THEME CXVII. Every Creature of God is good.

1ST REASON.-Every creature of God is good ABSOLUTELY. As God himself is absolute goodness, every work which proceeds from Him must be good, without mixture of evil.

2ND REASON.-Every creature of God is good DECLARATORILY. After the six days spent upon creation were ended, God took a survey of every thing He had created and made, and, behold, it was very good."— Gen. i. 31.

3RD REASON.-Every creature of God is good EXCLUSIVELY. Nothing is good that was not made by God, as, for example, Sin and Death.

4TH REASON. Every creature of God is good OBJECTIVELY; namely, to show forth the glory of God.

5TH REASON. Every creature of God is good coNSTRUCTIVELY. Every thing possesses every property requisite for its perfectibility, and nothing can be added to or taken away from any without injury. The eye of man, for example, was made for vision, and the ear for hearing; their organic construction is perfectly adapted to these purposes, nor can any conceivable alteration be made in them, without marring their respective excellency.

6TH REASON.-Every creature of God is good RELATIVELY. Thus, in the animal and vegetable world, plants require carbonic acid, which is their principal food, and all animals exhale this very gas from their lungs: on the other hand, animals require oxygen to keep them alive, and the leaves of plants give out oxygen, so as to supply the air with the very gas required by the animal world: Again, the hand prepares food for the use of man,-the teeth masticate it, the saliva mixes with it, both mechanically and chemically, the stomach digests it,-the lacteals, lymphatics, veins, and arteries appropriate it, diffuse it throughout the body, and convert it into bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh." Every part is not

only perfect in its kind, but is also relatively perfect; no two perform the same function; there is no edundancy, and no defectiveness.

7TH REASON. Every creature of God is good ELEMENTALLY: The works of God are eminently qualified for analysis and reconstruction into a thousand new combinations, without loss or detriment. Thus the solid rocks crumble and form the inorganic soil; plants are supported mechanically, and derive certain earthly and mineral substances from un-organised matter essential for their life and development: some of these plants (as corn for example) form food for man; others, as grass, supply food for cattle; the corn or grass is not only divided and subdivided into fragments by the teeth, but is entirely decomposed in the stomach, and forms blood, bone, flesh, and muscle; the animal dies, and decays, and forms organic soil, and several gases, which again pass through other combinations, still without loss, and without detriment. Such is the case with the creatures of God used elementally by the God of nature for new combinations; and a similar use is made of them by man in constructing his myriad works of art.

8TH REASON.-Every work of God is good JUDICIALLY. Thorns and thistles were brought forth from the earth as a judgment for disobedience; serpents and savage beasts became evil to man, or to each other, for the same cause: Every hour reminds us of our fallen condition; but God has so tempered mercy with judgment, that even the natural world calls the sinner to repentance, but not to despair.

QUOTATIONS.-There is nothing unclean of itself.Rom. xiv.

O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches, so is the great and wide sea.-Ps. civ. 24, 25.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. 1 Cor. x. 23.

All the works of the Lord are exceeding good; a man need not say, "What is this?" "Wherefore is that?" for He hath made all things for their uses.Eccles. xxxix. 16. 21.

All the works of the Lord are good; . . . to the sinner they are turned into evil. . . . Fire, and hail, and famine, and death, all these were created for vengeance; teeth of wild beasts, and scorpions, serpents, and the sword, punishing the wicked to destruction.-Eccles. xxxix. 27. 29, 30. 33.

By the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen.- Wisdom, xiii. 5. Aristotle makes ens and bonitas convertible.-1 Ethics, 6. As is the workman, such also is the character of his work.-Bp. Sanderson.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.-James, i. 17.

These are thy glorious works, Parent of good?
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair: Thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable! who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lower works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.

A ray of heavenly light gildeth all forms
Terrestrial in the vast and the minute;
The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing,

Milton.

And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds. . . .
These worlds had never been hadst Thou in strength

Been less, or less benevolent than strong.

They are thy witnesses, who speak thy power
And goodness infinite.-Cowper.

These as they change, Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing Spring
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the forests smile:
And every sense and every heart is joy.
Then comes thy glory in the summer months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then thy sun
Shoots full perfection through the swelling year. . .
Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfined,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives.
In Winter, awful Thou! with clouds and storms
Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest rolled,
Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing
Riding sublime, Thou bidd'st the world adore.

Thomson. Errat si quis putet deos nocere velle, qui non possunt, nec dant malum, nec habent.-Seneca.

Mali auctor non est qui omnium quæ sunt auctor est, quia in quantum sunt, in tantum bona sunt.-St. Austin.

Tanta hæc formarum varietas in rebus conditis, quid nisi quidam sunt radii deitatis? Demonstrantes quidem quod vere sit in quo sunt; non tamen quid sit, prorsus definientes.-St. Bernard.

THEME CXVIII. A good Name is better than precious Ointment.

INTRODUCTION.

1ST REASON.- Precious ointment is very valuable : Hezekiah showed his "precious ointments" to the princes of Babylon as a part of his royal treasures (Isa. xxxix. 2.); St Mark makes mention of a box of spikenard poured on the feet of our Redeemer, which cost more than 97.; and

Pliny speaks of ointments used among the Romans worth above 12. sterling: But a good name is more precious than the most costly ointment; it is "rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."-Prov, xxii. 1.

2ND REASON.-Ointment is an article of luxury and pleasure, and therefore is called by the Psalmist "oil of gladness:" But no ointment can penetrate below the skin; whereas a good name brings joy to the heart, yea, "to the heart of hearts," and "maketh the very bones fat."Prov. xv. 13.

3RD REASON.-Ointment is used as an emollient medicine (Isa. i. 6.): Hence the good Samaritan poured ointment or oil into the wounds of the man who fell among thieves (Luke, x. 34.): But no medicine can cheer the afflicted like a good name; no precious balm can restore the fallen to their lost condition so well as an unblemished reputation.

4TH REASON. The odour of precious ointment diffuses itself through the whole house (John, xii. 3.): But the incense of a good name "spreads far abroad;" yea, it "goeth far into the islands."-2 Chron. xxvi. 15. and Eccles. xlvii. 16.

5TH REASON.-Ointments were used by the ancient Athlete in the sacred games, to make their limbs and muscles more subtile: But a good name is a far better preparation for business than anointing the body with ointment or oil: If a man has acquired a good name, every thing he says or does is received with favour; if, on the other hand, his name has an ill savour, it taints his best counsels, and casts a slur upon his most meritorious actions.

6TH REASON. The dead were formerly anointed with oil to preserve them from corruption; but the effect was very temporary, for the decaying carcase soon contaminated the most precious balms: How much longer does a good name perpetuate the memory of the deceased; "though his body be burned, yet his name liveth for