der laws which ever respect the constitution of the human mind and the condition of society, has been permeating the whole mase, and leading on with various success, by slow degrees, but with sure aim, her final and universal triumph. Nature has been progressing. Philosophy, science, and art have been progressing. The general development of humanity and the destinies of nations have been progressing: and with all, and in some sense in all, christianity, containing the higher life, and the ultimate end of all, has been progressing likewise. When the grand consummation shall arrive, we shall have a more glorious, serene, and beautiful nature-there will be "a new heaven and a new earth;" a peaceful ordering of the nations-"nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;" a glorious diffusion of the truth, for we shall "walk in the light of the Lord;" and the universal reign of righteousness, love and blessedness-"There shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face." Such is the universal constitution of the divine government, and it is wise, beautiful, and benign throughout.

II. Another great principle of the Divine government, which we now proceed to notice, is the employment of fixed, definite, and appropriate agencies for the accomplishment of its ends. These agencies are two-fold: they are natural, necessitated and irresponsible; or they are intellectual, free and responsible.

By natural agencies the planets are impelled and guided in their revolutions; the seasons are led through their circuit; day and night are given; animal and vegetable productions are sustained and multiplied; and the whole economy of nature harmoniously and bountifully ordered. The laws which God has ordained are rigidly observed. The velocities of the planets are not changed. No new power is substituted for gravitation. The force of wind, steam, lightning, and floods remains the same. There is no vacillation, no hurry, and no delay; but the great progression of nature is led on by the powers, and according to the laws which His wisdom assigned to this department of His universe. Every agent has its characteristics, and its sphere in which to operate. Now were God frequently to set aside these natural agencies by direct interpositions, he would exhibit himself either as capricious in his determinations, or as miscalculating in his plans. He does indeed sometimes interpose and suspend a law of nature, or produce effects beyond the reach of these laws; but these are miracles or wonders, extraordinary and unlooked for, and introduced not for the perfecting of his system of nature, but for the accomplishment of some great moral end. The wisdom, majesty and goodness of God in nature, are displayed in the uniformity of the great elements, forces, and laws which he originally appointed, and in the unbroken system which he maintains.

The same adherence to his original appointments appears in the moral world. God has appointed no natural agents to institute government and laws among men, to invent arts, to perfect the sciences, to communicate knowledge to the human mind, and to carry on, in general, the progression of humanity; neither has he appointed any supernatural agents to do these; nor yet does he step forth to do these by the immediate exertion of his own omnipotence: these are the appropriate and the appointed work of man alone, just as the various movements and developments of nature are the appropriate and appointed work of natural agents alone. Now it is evident, that the propagation of christianity lies fully and fairly within the domain of human agency. The arts of printing and navigation, of propulsion by steam, of making roads and bridges, and of course the arts of working in various metals, and of manufacturing paper and other materials, the cultivation of mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, chemistry, and natural science in general, are all necessary subsidiaries. So also the translation of the Bible, of Tracts, and kindred books into various languages, the institution of schools, and the instruction of men in reading and other branches of learning, and last of all, the preaching of the Gospel, are all plain and indispensable means of evangelizing the world.

Whatever spiritual influences God vouchsafes, these influences do not remove the necessity of the various applications of the appointed human agencies.

Now, one may ask, why does not God reveal at once the sciences and arts necessary to the spread of the Gospel; or why does he not employ angels instead of men to teach the ignorant and preach the Gospel? Indeed, it is not necessary to stop here, but we may at once advance to the inquiry, Why does not God, by a signal and inevitable act of his omnipotence, without delay, enlighten and convert all the nations? But is it not plain, that all such inquiries imply that God, after having ordained a great system of secondary powers and agencies with their appropriate spheres-agencies ordained for the very purpose of accomplishing certain ends, should, under certain emergencies, set them all aside, and become himself the universal and only agent? thus capriciously making and unmaking-adopting plans and systems, and nullifying them-calling agents into being, and reducing them to nonentity. As well might we ask, Why did God make worlds, and moral and natural agents? Why did he exert his creative powers at all, and not dwell in the eternal solitude of his own infinite being? The very fact of creation involves the idea of constituted powers and agencies, of regulated systems and processes, of progressive movements, and of phenomena mediately produced. Nor would the absurdity of such inquiries be obviated by admitting the wisdom of allowing the natural agents to move on in an unimpeded course, and thus preserving the integrity of

the original design of nature; but requiring, that, in respect of the welfare of moral beings, the ordinary secondary agencies should be overleaped by supernatural agencies which should more rapidly and effectually secure the aims of benevolencefor the moral agencies are the higher of the two, and form the most glorious displays of the divine wisdom; and it is just here that God may be conceived to be most deeply interested in maintaining the full and uninterrupted progression and development of his great original plans. Besides, the very idea of a constituted moral agency forbids such a supplanting of the human by the divine. A moral agent is a free agent. It is his freedom which essentially makes him moral or responsible. But the communication of such a high gift, of a trust so momentous, pre-supposes that it shall not be interfered with; for the agent loses his responsibility the moment the acts, for which he has been held responsible, are taken out of the sphere of his own causality and made the appropriate effects of another cause. Thus the whole form and character of the moral world would be changed, and it would become absurd to speak any more of the dignity, worth, and interests of moral beings. If God cannot subserve the interests of moral beings without nullifying their proper agency, then he is presented in the light of making a bold and hazardous experiment, and after conducting it to a certain point, becoming suddenly alarmed, and preventing any farther development by crushing together the co-working elements into a confused mass, and recalling into the repose of his own nature all the energies and laws which he had given out. But we cannot make such an unworthy supposition. No, no, we have a nobler order in the universe of God! He has ordained his natural agents-given them their scope, their distinct potentialities, and linked them to their proper phenomena; and here we have the harmony, beauty, and goodness of the great system of nature. He has likewise ordained his moral agents a higher and nobler order of agents, because made after his own likeness in intelligence and the power of choice. These have also their scope and potentialities, and have arrayed before them what they may and ought to do; duties which they may neglect and violate, and so incur guilt and condemnation; or in the faithful perform. ance of which they may meet with immortal rewards. That which the natural agents are commissioned to do, is done by them and not by other agencies. That which the moral agents are commissioned to do is done by them, and not by other agencies. This is the order of the universe. And now we see that in relation to the moral agents, while God gives them a noble sphere of labor, and provides them with abundant and apt materials, and ministers to them every requisite influence, and implants within their own being the first principles of all truth, and the constitutive forms of every possible knowledge, they are required to go

forth to the inventions of art, the discoveries of science, the constitution of government, the cultivation of the earth, the institutions of learning-to all that is possible for the development of mind, and the elevation and improvement of the race. Christianity takes her place among the other objects of human activity. As God provided the world with all the suitable means and appliances for a successful and productive industry, so also has he provided christianity with all her heavenly revelations, her gracious and supernatural aids, and her sublime and immortal prospects, for all the higher and spiritual energies of our being. Redemption from sin and eternal life are made possible to every individual in the atonement of Christ and the mission of the Spirit; but then they are actually attained only through the activity of the free moral agent himself, working out his own salvation with fear and trembling. The deliverance of the whole race from the guilt of sin, and the element of depravity in the human nature, a universal diffusion of spiritual knowledge, a universal elevation, refinement, and sanctification, the transformation of the world into a region of love, peace, and blessedness, are embraced within the scope of christianity; but then men are the appropriate agents appointed to open communications between the most distant nations; to translate books into different languages; to instruct ignorant men, and to carry and preach the Gospel to the destitute. The order, harmony, and fitness of the moral constitution of the universe clearly assigns this to human agents. God, in his highest heavens, is doing his own appropriate work, and is co-working in all the subordinate powers and agencies which he has ordained. He has assigned to the heavenly hierarchies, the Cherubim and Seraphim, their appropriate work. He has assigned the great physical powers their appropriate work. He has also given to man his appropriate work; and here it lies-our field is the world. The purification and redemption of our being; the development and redemption of our whole race-this is our work. God does not step down from his high throne to do directly, by his own omnipotence, what he has appointed the angels to do; nor does he remove out of the order of his physical agents what his wisdom at first assigned to their laws and forces; neither does he descend to earth to take out of our hands those great labors of benevolence which fitly belong to us, and thus give us an opportunity to repose in indolence, or to pursue freely the peurile plans of our own pride, sensuality, and covetousness. His wisdom and benevolence are displayed in the orders of agencies which he has ordained, and the sublime and glorious ends which are actually accomplished by, or are made possible to those agencies. It was wisdom and benevolence to give us these high capacities, and to place us in a world so richly furnished: ours is the folly and the guilt, if science and the arts remain hidden, and the earth lie unimproved under our

hands. It was wisdom and benevolence to reveal life and immortality through the cross of Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit ours is the folly and the guilt, if we who have received the heavenly mission do not avail ourselves of it for our own salvation, and do not speed it on its way among all the people and kindreds of the earth. It is not for us to ask, Why does not Omnipotence and infinite benevolence at once accomplish its work? Omnipotence and infinite benevolence has accomplished its work. It is we that are dilatory; it is we that refuse or delay to do our work-that most honorable and sublime work to which we are fitted and called in this grand order of the universe. God has provided us the light by which to see, and shall we now close our eyes and call upon omnipotent benevolence to produce directly in our minds the phenomena of vision? God has made us capable, by industry and thoughtfulness, of improving our condition, and providing on every hand comfort and convenience; and shall we fold our hands and call upon God to work miracles in order to save us from the necessity of exertion? God has brought us salvation by the sacrifice of his Son, and instead of laying hold upon it eagerly and joyfully, shall we yield ourselves to indifference and worldliness, and wait for his omnipotence and benevolence to lead us to the cross by a miraculous compulsion? God has put the Gospel into our hands as his honored almoners, and he commands us to give it to all nations; and shall we each one begin to make excuse, and turn away to our pleasures, our schemes of ambition and covetousness, and dream away this short but momentous life, and reply to the divine command, "Lord, cannot thine own omnipotence and love do this work at once, and save us the toil, the anxiety, and the self-denial?" Yes, he could do the work, but then why are we made moral agents? what is our being worth? what place do we hold? what end do we answer in God's creation, and why are we placed under such high appointments? He could do the work, but the doing of it would imply the annihilation of our moral nature, and involve our utter worthlessness, and our unworthiness of such a high interposition. God is continually exerting his agency in our behalf; ten thousand are his secret and benign ministrations, like the falling drops of dew, and he has made, and is making for us stupendous interpositions of grace. But there is one point where in the harmony and perfection of his universal order he must pause, or he would violate that order, and that is, where to interpose would be to infringe upon or set aside the moral agency which he ordained as the pre-eminent glory of his creation.

III. There is yet another point of view in which this subject is to be placed. The progressive development and perfection of our being is the great and benign end which God contemplates in respect to man. "Be ye holy, for I am holy.".