d Irenaeus, before Augustine
worked it into a system, and Jerome armed himself on its behalf"
(_Ec. Cyc._) This statement may be fairly questioned, and, we think,
successfully challenged. Dr. Cunningham, in his _Historical
Theology_, remarks, "The doctrine of Arminius can be traced back as
far as the time of Alexandrinus, and seems to have been held by many
of the Fathers of the third and fourth centuries." He attributes
this to the corrupting influence of Pagan philosophy (_Hist. Theo._,
Vol. II., p. 374). This is not a direct contradiction to Eadie, but
it shows that truth compelled this sturdy Calvinist to admit that
non-Calvinistic views were held in the earlier and best period of
the Church. The question, however, is one that must be decided by
historical evidence, and not by authority. And what is that
evidence? Mosheim, in writing of the founders of the English Church,
says, "They wished to render their church as similar as possible to
that which flourished in the early centuries, and that Church, as no
one can deny, was an entire stranger to the Dordracene doctrines"
(_Reid's Mos._, p. 821). The Synod of Dort met in A.D. 1618, and
condemned the Arminian doctrine, and decided in favour of Calvinism;
but, according to Mosheim, this system of Calvin was unknown to the
early Church. Faber maintains the same. He says, "The scheme of
interpretation now familiarly, though perhaps (if a scheme ought to
be designated by the name of its _original_ contriver) not quite
correctly, styled Calvinism, may be readily traced back in the Latin
and Western Church to the time of Augustine. But here we find
ourselves completely at fault. Augustine, at the beginning of the
fifth century, is the first ecclesiastical writer who annexes to the
Scriptural terms 'elect' and 'predestinate' the peculiar sense which
is now usually styled Calvinistic. With him, in a form scarcely less
round and perfect than that long and subsequently proposed by the
celebrated Genevan reformer himself, commenced an entirely new
system of interpretation previously unknown to the Church Catholic.
What I state is a mere dry historical fact" (_Faber's Apos. Trin._,
_Cooke's Theo._, p. 305).

Prosper of Acquitania was a devoted friend and admirer of Augustine,
and not wishing to be charged with propagating new views, wrote to
the Bishop of Hippo (Augustine) desiring to know how he could refute
the charge of novelty. "For," saith he, "having had recourse to the
o