Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

3. The third thing is the Goodness of God in his Government. That Goodness that despised not their Creation, doth not despise their conduct. The same Goodness that was the head that framed them, is the helm that guides them; his Goodness hovers over the whole frame, either to prevent any wild disorders unsuitable to his Creating end, or to conduct them to those ends which might illustrate his Wisdom and Goodness to his Creatures. His Goodness doth no less incline him to provide for them, than to frame them. 'Tis the natural inclination of man to love what is purely the birth of his own strength or skill. He is fond of preserving his own Inventions, as well as laborious in inventing them. 'Tis the glory of a Man to preserve them, as well as to produce them. God loves every thing which he hath made, which love could not be without a continued diffusiveness to them, suitable to the end for which he made them. It would be a vain Goodness, if it did not interest it self in managing the World, as well as erecting it: Without his Government every thing in the World would jostle against one another: The beauty of it would be more defaced, it would be an unruly Mass, a confused Chaos rather then a [Greek or Hebrew], a comely World. If Divine Goodness respected it when it was nothing, it would much more respect it when it was something by the sole virtue of his Power and good Will to it, without any motive from any thing else than Himself, because there was nothing else but Himself. But since he sees his own stamp in things without Himself in the Creature, which is a kind of motive or moving Object to Divine Goodness to preserve it, when there was nothing without Himself, that could be any motive to Him, to Create it: As when God hath created a Creature, and it falls into misery, that misery of the Creature, though it doth not necessitate his mercy, yet meeting with such an affection as mercy in his Nature, is a moving Object to excite it: As the repentance of Nineveh drew forth the exercise of his pity and preserving goodness. Certainly since God is Good, he is Bountiful, and if Bountiful, he is Provident. He would seem to envy and malign his Creatures, if he did not provide for them, while he intends to use them: But infinite Goodness cannot be affected with envy:

3. The third thing is the Goodness of God in his Government. That Goodness that despised not their Creation, doth not despise their conduct. The same Goodness that was the head that fram'd them, is the helm that guides them; his Goodness hovers over the whole frame, either to prevent any wild disorders unsuitable to his Creating end, or to conduct them to those ends which might illustrate his Wisdom and Goodness to his Creatures. His Goodness doth no less incline him to provide for them, than to frame them. 'Tis the natural inclination of man to love what is purely the birth of his own strength or skill. He is fond of preserving his own Inventions, as well as laborious in inventing them. 'Tis the glory of a Man to preserve them, as well as to produce them. God loves every thing which he hath made, which love could not be without a continued diffusiveness to them, suitable to the end for which he made them. It would be a vain Goodness, if it did not interest it self in managing the World, as well as erecting it: Without his Government every thing in the World would justle against one another: The beauty of it would be more defaced, it would be an unruly Mass, a confus'd Chaos rather then a , a comely World. If Divine Goodness respected it when it was nothing, it would much more respect it when it was something by the sole vertue of his Power and good Will to it, without any motive from any thing else than Himself, because there was nothing else but Himself. But since he sees his own stamp in things without Himself in the Creature, which is a kind of motive or moving Object to Divine Goodness to preserve it, when there was nothing without Himself, that could be any motive to Him, to Create it: As when God hath created a Creature, and it falls into misery, that misery of the Creature, though it doth not necessitate his mercy, yet meeting with such an affection as mercy in his Nature, is a moving Object to excite it: As the repentance of Nineveh drew forth the exercise of his pity and preserving goodness. Certainly since God is Good, he is Bountiful, and if Bountiful, he is Provident. He would seem to envy and malign his Creatures, if he did not provide for them, while he intends to use them: But infinite Goodness cannot be affected with envy: