God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.
The moment we recognize God as supreme in power and infinitely good and loving toward all His intelligent creatures, that moment we admit the doctrine of universal and special providence.
Whoever studies Divine providence, whether it be in relation to the events that concern us, our families, the cities and nations to which we belong; whoever studies the rise and fall of nations and empires, whoever looks at the clashing of armies, will perceive that these are only parts of one grand movement. God is marching on to the accomplishment of an appointed end; namely, the subjugation of the world to Himself.
God! Thy arm was here.
And not to us, but to Thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
I believe not only in "special providences," but in the whole universe as one infinite complexity of "special providences."
