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have read on, and transcribed more, when it would have appeared, that Optatus explains these all, of all that believe; for thus he proceeds, "Christ has not sold whom he hath redeemed; souls bought by Christ cannot be sold, that they may, as you would have it (speaking to the Donatists), be redeemed again by you. How can one soul have two masters? Is there another Redeemer? Which of the prophets have declared that another is to come? What Gabriel speaks again to another Mary? What virgin brings forth again? Who hath done new or other miracles? If there is none but one, qui redimit animos omnium credentium, who redeems the souls of all believers, why do you say, redeem your souls?"

SECTION XIX.

VICTORINUS. A. D. 365.

CAIUS MARIUS VICTORINUS, as Jerom calls him, was by birth an African, he taught rhetoric at Rome, under the emperor Constance †; and became so famous in that kind of learning, that the citizens erected a statue for him in the Roman Forum . He was converted to Christianity in extreme old age, and wrote four books against the Arians, which still remain, from whence Monsieur Daille $ has this citation; "The Logos, or Word, is made all things, and in all, and hath begotten all things, and hath saved, and hath reigned, existing life eternal in the Spirit." But of what service this passage can be to the general scheme, I see not; for if it is not to be understood of the concern that Christ the Word has in creation and providence, but of his concern in everlasting salvation, if it favours any scheme it must be that of universal salvation; but from other expressions of his it appears, that he thought that Christ is only the redeemer of and eternal life to them that believe: "He" (Jesus Christ), says he , "has performed the mystery of our salvation; he hath made us free; he hath redeemed; in istum credimus salvatorem nostrum, in him we believe as our Saviour,' according to the cross, and according to the resurrection from the

And in another place T, Christ is the true life, and gives the true life, that is, eternal; credentibus in se, to them that believe in him; and is present with God for them that believe in him."

SECTION XX.

MARCUS EREMITA. A. D. 390.

MARK the Eremite is next produced by Monsieur Daille**, and by him said to be about A. D. 390, though he is placed by Alsted ††, and the Magdeburgensian Centuriators, in the fifth century, about the

* Hieron. Prom. in Comment. in Gal. fol. 68, 1. tom. ix.

+ Ibid. Catal. Scrip. Eccles. s. 111. § Apolog. p. 794. ** Apolog. p. 794, 795.

August. Confess. 1. 8, c. 2, s. 2. Victorini adv. Arrian. 1. 1, p. 315. ¶ Ibid. 1. 4, p. 351. ++ Chronolog. Thesaurus, chron. 41, p. 419. Hist. Eccl. vol. ii. cent. 5, c. 4, p. 48; c. 18, p. 828.

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beginning of it. The testimony from him, cited by the above writer, only signifies, that God would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, which is no other than what the Scripture says; and that evil thoughts or reasonings forbid the will of God, deceive inen, and exclude them from salvation. It must be owned, that there is here and there an expression dropped more to the purpose than this; yet in other places he speaks of redemption, and the effects of it, as peculiarly belonging to certain persons: "He who died," says he*, "for our sins, according to the Scriptures, also freely gives liberty, fideliter et probe ipsi servientibus, to them that faithfully and honestly serve him," according to Matt. xxv. 21. And in another place he says †, Suretyship proceeds from love, which the Lord Jesus Christ hath showed in all things to us, who in the first place heals the infirmities of our soul, moreover cures every disease, and every sickness; who takes away the sin of the world; qui puram restituit naturam his qui firmiter credunt ei, 'who restores a pure nature to them that firmly believe in him,' and gives redemption from death." Again‡," Christ is our Lord, both according to essence, and according to the government or administration of the family; for when yet we were not, he made and created us; and being dead in sin, he bought us with his own blood; et iis qui ita credunt, gratiam suam gratuito largitus est, and to them who so believe, he freely gives his grace." And elsewhere he says §, Christus autem credenti sit omnia, Christ indeed is made all things to him that believes."

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SECTION XXI.

FAUSTINUS. A. D. 390.

FAUSTINUS, who was ordained either a presbyter or a deacon of the church of Rome, about A. D. 385, according to Monsieur Daille ||, who has transcribed some passages out of a book written by him against the Arians, showing, that God loved the world, and gave his Son for the redemption of the world; and that Christ tasted death not for himself, but for all; all which may be said, without supposing that Christ died for every individual of mankind. Besides, Faustinus plainly intimates, that the benefit of Christ's death only belongs to believers; that many, and not all, are delivered and saved by him; "See," says he ¶, "the love that the Lord of majesty should be crucified on earth for the salvation of the world, who gives eternal life in heaven, se Filium Dei credentibus, to them that believe he is the Son of God." And in another place he observes **, that " as by the contempt of one many are made sinners, so by the obedience of Christ, which not from infirmity, but from the goodness of the Deity, he yielded for the salutary discipline of men, multi salvantur, many are saved." And a little after he says, that "Christ bore the infirmities of body and soul, though +Ibid. Exercitoris Disp. p. 119. Apolog. p. 795. ** Ibid. c. 3, p. 127.

Marc. Eremit. de Leg. Spirit. p. 60.
Ibid. de Leg. Spirit. p. 61.
Faustin, contr. Arrian, c. 2, p. 107.

§ Ibid. 51.

without sin, that it might be truly thought he did not take another substance of flesh and blood; and that when in himself he delivers men from infirmities and sufferings, we might believe also, that those are delivered qui secundum ejus vestigia sectantur, who follow his steps." The text in Hebrews ii. 9, where Christ is said to taste death for all, he says*, the apostle interprets in ver. 10, where the Captain of salvation is spoken of as bringing many sons to glory.

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CYRILL of Jerusalem, though a little earlier than some of the former, since he died A. D. 386, according to Monsieur Daillet, is next cited by him as a patron of general redemption, and who indeed does say that Christ took upon him the sins of the world, cleanses the world from sin, has redeemed the whole world of men; and that the Father having constituted him the Saviour of the whole world, he came for the salvation of all. But these passages will be easily accounted for, when it is observed, that by the world, he means, the world of believers. "You have," says he §, "the twelve apostles witnesses of the cross, and the habitable earth, και τον κόσμον των εις τον σταυρόμενον πιστευοντων ανθρωπων, and the world of men that believe in him that was crucified." And these, and these only, will be saved by him; for he it is, as he elsewhere says, "that saves, TOUS TOтEVOVтas, 'those that believe' by the word of the cross." Nor need it seem strange that Cyrill should say, that Jesus took upon him τους οικουμενικας αμαρτίας, "the sins of the world," since he talks ¶ "of waσNS TηS OIKOVμEVIKNS EKKANolas, of the church of the whole world." Besides, one reason of his using such general expressions, as the world, the whole world, &c. may be on the account of the extent of Christ's sufferings and death to Jews and Gentiles. "He came," says he**, "who has mercy on them, and was crucified and rose again, giving his own precious blood vπeρ Iovdaιv TE KAL Ovov, both for Jews and Gentiles." Cyrill, indeed, speaks of many ways of eternal life opened for all, which scarce any will agree to; and of human nature being capable of salvation, which none will deny, As for the words of Diodorus Tarsensis next mentioned ++, declaring "that the Lord being born, showed himself to the Persians before other nations, that grace and salvation might be given by him to those of the magicians and soothsayers that would;" they are so far from bearing a testimony in behalf of universal redemption, that they plainly limit the grace and salvation of Christ τοις εθελουσιν, " to them that are willing;" which none are, but such who are made so by the energy and power of special grace.

Faustin. cont. Arrian. c. 4, p. 131, 132.

† Apolog. p. 795.

Cyrill. Catech. 3, s. 9, p. 41; et 10, s. 2, p. 124; et 13, s. 1, p. 167.
Catech. 17, s. 5, P. 245.
Ibid. 6, s. 1, p. 78.
** Ibid. 14, s. 10, p. 198.
† Apolog. p. 796.

Ibid. 13, s. 19, p. 186.

SECTION XXIII.

GREGORIUS NAZIANZENUS. A. D. 370.

THE passages cited out of Gregory of Nazianzum, by M. Daille *, in favour of general redemption, must be acknowledged to be the most pertinent to his purpose of any produced by him, for Gregory not only says, that Christ took away the sin of the whole world; that his sacrifice was the expiation of the whole world; and that a few drops of his blood restored the whole world; but also, that through his sufferings all that partake of Adam, were deceived by the serpent, and died through his sin, without exception, are restored; and that his sacrifice was not for a small part of the world, nor for a little while, but always continues to be an expiation of the whole world; and that he died for the worst of men, for heretics, yea, for Julian the apostate; nay he affirms that Julian had obtained salvation by him; his words are theset, "The first Nebuchadnezzar (meaning Julian) afflicted us, who after Christ was mad against Christ, and therefore he hated Christ, ori di avтov σεσwσr, because he had been saved by him;" though it may be reasonably thought that he should mean no more than that Julian had enjoyed some temporal mercies, some temporal deliverance and salvation by Christ. And in the same way may his other general expressions be understood; and his sense be, that the whole world, and all men in it, yea, the worst of men, receive some temporal advantages, through the sufferings, sacrifice, and death of Christ; for it is certain, that he sometimes represents a special particular set of men as such for whom Christ died. In one place ‡, he brings in the people of God in distress complaining after this manner, "O God, why hast thou cast off for ever? thy anger is stirred up against the sheep of thy pasture; remember thy congregation which thou hast possessed from the beginning, ην περιποιησω τοις του μονογενούς Λόγου σου πάθεσιν, ‘which thou hast purchased by the sufferings of thine only begotten Word,' to which thou hast vouchsafed thy great covenant, and hast drawn to heaven by a new mystery and the earnest of the Spirit." And in another place, addressing the priests, he says §, "O ye priests, put on righteousness, or to speak more properly, let us put it on; let us not scatter and destroy the sheep of the pasture, υπερ ων έθηκε την ψυχην ο ποιμήν ο καλος, for whom the good shepherd laid down his life ; who knows his own, and is known by his own, calls them by name, leads them in, and brings them from unbelief to faith, and from this life to a future rest." And in an epistle to Basil he has these words |," We speak concerning the church υπερ ην Χριστος απεθανεν, for whom Christ died; and concerning him that brings and presents the same to God."

* Apolog. p. 796-798.
Ibid. 4, adv. Julian. p. 124.

+ Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 32, p. 512, tom. i. Ibid. E. p. 22, p. 785.

§ Ibid. 9, p. 154.

SECTION XXIV.

DIDYMUS ALEXANDRINUS. A. D. 370.

DIDYMUS of Alexandria was blind from his childhood, so that he never learned letters, and yet was a perfect master of logic and geometry; he was living in the fourteenth year of Theodosius, A. d. 329, being then above eighty-three years of age; he was the author of many things, and among the rest of a treatise concerning the Holy Spirit, translated into Latin by Jerom; in which he says indeed †, that Christ tasted death for all; and that the vouchsafed to come down on earth for the salvation of all; but then he explains these all of the children of God and believers in Christ; for citing Isaiah lxiii. 8, which he thus renders, "He is made salvation to them, that is," says he §, "to them, of whom the Lord says, Are not my people children? And they will not prevaricate; for because they do not prevaricate, nor have despised the Father, he is made salvation to them; or because they are called children, he is made the cause of salvation to them." And a little after, "He is made the occasion of eternal salvation, cunctis qui in eum credunt,' to all that believe in him ;' and he is the Saviour of the world, who came to seek what was lost."

SECTION XXV.

GREGORIUS NYSSENUS. A. D. 380.

GREGORY, bishop of Nyssa, and brother of Basil, died A. D. 395, or 396, according to Monsieur Daille . There are two volumes of his works extant, in which he sometimes T indeed speaks of Christ's tasting death for every one; of his reconciling the world to himself; and of his giving himself for the life of the world. But inasmuch as these scriptural expressions are capable of being understood in a sense which no ways favours the doctrine of general redemption, so they cannot be thought to hold forth explicitly this writer's sentiments upon that subject. Besides, in other places he speaks of the sufferings of Christ, and the benefits of them, as belonging to certain persons; for he not only says**, that Christ spilled his blood, and endured sufferings, veρ nuwv, for us; but also intimates, that all this was for the sake of such as believe in him; for speaking++ of the cluster of grapes which the spies brought from Canaan, he has these words, "The cluster hanging on the stick, what else was it, but the cluster which in the last days hung upon the tree? ου το αιμα ποτον τοις πιστευουσι γιγνεται σωτηριου, whose blood is become a salutary drink to them that believe."

Hicron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. No. 119, fol. 101, G.

+ Didymus de Spiritu Sancto, 1. 2, fol. 181, C, inter opera Hieron. tom. ix. Ibid. 1. 3, fol. 183, E.

§ Ibid. A.

Apolog. p. 798.

And

Gregor. Nyss. in Psalm c. 16, vol. i. p. 363, in Cant. homil. 7, p. 570; homil. 15, p. 697.

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** Ibid. de Vita Mosis, p. 245.

Ibid. p. 244.

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