_Job 23:10_—“_He knoweth the way that is mine,_” or “_the way that is with me,_” _i. e._, my inmost way, life, character; “_When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold._” _1 Cor. 19:4_—“_and the rock was Christ_”—Christ was the ever present source of their refreshment and life, both physical and spiritual. God’s providence is all exercised through Christ. _2 Cor. 2:14_—“_But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ_”; not, as in A. V., “_causeth us to triumph_.” Paul glories, not in conquering, but in being conquered. Let Christ triumph, not Paul. “Great King of grace, my heart subdue; I would be led in triumph too. A willing captive to my Lord, To own the conquests of his word.” Therefore Paul can call himself “_the prisoner of Christ Jesus_” (_Eph. 3:1_). It was Christ who had shut him up two years in Cæsarea, and then two succeeding years in Rome. IV. Relations of the Doctrine of Providence. 1. To miracles and works of grace. Particular providence is the agency of God in what seem to us the minor affairs of nature and human life. Special providence is only an instance of God’s particular providence which has special relation to us or makes peculiar impression upon us. It is special, not as respects the means which God makes use of, but as respects the effect produced upon us. In special providence we have only a more impressive manifestation of God’s universal control. Miracles and works of grace like regeneration are not to be regarded as belonging to a different order of things from God’s special providences. They too, like special providences, may have their natural connections and antecedents, although they more readily suggest their divine authorship. Nature and God are not mutually exclusive,—nature is rather God’s method of working. Since nature is only the manifestation of God, special providence, miracle, and regeneration are simply different degrees of extraordinary nature. Certain of the wonders of Scripture, such as the destruction of Sennacherib’s army and the dividing of the Red Sea, the plagues of Egypt, the flight of quails, and the draught of fishes, can be counted as exaggerations of natural forces, while at the same time they are operations of the wonder-working God.