Upon the greatest, therefore, of all possible occasions, and for a
purpose of inestimable value, it pleased the Deity to vouchsafe a
miraculous attestation. Having done this for the institution, when this
alone could fix its authority, or give to it a beginning, he committed
its future progress to the natural means of human communication, and to
the influence of those causes by which human conduct and human affairs
are governed. The seed, being sown, was left to vegetate; the leaven,
being inserted, was left to ferment; and both according to the laws of
nature: laws, nevertheless, disposed and controlled by that Providence
which conducts the affairs of the universe, though by an influence
inscrutable, and generally undistinguishable by us. And in this,
Christianity is analogous to most other provisions for happiness. The
provision is made; and; being made, is left to act according to laws
which, forming a part of a more general system, regulate this particular
subject in common with many others.
Let the constant recurrence to our observation of contrivance, design,
and wisdom, in the works of nature, once fix upon our minds the belief
of a God, and after that all is easy.
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