[Loci Communes Theologici; Collected from all his extant lectures, theses on loci communes, ancient and more recent manuscripts, and diligently compiled, arranged, and augmented, with an index of chapters and subjects, by Nicolaus Arnoldus, Doctor and Professor of Sacred Theology in the Academy of Franeker; Final edition, thoroughly corrected of nearly innumerable errors found in previous editions; (Amsterdam: Ludovicus & Daniel Elzevir, 1667)]
Johannes Maccovius (c. 1588–1644), born Jan Makowski in the year of our Lord 1588 in Lobzenic, Great Poland, emerged as a radiant star in the firmament of Reformed scholastic theology. Of noble Polish lineage, he was nurtured in learning first at the gymnasium of Danzig under the tutelage of the renowned Bartholomaeus Keckermann, wherein he laid a strong foundation in the arts and the philosophy of Aristotle. Ever zealous for wisdom, he journeyed as a peregrinus academicus through the academies of Germany, including Prague, Marburg, Heidelberg, and Leipzig, before at length attaining the celebrated University of Franeker in Friesland. At Franeker he attained his doctorate in sacred theology in 1614, being speedily advanced to the office of professor ordinarius, where he exercised his gifts for near thirty years. Maccovius did tenaciously defend the purity of Reformed doctrine, being noted for his supralapsarian convictions concerning predestination and for his subtlety in scholastic method, wherein he was esteemed above many. With keen intellect and ardent zeal, he contended for the faith against Jesuits, Socinians, Arminians, and all adversaries of orthodox Calvinism. His disputations were many, and his classes thronged with students from Poland, Hungary, Transylvania, and beyond, whom he instructed with rigor and piety. Throughout his course he was not without controversy: his method, logical distinctions, and strong assertions occasioned strife, notably with Sibrandus Lubbertus and William Ames, as well as censure at the Synod of Dordrecht. Yet he was acquitted of heresy and confirmed in his teaching. His principal works, Collegium Theologicum and Distinctiones et Regulae Theologicae, endure as monuments of Protestant learning. Having completed his pilgrimage, he fell asleep in Christ at Franeker in 1644, leaving an enduring legacy among the Reformed.
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Having treated of the decrees of God in general, we must now proceed to treat in particular of God’s decree of Predestination. Predestination is the eternal decree of God, or the eternal will of God concerning the supernatural end of any man and the means of attaining unto that end. We do not here treat of the predestination of angels, although the Holy Spirit doth treat of this in the Sacred Scriptures, yet He doth this both incidentally and briefly, since the Holy Spirit would have His word set forth not for angels but for men.
The term Predestination can and ought to be attributed to both election and reprobation. That the term predestination can and ought to be accommodated to both election and reprobation appeareth:
I. Because election is not only expressly called predestination in Romans 8:29 and Ephesians 1:5, but this name is also accommodated to the reprobate in Acts 4:28: “They gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand predetermined.” For these words can and ought to be referred also to those reprobates who gathered against the Lord, namely Herod and Pilate, so that the sense is that God not only predestinated that Christ should die, but also that He should die by the hands of these men, and thus that these were prepared for accomplishing the death of Christ.
II. Moreover, the same appeareth from this, that some being predestinated to life, the rest are understood to be predestinated to death. For the principle of opposition requireth this. Therefore, as often as Scripture maketh mention of the predestination of the elect to life, so often doth it confirm predestination to death.
III. Because damnation to death which now taketh place in time presupposeth predestination which was made from eternity, just as justification and life presupposeth destination and ordination to justification and life.
IV. Because predestination is God’s decree concerning men and their supernatural end. Now God hath decreed no less concerning the reprobate than concerning the elect what He would do, that is, He hath decreed no less concerning those to be damned to death than concerning these to be justified, that is, ordained to life; and thus as He predestinated these to life, so He predestinated those to death.
Hence it cometh to pass V. That the Fathers, understanding predestination generally, accommodate it not only to the elect but also to the reprobate, so that both are said to be predestinated from eternity—the one to life, the other to death. Thus Augustine in Book 15, Chapter 1 of the City of God: “We mystically call two cities, that is, two societies of men, whereof one is predestinated to reign eternally with God, the other to undergo eternal judgment with the devil.” And in the Enchiridion, Chapter 100, he teacheth that God, as supremely good, useth well both good and evil men for the damnation of those whom He hath justly predestinated to punishment and for the salvation of those whom He hath graciously predestinated to grace.
VI. If that which is denoted by the term predestination is attributed to reprobation, therefore the term itself can be attributed. For we ought to be accommodating concerning words where the matter is established. And that what is denoted by this term is attributed to reprobation is evident from this: that predestination is God’s counsel concerning man’s end. But such is reprobation. For certainly no one denieth that reprobation is God’s decree. But that God hath decreed both the end and the means, these things show: