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by this act, and who on their bended knees are imploring in their behalf, the blessing of heaven. It would be endless to particularize the individual members of Parliament, whose able and assiduous labors have contributed to produce the result, which we are now contemplating. We are unwilling, however, to overlook the memorable part, which the nation at large has taken on this momentous occasion. About nine hundred petitions, signed probably by near half a million of persons of intelligence and respectability, sufficiently testify the deep interest, which the thinking part of the British population feel, in a question so intimately involving the honor of God, and the happiness of our fellow men. Their petitions to the Legislature have been doubtless, accompanied by innumerable aspirations to the Throne of Grace; and to these, far more than even to the influence of the public voice on the great council of the nation, are we disposed to attribute the decision, in which we now rejoice with so much heart felt satisfaction. LAUS DEO."

THE INQUISITION AT GOA.

INTELLIGENCE has been received in England, that the Inquisition at Goa has been abolished; and its caverns have been thrown open for the inspection and abhorrence of the people.

THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN.

THE Pope's nuncio in Spain remonstrated to the Regency against the decree abolishing that horrid tribunal, the Inquisition; and, not satisfied with open opposition, addressed private letters to the higher orders of the clergy, advising them not to read the decree in public, as they had been ordered to do by the regency. As soon as these proceedings were known to the regency, a manifesto, or public order of government was issued against the nuncio, commanding him, in the most decisive terms, to abstain from any such measures in future. The decree to abolish the Inquisition is the more worthy of observation, as the President of the regency, who intends the decree shall be faithfully executed, is an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic church.

THE JEWS.

It is stated in the foreign newspapers, that the Jews have experienced an extension of their privileges in Bavaria. Every circumstance in the history of this interesting people should be regarded with attention.

ON THE DOMESTIC HAPPINESS OF A CHRISTIAN COUPLE.
How blest the pair whom Christian love unites !
Joy smiles upon their days, and crowns their nights;
In peace their happy moments glide away,

Till both are welcom'd to eternal day.

EVAN MAG

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GOODNESS is the same thing in God and in man. man it comprises every amiable, moral quality of the heart, and signifies the same as general benevolence, which is the essence of every virtuous, or holy exercise. There are benevolent affections and selfish affections; goodness consists in benevolent affections, and badness in selfish ones. God is love, and all his goodness consists in love, which is something entirely distinct from his power, or his knowledge, or any other natural perfection. It is his heart. Goodness in every moral being lies in the heart. But though the goodness of God lies in his heart, and consists in benevolent affections; yet it is in various respects, superior to the goodness of all other beings.

1. His goodness is absolutely pure and free from every thing of a selfish or sinful nature.-Tho' some men are good in this life, yet their goodness is mixed with a great deal of evil. Their benevolent affections do not flow in a constant, uninterrupted stream, but are often obstructed by unholy and unfriendly affections. They do not always feel benevolently towards God, nor towards the friends of God, nor towards his enemies. Their hearts are composed of discordant and diametrically opposite exercises. Their goodness is like a morning cloud and early dew, which soon vanishes away. But the goodness of God is constant, uninterrupted, and entirely free from every discordant feeling. No evil or selfish affection ever existed in him. He is all goodness, and completely full of kind, benevolent, and holy affections. Hence God is so often called the Holy One in scripture. His holiness consists in his goodness, and his goodness is without the least alloy, or impure mixture of unholiness, unrighteousness, injustice, or malevolence.

2. The goodness of God is not only pure, but permanent. The immutability of his goodness results from the immutability of his existence and natural attributes. His existence

is immutable because it is necessary and independent; and his power, knowledge, and wisdom are equally immutable, because equally necessary and independent. And since his existence and all his natural attributes are immutable, we cannot see any cause or reason for any change in his goodness.

All created beings are dependent in their existence, and in all their natural powers or faculties, therefore we can easily conceive that after they have possessed pure goodness, they may become partially or totally destitute of it. There is nothing incredible in the account we have of the angels, who kept not their first estate. Though they were created perfectly holy and good; yet they might lose their perfect goodness and become perfectly evil. There is nothing incredible in the apostacy of our first parents. Though they were formed in the moral image of their Maker, and were possessed of pure goodness; yet they were dependent for the continuance, as well as first existence of their moral rectitude. But we, cannot conceive of any thing either without or within a selfexistent and independent being, that should be a cause of diminishing or destroying his goodness. We may, therefore, justly conclude, that his goodness is as permanent and immutable as his existence. David expressly declares, that his goodness is immutable and everlasting. In the 136th Psalm, he devoutly and gratefully cries, "O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good-for his mercy endureth forever." And he repeats the declaration more than twenty-five times in this Psalm. In the 52d Psalm he says " The goodness of God endureth continually." And to the friends of God he says, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name : for the Lord is good: his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations," His faithfulness cannot fail, because his goodness cannot cease, and both are as permanent and immutable, as his necessary and eternal existence.

3. His goodness is universal, as well as pure and permanent. The goodness of men and of angels is limited. It cannot extend any further than their knowledge extends, and their knowledge is very imperfect. But God's knowledge is universal and unbounded. He knows himself and all his ereatures, whether rational or irrational, and he regards them all with a benevolent and impartial eye. He is good to the just and the unjust, and to the meanest creature in the air, the earth and the sea. He is good to the fowls of heaven, the beasts of the earth, the fish of the sea, and to every living creature. He sees them all at one distinctive and comprehensive view, and feels truly benevolent to them all. He

is strictly speaking, "good unto all; and his tender mercies are over all his works." He stands in the same relation to all his creatures, and feels the same kind, benevolent feelings towards them all. His goodness pervades and fills the whole universe.

4. The goodness of God is perfect in degree, as well as in purity, permanency, and universality. His goodness bears proportion to all his other attributes. His benevolent feelings as much surpass the benevolent feelings of any, or of all his holy creatures, as his power, his knowledge, and his wisdom surpass theirs. He loves with all his heart, with all his mind, and with all his strength. In this respect there is none good but God. His goodness in point of strength or ardor, is infinitely superior to the goodness of any benevolent ereature in the universe. Yea, there is a greater quantity of goodness in one exercise of the divine benevolence, than in all the benevolent affections of all benevolent creatures to all eternity. He loves his ereatures infinitely more than they ever did or ever will love him. In a word, the goodness of God is great above all comparison, limitation, and finite conception.

His perfect goodness must move him to do good. The psalmist ascribes the goodness of his government to the goodness of his nature," Thou art good, and doest good." It is the heart that moves every intelligent being to act. A good heart must move a good being to do good. The heart of God governs all the other perfections of his nature, and lays him under a moral necessity of employing all his knowledge wisdom, and power to gratify his goodness. Though the heathen philosophers, and many other learned men, have been ready to imagine, that a necessary, self-existent, independent, self-sufficient, and perfectly happy being could have no possible motive to act, or do any thing; yet it is much easier to conceive of his activity, than inactivity. Goodness or pure benevolence is the most active principle in nature. We cannot conceive how an intelligent, powerful being, possessed of perfect benevolence, should never employ his wisdom and power for any benevolent purpose. We cannot conceive how it should be possible, for God, a perfectly wise and powerful and benevolent being, to exist from eternity unto eternity, without employing his great and glorious attributes in doing good.

1. The goodness of God must have moved him from eternity to divise the best possible method of doing the greatest possible good. His goodness must move him to employ his perfect wisdom in the best manner. And it is the proper

province of wisdom to form wise desigus, that is, to devise the best ends, and the best means to accomplish them. The wisdom of God enabled him to discover among all possible modes of doing good, that which was absolutely the best, and his perfect goodness disposed him to adopt that mode of operation. Divine goodness laid the divine being under a moral necessity of forming all his purposes of doing good from eternity. When he saw what was best to be done, he was morally obliged to do it, and he could no more neglect to determine to do all that his infinite wisdom saw best to be done, than he could cease to be perfectly wise and good. Not to determine to do the greatest possible good, when he clearly saw it, would be a species of malevolence, and totally inconsistent with perfect goodness. As the goodness of God must necessarily move him to act, so it must move him to determine to act in the wisest and best manner, or to do the greatest possible good. There being no defect in his wisdom, nor in his goodness, these, united, must devise, fix, and determine the best possible method of doing good. It was impossible for God, a perfectly wise and good being, to devise and adopt a plan of operation, which was not absolutely the best possible. For the least defect or imperfection in the divine purposes, would argue a moral defect in the divine. goodness. We may be assured, therefore, that the perfect goodness of God did irresistibly move him to devise and adopt the best possible method of doing the greatest possible good, from eternity.

creatures.

2. The perfect goodness of God must have moved him to bring into existence the best possible system of intelligent It must have moved him to give existence to the best number of beings. The number could not be infinite, but must be limited. And in the limitation, there was room for the display of perfect wisdom and goodness, to discover and fix upon the best possible number. God fixed the number of angels, of men, and of animals, as well as the number of the stars, and all material objects. He determined all that variety in the natural and moral qualities of the moral system, which was necessary to make it the most perfect. He made one angel lower than another, one man lower than another, one animal lower than another; and formed a most perfect gradation from the meanest insect to the noblest seraph. His goodness has moved him to form such a perfect system of living, rational, and moral beings. This system is a growing system and will continue to increase until it has come to perfection.

3. The goodness of God continually moves him to exert his wisdom and power in governing all his creatures and all

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