Their operation, on the contrary, may afford some of the strongest proofs of its reality.

For, whether considered as a scheme of _provision_ or as a system of _government_, Divine Providence rests on a strong body of natural evidence.

In the one aspect, it upholds and preserves all things; in the other, it controls and overrules all things for the accomplishment of the Divine will.
Considered as a scheme of government, it is either _natural_ or _moral_.
To the former, all created beings without exception are subject; to the latter, only some orders of being,--such, namely, as are intelligent, voluntary, and responsible agents.

In the case of man, constituted as he is, the Physical, Organic, Intellectual, and Moral laws are all combined; and he is subject, therefore, both to a _natural_ government, which is common to him with all other material and organized beings, and also to a _moral_ government, which is peculiar to himself as a free and accountable agent.

The _natural_ government of God extends to all his creatures, and includes man considered simply as one of them; and its reality is proved, first, by the _laws_ to which all created things are subject, and which they have no power to alter or resist; secondly, by the _final causes_ or beneficial ends which are obviously contemplated in the arrangements of Nature, and the great purposes which are actually served by them; and, thirdly, by the _necessary dependence_ of all created things on the will of Him to whom they owe alike the commencement and the continuance of their being.