What's in a Name?

George Whitfield:

I embrace the calvinistical scheme, not because Calvin, but Jesus Christ, I think,  has taught it to me. (Letter dated September 24, 1742)

Charles Spurgeon:

Did you say that such-and-such a thing is believed by you because you found it in Calvin's Institutes? I am a Calvinist, and a lover of that grand man's memory and doctrine; but I believe nothing merely because Calvin taught it, but because I have found his teaching in the Word of God. (Sermon number 2584 Metropolitan Tabernacle 44:517)

And I have my own private opinion that there is no such a thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering, love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel as that. We preach Christ and him crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply, "We have not so learned Christ." (Sermon number 98 New Park Street Pulpit 1:100)

It is no novelty, then, that I am-preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, which are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me. Were I a Pelagian, or a believer in the doctrine of free-will, I should have to walk for centuries all alone. Here and there a heretic of no very honorable character might rise up and call me brother. But taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren-I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God?s own church. (Sermon on Election 1:551) 

Again, I must say, I am not defending certain brethren who have exaggerated Calvinism. I speak of Calvinism proper, not that which has run to seed, and outgrown its beauty and verdure. I speak of it as I find it in Calvin?s Institutes, and especially in his Expositions. I have read them carefully. I take not my views of Calvinism from common repute but from his books. Nor do I, in thus speaking, even vindicate Calvinism as if I cared for the name, but I mean that glorious system which teaches that salvation is of grace from first to last.  (Sermon number 385 Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 7:554) 

The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again. (Defence of Calvinism) 

To me, Calvinism means the placing of the eternal God at the head of all things. (An All Round Ministry, p. 337)

Calvinism is the Gospel. (Sermons, Vol. 1, p. 50)

Calvinism did not spring from Calvin. We believe that it sprang from the great Founder of all truth. (Sermons, Vol. 7, p. 298)

I am not a Calvinist by choice, but because I cannot help it. (Sermons, Vol. 18, p. 692)

Robert L. Dabney:

We Presbyterians care very little about the name Calvinism. We are not ashamed of it; but we are not bound to it. Some opponents seem to harbor the ridiculous notion that this set of doctrines was the new invention of the Frenchman John Calvin. They would represent us as in this thing followers of him instead of followers of the Bible. This is a stupid historical error. John Calvin no more invented these doctrines than he invented this world which God had created six thousand years before. We believe that he was a very gifted, learned, and, in the main, godly man, who still had his faults. He found substantially this system of doctrines just where we find them, in the faithful study of the Bible, Where we see them taught by all the prophets, apostles, and the Messiah himself, from Genesis to Revelation.

Calvin also found the same doctrines handed down by the best, most learned, most godly, uninspired church fathers, as Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas, still running through the errors of popery. He wielded a wide influence over the Protestant churches; but the Westminster Assembly and the Presbyterian churches by no means adopted all Calvin's opinions. Like the Synod of Dort, we draw our doctrines, not from any mortal man or human philosophy, but from the Holy Ghost speaking in the Bible. Yet, we do find some inferior comfort in discovering these same doctrines of grace in the most learned and pious of all churches and ages; of the great fathers of Romanism, of Martin Luther, of Blaise Paschal, of the original Protestant churches, German, Swiss, French, Holland, English, and Scotch—and far the largest part of the real scriptural churches of our own day. (The Five Points of Calvinism)

Architect of Orthodoxy

Robert Lewis Dabney, besides being a famous Southern Presbyterian theologian, was, among other things, both an architect and an opponent of musical instruments in worship. These features combined to form churches that were built to keep organs out.

While serving as pastor of Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church in Fishersville, Virginia (1847-1853), Dabney authored an 1849 letter to the Watchman and Observer of Richmond, Va. submitted under the pseudonym of Chorepiscopus on the subject of "Organs." (In the July 1889 Presbyterian Quarterly, he also reviewed favorably John L. Girardeau's treatise contra Instrumental Music in Public Worship.)

In 1850, he designed the construction of the present Tinkling Spring church building in the Greek Revival style. Calder Loth of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources wrote of Tinkling Spring (The Virginia Landmarks Register, p. 55):

The present building, the third to serve its worshipers, was designed and built under the direction of its incumbent minister, Robert Lewis Dabney, who was the architect of several churches in the state. Dabney described his design, executed in 1850, as "the plainest Doric denuded of all ornaments." The chaste building, distinguished by its portico in antis, is similar to the chapel Dabney designed for Hampden-Sydney College. Its no-nonsense character appealed to Calvinist austerity and influenced the architecture of a number of Virginia's Presbyterian churches.

The Museum at Tinkling Spring notes, however:

Robert Dabney ardently opposed musical instruments, so not until 1869 did the session vote to permit the purchase of a "Cabinet Organ or Carmonium" and only after a close congregational meeting that saw 49 members vote in favor of musical instruments and 33 vote against such a move....A pipe organ became part of the church's musical offerings with the extensive building renovation under pastor J.O. Mann in 1916....In 1981 a new organ was installed. This was rebuilt and restored as part of the extensive church expansion in 2007 by the organist John Slechts.

Dabney went on design the construction of the Briery Presbyterian Church in Keysville, Va. in the Gothic Revival style circa 1855. He also designed the Farmville, Va. Presbyterian Church in the Greek Revival style around 1859.

Serving both on the faculty of Hampden-Sydney College and as pastor of the College Presbyterian Church from 1858 to 1874, Dabney designed the College Church also in the Greek Revival Style in 1860. The church website gives the following account of its historical design, noting in particular that its architect intentionally designed it to keep organs out, and the description reveals certain biases by its author against his views.

This is the third building to be used by the Presbyterian congregation at Hampden-Sydney. It was designed by the famous 19th century conservative theologian, Robert Lewis Dabney, whose hobby was dabbling in architecture. The structure itself was built of hand-made brick, molded and baked on the site, and the entire building was constructed in the space of the three summer months of 1860. There had been an earlier, box-like wooden church building in the vicinity of Hampden House, near the north gateway onto the campus, and this had served the congregation from the late 1770's until 1820. In that year the congregation purchased four acres of land at the present church site, and a small brick building was constructed "with ugly tudor arches," as an early chronicle editorially stated. That structure was located between the present building and Atkinson Avenue, and it faced south toward the cemetery.

Architect Dabney had earlier used this same design at the Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church near Waynesboro, Virginia, and also at the Farmville Presbyterian Church, except in those cases there was a center entrance, while at College Church there were two entrances, one for women and one for men. The stairways on either side of the porch led to the slave galleries. With the original pews the seating capacity was 400 downstairs, 200 upstairs. Until recent years this space was sufficient for seating the entire student body, and for over a century, most of the all-college events were traditionally held here. These included daily chapel, seasonal convocations and graduations. Dr. Dabney also designed for his family use, a nearby Italiante-style residence, and he was the architectural consultant for the American Gothic design of Briery Presbyterian Church near Keysville. However, he was probably adapting that exquisite design, as well as his own sophisticated Westmerton residence, from 19th Century pattern-books.

Dr. Dabney believed that a church building should display what one believed, and he therefore avoided any symbolic elements whatsoever, as this stern, somewhat Puritan-like, figure abhorred all high church elements as being ambiguous at best and idolatrous at worst. His stern Calvinism was based on the clear light of reason, and he therefore used plain, clear window panes, in the fashion of the New England meeting hourses. He especially disliked stained-glass windows, believing that they obscured God in mystery, whereas the Deity should be explained rationally and orally. He specifically detailed that there should be no "popish cross" on public display in this room, and since he was decidedly opposed to pipe organs he thought that he had designed the room in such a way that no such instrument could ever be installed. However, when a pipe organ was installed in 1920, in the generation following his death, its parts were painstakingly taken up the slave gallery steps, piece-by-piece, and assembled in the balcony. Dr. Dabney never used the word "sanctuary, which he associated with Episcopalians, and he consistently referred to this main room as an "auditorium," a word which underscored his concept of worship as a listening experience. He designed the over-built pulpit as a virtual throne for the preacher, and the plain, hard wall immediately behind the pulpit has meant that the acoustics in the building are unusually bright.

The only decorative features within his auditorium design are: a classical frame outlining the sounding wall behind the pulpit - again "framing the pulpit and preacher with prominence - and the recurring series of panels that are carved into the balcony. The latter may possibly represent the tablets of the law, as given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, since Dr. Dabney was big on the law, and somewhat small on matters of grace. Some believe that the entry doors with their tripartite mullions could possibly be taken as symbols of the Trinity, but if so they were probably unintentional. The left front door, incidentally, still shows the marks of a futile attempt by one of General Sheridan's troopers to break into the church - possibly to steal the Communion silver - when a large part of the Federal infantry and cavalry came through Hampden-Sydney on April 6 and 7, 1865.

Too Strange to Self-Communion

R.L. Dabney, "Meditation as a Means of Grace," in Discussions, Vol. 1, pp. 652-653:

...the Christian life must have its seasons of quietude and calm meditation. Too much of even a religious bustle is unwholesome for the soul. Time must be allowed in sacred seasons for divine truth to steep the heart with its influence. Our hurry and externality has impoverished our graces. Solitude is essential to the health of the soul. Is not our modern life far too hurried? Surely we are in too much haste to be rich; we are too strange to self-communion; our very education is too stimulating and mercenary; and while we degrade the heavenly minister, science, to material uses, we teach our young men to forget that the true, the beautiful, and the good are in themselves the happy heritage of the soul. The clangor of our industry and the dust and glare of our skill have repelled the heavenly Dove and exhaled the dews of his grace out of our life. How woeful is the waste of our holiness and happiness by this mistake! Let us, then, learn to commune with our own hearts and be still.

Children of Issachar, Men of Understanding

Recently, elsewhere, it has been suggested that we cannot and should not ever attempt to interpret providence; that to do so is to pry into the "secret things" of God and to in fact undermines the doctrine of sola scriptura. I am not entering into any sort of blog war, but wish to lay forth why I believe the doctrine of special providence is not merely an Old Testament notion, but a doctrine for God's people to embrace in all ages.

Like the doctrine of predestination, which our Confession teaches "is to be handled with special prudence and care" (WCF III.8), so the works of God's providence are not to be "curiously" pried into or misapplied (WLC 113). Nevertheless, they are among the ways in which God makes himself known in the earth (Ps. 9.16; WLC 112) and we are therefore to take notice of and distinguish between both his general and special providences (WCF 5.7) and to mark them well (Lam. 3.38-40; Ps. 107.43; Rom. 11.34; Ps. 101.1; Ps. 28.5; Fisher's Catechism 11.42-44).

Robert Dabney (Systematic Theology, Chap. 21) teaches that the doctrine of general providence necessarily requires the adjoining doctrine of special providence. Special providence refers to God's moral government over the affairs of men with particular regard to the church of God in all ages (John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, Book III, Chap. 4; Rom. 8.28). God is not an absentee landlord as conceived by Deists who think of Providence as the Watchmaker who steps back and lets the watch run its course, but rather he is intimately and minutely involved in all of the affairs of men, from the least to the greatest. Thus, the Reformed who acknowledge God's sovereignty over all things confess that "my times are in thy hand" (Ps. 31.15).

It is within the scope of God's general providence for the rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5.45). It is not possible to discern the eternal love or hatred of God upon men simply by observing their state of well-being on earth (Job; Ps. 73; Luke 16.19-28; Fisher's Catechism 11.49). However, it is within the scope of God's special providence for temporal judgments (Amos 3.6; Isa. 45.7) to come upon men, both God's elect (2 Tim. 3.12; Heb. 12) and the wicked (Ps. 58.11; Luke 12.20; Luke 13.1-5). It is not always possible to discern a 1:1 correlation between sin and temporal judgment, for we all deserve condemnation all the time (excepting the pardon of our sins through Christ), though we know that God's mercy in withholding judgment upon sinners has its purpose too (Rom. 2.5). Yet, as Augustine said (quoted by John Flavel in The Mystery of Providence), "If no sin were punished here, no Providence would be believed; and if every sin should be punished here, no judgment would be expected."

God deals with men individually and collectively, as within the church (1 Pet. 4.17) "in all ages" (John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, Book III, Chap. 4) and as with nations (Ps. 2.10-12; Ps. 9.17; Ps. 22.28; Prov. 14.34; Rev. 19.16; Rev. 21.24). God is Lord of the universe and there is no part of his creation that is exempted from his dominion. This is no less true today than it was before the canon of Scripture was closed. In fact, the mediatorial kingship of Christ commenced during Christ's ministry (Ps. 2.6-8; Isa. 9.6-7; Matt. 3.17; Heb. 1.5-8) and his death, resurrection and ascension (Matt. 28.18). He reigns even now (Heb. 2.8; 1 Cor. 15.25) and holds magistrates accountable to rule according to his revealed will (Ps. 2.10-12; Ps. 82.6; Dan. 2.21; Prov. 8.15-16; Prov. 16.12; Rom. 13.1-4). The raising up of both good and bad kings is by the providential hand of God, and tyrants are said to be a scourge, or a judgment, of the Lord (Prov. 29.2; Isa. 10.5-6; John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, Book III, Chap. 4) while good kings are said to be a blessing to the people (Prov. 29.2). Likewise, national calamities such as wars, famines, pestilence, drought and the like ought to move us to national soul-searching, if not national repentance (William Gouge spoke of "God's three arrows: plague, famine, sword").

The third commandment requires that we treat all of God's means and modes of revelation with reverence, including his works of providence. William Perkins taught that one particular violation of the third commandment is to be insensible to God's providential judgments in the earth, that is, God's rod:

XIV. Lightly to pass over God's judgments which are seen in the world. Matthew 26:34, “Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." Luke 13:1-3, “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (The Order of Salvation and Damnation)

Fisher's Catechism 11.42:

Q. 44. Is it not dangerous to overlook the operations of divine providence?

A. Yes; for it is said, Psalm 28:5 -- "Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up."

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. (Jer. 8.4)

George Swinnock notes, Works, Vol. 2, pp. 465-466:

(6) The observation of times and seasons. It is thy prudence to take notice of the storms of judgments, and sunshine of mercy. "The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord," Jer 8:7.

Matthew Poole writes on Jer. 8.7:

Jer 8:7. In the heaven, i.e. in the air, which is often called heaven, where the birds fly, Ps 8:8; compare Jer 7:33, who possibly observe the fit time by the temperature of the air. Knoweth her appointed times, i.e. observeth the several seasons of her going and coming by some natural instinct, and this is said of the stork: what kind of fowl is here meant is disputable: see English Annotations and Latin Synopsis. Observe the time of their coming; the same thing diversified in these several fowls, that know also their seasons. But my people know not: this notes the great stupidity of his people, seeming not to have as much sense in them as the birds in the air, not knowing their summer of prosperity, to make a good use of God's favours, nor the winter of adversity, either to prevent or remove that wrath of God that hangs over their heads, Isa 5:12; Luke 19:42,44; they know not their time for repentance, and making their peace with God, compared also, on the same account, to the beasts of the field, Isa 1:3; and thus Christ upbraids the Pharisees, Matt 16:2-3. The judgment of the Lord; either God's vengeance in general, or particularly hovering over Jerusalem and Judea; or rather, the manner of God's dispensations with them. So the word is used 1 Sam 2:13; 1 Sam 8:11.

Matthew Henry adds even more emphatically:

III. They would not attend to the dictates of providence, nor understand the voice of God in them, Jer 8:7. It is an instance of their sottishness that, though they are God's people, and therefore should readily understand his mind upon every intimation of it, yet they know not the judgment of the Lord; they apprehend not the meaning either of a mercy or an affliction, not how to accommodate themselves to either, nor to answer God's intention in either. They know not how to improve the seasons of grave that God affords them when he sends them his prophets, nor how to make use of the rebukes they are under when his voice cries in the city. They discern not the signs of the times (Matt 16:3), nor are aware how God is dealing with them. They know not that way of duty which God had prescribed them, though it be written both in their hearts and in their books. 2. It is an aggravation of their sottishness that there is so much sagacity in the inferior creatures. The stork in the heaven knows her appointed times of coming and continuing; so do other season-birds, the turtle, the crane, and the swallow. These by a natural instinct change their quarters, as the temper of the air alters; they come when the spring comes, and go, we know not whither, when the winter approaches, probably into warmer climates, as some birds come with winter and go when that is over.

There is also a second commandment duty to worship God particularly during extraordinary occasions by fasting or thanksgiving, which requires discernment of God's dealings with us in order to worship him appropriately in such a context.

Fisher's Catechism 50.27 (speaking of the duty of religious fasting):

Q. 27. What are the occurrences in providence, which are a call to this extraordinary duty?

A. "When some great and notable judgments are either inflicted upon a people," Dan. 9:3, 12-14, "or apparently imminent," 2 Chron. 20:2-4; "or, by some extraordinary provocations notoriously deserved," 1 Sam. 7:3, 6; "as also when some special blessing is to be sought and obtained,"[62] ver. 5, 8, 10.

Therefore, notable providences -- that is, events that may in fact be described as judgments or deliverances -- are to be seen as calls to the extraordinary duty of fasting or thanksgiving. They are calls to worship God which cannot be dismissed and are as binding as any other duty solemnly laid upon us by God in his Word.

Robert Shaw, An Exposition of the Westminster Confession (on WCF 21.5):

Stated festival-days, commonly called holy-days, have no warrant in the Word of God; but a day may be set apart, by competent authority, for fasting or thanksgiving, when extraordinary dispensations of Providence administer cause for them. When judgments are threatened or inflicted, or when some special blessing is to be sought and obtained, fasting is eminently seasonable. When some remarkable mercy or deliverance has been received, there is a special call to thanksgiving. The views of the compilers of our Confession respecting these ordinances may be found in "The Directory for the Public Worship of God."

The Directory for the Public Worship of God:

Concerning Publick Solemn Fasting.

WHEN some great and notable judgments are either inflicted upon a people, or apparently imminent, or by some extraordinary provocations notoriously deserved; as also when some special blessing is to be sought and obtained, publick solemn fasting (which is to continue the whole day) is a duty that God expecteth from that nation or people.

The way of wisdom is to both acknowledge that God's ways are far above our ways (Isa. 55.8-9) and that the secret things do belong unto the Lord (Deut. 29.29) but also that the manifest works of God in providence are to redound to his glory and to be known of men (Ps. 107.43). When Job was chastised or when Joseph was sold into slavery, who could have understood completely why it had to be so? Yet, we know that chatisements will come upon the godly (Heb. 12) and that oftentimes God afflicts both the just(ified) (WCF V.5) and the unjust(ified) (WCF V.6). What then is our duty when such notable events come? It is our duty to be sensible to the Lord's dealings with us. God makes himself known by means of judgments in the earth. Therefore, we should always examine our ways (Lam. 3.38-41; Ps. 139.23-24). We should not be proud when the wicked fall (Prov. 24.17; Luke 13.1-4) but we should take the opportunity to "likewise repent." When God's people experience hard providences, that is a chastening. Matthew Poole on Heb. 12.12 says that this passage is speaking of "the doctrine of God's chastening providences." Thomas Case likewise notes concerning Heb. 12 that "God hath consecrated thy sufferings by his teachings: afflictions have taken orders, as it were, and stand no longer in the rank of ordinary providences, but serve now in the order of gospel-ordinances, officiating in the holy garment of Divine promises, and to the same uses." (Treatise on Afflictions). (See also Thomas Brooks' The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod and Thomas Boston's The Crook in the Lot.) We should then employ every means to discover within ourselves whether there is an Achan in our heart (Josh. 7). It is not introspective navel-gazing to examine one's heart (although in excess and without reference to the work and person of Jesus Christ it can become so). This is true collectively as well as individually, and especially applicable to the ministers in their duty.

Preface to the Westminster Directory of Public Worship:

"...but that each one, by meditation, by taking heed to himself, and the flock of God committed to him, and by wise observing the ways of Divine Providence, may be careful to furnish his heart and tongue with further or other materials of prayer and exhortation, as shall be needful upon all occasions"

Yet, it is also equally true that the inscrutable ways of God may not lend themselves to an understanding of the immediate purpose of chastisement. An answer may not be evident to us, or at least not right away. Though the mystery of providence will one day be revealed to us in full (1 Cor. 13.12; Rev. 10.7; Fisher's Catechism 11.53), yet in our day we are called unto faith in God no matter what the trial (Heb. 11.1-6; Rom. 4.18-20). Therefore, as the doctrine of special providence is matter of great importance that joins things evident around us with things unknown to us, and must be handled with care, so there is a duty to be wise and understanding of the times (1 Chron. 12.32) and to trust in God no matter what and commit our way unto him (Job. 13.15; Ps. 37.5; Fisher's Catechism 11.55), not anxious, not murmuring against the Lord's providence. Then we may say with the Psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted: that I might learn thy statutes." (Ps. 119.71).

I submit that Christians ought not to dismiss out of hand the duty laid out in Scripture to be wise and understand the times. As uncomfortable as it is and against the grain of our modern notions, God does deal with people and nations for their sins, and his judgments are in fact over all the earth. "He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth" (1 Chron. 16.14; Ps. 105.7). Do we see great and terrible events? Do we see corresponding notable sins? The calamities that befall us ought to cause us to search our hearts and see if there be any wicked way in us. When the heart of America's military (Pentagon) and economic (World Trade Center) idols are struck by Islamic terrorists, or when a hurricane demolishes a city (New Orleans) that is notorious for its wickedness, is it presumptuous not only to affirm that the Lord has done it (Amos 3.6), but that he has done so in response to particular notable sins? The lesson from the Tower of Siloam (Luke 13) is not that God does not judge men for their sins on the earth today, but rather that those who see such judgments should not presume themselves better than those who are punished temporally but rather they should tremble and repent. Such a fear of the Lord and acknowledgment of his dealings with us is the path of wisdom. The Lord calls us to reverence his works of providence in the earth, not to deny with Deists that he judges men and nations. Even Thomas Jefferson said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever..."

The wise observation of the dispensations of Divine Providence is a duty laid upon God's people in all ages. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD." (Ps. 107.43) This means we have a duty to search out the works of God in the light of his Word.

Thomas Boston, A Body of Divinity, Vol. 1, p. 212:

Whosoever would walk with God, must be due observers of the word and providence of God, for by these in a special manner he manifests himself to his people. In the one we see what he says; in the other what he does. These are the two books that every student of holiness ought to be much conversant in. They are both written with one hand, and they should both be carefully read, by those that would have not only the name of religion, but the thing. They should be studied together, if we would profit by either; for being taken together, they give light the one to the other; and as it is our duty to read the word, so it is also our duty to observe the work of God, Psal. xxviii. 5.

Though his ways are far above our ways, and good men have erred in correlating events with God's will, the Scriptural doctrine of special providence, including the duty to reverence God by responding to his calls -- by providential temporal judgments and deliverances -- for extraordinary worship is writ large throughout the Bible in both Testaments. Discernment is required of God's people to understand events in the light of his Word aright, which requires that we apply our hearts unto wisdom. God grant that we would -- at the very least -- aspire to be men like "the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."

Tip-Toeing Through the TULIPs

In 1552, the German Lutheran Joachim Westphal coined the term 'Calvinism,' which he opposed strenuously. The system of theology represented by this label may be traced back further, however, to 1536, when John Calvin first published his Institutes, and even further back to the theology of Augustine and, indeed, Paul and our Lord Jesus.

It was not until the Dutch Remonstrants put forward their five articles of Arminianism that the Orthodox Reformed were forced to articulate what became known as the 'Five Points of Calvinism' in response at the Synod of the Dordt. The Canons of Dordt express these Five Points of Calvinism brilliantly, but the English translation of this document is not the source of the acrostic that is commonly associated today with the Five Points: TULIP. Nor is this acrostic to be traced directly to the famous tulip mania of the Dutch Golden Age which followed soon after the Synod of Dordt.

As Robert Dabney summarized the Five Points in the 19th century, they are: 1) Original Sin; 2) God's Election; 3) Particular Redemption; 4) Effectual Calling; and 5) Perseverance of the Saints. It is generally believed that Loraine Boettner was the first to coin the TULIP acrostic as a mnemonic device for easier memorization in his 1932 book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. As he put it:

The Calvinistic system especially emphasizes five distinct doctrines. These are technically known as "The Five Points of Calvinism," and they are the main pillars upon which the superstructure rests. In this section we shall examine each of these, giving the Scripture basis and the arguments from reason which support them. We shall then consider the objections which are commonly brought against them.

As will be shown, the Bible contains an abundance of material for the development of each of these doctrines. Furthermore, these are not isolated and independent doctrines but are so inter-related that they form a simple, harmonious, self-consistent system; and the way in which they fit together as component parts of a well-ordered whole has won the admiration of thinking men of all creeds. Prove any one of them true and all the others will follow as logical and necessary parts of the system. Prove any one of them false and the whole system must be abandoned. They are found to dovetail perfectly one into the other. They are so many links in the great chain of causes, and not one of them can be taken away without marring and subverting the whole Gospel plan of salvation through Christ. We cannot conceive of this agreement arising merely by accident, nor even being possible, unless these doctrines are true.
...
The Five Points may be more easily remembered if they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P; T, Total Inability; U, Unconditional Election; L, Limited Atonement; I, Irresistible (Efficacious) Grace; and P, Perseverance of the Saints.

And so a flower was born. Since then, some Calvinists have devised other acrostics which they feel better express the doctrines of grace in the Calvinistic system of theology which the Five Points are designed to convey (see Roger Nicole, Timothy George, Michael Horton, R.C. Sproul, Sr., James Boice and Philip Ryken, for instance). There is also an Arminian daisy (I have not attempted to trace this origin of this). But the TULIP, like a flower that bends yet does not break, continues to thrive.

As William Perkins, one of the authors of A Garden of Spiritual Flowers, put it, in his Golden Chain, the doctrine of the Reformed is "that the cause of the execution of God’s predestination, is his mercy in Christ, in them which are saved; and in them which perish, the fall and corruption of man; yet so, as that the decree and eternal counsel of God, concerning them both, hath not any cause beside his will and pleasure." And thus, as Paul wrote 2,000 years ago, our salvation is by grace: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." (Rom. 11.6)

To God be the glory for his magnificent grace.