fairies, or supernatural agencies of any kind, refer events actually due to the operations of nature to the intervention of spiritual beings. To this it may be answered. First, that the sense of de- pendence, of responsibility, of obligation for mercies received, and of the control of outward events by the power of God, is too uni- versal to be accounted for by any peculiar form of education. These are the generic, or fundamental convictions of the human mind, wliich are manifested in more or less suitable forms, according to the degree of knowledge which different men possess. And sec- ondly, it is to be considered that the argument is founded on the truth and justness of these feelings, and not on their origin. It is in this case as it is with our moral convictions. Because our knowl- edge of what is right or wrong, and the opinions of men on that point, may be modified by education and cii'cumstances, this does not prove that our moral nature is due to education ; nor does it shake the convictions we entertain of the correctness of our moral judgments. It may be, and doubtless is true that we owe to the Scriptures most of our knowledge of the moral law, but this does not impair our confidence in the authority and truth of our views of duty, and of moral obligation. These religious feelings have a self-evidencing as well as an informing light. We know that they are right, and we know that the doctrine which accords with them and produces them, must be true. It is, therefore, a valid argument for the doctrine of a universal providence that it meets the demands of our moral and religious nature.
Argument from Predictions and Promises. A fourth general argument on this subject is derived from the pi'edictions, promises, and threatenings recorded in the Word of God. Those predictions are not mere general declarations of the probable or natural consequences of certain courses of action, but specific revelations of the occurrence of events in the future, the futurition of which cannot be secured except in the exercise of an absolutely certain control over causes and agents both natural and moral. God promises to give health, long life, and prosperous sea- sons ; or He threatens to inflict severe judgments, the desolations »f war, famine, drought, and pestilence. Such promises and threatenings suppose a universal providence, a control over all the creatures of God, and over all their actions. As such promises and threatenings abound in the Word of God ; as his people, and as all nations recognize such benefits or calamities as divine dispen- sations, it is evident that the doctrine of Providence underlies all religion, both natural and revealed.
686 PAET I. — THEOLOGY. [Ca. XI. — Pkovidknck.
Argument from Experience. We may refer confidently on this subject to all experience. Every man can see that his life has been ordered by an intelligence and will not his own. His whole history has been determined by events over which he had no control, events often in themselves apparently fortuitous, so that he must either assume that the most important events are determined by chance, or admit that the providence of God extends to all events, even the most minute. What is true of individuals is true of nations. The Old Testa- ment is a record of God's providential dealings with the Hebrew people. The calling of Abraham, the history of the patriarchs, of Joseph, of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, of their deliv- erance and journey through the wilderness, of their conquest of the land of Canaan, and their whole subsequent history, is a con- tinuous record of the control of God over all their circumstances, — a control which is represented as extending to all events. In like manner the history of the world reveals to an intelligent eye the all-pervading providence of God, as clearly as the heavens de- clare his majesty and power.
B. TJie Scriptures teach Crocfs Providence over Nature. We find that the Bible asserts that the providential agency of God is exercised over all the operations of nature. This is asserted with regard to the ordinary operations of physical laws : the motion of the heavenly bodies, the succession of the seasons, the growth and decay of the productions of the earth ; and the falling of the rain, hail, and snow. It is He who guides Arcturus in his course, who makes the sun to rise, and the grass to grow. These events are represented as due to the omnipresent agency of God and are determined, not by chance, nor by necessity, but by his will. Paul says (Acts xiv. 17), that God " left not himself without witness " even among the heathen, " in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Our Lord says (Matt. v. 45), God " maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." He clothes " the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven." (Matt. vi. 80.) In like manner the more unusual and striking operations of natural laws, earthquakes, tempests, and pestilences, are said to be sent, gov- erned, and determined by Him, so that all the effects which they produce are referred to his purpose. He makes the winds his