he implications of the concept, we find
that it involves a plan for the world. Such a plan is called by
theology God's providence. For one who accepts the assumption, the
only sane attitude to take is that {116} of submission to the course of
events as manifestations of God's will and wisdom. The heart of
religion thus becomes a joyous acceptance of life's portion through a
willed union with the purposes of this perfect being. The most
religious souls in history have drawn this conclusion and acted it out
in their lives. In this way, they taste of an exaltation similar to
that which the patriot experiences when he identifies himself, without
reservation, with the hopes and plans of his country at some time of
crisis. They have, moreover, this advantage that disappointment is
impossible, since they can never know the actual plans of God nor the
time when they are to be fulfilled. If they anticipate and set their
heart on some event which kindles their enthusiasm and it does not come
to pass, they can assuage their disappointment with the remembrance
that God's ways are past finding out and that he has an eternity in
which to work. From the very nature of the hypothesis, the course of
history can never disprove this outlook which is the logical end-term
of the god-idea. This impossibility of test makes it, however,
unscientific. Nothing can be deduced from it. As an hypothesis, it
must always remain unfruitful. When we come to treat of the problem of
good and evil, we shall see other difficulties which it must face.

But the idea of a grand plan from which God cannot be swerved by
intercession and supplication is far from the thought of the usual
level of religion. It is the creation of reflective thought, and does
not find a ready welcome in the minds of people at large. For them,
there is no such thing as complete determination of the course of
events. God is a powerful agent who is able to bring to pass what he
wills but he does not always {117} intervene in particular cases unless
he is asked. It is this situation, in which God is only one of the
forces at work in nature, that gives the setting for the idea of a
special providence and the answer to prayer. Is it not evident that we
have in these beliefs the expression of personal agency, an idea
continuous with mythology?

There are many examples of the appeal to a special providence which
awaken the curiosity of the modern man. In cases of severe s