276. Providence. Providence is the Lord's government in the heavens and on earth, no. 10773. By Providence Lord governs all things according to order; wherefore, government according to order, is Providence, nos. 1755, 2447. He governs all things either from will, from leave, or from permission; and thus in a different way according to a man's quality, nos. 1755, 2447, 3704, 9940. Providence acts invisibly, no. 5508. Most things which happen under Providence, appear to a man as if they took place by chance, no. 5508. Providence acts invisibly for this reason, that a man be not compelled to believe from things visible, and that thus his freedom be not violated; for unless a man is in a state of freedom he cannot be reformed, and thus cannot be saved, nos. 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3854, 5508, 5982, 6477, 8209, 8987, 9588, 10409, 10777. Divine Providence has no respect to temporal things, which pass away shortly, but to eternal things, nos. 5264, 8717, 10776; illustrated, no. 6491. Those who do not comprehend this, believe that wealth and rank in the world are the only things which are provided, which therefore they call blessings from the Divine; when yet they are not regarded by the Lord as blessings, but only as means for a man's life in the world; but the Lord has respect to those things which contribute to a man's eternal happiness, nos. 10409, 10776. Those who are in the [stream of the] Lord's Divine Providence, are led to eternity, in each and all things, to the things of blessedness, nos. 8478, 8480. Those who ascribe all things to nature and to their own prudence, and nothing to the Divine, neither think nor comprehend this, nos. 6484, 10409, 10775. The Lord's Divine Providence is not, as is believed in world, universal only; and the particulars, that is, the singulars do not belong to a man's own prudence, nos. 8717, 10775. No universal is possible except from singulars, and together with them: for the singulars taken together are called a universal just as the particulars taken together are called a general, nos. 1919, 6159, 6338, 6482-6484. The universal is such as are the singulars from which, and together with which, it exists, nos. 917, 1040, 6483, 8857. The Lord's Providence is universal, because it is in the minutest singulars, nos. 1919, 2694, 4329, 5122, 5949, 6058, 6481-6486, 6490, 7004, 7007, 8717, 10774; confirmed from heaven, no. 6486. Unless the Lord's Divine Providence were, universal from, and in, the minutest singulars, nothing could subsist, no. 6338. All things are thereby arranged in order, and kept in order, in general and in particular, no. 6338. The case herein is comparatively as with a king on earth, nos. 6482, 10800. A man's own prudence is like a small speck in the universe, while the Divine Providence is respectively like the universe itself, no. 6485. That this is so, men in the world comprehend with difficulty, nos. 8717, 10775, 10780: because many fallacies oppose themselves, and induce blindness, no. 6481. Concerning a certain person in the other life, who by dint of confirmation had believed in the world, that all things belonged to his own prudence, and nothing to the Divine Providence; the things which were with him appeared to be infernal, no. 6484. The quality Of the Lord's Providence with respect to evils, nos. 6481, 6495, 6574, 10777, 10779. Evils are governed by the Lord by the laws of permission, and they are permitted for the sake of order, nos. 8700, 10778. The permission of evil by the Lord is not the permission of one who wills, but of one who does not will, yet who, under the urgency of the end which is salvation, cannot bring assistance, no. 7877. The leaving a man from his own freedom to think, and will evil, and, so far as the laws do not forbid, to do it, is permitting, no. 10778. Apart from freedom, and thus apart from permission, a man cannot be reformed, and thus cannot be saved, as may be seen above in the Doctrine concerning Freedom, nos. 141-149. To the Lord belong Providence and Foresight, and the one does not exist without the other, nos. 5195, 6489. Good is provided for by the Lord, and evil foreseen, nos. 5155, 5195, 6489, 10781. There is no such thing as predestination or fate, no. 6487. All are predestined to heaven and none to hell, no. 6488. Under Providence there is no absolute necessity with a man, but he is in perfect freedom - illustrated by comparison, no. 6487. By the "Elect" in the Word are meant those who lead a life of good, and consequently of truth, nos. 3755, 3900, 5057, 5058. How "God causeth one to meet another's hand" (Exod. xxi. 13) is to be understood, no. 9010. Fortune, which in many things in the world appears wonderful, is the operation of the Divine Providence in the ultimate of order, according to the quality of a man's state; and this may serve as a confirmation that the Divine Providence is in the most minute singulars of all things, nos. 5049, 5179, 6493, 6494. Fortune comes from the spiritual world, and consequently its variations; also from experience, nos. 5179, 6493, 6494.