In the external
world there is always and everywhere indisputable evidence of the
activity of two kinds of force: the one physical, the other mental. The
physical belongs to matter, and is due to the properties with which it
has been endowed; the other is the everywhere present and ever acting
mind of God. To the latter are to be referred all the manifestations of
design in nature, and the ordering of events in Providence. This
doctrine does not ignore the efficiency of second causes; it simply
asserts that God over-rules and controls them. Thus the Psalmist says,
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made.... My substance was not hid from
thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought (or embroidered)
in the lower parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet
being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in
continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them." "He
who fashioned the eye, shall not He see? He that formed the ear shall
not He hear?" "God makes the grass to grow, and herbs for the children
of men." He sends rain, frost, and snow. He controls the winds and the
waves. He determines the casting of the lot, the flight of an arrow, and
the falling of a sparrow. This universal and constant control of God is
not only one of the most patent and pervading doctrines of the Bible,
but it is one of the fundamental principles of even natural religion.
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