His Government Of Every Part Of It By His Providence.
To represent God as a Creator only for a moment, who entirely finished all
his work at once, were frigid and jejune; and in this it behoves us
especially to differ from the heathen, that the presence of the Divine
power may appear to us no less in the perpetual state of the world than in
its first origin. For although the minds even of impious men, by the mere
contemplation of earth and heaven, are constrained to rise to the Creator,
yet faith has a way peculiar to itself to assign to God the whole praise
of creation. To which purpose is that assertion of an Apostle before
cited, that it is only “through faith that we understand the worlds were
framed by the word of God;”(409) because, unless we proceed to his
providence, we have no correct conception of the meaning of this article,
“that God is the Creator;” however we may appear to comprehend it in our
minds, and to confess it with our tongues. The carnal sense, when it has
once viewed the power of God in the creation, stops there; and when it
proceeds the furthest, it only examines and considers the wisdom, and
power, and goodness, of the Author in producing such a work, which
spontaneously present themselves to the view even of those who are
unwilling to observe them. In the next place, it conceives of some general
operation of God in preserving and governing it, on which the power of
motion depends. Lastly, it supposes that the vigour originally infused by
God into all things is sufficient for their sustentation. But faith ought
to penetrate further. When it has learned that he is the Creator of all
things, it should immediately conclude that he is also their perpetual
governor and preserver; and that not by a certain universal motion,
actuating the whole machine of the world, and all its respective parts,
but by a particular providence sustaining, nourishing, and providing for
every thing which he has made.(410) Thus David, having briefly premised
that the world was made by God, immediately descends to the continual
course of his providence: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”(411) He afterwards
adds, “The Lord beholdeth all the sons of men;”(412) and subjoins more to
the same purpose. For though all men argue not so skilfully, yet, since it
would not be credible that God was concerned about human affairs, if he
were not the Maker of the world, and no one seriously believes that the
world was made by God, who is not persuaded that he takes care of his own
works, it is not without reason that David conducts us by a most excellent
series from one to the other. In general, indeed, both philosophers teach,
and the minds of men conceive, that all the parts of the world are
quickened by the secret inspiration of God. But they go not so far as
David, who is followed by all the pious, when he says, “These all wait
upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou
givest them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with
good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their
breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit,
they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.”(413) Though
they subscribe to the assertion of Paul, that in God “we live, and move,
and have our being,”(414) yet they are very far from a serious sense of
his favour, celebrated by the Apostle; because they have no apprehension
of the special care of God, from which alone his paternal favour is known.
II. For the clearer manifestation of this difference, it must be observed
that the providence of God, as it is taught in Scripture, is opposed to
fortune and fortuitous accidents. Now, since it has been the common
persuasion in all ages, and is also in the present day almost the
universal opinion, that all things happen fortuitously, it is certain that
every correct sentiment concerning providence is not only obscured, but
almost buried in oblivion by this erroneous notion. If any one falls into
the hands of robbers, or meets with wild beasts; if by a sudden storm he
is shipwrecked on the ocean; if he is killed by the fall of a house or a
tree; if another, wandering through deserts, finds relief for his penury,
or, after having been tossed about by the waves, reaches the port, and
escapes, as it were, but a hair’s‐breadth from death,—carnal reason will
ascribe all these occurrences, both prosperous and adverse, to fortune.
But whoever has been taught from the mouth of Christ, that the hairs of
his head are all numbered,(415) will seek further for a cause, and
conclude that all events are governed by the secret counsel of God. And
respecting things inanimate, it must be admitted, that, though they are
all naturally endued with their peculiar properties, yet they exert not
their power, any further than as they are directed by the present hand of
God. They are, therefore, no other than instruments into which God infuses
as much efficacy as he pleases, bending and turning them to any actions,
according to his will. There is no power among all the creatures more
wonderful or illustrious, than that of the sun. For, besides his
illumination of the whole world by his splendour, how astonishing it is
that he cherishes and enlivens all animals with his heat; with his rays
inspires fecundity into the earth; from the seeds, genially warmed in her
bosom, produces a green herbage, which, being supported by fresh
nourishment, he increases and strengthens till it rises into stalks; feeds
them with perpetual exhalations, till they grow into blossoms, and from
blossoms to fruit, which he then by his influences brings to maturity;
that trees, likewise, and vines, by his genial warmth, first put forth
leaves, then blossoms, and from the blossoms produce their fruit! But the
Lord, to reserve the praise of all these things entirely to himself, was
pleased that the light should exist, and the earth abound in every kind of
herbs and fruits, before he created the sun. A pious man, therefore, will
not make the sun either a principal or necessary cause of those things
which existed before the creation of the sun, but only an instrument which
God uses, because it is his pleasure so to do; whereas he would find no
more difficulty in acting by himself without that luminary. Lastly, as we
read that the sun remained in one situation for two days at the prayer of
Joshua,(416) and that his shadow made a retrograde motion of ten degrees
for the sake of king Hezekiah,(417) God has declared by these few
miracles, that the daily rising and setting of the sun is not from a blind
instinct of nature, but that he himself governs his course, to renew the
memory of his paternal favour towards us. Nothing is more natural than the
succession of spring to winter, of summer to spring, and of autumn to
summer. But there is so great a diversity and inequality discovered in
this series, that it is obvious that every year, month, and day, is
governed by a new and particular providence of God.
III. And, indeed, God asserts his possession of omnipotence, and claims
our acknowledgment of this attribute; not such as is imagined by sophists,
vain, idle, and almost asleep, but vigilant, efficacious, operative, and
engaged in continual action; not a mere general principle of confused
motion, as if he should command a river to flow through the channels once
made for it, but a power constantly exerted on every distinct and
particular movement. For he is accounted omnipotent, not because he is
able to act, yet sits down in idleness, or continues by a general instinct
the order of nature originally appointed by him; but because he governs
heaven and earth by his providence, and regulates all things in such a
manner that nothing happens but according to his counsel. For when it is
said in the Psalms, that he does whatsoever he pleases,(418) it denotes
his certain and deliberate will. For it would be quite insipid to expound
the words of the Prophet in the philosophical manner, that God is the
prime agent, because he is the principle and cause of all motion; whereas
the faithful should rather encourage themselves in adversity with this
consolation, that they suffer no affliction, but by the ordination and
command of God, because they are under his hand. But if the government of
God be thus extended to all his works, it is a puerile cavil to limit it
to the influence and course of nature. And they not only defraud God of
his glory, but themselves of a very useful doctrine, who confine the
Divine providence within such narrow bounds, as though he permitted all
things to proceed in an uncontrolled course, according to a perpetual law
of nature; for nothing would exceed the misery of man, if he were exposed
to all the motions of the heaven, air, earth, and waters. Besides, this
notion would shamefully diminish the singular goodness of God towards
every individual. David exclaims, that infants yet hanging on the breasts
of their mothers are sufficiently eloquent to celebrate the glory of
God;(419) because, as soon as they are born, they find aliment prepared
for them by his heavenly care. This, indeed, is generally true; yet it
cannot escape the observation of our eyes and senses, being evidently
proved by experience, that some mothers have breasts full and copious, but
others almost dry; as it pleases God to provide more liberally for one,
but more sparingly for another. But they who ascribe just praise to the
Divine omnipotence, receive from this a double advantage. In the first
place, he must have ample ability to bless them, who possesses heaven and
earth, and whose will all the creatures regard so as to devote themselves
to his service. And, secondly, they may securely repose in his protection,
to whose will are subject all those evils which can be feared from any
quarter; by whose power Satan is restrained, with all his furies, and all
his machinations; on whose will depends all that is inimical to our
safety; nor is there any thing else by which those immoderate and
superstitious fears, which we frequently feel on the sight of dangers, can
be corrected or appeased. We are superstitiously timid, I say, if,
whenever creatures menace or terrify us, we are frightened, as though they
had of themselves the power to hurt us, or could fortuitously injure us;
or as if against their injuries God were unable to afford us sufficient
aid. For example, the Prophet forbids the children of God to fear the
stars and signs of heaven,(420) as is the custom of unbelievers. He
certainly condemns not every kind of fear. But when infidels transfer the
government of the world from God to the stars, pretending that their
happiness or misery depends on the decrees and presages of the stars, and
not on the will of God, the consequence is, that their fear is withdrawn
from him, whom alone they ought to regard, and is placed on stars and
comets. Whoever, then, desires to avoid this infidelity, let him
constantly remember, that in the creatures there is no erratic power, or
action, or motion; but that they are so governed by the secret counsel of
God, that nothing can happen but what is subject to his knowledge, and
decreed by his will.
IV. First, then, let the readers know that what is called providence
describes God, not as idly beholding from heaven the transactions which
happen in the world, but as holding the helm of the universe, and
regulating all events. Thus it belongs no less to his hands than to his
eyes. When Abraham said to his son, “God will provide,”(421) he intended
not only to assert his prescience of a future event, but to leave the care
of a thing unknown to the will of him who frequently puts an end to
circumstances of perplexity and confusion. Whence it follows, that
providence consists in action; for it is ignorant trifling to talk of mere
prescience. Not quite so gross is the error of those who attribute to God
a government, as I have observed, of a confused and promiscuous kind;
acknowledging that God revolves and impels the machine of the world, with
all its parts, by a general motion, without peculiarly directing the
action of each individual creature. Yet even this error is not to be
tolerated. For they maintain that this providence, which they call
universal, is no impediment either to all the creatures being actuated
contingently, or to man turning himself hither or thither at the free
choice of his own will. And they make the following partition between God
and man; that God by his power inspires him with motions, enabling him to
act according to the tendency of the nature with which he is endued; but
that man governs his actions by his own voluntary choice. In short, they
conceive, that the world, human affairs, and men themselves, are governed
by the power of God, but not by his appointment. I speak not of the
Epicureans, who have always infested the world, who dream of a god
absorbed in sloth and inactivity; and of others no less erroneous, who
formerly pretended that the dominion of God extended over the middle
region of the air, but that he left inferior things to fortune; since the
mute creatures themselves sufficiently exclaim against such evident
stupidity. My present design is to refute that opinion, which has almost
generally prevailed, which, conceding to God a sort of blind and uncertain
motion, deprives him of the principal thing, which is his directing and
disposing, by his incomprehensible wisdom, all things to their proper end;
and thus, robbing God of the government of the world, it makes him the
ruler of it in name only, and not in reality. For, pray, what is
governing, but presiding in such a manner, as to rule, by fixed decrees,
those over whom you preside? Yet I reject not altogether what they assert
concerning universal providence, provided they, on their part admit that
God governs the world, not merely because he preserves the order of nature
fixed by himself, but because he exercises a peculiar care over every one
of his works. It is true that all things are actuated by a secret instinct
of nature, as though they obeyed the eternal command of God, and that what
God has once appointed, appears to proceed from voluntary inclination in
the creatures. And to this may be referred the declaration of Christ, that
his Father and himself had always been working, even from the
beginning;(422) and the assertion of Paul, that “in him we live, and move,
and have our being;”(423) and also what is observed by the author of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, with a design to prove the Divinity of Christ,
that all things are sustained by the word of his power.(424) But they act
very improperly in concealing and obscuring, by this pretext, the doctrine
of a particular providence, which is asserted in such plain and clear
testimonies of Scripture, that it is surprising how any one could
entertain a doubt concerning it. And, certainly, they who conceal it with
this veil which I have mentioned, are obliged to correct themselves by
adding, that many things happen through the peculiar care of God; but this
they erroneously restrict to some particular acts. Wherefore we have to
prove, that God attends to the government of particular events, and that
they all proceed from his determinate counsel, in such a manner that there
can be no such thing as fortuitous contingence.
V. If we grant that the principle of motion originates from God, but that
all things are spontaneously or accidentally carried whither the bias of
nature impels them, the mutual vicissitudes of day and night, of winter
and summer, will be the work of God, inasmuch as he has distributed to
each its respective parts, and prescribed to them a certain law; that is,
this would be the case if with even tenor they always observed the same
measure, days succeeding to nights, months to months, and years to years.
But sometimes excessive heats and drought parch and burn the fruits of the
earth; sometimes unseasonable rains injure the crops of corn, and sudden
calamities are occasioned by showers of hail and storms: this will not be
the work of God; unless, perhaps, as either clouds or serene weather, or
cold or heat, derive their origin from the opposition of the stars and
other natural causes. But this representation leaves no room for God to
display or exercise his paternal favour, or his judgments. If they say
that God is sufficiently beneficent to man, because he infuses into heaven
and earth an ordinary power, by which they supply him with food, it is a
very flimsy and profane notion; as though the fecundity of one year were
not the singular benediction of God, and as though penury and famine were
not his malediction and vengeance. But as it would be tedious to collect
all the reasons for rejecting this error, let us be content with the
authority of God himself. In the law and in the prophets he frequently
declares, that whenever he moistens the earth with dew or with rain, he
affords a testimony of his favour; and that, on the contrary, when, at his
command, heaven becomes hard as iron, when the crops of corn are blasted
and otherwise destroyed, and when showers of hail and storms molest the
fields, he gives a proof of his certain and special vengeance. If we
believe these things, it is certain that not a drop of rain falls but at
the express command of God. David indeed praises the general providence of
God, because “he giveth food to the young ravens which cry;”(425) but when
God himself threatens animals with famine, does he not plainly declare,
that he feeds all living creatures, sometimes with a smaller allowance,
sometimes with a larger, as he pleases? It is puerile, as I have already
observed, to restrain this to particular acts; whereas Christ says,
without any exception, that not a sparrow of the least value falls to the
ground without the will of the Father.(426) Certainly, if the flight of
birds be directed by the unerring counsel of God, we must be constrained
to confess with the Prophet, that, though “he dwelleth on high,” yet “he
humbleth himself to behold the things which are in heaven and in the
earth.”(427)
VI. But as we know that the world was made chiefly for the sake of
mankind, we must also observe this end in the government of it. The
Prophet Jeremiah exclaims, “I know that the way of man is not in himself:
it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”(428) And Solomon:
“Man’s goings are of the Lord: how can a man then understand his own
way?”(429) Now, let them say that man is actuated by God according to the
bias of his nature, but that he directs that influence according to his
own pleasure. If this could be asserted with truth, man would have the
free choice of his own ways. That, perhaps, they will deny, because he can
do nothing independently of the power of God. But since it is evident that
both the Prophet and Solomon ascribe to God choice and appointment, as
well as power, this by no means extricates them from the difficulty. But
Solomon, in another place, beautifully reproves this temerity of men, who
predetermine on an end for themselves, without regard to God, as though
they were not led by his hand: “The preparation of the heart in man,” says
he, “and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.”(430) It is, indeed,
a ridiculous madness for miserable men to resolve on undertaking any work
independently of God, whilst they cannot even speak a word but what he
chooses. Moreover, the Scripture, more fully to express that nothing is
transacted in the world but according to his destination, shows that those
things are subject to him which appear most fortuitous. For what would you
be more ready to attribute to chance, than when a limb broken off from a
tree kills a passing traveller? But very different is the decision of the
Lord, who acknowledges that he has delivered him into the hand of the
slayer.(431) Who, likewise, does not leave lots to the blindness of
fortune? Yet the Lord leaves them not, but claims the disposal of them
himself. He teaches us that it is not by any power of their own that lots
are cast into the lap(432) and drawn out; but the only thing which could
be ascribed to chance, he declares to belong to himself. To the same
purpose is another passage from Solomon: “The poor and the deceitful man
meet together: the Lord enlighteneth the eyes of them both.”(433) For
although the poor and the rich are blended together in the world, yet, as
their respective conditions are assigned to them by Divine appointment, he
suggests that God, who enlightens all, is not blind, and thus exhorts the
poor to patience; because those who are discontented with their lot, are
endeavouring to shake off the burden imposed on them by God. Thus also
another Prophet rebukes profane persons, who attribute it to human
industry, or to fortune, that some men remain in obscurity, and others
rise to honours: “Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the
west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge; he putteth down one, and
setteth up another.”(434) Since God cannot divest himself of the office of
a judge, hence he reasons, that it is from the secret counsel of God, that
some rise to promotion, and others remain in contempt.
VII. Moreover, particular events are in general proofs of the special
providence of God. God raised in the desert a south wind, to convey to the
people a large flock of birds.(435) When he would have Jonah thrown into
the sea, he sent forth a wind to raise a tempest.(436) It will be said by
them who suppose God not to hold the helm of the world, that this was a
deviation from the common course of things. But the conclusion which I
deduce from it is, that no wind ever rises or blows but by the special
command of God. For otherwise it would not be true that he makes the winds
his messengers, and a flame of fire his ministers, that he makes the
clouds his chariot, and rides on the wings of the wind,(437) unless he
directed at his pleasure the course both of the clouds and of the winds,
and displayed in them the singular presence of his power. Thus also we are
elsewhere taught, that, whenever the sea is blown into a tempest by the
winds, those commotions prove the special presence of God. “He commandeth
and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves” of the sea. “Then
he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still;”(438) as
in another place he proclaims, that he scourged the people with parching
winds.(439) Thus, whilst men are naturally endued with a power of
generation, yet God will have it acknowledged as the effect of his special
favour, that he leaves some without any posterity, and bestows children on
others; for “the fruit of the womb is his reward.”(440) Therefore Jacob
said to his wife, “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the
fruit of the womb?”(441) But to conclude; there is nothing more common in
nature, than for us to be nourished with bread. But the Spirit declares,
not only that the produce of the earth is the special gift of God, but
that men do not live by bread alone;(442) because they are supported not
by the abundance of their food, but by the secret benediction of God; as,
on the contrary, he threatens that he will break “the stay of bread.”(443)
Nor, indeed, could we otherwise seriously offer a prayer for daily bread,
if God did not supply us with food from his fatherly hand. The Prophet,
therefore, to convince the faithful that in feeding them God acts the part
of an excellent father of a family, informs us, that he “giveth food to
all flesh.”(444) Lastly, when we hear, on the one hand, that “the eyes of
the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry,”
and, on the other, that “the face of the Lord is against them that do
evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth,”(445) we may be
assured that all creatures, above and below, are ready for his service,
that he may apply them to any use that he pleases. Hence we conclude, not
only that there is a general providence of God over the creatures, to
continue the order of nature, but that, by his wonderful counsel, they are
all directed to some specific and proper end.
VIII. Those who wish to bring an odium on this doctrine, calumniate it as
the same with the opinion of the Stoics concerning fate, with which
Augustine also was formerly reproached. Though we are averse to all
contentions about words, yet we admit not the term _fate_; both because it
is of that novel and profane kind which Paul teaches us to avoid, and
because they endeavour to load the truth of God with the odium attached to
it. But that dogma is falsely and maliciously charged upon us. For we do
not, with the Stoics, imagine a necessity arising from a perpetual
concatenation and intricate series of causes, contained in nature; but we
make God the Arbiter and Governor of all things, who, in his own wisdom,
has, from the remotest eternity, decreed what he would do, and now, by his
own power, executes what he has decreed. Whence we assert, that not only
the heaven and the earth, and inanimate creatures, but also the
deliberations and volitions of men, are so governed by his providence, as
to be directed to the end appointed by it. What then? you will say; does
nothing happen fortuitously or contingently? I answer, that it was truly
observed by Basil the Great, that _fortune_ and _chance_ are words of the
heathen, with the signification of which the minds of the pious ought not
to be occupied. For if all success be the benediction of God, and calamity
and adversity his malediction, there is no room left in human affairs for
fortune or chance. And we should attend to this declaration of Augustine:
“I am not pleased with myself,” says he, “for having, in my treatises
against the Academics, so frequently mentioned _fortune_, although I have
not intended by that word any goddess, but a fortuitous occurrence of
external things, either good or evil. Hence also such words, the use of
which no religion prohibits, as _perhaps_, _perchance_, _peradventure_,
which, nevertheless, must be entirely referred to the Divine providence.
And on this I have not been silent, remarking that perhaps what is
commonly termed _fortune_ is regulated by a secret order, and that what we
call _chance_ is only that, with the reason and cause of which we are not
acquainted. Thus, indeed, I have expressed myself; but I repent of having
mentioned _fortune_ in this manner, since I see that men are habituated to
a very sinful custom: when they ought to say, ‘This was the will of God,’
they say, ‘This was the will of Fortune.’ ” Finally, he every where
maintains, that if any thing be left to fortune, the world revolves at
random. And though he elsewhere decides, that all things are conducted
partly by the free will of man, partly by the providence of God, yet he
just after shows that men are subject to it and governed by it, assuming
as a principle that nothing could be more absurd, than for any thing to
happen independently of the ordination of God; because it would happen at
random. By this reasoning he excludes also any contingence dependent on
the human will; and immediately after more expressly asserts that we ought
not to inquire for any cause of the will of God. But in what sense
_permission_ ought to be understood, whenever it is mentioned by him, will
appear from one passage; where he proves that the will of God is the
supreme and first cause of all things, because nothing happens but by his
command or permission. He certainly does not suppose God to remain an idle
spectator, determining to permit any thing; there is an intervention of
actual volition, if I may be allowed the expression, which otherwise could
never be considered as a cause.
IX. Yet, since the dulness of our minds is very much below the sublimity
of the Divine providence, let us endeavour to assist them by a
distinction. I say, then, that, notwithstanding the ordination of all
things by the certain purpose and direction of God, yet to us they are
fortuitous: not that we suppose fortune holds any dominion over the world
and mankind, and whirls about all things at random, for such folly ought
to be far from the breast of a Christian; but because the order, reason,
end, and necessity of events are chiefly concealed in the purpose of God,
and not comprehended by the mind of man, those things are in some measure
fortuitous, which must certainly happen according to the Divine will. For
they present no other appearance, whether they are considered in their own
nature, or are estimated according to our knowledge and judgment. Let us
suppose, for example, that a merchant, having entered a wood in the
company of honest men, imprudently wanders from his companions, and,
pursuing a wrong course, falls into the hands of robbers, and is murdered.
His death was not only foreseen by God, but also decreed by him. For it is
said, not that he has foreseen to what limits the life of every man would
extend, but that he “hath appointed bounds which he cannot pass.”(446)
Yet, as far as our minds are capable of comprehending, all these
circumstances appear fortuitous. What opinion shall a Christian form on
this case? He will consider all the circumstances of such a death as in
their nature fortuitous; yet he will not doubt that the providence of God
presided, and directed fortune to that end. The same reasoning will apply
to future contingencies. All future things being uncertain to us, we hold
them in suspense, as though they might happen either one way or another.
Yet this remains a fixed principle in our hearts, that there will be no
event which God has not ordained. In this sense the word _chance_ is
frequently repeated in the book of Ecclesiastes; because, on the first
view, men penetrate not to the first cause, which lies deeply concealed.
And yet the doctrine of the Scripture respecting the secret providence of
God, has never been so far obliterated from the hearts of men, but that
some sparks of it always shone in the darkness. Thus the Philistine
sorcerers, though they fluctuated in uncertainty, ascribed adverse
accidents partly to God, partly to fortune. “If the ark,” say they, “goeth
up by that way, we shall know that God hath done us this great evil; but
if not, it was a chance that happened to us.”(447) They betrayed great
folly, indeed, after having been deceived by divination, to have recourse
to fortune; yet at the same time, we see them restrained, so that they
cannot dare to suppose the affliction which had befallen them was
fortuitous. But how God, by the reins of his providence, directs all
events according to his own pleasure, will appear by an eminent example.
At the very same instant of time when David had been overtaken in the
wilderness of Maon, behold, the Philistines made an irruption into the
land, and Saul was compelled to depart. If God, consulting the safety of
his servant, laid this impediment in the way of Saul, then, surely, though
the Philistines might have taken up arms suddenly, and contrary to human
expectation, yet we will not say that this happened by chance; but what to
us seems a contingency, faith will acknowledge to have been a secret
impulse of God. It is not always, indeed, that there appears a similar
reason; but it should be considered as indubitably certain, that all the
revolutions visible in the world proceed from the secret exertion of the
Divine power. What God decrees, must necessarily come to pass; yet it is
not by absolute or natural necessity. We find a familiar example in
respect to the bones of Christ. Since he possessed a body like ours, no
reasonable man will deny that his bones were capable of being broken; yet
that they should be broken was impossible. Hence, again, we perceive that
the distinctions of relative and absolute necessity, as well as necessity
of consequent and of consequence, were not without reason invented in the
schools; since God made the bones of his Son capable of being broken,
which, however, he had exempted from being actually broken, and thus
prevented, by the necessity of his purpose, what might naturally have come
to pass.