235. One who does not acknowledge divine providence at all does not acknowledge God at heart, but nature instead of God, and human prudence instead of divine providence. This does not appear to be so because man can think and speak in two ways. He can think and speak in one way from his inner self and in another from his outer self. This capability is like a hinge that lets a door swing either way, in one direction as one enters, in the other as one leaves; or like a sail which can take a ship one way or the other as the skipper spreads it. Those who have confirmed themselves in favor of human prudence to the denial of divine providence see nothing else as long as they are in this way of thinking, no matter what they see, hear or read, nor can they, for they accept nothing from heaven but only from themselves. As they draw their conclusions from appearances and fallacies alone and see nothing else, they can swear that prudence is all. If they also recognize nature only, they become enraged at defenders of divine providence, except that they think when these are priests they are simply pursuing their teaching and office. 236. We will enumerate now some things that are tolerated and yet are in accord with laws of divine providence, by which, however, the merely natural man confirms himself in favor of nature and against God and in favor of human prudence and against divine providence. For instance he reads in the Word that: 1. Adam, wisest of men, and his wife allowed themselves to be led astray by the serpent, and God did not avert this in His divine providence. 2. Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not speak to him and dissuade him but only afterwards cursed him. 3. The Israelites worshiped a golden calf in the wilderness and acknowledged it as the god that had brought them out of Egypt, yet Jehovah saw this from Mt. Sinai near by and did not warn against it. 4. David numbered the people and as a consequence a pestilence befell them in which so many thousands of them perished; God sent the prophet Gad to him not before but after the deed and denounced punishment. 5. Solomon was allowed to establish idolatrous worship. 6. After him many kings were allowed to profane the temple and the sacred things of the church. 7. And finally that nation was permitted to crucify the Lord. One who hails nature and human prudence sees nothing but what contradicts divine providence in these and many other passages of the Word. He can use them as arguments in denial of providence, if not in his outward thought nearest to speech, still in his inner thought, remote from it. 237. Every worshiper of self and nature confirms himself against divine providence: