ing of Jesus, the world could not have been saved? I think we are not to limit the divine power or wisdom. "For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counsellor?" Consider, how in the gospel Christ waited for the repentance of the Jewish people, and how he upbraided the cities, in which most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.'

13. Descanting upon the notice taken of the value of the ointment, with which Mary had anointed the Lord, as mentioned, John xii. 4, 5, he has some uncommon thoughts concerning our Saviour's treatment of Judas.

14. He P seems to have read the decree of the council at Jerusalem, Acts xv. as we now have it. By "blood" he does not understand homicide, but the blood of animals. Moreover he says, there was no occasion to insert there a prohibition of homicide, adultery, and such great crimes, which were punished even by human laws, but only those particulars, "things offered to idols, blood, things strangled, and fornication." If the reader pleases, he may recollect what was formerly said by us concerning the true reading of that place.

15. He asserts the reality of natural religion: and says, that by the exercise of their own reason men may learn the existence of God, and discern the obligation of an equitable conduct one toward another.

16. He celebrates the progress of the christian religion,

Quamvis ergo Dominus Jesus conscientiæ judex esset, noluit tamen Judam de occultis ejus acrius increpare, ne, quoniam verisimili ratione videbatur locutus, putaretur forsitan injuste correptus, atque hinc iracundiam ejus tantam concepisse causam, ut inimicis necandum traderet, quem sine ullo peccamine habuisset infensum. Nihil ergo acerbum Christus voluit pro merito sceleratæ mentis illius loqui, ne Judas eum tradere videretur iratus, &c. p. 964. D. E.

P Et idcirco beatus Jacobus cum cæteris apostolis decretum tale constituit in ecclesiis observandum: Ut abstineatis vos,' inquit, ab immolatis, et a sanguine,' id est, a suffocatis.' Prætermiserunt homicidium, adulterium, veneficia: quoniam nec nominari ea in ecclesiis oporteret, quæ legibus etiam Gentilium punirentur. Prætermiserunt quoque illas omnes minutias observationum legalium. Et sola hæc, quæ prædiximus, custodienda sanxerunt, ne vel sacrificatis diabolo cibis profanemur iminundis, vel ne mortuo per viscera suffocatorum animalium sanguine polluamur, vel ne immunditiis fornicationum corpora nostra, quæ templa Dei sunt, violemus. p. 967. F. G.

r

See Vol. iii. p. 22-36.

Neque hodie aliquis reatum peccati incurrit, si eum non astringat aut naturalis lex, aut mandati lex, aut literæ lex. Naturalis lex est illa, quam Gentes, legem literæ non habentes, naturaliter ea quæ legis sunt faciunt: quia rationabilis animæ humanæ natura, ut Creatorem suum sentiat, ut proximum non lædat, ut non faciat quod pati non vult, naturali quâdam lege intelligit, &c. p. 960. F. • Nam, pruisquam pateretur et resurgeret Christus, notus erat tantum in

and the effects of it in turning men from darkness to light, and from vice to virtue and holiness.

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17. I conclude my extracts with a pious observation of this writer: That we are born again, that we know in part the works of God, that we endeavour to improve the time of this life so as to obtain a better, that in the hope of future recompences we act and speak religiously, is all owing to God: I say, it is owing to God.'

CHAP. CXII.

SOPHRONIUS.

1. AS St. Jerom has placed his learned friend Sophronius in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, I transcribe the chapter below. And I likewise refer to some learned b moderns, who have made observations upon it.

a

2. Jerom says, that Sophronius was a very learned man; that when young he published a work entitled, The Praises of Bethlehem, and since, an excellent account of the Demolition of the Temple of Serapis. He had also translated several of Jerom's works into Greek.

c

3. All those things are lost. But we have a Greek version of St. Jerom's Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, called Sophronius's. But though many receive it as his, all do not. Its genuineness is denied, not only by Isaac Vossius, who thought it to have been made by Erasmus himself, who first published it, but by divers other learned men, who allowed the antiquity of it.

Judæâ Deus. Tunc in omnes gentes fulgor claritatis dominicæ pertransit.— p. 948. C.

Nos ipsi etiam, quod renascimur, quod hæc ipsa opera Domini ex parte novimus, quod vivendo vitam quærimus, quod futurorum spem gerentes pie conversamur et loquimur, Dei, inquam, Dei sunt opera. p. 960. B.

Sophronius, vir apprime eruditus, laudes Bethlehem adhuc puer, et nuper de subversione Serapis insignem librum composuit. De Virginitate quoque ad Eustochium, et Vitam Hilarionis monachi, opuscula mea, in Græcum eleganti sermone transtulit. Psalterium quoque, et prophetas, quos nos de Hebræo in Latinum vertimus. De V. I. cap. 134.

.b Vid. Fabr. Bib. Ec. et Bib. Gr. T. viii. p. 195-198. Cav. Hist. Lit. Tillem. Mem. Ec. T. xii. St. Jerome, art. 39, et 58.

c Vid. Voss. citat. a Fabric. Bib. Gr. T. viii. p. 295, 296.

d Viro summo Isaaco Vossio facile largior, nec Sophronii illius, cui tribui

4. Nevertheless, Robert Stephens and Mill have prefixed to the four gospels the several chapters or Lives of the four Evangelists, in that Greek version; and Mill, in like manner, the chapters of St. James and St. Jude to their epistles. He should have taken also the chapter concerning St. Paul, and have placed it before his epistle to the Romans. Why he omitted it I do not know, unless he thought it too long. Moreover, these chapters, so far as taken, are, in Stephens, and Mill, called Sophronius's. But if I may be allowed to speak my mind, it seems to me, that those articles had been better put in St. Jerom's own original Latin, even supposing that the Greek version had been made by his friend Sophronius: but as that is not certain, the version is still less proper. I formerly took the liberty to make some remarks upon some of the testimonies prefixed by Mill to the gospels.

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CHAP. CXIII.

THEODORE, BISHOP OF MOPSUESTIA IN CILICIA.

I. His time and history. II. Accounts of his works, particularly of his commentaries, from Photius and others, and his testimony to the scriptures. III. A fragment concerning the four gospels, with remarks. IV. His character, as a preacher. V. Reflections upon him after his death.

I. THEODORE was mentioned in the chapter of Diodorus of Tarsus. He was descended of an honourable family, and in all probability was a native of the city of Antioch. He was an intimate friend and fellow-disciple of John

tur, nec valde antiquam esse Græcam Catalogi Hieronymiani versionem. Sed ut ab Erasmo, aut ab alio illius ævi confictam credam, adduci non possum. Nam cum ex eo quædam iisdem verbis in Lexico Suidæ, legantur, potius est, ut Suidâ vetustiorem credam. Jo. Andr. Bosius Introductione in Notitiam Script. Ec. cap. 3. citat.a Fabr. Bib. Ec. p. 13.

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Ac præterea Græcus interpres, qui adscito Sophronii nomine vetustatem mentitur, eam fideliter exhibeat. C. A. Heuman. Præf. ad Lactant. Symph. p. v. Hanover. 1722. Βιος - Ματθαι» κατα Σωφρονιον. Ap. Stephan. See the chapter of Hippolytus, Vol. ii. p. 432, 433. Vid. Socr. 1. vi. c. 3. Soz. 1. viii. c. 2. Thdrt. 1. v. c. ult.

1 Σωφρόνιος

Chrysostom under Libanius the sophist, and Andragathius the philosopher, and afterwards under the fore-mentioned Diodorus and Carterius.

Sozomen says, that he was well skilled in the sacred scriptures, and in the liberal sciences of the rhetoricians and philosophers. Theodoret calls him the doctor of the whole church he says, he was bishop six and thirty years, and wrote against all heresies, particularly those of Arius, Eunomius, and Apollinarius.

And, as according to Theodoret's account, Theodore died in 429, it is concluded, that he was ordained in 394. I do not therefore well know, why Cave placed him as flourishing about the year 407: when, too, he supposeth him to have been bishop so soon as 392. And indeed there are others also, who think he was ordained bishop in 392, and died in 428.

Theodores had a brother, named Polychronius, who presided with honour over the church of Apamea, and was distinguished by his agreeable manner of preaching, and the holiness of his life.

II. Photius has given an account of several of Theodore's works.

1. The first in order ish his Defence of Basil against Eunomius, consisting of five and twenty books. Though his style is not clear,' Photius says, he is full of sense ' and argument, and abounds with texts of scripture. He 'confutes Eunomius, almost word for word; and largely 'shows him to have had little skill in profane learning, and 'yet less in our theology.'

2. The next is a Commentary upon the book of Genesis. Here Photius says, that Theodore studiously shuns allegorical interpretations, and confines himself to the history. He moreover says, that in this work may be perceived the principles of Nestorianism, though the author was before Nestorius.

3. The third is a small volume in three books, against1 • Μοψθεσίας δε της Κιλικων Θεόδωρος, ανηρ και των ἱερων βιβλων, και της αλλης παιδειας ῥητορων τε και φιλοσοφων ίκανος επισημων. Soz. I. viii. c. 2. p. 757. A. B. Θεόδωρος, ὁ Μοψθεσίας επίσκοπος, πασης μεν εκκλησίας διδασκαλος. κ. λ. Thdrt. l. v. c. ult. d Vid. Pagi ann. 423. xvi. et 427. xii.

c

Et conf. Asseman. Bib. Or. T. i. p. e Claruit anno 407. Quin si mortis

400. not. 3. ejus tempus recte assequor, jam ab anno 392 episcopatum tenuit. Obiisse enim videtur anno 428, postquam ecclesiam Mopsuestenam per 36 annos gubernâsset. H. L. T. i. p. 385. f Vid. Basnag. ann. 428. n. v. Cod. 38. p. 24.

h Cod. 4. p. 7.

1 Conf. Theod. de Mops,

8 Thdrt. ubi supra.
* Biẞridapiov-Cod. 81. p. 200.

art. 6. Tillem. T. 12.

the Persian Magic, and showing the preference of true religion. Here again Photius says, that the author favours Nestorianism.

4. The fourth and last is m'a work in five books, against 'those who said, that men sin by nature, not by will and 'choice. He considers it as a doctrine held by those in the ' west, and from thence brought into the east, especially by an author, called Aram; who he is I do not know, who had written several books in defence of it. The opinions ' of that sect he represents in this manner. One of them is

that men sin by nature, not by choice. By nature, however, not meaning that, in which Adam was first formed; for that, they say, was good; but that which he afterwards 'had, when he had transgressed, being now bad instead of the good, and mortal instead of the immortal nature, which he before had. Hence men being bad by nature, who 'before were good, now sin by nature, not by choice. Another opinion of theirs, and consequent upon that is, that infants, though newly born, are not free from sin; forasmuch as from Adam's transgression a sinful nature, as they express it, is derived to all his posterity: for this they allege those words, "I was born in sin," and others. 'Here also,' as Photius proceeds, appear Nestorian principles, and the notion of Origen concerning the period of the 'punishments of the future state. He also says, that man was at first made mortal; though death be represented 'as the consequence of his transgression, the better to con'vince us of the evil of sin.' Photius concludes the article, saying, that this writer appeared to have studied the scriptures with care, though in many things he erred from 'the truth.'

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5. Photius did not know who was meant by Aram, nor whether it was a real or fictitious name. But learned men

are now well satisfied, that hereby is to be understood St. Jerom; and that in this work Theodore aimed to confute Jerom's three Dialogues against the Pelagians. And it is supposed, that he had also an eye to Augustine.

-προς τις λεγοντας, φύσει και 8 γνωμη πταίειν τες ανθρωπες.—Cod. 177. p. 396.

n

-εν τη φύσει, και εκ εν προαιρέσει κακτησθαι την ἁμαρτίαν. Ib.
μηδε τα παιδια, καν αρτιγενητα η, μη απηλλαχθαι ἁμαρτιας.

P Ετι δε εδε το λεγειν αυτον, απ' αρχής μεν θνητον πεπλασθαι τον Αδαμ, ενδείξει δε μόνον να μισήσωμεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, σχηματίσαι ούτω τον Θεόν. Ibid. q Vid. T. Ittigii Diss. de Aramo scriptore ecclesiastico antipelagiano. In App. ad Diss. de Hæresiarchis, p. 466, &c. Cav. H. L. T. i. p. 387. Tillem. Theodor. de M. Art. 7. Mem. T. xii. Asseman. Bib. Or. T. i. p. 402. not. 4. Beaus. H. M. T. ii. p. 466, 467. Hod. de Bib. Text. p. 322. n. 18.