Thus while we humbly own the vast decree,
Formed in the bosom of Eternity,
And know all secondary causes tend
Each to contribute to one mighty end;
Yet while these causes firmly fixed remain—
Links quite unbroken in the endless chain,
So that could one be snapped, the whole must fail,
And wide confusion o'er the world prevail;
Why may not our petitions, which arise
In humble adoration to the skies,
Be foreordained the causes, whence shall flow
Our purest pleasures in this vale of woe?
Not that they move the purpose that hath stood
By time unchanged, immeasurably good,
But that the event and prayer alike may be
United objects of the same decree."[216]
On the whole, we feel ourselves warranted, and even constrained, to conclude that the theory of "government by natural law" is defective in so far as it excludes the superintendence and control of God over all the events of human life, and that neither the existence of second causes nor the operation of physical laws should diminish our confidence in the care of Providence and the efficacy of Prayer.
FOOTNOTES:
[181] Cicero, "De Naturâ Deorum," lib. I. c. 44.
[182] Howe, "Works," I. 104. Cudworth, "Intellectual System," I. 120, 144.
[183] M. Comte, "Cours," VI. 149, 247, 295. Spinoza, "Tractatus Theol.-politicus," pp. 57, 102, 122, 144, 150, 319.
[184] Dr. Channing, "Memoirs," II. 439. Robt. Boyle, "Free Inquiry into the Notion of Nature," p. 7.
[185] Professor Sedgwick, "Discourse," fifth edition, p. CLIII. Mr. Combe, "Constitution of Man," p. 417.
[186] Proverbs 6: 27; Psalm 68: 2; 83: 14; James 3: 12; Matthew 7: 16; Proverbs 8: 29; Job 38: 11, 33; Psalm 119: 90; Jeremiah 31: 35; 33: 25.