Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

1. This renders him fit for the Government of the World, and gives him a full Title to it. This Perfection doth the Psalmist Celebrate throughout the 107 Psalm, where he declares Gods Works of Providence, vers. 8, 15, 21, 32. Power without goodness would deface, instead of preserving; Ruin is the fruit of rigour without kindness; But God because of his infinite and immutable goodness cannot do any thing unworthy of himself, and uncomely in it self, or destructive to any Moral goodness in the Creature. 'Tis impossible he should do any thing that is base, or act any thing but for the best, because ⟨p. 672⟩he is essentially and naturally, and therefore necessarily good. As a good Tree cannot bring forth bad Fruit, so a good God cannot produce evil acts; no more than a pure Beam of the Sun can engender so much as a mite of darkness; or infinite Heat produce any particle of Cold. As God is so much Light, that he can be no Darkness, so he is so much G•od, that he can have no Evil; and because there is no Evil in him, nothing simply Evil can be produced by him. Since he is good by Nature, all evil is against his Nature, and God can do nothing against his Nature: It would be a part of impotence in him, to Will that which is Evil; and therefore the Misery Man feels, as well as the Sin whereby he deserves that Misery, are said to be from himself;^* Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy self. And though God sends Judgments upon the World, we have shown these to be intended for the support and vindication of his Goodness. And Hezekiah judged no otherwise, when after the threatening of the Devastation of his House, the Plundering his Treasures, and Captivity of his Posterity, He replies, Good is the Word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken^*. God cannot act any thing that is base and Cruel, because his Goodness is as infinite as his Power, and his Power acts nothing, but what his Wisdom directs, and his Goodness moves him to. Wisdom is the Head in Government, Omniscience the Eye, Power the Arm, and Goodness the Heart and Spirit in them, that animates all.

1. This renders him fit for the Government of the World, and gives him a full Title to it. This Perfection doth the Psalmist Celebrate throughout the 107 Psalm, where he declares Gods Works of Providence, vers. 8, 15, 21, 32. Power without goodness would deface, instead of preserving; Ruine is the fruit of rigor without kindness; But God because of his infinite and immutable goodness cannot do any thing unworthy of himself, and uncomely in it self, or destructive to any Moral goodness in the Creature. 'Tis impossible he should do any thing that is base, or act any thing but for the best, because