the allotments appointed for the godly, has really the nature of a blessing: it issues from fatherly love, and will terminate in the richest good. If Joseph is snatched from the embraces of an indulgent parent, and abandoned to slavery in a foreign land, it is in order to save the holy family from perishing by famine, and to preserve "the seed in whom all the nations of the earth "should be blessed." If he falls into the deepest disgrace, it is on purpose that he may rise to the highest honours. Even the confinement of the prison, by the unsearchable workings of Providence, opens his way to the right-hand of the throne itself.-Let the most afflicted servant of Jesus wait the final upshot of things; he will then discover the apparent expediency of all those tribulations, which now, perhaps, he can hardly admit without reluctance, or suffer without some struggles of dissatisfaction: then the gushing tear and the heaving sigh will be turned into tides of gratitude and hymns of holy wonder.

In the mean time let no audacious railer presumptuously impeach the divine procedure; but, adoring where we cannot comprehend, let us expect the evolution of the mysterious plan: then shall every eye perceive that the seeming labyrinths of Providence were the most direct and compendious way to effect his general purposes of grace, and to bring about each one's particular happiness.-Then, also, shall it be clearly shewn, in the prsence of applauding worlds, why virtue pined in want, while vice rioted in affluence; why amiable innocence so often dragged the dungeon chain, while horrid guilt trailed the robe of state. -That day of universal audit, that day of ever

The moral world,

Which, though to us it seems embroil'd, moves on
In higher order; fitted, and impell'd,

By Wisdom's finest haud, and issuing all

In gen'ral good.

Thomson's Winter.

lasting retribution, will not only vindicate but magnify the whole management of Heaven. The august sessions shall close with this unanimous, this glorious acknowledgment: "Though clouds " and darkness, impenetrable by any human seru"tiny, were sometimes round about the supreme "Conductor of things; yet righteousness and judg

ment were the constant habitation of his seat, the "invariable standard of all his administrations." -Thus (if I may illustrate the grandest truths by inferior occurrences) while we view the arras, on the side of least distinction, it is void of any elegant fancy, without any nice strokes of art, nothing but a confused jumble of incoherent threads. No sooner is the piece beheld in its proper aspect, but the suspected rudeness vanishes, and the most curious arrangement takes place; we are charmed with designs of the finest taste, and figures of the most graceful form. All is shaped with symmetry, all is clad in beauty.

The goodness of God is most eminently displayed in the skies.-Could we take an understanding survey of whatever is formed by the divine Architect throughout the whole extent of material things, our minds would be transported with their excellencies, and our tongues echo back that great encomium, they are "good, very

goodt." Most beautiful in themselves, contrived by unerring wisdom, and executed with inimitable skill. Most useful in their functions, exactly fitting the places they fill, and completely

This xarxayalix of the universe, and all its parts, has been very highly, and very justly extolled, by the ancient inquirers into nature: and was, indeed, an illus trious scene, spread before the sages of the heathen world; wherein to contemplate the goodness, and the glories, of the Supreme Being.-It was nobly said, by a pagan philosopher, on this occasion; Es egula Melay TOY Θεον μελλονία δημιυργειν That God, when he undertook the work of creation, transformed himself into love.-But he need mot transform himself into this amiable principle; for

answering the purposes for which they were intended. All the parts of the inanimate creation proclaim, both by their intrinsic and relative excellencies, the all-diffusive beneficence of their Maker.

How much more wonderful are the displays of divine indulgence in the worlds of life! Because dead matter is incapable of delight, therefore the gracious Creator has raised innumerable ranks of perceptive existence: such as are qualified to taste his bounty, and enjoy each a happiness suited to its peculiar state. With this view, he furnished the regions of inferior nature with an order and a series of sensitive beings. The waters teem with shoals of finny Inhabitants: the dry land swarms with animals of every order: the dwellings of the firmament are occupied by multitudes of winged people: not so much as a green leaf, philosophers say, but lodges and accommodates its puny animalcule tenants.-And wherefore this diversity,

God is love:" as was much more nobly said by one, whom that philosopher would have termed a barbarian. 1 John iv. 8.

A very celebrated poet, in a beautiful paragraph on this subject, informs his readers; that all nature swarms with life. In subterranean cells, the earth heaves with vital motion: even the hard stone, in the very inmost recesses of its impenetrable citadel, holds multitudes of animated inhabitants. The pulp of mellow fruit, and all the productions of the orchard, feed the invisible nations. Each liquid, whether of acid taste, or milder relish, abounds with various forms of sensitive existence. Nor is the pure stream, or transparent air, without their colonies of unseen people.-In which constitution of things, we have a wonderful instance, not only of the Divine Goodness to those minute beings, in giving them a capacity for animal gratification; but of his tender care for mankind, in making them imperceptible to our senses.

These, conceal'd

By the kind art of forming Heav'n, escape
The grosser eye of man: for, if the worlds
In worlds inclos'd should on his senses burst;
From cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl,
He'd turn abhorrent; and, in dead of night,
When silence sleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with noise...
Thomson's Summer.

this profusion of living creatures, flying the air, treading the ground, and gliding through the paths of the sea? For this most glorious reason

that the eternal Sovereign may exercise his su perabundant goodness; that his table may be fur nished with millions and millions of guests; that he may fill every hour, every moment, their mouths with food, or their hearts with gladness. But, what a small theatre are three or four elements for the operations of Jehovah's bounty! His magnificent liberality scorns such scanty limits. If you ask, Wherefore has he created all worlds, and replenished them with an unknown multiplicity of beings, rising, one above another, in an endless gradation of still richer endowments and still nobler capacities? The answer is-For the manifestation of his own glory, and especially for the communication of his inexhaustible bene. ficence*.-The great Creator could propose no advantage to himself: his bliss is incapable of any addition. "Before the mountains were "brought forth, or ever the earth and the world

were made," he was supremely happy in his own independent and all-sufficient self. His grand design, therefore, in erecting so many stately fabrics, and peopling them with so many tribes of inhabitants, was to transfuse his exuberant kindness, and impart felicity in all its forms. Ten thousand worlds, stocked with ten thousand times ten thousand ranks of sensitive and intelligent existence, are so many spacious gardens; which,

*A sacred writer, considering this delightful subject; and confining his observation within the narrow limits of his own country; cries out, with a mixture of amazement and gratitude; How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty-Who then can forbear being lost in wonder, and transported with delight; when he extends his survey to those infinitely more copious communications of divine bounty; which, like salutary and refreshing streams, run through all worlds, and make, not only the little valleys of a single kingdom, but the immensity of creation, laugh and sing Zech, ix. 17.

with rivers of communicated joy, this everflowing fountain waters continually.

Boundless, and (which raises our idea of this divine principle to the very highest degree of perfection) disinterested munificence! How inexpressibly amiable is the blessed God, considered in this charming light! Is it possible to conceive any excellence so adorable and lovely as infinite benevolence, guided by unerring wisdom, and exerting Almighty power, on purpose to make a whole universe happy!-O my soul, what an irresistible attractive is here! what a most worthy object for thy most fervent affection! Shall now every glittering toy become a rival to this transcendently beneficent being, and rob him of thy heart?-No. Let his all-creating arm teach thee to trust in the fulness of his sufficiency-let his all-superintending eye incline thee to acquiesce in the dispensations of his providence-and let his bounty, so freely vouchsafed, so amply diffused, induce thee to love him with all the ardour of a grateful and admiring soul, induce thee to serve him, not with a joyless awe, or slavish dread, but with unfeigned alacrity, and a delightful complacency.

If the goodness of God is so admirably seen in the works of nature and the favours of Providence, with what a noble superiority does it even triumph in the mystery of redemption t! Re

In this sense, there is none good, but one, that is God: none universally and essentially good: none, whose goodness extends itself, in an infinite variety of blessings, to every capable object; or, who always dispenses his favours, from the sole principle of free and disinterested benevolence.

In this, and in other parts of the Contemplations, the reader will observe, that the attributes of the Deity are represented, as shining with more distinguished lustre in the wonders of redemption, than in the works of creation. If such remarks should seem to be unprecedented, or to stand in need of a vindication; permit me to subjoin the sentiments of a great critic, equally versed in both those sublime theories." In a perfect orator, he says, Tully