Divine Providence

Two Puritan poems remind us that God is sovereign and we may cast our cares upon his gracious providence.

Diuina Prouidentia by Andrew Willet

Jacob did see a ladder hie,
As he was laid asleepe;
The angels come and go thereby,
Which doe him safely keepe.

We learne hereby in euery way
That God must be our guide,
Or else we soone may go astray;
Our foote is apt to slide.
And as he saw this thing at rest,
So God keepeth vs when we thinke lest.

On Divine Providence by Rhys Prichard

Trust not to human strength or skill,
If thou wouldst thy desires fulfil;
But look to God, who rules on high,
And on his providence rely.
He feeds the warblers of the wood,
And gives to all his creatures food;
He clothes the lillies of the plain,
And will he not his sons sustain?
Observe the humblest flowers that blow;
They neither toil nor spinning know;
Yet have they not a garment on,
More fair than that of Solomon?
The ravens neither sow nor reap,
Yet God does ev'n the ravens keep;
The fowls, through ev'ry season, feed,
Without a barn to keep their seed.
To God the creatures raise their eyes,
And he their ev'ry want supplies;
He feeds them with a parent's care,
And gives to each its proper share.

God is a sun, to cheer and warm;
A shield to keep the just from harm;
And he delights his grace to shew
On those who fear his name below.
On him thy burdens freely cast,
And trust in him while life shall last:
His goodness will thy labour speed,
And help thee in the time of need.
He gives the abject soul his food;
His very foes he fills with good;
Supplies the Turk and Heathen's need,
Bestowing both their bread and seed.
The cares of worldlings, then, disclaim,--
And at their portion never aim;
But be content with what is thine,
Submitting to the will divine.--
While we each evening seek repose,
God neither sleep nor slumber knows:
He for his children still prepares,
And for his household daily cares.
Say, if a mother ever yet
Her lovely babe could once forget?
Nor to assist will God refrain,
While those he loves to him complain.
If thou by faith his aid implore,
He'll largely bless thy worldly store:
Or thou shalt be divinely wise,
And make thy scanty means suffice.

Thou dost not drop a single hair,
Nor falls a sparrow from the air
Without the providence divine,
That watches over thee and thine.
The sparrows are of value small,
Yet God himself supports them all;
But still more precious in his sight
The pious man -- the child of light.
His promise ev'ry good ensures,
And faith his bounty still secures:
Then why shouldst thou in want remain,
Or fail the blessing to obtain?
Thy soul in patience learn to keep;
Enjoy thy food, and soundly sleep;
By faith to God commit thy ways,
And he shall fill thy mouth with praise.

Living Libraries

Harry Emerson Fosdick:

Life is like a library owned by an author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him.

Have you ever known anyone who is a "walking encyclopedia" or a "living library"? Well, I have come across similar expressions a few times in my studies of the Puritans (and the Puritan-minded), so often known not only for their piety but their scholarship and intellectual acumen.

Andrew Willet (1562-1621), the great English Puritan Biblical commentator is described as a "living library." Thomas Fuller, Abel Redevivus, or, The Dead Yet Speaking: The Lives and Deaths of Modern Divines, Vol. 2, pp. 317-318:

...yet I am well assured that he had learned over and to good purpose many learned authors ancient and modern, till he [Andrew Willet] became himself [Gk.], "a living library."

In fact, Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), the famous English Church historian, earned a similar nickname as well. Life of Thomas Fuller, p. 69:

He was a perfect walking library...

John Quarles (1624-1665), son of Francis Quarles (1592-1644) -- both notable British poets -- wrote an elegy upon the death of a dear friend of the family, James Ussher (1581-1656), Irish Anglican bishop, in which the younger Quarles described him as a "living library." John Quarles, An Elegie on the Most Reverend and Learned James Usher, L. Archbishop of Armagh (1656), p. 4:

He was a living Library, in whom
A man might read things past and things to come.

Miles Smith (1554-1624), British bishop and Biblical scholar, was a one of the translators of the King James Bible and the author of its famous Preface. Another bishop described him as "a very walking library."

John Rainolds (or Reynolds) (1549-1607), English Puritan who helped to initiate and translate the King James Bible, is described by Daniel Neal as a "living library." Daniel Neal, History of the Puritans, Vol. 1, p. 440:

He [John Rainolds] was a prodigy for reading, his memory being a living library.

George Hakewill, An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God, states that Rainolds had memorized the entire corpus of Augustine, and indeed all classical authors, becoming "a living librarie" and "a third university."

Edmund Staunton (1600-1671), Westminster Divine, was known as a "walking concordance." John Stoughton, Ecclesiastical History of England, Vol. 2, p. 256:

Dr. Edmund Staunton, President of Corpus, has been called a Walking Concordance, on account of his minute knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.

Another Westminster Divine, Richard Capel (1586-1656) was styled a "living library." Samuel Clarke, Lives of Thirty-Two English Divines, p. 311:

He [Richard Capel] was a living library, a full storehouse of all good literature, a judicious preacher, and a sound orthodox divine.

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), American Puritan and historian, wrote of his grandfather English-American Puritan John Cotton (1595-1652), Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 273, that:

Mr. Cotton was indeed a most universal scholar, and a living system of the liberal arts, and a walking library.

Matthew Slade (1569-1628), English divine who took up academic duties in Holland, was also said to be a "walking library." Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, Vol. 2, p. 154:

...he [Matthew Slade] was esteemed, by all that knew him, an excellent Latinist, a good Grecian, one well read in profound authors, a stiff enemy to the Socinians, and a walking library.