It has always been a question in the Church of Eng- laod whether the Articles are or are not Calvinistic On this question, see Toplady, Doctrmal Ccdvimtm of Hu Charck ofEngkmd (Works, vol. i and ii) ; Overton, 7ViMC3b0vft0iai» (2d ed. York, 1801); Laurence, Aim|>- Um Leetttre for 1S04 (Oxford, 1806, 8vo) ; Cunnmg- ham, The JReformen^ Essay iv (Edinb. 1862, 8vo) ; pdntodalso in the BrU,mdFor,Ev<mg, i2e9.(No.85); reprinted m the Aia, TkeoL Review (October, 1861, art. v); Haidwick, Hi$tary of Reformation, ch. iv, p. 260.
The Lutheran Church never adopted the Calvinistic system. In the beginning, both Luther and Melanc- thon received the Augustinian theology ; but as early as 1529 Melancthon expunged the passages supporting it from his Zioct Theologici. Luther bestowed the highest praise on the last editions of the Lod (Luther's If orb, 1646, voL i, prefoce; see Laurence, Bampton Ldct Sermon ii, note 21). The Augsburg Confestio Variata (xx) says : *' Non est hie opus disputationibus de predestuuitione et similibns. Nam promissio est udversalii et nihil detrahit operibus, sed exsusdtat ad fidem et vere bona opera" (see Gieseler, Church Hib- ^ ^1 If 36, 87). In the German Reformed Church the strictly Calvinistic doctrine "never, as such, re- eetred any symbolical authority; and it was signlfi- eaatly left out of the Heidelberg Catechism, and hand- ed OTOT to the schools and scientific theology. At the same time, it was never rejected by the German Ghnreh, nor regarded with any thing like hostility." Appel, in the TereeaUnary MomanerU of the HeMberg CMowi, p. 827; Hase, Church ffitlonf, § 854.
m. The Calvinistic system was still farther modi- fied by the Federal Theology, or the Thboloot of THB CovBHASTS. Under the too exclusive influence of the doctrine of Predestination, it had assumed a scho- lastic character, from which it was in part relieved by the hitiodnction of the idea of the Coiemmi, as a oon- rtroctire principle of the system. John Cocceius, tnined hi the German Beformed theology (bom at Bremen 1608, died 1699), first developed the system uider tills point of view, the effect of which was to in- troduce historical focts and elements, and a distinctive <<ldcal idea (a covenant implying mutual rights), into tiie beart of the system, and to banish the idea of the ^i^ine sovereignty as mere will. Cocceius distin- g'P^ed between, 1. The covenant before the Fall, the fffnant of works; and, 2. The covenant after the
Fall, the covenant of grace. The latter covenant em- braces a threefold economy : (1) The economy before the law; (2) The economy under the law; (3) The economy of the GoepeL See his Summa Doctrina de Fadere et TeetammOe Dm, 1648. Heppe says : *' The fruit of his influence was to lead the Beformed theolo- gians back to tlie freedom of the Word of God, deliv- ering it fh>m the bondage of a traditional scholasti- dsm." This type of Calvinism was still fSuther d^ veloped in the writings of Braun, Doetrkta Fcederym 1698 ; of Burmann of Utrecht (f 1679), 8ynopei» Theo~ logicB et (Eoonomits Fadenim X)«»,1671; Heidanus of Leyden (f 1678), Corjnte Theol. ChritL 1687 ; and espe- dally of Witsius of Leyden (f 1708), whose Economg qf ike Oovemmte (1694) was transUted hito English (Lend. 1768 ; revised ed. Edinb. 1771, 1808 ; New York, 8 vols. 1798). This theology of the covenants also shaped, to a considerahle extent, the Beformed system as it was adopted in England, Scotland, and America. It is clearly recognised hi the Westminster Confiession of Faith and Catechisms. Later writers divide the covenant of grace into two parts, via. the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, and the covenant of grace between God and his people in Christ. On this fanportant phase of the Calvinistic theology, see Ebrard, Dogmatii, i, 60 sq. ; Gass, 6e- teUchte der Protett, DogmatHe, Bd. 2, 1857; Schweizer, Okaibemelehre der Ewmg. rejformirten Kirche, 2 Bde. 1844, and also his Proteetan&cke CentraUogmen, 2 Bde. 1864; Schneckenburger, Vergleiehemde BanleUung der Uttkeiriechm wnd reformrten Lekrhegriffs, 1856 ; G. Frank, Getchichte der Protest, TheoL 2 Bde. 1866; also Heppe, Doamatik d. deutachen ProteetanOtmus, i, 204; Dogmatik der ev<mg,'ref Kircke, i, 278; and the arti- cle Federal Thboloot.
IV. Moderate Calvimets,^TWB phrase designates those, especially in England and America, who, while adhering to the Calvinistic as contrasted with the Ar- minian system, have yet receded from some of the ex- treme statements of the former, especially upon the two articles of Beprobation and the Extent of the Atonement. See Dr. £. WUliams, Dtfeitce of Modem Cabnnimn, 1812 ; Senium and Charges, p. 128, and Ap- pendix, p. 899. Dr. WiUiams says : * * Bepro^ion, or * predestination to death or miseiy as the end, and to sin as the means,' I call an ^tn^ntre mixture' with Cal- vinism, as having no foundation either in the real meanhig of Holy Writ, or in the nature of things; except, indeed, we mean by it, what no one questions, a determination to punish the guilty." He calls this a '* ^mioBture,* because its connection with predestina- tion to life is arbitrary and forced; * impure,' because the supposition itself is a foul aspersion upon the di- vine character."
The other point on which the moderate Calvinists modified the system is the nature and extent of the atoning work of Christ. Strict Calvinism asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ made atonement to God by hh> death only for the sins of those to whom, in the sover- eign good pleasure of the Almighty, the benefits of hia death shall be finally applied. By this definition, the extent of Christ's atonement, as a provision, is limited to those who ultimately enjoy its fhiits ; it is restrict- ed to the elect of God. Both Strict and Moderate Cal- vinists agree as to the intrinsic worth of the atone* ment, and as to its final application. It has been asserted (e. g. by Amyrant, q. v.) that Calvin himself held to general redemption; and certainly his lan- guage in his Comm. in Job, iii, 15, 16, and in 1 Tim, ii, 6, seems fSsirly to assert the doctrine. Comp. Fletcher, WdHks (N. Y. ed. ii, 71); but see also Cunningham, The Reformers (Essay vii). As to the variations of the Calvinistic confessions, see Smith's Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, § 249. In the French Beformed Churdi, the divines of Saumur, Camero, Amyraldus, and PlacflBus maintained universal grace (see articles on these names). The English divines who attended