(_b_) _2 Sam. 16:10_—“_because Jehovah hath said unto him_ [Shimei]: _Curse David_”; _24:1_—“_the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah_”; _Rom. 11:32_—“_God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all_”; _2 Thess. 2:11, 12_—“_God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness._” Henry Ward Beecher: “There seems to be no order in the movements of the bees of a hive, but the honey-comb shows that there was a plan in them all.” John Hunter compared his own brain to a hive in which there was a great deal of buzzing and apparent disorder, while yet a real order underlay it all. “As bees gather their stores of sweets against a time of need, but are colonized by man’s superior intelligence for his own purposes, so men plan and work yet are overruled by infinite Wisdom for his own glory.” Dr. Deems: “The world is wide In Time and Tide, And God is guide: Then do not hurry. That man is blest Who does his best And leaves the rest: Then do not worry.” See Bruce, Providential Order, 183 _sq._; Providence in the Individual Life, 231 _sq._ God’s providence with respect to men’s evil acts is described in Scripture as of four sorts: (_a_) Preventive,—God by his providence prevents sin which would otherwise be committed. That he thus prevents sin is to be regarded as matter, not of obligation, but of grace.