Christ died for them that perish, as well as those that are saved. It is something strange, that Monsieur Daille should cite a passage out of an epistle, the genuineness of which he himself has called in question; and, should it appear to be genuine, as it is thought to be by many learned men, it will be of no service to him, or to the Doctor, or to the cause they espoused, since God may be said to require, as he certainly will require, the blood of Christ of the unbelieving Jews who shed it; and indeed of them only, who said, His blood be on us and on our children; without supposing that his blood was shed for them; yea, on the contrary it appears, that his blood was not shed for them, both from their final unbelief, and from its being required of them. And of as little service are his citations + from Minutius Felix, Athenagoras, Tatian, and Theophilus of Antioch; since they only express the patience, goodness, power, and wisdom of God in creation and providence, and his great regard to repenting sinners; but not a syllable of Christ's dying for men, much less for every individual of mankind.

SECTION VI.

IRENEUS. A. D. 180.

IRENEUS, when speaking of the incarnation and passion of Christ, and of redemption by his blood, frequently restrains them to certain persons of such and such characters; which evidently shows, that he did not think that these belong to all the individuals of mankind in common. Thus, treating of the coming of Christ, and of the end of his coming into the world, he says ‡, that "he came to save all by himself, omnes inquam, qui per eum renascuntur in Deum, all, I say, who through him are born again unto God, infants, and little ones, and children, and young men, and old men." And in another place §, taking notice of God's suffering Jonah to be swallowed up by a whale, and of his after deliverance; So," says he, "God from the beginning suffered man to be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of transgression; not that being swallowed up he should wholly perish, but providing and preparing a plan of salvation which is effected by the word, through the sin of Jonah; his qui eandem cum Jona de Deo sententiam habuerunt, for them who have the same sentiments concerning God with Jonah; and have confessed and said, I am the Lord's servant, I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land; that man enjoying the unhoped-for salvation from God, might rise from the dead and glorify him." And elsewhere proving, that the Father of Christ is the same that was spoken of by the prophets; and that when Christ came, he acknowledged no other but him, who was declared from the beginning. He adds ||, a quo libertatem detulit his qui legitime et prono animo, et toto corde deserviunt ei, "from whom he brought deliverance to them who serve him truly, with a ready mind,

* Vide Fabricii Bibl. Græc. 1. 5, c. 1, s. 14, p. 43.

Adv. Hæres. 1. 2, c. 39, p. 191. § Ibid. 1. 3, c. 22, p. 289.

+ Page 756-758.

| Ibid. 1. 4, c. 24, p. 342.

and with all their hearts;" but to the despisers of him, and such who are not subject to God, sempiternam attulit perditionem abscindens eos a vita, "he hath brought everlasting destruction, cutting them off from life." So far was he from thinking that Christ died to redeem all mankind, that he expressly says, that the death of Christ is the damnation of some; his words are these *; "As they (the Israelites) through the blindness of the Egyptians, so we, through the blindness of the Jews, receive salvation; siquidem mors Domino, eorum quidem qui cruci eum fixerunt et non crediderunt ejus adventum, damnatio est: seeing the death of the Lord is indeed the damnation of them that crucified him, and did not believe his coming; but the salvation of them that believe in him." And in another place †, where he makes Jacob a type of Christ, and Rachel of the church, he confines the obedience and sufferings of Christ to his church: "All things," says he, " he did for the younger Rachel, who had good eyes, quæ præfigurabat ecclesiam, propter quam sustinuit Christus, who prefigured the church, for whom Christ endured, that is, sufferings and death." And a little after he has these words ‡, "Christ came not for the sake of them only who believed in him, in the times of Tiberius Cæsar; nor did the Father provide for those men only who now are, but for all men entirely; qui ab initio secundum virtutem suam in sua generatione, et timuerunt et dilexerunt Deum, et juste et pie conversati sunt erga proximos, et concupierunt videre Christum et audire vocem ejus; who from the beginning, according to their virtue or ability, have feared and loved God in their generation, and have righteously and piously conversed with their neighbours, and have desired to see Christ, and hear his voice." The passages cited from this writer, by M. Daille §, for general redemption, have not one word about it, and at most only prove, that man is endued with free will, which, in some sense, is not denied; and that man, and not God, is the cause of his own imperfection, blindness, and destruction, which is readily agreed to.

The citations made by the same author || out of Clemens Alexandrinus, do, indeed, express, in very general terms, the care of God and Christ over mankind, and their great regard unto and desire after their salvation; and also assert our Lord to be the Saviour of all men, and seem to carry the point further than what is in controversy, even to the salvation of all; which, if it could once be established, we should readily come into the notion of general redemption, though in all these large expressions, Clement seems only to refer to the texts in Jude ver. 3, 1 Tim. ii. 4, and iv. 10, in the first of which the apostle speaks of the common salvation, all the saved ones share alike; in the next, of the will of God, that some of all sorts should be saved; and in the last, of God, as the preserver of all men, in a way of common, and particularly of believers, in a way of special providence; and after all, Clement ¶ distinguishes between Christ's being a Saviour of some, and a Lord of others; for he says, that he is των πεπιστευκότων Σωτήρ, των

* Adv. Hæres. c. 47, p. 388.

§ Page 759.

† Ibid. 1. 38, p. 376.
Ibid. p. 760-764.

Ibid. c. 39, p. 377. ¶ Strom. 1.7, p. 703.

de atteιonσavтwv Kupios, "the Saviour of them that believe; but the Lord of them that believe not." And in one place he has these words; "Wherefore he (Christ) is introduced in the gospel weary, who was weary for us, and promising to give his life a ransom, avτɩ TоAV, in the room of many."

66

SECTION VII.

TERTULLIAN. A. D. 200.

TERTULLIAN is a writer, it must be owned, who expresses himself in somewhat general terms, when he speaks of the incarnation, death and sacrifice of Christ, which are yet capable of being understood in a sense agreeable to the doctrine of particular redemption; as when he says †, that we who believe that God was here on earth, and took upon him the humility of a human habit, ex causa humanæ salutis, for the sake of man's salvation,' are far from their opinion, who think that God takes no care of any thing;" which may be truly said, without supposing that Christ assumed human nature, for the sake of the salvation of every individual of mankind; so when he says, in another place ‡, that "Christ ought to made a sacrifice pro omnibus gentibus, for all nations; his meaning may be, that it was necessary that he should be a propitiation, not for the Jews only, but for the Gentiles also ;" and elsewhere having observed that the Marcionites concluded from the words of God to Moses, in Exod. xxxii. 10, that Moses was better than his God, he thus addresses them §, "You are also to be pitied, with the people, who do not acknowledge Christ, figured in the person of Moses, the advocate with the Father, and the offerer up of his own soul, pro populi salute, 'for the salvation of the people;"" by which people may very well be understood, the special and peculiar people of God's elect, of whom the people of Israel was a type and figure. Besides, in some places, Tertullian manifestly restrains the death of Christ, and the benefits of it, to some persons only, to the church, and to believers. Thus having cited Deut. xxxiii. 17, His glory is like the firstling of his bullock; and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; gives || this interpretation of the words; "not the rhinoceros, which has but one horn, is intended; nor the minotaurus, which has two horns; but Christ is signified hereby; a bullock is he called, because of both his dispositions, aliis ferus ut judex, aliis mansuetus ut Salvator, 'to some fierce as a judge, to others mild as a Saviour,' whose horns would be the extremities of the cross. Moreover, by this virtue of the cross, and being horned in this manner, nunc ventilat per fidem, he now pushes all the nations ;' by faith, taking them up from earth to heaven, and by the judgment, will then push them, casting them down from heaven to earth." And a little after, in the same place, speaking of the brazen serpent, he says, Tertullian. adv. Marcion, 1. 2, c. 16, p. 465. § Adv. Marcion, 1. 2, c. 26, p. 474. Ibid. 1. 3, c. 18, p. 192, 193. GG

Pædagog. 1. 1, c. 9, 126.
p.
Ibid. adv. Judæos, c. 13, p. 226.

that it designed the virtue and efficacy of our Lord's cross, by which the serpent the devil was made public, and to every one that is hurt by the spiritual serpents, intuenti tamen et credenti in eam, only looking upon it, and believing in it, healing of the bites of sin and salvation are immediately pronounced." And so as he observes in another place*, quod perierat olim per lignum in Adam, id restitueretur per lignum Christi, what was of old lost through the tree in Adam, that is restored through the tree of Christ." Again he observes †, that the apostle says, that we are reconciled in his body through death; on which he thus descants: "Yea, in that body in which he could die through the flesh, he died, not through the church, plane propter ecclesiam, but verily for the church, by changing body for body, and that which is fleshly for that which is spiritual." M. Daille ‡ has produced a passage or two from this writer in favour of the universal extent of Christ's death and redemption, in which not one word is mentioned concerning either of them; and only declare, that man was not originally made to die; that God is not negligent of man's salvation; that he desires his restoration to life, willing rather the repentance than the death of a sinner, which, as they do not militate against the doctrine of particuliar, so cannot serve to establish that of general redemption.

Two testimonies from Hippolitus, bishop of Portua, a disciple of Clement of Alexandria, and a martyr, who is said to flourish about A. D. 220, are next cited § at second hand; the first of which is, that "the God of the universe became man for this purpose; that by suffering in passible flesh, our whole kind, which was sold unto death, might be redeemed;" that is, from death, a corporal death; the general resurrection from the dead being thought to be the fruit of Christ's sufferings and death. The other is, that "the Son of God, through flesh, naturally weak of himself, wrought out the salvation of the whole;" which may be understood of the salvation of the whole body of Christ, the church, or of every one of his people, his sheep, his children, and his chosen, and not of every individual of mankind; since all are not saved, as they undoubtedly would be, if Christ had wrought out the salvation

of all.

SECTION VIII.

ORIGINES ALEXANDRINUS. A. D. 230.

ORIGEN is represented || as holding, that Christ suffered and died for the salvation of all rational creatures, in heaven and in earth, devils as well as men; and that all in the issue will be saved: and there are passages ¶ in his writings which favour this notion. Could our universalists give into, and prove such an assertion, that all mankind will be saved, the controversy about general redemption would soon be at an end. It is no wonder that a writer, who had imbibed such a notion, should express himself in very general terms about the suffer* Adv. Judæos, c. 13, p. 226.

§ Adv. Marcion. 1. 5, c. 19, p. 765.

Adv. Marcion. 1. 5, c. 19, p. 613.

+ Page 765. | Vide Hieron. ad Avitum, tom. ii. p. 52. Vide Comment. in Rom. 1. 5, fol. 179, B; et Comment. in Joannem, p. 38.

;

ings and death of Christ, and assert him to be the Saviour of all men, which is the substance of the citations out of him by M. Daille * nevertheless, as it is very probable, he was not always of this mind ; and it is certain, that when this notion of his was not in view, he says many things which not only contradict that, but very much countenance the doctrine of particular redemption, as will appear from the following observations.

1. He expressly affirms, that the sufferings and death of Christ are of no use and service to some persons; and that the fruit and effect of them only belong to others, whom he describes; his words are these +: "The sufferings of Christ, indeed, confer life on them that believe, but death on them that believe not for though the Gentiles have salvation and justification by his cross, yet is it destruction and condemnation to the Jews; for so it is written in the gospel; This child is born for the fall and rising again of many." And in another place; "If any would be saved, let him come to the house," says he, "in which the blood of Christ is for a sign of redemption; for with them who said, His blood be upon us and upon our children, Christi sanguis in condemnatione est, the blood of Christ is for condemnation;" for Jesus was set for the full and rising again of many; and therefore to them that speak against his sign, efficitur sanguis ejus ad pœnam, 'his blood is for punishment;' but to them that believe, for salvation." And elsewhere §, mentioning these words, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, he adds, by way of explanation, ou παντον δε η αμαρτια απο του αμνου αιρεται, "the sin of all is not indeed taken away by the Lamb, even of those who do not grieve, nor are afflicted until it be taken away."

2. Though he sometimes speaks of Christ's procuring salvation, redemption, and remission of sin, for all men, for the whole world; yet from other passages of his it appears, that he is to be understood of the sufficiency of the price of Christ's blood to procure these things for all men, which is not denied. In one place ||, taking notice of the legal sacrifices, he has these expressions: "Among all these there is one Lamb which is able to take away the sins of the whole world; for such was this sacrifice, ut una sola sufficieret pro totius mundi salute, 'that that alone was sufficient for the salvation of the whole world.' And in another place he thus expresses himself, "Until the blood of Jesus was given, which was so precious, ut solus pro omnium redemptione sufficieret, 'that it alone was sufficient for the redemption of all;' it was necessary, that they who were brought up in the law, should every one for himself, in imitation of the future redemption, give his own blood," meaning the blood of circumcision.

3. It may be further observed, that Origen, by the world, sometimes understands the church, for, which, he frequently says, Christ suffered and died. The apostle Paul says**, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; where, by the world, is not to be

* Apol. p. 765, &c.

In Lev. homil. 3, fol. 57, D. § Comment. in Joan. P. 146. In Rom. 1. 2, fol. 148, B.

In Joshua, homil. 3. fol. 152, 153, L. In Num. homil. 24, fol. 138, C.

**2 Cor. v. 19.