Overruling providence.
Perplexity and mystery are part of the experience to be shared by all reflecting men. The world, and especially human life, furnish enigmas which the understanding cannot solve, which can only be dealt with by the higher principle of faith. The groans of creation mingle with the groans of men, and the discerning mind detects also the groaning of the Spirit. But, above all, is a harmony which overcomes and silences earth's discords. The apostle heard this harmony, and summoned his disciples to recognize the operations of that providence which constrains all things to work together for good.
I. THE PRINCIPLE PROPOUNDED.
1. There is purpose in all things. Modern teleology lays less stress upon the traces of intention and design in individual instances, in organs and organisms, than upon the striking evidence of purpose manifest upon the largest scale, in the vast arrangements and adaptations, in the wonderful chemical and mathematical laws which pervade the whole universe. The more the universe, as accessible to our observation, is studied, the more will it appear a system. Signs of order, of adaptation, of prearrangement, are obvious to every careful student. There is nothing too great, nothing too small, to illustrate the presence of mind. Human life is not exempt from the tokens of Divine foresight and adaptation.
"There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will."
It is a mistake to suppose that the establishment of the reign of law, of physical causation, conflicts with the operation of purpose; that evolution and design are in any way opposed.
2. The purpose which may be detected in all things is a good purpose. A moral aim is discoverable throughout the universe, and emphatically in human life. All things work together, not indeed for the promotion of pleasure, but for moral good—the highest and worthiest of all aims. This conviction is the key to many difficulties by which observant and reflecting minds have been distressed.
3. This moral purpose is secured so far as spiritual beings voluntarily conform to God's will. As a matter of fact, the order of things does not actually secure the good of all beings; many will not receive the benefits which nature and life are intended to convey. But Christians who love God, and who respond to his call in Christ's gospel, do really reap advantages to which others are strangers. These are the obedient, who are attentive to the Divine summons and accomplish the Divine purpose. For these all circumstances are ordained and overruled, that they may minister to the true well-being of God's people.
II. THE WORKING OF THE PRINCIPLE ILLUSTRATED.
1. Men's circumstances may contribute to their true well-being. Thus poverty may be as spiritually serviceable to those who experience it as competence or wealth; obscurity as honour, etc.
2. Men's own more personal experience is also overruled by God's providence for their highest good. Thus even doubts of intellect, and sorrows of heart—two of the most painful forms of moral discipline—are both, as a matter of fact, caused to subserve purposes of supreme value in the development of character and in the acquisition of influence.
III. PRACTICAL LESSONS DRAWN FROM A CONSIDERATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE.
1. The Christian may learn to avoid murmuring, when he remembers that even untoward circumstances are intended to work out his highest good. Such a conviction casts a new light upon daily experiences; and what otherwise might be regarded as annoyances, calling forth resentment, are now looked upon as ministrations of Divine love and mercy.
2. The Christian may seek to profit by all God's providential dealings. It is the spirit in which these are received which determines whether or not they shall be means of blessing; and the proper spirit is one of submission and teachableness.
3. The Christian will cherish the expectation that the day will come when, looking back upon the path by which he has been led, and the discipline through which he has passed, he shall be able gratefully to acknowledge that God "hath done all things well."