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Providence, then, is the care that God takes over existing things.
And again: Providence is the will of God through which all existing
things receive their fitting issue. But if Providence is God's
will, according to true reasoning all things that come into being
through Providence must necessarily be both most fair and most
excellent, and such that they cannot be surpassed. For the same
person must of necessity be creator of and provider for what exists:
for it is not meet nor fitting that the creator of what exists and the
provider should be separate persons. For in that case they would both
assuredly be deficient, the one in creating, the other in providing.
God therefore is both Creator and Provider, and His creative and
preserving and providing power is simply His good-will. For
whatsoever the Lard pleased that did He in heaven and in earth, and
no one resisted His will. He willed that all things should be and
they were. He wills the universe to be framed and it is framed, and
all that He wills comes to pass.
That He provides, and that He provides excellently, one can most
readily perceive thus. God alone is good and wise by nature. Since
then He is good, He provides: for he who does not provide is not
good. For even men and creatures without reason provide for their own
offspring according to their nature, and he who does not provide is
blamed. Again, since He is wise, He takes the best care over what
exists.
When, therefore, we give heed to these things we ought to be filled
with wonder at all the works of Providence, and praise them all, and
accept them all without enquiry, even though they are in the eyes of
many unjust, because the Providence of God is beyond our ken and
comprehension, while our reasonings and actions and the future are
revealed to His eyes alone. And by "all" I mean those that are not
in our hands: for those that are in our power are outside the sphere of
Providence and within that of our Free-will.
Now the works of Providence are partly according to the good-will(of
God) and partly according to permission. Works of good-will include
alL those that are undeniably good, while works of permission are
....... For Providence often permits the just man to encounter
misfortune in order that he may reveal to otHers the virtue that lies
concealed within him, as was the case with Job. At other times it
allows something strange to be done in order that something great and
marvellous might be accomplished through the seemingly-strange act, as
when the salvation of men was brought about through the Cross. In
another way it allows the pious man to suffer sore trials in order that
he may not depart from a right conscience nor lapse into pride on
account of the power and grace granted to him, as was the case with
Paul.
One man is forsaken for a season with a view to another's
restoration, in order that others when they see his state may be taught
a lesson, as in the case of Lazarus and the rich man. For it belongs
to our nature to be east down when we see persons in distress. Another
is deserted by Providence in order that another may be glorified, and
not for his own sin or that of his parents, just as the man who was
blind from his birth ministered to the glory of the Son of Man.
Again another is permitted to suffer in order to stir up emulation in
the breasts of others, so that others by magnifying the glory of the
sufferer may resolutely welcome suffering in the hope of future glory
and the desire for future blessings, as in the case of the martyrs.
Another is allowed to fall at times into some act of baseness in order
that another worse fault may be thus corrected, as for instance when
God allows a man who takes pride in his virtue and righteousness to
fall away into fornication in order that he may be brought through this
fall into the perception of his own weakness and be humbled and approach
and make confession to the Lord.
Moreover, it is to be observed that the choice of what is to be done
is in our own hands: but the final issue depends, in the one case when
our actions are good, on the cooperation of God, Who in His justice
brings help according to His foreknowledge to such as choose the good
with a right conscience, and, in the other case when our actions are
to evil, on the desertion by God, Who again in His justice stands
aloof in accordance with His foreknowledge.
Now there are two forms of desertion: for there is desertion in the
matters of guidance and training, and there is complete and hopeless
desertion. The former has in view the restoration and safety and glory
of the sufferer, or the rousing of feelings of emulation and imitation
in others, or the glory of God: but the latter is when man, after
God has done all that was possible to save him, remains of his own set
purpose blind and uncured, or rather incurable, and then he is handed
over to utter destruction, as was Judas. May God be gracious to
us, and deliver us from such desertion.
Observe further that the ways of God's providence are many, and they
cannot be explained in words nor conceived by the mind.
And remember that all the assaults of dark and evil fortune contribute
to the salvation of those who receive them with thankfulness, and are
assuredly ambassadors of help.
Also one must bear in mind that God's original wish was that all
should be saved and come to His Kingdom. For it was not for
punishment that He formed us but to share in His goodness, inasmuch
as He is a good God. But inasmuch as He is a just God, His will
is that sinners should suffer punishment.
The first then is called God's antecedent will and pleasure, and
springs from Himself, while the second is called God's consequent
will and permission, and has its origin in us. And the latter is
two-fold; one part dealing with matters of guidance and training, and
having in view our salvation, and the other being hopeless and leading
to our utter punishment, as we said above. And this is the case with
actions that are not left in our hands.
But of actions that are in our hands the good ones depend on His
antecedent goodwill and pleasure, while the wicked ones depend neither
on His antecedent nor on His consequent will, but are a concession to
free-will For that which is the result of compulsion has neither
reason nor virtue in it. God makes provision for all creation and
makes all creation the instrument of His help and training, yea often
even the demons themselves, as for example in the cases of Job and the
swine.
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