Page:The Garden of Eden (Doughty).djvu/132

 

VIII.

THE FLAMING SWORD.

And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.— Gen. iii. 24.

HERE is no grander subject of contemplation than that of the providence of God. People are not indisposed, on great and extraordinary occasions, especially when they have been mysteriously saved from sudden disaster, to admit the existence of a supreme Power turning away evil from their path. But that is a very limited view of an illimitable subject. The grandeur of the Lord's providence lies in its universality. When we think of it as special in the sense of being uncommon, we limit its operations. Under such circumstances there is always mingled with our acknowledgment of the Lord's goodness, too much of the feeling that we have been singled out to receive a peculiar token of his favor. Awe and egoism are mingled in proportions too nearly equal, to render the sentiment one of the highest type of spirituality. It is not always easy to separate the feeling of pride in being specially favored of God, from that resulting from a humble recognition of his protecting hand. That we believe