[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.

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.

Table of Contents:

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CHAPTER XXVI. ON THE ETERNAL ELECTION OF GOD

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I. THE NATURE OF ELECTION

(I.) Definition of Election

Election is the decree of God concerning certain persons who are to be permitted to fall and to be delivered from that fall.

(II.) Cause of Election

The cause of election is the good pleasure of God. For election to the end, to the means, and to both simultaneously proceeds from God’s good pleasure.

[I.] Election to the End

Concerning the end, it is clear from Luke 12:32. Whence it is certain that God acts in time as He decreed from eternity. And from eternity it pleased Him to give the kingdom.

[II.] Election to the Means

Concerning the means, it is clear from Matthew 11:25-26 and Luke 10:21, where Christ says that it so pleased God to reveal the way of salvation to some.

[III.] Election to Both End and Means

Concerning both, it is manifestly shown in Romans 9: “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, etc.” That is to say, it is not that anyone is carried either to the end or to the means, but God gives to whom He wills.

(III.) Objection of Arminius Refuted

Objection of Arminius: If He elected us from His good pleasure, then He was moved by some quality in us. For if we pleased Him, we were pleasing. For to please well is to be pleasing. And thus we were elected because we were pleasing.