Calvin on Astronomy

John Calvin expressed on more than one occasion his appreciation for the glory of the heavens and the science of astronomy. Following are some select examples of his remarks on the celestial heavens.

Commentary on Gen. 1.16:

For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God.

Commentary on Ps. 19.1:

When we behold the heavens, we cannot but be elevated, by the contemplation of them, to Him to who is their great Creator; and the beautiful arrangement and wonderful variety which distinguish the courses and station of the heavenly bodies, together with the beauty and splendour which are manifest in them, cannot but furnish us with an evident proof of his providence.

Sermons on Job 9:

Job's intent here is to teach us to be astronomers.

Commentary on Isa. 40.26:

Men see every day the heavens and the stars; but who is there that thinks about their Author? By nature men are formed in such a manner as to make it evident that they were born to contemplate the heavens, and thus to learn their Author; for while God formed other animals to look downwards for pasture, he made man alone erect, and bade him look at what may be regarded as his own habitation.

This is also beautifully described by a poet [Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.85]. "While other animals look downwards towards the earth, he gave to man a lofty face, and bade him look at heaven, and lift up his countenance erect towards the stars." The Prophet [Isaiah] therefore points out the wickedness of men who do not acknowledge what is openly placed before their eyes concerning God, but, like cattle, fix their snout in the earth; for, whenever we raise our eyes upwards, with any degree of attention, it is impossible for our senses not to be struck with the majesty of God.

Commentary on Jeremiah 10.1:

There is no doubt but that the Egyptians and the Chaldeans were true [astronomers], and understood the art, which in itself is praiseworthy; for to observe the stars, what else is it, but to contemplate that wonderful workmanship, in which the power, as well as the wisdom and goodness of God, shines forth? And, indeed, [astronomy] may justly be called the alphabet of theology; for no one can with a right mind come to the contemplation of the celestial framework, without being enraptured with admiration at the display of God's wisdom, as well as of his power and goodness.

Institutes 1.5.2:

In attestation of his wondrous wisdom, both the heavens and the earth present us with innumerable proofs not only those more recondite proofs which astronomy, medicine, and all the natural sciences, are designed to illustrate, but proofs which force themselves on the notice of the most illiterate peasant, who cannot open his eyes without beholding them. It is true, indeed, that those who are more or less intimately acquainted with those liberal studies are thereby assisted and enabled to obtain a deeper insight into the secret workings of divine wisdom. No man, however, though he be ignorant of these, is incapacitated for discerning such proofs of creative wisdom as may well cause him to break forth in admiration of the Creator. To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies, to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill, and a more careful examination; and where these are so employed, as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded, so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight, and obtains brighter views of his glory.

Rays of Divine Light

Francis Nigel Lee, Calvin on the Sciences, pp. 16-19:

All sinful men are enabled to understand something of God's common revelation through this sin-stained universe, by means of His common grace which they all receive, albeit in different degrees. Hence the development of the sciences is not the monopoly of Christians alone, for by God's common grace (operating through the primordial revelation in Eden, through later contact with the covenant people, and/or through God's general revelation in nature and conscience) even unbelievers are enabled to obtain some true insights into scientific truth, for "in regard to the constitution of this present life, no man is devoid of the light of reason" (Inst. II: 2:13), and "in every age there have been some who, under the guidance of nature, were all their lives devoted to virtue", so that "we ought to consider that, notwithstanding the corruption of our nature, there is some room for divine grace, such grace as, without purifying it, may lay it under internal restraint" (Inst. II:3:3).

Calvin correctly points out that "in the sad disorder which followed the fall of Adam, the whole of the world would have instantly been deranged, and all its parts would have failed, had not some hidden strength supported them" (Comm. on Rom. 8:19). This "hidden strength" supporting the world was obviously the Second Person of the Triune God, the pre-incarnate Christ, "the first-born of every creature" or "the substance or foundation of all things" (Comm. on Col. 1:15). He it was Who, as the promised Seed of the woman, sustained and in principle rejuvenated the cosmos even right after the fall and for ever since (Gen. 3:15f; Rom. 16:20), for "the Logos of God was not only the Source of life to all creatures, so that those which were not began to be, but...His life-giving power causes them to remain in their condition; for were it not that His continued inspiration gives vigour to the world, everything that lives would immediately decay, or be reduced to nothing" (Comm. on John 1:4).

Christ it is Who is "the light of the whole world;...out[side] of Christ there is not even a spark of true light...the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom is hidden in Him" (Comm. on John 8:12), for "the light which still dwells in corrupt nature consists chiefly of two parts; for, first, all men naturally possess some seed of religion; and secondly, the distinction between good and evil is engraven on their consciences...man especially was endued with an extraordinary gift of understanding; and though by his revolt he lost the light of understanding, yet he still sees and understands, so that what he naturally possesses from the grace of the Son of God is not entirely destroyed" (Comm. on John 1:5). "In this sense it is said (John 1:5), that 'the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not'; these words clearly expressing...that in the perverted and degenerate nature of man there are still some sparks which show that he is a rational animal, and differs from the brutes, inasmuch as he is endued with intelligence" (Inst. II:2:12).

Christ, then, is the root of common grace. Had it not been for His immanence in the universe right from its very creation onwards, and had it not been for His direct intervention (and His promise to heal the universe, Gen. 3:15f, cf. Rom. 8:19f.) right after the fall, man and his cosmos would right then have disintegrated, and even Cain and the Cainites would never have been born.

Now in respect of these very Cainites, Calvin has much to say on the subject of common grace. He stoutly insists that "with the evils which proceeded from the family of Cain, some good has been blended. For the invention of arts, and of other things which serve to the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation. It is truly wonderful, that this race, which had most deeply fallen from integrity, should have excelled the rest of the posterity of Adam in rare endowments. I, however, understand Moses to have spoken expressly concerning those arts, as having been invented in the family of Cain, for the purpose of showing that he was not so accursed by the Lord but that He would still scatter some excellent gifts among his posterity...Moses, however, expressly celebrates the remaining benediction of God on that race, which otherwise would have been deemed void and barren of all good. Let us then know, that the sons of Cain, though deprived of the Spirit of regeneration, were yet endued with gifts of no despicable kind; just as the experience of all ages teaches us how widely the rays of divine light have shone on unbelieving nations, for the benefit of the present life; and we see, at the present time, that the excellent gifts of the Spirit are diffused through the whole human race. Moreover, the liberal arts and sciences have descended to us from the heathen. We are, indeed, compelled to acknowledge that we have received astronomy, and the other parts of philosophy, medicine, and the order of civil government from them. Nor is it to be doubted, that God has thus liberally enriched them with excellent favours that their impiety might have the less excuse" (Comm. on Gen. 4.20).

Calvin develops his doctrine of common grace in relation to the various sciences particularly in the second chapter of Book II of his Institutes. There he teaches, amongst other things, that "to charge the [fallen] intellect with perpetual blindness so as to leave it no intelligence of any description whatever, is repugnant not only to the Word of God, but to common experience", for "the human mind...is naturally influenced by love of truth" (II:2:12), especially with reference to "matters of policy and economy, [and] all mechanical arts and liberal studies", with the result that "we see that the minds of all men have impressions of civil order and honesty"(II:2:13).
It is, however, in the "manual and liberal arts" in which "the full force of human acuteness is displayed"; and although "all are not equally able to learn all the arts,...there is scarcely an individual who does not display intelligence in some particular art", which fact "should lead every individual for himself to recognize it is a special gift of God" (II:2:14).

It must not be forgotten, then, that "there are most excellent blessings which the Divine Spirit dispenses to whom He will for the common benefit of mankind", for indeed, God "fills, moves and invigorates all things by the virtue of the Spirit" (II:2:16). In the light of this profound truth, Calvin rhetorically asks: "How then, can we deny that truth must have beamed on those ancient lawgivers who arranged civil order and discipline with so much equity? Shall we say that the philosophers, in their exquisite researches and skillful descriptions of nature, were blind? Shall we deny the possession of intellect to those who drew up rules for discourse, and taught us to speak in accordance with reason? Shall we say that those who, by the cultivation of the medical art, expended their industry on our behalf, were only raving? What shall we say of the mathematical sciences? Shall we deem them to be the dreams of madmen? Nay, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without the highest admiration; an admiration which their excellence will not allow us to withhold. But shall we deem anything to be noble and praiseworthy, without tracing it to the hand of God? Far from us be such ingratitude; an ingratitude not chargeable even on heathen poets, who acknowledged that philosophy and laws, and all useful arts, were inventions of the gods. Therefore, since it is manifest that men whom the Scriptures term 'natural', are so acute and clear-sighted in the investigation of inferior things, their example should teach us how many gifts the Lord has left in possession of human nature, notwithstanding of its having been despoiled of the true good" (II:2:15).

So, therefore, concludes Calvin, "let us not forget that...the knowledge of those things which are of the highest excellence in human life is said to be communicated to us by the Spirit" (II:2:16). For "in this diversity we can trace some remains of the divine image distinguishing the whole human race from other creatures" (II:2:17).

Kersten on Common Grace

G.H. Kersten, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1, pp. 72-73:

Common Grace

Although, as we stated, special grace receives the prime emphasis, nevertheless we can speak of grace in a broader sense, hence of common grace. The Word of God gives us liberty to do so, when it speaks of grace being bestowed upon the ungodly, which does not lead to salvation. "Let favor (Dutch: genade, which is grace) be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness". (Isa. 26:10) "Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness." (Jude: 4) 

The confessions also speak of common grace, although they do not use that name. Thus in Article 14 of the Belgic Confession of Faith, the innate knowledge of God is called a few remains of the image of God in which man was created. These few remains are left in all men after the fall. Common grace is also indicated in Article 35, where we read, "Now those, who are regenerated, have in them a twofold life, the one corporal and temporal, which they have from their first birth and is common to all men." Also the Canons of Dort speak of common grace under the Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine, Art. 4. Calvin was the first in this, and was followed by a long line of orthodox theologians, with which God has richly blessed the Church of the Netherlands. Also the Walcheren Articles deal with common grace in the first chapter. There is therefore no objection to speaking of common grace, provided that we insist against all those that hold the universal doctrine of redemption, that the blood of Christ was shed only for the elect, and the application of it was given only to the elect.

Radiations of Divine Light

Curt Daniel, The History and Theology of Calvinism, p. 405:

How is it that a totally non-Christian artist can paint a beautiful painting? Why is it that not all art by unbelievers is directly blasphemous? Calvinists such as Hans Rookmaaker have discussed the Calvinist theology of art, or Reformed Aesthetics. They point out that not all workers on the Temple were Israelites. Some were pagans, but they were good artists and architects. How? Because they had been endued by Common Grace with cultural gifts.

Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism, p. 97:

I have already, more than once, called your attention to the important significance of the Calvinistic doctrine of "common grace," and of course in this lecture on art I must refer to it again. That which is to be ecclesiastical must bear the stamp of faith, therefore genuine Christian art can only go out from believers. Calvinism, on the contrary, has taught us that all liberal arts are gifts which God imparts promiscuously to believers and unbelievers, yea, that, as history shows, these gifts have flourished even in a larger measure outside the holy circle. "These radiations of Divine Light," [John Calvin] wrote, "shone more brilliantly among unbelieving people than among God's saints." And this of course quite reverses the proposed order of things. If you limit the higher enjoyment of art to regeneration, then this gift is exclusively the portion of believers, and must bear an ecclesiastical character. In that case it is the outcome of particular grace But if, at the hand of experience and history, you become persuaded that the highest art-instincts are natural gifts, and hence belong to those excellent graces which, in spite of sin, by virtue of common grace, have continued to shine in human nature, it plainly follows that art can inspire both believers and unbelievers, and that God remains Sovereign to impart it, in His good pleasure, alike to Heathen and to Christian nations. This applies not only to art, but to all the natural utterances of human life, and is illustrated by the comparison in early times between Israel and the other nations. As far as holy things are concerned, Israel is chosen, and is not only blessed above all nations, but stands among all nations, isolated In the question of Religion, Israel has not only a larger share, but Israel alone has the truth, and all the other nations, even the Greeks and the Romans, are bent beneath the yoke of falsehood. Christ is not partly of Israel and partly of the nations; He is of Israel alone. Salvation is of the Jews. But just in proportion as Israel shines forth from within the domain of Religion, so is it equally backward when you compare the development of its art, science, politics, commerce and trade to that of the surrounding nations. The building of the Temple required the coming of Hiram from a heathen country to Jerusalem; and Solomon, in whom, after all, was found the Wisdom of God, not only knows that Israel stands behind in architecture and needs help from without, but by his action he publicly shows that he, as the king of the Jews, is in no way ashamed of Hiram's coming, which he realizes as a natural ordinance of God.

Hans Rookmaaker, "We and Art" in The Complete Works of Hans R. Rookmaaker, Vol. 4, pp. 350-351:

For now we want to concentrate on the first question, namely, that of whether God has assigned his people a positive task in connection with art. Has he given us the vocation to create art, to make ‘Christian art’ in distinction from ‘worldly art’? For only too often people have said, thinking things through ‘consistently’, that we must claim all fields for Christ and therefore also let our distinctive voices be heard in the realm of art. Yet in this way we may perhaps out of self-willed religiosity saddle ourselves with possibly irresolvable problems and heavy burdens. If we have such zeal for God yet without comprehension – since not according to God’s word and commandment (Romans 10:2 [‘they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge’]) – then the Lord will also reproach us as in Micah 6:3 ‘My people . . . how have I burdened you?’ For already in Micah’s day there were some who thought to justify themselves in such matters by appealing to David’s example, while at the same time forgetting the covenant (Amos 6:5). If we turn now and search the Scriptures to see where and how they speak of art, then we find that that only happens a few times and then almost in passing, nd that the Lord nowhere gives us an explicit commandment, for or against.

We find that for the making of the ark, God himself designates some artisans and fills them with wisdom and understanding so that they know how to make all the work in the service of the sanctuary according to God’s commandments. Yet the matter is one of a very narrowly defined commission extended to a handful of selected people. In 2 Chronicles 2 and 3 we learn of the building and furnishing of God’s Temple by Solomon. And who does he seek out to be responsible for the decorating and furnishing? There is no one in the nation of Israel whom he regards as suited. And so he sends to Hiram, the king of Tyre, to ask for his help. And the king of Tyre sends him Hiram Abi, the son of a worker in precious metals from Tyre. We do not know if this smith was a believer, yes or no, only that his mother was of the tribe of Dan. However that may be, he had learned his art, including the style, in Tyre. He was renowned for his wisdom and his understanding in making works of brass, including works decorated with figures and scenes. Naturally Solomon would have seen to it that the fonts dedicated to God were not decorated with heathen images, but for the rest this art would in principle not have differed in appearance from that of Tyre.

There is little more to be found about these matters in the Scriptures, including the New Testament, so we can conclude that God has not assigned us a special task with respect to them. God does not demand of us that we create a distinctive art or style of our own! On the other hand, it is obvious that if one of the Lord’s people is an artist, one may not just go out and make anything one wants in the way a worldly person might do, in disobedience to God’s commandments. Yet no great difficulties should arise here. For it is obvious that one may not make blasphemous or immoral presentations. The latter might lead people into temptation and incite them to commit unholy acts. And naturally one will also keep one’s distance from art that clearly bears the stamp of an apostate way of life. I have in mind, for example, modern Surrealism, which holds up to us a world that is totally devoid of meaning, without norms, decadent and without hope: but what believer could possibly be won for such ideals? Thus it is not so much the positive task of the Christian artist to create a distinctive style from scratch unconnected with the world; it is much rather the negative task of not producing works in which the theme selected or the thought communicated is contrary to God’s commandments or could lead believers, God’s children, into temptation.

Paul's Pagan Poets

There are interesting passages in the New Testament that demonstrate the Apostle Paul's willingness to employ verses from pagan poetry to speak Biblical truth. There may be others; some trace 1 Timothy 5.4 to a line from Terence (195/185–159 BC), Andria IV. Be that as it may, it is clear that Paul was learned in pagan poetry, and found good uses for it, even apart from the idolatrous intentions of the poets themselves. Without adopting the whole false system of belief represented by the sources he quoted, Paul with discernment and for godly purposes, was able, because of his familiarity with pagan poems, to find the good within and bring it to light to God's glory.

Acts 17.28:

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

This verse spoken during his famous speech at Mars Hill in Athens shows the apologetic use that such acquaintance with pagan poetry can provide. The first quote seems derived from a work on Crete by Epimenides in which he rebukes the Cretians for building a tomb to Zeus, whom he believed to be immortal.

Epimenides (6th century BC), Cretica:

They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one—
The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!
But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,
For in thee we live and move and have our being.

Paul also may have in mind Cleanthes, who said something similar.

Cleanthes (c. 330 BC – c. 230 BC), Hymn to Zeus:

Most glorious of the immortals, invoked by many names, ever all-powerful,
Zeus, the First Cause of Nature, who rules all things with Law,
Hail! It is right for mortals to call upon you,
since from you we have our being, we whose lot it is to be God's image,
we alone of all mortal creatures that live and move upon the earth.

The latter quote seems to come from a work by Aratus again in praise of Zeus.

Aratus (c. 315 BC/310 BC – 240 BC), Phaenomena 1-5:

From Zeus let us begin; him do we mortals never leave unnamed;
full of Zeus are all the streets and all the market-places of men;
full is the sea and the havens thereof;
always we all have need of Zeus.
For we are also his offspring;

It is interesting to see how Paul borrowed expressions intended to glorify a false God, which his hearers would have recognized, and applied them to the true God. Eusebius records (Preparation for the Gospel 13.12) how Aristobulus of Paneas, a Jewish philosopher (c. 160 BC) had similarly quoted from the same beginning lines of Aratus, Phaenomena, but to demonstrate that the praise of Zeus was rightly given to God instead. Aristobulus thus: 'It is clearly shown, I think, that all things are pervaded by the power of God: and this I have properly represented by taking away the name of Zeus which runs through the poems; for it is to God that their thought is sent up, and for that reason I have so expressed it.' The apologetic purpose of Paul -- and Aristobulus -- thus finds truth in a pagan poem and employs it for godly ends.

1 Cor. 15.32-33:

If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

The phrase "let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die" may be an allusion to both Isa. 22.13 and Eccl. 8.15. However, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Paul may have had in mind the philosophy of Epicurus (341 BC – 270 BC), who put forth a similar view of life.

The phrase "evil communications corrupt good manners" is apparently a direct quote from either Menander or Euripides (John Milton attributes it to Euripides in the preface to his Samson Agonistes). Paul thus bears witness to the maxim of a heathen poet.

Menander (ca. 342–291 BC), Thais:

Bad company corrupts good character.

Euripides (c. 480 BC – 406 BC) (fr. 609):

Evil communications corrupt good manners.

Titus 1.12-13a:

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true.

The quotation here seems to be from Epimenides, cited already above, or perhaps from Callimachus. Again, Paul shows his extensive knowledge of pagan poetry, and selectively quotes as appropriate to demonstrate a true statement found within an idolatrous poem.

Callimachus (310/305–240 BC), Hymn I. To Zeus:

“Cretans are ever liars.”

The Apostle Paul by these examples shows that indeed, as I have noted before, "all truth is God's truth," wherever we may find it. The words of Charles Spurgeon on this point are worth heeding.

Charles Spurgeon, Exposition of 1 Corinthians 15:

"Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die." Oh! wicked Paul! to quote from a heathen poet! How disgraceful. If I were to repeat a verse, and it looked as if Shakespere or any profane author ever wrote such a thing, how criminal! say you. But I like good things wherever I find them. I have often quoted from the devil, and I dare say I shall often quote from his people. Paul quoted this from Meander, and another heathen poet, who wrote far worse things than have been written by modern poets, and if any of us who may have stored our minds with the contents of books we wish we had never read, and if there be some choice gems in them which may be used for the service of God, by his help we will so use them.

Kuyper 'Common Grace' Translation Project

Good news from Grand Rapids! The Acton Institute and Kuyper College have teamed up to translate -- for the first time ever in English -- Abraham Kuyper's three-volume work, Common Grace (De gemeene gratie), published from 1901-05, while he served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. While the doctrine of common grace is opposed by certain streams of thought in the Reformed community, this doctrine, as Kuyper puts it, is “the root conviction for all Reformed people,” and Kuyper's contribution to the doctrine articulated by many other giants of the Reformed Church who preceded him, was significant.

Dr. Stephen Grabill, director of programs at the Acton Institute, is the general editor of the project; Dr. Nelson Kloosterman of Worldview Resources International and translator of numerous Dutch works oversees the translation of the texts; and John Bolt, professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary and author of A Free Church, a Holy Nation: Abraham Kuyper’s American Public Theology, as well as the editor of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, serves as a theological advisor to the project. The translation and publication project will cover a two year period, and the three volumes total over 1,700 pages in the original. The first volume of Common Grace is expected to be published in the fall of 2012. For more information, see today's press release from the Acton Institute.

Cultured or "Jes' Growed"

H. Henry Meeter, "Calvinism and Culture," in Calvinism: An Interpretation of Its Basic Ideas, pp. 80-81:

It is important to notice that culture always implies the thought of improvement, not just development. Topsy of Uncle Tom's Cabin "jes' growed"; she wasn't cultured. The great contents of culture, or rather its tools, are, therefore, never merely mechanical and chemical powers of nature, but science, art, technique, ethics, law, the state, always some product of the human mind. It is rather the activity of the human mind applied upon the forces of nature, and bringing creation by the use of these human powers to higher and nobler levels. Culture, in a word, is the fulfillment of the command given to man, the king of creation, by His Maker, in the Garden of Eden: "Keep the garden and dress it." "Have dominion over the earth and subdue it" (Cf. Genesis II). Man was made in the image of God. Just as God is King over the universe and has brought to pass many and noble things in the creation which He made, so He has given to man His image bearer control over nature as his dominion, and said to him: "Subdue creation, and bring out the many possibilities in it and in your own nature." Culture is the execution of this divinely appointed task. In his cultural task man is to take the raw materials of this universe and subdue them, make them serve his purpose and bring them to nobler and higher levels, thus bringing out the possibilities which are hidden in nature. When thus developed man is to lay his entire cultural product, the whole of creation, at the feet of Him Who is King of man and of nature, in Whose image and for Whom man and all things are created.

Full of His Riches

Timothy Rogers, Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, p. 172:

Man is the most noble creature, and the most dignified in all this lower world; and God has appointed the lower creatures to minister to his use and his delight. As one has observed, the air is his aviary, the sea and rivers his fishponds, the valleys his granaries, and the mountains his magazine. The first of these affords man creatures for nourishment, while the other affords metals for perfection.

The animals were created for the support of the life of man, and the herbs, the dews, and the rain for the same purpose; there is not the most despicable thing in the whole creation but is endowed with a nature to contribute something for our welfare, either as food to nourish us when we are healthy, as medicine to cure us when we are distempered, as a garment to clothe us when we are naked and arm us against the cold of the season, as a refreshment when we are weary, or as a delight when we are sad. All serve for necessity or ornament, either to spread our tables, beautify our dwellings, furnish our closets, or store our wardrobes. "The whole earth is full of His riches" (Psalm 104:24).

Stephen Charnock, Discourses Upon the Existence and Attributes of God, Vol. 2, pp. 250-251:

2. God richly furnished the world for man. He did not only erect a stately palace for his habitation, but provided all kind of furniture as a mark of his goodness, for the entertainment of his creature, man: he arched over his habitation with a bespangled heaven, and floored it with a solid earth, and spread a curious wrought tapestry upon the ground where he was to tread, and seemed to sweep all the rubbish of the chaos to the two uninhabitable poles. When at the first creation of the matter the waters covered the earth, aud rendered it uninhabitable for man, God drained them into the proper channels he had founded for them, and set a bound that they might not pass over, that they turn not again to "cover the earth" (Gen i. 9.) They fled and hasted away to their proper stations (Ps. civ. 7-9), as if they were ambitious to deny their own nature, and content themselves with an imprisonment for the convenient habitation of Him who was to be appointed Lord of the world. He hath set up standing lights in the heaven, to direct our motion, and to regulate the seasons: the sun was created, that man might see to "go forth to his labor" (Ps. civ. 22, 23): both sun and moon, though set in the heaven, were formed to "give light" on the earth (Gen. i. 15, 17). The air is his aviary, the sea and rivers his fish-ponds, the valleys his granary, the mountains his magazine; the fist afford man creatures for nourishment, the other metals for perfection: the animals were created for the support of the life of man; the herbs of the ground were provided for the maintenance of their lives; and gentle dews, and moistening showers, and, in some places, slimy floods appointed to render the earth fruitful, and capable to offer man and beast what was fit for their nourishment. He hath peopled every element with a variety of creatures both for necessity and delight; all furnished with useful qualities for the service of man. There is not the most despicable thing in the whole creation but it is endued with a nature to contribute something for our welfare: either as food to nourish us when we are healthful; or as medicine to cure us when we are distempered; or as a garment to clothe us when we are naked, and arm us against the cold of the season; or as a refreshment when we are weary; or as a delight when we are sad: all serve for necessity or ornament, either to spread our table, beautify our dwellings, furnish our closets, or store our wardrobes (Ps. civ. 24): "The whole earth is full of his riches." Nothing but by the rich goodness of God is exquisitely accommodated, in the numerous brood of things, immediately or mediately for the use of man; all, in the issue, conspire together to render the world a delightful residence for man; and, therefore, all the living creatures were brought by God to attend upon man after his creation, to receive a mark of his dominion over them, by the " imposition of their names" (Gen. ii. 19, 20). He did not only give variety of senses to man, but provided variety of delightful objects in the world for every sense; the beauties of light and colors for our eye, the harmony of sounds for our ear, the fragrancy of odors for our nostrils, and a delicious sweetness for our palates: some have qualities to pleasure; all, everything, a quality to pleasure, one or other: he doth not only present those things to our view, as rich men do in ostentation their goods, he makes us the enjoyers as well as the spectators, and gives us the use as well as the sight; and, therefore, he hath not only given us the sight, but the knowledge of them: he hath set up a sun in the heavens, to expose their outward beauty and conveniences to our sight; and the candle of the Lord is in us, to expose their inward qualities and conveniences to our knowledge, that we might serve ourselves of, and rejoice in, all this furniture wherewith he hath garnished the world, and have wherewithal to employ the inquisitiveness of our reason, as well as gratify the pleasures of our sense; and, particularly, God provided for innocent man a delightful mansion-house, a place of more special beauty and curiosity, the garden of Eden, a delightful paradise, a model of the beauties and pleasures of another world, wherein he had placed whatsoever might contribute to the felicity of a rational and animal life, the life of a creature composed of mire and dust, of sense and reason (Gen. ii. 9). Besides the other delicacies consigned, in that place, to the use of man, there was a tree of life provided to maintain his being, and nothing denied, in the whole compass of that territory, but one tree, that of the knowledge of good and evil, which was no mark of an ill-will in his Creator to im, but a reserve of God's absolute sovereignty, and a trial of man's voluntary obedience. What blur was it to the goodness of God, to reserve one tree for his own propriety, when he had given to man, in all the rest, such numerous marks of his rich bounty and goodness? What Israel, after man's fall, enjoyed sensibly, Nehemiah calls "great goodness" (Neh. ix. 25). How inexpressible, then, was that goodness manifested to innocent man, when so small a part of it, indulged to the Israelites after the curse upon the ground, is called, as truly it merits, such great goodness! How can we pass through any part of this great city, and cast our eyes upon the well-furnished shops, stored with all kinds of commodities, without reflections upon this goodness of God starting up before our eyes in such varieties, and plainly telling us that he hath accommodated all things for our use, suited things, both to supply our need, content a reasonable curiosity, and delight us in our aims at, and passage to, our supreme end!

Hymns of the Soul

Leon Wencelius, "The Word of God and Culture," in The Word of God and the Reformed Faith: Addresses Delivered at the Second American Calvinistic Conference held at Calvin College and Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 3, 4 and 5, 1942, pp. 169-171:

Music is born of joy. It is the direct manifestation of the soul happy to know itself united with God. Do not the angels sing of His glory and His sovereign goodness in their celestial choirs, and did not see the Lord himself like to sing those "hymns of the soul" which are the psalms with his disciples? Music is the art most capable of rendering glory to God. It is the most dynamic of arts, capable of moving all the senses profoundly. It is capable of setting the soul on fire, and when it attains its end, it reaches bliss in the most perfect serenity.

Music can have for its object either the praises of God or the joy of man who lives in the universe. Secular music, in the realm of general grace, has a role analogous to that of painting and of sculpture. It gladdens the soul and represents its emotions, but like the plastic arts it, too, can be corrupted. It, too, can swell the heart with vanity, flattering the singer, while nursing his pride, and develop in him hypocrisy, the taste of immoderation, thus corrupting him. In just such a way the Tyrians soothed their ears with voluptuous and perverse songs.

The Word of God teaches us that God should be the object of our songs. They must praise his creation in "profane" music and glorify salvation in religious music. Here again, the very history of the Reformation shows us how the Calvinistic civilization of the XVIth century was aware of music in the field of Culture.

From the time of his arrival in Geneva Calvin recommended the singing of psalms. He looked for translators and composers and set himself to work upon them. But when he discovered the psalms of Marot, he gave up his own translations in favor of those of the poet. Calvin discovered the most appropriate melodies for the interpretation of the spiritual truth of the Psalms, first among these were the noble airs of Bourgeois and of Goudimel.

As an Alsatian I am happy to point out that the tune of the songs which became the national anthem of the Huguenots was given to Calvin by an Alsatian composer, Greiter; and so Strasburg, which later gave France its Marseillaise, can be even more proud of having given to the Huguenots the melody of their famous Psalm 68: "Que Dieu se montre seulement!"

We are at the time of Calvin in the presence of a real Renaissance of sacred music. The people of the XVIth century enthusiastically adopted the psalms. They were sung by everybody, even by Charles V when he passed Paris, and especially along the pré aux clercs, by all the fervent youth of Paris. Faithful to Calvinist sobriety, the composers of the Psalter searched for the simplest possible melodies. They discovered, according to the work of a French critic of music, the predestined forms in which the religious fervor and though contained in the psalms flow with the greatest possible harmony. Once the theme was found, the composers were to treat it in the most simple manner, note against note. Music became simple and its notation underwent a complete transformation. The principal melody changed from the tenor to the soprano voice. The expression which established harmony between song and words was discovered and was to lead to the oratorio. Music, heretofore reserved to the clergy, now became a universal art, thanks to the Reformation. The Psalter, call[ed] the "siren of Calvinism" by its enemies, captivated many souls and its harmonies soon spread over all the world. The history of the Psalter was to parallel that of Calvinism and it is interesting to note that at the present moment, together with a renaissance of Calvinism, there is apparent a growing taste on the part of modern Calvinists for the old psalms of the XVIth century.

We may conclude by saying that music is a form of culture inspired by God in order to glorify the creation and its Creator.

The God of All Grace

Thomas Taylor (1576-1632), English Puritan, wrote a commentary on Titus (described by Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, Meet the Puritans, p. 579, as "the most famous and safest guide on Titus"), in which he speaks of the types of grace bestowed by God upon man, p. 280 (1612, 1980):

By "grace" in scripture are sometimes meant the gifts of grace, that is, any good gift which proceeds from the favour and love of God towards man, whether privative (in withholding evils deserved, or good things which we would abuse) or positive. These gifts of grace may be general and common, given to the elect and reprobate alike, as the gift of tongues, learning, prophecy, miracles, etc.; or they may be more spiritual, given only to the saved and used to distinguish them from others. Among the latter we may mention the first and eternal grace of election, and the second grace by which those who are elected and given to the Son, are in due time (by effectual vocation, justification, and sanctification) led to glory and salvation. All these are of His grace, and Peter calls Him "the God of all grace."

Calvinism and Culture

Leon Wencelius, "The Word of God and Culture," in The Word of God and the Reformed Faith: Addresses Delivered at the Second American Calvinistic Conference held at Calvin College and Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 3, 4 and 5, 1942 (1943), pp. 160-161:

Culture is therefore the accomplishment of the creative will of God. It is the way in which man has been called to achieve his dominion on the earth and to replenish it. As man had to plough the ground in order to receive its fruits, man has to plough his mind in order to give birth to Art, Science, and Philosophy, which are the fruits of his culture.

The Word of God gives us further teaching on the nature of culture. It is said in the Psalms that the heavens, the whole creation, declare the glory of God. This is the first step toward real culture: to acknowledge the beauty of creation and to recognize in God the divine artist who has drawn it from nothing. Let us remember the way in which psalmists, prophets, and Christ praise the starry sky, the endless sea, the birds of the heavens, and the lilies of the fields. Knowledge of nature, as the work of art created by God, is the beginning of civilization. We discover here a fundamental truth: it is that culture was intended to be the natural revelation of God to mankind. When we read the Bible, when we try to understand the comments of Calvin, we are always struck by the same fact that creation as such was called upon to acquaint us with the Creator, that creation reveals to us His attributes and makes us better able to understand His nature. Divine glory always expresses itself in the form of beauty, and when we know how to see the universe as it has been made by God, we are the presence of the beautiful.

Therefore we are not surprised when we see that for Calvin the angels, the soul, the human body, the sky, the stars, the precious stones, and the most humble animals are the ornaments of the world, the works of art in the palace which is earth, "in order," he says, "that we may therein contemplate the majesty of God."

If we would be civilized, we must first try to see in the universe the divine light which radiates in it, the arrangement of its parts, the excellency of its order. Full of admiration and of joy, we shall be inspired to render supreme homage to the Creator.

We must secondly see in God what Calvin calls the miraculous workman, that is, in modern terms, the great artist whose masterpiece is the universe. God is according to the Reformer auctor et dator omnium artium; the author and bestower of the liberal as well as the technical arts. Thus culture appears to be not only a gift of God, as anything else in the world, but culture, because it is the art which permits civilization to go on, has also its origin in the creative activity of God Himself.

The word of God teaches us therefore to see in the trend of human thought and activity toward higher forms of civilization, the continuation of the creative impulse. As God has created earth and man from nothing, he has also wanted the highest in rank of his creatures to go on in the fulfilment of his divine will. As the artist uses a piece of marble to transform it into a symmetrical work of art, the statue, so God uses his creation through it to realize his higher purposes; and because man has been given intelligence, and with it a certain consciousness of the physical and the human world, God has, by his common grace, charged the most intelligent of men to realize certain forms of civilization.

Good Gifts of God

Augustine, City of God 15.22:

Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked. ... And thus beauty, which is indeed God's handiwork, but only a temporal, carnal, and lower kind of good, is not fitly loved in preference to God, the eternal, spiritual, and unchangeable good. When the miser prefers his gold to justice, it is through no fault of the gold, but of the man; and so with every created thing. For though it be good, it may be loved with an evil as well as with a good love: it is loved rightly when it is loved ordinately; evilly, when inordinately, It is this which some one has briefly said in these verses in praise of the Creator: "These are Thine, they are good, because Thou art good who didst create them. There is in them nothing of ours, unless the sin we commit when we forget the order of things, and instead of Thee love that which Thou hast made."

Nadere Reformatie on Common Grace

Herman Kuiper, Calvin on Common Grace, Appendix, pp. i-iv:

Petrus van Mastricht, professor at Utrecht in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and author of a work on Reformed Dogmatics which still has an excellent reputation, recognizes two kinds of divine grace besides saving grace. He speaks of a universal grace, by which God dispenses what he terms natural gifts to each and every creature. According to this author we must attribute to this universal grace food and drink and all those things which are necessary for the preservation of man and beast, and especially those gifts and powers which belong to the nature of man and constitute him a free agent. Van Mastricht also makes mention of a common grace, by which God grants promiscuously to both the elect and the reprobate gifts which pertain to men as moral beings. To this common grace he attributes not only such gifts as ingenuity, wisdom, prudence and all the moral virtues found among the heathen and the unbelieving, but also those gifts which seem to be much more closely related to the benefits of saving grace, namely, the external preaching of the Word and a certain illumination by the Holy Spirit such as is found in men who have temporary faith. 1

Johannes à Marck [(1656-1731)], another very prominent theologian, published in 1686 a compendium which exerted great influence on many succeeding generations of Reformed thinkers. In treating of divine grace he first of all distinguishes between grace as a divine attribute and grace in the sense of the gifts of God's gratuitous favor. With respect to grace in the latter sense he accepts among others the division of common and saving grace. 2 It is remarkable, however, that he usually speaks of a more common grace instead of simply saying common grace when he refers to the divine grace granted to the non-elect. So, for instance, he declares that temporary faith differs from saving faith not only as to its duration but also [as] to its origin, its origin being not truly saving grace, but a more common grace. 3 It is also worthy of note that this writer considers the external preaching of the Gospel, which extends beyond the circle of the elect, a fruit of the more common grace of God, 4 and that he teaches that many of the blessings which redound to those who perish, such as the proclamation of the Gospel, the abolition of idolatry and the illumination of the Spirit, are blessings which proceed from the sacrifice of Christ 5 -- an idea also found with Turretinus 6 and Witsius. 7

Wilhelmus à Brakel, a minister of the Gospel in Rotterdam, published in the year 1700 a popular dogmatics bearing the title Redelyke Godsdienst [The Christian's Reasonable Service]. However men may differ as to the merits of this work, it can hardly be gainsaid that Brakel was in his day the spokesman of a large group of Reformed believers. Speaking of the grace of God, Brakel, after combatting various divisions of grace which he considered erroneous, presents his own scheme in Vol. I, Chapter 30, Section 26. Here it is: [what follows is translated from The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 2, p. 215, one of at least three places à Brakel addresses and distinguishes common and saving grace in this systematic theology: "(1) There must be a distinction between the gift of grace and the given grace. The gift of grace is the goodness of God, the fountain from whom proceeds all the good which a man receives. Given grace refers to the benefits which man receives, has, and possesses. ... (2) Grace is either common or special. God bestows common grace upon all men by granting them temporal benefits. “Nevertheless He left not himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven” (Acts 14:17). To this grace also belongs all the good which God bestows all who are called, by giving them the Word–the means unto repentance and salvation. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). In addition to this, God generally gives illumination, historical faith, convictions, and inner persuasions to almost become a Christian (cf. Heb. 6:4-6).

Special grace is the effectual call whereby man is illuminated with wondrous spiritual light, effectually changing his wil, and thus in very deed translating him out of darkness into light, out of death to life, and from the dominion of sin and the devil to Christ and His kingdom."]

From this citation it is clear that Brakel attributes to common grace the bodily blessings men receive, the preaching of the Gospel, historical faith and all those gifts of the Spirit which are granted to those who have temporary faith.

1 P. van Mastricht, Theoretico-Practica Theologia, II, 17, 18....II, 17, 16...II, 17, 17...II, 17, 32...

2 Johannes à Marck, Compendium Theologiae Christianae Didactico-Elencticum, IV, 42...

3 idem, XXII, 8...

4 idem, XVIII, 16...

5 idem, XX, 24...

6 F. Turretinus, Institutio Theologiae Elencticae, XIV, 14, 11...

7 H. Witsius, De Oeconomia Foederum Dei, II, 9, 4...

A.A. Hodge on Common Grace

A.A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology (1866), pp. 337-338:

13. What is meant by "common grace," and how may it be shown that the Spirit does operate upon the minds of those who are not renewed in heart?

"Common grace" is the restraining and persuading influences of the Holy Spirit acting only through the truth revealed in the gospel, or through the natural light of reason and of conscience, heightening the natural moral effect of such truth upon the understanding, conscience, and heart. It involves no change of heart, but simply an enhancement of the natural powers of the truth, a restraint of evil passions, and an increase of the natural emotions in view of sin, duty, and self-interest.

That God does so operate upon the hearts of the unregenerate is proved, 1st, from Scripture, Gen. vi. 3; Acts vii. 51; Heb. x. 29; 2d, from universal experience and observation.

14. How does common differ from efficacious grace?

1st. As to its subjects. All men are more or less the subjects of the one; only the the elect are subjects of the other, Rom. viii. 30; xi. 7; 2 Thess. ii. 13.

2d. As to its nature. Common grace is only meditate, through the truth, and it is merely moral, heightening the moral influence natural to the truth, and exciting only the natural powers of the soul, both rational and moral. But efficacious grace is immediate and supernatural, since it is wrought directly in the soul by the immediate energy of the Holy Ghost, and since it implants a new spiritual life, and a capacity for a new mode of exercising the natural faculties.

3d. As to its effects. The effects of common grace are superficial and transient, modifying the action, but not changing the nature, and its influence is always more or less consciously resisted, as opposed to the prevailing disposition of the soul. But efficacious grace, since it acts not upon but in the will itself, changing the governing desires, and giving a new direction to the active powers of the soul, is neither resistible nor irresistible, but most free, spontaneous, and yet most certainly effectual.

MHCC 26: Handmaids to Divinity

Matthew Henry writes about spoiling the Egyptians on Ex. 35.20-29:

These rich things that they offered, we may suppose, were mostly the spoils of the Egyptians; for the Israelites in Egypt were kept poor, till they borrowed at parting. And we may suppose the rulers had better things (v. 27), because, having more influence among the Egyptians, they borrowed larger sums. Who would have thought that ever the wealth of Egypt should have been so well employed? but thus God has often made the earth to help the woman, Rev. xii.16. It was by a special providence and promise of God that the Israelites got all that spoil, and therefore it was highly fit that they should devote a part of it to the service of that God to whom they owed it all. Let every man give according as God hath prospered him, 1 Cor. xvi.2. Extraordinary successes should be acknowledged by extraordinary offerings. Apply it to human learning, arts and sciences, which are borrowed, as it were, from the Egyptians. Those that are enriched with these must devote them to the service of God and his tabernacle: they may be used as helps to understand the scriptures, as ornaments or handmaids to divinity. But then great care must be taken that Egypt's gods mingle not with Egypt's gold. Moses, though learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, did not therefore pretend, in the least instance, to correct the pattern shown him in the mount.

Four Standards of Judgment

Francis Schaeffer poses and then answers the question "What kind of judgment does one apply, then, to a work of art?" in Art & Bible, pp. 41-48:

I believe that there are four basic standards: (1) technical excellence, (2) validity, (3) intellectual content, the world view which comes through and (4) the integration of content and vehicle.

I will discuss technical excellence in relationship to painting because it is easy to point out through this medium what I mean. Here one considers the use of color, form, balance, the texture of the paint, the handling of the lines, the unity of the canvas and so forth. In each of these there can be varying degrees of technical excellence. By recognizing technical excellence as an aspect of an art work, we are often able to say that while we do not agree with such and such an artist's world view, he is nontheless a great artist.

We are not being true to the artist as a man if we consider his art work junk simply because we differ with his outlook on life. Christian schools, Christian parents and Christian pastors often have turned off young people at just this point. Because the schools, the pastors and the parents did not make a distinction between technical excellence and content, the whole of much great art has been rejected by scorn or ridicule. Instead, if the artist's technical excellence is high, he is to be praised for this, even if we differ with his world view. Man must be treated fairly as man. Technical excellence is, therefore, an important criterion.

Validity is the second criterion. By validity I mean whether an artist is honest to himself and to his world view or whether he makes his art only for money or for the sake of being accepted. If an artist makes an art work solely for a patron -- whether that patron is the ancient noble, or the modern art gallery to which the artist wants access, or the modern art critics of the moment -- his work does not have validity. The modern forms of "the patron" are more destructive than even that of the old noble.
...
The third criterion for the judgment of a work of art is its content, that which reflects the world view of the artist. As far as a Christian is concerned, the world view that is shown through a body of art must be seen ultimately in terms of Scripture. The artist's world view is not to be free from the judgment of the Word of God. In this the artist is like a scientist. The scientist may wear a white coat and be considered an "authority" by society, but where his statements impinge upon what God has given us in Scripture, they come under the ultimate authority of his Word. An artist may wear a painter's smock and be considered almost a holy man, yet where his work shows his world view, it must be judged by its relationship to the Christian world view.

I think we can now see how it is possible to make such judgments concerning the work of art. If we stand as Christians before a man's canvas and recognize that he is a great artist in technical excellence and validity -- if in fact he is -- if we have been fair with him as a man and as an artist, then we can say that his world view is wrong. We can judge this view on the same basis as we judge the views of anybody else -- the philosopher, common man, laborer, businessman or whatever.
...
There is a corollary to this third criterion. We should realize that if something untrue or immoral is stated in great art it can be far more destructive and devastating than if it is expressed in poor art or prosaic statement. Much of the crude art, the common product of hippie communities and the underground press, is laden with destructive messages, but the art is so poor that it does not have much force. But the greater the artistic expression, the more important it is to consciously bring it and its world view under the judgment of Christ and the Bible.
...
There is a second corollary related to judging the content of an art work: It is possible for a non-Christian writer or painter to write and paint according to a Christian world view even though he himself is not a Christian. To understand this, we must distinguish between two meanings of the word Christian. The first and essential meaning is that a Christian is a man who has accepted Christ as his Savior and has thus passed from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God by being born again. But if a number of people really are Christians, then they bring forth a kind of consensus that exists apart from themselves, and sometimes non-Christians paint and write within the framework of that consensus even though they as individuals are not Christians.

There are, therefore, four kinds of people in the realm of art. The first is the born-again man who writes and paints within the Christian total world view. The second is the non-Christian who expresses his own non-Christian world view. The third is the man who is personally a non-Christian but nevertheless writes or paints on the basis of the Christian consensus by which he has been influenced....

The fourth person is the born-again Christian who does not understand what the total Christian world view should be and therefore produces art which embodies a non-Christian world view. In other words, just as it is possible for a non-Christian to be inconsistent and to paint God's world in spite of his personal philosophy, it is possible for a Christian to be inconsistent and embody in his paintings a non-Christian world view. And it is this latter which is perhaps the most sad.

The fourth criterion for judging a work of art involves how well the artist has suited the vehicle to the message. For those art works which are truly great, there is a correlation between the style and the content. The greatest art fits the vehicle that is being used to the world view that is being presented.
...
We should ultimately see all art works in the light of their technique, validity, world view and suiting of form to content.

Beautiful Captive

When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. (Deut. 21.10-13)

Origen, Hom. Lev. VII.6, quoted by Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, Vol. 1, p. 213:

...I too have often gone forth to war against my enemies, and I have found among my spoils a beautiful woman. For even among our enemies we find things that are good and proper. If, therefore, we read wise and knowledgeable words in one of them, we must purify them, we must remove and cut away everything in this knowledge that is deadly and vain. This is just like the hair and nails of this woman who was taken when the enemy was plundered. Thus we shall make her our wife, when she no longer has anything that has the appearance of infidelity, anything that smacks of death on her head or on her hands, so that she no longer bears anything impure or deathful either in her sentiments or in her actions. For the women of our enemies have no purity about them, seeing that there is no wisdom in them that is not mingled with some impurity...As for ourselves, we who are engaged in a spiritual war and who, to destroy the power of the enemy, use not carnal arms, but the power of God, if we find a beautiful woman in the camp of our adversary, that is to say, some rational discipline, in that case we shall purify her, as has just been recounted.

Richard Sibbes, A Christian's Portion; or, The Christian's Charter, in Works, Vol. 4, p. 18:

Again, 'all things are ours.' Therefore truth, wheresoever we find it, is ours. We may read [a] heathen author. Truth comes from God, wheresoever we find it, and it is ours, it is the church's. We may take it from them as a just possession. Those truths they have, there may be good use of those truths; but we must not use them for ostentation. For that is to do as the Israelites; when they had gotten treasure out of Egypt, they made a calf, an idol of them. So we must not make an idol of these things. But truth, wheresoever we find it, is the church's. Therefore with a good conscience we may make use of any human author. I thought good to touch this, because some make a scruple of it.

Light Still Shines in the Darkness

In 1894, upon the assumption of the presidency of the Theological Seminary of the Gereformeerde Kerken at Kampen, the Netherlands, Herman Bavinck delivered a presidential address entitled De Algemeene Genade (Common Grace). Anthony A. Hoekema translated a portion of it from p. 17 of the 1922 edition Bavinck's work in Created in God's Image (1994), pp. 190-191, which is very much worth quoting here (HT: Tony Reinke):

From this common grace proceeds all that is good and true that we still see in fallen man. The light still shines in the darkness. The Spirit of God lives and works in everything that has been created. Therefore there still remains in man certain traces of the image of God. There is still intellect and reason; all kinds of natural gifts are still present in him. Man still has a feeling and an impression of divinity, a seed of religion. Reason is a priceless gift. Philosophy is an admirable gift from God. Music is also a gift of God. Arts and sciences are good, profitable, and of high value. The state has been instituted by God...There is still a desire for truth and virtue, and for natural love between parents and children. In matters that concern this earthly life, man is still able to do much good....Through the doctrine of common grace the Reformed have, on the one hand, maintained the specific and absolute character of the Christian religion, but on the other hand they have been second to none in their appreciation for whatever of the good and beautiful is still being given by God to sinful human beings.

God Is Merciful To All

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. (Ps. 36.5-7)

The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. (Ps. 145.8-9)

It is denied by some that God shows mercy to the reprobate, but rather only, always wrath. This view recoils at the notion that if grace is truly unmerited favor, therefore the reprobate in this life, as well as the elect, whether regenerate or not at a point in time, do in fact partake of God's lovingkindness by the mere fact that such are not consumed and cast into hell immediately and by the reception of undeserved gifts are allowed to enjoy blessings in this life which are favorable, merciful and indeed gracious.

Love is the bond that unites the ethically perfect. Grace is the objective pleasantness and the subject attraction of the ethically perfect. Mercy wills and desires the ethically perfect to be blessed. It should be evident from this that God cannot be merciful to the reprobate wicked and that His mercy toward his people must be founded in His sovereign election, according to which he beholds them eternally as perfectly righteous in the Beloved. (Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2, p. 115, quoted by David Silversides, The Free Offer: Biblical & Reformed, p. 35).

Silversides adds (pp. 42-43):

Remember Hoeksema's words, 'God cannot be merciful to the reprobate wicked.' Hoeksema's presuppositions require this conclusion. In fact, the Scripture teach that God can and does show mercy to the reprobate wicked in this world, according to his sovereign good pleasure.

The Apostle Paul says:

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Rom. 2.4)

Silversides (p. 16):

Romans 2:4-5 actually teaches that the guilt of the reprobate is increased by the fact that God does show lovingkindness to them. It is the genuineness of the kindness that heightens their guilt, albeit within the decree of God.
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It must also be borne in mind that elsewhere Hoeksema's definition of the word 'goodness' is very different from the meaning commonly given to it by Reformed writers and, most particularly, its usage in the Westminster Standards. For example, in Answer 4 of the Shorter Catechism, we read, 'God is a Spirit, infinite eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.' The Shorter Catechism has been criticized by some at this point for not using the terms 'grace, mercy, love', but it must be recognised that in the minds of the Westminster Assembly the term goodness included all of these. This explains why the term 'goodness' is expanded in the Larger Catechism as equivalent to 'most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness' (Ans. 9) and in the Westminster Confession as 'most loving, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, abundant in goodness...forgiving inquity, transgression and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him...' (ch. II, i).

The terms 'good' and 'goodness' (Heb. tob) are consistently linked to God's mercy or faithful love (Heb. chesed), for example in Psalms 23:6, 25:7-8, 86:5, 100:5, 145:9 etc., and when Psalm 34:8 is referred to in 1 Peter 2:3, the term is rendered 'gracious' (Gk. chreestos: A.V. 'kind'). No doubt this explains why the term is rendered 'gracious' in the 1650 Metrical Psalter rendering of Psalm 86:5.

Puritans often distinguished between the general mercy of God to all his creatures and the special mercy shown to the elect.

Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself (1803 ed., slightly modernized spelling), p. 550:

2. There is a second love and mercy in God, by which he loves all men and angels, yea, even his enemies; makes the sun to mine on the unjust man, as well as the just, and causeth dew and rain to fall on the orchard and fields of the bloody and deceitful man, -whom the Lord abhors; as Christ teacheth us, Mat. v. 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. Nor doth God miscarry in this love; he desires the eternal being of damned angels and men; he sends the gospel to many reprobates, and invites them to repentance, and, with longanimity and forbearance, suffereth pieces of froward dust to fill the measure of their iniquity; yet does not the Lord's general love fall short of what he willeth to them.

William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, p. 27 (re: v. 2):

For the sorts or kinds of God's mercy. It is either, 1. A general mercy, extended to all creatures in common, as there is no creature in any misery which in some respect he does not succour: he gives food to the hungry; warmth by wool, and sundry sorts of skins, to the naked; medicine by many kinds of herbs; the sun, the clouds, the winds, the rain, to refresh the earth severally: and thus he is merciful to the elect and reprobate, just and unjust, nay, men and beasts, Psal. cxlvii. 9; Matt. vi. 26, &c.; Psal. cxlv. 15. Or, 2. A special mercy bestowed upon the elect alone, different from the former both in regard of God's will to help, and also in regard of the effects of that will. It is the will of God, John vi. 39, that the elect should be delivered from their sins, his wrath, Satan's power, the sting of death, and that they should obtain eternal life in Christ. The will and pleasure of God is to do them good, they are his "Hephzi-bah," Isa. Ixii. 4; but he hath no pleasure in or special love to others, Mal. i. 10. The effects likewise of his will to help are different toward the elect from those he expresses upon the reprobate; he calling effectually, justifying, redeeming, glorifying the elect, Rom. ix. 15, 18; I Tim. i. 13. "The Lord pitieth them that fear him," Psal. ciii. 13. "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about," Psal. xxxii. 10. The Lord is "plenteous in mercy to them that call upon him," Psal. Ixxxvi. 5. Of others he saith, "I will deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity," Ezek. viii. 18. The elect are vessels of mercy, the other of wrath. To the former he is merciful in bestowing upon them an eternal, to the latter in affording a temporal, life. These two differing as much as the mercy with which a man regards his beast does from that wherewith he tenders his son: the beast is fed to be slain, or to be fit for labour; the son to be preserved, and out of a paternal care for his good. To the wicked God affords a drop, to the godly a draught of mercy; to the wicked, the crumbs under the table, to the godly, Christ with all his benefits, that bread of life which endureth to eternal life.

We do well that remember that as Matthew Mead said, "Everything on this side of hell is mercy," and as Richard Allestree wisely noted, "The very breath with which we complain is a blessing" (The Art of Contentment).

We should sing with praise to God and thanksgiving for the Lord's lovingkindness and tender mercies to all with the Psalmist who wrote these words:

1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter:

9 Good unto all men is the Lord:
O'er all his works his mercy is.
10 Thy works all praise to thee afford:
Thy saints, O Lord, thy name shall bless. (Ps. 145.9)

6 Thy justice is like mountains great;
thy judgments deep as floods:
Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
7 How precious is thy grace!
Therefore in shadow of thy wings
men's sons their trust shall place. (Ps. 36.6-7)

The Genevan Psalter and Common Grace

John H. Gerstner, "Singing the Words God Has Put in Our Mouths" (originally published in The Hymn, January 1953), in John H. Gerstner: The Early Writings, pp. 204-205:

The third theological foundation of the Genevan Psalter was the doctrine of common grace. By this it was recognized that there are two types of divine gifts -- supernatural and natural. The former are the virtues wrought in the soul by a special work of grace; the latter are those which pertain to secular matters and are distributed to all, not to saints only; as a matter of fact, often to sinners. But, wherever they were, Calvin recognized these and used them for his purposes. Skill in music is a natural rather than a supernatural skill, but Calvin was ever on the alert to capture this for the worship of God. Thus, at his Academy in Geneva, he made music required four hours each week. The choir thereby trained in this skill was to lead the people so they could, under its leadership, cultivate the same skill. Acting on this same principle, Calvin was quick to appreciate the able -- though not excessively orthodox -- Marot, and to stand by the gifted composer, Bourgeois, who was thrown into prison for breaking some of the rigid disciplines of Geneva of which Calvin was himself the main author. Abraham Kuyper, in his admirable Lectures on Calvinism, so aptly remarks, "Music...would flourish, henceforth, not within the narrow limitation of particular grace, but in the wide and fertile fields of common grace."4

4 Lectures on Calvinism, p. 228.