thould prove hurtful, wherefore 705 ENλENTOIS των ανθρώπων, το thole that are chofen from among men, and to them that are through faith admitted to knowledge, the holy myfteries of the prophecies which are preferved are hid in parables." And elsewhere", "According to the fitnefs which every one has, he, i. e. God diftributes his benefits both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, ἢ τοις εκ τελων προωρισμένοις, and to them who are predeftinated from among them, and are in his own time called, faithful and elect." 2. It is evident that Clement held, that the predestination of men to everlasting life was from eternity, or before the world began, as appears from the following paffages; having cited fer. i. 5,7. Do not say I am a child, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, &c. his note upon it is *, "This prophecy intimates unto us, τις προ καταβολης κοσμο εις τοιςιν εγνωσμένες θεω, that thole who before the foundation of the world are known by God unto faith, i. e. are appointed by him to faith, are now babes, because of the will of God lately fulfilled, as we are new born unto vocation and falvation." Yea, he fays, that the Chriftians were before the world was; for speaking of feveral nations who w Stromat. 1. 7. p. 702, 703. Paedagog. 1. 1. c. 7. p. 111. boaft would be righteous." This paffage is indeed referr'd to by Dr. Whitby, in favour of a conditional, and againft abfolute predeftination; but Clement might very well fay, agreeable to the abfolute scheme, that God predeftinated men to glory, knowing they would be righteous, because he ordainedthem to be righteous, and determined to make them fo. He does not fay, that he foreknew that they would be righteous of themselves, and therefore predeftinated them to happiness, which only would ferve the conditional scheme. Befides, neither he, nor any of the antients, ever faid, that God foreknowing men would be righteous, predeftinated them to be fo; but foreknowing they would be righteous, because he determined they should be, he predeftinated them to happiness. There are two or three more paffages of this writer referr'd to by Dr. Whitby, as oppofing the doctrine of abfolute election and reprobation, which, as has been before obferved concerning fome others, from Juftin and Irenaeus, more properly belong to the doctrine of free will; and if Clement has faid some things which look that way it need not be much wonder'd at, fince both he and his mafter Pantaenus had been addict b Difcourfe on the Five Points, p. 98. Ed. 2. 97 C Ib. p. 96. Ed. 2. 95. ed ed to the ftoick philofophy; which they might find fome difficulty to get clear of, and fo might be mixed by them with the Christian scheme, as it is plain it too much was in the school of Alexandria. NUMB. VII. TERTULLIAN. A. D. 200. Tertullian was by birth an African, of the city of Carthage, his father was a Proconfular Centurion, he flourished in the times of Severus, and Antoninus Caracalla, about the beginning of the third century. He was a presbyter of the church, and one of the first of the Latin writers among the Chriftians. He wrote much, and many of his works remain to this day, in which we have at least fome hints of his being acquainted with the doctrines of election and reprobation. In one of his books, speaking of the different crowns which men of different orders were honoured with, he addreffes the Chriftian after this manner, "But thine order and thy magiftracy, and the name of thy court is the church of Chrift: Thou art bis, confcriptus in libris vitae, written in the books of life." . d Vid. Hieron. catalog. fcript. Eccl. § 63. De Corona, c. 13. p. 129. Ed. Paris, 1634. And And in another place', treating of hereticks he fays," They were wits of fpiritual wickedness, with whom we and the brethren wreftle; the neceffary articles of faith, merit our contemplation, ut electi manifeftentur, ut reprobi detegantur, That the elect may be manifefted, that the reprobate may be detected." And elsewhere, having cited Ifa. xl. 5, 6. he makes this remark, "He diftinguishes the iffues of things, not fubftances, for who does not place the judgment of God in a twofold fentence, of falvation and punishment? Wherefore all flesh is grafs, quae igni deftinatur, which is appointed to the fire, and all flesh shall fee the falvation of God; quae faluti ordinatur, which is ordained to Jalvation. And as he fays upon another account", "There can be no election without reprobation." He has indeed a paffage which feems to make election dependant upon the works of men; his words are thefe, "What man is there without fin that God fhould always chufe him whom he never could refufe? Or who likewife without any good work, that God fhould always refufe him, whom he never could chufe? Shew a man that is always good and he will f De praefcript. Haeret. c. 38. p. 246. not |