Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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to condemnation the gate of life is closed by a just and irreprehensible,
though incomprehensible judgment.” f823 God’s will is the supreme rule of
justice, f824 so that “what he wills must be considered just for the very
reason that he wills it. When you ask, therefore, why the Lord did so, the
answer must be, Because he would. But if you go further and ask why he
so determined, you are in search of something higher and greater than the
will of God, which can never be found. Let human temerity, therefore,
desist from seeking that which is not, lest it should fail of finding that
which is. This will be a sufficient restraint to any one disposed to reason
with reverence concerning the secrets of his God.” f825 Calvin infers from
the passage, “God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will, he hardeneth “(Rom. 9:13), that Paul attributes both equally “to the
mere will of God. If, therefore, we can assign no reason why God grants
mercy to his people but because such is his pleasure, neither shall we find
any other cause but his will for the reprobation of others. For when God is
said to harden or show mercy to whom he pleases, men are taught by this
declaration to seek no cause behind his will.” f826
Predestination, therefore, implies a twofold decree—a decree of election
unto holiness and salvation, and a decree of reprobation unto death on
account of sin and guilt. Calvin deems them inseparable. “Many indeed,” he
says, “as if they wished to avert odium from God, admit election in such a
way as to deny that any one is reprobated. But this is puerile and absurd,
because election itself could not exist without being opposed to
reprobation … . Whom God passes by, he reprobates (Quos Deus
praeterit, reprobat), and from no other cause than his determination to
exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his
children.” f827
God bestows upon the reprobate all the common mercies of daily life as
freely as upon the elect, but he withholds from them his saving mercy. The
gospel also is offered to them, but it will only increase their responsibility
and enhance their damnation, like the preaching of Christ to the
unbelieving Jews (Isa. 6:9, 10; Matt. 13:13–15). But how shall we
reconcile this with the sincerity of such an offer?
INFRALAPSARIANISM AND SUPRALAPSARIANISM.
Within the Calvinistic system there arose two schools in Holland during the
Arminian controversy, the Infralapsarians (also called Sublapsarians) and