CHAP. V.

QUOTATIONS FROM THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, PRODUCED BY THE BISHOP, EXAMINED.

SECT. I.

Quotations from the Fathers which have NO Bearing on the points in question.

1. The subject stated. How we ought to estimate the sentiments of the Fathers. § 2. Quotations which relate to what belongs to men and to God, from CYRIL. 3. Concerning what is not excusable, from HILARY. §4. The consequence of not believing, from AMBROSE. 5. Concerning divine assistance, from JEROME and AUGUSTINE. 6. The act of sin voluntary, from AUGUSTINE,

7. Christians the subjects of two births, from AUGUSTINE. § 8. The danger of falling into opposite extremes, from AUGUSTINE. 9-12. Errors condemned, from AUGUSTINE and CHRYSOSTOM. § 13. Certainty of divine promises to those who are willing, from CHRYSOSTOM. § 14. Concerning divine permission, from CHRYSOSTOM. § 15. Concluding remarks.

§ 1. WERE I to say, that more than one

half of the pile of quotations from the Fathers, consisting of about two hundred and forty pages, produced by the Bishop of Lincoln against Calvinism, has no bearing on the point in question, I should be far from transgressing the boundary of truth. Of the other moiety a considerable part militates against the Bishop's avowed principles; a part consists of quotations which are doubtful, only in expressions against the Calvinists, but

not in meaning; and the remainder appears to be unscriptural both in language and in sentiment. Before we proceed to particulars, it may be proper to premise, that these uninspired Fathers lived in the infancy of the Christian church-that they have no just claim to superiority over the moderns, who, in many respects, are their superiors, as they are their seniors in point of advantages-that the controversies agitated in their days were very different from those under consideration-that we possess the same scriptures that they possessed-that the rules of just criticism are now better understood, than in their days-that a more accurate logic may be naturally expected in the present age, than that to which they were accustomed-and that, notwithstanding their zeal, piety, and eloquence, in many instances, they are very indif ferent guides in controversial theology. The ultimate appeal must be to the genuine sense of the inspired volume.

§2. Some of the quotations relate to what belongs to men and to God. Thus CYRIL of Jerusalem says, "It belongs to me to speak, to you to give attention, to God to make perfect.”* Again, "It belongs to God to give grace, but to 'you to receive and preserve it. Do not there

* Refut. p. 347.

'fore despise the grace, because it is given 'freely, but having received it, preserve it with ' reverence."* Whole pages to this effect are quoted; but what have they to do with the points in debate? Whole volumes of similar quotations might be extracted from the Fathers, but what tendency could they have to settle controversies about Calvinism?

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§3. Other quotations refer to what is not excusable. Thus HILARY remarks, ""The ex'cuse of a certain natural necessity in crimes is not admitted. For [on that supposition] the serpent might have been innocent, who him'self stops his ears that they may be deaf."'t Again, There is not any necessity of sin in 'the nature of men, but the practice of sin arises from the desire of the will, and the ' pleasure of vice." Here the author evidently refers to a fatal necessity, as maintained by the Valentinians, Basilidians, Marcionites, and other heretics of those times; but what relevancy is there in such quotations against modern Calvinists? We cordially concur with HILARY in condemning such dogmas.

§ 4. Some quotations are produced to shew the consequence of not believing. Thus AMBROSE

* Refut.

P.

349.

+ Ib. p. 359. + Ib. p. 360,

"If any one does not believe in Christ, he defrauds himself of the general benefit, just 'as if one should exclude the rays of the sun by shutting his windows."* Again, "" He saw that those who are diseased cannot be saved ' without a remedy, and therefore he afforded a medicine to the sick. Therefore he brought 'the assistance of health to all; so that whoso' ever shall perish, may ascribe the cause of his ' death to himself, who was unwilling to be cured 'when he had a remedy, by which he might have escaped." Of what possible use is it to multiply quotations on this head, while there is no difference of opinion?

§ 5. Many quotations relate to divine assistThus JEROME: "We so preserve free'will to man, that we do not deny the assistance

ance.

of God in each thing." And thus AUGUSTINE: "If he (Pelagius) will agree that the will itself,

and the action, are assisted by God, and so 'assisted that. we cannot will or do any thing 'well without that assistance, no controversy

will be left between us, as far as I can judge, ⚫ concerning the assistance of the grace of God."]} And so say the Calvinists. As these lines contain the whole of the quotation, what could be his Lordship's design in producing it? On what

*Refut. p. 380. Ib. p. 378. Ib. p. 410. Ib. p. 448.