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THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 
which issue from himself, do in fact interpose to alter or 
intercept effects, which without such interposition would 
have taken place; yet it is by no means incredible, that his 
Providence, which always rests upon final good, may have 
made a reserve with respect to the manifestation of his in¬ 
terference, a part of the very plan which he has appointed 
for our terrestrial existence, and a part conformable with, 
or in some sort required by, other parts of the same plan. 
It is at any rate evident, that a large and ample province 
remains for the exercise of Providence, without its being 
naturally perceptible by us; because obscurity, -when appli¬ 
ed to the interruption of laws, bears a necessary proportion 
to the imperfection of our knowledge when applied to the 
laws themselves, or rather to the effects which these laws, 
under their various and incalculable combinations, would 
of their own accord produce. And if it be said, that the 
doctrine of Divine Providence, by reason of the ambigu¬ 
ity under which its exertions present themselves, can be 
attended with no practical influence upon our conduct; 
that, although we believe ever so firmly that there is a Prov¬ 
idence, we must prepare, and provide, and act, as if there 
were none; I answer that this is admitted; and that wa 
farther allege, that so to prepare, and so to provide, is con¬ 
sistent with the most perfect assurance of the reality of a 
Providence: and not only so, but that it is probably, one 
advantage of the present state of our information, that our 
provisions and preparations are not disturbed by it. Or if 
it be still asked, of what use at all then is the doctrine, if 
it neither alter our measures nor regulate our conduct? I 
answer again, that it is of the greatest use, but that it is a 
doctrine of sentiment and piety, not (immediately at least) 
of action or conduct; that it applies to the consolation of 
men’s minds, to their devotions, to the excitement of grat¬ 
itude, the support of patience, the keeping alive and the 
strengthening of every motive for endeavouring to please 
our Maker; and that these are great uses. 
Of all views under which human life has ever been con¬ 
sidered, the most reasonable, in my judgment, is that which 
regards it as a state of probation. If the course of the 
world were separated from the contrivances of nature, I do 
not know that it would be necessary to look for any other 
account of it than what, if it may be called an account, is 
contained in the answer, that events rise up by chance. 
But since the contrivances of nature decidedly evince inten¬ 
tion; and since the course of the world and the contrivan- 
