Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/85

CALVIN. 63 teniplated. None, however, can dispute his in- tellectual greatness, or the powerful services which he rendered to the cause of Protestantism. Stern in spirit and unyielding in will, ho is never selfish or petty in his motives. Nowhere amia- ble, he is everywhere strong. Arbitrary and cruel when it suits him, he is yet heroic in his aims, and beneficent in the scope of his ambition. Earnest from the first, looking upon life as a serious reality, his moral purpose is always clear and definite — to live a life of duty, to shape cir- cumstances to such divine ends as he appre- hended, and, in whatever sphere he might be placed, to work out the glory of God. He rendered a double service to Protestantism, which, apart from anything else, would have made his name illustrious: he systematized its doctrine and he organized its ecclesiastical dis- cipline. He was at once the great theologian of the Keformation, and the founder of a new Church polity, which did more than all other in- fluences together to consolidate the scattered forces of the Reformation and give them an en- during strength. As a religious teacher, as a social legislator, and as a writer, especially of the French language, then in process of forma- tion, his fame is second to none in his age, and must always conspicuously adorn the history of civilization. Among Calvin's most important Works are: Christianw Religionis InstHutio (1.5.36); De yecessitate Reformandw Ecelesiw (1544); Commentaires sur la concordance ou harmonie des Evangelistes (1561); In yotuini Testament um Commentarii ; In Libros Psalm- oriim Commentarii: In Librutn Geneseos Com- mentarii. The first edition of Calvin's whole works is that of Amsterdam, 1671, in 9 vols., fol., but this has been superseded by the definitive and critical edition begim by J. V. Baum, E. Cu- nitz, and E. Reuss, and finished by Lobstein and Erichson (59 vols., Brunswick and Berlin, 1863- 1900). Consult A. Erichson, Bihliografihica Cal- ■viniana (Berlin, 1900). By the Calvin Transla- tion Society, in Edinburgh, his works have been collected, translated into English, and issued in 51 vols., 1843-55. For his biography, consult: T. de Beza (Geneva, 1504; n. e. Paris," 1809), the original life, written a few weeks after Cal- vin's death; J. Bolsec (Lvons, 1577; n. e. 1875) ; and J. M. V. Audin (Paris, 1841; 6th ed. 1873), written from the Roman Catholic standpoint; P. Henry (3 vols., Hamburg. 1835-44), English translation abridged and altered bv Stebbing (London, 1851): T. H. Dyer (London, 1850): F. Bungener (Paris, 1863". English translation Edinburgh, 1863); E. Staehelin (Elberfeld, 1863); A. Pierson (Amsterdam, 1883-91)— all of which are written from the Protestant point of view. A very valuable and impartial book from a Roman Catholic is, F. W. Kampschulte, Johann Calvin, seine Kirchc und sein ^taai in Genf (Leipzig, 1869-99). An exhaustive work is that of E. Doumergue, of which the first volume appeared in Lausanne in 1899. It contains many illustrations from original drawings, fac- similes, etc., and is the work of a lifetime. Con- sult also the biograpliy of Calvin by Philip Schaif in his History of the Christian Church (New York, 1892), Vol. VII., pp. 257-844. CALVINISM. The system of thought deriv- ing its name frcmi its greatest representative, John Calvin (1509-04). It has its starting-point CALVINISM. in the conception of the .sovereignty of God. This is not merejy His sole causality in the physical universe, but His priority, in particular, in the whole realm of the religious life. The funda- mental element of the system was expressed by Schleiermacher, Die christliche Glaube (See. 32 fl'.), and after him by the learned historian of the reformed theology, Schweizer, Die Glaubens- Ichre der evun;;cliscli-reforniirten Kirche (Sec. 23), as the feeling of the entire dependence of all that is and takes place upon God. This pre- destination, which has sometimes been seized upon as the distinguishing feature of the system, is a consequence of the true principle "rather than that principle itself. The historical origin of Calvinism goes far back of Calvin himself. It found its first promi- nent exponent in Augustine (q.v.), though its essential elements may be detected in the ear- liest history of the Church. It took its Augus- tinian form in consequence of the discus- sions of the Pelagian controversy (see Pe- LAciANiSM ) , in which the point at issue was the originating source of conversion. Pelagius mantained that this was in the independent action of man. Augustine that it was in the ja-evenient grace of God, eliciting the human ac- tivity. From this germ developed the most dis- tinctive features of Augustinianism, original sin, bondage of the will, and inability to "be good, predestination, and the reference of all good to God alone. The tendency of the course of dis- cussion in the iliddle Ages was to weaken the Augustinian system, but it was restored by the Reformers, Luther, Zwmgli, and Calvin. " The latter incorporated it in his Institutes (final edition, 1559), which was the most perfect sys- tem of Christian doctrine that had ever been produced. From this work it went into the great Protestant confessions, the Heidelberg, French, Belgic, Synod of Dort (on occasion of the con- troversy with the Arminians, q.v.), and the re- markable series of English confessions, begin- ning with the Articles of the Church of England (first issued in 1552), embracing the Lambeth (1595) and the Irish (1015) articles, and con- cluding with the Westminster (1647). It was represented by a long series of divines, of whom Beza, Bullinger, Ames, Turretin, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Hodge (best recent statement of the system) may be men- tioned. It is now the confessional theology of the Presbyterian and so-called 'Reformed' churches in all the Protestant nations. In New Eng- land, imder the influence of Edwards and his pu- pils, there arose a school of "consistent' Cal- vinists, who variously modified the details of the system, principally in consequence of a new psychology' of the will and of virtue. But this has manifested its essential divergence from Calvinism by the further development through which it has gone. The decisive element of the Calvinistic sys- tem is. then, its doctrine of God. With otlier Protestant systems, it is distinctly theistie and trinitarian. It lays emphasis upon the imnuita- ble nature of God. and upon His unchangeable attributes of justice and love, each equally sov- ereign. God's design in the creation of the world was the manifestation of His own glorious at- tributes, of which these are the chief. Aicord- ingly. He forms in eternity the plan uj)on which he conducts both creation and the government