The Lord does not on every occasion "make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations';" but by skilful combinations of circumstances; by the judicious arrangement of materials, oftentimes the most discordant; by the slow process of gradual advancement; He proceeds step by step, silently and imperceptibly, towards the accomplishment of his greatest designs making all things, even the most minute and insignificant, "work together" to do his will. "His way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known."

In the present case, though there is a most wonderful combination of motives and circumstances tending to the accomplishment of one purpose; yet none of these motives are in themselves extraordinary, nor any of these circumstances out of the common course of events. There is nothing miraculous in the desire of a mother to save her infant from death: nothing miraculous in the compassion of

1 Isaiah lii. 10.

Pharaoh's daughter for a deserted orphan. It was natural that she should be struck with its beauty, softened by its tears, and affected by its destitution. There is nothing, I repeat, at all miraculous in any of these circumstances. It is only when we consider their combination, and particularly when we survey the result, that we are compelled to say, this is the hand of God. One link wanting, and the whole chain must have been useless. A single defect in the arrangement, and the whole fabric must have fallen to the ground. If Moses had not been saved from Pharaoh's cruelty; if he had not been exposed at that particular moment; if the heart of Pharaoh's daughter had been hard as his own; or if she had been content, with ordinary feelings of charity, to consign him to the care of others; where would have been the future lawgiver, the mighty instrument of Egypt's judgment, and Israel's deliverance? This entire subservience of events shows the Divinity

1 Gen. xv. 14.

more conspicuously than any single act, however wonderful; for it exhibits absolute wisdom directing absolute power.

And thus it is in the minor occurrences of life; in those changes and chances which happen unto all men. We are led by a chain whose links are oftentimes invisible, because familiar to our eyes. We are conducted in a path of which we take no note, because it is distinguished by no extraordinary features. We acknowledge not the hand of God, because it changes not the usual course of nature; and often, in those events which have had most influence upon our lives, we see not, neither do we understand, who it is that hath been with us, and made "all things to work together for our good." To acknowledge God, we demand a sign, and we perceive not that he is continually present with us," about our path, and about our bed."

Again. The Almighty appears, in all cases, to have prepared his chosen instruments with the greatest attention: to have cast, as it were, and tempered, and

polished them with extraordinary care. The peculiar office which Moses was to hold was that of a legislator; and therefore it was fit that he should possess information beyond what a people in a state of slavery could be capable of affording. For this purpose, he was exposed on the Nile-found accidentally by the king's daughter; no meaner hand would have answered the purpose-nursed by his own mother, that he might conform to the rites and be instructed in the principles of the faith of Abraham-but brought up in Pharaoh's house, and educated "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," the only people, at that time and for ages afterwards, who had any pretensions to learning.

The same carefulness in choosing and preparing his instruments we find strikingly exemplified in the case of St. Paul and the rest of the apostles. The latter, who were to teach their own people and nations comparatively barbarous, possessed no learning. It was sufficient that they should be fishermen or artisans.

They were indeed acquainted, as was every Jew, with their own history and prophecies; they were abundantly zealous, and filled with that which is infinitely preferable to human learning, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But St. Paul was ordained to preach the Gospel to the disputatious Greek, to the learned Roman, to men who were in an advanced state of civilization, among whom learning was encouraged and respected. He was therefore brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the most celebrated of all the Jewish doctors; by no means ignorant, as he proves by frequent quotations, of the heathen poets and philosophers. And it was so ordained, that his teaching might not be despised; that he might be able to confute his adversaries in their own way, and foil them with their own weapons. The greatest enemies of Paul could not upbraid him with ignorance. Once indeed he was accused of too much learning: "Festus said unto him, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make

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