Origen has explain’d this whole Epistle. We have him in Latin only of Rufinus’s Translation, which he put out under St. Jerom’s Name: It is not strange, therefore, that there should be many Places which want correction, he having added and retrench’d what he thought fit. M. Huet, in his Edition of Origen, has published some Greek Fragments of this Comment, together with Tarinus’s Latin Version.
St. Austin has two Pieces upon the Epistle to the Romans. The first was composed about the Year, 394. and before he was a Bishop; intitled Expositio quarundam Propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos. In the first Book of his Retractations, and 23d Chapter, he recalls several Propositions which he had advanc’d in this Work.
The second Book which he composed upon the Epistle to the Romans, is that with this Title; Epistolæ ad Romanos inchoata Expositio. He does not concern himself with the Explanation of this Epistle, and examines only the Salutation in the beginning of it. Both these Works are in the third Tome of the new Edition, part the second. The second Book mention’d by us, contains what he wrote upon the Epistle to the Galatians. Petrarch, in one of his Letters, makes no difficulty of comparing, and even preferring this Work, as small as it is, to this Father’s large Comment upon the Psalms.
Peter Abelard, and William of Rheims, have also made Comments upon this Epistle. The last of these is printed in the Bibliotheca Cisterc. tom. 4. p. 174. He was Abbot of St. Thierri at Rheims, (for he was of Liege) and wrote upon the Canticles. Abelard has five Books upon the Epistle to the Romans; printed in his Works at Paris, 1616, in 4to. We have already spoken of him in the Article upon Genesis. This may be said to be the best of his Works: In it he explains the literal and natural Sense of the Apostle, in the way of Paraphrase. M. Du Pin speaks advantageously of it in the twelfth Century of his Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. I. p. 402.
Of the Moderns, there are Ægidius Romanus, or Giles Colonna, Dominicus Soto, Adam Sasbout; printed at Cologn, 1608, in fol. The Comment of Ægidius Romanus is printed with his other Works; at Venice, 1617, in fol. the second Edition. We speak of him in another Place. See his Title in the Index.
The most correct Edition of Dominicus Soto’s Comment upon the Epistle to the Romans, is that of Salamanca, 1551, in fol. He was a Spaniard, a Dominican, Confessor to Charles V. and died in 1560. of his age 66. Sixtus of Siena mightily commends his Comment upon St. Paul; as well as M. Simon, in his Critical History, chap. 37.
Adam Sasbout not only wrote upon the Epistle to the Romans, but upon those likewise to the Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, the two to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus, and a good part of the Epistle to the Hebrews. All which we find, with his other Works, printed at Cologn, 1608, in fol. We must judge of it, as we did of his Comment upon Isaiah. See above.
Cardinal Sadolet has a Comment printed with his other Works at Mentz, 1607, in 8vo. He shews more of an Orator in it, than of an Interpreter, or Divine. In it he entertains himself with his Brother Julius, and endeavours, with great care, to write with all the Purity of the Latin Tongue; which was the reason of his correcting the Latin Text from the Greek, in the third Decalogue, where he explains the moral part of St. Paul. He speaks of Church-Ceremonies, of monastick Orders, and Prayers: In quibus, says he, summum bonum veritas, summum scelus simulatio. See what M. Simon thinks of it in his Critical History, chap. 38. p. 551, 556.
Sadolet was of Modena, born in 1478. was Secretary to Leo X. who made him Bishop of Carpentras: and Paul III. made him Cardinal, in 1534. He died at Rome, in 1547. Erasmus calls him the Ornament of his Age; and, for the Elegancy of his Style, another Cicero.
Francis Titelman has five Conferences upon the Epistle to the Romans; wherein he explains the most difficult Places, and defends the Latin Version of the Vulgate against Erasmus: printed at Antwerp, 1529, and 1530, in 8vo. There is a great deal of Divinity in what he has written upon St. Paul; as is observed by M. Simon, ibid. chap. 39. p. 564, 569. See above.
Francis Tolet, Cardinal, and Jesuit; his Comment is in good esteem. It was printed at Mentz, in 1603, in 4to. the second Edition.
Benedict Pererius proposes and resolves several Questions on this Epistle. This is one of the best Comments. These Disputations were printed at Lyons, in 1607. the third Edition, in 4to. and with his other Works at Cologn, 1620, in fol. We should make the same Judgment of them as of his Disputations on St. John. See above.
James Naclantus, a Dominican, has written likewise with success on this Epistle. He was of Florence, Bishop of Chiusi in Tuscany. He joined his Explanation of the Epistle to the Ephesians, with that which he made upon the Epistle to the Romans; printed at Lyons, 1570, in 8vo. and in his Works, ibid. 1657, in fol. He begins with explaining the Text; and afterwards falls into theological Digressions, with an intention of consulting the Errors of his time, particularly relating to Predestination. He died in 1569.
Philibertus Haresch, Ord. Eremit. S. Aug. in Epist. ad Roman. Paris. His Comments are only in 8vo. very short; but, with their Conciseness, very clear. He was of Paris; and died in 1545.
We do not mention those here again who have written on St. Paul’s Epistles: but we must not forget Nicholas le Tourneux, Prior of Villers, who has a literal and moral Explanation; printed at Paris, 1702. the second Edition, in 12mo. He was of Roan, a Priest; and died in 1686. of his age 46. There is mention made of him, in a particular manner, in the Necrologe de Port -Royal, p. 443. where likewise there is his Epitaph, in French and Latin.
It was not his design to explain the great Difficulties which occur in this Epistle, but only to make such Reflections upon the Text as are proper to excite and increase Piety. He sets forth the literal Meaning in few words; and almost always joins some Thought with it, which is apt to raise the Soul to God, and inspire it with the fear of his Judgments.
Michael le Vassor wrote a Paraphrase in French upon this Epistle; printed at Paris, in 1689. with that composed by him on St. Matthew, St. John, and the Epistle of St. James, long before he deserted the Catholick Faith, which was not till 1697. He was of Orleans, a Priest of the Oratory; withdrew into Holland, from thence into England; where he died in his Apostasy, in 1718.
His Preface on St. Matthew against M. Simon, is suppressed; but we find Extracts of it in the Journal des Scavans, tom. 17. p. 187.