which the Apostle alludes, Rom. v. 7. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good r man fome would even dare to die. The righteous man was he that did no wrong to others; and the good man, he who was not only not injurious to others, but kind and beneficial to them. So that goodness is a readiness and difpofition to communicate the good and happiness which we enjoy, and to be willing others fhould partake of it.

This is the notion of goodness among men; and it is the fame in God, only with this difference, that God; is originally and tranfcendently good but the creatures : are, the best of them, but imperfectly good, and by. derivation from God, who is the fountain and original of goodness; which is the meaning of our Saviour, Luke xviii. 19. when he fays, There is none good fave one. that is, God. But though the degrees of goodness in God, and the creatures, be infinitely unequal, and that goodness which is in us be fo finall and inconfiderable, that, compared with the goodness of God, it does not deserve that name; yet the effential notion of goodnefs in both must be the fame; elfe, when the fcri-. pture fpeaks of the goodness of God, we could not know the meaning of it; and if we do not at all understand what it is for God to be good, it is all one to us, for ought we know, whether he be good or not; for he may be fo, and we never the better for it, if we do not know what goodness in God is, and confequently when he is fo, and when not.

Befides that, the goodness of God is very frequently in fcripture propounded to our imitation; but it is inpoffible for us to imitate that, which we do not underftand what it is: From whence it is certain, that the goodness which we are to endeavour after, is the fame that is in God; because in this we are commanded to imitate the perfection of God, that is, to be good and merciful as he is, according to the rate and condition of creatures, and fo far as we, whose natures are imperfect, are capable of resembling the divine goodness.

Thus much for the notion of goodness in God; it is a propenfion and difpofition in the divine nature, to communicate being and happiness to his creatures.

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Secondly,

Secondly, I fhall endeavour to fhew, in the next place, that this perfection of goodnefs belongs to God; and that from these three heads.

1. From the acknowledgment of natural light.

2. From the teftimony of fcripture, and divine revelation. And,

3. From the perfection of the divine nature.

I. From the acknowledgments of natural light. The generality of the Heathens agree in it, and there is hardly any perfection of God more univerfally acknowledged by them. I always except the fect of the Epicureans, who attribute nothing but eternity and happiness to the divine nature; and yet if they would have confidered it, happiness without goodness is impoffible. I do not find that they do exprefly deny this perfection to God, or that they afcribe to him the contrary; but they clearly take away all the evidence and arguments of the divine goodness; for they fuppofed God to be an immortal and happy being, that enjoyed himself, and had no regard to any thing without himself, that neither gave being to other things, nor concerned himself in the happiness or mifery of any of them; fo that their notion of a deity was, in truth, the proper notion of an idle being, that is called god, and neither does good nor evil.

But, fetting afide this atheistical fect, the reft of the Heathens did unanimously affirm and believe the goodnefs of God; and this was the great foundation of their religion; and all their prayers to God, and praises of him, did neceffarily fuppofe a perfuafion of the divine goodness. Whofoever prays to God, muft have a perfuafion or good hopes of his readiness to do him good; and to praife God, is to acknowledge that he hath received good from him. Seneca hath an excellent paffage to this purpose; "He, fays he, that denies the

goodness of God, does not, furely, confider the infi"nite number of prayers that, with hands lifted up to "heaven, are put up to God, both in private and pu"blick; which certainly would not be, nor is it credible, "that all mankind fhould confpire in this madnefs of "putting up their fupplications to deaf and impotent deities, if they did not believe that the gods were fo

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good as to confer benefits upon those who prayed to "them."

But we need not infer their belief of God's goodness from the acts of their devotion, nothing being more common among them than exprefly to attribute this perfection of goodness to him; and among the divine titles, this always had the pre-eminence, both among. the Greeks and Romans; s 79 yas TE, Deus optimus maximus, was their conftant stile; and in our language, the name of God seems to have been given him from his goodness. I might produce innumerable paffages out of the Heathen authors to this purpose, but I fhall only mention that remarkable one out of Seneca;: Primus deorum cultus eft deos credere; deinde reddere illis majeftatem fuam, reddere bonitatem, fine qua nulla majeftas "The first act of worship is, to believe the being of God; "and the next, to afcribe majesty or greatness to him; "and, to ascribe goodness, without which there can be no greatness."

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II. From the teftimony of fcripture, and divine revelation. I fhall mention but a few of those many texts of scripture, which declare to us the goodness of God. Exod. xxxiv. 6. where God makes his name known to Mofes; The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Pfal. lxxxvi. 5. Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. Pfal. cxix. 68. Thou art good, and doft good. And that which is fo often repeated in the book of Pfalms; O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever. Our bleffed Saviour attri butes this perfection to God, in fo peculiar and tranfcendent a manner, as if it were incommunicable: Luke x. 19. There is none good, fave one, that is, God. The meaning is, that no creature is capable of it, in that excellent and tranfcendent degree, in which the divine na ture is poffeffed of it..

To the fame purpose are thofe innumerable teftimo nies of fcripture, which declare God to be gracious and merciful, and long-fuffering; for thefe are but feveral branches of his goodness. His grace is the freeness of his goodness to those who have not deferved it :: His mercy is his goodness to those who are in mifery: His patiences

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patience is his goodness to those who are guilty, in deferring the punishment due to them.

III. The goodness of God may likewise be argued from the perfection of the divine nature, these two ways:

1. Goodness is the chief of all perfections, and therefore it belongs to God.

2. There are fome footsteps of it in the creatures, and therefore it is much more eminently in God.

ift, Goodness is the highest perfection, and therefore it must needs belong to God, who is the most perfect of beings. Knowledge and power are great perfections; but, feparated from goodness, they would be great imperfections, nothing but craft and violence. An angel may have knowledge and power in a great degree; but yet, for all that, be a devil. Goodness is fo great and neceffary a perfection, that, without it, there can be no other; it gives perfection to all other excellencies. Take away this, and the greatest excellencies in any other kind, would be but the greateft imperfections: And therefore our Saviour speaks of the goodnefs and mercy of God, as the fum of his perfections; what one Evangelift hath, Be ye merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful, is rendered in another, Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Goodness is fo effential to a perfect being, that if we once trip God of this property, we rob him of the glory of all his other perfections; and therefore, when Mofes defired to fee God's glory, he faid, He would make all his goodness pafs before him, Exod. xxxiii. 19. This is the most amiable perfection, and, as it were, the beauty of the divine nature: Zech. ix. 17. How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Sine bonitate, nulla majeftas, without goodness, there can be no majesty. Other excellencies may caufe fear and amazement in us; but nothing but goodnefs can command fincere love and veneration.

2dly, There are fome footsteps of this perfection in the creatures, and therefore it must be much more eminently in God. There is in every creature some representation of fome divine perfection or other; but God doth not own any creature to be after his image,

that

that is deftitute of goodness. The creatures that want reafon and understanding are incapable of this moral goodness we are fpeaking of; man is the firft in the rank of creatures that is endowed with it, and he is faid to be made after the image of God, and to have dominion given him over the creatures below him; to fignify to us, that if man had not been made after God's image, in refpect of goodnefs, he had been unfit to rule over other creatures: becaufe, without goodness, dominion would be tyranny and oppreffion; and the more any creature partakes of this perfection of goodness, the more it resembles God; as the bleffed angels, who behold the face of God continually, and are thereby tranf formed into his image, from glory to glory, their whole bufinefs and employment is, to do good; and the devil, though he refembles God in other perfections of knowledge and power, yet because he is evil, and envious, and mifchievous, and fo contrary to God in this perfection, he is the most opposite and hateful to him of all creatures whatfoever.

And if this perfection be in fome degree in the creature, it is much more in God; if it be derived from him, he is much more eminently poffeffed of it himfelf. All that goodnefs which is in the best-natured of the fons of men, or in the most glorious angels of heaven, is but an imperfect and weak representation of the divine goodness.

The third thing I propofed to confider, was, the effects of the divine goodnefs, together with the large extent of it, in refpect of the objects of it: The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works; thou art good, and doft good, fays David, Pfal. cxix. 68. The great evidence and demonstration of God's goodness, is from the effects of it. To the fame purpose St. Paul speaks, Acts xiv. 7. He hath not left bimfelf without witnefs, in that he doth good, and fends us rain from heaven, and fruitful feafons.

I fhall confider the effects of the divine goodness, under thefe two heads:

1. The universal extent of God's goodness to all his

creatures.

2. I