the oigan by which communion is attained is fiuth ; he is presented to all, but received only by belidvers. The mere symbolical view depreciates the sign too much, and separates it fh>m the sacrament ; but by the other view the sign is exalted too much, and there- by the nature of the mystory itself is obscured.'' (8) Calvin's views on Grace and PredestmoBtion were so strongly pronounced that his name is now used to des- ignate an entire system. He maintained the "doc- trine of absolute predestination, which in him was connected with a one-sided tendency of Christian feel- ing and a rigid logical consequence.* like Zuingle, he regarded prescience and predestination as of equal extent, and even estoblished the former by the latter ; God in no other way foresees the future but as he has decreed. Hence Calvin allowed no contingency even in the fiedl ; he says. How could God, who efl^Eicts all things, have formed the noblest of his creatures for an uncertain end ? What then would become of his omnipotence? The Infralapsarians must still allow such a predestination in the case of Adam's descend- ants. It cannot have been in a natural way that all lost salvation through the gnUt of one. Tet he him- self feels shocked at the thought; decretum quidem korribilefateor,^ he says. Conseqnentiy, God created the greatest part of mankind in order to glorify him- self in them by his punitive justice, and the smaller by the revelation of his love.{ His opponents might give a reason why God, who could have made them dogs, created them in his own image. Ought irra- tional brutes also to argue with God? All doubto may be silenced by the thought that God's will is the highest law and cause. Tet he did not rest here. The idea of an absolute omnipotence of €rod, not con- ditioned by holiness, he looked upon as profane, and appealed to the incomprehensibility of this mysteiy. It is to be acknowledged that Calvin sought to evade the practically injurious consequences of the doctrine of absolute predestination, and especially exalted the revealed grace of God in the work of redemption. *Men bn^t to keep to the Word of God alone ; and, instead of inquiring respecting their own election, look to Christ, and seek in him God's fktherly grace.' Cal- vin labored very much to procure the universal ac- knowledgment of this doctrine in Switzerland, but met with serious opposition, among others, firom the learned Sebastian Castalio (q. v.). In Geneva Cal- vin at last obteined the victory, and then soon came to an understending respecting it with other Swiss theologians. He attempted, but in vain, to get Me-
* III, 21, L— NomqiiAm flquMo ot deeei pereuasi erimm laiatem nostntm ez fbofte gratnittB mlBeriooidln Dei flnere, donoc Innotnerit nobis etema cjiu electio, qn» hac compara- tfcme gratiaxn Del illuBtrat quod non omnes prombcne adoptat In gpem ealntlB, Bed dat allis, quod alfis negat. Hc^ns pr&cl- pil Ignorantla qnantnm ex gloria Dei imndnuat, quantum vend hnmilitati deirabat, palam est.
t III, as, T.—Itenim qusro, unde fiustom eit, ufc tot gente§, una ciun Ifberis eorum infantibns eeternsB mortl involveret lapsofl Adn absque remedlo, nisi quia Deo ita verum est ? Hie obmntesoere oportel tarn dieaoes alloqui llnguas. Deoretum quidem borribile, ikteor; infldarf tamen nemo poterit, quin pnesciverit Dens, quern exltum esset habiturus homo, ante- quam Ipeum conderot, et ideo prsMciverit, quia decreto sno itA oidinarati In preadientiam Dei ri qolB hie invehatur, temere et inconeulto impingit. Quid enim. quseso, est cur reus agatnr cieleatis judex, quia non ignoraTertt quod fhturum erat 7 In pnedestlnationem compeUt in quid est vel Justie vel speclosto queriroonin. Nee abrardum videri debet quod dJoo, Deum non modo prlmi homiais casum et in eo posterorum ruinam pravidisse; sedarbiirioquoquesuo dispensassa Ut enim ad ^ns saplentiam pertlnet omnium qua Aitura sunt esse pras- Bdum MC ad potentiam, omnia manu sua r^ere ac moderarL
t m, 88, L-jGontenta sit fldd sobrietas hac FauU admooi- tione (Rom. ix, 28) non ease cansam litigandi onm Deo, si ab una parte volens ostendere iram et notam facere potentiam suam ferat in mulu tolerantla et lenltate vasa ine apparata in interitum; ab altera autem notes faclat diritias ^oiin suse eiiga vasa miserlcordic, qnn prapanvit in gloriam. Minime tamen oonsentaneum est pneparationem ad interitum alio transferre, quam ad arcanum consilium Dei ; quod etiam paid- lo ante In contextu aperltur, quod Deus excitaverit Pharaonem. delude quos vult induret. Unde seqnttnr abeconditum Dei cooaUium obdurationis ei
CALVIN
42
CALVINISM
Uncthon on his side. Melanctlion called him the mod- ern Zeno, who wanted to introduce a stoical necessity into the Cbnrch, and expressed himself very warmly against him (Corpui Reformat, vii, 982). When Cal- vin sent Melancthon his Ckmfession of Faitli, the lat- ter was so excited that he struck his pen through the whole passage on predestination. Calvin remarked that this was very unlike liis ingmUa mantuetudo ; that he could not imagine how a man of Melancthon's acute- ness could reject this doctrine, and said, reproachfully, that he could not believe that he held the doctrines ^e professed with a sincere heart On account of a doc- trine to which speculation had by no means led him, he reproached him with judging nimitpkUoiopkice con- cerning firee will.'*
Calvin professes to be only a horratcer from St. Au- gustine (Inst. bk. iii, ch. xxiii, § 18); and he repudiates the consequences that have been charged upon his doc- trine. For instance, he strenuously maintains that God is not the author of sin, that men act freely and accountably, and that election is a stimulus to good works rather than an opiate to inaction {Tnst. bk. iii, ch. xxiii, § 8, 9, 12). See Calvimism ; Predestina- tion.