correction, to prevent the offence or reform the sinner; but heavy judgments and dreadful vengeance, to destroy him; or implacable wrath and fiery indignation, to prolong his misery, and extend the duration of his torture through the revolving periods of an endless eternity.

Without the most enlarged notions of an infinite and everlasting goodness in the divine nature, an impenetrable gloom must hang over every mind, and darkness overspread the whole face of being. Neither could any other conceivable sentiment disperse our suspicions, or banish one of our guilty or superstitious fears: for suppose he confined his goodness to a few, without any reasonable cause or just ground, and we could be so whimsically partial to ourselves as to conceit that we were of this select number; yet there could be no security of happiness, not even to this little flock. He that chose them by chance, might as accidentally abandon them; and, as the former was without reason or goodness, the latter might be without righteousness or mercy. Therefore it is infinitely desirable to think, and we are confident of the truth of our idea, that "the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

For if he be self-existent, omnipotent, and possessed of perfect liberty; if it be impossible for him ever to err, or mistake, in what is good and fitting; and if he enjoys an infinite ability to effect, with a thought only, what shall always be for the greatest advantage, he must be originally and essentially, immutably, and for ever good.

Holy Scripture, as if beauty and goodness were synonymous terms or inseparable qualities, thus

describes him: "How great is thy goodness! And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." And as if glory and goodness signified the "And same thing, you find, Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19, he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory." To which the answer is, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee." And when, as it is written in the next chapter, the Lord descended, and proclaimed his name, or published the attributes in which he is peculiarly delighted, what is this distinguishing name, or what these divine and glorious attributes? "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." The apostle sums up all these in one word, when he saith, "God is love." Which leads me to the second thing proposed,

Namely, to illustrate the extensive signification and import of this subject by some remarkable instances. "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

No bounds can be fixed to the divine presence, nor is any part of illimitable space without his inspection and active influence. There is nothing remote or obscure to him, nor any exceptions to his favour among all the works of his hands. Far and wide, then, as is the vast range of existence, so is the divine benevolence extended; and both in the previous trial and final retribution of all his rational and moral productions, "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

In the first place, to illustrate this, we need

only to take a transient view of the outworks of the visible creation, a general survey of the nature and correspondence of the various parts of this regular and grand machine; this finished and stupendous fabric, in which every thing is contrived and concluded for the best.

For do but imagine an appetite or faculty altered, or a change in the object prepared to gratify it, in any respect. Suppose a material alteration, or considerable difference in nature, and we shall easily perceive it would be a manifold disadvantage, either to individuals or to the whole. Suppose the earth otherwise than it is, or the atmosphere and surrounding air to be varied, and in any degree more rarefied or more condensed: suppose the element of water greatly increased or considerably diminished; or the sun's blazing orb fixed nearer, and its vertical beams, therefore, stronger; or suppose it more remote, and its heat sensibly abated, the alteration would be a misfortune, if the difference did not terminate in misery and destruction: so that from the present adjustment, proportion, and accommodation of all matters in the wide creation, the consequence is fairly drawn, and very evident, that "God is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

This is certain of the whole of God's works, and is peculiarly apparent in man, the principal inhabitant of this earth: for, as his welfare, dignity, and satisfaction, nay, his happiness, and even the end of his being, depend on, and arise from his regularity and constancy in virtue, what an infinite concern hath the Deity expressed about it!

What, that can consist with liberty, hath been omitted by supreme wisdom in this most important affair? To incline him to be moderate in all his gratifications, true pleasure proceeds from nothing else. To keep off intemperate indulgence, and to guard him against all voluptuous excesses, it is so ordained, that extravagance and inconvenience are near together; and that vice and pain are, though not immediate and inseparable associates, never far asunder; and that it is impossible for that soul to be calm and at ease which iniquity has stained, and which impenitent guilt corrodes.

The parts of man's body are wonderfully designed and curiously constructed; regularly disposed of, and most accurately proportioned for the safety and advantage of the whole. As apt as we may be to quarrel with our nature, suppose an instinct was struck out of our frame, or a single passion taken from us; suppose our senses any ways altered, by being either strengthened or impaired; or even reason refined and abstracted to such a degree as to render us wholly negligent of food and raiment, necessary exercises, and secular concerns; in any of these instances, the imaginary emendation would be a real deficiency, and a proportionable deduction from the moment and quantity of our happiness.

It is evidently the same with respect to all the other creatures we are acquainted with: their nature and condition, their qualities and circumstances, are so adapted to one another, that, as the intellectual powers of a being of a more exalted nature would not, probably, suit an in

habitant of this lower world, so neither would the capacities of human nature guide the fowls of the air, or conduct the beasts of the field, to so much happiness as they find by following the motions and impulses of sense and instinct: and if reflection, enlarged ideas, and moral discrimination be denied them, it is plainly, because they would be a burden and a misfortune, rather than a benefit to them.

But these universal notices and undeniable testimonies of divine goodness, throughout the animated regions of earth, sea, and air, in the propriety and suitableness of creatures to their state, and objects to their appetites, are too evident and obvious to all men to need enlargement. God's works are all wonderful; and in wisdom and with goodness hath he made them.

JOHNSON.

THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE WORKS OF CREATION.

REGULARLY built and finely decorated as the theatre of nature is, it is not till we come to consider how well adapted it is to the fable meant to be represented on it, that we fully understand the sagacity of the contriver. True it is, that the profusion of objects makes an irresistible impression on the eye; true, that the polish and perfection of each separate part raise in us the greatest admiration of that Being, who, having undertaken so great a design, has not left himself without a witness in the smallest part of it; but