PROVIDENCE
511
PROVIDENCE
dence, understood in the wider sense of a superhuman
being who governs the universe and directs the
course of human affairs with definite purpose and
beneficent design, has always been a very real and
practical belief. Prayer, divination, blessing and
curse, oracle and sacred rite, all testify to a belief
in some over-ruling power, divine or quasi-divine in
character; and such phenomena are found in every
race and tribe, however uncivilized or degraded. We
find it, for instance, not only amongst the savages of
to-day, but also among the early Greeks, who,
though they do not appear to have clearly distin-
guished between Providence and Fate, and though
their gods were little more than glorifieil human
beings, subject to human frailty and marred by
human passion, they none the less watched over the
home and the family, took sides in human warfare,
and were the protectors and avengers of mankind.
The intimate connexion of the gods with human af-
fairs was even more marked in the religion of the
early Romans, who had a special god to look after
each detail of their daily life, their labours in the
field, and the business of the state. The ancient
religions of the East present the same characteristics.
Auramazda, the supreme god of the Persians during
the period of the great kings, is the ruler of the world,
the maker of kings and nations, who punishes the
wicked and hearkens to the prayers of the good
(see cuneiform inscriptions translated by Casartelli
in the "Hist, of Relig.", II, 13 sq.). A similar no-
tion prevailed in Egypt. All things are in God's
gift. He loves the obedient and humbles the proud,
rewards the good and smites the wicked (Renouf,
100 sq.). Osiris, the king of the gods, judges the world
according to his will, and to all nations, past, present,
and future, gives his commands (op. cit., 218 sq.).
Amon Ra-is, the lord of the thrones of the earth, the
end of all existence, the support of all things, just of
heart when one cries to him, deliverer of the poor
and oppressed (op. cit., 225 sq.). Assyrian and
Babylonian records are no less clear. Marduk, the
lord of the universe, shows mercy to all, implants
fear in their hearts, and controls their lives; while
Shamash directs the law of nature, and is the supreme
god of heaven and earth (Jastrow, 296, 300, 301).
The books of the Avesta, though they depict a dualis-
tic system, represent the good god, Mazdah Ahura,
with his court, as helping those who worship him
against the principle of evil (Hist, of Relig., II, 14).
In the dualism of the Gnostic theories, on the other
hand, the world is shut off from the supreme god,
Bythos, who has nothing directly to do with human
affairs before or after the incarnation. This idea
of a remote and transcendent deity was probably de-
rived from Greek philosophy. Socrates certainly
admitted Providence, and believed in inspiration and
divination; but for Aristotle the doctrine of Provi-
dence was mere opinion. It is true that the world
was for him the instrument and expression of the
Divine thought, but God Himself lived a life wholly
apart. The Epicureans explicitly denied Providence,
on the ground that if God cares for men He can be
neither happy nor good. Everything is due, they
said, to chance or free will. On both these points
they were opposed by the Stoics, who insisted that
God must love men, otherwise the very notion of
God would be destroyed (Plutarch, "De comm.
notit.", 32; "De stoic, rep.", 38). They also at-
tempted to prove the action or existence of Provi-
dence from the adaptation of means to ends in nature,
in which evil is merely an accident, a detail, or a
punishment. On the other hand, the notions of
god, nature, force, and fate were not clearly dis-
tinguished by the Stoics, who regarded them as
practically the same thing. While even Cicero, who
works out the argument from adaptation at con-
siderable length in his "De natura deorum", ends
unsatisfactorily with the statement, "Magna Dii
curant, parva negligunt", as his ultimate solution
of the problem of evil (n. 51-66).
Cairo, The Evolution of Theology in Greek Philosophers (Glasgow, 1904) ; Ca8.\rtelli, Leaves from My Eastern Garden; CicEKO, De natura deorum: Fox. Religion and Morality (New York. 1899): Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898); Hist, of Religions (London, 1910): Louis, Doctrines Religieuses des Philosophes Great (Paris. 1909): ed. MCLLER, Sacred Books of the East, IV, XXIII, XXXI, The Zend- Avesta, tr. Darmesteter and Mills (London, lSSO-7) ; Murray. Hellenistic Philosophy in Hibbert Journal (Oct., 1910); PlAT, Socrate (Paris, 1909); Plutarch, De communibus notitiis; Idem, De stoicorum repugnantiis; Le Page Renouf, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Re- ligions of Ancient Egypt (London, 1880); Sayce, The Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia (Edinburgh, 1902); Tolman, Ancient Persian Lexicon and Texts (New York, 1908); Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics (London, 1880).
The Testimony of Scripture. — Though the term
Providence is applied to God only three times in
Scripture (Eccl., v, 5; Wis., xiv, 3; Judith, ix, 5),
and once to Wisdom (Wis., vi, 17), the general doc-
trine of Providence is consistently taught throughout
both the Old and New Testaments. God not only
implants in the nature of things the potentiality of
future development (Gen., i, 7, 12, 22, 28; viii, 17;
ix, 1, 7; xii, 2; xv, 5), but in this development, as
in all the operations of nature, He co-operates; so
that in Scriptural language what nature does God
is said to do (Gen., ii, 5, cf. 9; vii, 4, cf. 10; vii, 19-
22, cf. 23; vhi, 1, 2, cf. 5 sq.). Seed time and har-
vest, cold and heat, summer and winter, the clouds
and the rain, the fruits of the earth, life itself alike
are His gift (Gen., ii, 7; viii, 2; Ps. cxlyi, 8, 9;
xxviii; ciii; cxlviii; Job, xxxviii, 37; Joel, ii, 21 sq.;
Ecclus., xi, 14). So too with man. Man tills the
ground (Gen., iii, 17 sq.; iv, 12; ix, 20), but human
labours without Divine assistance are of no avail
(Ps. cxxvi, 1; lix, 13; Prov., xxi, 31). Even for an
act of sin. Divine concurrence is necessary. Hence
in Scripture the expressions "God hardened Pharao's
heart" (Ex., vii, 3; ix, 12; x, 1, 20, 27; xi, 10; xiv,
8), "Pharao's heart was hardened" (Ex., vii, 13;
viii, 19, 32; ix, 7, 35), "Pharao hardened his heart"
(viii, 15) and "Pharao did not set his heart to do it"
(vii, 23), or "hearkened not" (vii, 4; viii, 19), or
"increased his sin" (ix, 34), are practically synony-
mous. God is the sole ruler of the world (Job,
xxxiv, 13). His will governs all things (Ps. cxlviii,
8; Job, ix, 7; Is., xl, 22-6; xliv, 24-8; Ecclus.,
xvi, 18-27; Esther, xiii, 9). He loves all men (Wis.,
xi, 25, 27), desires the salvation of all (Is., xiv, 22;
Wis., xii, 16), and His providence extends to all
nations (Deut., ii, 19; Wis., vi, 8; Is., Ixvi, 18).
He desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that
he should repent (Ezech., xviii, 20-32; xxxiii, 11;
Wis., xi, 24); for He is above all things a merciful
God and a God of much compassion (Ex., xxxiv, 6;
Num., xiv, 18; Deut., v, 10; Ps. xxxii, 5; cii, 8-17;
cxliv, 9; Ecclus., ii, 23). Yet He is a just God, as
well as a Saviour (Is., xiv, 21). Hence both good and
evil proceed from Him (Lam., iii, 38; Amos, iii, 6;
Is., xiv, 7; Eccl., vii, 15; Ecclus., xi, 14), good as a
bounteous gift freely bestowed (Ps. cxliv, 16; Eccl.,
V, 18; I Par., xxix, 12-4), evil as the consequence
of sin (Lam., iii, 39; Joel ii, 20; Amos, iii, 10, 11;
Is., V, 4, 5). For God rewards men according to their
works (Lam., iii, 64; Job, xxxiv, 10-7; Ps. xvii, 27;
Ecclus., xvi, 12, 13; xi, 28; I Kings, xxvi, 23), their
thoughts, and their devices (Jer., xvii, 10; xxxii, 19;
Ps. vii, 10). From His anger there is no escape
(Job, ix, 13; Ps. xxxii, 16, 17; Wis., xvi, 13-8); and
none can prevail against Him (Ecclus., xviii, 1; Wis.,
xi, 22-3; Prov., xxi, 30; Ps. ii, 1-4; xxxii, 10;
Judith, xvi, 16, 17). If the wicked are spared for a
time (Jer., xii, 1; Job, xxi, 7-15; Ps. Ixxii, 12-3;
Eccl., viii, 12), they will ultimately receive their
deserts if they do not repent (Jer., xii, 13-7; Job,
xxi, 17, 18; xxvii, 13-23); while the good, though
