the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Providence
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or We meet with this word (as far as I recollect) but once in the Bible, and that is in the famous speech of the orator Tertullus. (Acts 24:2) If the consult the Scripture, he will reader will find the occasion upon which it was used, I should not have thought it necessary to have given it a place in this work, but with the hope of correcting the improper application of it which is but too common in life. I have noticed upon numberless occasions this error, yea, even among truly pious persons, from whom one might have expected better things; and therefore I hope I shall not offend in my observations upon it. The word providence is somewhat similar to that of dispensation, or ordination, and hath a general reference to the appointments of God. Hence when we speak of the Lord's government, either in the kingdoms of nature or grace, we say, the Lord by his providence hath ordered all things in heaven and in earth. It is he that provideth for the raven his food. (Job 38:41) So again, speaking of the Lord's care over his people, it is said, "thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided for it." (Psalms 65:9) From all which it appears, that providence or providing are acts of the Lord, and not the Lord himself. Therefore when it is said, (as it is too frequently said) I hope providence will do this or that, I trust to providence, providence hath been very good, and the like, this is ascribing to the deed what belongs only to the Lord, the doer of that deed; and however unintentional on the part of the speaker, it becomes a great error. We should never give any glory to the creatures of God which belongs only to God himself; and to ascribe to providence what belongs only to the God of his providences, is certainly doing so. Both providence and grace are creatures of God; and however the Lord is carrying on his merciful purposes of redemption by both to his church and people, yet to give glory to either, instead of glorifying the Author of either, is to overlook the loveliness of the Lord in the loveliness of his creatures, and to place secondary things in the stead of the first. Whereas we ought to say, to use somewhat like the form of the apostle James, "If the Lord will, we shall live by his providence and grace." (James 4:15)
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Providence'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/p/providence.html. London. 1828.
