Suppose we are looking at a great clock. Its wheels are moving slowly on. We listen, and hear it going—tick-tick-tick. The hands on the dial plate are getting near to twelve o’clock; and the very moment the minute hand comes over the figure 12, the hammer in the clock starts up, and begins to pound on the bell, and the clock strikes twelve. The maker of that clock arranged every part of its machinery in such a way that it would be sure to keep time and strike the hours as they came. And the providence of God is just like such a clock. He is the maker of it. And he not only made the wheels of its machinery in the beginning, but he manages them all the time. He has his hand on every part of it. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” to die for us. He was willing to have him crucified with wicked men. But he wished to have him buried with rich men. And seven hundred years before Jesus was born into our world he had said that it should be so. And when the time for Christ’s burial came, the clock of his providence struck, just as he said it should do. Joseph of Arimathea was one of the wheels in this clock; and when the right time came, there he was—ready to bury the dead Saviour in his own new tomb. And thus, in the wonderful working of God’s providence, it came to pass that Jesus was—“with the rich in his death.” And as we think of ourselves, as standing by the tomb in which Jesus was buried, and seeing how strangely the prophecy about his burial was fulfilled, we cannot help wondering at the working of God’s providence. It is true indeed, as the hymn says—that “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform: He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.” And it is just the same now as it was then. Here are some examples of the working of this providence. “The Raven of Winslade Quarry.” Winslade is a small town in England, famous for its stone quarries. Some years ago an incident occurred there which strikingly illustrates this part of our subject. The men were at work in the lower part of the quarry. Directly above was a great mass of overhanging rocks. Dinner time came; but just as they were getting ready for it, a raven flew down, picked up the little parcel which contained one of the miners’ dinner and flew away with it. The man of course did not want to lose his dinner, so he ran after the bird, thinking that she would soon have to stop, and lay down her heavy burden, and then he would get his dinner again.