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SECTION XVI.

HILARIUS PICTAVIENSIS.

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A. D. 360.

HILARY of Poictiers says many things concerning original sin, and which show the depravity of human nature, its imbecility to do that which is good, yea, its servitude to sin, and the need it stands in of divine grace and assistance. Sin," he says, "the father of our body, unbelief, the mother of the soul, began to be in following generations, ex peccato atque infidelitate primi parentis, ' from the sin and unbelief of the first parent;' for from these we took our rise, through the transgression of the first parent." And in another placet, speaking of the parable of the lost sheep, he says, "The one sheep is to be understood of man, and under one man the whole is to be reckoned, sed in unius Adæ errore, but in the error of one Adam all mankind went astray." Again, upon mentioning David's confession in Psal. li. 5, "Who will boast that he has a pure heart before God? No, not an infant, though but of one day, the original and law of sin remaining in us." And upon a repetition of the same words he has this note§, "He knew that he was born sub peccati origine, et sub peccati lege, under original sin, and under the law of sin." Hence he represents man as in a state of great ignorance, and as incapable of knowing divine things without divine teachings; "It ought," says hell, "to be a doubt to none, that we must make use of divine doctrines to know divine things; neither can human weakness of itself attain to the knowledge of heavenly things; nor can the sense of corporal things assume to itself the understanding of invisible ones." In another place, "God cannot be understood unless by God. We must not think of God according to human judgment; for neither is there that nature in us ut se in cœlestem cognitionem suis viribus efferat, so as that it can, by its own strength, lift up itself to heavenly knowledge.' From God we must learn what is to be understood of God; for he is not known but by himself, the author." Again he says**, "For the truth of faith, that is, the understanding of God the Father and the Lord, by which especially our justification will be proved, quanta opus est nobis Dei gratia, 'how much of the grace of God do we need,' that we may think rightly." Many more passages †† might be produced to the same purpose. He denies‡‡ faith to be ex nostro arbitrio, of our free will;' and affirms §§, that "we have no love to God the Father but through believing in the Son." He frequently suggests the weakness of man to keep the commands of God or to do his will. "Statutes," says he, are more and different, that is, than commands, and are tempered for the observing of each kind of duties; for the keeping of which, nisi

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*Com. in Matt. can. 10, p. 277. § In Psalm cxix. Tau, p. 522.

Ib. can. 18, p. 301.
|| De Trin. 1. 4, p. 37.
**In Psalm cxix. Aleph, p. 457.

Enarr. in Ps. lviii. p. 392.
Ib. 1. 5, p. 53, 54.

+ Vide de Trin. 1. 1, p. 12; in Psalm cxix. Aleph, p. 453, Lamed, p. 489.

De Trin. 1. 7, p. 93.

§§ lb. p. 76.

In Psalm cxix. Aleph, p. 456.

a Deo derigamur, infirmi per naturam nostram erimus, unless we are directed by God, we shall by our nature be infirm ;' therefore we must be helped and directed by his grace, that we may follow the order of the statutes that are commanded." In another place he says "The prophet freely ran the way of the Lord, after he began to have his heart enlarged; for he could not run the way of God before he was made a habitation, large and worthy of God.” And elsewhere he observes, that David prays, Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; "for," says he, "he knew that his nature was weak, and that he could not attempt that path without a guide." And a little after, "The prophet refers all to the hands of God, whether that the law of statutes may be appointed for him by the Lord, or that understanding may be given him, or that he may be led in the path, or that his heart may be inclined to the testimonies;" wherefore he often intimates, what need we stand in of divine assistance upon these and other accounts, which is far from the notion of the power of free will as maintained by Pelagians and Arminians; yea, he represents man as in a state of bondage and slavery, and his will a servant and not free. "In Peter's wife's mother," says he§, "an account may be taken of the vicious affection of unbelief, to which adjoins the liberty of the will. She shall be called unbelief, because until she believed, voluntatis suæ servitio detinebatur, she was held under the bondage of her own will." And in another place : "The Gentiles are bound in the bonds of their own sins, from which, through infidelity, they cannot loose themselves; according to what is said, the sinner is holden with the cords of his sins." Once more, citing those words in John viii. 34-36, He that committeth sin is the servant of sin, &c., he makes this remark ¶, "Therefore we are taken and bound, and serve, not so much in body as in mind;" all which agree with our sense of free will; though it must be owned, that there are some passages in this writer which cannot well be reconciled to the more frequent expressions of his; two are cited by Dr. Whitby **, and others by Vossius ++, showing that the beginning of good is from the will of man, and the finishing and perfecting of it from God.

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VICTORINUS represents the state of man by nature as most deplorable and wretched, and clearly expresses the necessity of the Holy Spirit, who he speaks of as the alone sanctifier, from which work of his he takes his name; "because," says he‡‡, "men's memory of themselves, and of God, is obrutam, overwhelmed or confounded, there is need of the Holy Ghost, if so be that knowledge may come, to understand what is the breadth, &c.—for life was first to be given mortuis per

* In Psalm cxix. Daleth, p. 468. Ib. Samech, p. 502, et in Phe, p. 511. In Psalm cxxxvi. p. 591.

+ Hist. Pelag. 1. 4. par. 2, p. 437, 438.

† Ib. in He, p. 470.

§ In Matt. can. 7, p. 267. In Ps. ii. p. 347.
** Discourse, &c. p. 378; ed. 2. 368.
Adv. Arrianos, 1. 4, P. 351.

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peccata hominibus, to men dead through sins,' that they might be raised up unto God by faith." The Spirit of God, he says*, "is called the Holy Spirit, quod sanciat, id est sanctos facit, because he makes holy." And a little after he observes †, that "every one that is baptized, and says he believes, and receives faith, he receives the Spirit of truth, that is, the Holy Spirit, et sanctior fit a Spiritu Sancto, and is made more holy by the Holy Spirit."

SECTION XVIII.

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OPTATUS MILEVITANUS. A. D. 370. OPTATUS of Milevi owns the original corruption of human nature ‡, when he says, "Every man that is born, although he may be born of Christian parents, sine spiritu immundo esse non possit, cannot be without an unclean spirit, which must be excluded and separated from man before the salutary laver," meaning baptism. He denies that men, or means, or ordinances, can of themselves remove the pollution of sin. "The filth and spots of the mind," says he §, none can wash but he who is the Maker of the mind." Many other things are observed by him in the same chapter against the Donatists, who he thought took that to themselves which belonged to God. He indeed ascribes the willing of what is good to man, not to a natural man, but to a Christian man: mentioning the words of the apostle, 1 John i. 8, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, he makes this observation ||: "He that said this wisely reserved himself for the grace of God; for it is of a Christian man to will that which is good, and to run in that which he wills well, but to man it is not given to perfect for it is ours to will, it is ours to run, it is of God to perfect."

**

SECTION XIX.

CYRILLUS HIEROSOLYMITANUS. A. D. 370.

CYRILL of Jerusalem gives plain intimations of the doctrine of original sin; he observes twice in one place T, that the sin of Adam brought death into the world: "The wound of the human nature," he says "is very great; from feet to head there is no soundness in it." He represents man++, through the fall of Adam, as "deceived, fallen, blinded, lame; yea, even dead." And as for free will itself, he says‡‡, it is kakov, evil; and they that are holy §§, are so, ov quoel, “not by nature," but by participation, and by exercise, and by prayer; yea, he affirms ||||, "that Jesus To Oeλew xapiČeral, 'gives the will,' and receives the faith, and bestows the gift freely."

* Adv. Arrianos, 1. 3, p. 340.

§ Ib. 1. 5, p. 103.

** Ib. 12, c. 4, p. 151.

§§ Catech. Mystagog. 5, c. 16,

+ Ib.
p. 341.

|| Ib. 1. 2, p. 51.

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Ib. 2, c. 3, 4,

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Adv. Parmen. 1. 4, p. 92.
Catech. 13, c. 1, p. 167.
‡‡ Ib. c. 1, P. 20.
Homil. in Paralyt. s. 2, p. 312.

Dr. Whitby cites a passage or two from Cyrill in favour of free will, which passages are levelled against the Manichees, who held, that some men are by nature good, and others by nature evil; and that there are two souls in men, one naturally good, the other naturally evil; and that good and evil are respectively done by them through necessity of nature, and not with any freedom of will; and do not militate against our sense of free will, who allow of a liberty of will in all actions good and bad.

SECTION XX.

BASILIUS CESARIENSIS. A. D. 370.

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BASIL of Cæsarea very clearly asserts the doctrine of original sin: "No man," says het, can be found pure from filth, though he has been born but one day." Again, "The rose is florid, but it puts shame and sorrow in me; for as often as I see that flower, τηs aμaρτias υπομιμνησκομαι της εμης, ‘I am put in mind of my sin, for which the earth is condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles." And in another place§: "I was indeed," says he, "fair by nature, but am now weak, because I am dead in sin, eέ etɩßovaŋs Tov opews, through the snare of the serpent." Wherefore, in the same place, he observes, that "beauty may come to the soul, and a power effectually perfective of those things which are necessary, θείας εις τουτο χαριτος χρήζομεν, for this we need divine grace." Agreeable to this he says, "We may understand those words, they that trust in their power, and boast of the multitude of their riches, of the powers of the soul, ws ouk AUTOτελους ούσης ου δι' αυτής προς σωτηρίαν, as being by no means sufficient of themselves to salvation." And elsewhere he observes, that spiritual and enlightened souls "know how impossible it is, by their own strength, to overcome the stumbling-blocks of the evil one, aλ' ek tηs Anttηtov dvvaμews TOV OEov,' but by the insuperable power of God;' but they who are not honoured with God's word, are vainly puffed up, and think that, by their own free will, they can make void the occasions of sin, which is abolished only by the mystery of the cross." And a little after: "Human nature, without the whole armour of the Holy Spirit, cannot resist the wiles of the devil." As for free will, he says power and liberty of it is the beginning and root of sin." And in another place he affirms+t, that "every human soul is subject to ovρ Tηs dovdéias Švyet, to the evil yoke of bondage of the common enemy of all,' and being deprived of the liberty it had from its Creator, is led captive by sin."

**

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Dr. Whitby cites two or three passages from Basil in favour of free will, out of a commentary on Isaiah, ascribed to him§§; but it is thought by learned men to be none of his, and therefore deserves no regard.

Homil. in Psalm xxxii. p. 202, vol. i.

*Discourse, &c. p. 379, 380; ed. 2. p. 369, 370. Ib. 30, de Paradiso, p. 626; vide etiam Hexam.; ib. 5, p. 61, et concio. 8, de Peccata, p. 61, append. § In Psal. xxix. p. 193. || Ib. xlviii. p. 279. ¶ De Libero Arbitrio, p. 631. **Homil. quod Deus non est auctor mali, p. 422. †† In Psalm xlviii. p. 279. Discourse, p. 97, 388; ed. 2. 96, 370. §§ Vide Rivet. Crit. Sacr. 1. 3, c. 20, 307.

Postscript, p. 561, 562; ed. 2. 538, 539.

SECTION XXI.

GREGORIUS NAZIANZENUS. A. D. 370.

GREGORY of Nazianzum often inculcates the doctrine of original sin in his writings. He represents himself and all mankind as concerned in Adam's first sin, as ruined by it, and most bitterly laments the wretched consequences of it. He affirms*, that the souls of men sinned in Adam; that all men fell+ by that sin which was from the beginning; that we are all of the same earth and mass, and have all tasted of the same tree of wickedness. And of himself he says§, "I am fallen from paradise, I am turned again to the earth from whence I was taken, having for delicious fare this one thing, to know my own evils, kaι avtɩ τns μikpas ndokηs, and for a little pleasure,' am condemned to sorrow without ceasing, and obliged to war against him who got into my friendship to my hurt, and through tasting, drew me into sin; these are the punishments of sin to me hence I am born to labour, to live, and die; this is the mother of want, want of covetousness, covetousness of wars." In another place he says, "I fell wholly, and am condemned εκ της του πρωτοπλας ου παρακοής, through the disobedience of him that was first made, and the theft of the adversary." Elsewhere he cries out T, φευ της η εμης αθενειας, εμη γαρ η του προπατορος, "O my weakness! for that of my first parent is mine;' he forgot the commandment which was given him, and was overcome by the bitter taste." And then he proceeds to enumerate the multitude of evils which spring from this root of bitterness: "Beautiful," says he**, "was the fruit for sight, and good for food, o eue Oavarwσas, which killed me." Hence he calls ++ the eating of it, yevois ovλoμevn," the destroying taste," which brought bitter punishment upon him; and the tree, purov avopopovov, "the man-murdering plant; φυτον ανδροφονον, and laments §§ the heavenly image being destroyed by the sin of the first man. One so sensible of the sad effects of the fall of Adam, could not fail of observing the weakness of man to all that is good, and the necessity of the Spirit and grace of God, and of divine help, to the performance of that which is truly so. "We are all poor," says he |||| και της θείας χάριτος επιδεεις, " and stand in need of divine grace. And in another place he observes ¶¶, that "such is the grossness of the material body, and imprisoned mind, that un Bondovμevov, unless it is helped,' it cannot otherwise have any understanding of God." And elsewhere he says ***, "It is by the Spirit of God only that God is heard, explained, and understood. That no man is spiritual without the Spirit +++. This," says he‡‡‡, "is my sentiment, ori dvσANTтov μev to αγαθον τη ανθρωπινη φύσει, that which is good is hard to be received by

* Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 51, p. 742, tom. i. † Ib. 42, p. 684.

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|| Ib. 14, p. 221.

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Ib. 5, p. 135. Ib. 38, p. 619; et 42, p. 681. Ib. 47, p. 111.

+Ib. carmen 13, p. 86, tom. ii. Ib. 16, p. 239, tom. i.

ttt Ib. 25, p. 441.

¶¶ Ib. 42, p. 683.
‡‡‡ Ib. 1, p. 6.

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*** Ib. 1, p. 17.

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