culiarly displayed itself. And here, to go SER M. through all the works of Creation, Pro- XIV. vidence, and Redemption; is a Subject which the Tongues of Men and Angels, fhall never be able to exhauft. For the Goodness of God is boundless as his univerfal Works, and endless as the Ages of Eternity. Who can exprefs the noble acts of the Lord, or show forth all his Praife? Pf. cvi. 2. By the Goodness of God, was that incomprehenfible Variety of Creatures brought into Being, which of themselves would never have existed: And a further Mark of the Fountain from which they all proceed, is that Character given things upon their first production, that God beheld every thing which he had made, and, in their respective kinds and degrees, they were each of them very Good. By the fame Goodness, is fuitable Provifion made for the Prefervation of all things, for their proper Continuance and Well-being: Pf. civ. 27, They all wait upon Thee, that thou mayeft give them their meat in due feafon; Thou openest thine hand, and fatis-pf. cxlv. fieft the defire of every living Thing; He 15; maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and giveth to the beast his food, and

to

cxlvii. 9.

)

SERM.to the young ravens which cry unto him.
XIV: And Matt. vi. 26, The fowls of the Air,

faith our Saviour, neither fow nor reap,
nor gather into Barns; yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. And the lillies of the
field toil not, neither do they fpin; and yet
I say unto you, that even Solomon in all
his glory, was not arrayed like one of Them:
Like one of Them, whom Nature has a-
dorned with what no Art can express, and
clothed them with inimitable Beauty. In
Man ftill more particularly, has the Good-
ness of God appeared, in giving him fo
excellent and noble a Being: Thou madeft
him a little lower than the Angels, and
crownedft him with glory and honour; Thou
madeft him to have dominion over the works
of thy hands, and kaft put all things in
fubjection under his Feet, Pf. viii. 5.
has indued us with Reafon, Underfiand-
ing, and Knowledge, not only fufficient to
preferve our Dominion over the Creation;
but fuch as moreover inables us, to con-
template, to adore, and to imitate, our
great Creator himself. The Apostle al-
ledges This, as a particular inftance of the
divine Goodness, Jam. i. 17, 5. Every
Good and every perfect Gift, (that is, eve-

He

ry

XIV.

ry perfection of our nature, and especially S ER M. every religious qualification,) is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights,- who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. In the whole course of our lives, his Goodness prevents numberless Evils from falling upon us; which, with all our Reason and Understanding, we could by no means either prevent or avoid. And under actual Evils, which the Wisdom of his unerring Providence thinks fit, not to prevent, he relieves and comforts and fupports men under them; And frequently affords a Remedy, by Temporal Deliverances: Or if he fees That not fit, yet (which is a much greater Instance and Exercise of Goodness) he always makes provifion for mens eternal Happiness, if by their own Perverseness they neglect not the Means, which he has afforded them for That End. He has endued them with Reafon and natural Confcience, to distinguish between Good and Evil; and to forewarn them, as it were by an inward and perpetual Instinct, of the certainty of a future Judgment. He has confirmed this natural Confcience, with the additional Help of an exprefs Revelation; and has

declared,

SER M. declared, that according to the feveral XIV. Degrees of Men's Knowledge in these mat

ters, he will require of them a feverer, or lefs fevere Account, in fuch manner as becomes the Judge of the whole Earth to do right. And in the mean time, that Sinners may, if poffible, be brought to Repentance; he, with much long-fuffering and forbearance, defers their Punishment; and, if they do repent, he forgives and pardons them, as a Father receives a returning Child; nay, even as a Shepherd rejoices over a Sheep that had been loft. And This is That Part of Goodness, which is ftrictly and properly distinguished by the Name of Mercy. God being our Creator and Supreme Governour, and it being our neceffary and most reasonable Duty to obey at all times his Laws in every particular; 'tis plain that every wilful Tranfgreffion juftly deferves Punishment And after fuch Tranfgreffion, our best Obedience being nothing more than was our Duty before it, 'tis evident that in ftrict Justice God is not obliged, in confideration of what is to come, to forgive what is paft: In firictness of Justice, I fay, God was under no obligation to par

don

don Sinners upon their Repentance; but SER M. his Goodness only moved him to have XIV. compaffion upon them; And the Effect of That compaffion, was the Coming of Chrift. It has fometimes been apprehended otherwife, that the interpofition of t Chrift was the Caufe of God's mercy and compaffion towards Sinners : But the Scripture always reprefents this matter the other way, more to the Honour and Exaltation of the divine Goodness ; that 'twas the original Mercy and free Compaffion of God, which moved him to fend his Son to mediate on our behalf. Thus our Saviour himself expreffes it, Joh. iii. 16, God fo loved the World, that he gave his only-begotten Son: He does not fay, the only-begotten Son prevailed with God to love the world; but, the Love and Compaffion of God towards his Creatures, prevailed with him to fend his Son into the world. God, of his own original eternal effential Goodnefs, fo loved the world, that, in pity towards fallen Mankind he appointed This method of recovery, and gave his only-begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him, should not perifh, but have everlasting life. Thus also

St