'Tis true indeed, there are degrees Vol VII. of Perfection in the Creatures, and God is not equally good to all of them. Thofe Creatures which are of more Noble and Excellent Natures, and to which he hath communicated more degrees of Perfection, they partake more of his Goodness, and are more glorious inftances of it: But every Creature partakes of the Divine Goodness in a certain degree, and according to the Nature and Capacity of it. God, if he pleased, could have made nothing but immortal Spirits; and he could have made as many of thefe as there are individual Creatures of all forts in the World: but it seemed good to the wife Architect, to make feveral ranks and orders of Beings, and to display his Power,and Goodness,and Wisdom, in all imaginable variety of Creatures; all which fhould be good in their kind, tho' far fhort of the Perfection of Angels and immortal Spi, rits.

He that will build a Houfe for all the uses and purposes of which a House is capable, cannot make it all foundation, and great beams and pillars; muft not fo contrive it, as to make it

all

all Rooms of ftate and entertainment: but there muft of neceffity be in it Vol.VII. meaner materials, rooms and offices for feveral uses and purposes, which however inferiour to the reft in dignity and degree, do yet contribute to the beauty and advantage of the whole. So in this great Frame of the World, it was fit there should be variety and different degrees of Perfection in the feveral parts of it; and this is fo far from being an impeachment of the Wisdom or Goodness of him that made it,that it is an Evidence of both. For the meanest of all Gods Creatures is good, confidering the nature and rank of it, and the end to which it was designed; and we cannot imagine how it could have been ordered and framed better, tho' we can eafily tell how it might have been worse, and that if this or that had been wanting, or had been otherwise, it had not been fo good; and those who have been moft converfant in the contemplation of Nature, and of the Works of God, have been moft ready to make this acknowledgment.

But then if we confider the Creatures of God, with relation to one another,

nother, and with regard to the whole Vol. VII. Frame of things, they will all appear

to be very good; and notwithstanding this or that kind of Creatures, be much less perfect than another, and there be a very great diftance between the Perfection of a worm, and of an Angel; yet confidering every thing in the rank and order which it hath in the Creation, it is as good as could be, confidering its nature and use, and the place allotted to it a mong the Creatures.

And this difference in the Works of God, between the goodness of the feveral parts of the Creation, and the excellent and perfect goodness of the whole, the Scripture is very careful to exprefs to us in the Hiftory of the Creation, where you find God reprefented, as firft looking upon, and confidering every days work by it felf, and approving it, and pronouncing it to be good, Gen. 1. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24. at the end of every days work, it is faid that God faw it, and it was good: but then when all was finisht, and he furveyed the whole together, it is faid, v. 31., that God faw every thing that he had made, and behold it

was

Vol. VII.

was very good; very good, that is the m beft, the Hebrews having no other Superlative. Every Creature of God by it felf is good: But take the whole together, and they are very good, the best that could be.

3. The univerfal goodness of God further appears, in the careful and continual prefervation of the things which he hath made; his upholding and maintaining the feveral Creatures in being, in their natural ftate and order; those which have life, in life, to the period which he hath determi ned and appointed for them; in his preferving the whole World, his managing and governing this vaft Frame of things, in fuch fort, as to keep it from running into confufion and diforder. This is a clear demonftration, no lefs of the goodness than of the Wif dom and Power of God, that for fo many Ages all the parts of it have kept their places, and performed the offices and work for which Nature defigned them; that the World is not, in the courfe of fo many thoufand years, grown old and weak, and out of repair, and that the Frame of things

doth

Vol. VII

doth not diffolve and fall in pie

ces.

And the Goodness of God doth not only take care of the main, and fupport the whole Frame of things, and preferve the more noble and confiderable Creatures; but even the least and meanest of them.TheProvidence of God doth not overlook any thing that he hath made,nor despise any of the works of his hands, fo as to let them relapse, and fall back into nothing,through neglect and inadvertency; as many as there are, he takes care of them all, Pfal. 104. 27, 28. where the Pfalmift fpeaking of the innumerable multitude of Creatures upon the Earth, and in the Sea, Thefe all (faith he) wait upon thee, that thou mayst give them their meat in due feafon; that thou giveft them they gather, thou openeft thine hand, and they are filled with good. And to the fame purpose, Pfal. 145. 15 16. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou giveft them their meat in due feafon; thou openeft thine hand, and fatisfieft the defire of every living thing. The inanimate Creatures, which are without fense; and the brute Creatures, which tho' they have fenfe, are with