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of the Apostle if be would, that bis faith
should not fail." Jerom does indeed some-
times speak of the Spirit of God being ta-
ken away and quenched; but then, by the
Spirit, he means the gifts of the Spirit, such
as are mentioned in 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9, 10. The
text in Eccl. vii. 15. he understands not of
one that is really just, but of one who seems
to himself to be so. It must be owned, that
there are some expreffions of Jerom's here
and there, which are not easy to be reconci-
led either with himself, or this doctrine; as
when he seems to make the perpetuity of
God's gifts to depend upon the worthiness 2
of men, and mens continuance in grace to
lie in the power of their wills, contrary to
what he at other times asserted, which has
been already observed; as also when he says *,
that "God indeed has planted, and no man
can root up his plantation; but because this
planting is in his own free will, no other can
root it up, nifi ipsa praebuerit assensum,
unless that affents to it." And in another
place he says, "That though no one can
pluck out of the hand of God, yet he that is
held may fall out of the hand of God, pro-
pria voluntate, by his own will." And

8 Ib. ad Hedib. Tom. 3. p. 49. L. p. 50. C. h Ib. Comment. in Isa. Tom. 5. p. 50. B.

Ib. Comment. in Hieremiam. Tom. 5. p. 150. G.

* Ib. Comment. in Matt. Tom. 9. p. 22. B.

Ib. Comment. in Ofeam, Tom. 6. p. Jo. L.

13

again, "That he who is like an adamant stone, which can't be hurt, or overcome by any, yet may be dissolved by the alone heat of deadly luft. And this he says after he had expressed the doctrine of the faints perfeverance in a very strong manner. More

over, he afferts, that the Ethiopians may,

upon repentance, become the children of God, and the children of God, by falling into fin, may become Ethiopians; and yet in the same leaf stands a testimony to the doctrine of perseverance, which is cited above. But these must be reckoned among Jerom's unguarded expreffions, by which we are not to form a judgment of his sentiments, against the numerous teftimonies produced to the contrary.

m Ib. Comment. in Amos, p. 47. A. # Ib. p. 50. C.

CHAP.

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Of the HEATHENS.

O the doctrine of the antients, concerning the neceffity of grace to the performance of every good work, the Pelagians objected the virtues and famous actions of the Heathens. These Voffius, a favourite author of Doctor Whitby's, has largely proved under various thefes or propositions, to want all the conditions requifite in good works; such as doing them according to the law of God, in love to him, from faith in him, and with a view to his glory; and that tho' some few of the antients were of opinion, that the more virtuous among the Heathens, such as Socrates, and others, were saved, yet this notion was condemned of old by the other Fathers, especially in the times of Austin. The collection which Dr. Whitby has made out of the Fathers is very little to the purpose, chiefly relating to the endowments of nature, the blessings of providence, and temporal favours bestowed on Heathens in common with others, denied by none. The principal, teftimonies in favour of the good works and falvation of the Heathens, are taken from Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Chryfoftom, and Jerom; but these, as Dr. Edwards observes, at least some of them, had been bred in a philofophic way themselves, and fo had retained a charity for that fort of men, yea, thought better of them than they deserved. Befides, should these teftimonies be examined, they'll not be found fo full and express as they are thought to be; and other paffages of these writers may be produced contradicting of them. As to Justin Martyr, when he fays, that such as Socrates and Heraclitus were Christians, he does not mean, as a learned man of our own nation has observed, that they were perfectly, only in part so; that is, as they were partakers of, and lived according to the λογος, or reason, which Chrift, the Word and Son of God, imparts to every man. And as to Clement of Alexandria, Voffius has clearly shewn, that he could not say or think that any could be saved without faith, and without the knowledge of Christ; which he supposed the Heathens had through Christ's descent into hell, and preaching to them there. Nor that he could mean, that the philosophy of the Greeks was sufficient to salvation, only at most, that it was one degree towards,

a Hift. Pelag. 1. 3. Par. 3. p. 358. ad 379.
b Discourse, &c. p. 550, &c. Ed. 2. 527, &c.

Неа

• Veritas Redux, p. 439.

d Bulli Judicium, Eccl. Cathol. de neceff. credendi quod

Chrift. fit Deus, append. ad c. 7. p. 201, &c.
Hift. Pelag. 1. 3. Par. 3. p. 376, 377.

of

or what had a tendency to lead to Christ: And though Chryfoftom says, that before the coming of Christ they that did not confefs him might be saved, yet he elsewhere affirms', that the works of men ignorant of God, are like to the garments of the dead, who are insensible of them; his words are these, "They that labour in good works, and know not the God of piety, are like, λειψανοις νεκρων, to the remains of the dead, who are cloathed with beautiful garments, but have no sense of them." And though Jerom talks in one places, of " the knowledge of God being by nature in all, and that no man is born without Christ, and hath not in himself the feeds of wisdom and justice, and other virtues; whence many without faith, and the Gospel of Christ, do fome things either wisely or holily." Yet in another place he says, "Let us bring forth that sentence (the just shall live by faith) against those who not believing in Christ think themselves to be strong, wife, temperate, and just; that they may know that no man liveth without Christ, sine quo omnis virtus in vitio est, without whom all virtue is to be reckon'd for vite. To which I shall add two or three teftimonies more, shewing, that the virtues of the Heathens were not properly good works, but had only a shew f Serm. de fid. et leg. nat. Tom. 6. p. 838. & Comment. in Gal. p. 70. M.

Ib. p. 76. B.

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