414 A View of tbe DEIST IcAE Writens. Let. 24,

inward diſpoſitions and principles from which thoſe actions flow; Iſay, thus to govern them without infringing the liberty which belongeth to them as moral agents, muſt needs argue a wiſdom as well as power that exceedeth our comprehenſion. Yet who will undertake to prove that this is impofſible, or even difficult, to an infinite, all-comprehending mind? We may reaſonably con- ceive, that that immenſe Being, whoſe eſſence poſſeſſeth every part of this vaſt univerſe, is preſent to every individual of the human race. And if that moſt wiſe, holy, and abſolutely per- fect Being, the great Governor of the world, be always preſent to every individual of the human race, then every individual, and all their particular actions, caſes, and circumſtances, muſt be under his providential inſpection and ſuperintendency. And as he knoweth all theſe things when they actually happen, ſohe, to whom, by our author's own acknowlegement, future things are as if they were preſent, ſaw them before they came to paſs. And therefore it was not difficult for him to form ſuch a com- prehenſive ſcheme of things in his infinite mind, as ſhould ex- tend to all their particular caſes, and the events relating to them, in a manner perfectly confiſtent with the exerciſe of their rea- ſonable moral powers, and the uſe of their own endeavours.

And nowit appears what is to be underſtood by the doctrine of a particular providence. It ſigniſies, That Providence ex- tends its care to the particulars or individuals of the human race, which is what this writer denies: that God exerciſeth a continual inſpection over them, and knoweth and obſerveth both the good and evil actions they perform, and even the moſt ſecret affections and diſoſitions of their hearts: that he ob- ſerveth them not merely as an unconcerned ſpectator, who is perfectly indifferent about them, but as the ſupreme ruler and judge, ſo as to govern them with infinite wiſdom in a way con- ſiſtent with their moral agency, and to reward or puniſh them in the propereſt manner, and in the fitteſt ſeaſon. And as all their actions, ſo the events which befal them, are under his fu- preme direction and ſupetintendency. Particular events are, in the ordinary courſe of things, ordered in ſuch a manner as is ſubordinate to the general laws of providence, relating to the phyſical and moral world. And what are uſually called occa- ſional interpoſitions, are properly to be conſidered as applica- tions of general laws to particular caſes and occaſions. They make a part of the univerſal plan of providence, and are ap- pointed and provided for in it, as having been perfectly foreſeen from the beginning, and originally intended in the government of reaſonable beings.

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