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The views however which have been maintained , even by those philosophical inquirers who have enjoyed the light of revelation , with regard to the nature and
extent of the superintendence thus exercised , have differed considerably . Some of those who acknowledge that every thing contained in the divine plan fails out according to the divine direction , have doubted whether all the events that
have happened were comprised within that plan . As in human affairs , however carefully a man adjusts and preconcerts his schemes , there will also happen some things which did fiOtfall within his views
so it is thought that in the divine administration , though all the leading and important events are foreseen and provided for , yet many of the more trifling : occurrences are
neglected o ^ r left unnoticed . This aprjears to have been the opinion of the Stoics , as we learn frcm Cicero , and is perhaps not uncommon at present . It is what is called , by way of distinction , the doctrine of a general Providence *
The advocates of a particular Providence hold that every the minutest , and in our estimation the most trivial incident , was expressly foreseen and provided for in the divine plan , and that an exact
superintendence is exercised over the whole and over every part , however apparently insignificant . Every being however minute , every ^ vent however common , makes a
necessary link in that great chain which extends through all ages and into every place ; and could no more be wanting than the solar system could be wanting in the universe . No event , however small
an our eyes , could be changed in its place , cr wanting in the scries ,
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any more than the sun could be annihilated , or a thousand years blotted out of the calendar of heaven . Agreeing however in this
respect , as to the universal attention oi the Creator to every part of his works , they differ in the view which they take of this doctrine ; some supposing that the divine
government is at every moment unceasingly and actively exerted in directing the affairs of the universe , while others conceive that the whole course and order of things was originally adjusted at the creation ;
that each part was endowed with such properties , and placed in such circumstances , that , according to the general laws established for the government of the whole , it could not fail to produce the destined
effect , at the precise moment foreseen and intended . Since that period , however , all these second causes have continued to act , and have gone on to produce their
various results , of their own accord , without any further interference being requisite from the great original * First Cause ; just as a well . regulated clock , or other machine ,
whose parts are properly adjusted and contrived ^ continues to go , and produce the intended effect , for a considerable time , without requiring the further interference or attention of the maker .
It is obvious that , whichever of these opinions we adopt , the practical influence of the doctrine will be the same , since , upon each hypothesis , every the minutest event and circumstance either is or has
been the direct object of the divine contemplation , and forms a part of the general plan * In either case we are authorised to repose the most implicit and unbounded confidence in that all-seeing and all-
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458 Essay on the different Views of Providence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 458, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/10/
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