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respecting their own , forgetting that it is impossible to establish any analogy between that which is frail and finite , and that which is perfect and infinite . In pursuing subjects of this
kind , it is necessary as a first step , to divest the mind of every idea of that limitation and uncertainty which must attend all human operations . Infinity admits of no limitations and of no degrees ,
J would here remark that the illustration of the two watches , which your correspondent employs , is not fairly applicable to the subject . We consider the one a more perfect piece of mechanism than the other , because the attention of the artist is not
directed from any other pursuit to attend to it . But this does not apply to the operations of the Almighty . Could we conceive that infinite space , with all the creatures it contains , were infinitely multiplied , still an infinite Being would be equally adequate to its support and guidance . In the formation of the universe ,
the Deity must have had a certain design ; and to accomplish this , he must necessarily have employed those means and those alone , which would best produce it . It is absurd to suppose that Infinite Wisdom would
create beings without any object , or that Infinite Power would form such as did not in every respect answer their intended end . It follows , therefore , that erery creature , and in like manner every event , contributes in its requisite share to the purposes of the Supreme Mind .
lo a Being of unlimited knowledge and power , all events , whether past or future , must be equally presentequally easy to effect—the grandest and the most trivial to human comprehension alike requiring the exertion only of the Almighty will . Every portion of his creation ,
animate and inanimate , must be known to him , and occupy an equal share of his attention . So far from shrinking from € C the unavoidable conclusions which must he admittedbefore we can conceive
, that the whole human race is under such minute superintendence , " I rea-< hlv close in w | th them , requiring only that the same principles should » e extended to every cre&ttire , td
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every event within the range of time and space . Your correspondent asks , " what adequate idea can possibly be formed of such minute and incessant
attention being necessary to uphold the harmony and good order of the whole ? The human mind is bewildered on the very threshold of the conjecture . " And well it may be . But here he falls into the error which I have pointed out , conceiving of the Divine nature by the limited standard of his own . Is it not presumptuous to pronounce that such are not the design and operations of Omnis ^ cience ? Surely it is most honourable to the Deity to extend and not to
narrow the sphere of his energy . Mr . L . justly observes , " What is the difference in the estimation of perfect wisdom , between the highest state of human refinement , and its most humiliating imbecility ? They can be no other than equal in his parental regard . " And where then are we to draw the line between the
lowest of our own species , and all the successive gradations of created beings ? Why should not the life of every sparrow be the object of the care and solicitude of its Maker ? Why should not every worm of our gardens , and every gnat of the interminable desert , enjoy the regard of infinite benevolence ?
According to the foregoing views , the doctrine of a particular Providence falls naturally to the ground . For as every event must have its proper end in the purposes of the t > eity , none can possibly occur ,
without being requisite as a link in the great chain . However extraordinary therefore to human comprehension certain ordinations of Providence may appear , it is evident that they could not in reality have been otherwise .
Such events , nevertheless , though certain and necessary in themselves , are to us perfectl y contingent 3 and to a well-disposea mind , this view will excite as much gratitude for
unexpected mercies , as that which represents them as peculiar interpositions of divine favour . I know not , Sir , whether I shall have made my ideas as intelligible as I could desire . If what 1 have written should cbatribute to produce in any one a clearer and more uniform
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On Mr . Luckcock ' s Remarks on Providence . £$ 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 515, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/19/
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