understood the whole world, that is, those who are in the whole world, as Origen in one place* observes; and in another place + having cited the same passage, adds, "the sin of which world Christ has took away, περι γαρ του κοσμου της εκκλησιας, 'for of the world of the church is this word written;" and immediately subjoins John i. 29, as to be understood in the same sense. And elsewhere, in the same work, he not only mentions it as the sense of a certain expositor, that by the world is meant the church, which is the ornament and beauty of the world, and inquires whether it may be called so, and also light, but affirms it to be so, λεγεσθω τοινον η εκκλησια κοσμος, “therefore," says he, "let the church be called the world, because it is enlightened by the Saviour;" and cites several passages of Scripture, as Matt. v. 14, John i. 29, 1 John ii. 2, 1 Tim. iv. 10, to be interpreted in the same way. And it is easy to observe, that Origen often speaks of Christ's suffering and dying for the church: in one place §, speaking of Christ and the church as bridegroom and bride, he says, "First the bride prays, and immediately, in the midst of her prayers she is heard, she sees the bridegroom present, she sees the virgins joined in company with him. Moreover the Bridegroom answers her, and after his words, dum ille pro ejus patitur salute, 'while he suffers for her salvation,' the companions answer, until the bridegroom is in bed, and rises from suffering, they will make some ornaments for the bride." And in the same work on these words, Arise, my fair one, he thus comments; "Why does he say, arise? Why hasten? I have sustained for thee the rage of tempests; I have received the floods which were due to thee; my soul is made sorrowful unto death for thee." In another place he says, "The church of Christ is strengthened by the grace of him who was crucified for her." And elsewhere** we call the fat, that is, of the sacrifices, the life of Christ, which is the church of his friends, pro quibus animam suam posuit, "for whom he laid down his life." Again++,“He has delivered him for all, not only for the saints, not only for the great ones, but the Father delivered his own Son for them who are altogether the least in the church." 4. Origen sometimes calls the world for whom Christ died, the believing world, and the people of believers, and describes those for whom he suffered by such distinguishing characters: his words in one place are these‡‡, , "If any one is ashamed of the cross of Christ, he is ashamed of that economy by which these (powers) are triumphed over; for he that knows and believes these things ought to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which Christ being σταυρουμενου τω κόσμω τω πιστευοντι, 'crucified for the world that believes,' the principalities are made a show of, and triumphed over." And in another place§§, "because he (Christ) took upon him the sins του λαου των πιστευοντων εις αυτον, ' of the people of those that believe in him,' he often says, what he does in Psalm xxii. 1, and lxix. 5." And elsewhere*, speaking of Christ, he says, "This is the live goat sent into the wilderness; and this is the goat which is offered to the Lord a sacrifice to expiate sin; and he hath made a true propitiation in himself, credentibus populis, 'for the believing people." Againt, "The Son of God is come, and hath given himself a ransom; that is, he hath delivered himself for enemies, and for them that thirst he hath shed his blood; et hæc est credentibus facta redemptio, 'and this becomes redemption to them that believe." He interprets that text in Matt. xx. 28, And to give his life a ransom for many, thus, αντι πολλων των πιστευσαντων εις αυτον, “for the many that believed on him." He adds indeed, "And by way of hypothesis, if all believe in him, he gave his life a ransom for all." To which may be added the following passage, "The true purification was not before, but in the passover, when Jesus died υπερ των αγνιζομενων, 'for them that are purified,' as the Lamb of God, and took away the sin of the world§." Monsieur Daille|| next cites a passage as from Gregory of Neocæsarea, a hearer of Origen, but the work from whence it is taken is judged by learned men to be none of his ; and this writer himself seems to question it, since he adds, "or whoever is the author of the anathemas which are carried about under his name." And besides, this testimony only shows, that Christ is the Saviour of the world, and the light of the world; which nobody denies, for they are the express words of the Scripture; but the question is, in what sense these phrases are to be understood. * Comment. in Gen. p. 17. † Ibid. in Joan. p. 5. § In Cantic. homil. 1, apud Hieron. tom. iii. fol. 57, G. In Gen. homil. 3, fol. 8, E. In Rom. 1. 7, fol. 193, А. ‡ Ibid. p. 147. || Ibid. hom. 2, fol. 61, B. ** In Lev. homil. 5, fol. 67, A. In Matt. p. 283. §§ In Joan. p. 73. SECTION IX. CYPRIAN. A. D. 250. CYPRIAN, in many places of his writings, very expressly limits Christ's sufferings and death to certain persons described by him; as when he says **, "Though we are many shepherds, yet we feed but one flock; and ought to gather together and cherish oves universas quas Christus sanguine suo et passione quæsivit, 'all the sheep which Christ hath sought up by his blood and sufferings;' nor should we suffer our supplicant and grieving brethren to be cruelly despised and trodden down by the proud presumption of some persons." And in another place he asks tt, "What can be a greater sin, or what a fouler spot, than to stand against Christ, than to scatter his church? quam ille sanguine suo præparavit et condidit, 'which he has prepared and obtained by his own blood?" And elsewhere he says, "Christ is the bread of life; et panis hic omnium non est, sed noster est; 'and this bread does not belong to all, but is ours;' and as we say, our Father, because he is the Father of them that understand and believe, so we call Christ our bread, qui corpus contigimus, 'who have touched his body;'" in which words all but believers are excluded from having any share in Christ, the bread of life. And having in another place §§ mentioned Ezek. ix. 4, where * In Lev. homil. 10, fol. 82, D. † In Rom. 1. 3, fol. 155, F. Com. in Matt. p. 422. § In Joan. p. 372. || Apolog. p. 768. Vide Rivet. Critic. Sacr. 1. 2, с. 16, p. 220; Fabricii Bibl. Græc. 1. 5, c. 1, s. 28, p. 252. ** Ep. 67, p. 164. †† Ep. 72, p. 180. #De Oratione Dominica, p. 268. §§ Ad Demetrianum, p. 283. a mark is ordered to be set upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for the abominations of Jerusalem, he makes this observation ; "This sign belongs to the passion and blood of Christ; et quisquis in hoc signo invenitur, 'and whosoever is found with this sign shall be preserved safe and whole?" which is approved by the testimony of God, saying, And the blood shall be for a sign upon the houses where you are, &c. What preceded in type before the Lamb was slain, is fulfilled in Christ, the truth following after; as there Egypt being smitten, the Jewish people ceuld not escape but by the blood and token of the Lamb; so when the world shall begin to be wasted and smitten, quisquis in sanguine et signo Christi inventus fuerit, solus evadet, "whosoever shall be found in the blood, and with the mark of Christ, shall only escape." From whence it is evident, that Cyprian did not think that every individual of mankind is interested in the blood and death of Christ. And a little after, in the same epistle *, speaking of immortality, he has these words; "This grace Christ imparts, this gift of his mercy he gives, by subduing death through the victory of the cross; redimendo credentem pretio sanguinis sui, 'by redeeming the believer with the price of his blood;' by reconciling man to God the Father, and by quickening the dead with the heavenly regeneration." And in one of his tractst, animating the saints against the fears of death, he says, "Let him be afraid to die, qui non Christi cruce et passione censetur, 'who is not reckoned to have any part in the cross and sufferings of Christ;' let him be afraid to die who will pass from this death to a second death." And a little after †, "We who live in hope, and believe in God, and trust, Christum passum esse pro nobis, 'that Christ has suffered for us, and rose again,' abiding in him, and rising again by him and in him, why should we be unwilling to depart hence out of this world? or, why should we mourn over and grieve for our departed friends, as if they were lost?" And in another place §, giving an account of our Lord's behaviour before Pilate, makes this remark, "This is he, who when he held his peace in his passion, will not be silent afterwards in his vengeance: this is our God; id est, non omnium, sed fidelium et credentium Deus, that, is, not the God of all, but of the faithful and believers." To all which may be added another passage of his, which runs thus ||, "Writing to the seven churches, and intimating to each of them their sins and transgressions, he said repent; to whom? but quos pretio magno sui sanguinis redemerat, 'whom he had redeemed with the great price of his blood." This last passage is indeed taken out of an epistle which Erasmus thought was not Cyprian's, but Cornelius's, bishop of Rome; however, he afterwards judged it to be a learned piece, and not unworthy of Cyprian; Gravius and Pamelius affirm it to be his; and if it was Cornelius's, the citation may be properly enough made here, since he was contemporary with Cyprian. The passages cited by Monsieur Daille ** from this writer, as being on the side of universal redemption, only set forth either the great encouragement given by God to penitent sinners, or that Christ Page 284. + De Mortalitate, p. 298. ‡ Page 299. § De Bono Patientiæ, p. 319. || In Epist. ad Novatianum, p. 436, 437. Vide Rivet. Crit. Sacr. 1. 2, c. 15, р. 212. **Page 768-770. came to be the Saviour of mankind, to be given unto men, and that he came for the sake of all; which Cyprian explains in the very same passage*, of all sorts of men, learned and unlearned, of every age and sex; as in another of them, by a simile taken from the general and equal diffusion of the sun's light, he shows †, that Christ, the sun and true day, equally gives the light of eternal life in sua ecclesia, " in his own church;" and that the Israelites had an equal measure of the manna, without any difference of age or sex; so the heavenly grace is equally divided to all without any difference of sex or years, and without respect of persons; and the gift of spiritual grace poured forth super omnem Dei populum, "upon all the people of God." Some testimonies are next produced by Monsieur Daille ‡ out of Novatian, Methodius, and Arnobius: the first of these writers, in one of the passages cited, signifies that there is hope of salvation for men in Christ: which is not at all against us; for hope is not taken away, but established upon better grounds by the doctrine of particular, than by that of general redemption; since according to the latter, all men are indeed redeemed by Christ, but it was possible that none might be saved by him; whereas the former secures the certain salvation of all the redeemed ones: and in the other of them he suggests, that the anger, hatred, and threatenings of God, are for the good of men, and in order to move upon them, and bring them to that which is right and good; but not a word does he say concerning the death of Christ, and redemption by it. The second of these authors referred to, explains the text in Rom. ix. 21, one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, thus, "not that God makes some good and others evil, but that is to be understood of the power God has of doing what he will." Nor do. we say that God makes any man evil, but that man made himself so; though we think none are good but whom God makes good. This writer indeed suggests, that it is the will of God that all men should be good, virtuous, and faithful, which is true of his approving but not of his determining will; and also intimates that all the good things of God are common to all, which in some sense holds good of the common bounties of providence, but not of the riches of grace. The third proposes a pagan objection, formed thus; "If Christ came to be the Saviour of mankind, why does he not, with equal bounty, deliver all alike?" This objection supposes, that according to the Christian scheme, all men were not delivered or redeemed by Christ. Arnobius answers to it, not by asserting a deliverance or redemption of every individual of mankind, but by putting another question thus, "Does not he equally deliver, who equally calls all?" In which he argues indeed, from the extent of the call to the extent of the deliverance; but then the call he speaks of seems to be not of every individual person, but of some of all sorts; a grant from Christ of coming to him to some of all sorts, sublimibus, infimis, servis, fœminis, pueris, "high and low, servants, women, and children;" which are his own words §; and consequently the deliverance he argues from hence must be only of some of all sorts; which is what we contend for. * De Oratione Dominica, p. 270. † Ep. 76, p. 212. Page 770, 771. SECTION Χ. LACTANTIUS. A. D. 320. LUCIUS CELIUS was called Firmianus from his country, Firmium in Italy, and Lactantius from his smooth and milky way of speaking; he was an auditor of Arnobius, and preceptor to Crispus, son of Constantine the Great, who died A. D. 326. He wrote seven books of Divine Institutions, besides some other treatises, in which he says some things which limit the sufferings and death of Christ, and the benefits thereof, to certain persons. Thus speaking of Christ, he says *, "which as he knew what would be, so he would ever and anon say, oportare se pati atque interfici pro salute multorum, that he ought to suffer and be slain for the salvation of many;" and if for the salvation of many, then not of all. And in another place says he †, "The Jews use the Old Testament, we the New, but yet they are not different; for the New is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both the same testator is Christ; qui pro nobis morte suscepta, nos hæredes regni æterni fecit; who having suffered death for us, hath made us heirs of the everlasting kingdom, having abdicated and disinherited the people of the Jews." From whence it is plain, that this writer thought that all those for whom Christ died are made heirs of everlasting glory: but all men are not made heirs, whence it must follow, that he did not die for all men; though Lactantius by us means the Gentiles, in opposition to the Jews, yet not all the Gentiles, but only some of them, who are called by the grace of God from among them: as appears from a passage of his a little after in the same chapter, where having mentioned the new covenant made with the house of Judah and Israel, he observes, that "the house of Judah and Israel truly do not signify the Jews, whom he has cast off, but us, qui ab ea convocati ex gentibus, who are called by him (Christ) from among the Gentiles, who succeed in their room in the adoption, and are called the children of the Jews." And elsewere §, speaking of the crucifixion of Christ, he says, "He stretched out his hands in his passion and measured the world, that he might at that very time show, that from the rising of the sun to the setting of it, magnum populum ex omnibus linguis, et tribubus congregatum, a large people, gathered out of all languages and tribes, should come under his wings, and receive the most great and sublime sign in their foreheads." And a little after in the same place, having taken notice of the passover lamb, and the sprinkling of its blood upon the doorpost, whereby the Israelites were safe, when the Egyptians were destroyed, he observes, that "this was a figure of things to come; for Christ is a Lamb, white, without spot, that is, innocent, just, and holy, who being sacrificed by the same Jews, saluti est omnibus qui signum sanguinis, id est crucis qua sanguinem fudit in sua fronte conscripserunt, is for salvation to all who have written in their forehead the sign of the blood; that is, of the cross on which he shed his blood." Monsieur + Page 328. * Lactant. Divin. Institut. 1. 4, с. 18, p. 319. † Ibid. c. 20, p. 327. § Lactant. Divin. Institut. c. 26, р. 344. |