Come to the Book of Ephesians, chapter 1, and verse 22. But we will read verses 20 through 23. Which power God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places? above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." In these verses we have a statement of the royal, regal office of the Lord Jesus Christ as King, and especially of His kingly office in poverty, because we are told that Christ is set far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come. By the providence of God, we merely mean the wise ordering or governing of all events which God's decree has ordained to come to pass. Providence and the decrees of God are not the same. The decree of God is that which plans or ordains, that which is to transpire. But the providence of God is the wise governing of that which has been decreed as it comes to pass in the lives and experiences of the creatures of the world. That there is a divine providence cannot be denied, for it is not only declared in God's Word, but even among pagan religions. there is a recognition of a force lying behind the events and affairs of men bringing to pass the circumstances they find themselves enveloped with. You and I who have been born of God's Spirit are enabled by divine grace to see that this power or force which is behind every event, is none other than God to Himself, bringing to pass all things according to His will, for His own glory and for the good or benefit of the redeemed. And the more you think upon the subject of providence, the more you are enabled to interpret every event of your life. as the perfect working of God's power in your behalf. I have been made to think afresh of the providence of God in reference to this church and to you, His people. Now I have been made to marvel to see even the protection of God in His divine providential with our own land and especially this area of our city. I think an illustration of this can be seen in the remembrance of the tornado which passed through our settlement almost at this time of the year in 1956. Though there were twenty-two persons left dead by this sudden movement of Godliness, nevertheless there was a strange preservation of this congregation of people. And this congregation of people were engaged in certain activities at the time of this event that even makes the providence of God more strange. Such as we have a family who is a member of this Church whose home lay in the path of the tornado at its very beginning. Though houses were terribly destroyed on each side of them, their house bore the marks of hardly any damage whatsoever. At the exact moment that that stirred wind passed Because at that time we did not have the accommodations of a baptistry, I was stepping into the waters of the baptistry of the Wyland Baptist Church, where we had some eight or nine persons to be baptized. And all these persons who were baptized at that particular time did not all proved to be faithful to the divine command of our Lord, and to walk walk in obedience to Christ nevertheless. Their being subjects of baptism that day was used in the providence of God to spare the lives of some persons who otherwise would have been killed if they had not been present at that time. For as I was baptizing, there were visitors in the congregation who, when they returned home, could not find one stick of lumber left that used to make up their dress. And later said to me that if it had not been that we had planned our baptism on that particular Sunday afternoon, and at that particular time that they would have been seated at home, after a full meal and would have been swept away, so only God knows where. Are those things accidental? They're stranger than fiction, of course. But it's stranger than fiction only because God Himself is involved and is working all things according to the counsel of His own will. Two years later, another tornado passed our way, and in each case, God has seen fit to preserve this particular community and this particular church from the sad events. Not that we are any more deserving. but that in His divine providence He has been sent to surround a people who are the oaks towering to this earth because of what they believe, and grant unto them divine protection from all sorts of evil. You cannot convince me otherwise. Not otherwise. I believe that it's the sprinkling of salt that gathers in this place to give honor to the divine kingship and lordship of our Redeemer, and preaches salvation here to the Lord, that has given a prosperity and protection to the people who assemble here. On my recent visits to the North, In almost every case I've had a flight cancel, almost as I made preparation to step aboard the plane, without ever any excuse until once in Atlanta. As I was making ready to board the plane to announce this flight is canceled, please return to the desk and make preparation for a later flight. And I said to one of the flight attendants, I'm awfully tired, and I'm ready to get home." He said, if this plane were to leave the ground, no sooner than you had gained altitude, you'd be back on the ground. Divine providence, divine providence protecting and caring for His people all along the way. And though divine providence is so mysterious that we can see it with the eyes of faith only and interpret it as it comes to pass, let us never for a moment question that which God does, but rest upon Him in full assurance that He's accomplishing His will. My dear friends, more and more as I preach God's Word, the more serious it becomes to me, because more and more I see my messages become a living drama, even before they are preached, and many times after. Such as, I've been burdened since last the Lord's Day on the subject of God's providence, to illustrate the kingship of Christ. On Thursday evening I was suddenly called by Brother or informed by Brother Breedlove through a call that was made to him, that he was receiving a free trip to Miami, Florida, for six days. And as a result, he wanted me to have Brother Dye to come down and preach today. I rejoiced over that, informed Brother Dye, and he made preparation. And preparation was made on that end for the receiving of the message. And yet, as he started making his way over the mountain, he ran into mechanical difficulties which made it impossible for him to make a way to fulfill his engagement of preaching the gospel. It almost frightened me, because we cannot question God. We can't say, well, why is it that one did not yet preach the gospel? We can't question God, but I say, dear friends, we saw in living drama the presence of God even before the message was brought home to your hearts. A few weeks ago I stood in the pulpit in the Turner Avenue, Netherlands Reformed Church, and we had a good crowd, possibly four to five hundred on a Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning, I preached on the subject of love to try to impress upon the hearts of those people what the Apostle James had recorded under divine inspiration, that it's not enough to say to a brother, well, I know you're cold, but may the Lord warm you and God bless you and take care of you when you've got two coats hanging in your own closet and you could be sharing these coats. The man that I happened to be staying with was the deacon of the church, and had four or five different overcoats of different weights, because of the changing weather conditions. And in the middle of that message, I just looked over into the deacon's pew, because the deacons all sit in one place and the elders in another. I looked over at the deacon's pew, and I said, that I'm well acquainted with has several quotes. And if a person ever comes to him and complaining of a cold, and he keeps those quotes in his closet, it's because the message hasn't meant anything to him. But on Sunday afternoon, as I was standing preaching the gospel invitation, I'll come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, a great big man walked into the back of the church with blue jeans or overalls on, and he sat down on the back pew. He didn't miss a word that I'd spoken during that whole message. I was somewhat amazed to see him come in, yet it was James's scripture living. Every person else was dressed meticulously fine. There was a man in overalls, three feet of snow on the ground outside. He'd walked the distance to get to the church. After I'd taken the hands of that large number of people, a man came to him and said, There's someone who wishes to speak with you. And I walked over, and it was this man. He said, First of all, I want to thank you for the message. I'm a believer, and what you've spoken this afternoon has given me encouragement and comfort. I'm without a job, and I've managed to get as far as Grand Rapids from another town, because I have the promise of a job tomorrow. I've left my family behind, hoping to move them here later. I wonder if this church has any provisions for feeding those that are hungry." I said, I don't know whether the church has any provisions or not, but from this point on they will have, and that's good, that's decent. I said, what are you going to do? down in his pocket book, pulled out some money and gave it to that man, took down his address, and he said, Now if you get in need and things don't turn out, you come back and we'll take care of it. What was it? It was the living drama of God's message, and there by Providence being put to test to see whether they would obey the Word of God or not. This deacon said to me, I've been in this church since I was a young boy. I know the records of this church, and never in the history of this church has ever any person come in to ask for a handout until today." I said, was it an accident? No. No. What is it? It's the working of God's divine promise. I don't know what God has in store for this congregation. I've never felt such a strangeness in my soul in all of my life as I have for the past two weeks. I believe that the Lord has something in store for us that's far beyond our realization, something that would be shocking to us and unbelievable if we could have our eyes open to view it now. I don't know what it is. But I know that the province of God is working slowly and perfectly for the accomplishment of God's will in our midst. And I am so overwhelmed until it is like standing back and watching the unfolding of a great historical panorama. But it's the unfolding of the eternal councils of God. I don't believe that it's any accident that this church is beginning to be burdened about witnessing the gospel to individuals. I don't believe it's any accident, the exuberant joy that you came away with last week after making visitation in the name of Christ. I don't believe that it was any accident the way the Spirit of God seemed to impress upon our hearts divine glory in the last few messages. I think God's providence is moving, and I'll say this as a word of warning. Anything that stands in the way as a source of opposition and conflict and the hindrance shall be trampled down by the iron wheels of God's providence, belayed into dust, that he might march home in glory." I've never in all my life been so assured of a divine commission resting upon me as your pastor. I've never been so assured in all of my days that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of sinners. And you just cannot set off sticks of dynamite as rapidly and often as we have in this church without blowing something up. So you read prophets and believe in prophets. Don't let people discourage you about problems. I don't care how dark things are personally, how confused God is still on the throne reigning through his Son. Now look at our text. "...and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." You see first of all here the dignity of Christ, in that all authority has been committed to him by the Father. Now, this authority is committed to him as the God-man, the mediator, and it's all authority. In the second place, we notice the extent of this authority has made him to be head over all things without exception. Every little circumstance that arises in your experience has Christ Jesus as head over it. Now, what's the special reason for this authority? It made him head over all things to the Church. Christ Jesus has been made head over all things for the benefit of the Church, or for the benefit of his elect. And all of the trials and perplexities, complexities and confusions that have arisen in the past, and are prevailing at the present are nothing more than the ministers of Christ to bring about all things for the good of His elect." You say, I can't see that picture. It's because you don't have eyes with penetrating faith to look into the providential leading of God. Christ Jesus is committed to most wise, holy, and powerful government of all creatures and their actions. This is the second aspect of the kingship of Christ. The first is to rule over the hearts of His people, conquering their depravity, bringing them into the experience of salvation. Secondly, to rule over all creatures and their actions. This is brought out beautifully in John 5, 17. The Pharisees said to the Lord, What meanest thou working on the Sabbath? Why, you healed from people on the Sabbath. Christ said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Now, we read in the Bible that the Father rested from His work of creation. What is His work hitherto? It's the work of promise. What is the work spoken of of Christ there? It is the proving and promise to bring about the needs of His people, which was illustrated in the healings precepts. Now, I want to point out, and I'll have to do this more rapidly than I desire, but we're going to have to get back to the old Puritanic days when preaching takes about an hour and a half, two hours. Then I'll be able to finish a message one time. But first of all, by what acts Christ administers providence? First of all, the Lord Jesus Christ exercises His authority by supporting the world and all its creatures. Some of you women folks say, well, we've got a good man in our house, he supports his wife and family. He's a secondary cause of support, but it's Christ Himself who gives all support. to the creatures of this universe. Some people talk about the law of gravity. But Colossians 117 tells us that Christ Himself holds all things together. And every molecule whirling in space whirls in its path which is marked out by the divine Christ Himself. And if one of those molecules were to get out of its path, that bench would cease being a bench. I don't know what it would become, but it would cease being a bench. Christ that supports the world, sustains the world. In the second place, under His providential government, the Lord Jesus Christ permits the worst of creatures to act as they do. Turn with me to the book of Job. Anybody in the world ought to be able to interpret the providence of God, Job ought to, because he was sure made an object of the special providence of God in a hard way. Job chapter 12, look at verse 10, "...in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear try words, and the mouth taste as meat? With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength, yet counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaks down, cannot be built again. He shuts up a man, there can be no opening. Behold, God withholds the waters, and they dry up. Any time a pond ever goes dry, so God must have done it, not the drought. Also, He sends them out, and they overturn the earth. God'll send you a drought one time, drive up your pool, next time he'll send so much water till it'll turn over the earth, turn over everything you possess. God does that. Now watch verse sixteen. With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his. That's all for strength. that it would be said that a man who is a deceiver, a pretender, is still under the control of God. But so it is. I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't live in any community marked out on the face of this earth if you could point out in that community one single evil man who was absolutely under the free reign of his own lust to do as he pleases. You talk about hell. Now, don't you go out and make the mistake and say that God is the author of sin. For God never permitted sin, and God is not the author of sin. But nevertheless, he still is in control of those who are sinners. If we were to hire one of the greatest pianists in the world to come and sit at our piano, and the piano was out of tune, his playing would not make it out of tune. You couldn't blame him with the distortion. God weighs upon broken instruments, and it's amazing what melodious sounds Not only does God permit, under His sovereign permissive will, the work of creatures' actions to do, but He also restrains creatures from expressing their desires to the full. One time David was marching along with a soldier, and a little man ran out and began to curse David with all his heart. But David rose up to kill him. David said, leave him alone. God told him to come curse me. God knew I was getting kind of proud and suspicious. God told him to come and curse me. So God permitted that thing to happen, but God restrained him at the same time, because that little man who did the cursing wouldn't kill David if he could have. Psalm 76, 10, we read that God shall make the wrath of man to praise him, and the rest of wrath he'll hold back. I'm allowed to come into full expression. Dear friend, you cannot imagine the evil that would be in the world if men were left to the liberty of their own design. You'd better praise God that there's a province that restrains men. preaching for Brother Kentner, and then down in Kentucky preaching for Brother Mahan. Around Thanksgiving, I had to leave out a day early because of the weather conditions in order to get home in time for the weekend. It snowed on me all day long. Fridays I drove, and I couldn't drive over thirty-five miles an hour. Now, driving around some of those awfully crooked hills in Kentucky, I got to thinking on the page of the Lord I ask this question, Pharaoh Griswold, why is it that you're going home now unmolested by the full expression of your own evil heart? Can you go into the face of God and boast that you've kept yourself from sin, that you've been busy about the Lord's work? Or just why is it that men don't sin? I'll tell you why, because God doesn't let them. God puts a fear in a man's heart when he's afraid of ruining his name and his reputation and hurting his family or his church, so he abstains from sin. When the lust is boiling in his heart, there might be an expression of it. God puts him into a situation where he can't express it. So the glory goes right back to God. He's the one that restrains the sin. Do you know that even the very saints of God themselves would commit murder in times of anger if it wasn't God restraining them from expressing that which they desire in their own hearts? Oh, to do away with providence, you've done away with the comfort of God's people. There's nothing in the world more comforting to a Christian In times of adversity and confusion and perplexity, the trial is to know that God's on the throne. If you don't find any comfort in it, it's because you don't have eyes of faith to see the glory of God in Christ Jesus, and because you've stripped Christ of His power and put it into the hands of puny men, therefore you're not saved. You can't convince me if you stand in reason with me all day long, if you know Christ. If you don't find comfort in his promise, I'll not believe you, because a child of God knows his weakness and knows what a comfort it is to have all things under the charge of Christ. How dare you give an authority to a man that you can't trust, which you will not allow Christ to possess? Whom do you rather run the affairs of this world, man or God?" I'd far rather go. I've got more sense than you have, a lot more. In the next place, the Lord Jesus Christ functions in His providential kingdom by limiting the creature, by putting boundaries to their liberty. It's so beautifully brought out in Revelation 2.10. The Lord said, the devil's going to cast some of you into the furnace and try you for ten days. Now, first of all, Satan would love to cast all, not some, but all of God's people into the furnace, and not try them for ten days, but to eternally erase their name from the face of this earth. So when the Lord says Satan will cast some of you, he limited his power right there. And he'll only be able to test you for ten days, he limited Satan again. And he used the word try or test to show that they couldn't be utterly destroyed, which again limited the power of Satan. So there you see the marvelous kingship of Christ. In the next place, our Lord Jesus Christ and his providential kingdom protects and provides for his people in a world of danger. 1 Peter 5, 7, the Lord caring for you. There's never a minute, whether you be asleep or awake, in faraway places or near at home, that the Lord Jesus Christ is not caring for you. He always observes you. And we have a beautiful illustration of this in the life of Christ himself. When Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, He was just a helpless babe because he had nestled himself in human flesh. There was a plot to kill all children from two years down in order to get rid of Christ. And the Lord appeared to Mary and Joseph and stated, Now, neither Mary nor Joseph had any funds whatsoever. How could they go to Egypt and live for a period of several months? At the same time, the Lord had caused a star to appear before some wise men. And this star led them not to the manger, but to a house, because Christ was around a year and a half to two years old at that time. It led them to a house where the baby was with its mother, not in a manger. and rested over the house, and these wise men went in and worshiped the Lord. Not three, but anywhere from a dozen of them. And they gave to him the precious gifts of frankincense, and of myrrh, and of gold. And there was a sufficient provision to support the family while they lived in Egypt in safe protection. The Lord not You want to know what went with that gold? Frankincense and myrrh. It protected our Lord. Also, our Lord and His providential kingdom punishes the wicked, sometimes here and unusual ways, other times hereafter. For there is no single wicked person in all this world that has belittled and despised the providential kingship of Christ, but that they shall come under his displeasure and punishment in his own due time." Julian the Apostate had two objectives in life. He said, I'm going to destroy a certain kingdom, and afterwards I shall destroy the kingdom of the Galileans. So he set out first to destroy a kingdom of man, and in the midst of it was struck with a deadly blow, and he reached into his own bosom and pulled out his blood and intestines and threw them toward the heavens and said, Thou hast conquered, O thou Galilee. Men have been strangely stricken down by the sudden displeasure of God. in order to hang them upon a scaffold to make them monuments to the great fact that Christ is still King and punishes the wicked. You can't escape it if you're wicked. But thank the Lord He rewards His own. Has not a service ever rendered out of love for Christ except to be rewarded by grace? It might not be riches and popularity and fame in this world, but my, we don't look to these temporary rewards, but to that which is eternal. But I must come and secondly show you how Christ administers His providential kingdom. He uses both men and angels. Do you know that every time a church body meets together, there are angels who meet in that church body to observe your way of worship? Do you know that angels are set as special messengers upon those that shall be the heirs of salvation, that they might be kept from destroying harm by the devil until they are brought to know Christ? Do you know that if your eyes could be opened as the young prophet's eyes were, you'd see legions of angels and chariots upon the hills, assigned for your protection and good? God does not limit it to angels alone, but He can stir up the heart of a man and use that man just as He pleases to accomplish His will. Take a God-hating pagan old king and make that king's heart break within him and show kindness towards saints. Therefore, the administration of Christ is holy, wise, and solemn. He never does anything contrary to his own nature. Everything he does is of absolute and pure wisdom, so we can trust him in this. And in a kingdom of sovereignty, because Psalm 135, verse 6, Christ says, I do just as I please. You read it and see. I do just as I please. But also, we must keep in mind that Christ as King makes things that appear irregular to work for his own glory and our good. Now, you cannot understand every particular of God's providence, because you see just a little isolated providential event here, and one yonder, and one over there. And these are all tools that are being used together in harmony to bring about the glory of God and the good of His people. I walk into a smith's shop. I see over there a crooked sort of an inch, one here that's jagged and sharp, and one over here of another size, and this is another shape. It's all confusion to me. But I see that smith use each one of these tools in its own place and time and produce the most beautiful objects. So if things seem irregular, it's not because God is out of control, but because He is in control. And He will prove that He can take the confusion of man and, through divine wisdom, turn it into glory for Himself and good for His people. Also, the Lord determines in this providential kingdom all things, though they may appear to be accidental to us. As I said to you, there's no such thing, strictly speaking, as an accident. It's pagan language to speak of, I had bad luck and good luck and a terrible accident. Things are ordained of the Lord, not left to blind fate and luck. And this is illustrated so beautifully in 1 Kings 22. Ahab had made plans to go up against Neremith Gilead And in order to assure his victory, he made an alliance with Jehoshaphat, who was king over Judah. He had the prophets, the prophets finally used horns and talked about how great the king was, and he ought to go up. But they called out one by the name of Micaiah, and Micaiah said, if you go up, you're going to be destroyed. God's not with you. God's displeased. And the king says, I don't like what he says about me. Throw him in prison. The apostle Paul said, I've become your enemy for the truth. I'll tell you the truth and you'll become my enemy. If I go tell you lies, you'll pat me on the back and love your pastor. But when your pastor gets up there and tells you the truth, you'll think it's horrible. So Micaiah said, you're going to be destroyed. So Ahab said, I'll tell you how we'll get around this prophet. Jehoshaphat, you lead the warriors in your kingly vesture. I'll dress up like a regular soldier. So they went into war. Some of the soldiers of Ramoth Gilead pursued the king, and when they found him to be Jehoshaphat of Judah, they said, Let him go. We want Ahab of Israel. They couldn't find him. And you know how a man will do when he goes hunting? He doesn't get to shoot at a thing all day long, so he just gets mad and shoots a limb off of a tree. One of the soldiers got mad he didn't get to shoot his bow and arrow. He didn't get to fight with anybody. He didn't get to kill anybody. So in his anger, he shook his foot and pulled out an arrow and put it in his bow and said, Well, I ought to be outgunned. Boom! And shot right straight up into the air. He turned around and walked off, but you know what God did? He got a hold of that arrow and he directed it over right to the place where Ahab's chariot was and lodged it right into the very bosom of Ahab and killed him. You can't get by God's brother. When God says a man's going to be destroyed, he's going to be destroyed. You can't get by. Also, we must keep in mind that the same actions which come from providence are good, while coming from man might be evil. Now, that's one of those marvelous paradoxes of Christian truth. Let me illustrate it. Joseph was determined by the Lord to sit as king over Egypt, to save his people from a great famine. So God ordained for Joseph to get down into Egypt, that he be sold into slavery and then win the favor of the king. Now, do you think his brothers thought they were fulfilling the purpose of God when they threw Joseph into a pit and later sold him for a slave? Not at all. They were acting out of envy and hatred and malice. Nevertheless, God was fulfilling His good purpose of making Joseph king. What about the death of Christ? God ordained that the death of Christ come to pass through the salvation of His people. Therefore, He must be crucified. Did He lay a constraint upon men to crucify Christ against their will? Ah, no. But men, out of hatred and enmity and animosity toward God, thinking they were ridding themselves of a bad thing, but all the while they were fulfilling God's purpose. So whereas an action in the hands of a man might be evil, as it is governed by province, it might be good. And also, and in conclusion, of God has been ordained to work for the good of God's elect. Romans 8, 28, that is not to be quoted when some old ungodly, God-pursuing female that darkens the door of the church only once in a while loses her cow, and you go down and comfort her and say, Well, you know, Sister Bess, all things work together for good. The only thing that worked together for good in that case was her riddance into hell. She was that hard. Some old man never lived one moment for the glory of God. Some other person is relieved, but they don't care a thing about God. They get into a little trouble, somebody comforts them and says, well, but all things work together for good. That's not what it means. Now, you read the context, it means that God's election and God's predestination and God's calling and God's justifying and God's glorifying, they're certainly going to come to pass in the experiences of God's people. Therefore, all things have been ordained of God, and problems fall out their way to make them after the image of the Lord Jesus." If you don't love a Christ of problems, you can't draw any comfort from that verse. Christ is not big enough to rule this universe. Don't run around saying, Well, all things work together for good. How do you know they do? How can you be assured of that? If man's in control and God's trying to do things, but man won't let him. How can you be sure that anything will ever work together for good, unless it is God Himself who reigns and rules over the universe in His divine providence? Now, an Arminian is the first one to grab ahold of that text. And then you say, well, the way that things work together for good is because Christ controls everything. I'll not have that. You'll have it or go to hell, friend. You'll have it or go to hell because it leads you into this application. And that is He who governs all with absolute power to do His will. as the authority given to him by the Father to save you or to damn you. You hate this Christ, and you shall certainly be damned. And in view that this Christ alone has the power to save you, then in the words of the psalmist, I beseech you to kiss the Son, lest he be angry. For if the Son be angry, You have no possible way of being saved. Kiss Him with a kiss of faith, and be reconciled to God truly. Find yourself before Him, seeking mercy from Him, because it's His authority to save you. I don't have salvation. My beloved song leader doesn't have salvation that he can give away. My dear deacons don't have salvation in a can in the back that they can give out. There's no salvation here on this table. There's no salvation in our baptism. Salvation has been placed into the hand of Christ, and it's his kingly office to apply it to whom he will. And those that he's pleased to apply to are those that seek mercy from him. Has broken-hearted sinners with every excuse, a wall of opposition broken down just coming to Christ. Empty-handed beggars saying, Lord, you have the right to save and the power to dance. I cast myself upon you in faith. Let us stand and pray. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, tapes and videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N, Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.