CHAPTER IX.

CLEMENT OF ROME AND IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH.

WHEN we consider the mighty advantage, possessed in his time by Augustine, over any inquirer of the present day, from the circumstance of numerous early ecclesiastical writings being then extant which have now perished; and when we recollect, that, although urged by a direct and pointed challenge, he ventured not, in evidence of the apostolicity of his peculiarities, to produce any testimonies more ancient than those (with whatever emolument) of Cyprian and Ambrose and Gregory-Nazianzen: when we further bear in mind, that Calvin, whose extensive theological learning is undoubted, makes not an effort himself to carry back the System, which bears his name, beyond the time of Augustine; and when we reflect, that, even of the three witnesses adduced by Augustine, he tacitly gives up two, and contents himself with reminding us that Ambrose had been brought forward in evidence: when all these things are duly weighed, it may

appear not a little extraordinary, that a modern ecclesiastical historian should claim for Augustine, what Augustine never claimed for himself, the testimony, to wit, of those two preeminently early Divines, Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch; the one, a declared fellow-labourer with St. Paul; the other, an immediate disciple of St. John. Yet such is the claim put forth by Mr. Milner: in sincerity, I doubt not; with what be desirable to examine.

cogency, it may

I. According to Mr. Milner, The strictly Primitive Church, which received her Theology immediately from the lips of the Apostles, held the doctrine of Election, as that doctrine has been subsequently explained by Augustine and Calvin.

As to what might be her views of the allied doctrines of Reprobation and Particular Redemption, Mr. Milner is silent; but, in regard to the specific doctrine of Election, such is the theory of the historian: and, for its substantiation, his authorities are Clement and Ignatius.

1. The evidential passage adduced from Clement, as given in Mr. Milner's own words, is the following.

Let us go to him in sanctification of heart, lifting up holy hands to him, influenced by the love of our gracious and compassionate Father, WHO, BY HIS ELECTION, HATH MADE US HIS Since, therefore, we are the

PECULIAR PEOPLE.

ELECT OF GOD, holy and beloved, let us work the works of holiness *.

The passage before us is taken from Clement's first Epistle to the Corinthians: and the account, which Mr. Milner gives of that Epistle, is; that The doctrine of ELECTION runs remarkably through it in connection with holiness, as the Scripture always states it †.

2. With respect to Ignatius, the following, equally in his own words, is the evidential passage, which Mr. Milner has extracted from his writings.

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the worthily happy Church in Ephesus of Asia, blessed in the majesty and fulness of God the Father, PREDESTINATED BEFORE THE WORLD TO BE PERPETUALLY PERMANENT IN GLORY, immoveable, united, and ELECT, in the genuine suffering for the truth, by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God, much joy in Jesus Christ and his spotless grace ‡.

* I subjoin the original of the passage, intended, I suppose, by Mr. Milner: for he gives no reference.

Προσέλθωμεν οὖν αὐτῷ ἐν ὁσιότητι ψυχῆς, ἁγνὰς καὶ ἀμιάντους χεῖρας αίροντες πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἀγαπῶντες τὸν ἐπιεικῆ καὶ εὔσπλαγχνον πατέρα ἡμῶν, ôs ekλoyms μépos éπoinσev éavrą. Clem. Rom. Epist. ad Corinth. i. § 29.

+ Milner's Hist. of the Church of Christ. cent. i. chap. 15.

Ιγνάτιος, ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος, τῇ εὐλογημένῃ ἐν μεγέθει Θεοῦ Πατρὸς

This passage constitutes the introductory salutation of the Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians : and it may be proper to subjoin Mr. Milner's accompanying remarks.

:

The Church of Ephesus appears, from the Epistle of Ignatius to them, still to have maintained its character of evangelical purity. Their zeal, indeed, had decayed, but was revived and the rage of persecution was the hot-bed, which reänimated their souls, and made them fruitful again in faith and hope and charity. The very titles, by which he addresses them, demonstrate, what their faith was in common with that of the whole Church at that time: and abundantly shew the vanity of those, whose dislike of the peculiar truths of Christianity induces them to suppose, that the ideas of PREDESTINATION and ELECTION and GRACE were purely the systematic inventions of Augustine, and were unknown to the primitive Christians. We are certain, that St. Paul's Epistles, and that particularly addressed to this Church, are full of the same things*.

II. Having given Mr. Milner's authorities for

πληρώματι, τῇ προωρισμένῃ πρὸ αἰώνων διὰ παντὸς εἰς δόξαν, παράμονον, ἄτρεπτον, ἡνωμένην, καὶ ἐκλελεγμένην, ἐν πάθει ἀληθινῷ, ἐν θελήματι τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἀξιομακαρίστῳ, τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τῆς ̓Ασίας, πλεῖστα ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ καὶ ἐν ἀμώμῳ Xápiri xaipei. Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes. § 1.

* Milner's Hist. of the Church of Christ. cent. ii. chap. 1. vol. i. p. 177.

his opinion as he himself has produced them, I shall now proceed to inquire into the effective amount of their testimony.

1. His first witness, we have seen, is Clement of Rome.

(1.) In regard to this very early Father, Mr. Milner tells us that The doctrine of ELECTION runs remarkably through his first Epistle to the Corinthians.

Such a statement can scarcely be deemed accurate. It would obviously lead a mere English reader to conclude that The special subject of that Epistle is the doctrine of ELECTION. Yet that doctrine is, in no wise, its subject. As any person may satisfy himself by the very simple process of reading it, the subject of the Epistle is, in truth, not The doctrine of Election, but The sin and mischief of Schism *.

For the convenience of reference, the Epistle has been divided into sixty sections: and, instead of the doctrine of Election running remarkably through the whole of it, the terms Elect or Election, quite incidentally, occur exactly nine several times †.

Clement's Epistle has been translated into English by Abp. Wake and more recently by my learned and valued friend Mr. Chevalier. The latter justly remarks: that The main object of the Epistle is to correct particular disorders in the Church of Corinth. Introd. p. 24.

† Clem. Rom. Epist. ad Corinth. i. § 1, 2, 6, 29, 46, 49, 50, 52, 58. The precise term Elect occurs yet a tenth time in the

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