Transcribed from the 1866 William Skeffington edition by DavidPrice.
A Plain Sermon.
By JAMESGALLOWAY COWAN, M.A.,
Perpetual Curate of St.John’s, Hammersmith.
LONDON:
WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163PICCADILLY.
1866.
Isaiah xlv., v. 5& 7.
“I am the Lord, and there is none else. There isno God beside me . . . I form the light and create darkness: Imake peace and create evil: I, the Lord, do all thesethings.”
That God is the maker and preserverof all things, both visible and invisible; that He orders allthings in heaven and earth according to His own will; that allparts of the universe have their origin, their functions, theircapabilities from Him; that they operate or are suspended at Hisword; that He exalts to prosperity, and lays low in adversity;that He kills and makes alive—are truths which, asserted ina general way, I suppose all of you would readilyacknowledge. But, brethren, would it not be only inthis general way? In particular and individual instances ofwhat are called nature’s operations, is not the greatmoving or permitting power often lost sight of, ay, and virtuallydenied to be at work? Much of this oversight, thispractical infidelity, is due, I doubt not, to our use of the word“nature.” We talk of the law of nature,we admire and wonder at the works of nature, until weall-but deify nature, p. 4and dethrone nature’s God. Some may say that when we speak of nature we mean God. Butdo we? Does not the expression suggest to our minds someindescribable, some unknown essence, working in a mechanical,perfunctory, necessary, inevitable, compulsory way, morefrequently than present to us any thought of the Lord Jehovah?
And not less frequently are secondary or subordinate causes socontemplated and insisted on as to exclude from our minds allconsideration of the great first cause.
There are indeed laws by which all the movements andproductions and changes of the natural world are effected; but weoften forget that it is God who originally ordained these laws;that they are not, in themselves, powers, but only therules by which His power operates: that, in fact, theserules for the direction of His power resolve themselves simplyinto the consistent motions of His infinite wisdom: that, as byHim everything was arranged at the beginning, so in conformity tothe laws suggested by His wisdom He has been superintending anddirecting all things ever since—the laws themselves being,of course, subject to their all-wise framer and, both by theirregular operation and their occasional wonderful diversion orsuspension, subserving the great purposes of His sovereigngovernment. Now, looking only into what is called the Bookof Nature, simply making our own observations on these lawswithout the aid of the light of revelation, we cannot fail todiscern that they are good in themselves, and that they generallyoperate for good. We s