ninth and eleventh hours, and, as the thief on the cross, at the last day and hour of his life. The apostle Paul is a remarkable instance of God's long-suffering; see Acts vii. 58, and viii. 1, 3.

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II. The long-suffering of God is exercised towards the ungodly, even towards the vessels of wrath, whom he endures with much long-suffering, till they are fitted to destruction, Rom. ix. 22. This appears by his supporting them in their beings, notwithstanding their grievous provocations of him; and by granting to many of them the outward means of grace, which are despised and rejected by them; and by deferring his judgments on them. Now the ends of God's thus dealing with them, are partly for his own glory; partly for the sake of his own people who dwell among them, that they may not suffer with them; and another end is for their sakes, that they may be rendered inexcusable, and the execution of wrath on them at last, appear just and righteous, Rom. ii. 1-5. There are many instances of the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering of God, with respect to the wicked; as in the men of the old world, the inhabitants of Sodom, Pharoah, the people of Israel in the wilderness, the Amorites and Canaanites, the Gentile world, and in antichrist, during the time of his reign, and no longer.

OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

ONE of his names and titles by which he is described and made known, is, that of Good; thou, Lord, art good, Psal. lxxxvi. 5. Our English word God seems to be a contraction of the word Good. The name the heathens give to their supreme deity, is optimus. Goodness is essential to God; without which he would not be God; he is by nature good; if he was not good of himself, and by his own essence; but of and by another; then there would be some being both better than he, and prior to him; and so he would not be the eternal God; nor an independent Being, since he must depend on that from whence he receives his goodness; nor would he be the most

perfect being, since what communicates goodness to him, must be more perfect than he: all which, to say of God, is very" unbecoming Goodness only belongs to God; he is solely good; There is none good but one; that is, God; Matt. xix. 17. He is the source and fountain of all, and therefore all goodness, originally, ultimately, and solely, is to be referred to God. God is the summum bonum, the chiefest good: the sum and substance of all felicity. God only an make' men happy; wherefore good men, whilst others are saying, Who will shew us any good? taking up their contentment in wordly good; say, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us; which gives the greatest pleasure, joy, and satisfac. tion, that can be had, Psal. iv. 6, 7. and xlii. 1. and lxxiii. 25. There is nothing but goodness in God, and nothing but good." ness comes from him: God is infinitely immutably and eter nally good; and though there have been, and are, such largecommunications of it to creatures, it is the same as ever, and remains an inexhaustible fountain. His goodness of God is communicative and diffusive; " the whole earth is full of his goodness," Psal. exix. 68. This attribute of goodness belongs to each divine person, Father, Son, and Spirit; they must, indeed, in the same sense, be good, since they partake of one common undivided nature and essence, I John v. 7. The goodness of God, with respect to the several objects of it, may be considered as general and special There is the general goodness of God, which is as extensive as his mercy; The Lord is good to all, and his tender, mercies are over all his works, Psal. cxlv. 9. The special goodness of God, as to the effects of it, elect angels, and elect men, only partake of, which is sovereign and distinguishing; 1 Tim. v. 21. 1. Pet. ii. 4. Psal. Ixiii 1.

OF THE ANGER AND WRATH OF GOD. THE anger and wrath of God are often used promiscuously in scripture, to signify the same thing, and yet they some

times seem to be distinct; and according to our notion of them, as in men, they may be distinguished: anger is a lower and lesser degree of wrath, and wrath is the height of anger, With respect to anger I shall,

I. Shew that it belongs to God; and in what sense, and on what account.

II. Shew with whom he is angry; or on whom his anger is exercised. 1. That nger belongs to God. But then it is to be considered not as a passion, or affection in God, as it is in men; in God it is no other than a displicency with sin, and with sinners, on account of it; it is often said in scripture, that such and such a thing displeased him, or was evil, and not right in his sight, Numb. xi. 1. 2 Sam. xi. 27. All sin is displeasing to God; but there are some sins more especially which provoke him to anger; see Deut. xxxi. 16, 21. Judg. ii. 12, 13. Now who knoweth the power of God's anger? Psal. xc. 11. nothing can resist it, nor stand before it; not rocks and mountains, which are overturned and cast down by it; nor the mightiest monarchs, nor the proudest mortals, nor the stoutest and adamantine hearts; none can stand before God when once he is angry, Job. ix. 5, 13. Psal. Ixxvi. 7. II. The objects of the anger of God, or on whom it is exercised. God is angry with the wicked every day, Psal. vii 11. because they are daily sinning against him; they do not always appear under the visible and public tokens of his resentment; oftentimes their families, flocks and herds, increase; and they spend their days in health, wealth, and pleasure, Job xxi. 7-13. yet at length God will not spare them; but his anger and jealousy shall smoke against them, and all the curses written in the law shall come upon them, Deut, xxix. 19, 20. Moreover, God is angry with his own special people holy and good men; we read of his anger being kindled against David, Solomon, and others, for sins committed by them, this is not all inconsistent with the love of God unto them anger is not opposite to love; a father may be angry with his son, and chastise him for a fault, and yet dearly love

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him. In this the anger of God towards his people, differs from his anger to wicked men, since the one is but for a moment, and the other is continual.

II. The wrath of God is the heat of his great anger, Deut. xxix. 24. it is his anger blown up into a flame; it seems to be no other than his punitive justice. The wrath of God may be considered as temporary, or what is executed in the present life; of which there have been many instances and examples, and there will be more. There is also the wrath of God that is yet to come: the scriptures speak of future wrath; for the commencement of which, in its full extent, there is a day fixed,. called, "the day of wrath, and righteous judgment of God;" until which time God reserves wrath for his adversaries; it is laid up in store with him, among his treasures, and will be ever laying out, and pouring forth. As to the objects of this wrath, seeing it is revealed against all righteousness and ungodliness of men it lies against all that are unrighteous and ungodly; and as all have sinned, and are under sin, all are children of wrath, Eph. ii. 3. Rom. i. 18. and iii. 9, 23, but there are some particularly described, on whom this wrath comes, and they are called children of disobedience, Eph. v. 5, 6. The wrath of God comes upon men either for the sins against the light of na ure, or against the law of God, or against the gospel of Christ. There are some on whom no wrath comes here, nor hereafter; who are the vessels of mercy, afore-prepared for glory concerning whom Jehovah says, fury is not in me; and to whom he is all love, love itself, Isai. xxvii. 4. There is no wrath comes upon them now; their afflictions and chastisements are all in love; and there will be no curse hereafter; but they shall always see the face of God, and be "in his presence, where are fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore,' Rev. ii. 19. and xxii. 3, 4.

OF THE Hatred of god.

THE Scriptures do, in many places, attribute to God hatred both of persons and things, Psal. v. 5. Zech. viii. 17. and

most truly and rightly; and this may be concluded from love being in God, as has been shewn; though this is made use of as an argument against it, because opposite to it; but where there is love of any person or thing, there will be an hatred of that which is contrary to the object loved. For the further illustration of this point, I shall consider both what that is; and who they are God is said to hate.What this is he hates, i. e. sin. This is consistent with his not hating any of his creatures, for sin is no creature of his. All sin is an abomination to him; but there are some sins that are particularly ob. served as hated by him, as idolatry, Deut. xvi. 22. hypocritical acts of worship, Isai. i. 14. 15. murder, Prov. vi. 16-18. adultery, Rev. ii. 6, 15. and every evil thing a man may imagine against his neighbour, Zech. viii. 17. Who they are that God hates. They are sinners, workers of iniquity, Psal. v. 5. not men, as men, but as sinful men; workers of it, traders in it. Thus it is said of Jacob and Esau, personally considered; Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated, Mal. i. 2.

OF THE JOY OF GOD.

Joy, which is often attributed to God in the scriptures, bears some resemblance to the affection of joy in men; he may be said-i. To rejoice and take delight and complacency in himself, in his own nature, and the perfections of it; so the Jews interpret 1 Chro. xvi. 27. gladness in his place, of joy in himself. 11. He rejoices and takes delight and complacency in his works, Psal. civ. 31. In the works of creation, which, when he had finished, he looked them over, and pronounced them all very good; and he still appears to have pleasure in them, and delights in the works of his providence, John v. 17. particularly in the great work of redemption. 1. He may be truly said to rejoice, and take pleasure in his people, as he often is; they are his Hephzibah, in whom he delights; his Beulah, to whom he is married; and therefore, as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so does the Lord rejoice over them, Psal. cxlix. 4. There is a redundancy, an overflow of