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  DIVINE PROVIDENCE
  by James Arminius
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Summary: James Arminius explains the concept of Divine Providence,
emphasizing God's general care over the world and His particular concern
for all creatures.

Topics: "Divine Providence", "Gods Sovereignty"
Scripture References: Psalm 145:9, Proverbs 16:9, Isaiah 55:8, Romans 8:28, James 1:17

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DESCRIPTION
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James Arminius delves into the concept of Divine Providence, emphasizing
God's meticulous care and oversight over the entire world and all His
creatures, with a particular focus on believers. He clarifies that
nothing in the world occurs by chance, as God preserves, regulates, and
directs all things, including the free will and actions of rational
beings. Arminius distinguishes between good and evil actions,
attributing good acts to God's will and evil acts to His permission,
without making God the cause of sin, a point he has defended in various
disputations and writings.

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CONTENT
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II. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

I consider Divine Providence to be "that solicitous, continued, and
universally present inspection and oversight of God, according to which
he exercises a general care over the whole world, but evinces a
particular concern for all his [intelligent] creatures without any
exception, with the design of preserving and governing them in their own
essence, qualities, actions, and passions, in a manner that is at once
worthy of himself and suitable to them, to the praise of his name and
the salvation of believers.

In this definition of Divine Providence, I by no means deprive it of any
particle of those properties which agree with it or belong to it; but I
declare that it preserves, regulates, governs and directs all things and
that nothing in the world happens fortuitously or by chance.

Beside this, I place in subjection to Divine Providence both the free-
will and even the actions of a rational creature, so that nothing can be
done without the will of God, not even any of those things which are
done in opposition to it; only we must observe a distinction between
good actions and evil ones, by saying, that "God both wills and performs
good acts," but that "He only freely permits those which are evil."
Still farther than this, I very readily grant, that even all actions
whatever, concerning evil, that can possibly be devised or invented, may
be attributed to Divine Providence Employing solely one caution, "not to
conclude from this concession that God is the cause of sin." This I have
testified with sufficient clearness, in a certain disputation concerning
the Righteousness and Efficacy of Divine Providence concerning things
that are evil, which was discussed at Leyden on two different occasions,
as a divinity-act, at which I presided.

In that disputation, I endeavoured to ascribe to God whatever actions
concerning sin I could possibly conclude from the scriptures to belong
to him; and I proceeded to such a length in my attempt, that some
persons thought proper on that account to charge me with having made God
the author of sin. The same serious allegation has likewise been often
produced against me, from the pulpit, in the city of Amsterdam, on
account of those very theses; but with what show of justice such a
charge was made, may be evident to any one, from the contents of my
written answer to those Thirty-one Articles formerly mentioned, which
have been falsely imputed to me, and of which this was one.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/james-arminius/divine-providence/
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