The Second Helvetic Confession
CHAPTER VI
Of the Providence of God
ALL THINGS ARE GOVERNED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. We
believe that all things in heaven and on earth, and in all creatures, are
preserved and governed by the providence of this wise, eternal and almighty God.
For David testifies and says: “The Lord is high above all nations, and
his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on
high, who looks far down upon the heavens and the earth?” (Ps. 113:4 ff.).
Again: “Thou searchest out…all my ways. Even before a word is on my
tongue, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether” (Ps. 139:3 f.). Paul also
testifies and declares: “In him we live and move and have our being”
(Acts 17:28), and “from him and through him and to him are all things”
(Rom. 11:36). Therefore Augustine most truly and according to Scripture
declared in his book De Agone Christi, cap. 8, “The Lord said, ‘Are
not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground
without your Father’s will’ ” (Matt. 10:29). By speaking thus he wanted to
show that what men regard as of least value is governed by God’s omnipotence.
For he who is the truth says that the birds of the air are fed by him and lilies
of the field are clothed by him; he also says that the hairs of our head are
numbered (Matt. 6:26 ff.).
THE EPICUREANS. We therefore condemn the Epicureans who
deny the providence of God, and all those who blasphemously say that God is busy
with the heavens and neither sees nor cares about us and our affairs. David,
the royal prophet, also condemned this when he said: “O Lord, how long
shall the wicked exult? They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob
does not perceive.” Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when
will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the
eye, does he not see?” (Ps. 94:3, 7-9).
MEANS NOT TO BE DESPISED. Nevertheless, we do not spurn as
useless the means by which divine providence works, but we teach that we are to
adapt ourselves to them in so far as they are recommended to us in the Word of
God. Wherefore we disapprove of the rash statements of those who say that if
all things are managed by the providence of God, then our efforts and endeavors
are in vain. It will be sufficient if we leave everything to the governance of
divine providence, and we will not have to worry about anything or do anything.
For although Paul understood that he sailed under the providence of God who had
said to him: “You must bear witness also at Rome” (Acts 23:11), and
in addition had given him the promise, “There will be no loss of life among
you…and not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you” (Acts
27:22,34), yet when the sailors were nevertheless thinking about abandoning ship
the same Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers: “Unless these men
stay in the ship, you cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). For God, who has
appointed to everything its end, has ordained the beginning and the means by
which it reaches its goal. The heathen ascribe things to blind fortune and
uncertain chance. But St. James does not want us to say: “Today or
tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and trade,” but adds: “Instead
you ought to say, `If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or
that’ ” (James 4:13, 15). And Augustine says: “Everything which
to vain men seems to happen in nature by accident, occurs only by his Word,
because it happens only at his command” (Enarrationes in Psalmos 148).
Thus it seemed to happen by mere chance when Saul, while seeking his father’s
asses, unexpectedly fell in with the prophet Samuel. But previously the Lord
had said to the prophet: “Tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land
of Benjamin” (I Sam 9:15).
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