On the Goodness of Divine Provi dence. DISCOURSE XIII. PSALM CXlV. 9. The Lord is good to all, and his tender Mercies are over all his Works. TH HE Goodness of God is frequently celebrated in the facred Writings, and represented as furnishing the propereft Subject for our joyful Praises and Acknowledgments. And in thefe Words of the Pfalmift the great Extent of it is described, The Lord is good to all, and his tender Mercies are over all his Works. It was free and fovereign Goodness that moved him to create the World. He that made Hea T 3 ven ven and Earth, and all Things that are therein, and who hath fpread fuch Order and Beauty throughout this vast System, must be infinitely good, and kind, and beneficent. And the fame Goodness which inclined him to create all these Things, will extend itself to them when created. And in this View how amiable and glorious doth he appear! We behold with Pleasure a Perfon of diffufive Benevolence, who delighteth in doing Good to all about him; and the more extenfive his Benevolence is, the more he is the Object of our Admiration and Esteem. And from these imperfect Traces of Goodness in Creatures like ourselves, we are naturally led to the original univerfal Goodnefs, the supreme Benevolence. God, by implanting in us fuch a Sense of the Beauty, the Excellency, and Amiableness of fuch a Temper and Character, has taught us to raise our Affections and Views to him, the best and most excellent of Beings, in whom is Goodness without any Limitation or Defect. For what Limitation can there be to his Goodnefs, who is all-fufficient and self-sufficient, and who must therefore be incapable of Envy, or of any Malignity of Temper, or Narrowness of Difpofition, and can never have his Benevolence cramped or confined by partial or selfish In terefts, terefts, fince he hath nothing to gain or lofe by any Being or Beings whatsoever? Infinitely happy in himself, and in the abfolute Fulnefs of his own Perfection, he takes a divine Delight in diftributing the Effects of his Bounty through the whole Creation. If the Sun were an intellectual Being, what a noble and extenfive Pleasure may we fuppofe would it find in a Conscioufnefs of fpreading Warmth, Light, and Joy, to enlighten, refresh, chear, and animate a World of Beings, which, without its invigorating Influences and Beams, would wither and languish, and be covered with Darkness and the Shadow of Death? But even this would exhibit but a very faint and imperfect Representation of the immenfe and boundless Benignity of the fupreme Being, from whom the Sun derives its Influences and Rays, and who is the Fountain of Life and Happiness, not only to all the Creatures which inhabit this lower World, and the folar System, but to the feveral Orders of Beings throughout this vast Universe, the Extent of which transcendeth all human Imagination. Who can without a grateful Admiration confider the univerfal Providence of God as exercifing its benign Care over all the various Kinds of Beings, fenfitive, rational, and intellectual, preferving, cherishing, providing T 4 providing for them all according to their different Degrees of Life, and the feveral Powers and Capacities for Happiness which he has furnished them with? The very meanest are not neglected. Especially, how ravishing would it be, if we had the Beauties and Felicities of the heavenly World opened to us, and there beheld the divine Goodness shining forth in its higheft Glory to all the Orders of the bleffed Angels, the most eminent of created Beings! But this we must be content to be in a great Measure ignorant of till we get to Heaven. In the mean time, what it principally concerneth us to confider, is the Goodness of Divine Providence as exercised towards Mankind. Of this we have the most fenfible and convincing Proofs. We tafte, we feel the Effects of it every Day of our Lives; God hath not left himself without Witness in any Age or Nation of the World, in that he hath been continually doing Good, and pouring forth a Variety of Bleffings and Benefits on the human Race. And yet there is fcarce any Thing which has been more objected against than the Goodness of Providence; and that principally on the Account of the Evils and Miferies that are in the World, and which it is prefumed would not be, if infinite Goodness governed the World, * and |