ffuTti/ias -Tta^'otra,, oiri 'iripmi rif/,ri <riSiiy.- — Euseb. Hist. Eccles., lib. iv. cap. 15.
" Neither can we ever forsake Christ, him who suffered for the salvation of the ivorld of them that are saved, nor worship any other."
[It is an extract from a letter of the church of Smyrna to the churches of Pontus, giving an account of the martyrdom of Poly carp.]
II. The witness of holy Ignatius, as he was carrying to Rome from Antioch, to be cast to beasts for the testimony of Jesus, Epist. ad Philad. [cap. ix., a.d.
107] ; OCto; Iffriv « Tpo; too XIxTtpa ayovffa. oho;, h -Xirpa, h (ppocyf^o:, h xXiis, o -xoif/Lriv,
<r« iipiTov, ri 9-vpa T?5 yvuffiias Si' ni t'liTnXSov AQpotaf/, xa) 'liraax xai 'laxiuS, M&jfTJjf, xa.) o iruf/.- voii Tuv 'Trpoi^nrui y^op'oi, xai oi irrvXoi rov xotT/Jt,ov o'l a.<7r'o(TToXoi xa.) -/i vv/x(p>t tov Xpiirrov, VTTip
vis, <ptpv>is Xoyu, Vi^i^ii TO eJxiTov aifia "va avTnt l^ayopdirti. — " This is the Way leadmg to the Father, this the rock, the fold, the key ; he is the shepherd, the sacrifice ; the door of knowledge, by which entered Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the whole company of prophets, and the pillars of the world, the apostles, and the spouse of Christ ; for whom, instead of a dowry, he poured out his own blood, that he might redeem her."
Surely Jesus Christ gives not a dowry for any but his own spouse.
III. Clemens, " whose name is in the book of life," Phil. iv. 3, with the whole church at Rome in his days, in the epistle to the church of Corinth : — A;a Thv
aya'^riv riv iir^iv '^poi hf^as to aiix,a auTou iSaxiv uvip rificHv Iv 9-iX:^fiocTi ahrou xct) t«» gapxa.
iiTTip TYi; irapxos ri/Liuv xai Ttiv •>i/vx,hv vvip i^v^^uv rificav. — " For the love which he had unto us, he gave his blood for us, according to his purpose, and his flesh for our flesh, and his life for our Uves."
Where you have assigned, 1 . The cause of Christ's death, — his love to us ; 2. The ol)ject of it, — us, or believers; 3. The manner how he redeemed us, even by commutation.
This triple testimony is taken from the very prime of undoubted antiquity.
IV. Cyprian, Epist. Ixii. to Cascilius, a holy, learned, and famous martyr, A.D. 250: — "Nos omnes portabat Christus, qui et peccata nostra i)ortabat." — "He bare all us, who bare our sins ;" that is, he sustained their persons on the cross for whom he died.
The same to Demetrian : — " Hanc gi-atiam Christus impertit, subigendo mortem trophaso crucis, redimendo credentem pretio sanguinis sui." — " This grace hath Christ communicated, subduing death in the trophy of his cross, redeeming be- lievers with the price of his blood."
Tiie same, or some other ancient and pious writer of the cardinal works of Christ, Serm. 7, secund. Rivet. Crit. Sac. in Cyp. [lib. ii. cap. 15] Scultet. Medul. Pat. Erasm. pra>fat. ad lib.'
1 Those seven sermons on the cardinal works of Christ are the production of Arnoldus Carnotensis, abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Jionneval, in the diocese of Chartres. lie flourished about the middleoft<he twelfth century. Several of his practical treatises were fora time ascribed to Cyprian.— Eo.
SOME FEW TESTIMONIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 423
The same author also, in express terms, mentions the sufficiency of the ransom paid by Christ, arising from the dignity of his person : — " Tantse dignitatis ilia una Redemptoris nostri fuit oblatio, ut una ad tollenda mundi peccatum sufficeret." — " Of so great dignity was the oblation of our Redeemer, that it alone was sufficient to take away the sins of the world."
V. CrRlIi of Jerusalem, Cataches. xiii. [a.d. 350]: — Ka) //.h S-au/^xo-/:; >' xotrf/.^;
oXaj iXurpuS'/i, ov yap r,v atSpwTtos "^iXo; aXXa vM; ©sou (jt-ovoyivvii h •j<Tipoi'tohri(rxai\i — Kcu u Ton oix TO ^vXov rn; (ip&nn/us i^iSXrJtifav la vapaotiffou, dpa Sia to ^uXov InffoZ w^
ivKovcaTipo)/ 01 'TTiffTiuovTii il; Tufa^uffoy oIk ilffiXiia-ovrai ; — " Wonder not if the whole world be redeemed ; for he was not a mere man, but the only-begotten Son of God that died. If, then, through the eating of the tree" (forbidden) "they were cast out of paradise, certainly now by the tree" (or cross) " of Jesus shall not believers more easily enter into paradise?"
So also doth another of them make it manifest in what sense they use the word all.
VI. Athanasius, of the incarnation of the Word of God [a.d. 350]: — oZt'o;
iffTiv rt vavToiv ^^J), xoi) as TTp'oSoLToy VTS'ip tTi; ToivTuv ffcoTno'ia; avTi-^u^ov to iavTou (fuf/.oi ii;
^avocrov -xapoi^oui. — " He is the life of all, and as a sheep he delivered his body a price for the souls of all, that they might be saved." All in both places can be none but the elect; as, —
VII. Ambrose de Vocat. Gen., lib. i. cap. 3 ; or rather, Prosper, lib. i. cap. 9, edit. Olivar. [a.d. 370]: — " Si non credis, non descendit tibi Christus, non tibi passus est." — " If thou believe not, Christ did not descend for thee, he did not suffer for thee."
Ambr. de Fide ad Gratianum : — " Habet populus Dei plenitudinem suam. In electis enim et praescitis, atque ab omnium generalitate discretis, specialis quaedam censetur universitas, ut de toto mundo totus mundus liberatus, et de omnibus hominibus omnes homines videantur assumpti." — "The people of God hath its own fulness. In the elect and foreknown, distinguished from the generality of all, there is accounted a certain sjoeciaZ universality ; so that the whole world seems to be delivered from the whole world, and all men to be taken out of all men."