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stowed freely, and not of merit. Wherefore neither did they think, that on the part of man is given any cause of predeftination unto preventing grace: Yea, it is very probable that all, or moft of them, when they make faith prior to election, yet do not confider faith as the cause of election properly fo called; as if God, moved with the worthiness of faith, chofe fome to holiness and life." From whence it appears, that tho' they held predeftination to glory according to God's prefcience of faith and perfeverance, which prefcience of faith and perfeverance proceeds from God's abfolute decree to give them both, in which fenfe none deny it; yet they make predeftination to grace to be abfolute, without any caufe or condition on man's part; for otherwife grace must be given according to man's merits, which was the doctrine of Pelagius condemned by the antients, and fomething in man must be the cause of the divine will whereas, as Aquinas obferves, "no man was ever of fo unfound a judgment, as to fay that merits are the cause of divine predeftination with respect to the act of God predeftinating." What is alledged from Prof per, is out of an epiftle of his to Austin"; in which he obferves to him, that "many of the fervants of Chrift at Marseilles thought m P.879,

Sum. par. 1. In. 23. art. 5. concl. p. 77.

881, 886.

that

;

B

that what Austin had wrote against the Pelagians concerning the calling of the elect according to God's purpofe, was contrary to the opinion of the Fathers and fenfe of the church-and that they defend their obftinacy by antiquity, affirming that what are brought out of the epiftle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, to prove divine grace preventing the merits of the elect, were never fo understood as they are now by any ecclefiaftical men. This objection, how it may be removed, fays he, we pray that you would fhew, patiently bearing with our folly; viz. that they (the Mafilians, and not Profper, as the Doctor tranflates it, which poils the ingenuous confeffion of Profper the Doctor boafts of) having again perused the opinions of thofe that went before, concerning this matter, their judgment is found to be one and the fame, by which they embraced the purpose and predeftination of God according to prefcience." The fum of which is, that fome Frenchmen of Marfeilles cavill'd at Austin's doctrine, and pleaded antiquity on their fide; having, as they said, perufed almost all, not all, that went before them, and which they own did not please them. Auftin's answer to this is cited already. And certain it is, that as his doctrines were then generally efteemed, ex

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cept by these few Frenchmen; fo he verily thought, that the writers before him were of the fame mind with him: For which purpose he cites particularly Cyprian, Nazianzen, and Ambrofe. But what was the fense of these, and other writers before him, concerning this point, will be seen in the following Numbers.

NUMBER I.

CLEMENS ROMANUS, A. D. 69.

C

a

C

Lement of Rome lived in the times of the Apostles, and is by Clement of Alexandria called an Apoftle. He is thought by fome to be the fame Clement the Apostle Paul fpeaks of, in Phil. iv. 3. as one of his fellow-labourers. He wrote an epistle in the name of the church at Rome to the church at Corinth, about the year 69. which is the earliest piece of antiquity next to the writings of the Apoftles extant, being writ ten when fome of them were living, even before the Apostle John wrote his epiftles, and the book of the Revelations, and while the temple at Jerufalem was yet ftanding. In this epiftle are feveral things relating, to the

n De Perfeverantia, c. 19.

a Stromat. 1.4. p. 516. Eufeb. Eccl. Hift. 1. 3. c. 15. Hieron. Catalog. Script. Ecclef. S. 25. Fabricii Bibl. Graec, 1. 4. c. 5. p. 175.

doctrine

doctrine of election, and which greatly ferve to confirm it. For,

e

1. Agreeable to the Apoftolic doctrine, That God worketh all things after the counfel of his own will, that his purposes shall ftand, and that whatfoever he has determined fhall come to pass, Clement affirms ; That "when he wills, and as he wills, he does all things; και εδεν μη παρέλθη των δε δογματισμένων υπ' αυls, and that none of thofe things which are decreed by him, hall pass away," or be unaccomplished: which fhews his fenfe of the dependency of all things upon the will of God, and of the immutability of his decrees in general.

2. He not only frequently makes mention of perfons under the character of the elect of God, but alfo intimates, that there is a certain, fpecial, and peculiar number of them fixed by him. Speaking of the fchifm and fedition in the church at Corinth, he represents it as what was "very f unbecoming, and fhould be far from Tos ExλexTOIS TO DE8, the elect of God." And elfewhere, having cited Pfal. xviii. 26. he fays, Let us therefore join our felves to the innocent and righteous, for, o l ExλERTOI TO JE8, they are the elect of God;" i. e. they appear to be fo: these are characters defcriptive of them. And in another Epift. ad Corinth. 1. p. 64. Ib. p. 104.

Eph. i. 11.
Ibid. F. 2.

с

B

piace,

place", enlarging in commendation of the grace of love, he fays; "Love knows no fchifm, is not feditious, love does all things in harmony; wavles of exλexo T8 De8, all the elect of God are made perfect in love; which agrees with what the Apostle fays of them, That they are chofen to be holy and without blame before him in love. Moreover, Clement obferves, to the praife of the members of the church of Corinth, to whom he writes, That formerly their "contention was night and day for the whole brotherhood, that, τον αριθμον των εκλεκίων avls, the number of his elect might be faved, with mercy and a good confcience." And elsewhere he fays, That " God chose the Lord Jefus Chrift, and us by him, as Aœov weisov, for a peculiar people."

1

3. Whereas the Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephefians, fays; Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who bath blessed us with all spiritual bleffings, in beavenly places, in Chrift; according as he bath chofen us in him before the foundation of the world; ; we conclude from hence, that from all eternity there was a preparation of fpiritual bleffings made; and agreeably, Clement, our Apoftolical writer, has thefe words; "Let us therefore confider, bre

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