of rational souls is such as to be capable of good and evil"
(Tom., p. 323). Ambrose (A.D. 374) says, "The Lord Jesus came to
save all sinners" (Tom., p. 377). Chrysostom (A.D. 398) says, "Hear
also how fate speaks, and how it lays down contrary laws, and learn
how the former are declared by a Divine spirit, but the latter by a
wicked demon and a savage beast. God has said, 'If ye be willing and
obedient,' making us masters of virtue and wickedness, and placing
them within our own power. But what does the other say? That it is
impossible to avoid what is decreed by fate, whether we will or not.
God says, 'If ye be willing ye shall eat the good of the land;' but
fate says, 'Although we be willing, unless it shall be permitted us,
this will is of no use.' God says, 'If ye will not obey my words, a
sword shall devour you;' fate says, 'Although we be not willing, if
it shall be granted to us, we are certainly saved.' Does not fate
say this? What, then, can be clearer than this opposition? What can
be more evident than this war which the diabolical teachers of
wickedness have thus shamelessly declared against the Divine
oracles" (Tom., p. 458).

Besides the names thus given, Tomlin appeals to and gives quotations
from the following authors of antiquity as confirming his statement
--viz., Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Lactantius, Eusebius,
Athenasius, Cyril, Hilary, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, &c. The testimony
of the Fathers is clearly against the Calvinistic system. We do not,
of course, claim them as settling the controversy; this must be done
by an appeal to reason and the Scriptures; but it is nevertheless
deserving of attention, that for some 400 years the stream of
opinion in the Church ran in a contrary direction to that of Geneva.
The system of Calvin is, that God wishes only some men to be saved,
and that everything is fixed; and it was clearly held before
Augustine's time, that God wished all men saved, and that men were
free, which they could not be if all things were foreordained.

Besides this, it is a remarkable fact that the errors of the early
heretics bore a close resemblance to those held by the followers of
Calvin. Irenaeus, writing of Saturnius, says, "He first asserted
that there are two sets of men formed by the angels, the one good
and the other bad. And because demons assisted the worst men, that
the Saviour came to destroy bad men and demons, but to save good
men" (Tom., p. 515). Gregory of