of the anathema's which are carried about under his name." And befides, this teftimony only fhews, that Chrift is the Saviour of the world, and the light of the world, which no body denies, for they are the exprefs words of the fcripture; but the question is, in what sense these phrases are to be underftood.

NUM B. IX.

CYPRIAN. A. D. 250.

Cyprian, in many places of his writings, very exprefly limits Chrift's fufferings and death to certain perfons described by him; as when he fays, "Though we are many fhepherds yet we feed but one flock, and ought to gather together and cherish, oves univerfas quas Chriftus fanguine fuo et paffione quaefivit, all the fheep which Chrift bath fought up by his blood and fufferings; nor fhould we fuffer our fupplicant and grieving brethren to be cruelly defpifed and trodden down by the proud prefumption of fome perfons." And in another place he afks, "What can be a greater fin? or, What a fouler fpot, than to ftand against Chrift, than to fcatter his church, quam ille

a Ep. 67. p. 164.

Ep. 72. p. 180.

fan

0 3

fanguine fuo preparavit et condidit, which he has prepared and obtained by his own blood?" And elsewhere he fays', "Chrift is the bread of life, et panis hic omnium non eft, fed nofter eft, and this bread does not belong to all, but is ours; and as we fay, our Father, because he is the Father of them that understand and believe, fo we call Chrift our bread, qui corpus contigimus, who have touched his body;" in which words all but believers are excluded from having any share in Chrift, the bread of life. And having in another place mentioned Ezek. ix. 4. where a mark is ordered to be fet upon the forebeads of the men that figh and cry for the abominations of Jerufalem, he makes this obfervation; "This fign belongs to the passion and blood of Chrift, et quifquis in hoc figno invenitur, and whofoever is found with this fign fhall be preserved fafe and whole; which is approved by the teftimony of God, faying, And the blood fhall be for a fign upon the boufes where you are, &c. What preceded in type before the lamb was flain is fulfilled in Chrift, the truth following after; as there Egypt being fmitten, the Jewish people could not escape but by the blood and token of the lamb, fo when the world fhall begin to be wafted and fmitten, quifquis in fanguine er

• De Oratione Dominica, p. 268.

4 Ad Demetrianum, p. 283.

I

figno

figno Chrifti inventus fuerit, folus evader,
Whofoever 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 Chrift.
And a little after, in the fame epiftle, fpeak-
ing of immortality, he has these words,
"This grace Chrift imparts, this gift of his
mercy he gives, by fubduing death through
the victory of the cross; redimendo creden-
tem pretio fanguinis fui, by redeeming the
believer with the price of his blood; by recon-
ciling man to God the Father, and by
quickning the dead with the heavenly rege-
neration." And in one of his tracts, ani-
mating the faints against the fears of death,
he fays,
"Let him be afraid to die, Qui
non Chrifti cruce et paffione cenfetur, Who
is not reckoned to have any part in the cross
and fufferings of Chrift; let him be afraid to
die who will pass from this death to a fe-
cond death." And a little after ", "We
who live in hope, and believe in God, and
trust, Chriftum paffum effe pro nobis, that
Chrift has fuffered for us, and rose again,
abiding in him, and rifing again by him,
and in him, why fhould we be unwilling to
depart hence out of this world? or, Why

Pag. 284.

f. De mortalitate, p. 298. • Pag. 299.

I

fhould

should we mourn over, and grieve for our departing friends, as if they were loft?" 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 paffion, will not be filent afterwards in his vengeance: This is our God, id eft, non omnium, fed fidelium et credentium Deus, that is, not the God of all, but of the faithful and believers." To all which may be added another paffage of his, which runs thus, "Writing to the seven churches, and intimating to each of them their fins and tranfgreffions, he said repent; to whom? but to them, quos pretio magno fui fanguinis redemerat, whom he had redeemed with the great price of his blood." This laft paffage is indeed taken out of an epiftle which Erafmus thought was not Cyprian's, but Cornelius's, Bishop of Rome; however, he afterwards judges 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, fince he was cotemporary with Cyprian. The paffages cited by Monfieur Daille' from this writer, as being on the fide of univerfal redemption, only

h De bono patientiae, p. 319.

i In Epift. ad Novatianum, p. 436, 437.

k Vid. Rivet. Crit. Sacr. 1. 2. c. 15. p. 212. 1 Pag. 768, 769, 770.

fet

fet forth either the great encouragement given by God to penitent finners, or that Chrift came to be the Saviour of mankind, to be given unto men, and that he came for the fake of all; which Cyprian explains in the very fame paffage, of all forts of men, learned and unlearned, of every age and fex'; as in another of them, by a fimile taken. from the general and equal diffusion of the fun's light, he fhews", that Chrift, the fun and true day, equally gives the light of eternal life, in fua ecclefia, in his own church; and that the Ifraelites had an equal measure of the manna without difference of age or fex; fo the heavenly grace is equally divided to all without any difference of fex or years, and without refpect of perfons; and the gift of fpiritual grace poured forth, fuper omnem Dei populum, upon all the people of God.

any

Some Teftimonies are next produced by Monfieur Daille • out of Novatian, Methodius and Arnobius: The first of thefe writers, in one of the paffages cited, fignifies that there is hope of falvation for men in Chrift, 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; fince according to the latter, all men are in

m De Oratione dominica, p. 270.

Ep. 76. p. 212.

Pag. 770, 771.

I 2

deed