A REFUTATION OF CALVINISM; IN WHICH, THE DOCTRINES of ORIGINAL SIN, GRACE, REGENERATION, JUSTIFICATION, ARE EXPLAINED, AND THE PECULIAR TENETS MAINTAINED BY CALVIN UPON THOSE POINTS TO THE WRITINGS OF THE ANTIENT FATHERS AND TO THE PUBLIC FORMULARIES OF THE BY GEORGE TOMLINE, D.D. F.R.S. LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN, THE FOURTH EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS. LONDON: Printed for CADELL & DAVIES, Strand; PREFACE. THE HE design of the following Work, is, to refute the peculiar Doctrines of the system of Theology which was maintained by Calvin. The first four Chapters contain a discussion of all the peculiar Doctrines of that system, with an attempt to prove that they are contrary to Scripture, and to the Public Formularies of our Established Church. My object has been to treat these abstruse subjects in an intelligible manner, without perplexing my Readers with metaphysical subtleties, or fatiguing them by tedious detail; and to give a plain interpretation of those texts of the Old and New Testaments, which have been brought forward both by the supporters and opponents of Calvinism, and which are generally considered to be among the most difficult passages of the Sacred Volume. The language of our own Church is in general so perspicuous and decided, that in appealing to its Authority very little explanation has been found necessary, except b except in referring to some of the Thirty-nine Articles. The Fifth and Sixth Chapters contain about three hundred and eighty Quotations from the Writings of the antient Fathers of the Christian Church; and the Seventh Chapter contains about sixty Quotations from the different Works of Calvin. A comparison of the Fifth and Seventh Chapters, in which the Fathers and Calvin are left to speak for themselves, with scarcely any comment from me, must, I think, convince every unprejudiced 'mind, that the Primitive Church of Christ held opinions in direct opposition to the peculiar tenets of Calvinism; and from a comparison of the Sixth and Seventh Chapters it will, if I mistake not, be equally manifest, that these peculiar tenets, or tenets nearly resembling them, were maintained, at a very early period of the Christian Church, by persons, who were then, and have ever since been, considered as Heretics, or corrupters of the pure and genuine Doctrines of the Gospel. The Eighth and last Chapter contains a brief History of what are now called Calvinistic Doctrines, from the days of the Apostles to the æra of the Reformation, with a few remarks upon the Public Formularies of our own Church. The First, Third, and Fourth Chapters, include the Charges which I delivered to the Clergy of of the Diocese of Lincoln at my last three triennial Visitations, with very considerable additions. The first of these Charges, upon Universal Redemption, I published in the year 1803, at the request of the Clergy; and having received a similar request respecting my Charges of 1806 and 1809, I deferred the publication of them, till I had completed the plan which I had formed to myself. It appeared to me, that the importance of the subjects, especially at the present moment, required that they should be discussed more at length than the time usually allowed to an Episcopal Charge will permit; and I thought that I might render some service to our Established Church, if I collected and published the sentiments of the Fathers of the first four or five centuries, upon these interesting points, and contrasted them with a sufficient number of passages from the Works of Calvin, to convey a clear idea of his system in his own words. I was scarcely aware of what I had undertaken, in this latter part of my plan. The duties of my very extensive Diocese, with other avocations of a private nature, did not soon afford me leisure for so laborious a work, as that of carefully examining nearly seventy folio volumes, and extracting from them what related to the subjects in question. I have, how ever, at length performed the task; and I deemed it incumbent upon me to make this statemen', as |