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Untitled Article
though not traced to nearly its full extent , is admitted as far as it is thought of at all by the rulers , of nations . We should have fared much better if our governments had been as religious as Heber ; but much worse if they had been as superstitious as Newton or Mr . Sadler . So much for what is past and cannot be recalled . Now for what our eloquent author says of present duty .
' To expect the course of nature to be interrupted , sensibly or insensibly , in the affairs of nations or individuals , is to confound the dispensation of ordinary Providence with the dispensations which a peculiar people , and for a special object , is recorded to have enjoyed . The more attentively we observe the progress of nations to prosperity and their relapse to decay , the more
convinced shall we become that events occur according to a fixed connexion of cause and effect ; that fixed connexion by which virtue and vice , prudence and imprudence , receive their natural reward and punishment . Man ' s free agency consists in the power which he possesses to discover and to avail himself of this connexion . And the existence of an over-ruling , or rather of a
ruling Providence , ( for the term over-ruling is often misunderstood to imply interruptions of the course of nature , ) is evidenced by
the natural order of events , even unaided by human wisdom , carrying the designs of Providence so far into effect , that farther and more important objects become indicated , and the means of attaining them discovered . And when men avail themselves of these , they are but the intelligent instruments of Providence ; they are his ministers which do his pleasure . But it is of the first importance to be convinced ( in opposition to Mr . Sadler's conclusion ) that Nature never accomplishes the entire , or even the greater
part of the objects of Providence ; but , having indicated the objects and disclosed the means of attaining them , leaves it to the free will of man to profit by or neglect this knowledge . And it is only second in importance to this truth , to observe , ( in contradiction to Mr . Croly ' s interpretation of the Apocalypse , ) that Providence will not in our times accomplish its objects by interrupting the course of Nature . Oure < pv < ret 9 oure irapa ( pucriv , neither by the course nor against the course of Nature , is the rule of ordinary Providence . The cessation of war , the adjustment of population ,
the distribution o justice , and the diffusion of knowledge , —in a word , the perfecting of all blessings , are yielded to human efforts , and are yielded to these only . * 4 Human happiness is the temple of God ' s glory . As knowledge is extended and civilization advances , the general design
and the several proportions of this temple become more evident . We observe that its roof cannot be supported by creatures of superstition ; its aisles ought not to be dishonoured by effigies of cruel persecutors ; its sanctuary must not be crowded with ascetic and fanatic idols . As the true proportions of that temple become
Untitled Article
On Nature and Providence to Communities . 353
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1832, page 253, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1810/page/37/
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