and grieves, that the number which, by Alpha, is added to Abraham, and which, in Rho, is finished in Sarah, might be filled up, by an encrease of believers, for the heavenly constitution." And in another place, he says, "That this must needs be understood as referring to the people of the church: He adds, I will number them, and above the fand fhall they be multiplied. Is their number uncertain, who are written in the book of God? wherefore there's no difficulty in the number of them whofe truth remains in writing." Moreover, nothing is more evident than that this Chriftian Writer thought that election is an eternal act of God, or that it was from eternity; for which purpose he frequently cites, or refers to the famous paffage in Eph. i. 4. "The Father, fays he, abfolutely calls the Son God, meaning in Hof. i. 7. juft cited by him, in whom he bath chofen us before the world began; and becaufe God is innafcible by none, we are given to the Son by God the Father for an inheritance." Again, fpeaking of the will of the Father and the Son, he has these words "; " That he wills the fame, he fhews without ambiguity; faying, Father, ← Enarrat. in Pfal. 138. p. 610. Vid. Etiam in Matt. Can. 9. p. 272. & Can, 10. p. 277. Ib. in Pfal. 60. p. 399. & in Pfal. 62. p. 406. & in Pfal. 67. p. 437. & in Pfal. 143. p. 633. 8 De Trinitate, I. 4. P. 45. Ib. 1. 9. p. 143. whom thou hast given me, I will, that where I am, they may be with me; seeing therefore the Father wills that we should be with Chrift, in whom, according to the Apostle, he hath chofen us before the foundation of the world; and the Son wills the fame, namely, that we be with him: the will, with respect to nature, is the fame, which, with respect to nativity, is diftinguished in the perfon willing." Once more; "God, fays he, is wonderful in the faints, whom, when he thall have made conformable to the glory of his body, by him who is the Mediator, will also affume into the unity of the Father's Majefty and whilft the Father is in him by nature, and he again is in us by the fociety of the flesh, whom he will place to obtain the kingdom prepared for them before. the foundation of the world; to whom, death being swallowed up, he will give an immortal and eternal life.' Voffius, and, after him, Dr. Whitby', cites a paffage from this father, in favour of God's predeftinating of men to life, from a prefcience that they would live piously, believe and perfevere to the end, which is this; "Because many are called, and few chofen, therefore, fays he ", there is not a i Enarrat. in Pfal. 67. P. 439, 440. few fewness in the invited, but a scarcity in the elect for in the inviter there is the humanity of publick goodnefs; but in the invited, by a right judgment, the election is of probity." To which, they might as well have added another paffage, occafioned by a citation of the fame words, where he fays", "The elect are confpicuous in the wedding garment, and fplendid in the pure and perfect body of the new nativity, meaning the refurrection: wherefore election is not a thing of undistinguished judgment, but the distinction is made from the confideration of merit;" by which, as in the other paffage, he means not that election he fo often fpeaks of, as before the foundation of the world, but an election in time, after vocation; and, indeed, no other than that diftinction and feparation which will be made at the day of judgment, in the refurrection morn; when the faints will appear distinct from all others, having on the wed--ding garment, and in their glorious rifen bodies, and fo will be fingled out from the reft, and placed at Chrift's right hand. n Enarrat, in Pfal. 64. p. 412. NUMB E 3 NUM B. XIII. BASILIUS CAESARIENSIS. A. D. 370. BAfil, commonly called the Great, to di der δεν ftinguish him from others of the fame name, was bishop of Caefarea; he died A. D. 378. He held the doctrine of predeftination, and afferts, That whatfoever comes to pafs, was fore-ordained by God. "Take care, fays he, how thou fayeft this thing was done by chance, and this comes of its own accord; for der aanlor, δεν ατακτον, ace isov, nothing is unordained, nothing undetermined; nothing is done in vain, nothing is done rafhly." He affirms, That not a hand nor an eye are moved but according to the will of God: the time, ftate, and condition of this prefent life, he says, are fixed and determined by God; his words are thefe : "Confider, that that God who has formed us, put the foul into us, nav. edwner Exash JUZA TO 618 drazaznı, has given to every foul its manner of living; and, indeed, to others he has fixed other terms of removing hence; for he hath appointed this man to abide longer in the flesh, and, on the con • Bafil. Homil. in Pfal. 32. p. 201. Vol. I. Vid. ib. p. 205. ▸ Homil. in Martyr. Julitt. p. 374 trary, trary, hath decreed, that that man fhould be fooner loofed from the bonds of the body, according to the unfpeakable methods of his wifdom and juftice." And he not only maintained a predeftination of all things in general, but of particular perfons, to eternal falvation; citing those words in John x. 16. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. He obferves, That "the Lord is fpeaking of them, τις απο των εθνών wegwelomeres as owing xxv, who, from among the Gentiles, are predeftinated unto falvation." And And upon mentioning the fame words a little after ", he has this following note; "The Lord fhews that there is fome other fold truly holy, into which the sheep of Chrift are to be gather'd; namely, they, τις από των εθιων προωρισμένες εις σωτηρίαν, who, from among the Gentiles, are predeftinated to falvation; that is, the church in which the true worshippers worship in fpirit and in truth." He reprefents the elect as a particular and diftinct people, and as peculiarly bleffed. "No man, fays he, calls the people of the Jews bleffed, but the people, τον απο πάντων των λαων αριτίνδην εξει Xeyμevov, which is chofen beft out of all people, we are the nation, of whom the Lord is our God; we are the people whom he has 9 Homil. in Pfal. 28. P. 170. ib. p. 182. r Al. Homil. in Homil. in Pfal. 32. p. 208. |