Secondly, Whatever God hath so revealed is good.
1. To clear this to you, I shall premise some distinctions of good- ness.
[L] There is a moral and beneficial goodness. That which is good
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morally is that which is our duty, just and equal ; as Dent. xxx. 15, 'I have set before yon life and good, death and evil.' Holiness is called good, and sin evil. That is good which is right in the sight of the Lord. The good of profit and utility is also spoken of, Deut. vi. 24, ' The Lord commanded us to fear the Lord our God, for our good always ; ' so Deut. x. 13, ' Statutes which I command tliee this day for thy good.'
[2.] Lloral good is either honum per se, good in itself, because of its suitableness to the nature of God; or merely upon God's institution. This distinction is intimated, Rom. xiv. 17, 18, ' For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; for he that in these things serveth Christ, is accept- able to God and approved of men ; ' that is, these things are pleasing to God, as suitable to his nature, and as agreeable to the reasonable nature in us ; whereas things that merely depend upon positive insti- tution are indilferent without God's command, and, in comparison and competition with these unquestionable duties, may be said not to be good : Ezek. xx. 25, ' I gave them statutes that were not good ; ' it is not simply denied, but comparatively.
[3.] Beneficial goodness is twofold — either concerning the body and the soul, or this life and a better. Godliness conduceth to both: 1 Tim, iv. 8, ' Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' Yet the good of the soul must be first regarded, and other things are superadded, Mat. vi. 33. And God dispenseth the good things of this life with respect to a better ; when we want them, the want turneth to good : Rom. viii. 28, ' We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.'
2. Now let me show you that, in the revelation of our duty, God exacteth nothing of us but what is good. I prove it thus — (1.) By the design of the christian religion ; (2.) The structure and frame of it.
[1.] The design of the christian religion is to make man good, and to cure him of all evil. I prove it, because it requireth man not only to do good, but to be good. It is the perfection of our nature ; it forbiddeth sin, that it may allow us no liberty to sin, to be bad and miserable. So far as a man doth not comply with these precepts, so far he is an enemy to himself. Surely our perfection is a great part of our duty. Our religion calleth us to the highest degree of goodness, to be full of goodness ; not to take up with any lower degree of holiness. It doth not account him to be good that would not be better. And whatever degrees of grace we have, we are obliged to ask more and we are to endeavour after more ; and this with con- formity to the highest pattern : Gen. xvii. 1, ' Walk before me, and he thou perfect ; ' and Mat. v. 48, ' Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect ; ' 1 Peter i. 15, 16, ' He saith, Be holy, as I am holy. Wherefore, as he that hath called ,you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation and godliness ; ' 2 Peter iii. 11, ' What manner of per.sons should we be, in all holy conversation and godli- ness ? ' From all these places we conclude, that we should still be aspiring after a further degree of holiness, goodness, and perfection ia
SERMONS ON MIC AH VI. 8. 3!) 9
conformity to God ; that man by his duty may be prepared for his blessedness ; and that, whilst he orroweth more like God, he might be more fitted for the vision and fruition of God. We are called to per- fection, and though we cannot fully attain to it in this life, we must come nearer and nearer : ' He that hath this hope, purifieth himself, even as he is pure,' 1 John iii. 2, 3. No less pattern than God is set before us. Thus does the true religion design to make man good.
[2.] The structure and frame of it. How doth it promote this design ? Four ways — (1.) By the blessedness and reward which it (itFereth ; (2.) By the duties it requireth towards God and men ; (3.) By the means which it useth to enforce these things ; (4.) The course it taketh to fortify us against temptations to the contrary.
(1.) The blessedness and reward which it uffereth. We are often inquiring, ' Who will show us any good ? ' Ps. iv. 6. Now, in the scripture, God has showed man what is his chief good and proper happiness. There is the greatest good that can be attained or imagined, for beyond God there is nothing. And the happiness which the word offereth is God reconciled, God finally and fully enjoyed. Our happi- ness, by the way, consisteth in reconciliation with God ; at the end, in the vision and fruition of God. This is happiness indeed.