Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/577

 PROVIDENCE

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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