respects and delights in that moral freedom and choice,
which he has given to man. And whenever men, in the
exercise of their volitional power, have resisted the laws
and operations of God in the soul (we mean now the nat-
ural laws and operations) to a certain point, he abandons
them; he leaves them to themselves; and they become
unnatural. They have destroyed their nature, because
God has ceased to sustain their nature against the neglect
and opposition of their own wills. So that it is proper
to say, (and there is fearful import in the words,) that
the unnatural son and daughter, that the unnatural
father and mother, are left of God. -

A nature which can thus be sustained by our adoption and concurrence, or injured and sometimes destroyed by our opposition, harmonizes entirely with the principles of morals. So that the nature which constitutes the child what he is, is not more a filial nature than it is a moral nature.

13. And, in like manner, in once more becoming the children of God, we receive and retain a filial nature, but without ceasing to possess a moral nature. Much is involved in that free and full consecration which every true Christian is supposed to have made of himself to his heavenly Father. As free and moral agents, we consent now and forever, if we do what we ought to do, that God shall be a truth, a life, a nature in us; which he never has been and never will be without our consent. Adam before he fell, Christ in his humanity, angels in heaven, all holy beings everywhere, either have existed, or do now exist, as holy beings, by means of the operation of God in the soul; and yet without any alienation of their moral attributes and responsibilities, because they have received this operation with their own choice, and have sanctioned it by their own approbation.

We cali

any

With these explanations, we repeat that there is no true place of rest and safety, short of the reëstablishment of those relations which we have endeavored to illustrate. Accordingly, we cannot regard it as safe for any one to stop in the progress of inward experience, until he feels and knows that he has become, in the Scripture sense of the terms, a LITTLE CHILD; not only having a child's name, but a child's nature. And when this relation is reëstablished, not as a name merely, but as a reality, — not as a mere conventional arrangement, but as a true nature, then, and not till then, we are brought into true union with our heavenly Father.

14. One remark more only remains to be added. It is on these principles, and these only, that we can make our position harmonize with our prayers. When we pray, we address God as our Father. This implies that we either are, or ought to be, his children. And our language throughout in prayer corresponds to the idea that our true position is the filial position. We pray that we may distrust and renounce ourselves, and look only to God for guidance and support. Recognizing our inability to supply our own wants, we pray for faith, for wisdom, for love, for the guidance of our wills. We go. to him, in form at least, just as the little child goes to its earthly parent. If we will go in the same sincerity, our heavenly Father will recognize the relationship, and we shall thus become the true sons of God.

1

PART SIXTH.

ON UNION WITH GOD IN HIS PROVIDENCES.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE TRUE IDEA OF PROVIDENCE AND EXTENT.

Origin and meaning of the term providence. — Importance of the doctrine of Divine Providence. Of the difference between a particular and a general providence. Of the recognition of a particular providence by the heathen. — Of its recognition in the Scriptures. — The providence of God extends not only to individuals, but to families and nations.

THE word providence is derived from the Latin term PROVIDENTIA, meaning watchfulness, care, oversight. As the term is commonly employed, it means the constant oversight or care which God exercises over all his works.

2. "The doctrine of divine providence," says a judicious writer, "is of the very first importance, and contributes greatly to the peace and happiness of human life. Were it not that God maintained a constant and watchful care over all his works, all piety would immediately cease. A God who did not concern himself in the affairs of the world, and especially in the actions of men, would be to us as good as none at all. In that case, should men live in a virtuous and pious manner, they would have no approbation to expect from him.

Should they be guilty of crimes, they would have no punishment to fear. Were they persecuted, they would think of God only as the idle witness of their wrongs. Were they in circumstances of suffering and sorrow, they could find no consolation if God were unmindful of them." *

3. In considering this important and interesting subject, it is proper to notice the distinction which is frequently made between a particular and general providence. It is certainly doubtful whether such a distinction ought to be made; -especially if the doctrine of a general providence is designed to supersede that of a particular providence. How can we readily conceive. of a general providence, extending its watchfulness over things in their general aspects, which does not involve the fact of a particular providence, extending its watchfulness at the same time to those particulars, out of which that which is general is constituted? If there is a God, to whom the attributes usually ascribed to God belong, there is and must be a providence of God. If there is a providence of God extending with any degree of certainty, and with any good results, to things in their general nature, it extends to everything. We do not propose, however, to enter into an argument in support of a view which seems to us to be obvious of itself.

4. It is the rejection of the doctrine of providence, considered as entering into particulars, which constitutes one of the great evils, the practical atheism, perhaps we may call it, of the age in which we live. It is true, undoubtedly, that men, with but few exceptions, admit the existence of a God; but they do not admit, except in a very mitigated and imperfect sense, his presence and

Lectures on Christian Theology, by George Christian Knapp.

supervision. They allow him a being, but they practically strike off its infinity, by assigning him a distant and strictly bounded locality. They allow him the privilege of casting a look down upon the world's affairs; but cannot bear the thought that the world does not and cannot go on without him. Here, then, is one of the great evils of the day, one of the secrets of our misery; the acknowledgment of God's existence, with the excision of his practical omnipresence; the recognition of God in general, but the rejection of him as God in particular. 5. One would be almost inclined to think that heathen nations are less faulty in this particular than those which bear the name of Christians. The untutored savage

"Sees God in clouds, and hears him in the wind."

Because an advanced knowledge in the sciences has explained many physical laws, men have fallen into the habit of ascribing to law what belongs to agency. And by thus attributing almost everything to what they denominate the laws of Nature, they forget the God of Nature. The mind of the savage, on the contrary, contemplating the result without understanding the law by which it is brought about, sees God in all the objects around him. It is God, dwelling in the cave of its fountain waters, who pours down the mighty rivers. It is the Great Spirit that sends the storm and the lightning from the mountain tops. It is God that shines in the sun, and walks in the clouds, and dwells even in four-footed beasts and creeping things. Here is a great truth, founded in the nature of God, although it is perverted and darkened in its development by the imperfection of fallen hearts. It is a truth, therefore, which ought to be respected. And the question may be put in all sin