Institutes 2.5.10 — THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

**THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.**

The second class of objections is akin to the former. They allege the promises in which the Lord makes a paction with our will. Such are the following: “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live,” ( Amos 5:14 ). “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it,” ( Isaiah 1:19, 20 ). “If thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then thou shalt not remove,” ( Jer. 4:1 ). “It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all the commandments which I command thee this days that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth,” ( Deut. 28:1 ). There are other similar passages ( Lev. 26:3 , &c). They think that the blessings contained in these promises are offered to our will absurdly and in mockery, if it is not in our power to secure or reject them. It is, indeed, an easy matter to indulge in declamatory complaint on this subject, to say that we are cruelly mocked The French is, “Et de fait cette raison a grande apparence humainement. Car on peut deduire gue ce seroit une cruauté de Dieu,”&c.—And, in fact, humanly speaking, there is great plausibility in this argument. For, it may be maintained, that it would be cruelty in God, &c. The French adds, “Veu qu’en cela il fait le profit de ses serviteurs et rend les iniques plus damnables;” seeing that by this he promotes the good of his servants, and renders the wicked more deserving of condemnation.

Source

• source-manifest/institutes — Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, tr. Beveridge 1845 (PD)
• evidence_grade: D_doctrinal_textbook