Providence And grace

Signs Of The Times 1901.

My Beloved Brethren:—Our God is the God of Providence, as he is the God of grace. His revealed word of truth in the Bible abundantly shows this, and it is also fully confirmed and clearly seen in his works of creation. For in all the universe of created existence and being infinite intelligence presides and omnipotent power controls, subjecting all to decreed orbits and limits, and directing all to ordained ends – the glory of the Creator. Were it not so, then God should be defeated, disappointed and frustrated in his infinite design and eternal purpose in his handiworks in the universe. But this cannot be. “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” – {Ps 19:1-4}. God possessed this infinite knowledge from everlasting, before night unto night sheweth it, and his eternal power and Godhead are coequal with his unlimited knowledge and support it; so that he hath ordained the day and the night, fixed all revolving globes in their orbits, gave the sea its decree, appointed the seasons of the year, “set a tabernacle for the sun,” rules the stormy wind and tempest; “He directeth it [the noise of his voice] under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth;” “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou!” Let us read Elihu’s answer to. Job, and be instructed. “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” All this divine truth shows the greatness and majesty, power and wisdom and glory of the God of providence, as the supreme Ruler of all worlds and creatures and things. It denies and excludes chance from the universe, and proves the universal control and dominion of the Almighty. With God there is neither accident nor chance. To say there is, denies his infinite foreknowledge and universal providence, and therefore limits him in both his wisdom and dominion. If chance obtains, providence ceases; both cannot exist. The primary definition of the noun providence in the Standard Dictionary is: “The care, control and guidance exercised by the supreme Being over the universe in all its parts and contents. In its widest sense providence includes (1) foreknowledge, (2) foreordination, and (3) efficacious administration, including preservation and continued government, the last element being all that in ordinary usage is thought of, as, ‘God’s providence in mine inheritance.’ Providence literally means foresight, and then a careful arrangement prepared beforehand for the accomplishment of predetermined ends.” In proof of this the Bible says, “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. “ For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; I am the Lord, and there is none else.” “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” This positively affirms the universal dominion of God’s providence, and shows that not anything can ever arise by blind chance, or exist beyond or outside of his unbounded providence.

In his Church History, pages (552-3), Elder Hassell says, “As for anything occurring ‘by chance,’ or without a cause, no human being can possibly believe such a thing, even if his very life depended upon it; for the human mind is so constituted by the Creator as to necessarily believe that every event has a cause; and the use of the expression by chance,’ simply means that the cause is unknown to the speaker or writer, and not at all that there is no cause. The belief in universal causation is a primitive and fundamental intuition of the human mind. All secondary causes point the thoughtful mind inevitably to the Great First Cause, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent, and to his eternal, sovereign will, either efficient or permissive, in accordance with which all events occur.” He then quotes from Elder J. K. Respess, who said, “There is one thing we all know, and that is, that nothing has happened or can happen by chance, and that smacks so much of decree that it shuts my mouth.” On page 655 he quotes from Elder W. M. Mitchell, who said, “Predestination enters into every rational act of every intelligent creature, and puts them to work to carry out their predestinating plans, and it enters into every act of God, the great Fountain of intelligence. It’s works in nature, providence and grace, are but the development and manifestation of his predestination.” On page 652 are these true remarks: “Much of the language of the inspired writers was designed to comfort and sustain the spirit of God’s people in the midst of the greatest trials, by teaching them that all events are perfectly foreseen by God, and, in a sense, predetermined by him, and will be overruled for good to his afflicted ones. His absolute and universal dominion was constantly present to the minds of the children of God in ancient days. Its effect upon the mind was solemn and impressive, and never suggested the faintest presumption of injustice in God, even when the acts that were sinful in his creatures were traced in another sense to his holy and awful will. The Scripture, accordingly, never hesitates for a moment to ascribe absolute holiness to God, and all the guilt of every sinful act to the sinner.” And just as much is the same truth of the Scriptures “designed to comfort and sustain the spirit of God’s people in the midst of the greatest trials “now, as well as then, and they still need the same “strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” On page 651, Elder Hassell well says, “While God does not incite sinful thoughts in any heart, he is perfectly able to bend and control every sin to the furtherance of his own glory and his people’s good. His knowledge and purpose and power include all events, so that his children may, in one sense, see him in all things, and rejoice that he will make all things work together for their good.” This assurance is certainly a great stay and comfort to me now in the present trial of faith. The poets wrote truly when they declared that,

“God moves in a mysterious way 

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea, 

And rides upon the storm.

His purposes will ripen fast, 

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste, 

But sweet will be the flower.”

“Great God of Providence! thy ways 

Are hid from mortal sight; 

Wrapt in impenetrable shades, 

Or cloth’d with dazzling light.”

God is revealed and known in his grace, and his power and glory declared, even more majestically and blessedly than in his all-wise and almighty providence. For in the manifestation of his sovereign grace, God is shown to be “rich in mercy,” no less than omnipotent in power. The grace and mercy of God, who is blessed for evermore, make known his infinite goodness. His inspired oracles abundantly testify that “The Lord is good.” They also reveal that he is not only the “God of love and peace,” and that his love is great and everlasting, but that “God is love.” The love of God is perfect, then, and this his essence or nature is perfect or infinite holiness. So inherent and immaculate is the holiness of God that he is not only the “holy One,” the “most holy,” but “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” It is most irreverent and awful, then, when any unholy creature will presumptuously speak of the holy Lord God Almighty as “the author of sin” in any case, or if his controlling purpose and determinate counsel extends to and includes all events. The sinful man who thus presumes, thereby assumes to be more wise and more holy than “the only wise God,” who is immutably holy. God will maintain his own glorious holiness, and he needs no self-wise, sinful creature to sit in judgment against the conduct of his Maker, or lay down a line by which Jehovah should be governed in his providence and grace, neither does he need the apologies of vain and foolish man. His sentence is, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God!” “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” “Be still, and know that I am God.”

The holy oracles connect grace with God, and call him “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” Peter then says, “I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.” Paul calls it, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation.” Salvation embraces lost sinners, and they are saved from their sins. The angel said of Jesus, “he shall save his people from their sins.” This is absolute: “He shall save.” In what way? “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Grace is united to the reigning Christ, then, and he to the God of grace and providence. This is the glory of grace, therefore, and thus it is saving grace, and glorious grace, for the God of salvation and glory is its Author and Source, and by his all-conquering and righteous Son grace reigns. So there is neither weakness nor failure in the grace of God. “By grace are ye saved.”

Having seen that this royal princess that reigns unto eternal life is the free gift of the Holy God, unmerited and unbought, and that the King who reigns in righteousness supports grace by his victory over sin and death and the devil, and by his power over all flesh, we may join with Paul in his full ‘assurance of faith and say, “For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” And so not only does grace reign through righteousness unto and over all her favored subjects, but they shall also through the abundance of grace and righteousness reign in life eternal, by her and their Lord of glory. For although sin abounded in and over the people of grace, even unto death, and this monster had shut them up in his boasting prison-house, yet so invincible and mighty is grace that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Yea, so much more that grace saves her people from sin and death and the grave, unto righteousness and life and immortality. This is grace, and this her power and success and glory. Grace, then, is synonymous with salvation and holiness and eternal life. Yea, grace is in everlasting union with God and Jesus and heaven. We do not wonder, therefore, that the inspired ministers of grace uniformly addressed their brethren in grace with the benediction: “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Neither do we feel any amazement that the victorious Christ, by whom grace reigns, assured and comforted his persecuted and buffeted servant with, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Nor are we surprised that Paul, who, as a faithful servant of Christ, said, “By the grace of God I am what I am,” when writing to all the saints and faithful in Christ, and speaking of the holy purpose of God, in the blessing and choice and predestination of his people, “according to the good pleasure of his will,” should proclaim that all this salvation unto holiness is that the saved should be “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” That we should be thus in all the way of salvation, from its beginning in us to its consummation in eternal glory. Hence, says Paul, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Then it shall be perfectly performed, and the saved by grace shall “be holy and without blame before God in love.” In all this good work and way of full salvation much more abounding grace reigns, and reigns through righteousness. This is ordered and sure, for the Lord hath spoken it. This is our great need, but more we do not need, and cannot receive. All the divine record concerning the salvation of sinners is summed up, therefore, in the one confession, “Salvation is of the Lord.” And the way of it is, “The grace of God bringeth salvation.” “For by grace are ye saved.” This salvation is being manifested now, hero in time, and it is the Lord’s begun good work in us, by his much more abounding and reigning grace, but its fullness shall be on heaven’s side of the grave, when all the saved by grace shall joyfully say, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it.” “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Now, forasmuch as the God of reigning grace supremely rules in providence, so that all worlds are subject to his almighty power and control, his providence and his grace are harmonious and concurrent in the accomplishment of his counsel, “according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” Therefore to his people he says, “Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; oven every one that is called by ray name; for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. “ Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power; They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. “ I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honor me, and dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” Thus does the Lord declare his wondrous providence in ruling the nations, his power over the whole earth, and the conquests of his irresistible grace, in gathering together his people in Christ, and saving them out of all countries. “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof.” Providence supreme controlled in all those wonderful and mighty events; and so it does in God’s limitless universe; and parallel with his providence runs the mercy of God to all the ends of the earth, so that his providence is made subservient to his grace in all times and places, and unto all the peoples of the earth, whom he hath from the beginning chosen unto salvation. So the Lord’s arm of supreme power rules for him in providence, as in grace. Knowing this, Paul wrote these wonderful words of faith: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” He knew this by revelation of the truth in the oracles of God, “who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” and who “doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.” So true is this, the Son of God said of the little birds of the air, “Not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father.” This is the providence of God. Providence is universal then, and there is nothing outside of it, for God is omnipresent, is everywhere, and he is the God of providence in all places. Providence does not oppose grace, therefore, but goes hand in hand with it, and both grace and providence work together in the salvation of his people and for their good. If it were not so, then many things in providence, or rather beyond the control of providence, might perchance arise to hinder or obstruct or defeat the purpose of God in his grace, so that there might be disappointment or frustration or woeful failure in the reign of grace, and in the counsel and purpose and will and wish of the God of grace and salvation. But we rejoice that there is no such thing as frustration or defeat or want with the God of providence and grace, who speaks, and it is done, commands, and its stands fast, and who says, “I will do all my pleasure.”

In the manifestation and application of God’s providence in grace, and grace in providence, many instructive and remarkable instances are given in the Bible, a few of which let us notice. First, follow Abraham and his sons Isaac and Jacob and his family, in all their history, from Ur to Canaan, from Canaan to Egypt, and from Egypt up into Canaan again. Note all the mighty events in all this history, the righteous judgments of God upon the Egyptians, the nations of the wilderness, and the seven nations of Canaan; the consequent calamitous wars, until the youthful David, “a man after God’s own heart,” reigned upon the throne of Israel; then behold the wonderful wisdom and power, mercy and grace and love of God through it all, to the people whom he had formed for himself, that they should show forth his praise and glorify the God of their salvation, and with silent awe we must say, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Next, single out the persecuted little Joseph, the loved of his father, and trace him from his father’s bosom, on and on, till the son again wept in the father’s arms down in Egypt; then recount all the overflowing goodness and surpassing compassion of God as the outcome of all the long trial and afflictions of blessed Joseph, and, with David, we shall feelingly say, “The wrath of man shall praise thee, O Lord; and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain.” Again, from the son Joseph follow on to the Son Jesus, who was born in the city of David, where Jacob buried Rachel, the beloved mother of Prince Joseph, near where a multitude of the heavenly host sang praises to God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men;” and consider all the intervening providence of God in his dealings with the Hebrew nation and the nations about them, from Joseph to Jesus, and from the birth of Jesus to his death on the cross, and from his resurrection to his ascension from Olivet to the right hand of his Father in glory; mark the mighty events which were inseparably connected in the providence of God through many centuries with all this most glorious redemption and salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, then you will not say that the grace of God that bringeth salvation is not interwoven with his providence, neither that the providence of God does not embrace and control all events in the universe. You will not unless you dispute the Bible history, and object to the boundless dominion of the supreme Being, “who is God over all and blessed for evermore.”

The people of God’s grace are everywhere, in all nations, tongues, peoples, kindreds and families; for he said to Abraham that in him and his seed should all the families of the earth be blessed, therefore some of the Lord’s people are either directly or indirectly connected with all the events of time, and affected by all that transpires in the world; but wherever they are, there God is, and his hand of providence is over them. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being,” and his chosen are kept by his power. Behold the uniting lines of providence and grace in the Lord sending Jonah to Nineveh, and sparing that great city; also, in the sifting and conversion of Peter; also, in the Lord sending him to the house of the Gentile Cornelius; also, in his sending Philip away to the south, just at the moment to meet the returning Ethiopian, to whom he preached Jesus. For the Lord had said that Ethiopia also should stretch out her hands to him. The history of God’s people in the Bible abounds with such memorial cases, plainly showing the shaping and controlling of their lives by many combining events in his wonderful providence, which providential links unite with his grace in its glorious reign in their salvation, and in forming his people for his praise. Thus the Lord’s dominion and power is manifest in both his providence and grace in his glorious work of their salvation.

Turn now to your own lives, dear brethren, and you can but set up all along the way, here and there, an Ebenezer of praise to the God of your being, because his mercy and grace have been so richly bestowed upon you in his guiding and protecting providence through which he has held you up in your pilgrimage, so that you have not perished in your afflictions, but his mercy has held you up and his grace has been sufficient for you. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” O why should we want to limit the holy and blessed God, or deny his dominion and omnipotent control and infinitely wise purpose, either in his limitless providence or reigning grace? Do we fear that he will blunder and make mistakes if we ascribe to him universal and absolute sovereignty? Are we wiser and holier than the Holy Father Almighty? Reverend and holy is his name. Let us reverence and adore him.

D. Bartley 

Crawfordsville, Ind.