A Sermon Addressed to the Legislature of the State of Connecticut at the Annual Election in New Haven, May 1st, 1822

I. Man, in the pride and presumption of his heart, is fond of accounting for every thing through the agency of second causes. Limiting his views to these, he disregards the unseen Ruler of the Universe, who gives to these causes their impulse and dir&^'ao;^. Speculating upon national wars, he traces their origin to the aiHlSition of princes, and the intrigues of politicians. CivU commotions, where the citizen is armed against the citizen, and where the brother's hand is raised against the brother ; — ^these he regards as arising from the machinations of demagogues, working on the passions of the turbulent, and on the ignorance and prejudices of the weak. Dearth and famine, he attributes to unpropitious seasons ; and the " pestilence, which walketh in darkness," he ascribes to noxious vapours, and a tainted atmosphere. These he beholds as regular effects, constantly flowing from the same causes, and he looks no further. He imagines himself prepared to explain and to decide, with perfect confidence and self complacency. He sees not, nor recognizes Him who regulates the course of nature, by laws established in infinite wisdom, and who over-rules the passions and the counsels of men to his own purposes : Him, who, " when he giveth quietness, none can make trouble :" Him, who can " make the heaven that is over our head brass, and the earth that is under our feet iron :" Who can send forth the " pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day :" Who can turn " a friiitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." But let not the daring atheist think in his heart, which says there is no God, that these events are fortuitous. Let not the presumptuous speculatist ascribe them merely to the disordspris of the el^J^ ments, and the conflicts of human passions, in opposition to the plain dictates of revelation. Reason itself, no less than revelation, declares that amidst all these disorders of nature, and the confusion of nations, there is still a presiding and controlling Intelligence, secretly bringing light from the darkness: a Divine Spirit which moves over the troubled " face of the waters," and harmonizes the chaos of the moral world, as it did originally that of nature.

If the order and beauty, the contrivance ar-d design, which we observe in the works of nature, evince • 'l<e worltTWas at first created by a wise, powerful, and benevolent Being ; the continuance and preservation of the course of nature, demonstrate that it is upheld, directed, and governed by the same omnipotent wisdom and counsel. The celestial bodies are still kept and guided in their appointed orbits, and no planet dashes headlong from its course, spreading desolation through the system. All the elements of which the world is composed, however repugnant to each other they may be, are preserved in their original equilibrium. The fire consumes not the air ; £ind the water which the atmosphere elaborates from the ocean, it returns again to the same great de- •pository. The sun still comes daily " forth from his chamber^ rejoicing as a giant to run his course." Day and ■ night ; summer and winter ; seed-time and harvest, are preserved in their regular vicissitudes; and the whole course of nature, upheld and directed by the hand that created it, still moves on without pause or decay; These facts demonstrate that there is a superintending and unerring Providence, " greatiin' counsel, and mighty in work," that guides the motions of the heavens, and " bears up the pillars of the earth;" that recruits the decays of nature, and preserves the fabric ever the same. Nor is the Providence of God less manifest in'the affairs of men, than it is in the operations of nature. He who tempered the elements of the world, and moulded the minds of men as he willed, will sway them according to his pleasure. The great revolutions which decide the fate of nations, and change the face of the world, are moved and directed by his aimighty influence. " Sitting upon the circle of the earth," he wields and guides these moral phenomena, as 'he directs the comet's pith through the physical system ; renovating the principles of life and growth, and by ways unknown "but to himself, conducting all events to the great ends for which he first designed them.

" It is noPon man that waUceth to direct his steps," independent of the divine concurrence. The deepest designs of the greatest politicians are often made to terminate in folly. Their counsels are distracted, their measures broken, and their plans defeated: The unjust oppressor is often ruined by the unjust oppressor, in his turn ; and they who have spoiled the widow and the orphan, often leave their own widows and orphans a prey to other spoilers. In these events we can not fail to trace the secret hand of Providence ; that undiscemible hand, always wielded in righteousness, yet full of mercy and goodness ; which governs and directs all the affairs of the world with unerring justice and inscrutable wisdom : which is so often opened to feed the hungry that cry for food ; which is extended to relieve those who are oppressed, and to succour those who are in adversity or affliction ; which " restrains the wrath of man," checks the tide of iniquity, even when its current seems most uncontrollable, and rescues the world from confusion and distraction, by ways which no human wisdom could contrive, or force effect. It is not merely to the great events of the world that^e superintending Providence of God is confined. All things and all events are subject to his direction. As nothing is too great for theipoatrol of the Almighty, so nothing is too small for his notice. …