THE NEW THEOLOGY, 327 



man, and which assures of the divine favor and begets the hope 

 of eternal life ; and a less prevalent conviction that this divine ele- 

 ment has in times past performed miracles, and may even now be 

 controlled to heal the sick, and cure the lame, and do superhuman 

 deeds. 



It is not questioned that there is an enlightening, encouraging, and 

 comforting spiritual influence in the world ; but why assume that it 

 is supernatural ? or that it is a new and distinct agent which is supe- 

 rior to and supersedes Nature ? No one has yet fathomed the mys- 

 teries or power of a single element of nature, and therefore can not 

 reasonably assume that Nature is insufficient to account for all the 

 phenomena attributed to the supernatural, nor can any one show that 

 the supernatural has ever done or can do more than is done by Nature 

 in its ordinary processes. And if, as claimed, the natural occurrences 

 are divine operations, then, certainly, no supernatural agency could be 

 more subtile, or more powerful, or more beneficial, than a common 

 process of Nature. Even the advent of Christ can not be regarded as 

 a new or superseding force in human life if he be " God manifest in 

 the flesh," for God has ever made himself known by his works and 

 providence, "even his everlasting power and divinity." The mere 

 form of his appearance would not be a superior component, and if he 

 were a creation he could not be a supernatural power. 



The profound conviction of the Christian mind is, that the God 

 who created, upholds the universe, and watches over and guides the 

 movement of every atom day and night, and guards the thoughts of 

 every heart and gives them the impulse of theu* transforming energy. 

 This is the divine in nature, and there could be no course of nature 

 without it ; but it is neither a new, nor a distinct, nor a superseding 

 element in nature. It is God as the ever-present and efficient force in 

 matter and mind, who " rides in the whirlwind and guides in the 

 storm," who lives, and moves, and has his being in the human heart, 

 and who helps in every infirmity. He is the unseen, intangible sub- 

 sistence in and of self, and yet not self, which purifies the heart and 

 ennobles the life, and which improves society, and ** makes for right- 

 eousness " from age to age, and to the ends of the earth. 



He is the Holy Spirit, sent by our Lord, who vitalizes every letter 

 and word of the Divine utterances, and abides in them so that they 

 are living words, and scintillate with the radiance of their divine sig- 

 nificance as the light from the urim and thummim of the high-priest of 

 old, and as the shekinah from the mercy-seat between the cherubim 

 over the ark of the covenant. He is the light which enlighteneth 

 every man who cometh into the world, the persuasion in every invita 

 tion, the comfort in every promise, the encourager in every prediction, 

 and the inspiration in every hope. Every sigh over a wrong is of his 

 awakening ; every smile started by a kindness springs from him ; 

 every incident that teaches some good to do or some evil to shun is 



