3. Piofitable. Men stand upon advantage. What profit ? is the usual question : Deut. v. 29, ' Oh ! that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever.' No advantage Cr disadvantao-e cometh to God ; he is above the reach of our injuries or benefits. What hath God lost by the fall of the angels ? They have lost, but he hath not lost. Even in this life we have more than all the wages of sin cometh to : 1 Tim. iv. 8, ' For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come ; ' and Mat. vi. 33, ' Seek first the kingdom of God, and his right- eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' No man is a loser by God. Here we have peace of conscience, Ps. cxix. 165, but chiefly in the other world. When a man gaineth most by the devil's service, he is the greatest loser ; when he loseth most by God's service, he is the greatest gainer, 1 Cor. xv. 58, Rom. vi. 22.
4. Honourable. If we consider it aright, service is an honour and duty a privilege ; God is so great a master, and his work is such noble work. He requireth nothing but what is the perfection of our being, that it puts an excellency upon a man to yield to this service : Prov. xii. 26, ' The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour.' Carnal men, though loath to submit to God's precepts themselves, yet see an
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excellency in those that practise them. God himself is glorious in holi- ness, Exod. XV. 11. So that to be holy is to put on the royal robe of the king of all the earth. Surely the more a man partaketh of the image of God, and the nature of God, and the holiness of God, the more excellent, far above those who have no higher trade than to please the flesh.
Use 2. What reason we have to acquiesce in and bless God for the good religion what he hath taught us .- we had lost the knowledge of God, and the world to come, and the way that leadeth to it. Now, that we have such a sure revelation, that teaches us to know God ; it is our glory, Jer. ix. 29 ; to know Christ it is our life, John xvii. 3 ; to know the world to come, 2 Tim. i. 10, the way thither by Christ's doctrine : Ps. xvi. 11, ' Thou wilt show me the path of life.' By Christ's example, 1 Peter ii. 21, which was necessary, we being bound to imita- tion, and very engaging. We live by the same laws God himself lived by when he was in the flesh. In short, the moral part of the word is good, but the evangelical part glorious, 1 Tim. i. 1, 9, 11. Oh ! let us prize this discovery of the will of God.
Use 3. It informeth us what a good people we should be, for the impress should be according to the seal. What do bad people do with a good religion? In our religion all is good. There is a good God whom we should imitate : Ps. cxix. 68, ' Thou art good, and doest good ; teach me thy statutes ; ' and Acts xiv. 17, ' Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good,' &c. And from whom it came ; a good Christ : Acts x. 36, * God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good ; ' that is, to the bodies and souls of men — giving sight to the blind, limbs to the lame, and health to the sick, life to the dead, naturally, spiritually. There is a good Spirit, so called because he maketh us good. Barnabas was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, Acts xi. 24. There is a good word. Now what remaineth but that we be also a good people ?
1. Good to man. Goodness should be the constitution of our souls, and doing good the business of our lives. It is mighty taking, more than rigid innocency : Rom. v. 7, ' For a good man one would even dare to die.'
2. Good to God. Many place religion in an easy temper, which is often difficult to God ; wax to other things, but as a stone to God ; easy to temptations, hard to be instructed to godliness. But, Luke vi. 45, he is a good man that out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things ; ready to honour and glorify God on all occasions, ever liveth in constant obedience to him.
SERMON XL
And to walk humbly with thy God. — Micah vi. 8.
This relateth to the duties of God's worship, which, indeed, 'are the chief and principal. All our justice and mercy must come from love
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and obedience to God, or else they are destitute of their true and pro- per principle. We are under a law, subjects to the heavenly sovereign, to whom we must give an account ; and in all that we do, either to God or man, obedience must sway the conscience and incline the heart. Faith presents encouragements, and then what we do is no more morality, but religion. In this clause two things are observable —