All the holy books, and nearly all holy men who have figured in the world, have cherished a belief in what is termed "special providences,"—a doctrine which teaches that God individually and personally superintends the affairs, not only of all nations, but of each individual human being, now amounting in number to about fourteen hundred millions. It seems strange that the striking absurdity of such an assumption has not struck every mind possessing the power to reflect or investigate. The thought of his looking after the affairs and happiness of fourteen hundred millions of human beings at a time, besides running several thousand millions of worlds, far excels any of the astounding feats of the evil genii of Gulliver. In the sublimity of its absurdity and impossibility, it stands without a rival. It expands beyond the utmost stretch of human credulity. Like all the other doctrines of the popular creed, it sprang up in an age of the world when the human mind accepted every thing presented to it without investigation,—when nothing was rejected on the ground of its being too absurd to be believed. And an absurdity, when once established, no matter how monstrous or how stultifying to the intellectual or reasoning faculties, can bid defiance to the efforts of the few men of the world whose minds are too much expanded and enlightened to accept such gross absurdities. There are several objections to the doctrine of "special providences," both of a logical or scientific character, and also upon moral grounds, which shows that it should have no place in an age of scientific intelligence.

One of these objections is the one just brought to notice,—that of its extreme absurdity and practical impossibility. It does not require a great mind, but only a reflecting one, to see that no rational conception of the Supreme Being could render it practicable for one mind, however boundless in knowledge and infinite in power, to be so divided as to look after the interest of each individual of a countless number, scattered over a world of more than a hundred and seventy-five thousand millions of miles in extent. A scientific investigation of the operations of nature has settled the conviction in every scientific mind that the life, actions, and destiny of every human being are under the control of fixed and immutable laws, which need only to be studied and observed to guard him effectually from personal accidents, and those physical disasters to which he often falls a victim through ignorance of the proper means of avoiding them. It is now patent to all critical observers that the serious disasters and numerous causes of physical suffering to which the larger portion of the human family were so frequently subjected in past ages, have largely diminished, and are constantly decreasing as the march of science dispels the ignorance of the people,—such as the sinking of ships, attributable to imperfect mechanical construction; pestilential diseases, caused by the general ignorance of the causes of and means of preventing; the explosion of steam-boilers on rivers, railroads, &c. And, from the present rates of improvement in these respects, we may reasonably calculate that the time is not far in the future when such disasters will be unknown. Then we will have no need of "special providence" to save the people from the fatal consequences of their ignorance. The conviction seems now to be generally established in the public mind, that when a boat is wrecked, or a locomotive strays from the track, and a few persons escape with their lives from the general wreck and ruin, it is to be ascribed to the interposition of the hand of Providence. But common sense would suggest, that, if Providence had any thing to do with it, he should have commenced a little sooner, and put some more brains or common sense into the heads of the managers of these cargoes of human beings, or kept the whiskey out of their stomachs till they reached their point of destination. In the thousands of cases annually reported of Providence interposing his aid to save some reckless mariners, or some heedless passengers on a pleasure-boat, from a watery grave, or rescuing a few persons from the wreck of a railroad bridge, or some similar calamity, the disasters might all have been avoided by Providence simply acting upon the wisdom of the proverb, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." It would be considered an act of criminal neglect on the part of a father who could stand by and see his children, from ignorance of the danger of such a situation, fall from a precipice, and get crippled: for which his diligence in taking care of them, and trying to heal their bruises, would by no means excuse him, as he should have commenced sooner, and prevented the accident from taking place. And nearly all the cases of providential interposition are liable to the same objection: the assistance is too long delayed. A collision of two ships recently occurred on the Atlantic, by which both vessels were reduced almost to wrecks; but "providentially but few lives were lost," though most of the passengers were injured. Now the question naturally arises, Why did not God, when he perceived the vessels were approaching each other, interpose his providential care, and prevent the disaster? He either could not, or would not; and, in either case, he is not infinite in all his attributes, according to the general ideas of the matter. If he could not, he is either not omnipresent or not infinite in power; and, if he could and would not, he is not infinite in kindness and benevolence, or he would have put forth his hand, and saved his children from such a terrible fate. It is time mankind would learn that God governs the universe by general laws, fixed and unalterable, and ever harmonious, and that he never interferes immediately or personally in the affairs of men.

That finite human spirits do, in many cases, aid in human affairs by warning of danger, &c., is fully believed by many persons. If this be true, their interposition would be liable to be mistaken for that of the Infinite Spirit. But that any being can perform millions of finite acts at once, or that God should suspend the operation of his laws, which control the universe, for the purpose of attending personally to the wants and prayers of each and every individual the world over,—many of the petitions running counter to, or in direct conflict with, each other,—is an idea too absurd to find lodgment in any truly enlightened mind. But we entertain the pleasing thought that men are beginning to learn that God governs by general laws, and not by personal or special agency. These laws are so perfect in their operations that no special laws or personal interference is necessary in any case. A critical investigation of any case of special providences would satisfy any scientific investigator that it was governed entirely by natural causes; but such scrutinizing investigations are seldom made.

The great mass of pious people in all past ages have been so ignorant, and so little accustomed to reasoning or observation, that they have never observed, that, although many cases are reported of Providence interfering to save the life of a child who fell from the window of a basement-story, none are recorded of his saving a child that fell from the fifth story. Why is this? Does not this fact suggest a scientific lesson? But the heads of the great mass of the people have been so filled with creeds and catechisms that they have no room for science. It will be time enough to talk about special providences after a case is known of a man escaping with his life after a cannonball has passed through his head, or a bullet through his heart. The belief in special providences is calculated to paralyze human effort in times of danger, and thus suffer the consequences to be more frequently fatal. Let a man believe, while a ship is being wrecked in a storm, dashing against rocks and billows, and her deck overflowed with water, that there is a Providence in the case, and he will naturally labor with less zeal and effort to save the vessel. If the case is in the hands of God, and it is his good pleasure that they should be lost, it is of but little use to work the pumps; and, if it is his will that they should be saved, they will be saved without much effort on their part. There can be no doubt but that millions of pious people have been restrained on various occasions from putting forth their strongest efforts to arrest a threatening disaster, from the conviction that the hand of God was in it, and that no human efforts could change the fate he had decreed for them. And thus the doctrine, in its practical consequences, has been pernicious. But, in this age of reason and scientific illumination, men are beginning to learn, that, in cases of threatening danger and destruction, muscle is more necessary than "Providence;" that, when a ship is sinking in mid-ocean, pumps are more efficacious than prayers; and, when a building is on fire, they can better do without the assistance of Providence than without water, firemen, and engines.