e matter and impress upon it certain laws and then leave it to
their blind operation. He is everywhere present in the material world,
not superseding secondary causes, but so upholding and guiding their
operations, that the intelligence evinced is the omnipresent
intelligence of God, and the power exercised is the _potestas ordinata_
of the Great First Cause. He is no less supreme in his control of
intelligent agents. They indeed are free, but not independent. They are
governed in a manner consistent with their nature; yet God turns them as
the rivers of waters are turned. All events depending on human agency
are under his control. God is in history. Neither chance nor blind
necessity determine the concatenation or issues of things. Nor is the
world in the hands of its inhabitants. God has not launched our globe on
the ocean of space and left its multitudinous crew to direct its course
without his interference. He is at the helm. His breath fills the sails.
His wisdom and power are pledged for the prosperity of the voyage.
Nothing happens, even to the falling of a sparrow, which is not ordered
by him. He works all things after the counsel of his will. It is by him
that kings reign and princes decree justice. He puts down one, and
raises up another. As he leads out the stars by night, marshaling them
as a host, calling each one by its name, so does he order all human
events. He raises up nations and appoints the bounds of their
habitation. He founds the empires of the earth and determines their form
and their duration. This doctrine of God's universal providence is the
foundation of all religion. If this doctrine be not true, we are without
God in the world. But if it is true, it involves a vast deal. God is
everywhere in nature and in history. Every thing is a revelation of his
presence and power. We are always in contact with him. Every thing has a
voice, which speaks of his goodness or his wrath; fruitful seasons
proclaim his goodness, famine and pestilence declare his displeasure.
Nothing is by chance. The existence of any particular form of government
is as much his work, as the rising of the sun or falling of the rain. It
is something he has ordained for some wise purpose, and it is to be
regarded as his work. If all events are under God's control, if it is by
him that kings reign, then the actual possession of power is as much a
revelation of his will that it should be obeyed, as the possession of
wisdom or goodness