Divine Providence

(Various authors)

To suppose that temporal things are too little for our condescending God, is to forget that He observes the flight of sparrows, and counts the hairs of His people's heads. Besides, everything is so little to Him, that, if He does not care for the little, He cares for nothing.

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With God there are no contingencies. The mighty Charioteer of Providence has gathered up all the reins of all the horses, and He guides them all according to His infallible wisdom. There is a predestination which concerns all things, from the motion of a grain of dust on the threshing-floor, to that of the flaming comet which blazes athwart the sky. Nothing can happen but what God ordains; and therefore, why should we fear?

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There is as much divine providence in the creeping of an aphid upon a rose leaf, as in the marching of an army to ravage a continent.

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Believer, if your lot in life is a lowly one, you should be satisfied with your earthly portion; for you may rest assured that it is the fittest for you. Unerring wisdom ordained your lot, and selected for you the safest and best condition!

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Blessed is the man who sees God in all the trifles of his life!

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The calamities of earthquake,
the devastations of storm,
the ravages of war, and
all the terrible catastrophes of plague,
have only been co-workers with God-slaves compelled to tug the ship of the divine purpose across the sea of time.

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The insatiable archer (death) is not permitted to shoot his bolts at random-every arrow that flies bears this inscription, "I have a message from God for you!"

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When you have looked at creation-remember providence, which is a prolongation of the creative act. The power which made all things, upholds them.

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It is most important for us to learn that the smallest trifles are as much arranged by the God of providence, as the most startling events. He who counts the stars, has also numbered the hairs of our heads!

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He who believes in God must believe in His providential control of His creation. There is no standing point between this and atheism. There is no half way between an almighty God who works all things according to the good pleasure of His own will-and no God at all. A God who cannot do as He pleases-a God whose will is frustrated, is not a God, and cannot be a God; I could not believe in such a God as that.

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God's providences are but the manifestations of His decrees.
What God does in time, is only what He purposed in eternity.

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We have just published John Flavel's "The Mystery of Providence" 1678.
This is perhaps the best book on Providence ever written, some 160 pages.