THE CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR THE ON PROVIDENCE. WAYSIDE JOTTINGS. THE events and circumstances of human life are so varied and complicated, and men have accustomed themselves to account for them upon such a variety of hypotheses, that it would be in vain for us to attempt to lay down a rule by which to account for and explain the strange events which occur within the narrow circle of individual human life. In many instances causes operate in the production of consequences, in a manner so natural and so entirely consistent with reason, that we cannot fail to trace the operation of a law, which some have assumed to be the sole law, in the regulation of human actions and their consequences, a law which may be expressed in the language of the Apostle, "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." But there are again to be found many events in human histories which seem to stand out in contradiction to that law, regarding it as a first principle of God's moral government. "The diligent hand maketh rich," says the wise man ; and the words are handed down to us as words inspired. And yet how many instances have we present to our minds in which the most diligent and untiring application has failed to secure more than a bare subsistence from day to day. And we have also many instances of another character, where the results of years of diligent labour have been suddenly swept away by some unforeseen calamity, leaving the most provident in enfeebled old age in a state of poverty and want. It would seem, therefore, that we may sometimes sow and yet not reap the harvest which general opinion would pronounce to be natural to the seed we have sown; and that we may sometimes reap that which no human scrutiny or calculation can trace as the natural result of our sowing. To what arbitrary influence, then, shall we attribute those apparent contradictions which sometimes present themselves to our minds when we closely study VOL. IV. No. 1.-NEW SERIES. B the present lot of men? To chance, says the sceptic. But what is chance? The sceptic's god, a being so remarkable as to put all the divinities of ancient story into the shade. Chance! absolutely nothing, yet having supreme control over all things. Not a being, yet originating and sustaining all being. Without life, yet continually creating and sustaining life. Truly he must be a philosopher indeed who can comprehend such mysteries of absolute nothingness, developing itself in the manifestation of a wisdom no less than omniscient, and in the exercise of a power equalled only, and not surpassed, by Omnipotence itself. Less philosophic minds, while dissenting from this theory, have propounded another, the speciality of which is, that while it recognises the manifestation of a wisdom which is omniscient, and the exercise of a power which is omnipotent, recognises them merely as the attributes of a living God, whose power and love are the secret springs of that providence which, whether seen or unseen, marks or guides the strangely involved and circuitous course of human events. When, therefore, we enter upon a question having so important a bearing upon human affairs as the question of Divine Providence, we wish it to be distinctly understood that we enter upon it rather as a subject of practical inquiry than of speculative curiosity. The doctrine of Divine Providence, especially the doctrine of a Special Providence, seems sometimes to be associated in our minds with the idea of miraculous results from causes which are contrary to the established laws of nature. And if we carefully peruse the pages of human histories it is very probable that we may find sufficient evidence to warrant a belief that God sometimes sees fit to work out certain purposes, independent of those general laws which are the general exponents of his character and will. It must, however, be remembered that our acquaintance with the laws and principles of nature is of the most limited character. And when we also bear in mind that a law so universal, and, now that it is somewhat understood, so evident, as that of gravitation, remained an undiscovered secret, until Newton, from the simple circumstance of a falling apple, evolved the truth, that its fall was the result of a law, which, in its wider operations binds the planet to the sun, and holds the sun in its course, and controls and governs the journeyings of all the mighty moving universe of God, it will be clear that a more intimate acquaintance with the operations of nature may enable us to trace and to understand certain results, for which we cannot at present account, and the laws from the natural operation of which they spring. The plagues with which God visited Egypt, previous to the departure of the Israelites, are generally regarded as instances in which he accomplished his purposes independently of the agency of the laws of nature, or were, what we term, special interpositions of |