ent parts different laws of nature, a different order of things, never perhaps independent of one another, which is not by any means the fact.

Take, for instance, our globe, the earth on which we tread, and compare the different regions of it with one another. A stone falls to the ground in China just as it does in England; water runs to a level in both. The same sun rises and sets in the most distant region of the globe as here; a grain of wheat springs up in the same manner in one quarter of the globe that it does in another; a bird builds its nest in the same way in whatever country it is found. The same laws of nature hold in all. In general, the very same species of plants and animals are to be met with in the several parts of the globe. Men, Men, for instance, inhabit any part. When a new plant or new animal is found, the formation of it bears an evident similitude and analogy to that of the plants and animals with which we are acquainted. Every plant, for instance, has its root, its fibres, its sap, its flowers, and seed; every animal has much the same senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smelling; every animal is male and female; every animal has blood, and is sustained by food; every one has a heart and lungs, brain and limbs, and this much similar prevails in all creatures; though new creatures be continually discovered, new laws of nature never are. The rain descends, the winds blow, the thunder is heard, the lightning seen; fire and water, earth and air, possess the same powers, hold the same place, produce the same effects, act upon one another in the same manner, in the most remote and hidden, the hottest and coldest tracts of the earth, that they do and always have done with us at home.

Now what is the plain inference from hence, but that the same being is the author of those effects in all these places; that they have all come from the same hand, have all had one origin, and one Creator? No one can doubt, but that the being who founded and established the laws of nature here, was the same being who founded and established the laws of nature in America; because the laws are throughout the same. The Creator, who gave to the sparrow that instinct by which it builds its nest in this country, undoubtedly was he who gave to the bird its instinct in the most distant parts of the earth; because the bird, left to itself, in all countries, would build its nest the same. This is only a trifling and particular instance; it is only one example out of many thousands. Throughout the whole order and economy of nature, in every part of the world

that has been travelled over or found out, there exists a manifest sameness of plan, and scheme, and design.

Then, if we ascend from our globe, which undoubtedly owes its formation to one hand, to the globes which occupy the firmament, the sun, moon, and planets in particular, we find amongst them a relation, a subserviency to one another, which demonstrate that they are different parts of one system. For instance; together with our earth, there revolve round the sun five, or perhaps six, other planets, all receiving light and heat from the sun, in like manner as we do; and so influencing and acting upon our earth, and upon one another, that if it, or any one of them, was destroyed, the motions of all the rest would be so disturbed that they would all fall into ruin and confusion. This shows a system. He that made one made all for they all mutually depend upon each; the rest could not go on without that one, nor it without them; consequently they were produced together, and produced in pursuance of a common plan; which plan must have existed in the same divine mind, and, as far as the same plan continues, as far we are sure one and the same Creator was concerned. To the very extremest limits to which our knowledge or observation reaches, we find one and the same God; because we find a uniformity of counsel and design, a connexion of parts, a relation of things one to another, which could not be expected to take place amongst the works and productions of different, independent beings.

And what is a further and undeniable proof that the doctrine of one God is the genuine dictate of reason, is, that all the reasoning part of mankind are now agreed upon it. Whatever disputes or differences of opinion there may be among thinking and learned men concerning other points, there is none upon this; which shows, that however erroneous notions had formerly crept in amongst mankind concerning a multitude of gods, the thing itself is sufficiently certain; for as reason and knowledge have made advances and gained ground in the world, men have gradually come to a pacific agreement about the matter. 'The Lord our God is one Lord;' there is none other besides him; one and the same; who made the heavens and the earth, ourselves, all that is around us, all we see, all we know of.

We now proceed to observe from this doctrine, in regard to the two great revelations under which we now live, the Jewish and the Christian, the Old and the New Testaments. Now with regard to the Old Testament, there is this remarkable undisputed fact; that at the time when every other nation and every other religion in the world held that there were many gods,

the Jews alone, in the religion of Moses, taught that there was but one; so that upon this, the greatest and most important point in the world, that which is now found out, and allowed, and agreed upon to be the truth, was contained and delivered in the bible, at a time when no such opinion was to be met with among any other persons, or in any other book; but contrary opinions. How is it to be accounted for, that the people of the Jews should hit upon the truth, when every other nation mistook it; that their nation alone should maintain that there was one, and only one God, who first produced, and still governs all things, when the various nations which surrounded them, all fell into an opposite persuasion; that Moses should be the first, and, as far as we find, the only person who delivered a doctrine which many ages afterwards, and not until many ages afterwards, the whole world, in a manner, was to be convinced was the truth; how, I say, shall we account for this, but by believing, what the scriptures teach us to believe, that Moses and the fathers of the Jewish nation received it from God; that it was upon selfevidence that God, in the Old Testament, expressly taught his peculiar people, and enjoined them to maintain it; nay more, that this was that great truth which it was the very end and purpose of this institution to keep in the world? For although it may appear to some to be indifferent whether a man hold one God or many, besides that nothing can be indifferent which relates to Almighty God, the fact is, and always has been, that the opinion of a diversity of gods leads directly to gross corruption in religion, and, in consequence of this, to gross immoralities in practice; so that the knowledge of the one God, and the preservation of this knowledge, has always been essential to the preservation of virtue. In the Old Testament it was preserved, when in was nowhere else to be found. By the Jewish account it was not only preserved, but on many occasions communicated to the rest of the world; for as many countries as at any time became acquainted with this wonderful history, and with it their law, learned from it that the gods of the heathens were nothing, that in truth, there was but one God, and he the God of Israel.

But next and lastly, it comes to be considered how the matter stands in the New Testament, in the Christian dispensation, under which we live now. I say, that the Christian dispensation entirely confirms and repeats what the Jewish scripture of the Old Testament had before delivered; 'Hear, O Israel!' saith our Saviour himself, the Lord our God is one Lord.' • We know,' saith St Paul to the Corinthians, that an idol is

nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one; that, though there be many that are called gods in heaven and in earth, to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ.' And again; There is one God and Father of us all, who is above all, and in you all.' These passages are very clear and express, and can never be mistaken, to us Christians; that is, 'There is one God, blessed for evermore.' We hear, nevertheless, of three divine persons; we speak of the trinity. We read of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' Now concerning these, it is to be observed, that they must all be understood in such a manner as to be consistent with the above positive declarations, that there is one only supreme God.' What is that union which subsists in the divine nature; of what kind is that relation by which the divine persons of the trinity are connected, we know little; perhaps it is not possible that we should know more. But this we seem to know, first, that neither man nor angel bears the same relation to God the Father as that which is attributed to his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and secondly, that very thing does not break in upon the fundamental truth of religion, that there is one only supreme God,' who reigneth and dwelleth in heaven and on earth, who is All in All, the same spirit always, unchangeable, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which cannot be approached, whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be glory and dominion for Amen.'

ever.

LIX.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD PROVED FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE AND REVELATION.

PART I.

PSALM XXXIII. 5.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Or all the great and glorious attributes of the being whom we worship, whose we are, and on whom we depend, none is so endearing or so important to us as his goodness. That mag

nificent power which laid the foundation of the earth, which spread abroad the heavens as a curtain, which assigned for the sea its channels and its bounds, saying it should not pass them; who hath brought into being ten thousand worlds like our own, rolling in the firmament, all of which are put in motion and sustained in their orbs by his almighty hand; that consummate wisdom which created universal nature, which drew such regularity as this out of chaos and confusion, which contrives, with such exquisite skill, the largest as well as the least part of creation, from globes of immeasurable magnitude down to the limbs of insects too small for our eyes to perceive; although such are a just and never to be exhausted subject of astonishment and adoration, yet neither of them is of that immediate concern and consequence to ourselves as the benevolence, and kindness, and goodness of his disposition; because, if we ever find that these illustrious qualities are under the direction of a good and gracious will, then, but not till then, they become a solid ground of love, and confidence, and resignation, to all who are to depend upon them besides. If God be not good, what reason have we to believe that by doing good we please him? So that the subject of the divine goodness lies at the root of all morality and religion, of all our rules of conduct, and all our hopes of happiness.

Now no man hath seen God at any time; we can know him only by his works and his word. His works are to be taken into consideration, both from this being the natural order, and because it is from his works we collect that his word is to be relied upon. We will therefore state, as briefly as we can, the argument by which is made out the divine goodness and benevolence to his creatures; for the main thing wanted, in an argument of this sort, is, that it be short and intelligible, that every one may retain and revert to it in his own thoughts.

When God created the human species, either he wished their happiness, or he wished their misery, or he was indifferent and unconcerned about either; no other supposition is to be made. If he had wished our misery, he might have made sure of his purpose by framing our senses to be so many sores and pains to us, as they are now instruments of gratification and enjoyment, or by placing us amidst objects as ill suited to our perceptions as to have continually offended us, instead of ministering to our refreshment and delight. He might, for example, if he had pleased, have made every thing we tasted bitter, every thing we saw loathsome, every thing we touched a sting, every smell a stench, and every sound a discord.