The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1 · Chapter 16
¶The .xvi. Chapter. That God by his power dooth monishe and mainteyne the worlde, whiche hym selfe hath created, and by his prouidence doeth gouerne al the partes therof.
BUt it were veray fonde and bare to make God a creatour for a moment, which doeth nothyng sins he hath ones made an ende of his worke. And in this poynte principally ought we to differ from the prophane men, that the presence of the power of God may shine vntounto vsus no lesse in the continuall state of the world, than in the first beginnyng of it. For thoughe the myndes of the very wicked in only beholdyng of the heauen & earth are compelled to rise vp vntounto the creatour, yet hath faith a certain peculiar maner by it self wherby it geueth to god …he whole praise of creation. And therfore serueth that saying of the Apostle, which we before alleged, yt we do not vnderstand but by fayth, that the world was made by the word of God. For vnlesse we passe forward euen vntounto his prouidence, we do not yet rightly conceiue what this meaneth ye God is the creator, howe soeuer we do seeme to comprehende it in mynde, and confesse it with tongue. When the sense of the fleshe hath ones sette before it the power of God in the very creation, it resteth there, and when it procedeth furthest of all, it dooeth nothyng but wey and consider the wysedom, power, and goodnesse of the workeman in making suche a piece of worke (which thinges do of them selues offer and thrust them selues in sight of men whether they will or no) & a certain generall doyng in preseruyng & gouerning ye same, vponupon which dependeth the power of mouyng. Finally it thinketh that the liuely force at the beginning put into all things by God, doth suffise to sustein them. But faith ought to perce deper, that is to say, whom it hath lerned to be the creatour of al things, by and by to gather that the same is the perpetual gouernor & preseruer of them: and that, not by stirryng with an vniuersall motion as wel the whole frame of the worlde, as all the partes therof, but by susteynyng, cherishing & caring for, with singular prouidēce eueryevery one of those thinges yt he hath created euē to ye least sparow. So Dauid after he had fyrst said that the worlde was created by God, by & by descendeth to the continuall course of his prouidence. By the worde of the Lorde (saith he) the heauens were stablished, & all the power therof by the spirite of his mouth.Ps. xxxiii vi. By and by he addeth, The Lord looked down vponupon the sonnes of men. & so the rest that he saith further to ye same effect. For although they doo not al reason so orderly, yet because it were not likely to be beleued that God had care of mens matters, vnlesse he were the maker of the worlde, nor any man doeth earnestly beleue that God made the worlde, vnlesse he be perswaded that God hath also care of hys workes: therefore not without cause Dauid doeth by good order conueye vsus from the one to the other. Generally in dede both the Philosophers doe teach, and mens mindes doe conceiue that all partes of the worlde are quickened wyth the secrete inspiration of God. But yet they atteine not so farre as Dauid both hymselfe procedeth and carryeth all the godly wyth hym,Psa. ciiii.xxvii. saying: all thynges wayte vponupon thee, that thou mayest geue them fode in due season. Thou geuest it to them and they gather it. Thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things. But if thou hide thy face they are troubled. If thou take awaye theyr breath, they dye and returne to theyr dust. Againe if thou sende forth thy Spirite,Acte. xvii xxviii. they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth. Yea although they agree to the saying of Paul, that we hauehave our being and are moued, and do lyue in God, yet are they farre from that earnest felyng of grace, which he commendeth vntounto vsus: because they taste not of gods speciall care wherby alone his fatherly fauor is knowen.
That thys difference maye the better appeare, it is to be knowē, that the Prouidence of God, suche as it is taughte in the Scripture, is in comparison set as contrary to fortune and chaunces that happē by aduenture. Nowe forasmuche as it hath been commonly beleued in al ages, and the same opinion is at thys daye also in a manner in al men, that all thynges happen by fortune, it is certayne, that that which ought to hauehave been beleued concernyng Prouidence, is by that wrong opinion not onelyonly darkened but also in manner buried. If a man light among theues, or wylde beastes, if by wynde sodenly rysen he suffer shipwrack on the sea, if he be kylled wyth the fall of a house or of a tree: if an other wandryng in deserte places fynde remedy for hys pouertie, if hauing been tossed with the waues, he atteine to the hauē, if miraculously he escape but a fynger bredth from death: all these chaunces as well of prosperitie as of aduersitie the reason of the fleshe doeth ascrybe to fortune. But whosoeuer is taught by the mouth of Chryst, that all the heares of hys hed are numbred,Math. x.xix. will seke for a cause further of, and wyll fyrmelye beleue that all chaunces are gouerned by the secrete councell of God. And as concerning thinges without lyfe, thys is to be thought, that although eueryevery one of them hauehave hys owne propertie naturally put into it, yet doe they not put forth their power but only so farre, as they be directed by the present hande of God. They are therefore nothing els but instrumentes, whereby God continually poureth in so much effecte as pleaseth him, and at hys will boweth and turneth them to thys or that doyng. Of no creature is the power more maruellous or more glorious than of the sunne. For besyde that it geueth lyght to the whole worlde wyth hys bryghtnesse, howe greate a thyng is thys that he cherysheth and quickeneth all lyuing creatures wyth hys heate? that he breatheth frutefulnesse into the earth wyth hys beames? that out of sedes warmed in the bosome of the grounde, he draweth a budding grenenesse, and susteyning the same wyth new nouryshmentes doth encrease and strengthen it, tyll it ryse vp in stalkes? That he fedeth it with continuall vapoure till it growe to a floure, and from a floure to fruite? That then also wyth bakyng it he bryngeth it to rypenesse? That trees likewise and vines being warned by him, do first budde and shote forth braunches, and after sende out a flower, and of a flower do engē der frute?Ge. i.iii. But the Lord because he would claime the whole glory of all these thinges to himselfe, made the lighte first to be, and the earth to be furnished with al kindes of herbes and fruites before that he created ye sunne. A godly man therfore wil not make, the sunne to be ether a principal or a necessary cause of those thinges which were before the creation of ye sunne, but only an instrumēt which God vseth because it so pleaseth him, wheras he might leaue it & do al thinges as easily by himselfe. Then when we rede yt the sunne stode stil two daies in one degree at yt praier of Iosua,Ios, x.xiii ii. Kin. xx.xi, and yt the shadowe thereof went backe ten degrees for Ezechias his sake, by those fewe miracles God hath declared that the sunne doth not daily so rise and go down by blinde instincte of nature, but yt he to renew the remēbraūce of his fatherly fauor toward vsus, doth gouerne the course therof. Nothing is more natural than spryng tyde to come immediatly after wīter, somer after spryng, & haruest in course after sommer. But in this orderly course is plainly seen so great and so vnegal diuersitie, that it may easily appere that eueryevery yere, monethmonth and day, is gouerned by a new and speciall Prouidence of God.
And truely God doth claime and will hauehave vsus geue vntounto him an almightinesse, not such as the Sophisters do imagine, vaine, idle, and as it were sleping, but waking, effectual, working and busied in continual doing. Nor such a one as is only a general beginning of a cōfused motion, as if he would commaunde a ryuer to flowe by hys appointed chanels, but such a one as is bent and redy at al his particular mouinges. For he is therfore called almighty, not because he can do and yet sytteth stil and doth nothing, or by general instinct only continueth the order of nature that he hath before appointed: but because he gouernyng both heauen and earth, by his Prouidence so ordreth all thynges yt nothyng chaunceth but by hys aduised purpose.Ps. cxv.iii For whereas it is sayed in the Psalme yt he doth whatsoeuer he will, therin is meant his certayn & determined will. For it were very fond to expound the Prophets wordes after the Philosophers maner, yt God is the first Agent or doer, because he is the beginning and cause of al mouing: wheras the faithful ought rather in aduersitie to ease themselues with thys comfort, that they suffer nothyng but by the ordinaunce and commaundement of God, because they are vnderunder hys hande. If then the gouernemente of God do so extende to al his workes, it is a very childishe cauillation to enclose it within the influence of nature. And yet they doe no more defraude God of his glory than themselues of a most profitable doctrine, whosoeuer do restrayn the Prouidence of God within so narrowe boundes, as if he suffred al thynges to be carryed wyth an vngouerned course according to a perpetual law of nature. For nothyng were more miserable than man if he should be left subiect to eueryevery motion of the heauen, the aire, the earth and the waters. Besyde yt by that meane the singular goodnesse of God towarde eueryevery man is to much vnhonorably diminished. Dauid cryeth out that babes yet hāgyng on their mothers brestes are eloquent enough to magnify ye glory of God,Psa. viii.iii. because euē so sone as they be come out of the wombe, they fynde fode prepared for thē by his heauenly care. This is in dede generally true, so yt yet our eyes & senses ouerpasse not that vnmarked which experyence playnly sheweth, that some mothers hauehave ful and plentifull brestes, some other almost dry, as it pleaseth God to fede one more liberally, and an other more scarcelye… But they which geue the due prayse to the almightinesse of God, do receiue double profit therby, the one that he hath sufficiently large abilitie to do them good, in whoes possession are both heauen and earth, and to whoes becke al creatures do attend vponupon, to yeld themselues to his obedience: the other, that they may safely reste in his protection, to whoes wil are subiect al these hurtful thynges that may any way be feared, by whoes authorite as with a bridle Satā is restrained with al his furies and al his preparation, vponupon whoes beck doth hang all that euer is against our safetie. And no other way but this can the immesurable and superstitious feares be corrected or appeased, which we oftentimes conceiue by daungers happening vntounto vsus. Superstitiously fearfull I saye we be, if where creatures do threaten vsus or geue vsus any cause of feare, we be so afrayed therof, as if they had of th…mselues any force or power to do vsus harme, or did vnforeseen or by chaunce hurt vsus, or as if against the hurtes that they do,Ier. x.ii. there were not sufficient helpe in God. As for example. The Prophete forbyddeth the children of God that they shold not feare the sterres and sygnes of the heauen, as the vnbeleuers are wont to do. He condemneth not eueryevery kynde of feare. But whē the vnbeleuers to geue away the gouernement of the worlde from God vntounto Planets, do fayne yt their felicitie or misery doth hang on ye decrees and foreshewinges of the starres, and not on the wil of God, so commeth it to passe that their feare is withdrawen away from that onelyonly one, whō they ought to hauehave regarded, vntounto the starres and comets. Whoso therfore wil beware of this vnfaythfulnesse, lette hym kepe alwayes in remembraunce that there is not in the creatures a wādryng power, working or motiō, but that they are gouerned by the secrete counsel of God, so that nothing can chaunce but that which is decreed by hym both witting and willing it so to be.
First therfore let the readers learne, that Prouidence is called yt, not wherwith God idlely beholdeth from heauen what is done in ye world, but wherewith as guiding the sterne he sitteth and ordreth al thynges that come to passe. So doth it no lesse belong to his handes than to his eies. For when Abraham sayed vntounto hys sonne. God shal prouide, he meant not onelyonly that God dyd forknowe the successe then to come,Gen. xxii.viii. but that he did cast the care of a thing to hym vnknowen vponupon the will of God, which is wont to bring thinges doutful and confused to a certaine end. Wherby foloweth that Prouidence consisteth in doing: for to much fondely doo many trifle in talkyng of bare forknowledge. Their error is not altogyther so grosse whiche geue vntounto God a gouernement but disordered, and without aduised choise, (as I hauehave before sayd,) yt is to saye suche as whirleth and driueth aboute with a generall motion the frame of the worlde with all the partes therof, but doeth not peculiarly directe the doyng of eueryevery creature. Yet is this error not tollerable. For as they teache, it may be (notwithstanding this Prouidence which they cal vniuersal) that al creatures may be moued by chaūce, or man maye turne hymselfe hether or thether by fre choise of his wil. And so doe they part ye gouernemēt betwene God & man, yt God by his power inspireth into mā a motion wherby he may worke according to ye nature planted in hym, and mā ordereth his own doinges by his own volūtary aduise: Briefely they meane that the world, mens matters, and mē themselues are gouerned by the power, but not by the appointmente of God. I speake not of the Epicureans (which pestilence the worlde hath alwaye been fylled wyth) which dreame of an idle and slouthful God: and other as mad as they, whiche in old tyme imagined that God did so rule aboue the middle region of the ayre, that he left thinges benethe to Fortune: for against so euident madnesse the dumme creatures themselues do sufficiently crye out. For now my purpose is to confute that opinion that is in a manner commonly beleued, which geuing to God a certain blinde, and I wote not what vncertayne motion, taketh from him the principall thinge, that is by his incomprehensible wisedome to directe and dispose al thinges to their ende: and so in name onelyonly and not in dede it maketh God a ruler of the world, because it taketh from him the gouernement of it. For what (I beseche you) is it els to gouerne, but so to be ouer them that are vnderunder thee, that thou mayest rule them by appointed order? Yet do I not altogether reiect that which is spokē of the vniuersall Prouidence: so that they will agayne graunte me this, that the world is ruled by God, not onelyonly because he mainteineth the order of nature whiche himselfe hath set, but also because he hath a peculiar care of eueryevery one of hys workes. Trew it is that al sortes of things are moued by a secret instinct of nature, as if they did obey the eternal commaundement of God, and that that which God hath ones determyned doth of it selfe procede forwarde. And hereunto may yt be applied which Christ sayeth, that he and his father were euen from the beginning alway workyng.Act. xvii.xxviii, Heb. i.iii. And that which Paule teacheth that in him we liue, are moued & hauehave our beyng, and that which ye author of the Epystle to the Hebrues, meanyng to proue the Godhead of Christ sayeth, that by hys mightie commaundement al thinges are susteyned. But they do wrong which by this color do hide & darken the speciall Prouidence, whiche is cōfirmed by so certain & plain testimonies of Scripture, that it is maruell that any man could dout of it. And surely they thēselues that drawe thesame veile which I speake of to hide it, are cōpelled by way of correctiō to adde, that many thyngs ar don by ye peculiar care of god, but then they do wrongfully restrayn thesame onelyonly to peculiar doinges. Wherfore we muste proue that God doth so geue hede to the gouernement of the successes of al thyngs, and that they al do so procede from his determyned counsell that nothyng happeneth by chaunce.
If we graūt that ye beginning of motiō belōgeth to God, but that all things are either of thēselues or by chaūce caried whether ye inclination of nature driueth thē, ye mutual succeding by turnes of daies & nightes, of winter & sōmer, shalbe ye work of God, insomuch as he appointing to eueryevery one their duties hath set thē a certaine law, yt is if they shoulde alway kepe one measure in egal proportiō, as wel ye dayes yt come after ye nightes, ye moneths after monethes, & yeres after yeres. But whē somtime immoderate hetes wt drynesse do burne vp al ye grain, somtime vnseasonable raines do mar ye corne, when sodein harme cōmeth by hayle & tempestes: yt shal not be ye worke of God, vnlesse parhap it be because the cloudes or faire wether or colde or heate hauehave their beginning of ye meting of the planetes or other naturall causes. But by this meane is there no roume left, nether for ye fatherly fauour nor for the iudgemēts of God. If they say yt God is beneficial enough to mankinde because he poureth into the heauē & earth an ordinary power, wherby they do find him nourishment: yt is to vaine and prophane an inuention, as though the frutefulnesse of one yere wer not the singular blessing of God, and dearth and famine wer not his curse & vēgeaunce? But because it wer to long to gather together al the resons yt serue for this purpose, let the authoritie of God himselfe suffice vsus. In the law & in the Prophetes he doth oftētimes pronoūce, yt so oft as he watereth the earth with deaw & rayne, he declareth his fauor, & that whē by his cōmaundemēt the heauen is hardened like irō, whē corne is consumed wt blasting and other harmes, when the fieldes are strykē wt hayle & tempestes, it is a tokē of his certayne & special vengeaūce. If we graunt these things, then is it assured yt there falleth not a drop of rain but by the certaine commaundement of God.Ps, cxlvi.ix. Dauid prayseth the general Prouidēce of God, that he geueth meate to the rauens birdes ye cal vponupon him: but when God himselfe threatneth famine to lyuing creatures, doth he not sufficiently declare yt he fedeth al liuing thinges somtime with scarce and sometime wt more plenteful portiō as he thinketh good? It is a childish thing as I said before,Math. x.xxix. to restrain this to particular doīges, wheras Christ speketh wtout exception, yt not a sparrow of neuer so smal a price doth fal to the groūde wtout the wil of his father. Surely if ye flyeng of birdes be ruled by the purpose of God,Ps. xii.v. thē must we nedes confesse with ye Prophet, yt he so dwelleth on hye, that yet he humbleth himself to loke vpō at thinges that chaunce in heauen and earth.
But because we know yt ye world was made principally for mākindes sake, we must therfore cōsider this end in ye gouernāce of man. The prophete Hieremy cryeth out.Hier. x.xxiii. I know, Lorde, yt the waye of man is not his own, nether belongeth it to man to direct his own steppes. And Salomon saieth,Prou. xx.xxiiii. the steps of man are ruled by the lord, and how shall a man dispose his own way? Now let thē say yt mā is moued by God according to ye inclinatiō of his own nature, but yt man hymselfe doth turne ye mouing whether it pleaseth him. But if that wer truely sayd, then shoulde man hauehave the free choise of his own wayes. Paraduēture they wil deny that, because he can do nothing wtout the power of God. But seing it is certain that the Prophete and Salomon do geue vntounto God, not only power but also choise and appointment, they can not so escape away. But Salomō in an other place doth finely rebuke this rashenesse of men, that apoint vntounto themselues an other ende wtout respect of God, as though they were not led by hys hande.Pro xvi.i The preparations (saith he) of the hart are in man, but the answer of the tong is of the Lord. It is a fonde madnesse that mē wil take vponupon thē to doe thinges wtout God, which can not so muche as speake but what he wil. And the Scripture to expresse more plaīly yt nothing at al is done in ye world but by his appointmēt, sheweth yt those things which seme most happening by chāce ar subiect to him.Exo, xxi, xiii. For what cā you more ascribe to chāce, thā whē a brokē bowe falling frō a tre killeth a wayfaring mā passing bi it? But the lord saith far otherwise, which cōfesseth yt he hath deliuered hī into ye hād of the slaier. Likewise who doth not leaue the happening of lettes to the blindnesse of fortune▪ But the Lord suffereth it not which claimeth the iudgement of them to hymselfe: for he sayeth that it cōmeth not to passe by a mās own power that stones are cast into the lap and drawen oute agayne,Pro. xvi.xxxiii. but that thyng which onelyonly might be sayed to come of chaunce he testifieth to come from hym selfe. For the same purpose maketh that sayeng of Salomon. The poore man and the vsurer mete together, God lyghteneth both their eyes. For although poore men and riche be mīgled together in ye world, while eueryevery one hath his state assigned him frō God, he admonisheth yt god which geueth light to al mē is not blind, and so he exhorteth ye poore to pacience, because whosoeuer are not contented wt their own state, they seke to shake of ye burden yt god hath laied vponupon thē. So an other Prophet rebuketh ye vngodly mē, whiche ascribe to the diligence of men or to Fortune, that some lie in misery and some aryse vp to honor. To come to preferment is neither from the easte nor from the west nor from the south,Psa. lxxv vii. for God is the iudge, he maketh low and he maketh hie. Because God can not put of ye office of a iudge, thervpon the Prophet proueth that by his secret purpose some ar in honor, and other some remayne in contempt.
And also I say yt the very particular successes are generally witnesses of gods singular prouidēce.Exo, xix.xiii. God raised in ye desert a south wind to bring the people plenty of foules: whē his pleasure was to hauehave Ionas throwen into the sea,Ioh. i.vi. he sent out a winde to raise vp a tempest. But they that thinke yt God gouerneth not the world, will saye yt this chaunced beside common vse. But therby I do gather yt neuer any wind doth rise or encrese but by the special cōmaundemēt of God. For otherwise it shoulde not be true,Psa. ciiii iiii. that he maketh the windes his messangers, and fiery flame his ministers, yt he maketh the cloudes his chariots and rideth vpō the winges of the wind, vnlesse he did by his will dryue aboute the cloudes and windes, and shewe in them the singular presence of his power. So in an other place we are taught that so oft the sea swelleth with blast of windes,Psa, cvii.xxv. those violences do testifye a singular presence of God. He commaūdeth and raiseth vp the stormy wyndes and it lifteth vp the waues thereof, and then he turneth the storme to calme, so that the waues thereof are still. As in an other place he saieth, that he scourged the people with burning windes. So wheras the power of engendring is naturally geuen to men, yet God willeth to it be imputed to his special grace, that he leaueth some in barrennesse, and vouchsaueth to graunt issue to other some,Ge. xxx.ii the frute of the wōbe is hys gift. Therfore said Iacob to hys wyfe, am I as God yt I can geue thee children? But to make an ende: there is nothing more ordinary in nature than that we be fed with bred. But the Holy ghost pronounceth that not only the growing of the fruites of the earth is the speciall gift of God, but also that men lyue not by onelyonly bread, because it is not the very full feding that nourisheth, but the secret blessing of God:Esa. iii i, as on the other syde he threteneth that he wil breake the stay of bred. Nether could we earnestly pray for our dayly bred, vnlesse God did geue vsus fode with hys fatherly hande. Therfore ye Prophet,Ps. cxxxvi to perswade the faythfull,Ps… xx, iiii, xvi.xvii, that God in feding thē doth fulfil the office of a good father of household, doth put thē in minde that he geueth meate to al fleshe. Finally when we hauehave on ye one syde: The eyes of the Lord are vponupon the righteous, & hys eares bent to their praiers: on the other side: The eie of the Lord is vponupon ye vngodly to destroy the memory of thē out of ye earth: let vsus know yt all creatures both aboue & beneth are ready to obedience yt he may apply them to what vse soeuer he wil, wherupon is gathered yt not onelyonly his general prouidēce remaineth in his creatures to cōtinue ye order of nature, but also by his maruellous counsell is applied to a certayne and proper ende.
They which would bring this doctrine in hatred, doe cauill yt this is the learning yt the Stoikes teach of fatum or Destenie,Lib. 2. a… boni. ca. vi. which also was ones laied for reproch to Augustine. As for vsus, although we be loth to striue about words, yet we allow not this word fatum, both because it is one of those whoes prophane noueltie S. Paul teacheth vsus to flee, and because some men go about with the odiousnesse therof to bring Gods truth in hatred. As for ye very opinion of ye Stoikes, it is wrōgfully laid to our charge. For we do not, as ye Stoikes do, imagine a necessitie by a certaine perpetual knot & entangled order of causes which is conteyned in nature: but we make God the iudge & gouernoure of al thinges, which according to his wisdom hath euen frō furthest ende of eterntie decreed what he would do, & now by his power putteth in execution yt which he hath decreed. Wherupō we affirme yt not only ye heauē & earth and other creatures without life, but also ye purposes & wils of mē are so gouerned by his Prouidence, yt they be directly caried to ye end that it appointeth. What then? wil one say, doth nothing happen by fortune or by chaunce? I answere yt Basilius magnus hath truly said yt fortune and chaunce are heathen mens wordes, wyth the signification wherof the mindes of the godly ought not to be occupied. For if eueryevery good successe be the blessing of God, & eueryevery calamitie & aduersitie be his curse, now is there in mens matters no place left for fortune or chaūce. We ought also to be moued wt thys saying of Augustine.Retr. li. … capi. i, In his bokes against the Academikes he saith. It doth displease me yt I hauehave so ofte named fortune, albeit my meaning was not to hauehave any goddesse meant therby, but only a chaūceable happening in outward things ether good or euil Of which word Fortune are deriued those words which no religiō forbiddeth vsus to vse, forte, forsan, forsitan, fortasse, fortuito, yt is parhap, paraduenture, by fortune & by chaunce, which yet must al be applied to the Prouidēce of God. And yt did I not leaue, vnspoken when I sayd, for parchaunce euen the same yt is commonly called Fortune is also ruled by secret order. And we cal chaūce in things nothing els but yt whereof the reasō & cause is vnknowen. I said this in dede, but it repenteth me that I did there so name Fortune. Forasmuch as I se yt mē hauehave a very euil custome, yt where they ought to say, thus it pleased God, they say thus it pleased fortune. Finally he doth commonly in his bokes teach, that the world should be vnorderly whirled about if any thyng wer left vntounto Fortune. And although in an other place he determineth that al thyngs are done partly by the free wil of mā, & partly by the Prouidēce of God, yet doth he a little after sufficiently shew that men are subiecte vntounto & ruled by Prouidence, taking this for a principle, that nothing is more agaynst conuenience of reason, than to say that any thyng chaunceth but by the ordinance of God, for els it should happē without cause or order by whiche reason he also excludeth that happening that hangeth vppon the will of men: and by and by after he playnlyer sayeth that we oughte not to seke a cause of the will of God.Quest. li. 83. De Tri. li. 3. cap. 4. And so ofte as he maketh mention of sufferaunce, howe that is to be vnderstanded shall very well appeare by one place where he proueth that the wyll of God is the soueraigne and first cause of al thinges, because nothing happeneth but by his commaundemente or sufferaunce. Surely he faineth not God to sit stil idle in a watch toure, when it is hys pleasure to suffer any thyng, whereas he vseth an actuall wyll (as I may so cal it) whiche otherwyse could not be called a cause.
But forasmuch as ye dullnesse of our vnderstāding can not by a great way atteine to the height of gods prouidēce, we must vse a distinctiō to helpe to lift it vp. I say therfore, how soeuer al thinges are ordeined by the purpose and certayne disposition of God, yet to vsus they are chaunsable, not that we thynke that fortune ruleth the world and men, and vnaduisedly tosseth all thynges vp and down (for suche beastlynesse ought to be farre from a Chrystyan harte) but because the order, meane, ende and necessitie of those thynges that happen, doeth for the moste parte lye secrecte in the purpose of God, and is not comprehended wyth opinion of man, therfore those thinges are as it were chaūsable, which yet it is certaine to come to passe by the wil of God. For they seme no otherwise, whether we cōsider them in their own nature, or whether we esteme them according to our knowledge and iudgement. As for an example, let vsus put the case, that a merchaunte being entred into a wod in company of true men, doeth vnwisely stray away from his felowes, and …n his wandring chaūceth vponupon a denne of robbers, lighteth amōg theues and is killed,Io. xiiii.v his death was not only foreseen with goddes eye, but also determined by his decree. For it is not saied that he did foresee how farre ech mans life should extende, bu… that he hath set and appointed markes which can not be passed. And yet so farre as the capacitie of our minde conceiueth, all thinges herein seme happening by chaunce. What shall a Christian here thinke? euen this, whatsoeuer happened in such a death, he wil thinke it in nature chauncing by fortune as it is in dede, but yet he will not doubt that the prouidence of God did gouerne to directe fortune to her ende. In like manner are the happeninges of thynges to come. For as al thinges that be to come are vncertaine vntounto vsus, so we hang them in suspense, as if they might fal on either parte, yet this remaineth settled in our hartes, that nothing shall happen but that which God hath already foreseen. In this meaning is the name of chaunce oft repeted in Ecclesiastes, because at the first sight men doe not atteine to see the first cause which is farre hidden from them. And yet that which is declared in the Scriptures concerning the secret prouidence of God, was neuer so blotted out of the hartes of men, but that euen in the darkenesse there alway shined some sparkes therof. So the sothsayers of the Philistians, although they wauer in doutfulnesse, yet they ascrybe aduersitie partly to God partly to fortune. If (say they) the arke go that way,i Sam. vi, ix we shal know that it is God that hath strykē vsus: but if it go the other way, then a chaunce hath light vponupon vsus. In dede they did folishly, when their conning of soth saying deceiued them, to flee to fortune, but in the meane whyle we see them constrayned, so that they dare not thinke that the euil happe which chaunced vntounto them did come of fortune. But how God with the brydle of hys prouidence turneth al successes whether pleaseth him, may appeare by one notable example. Beholde euen at one moment of time,i. Samu. xxiii.xxvi. whē Dauid was founde out and nere taken in the desert of Mahon, euen then the Philistines inuaded the land, and Saul was compelled to depart. If God meaning to prouide for the safetie of his seruaunt did cast this let in Sauls way, surely although the Philistines going to armes were sodein and beside the expectation of men, yet may we not say that it came by chaunce. But those thynges that seme to vsus to happen by chaune, fayth wil acknowledge to hauehave been a secret mouing of God. I graunt there doth not alwaye appeare the like reason, but vndoutedly we ought to beleue that whatsoeuer changes of thinges are seen in the worlde, they come by the secret sturring of the hand of God. But that which God purposeth is so of necessitie to com to passe, that yet it is not of necessitie precisely nor by the nature of it self. As therof is a familiar exāple in ye bones of Christ, Forasmuch as he had put on a bodie like vntounto ours, no wise mā will deny that his bones were naturally able to be broken, yet was it impossible that they shuld be broken: whereby we see againe that not without cause were in scholes inuented the distinctions of necessitie in respect, and necessitie absolute, of consequent and consequence, where as God had subiect to bricklenesse the bones of his sonne, which he had exempted from beyng able to be broken, and so brought to necessitie by reason of his owne purpose, that that thyng coulde not bee, whiche naturally myght hauehave ben.