Imperishable Inheritance

“When once the light of divine Prov­i­dence has shone in the believer’s heart, he is relieved and lib­er­ated, not only from the extreme fear and anx­i­ety which had pre­vi­ously oppressed him, but from all wor­ries. Because, as he rightly rejects the idea of chance, he can con­fi­dently put him­self in God’s hands. What a com­fort! He knows that his heav­enly Father has all things in his power, directs them as he wills and rules them by his wis­dom, so that noth­ing can hap­pen unless he orders it. He also knows that, accepted by God’s love and entrusted into his angels’ care, he can­not be harmed by fire, water or weapon unless the sov­er­eign God allows it. […] How is it that their con­fi­dence never fails? It can only be that while the world seems to go on its ran­dom way, they know that God is at work every­where, and they can be secure in this. When the devil and evil men attack, the believer is strength­ened by remem­ber­ing and think­ing about Prov­i­dence, oth­er­wise he would panic. He has plenty of rea­sons for com­fort as he realises that the devil and all the ungodly are reined in by God, so that they can­not con­ceive, plan or carry out any crime, unless God allows it, indeed com­mands it. They are not only in bondage to him, but are forced to serve him. It is the Lord’s pre­rog­a­tive to enable the enemy’s rage and to con­trol it at will, and it is in his power to decide how far and how long it may last, so that wicked men can­not break free and do exactly what they want […]“
John Calvin, The Insti­tutes of the Chris­t­ian Reli­gion 1.17.11 (trans. Bev­eridge, Calvin: The Insti­tutes of the Chris­t­ian Reli­gion, eds. Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne, 81–82):