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CHAPTER XI.

ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

"Be

THE providence of God consists in his preserving all things and governing all things. It is equally comprehensive as the things which exist, and embraces under its direction and care whatever has a being. Though it is distinguished into universal and particular, there seems to be in reality no foundation for the distinction, since all things are alike under the preserving power and government of God. "He upholdeth all things by the word of his power." hold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them: are ye not much better than they? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and if God clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone, thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all."

If we believe that God possesses infinite wisdom, power, immutability, and eternity,-that he is glorious in holiness, inflexible in justice, and unbounded in goodness, we must believe that He only is qualified, and that He only is entitled to govern the world. Who can dispute his right who has created all things, to dispose of them according to the counsel of his own

will; or, who can question his power to preserve in existence, to direct and to control, all to which he has already given being? In providence, as well as in creation, he speaks and it is done, he commands and it stands fast. The embarrassment which we feel in attending to a multiplicity of concerns is occasioned by the limited nature of our faculties: but the Creator of all the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. It is not for us fully to comprehend how God makes every creature that exists the object of his watchful care, and overrules all their actions and all the consequences that can arise out of them, for his own glory.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." While we believe that God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, it becomes us to adore him in his providence, as holy, and wise, and just, and good.

The providence of God extends to all the creatures which he has made, and to all their actions. No event can possibly take place in the universe without his knowledge, without his permissive or efficient power. The movements of an archangel, and the fall of a sparrow, are alike under his control and direction. The inanimate creation is just that which he has commanded it to be, acted upon by his spirit, and exhibiting the character of wisdom and goodness. The elements of nature move by his appointment, he makes a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of

the thunder. He scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsel, that they may do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world in the earth. The angels of light are his ministering spirits, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. The angels of darkness are preserved by his power, and their envy and malice are restrained and overruled for his glory. The hearts of all men, whether they be good, or whether they be bad, are perfectly under his sway; and those very actions which they most freely accomplish, are made by him the means of furthering his own most wise and gracious purposes. He liberally provides for the meanest of the inferior animals: he gives to the beast his food; and to the young ravens which cry. He employs them either as instruments of good, or executioners of his judgment. In obedience to his command a raven supplied the wants of Elijah in the time of famine; and a whale attended Jonah to convey him to dry land. He worketh all things, and by all creatures, after the counsel of his own will; he doth among the armies of heaven, and the inhabitants of this world, that which seemeth good in his sight.

As the providence of God extends to all creatures, and to all their actions, so does it employ all creatures and all their actions as the means of accomplishing its own purposes. These purposes he could accomplish by the word of his power without the intervention of means. He who called the world into being without means, can preserve and govern it by his own agency without the instrumentality of second causes. But he makes his angels, as well as all his other creatures,

bas ministers. He sometimes acts by means which to our view would seem trivial, and the more fully to shew us that the power which performs is all in himself, he often employs means that seem of themselves little calculated to attain the end. Events which are casual or fortuitous to us, give rise, through his direction, to important consequences. The deliverer of the chosen people was preserved by what we should call the accidental presence of Pharaoh's daughter. David was saved from destruction, by the turning of Ahitophel's counsel into foolishness. All the actions and operations of his creatures God makes the means of promoting his will; his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.

While all things are the object of Providence, the church of Christ is more especially under its care. We can observe from the commencement of the world how constantly every dispensation has been made subservient to her purification, her safety, and her glory. All the deliverances which were at any time wrought in the world, and all the special punishments which were inflicted, have been designed for the ultimate salvation of those whose faith rested on a coming or on a glorified Saviour. If the operations of the laws and elements of nature were reversed; if one family was saved from the deluge, which swept away an ungodly generation; if the destroying angel could not execute his commission against Sodom and Gomorrah, till Lot was removed from danger; if the Red Sea was gathered together as an heap; if Jordan for a season ceased to flow; if the sun stood still in the heavens; if fire was deprived of its power to consume; if lions

were rendered harmless to the man that was cast into their den ;-these events were performed for the sake of the individuals of that church which the Saviour has purchased with his own blood. If threatened and deserved judgments have been averted from guilty nations; if extraordinary blessings have been given to others; if peculiar gifts are occasionally conferred upon good men, and if greater power be allowed to bad men; if the counsels of the wise have been turned into foolishness, and the designs of the wicked, even of a Haman, overruled for good; if angels of light are sent forth to minister, and those of darkness unintentionally forced to do so; it is all for the sake of that people which the Lord has chosen for himself to shew forth his praise. It was for their sake that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, that the living oracles were committed to writing, that they have been preserved amid the hostility and barbarism of ages, and that they have been accompanied by the influence which renders them the power of God unto salvation. To them God has given his most precious blessings; he has given them the privileges and the hopes of his sons and daughters; he has not spared his own Son, but freely given him up to the death for them all; "he has prepared a kingdom for them before the foundation of the world ;" and under the guidance of their great Leader and Commander none of them can ever perish, but shall obtain eternal life. "No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against them in judgment they shall condemn. This is the

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