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    conviction that in this instance , as in all the other proceedings of Providence which we are able to examine , the end and aim must be the accomplishment of the best and wisest of purposes . But the consideration of this subject may be still farther extended , and it does not appear difficult to give some reason , not altogether unfounded , for the slowness with which our religion has made its progress ; from which also may be extracted grounds for hope as to its gradual and permanent extension to a state of perfect purity and universal belief .

    It appears to have been the plan of the Great Designer , in the formation of this world and its inhabitants , to infuse into the whole structure such re ^ gular powers and principles , that all his designs , after he had once sketched ihem , should be executed and filled up without his immediate interference ; that the universe should , in short , to all appearance , be regulated and governed by itself ; and the consideration of the wonderful adaptation of these secondary causes ( if we may so term them ) for the fulfilment of the wishes of the great First Cause , is one of the most sublime ideas that can impress

    the human mind . To reflect that those very affections and passions which regulate our species in the present advanced state of society have been the moving principles in the government of the world , when the human race existed in its earliest infancy , and during every intermediate change ; that , moreover , these very principles have produced the changes which they have accompanied , have caused the race of ferocious beasts to make way for civilized man , the former decreasing in exact proportion to the increase of the latter ; all this is so high and mighty , yet so excellent in its greatness , that it

    can never be considered without exciting the most lively sentiments of reverential gratitude towards the Great Being who is the Author of so perfect a system of organization . But even this is not the extent of his benevolence . To unthinking minds the system above described , far from kindling the flame of devotion , might appear , even in its very perfection , an argument for irre-Jigion and an excuse for impiety . To such ( and they are not few in number ) , the regularity of this motion would seem to negative a supreme director of its influences ; his authority they might reject , because they do not perceive the direct and visible controul of his government . For these men our

    Almighty and Indulgent Lord has provided that their sluggish comprehensions shall . be excited and their unwilling reason convinced by extraordinary displays of the Divine power and goodness . In addition to the perfect model visible in the creation , He from time to time exhibited to man his God shining above his works , until at last he has favoured us with the

    Christian dispensation . He thus , of old , kindly instructed his peculiar people by wars , desolation , and banishment , followed by a happy restoration to their pwn country . He appeared to them by his prophets , and indeed the Old Testament is filled by instances of divine interposition , all of which seem designed to recall the mind from that forgetfulness of the Maker which mi g ht arise out of the very perfection of his works . Yet in every case of such divine interposition , it appears to have been confined to its particular object , and never to have extended beyond the express purpose proposed to be answered by it . The workings of nature ( by which is meant those secondary causes ^ before alluded to ) have never been in the slightest degree impeded by these extraordinary exhibitions of divine power ; and as much as nature could work , she has been permitted to effect . The rare display of superior influence , the more immediate impulses of the Almighty , have had for their aim , the completion of some plan which the secondary causes alone could not fulfil ; there has , been no derangement in the system , The comet , indeed , has .

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    224 Slow Progress of Christian Truth .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/8/