Of Providence
I. God the great Creator of all things does uphold,a
direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,b from the
greatest even to the least,c by His most wise and holy providence,d
according to His infallible foreknowledge,e and the free and immutable counsel
of His own will,f to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice,
goodness, and mercy.g
a. Heb. 1:3.
b. Dan. 4:34-35; Ps. 135:6; Acts 17:25-26, 28; Job 38; 39; 40; 41.
c. Matt. 10:29-31.
d. Prov. 15:3; Ps. 104:24; 145:17.
e. Acts. 15:18; Ps. 94:8-11.
f. Eph. 1:11; Ps. 33:10-11.
g. Is. 63:14; Eph. 3:10; Rom. 9:17; Gen. 45:7; Ps.
145:7.
II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and
decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly;a
yet, by the same providence, He orders them to fall out, according to the nature of second
causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.b
a. Acts 2:23.
b. Gen 8:22; Jer. 31:35; Exod. 21:13; Deut. 19:5; I Ki.
22:28, 34; Is. 10:6-7.
III. God, in His ordinary providence, makes use of
means,a yet is free to work without,b above,c and against
them,d at His pleasure.
a. Acts 27:31, 44; Isa. 55:10-11. Hos. 2:21-22.
b. Hos. 1:7; Matt. 4:4; Job 34:10.
c. Rom 4:19-21.
d. II Ki. 6:6; Dan. 3:27.
IV. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and
infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extends
itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men;a and that
not by a bare permission,b but such as has joined with it a most wise and
powerful bounding,c and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a
manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends;d yet so, as the sinfulness thereof
proceeds only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous,
neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.e
a. Rom. 11:32-34; II Sam. 24:1; I Chron. 21:1; I Ki. 22:22-23; I Chron.
10:4, 13-14; II Sam. 16:10; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28.
b. Acts 14:16.
c. Ps. 76:10; II Ki. 19:28.
d. Gen. 50:20; Is. 10:6-7, 12.
e. James 1:13-14, 17; I John 2:16; Ps. 50:21.
V. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God does
oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the
corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover
unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they
may be humbled;a and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for
their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of
sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.b
a. II Chron. 32:25-26, 31; II Sam. 24:1.
b. II Cor. 12:7-9; Ps. 73; 77:1, 10, 12; Mark 14:66f.;
John 21:15-17.
VI. As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a
righteous Judge, for former sins, does blind and harden, from them He not only withholds
His grace whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought
upon in their hearts;a but sometimes also withdraws the gifts which they had,b
and exposes them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin;c
and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the
power of Satan,d whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even
under those means which God uses for the softening of others.e
a. Rom. 1:24, 26, 28; 11:7-8.
b. Deut. 29:4.
c. Matt. 13:12; 25:29.
d. Deut. 2:30; II Ki. 8:12-13.
e. Ps. 81:11-12; II Thess. 2:10-12, Exod. 7:3; 8:15, 32; II Cor.
2:15-16; Isa. 8:14; I Pet. 2:7-8; Isa. 6:9-10; Acts 28:26-27.
VII. As the providence of God does, in general, reach to
all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it takes care of His Church, and disposes
all things to the good thereof.a
a. I Tim. 4:10; Amos 9:8-9; Rom. 8:28; Isa. 43:3-5, 14.
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