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

804
Schweizer (Centraldogmen), Gieseler, Hagenbach, Dorner, Luthardt,
Loofs, and others.
ft819 Calvin expressed to Bullinger, in a confidential letter, January, 1552,
his dissatisfaction with the paradoxical expressions of Zwingli’s tract
De Providentia. “Zwinglii libellus,” he writes, “ut familiariter inter
nos loquamur, tam duris paradoxis refertus est, ut longissime ab ea
quam adhibui moderatione distet.” Bullinger, however, never
contradicted the liberal sentiments of his teacher and friend, and
believed in extraordinary modes of salvation, “sine externo ministerio,
quo et quando velit (Deus)., et quod ejus potentiae est.” Second Helv.
Conf. I. 7.
ft820 For a fuller exposition of Melanchthon’s Synergism see Herrlinger’s
monograph; Frank, Theologie der Concordienformel; Dorner,
Geschichte der Protest. Theologie, pp. 361-374, and his System der
christl. Glaubenslehre, II. 706 sq. and 716 sq.; Schweizer,
Centraldogmen, I. 380 sqq.; Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, I. 262 sq.;
Loofs, Dogmengeschichte, pp. 403 sq. (2d ed.).
ft821 De Dono Persev., ch. XXXIII.
ft822 “Praedestinationem vocamus aeternum Dei decretum, quo apud se
constitutum habuit, quid de unoquoque homine fieri vellet. Non enim
pari conditione creantur omnes; sed aliis vita aeterna, aliis damnatio
aeterna praeordinatur. Itaque, prout in alterutrum finem quisque
conditus est, ita vel ad vitam, vel ad mortem praedestinatum dicimus.”
Inst. III. ch. XXI. § 5 (Opera, vol. II. pp. 682, 683).
ft823 Ibid. III. ch. XXI. § 7.
ft824 “Summa justitiae regula est Dei voluntas.”
ft825 Inst. III. ch. XXII. § 1.
ft826 Ibid. III. ch. XXII. II. Calvin’s definition of divine justice is contrary
to the general conception of human justice, which must be a reflection
of divine justice.
ft827 Ibid. III. ch. XXIII. § 1. The scholastic Calvinists distinguished in
reprobation a negative element, namely, praeteritio or indebitae
gratiae negatio, and a positive element of predamnation, praedamnatio
or debitae poenae destinatio. See the definitions of Wolleb,
Keckermann, Heidegger, etc., in Heppe’s Dogmatik der evang. reform.
Kirche (1861), p. 132. The Westminster Confession (ch. III. 7) uses