Mystery of Providence - Flavel - XI - Chapter 10 commenced

Required reading 
Mystery of Providence by John Flavel (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Chapter 10 commenced (Up to, and including section: 'I beseech you consider what an effectual means the due observation of Providence will be to overpower and suppress the natural atheism that is in your hearts')

My notes and thoughts
Now we begin chapter 10 describing the advantages of meditating on providence.  Today's reading is three of the advantages.

(i) Meditating on providence maintains sweet communion with God

(ii) Meditating on providence brings pleasure
I liked the part in this section that took delight in dead prayers resurrected in providence: 'We hope and pray for such and such mercies to the Church, or to ourselves; but God delays the accomplishment of our hopes...But we have no patience to wait the time of the promise, our hopes languish and die in the interim...But how sweet and comfortable it is to see these prayers fulfilled after we have given up all expectation of them!'  It certainly is great when prayers are answered long after you had sinfully given up hope.

(iii) Meditating on providence suppresses our atheism
Interesting how the modern atheists detests the natural inclination of children to believe in a god, while here we have Flavel bewailing the 'natural seed of atheism in the best hearts'.  But yes, I agree, there is always that tendency to doubt God's existence even in Christians, yet 'if we would carefully observe either the signal retributions of Providence to many of them in this world or to all of them in the world to come, O what a full confirmation is this to our faith!'

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.