1. The first [consideration will be found] in that luiown passage of Hege-
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sippus, in Euseb. Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. cap. xxxii. : 'ilg a^a i-Lsy^^i rojv rin y^6- vcf}v, Toc^Ohog xaSa^a ■a.cx.i adidpCo^og s/ubiivsv ri IxxX'/jc/a' — eig d' 6 hfog rojv d'roff- roXcov yooog did(pnoov s7Xrj(pii rov (3iov riXog, -Tra^iXriXvdn rh yj ymsd s-Kshrj ruv avru/'g UKOOcTg rr/g svdsov eoipiag h~a7(.ousai zarrii^iciJ/JjSvuv, rY}'Ji7(,avTa rrjg dd'scu ^Xas/'/jj rriv doyr^v s}.dn,Zaviv t] Cosraeig, bid rr^g tSjv sri^odidaSxdXc/i'j d--zrdTr,c, 01 xai, mVj jLTihivog in rm d'7ro<ir(t'KMv Xhto/^'svou, yv/u^vri Xoi'Tov '/jO'/j rr xnpaX'/j rip Trig dXy}dsiag ■/.rjovy/j.ari rriv -^s-j8dj\/v/JjOV yvuiffiv dvrixrio-omiv s-TTsyshouv. So far he, setting out the corruption of the church, even as to doctrine, im- mediately after the apostles fell asleep ; whereof whosoever will imparti- ally, and with disengaged judgment, search into the writings of those days that do remain, will perhaps find more cause than is commonly imagined with him to complain.
2. The main work of the writers of the first ages being to contend with heathenish idolaters, to convince them of their madness and folly; to write apologies for the worship of God in Christ in general, so to dissuade their rulers from persecution; or in contesting with heretics, for the most part apjjearing to be men either corrupt in their lives, or mad and brain-sick, as we say, as to their imaginations, or denying the truth of the person of Christ, — what can we expect from them as delivered directly and on set purpose to the matter of our present contest ? Some principles may in them possibly be discovered from whence, by a regular deduction, some light may be obtained into their thoughts concerning the points in difter- ence. Tlius Junius thinks, and not without cause, that the whole busi- ness of predestination may be stated upon this one princijile, " That faith is the free gift of God, flowing from his predestination and mercy ; " and concerning this he saith, " Hoc autem omnes patres uno consensu ex Christo et Paulo agnoverunt ; ipse Justinus Martyr in Apolog. ii., et gra- vissime vero Clemens Alexandrinus, in hac alioquin palaestra non ita exer- citatus ut sequentia secula," Horn., lib. ii. " Basilii et Valentin! dogma esse dicit, quod fides a natura sit," Consid. Senten. Pet. Baroni. With- out this what advantage can be taken, or what use can be made, for the discovery of the mind of any of the ancients, by cropping oft" some occa- sional expressions from their occasions and aims, I know not. Especially would I more peremptorily affirm this could I imagine any of them wrote as Jerome affirms of himself that he sometimes did, Epist. ad August., which is among his epistles, Ixxxix. T. 2. " Itaqile," saith he, " ut simpliciter fateor, legi ha^c omnia, et in mente mea plurima coacervans, accito notario vel mea, vel aliena dictavi, nee ordinis, nee verborum interdum nee sen- suum memor." Should any one say so of himself in these days, he would be accounted little better than a madman. Much, then, on this account (or at least not much to the purpose) is not to be expected from the fathers of the first ages.
3. Another observation to our purpose lies well expressed in the be- ginning of the 14th chapter of Bellarmine's second book de Grat. et Lib. Arbit. " Prajter Scripturas adferunt alia testimonia patrum," saith he, speaking of those who opposed God's free predestination; to which he subjoins, " Neque est hoc novum argumentum, sed antiquissimum. Scribit enim S. Prosper in Epistola ad S. Augustinum, Gallos qui sententiam ejus- dem Augustini de predestinatione calumniabantur, illud potissimum obji- cere solitos quod ea sententia doctriniB veterum videbatur esse coutraria. Sed respondet idem Augustinus in Lib. de Bono Perseverantite, veteres patres, qui ante Pelagium floruerunt, quajstionem istam nunquam accurate tractasse sed incidenter solum, et quasi per transitum illam attigisse. Addit vero, in fundamento hujus sententise (quod est gratiam Dei non prseveniri
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ab ullo opere nostro sed contra, ah ilia omnia opera nostra prseveniri, ita ut nihil oninino boni, quod attinet ad salutem sit in nobis, quod non est nobis ex Deo), convenire Catholicos omnes; et ibidem citat Cyprinnum, Ambrosium, et Nazianzenum, quibus addere po5sumu.s Basilium et Chrysos- tomum." To the same jnirpose, with application to a particular person, doth that great and holy doctor discourse, De Doctrin. Christiana, lib. iii. cap. xxxiii, Saith he, "Non erat expertus banc lu-cresin Tychonius, qua; nostro tempore exorta, multum nos, ut gratiam Dei, quto per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum est, adversus eam defendererausexercuit, et secundum id quod ait apostolus, " oportet hfcroses esse, ut probati manifesti fiunt in nobis," multo vigilantiorcs, diligontioresque reddidit, ut adverteremus in Scripturis Sanctis, quod istum Tychonium minus attentum minusquc, sine hoste solieitum fugit." That also of Jerome in his second Apology against Eufinus, in reference to a most weighty article of Christian religion, is known to all. " Fieri potest," saith he, " ut vel simpliciter erraverint, vel alio sensu scripserint, vel a librariis imperitis eorum paulatim scripta cor- ruptasint; vel certe antequam in Alexandria, quasi dfemonium meridianum, Arius nasceretur, innocenter qua^dam, et minus cauto locuti sunt, et quce non possunt pervcrsorum hominum calumniam deelinare." And what he spake of the writers before Arius in reference to the person of Christ, we may of them before Pelagius in reference to his grace. Hence Pererius, in Piom. cap. viii., disput. 22, tells us (how truly i])se viderit, I am not alto- gether of his mind) tliat [as] for those authors that lived before Austin's time, all the Gi'cek fathers, and a considerable part of the Latin, were of opinion that the cause of predestination was the foresight which God had either of men's good works or of their faith; either of which opinions, he assures us, is manifestly contrary to the autliority of the Scriptures, and particularly to the doctrine of St Paul, I am not, as I said, wholly of his mind, partly upon the account of the observations made by his fellow-Josuit out of Austin, before mentioned, partly upon other accounts also. Upon these and the like considerations, much, I jiresume, to the business in hand Avill not be produced on either side fi'om the fathers that wrote before the rise of the Pelagian heresy. And if any one of the par- ties at this day litigant about tlie doctrine of the grace of God should give that advice that Sisinius and Agelius the Novatians sometimes gave, as Sozomen reports of them (Hist. Eccles., lib. vii. cap. xii.), to Nec- tarius, by him communicated to the emperor Tlieodosius, to have the quarrel decided by those that wrote before the rise of the controversy, as it would be unreasonable in itself, so I persuade myself neither party ■would accept of the condition, neither had the Catholics of those days got any tiling if they had attended to the advice of these Novatians. But, these few observations premised, something as to particular testimonies may be attended unto.