Welcome to tape number one of Calvin's Calvinism, part two, a defense of the secret providence of God by which he executes his eternal decrees, being a reply to the slanderous reports of a certain worthless calumniator directed against the secret providences of God by John Calvin, as read by Michael Wyatt. This Reformation audio resource is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. There is no copyright of this material and we encourage you to reproduce it and pass it on to your friends. Many free resources, as well as our complete mail order catalog containing classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, CDs and much more at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb.com. by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6L 3T5. If you do not have a web connection, please request a free printed catalog. If you do have a web connection and would like to be added to our email list, Please send an email to addd.swrb.com with the word ADD in the subject line. And now to the reading of a defense of the secret providence of God by John Calvin, which we pray you find to be a great blessing in which we hope draws you near to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an awful and deplorable fact that the adorable Redeemer and only Savior of men is according to the prophetic declaration of the Scripture concerning Him a stone of stumbling and rock of offense, Isaiah 8.14 and 1 Peter 2.8, wherever he comes in his spirit, life, and power. Equally lamentable are the sure consequences which follow the written or preached proclamation of the essential doctrines of his everlasting gospel, nor have any of those doctrines met with a greater degree of enmity, hatred, and violent opposition from men than the two all-high and glorious truths of his revealed word, which are now immediately before us, the eternal predestination of God, and the wonderful counsel and excellent working, Isaiah 28, 29, of the secret providence of God, by which he works out in his sovereign way the decrees of his sovereign will. The former of these momentous doctrines forms the subject and object of the preceding treatise, for a view of the nature of which, and of Calvin's success in its unequal execution, the reader is referred to the preface by which it is introduced to the English Church of Christ. The present treatise of the same beloved Reformer of undying memory and of imperishable high esteem and love for his work's sake, 1 Thessalonians 5.13, is devoted to a discussion of that equally sublime and equally incomprehensible subject, the secret providence of God. This unfathomable and incomprehensible deep Calvin enters with the same acute and powerful intellect which characterizes the preceding treatise in which a holiness and reverence of spirit correspondingly profound. He states in all its fullness the mysteries and inscrutable depth of the mind of God in the awe-infilling dispensations of His secret providence, and presents a noble, admirable, and unanswerable defense of their sheer justice, divine holiness, and infinite wisdom. Neither of these glorious doctrines of the Bible has been declared in any age or place by the tongue or by the pen of the servants of God without exciting, as we have already stated, the hostile entity and more or less violent opposition of men. It is no marvel, therefore, that Calvin, who was called to so prominent a ministration of them, should have met with a parallel amount of hatred malignity and violence in his day and generation, nor that he should therefore have been necessitated to employ as much time and toil in their public defense as in their public ministration. Luther and Calvin therefore each bore his large and inevitable share of the offense of the cross, Galatians 5.11. But while Luther's heavy share exceeded, perhaps, that of Calvin in the number, rage, hostility, and mightiness of his adversaries, the enemies of Calvin surpassed those of Luther in hatred, malignity, misrepresentation, contumely, slander, and violence. In these peculiarities of hostile and determined opposition, were in exact accordance with the natures of the ministerial works of these two blessed and prominent servants of the Most High. Luther's mighty work lay in the exposure and demolition of the principles and authorities of churches and of kingdoms, and in the defiance of the power of popes, kings, princes, and potentates of the earth. But the work of Calvin lay more directly with the hearts, principles, and spirits of men filled with hatred against those very truths which he expressly called of God to declare almost anew, with all the light and penetrating power of his ministry, to a truth-hating world. Both these preeminent servants of God, however, hidden in the hollow of his hand, Isaiah 49.2, defended from without by his omnipotent power, and sustained within by the consolations of His Spirit, finished the work which He gave them to do, and are now wearing in eternal glory the crowns which the Lord the righteous Judge has laid upon for them from all eternity as their sure reward." 2 Timothy 4, 7, 8. These enemies of the loved and noble Swiss Reformer who resisted his testimony concerning the secret providence of God were, if possible, more numerous, more hostile, more acrimonious and violent, and certainly more false, misrepresentative, scandalizing and malignant than those who resisted his witness concerning the eternal predestination of God. Though these twin cardinal truths of the Bible ever stand, in all direct consequence, necessarily and inseparably connected This excess of virulent hostility to the former glorious doctrine is strikingly manifest from the present attack of a certain worthless calumniator whose malicious and mendacious violence called forth that defense which forms the burden of the present treatise. The method of defensive reply adopted by Calvin is characteristically plain, honest, and satisfactory. He gives the articles of accusation or slanders in the order in which they were published by the Columniator, and he makes his reply to them consecutively in defense of the sovereignty and secrecy of the providence of God. But the reader is informed by way of premonition that the parentheses, that is, slander 1, 2, 3, etc., which are found in all the headings to the sections are Calvin's parenthetical comments as it were on the calumniator's terms, Article 1, 2, 3, etc., by which parenthesis in each case Calvin testifies that each article is the basis calumni. Who this prominent calumniator was is now unknown. It was very probable Servetus to which insidious designs and persecuting animosity Calvin himself makes so much allusion in the preceding treatise. One thing is certain, and it is worthy our recollection, that this columniator of Calvin and of his doctrine and ministry was a deadly enemy to the truth, and that he was as industrious in his researches for hostile materials, as subtle in his reasoning, and as indefeatable indefeatable in his inventions of opposing arguments, as he was malicious and violent in his opposition, so that it may with much safety be concluded that the following sheets contain the most of, if not all, the strongest or rather vilest arguments which the utmost efforts of the rationalist, the skeptic, and the infidel can bring against those two essential doctrines of the revealed Word which the two present treatises so admirably state and defend. 4. There is no discharge in this war of the truth. Ecclesiastes 8.8. Wherever it is written or preached, conflicts, persecutions, and sufferings for its sake by writers and by preachers must, with solemn certainty, be endured. 2 Timothy 3.11 and 2 Peter 2.2 No, the offense of the cross of the Redeemer and of this truth has not ceased, Galatians 5.11, nor will it cease till time shall be no more. The same false accusations, slanders, misrepresentations, and perversions of the doctrines, principles, and actions of the true servants of Christ, especially with reference to the two great doctrines of the everlasting gospel now immediately under discussion, which have existed in all ages in various forms of violence and malignancy, still prevail on every side. Wherefore, to make a few condensed and concluding observations upon the completion and issue of this second volume, the excellency and usefulness of these treaties by the beloved, able, and immortal Calvin will be found, it is hoped, as originally designed by the translator to be threefold. First, the clear and truthful statement of the sublime doctrines of God's sovereign grace, sustained by the Scriptures and by the experience of the just, throughout the treatises will be edifying and establishing, it is trusted to all those members of the Church of Christ who can trace with any degree of comfort by the light and testimony of the Spirit and of the word or calling of God. While the divine and powerful arguments by which the Scriptural statements are illustrated and confirmed will strengthen the assurance of their salvation by showing them that its security rests on the very nature and attributes of God as its sure foundation. The blessed and beloved poor of God's family, indeed who form the greater portion of this heavenly household, may not feel themselves competent to follow the acute and deep Calvin throughout the extent of his argument, yet some, even of them, may be able in a profitable measure to do so with admiration and thankfulness to the strengthening of their faith and hope. For a poor wise man, Ecclesiastes 9.15, in whom dwells the spirit of wisdom and of truth, has more mental power and judgment in such things than the world, and even the saints themselves generally give him credit for. And though we are instructed to look around us and to mark who they are who compose the generality of the disciples of Christ, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, nor not many noble, are called. 1 Corinthians 1.26 Yet we have great cause to glorify God, as a certain noble disciple once observed, that the word does not say not any noble, or wise are learned, or educated or intelligent are called. Into the hands of some of these, therefore, who may be able to follow, understand, and appreciate the divine and deep arguments of Calvin, these his treatise may fall, and by the glad and thankful perusal of them their minds may be informed and enlarged into the length, breadth, and depth of that sure foundation on which their faith and hope repose for eternity. But secondly, Calvin speaks and writes in these treatises not to the Church of Christ only, but also to the unregenerate human reasoning and profane world at large. He shows the world as well as the Church of Christ that the sublime doctrines of the eternal predestination of God and of the secret providence must, of consequent necessity, be true not only from the declarations of the Holy Scriptures, but from the very nature and attributes of the adorable God Himself. Wherefore these volumes carry with them Calvin's holy, masterly, and unanswerable testimony to the whole English nation, wheresoever they may come, and this is what it was intended by the translator they should do, in which it is hoped they will do successfully to the eternal prophet of men and to the glory of God. Hence, these treatises will arm the disciples of Christ with weapons for their defense of the truth, as well as feed them with strong mead for their enjoyment, nourishment, and strength. Nor do we despair of these same volumes being made profitable to the ministers of Christ, especially to his younger servants, equipping them also with subvertible arguments for the truth defense, as well as enriching them with sound doctrine for its proclamation. And the present day is one of wildly prevailing rationalism, skepticism, and infidelity. The wise, the scribes, and the disputers of this world, with their doubtful disputations and their opposition of science falsely so-called, 1 Corinthians 1.20 and 1 Timothy 6.20, abound in every direction. Against all this and all these Calvin furnishes in the present treatises the twofold materials of Scripture and arguments for erecting in any place at any time an impregnable power in defense of the truth, while the same testimonies, as being heavenly commissioned, contain in them the arrows of the Almighty, some of which may perhaps hit, with the sharpness of saving mercy, the hearts of a few of the enemies of the King of kings, and bring them to his feet." In this twofold respect, indeed, Calvin has commanded a field, trodden a path, and pursued a line of things, unoccupied by any minister of Christ with anything like the same prominence, ability, and effect, either before his day or since he left earth for heaven. Many true servants of Christ have set forth and still do set forth the sublime doctrines of grace scripturally, but they are not gifted with mental powers to prove the necessity of their truth from the very nature of God himself and from the ever unchangeable and inseparable harmony of his eternal attributes, as Calvin did throughout his ministry and as he has done in his two admirable productions. No man has occupied this sphere nor wrought in this line of ministerial labor with anything approaching to competent ability since the sixteenth century, the glorious era of the Reformation. Nor has anyone appeared qualified to perform such service to God and His Church in the present century. In the last and the preceding centuries there were a Dr. Owen, a Dr. Gill, a Romaine, and perhaps a few others who possessed the mental ability, the learning and the spiritual gifts for the task, but they had not the calling of God to that branch of their service. God did not set that line of things before them. The only man in the last century who stood at this post with spiritual and mental endowments at all adequate to the work was that talented servant of God, that accomplished scholar, that burning and shining light of the Church of England. and of the Church of Christ, top lady. His ministry, however, by the inscrutable will of the Sovereign Disposer of all things, was as short as it was brilliant. He died at the lamented age of thirty-six, after a ten or twelve brief years' ministration, and left no successor his like, either in the Church of England or out of it. Nor has any equal to him in rich experience of divine truth, in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or in sanctified mental talents since appeared. Top Lady did enter upon Calvin's peculiar twofold field, and his written testimonies on the stupendous doctrines now in question are an enduring treasure to the British Church of Christ and to her whole nation. The above remarks intended merely to describe the nature and merits of the two present treatises will not, it is hoped, be deemed invidious or partial. They are designed to be solely explanatory of the state of the case in reference to these productions of the immortal Swiss reformer. Even those distinguished one-in-a-century servants of God, Bunyan, equally immortal with Calvin, and that wildly used and useful and highly honored master in Israel, Huntington, were wholly incompetent to execute such works as these treatises. Those great and good men were each of memorable value and profit to the Church of Christ in their respective centuries, and their bequeathed works and services will probably continue, especially those of the former, to the end of time. But neither of them could have occupied the field or performed the work of Calvary. No servant of God, however great or useful, could have done or could now do that but one who, to a deep experience of divine truth and to commanding Natural powers should have added or should now add a sound classical, mathematical, and logical mental training. And a servant of Christ, thus divinely, naturally, and acquiredly qualified for his highest services, scarcely appears, we repeat, once in a century. Nay, as the course of centuries has proved in the bright and preeminent instances of Luther and Calvin, scarcely one in three centuries. that no one has stood forth in the present century or can now be found prepared of God with this threefold equipment of grace, 1 Corinthians 15.10, nature and acquirement for his high service, both before the redeemed church and before the most learned world, trained both at the feet of Christ and at the feet of Gamaliel, Luke 10. Luke 10.39 and Acts 22.3 is a source of lamentation to all who are competent to form a right judgment. And thirdly, these treatises, it is confidently believed, and this was a third motive for their translation and publication, will fully vindicate the doctrine and character of John Calvin and unload his revered name, in the English mind at least, from that mountain of malignant oblolus obloquy, and slander which have been heaped upon it more or less for these three centuries past. These his own unequal testimonies will not only prove the might and invincibleness of his spiritual and mental powers, but will make equally manifest the holiness, the humbleness, and the adoration of his soul as one of the redeemed from the earth, one of the sealed among men, as God's own. Nor can the translator refrain from offering, ere he closed these observations, his sincere expressions of gratitude to those brethren and friends who have come thus readily and liberally forward with their gold and silver on public ground, not for themselves only, to ensure the publication of these volumes, when no other means of their publicity was attainable. And in these his grateful acknowledgments he is fully assured that he is joined by those few much-interested friends by whose counseling and arranging aid the original proposal was put forth. Should then these two treatises of the truthful, faithful, and able Calvin be so honored as to be made of any sacred service in edifying the disciples of Christ and building them up in their most holy faith? Should they be found in any degree useful in equipping the friends of the truth with armor for its effective defense? Should they lend aid in silencing the clamors, shaming the slanders, refuting the doctrines and defeating the designs of the enemy of God and of His revealed truth in the present day? or in its future generations of the English Church of Christ, these feeble labors of their translation will have received the highest reward for which their author ever wished to be honored. 3 UPPER ISLINGTON TERRACE, LONDON And now to a defense, the introduction by John Calvin to his defense of the secret providence of God. The moment I think, speaking upon that providence of God, by which He governs not only the vast machinery of the whole world and of each smallest part of it, but also the hearts and actions of men, a mighty and complex subject presents itself before me. But as I have already treated of the stupendous matter in a manner calculated, I hope to satisfy, in a measure, all sound-minded and unprejudiced readers I shall only touch it in a summary and passing manner upon the present occasion, adopting all possible brevity. Nor, indeed, can any splendor of speech be expected from me, nor any brilliance of thought that shall correspond with the magnitude and excellency of the theme. I shall merely recapitulate in a few bare words those arguments which I have fully developed in my institutes. But if I shall see such need, I will now interweave with these arguments some further testimonies from the Holy Scriptures. And I shall also, as I hope, so wash away by a plain reputation the designing and malignant cavils of Pygius and his fellows, that they shall not in the least degree hurt or hinder the minds of the godly. And in a footnote it says, To silence those clamorous oppositions to the doctrine of the eternal election of God, Calvin wrote the preceding treatise. By providence we mean not an unconcerned sitting of God in heaven from which he merely observes the things that are done in the world. but that all active and all concerned seatedness on his throne above, by which he governs the world which he himself hath made, so that God, as viewed in the glass of his providence, is not only the maker of all things in a moment, but the perpetual ruler of all things which he hath created. That providence, therefore, which we ascribe to God, pertains as much to his operating hands as to his observing eyes. When, therefore, God is said to rule the world by his providence, we do not merely mean that he maintains and preserves that order of nature which he had originally purposed in himself, but that he holds and continues a peculiar care of every single creature that he has created. True and certain is the fact that it was the wonderful wisdom of God that originally made the world and disposed in it its present beautiful order. So, unless the omnipotent power of God ever-present sustained it, thus created and disposed it, it could not continue in its designed order and form one hour. That the sun rises upon us day by day, that in a chorus so rapid his rays should be so tempered and his degrees so adjusted, that the order of the stars so wonderfully arranged should never be disturbed, that the vicissitudes of the seasons should recur so continually that the earth should open her bowels with such annual regularity for the nourishment of man, that the elements and their separate particles should not cease to perform their appointed functions, in a word, that the fecundity of nature should never be worn out nor fail, all this marvelous operation, cooperation and continuance can surely never be thought to proceed from any other cause than that from the directing hand of God. And what else is the 104th Psalm but a long and loud praise of this universal providence? The Apostle Paul logs this same divine providence when he says, For in him we live and move and have our being, Acts 17.28. Wherefore, as the one only God has an essence peculiar to himself, so that living principle of vegetation by which all creatures subsist and without which they must soon perish, must be considered by faith a secret infusion of God. But the knowledge of a general and universal providence is vague and confused unless we hold at the same time the belief and indulge the contemplation that God covers under the wings of His care each single one of His creatures. To teach us this glorious lesson was the object of Christ when He said, that not a sparrow that is sold for half a farthing falls to the ground without the Heavenly Father's knowledge. In considering the special providence of God, however, by which He secretly broods over the care of each individual creature as the work of His hands, it will be necessary that we take a sacred view of the certain degrees and distinct peculiarities which it divinely embraces. As man is the noblest work of God, for whose good all things were created, which the heavens and the earth contain, the Scripture set forth the providence of God as concern principally in the care and government of the human race. Paul, in explanation of that passage, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, observes, Doth God take care of oxen? implying that the providential care of God does not rest on them in particular. as its peculiar sphere of action, but is more especially employed in the care of men. In this respect, as the course of the divine providence lies in the dealings of God with men as being endowed with reason, its conduct assumes a surer light and a brighter glory. For marvelous are the judgments of God, at one time in punishing the wicked, at another in teaching the faithful patience in crucifying their flesh. at another in purging out the wickedness of the world, at another in awaking the sleep and sloth of many, at another in breaking down the arrogance of the proud, at another in making the wisdom of the wise a laughingstock, at another in destroying the machinations of the malicious. On the other hand, the surpassing goodness of God is brightly displayed in succoring the distressed, in protecting and defending the cause of the innocent, and in coming to the assistance of those who are in despair of all help. The 107th Psalm contains a beautiful and glorious description of that conduct of the providence of God which is manifested towards men. In that psalm the prophet shows that those vicissitudes which men generally consider violent floods of change are not waves of trouble rolling over men with blind impetuosity as it were, but bright classes wherein to behold the goodness, the wrath, or the justice of God. And at the close of this blessed psalm, the pendant of it draws the concluding inference that if the godly and the wise would duly observe these various changes in the world, they would gain understanding in the ways of God and would find abundant cause for rejoicing. while the psalmist also implies that the same contemplation exercised by the wicked would stop their mouths by giving them an awe-striking sight of the wonderful works of God. But here we must take a view of other and loftier steps of the divine providence. For though God thus shows Himself the Father and the Judge of the world of the whole human race, yet, as the Church is His sanctuary in which He resides, He there manifests his presence by clear and brighter proofs. He there shows himself as the father of his family and condescends to grant a nearer view of himself, if I may so speak. The scripture is filled with testimonies of this which declare that God keeps a more special watch over the faithful. The eyes of the Lord, saith David, are over the righteous. Psalm 33, 21. he preserveth the souls of the saints. Psalm 97.10 For he careth for you, saith Peter. 1 Peter 5.7 Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered, saith the Lord himself. Matthew 10.30 In a word, the church is the great workroom of God, wherein in a more special manner he displays his wonderful works, and it is the more immediate theater of His glorious providence. For this reason it is that God is said to have appointed angels which are, as it were, His hands, to be guardians in a peculiar manner to His saints that believe in Him, that the angels also might have no separate position or office apart from the body of Christ, of which they also are members. that we may take a circumspective and comprehensive view of the whole divine matter, our eyes must rest, first, on that general government of the whole world by which all things are cherished and caused to vegetate, that the natural state of them all, collectively and individually, may remain and be preserved the same. Secondly, our eyes must rest on the watchfulness of God in ruling and guarding the single parts and particles of all these created things, which watchfulness is such that nothing occurs in them or concerning them, unknown or unnoticed. We must look thirdly at God's more special care of the human race, which is such that the life and death of men, the public destinies of kingdoms and of nations, and the private cases of individuals and whatsoever men usually ascribe to fortune, are under His heavenly rule and disposal. And lastly, we must contemplate that peculiar protection by which God defends His Church, in which protection He more expressly manifests His presence and His power. The vast and multiform utility of this doctrine no words can adequately express. Nor will anyone profitably contemplate the providence of God in the government of the world as it is set forth before us in the Scriptures and seen by faith But he who, feeling that he has to do with his Maker and with the Creator of all things, first bows the head with that awe and reverence and with that humility which becomes one standing before such stupendous majesty. For if man is ever wont to pay such honor to his fellow men, as to judge of their works with candor and modesty, especially where anything seemed somewhat obscure and difficult to comprehend at the moment, if man in such cases is the more anxious and diligent in inquiring into the truth, and would rather suspend his judgment than, by a hasty decision, do his fellow man an injury. Is it not, I ask, worse than madness, and something more than ferocity? to use a tenfold greater liberty with God and to bring His stupendous works down to the scale of our puny judgment, to pronounce a precipitous opinion upon things infinitely sublime and wholly incomprehensible, to attempt to fathom His secret counsel, and above all to trifle with mysteries so deep and so profoundly adorable This insolence has indeed stalked abroad in all ages, but has taken greater strides and made louder boasts in the present day than in any age of time preceding. Many infidels nowadays, finding that they cannot tear God down from heaven, which like the giants of old they really attempt to do, strive mightily at least to force out of their own and all other men's consciences every particle of religion and of true worship by vomiting forth the phallus and basest blasphemies, thus betraying their profanity and their rage against God and His truth. In the greater part of these characters, the source of all the evil is evidently this. Being persons of a light and fervent spirit, they first give indulgence to their own vain curiosity. Then, having no fixed aim or object before them, They give themselves up to utterly useless speculations. Upon the back of this comes an unbridled audacity which instigates their tongues to speak with a rashness exactly commensurate with their impudence. Others, again, are the subjects of an evil state of spirit, different indeed but just as mischievous. For, bewildering themselves in absurd dreams, they drown their minds in self-will or desperation or sloth. Now all these are the very wiles of the devil, and his object in adopting them is to involve the true, sound, and holy doctrine in all sorts of lying wonders, of inventions, by which means he would not only rob us of all its profitableness and fruit, but would also render it either contemptible or hateful or destructive. But whatsoever plans the devil may adopt, be it ours ever to steer clear of the perverted to which some have recourse, who, to meet such perils as these, find no shorter way than the observing or corrupting of that which the Scriptures declare with all possible and naked simplicity. Now, a much more appropriate and effectual remedy for all these evils is to hold our minds under the constant consideration in what manner and to what end the providence of God should be contemplated. The first end is that it may keep us free from all presumptuous confidence and hold us fast in the fear of God, and also may stir us up to continual prayer. A second end is to bring us to rest upon God with a still and peaceful mind and to teach us to despise in all courage and security the dangers which surround us on every side and the numberless deaths which constantly threaten us from every quarter. Each of these great ends I will Now, with all possible brevity, endeavor to explain. Those who imagine that there is any such thing as fortune or chance, or who expect anything from their own industry or plans or labors, are carried hither and thither after every expedient, are driven in all directions, turn every stone, as they say, devise every new means, and gallop about like the horse in an open field. But with all this to do, there is no prayer, no fear of God. He, however, who knows and feels that men and their counsels, and the issues of all things, are ruled and overruled by the providence of God, will confess with trembling, as did the prophet Jeremiah, I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Bearing in mind also those words of Solomon, a man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand his own way? He will commit himself wholly unto God and depend entirely upon Him. Where there is such a state of mind, prayers will ever follow that God will begin and perfect every work which we undertake. while we thus rest on him in all quietness and on him alone. Just in the same degree will he who dreams about the will of fortune give himself up to be driven about in fear by the devil and by the wicked, as by ferocious brute animals, as if they could do anything of themselves, and thus Will such a one fret and fume with perpetual anxiety, and looking at his life as hanging continually by a single thread, as it were, he will live in unending torment. He will scarcely be able to put forth one foot without despairing of his life or well-being. Whereas the faithful, having the all-ruling hand of God ever before them, will never hesitate to cast all their cares and concerns upon him. And they will all the while rest assured that the devil and all wicked men, whatever tumults they may cause, are not only held of God by their feet and chains, but are compelled to do his pleasure, under which assurance they will pass their lives in security and peace. The two following distinctions will also throw a divine light upon this sacred matter. The providence of God is to be viewed with reference to all time's past as well as in connection with all time's future. In contemplating the divine providence of the former, all power is to be ascribed to God in all things, whether viewed with their means, media, without their means, media, or contrary to their mediums, media, that God ordains and appoints all things. The consideration of the past should be thus. If anything has taken place successfully in fulfillment of a mortal man's wishes, let him not sacrifice to his own drag, as Habakkuk expresses it, nor let him speak of his own prudence, virtue, or good fortune, nor give that praise to man nor to any creature which is due to God alone, but let him feel assured that God was the first cause and author of all his good. through what secondary medium whatsoever it came. And in the case of all preceding adversities, let a man rest in the consolation that all took place according to the good pleasure of God. For by complaining and contending against God, I shall profit myself nothing, and shall bind myself in the chain of the guilt of impious obstinacy against my Maker. and let a man so entertain the memory of his past life as to acknowledge in all the punishments he has endured the sins he has committed which caused them. With reference to the time future, the providence of God is to be contemplated by all godly minds thus, that the minds of the godly be ever intently fixed on God's promises and threatenings. For as soon as their minds turn aside from these, they are shut up against all instruction in the fear of God, and the progress of faith ceases. But he who shall always keep his eye fixed on the omnipotence of God, as seen in the glass of his word, and shall rely on his promises therein also contained, will mount on the wings of faith above all the countless perils of the world, and then, bowing before the threatenings of God, also be held in his word He will humble himself unto the sight of them as so many rods. When I spoke of the providence of God being viewed with its medians, my meaning was this. If anyone shall have assisted his fellow man when sunk under an extremity of distress, the deliverance rendered by the hand of man is not a human, but a divine deliverance. The sun rises day by day, but it is God that enlightens the earth by His rays. The earth brings forth her fruits, but it is God that gives bread, and it is God that gives strength by the nourishment of that bread. In a word, as all inferior and secondary causes viewed in themselves veil like so many curtains the glorious God from our sight, which they too frequently do, the eye of faith must be cast up far higher, that it may behold the hand of God working by all these his instruments. But in what manner the providence of God can work without any medium or instrument at all, Christ taught us by His own example when He repelled the assaulting tempter with this shield, Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live. Matthew 4.4 For as the Redeemer knew that the power of God needed no external support, whatever, So he knew that he could supply that strength without bread, which he is nevertheless mercifully pleased to supply by means of bread. And oh, what glory is due to the providence of God when viewed contrary to all means, media! When I am persuaded that it is mightier than all obstacles than that can oppose it. By this confidence alone I am conqueror of every fear or apprehension. Indeed, this is the very wrestling school in which God exercises and tries our faith. When so many obstacles present themselves before us, which seem likely to prevent His designs as we view them, how many creatures appear in a threatening form above and below, in heaven and on earth, and what in such case is to be done? If our faith can but mount up to the divine height of the power of God, it will combat and conquer with no great trouble all the media which stand in its way and which strive to prevent its victory. Whosoever therefore shall restrain himself within these bounds, and shall neither torture himself with perplexed speculations, nor make an excuse for indolence because he hears that God alone doeth all things, Such a one shall neither sink under despair nor turn aside to frivolous reasonings which are wholly unbecoming in the presence of the Majesty of God. But we must now examine this sacred subject still more narrowly. Whence arise contentions about the providence of God? The divine providence itself, rightly considered and contemplated as it ought to be, genders no contentions. But human reason, when considering the works of God, finding itself blind, rushes into a quarrel with its maker. But what marvel if those counsels of God harmonized not with fleshly reason which the angels with uplifted eyes wonder at and adore! This depravity, however, is utterly intolerable that we, who by nature are hardly gifted with worthiness to creep as worms on the earth, should approve of nothing but that which, as if lying on the ground, we can look down upon with our natural eyes. But in order that this divine doctrine of the providence of God may become profitable, it will be, we hope, a useful labor in us thus to calm the minds of the ignorant and inexperienced and to refute the slanders of the wicked and profane. For these ends it will be desirable to consider, in the first place, that the will of God is the great cause of all things that are done in the whole world, and yet that God is not the author of the evils that are done therein. But I will not say with Augustine which, however I readily acknowledge to have been truly said by him, in sin or in evil there is nothing positive." For this is an acuteness of argument which, to many, may not be satisfactory. I would rather assume another principle of argument and say, quote, Those things which are vainly or unrighteously done by man are, rightly and righteously, the works of God, end quote. And if this should appear to some at first sight to be paradoxical or self-contradictory, Let not such be so fastidious or hasty or not to inquire with me into the word of God and see how the divine matter stands as viewed in that glass. But again, that I may not defend anything with senseless pertinency as belonging properly to God. which I have only ascribed to Him myself by my own opinion, let us hear what the Scripture really testifies, and let us form our definition of the works of God wholly from thence. As to all those things which God really directs by His counsel, but which as generally viewed seem to be fortuitous, concerning all such things the clear testimony of the Scripture runs thus, The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16.33 In like manner, if a branch falling from a tree, or an axe slipping out of a man's hand, unaware, should fall upon the head of a passerby and kill him, Moses testifies that God did this according to his divine purpose. Deuteronomy 19.5 Who willed that that man should be killed? Other scripture testimonies to the same purport I here advisedly leave unadduced, because my intention is only to point at them with my finger on the present occasion. But since the Stoics found on such arguments as these their doctrines of necessity, the true doctrine of the will and purpose of God, is hateful to many, even to those who dare not condemn it as false, but this doctrine of Stoical necessity is an old calumny laid upon us under the burdens of which Augustine frequently complained that he was bowed down. It ought to have ceased long ere this, but certainly for men professing any honesty or candor or faith to lay such a reproach upon us is most unworthy of them and most disgraceful. What the vain imagination of the Stoics was is well known. They wove their doctrine of fate out of Gordias's web of complex causes, in which, when they had entangled God himself, they fabricated certain golden chains, as the fables have it, to bind the very God of heaven and to make him subject to inferior and secondary causes. The Stoics are imitated by the astrologers of the present day who make their doctrine of fated necessity out of certain positions of the stars. We leave the Stoics then to their doctrine of fate while we acknowledge the will of God to be the ruling cause of all things. But to take contingency out of the world altogether would be absurd. I admit to notice here those various distinctions which are made in the schools. That which I shall adduce shall be simple in my judgment, and not strained, and also that which shall be profitable for the conduct of life. I would argue, then, in this manner, what God hath decreed must necessarily come to pass. Yet so, that which does thus come to pass is not in itself really and naturally a necessity. We have a familiar illustration of this in the bones of Christ our Lord. The Scripture plainly testifies that Christ assumed a body and all things like unto ours. Wherefore, no man in his senses will hesitate to confess that the bones of Christ's body were frangible like our own. There appears to me, however, to be another and separate question involved in this matter, whether any bone of Christ should be broken. For, according to God's decree and word, it was necessary that all the parts of his body should remain whole, unbroken, and uninjured. Not that I am thus speaking and arguing because I wholly object to the received forms of expression, when men speak of necessity as being, in one sense, absolute, or when they speak of the necessity of the consequent or the necessity of the consequence. But I speak thus, and argue thus, that no subtlety of reasoning might prevent the simplest reader from understanding and acknowledging the truth of what I testify. If, therefore, we consider the nature of the bones of the body of Christ, they were frangible, or capable of being broken. But if we look at the decree of God which was fulfilled in its time, the bones of Christ's body were no more subject to fracture than the angels are subject to human sorrows. In this case, therefore, when we are required to look into the law and order of nature as appointed of God, I by no means reject the contingency involved in my sense and meaning of such contingency. This ends tape number one of a reading of A Defense of the Secret Providence of God by John Calvin. This Reformation audio resource is a production of Still Waters Revival Books. 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