the second, the law being only the mode of operation of a perfect will. III. _Question of General and Special Providence._ So also providence, general and special, is only another phase of the same question and solved in the same way. At first all is _special_ providence--the result of caprice or favoritism and without law. Then all or nearly all is general providence operating by invariable law; but from time to time the general law is broken through for special purposes when necessary. Is not this the prevailing view now? Lastly, these two must be combined and reconciled in a third. All is alike general and special: general--i. e., according to law; special--i. e., by direct action. There is no real distinction between the two. The distinction vanishes in the light of a higher view. IV. _The Natural and the Supernatural._ In precisely the same category falls the question of the natural and the supernatural. The same three stages are evident here also, and the same solution: 1. First all is supernatural and lawless, and Nature is viewed with stupid wonder and abject fear. 2. Then Nature is reduced to mechanical laws and made subject to man. Wonder and fear give place to indifference and even perhaps to contempt. We practically live without God in the world. It requires, now, _miracles_ or a violent breaking through of law in order to startle us out of our stupidity and awaken in us a sense of the Divine presence. 3. But we must come lastly to a higher philosophy. We must recognize that all is natural and all is supernatural according as we view it, but none more than another. All is natural--i. e., according to law; but all is supernatural--i. e., above Nature, as we usually regard Nature, for all is permeated with the immediate Divine presence. Wonder in the contemplation of Nature returns, or rather exalted reverence and rational worship are given in place of open-mouthed wonder and superstitious fear. Once clearly conceive the idea of God permeating Nature and determining directly all its phenomena according to law, and the distinction between the natural and the supernatural disappears from view, and with it disappears also the necessity of miracles as _we usually understand miracles_. In fact, the word as we usually understand it has no longer any meaning. I must stop a moment to explain, lest I be misunderstood; and to enforce, lest it be thought I speak lightly.