Providence and Calvin

I am preaching on the doctrine of providence tomorrow from a text in 1 Samuel. For some inexplicable reason, I have called the sermon, "The Saints and the providence of God." And, as it happens, I picked up this week a brand new publication of Calvin's monumental writing, "The Secret Providence of God" (Crossway, 2010). The work (around a 100 pages) appears in a new translation by Keith Goad and a brilliant introduction by Paul Helm (worth the price of the book for that alone!). And, if you think you already possess this book (Henry Cole's nineteenth century translation which has appeared in various guises over the years, along with Concerning the Eternal Presdestination of God written against Albert Pighius and others; A Brief Reply against Castellio; and A Defence of the Secret Providence of God, all three appearing in a collection called Calvin's Calvinism), think again. As Helm writes:

"...in his treatment of the first and third of these pieces, Cole silently rearranged Calvin's material. The last section of Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God was dropped from the translation of that work, and instead it became the opening section of A Defence of the Secret Providence of God. So Calvin's Defence is measurably shorter than the reader of Cole's translation of the book of that name would appreciate, just as his translation of Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God lacks the last section."

If that doesn't make you go immediately to order this new version, you simply have no respect for Calvin!  But, I must leave this piece; my wife has just yelled from another room, "England are slaughtering Wales in the rugby." And I think I hear Trueman and Helm in the background...