Here you have the justification of piety, of holy courses, which is set down by ' drawing near to God ; ' and the argument whereby it is justi- fied, ' It is good.' This gloss put upon anything commends it to man ; for naturally since the fall there is so much left in man, that he draws to that which is good ; but, when he comes to particulars, there is the error, he seeks heaven in the way of hell, he seeks happiness in the way of misery, he seeks light in the way of darkness, and life in the way and path of death : his lusts so hurry him and carry him the contrary way. But yet there is left this general foundation of religion in all men ; as the heathen could suy, naturally all men from the principles of nature draw to that which is good. Here religious courses are justified and commended from that which hath the best, attractive, and most magnetical force. ' It is good to draw near to God.' ' Good' hath a drawing force ; for the understanding, that shews and discovers; but the will is the chief guide in man, and answerable to the discovery of good or ill in the understanding, there is a prosecution or aversation* in the will, which is that part in the soul of man that cleaves to good discovered. To unfold the words a little. * That is, ' turning from.' — G.
THE saint's resolution. 87
' It is goocV to draw near to God, -who is the chief good. It is good in quality, and good in condition and state. It is good in quality and dispo- sition ; for it is the good of conformity for the understanding creature to draw near to Grod the Creator, who hath fitted the whole inward man to draw near, to conform to him.
And then it is good in condition ; for it is his happiness to do so. The goodness of the creature is in drawing near to God. The nearer anything is to the principle of such a thing, the better it is for it ; the nearer to the sun, the more light ; the nearer to the fire, the more heat : the nearer to that which is goodness itself, the more good ; the nearer to happiness, the more happy ; therefore it must needs be the happiness of condition to draw near to God. So you see what is meant, when he saith here, * It is good.' It is a pleasing good, conformable to God's will; he commands it; and it is for my good likewise ; it advanceth my condition to draw near to God.
' To draw near.'' What is it to draw near to God ? We shall see by what it is to go from God. God is everywhere. We are always near to God. * Whither shall I go from thy presence ? If I go to hell, thou art there,' &c., saith the psalmist, Ps. cxxxix. 8. God is everywhere indeed in regard of his presence, and power, and disposing providence ; but then there is a gracious presence of God in the hearts of his children. And there is a strange presence of God to Christ, the presence of nnion ; which makes the human nature of Christ the happiest creature that ever was, being joined by a hypostatical union to the second person. But we speak not of that nearness here. There is a gracious nearness when the Spirit of God, in the spirits of those that belong to God, sweetly enlargeth, and comforts, and supports, and strengtheneth them, working that in them that he works in the hearts of none else. For instance, the soul is in the whole man. It is diff'used over all the members. It is in the foot, in the eye, in the heart, and in the brain. But how is it in all these ? It is in the foot as it moves it. It is in the heart, as the principle of life. It is in the brain and understanding, using and exercising his reasoning, understanding power. So that, though all the soul be in the whole man, yet it is otherwise in the brain than in the rest. So, though God be everywhere, yet he is otherwise in his children than in others. He is in them graciously and comfortably, exercising his graces in them, and comforting them. He is not so with the rest of the world. You see how God is present everywhere, and how he is graciously present with his. So answerable we are said to be near to God. We are near him in what state soever we are, but then there is a gracious nearness when our whole soul is near to God, as thus: iclien our understamlinr/s conceive arir/ht of God ; as it is said of the young man in the Gospel, when he began to speak discreetly and judiciously, * Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.' When men have a right conceit* of divine truths, they are not far from the kingdom of God, when there is clearness of judgment to conceive aright. Those that have corrupt principles are far ofi". If the understand- ing be corrupt, all the rest will go astray. There is the fii'st nearness when the judgment is sanctified by the Spirit to conceive aright.