and import of this subject by some remarkable instances. "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

No bounds can be fixed to the divine presence, nor is any part of illimitable space without his inspection and active influence. There is nothing remote or obscure to him, nor any exceptions to his favour among all the works of his hands. Far and wide, then, as is the vast range of existence, so is the divine benevolence extended; and both in the previous trial and final retribution of all his rational and moral productions, "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

In the first place, to illustrate this, we need only to take a transient view of the outworks of the visible creation, a general survey of the nature and correspondence of the various parts of this regular and grand machine; this finished and stupendous fabric, in which every thing is contrived and concluded for the best.

For do but imagine an appetite or faculty altered, or a change in the object prepared to gratify it, in any respect. Suppose a material alteration, or considerable difference in nature, and we shall easily perceive it would be a manifold disadvantage, either to individuals or to the whole. Suppose the earth otherwise than it is, or the atmosphere and surrounding air to be varied, and in any degree more rarefied or more condensed: suppose the element of water greatly increased or considerably diminished; or the sun's blazing orb fixed nearer, and its vertical beams, therefore, stronger; or suppose it more remote, and its heat sensibly abated, the al

teration would be a misfortune, if the difference did not terminate in misery and destruction: so that from the present adjustment, proportion, and accommodation of all matters in the wide creation, the consequence is fairly drawn, and very evident, that "God is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

This is certain of the whole of God's works, and is peculiarly apparent in man, the principal inhabitant of this earth: for, as his welfare, dignity, and satisfaction, nay, his happiness, and even the end of his being, depend on, and arise from his regularity and constancy in virtue, what an infinite concern hath the Deity expressed about it' What, that can consist with liberty, hath been omitted by supreme wisdom in this most important affair? To incline him to be moderate in all his gratifications, true pleasure proceeds from nothing else. To keep off intemperate indulgence, and to guard him against all voluptuous excesses, it is so ordained, that extravagance and inconvenience are near together; and that vice and pain are, though not immediate and inseparable associates, never far asunder; and that it is impossible for that soul to be calm and at ease which iniquity has stained, and which impenitent guilt corrodes.

The parts of man's body are wonderfully designed and curiously constructed; regularly disposed of, and most accurately proportioned for the safety and advantage of the whole. As apt as we may be to quarrel with our nature, suppose an instinct was struck out of our frame, or a single passion taken from us; suppose our senses any ways altered, by being either strengthened or impaired; or even

reason refined and abstracted to such a degree as to render us wholly negligent of food and raiment, necessary exercises, and secular concerns; in any of these instances, the imaginary emendation would be a real deficiency, and a proportionable deduction from the moment and quantity of our happiness.

It is evidently the same with respect to all the other creatures we are acquainted with: their nature and condition, their qualities and circumstances, are so adapted to one another, that, as the intellectual powers of a being of a more exalted nature would not, probably, suit an inhabitant of this lower world, so neither would the capacities of human nature guide the fowls of the air, or conduct the beasts of the field, to so much happiness as they find by following the motions and impulses of sense and instinct and if reflection, enlarged ideas, and moral discrimination be denied them, it is plainly, because they would be a burden and a misfortune, rather than a benefit to them.

But these universal notices and undeniable testimonies of divine goodness, throughout the animated regions of earth, sea, and air, in the propriety and suitableness of creatures to their state, and objects to their appetites, are too evident and obvious to all men to need enlargement. God's works are all wonderful; and in wisdom and with goodness hath he made them..

Secondly, This attribute is likewise illustriously displayed in the divine providence and government of the creation, though our faculties are too limited and scanty, and our views too narrow and imperfect, to trace its secret and mysterious ways.

An omnipotent support, and a perfectly wise direction, are evident in the laws established and regularly observed through all the divine productions in heaven above, or on the earth beneath : neither have the most celebrated philosophers been able, with all their boasted sagacity, and after all their laborious researches into the volume of nature, to assign any other cause but an invisible agency, an immediate energy of Providence, for mutual attraction in bodies, and the determination of all portions of matter to their centre; for the great strength of appetite, instinct, and sagacity in animals; that the prevalence and continuance thereof should be so precisely and exactly commensurate to the occasions which require them, and that they should be no longer urgent than for the time necessary, as in the affection for their young: all which do greatly illustrate the wisdom and goodness of God's administration and superintending

care.

Holy writ elegantly and emphatically describes the excellence of goodness in the divine Providence in various places, particularly in this Psalm of which my text is a part. "The eyes of all wait upon thee; thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desires of every living thing." " Behold (saith our blessed Saviour) the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns: yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet, I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of those." Not one individual can be so minute and

inconsiderable, as to escape the notice of heaven's all-surveying eye; nor one so importantly large and seemingly self-sufficient, as to subsist a moment without the divine support. By him all things consist: "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

But man appears the distinguished charge of the beneficent Creator; and unless Providence had connected rational beings by the peculiar strong ties of mutual obligation, perpetual dependency, and inseparable interest, they would, of all creatures, be the most destitute and, miserable; for there is not one that, in the first stages of its existence, is so totally helpless and absolutely insufficient for its own preservation, support, or defence, as man : therefore, parental tenderness is both early and passionate, permanent and lasting. Our social dispositions and affections are enlarged to the utmost limits, and continue with us in the concluding decays and last end of this mortal life; that we may always love one another, and glorify "the Lord, who is good to all, and whose tender mercies are over all his works."

The consequences, in the last place, which result from the arguments you have heard, are so obvious, that I make no doubt but your own thoughts have already anticipated them. Ingratitude among men hath, in every age and in every region of the earth, been an object of general detestation, and universally accounted a glaring indication of depravity of heart. If the case stand thus among mortals, whose common interests require a reciprocation of kindness and beneficence, how greatly is the crime aggravated when it is committed against that Being