ence of a superintending Providence; being well assured, that if it does exist, it will exist to call us hereafter to a severe account for our sins and iniquities here. Who is he that ever doubted that his prayers and praises would not come up as a memorial before the Almighty? Who ever doubted that every act of self-denial, of resignation, of patience, of charity, however minute, however casual, has met the eye of that great Being who is ever with him, and that it shall stand recorded in heaven against the great day. of the Lord? He that is inclined to be sceptical on the subject of this superintending Providence, let him ever act, as if it really did exist, and he will then lose every doubt of its existence.

Having thus shewn the necessity of a particular Providence, and of our belief in its existence, I purpose in my ensuing discourse, to enlarge upon the mode of its actions and interference, and upon the power of the Great First Cause as displayed in the agency of secondary causes, that in every event throughout the natural or moral world, we may perceive that it is his doing.

SERMON XVI.

PSALM XCIV. 7.

Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

HAVING in my last discourse endeavoured to shew the necessary existence of a particular Providence over every event, however trifling in its nature, or accidental in its occurrence, I proceed now to consider the modes of its interference, and to enlarge upon the power of the Great First Cause, as displayed in the agency of secondary causes, both in the natural and moral world.

It will at first appear somewhat strange, that the very same reasons which inevitably draw men to the acknowledgment of the First Great self-existent Cause, should lead them ultimately to the denial of its authority; that the same arguments which are produced to prove the power of the Almighty in the creation, should be brought to disprove his interference in the go

vernment of the world. When we survey with wonder and admiration the magnificent fabric of the universe, the symmetry and order of its parts, the beauty and harmony of the whole, we ascend in contemplation to that Almighty power at whose word it was called out of nothing, by whose will it was impressed with those laws which it still obeys, by whose wisdom every part, however minute, is adapted to the one grand and stupendous whole, whom the infatuation of infidelity itself cannot refuse to acknowledge as the Creator of the universe, nor to join in the common voice of nature and of Holy Writ, "How wonderful are thy works, O Lord, in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy greatness." But here philosophy takes its stand: it views the uniform appearance of things around, and from the constant recurrence of the same phenomena, rightly concludes that they are effected by certain laws impressed on the material world. To the study of nature, as he terms it, to the investigation of such universal laws, the philosopher applies himself; he accounts for physical effects by physical causes, he deduces the regularity of certain operations, from certain regular powers, and in the pride of human knowledge concludes, that the operation of such uniform and known causes preclude the necessity of a higher agent, or in other words,

that the same power which called the universe into existence, is not essential to its government or preservation, but that these operations are effected in the common course of nature that is, by the power of an agent acting in an uniform manner. And to whom can this agency be ascribed, but to Almighty God? All power is derived from him, and to him it must ultimately be referred: because regular in its appearance, and uniform in its effects, it is no less his. By him it was imparted, and by him it may be withdrawn. To him, therefore, are we to ascribe its continuance, as well as its creation. None but

the Almighty arm could have impressed sluggish and unresisting matter with such laws, and none but the same could have caused it to retain the impression. Through how many links soever it may descend, the chain of power is still to be traced to the throne of God. Let not that first, that noblest exercise of the human mind, the investigation of the laws of God, as impressed on the natural world, teach us to disregard the Almighty power which gave them birth; and, in the pride of cold philosophy assert, "that the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard" the operation of that power which centres in himself, the preservation of those laws which exist only at his pleasure, and the government of that universe, which is the creature of

his will. It is not the voice of pious enthusiasm alone, but of sober truth, which proclaims aloud, "It is the voice of the Lord that commandeth the waters, it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder." The labours of scientific research may trace these wonderful appearances in the natural world to the agency of secondary causes, but if thus its calculations end, far more just, far more sublime, are the speculations of unlettered ignorance.

Again, those whose minds have been absorbed in the investigation of the laws of the natural world, are apt, in the utter darkness of science, and the folly of human reason, to forget that the system of nature was created, and is conducted, to serve some other purposes besides those immediately apparent; they forget, that natural events proceed from a moral Ruler, and are ordained with reference to a moral government. It is this pre-established harmony, it is this direction of natural events to moral government, which connects the character of Ruler and Governor of the intellectual world with that of Creator and Preserver of the material; and satisfies us that there is but one Ruler and King in both systems, and that both are conducted by one scheme of Providence. Had the government of the moral system, generally required the alteration or suspension of the natural laws in that