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was the beloved disciple of Christ, who allowed him to lean on his bosom. And Christ says, all that love him are loved of his Father. God loves all who bear his moral image, from the highest seraph to the lowest saint. Hence he cannot display all his goodness, without displaying his love of complacency towards all amiable, holy, virtuous beings.

3. Another branch of divine goodness is grace towards the guilty and ill-deserving. This God explicitly declares is implied in his goodness, and must be manifested in displaying it. "I will make all my goodness pass before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I' will be gracious, and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy." The goodness of God as it respects sinners, is grace, or mercy, or compassion, or that disposition, which leads him to pardon their offences. Perfect goodness is perfect grace to the guilty. So it is more fully represented in the chapter succeeding the text, where we have an account of God's displaying his goodness agreeably to his promise to Moses. "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed; The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." God's forgiving goodness, or pardoning love, lay at the foundation of the work of redemption. All the blessings of the gospel, and even the gospel itself, took their rise from this branch of divine goodness, which is more celebrated in Scripture, than any other beauty in the divine character. Our Savior declares, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Paul says in the fifth of Romans, "God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinner

Christ died for us. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." And he celebrates divine grace in stronger terms still, in the second of Ephesians. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ: by grace are ye saved; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." Such a display of divine grace is absolutely necessary, in order to give a full display of divine goodness. It' must be observed,

4. That another branch of God's goodness is distributive justice, or a disposition to punish impenitent sinners according to their deeds. Such vindictive jus tice God manifested, when he made all his goodness pass before Moses. Having proclaimed himself as forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, he adds, "And that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and fourth generation." This must mean his punishing the impenitent, because it is set in contrast with his forgiving the penitent. And God often declares, that he has not only a right, but a disposition to punish incorrigible sinners. "See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal;-If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold of judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me." To this the Apostle refers, when he says to christians,

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord." It must be the nature of a perfectly good being to feel affections exactly correspondent to the characters and dispositions of his reasonable creatures. As God loves the good, so he must hate the evil; and as he is disposed to reward the good, so he must be disposed to punish the evil. Accordingly David represents God as feeling and conducting in this manner. "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward." In another place, the Psalmist calls upon the church to praise God for the displays of his goodness, in punishing the wicked. "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. To him that smote Egypt in their first born: for his mercy endureth forever. To him that overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for his mercy endureth forever. To him that smote great kings: for his mercy endureth forever." God's goodness is a consuming fire to the finally impenitent, and will burn to the lowest hell. And this amiable attribute of vindictive justice must be displayed, in order to a full display of divine goodThus God displays all his goodness, when he displays it in the highest possible degree, and in every possible way. It is impossible to conceive, that a more clear and full display of goodness than this, can be made by the greatest and best of Beings. It remains to show,

ness.

III. That God, by thus displaying all his goodness, necessarily displays all his glory. This is plainly supposed in the text. Moses prays, that God would show him his glory, and God replies, "I will make all my

goodness pass before thee." There appears no pertinency in this reply, unless the Deity would necessarily display all his glory, by displaying all his goodness. But the truth of this will more fully appear, if we consider,

1. That when God displays all his goodness, he displays all his moral character. The Supreme Being has no moral excellence but what is included in his goodness. God is love; all his goodness consists in love; all his love lies in his heart; and his heart is the seat of all his moral excellence. By displaying all his heart, therefore, he necessarily displays all his moral character. But he displays all his heart when he displays all his goodness. For all the feelings of his heart are goodness itself. So that it is impossible for God to display all his goodness, without displaying all his feelings; and when all his feelings are expressed or act. ed out, his whole heart and all his moral excellence is displayed. Besides,

2. When God displays all his goodness, he necessarily displays all his natural as well as moral excellence. Self-existence, independence, omnipresence, almighty power, boundless knowledge, and infinite wisdom, form the natural excellence or glory of God. But all these natural attributes derive their real glory from his goodness, without which they would be a blemish, rather than a beauty, in his character. When his natural perfections are under the influence of perfect goodness, and exercised to display it, then they appear in all their glory: but could we suppose them to be disconnected with perfect goodness, and under the influence of a malevolent heart, they would appear infinitely odious and terrible; and form the most malignant and detestable character conceivable. It is the goodness of God, which stamps a beauty and

glory upon all his natural attributes. Accordingly, when he displays all his goodness, he necessarily displays all the glory of his natural perfections. The full display of his goodness requires the highest exertions of his power, wisdom, and knowledge. All these must be exerted, in order to form and execute a scheme, which is calculated to promote the highest possible good of the universe. If God displays all his goodness, therefore, he must necessarily display all his greatness. This connexion between the displays of goodness and greatness we find in men. Moses could not display all his goodness, without displaying all his greatness. Paul could not display all his goodness, without displaying all his greatness. And Christ could not display all the feelings of his heart, without displaying all the perfections of his nature. So the Supreme Being cannot display all his moral, without displaying all his natural attributes. God has no glory but what consists in and is derived from his goodness; and, therefore, by displaying all his goodness, he must necessarily display all his glory. Having illustrated the several particulars proposed, it remains to draw a number of plain and important inferences from what has been said.

1. If God be a Being, who possesses and displays perfect goodness; then the religion which he has required of mankind, is a reasonable service. He saith to every one, who is capable of understanding his word, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." Supreme love to God is the sum and comprehension of all that religion which he has enjoined upon men. And if he be a Being of supreme moral excellence, then he is worthy of the supreme affection of all his reasonable creatures. It is neither superstition, nor

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