NUM B. XVI. HILARIUS PICTAVIENSIS. A. D. 360. Hilary of Poitiers fays many things concerning original fin, and which fhew the depravity of human nature, its imbecility to do that which is good, yea, its servitude to fin, and the need it ftands in of divine grace, and affiftance. "Sin, he fays, the. the father of our body, unbelief the mother of the foul, began to be in following generations, ex peccato atque infidelitate primi parentis, from the fin and unbelief of the first parent; for from these we took our rife, through the tranfgreffion of the first parent." And in another place', fpeaking of the parable of the loft fheep, he fays, "The one sheep is to be understood of man, and under one man the whole is to be reckoned, fed in unius Adae errore, but in the error of one Adam all mankind went aftray." Again, upon mentioning David's confeffion in Pfal. li. 5. he afks", "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 fin remaining in us." And upon a repetition of the fame words he has this note, "He knew that he was born, * Comm. in Matt. Can. 10. p. 277. z Enarr. in Pf. 58. p. 392. R 4 y Ib. Can. 18. p. 301. a In Pf. 118. Tau. p. 522. fub peccati origine et fub peccati lege, under original fin, and under the law of fin." Hence he represents man as in a state of great ignorance, and as incapable of knowing divine things without divine teachings: "It ought, fays he, to be a doubt to none, that we must make use of divine doctrines to know divine things; neither can human weakness of it felf attain to the knowledge of heavenly things; nor can the fense of corporal things affume to it felf the understanding of invifible ones. In another place, "God can't be understood, unlefs by God. We must not think of God according to human judgment; for neither is there that nature in us, ut fe in cæleftem cognitionem fuis viribus efferat, fo as that it can by its own ftrength lift up it felf 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, i, e. the underftanding of God the Father, and the Lord, by which especially our juftification will be proved, quanta opus eft nobis Dei gratia, how much of the grace of God do we need, that we may think rightly?" Many more paffages might be produced to the fame e b De Trin. 1. 4. P: 37. d In Pfal. 118. Aleph. p. 457: Ib. 1. 5. P. 53, 54. e Vid. de Trin. I. 1. p. 12. in Pf. 118. Aleph. p. 453. Lamed. p. 489. purpose. purpose. He denies faith to be ex noftro arbitrio, of our free will, and affirms, that "we have no love to God the Father but through believing in the Son." He frequently fuggefts the weakness of man to keep the commands of God, or to do his will. "Statutes, fays he ", are more and different, i. e. than commands, and are temper'd for the obferving of each kind of duties; for the keeping of which, nifi a Deo dirigamur, infirmi per naturam noftram 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 ftatutes that are commanded." In another place he fays i, "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 an habitation large and worthy of God." And elsewhere he obferves, that David prays, make me to go in the path of thy commandments; "For, fays 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 ftatutes may be appointed for him by the Lord, or that understanding f De Trin. 1. 7. P. 93. 8 Ib. p. 76. i Ib. in Daleth, p. 468. may 03 may be given him, or that he may be led in the path, or that his heart may be inclined to the teftimonies;" wherefore he often intimates', what need we stand in of divine affistance 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 reprefents man as in a ftate of bondage and flavery, and his will a fervant and not free. "In Peter's wife's mother, fays 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 the believed, voluntatis fuae fervitio detinebatur, he was held under the bondage of her own will." And in another place", "The Gentiles are bound in the bonds of their own fins, from which, through infidelity, they can't loofe themselves, according to what is faid, the finner is holden with the cords of his fins." Once more, citing thofe words in John viii. 34, 35, 36. He that committeth fin is the fervant of fin, &c. he makes this remark, "Therefore we are taken and bound, and ferve, not fo much in body as in mind;" all which agree with our fenfe of free will; though it must be owned, that there are fome paffages in this writer which can't well be reconciled 1 Ib. in Samech, p. 502. et in Phe, p. 511. • In Pfal. 136. p. 591. In Pf. 2. P. 347. to to the more frequent expreffions of his ; two are cited by Dr. Whitby, and others by Voffius, fhewing, that the beginning of good is from the will of man, and the finishing and perfecting of it from God. NUM B. XVII. VICTORINUS AFER. A.D. 365. VIctorinus reprefents the ftate of man by nature as most deplorable and wretched, and clearly expreffes the neceffity of the Holy Spirit, who he fpeaks of as the alone fanctifier, from which work of his he takes his name.; "Beaufe, fays he ", men's memory of themselves, and of God, is obrutam, overwhelmed or confounded, there's need of the Holy Ghoft, if fo be that knowledge may come, to understand what is the breadth, &c. for life was firft to be given, mortuis per peccata hominibus, to men dead through fins, that they might be raised up unto God by faith." The Spirit of God, he fays, "Is called the Holy Spirit, quod fanciat, id eft, fanctos facit, becaufe be makes holy." And a little after he observes *, |