Austin*, who was converted under him, and was acquainted with him personally, as well as with his writings, thought him to be of the same judgment with himself about predestination, and citest several passages from him for that purpose, such as these; "Whom God esteems worthy of honour he calls, et quem vult religiosum facit, and whom he pleases he makes religious." And again; "If he would, si voluisset ex indevotis devotos fecisset, of persons not devoted to him, he could make them devoted." From whence he concludes, that he could be no stranger to the doctrine of predestination, preached by the apostles, and which he defended. Moreover, there are many expressions in his writings which show his sense of this doctrine: on those words of Sarah, The Lord hath restrained me from bearing, he has this note §; "By which," says he, "you may know, in predestinatione fuisse semper ecclesiam Dei,that in predestination the church of God always has been;' and that the fruitfulness of faith is prepared, whenever the Lord shall command it to break forth, but by the will of the Lord it is reserved for a certain time." He owns indeed, that "rewards are proposed not to the elect only, but to all, because Christ is all and in all. But he affirms T, that though "all men can hear, yet all cannot perceive with their ears, nisi electi Dei, 'only the elect of God:' therefore the Saviour says, He that hath ears to hear-all men have not those ears." To electing grace, and not to men's works, he refers salvation; "the remnant, he observes are saved, not by their own works, but by the election of grace." He sometimes, indeed, represents election as a secret with God, and unknown to men: "As no one," he says++, "of whatsoever age, ought to despair, if he is desirous of being converted to the Lord, so none should be secure on the account of faith alone; but should rather fear, through what is added, many are called but few are chosen. That we are called by faith, we know; but whether we are elected to eternal life, we know not; so much, therefore, ought every one to be the more humble, as much as he is ignorant, whether he is elected." However, this proves that he held the doctrine of an election of particular persons; and at other times he argues from it, to the great comfort of the saints, with respect to their safety and security. "We must not despair," says he‡‡, "that the members can cleave to their own head, especially since ab initio simus prædestinati, we are predestinated from the beginning, unto the adoption of the children of God, by Jesus Christ, in himself; which predestination he hath proved, asserting that which from the begin ** * Dallai Apolog. p. 799. † De bono Persever. 1. 2, c. 19. **In Psalm xliii. p. 799. Ambros. in Luc. 9, p. 125. Vide p. 787. |