MAY we all live under the influence of this holy and blessed faith. May we all be deeply impressed with a sense of the Omnipresence of the Supreme Being. And may we feel no ambition but to please him, nor covet any happiness but to enjoy him. THE GOODNESS OF GOD, PSALM cxlv, 9. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. THAT there is an original, independent, and self-existent Being who is the Creator and Governor of all things, has been proved by the plainest and most cogent reasoning; and has been the general belief of all ages and nations. And to this original and self-existent Being, we are naturally led to ascribe infinite power, and knowledge, and wisdom. As he possesses an underived and eternal nature, it is impossible to con ceive of him, as in any respect, either limited or controuled. As he created, upholds, and regulates all things, he must perfectly know all things :-consequently he must know whatever is best, and being, at all times, able to attain it, therefore whatever is best, whether in regard to means or ends, must be the object of his choice. In other words, unbounded power, knowledge, and wisdom, are necessary attributes of the Supreme. But these, however great and adorable they are, do not constitute the whole of his character, nor are they, considered by themselves, fitted to attract and influence perfectly the intelligent mind. They may indeed fill us with awe, strike us with astonishment, overwhelm us with terror; but they can never, of themselves, afford us the enjoyment of quietude and comfort, or excite in us the finer and pleasurable feelings of gratitude and love. To power, and knowledge, and wisdom then, we must add the darling attribute of GOODNESS. This is necessary to shed mildness and lustre upon the whole; to tranquillize and gladden the heart of man; and to adorn and perfect the charac ter of God. Surely, then, we cannot be better employed than in maturely considering this glorious attribute. If we have either wrong notions of it, or do not thoroughly believe in it, our religious temper and services will undoubtedly be materially injured, if not totally destroyed. Every man who regards and obeys the Lord, in a proper and acceptable manner, must have the impression of this divine truth ever lively upon his mind: The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.' What, therefore, I now propose, is briefly to explain and prove the GOODNESS of God, and then to consider some of the important conclusions which most naturally follow from the principles that will be established on this truly pleasing and profitable subject. * I cannot help observing here, that all those in the heathen world, who had any tolerably correct notions of the Supreme God, however much they might differ about other things concerning him, perfectly agreed in ascribing to him goodness, and in considering this as the chief of his perfections. They emphatically called him the BEST and the GREATEST. Accordingly, in the Platonic Trinity 'Afalò stands above Nu, and Yux FIRST then, I am to explain the nature of the Divine Goodness.-By goodness we are not here to understand universal rectitude, or the complete character of a moral agent, (though this is what the word is sometimes employed to denote), but merely that part of universal rectitude which is usually denominated benevolence, or a disposition to communicate all possible happiness. This is the plain meaning of the word when we apply it to man or to other intelligent beings. It must therefore have the same meaning when we apply it to God. The goodness of God is not different from the goodness of man, in kind: it is different only in degree. The goodness of man is always imperfect: the goodness of God again must always be absolutely perfect: the ultimate happiness of his creatures must always be the grand object of his choice, and in this the exercise of his power, and knowledge, and wisdom, must invariably terminate as their proper end. Every good and every perfect gift cometh • down from the Father of lights.-He is ' good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.' |