On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
term the objects which affect our external senses ) is concerned , it is the business ^ of the natural philosopher to investigate . And perhaps it may serve in some
degree as an indirect argument in favour of ihis theory , that by representing all our sensations , which we commonly ( vvjth what consistency 1 shall not at present stop to inquire ) r < fer to a set of causes which by their definition are im .
percipienl , inert , and there lore , one would suppose , incapable of producing any effect at all , as the immediate result of the agency of a superior being , it enables us to place the argument for the being of a God and his Providence in a
most conclusive and satisfactory point of light . He who believes in the agency of impercipient second causes , and who imagines that these causes are so circumstanced
that they may go on by themselves for ever , may perhaps not see with sufficient distinctness the argument which proves that they cannot have gone on by themselves through all past ages . He who supposes that
the system of celestial mechanism is so adjusted that the sun and planets have an intrinsic power by which they mutuallyinfluence each other , nay , that every particle in the universe exerts an actual ,
positive , inherent force , in drawing towards itself every other particle wherever situated , may imagine , for aught I know , that these things are so through a necessity of
nature ; and that as they ever will go on , so they ever have gone on from all eternity producing the various motions and phenomena which we behold . But the disci .
pie of that system which maintains that all these appearances are nothing more than the circum-
Untitled Article
stances in which their Creator has seen fit to place his rational and percipient creatures , whom , for the purposes of his own good Providence , he has subjected to the
influence of various impressions produced according to general rules and principles , which they are ca » pable to a certain extent of investigating and comprehending , sees
at once that an intelligent and supreme Disposer is essential not merely to the original production , but to every moment ' s existence , of this frame of nature . The
being of a God and his constant superintending Providence is an ar . tic \ e o ( his faith which he cannot conceive to be doubted for an instant .
That the advantages here stated as arising from the hypothesis of Berkeley and others should induce
us to adopt their views , is what I will not pretend ; I only throw out these speculations at present , in order that they may furnish an illustration of what I conceive to
be the just account of the ways of Divine Providence ; namely , that the laws of nature are only the modes of the divine operations ,
and that every creature is indebted , not merely for its existence at first , but for every moment's continuance of that existence , to his constant all-sustaining energy .
That every thing which has happened or is to happen in the universe was originally contemplated , and formed an essential part of the general plan ; that every sentient being entered into the view of the Divine Mind ; that
not merely our existence , not merely our welfare in general , every moment ' s existence , every the minutest circumstance which ministers to our welfare , was ori-
Untitled Article
462 Essay on the different Views , of Providence .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 462, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/14/
-