CALVmiSM
46
CALVINISTS
the Synod of Dort (Hall, Hale, Dayenaiit) all adroca. ted general atonement, in which they Were followed by Baxter (Uuwer$al BtdcmptUm; Methodut Theologi- ca; Orme, Life of Baxter, ii, 64). The ** moderate'' doctrine aa to the nature of the atonement is, in brief; tliat it consists in " that satisfiEustion for sin which was rendered to God as moral governor of the world by the obedience nnto death of his son Jesus Clirist. This satisfaction preserves the authority of the moral gov- ttument of God, and yet enables him to forgive sin- ners. That tliis forgiveness could not be given by God without atonement constitutes its necessity." See Atonemeict. That Christ's atonement was sufficient for all, that it is actually applied only to the elect, and that it enhances the guilt of those who reject it, is now almost universally conceded by the different schools. But its universality, as a provision, is also asserted by the moderate Calvinists, with some modifications in the statement of its nature. The English views as to the nature of the atonement are presented in the follow- ing extracts : Dr. Magee (On the AttmemetU) says, **The sacrifice of Christ was never deemed by any, who did not wish to calumniate the doctrine of atonement, to have made God plaoabh, but merely viewed as the means appointed by divine wisdom by which to be- stow forgiveness. But still it is demanded, in what way can the death of Christ, considered as a sacrifice of expiation, be conceived to operate to the remission of sin, unless by the appeasing of a Being who other- wise would not have forgiven us ? To this the answer of the Christian is, I know not, nor does it concern me to know, Ml what manner the sacrifice of Christ is oon< nected with the forgiveness of sins ; it is enough that tills is declared by God to be the medimm through which my salvation is effected : I pretend not to dive into the councils of the Almighty. I submit to his wis- dom, and I will not reject his grace because his mode of vouchsafing it is not within my comprehension." Andrew Fuller, in his Calvinutic and Socinian Sp$- temi compared (Letter vii), strongly reprobates Uie idea of placating the Divine Being by an atonement, ** contending that the atonement is the effect, and not the cause of divine love" to men ; and insists ** that the contrary is a gross misrepresentation of the Cal- vinists in general," though it must be confessed some Calvinists have given too much countenance to such an idea. Mr. Fuller adds, *' If we say a way was opened by the death of Christ for the free and consist- ent exercise of mercy in all the methods which sover- eign wisdom saw fit to adopt, perhaps we shall include every material idea which the Scriptures give us of that important event."
y. Farther modifications in the Calvinistic system have been made in this country through the influence ofthe so-called Kbw-Enoland Theology, especially as set forth in the writings of Jonathan Edwards and his successors. In respect to original sin, the elder Edwards, in his work on that subject, advocated the mediate rather than the immediate imputation of Adam's first sin to his posterity. On the nature of virtue he introduced an important modification, in making hve to being Qsi the two forms of love of be- nevolence and love of complacency) to constitute the essence of virtue. On the nature of the atonement he made no modification. He also distinguished more carefully than had previously been done between nat- ural ability and moral inability, and this distinction was farther elaborated by the younger Edwards, who also represented the atonement as consisting in a satis- faction to the general rather than' the distributive jus- tice of God. Hopkins and Emmons carried out tlftse views still fiirther, but under the influence (especially in the case of Emmons) of the supralapsarian scheme. These discussions extended from New England into the Presbyterian Church. The parties there known as Old and New School differ chiefly on the following vticlee : 1. Imputation of sin, whether it be immedi- 1
ate or mediate; 2. The nature and extent of the atone- ment; 8. Ability and inability.
For the history of the development of Calvinism, see Reformed Church. For the Antinomlan and extreme supralapsarian developments of Calvinism, see Abti- NOMiAM ISM ; Crisp ; Hopkimbiahs. For certain mit- igated schemes of Calvinism, see Amtraldom ; Bax- ter ; Camero. On two of the jarinciples which dis- tinguish the so-called Moderate Calvinism, via. (1.) the universality of the atonement, see Atoihemekt; Bedbmptioii ; (2.) The natural ability of all men to repent, see Inabilitt ; New-Enolakd Theology.
VI. /iterotere. — The literature of the Calvinistic controversy is enormous. The principal books only can be named here: Calvin, Inttitvtiones ; Zwinglins, Brevii Itagoget Comm. de vera etfdUa reUffiane; the ConfBSsions of the Reformed Churches, given in An- gusti, Corpus JJbromm SymboUcarmn (1828), or in Kie- meyer, CoUectio Confessionmn (1840); the Westminster Cbnfsssion (1648) ; the Decrees of the Synod of Dort (1619). The chief Calvinistic writers of the IGth and 17th centuries were Beza, Bullinger, Alstedt, Whit- gift, Cartwright, Crisp, Perkins, Leighton, Baxter (moderateX Owen, Howe, Ridgely, C^mar, Alting, Rivetus, Heidegger, Turretin, Pictet. Of the 18th and 19th centuries the following are selected: Stapfer, Wyttenbach, Gill, Toplady, Erskine, Dick, Hill, Breck- inridge, Kruromacher. Of the new American school : Edwards, Bellamy, Emmons, Dwight, West, Smalley, etc, whose influence was seen in England in the writ- ings of Fuller, Ryland, Hall, Jay, Pye Smith, and Chalmers. The so-called Old Calvinism has produced few writers of late in England. It is ably defended in America by the Princeton theologians. For the his- torical treatment of the subject, see Gill, Cause of God and Tniihy pt iv ; Neander, History of Dogmas (1. c) ; Hagenbach, Hi$t. qf Doctrines (ed. by Smith, § 219- 222); Ebrard, ChrutL Dogmatik, § 17-^1, and § 66^ 565; Womack, Calvimstio Cabinet Unlocked; Watson, Th»jlog, Institutes, pt. ii, ch. xxviii ; Herrmann, Ge- schichte der ProL DogmaHk (Leipe. 1842); Gass, Ge- sckichte der Prot. Dogmatik (Berlin, 1854) ; Heppe, Dogmatik der Evang.'Rf/orm, Kirvhe (Elberfeld, 1861); Mozley, Augustiman Doctrine of Predestittation (Lond. 1866); Christian Pemembraneer, Jan. 1856, 170 sq.; Nicholls, Calvinism and Armimanism compared (Lond. 1824, 2 vols. 8vo) b very full as to English writ- ers, and abounds in valuable citations, but is desti- tute of scientific arrangement ; Cunningham, Hittar^ teal Theologg (1862); Ditto, Theologg of the Prforma^ tion (1862) ; Hill, Lectures an Dicimtg, chap. xi. For the later forms of Calvinism, especially in America, see Tyler, Bisiory of the New Haven Theology (1887) ; Beecher, Views in Theology ; Rice, Old and New Schools (1858) ; Bangs, Errors of Hopkinsianism 1816) ; Hodg- son. New Divinity (1889); Fisk, The Calvinistic Contfv- versy; and especially, on the whole subject, Warren, aystematische Theologie, § 24 (Bremen, 1865, 8vo). Po- lemical works against Calvinism : (a) Lutheran, Chem- nits, in his Loci Theologid ; Dannhauer, Hodomoria Spiritus Calvin (1654) ; Feuerbom, Epitome Error, Cah. (1651) ; (b) Anmnian and Me^odtst (besides those above named) : Arminius, Eiuscopius, Limborch, Cnr- cellsus (writings generally) ; Wesley ( Works, see In- dex) ; Fletcher, Checks to Aniinomianism, etc. ; Wat- son, Theol. Institutes, vol. ii; Goodwin, Iiedenq}tion Pe^ deemed; Foster, Calvinism as it m; (c) Later German writers: Ebrard, in his Dogmatik (K5nigsberg, 1861, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Lange, die Lehre der heil, Schriften von derfhien und ailgemanen Gnade Gottes (Elberf. 1681, 8vo). Writers on special tdpica, e. g. Election, Re- demption, Predestination, etc., will be named under those heads respectively^ See Armuviakism ; Elbo- tion; Federal Theology ; Grace; Predestina- tion; Sacraments.