Chapter 2 Section 26.

- Pacianus Bareinonensis vel Barcilonensis

The
CAUSE OF GOD AND TRUTH.
Part 4
Chapter 2—Of Redemption

Section 26—Pacianus Barcinonensis Vel Barcilonensis.

A.D. 380.
Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona in Spain, died in a very advanced age, under the emperor Theodosius,[1] and before
A. D. 391. He wrote many little pieces, in one[2] of which stands this passage, produced by M. Daille in favor of
universal redemption; "No artificer," says he, "despises his own works, or thinks with himself, that they are faults
which he has made; and hence dost thou think, that Christ suffered for sinners, but that he was unwilling to lose what
he hath made?" But he does not say, that Christ died for all sinners, and for all that he has made, but for sinners, who
being made by him, he was very unwilling to lose. Besides, he intimates in other places, that they are the spiritual seed
and offspring of Christ, the church, and particular persons, who are redeemed by Christ, and whom he justifies and
saves. "Adam’s sin" say she,[3] "passed upon the whole kind, as says the apostle, Romans 5:12, and so hath come
upon all men, therefore the righteousness of Christ, must needs, in genus transeat, ‘pass upon the kind or offspring;
and as he by sin lost his offspring, so Christ by righteousness genus suum omne vivificat, quickens all his own kind or
offspring." This the apostle urges in Romans 5:19, 21. Some will say, but the sin of Adam deservedly passed to his
posterity, because they were born of him; et nunquid nos a Christo geniti sumus, and are not we born of Christ, that
we might be saved for his sake?’ Again,[4] "I will yet," says he, "speak more plainly; the latter people, the poor, the
mean, the humble, and modest soul, the soul delivered by Christ, is an image of the church: hanc venit Dominus
salvam facere, ‘ this the Lord came to save,’ this he hath not left in hell; ‘ this is the sheep which is carried on his
shoulders." And in another place,[5] having mentioned Romans 5:9, We shall be saved from wrath, adds, "from wrath,
indeed, which is due to sinners;" for if he did not suffer the Gentile people to die, multo magis redemptum non patietur
extingui, nec objiciet, quos magno redemit, "much more he will not suffer him that is redeemed to be destroyed, nor
will he cast away those whom he has redeemed with a great price, for neither is the loss of servants light to him." I
take no notice of Monsieur Daille’s citations from the sermons of Zeno Veronensis, because no mention is made of
them by the ancients, they were not extant before A. D. 1508, some things in them cannot agree with the times of the
emperor Galienus, under whom Zeno suffered, and, for the major part, are a collection out of divers authors who lived
almost two hundred years after his time,[6] and therefore do not come under our consideration.

ENDNOTES:

[1] Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccl. s. 116.

[2] Pacian. contr. Novat. ep. 3, p. 112.

[3] Pacian. de Baptismo, p. 121.

[4] Ibid. contr. Novat. ep. 3, p. 107.

[5] Ibid. p. 105.

[6] Vide Rivet. Critici Sacra, 1. 2, c. 19, p. 223, 224; and Jame’s Corruption of the Fathers, par. 1, p. 26.

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Chapter 2 Section 26. - Pacianus Bareinonensis vel Barcilonensis

http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/Cause_of_God_and_Truth/Part%204/chapter2/chap02_section26.htm[11/2/2010 10:48:31 AM]