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/517

 *ness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." The apostle sums up all these in one word, when he saith, "God is love." Which leads me to the second thing proposed,

Namely, to illustrate the extensive signification and import of this subject by some remarkable instances. "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

No bounds can be fixed to the Divine presence, nor is any part of illimitable space without his inspection, and active influence. There is nothing remote, or obscure to him, nor any exceptions to his favour among all the works of his hands. Far and wide then as is the vast range of existence, so is the Divine benevolence extended; and both in the previous trial, and final retribution, of all his rational and moral productions, "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works."

In the first place, to illustrate this, we need only to take a transient view of the outworks of the visible creation, a general survey of the nature and correspondence of the various parts of this regular and grand machine, this finished and stupendous fabrick, in which every thing is contrived and concluded for the best.

For do but imagine an appetite, or faculty, altered; or a change in the object prepared to gratify it, in any respect. Suppose a material alteration, or considerable difference in nature, and we shall easily perceive, it would be a manifold disadvantage, either to individuals, or to the whole. Suppose the earth otherwise than it is, or the atmosphere and surrounding air to be varied, and in any degree more rarefied or more condensed; suppose the element of water greatly increased, or considerably diminished; or the sun's blazing orb fixed nearer, and its vertical beams therefore stronger, or suppose it more remote, and its heat sensibly abated, the alteration would be a misfortune, if the difference did not terminate in misery and destruction. So that from the present adjustment, proportion, and accommodation of all matters in the wide