of his coming into the world, he says, that " he came to fave all by himself, omnes inquam, qui per eum renafcuntur in Deum, all, I fay, who through him are born again unto God, infants and little ones, and children and young men, and old men." And in another place, taking notice of God's fuffering Jonah to be fwallowed up by a Whale, and of his after deliverance. "So, fays he, God from the beginning suffered man to be swallowed up by the great Whale, who was the author of the tranfgreffion; not that being swallowed up he should wholly perish, but providing and preparing a plan of falvation which is effected by the word, through the fign of Jonah, his qui eandem cum Jona de Deo fententiam habuerunt, for them who have the fame fentiments concerning God with Jonah, and have confeffed and faid, I am the Lord's fervant, I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made the fea and the dry land; that man enjoying the unhoped for falvation from God might rife from the dead and glorify him." And elsewhere proving, that the Father of Christ is the fame that was fpoken of by the prophets; and that when Chrift came, he acknowledged no other but him, who was declared from the beginning. He adds, A d Adv. Haeref. 1. 2. c. 39. p. 191. Ib. 1. 3. c. 22. p. 289. fib. 1. 4. c. 24. P. 342. quo quo libertatem detulit his qui legitime et prono animo, et toto corde deferviunt ei, from whom he brought deliverance to them who ferve him truly, with a ready mind, and with all their hearts; but to the despisers of him, and fuch who are not fubject to God, fempiternam attulit perditionem, abfcindens eos a vita, he hath brought everlasting deftruction, cutting them off from life." So far was he from thinking that Chrift died to redeem all mankind, that he exprefly fays, That the death of Chrift is the damnation of fome; his words are thefe: "As they (the Ifraelites) through the blindness of the Egyptians, fo we, through the blindnefs of the Jews, receive falvation; fiquidem mors Domini, eorum quidem qui cruci eum fixerunt et non crediderunt ejus adventum, damnatio eft, feeing the death of the Lord is indeed.the damnation of them that crucified him, and did not believe his coming; but the falvation of them that believe in him." And in another place, where he makes Jacob a type of Chrift, and Rachel of the Church, he confines the obedience and fufferings of Chrift to his church: All things, fays he, he did for the younger, Rachel, who had good eyes, quae praefigurabat ecclefiam, propter quam fuftinuic Chriftus, who prefigured the church, for a Ib. c. 47. p. 388. H Ib: c. 38. p. 376. whom whom Chrift endured," i. e. fufferings and death. And a little after he has thefe words; "Chrift came not for the fake of them only who believed in him, in the times of Tiberius Caefar; nor did the Father provide for those men only who now are, but for all men entirely, qui ab initio fecundum virtutem fuam in fua generatione, et timuerunt et dilexerunt Deum, et jufte et pie converfati funt erga proximos, et concupierunt videre Chriftum et audire vocem ejus, who from the beginning, according to their virtue or ability, have feared and loved God in their generation, and have righteously and piously converfed with their neighbours, and bave defired to fee Chrift and hear his voice." The paffages cited from this writer, by M. Daille, for general redemption, have not one word about it, and, at most, only prove, that man is endued with free will, which, in fome fenfe, is not denied; and that man, and not God, is the caufe of his own imperfection, blindness and deftruction, which is readily agreed to. The citations made by the fame author, out of Clemens Alexandrinus, do, indeed, exprefs, in very general terms, the care of God and Chrift over mankind, and their great regard unto, and defire after their falvation; c Ib. c. 39. P. 377. d Pag. 759. Ib. p. 760, 761, 762, 763, 764. and and alfo affert our Lord to be the Saviour of all men, and feem to carry the point further than what is in controverfy, even to the falvation of all; which, if it could once be established, we should readily come into the notion of general redemption; though in all these large expreffions, Clement seems only to refer to the texts in Jude ver. 3. 1 Tim. ii. 4. and iv. 10. in the firft of which, the Apostle speaks of the common falvation, all the faved ones share alike; in the next, of the will of God, that fome of all forts fhould be faved; and in the laft, of God, as the preferver of all men, in a way of common, and particularly of believers, in a way of special providence and after all, Clement 'diftinguishes between Chrift's being a Saviour of fome, and a Lord of others; for he fays, that he is, των πεπιςευκοίων σωτηρ, των δε απείθησανίων -ve, the Saviour of them that believe; but the Lord of them that believe not." And in one place he has thefe words; "Wherefore he (Chrift) is introduced in the gospel weary, who was weary for us, and promifing to give his life a ranfom, als wonλwv, in the room of many. f Strom. 1. 7. P. 703. NUM B. VII. TERTULLIAN. A. D. 200. TEr h Ertullian is a writer, it must be owned, who expreffes himself in fomewhat general terms, when he speaks of the incarnation, death and facrifice of Chrift, which yet are capable of being understood in a fenfe agreeable to the doctrine of particular redemption; as when he fays, " That "we who believe that God was here on earth, and took upon him the humility of an buman babit, ex caufa humanae falutis, for the fake of man's falvation, are far from their opinion, who think that God takes no care of any thing;" which may be truly faid, without fuppofing that Chrift affumed human nature, for the fake of the falvation of every individual of mankind: fo when he fays, in another place, That Chrift "ought to be made a facrifice, pro omnibus gentibus, for all nations; his meaning may be, that it was neceffary that he should be a propitiation, not for the Jews only, but for the Gentiles alfo; and elfewhere having obferved that the Marcionites concluded from the words of God to Mofes, in Exod. xxxii. 10. that Mofes was better h Tertullian. adv. Marcion. 1. 2. c. 16. p. 465. than |
