ine their meaning.

REPROBATION AND THE EVIL DAY.--In Proverbs xvi. 4, it is written:
"The Lord hath made all things for Himself, even the wicked for the
day of evil." This passage is supposed to teach the doctrine of
Calvin, that some men have been reprobated from eternity, and come
into existence with the doom of death eternal on their brow. The
first part of the verse presents no difficulty. It brings before us
the idea that God Himself is the great object of creation. It is
proper that this should be so. He is the greatest and the best of
beings, and to have created for a lesser object than Himself would
not have been conformable to the dictate of the reason. It is the
second part of the verse which is supposed to teach the doctrine of
eternal and unconditional reprobation. Calvin's idea of the passage
is that the wicked were created for "certain death that His name
(God's) may be glorified in their destruction." Let us suppose this
to be the meaning--what then? The word "glory" in Hebrew means
"beauty," "honour," "adornment." All around us lies the beautiful
--the earth with her carpet of flowers--and the overarching skies
--the sun, the moon, and the stars, are all beautiful.

"Oh, if so much beauty doth reveal
Itself in every vein of life and motion,
How beautiful must be the source itself,
The ever bright one."--TEGNER.

But there is a moral beauty in God. It lies in the supreme moral
excellence of His character; in His holiness, in His love, in His
truthfulness, in His patience, in His gentleness, in His mercy.
These attributes existing in God in the highest perfection,
constitute the glory of the Most High. "Beauty and kindness go
together" saith the poet; but is there any kindness in creating men
for the purpose of making them miserable for ever? For ourselves we
see no beauty, no glory in this--but the reverse. We regard it as a
libel upon the character of the ever blessed God.

The meaning of the passage is simple enough. God hath appointed good
for the righteous and evil for the wicked. Though hand join in hand
the wicked shall not go unpunished. One version of the passage is,
"Jehovah hath made all things to answer each other, even the day of
calamities for the wicked" (Davidson's _Commentary_). In Collins'
_Critical Commentary_ it is explained thus: "For Himself or for its
answer or purpose . . . . Sin and suffering answer to each other,
are indissolubly united" (_ad loc_). Thus int