February 28, 2008

Edmund Calamy (1600–1666) as Recorded in the Minutes of the Westminster Assembly

I am far from universal redemption in the Arminian sense; but that that I hold is in the sense of our divines in the Synod of Dort, that Christ did pay a price for all, absolute intention for the elect, conditional intention for the reprobate in case they do believe, that all men should be salvabiles, non obstante lapsu Adami . . . that Jesus Christ did not only die sufficiently for all, but God did intend, in giving of Christ, and Christ in giving Himself, did intend to put all men in a state of salvation in case they do believe.
Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, eds. Alexander F. Mitchell & John P. Struthers (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1874), 152.
I argue from the iii. of Joh[n] 16, in which words a ground of God's intention of giving Christ, God's love to the world, a philanthropy the world of elect and reprobate, and not of elect only; it cannot be meant of the elect, because of that 'whosoever believeth' . . . xvi. Mark, 15. 'Go preach the gospel to every creature.' If the covenant of grace be to be preached to all, then Christ redeemed, in some sense, all both elect and reprobate; but it is to be preached to all; there is a warrant for it. . . . For the minor, if the universal redemption be the ground of the universal promulgation, then . . . the minor, else there is no verity in promulgation. All God's promulgations are serious and true. . . . Faith doth not save me, but only as an instrument to apply Christ. There is no verity in the universal offer except founded in the . . .
Ibid., 154.
The difference is not in the offer, but in the application. . . . That voluntas decreti comes only in the application. . . . For the word world ... I grant it signifies the elect sometimes, but sometimes it signifies the whole world, and so it must do here. . . . For this love he saith he under ... There is a double love: general and special. A general love to the reprobate, and the fruit of this, a general offer, and general grace, and general reformation.
Ibid., 156.

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Observe:

1) Calamy says that he holds to a form of universal redemption that is "far from" the Arminian sense.
2) He sees his view expressed by the divines in the Synod of Dort.
3) He speaks of an intentional sufficiency, such that Christ did actually pay a price for all.
4) This objective price paid for all renders all men savable, but they must believe to obtain the benefit.
5) John 3:16 is used as a proof of his view, and he argues that "world" cannot mean the "elect only" in that instance.
6) He also argues that a universal proclamation presupposes a form of universal redemption.
7) He associated the "verity in the promulgation," or the seriousness and truthfulness of God's "universal offer," with universal redemption; and further argues that if a price was not paid for all, there could be no "verity" in the offer.
8) He associated the limitation of the decree with the application, and not with the offer or in the redemption price itself.
9) Calamy says there is a general and a special love of God, and that "general love" is shown "to the reprobate," as seen in the "general offer" and "general grace" (as distinguished from special grace).

The only thing that I take exception to above is this:

For the word world ... I grant it signifies the elect sometimes...
Rather, I agree with Ezekiel Culverwell:
I profess I cannot find any one clear place where [the World] must of necessity be taken for the Elect only.

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