To Us.
As the minds of men are prone to vain subtleties, there is the greatest
danger that those who know not the right use of this doctrine will
embarrass themselves with intricate perplexities. It will therefore be
necessary to touch in a brief manner on the end and design of the
Scripture doctrine of the Divine ordination of all things. And here let it
be remarked, in the first place, that the providence of God is to be
considered as well in regard to futurity, as in reference to that which is
past; secondly, that it governs all things in such a manner as to operate
sometimes by the intervention of means, sometimes without means, and
sometimes in opposition to all means; lastly, that it tends to show the
care of God for the whole human race, and especially his vigilance in the
government of the Church, which he favours with more particular attention.
It must also be observed, that, although the paternal favour and
beneficence of God, or the severity of his justice, is frequently
conspicuous in the whole course of his providence, yet sometimes the
causes of events are concealed, so that a suspicion intrudes itself, that
the revolutions of human affairs are conducted by the blind impetuosity of
fortune; or the flesh solicits us to murmur, as though God amused himself
with tossing men about like tennis‐balls. It is true, indeed, if we were
ready to learn with quiet and sober minds, that the final issue
sufficiently proves the counsels of God to be directed by the best of
reasons; that he designs either to teach his people the exercise of
patience, or to correct their corrupt affections and subdue the
licentiousness of their appetites, or to constrain them to the practice of
self‐denial, or to arouse them from their indolence; and, on the other
hand, to abase the proud, to disappoint the cunning of the wicked, and to
confound their machinations. Yet, however the causes may be concealed from
us, or escape our observation, we must admit it as a certain truth, that
they are hidden with him; and must therefore exclaim with David, “Many, O
Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy
thoughts which are to us‐ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be
numbered.”(448) For, though our miseries ought always to remind us of our
sins, that the punishment itself may urge us to repentance, yet we see
that Christ ascribes more sovereignty to the secret purpose of the Father
in afflicting men, than to require him to punish every individual
according to his demerits. For concerning him who was born blind, he says,
“Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God
should be made manifest in him.”(449) For here sense murmurs, when
calamity precedes the very birth, as though it were a detraction from the
Divine clemency thus to afflict the innocent. But Christ declares that the
glory of his Father is manifested in this instance, provided our eyes are
clear to behold it. But we must proceed with modesty, cautious that we
call not God to an account at our tribunal; but that we entertain such
reverence for his secret judgments, as to esteem his will the most
righteous cause of every thing that he does. When thick clouds obscure the
heavens, and a violent tempest arises, because a gloomy mist is before our
eyes, and thunder strikes our ears, and terror stupefies all our
faculties, all things seem to us to be blended in confusion; yet during
the whole time the heavens remain in the same quiet serenity. So it must
be concluded, that while the turbulent state of the world deprives us of
our judgment, God, by the pure light of his own righteousness and wisdom,
regulates all those commotions in the most exact order, and directs them
to their proper end. And certainly the madness of many in this respect is
monstrous, who dare to arraign the works of God, to scrutinize his secret
counsels, and even to pass a precipitate sentence on things unknown, with
greater freedom than on the actions of mortal men. For what is more
preposterous than towards our equals to observe such modesty, as rather to
suspend our judgment than to incur the imputation of temerity, but
impudently to insult the mysterious judgments of God, which we ought to
hold in admiration and reverence?
II. None, therefore, will attain just and profitable views of the
providence of God, but he who considers that he has to do with his Maker
and the Creator of the world, and submits himself to fear and reverence
with all becoming humility. Hence it happens that so many worthless
characters in the present day virulently oppose this doctrine, because
they will admit nothing to be lawful for God, but what agrees with the
dictates of their own reason. They revile us with the utmost possible
impudence, because, not content with the precepts of the law, which
comprehend the will of God, we say that the world is governed also by his
secret counsels; as though, indeed, what we assert were only an invention
of our own brain, and the Holy Spirit did not every where plainly announce
the same, and repeat it in innumerable forms of expression. But as they
are restrained by some degree of shame from daring to discharge their
blasphemies against heaven, in order to indulge their extravagance with
greater freedom, they pretend that they are contending with us. But unless
they admit, that whatever comes to pass in the world is governed by the
incomprehensible counsel of God, let them answer, to what purpose is it
said in the Scripture that his “judgments are a great deep”?(450) For
since Moses proclaims, that the will of God is not to be sought far off,
in the clouds or in the deep,(451) because it is familiarly explained in
the law, it follows that there is another secret will, which is compared
to a profound abyss; concerning which Paul also says, “O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?”(452) It is true, that the law
and the Gospel contain mysteries which far transcend our capacities; but
since God illuminates the minds of his people with the spirit of
understanding, to apprehend these mysteries which he has condescended to
reveal in his word, there we have now no abyss, but a way in which we may
safely walk, and a lamp for the direction of our feet, the light of life,
and the school of certain and evident truth. But his admirable method of
governing the world is justly called a “great deep,” because, while it is
concealed from our view, it ought to be the object of our profound
adoration. Moses has beautifully expressed both in a few words. “The
secret things,” says he, “belong unto the Lord our God; but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children.”(453) We see how he
enjoins us, not only to devote our attention to meditations on the law of
God, but to look up with reverence to his mysterious providence. This
sublime doctrine is declared in the book of Job, for the purpose of
humbling our minds. For the author concludes a general view of the machine
of the world, and a magnificent dissertation on the works of God, in these
words: “Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard
of him!”(454) For which reason, in another place he distinguishes between
the wisdom which resides in God, and the method of attaining wisdom which
he has prescribed to men. For, after discoursing concerning the secrets of
nature, he says, that wisdom is known only to God, and “is hid from the
eyes of all living.” But a little after he subjoins, that it is published
in order to be investigated, because it is said to men, “Behold the fear
of the Lord, that is wisdom.”(455) To the same purpose is this observation
of Augustine: “Because we know not all that God does concerning us by an
excellent order we act according to the law in a good will only, but in
other respects are actuated according to it; because his providence is an
immutable law.” Therefore, since God claims a power unknown to us of
governing the world, let this be to us the law of sobriety and modesty, to
acquiesce in his supreme dominion, to account his will the only rule of
righteousness, and most righteous cause of all things. Not, indeed, that
absolute will which is the subject of the declamation of sophists,
impiously and profanely separating his justice from his power, but that
providence which governs all things, from which originates nothing but
what is right, although the reasons of it may be concealed from us.
III. Those who have learned this modesty, will neither murmur against God
on account of past adversities, nor charge him with the guilt of their
crimes, like Agamemnon, in Homer, who says, “The blame belongs not to me,
but to Jupiter and Fate.” Nor will they, as if hurried away by the Fates,
under the influence of despair, put an end to their own lives, like the
young man whom Plautus introduces as saying, “The condition of our affairs
is inconstant; men are governed by the caprice of the Fates; I will betake
myself to a precipice, and there destroy my life and every thing at once.”
Nor will they excuse their flagitious actions by ascribing them to God,
after the example of another young man introduced by the same poet, who
says, “God was the cause: I believe it was the Divine will. For had it not
been so, I know it would not have happened.” But they will rather search
the Scripture, to learn what is pleasing to God, that by the guidance of
the Spirit they may strive to attain it; and at the same time, being
prepared to follow God whithersoever he calls them, they will exhibit
proofs in their conduct that nothing is more useful than a knowledge of
this doctrine. Some profane men foolishly raise such a tumult with their
absurdities, as almost, according to a common expression, to confound
heaven and earth together. They argue in this manner: If God has fixed the
moment of our death, we cannot avoid it; therefore all caution against it
will be but lost labour. One man dares not venture himself in a way which
he hears is dangerous, lest he should be assassinated by robbers; another
sends for physicians, and wearies himself with medicines, to preserve his
life; another abstains from the grosser kinds of food, lest he should
injure his valetudinary constitution; another dreads to inhabit a ruinous
house; and men in general exert all their faculties in devising and
executing methods by which they may attain the object of their desires.
Now, either all these things are vain remedies employed to correct the
will of God, or life and death, health and disease, peace and war, and
other things which, according to their desires or aversions, men
industriously study to obtain or to avoid, are not determined by his
certain decree. Moreover they conclude, that the prayers of the faithful
are not only superfluous, but perverse, which contain petitions that the
Lord will provide for those things which he has already decreed from
eternity. In short, they supersede all deliberations respecting futurity,
as opposed to the providence of God, who, without consulting men, has
decreed whatever he pleased. And what has already happened they impute to
the Divine providence in such a manner as to overlook the person, who is
known to have committed any particular act. Has an assassin murdered a
worthy citizen? they say he has executed the counsel of God. Has any one
been guilty of theft or fornication? because he has done what was foreseen
and ordained by the Lord, he is the minister of his providence. Has a son,
neglecting all remedies, carelessly waited the death of his father? it was
impossible for him to resist God, who had decreed this event from
eternity. Thus by these persons all crimes are denominated virtues,
because they are subservient to the ordination of God.
IV. But in reference to future things, Solomon easily reconciles the
deliberations of men with the providence of God. For as he ridicules the
folly of those who presumptuously undertake any thing without the Lord, as
though they were not subject to his government, so in another place he
says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his
steps;”(456) signifying that the eternal decrees of God form no impediment
to our providing for ourselves, and disposing all our concerns in
subservience to his will. The reason of this is manifest. For he who has
fixed the limits of our life, has also intrusted us with the care of it;
has furnished us with means and supplies for its preservation; has also
made us provident of dangers; and, that they may not oppress us unawares,
has furnished us with cautions and remedies. Now, it is evident what is
our duty. If God has committed to us the preservation of our life, we
should preserve it; if he offers supplies, we should use them; if he
forewarns us of dangers, we should not rashly run into them; if he
furnishes remedies, we ought not to neglect them. But it will be objected,
no danger can hurt, unless it has been ordained that it shall hurt us, and
then no remedies can avert it. But what if dangers are therefore not
fatal, because God has assigned you remedies to repulse and overcome them?
Examine whether your reasoning agrees with the order of the Divine
providence. You conclude that it is unnecessary to guard against danger,
because, if it be not fatal, we shall escape it without caution; but, on
the contrary, the Lord enjoins you to use caution, because he intends it
not to be fatal to you. These madmen overlook what is obvious to every
observer—that the arts of deliberation and caution in men proceed from the
inspiration of God, and that they subserve the designs of his providence
in the preservation of their own lives; as, on the contrary, by neglect
and slothfulness, they procure to themselves the evils which he has
appointed for them. For how does it happen, that a prudent man, consulting
his own welfare, averts from himself impending evils, and a fool is ruined
by his inconsiderate temerity, unless folly and prudence are in both cases
instruments of the Divine dispensation? Therefore it has pleased God to
conceal from us all future events, that we may meet them as doubtful
contingencies, and not cease to oppose to them the remedies with which we
are provided, till they shall have been surmounted, or shall have overcome
all our diligence. Therefore I have before suggested, that the providence
of God ought not always to be contemplated abstractedly by itself, but in
connection with the means which he employs.
V. The same persons inconsiderately and erroneously ascribe all past
events to the absolute providence of God. For since all things which come
to pass are dependent upon it, therefore, say they, neither thefts, nor
adulteries, nor homicides, are perpetrated without the intervention of the
Divine will. Why, therefore, they ask, shall a thief be punished for
having pillaged him whom it has pleased the Lord to chastise with poverty?
Why shall a homicide be punished for having slain him whose life the Lord
had terminated? If all such characters are subservient to the Divine will,
why shall they be punished? But I deny that they serve the will of God.
For we cannot say, that he who is influenced by a wicked heart, acts in
obedience to the commands of God, while he is only gratifying his own
malignant passions. That man obeys God, who, being instructed in his will,
hastens whither God calls him. Where can we learn his will, but in his
word? Therefore in our actions we ought to regard the will of God, which
is declared in his word. God only requires of us conformity to his
precepts. If we do any thing contrary to them, it is not obedience, but
contumacy and transgression. But it is said, if he would not permit it, we
should not do it. This I grant. But do we perform evil actions with the
design of pleasing him? He gives us no such command. We precipitate
ourselves into them, not considering what is his will, but inflamed with
the violence of our passions, so that we deliberately strive to oppose
him. In this manner even by criminal actions we subserve his righteous
ordination; because, in the infinite greatness of his wisdom, he well
knows how to use evil instruments for the accomplishment of good purposes.
Now, observe the absurdity of their reasoning: they wish the authors of
crimes to escape with impunity, because crimes are not perpetrated but by
the ordination of God. I admit more than this; even that thieves, and
homicides, and other malefactors, are instruments of Divine providence,
whom the Lord uses for the execution of the judgments which he has
appointed. But I deny that this ought to afford any excuse for their
crimes. For will they either implicate God in the same iniquity with
themselves, or cover their depravity with his righteousness? They can do
neither. They are prevented from exculpating themselves, by the reproofs
of their own consciences; and they can lay no blame upon God, for they
find in themselves nothing but evil, and in him only a legitimate use of
their wickedness. But it is alleged that he operates by their means. And
whence, I ask, proceeds the fetid smell of a carcass, which has been
putrefied and disclosed by the heat of the sun? It is visible to all that
it is excited by the solar rays; yet no person on this account attributes
to those rays an offensive smell. So, when the matter and guilt of evil
resides in a bad man, why should God be supposed to contract any
defilement, if he uses his service according to his own pleasure? Let us
dismiss this petulance, therefore, which may rail against the justice of
God from a distance, but can never reach that Divine attribute.
VI. But these cavils, or rather extravagancies of frenzy, will easily be
dispelled by the pious and holy contemplation of providence, which the
rule of piety dictates to us, so that we may derive from it the greatest
pleasure and advantage. The mind of a Christian, therefore, when it is
certainly persuaded that all things happen by the ordination of God, and
that there is nothing fortuitously contingent, will always direct its
views to him as the supreme cause of all things, and will also consider
inferior causes in their proper order. He will not doubt that the
particular providence of God is watchful for his preservation, never
permitting any event which it will not overrule for his advantage and
safety. But, since he is concerned in the first place with men, and in the
next place with the other creatures, he will assure himself, as to both,
that the providence of God reigns over all. With respect to men, whether
good or evil, he will acknowledge that their deliberations, wills,
endeavours, and powers, are under his control, so that it is at his option
to direct them whithersoever he pleases, and to restrain them as often as
he pleases. The vigilance of the particular providence of God for the
safety of the faithful is attested by numerous and very remarkable
promises: “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.(457) He that dwelleth in the
secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty.(458) He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. We
have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and
bulwarks.(459) Though a woman forget her sucking child, yet will I not
forget thee.”(460) Moreover, this is the principal scope of the Biblical
histories, to teach us that the Lord so sedulously defends the ways of the
saints, that they may not even “dash their foot against a stone.”(461)
Therefore, as we have a little before justly exploded the opinion of those
who hold a universal providence of God, which descends not to the care of
every creature in particular, so it is principally necessary and useful to
contemplate this special care towards ourselves. For this reason, Christ,
after having asserted that not the meanest sparrow falls to the ground
without the will of the Father,(462) immediately makes the following
application—that the more we exceed the value of sparrows, the greater
care we should consider God as exercising over us; and he carries this to
such an extent, that we may be confident that the hairs of our head are
numbered. What more can we desire for ourselves, if not a single hair can
fall from our head, but according to his will? I speak not exclusively of
the human race; but since God has chosen the Church for his habitation,
there is no doubt but he particularly displays his paternal care in the
government of it.
VII. The servant of God, encouraged by these promises and examples, will
add the testimonies, which inform us that all men are subject to his
power, either to conciliate their minds in our favour, or to restrain
their malice from being injurious. For it is the Lord who gives us favour,
not only with our friends, but also in the eyes of the Egyptians;(463) and
he knows how to subdue, by various methods, the fury of our enemies.
Sometimes he deprives them of understanding, so that they can form no
sober or prudent plans; as he sent Satan to fill the mouths of all the
prophets with falsehood, in order to deceive Ahab:(464) he infatuated
Rehoboam by the counsel of the young men, that through his own folly he
might be spoiled of his kingdom.(465) Sometimes, when he grants them
understanding, he so terrifies and dispirits them, that they can neither
determine nor undertake what they have conceived. Sometimes, also, when he
has permitted them to attempt what their rage and passion prompted, he
opportunely breaks their impetuosity, not suffering them to proceed to the
accomplishment of their designs. Thus he prematurely defeated the counsel
of Ahithophel, which would have been fatal to David.(466) Thus, also, he
takes care to govern all creatures for the benefit and safety of his
people, even the devil himself, who, we see, dared not to attempt any
thing against Job, without his permission and command.(467) The necessary
consequences of this knowledge are, gratitude in prosperity, patience in
adversity, and a wonderful security respecting the future. Every
prosperous and pleasing event, therefore, the pious man will ascribe
entirely to God, whether his beneficence be received through the ministry
of men, or by the assistance of inanimate creatures. For this will be the
reflection of his mind: “It is certainly the Lord that has inclined their
hearts to favour me, that has united them to me to be the instruments of
his benignity towards me.” In an abundance of the fruits of the earth, he
will consider, that it is the Lord who regards the heaven, that the heaven
may regard the earth, that the earth, also, may regard its own
productions: in other things he will not doubt that it is the Divine
benediction alone which is the cause of all prosperity; nor will he bear
to be ungrateful after so many admonitions.
VIII. If any adversity befall him, in this case, also, he will immediately
lift up his heart to God, whose hand is most capable of impressing us with
patience and placid moderation of mind. If Joseph had dwelt on a review of
the perfidy of his brethren, he never could have recovered his fraternal
affection for them. But as he turned his mind to the Lord, he forgot their
injuries, and was so inclined to mildness and clemency, as even
voluntarily to administer consolation to them, saying, “It was not you
that sent me hither, but God did send me before you to save your lives. Ye
thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.”(468) If Job had
regarded the Chaldeans, by whom he was molested, he had been inflamed to
revenge; but recognizing the event at the same time as the work of the
Lord, he consoled himself with this very beautiful observation: “The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”(469)
Thus David, when assailed by Shimei with reproachful language and with
stones, if he had confined his views to man, would have animated his
soldiers to retaliate the injury; but understanding that it was not done
without the instigation of the Lord, he rather appeases them: “Let him
curse,” says he, “because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.”(470)
In another place he imposes the same restraint on the intemperance of his
grief: “I was dumb,” says he, “I opened not my mouth; because thou didst
it.”(471) If there be no more efficacious remedy for anger and impatience,
surely that man has made no small proficiency, who has learned in this
case to meditate on the Divine providence, that he may be able at all
times to recall his mind to this consideration: “It is the will of the
Lord, therefore it must be endured; not only because resistance is
unlawful and vain, but because he wills nothing but what is both just and
expedient.” The conclusion of the whole is this—that, when we suffer
injuries from men, forgetting their malice, which would only exasperate
our grief and instigate our minds to revenge, we should remember to ascend
to God, and learn to account it a certain truth, that whatever our enemies
have criminally committed against us, has been permitted and directed by
his righteous dispensation. To restrain us from retaliating injuries, Paul
prudently admonishes us that our contention is not with flesh and blood,
but with a spiritual enemy, the devil,(472) in order that we may prepare
ourselves for the contest. But this admonition is the most useful in
appeasing all the sallies of resentment, that God arms for the conflict
both the devil and all wicked men, and sits himself as the arbiter of the
combat, to exercise our patience. But if the calamities and miseries which
oppress us happen without the interposition of men, let us recollect the
doctrine of the law, that every prosperous event proceeds from the
benediction of God, but that all adverse ones are his maledictions;(473)
and let us tremble at that awful denunciation, “If ye will walk contrary
unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you;”(474) language which
reproves our stupidity, while, according to the common apprehensions of
the flesh, esteeming every event, both prosperous and adverse, to be
fortuitous, we are neither animated to the worship of God by his benefits,
nor stimulated to repentance by his corrections. This is the reason of the
sharp expostulations of Jeremiah and of Amos,(475) because the Jews
supposed that both good and evil events came to pass without any
appointment of God. To the same purpose is this passage of Isaiah: “I form
the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord
do all these things.”(476)
IX. Yet at the same time a pious man will not overlook inferior causes.
Nor, because he accounts those from whom he has received any benefit, the
ministers of the Divine goodness, will he therefore pass them by
unnoticed, as though they deserved no thanks for their kindness; but will
feel, and readily acknowledge, his obligation to them, and study to return
it as ability and opportunity may permit. Finally, he will reverence and
praise God as the principal Author of benefits received, but will honour
men as his ministers; and will understand, what, indeed, is the fact, that
the will of God has laid him under obligations to those persons by whose
means the Lord has been pleased to communicate his benefits. If he suffer
any loss either through negligence or through imprudence, he will conclude
that it happened according to the Divine will, but will also impute the
blame of it to himself. If any one be removed by disease, whom, while it
was his duty to take care of him, he has treated with neglect,—though he
cannot be ignorant that that person had reached those limits which it was
impossible for him to pass, yet he will not make this a plea to extenuate
his guilt; but, because he has not faithfully performed his duty towards
him, will consider him as having perished through his criminal negligence.
Much less, when fraud and preconceived malice appear in the perpetration
either of murder or of theft, will he excuse those enormities under the
pretext of the Divine providence: in the same crime he will distinctly
contemplate the righteousness of God and the iniquity of man, as they
respectively discover themselves. But it is principally in regard to
things future that he will direct his attention to inferior causes of this
kind. For he will rank it among the blessings of the Lord, not to be
destitute of human aids which he may use for his own safety; he will
neither be remiss, therefore, in taking the advice, nor negligent in
imploring the help, of those whom he perceives to be capable of affording
him assistance; but, considering all the creatures, that can in any
respect be serviceable to him, as so many gifts from the Lord, he will use
them as the legitimate instruments of the Divine providence. And as he is
uncertain respecting the issue of his undertakings, except that he knows
that the Lord will in all things provide for his good, he studiously aims
at what, according to the best judgment he can form, will be for his
advantage. Nor, in conducting his deliberations, will he be carried away
by his own opinion, but will recommend and resign himself to the wisdom of
God, that he may be directed by its guidance to the right end. But he will
not place his confidence in external helps to such a degree as, if
possessed of them, securely to rely on them, or, if destitute of them, to
tremble with despair. For his mind will always be fixed solely on the
Divine providence, nor will he suffer himself to be seduced from a steady
contemplation of it, by any consideration of present things. Thus Joab,
though he acknowledges the event of battle to depend on the will and the
power of God, yet surrenders not himself to inactivity, but sedulously
executes all the duties of his office, and leaves the event to the Divine
decision. “Let us play the men,” says he, “for our people, and for the
cities of our God; and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.”(477) This
knowledge will divest us of temerity and false confidence, and excite us
to continual invocations of God; it will also support our minds with a
good hope, that without hesitation we may securely and magnanimously
despise all the dangers which surround us.
X. Herein is discovered the inestimable felicity of the pious mind. Human
life is beset by innumerable evils, and threatened with a thousand deaths.
Not to go beyond ourselves,—since our body is the receptacle of a thousand
diseases, and even contains and fosters the causes of diseases, a man must
unavoidably carry about with him destruction in unnumbered forms, and
protract a life which is, as it were, involved in death. For what else can
you say of it, when neither cold nor heat in any considerable degree can
be endured without danger? Now, whithersoever you turn, all the objects
around you are not only unworthy of your confidence, but almost openly
menace you, and seem to threaten immediate death. Embark in a ship; there
is but a single step between you and death. Mount a horse; the slipping of
one foot endangers your life. Walk through the streets of a city; you are
liable to as many dangers as there are tiles on the roofs. If there be a
sharp weapon in your hand, or that of your friend, the mischief is
manifest. All the ferocious animals you see are armed for your
destruction. If you endeavour to shut yourself in a garden surrounded with
a good fence, and exhibiting nothing but what is delightful, even there
sometimes lurks a serpent. Your house, perpetually liable to fire, menaces
you by day with poverty, and by night with falling on your head. Your
land, exposed to hail, frost, drought, and various tempests, threatens you
with sterility, and with its attendant, famine. I omit poison, treachery,
robbery, and open violence, which partly beset us at home, and partly
pursue us abroad. Amidst these difficulties, must not man be most
miserable, who is half dead while he lives, and is dispirited and alarmed
as though he had a sword perpetually applied to his neck? You will say
that these things happen seldom, or certainly not always, nor to every
man, but never all at once. I grant it; but as we are admonished by the
examples of others, that it is possible for them to happen also to us, and
that we have no more claim to exemption from them than others, we must
unavoidably dread them as events that we may expect. What can you imagine
more calamitous than such a dread? Besides, it is an insult to God to say
that he has exposed man, the noblest of his creatures, to the blindness
and temerity of fortune. But here I intend to speak only of the misery
which man must feel, if he be subject to the dominion of fortune.
XI. On the contrary, when this light of Divine providence has once shined
on a pious man, he is relieved and delivered not only from the extreme
anxiety and dread with which he was previously oppressed, but also from
all care. For, as he justly dreads fortune, so he ventures securely to
commit himself to God. This, I say, is his consolation, to apprehend that
his heavenly Father restrains all things by his power, governs all things
by his will, and regulates all things by his wisdom, in such a manner,
that nothing can happen but by his appointment; moreover, that God has
taken him under his protection, and committed him to the care of angels,
so that he can sustain no injury from water, or fire, or sword, any
further than the Divine Governor may be pleased to permit. For thus sings
the Psalmist: “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and
buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the
arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness;
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”(478) Hence also proceeds
that confidence of glorying in the saints: “The Lord is on my side; I will
not fear what man can do unto me. The Lord is the strength of my life; of
whom shall I be afraid? Though a host should encamp against me—though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”(479)
How is it that their security remains unshaken, while the world appears to
be revolving at random, but because they know that the Lord is universally
operative, and confide in his operations as beneficial to them? Now, when
their safety is attacked, either by the devil or by wicked men, if they
were not supported by the recollection and contemplation of providence,
they must necessarily and immediately faint. But when they recollect, that
the devil and the whole army of the wicked are in every respect so
restrained by the Divine power, that they can neither conceive of any
hostility against us, nor, after having conceived it, form a plan for its
accomplishment, nor even move a finger towards the execution of such plan,
any further than he has permitted, and even commanded them; and that they
are not only bound by his chains, but also compelled to do him
service,—they have an abundant source of consolation. For as it belongs to
the Lord to arm their fury, and to direct it to whatever objects he
pleases, so it also belongs to him to fix its limits, that they may not
enjoy an unbounded triumph according to their own wills. Established in
this persuasion, Paul determined his journey in one place by the
permission of God, which in another he had declared was prevented by
Satan.(480) If he had only said that Satan was the obstacle, he would have
appeared to attribute too much power to him, as though he were able to
subvert the purposes of God; but when he states God to be the arbiter, on
whose permission all journeys depend, he at the same time shows, that
Satan, with all his machinations, can effect nothing but by his
permission. For the same reason, David, on account of the various and
constant vicissitudes of life, betakes himself to this asylum: “My times
are in thy hand.”(481) He might have mentioned either the course of life,
or _time_, in the singular number; but by the word _times_ he intended to
express, that, however unstable the condition of men may be, all the
vicissitudes which take place are under the government of God. For which
reason Rezin and the king of Israel, when, after the junction of their
forces for the destruction of Judah, they resembled firebrands kindled to
consume and ruin the land, are called by the Prophet “smoking
firebrands,”(482) which can do nothing but emit a little smoke. Thus
Pharaoh, when his riches, his strength, and the multitude of his forces,
rendered him formidable to all, is himself compared to a sea‐monster, and
his forces to fishes.(483) Therefore God denounces that he will take both
the captain and his army with his hook, and draw them whither he pleases.
Finally, to dwell no longer on this part of the subject, you will easily
perceive, on examination, that ignorance of providence is the greatest of
miseries, but that the knowledge of it is attended with the highest
felicity.
XII. On the doctrine of Divine providence, as far as it may conduce to the
solid instruction and consolation of the faithful, (for to satisfy a vain
curiosity is neither possible nor desirable,) enough would now have been
said, were it not for a difficulty arising from a few passages, which
apparently imply, in opposition to what has been stated, that the counsel
of God is not firm and stable, but liable to change according to the
situation of sublunary affairs. In the first place, there are several
instances in which repentance is attributed to God; as, that he repented
of having created man,(484) and of having exalted Saul to the
kingdom;(485) and that he will repent of the evil which he had determined
to inflict on his people, as soon as he shall have perceived their
conversion.(486) In the next place, we read of the abrogation of some of
his decrees. By Jonah he declared to the Ninevites,(487) that, after the
lapse of forty days, Nineveh should be destroyed; but their penitence
afterwards obtained from him a more merciful sentence. By the mouth of
Isaiah he denounced death to Hezekiah;(488) which the prayers and tears of
that monarch moved him to defer.(489) Hence many persons argue, that God
has not fixed the affairs of men by an eternal decree; but that every
year, day, and hour, he decrees one thing or another, according to the
respective merits of each individual, or to his own ideas of equity and
justice. With regard to repentance, we must not admit that it can happen
to God, any more than ignorance, or error, or impotence. For if no man
knowingly and willingly lays himself under the necessity of repentance, we
cannot attribute repentance to God, without saying either that he is
ignorant of the future, or that he cannot avoid it, or that he
precipitately and inconsiderately adopts a resolution, of which he
immediately repents. But that is so far from the meaning of the Holy
Spirit, that in the very mention of repentance, he denies that it can
belong to God, because “he is not a man, that he should repent.”(490) And
it must be remarked, that both these points are so connected in the same
chapter, that a comparison fully reconciles the apparent inconsistency.
Where it is said that God repented of having created Saul king, the change
declared to have taken place is figurative. It is almost immediately
added, that “The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not
a man, that he should repent;”(491) in which, without any figure, his
immutability is plainly asserted. It is certain, therefore, that the
ordination of God in the administration of human affairs, is perpetual,
and superior to all repentance. And to place his constancy beyond all
doubt, even his adversaries have been constrained to attest it. For
Balaam, notwithstanding his reluctance, was obliged to break out into the
following exclamation: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the
son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it?
or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”(492)
XIII. How, then, it will be inquired, is the term _repentance_ to be
understood, when attributed to God? I reply, in the same manner as all the
other forms of expression, which describe God to us after the manner of
men. For, since our infirmity cannot reach his sublimity, the description
of him which is given to us, in order that we may understand it, must be
lowered to the level of our capacity. His method of lowering it, is to
represent himself to us, not as he is in himself, but according to our
perception of him. Though he is free from all perturbation of mind, he
declares that he is angry with sinners.(493) As, therefore, when we hear
that God is angry, we ought not to imagine any commotion in him, but
rather to consider this expression as borrowed from our perception,
because God carries the appearance of one who is very angry, whenever he
executes judgment,—so neither by the term _repentance_ ought we to
understand any thing but a change of actions; because men are accustomed
to express their dissatisfaction with themselves by changing their
actions. Since every change among men, therefore, is a correction of that
which displeases them, and correction proceeds from repentance, therefore
the term _repentance_ is used to signify that God makes a change in his
works. Yet, at the same time, there is no alteration in his counsel or his
will, nor any change in his affections; but how sudden soever the
variation may appear to the eyes of men, he perpetually and regularly
prosecutes what he has foreseen, approved, and decreed from eternity.
XIV. Nor does the Sacred History, when it records the remission of the
destruction which had just been denounced against the Ninevites, and the
prolongation of the life of Hezekiah after he had been threatened with
death, prove that there was any abrogation of the Divine decrees. Persons
who thus understand it, are deceived in their ideas of the threatenings;
which, though expressed in the form of simple declarations, yet, as the
event shows, contain in them a tacit condition. For why did God send Jonah
to the Ninevites, to predict the ruin of their city? Why did he, by the
mouth of Isaiah, warn Hezekiah of death? He could have destroyed both them
and him, without previously announcing their end. He had some other object
in view, therefore, than to forewarn them of their death, and to give them
a distant prospect of its approach. And that was not to destroy them, but
to reform them, that they might not be destroyed. Therefore the prediction
of Jonah, that after forty days Nineveh should fall, was uttered to
prevent its fall. Hezekiah was deprived of the hope of a longer life, in
order that he might obtain a prolongation of it in answer to his prayers.
Now, who does not see, that the Lord, by such denunciations as these,
intended to arouse to repentance the persons whom he thus alarmed, that
they might escape the judgment which their sins had deserved? If this be
admitted, the nature of the circumstances leads to the conclusion, that we
must understand a tacit condition implied in the simple denunciation. This
is also confirmed by similar examples. The Lord, reprehending king
Abimelech for having deprived Abraham of his wife, uses these
words:—“Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast
taken; for she is a man’s wife.” But after Abimelech has excused himself,
the Lord speaks in this manner: “Restore the man his wife; for he is a
prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou
restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that
are thine.”(494) You see how, by the first declaration, God terrifies his
mind, to dispose him to make satisfaction; but in the next, he makes an
explicit declaration of his will. Since other passages are to be explained
in a similar manner, you must not infer that there is any abrogation of a
prior purpose of the Lord, because he may have annulled some former
declarations. For God rather prepares the way for his eternal ordination,
when, by a denunciation of punishment, he calls to repentance those whom
he designs to spare, than makes any variation in his will, or even in his
declarations, except that he does not syllabically express what,
nevertheless, is easily understood. For that assertion of Isaiah must
remain true: “The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?
and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?”(495)