SERMON VII.

ON PROVIDENCE.

LUKE xii. 7.

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

THE doctrine of a particular providence-or the doctrine that the great God who governs the universe is constantly employed in the minute inspection and regulation of the affairs of individuals-though obscurely intimated in the writings of some of the ancient heathen, is taught no where with clearness and authority except in the pages of the Bible. And need I say, what a treasure such a truth is to a poor creature who has discovered, by bitter experience, his total inability to guide and to govern himself? Well might a monarch and philosopher of antiquity, even when surrounded by all the splendour and power of the highest authority, exclaim, What happiness could I find in a world without God and Providence!'

But this doctrine, connected as it is with the most secret operations and dealings of an infinite and an invisible God, is, from its very nature, encumbered with considerable difficulties. And, accordingly, few truths have been more mistaken or abused; and none, perhaps, mistaken or abused to more mischievous purposes. May I not, then, hope for your attention, while I endeavour, in dependence upon the Divine VOL. II. M

blessing, to touch upon some of the errors which have fed to these deplorable consequences?

I. In the first place, let us consider what may be called THE UNBELIEVING, OR SCEPTICAL, VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

There are those, for example, who, although they admit that God made the world, conceive that no sooner was the work of creation accomplished than he ceased to take any interest in this production of his hands;—that, instead of exercising any direct influence over it, or bestowing on it any specific attention, he appointed certain general laws, by which it was henceforth to be governed ;-that, in consequence of this arrangement, what must be, will be, and an irreversible fate prescribe and determine the destiny of the millions of mankind. Of this cheerless and wretched scheme of things, it is scarcely necessary for me to say that it is opposed to the whole language and spirit of the Book of God. Every page of that sacred volume represents the Divine Being as awake to all the concerns of his creatures; as knowing all things, and controlling every movement in his own universe. "The Lord," it says, "is a God of knowledge; and by him actions are weighed:" "All things are naked to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do:" "The Lord knoweth them that are his :" "His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings." But why should I multiply passages on so plain a point? The notion to which I have alluded is little short of practical atheism. Better,' said a distinguished Grecian writer, in touching upon a similar question, say there is no such man as Plutarch, than admit him to exist and represent him as he is not.' And better, we might almost add, is it to deny the existence of a God altogether, than to admit his existence and then divest him of his noblest attributes, shut him out of his own creation, and refuse to acknowledge his fatherly interest in

those whom he first formed with his hand, and has since ransomed with the blood of his own Son. The language of one divinely instructed in the mysteries of the Divine nature is, "Thou hast searched me, and known me: Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, and understandest my thoughts afar off: Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways."

II. In the second place, let us notice what may be called THE NARROW AND PARTIAL VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF PROVIDENCE.

And surely these epithets may justly be applied to that view of it which, while it admits the doctrine of a general, denies the doctrine of a particular, providence; which, while it allows that God interferes in the history of nations, denies his interference in the case of individuals; or which, while it admits his interposition in the larger or more general events of a man's history, denies it in each particular and minute incident of our daily life.

Of this view of the doctrine, I may, in the first place, once more ask, whether it has in the smallest degree the warrant of Scripture? Listen to the language of our Lord himself: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and yet not one of them is forgotten before God:" "Give us this day our daily bread :" "Your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things:" "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." And these quotations are but a sample of those scattered throughout the volume of inspiration. Whatever, therefore, be the foundation of this hypothesis, it is evident that it has not the sanction of the word of God.

But, in the next place, is not the doctrine of a particular providence taught by every part of the works of God with which we are acquainted?-In surveying the face of nature, do we not find every spot pregnant

with some evidence of the care and vigilance of the great Father of the universe? Is not every insect constructed, and every flower tinged and scented, with an attention as minute and exquisite as though the skill and labour distributed over the whole surface of the creation were confined to this particular object?

And, again, is the reason which is sometimes alleged for denying the doctrine of a particular providence, that it is a degradation of the nature of God, in the smallest degree founded in truth ?—If, indeed, the attention of the Divine Being to what is little, involved, as it sometimes does in the case of man, a neglect of what is great, the objection might have some weight. But look at the case as it really stands. If the monarch of any particular country, at the same time that he regulated, without an effort, the general movements of his empire, and subjected all its master-spirits to his will, could enter into the distinct cases, and wants, and feelings of his various cottagers, would not our admiration of his powers be much increased by this evidence of their extent and diversity? And ought not the same rule to be applied in reasoning upon the nature and attributes of the great Ruler of the universe? Is it a degradation of the Divine nature to maintain, that, whilst the power of God stretches over the regions of infinite space, creates and extinguishes worlds at his pleasure, rolls the planets in their spheres, or roots up the mountains from their deep foundations; that, whilst "hell is naked before him, and destruction has no covering," and "the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof;" his eye is fixed upon the meanest individual who inhabits the smallest orb which steals along the face of the skies, and that he watches every thought of his heart, and guides every movement of his hand? Is it, in like manner, a degrading conception of God, to imagine that the same Mind which controls by a wish the powers and principalities of heaven,-all that innumerable company which sur

rounds the Throne,-also counts every hair of the head, and regulates the flight of every sparrow of the field? Surely, my brethren, the statements which are calculated to disparage the character of God, are those which affirm that an attention to small concerns must of necessity divert his attention from the greatest; which proceed upon the supposition, that there are such things as great and small in his eyes; that it is not as easy to Him to wield a world as to destroy an insect; and that, in opposition to the affirmations of Scripture, he does not count "the nations as the drop of a bucket," "measure the waters in the hollow of his hand," and "take up the isles as a very little thing?" To a reasonable mind, the minuteness of the Divine government is precisely the circumstance which gives the last finish to its perfection; which prompts us to say, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect:" "Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!" "The great, the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts, is his name." Far, then, my Christian brethren, from your heart and mine be the suspicion, that there is a concern of our lives too minute for the inspection and superintendence of the great Being we love and serve. "Ye are of more value than many sparrows;" and yet "one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father." May this minuteness of his care be the confidence and joy of your souls! It is because, sleeping or waking; sitting in the house, or journeying by the way; in the hours of business or of solitude, of joy or misery, of health or sickness; amidst the circle of our friends, or in the awful hour when those friends are snatched away; when embarked in the high enterprises of life, or nursing a little infant up to manhood, or smoothing the pillow of sickness and decrepitude;-it is because, at all times, and in all places, He is present to guide, to console, to help, to bless, to save, that our heart takes courage; that we say, we are "not alone, because the Father is with us;"