On the Goodness of God.

DISCOURSE XIV.

But

I JOHN iv. 8.

God is Love.

Tought mightily to recommend the

they tend to form our Minds to the most fublime and worthy Notions of God, and of his glorious and adorable Perfections. among all the Descriptions there given us of the Deity, there is none more amiable and comprehenfive than this, that God is Love. And accordingly this is what I have endeavoured to confider in feveral Discourses. And in treating of this Subject I proposed,

First,

First, To offer fome general Observations for clearing and explaining the glorious Description here given of God, that God is Love.

Secondly, To illuftrate this more diftinctly, by taking Notice of fome of those Inftances in which the Love and Goodness of God towards his Creatures, efpecially towards Mankind, is more eminently exercised and difplayed.

Thirdly, To confider fome of the Things which feem to have a contrary Appearance, and which have been made ufe of as Objections against the divine Goodness.

Thus far I have proceeded in my former Difcourfes on this Subject. I fhall now conclude the whole with fome fuitable Reflections.

And ift, Since God is Love, this should engage us to love him with a fuperlative Affection. Love is the most powerful Attractive of Love. If we do but hear of a Man of diffufive Benignity, who delighteth in doing Good to all about him, we can fcarce help having an Affection and Esteem for him, though we ourselves have reaped no particular Advantage from his Bounty. But if he be alfo a Perfon to whom we are under great Obligations, our Temper must be of the moft bafe and ungenerous Alloy not to love fuch an one. And fhall

we

we not then love the fupreme boundless Goodness and Benevolence, the everlasting Cause and Source of all that is good and amiable? Shall we not love that most beneficent Being, to whofe Benignity we ówe all the good Things of every Kind that we enjoy; who is doing Good, not only now and then, but continually, not merely to a few here and there, but to numberless Orders of Beings? How fhould we love and admire the glorious Original and Fountain from whence thofe Streams of Bleffings flow, which fpread Joy and Gladness through all Nature! It is he that hath stretched out the glorious Expanse of Heaven, with all its rich and radiant Furniture; who giveth the Sun for a Light by Day, and the Ordinances of the Moon and Stars for a Light by Night, who commandeth the Clouds to drop down Rains and Dews, and to form a fair and fpacious Canopy over our Heads, and hath spread the Earth before us in all its beautiful Attire, and enriched it with fuch an unspeakable Variety of Productions for the Advantage of human Life; who taketh Care in his wife and good Providence, that Seedtime and Harveft, and Cold and Heat, and Summer and Winter, and Day and Night do not cease; who hath fo liberally ftored all Nature around us, Earth, Sea, and Air,

with numberless Objects admirably fitted to entertain and gratify the Senfes which he hath given us. These Things, because they are fo common and daily repeated, we are apt, through a strange Inattention and Infenfibility of Mind, to pafs over with a flight Regard; whereas, the Commonness of them is that which above all manifesteth the Extenfivenefs and Riches of the divine Benignity. And then, to bring it nearer to our own Cafe, let us confider the divine Goodness, not only as variously exercised towards all Mankind in general, but to ourselves in particular. There is none of us but muft upon due Recollection be fenfible that the Goodness of God hath followed us all our Days. He hath granted us Life and Favour, and his Vifitation hath preferved our Spirits. How manifold are the Experiences we have had of his kind Providence watching over us, and taking Care of us in every Stage and Condition of Life, delivering us from Dangers, fupporting us under Diftreffes, and providing for us out of the Stores of his Bounty! We are in the continual Poffeffion and Enjoyment of a thousand Mercies. All the Bleffings which we have ever received, or which we now enjoy, whether relating to our Bodies or to our Souls, yea and the Acts of Kindness done us by our Fellow

Fellow-creatures, the Benefits we receive from our earthly Benefactors, are to be ultimately afcribed to the Goodness of his fuperintending Providence. It should be our Language therefore, as it was that of the devout Pfalmift, How precious are thy Thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the Sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in Number than the Sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Pfal. cxxxix. 17, 18. But above all, it fhould fill us with the highest Admiration of God's in-. finite Goodnefs, to confider the wonderful Methods of his Wifdom and Grace for the Redemption and Salvation of loft perishing Sinners of the human Race. The eternal Father fending his only begotten Son into the World to become incarnate, fuffer, and die for our Sakes, to instruct us by his Doctrine, to guide by his excellent Laws and by his holy Example, and to make Atonement for our Sins by his grievous Sufferings and Death: The Son condefcending to take upon him our Nature, and to fubmit to the deepest Humiliations, and the most bitter Agonies and Paffions, and even to the cruel and ignominious Death of the Crofs, for us Men, and for our Salvation: The Holy Spirit fent by the Father and the Son to quicken, enlighten, and fanctify us, to affift us in our Duty, [VOL. I.] Τ

and