5. _Benevolence of God._ God is essentially benevolent. 1 John 4:8. (1.) How the benevolence of God is exhibited to us by the light of reason. (2.) How by his works of creation and providence. (3.) By Revelation. _First_, by direct assertion. Exod. 34:6. Ps. 145:9. Nah. 1:7. Matt. 5:45. _Second_, by the character of his law. Ps. 19:7, 8. Matt. 22:37-39. Rom. 7:12. _Third_, by the work of redemption. John 3:16, 17. _Inferential Thoughts._ (1.) The benevolence of God without bounds. (2.) Always active (3.) It constitutes his whole moral character. (4.) A being of infinite benevolence must prefer the greater good to the less, and the supreme good above all. (5.) Such a being must love the same disposition in his creatures, and hate the opposite. _Practical Reflections._ (1.) How odious selfishness must be in the sight of God. (2.) Sinners directly opposed in their characters and feelings to God. Exod. 20:5, l.c. Rom. 8:7. (3.) The exceeding great evil of sin, as committed against infinite benevolence. (4.) The ingratitude and baseness of sinners. (5.) What the goodness of God should lead them to. Isa. 30:18. Rom. 2:4. (6.) What emotions the contemplation of the goodness of God should excite in the hearts of his children. Ps. 118. Isa. 63:7. Eph. 5:20. (7.) How we may apprehend the goodness of the Lord. Ps, 107:43. 6. _The Justice of God._ (1.) What justice is: _First_, as exercised by intelligent beings, whose relations will admit of mutual giving and receiving; _Second_, as exercised by a ruler towards his subjects; _Third_, as relates to all actions, with reference to the general good. (2.) Which of these relations God sustains to the universe. (3.) The disposition which would lead him to act justly in all these cases. (4.) How God is just as respects himself (5.) As respects his creatures. (6.) How the justice of God may be seen from the light of reason, and from the system of his providence. (7.) How from the Sacred History. (8.) The positive declarations of Scripture. Deut. 32:4. Isa. 45:21. Zeph. 3:5. _Rev._ 15:3. (9.) From the revelation of a future day of righteous retribution. Eccl. 12:14. Acts 17:31. 2 Cor. 5:10. _Practical Reflections._ (1.) How, by this attribute, God is qualified to be the Supreme Governor. (2.) How terrible this renders him to the wicked. Exod. 34:7, l.c. Heb. 10:20-29. 12:29. (3.) How suffering the guilty to go unpunished, without satisfaction and reformation, would be doing injustice to the universe. (4.) Why we ought to look with complacency and delight upon this attribute. 7. _The Truth of God._ (1.) His _veracity_; or a disposition always to speak according to the real state of things. (2.) _Faithfulness_; or a disposition to conform his actions to previous declarations of his Word.