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Lactantius. a. D. 306. 521
opinion conccinini> tho origin of the soul, imputed to him hy
some.
7. Galloeus observes, that" Lactantius says little or nothingof
Christ's jjriestly oflice. 1 do not remember, that Jerom
has any where taken notice of this : but it is likely enough
to be true; and that Lactantius did not consider Christ's
death, in the modern May, as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin,
or a satisfaction made to divine justice for the sins of the human
race. This may be arg^ued from his passages before transcribed,
concerning- the value of repentance, and the ends of
Christ's death.
But then many other ancient christians will come in for
their share in this charge. For according- to Matthias
Flacius lllyricus, in the preface to his Clavis Scripturce,
or Key to the Scriptures, ' Thei' christian writers, mIio
' lived soon after Christ and his apostles, discoursed like
' philosophers, of the law and its moral precepts, and of the
' nature of virtue and vice: but they Avere totally ignorant
' of man's natural corruption, and the mysteries of the g'os-
' pel and Christ's benefits.' ' His countryman, St. Jerom,' he
says, ' was well'' skilled in the languages, and endeavoured
* to explain the scriptures by versions and commentaries.
' But after all he was able to do very little, being- ignorant
' of the human disease, and of Christ the physician : and
' wanting both the key of scripture, and the lamb of God to
' open to him.'
The same Flacius, or sonic other learned writer of his
time, in the preface to the Centurice Magdeburg-enses,
observes of Eusebius bishop of Caesarea :
' That"^ it is a very
" Quod de praecipiio Chrisfi incarnati officio, sacerdofali nimirmn, facuit
et ideo tantum Christum hunianam naturam assiimsisse contendit, ut
univei-sis gentibus, quae sub ccelo sunt, singularis et veri Dei sanctum mysterium
revelaret, et unum illis Deum nunciaret deniquc ut exempla virtutis
homini praeberc posset. Qua^ omnia quam sint frigida, principe incarnationis
Christi fine omisso, nemo non videt. Gall. Synth. Doct. Lact. p. 899.
I' Olim, mox post apostolos, pleriqne scriptores ad philosophicas de lege ac
pneceptis moralibus, et virtutibus vitiisque, disputationes proruerunt ; ignari
prorsus nativee corrujitionis hominis, et evangelii mysteriorum, et bcncficiorum
Christi. M. Fl. 111. m I'r. ad Clav. Scr. S. p. 7. f.
1 Unus popnlaris nicus Hicronymus linguarum cgregie peritus fuit ; conatusque
est sacras literas turn versionibus turn explicationibus illustrare. Sed
revera et morbi human i, et medici Christi ignarus, destitutusque turn clave
scripturarum aperiente, nempediscrimine Icgis et evangelii, tum etiam apertore
aut janitore ejus agno Dei, parum praestare potuit. Id. ib. p. 8. in.
Ut enim de aliis nihil dicamus, Eusebius certe christianum hominem, 1. i.
c. 4. ita definit, ut, si absit cognitio Christi, quam ei tamen, sed obscure,
tribuit, prorsus videatur ethnico more virum honestum describere. Ait
enim, christianum esse virum, qui per Christi cognitionem ac doctrinatn,
animi moderatione, et justitia, continentiaque vitte, et virtutis fortitudine, ac
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