Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/516

 extend the duration of his torture through the revolving periods of an endless eternity.

Without the most enlarged notions of an infinite and everlasting goodness in the Divine nature, an impenetrable gloom must hang over every mind, and darkness overspread the whole face of being. Neither could any other conceivable sentiment disperse our suspicions, or banish one of our guilty, or superstitious fears. For suppose he confined his goodness to a few, without any reasonable cause or just ground, and we could be so whimsically partial to ourselves, as to conceit that we were of this select number; yet there could be no security of happiness, not even to this little flock. He that chose them by chance, might as accidentally abandon them; and, as the former was without reason or goodness, the latter might be without righteousness or mercy. Therefore it is infinitely desirable to think, and we are confident of the truth of our idea, that "the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

For if he be self-existent, omnipotent, and possessed of perfect liberty; if it be impossible for him ever to err, or mistake, in what is good and fitting, and if he enjoys an infinite ability to effect, with a thought only, what shall always be for the greatest advantage, he must be originally and essentially, immutably and for ever good.

Holy Scripture, as if beauty and goodness were synonymous terms, or inseparable qualities, thus describes him, "How great is thy goodness! And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." And, as if glory and goodness signified the same thing, you find. xxxiii. 18, 19, "And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory." To which the answer is, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee." And when, as it is written in the next chapter, the Lord descended, and proclaimed his name, or published the attributes in which he is peculiarly delighted, what is this distinguishing name, or what these divine and glorious attributes? "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good