CHAPTER IV.

CALVINISM.

By the Calvinists, the IDEA of Election is judged to be The Election of certain individuals, out of the great mass of mankind, directly and immediately, to eternal life, while all other individuals are either passively left or actively doomed to a certainty of eternal death and the MOVING CAUSE of that Election is defined to be God's unconditional and irrespective Will and Pleasure, inherent in, and exercised in consequence of, his absolute and uncontroulable Sovereignty.

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Such, in brief, is the Scheme, which usually bears the name of Calvinism: but, from the circumstance of its very wide ramification and from its claim of propounding the very essentials of the Gospel as taught and delivered by the Apostles themselves, it will require a much more extended discussion and examination than either of the two Schemes of Arminianism and Nationalism.

At the Synod of Dort which sat in the year 1618, this peculiar System of Scripture Exposition was

conveniently exhibited under the form of five distinct Articles setting forth five distinct Points of Doctrine.

I. These five Articles were arranged and summed up in the following manner and order.

1. According to the fixed PREDESTINATION of God, which, as its moving cause, rests, not upon any impulsory prevision of men's future characters and conduct, but altogether upon the Divine Pleasure and Sovereignty: some individuals, by a decree of Election, are, out of the great mass of mankind, absolutely chosen to a certainty of eternal happiness; while, by a decree of Reprobation, all other individuals are absolutely passed over and left to a certainty of eternal misery *.

2. Although, from its infinite value, the death of

* Quod aliqui in tempore fide a Deo donantur, aliqui non donantur, id ab æterno ipsius decreto provenit; omnia enim opera sua novit ab æterno: secundum quod decretum, Electorum corda, quantumvis dura, gratiosè emollit, et ad credendum inflectit; non electos autem, justo judicio, suæ malitiæ et duritiæ relinquit. Atque hic potissimum sese nobis aperit profunda, misericors pariter et justa, hominum æqualiter perditorum discretio: sive decretum illud Electionis et Reprobationis in verbo Dei revelatum.

Est autem Electio immutabile Dei propositum, quo, ante jacta mundi fundamenta, ex universo genere humano ex primæva integritate in peccatum et exitium sua culpa prolapso, secundum liberrimum voluntatis suæ beneplacitum, ex mera gratia, certam quorundam hominum multitudinem, aliis nec meliorum nec digniorum, sed in communi miseria cum aliis jacentium, ad salutem elegit in Christo.

Causa vero hujus gratuita Electionis est solum Dei beneplacitum, non in eo consistens, quod certas qualitates seu actiones

the Son of God is abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world: yet, according to God's sovereign will, its beneficial operation is so limited, that, in point of efficacy, it procures, solely and exclusively, the PARTICULAR REDEMPTION of those who from all eternity have been irreversibly elected to salvation *.

humanas, ex omnibus possibilibus, in salutis conditionem elegit; sed in eo, quod certas quasdam personas ex communi peccatorum multitudine sibi in peculium adscivit.

Cæterum in æternam et gratuitam hanc Electionis nostræ gratiam eo vel maximè illustrat nobisque commendat Scriptura Sacra, quod porro testatur, non omnes homines esse electos, sed quosdam non electos sive in æterna Dei Electione præteritos, quos scilicet Deus, ex liberrimo, justissimo, irreprehensibili, et immutabili, beneplacito, decrevit in communi miseria, in quam se sua culpa præcipitârunt, relinquere, nec salvifica fide et conversionis gratia donare, sed, in viis suis et sub justo judicio relictos, tandem, non tantum propter infidelitatem sed etiam cætera omnia peccata, ad declarationem justitiæ suæ, damnare et æternum punire. Atque hoc est decretum Reprobationis. Judic. Synod. Dordrech. c. i. de Divin. Prædest. § 6, 7, 10, 15.

* Mors Filii Dei est unica et perfectissima pro peccatis victima et satisfactio, infiniti valoris et pretii, abundè sufficiens ad totius mundi peccata expianda.

Fuit hoc Dei Patris liberrimum consilium et gratiosissima voluntas atque intentio, ut mortis pretiosissimæ Filii sui vivifica et salvifica efficacia sese exereret in omnibus Electis, ad eos solos fide justificante donandos, et per eam ad salutem infallibiliter perducendos hoc est, voluit Deus, ut Christus, per sanguinem crucis quo novum fœdus confirmavit, ex omni populo, tribu, gente, et lingua, eos omnes et solos, qui ab æterno ad salutem electi et a Patre ipsi dati sunt, efficaciter redimeret. Judic. Synod. Dordrech. c. ii. de Redemp. § 3, 8.

3. Man's corruption, in consequence of the fall of Adam, is such, that all are conceived in sin and are born the children of wrath, unapt to any salutary goodness, propense to evil, dead in trespasses, and the slaves of iniquity: nor does this inherent corruption or this ORIGINAL SIN arise from a mere imitation of Adam; but, by the just judgment of God, it is conveyed and communicated through the propagation of a vicious nature *.

4. The Elect, no less than the Reprobate, being unable, by any inherent strength of their own, to turn themselves unto God and holiness, receive, in due time, a morally invincible EFFECTUAL CALLING, which, through the Divine Grace surely operating upon their hearts, they willingly and cheerfully obeyt.

* Qualis post lapsum fuit homo, tales et liberos procreavit ; nempe corruptus, corruptos: corruptione ab Adamo in omnes posteros (solo Christo excepto), non per imitationem (quod Pelagiani olim voluerunt), sed per vitiosæ naturæ propagationem, justo Dei judicio, derivata.

Itaque omnes homines in peccato concipiuntur, et filii iræ nascuntur, inepti ad omne bonum salutare, propensi ad malum, in peccatis mortui, et peccati servi. Judic. Synod. Dordrech. c. iii. de Homin. Corrupt. § 2, 3.

+ Quotquot per Evangelium vocantur, serio vocantur.

Quod multi, per ministerium Evangelii vocati, non veniunt et non convertuntur, hujus culpa non est in Evangelio, nec in Christo per Evangelium oblato, nec in Deo per Evangelium vocante, sed in vocatis ipsis.

Quod autem alii, per ministerium Evangelii vocati, veniunt

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5. Thus being made willing in the day of God's power, and thus obeying his Efficacious Call, the Elect, though they may occasionally fall into sin, yet, in consequence of the immutability of the Divine Decree, are always recovered to righteousness: and thence, by the grace of FINAL PERSEVERANCE, through the appointed medium of general holiness, they at length obtain that heavenly felicity to which they had been eternally predestinated*.

et convertuntur, id non est adscribendum homini, tanquam seipsum per liberum arbitrium ab aliis pari vel sufficiente gratia ad fidem et conversionem instructis discernenti (quod superba Pelagii hæresis statuit), sed Deo, qui, ut suos ab æterno in Christo elegit, ita eosdem in tempore efficaciter vocat, fide et resipiscentia donat, et e potestate tenebrarum erutos in Filii sui regnum transfert. Judic. Synod. Dordrech. c. iv. de Convers. Mod. § 8, 9, 10.

* Deus, qui dives est misericordia, ex immutabili Electionis proposito, Spiritum Sanctum, etiam in tristibus lapsibus, a suis non prorsus aufert, nec eousque eos prolabi sinit, ut gratia adoptionis, justificationis statu, excidant, aut peccatum ad mortem sive in Spiritum Sanctum committant, et ab eo penitus deserti in exitium æternum sese præcipitent.

Ita, non suis meritis aut viribus, sed ex gratuita Dei misericordia, id obtinent, ut nec totaliter fide et gratia excidant, nec finaliter in lapsibus maneant aut pereant. Quod, quoad ipsos, non tantum facile fieri posset, sed et indubiè fieret; respectu autem Dei, omnino non potest: cum nec consilium ipsius mutari, promissio excidere, vocatio secundum propositum revocari, Christi meritum, intercessio, et custodia, irrita reddi, nec Spiritus Sancti obsignatio frustanea fieri aut deleri, possit. Judic. Synod. Dordrech. c. v. de Persever. Sanct. § 6, 8.