PROVIDENCE, the superintendent care which God exercises over creation, material and spiritual.

That there exists a divine providence which attends to the affairs of this world, and directs their course, has been a received opinion amongst the human race in every country and in every period of history. Every altar that is erected, every prayer and every sacrifice that is offered up, affords a proof of this belief. So fully have men been convinced of the sincerity of each other’s faith upon this subject, that in one form, that of an appeal to the Divine Ruler of the world, by the solemnity of an oath, they have introduced it into the most ordinary as well as the most important business of life.

But notwithstanding this universal reception, in some form or other, of the doctrine of a divine providence, it has in every age met with some opponents. The most ancient of these were Democritus and Leucippus. They denied the existence of a Deity, asserted that all things were mechanically necessary, and maintained that thought and sense were only modifications of matter. This is atheism in the strictest sense, and the only form of it that has ever been consistently supported. Epicurus followed upon the same principles; but he rendered the system altogether absurd, by confessing the freedom of the human will. To avoid the imputation of atheism, he asserted the existence of God; but declared that the Deity resided above the heavens, and interfered not in human affairs. One of his maxims was, that “the blessed and immortal Being neither has any employment himself, nor troubles himself with others.” Maximus Tyrius justly observes, that this is rather a description of Sardanapalus than of a Deity, whose very existence implies his government. And some of the moralists of antiquity remarked, that they knew many men amongst themselves, possessed of active and generous minds, whose characters they valued more highly than that of Epicurus’s god. Some of the ancients also appear to have entertained a strange notion. They acknowledged the existence of a Supreme and of many inferior deities; but they at the same time supposed that there is a certain fate which rules over all, and is superior to the gods themselves.

The providence exerted by the Author of nature over his works is usually divided into two branches; a general, referring to the management of the universe at large; and a particular providence, chiefly regarding particular men.

Upon the first of these, in Wollaston’s Religion of Nature delineated, the question is stated somewhat in the following manner. The world may be said to be governed, or at least cannot be said to fluctuate fortuitously, if there [7:18:666]be laws or rules by which natural causes act; if the several phenomena in it succeed regularly, and in general the constitution of things is preserved; if there are rules observed in the production of herbs, trees, and the like; if the several kinds of animals are furnished with faculties proper to determine their actions in the different stations which they hold in the general economy of the world; and, lastly, if rational beings are taken care of in such a manner as will at last agree best with reason.. By the providence of God we ought to understand his governing the world by such laws as these now mentioned; so that if there are such, there must be a divine providence.

With regard to inanimate objects, the case agrees precisely with the above supposition. The whole of that universe which we see around us is one magnificent and well-regulated machine. The world that we inhabit is a large globe, which, conducted by an invisible power, flies, with a rapidity of which we have no conception, through an extent of space which sets at defiance every power of fancy to embody it into any distinct image. A large flaming orb stands immoveable in the heavens, around which this, and other worlds of different magnitudes, perform their perpetual revolutions. Hence arise the expected returns of day and night, and the regular diversity of seasons. Upon these great operations a thousand other circumstances depend. Hence, for example, the vapours ascend from the ocean, meet above in clouds, and, after being condensed, descend in showers to cover the earth with fertility and beauty. These appearances are regular and permanent. During every age since men have been placed upon the earth, this astonishing machine has continued steadily to perform its complicated operations. Nothing is left to chance. The smallest bodies are not less regular than the largest, and observe continually the same laws of attraction, repulsion, &c. The apparent variations of nature proceed only from different circumstances and combinations of things, acting all the while under their established laws. We ourselves can calculate the effects of the laws of gravitation and of motion. We can render them subservient to our own purposes, with entire certainty of success, if we only adhere to the rules established by nature, that is to say, by providence.

Vegetables also live and flourish according to prescribed methods. Each sort is produced from its proper seed, has the same texture of fibres, is at all times nourished by the same kind of juices, digested and prepared by the same vessels. Trees and shrubs receive annually their peculiar liveries, and bear their proper fruits. So regular are they in this last respect, that every species may be said to have its profession or trade appointed to it, by which it •furnishes a certain portion of manufacture, or of food, to •supply the wants of animals. Being created for the purpose of consumption, all vegetables produce great quantities of seed to supply the necessary waste. Here, then, there is evidently a regulation by which the several orders are preserved, and the ends of them answered according to -their first establishment.

With regard to animals, they too. in structure of their form, are subject to laws similar to those which govern the vegetable world. In the sentient part of their constitution they are no less subject to rule. The lion is always fierce, the fox crafty, and the hare timid. Every species retains from age to age its appointed place and character in the great family of nature. The various tribes are created and placed in such a manner as to find proper means of support and defence. Beasts, birds, fishes, and insects, are all possessed of organs and faculties adapted to their respective circumstances and opportunities of finding their proper food and prey.

Man is subject to the ordinary laws which other material and animal substances obey; but he is left more at large in the determination of his actions. Yet even here things do not fluctuate at random. Individuals do indeed rise and perish according to fixed rules; and nations themselves have only a temporary endurance. But the species advances with a steady progress to intellectual improvement. This progress is often interrupted; but it appears to be not less sure at the long-run than even the mechanical laws which govern the material part of our constitution. Amidst the convulsion of states and the ruin of empires, the useful arts, when once invented, are never lost. These, in better times, render subsistence easy, and give leisure for reflection and study to a greater number of individuals. Tyre and Sidon have passed away, Athens itself has become the prey of barbarians, and the prosperity of ancient Egypt is departed perhaps for ever; but the ship, and the plough, and the loom, remain, and have been perpetually improving. Thus every new convulsion of society does less misehief than the last; and it is hoped that, by the assistance of printing, the most polished arts and the most refined speculations have at length become immortal. The world is not then left in a state of confusion; it is reduced into order, and methodized for ages to come, the several species of beings having their offices and provinces assigned them. Plants, animals, men, and nations, are in a state of continual change; but successors are appointed to relieve them, and to carry on the scheme of providence.

But the great difficulty is how to account for that providence which is called particular ; for rational beings and free agents are capable of doing and deserving well or ill; and the safety or danger, the happiness or unhappiness of a man here, must depend upon many things which seem scarcely capable of being determined by providence. Besides himself and his own conduct, he depends upon the conduct of other men, whose actions, as we naturally suppose, cannot, consistently with their free will, be controlled for the advantage of another individual. The actions of numbers of men, proceeding upon their private freedom, with different degrees of ability, as they cross and impede, or directly oppose each other, must produce very différent effects upon men of different characters, and thus in a strange manner embarrass and entangle the general plan. And as to the course of nature, it may justly be asked, is the force of gravitation to be suspended till a good man pass by an infirm building? Add to this, that some circumstances appear absolutely irrcconcileablc∙ The wind which carries one into port drives another back to sea; and the rains which are just sufficient upon the hills may drown the inhabitants of the valleys. In short, may we expect miracles? or can there be a particular providence that foresees and prepares for the several cases of individuals, without force frequently committed upon the laws of nature and the freedom of intelligent agents?

But in whatever way it is brought about, there is little doubt that something of this kind must take place. For as the Deity does direct, as already mentioned, the great and general progress of things in this world, he must also manage those of less importance. Nations are composed of individuals. The progress of individuals is the progress of the nation, and the greatest events usually depend upon the history and the most trifling actions of private persons. The difficulty is to conceive how the superintendence and management of all this can be brought about. But as the ways and the thoughts of the Omnipotent Spirit, whose influence pervades, and rules, and animates nature, resemble not the limited operations of men, we can only form conjectures concerning the means by which his government is conducted.

We shall next proceed to state some of the chief objections which, in ancient or modern times, have been brought against the opinion that the world is governed by a divine providence. And the first of these is, that the system of nature[7:18:667] contains many imperfections which it ought not to do if it be the work of a perfectly wise and good Being. To avoid the force of this objection, some modern writers have deserted the ground of supreme and absolute goodness, which the ancient thcists always occupied, and have asserted that the divine perfection consists in unlimited power and uncontrolled supremacy of will; that, consequently, the Deity does not always that which is best, but merely what he himself pleases; and that for no other reason but because he wills so to do. But this is no better than atheism itself. For it is of no importance to us whether the universe is governed by blind fate or chance, that is to say, by nothing at all; or whether it is governed by an arbitrary sovereign will that is directed by chance, or at least by no principle of beneficence.

The true answer to this objection is, that no created system can have every perfection, because it must necessarily be destitute of self-existence and independence; and therefore, if being destitute of some perfections be better than nothing, it was worthy of infinite power and perfect goodness to create such beings. In our present state, we mortals stand upon too low ground to take a commanding view of the whole frame of things. We can only reason concerning what is unknown from the little that is within our reach. But in this little we can see that wisdom and goodness reign, that nature always aims to produce perfection, that many salutary effects result even from the thunder and the storm; and we doubt not that a view of the whole structure of the universe would afford an additional triumph to the goodness and skill of its great Architect.

We see a regular ascent in the scale of beings from mere lifeless matter up to man; and the probability is, that the scale continues to ascend as far above man in perfection as created beings can possibly be raised. The sole purpose of God in creating the world must have been to produce happiness. But this would be most effectually done by creating, in the first place, as many of the most perfect class of beings as the system could contain; and afterwards other classes less and less perfect, till the whole universe should be completely full. We do not positively assert that such a scheme of creation was actually in the divine Architect’s intention; but that it is possible, is sufficiently obvious. No man will pretend to say, that this earth could afford a comfortable subsistence to a greater number of the human race, were all the inferior animals annihilated, than it could at present, swarming as every element is with life. Suppose, then, that as many men had been placed at first upon the earth as it could possibly support, and that matters had been so constituted that the number should never have been either increased or diminished; we beg leave to ask, whether, since there would have been evidently room for inferior animals, it would have been most worthy of infinite goodness to leave the whole globe to men, or to introduce into it different orders of less perfect beings, which, whilst they could not incommode the principal inhabitant, would each find pleasure in its own existence? To this question different answers cannot surely be given. Let the reader then extend his view, and consider the universe, which, however vast, cannot be positively infinite, as one system so much united as the several parts of this globe are ;, let him suppose that there were at first created as many of the highest order of beings as it could have contained had creation stopt there; let him also remember that happiness in many different degrees is valuable; and he will not surely think it any imputation on the goodness of God that there are in the universe many beings far from perfection. The most imperfect of these are by themselves better than nothing; and they all contribute to make up a system which, considered as a whole, we have every reason to believe to be as perfect as anything not self-existent can possibly be.

If the world be conducted by a benevolent providence, how came evil to be introduced into it? This question has perplexed mankind in all ages. The ancient Persians resolved it by asserting the existence of two gods, Oromasdes the author of good, and Arimanius the author of evil. From them 4 the Christian heretics called Manicheans borrowed their doctrine of two opposite co-etemal principles. Both the Platonists and Stoics ascribed the origin of evil to the perverseness or imperfection of matter, which they thought the Deity could not alter; and Pythagoras imagined a state of pre-existence, in which the souls of men had committed offences, for which they are here suffering the punishment. But these hypotheses are, some of them impious, and all unsatisfactory.

Taking the expression in its most extensive sense, the evils to which the human race are exposed may be reduced to pain, uneasiness, disappointment of appetites, and death; of which not one could have been wholly prevented without occasioning greater evils, inconsistent with the perfect goodness of the Creator. As long as we have solid bodies capable of motion, supported by food, subject to the influence of the atmosphere, and divisible, they must necessarily be liable to dissolution or death. But if a man could suffer death, or have his limbs broken, without feeling pain, the human race would have been long ago extinct. A fever is a state of the body in which the fluids are in great disorder. If we felt no uneasiness from that disorder, we should have no inducement to pay the proper attention to our state, and should certainly die unawares, without suspecting ourselves to be in danger; whereas, under the present administration of divine providence, the pain and sickness of the disease compel us to have recourse to the remedies proper for restoring us to soundness and health. Of the uneasinesses to which we are liable, and which are not the effect of immediate pain, the greatest has been sometimes said to arise from the apprehension of death, which constantly stares us in the face, and frequently embitters all our pleasures even in the hour of perfect health. But this dread of death is implanted in our breasts for the very best of purposes. Had we no horror at the apprehension of death, we should be apt, whenever any misfortune befell us, to quit this world rashly, and rush unprepared into the presence of our Judge; but the horror which attends our reflections upon our own dissolution, arising not from any apprehensions of the pain of dying, but from our anxiety concerning our future state of existence, tends strongly to make us act, whilst we are still here, in such a manner as to insure our happiness hereafter. Add to this, that the fear of death is the greatest support of human laws. We every day see persons breaking through all the regulations of society and good life, notwithstanding they know death to be the certain consequence, and feel all the horrors of it which are natural to man. Were death therefore divested of these horrors, how insignificant would capital punishments be as guardians of the law, and how insecure would individuals be in civil society?

With regard to the unavoidable misfortunes and anxieties of our present state, these, so far from being truly hurtful in themselves, are proofs of divine beneficence. When we see men displeased with their situation, when we hear them complain of the difficulties, the miseries, and the cares of life, of the hardships which they have undergone, and the labours which still lie before them, instead of accounting them unfortunate, we ought to regard them as active beings, placed in the only situation which is fit for the improvement of their nature. That discontent, and these restless wishes to improve their condition, are so many sure indications that their faculties will not languish. They who are in the least degree accustomed to observe the human character, know well the influence which pleasure and repose have in enfeebling every manly principle, and how capable they are of attaching us even to a sordid and dishonourable existence.
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Happy indeed it is for the human race, that the number of those men is small whom providence has placed in situations in which personal activity is unnecessary. By far the greater number are compelled to exert themselves, and to mix and to contend with their equals, in the race of fortune and of honour. It is thus that our powers are called forth, and that our nature reaches its highest perfection. It is even perhaps a general truth, that they who have struggled with the greatest variety of hardships, as they always acquire the highest energy of character, so, if they have retained their integrity, and have not sunk entirely in the contest, seldom fail to spend their remaining days respectable and happy, superior to passion, and secured from folly by the possession of a wisdom dearly earned.

The most serious difficulty lies in accounting for the permission of moral evil or guilt, in a system governed by infinite benevolence and wisdom. Those who in a consistent manner hold the doctrine of the absolute necessity of human actions in its full extent, and acknowledge all its consequences, find it easy to elude this difficulty. They very fairly deny the existence of any such thing as moral evil in the abstract; and assert, that what we call a crime, is nothing more than an action which we always regard with a painful sensation; that these apparent evils endure only for a time; and that all will at last terminate in the perfection and happiness of every intelligent being.

Upon the system of liberty, the shortest answer seems to be this: That some things are absolutely impossible, not from any weakness in the Deity, but because they infer absurdity or contradiction. Thus it is impossible for twice two to be any thing else than four; and thus it is impossible for Omnipotence itself to confer self-approbation upon an intelligent being who has never deserved it; that is to say, it is impossible for a man of sense to be pleased with himself for having done a certain action, whilst he himself is conscious that he never did that action. But self-approbation constitutes the highest, the most unmingled, .and the only permanent felicity, of which our nature is capable. It is not in the power of Omnipotence itself, then, to bestow the highest and most permanent felicity of our nature; it must be earned and deserved before it can be obtained. In the same manner good desert, virtue, or merit, cannot be conferred; they must be acquired. To enable us to acquire these, we must be exposed to difficulties, and must suffer in a certain degree. If these difficulties had no influence upon our conduct and feelings, if they exposed us to no real danger, no fabric of merit and of self-approbation could be reared upon them. All that the Supreme Being could do for us would have been to confer such an original constitution and character as should enable us to do well if we were to exert our utmost powers. The universe is not ruled by favour, but by justice· Complete felicity must be purchased. Guilt is an abuse of our freedom, a doing ill where we could have done well, and is entirely the work of man. Heaven could not avoid permitting its existence, and exposing us to danger; for temptation is necessary to virtue, and virtue is the perfection of our nature, our glory, and our happiness.

The last objection to the belief of a divine providence arises from the apparent confusion of human affairs, that all things happen alike to all, that bad men are prosperous, and that a total want of justice appears to attend the divine administrations. Even the best men have at times been shaken by this consideration. But there are many reasons for rendering this world a mixed scene; it would become unfit for a state of trial and of education to virtue if it were otherwise.

It has been already shown, that physical evil is the parent of moral good; and therefore it would be absurd to expect that the virtuous should be entirely exempted from •that evil. For the occasional prosperity of the wicked many reasons have been assigned, even by those who, in their disquisitions, were not guided by that revelation which has brought to light life and immortality. “God,” says Plutarch, “spares the wicked, that he may set to mankind an example of forbearance, and teach them not to revenge their injuries too hastily on each other. He spares some wicked men from early punishment, in order to make them instruments of his justice in punishing others. And he spares all for a time, that they may have leisure for repentance; for men look at nothing further, in the punishments which they inflict, than to satisfy their revenge and malice, and therefore they pursue those who have offended them with the utmost rage and eagerness; whereas God, aiming at the cure of those who are not utterly incurable, gives them time to be converted Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, one of the United States of North America. It is situated at the head of the tide-waters of Naraganset Bay, immediately above the mouth of the Seckhouk, about thirty miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The town is built on both sides of an arm of the bay, which is usually called Providence River; and its position is pleasant, although on the sharp acclivities of hills. The two sections of Providence are connected by two bridges, one of which is ninety feet in length. This is a wealthy and flourishing town, and of late years has rapidly increased in importance. The buildings are chiefly of wood, uniformly painted white; but a number of them are composed of more substantial materials, as granite and brick. Those of a public nature are the State-house, the Arcade, the halls of Brown University, the Dexter Asylum, nearly twenty places of public worship, a number of public schools, and several large manufacturing establishments. The Arcade is the most splendid building of the kind in the Union. It presents two fronts of hammered granite, each seventy-two feet in width, and forming a colonnade of six columns of pure Grecian Doric. The body of the building is two hundred and twenty-two feet in length. Several of the churches are handsome structures. Brown University has two halls, both built of brick, and each containing about fifty rooms for students and the necessary business of the establishment. It was founded in the year 1764, and in 1838 contained ten instructors, 1253 alumni, 450 ministers, 187 students, 6000 volumes in the college library, and 5600 volumes in the students’ libraries. There arc also a number of public schools, a mechanics’ and a manufacturers’ association, an athenaeum, a large asylum for the poor, a Friends’ boarding school, which is a large and excellent establishment, and libraries attached to all or most of these, besides the Providence Library. About twelve newspapers arc published in this city.

Providence was early a place of much commercial enterprise; but it is now most distinguished for its manufactures. There are four or five, cotton factories; several extensive bleacheries, in which large quantities of cotton cloth from many of the factories in Rhode Island and other states are bleached and otherwise prepared; a number of dye-houses, founderies, and machine-shops, the two latter being employed principally in building cotton machinery. There are, besides, establishments for the manufacture of steam-engines, files, leather, shoes, soap, combs, hats, jewellery, and for working in tin and other metals; and there is also a large glass-house for the manufacture and cutting of flint-glass. In the year 1831, there were imported 55,707 bales of cotton, 71,369 barrels of flour, 216,662 bushels of com, and 7772 bushels of rye. The imports in 1831 amounted to 457,717 dollars; and the exports, domestic and foreign, to 329,634 dollars. The amount of shipping registered tor the same year was 12,362 tons; that enrolled, 4788 tons. It possesses á fine harbour, there being water for vessels of nine hundred tons burden close to the wharfs. Business is greatly promoted by a number of banks, which possess an aggregate capital x of about five millions of dollars. This [7:18:669] town was founded in the year 1636 by one Williams, who was banished from Massachusetts on account of his religious tenets. It has repeatedly been nearly destroyed by fire and storm. In 1831 Providence was incorporated as a city, and divided into six wards, the municipal government being vested in a mayor, a board of aldermen, and a common council. The population, which in 1832 was about 20,000, cannot in 1839 be estimated under 30,000. Providence is situated forty miles south-south-west of Boston, thirty north of Newport, and one hundred and ninety north-east of New York, in lat. 41. 51. north, and long. 71. 26. west from Greenwich.

Providence, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, seen by the Felice in the year 1783, in long. 127. 12. E. lat. 4. 2. N. Another in the Indian Ocean, in long. 52. 36. E. lat. 9. 10. S. And a third in long. 78. E. lat. 54. 5. N.

Providence, New, one of the Bahama Islands, in the West Indies, situated between longitude 77. 10. and 77. 38. west, and latitude 25. 3. north. It is twenty-one miles in length from east to west, seven miles in breadth from north to south, and for the most part flat, and covered with brushwood and extensive lagoons. A low range of rocky hills traverses part of the island at a short distance from the sea, in a direction from east to west; and another ridge, called the Blue Hills, situated about two miles and a half inland, runs nearly parallel to the former. The soil is in many parts very productive, and there is abundance of water, which possesses the valuable property of keeping good at sea for any length of time. Vegetables and fruits thrive abundantly; beef, mutton, and poultry are good and plentiful, and the shores abound with fish, including turtle. Amongst the exports are cotton, bark, broziletto, and fustic. The climate is mild, equable, and salubrious. New Providence, from its harbour and relative situation with respect to the Florida channel, is considered as the most important of the Bahamas; and on it is situated Nassau, the seat of government for the islands, as well as the head-quarters of the naval and military establishments. It is the centre of commerce, and possesses a fine harbour nearly land-locked. The streets are regularly laid out, the buildings are good, and there is an air of liveliness and cleanliness about the place. The island is divided into parishes, each of which has its church, clergy, and school liberally provided for. New Providence was colonized by the English in the year 1629, the natives having by that time become totally extinct. In 1641 the Spaniards drove out the settlers; but they returned in 1666, to be again expelled, however, in 1703. In 1783 New Providence, along with the other Bahama Islands, was restored to Great Britain by treaty. The population is about 6000.

Providence, Old, an island of the Caribbean Sea, situated about 125 miles from the nearest point of the Mosquito coast, its centre being in latitude 13. 21. north, and longitude 81. 21. 50. west from Greenwich. Its shape is an irregular oval, four miles and a quarter in length by two and a half in breadth. It is surrounded by an extensive coral reef; and at its northern extremity is another smaller island called Santa Catalina, separated from Old Providence only by a very narrow channel. Both islands are very hilly, and present an agreeable variety of scenery. The soil is exceedingly productive, and vegetation flourishes luxuriantly. The cattle and horses are excellent; but cotton is the staple export, which, with turtle-shelI and hides, are the principal articles of trade. These are annually taken away by traders in exchange for English goods brought from Jamaica. Isabella, the only village on the island, is situated at the northern extremity, close to the channel, between the two islands. It was once a populous and flourishing place, but has now fallen into decay. The island is under the government of New Grenada, and, with that of St Andrews, forms the ninth canton of the republic. Old Providence is noted in the history of piracy as having been the resort formerly of bucaneers, and latterly that of privateers. It is but thinly inhabited, and capable of supporting a much larger population.