cause of obscurity, the minds of many christians have been confused by speculations more ingenious than solid, that rather display intellectual industry, than aid moral improvement. It may be profitable to step aside from such speculations, and recur to the simple principles which we all have occasion to use. I shall endeavor to present those truths respecting the providence of God over our world, which, as they are both certain and practical, should be contemplated and fixed in our minds.

1. In the first place we observe, that there is a providence, embracing all the affairs and interests, all the beings and things of our world. Of the universe, I might say with equal truth, were we not confining our view to this earth; my present object being not so much to increase our sense of the divine greatness, as to establish the conviction of our dependence on the divine will. I repeat then, that there is a providence emanating from God, and embracing all the interests, great and small, all the affairs, public and private, all the beings, whether good or bad, strong or weak, enlightened or ignorant, all the events, every part, circumstance and relation, every thing material or spiritual, transitory or permanent, of the world, in which we live.

Nothing is too high or mighty for its reach; there is no height nor might except through its agency. Nothing is too low or feeble for its protection; the insect and the man, are alike its care. The earth moves on its orbit, involving us in alternate light and darkness; the seasons return in their annual visits; the storm pours its fury upon the village and the desert, and the soft wind now strengthens, and now en

ervates the human frame, while it falls at the same moment on the unseen flower, to open its desolate beauty; the business of families, of society, and of nations goes on, in successive changes of fortune, prostrating one and raising another; one is born into the family of men, and another dies out of its number; life is sustained, the world is preserved; every thing that lives, lives, every thing that acts, acts, every thing that is, is;-through the providence of God. As it was said of the divine word, so may we say of the divine providence ;—all things are by it, and without it is nothing done that is done. On this all encircling, all pervading power, depends the existence of the individual and of the species, and were its support to be withdrawn for a moment, all would sink into instant annihilation. In God, man and beast, the physical and the moral, live, and move, and have their being.

Deducible and inevitable as this doctrine is, from the character of the Supreme Being, and the nature of created things, an objection sometimes occurs, which may be traced to a mistaken reverence. To some persons such a care of the world appears unworthy of God. They find it difficult to believe, that one so great and glorious should condescend to watch over the petty concerns of earth. They may be relieved, by considering that the common measures of comparison are faulty. God does not estimate character or condition according to our rules. In the judgment of perfect wisdom, the good only is great; the importance of things is determined by their connexion with moral causes or effects, not by outward appearance or immediate results. Still further, let it be observed.

that we often see the relation that occurrences, which in their independent character we should term trivial, or causes, which at first seemed insignificant, bear to matters of wide and deep interest. And when it is also considered, that our vision is limited to a narrow space and a brief period, while the connexions of events and agencies reach through worlds and ages innumerable, no one, it would seem, could doubt, that He, whose eye includes the whole at a glance, may often perceive consequences, and still more often discover tendencies and operations, which shall invest an incident of apparently little value with the highest importance. Shall we then, in our ignorance, presume to say, that one thing is more beneath the attention of God than another? Or shall we deem it unworthy of Him to watch over that, which it was not unworthy of Him to make? When reason tells us that not an atom could move without a power derived from Him, and science has shown us that the harmony of nature may be disturbed by the slightest change in the most minute of its dependencies, shall we affirm or suspect, that the Eternal Author cannot, with a proper regard to his own excellence, superintend its movements? If they originate in Him, why may they not be controlled by Him? The harmony of nature, I said. Yes; for nature is but an instrument of countless strings, from which the divine hand is ever drawing music, beyond a creature's skill. Shall the christian, finally, hesitate to admit a constant providence, when the teacher, whom he acknowledges to have been sent from heaven, declared, that not a sparrow should fall to the ground without our Father, the supreme and only God?

2. The second remark, which we should bring into notice, is, that in the conduct of his providence God uses general laws. Do not attempt to embarrass the subject by asking for a philosophical definition of general laws. Common minds easily and correctly understand the expression. The Creator having imparted certain powers, physical to matter, and rational or moral to mind,-ordained that those powers should operate according to certain relations, so that under a particular concurrence of circumstances some effects should follow rather than others. For example ;—that when two bodies came within the sphere of mutual influence, the larger body, other things being equal, should attract the smaller; that when the blood ceased to flow through the arteries of the human frame, syncope or death should ensue; that when truth met the mind fairly, it should influence it. These rules respecting the relations of things may be called the principles, on which the divine providence or government proceeds. They are general laws, that is, conditions which the Creator has been pleased to annex to the existence of the world, and which he regards in his superintendance of it. Without them we should have confusion in the place of order, uncertainty instead of knowledge, and fear in the room of confidence. They do not exclude the Maker from the oversight of his works, they are not entrusted with his power, they are not voluntary or intelligent agents. They do not hang a curtain between the Deity and his creation, which prevents him from observing its affairs, or men from discerning his will; but they may be compared to avenues which God chose at the beginning, as the channels of

communication with his creatures, and through which his care has ever since reached the earth and its inhabitants.

cernment.

The same principle of our nature often discovers itself here, which is exposed in matters of less conFamiliarity breeds indifference. Men regard these ordinary ways of divine approach to their world, ways which centuries of use have worn into deep and broad lines, as no longer presenting a connexion between heaven and earth, and when they would find God, instead of looking into these wonted courses of his providence, they seek some new manifestation of his presence. The Christian, as did the Jew, inquires for a sign; and which is the more unreasonable? The Jew had a volume of national history and religion, full of signs, but the Christian has the history of a world from the first hour to the moment of his inquiry, on every page of which he may find evidences of a supporting Deity, as legible in the small and crowded characters of human condition, as in the bolder marks of physical action.

3. As if in compassion to human infirmity, God does not however confine himself to the use of these general laws; and we next remark, that the divine providence has special modes of operation, which it frequently adopts-frequently in regard to an individual, but which it is continually using in regard to the race. I can have no doubt, that by particular interpositions, suspending or modifying what would be the result of general laws, our Father in heaven signalizes his care for us. In other words, I must believe that God often prevents or qualifies those effects, which would proceed from the natural relations of things. If, for example, according