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ruling Being , by whom the very hairs of our heads are numbered , and without whose will not even a sparrow falleth to the ground * Thte practical advantages and comforts which we derive from
this conviction are equally secured by every supposition which admits that all events , both those which we consider as important , and those which we in our wisdom
stigmatize as trifling and unworthy of regard , are alike parts of the great plan , and combine to pro * mote the general design . This at least will be the case , so long as it is also admitted that every thing is conducted according to general
laws . Perhaps however these different views of Providence may be advantageously combined . As , on the one hand , a belief in the constant unceasing agency of the Divine Being in superintending all the minutest interests of every part , as well as the final welfare of the
whole , does not preclude us from supposing that all these things were looked forward to from the beginning ; so , on the other , because we suppose that every thing was arranged and definitively settled be
fore all ages , it does not follow that we are to conceive of the Deity as having ever since committed all agency to the operation of second causes , and as having totally ceased to take an active concern in the
government of the universe . This idea of the Divine Being seems to me absolutely incoherent , and in . consistent with the notions we cannot but form of his infinite powers
and attributes ; and yet it is the conclusion to which the reasonings of many eminent and pious writers naturally lead us . They represent the universe as a sort of admirably contrived machine , in which every
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the minutest part and movement is exactly adjusted , so as most effectually to contribute to the attain , mentof the end for which the whole was designed ; and suppose that in the same manner as the framer of
any well-constructed machine , after having put the parts together , wound it up and set it a-going , is enabled to leave it in some degree to itself , to perform its office without his further interference , so the
vanous parts of the creation , both animate and inanimate , mental and material , were originally so adapted to each other , and subjected to such laws , that they have ever since gone on of themselves . The agency
of second causes has proceeded in such a manner , that though the ori g inal designs of the Creator have all been fulfilled to the minutest article , and though nothing has been done which did not enter into
his original design , yet no further interference or controul was necessary on his part in order to continue or support these various operations .
Now I can see no good purpose which is answered by this hypothesis . Why should it be supposed that the infinite perfections and power of the Creator should be exhausted in one effort , and then
for ever remain inactive , every thing being afterwards effected by subordinate agents ? Is not this notion merely another example of the influence of false analogies arising out of the manner in which we
usually form our ideas of the divine attributes , from what we observe of the limited and imperfect capacities of human nature ? Why is it that in any contrivance of human ingenuity it is considered as a mark of excellence that it requires but little vigilance or con-
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Essay on the different Views of Providence . 45 ff
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 459, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/11/
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