Those things too, concerning Isaac, are not devoid of significance. For, in the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle says: Rebecca also, having conceived by one, even our father Isaac, received an answer from the Word, that the purpose of God, according to election, should remain; not from works, but from Him that calleth, it was said unto her (Rom. ix. 11), Two peoples are in thy womb, and two nations are in thy belly: and one people shall subdue the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. From which it is manifest that not only the prophecies of the patriarchs, but also the parturition of Rebecca foretold two peoples, one of which should be the elder and the other the younger; the one of which should be in servitude, and the other free, though still of one and the same father. And one and the same God is both our God and their God, who takes cognizance of hidden things; who knows all things before they come to pass; and who therefore says, Jacob I loved but Esau I hated. The younger people received Christ the first-born, when the older people rejected Him, saying: We have no king but Cæsar. Now in Christ, there is universal blessedness, and on this account the latter people tacitly snatched away from the Father the blessings of the former people, as Jacob stole away the blessing of Esau. For this reason his own brother endured the snares and persecutions of his brother, as too the Church endured this same treatment from the Jews. . . . The wages of Jacob were sheep of various kinds, and the wages of Christ are men collected out of various and different nations into the one company of the faith.1

Wherefore also the Lord God delivered to other husbandmen, rendering fruits in their season, the figurative vineyard, no longer hedged round, but opened out to the whole world, the tower of election being everywhere exalted and beautiful. For everywhere the Church is illustrious; and everywhere is the wine-press dug round, for those who receive the spirit are everywhere. For since the former husbandmen rejected the Son of God, and when they had killed Him, cast Him out of the vineyard, therefore

per

1 Et ea autem, quæ circa Isaac, non sine significatione sunt. In ea enim Epistola, quæ est ad Romanos, ait apostolus: Sed et Rebecca, ex uno concubitu habens Isaac patris nostri, a verbo responsum accepit, ut secundum electionem propositum Dei maneat: non ex operibus, sed ex vocante, dictum est ei: Duo enim populi in utero tuo, et duæ gentes in ventre tuo: et populus populum superabit, et major serviet minori. Ex quibus manifestum est non solum prophetationes patriarcharum, sed et partum Rebecca prophetiam fuisse duorum populorum, et unum quidem esse majorem, alterum vero minorem, et alterum quidem sub servitio, alterum autem liberum. Unius autem et ejusdem patris, unus et idem Deus noster et illorum: qui est absconsorum cognitor; qui scit omnia, antequam fiant; et propter hoc dicens, Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui. . . Junior populus eum primogenitum Christum accepit: cum eum repulit populus ætate provectior, dicens, Non habemus regem, nisi Cæsarem. In Christo autem universa benedictio: et propter hoc benedictiones prioris populi a Patre subripuit posterior populus; quemadmodum Jacob abstulit benedictionem hujus Esau. Ob quam causam fratris patiebatur insidias et persecutiones frater suus, sicut et Ecclesia hoc idem a Judæis patiebatur. ... Varia oves quæ fiebant hinc Jacob merces et Christi merces, ex variis et differentibus gentibus, in unam cohortem fidei convenientes fiunt homines. Iren. adv. hær. lib. iv. c. 38.

God gave justly rejected them and to nations, which were without the vineyard, the fruits of the cultivation.1

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

For He is not the Saviour of some and of others not. But in proportion to each man's ability He dispensed His beneficence both to Greeks and Barbarians, even to those of them that were predestinated, and in due time called, the faithful and elect. 2

I define the Church to be not the mere place of assembling, but the general assembly of the elect.3

We say that there is only one Ancient and Catholic Church which into the unity of one Faith, that is, according to its proper covenants, or rather according to its single covenant evolved in different times, collects together, by the will of the one God through one Lord, those already ordained, whom God predestinated. 4

TERTULLIAN.

What man is there without sin that God should always elect him whom he never could refuse? or who likewise without any good work, that God should always refuse him, whom he never could elect? Show a man that is always good, and he will not be refused; shew one that is always evil, and he will never be elected. 5 CYPRIAN.

Which one Church the Holy Ghost, speaking in the person of the Lord, describes in Solomon's Song, when He says: My dove, my undefiled is one, one she is to her mother; elect of her who bare her."

If the day opens equally to all, and if the sun shines upon all with like and equal light, how much more does Christ, the true sun and day, give the light of eternal life in His Church, with like equality! Of which equality we see that a symbol was dis

1 Quapropter et tradidit eam Dominus Deus, non jam circumvallatam, sed expansam in universum mundum aliis colonis, reddentibus fructus temporibus suis, turre electionis exaltata ubique et speciosa. Ubique enim præclara est Ecclesia; et ubique circumfossum torcular: ubique enim sunt qui suscipiunt spiritum. Quoniam enim Filium Dei reprobaverunt, et ejecerunt eum, cum eum occidissent extra vineam: justè reprobavit eos Deus; et extra vineam existentibus gentibus dedit fructificationem cultura. Iren. adv. hær. lib. iv. c. 70.

2 Σωτὴρ γὰρ ἐστιν ὃ οὐχὶ τῶν μὲν, τῶν δὲ οὐ. πρὸς δὴ ὅσον ἐπιτηδειότητος ἕκαστος είχεν, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διένειμεν εὐεργεσίαν, Ἑλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τούτων προωρισμένοις μὲν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν οἰκεῖον καιρὸν κεκλημένοις πιστοῖς τε καὶ ἐκλεκτοῖς. Clem. Αlex. Strom. lib. vii. c. 2. 8 Οὐ γὰρ νῦν τὸν τόπον, ἀλλὰ το ἄθροισμα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν, ἐκκλησίαν καλώ. Ib. c. 5.

4 Μόνην εἶναι φαμὲν τὴν ἀρχαίαν καὶ καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν, εἰς ἑνότητα πίστεως μιᾶς τῆς κατὰ τὰς οἰκείας διαθήκας, μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τὴν διαθήκην τὴν μίαν διαφόροις τοῖς χρόνοις, ἑνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ βουλήματ, δι ̓ ἑνὸς τοῦ Κυρίου, συνάγουσαν τοὺς ἤδη κατατεταγμένους, οὓς προώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς. Ib. c. 17. See the continuation of this passage under Chapter "Cause of Election,” Just. p.

5 Quis hominum sine delicto, ut eum Deus semper eligeret, quem nunquam posset recusare? Vel quis item sine aliquo bono opere, ut eum Deus semper recusaret, quem nunquam posset eligere? Exhibe bonum semper, et non recusabitur: exhibe malum semper, et nunquam eligetur. Tert. adv. Marc. lib. ii. cap. 23.

Quam unam Ecclesiam etiam in Cantico canticorum, Spiritus Sanctus ex persona Domini, designat et dicit: Una est columba mea, perfecta mea; una est matri suæ ; electa genitrici suæ. Cyprian, de unit. eccles., Opera vol. i. p. 108.

For

played in the Exodus, when the manna descended from heaven, and by the prefiguration of future things, pointed out the sustenance of heavenly bread, and the food of Christ who was to come. there, without any discrimination either of sex or of age, a gomar was equally gathered by each person. Whence it appeared that the favour of Christ and the heavenly grace hereafter to follow, are equally divided to all, without any regard to the difference of sex, without any discrimination of age, without any respect of persons, that the gift of spiritual grace is poured upon all the people of God. The same spiritual grace which is received in an equal degree by believers at their baptism, is evidently afterwards either diminished or increased by our own conversation and conduct; as in the Gospel the seed mentioned by our Lord is sown equally, but according to the variety of the soil some is wasted, and some increases to thirtyfold, or sixtyfold, or an hundredfold. 2

AMBROSE.

The Lord Jesus had come to save all sinners; it was right that He should show His will even with respect to the ungodly; and therefore it was right that He should not pass over even him who was to betray Him; that all might perceive that in the choice of His betrayer, He displayed a sign that all were to be saved. Nor was either Adam injured because he received the command, or Judas because he was chosen. For God did not impose upon the former the necessity of transgression, or upon the latter that of betrayal, because both might have abstained from sin, if each had kept that which he had received. In fact, He knew that all the Jews would not believe, and yet He said, I am not come except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Therefore there is no fault in Him who commands, but the sin is in him who transgresses. And as far as was in God, He showed to all that He was

1 It is clear from the context that St. Cyprian is referring to initial grace—the grace that is given to every man in baptism.

Nam si dies omnibus æqualiter nascitur, et si sol super omnes pari et æquali luce diffunditur, quanto magis Christus sol et dies verus in ecclesia sua lumen vitæ æternæ pari æqualitate largitur? Cujus æqualitatis sacramentum videmus in Exodo esse celebratum, cum de cælo manna deflueret et futurorum præfiguratione alimentum panis cælestis et cibum Christi venientis ostenderet. Illic enim sine discrimine vel sexus vel ætatis gomar à singulis æqualiter colligebatur. Unde apparebat Christi indulgentiam et cælestem gratiam postmodum secuturam, æqualiter omnibus dividi sine sexus varietate, sine annorum discrimine, sine acceptione personæ, super omnem Dei populum spiritalis gratiæ munus infundi. Planè eadem gratia spiritalis, quæ æqualiter in baptismo à credentibus sumitur, in conversatione atque actu nostro postmodum vel minuitur vel augetur; ut in Evangelio Dominicum semen æqualiter seminatur, sed pro varietate terræ aliud absumitur, aliud in multiformem copiam vel tricesimi, vel sexagesimi, vel centesimi numeri fructu exuberante cumulatur. Cyprian, Epist. lxix.

3 God's grace is effectual in all though in different ways. For it is effectual even in those who reject God's gracious purposes in regard to them; for it reproves their sin, it renders them inexcusable. It likewise vindicates God's mercy and manifests His justice. It vindicates His mercy in that He bestows a talent of grace upon all His servantsslothful as well as faithful-which they in the wickedness of their heart and the perversity of their will bury in the ground. It manifests His justice, for by its means He is able to judge them for rejecting His grace and to render to them according to their works.

willing to deliver all. I do not, however, say that He did not know that there would be transgression; indeed, I assert that He did know it.1

The Lord knows who are His. He wishes all to be His, whom He hath formed and created. O, man, that you would not flee away, and that you would not hide yourself from Christ. He even seeks after those who flee from Him, and does not wish those who hide themselves to perish; but he cries out, 'Adam, where art thou?' that is, O man, where are you? I have placed you in light, you have sought after darkness."

Every soul is called to the grace of Christ, the word of God itself saying, If any one thirst, let him come unto Me and drink; to whom I shall give water, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters.3

Sarah says mystically, The Lord hath shut me up, that I should not bear; go in therefore unto mine handmaid, and you shall beget a son from her, in order that you may acknowledge that the Church of God always existed in predestination, and that the fecundity of faith was prepared whensoever the Lord should command it to break forth; but that by the will of the Lord it was reserved for a certain time. 1

God says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.'5 Perhaps you may say, we ought then neither to will nor to run: but God is wont to desert those who are negligent: therefore he does not say this. But let us consider what he does say: Perseverance is not of the man who willeth nor of him who runneth; for it is not in the

1 Venerat Dominus Jesus omnes salvos facere peccatores, etiam circa impios ostendere suam debuit voluntatem. Et ideo nec proditurum debuit præterire; ut adverterent omnes, quod in electione etiam proditoris sui servandorum omnium insigne prætendit, nec in eo læsus est vel Adam, quia mandatum accepit, vel Judas, quia electus est. Non enim necessitatem Deus vel illi prævaricationis, vel huic proditionis imposuit, quia uterque si quod acceperat, custodisset, a peccato abstinere potuisset. Denique nec Judæos omnes credituros sciebat, et tamen ait: Non veni nisi ad oves perditas domus Israel. Ergo non in mandante culpa est, sed in prævaricante peccatum est. Et quod in Deo fuit, ostendit omnibus quod omnes voluit liberare. Nec tamen dico quia prævaricationem nesciebat futuram, immo quia sciebat adsero. Ambrose, de Paradiso, cap. viii. § 39.

2 Cognoscit enim eos Dominus qui sunt ipsius. Ille omnes suos vult esse, quos condidit et creavit. Utinam, tu homo non fugias, et te ipse à Christo non abscondas. Ille etiam fugientes requirit, et absconditos non vult perire; sed clamat dicens: Adam, ubi es? Hoc est, homo, ubi es? Ego te in lumine posui, tu tenebras requisisti. Ambrose, In Psal. xxxix Enarr. § 20.

3 John viii. 37, 38. Omnis anima vocatur ad gratiam Christi, dicente ipso Dei verbo: Si quis sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat. Cui ego dedero aquam, flumina de ventre ejus fluent aquæ vive. Ib. Enarr. in Psalm xlv. § 11.

Mysticè ait Sara: Conclusit me Dominus, ut non pariam; intra ergo ad ancillam meam, et filium facies ex illa; quo agnoscas in prædestinatione fuisse semper Ecclesiam Dei, et paratam fidei fœcunditatem, quando juberet Dominus prorumpere; sed, voluntate Domini, certo reservatam tempori. Ib. de Abraham patriarch. lib. ii. c. 10, § 74.

5 Rom. ix. 15, 16.

power of man but of God who pitieth, that you may be able to complete what you have begun.

There are none who are rejected by Christ, but there are some who are elected by the Lord; since the Lord has called things which are not as though they are. And the nations of the Gentiles are elected, that the perfidy of the Jews might be destroyed.2

JEROME.

He will save those who have received salvation, not by the merit of works, but by the love of God. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."3 But if a wise reader should answer in silent thought, why are many not saved, if He Himself saved them, and loved, and spared His own sons, and redeemed them with His own blood, and raised and exalted those whom He took? A clear reason is inferred: they themselves did not believe, and grieved His Holy Spirit.. God therefore was willing to save those who wish to be saved, and He invited them to salvation, that this will might have a reward, but they were unwilling to believe."

Because Nebuchadnezzar received a reward of his good work we understand that even the heathen if they should have done anything good, are not passed over in the judgment of God without reward."

The whole of the Epistle to the Romans stands in need of explanation, and it is involved in so great obscurities that to understand it we have need of the Holy Spirit, who dictated these things by the Apostle; but chiefly this passage, in which some, wishing to preserve the justice of God, say that from antecedent causes Jacob was chosen in the womb of Rebecca and Esau

1 Moysi dicit Deus: Miserebor cui misertus ero, et misericordiam præstabo, cui misericordiam præstitero. Igitur non est volentis, neque currentis; sed miserantis Dei est. Forte dicas: Ergo non debemus, vel velle, vel currere: atqui negligentes Deus deserere consuevit. Non ergo hoc dicit: sed quid dicat, consideremus. Non volentis, neque currentis hominis perseverantia est; non est enim in hominis potestate sed miserantis Dei est, ut possis complere quæ cœperis. Ambrose. Expos. in Psalm cxviii. Ser. x. § 35.

2 Non sunt, qui repudiantur a Christo; sunt autem, qui eliguntur a Domino; quoniam Dominus vocavit quæ non sunt, tanquam quæ sunt. Et electæ sunt gentium nationes, ut destrueretur perfidia Judæorum. Ib. Enarr. in Psalm xliii. § 45.

3 John iii. 16.

Ipse salvabit eos qui receperunt salutem: non operum merito, sed charitate Dei. Sic enim dilexit Deus mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret, ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat, sed habeat vitam æternam. Quòd si prudens lector tacita cogitatione responderit: quare multi non sunt salvati, si ipse salvavit eos, et dilexit, et pepercit filiis suis, et redemit eos sanguine suo; suscepitque et exaltavit assumptos? Infertur causa perspicua. Ipsi autem non crediderunt; et exacerbaverunt Spiritum Sanctum ejus.... Voluit itaque Deus salvare cupientes; et provocavit ad salutem, ut voluntas haberet præmium, sed illi credere noluerunt. Hier. Com. lib. xvii. In Isa. Prop. cap.

Ixiii.

Ezek. xxix.

Ex eo quòd Nabuchodonosor mercedem accepit boni operis, intelligimus etiam. Ethnicos, si quid boni fecerint, non absque mercede Dei judicio præteriri. Ib. Com. lib. ix. In Ezec. Proph. cap. xxix.