uniform testimony on the subject of the Scripture, so it is quite opposite to all we know of the nature and essential properties of the soul, which is a spiritual substance, possessing intellectual powers, and essentially vital and active. Some have been so extravagant as to assert, that the soul is annihilated on the death of the body, and afterward created anew at the resurrection: an absurdity which has not the least pretence of reason for its support; and, where nothing is adduced to prove a point, it is perhaps scarcely necessary to advance one argument to confute it.

A judicious author observes, "a real suspension of thought is the destruction of the mind; and what might be termed a restoration of thought, would, in fact, be the formation of a new mind. If therefore, at death, the thinking principle should rest, should cease to act, it would at the same instant cease to be. Its very existence and character depend on its action. And if, at the resurrection, the inspiration of the Almighty should again make man a living soul, capable of thought, such an act of Omnipotence, with respect to mind, would be a new creation. The mind, formed for inhabiting the glorified body, would thus be another mind than that which formerly possessed the body when in a state of mortality; the identity of the soul would be destroyed: reward and punishment would be useless and a day of retribution unavailing."

"O eternal Providence, whose course,
Amidst the various maze of life, is fix d
By boundless wisdom and by boundless love,
I follow thee with resignation, hope,

With confidence and joy; for thou art good,
And of thy rising goodness is no end.”

THE supposition of a Divine invisible power, that rules the universe, ordering and disposing the course of events, is of absolute necessity to the very nature and constitution of things, for we may as well conceive of a body thinking and acting, and performing all the functions of a rational, intelligent being, without a soul to inspire and conduct it, as we can imagine this material complicated frame of nature to subsist as it does, without an almighty Spirit to direct its motions, and actuate its powers.

The providence of God flows so necessarily from his existence, that if we allow the one we cannot but acknowledge the other, because the same reasons do in effect prove both. It is true, God is absolutely perfect in the enjoyment of himself, antecedently to all other beings; yet, since he thought fit to give being, and communicate happiness to his creatures, how can he be unconcerned for the work of his own hands? If it be deemed unnatural in earthly parents to be void of care and affection for their offspring, can we suppose this of the great Parent of nature? Or, can it consist with the goodness of our heavenly Father, which at first induced him to create, afterward to leave his creatures ex

posed to blind chance, or an unrelenting fatality, with an insensibility of the Supreme Being?

As we cannot discern that there is a God, without at the same time acknowledging him to be the Creator of the world; so from his work of creation we are naturally led to conclude that he will preserve it too; since preservation is nothing else but a kind of continual creation. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created;" i. e. for thy pleasure they are preserved and were created. The same power which gave birth and form to material things, seems equally necessary to support and continue them. Or, admitting that any thing could subsist without the immediate actual concurrence of God, still this would be owing, not to any independent power originally inherent in that thing itself, but purely to a force and energy which the Divine hand impressed upon it at its creation, in such measure and degree as he judged expedient. And, therefore, certainly He who is allowed to be the first cause, and the principle of motion in every created being; He who communicated and determined their respective powers and capacities, must of course have reserved to himself the superior power, the privilege or prerogative of suspending, diverting, or any way overruling their agency; so as may best serve his wise purposes, which can never be served at all, unless we suppose all events to be under his inspection, and all coun

and the

cils to be subject to his pleasure. sition of a Deity, then, does necessarilynocent providence, since the world can no more be inserved and governed by chance, than it couth at first be formed by it; and the same Divinė wisdom and power which were requisite to the one, are altogether as necessary to the other.

And as the doctrine of a providence has such a firm foundation in reason, so it is strongly confirmed by the Holy Scriptures. These give to Christians such clear and explicit notions of this great truth, as leave us utterly without excuse, if we fail to have a just sense, and persuasion of it; for they every where inculcate the general care and superintendence of the Divine Being over the world,—that as he made, so he also preserves and governs it. They teach us, that God is a pure and almighty Spirit, intimately present with every part of the universe, that "of him, and through him, and to him, are all things;" that all things "continue according to his ordinance, for all things serve him;" that "in him we live, and move, and have our being;" that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro. throughout the whole earth," and "are in every place, beholding the evil and the good;" that not so much as a sparrow falls to the ground. without our heavenly Father;" and that "the hairs of our heads are all numbered."

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The operations of Divine Providence are perceived in those extraordinary occurrences which plainly appear to be above the laws of nature, or contrary to their usual course. Who

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punt for all the phenomena oral world, from principles ophy, will soon find he has > which he is very unequal : xcludes the agency of God, fair and clear solution of g the least reference to it. tances of good men being rewarded, in auumon to the inward peace and consolation of their own minds, with large measures of prosperity and happiness; and of wicked men being punished with remarkable judgments; which demonstrate, that the affairs of this world are managed by a Being of infinite wisdom, power, justice, and benignity. How frequently has oppressed innocence been remarkably, and beyond all expectation, vindicated and rescued; and the remunerations of the pious and virtuous been so proportioned to their upright and excellent conduct, as could never have happened but by the overruling providence of the Supreme Governor of the world. And, on the other hand, how often has his righteous justice displayed itself in punishing notorious offenders, and in proportioning their punishments to the nature and quality of their crimes.

This argument will appear more conclusive, if we attend to the circumstances of those punishments which have been inflicted upon eminently wicked persons. They have suffered in the same kind, according to those things in which they had offended. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."