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ferved for one Day in a found Temper SERM. and vigorous Conftitution; and our Pre- X. fervation is as great a Wonder as our Formation at firft was. Did we but confider what a Multitude of Veffels there are in the Body, of exquifite Smalness and Fineness, and that an Obftruction or Irregularity, in any one of them, diforders the Whole; we should readily acknowledge the transcendent Skill as well as the indulgent Kindness of our good God, to keep them in any tolerable Order. And

Laftly, If we find in ourselves any particular Excellencies and Perfections beyond other Men; if we enjoy a found Health, and an athletic Constitution; if we have Strength of Limbs, or Beauty and Comeliness of Perfon; let us return the Praise to that God, who is the Author and Giver of every good and perfect Gift: For Thus faith the Lord, Let not the wife Man glory in his Wisdom, neither let the mighty Man glory in his Might; let not the rich Man glory in his Riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercife loving Kindness, Judgment, and Righteouf nefs in the Earth. Much lefs let the Enjoyment of thefe Gifts of God's Bounty render other Men defpicable in our Eyes,

who

SERM. who either want them, or have them in X. a lefs Proportion. Who was it that made

thee differ from another, that distinguished the Rich from the Poor, the Beautiful from the Deformed, the Wife from the Foolish, the Honourable from the Mean, the Healthy from the Diseased? But that God who is the Author and Giver of every good Gift, and has diftributed thefe Talents in Truft, to be employed to those Ends and Uses, for which he gave them, to advance his Honour and Glory in the World; and if fo, then what Reason have we to be proud and puffed up with that, which is none of our own, which was at firft the Gift of God's Bounty, and is still the Care of his Providence? For what have we which we have not received? And therefore, unto that God who is the Fountain of all Good, the Spring and Source of all these Bleffings which we enjoy, let us render, as is most due, all Honour, Glory, and Praise, for ever and ever.

SERMON

SERMON XI.

GOD's Goodness and Bounty.

PSALM CXix. 68.

Thou art good, and doeft Good;

T

HE holy Penman of this Pfalm, Serm. who is generally thought to be XI. David, compofed this Piece of

Divine Poetry by a prophetical

Spirit; and throughout the whole Pfalm, especially the latter Part of it, refers to the Times of the Meffiah; of whom it may most properly be faid, Thou art good, and doeft Good; teach me thy Statutes. He, that was God as well as Man, was the Fountain of all Goodness, he was Goodness itself, in the Abstract; and, from this Goodness of his Nature, the Communication of his Goodness did proceed; he came into the World on Purpose, and made it his Business, whilst he continued here, to do Good; he went about doing Good; he did

Good

SERM. Good both to the Souls and Bodies of Men; XI. he delivered the Souls of Men from the

Guilt of Sin and Tyranny of the Devil; he attoned the Anger of their offended God, and inftated them in his Favour; he delivered their Bodies from all Manner of Diseases, and therewith he disposed their Minds to receive the Divine Truths, and their Wills to comply with his Commands, in the Performance of which, their Intereft and Happiness did confift. But of this I shall discourse more at large, whilst I confider,

1. WHAT Notion we have of God's
Goodness, and wherein it doth consist.
II. How this Goodness is manifested to-
wards his Creatures.

III. WHAT Inferences may justly be
made from the Confideration of this
Divine Attribute. And,

I. WHAT Notion we have of God's Goodness, and wherein it doth confist.

THAT Goodness in general is a Divine Attribute, is plain from hence; because all that Goodness, which is found scattered about in created Beings, was derived from God, as its prime Source and Fountain. This is confeffed by all, and though there

has

has been fome Difference raised, and fome SERM.
Difputes managed about the other Attri XI.
butes of God, yet no Man was ever fo
hardy, as to deny the Goodness of God:
All Sects and Parties, how different soever
their Notions and Sentiments have been as
to other Things, yet, in all Times and
Ages, they have agreed in this Truth,
that the first Cause of all Things, he who
made and created this vifible World, and
adorned it with fo much Beauty and
Comeliness (as the Word fignifies)
and is good to all, muft needs be himself
infinitely good.

WE cannot own the Existence of a God, but we must also acknowledge his Goodness, and therefore the Romans fet forth God by the Title of Optimus Maximus, the best and the greateft; they confidered God's Goodness before his Greatness, for infinite Goodness is more acceffary to, and more straightly joined with an infinite Deity, than infinite Power, and infinite Wisdom: For we cannot conceive a God, unless we conceive him the highest Good, having nothing fuperior to himself in Goodnefs, as he has nothing fuperior to himself in Excellency and Perfection. And therefore I shall not spend my Time in demonstrating this Attribute, or proving God to be good; but, taking this for granted, I fhall make it

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