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Bible Encyclopedias
Providence
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or The word Providence originally meant foresight. By a well-known figure of speech, called metonymy, we use a word denoting the means by which we accomplish anything to denote the end accomplished; we exercise care over anything by means of foresight, and indicate that care by the word foresight. On the same principle the word Providence is used to signify the care God takes of the universe. As to its inherent nature, it is the power which God exerts, without intermission, in and upon all the works of His hands. But defined as to its visible manifestations, it is God's preservation and government of all things. As a thing is known by its opposites, the meaning of Providence is elucidated by considering that it is opposed to fortune and fortuitous accidents.
Providence, considered in reference to all things existing, is termed by Knapp universal; in reference to moral beings, special;and in reference to holy or converted beings, particular.
Providence is usually divided into three divine acts: preservation, cooperation, and government.
By preservation is signified the causing of existence to continue.
Co-operation is the act of God which causes the powers of created things to remain in being.
Government, as a branch of Providence, is God's controlling all created things so as to promote the highest good of the whole.
Among the proofs of divine Providence may be reckoned the following—One argument in proof of Providence is analogous to one mode of proving a creation. If we cannot account for the existence of the world without supposing its coming into existence, or beginning to be; no more can we account for the world continuing to exist, without supposing it to be preserved; for it is as evidently absurd to suppose any creature prolonging as producing its own being.
A second proof of Providence results from the admitted fact of creation. Whoever has made any piece of mechanism, therefore takes pains to preserve it. Parental affection moves those who have given birth to children to provide for their sustentation and education. It is both reasonable and Scriptural to contemplate God as sustaining the universe because he made it.
A third proof of Providence is found in the divine perfections. Since, among the divine perfections, are all power and all knowledge, the non-existence of Providence, if there be none, must result from a want of will in God. But no want of will to exercise a Providence can exist, for God wills whatever is for the good of the universe, and for his own glory; to either of which a Providence is clearly indispensable. God therefore has resolved to exercise his power and knowledge so as to subserve the best ends with his creation.
A fourth proof of God's Providence appears in the order which prevails in the universe. That summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, day and night, are fixed by a law, was obvious even to men who never heard of God's covenant with Noah. But our sense of order is keenest where we discern it in apparent confusion. The motions of the heavenly bodies are eccentric and intervolved, yet are most regular when they seem most lawless. They were therefore compared by the earliest astronomers to the discords which blend in a harmony, and to the wild starts which often heighten the graces of a dance. Modern astronomy has revealed to us so much miraculous symmetry in celestial phenomena, that it shows us far more decisive proofs of a Ruler seated on the circle of the heavens, than were vouchsafed to the ancients.
A fifth proof of a Providence is furnished by the fact that so many men are here rewarded and punished according to a righteous law. The wicked often feel compunctious visitings in the midst of their sins, or smart under the rod of civil justice, or are tortured with natural evils. With the righteous all things are in general reversed. The miser and envious are punished as soon as they begin to commit their respective sins; and some virtues are their own present reward. But we would not dissemble that we are here met with important objections, although infinitely less, even though they were unanswerable, than beset such as would reject the doctrine of Providence. It is said, and we grant, that the righteous are trodden under foot, and the vilest men exalted; that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong: that virtue starves while vice is fed; and that schemes for doing good are frustrated, while evil plots succeed. But we may reply:
The prosperity of the wicked is often apparent, and well styled a shining misery.
We are often mistaken in calling such or such an afflicted man good, and such or such a prosperous man bad.
The miseries of good men are generally occasioned by their own fault, since they have been so foolhardy as to run counter to the laws by which God acts, or have aimed at certain ends while neglecting the appropriate means.
Many virtues are proved and augmented by trials, and not only proved, but produced, so that they would have had no existence without them.
The unequal distribution of good and evil, so far as it exists, carries our thoughts forward to the last judgment, and a retribution according to the deeds done in the body and can hardly fail of throwing round the idea of eternity a stronger air of reality than it might otherwise wear. All perplexity vanishes as we reflect that, 'He cometh to judge the earth.'
Even if we limit our views to this world, but extend them to all our acquaintance, we cannot doubt that the tendencies, though not always the effects, of vice are to misery, and those of virtue to happiness. These tendencies are especially clear if our view embraces a whole lifetime, and the clearer the longer the period we embrace. Indeed, as soon as we leave what is immediately before our eyes, and glance at the annals of the world, we behold so many manifestations of God, that we may adduce as
A sixth proof of Providence the facts of history. The giving and transmission of a revelation, it has been justly said—the founding of religious institutions, as the Mosaic and the Christian—the raising up of prophets, apostles, and defenders of the faith—the ordering of particular events, such as the Reformation—the more remarkable deliverances noticed in the lives of those devoted to the good of the world, etc.—all indicate the wise and benevolent care of God over the human family. But the historical proof of a Providence is perhaps strongest where the wrath of man has been made to praise God, or where efforts to dishonor God have been constrained to do him honor.
As a seventh ground for believing in Providence, it may be said that Providence is the necessary basis of all religion. For what is religion? One of the best definitions calls it the belief in a superhuman Power, which has great influence in human affairs, and ought therefore to be worshipped. But take away this influence in human affairs, and you cut off all motive to worship. To the same purpose is the text in Hebrews: 'He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of such as diligently seek Him.' If then the religious sentiments thrill us not in vain—if all attempts of all men to commune with God have not always and everywhere been idle—there must be a Providence.
In the eighth place, we may advert to the proof of Providence from the common consent of mankind, with the single exception of atheists.
In the last place, the doctrine of Providence is abundantly proved by the Scriptures.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Providence'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/p/providence.html.
