or praise, not having chosen good of himself, but being made so; nor if he were bad, would he deserve punishment, not being such of himself, but unable to be any thing except that which he was made. This the holy prophetic Spirit has taught us by Moses, declaring that God said to the first-created man, Behold before thy face good and evil, choose the good. And again by Esaias, another Prophet, as from the Father of all and the Lord God, Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it (d).' Wherefore Plato borrowed the sentence, the blame is in him who chooses; but God is free from blame (e),' from the Prophet Moses: for Moses was prior to any of the Greek writers. And every thing which both philosophers and poets have said concerning the immortality of the soul,

or

(ε) Αιτία ἑλομένο, θεὸς δ ̓ ἀναίτιος.

(d) Is, c. I. v. 16, &c,

or punishment after death, or the contemplation of heavenly things, they might have understood or related from the Prophets. Whence the seeds of truth seem to have been within the reach of all. But they are proved not to have understood them accurately, as they contradict themselves. By our expression, therefore, that future things are predicted by the Prophets, we do not mean to assert the necessity of fate; but that God, foreseeing what would be done by all men, and there being an opinion among them that every one will be rewarded according to the merit of his actions, God, by the prophetic Spirit, foretells a just retribution, always leading mankind to attention and recollection, shewing his providence and care for them... But that God the Father of all things would carry Christ into heaven after his resurrection from the dead, and keep him there until he shall have smitten the devils who oppose him, and till the number of those who he foreknew would be good and virtuous shall be completed, for whose sake also he has not yet made the final consummation, hear what is said by the Prophet David-" p. 64.

It is to be observed, that in this quotation the power of man to choose good or evil according to the determination of his will, and the foreknowledge of God who would be virtuous and

who

who would be wicked, are asserted, not as questions of doubt or controversy among Christians, but as fundamental and acknowledged doctrines of the Gospel. And Justin Martyr goes on to say, that all who before the time of Christ lived agreeably to reason, were Christians (f); and he particularly mentions Socrates, Heraclitus, Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and Elias. How can all this be reconciled with the Calvinistic notions of election and irresistible grace? And let it be remembered, that this author lived in the time of the Antonines, about one hundred years after the ascension of our Saviour. And again at the end of his dialogue with Trypho, he says:

"But that those, whether angels or men, who are foreknown that they would be unjust, are not wicked through the fault of God, but that each through his own fault is what he is, I have shewn above. But that you may not have any pretence for saying, that Christ must necessarily have been crucified, or that in your race there are transgressors, and that it could not have been otherwise, I have already observed in few words, that God desiring that men and angels should follow his will, determined to make them with full power to act justly, with the means of knowing by whom

(ƒ) Pp. 69, 70.

they

they were made, and through whom they were called into existence out of nothing; and with this condition, that they were to be judged by him if they acted contrary to right reason; and we men, and the angels, shall be by ourselves convicted of having acted wickedly, unless we make haste to repent. But if the word of God declares beforehand, that some, both angels and men, will be hereafter punished, because he knows that they would persevere to the last in wickedness, he foretold it, but not that God made them such : Wherefore if they will repent, all who are willing to obtain mercy from God, have it in their power; and the word pronounces them happy, saying, Blessed is he to whom God shall not impute sin.' (g).-p. 434.

<

It is material to observe, that in the early days of the Gospel many of the Jews were Predestinarians, and that these assertions and arguments occur in the dialogue with Trypho the Jew. Justin Martyr, therefore, in endeavouring to convert Trypho the Jew to the belief of the Gospel, argues against the Jewish doctrine of predestination, and maintains and enforces the Gospel doctrines of the prescience of God, the free-will of man, and his absolute power over his opinions, thoughts, and faith,

"Whoever

(g) Ps. 32. v. 2.

"Whoever are persuaded and believe, that those things which are taught and said by us are true, and engage that they can live agreeably to them, are directed to fast and pray, and entreat from God forgiveness of their former sins, we praying and fasting with them. Afterwards they are conducted by us to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated, according to the same mode of regeneration by which we ourselves were regenerated, for they are then washed with water in the name of the Father of the Universe and the Lord God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost. For Christ said, 'Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven' (h)." p. 88.-This passage decidedly proves what was the doctrine of Regeneration in the primitive Church of Christ.

"Neither do we say, that men act or suffer according to fate, but that every one does rightly, or sins, according to his choice... Because God from the beginning endowed angels and men with free-will, they will justly receive punishment for their sins in everlasting fire. For this is the nature of every one who is born, to be capable of virtue and vice; for nothing would be deserving of praise, if it had not the power of turning itself either way."-p. 117.

"What

(h) John, c. 3. v. 5,