70 THE saint's happiness.
praise him : for this is the work of the souls departed, and of the angels in heaven, that are continually near unto him. And thus much for the opening of the words. The prophet here saith, ' It is good for me.' How came he to know this ? Why, he had found it by experience, and by it he was thoroughly convinced of it ; so r i n
Doct. I Seventh,] Spiritual conviction Is the ground of practice; for naturally the will foUoweth the guidance of the understanding ; and when it is convicted of the goodness of this or that thing, the will moveth toward it. Now there ai-e four things that go to conviction : first, the understanding must be enlight- ened to see the truth of the thing, that there is such a thing, and that it is no fancy ; secondly, we must know it to be good, as the gospel is called the good word of God ; thirdly, that it is good for me ; and lastly, upon comparing all these together, it is the best for me of all, though other things seem to be good in their kind. A wicked man may be convinced that heaven and grace are good things ; but his corrupted affections per- suade him it is better to live in pleasure and lust ; and when death comes then he may repent, for God is merciful. But a good man pre- ferreth drawing near to God above all, and therefore we should labour for this conviction of our spirits. For it is not enough to hear, read, discourse, pray, but we must get the Spirit to set to his seal to all upon our hearts ; and this made Moses in sober balancing of things, choose rather to draw near to God and join with his afflicted brethren, than to be in honour in Pharaoh's court, to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, or to enjoy the pleasures of sin, ' for he had respect to the reward,' Heb. xi. 25. He was convinced that there was more to be gotten with them than amongst^ the Egyptians. Thus Abraham came to forsake his country, and the disciples to forsake all and follow Christ. And undoubtedly the ground of all pro- faneness is from atheism that is within. Would the swearer trample upon the name of God, if he did believe and were convinced that he should not be guiltless ? Would the filthy person come near strange flesh, if he were persuaded that God would judge ? Would any wicked man change an eternal joy for a minute's pleasure, if he did believe the unrighteous should not inherit the kingdom of God ? Nay, the best have a remainder of this corruption of atheism. David : ' So foolish was I, and a beast,' Ps. Ixsiii. 22. From hence come all sin against knowledge and conscience in men, whereof David complains : ' Keep me, that presumptuous sins prevail not over me, or get not dominion over me,' Ps. xix. 13. And for remedy against this vile corruption, there is no way but the immediate help of the Holy Spirit; and therefore, John xvi. 9, it is said that the Spirit, when it comes, ' shall convince the world of sin ; ' that is, it shall so manifest sin to be in the whole world, because of the general unbelief, as they shall see no remedy but in Christ ; and therefore we should beforehand search out the crafty allurements to sin, that we may be provided to give them an answer when they set upon us, lest we be suddenly overcome, and labour to see the excellency of the things that are freely given us of God, which amongst other titles are called a feast, ' a feast of fat things,' Isa. xxv. 6. Now if we will not feast with him, how do we ever think to sutler with him if he should call us thereto ? ' It is good.' How is it good ? Both in quality and condition ; for while we are here in this world we are strangers, and in an estate of imperfection as it were. Paul saith, while he was present in the body he was absent from the Lord ; and the more near perfection we are, the more near must we be to the ground of all perfection, and * That is, 'convinced.' — G.
THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
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this is only in God. For, first, he is goodness itself. He hath the beauty of all, the strength of all, the goodness of all, originally in himself. He is the gathering together of all excellency and goodness. Secondly, he is the iiiuversal (jood. He is good to all. What all hath that is good, cometh from him. Of creatures, some have beauty, others riches, others have honours, but God hath all together. Thirdly, he is the all-sufficient and satis- factorij good. The goodness of no creature can give full content ; for the soul of man is capable of more than all created goodness together can satisfy. Only it is filled with God's likeness, and satisfied with communion ■with him. The best thing here to satisfy the soul, as Solomon witnesseth, is knowledge ; and yet it contents not the heart of man: sine Deo omnis copia est egestas, [saith] Bernard.* God alone fiUeth every corner of the soul in him. "We are swallowed up with 'joy unspeakable,' and 'peace that passeth understanding,' ' Eye cannot see it, ear cannot hear it, heart of man cannot conceive those things which even in this life are but beams of his brightness,' 1 Cor. ii. 9. Fourthly, God is a goodness that is pro- portiotiable and Jilting to our souls, which is the best part in a man ; and that which we draw near unto must communicate some loveliness, for that moves us to draw near to it. Now God is a Spirit fit to converse with our spirits ; and he is love, and can answer the love and drawing near of our spirits with love and drawing near to us again. The things of this world cannot love us so as to give us content, or to help us in the day of wrath. Fifthly, nothing can make us happy but drau-ing near to God. If there were nothing in the world better than man, then man would be content with him- self; but by nature it is evident man seeth a better happiness than is in himself, and therefore he seeketh for it out of himself. And as Solomon tried all things, and found no happiness but in the fear of God, so man cannot rest in any outward content till he comes to God as the Creator of all happiness, and the spring-head from whence the soul had its original ; and therefore, 1 John i. 3, ' All the gospel is to this end, that we may have fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ ;' and 1 Pet. iii. 18, ♦ Christ's sufierings [were] to this end, that being dead in flesh, but quickened in the spirit, he might bring us again to God,' Eph. i. 10, and 22, ' That he might gather all into one head.' By sin we were scattered from God, from angels, and from our ourselves ; but now by Christ we are made one, with one another, and with the holy angels, one with God our chief good.