Part 22
for his Israel in Egypt, and his Lots in Sodom, his Daniels in the lions' dens, and his children in a fiery furnace. He hath a tenderness for all, but a peculiar affection to those that are in covenant with him.
[2.] The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the animals and inani mate things. Divine goodness embraceth in its arms the lowest worm as well as the loftiest cherubim ; he provides food for the crying raven, Ps. cxlvii. 9, and a prey for the appetite of the hungry lion, Ps. civ. 21 ; 'He opens his hand, and fills with good those innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts ; they are all waiters upon him, and all are satisfied
by their bountiful master,' Ps. civ. 25-28. They are better provided for by the hand of heaven than the best favourite is by an earthly prince ; for
' they are filled with good.' He hath made channels in the wildest deserts for the watering of beasts, and trees for the nests and habitations of birds, ver. 10, 12, 17. As a lawgiver to the Jews, he took care that the poor beast should not be abused by the cruelty of man ; he provided for the ease
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of the labouring beast in that command of the Sabbath wherein he provided for his own service ; the cattle was to do no work on it, Exod. xx. 10. He ordered that the mouth of the ox should not be muzzled while it trod out the corn, Deut. xxv. 4, it being the manner of those countries to separate the corn from the stalk by that means, as we do in this by thrashing ; regarding it as a part of cruelty to deprive the poor beast of tasting, and satisfying itself with that which he was so officious by his labour to prepare for the use of man. And when any met with a nest of young birds, though
they might take the young to their use, they were forbidden to seize upon the dam, that she might not lose the objects of her affection and her own liberty in one day, Deut. xxii. 6.
And see how God enforceth this precept with a threatening of a shortness
of life, if they transgressed it ! ver. 7, ' Thou shalt let the dam go, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.' He would revenge the cruelty to dumb creatures with the shortness of the oppressor's life ; nor would he have cruelty used to creatures that were separated for his worship ; he therefore provides that a cow or an ewe and their young ones
should not be killed for sacrifice in one day, Lev. xxii. 28 : all which pre cepts, say the Jews, are to teach men mercifulness to their beasts ; so much doth divine goodness bow down itself to take notice of those mean creatures which men have so little regard to, but for their own advantage ; yea, he is so good, that he would have worship declined for a time in favour of a dis tressed beast ; the helping a sheep, or an ox, or an ass out of a pit was indulged them even on the Sabbath day, a day God had peculiarly sanctified and ordered for his service, Mat. xii. 11, Luke xiv. 5. In this case he seems to remit for a time the rights of the Deity for the rescue of a mere animal. His goodness extends not only to those kind of creatures that have life, but to the insensible ones ; he clothes the grass, and arrays the lilies of the field with a greater glory than Solomon had upon his throne, Mat. vi. 28, 29 ; and such care he had of those trees which bore fruit for the maintenance of man or beast, that he forbids any injury to be offered to them, and bars the rapine and violence which by soldiers used to be prac tised, Deut. xx. 19, though it were to promote the conquest of their enemy. How much goodness is it that he should think of so small a thing as man ! How much more that he should concern himself in things that seem, so petty as beasts and trees ! Persons seated in a sovereign throne think it a debasing of their dignity to regard little things ; but God, whb is infinitely greater in majesty above the mightiest potentate, and the highest angel, yet is so infinitely good as to employ his divine thoughts about the meanest things. He who possesses the praises of angels, leaves not off the care of the meanest creatures ; and that majesty that dwells in a pure heaven, and an unconceivable light, stoops to provide for the ease of those creatures that lie and lodge in the dirt and dung of the earth. How should we be careful not to use those unmercifully which God takes such care of in his law, and not to distrust that goodness that opens his hand so liberally to creatures of another rank !
[8.] The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the meanest rational creatures, as servants and criminals. He provided for the liberty of slaves, and would not have their chains continue longer than the seventh year, unless they would voluntarily continue under the power of their masters ; and that upon pain of his displeasure, and the withdrawing his blessing, Deut. xv. 18 ; and though by the laws of many nations masters had an absolute power of life and death over their servants, yet God provided that no member should be lamed, not an eye, no, nor a tooth struck out, but the
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master was to pay for his folly and fury the price of the liberty of his servants, Exod. xxi. 26, 27. He would not suffer the abused servant to be any longer under the power of that man, that had not humanity to use him as one of the same kindred and blood with himself. And though those servants might be never so wicked, yet when unjustly afflicted, God would interest himself as their guardian in their protection and delivery. And
when a poor slave had been provoked by the severity of his master's fury to turn fugitive from him, he was by divine order not to be delivered up again
to his master's fury, but dwell in that city and with that person to whom he had fled for refuge, Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. And when public justice was to be administered upon the lesser sort of criminals, the goodness of God ordered the number of blows not to exceed forty, and left not the fury of man to measure out the punishment to excess, Deut. xxv. 3. And in any just quarrel against a provoking and injuring enemy, he ordered them not to ravage with the sword till they had summoned a rendition of the place, Deut. xx. 10. And as great a care he took of the poor, that they should have the gleanings both of the vineyard and field, Lev. xix. 10, xxiii. 22, and not be forced to pay usury for the money lent them, Exod. xxii. 25.
[4.] His goodness is seen in taking care of the wickedest persons. ' The earth is full of his goodness,' Ps. xxxiii. 5. The wicked as well as the good enjoy it; they that dare lift up their hands against heaven in the posture of rebels, as well as those that lift up their eyes in the condition of suppliants. To do good to a criminal far surmounts that goodness that flows down upon an innocent object. Now God is not only good to those that have some degrees of goodness, but to those that have the greatest degrees of wicked ness, to men that turn his liberality into affronts of him, and have scarce an appetite to anything but the violation of his authority and goodness. Though upon the fall of Adam we have lost the pleasant habitation of paradise, and the creatures made for our use are fallen from their original excellency and sweetness, yet he hath not left the world utterly|incommodious for us, but yet stores it with things not only for the preservation, but delight of those that make their whole lives invectives against this good God. Manna fell from heaven for the rebellious as well as for the obedient Israelites. Cain as well, as Abel, and Esau as well as Jacob, had the influence of his sun, and the benefits of his showers. The world is yet a kind of paradise to the veriest beasts among mankind ; the earth affords its riches, the heavens its showers, and the sun its light to those that injure and blaspheme him : Mat. v. 45,
' He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on
the just and on the unjust.' The wickedest breathe in his air, walk upon his earth, and drink of his water as well as the best. The sun looks with as pleasant and bright an eye upon a rebellious Absalom as a righteous David ; the earth yields its plants and medicines to one as well as to the other ; it is seldom that he deprives any of the faculties of their souls, or any members of their bodies. God distributes his blessings where he might shoot his thunders, and darts his light on those who deserve an eternal darkness, and presents the good things of the earth to those that merit the miseries of
hell; for ' the earth and the fulness thereof is the Lord's, Ps. xxiv. 1 ; every thing in it is his in propriety, ours in trust ; it is his corn, his wine, Hosea ii. 8 ; he never divested himself of the propriety, though he grants us the use ; and by those good things he supports multitudes of wicked men, not one or two, but the whole shoal of them in the world ; for he is ' the Saviour of all men,' 1 Tim. iv. 10, i. e. is the preserver of all men. And as he created them, when he foresaw they would be wicked, so he pro vides for them when he beholds them in their ungodliness. The ingrati-
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tude of man stops not the current of his bounty, nor tires his liberal hand ; howsoever unprofitable and injurious men are to him, he is liberal to them ; and his goodness is the more admirable by how much the more the unthankfulness of men is provoking ; he sometimes affords to the worst a greater portion of these earthly goods ; they often swim in wealth when others pine away their lives in poverty. And the silkworm yields its bowels to make purple for tyrants, while the oppressed scarce have from the sheep wool enough to cover their nakedness ; and though he furnished men with those good things upon no other account than what princes do when they nourish criminals in a prison till the time of their execution, it is a mark of his goodness. Is it not the kindness of a prince to treat his rebels deliciously? to give them the liberty of the prison, and the enjoyment of the delights of the place, rather than to load their legs with fetters, and lodge them in a dark and loathsome dungeon, till he orders them for their crime to be con ducted to the scaffold or gibbet? Since God is thus kind to the vilest men, whose meanness by reason of sin is beyond that of any other creature, as to shoot such rays of goodness upon them, how unexpressible would be the expressions of his goodness if the divine image were as pure and bright upon them, as it was upon innocent Adam !
(2.) His goodness is evident in the preservation of human society. It belongs to his power that he is able to do it, but to his goodness that he is willing to do it.
[1.] This goodness appears, in prescribing rules for it. The moral law, Exod. xx. 1, 2, consists but often precepts, and there are more of them ordered for the support of human society than for the adoration and honour of him self: four for the rights of God, and six for the rights of man, and his security in his authority, relations, life, goods, and reputation ; superiors not to be dishonoured, life not to be invaded, chastity not to be stained, goods not to be filched, good name not to be cracked by false witnesses, nor anything belonging to our neighbour to be coveted. And in the whole Scripture, not only that which was calculated for the Jews, but compiled for the whole world, he hath fixed rules for the ordering all relations ; magistrates and subjects, parents and children, husbands and wives, masters and servants, rich and poor, find their distinct qualifications and duties. There would be a paradisiacal state, if men had a goodness to observe what God hath had a goodness to order, for the strengthening the sinews of human society. The world would not groan under oppressing tyrants, nor princes tremble under discontented subjects, or mighty rebels ; children would not be pro voked to anger by the unreasonableness of their parents, nor parents sink under grief by the rebellion of their children ; masters would not tyrannize over the meanest of their servants, nor servants invade the authority of their masters.
[2.] The goodness of God in the preserving human society, is seen in setting a magistracy to preserve it. Magistracy is from God in its original, the charter was drawn up in paradise. Civil subordination must have been, had man remained in innocence ; but the charter was more explicitly renewed and enlarged at the restoration of the world after the deluge, and given out to man under the broad seal of heaven : Gen. ix. 6, ' Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' The command of shedding the blood of a murderer was a part of his goodness, to secure the lives
of those -that bore his image. Magistrates are ' the shields of the earth,' but ' they belong to God,' Ps. xlvii. 9. They are fruits of his goodness in their original and authority. Were there no magistracy, there would be no government, no security to any man under his own vine and fig-tree ; the VOL. II. Z
354 CHARNOCK'S WORKS. [MARK X. 18.
world would be a den of wild beasts preying upon one another, every one would do what seems good in his eyes. The loss of government is a judg ment God brings upon a nation, when men become as the fishes of the sea, to devour one another, because they have no ruler over them, Hab. i. 14. Private dissensions will break out into public disorders and combustions.
[8.] The goodness of God, in the preservation of human society, is seen in the restraints of the passions of men. He sets bounds to the passions
of men, as well as to the rollings of the sea, Ps. Ixv. 7, ' He stilleth the noise of the waves, and the tumults of the people.' Though God hath erected a magistracy to stop the breaking out of those floods of licentious ness which swell in the hearts of men, yet if God should not hold stiff reins on the necks of those tumultuous and foaming passions, the world would be a place of unruly confusion, and hell triumph upon earth. A crazy state would be quickly broke in pieces by boisterous nature. The tumults of a people could no more be quelled by the force of man, than the rage of the
sea by a puff of breath ; without divine goodness, neither the wisdom nor watchfulness of the magistrates, nor the industry of officers, could (preserve a state. The laws of men would be too slight to curb the lusts of men, if the goodness of God did not restrain them by a secret hand, and interweave their temporal security with observance of those laws. The sons of Belial did murmur when Saul was chosen king ; and that they did no more was the goodness of God, for the preservation of human society. If God did
not restrain the impetuousness of men's lusts, they would be the entire ruin of human society ; their lusts would render them as bad as beasts, and change the world into a savage wilderness.
[4.J The goodness of God is seen, in the preservation of human society, in giving various inclinations to men, for public advantage. If all men had an inclination to one science or art, they would all stand idle spectators of one another ; but God hath bestowed various dispositions and gifts upon men, for the promoting the common good, that they may not only be useful to themselves, but to society. He will have none idle, none unuseful, but every one acting in a due place, according to their measures, for the good of others.
[5.] The goodness of God is seen in the witness he bears against those sins that disturb human society. In those cases he is pleased to interest himself in a more signal manner, to cool those that make it their business to overturn the order he hath established for the good of the earth. He
doth not so often in this world punish those faults committed immediately against his own honour, as those that put the world into a hurry and con fusion ; as a good governor is more merciful to crimes against himself than those against his community. It is observed that the most turbulent sedi tious persons in a state come to most violent ends ; as Korah,-Adonijah,
Zimri. Ahithophel draws Absalom's sword against David and Israel, and the next is, he twists a halter for himself. Absalom heads a party against his father, and God, by a goodness to Israel, hangs him up, and prevents
not its safety by David's indulgence, and a future rebellion, had life been spared by the fondness of his father. His providence is more evident in discovering disturbers, and the causes that move them ; in defeating their enterprises, and digging the contrivers out of their caverns and lurkingholes. In such cases God doth so act, and use such methods, that he silenceth any creature from challenging any partnership with him in the discovery. He doth more severely in this world correct those actions that unlink the mutual assistance between man and man, and the charitable and
kind correspondence he would have kept up. The sins for which ' the
MARK X. 18. j GOD'S GOODNESS. 855
wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience ' in this world, are of this sort, Col. iii. 5, 6. And when princes will be oppressing the people, God will be ' pouring contempt on the princes, and set the poor on high from affliction,' Ps. cvii. 40, 41. An evidence of God's care and kindness in the preserving human society, is those strange discoveries of murders, i though never so clandestine and subtilely committed, more than of any other j crime among men. Divine care never appears more than in bringing those i hidden and injurious works of darkness to light, and a due punishment.
[6. J His goodness is seen in ordering mutual offices to one another against
the current of men's passions. Upon this account, he ordered in his laws for the government of the Israelites, that a man should reduce the wander ing beast of his enemy to the hand of his rightful proprietor, though he were a provoking enemy ; and also help the poor beast, that belonged to one that hated him, when he saw him sink under his burden, Exod. xxiii. 4, 5. When mutual assistance was necessary, he would not have men considered as enemies, or considered as wicked, but as of the same blood with ourselves, that we might be serviceable to one another for the preserva tion of life and goods.
[7.J His goodness is seen in remitting something of his own right, for the preserving a due dependence and subjection. He declines the right he had to the vows of a minor, or one under the power of another, waiving what he might challenge by the voluntary obligation of his creature, to keep up the due order between parents and children, husbands and wives, supe riors and inferiors. Those that were under the power of another, as a child under his parents, or a wife under her husband, if they had vowed a vow unto the Lord which concerned his honour and worship, it was void without the approbation of that person under whose charge they were, Num. xxx. 3, 4, &c. Though God was the Lord of every man's goods, and men but his stewards, and though he might have taken to himself what another had
offered by a vow, since whatsoever could be offered was God's own, though it was not the party's own who offered it, yet God would not have himself adored by his creature to the prejudice of the necessary ties of human
society. He lays aside what he might challenge by his sovereign dominion, that there might not be any breach of that regular order which was neces sary for the preservation of the world. If divine goodness did not thus order things, he would not do the part of a rector of the world. The beauty of the world would be much defaced, it would be a confused mass of men and women, or rather beasts and bedlams. Order renders every city, every nation, yea, the whole earth beautiful. This is an effect of divine goodness.
(8.) His goodness is evident in encouraging anything of moral goodness in the world. Though moral goodness cannot claim an eternal reward, yet it hath been many times rewarded with a temporal happiness. He hath often signally rewarded acts of honesty, justice, and fidelity, and punished the contrary by his judgments, to deter man from such an unworthy practice,
and encourage others to what was comely and of a general good report in
the world. Ahab's humiliation put a demurrer to God's judgments intended against him, and some ascribe the great victories and success of the Romans, to that justice which was observed among themselves. Baruch was but an amanuensis to the prophet Jeremiah to write his prophecy, and very despon dent of his own welfare, Jer. xlv. 13. God upon that account provides for his safety, and rewards the industry of his service with the security of his person. He was not a statesman, to declare against the corrupt counsels of them that sat at the helm ; nor a prophet, to declare against their profane
practices, but the prophet's scribe ; and as he writes in God's service the
856 CHAENOCK'S WORKS. ^MARK X. 18.
prophecies revealed to the prophet, God writes his name in the roll of those that were designed for preservation in that deluge of judgments which were to
come upon that nation. Epicurus complained of the administration of God, that the virtuous moralist had not sufficient smiles of divine favour, nor the swinish sensualist frowns of divine indignation. But what if they have not always that confluence of outward wealth and pleasures, but remain in the common level ! Yet they have the happiness and'satisfaetion of a clear re putation, the esteem of men, and the secret applause of their enemies, besides the inward ravishments upon an exercise of virtue, and the commendatory subscription of their own hearts, a dainty the vicious man knows not of; they have an inward applause from God as a reward of divine goodness, instead of those racks of conscience upon which the profane are sometimes stretched. He will not let the worst men do him any service (though they never intended in the act of service him, but themselves) without giving them their wages. He will not let them hit him in the teeth, as if he were beholden
to them. If Nebuchadnezzar be the instrument of God's judgments against Tyrus and Israel, he will not only give him that rich city, but a richer coun try, Egypt, the granary of her neighbours, a wages above his work. In this is divine goodness eminent, since in the most moral actions, as there is something beautiful, so there is something mixed, hateful to the infinitely exact holiness of the divine nature ; yet he will not let that which is pleasing to him go unrewarded, and defeat the expectations of men, as men do with those they employ, when, for one flaw in an action, they deny them the re ward due for the other part. God encouraged and kept up morality in the cities of the Gentiles, for the entertainment of a further goodness in the doctrine of the gospel, when it should be published among them.
(4.) Divine goodness is eminent in providing a Scripture as a rule to guide us, and continuing it in the world. If man be a rational creature, govern able by a law, can it be imagined there should be no revelation of that law to him ? Man, by the light of reason, must needs confess himself to be in another condition than he was by creation, when he first came out of the hands of God ; and can it be thought that God should keep up the world under so many sins against the light of nature, and bestow so many provi dential influences to invite men to return to him, and acquaint no men in the world with the means of that return ? Would he exact an obedience ef men, as their consciences witness he doth, and furnish them with no rules to guide them in the darkness, they cannot but acknowledge that they have
contracted ? No ; divine goodness hath otherwise provided. This Bible we have, is his word and rule ! Had it been a falsity and imposture, would that goodness that watches over the world have continued it so long ? That goodness that overthrew the burdensome rites of Moses, and expelled the foolish idolatry of the Pagans, would have discovered the imposture of this, had it not been a transcript of his own will. Whatever mistakes he suf fers to remain in the world, what goodness had there been to suffer this anciently among the Jews, and afterwards to open it to the whole world, to abuse men in religion and worship, which so nearly concerned himself and his own honour, that the world should be deceived by the devil, without a remedy, in the morning of its appearance ! It hath been honoured and admired by some heathens when they have cast their eyes upon it, and their natural light made them behold some footsteps of a divinity in it. If this, therefore, be not a divine prescript, let any that deny it bring as good argu ments for any book else, as can be brought for this. Now, the publishing this is an argument of divine goodness ; it is designed to win the affections of beggarly man, to be espoused to a God of eternal blessedness and immense
MARK X. 18. J GOD'S GOODNESS. 357
riches. It speaks words in season ; no doubts but it resolves, no spiritual distemper but it cures, no condition but it hath a comfort to suit it. It is a garden which the hand of divine bounty hath planted for us. In it he con descends to shadow himself in those expressions that render him in some manner intelligible to us. Had God wrote in a loftiness of style suitable to the greatness of his majesty, his writing had been as little understood by us, as the brightness of his glory can be beheld by us. But he draws phrases from our affairs to express his mind to us ! He incarnates himself in his word to our minds, before his Son was incarnate in the flesh to the eyes of men. He ascribes to himself eyes, ears, hands, that we might have, from the consideration of ourselves and the whole human nature, a con ception of his perfections ; he assumes to himself the members of our bodies, to direct our understandings in the knowledge of his Deity. This is his goodness !
Again, though the Scripture was written upon several occasions, yet, in the dictating of it, the goodness of God cast his eye upon the last ages of
the world : 1 Cor. x. 11, ' They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.' It was given to the Israelites, but divine goodness intended it for the future Gentiles. The old writings of the prophets were thus designed, much more the later writings of the apostles. Thus did divine goodness think of us, and prepare his records for us, before we were in the world ; these he hath written plain for our instruction, and wrapped up in them what is necessary for our salvation. It is clear to in form our understanding, and rich to comfort us in our misery ; it is a light to guide us, and a cordial to refresh us ; it is a lamp to our feet, and a medi cine for our diseases ; a purifier of our filth, and a restorer of us in our faintings. He hath by his goodness sealed the truth of it, by his efficacy on
multitudes of men ; he hath made it the ' word of regeneration,' James i. 18. Men, wilder and more monstrous than beasts, have been tamed and changed by the power of it. It hath raised multitudes of dead men from a grave fuller of horror than any earthly one. Again, goodness was in all ages sending his letters of advice and counsel from heaven, till the canon of Scripture was closed. Sometimes he wrote to chide a froward people, some times to cheer up an oppressed and disconsolate people, according to the state wherein they were, as we may observe by the several seasons wherein parts of Scripture were written. It was his goodness that he first revealed anything of his will after the fall ; it was a further degree of goodness, that he would add more cubits to its stature ; before he would lay aside his pencil, it grew up to that bulk wherein we have it. And his goodness is further seen in the preserving it. He hath triumphed over the powers that opposed it, and shewed himself good in the instruments that propagated it ; he hath main tained it against the blasts of hell, and spread it in all languages against the ob structions of men and devils. The sun of his word is by his kindness preserved in our horizon, as well as the sun in the heavens. How admirable is divine goodness ! He hath sent bis Son to die for us, and his written word to in-
struct^us, and his Spirit to edge it for an entrance into our souls. He hath opened the womb of the earth to nourish us, and sent down the records of heaven to direct us in our pilgrimage ; he hath provided the earth for our habitation while we are travellers, and sent his word to acquaint us with a felicity at the end of our journey, and the way to attain in another world what we want in this, viz., a happy immortality.
(5.) His goodness in his government is evident, in conversions of men. Though his work be wrought by his power, yet his power was first solicited by his goodness. It was his rich goodness that he would employ his power
858 CHAKNOCK'S WORKS. [MARK X. 18.
to pierce the scales of a heart as hard as those of the leviathan. It was this
that opened the ears of men to hear him, and draws them from the hurry of worldly cares, and the charms of sensual pleasures ; and, which is the top of all, the imposture and cheats of their own hearts. It is this that
sends a spark of his wrath into men's consciences, to put them to a stand in sin, that he might not send down a shower of brimstone eternally to con sume their persons. This it was that first shewed you the excellency of the Kedeemer, and brought you to taste the sweetness of his blood, and find your security in the agonies of his death. It is his goodness to call one man and not another, to turn Paul in his course, and lay hold of no other of his companions. It is his goodness to call any, when he is not bound to call one.
[l.J It is his goodness to pitch upon mean and despicable men in the eye of the world ; to call this poor publican, and overlook that proud Pha risee ; this man that sits upon a dunghill, and neglect him that glisters in his purple. His majesty is not enticed by the lofty titles of men ; nor, which is more worth, by the learning and knowledge of men. ' Not many wise, not many mighty,' 1 Cor. i. 26-28 ; not many doctors, not many lords, though some of them ; but his goodness condescends to the ' base things of the world, and things which are despised.' ' The poor receive the gospel,' Mat. xi. 5, when those that are more acute, and furnished with a more apprehensive reason, are not touched by it.
[2.J The worst men. He seizeth sometimes upon men most soiled, and neglects others that seem more clean and less polluted. He turns men in their course in sin, that by their infernal practices have seemed to have gone io school to hell, and to have sucked in the sole instructions of the devil. He lays hold upon some, when they are most under actual demerit, and snatcheth them as firebrands out of the fire ; as upon Paul, when fullest of rage against him ; and shoots a beam of grace, where nothing could be justly expected but a thunderbolt of wrath. It is his goodness to visit any,
when they lie putrefying in their loathsome lusts ; to draw near to them who have been guilty of the greatest contempt of God, and the light of nature, — the murdering Manassehs, persecuting Sauls, Christ-crucifying Jews, persons in whom lusts had had a peaceable possession and empire for many years.
[3.] His goodness appears in converting men possessed with the greatest enmity against him, while he was dealing with them. All were in such a state, and framing contrivances against him, when divine goodness knocked at the door, Col. i. 21. He looked after us, when our backs were turned upon him, and sought us when we slighted him, and were a ' gainsaying people,' Rom. x. 21 ; when we had shaken off his convictions, and con tended with our Maker, and mustered up the powers of nature against the alarms of conscience ; struggled like wild bulls in a net, and blunted those darts which stuck in our souls. Not a man that is turned to him, but had
lifted up the heel against his gospel-grace, as well as made light of his creating goodness. Yet it hath employed itself about such ungrateful wretches, to polish those knotty and rugged pieces for heaven ; and so invin cibly, that he would not have his goodness defeated by the fierceness and rebellion of the flesh, though the thing was more difficult in itself (if any thing may be said to have a difficulty to omnipotency) than to make a stone live, or to turn a straw into a marble pillar. The malice of the flesh makes a man more unfit for the one, than the nature of the straw unfits it for the other.
[4.J His goodness appears in turning men, when they were pleased with
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their own misery, and unable to deliver themselves ; when they preferred a hell before him, and were in love with their own vileness ; when his call was our torment, and his neglect of us had been accounted our felicity. Was it not a mighty goodness to keep the light close to our eyes, when we endeavoured to blow it out, and the corrosive near to our hearts, when we endeavoured to tear it off, being more fond of our disease than the remedy ? We should have been scalded to death with the Sodomites, had not God laid
his good hand upon us, and drawn us from the approaching ruin we affected, and were loath to be freed from. And had we been displeased with our
state, yet we had been as unable spiritually to raise ourselves from sin to grace, as to raise ourselves naturally from nothing to being. In this state we were when his goodness triumphed over us, when he put a hook into our nostrils, to turn us in order to our salvation, and drew us out of the pit which we had digged, when he might have left us to sink under the rigours of his justice we had merited. Now this goodness in conversion is greater than that in creation ; as in creation there was nothing to oppose him, so there was nothing to disoblige him. Creation was terminated to the good of a mutable nature, and conversion tends to a supernatural good. God pronounced all creatures good at first, and man among the rest, but did not pronounce any of them, or man himself, his portion, his inheritance, his segullah, his house, his diadem. He speaks slightly of all those things
which he made, the noblest heavens as well as the lowest earth, in compa
rison of a true convert: Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2, 'All those things hath my hand made, and all those things have been ; but to this man will I look, to him
that is of a contrite spirit.' It is more goodness to give the espousing grace of the covenant than the completing glory of heaven. As it is more for a prince to marry a beggar, than only to bring her to live deliciously in his courts ; all other benefits are of a meaner strain, if compared with this ; there is little less of goodness in imparting the holiness of his nature, than imputing the righteousness of his Son.
(6.) The divine goodness doth appear in answering prayers. He delights to be familiarly acquainted with his people, and to hear them call upon him. He indulgeth them a free access to him, and delights in every address of an upright man, Prov. xv. 8. The wonderful efficacy of prayer depends not upon the nature of our petitions, or the temper of our soul, but the good ness of God, to whom we address. Christ establisheth it upon this bottom ; when he exhorts to ask in his name, he tells them the spring of all their
grants is the Father's love : John xvi. 26, 27, ' I say not, I will pray the Father for you : for the Father himself loves you.' And since it is of itself incredible that a majesty exalted above the cherubims should stoop so low as to give a miserable and rebellious creature admittance to him, and afford him a gracious hearing, and a quick supply, Christ ushers in the promise of
answering prayer with a note of great assurance : Luke xi. 9, 10, ' I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you.' I, that know the mind of my Father, and his good disposition, assure you your prayer shall not be in vain. Perhaps you will not be so ready of yourselves to imagine so great a liberality ; but take it upon my word ; it is true, and so you will find it. And his bounty travails as it were in birth, to give the greatest blessings upon our asking rather than the smallest. Ver. 13, ' Your heavenly Father
shall give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him,' which in Mat. vii. 11 is called ' good things.' Of all the good and rich things divine goodness hath in its treasury, he delights to give the best upon asking, because God doth act so as to manifest the greatness of his bounty and magnificence to men ; and therefore is delighted when men, by their petitioning him, own such a
860 CHAKNOCK'S WORKS. [MARK X. 18. *
liberal disposition in him, and put him upon the manifesting it. He would rather you should ask the greatest things heaven can afford, than the trifles of this world ; because his bounty is not discovered in meaner gifts, he loves to have an opportunity to manifest his affection above the liberality and tenderness of worldly fathers. He doth more wait to give in a way of grace than we to beg, Isa. xxx. 18, and therefore 'will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you.' He stands expecting your suits, and employs his wisdom in pitching upon the fittest seasons, when the manifestation of his goodness may be most gracious in itself, and the mercy you want most
welcome to you ; as it follows, ' for the Lord is a God of judgment.' He chooseth the time wherein his doles may be most acceptable to his sup
pliants : Isa. xlix. 8, ' In an acceptable time have I heard thee.' He often opens his hand while we are opening our lips, and his blessings meet our petitions at the first setting out upon their journey to heaven : Isa. Ixv. 24,
'While they are yet speaking, I will hear.' How often do we hear a secret voice within us while we are praying, saying, Your prayer is granted, as well as hear a voice behind us while we are erring, saying, ' This is the way, walk in it ' ! And his liberality exceeds often our desires as well as our deserts, and gives out more than we had the wisdom or confidence to ask. The apostle intimates it in that doxology, Eph. iii. 20, ' Unto him who is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think.' This power would not have been so strong an argument of comfort if it were never put in practice ; he is more liberal than his creatures are craving. Abraham peti tioned for the life of Ishmael, and God promiseth him the birth of Isaac, Gen. xvii. 18, 19. Isaac asks for a child, and God gives him two, Gen. xxv. 21, 22. Jacob desires food to eat and raiment to put on; God confines not his bounty within the narrow limits of his petition, but instead of a staff wherewith he passed Jordan, makes him repass it with two bands, Gen. xxviii. 20. David asked life of God, and he gave him life and a crown to boot, Ps. xxi. 2-5. The Israelites would have been contented with a free life in Egypt, they only cried to have their chains struck off; God gave them that, and adopts them to be his peculiar people, and raises them into a famous state. It is a wonder that God should condescend so much, that he should hear prayers so weak, so cold, so wandering, and gather up our sin cere petitions from the dung of our distractions and diffidence. David vents his astonishment at it : Ps. xxxi. 21, 22, ' Blessed be God, for he hath shewed me marvellous kindness. I said in my haste, I am cut off from be
fore thy eyes: neverthless thou heardest the voice of my supplication.' How
do we wonder at the goodness of a petty man in granting our desires ! how much more should we at the humility and goodness of the most sovereign
Majesty of heaven and earth !
(6.) The goodness of God is seen in bearing with the infirmities of his people, and accepting imperfect obedience. Though Asa had many blots in his scutcheon, yet they are overlooked, and this note set upon record by divine goodness, that his heart was perfect towards the Lord all his days :
1 Kings xv. 14, ' But the high places were not removed ; nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.' He takes notice of a sincere, though chequered obedience, to reward it, which could claim nothing but a slight from him if he were extreme to mark what is done amiss. When there is not an opportunity to work, but only to will, he accepts the will as
if it had passed into work and act. ' He sees no iniquity in Jacob,' Num. xxiii. 21 ; i. e. he sees it not so as to cast off a respect to their persons and the acceptance of their services. His omniscience knows their sins, but his goodness doth not reject their persons. He is of so good a disposition, that
MARK X. 18. j GOD'S GOODNESS. 861
he delights in a weak obedience of his servants, not in the imperfection, but
in the obedience : Ps. xxxvii. 23, ' He delights in the way of a good man,' though he sometimes slips in it. He accepts a poor man's pigeon as well as a rich man's ox. He hath a bottle for the tears, and a book for the services of the upright, as well as for the most perfect obedience of angels, Ps. Ivi. 8. He preserves their tears as if they were a rich and generous wine, as the j vine-dresser doth the expressions of the grape.
(8.) The goodness of God is seen in afflictions and persecutions. If it
ibe good for us to be afflicted, for which we have the psalmist's vote, Ps. cxix. 71, then goodness in God is the principal cause and orderer of the
| afflictions. It is his goodness to snatch away that whence we fetch supi ports for our security, and encouragements for our insolence against him.
He takes away the thing which we have some value for, but such as his ; infinite wisdom sees inconsistent with our true happiness. It is no ill will
in the physician to take away the hurtful matter the patient loves, and pre scribe bitter potions, to advance that health which the other impaired ; nor
any mark of unkindness in a friend to wrest a sword out of a madman's hand, wherewith he was about to stab himself, though it was beset with the most orient pearls. To prevent what is evil is to do us the greatest good. It is a kindness to prevent a man from falling down a precipice, though it be with a violent blow that lays him flat upon the ground at some distance from the edge of it. By afflictions he often snaps asunder those chains which fettered us, and quells those passions which ravaged us. He sharpens our faith, and quickens our prayers ; he brings us into the secret chamber of our own heart, which we had little mind before to visit by a self-exami nation. It is such a goodness that he will vouchsafe to correct man in order to his eternal happiness, that Job makes it one part of his astonishment :
Job vii. 17, ' What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him ? that thou shouldst set thy heart upon him ? and that thou shouldst visit him every
morning, and try him every moment ? ' His strokes are often the magnifyings and exaltings of men. He sets his heart upon man while he inflicts the smart of his rod. He shews thereby what a high account he makes of him, and what a special affection he bears to him. When he might treat us with more severity after the breach of his covenant, and make his jealousy flame out against us in furious methods, he will not destroy his relation to us, and leave us to our own inclinations, but deal with us as a father with his children ; and when he takes this course with us, it is when it cannot be avoided without ruin. His goodness would not suffer him to do it if our badness did not force him to it : Jer. ix. 7, ' I will melt them, and try them,
for how shall I do for the daughter of my people ? ' What other course can I take but this according to the nature of man ? The goldsmith hath no other way to separate the dross from the metal but by melting it down. And when the impurities of his people necessitate him to this proceeding,
he ' sits as a refiner,' Mai. hi. 3. He watches for the purifying the silver, not for his own profit as the goldsmith, but out of a care of them, and good will to them. As himself speaks, Isa. xlviii. 10, ' I have refined thee, but not with silver,' or, us some read it, ' not for silver.' As when he scatters his people abroad for their sin, he will not leave them without his presence for their sanctuary, Ezek. xi. 16. He would by his presence with them supply the place of ordinances, or be an ark to them in the midst of the deluge. His hand that struck them is never without a goodness to comfort them and pity them. When Jacob was to go into Egypt, which was to prove
a furnace of affliction to his offspring, God promises to 'go down' with him, and to ' bring him up again,' Gen. xlvi. 4 ; a promise not only made to
8G2 CHAENOCK'S WOEKS. [MAEK X. 18.
Jacob in his person, but to Jacob in his posterity. He returned not out of Egypt in his person, but as the father of a numerous posterity. He that j would go down with their root, and afterwards bring up the branches, was certainly with them in all their oppressions. I will go down with thee. Down ! saith one.* What a word is that for a Deity ! Into Egypt, idolatrous Egypt ! What a place is that for his holiness ! Yet, oh the goodness of God ! he never thinks himself low enough to do his people good, nor any place too bad for his society with them. So when he had sent away into captivity the people of Israel by the hand of the Assyrian, his bowels yearn
after them in their affliction. Isa. lii. 4, 5, ' The Assyrian oppressed them
without cause,' i. e. without a just cause in the conqueror to inflict so great an evil upon them, but not without cause from God, whom they had pro voked. ' Now, therefore, what have I here ? saith the Lord.' What do I here ? I will not stay behind them. What do I longer here ? For I will redeem again those jewels the enemy hath carried away. That chapter is a prophecy of redemption. God shews himself so good to his people in their persecutions, that he gives them occasion to glorify him in the very
fires, as the divine order is, Isa. xxiv. 15, ' Wherefore glorify the Lord in the fires.' (9.) The goodness of God is seen in temptations. In those he takes occasion to shew his care and watchfulness, as a father uses the distress of a child as an opportunity for manifesting the tenderness of his affection. God is at the beginning and end of every temptation ; he measures out both the quality and quantity. He exposeth them not to temptation beyond the ability he hath already granted them, or will at the time, or afterwards
multiply in them; 1 Cor. x. 13. He hath promised his people that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against them ; that ' in all things ' they shall be ' more than conquerors through him that loved them ; ' that the most raging malice of hell shall not wrest them out of his hands. His goodness is not less in performing than it was in promising. And as the care of his providence extends to the least as well as the greatest, so the watch fulness of his goodness extends to us in the least as well as in the greatest temptation.
[1.] The goodness of God appears in shortening temptations. None of them can go beyond their appointed times, Dan. xi. 35. The strong blast
Satan breathes cannot blow, nor the waves he raises rage one minute be yond the time God allows them ; when they have done their work, and come to the period of their time, God speaks the word, and the wind and sea of hell must obey him, and retire into their dens. The more violent tempta tions are, the shorter time doth God allot them. The assaults Christ had at the time of his death were of the most pressing and urging nature. The powers of darkness were all in arms against him, the reproaches and scorns
put upon him questioning his Sonship were very sharp, yet a little before
his sufferings, he calls it but an hour: Luke xxii. 53, 'This is your hour and the power of darkness.' A short time that men and devils were com bined against him, and the time of temptation that is to come upon all the world for their trial, is called but an hour, Rev. iii. 10. In all such attempts, the greatness of the rage is a certain prognostic of the shortness of the season, Rev. xii. 12.
[2.] The goodness of God appears in strengthening his people under temp tations. If he doth not restrain the arm of Satan from striking, he gives us a sword to manage the combat, and a shield to bear off the blow, Eph. vi.
16, 17. If he obscures his goodness in one part, he clears and brightens it
* Harwood's Sermon at Oxford, p. 5.
MAEK X. 18.] GOD'S GOODNESS. 868
i in another. He either binds the strong man that he shall not stir, or gives
us armour to render us victorious. If we fall, it is not for want of provision
(from him, but for want of our ' putting on the armour of God,' ver. 11, 13. When we have not a strength by nature, he gives it us by grace. He often
i quells those passions within, which would join hands with and second the I temptation without. He either qualifies the temptation suitably to the force j we have, or else supplies us with a new strength to make the temptation he I intends to let loose against us. He knows we are but dust, and his goodl ness will not have us unequally matched. The Jews that in Antiochus his : time were under great temptation to apostasy, by reason of the violence of
| their persecutions, were ' out of weakness made strong ' for the combat, Heb. i xi. 34. The Spirit came more strongly upon Samson when the Philistines
most furiously and confidently assaulted him. His Spirit is sent to strengthen
his people before the devil is permitted to tempt them : Mat. iv. 2, ' Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit.' Then ; when ? When the Spirit had, in an extraordinary manner, descended upon him, Mat. iii. 16, then, and not before. As the angels appeared to Christ after his temptation to minister to him, so they appeared to him before his passion, the time of the strongest powers of darkness, to strengthen him for it. He is so good, that when he knows our potsherd strength too weak, he furnisheth our recruits from his own omnipotence : Eph. vi. 10, 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of his might.' He doth, as it were, breathe in something of his own almightiness, to assist us in our wrestling against principalities and powers, and make us capable to sustain the violent storms of the enemies.
[8.] The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in giving great comforts in or after them. The Israelites had a more immediate provision of manna from heaven when they were in the wilderness. We read not that the Father spake audibly to the Son, and gave him so loud a testimony, that he
was his ' beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased,' till he was upon the brink of strong temptations, Mat. iii. 17 ; nor sent angels to minister imme diately to his person till after his success, Mat. iv. 11. Job never had such
evidences of divine love till after he had felt the sharp strokes of Satan's malice ; he had heard of God before by the hearing of the ear, but after wards is admitted into greater familiarity, Job xlii. 5. He had more choice appearances, clearer illuminations, and more lively instructions. And though his people fall into temptation, yet after their rising they have more signal marks of his favour than others have, or themselves before they fell.
Peter had been the butt of Satan's rage in tempting him to deny Christ, and he had shamefully complied with the temptation, yet to him particularly
must the first news of the Redeemer's resurrection be carried by God's order in the mouth of an angel : Mark xvi. 7, ' Go your ways, tell his dis
ciples, and Peter.' We have the greatest communion with God after a victory ; the most refreshing truths after the devil hath done his worst. God is ready to furnish us with strength in a combat, and cordials after it.
[4.J The goodness of God is seen in temptations in discovering and ad vancing inward grace by this means. The issue of a temptation of a Chris
tian is often like that of Christ's, the manifesting a greater vigour of the divine nature in affections to God and enmity to sin. Spices perfume not the air with their scent till they are invaded by the fire ; the truth of grace is evidenced by them. The assault of an enemy revives and actuates that strength and courage which is in a man, perhaps unknown to himself as well as others till he meets with an adversary. Many seem good, not that they are so in themselves, but for want of a temptation. This many times veri fies a virtue which was owned upon trust before, and discovers that we had
364 CHARNOCK'S WORKS. [MARK X. 18.
more grace than we thought we had. The solicitations of Joseph's mistress cleared up his chastity. We are many times under temptation, as a candle under the snuffer; it seems to be out, but presently burns the clearer. Afflictions are like those clouds which look black and eclipse the sun from the earth, but yet when they drop refresh that ground they seem to threaten, and multiply the grain on the earth to serve for our food; and so our troubles, while they wet us to the skin, wash much of that dust from our graces which in a clearer day had been blown upon us. Too much rest corrupts ; exercise teacheth us to manage our weapons ; the spiritual armour would grow rusty without opportunity to furbish it up. Faith receives a new
heart by every combat and by every victory ; like a fire, it spreads itself further, and gathers strength by the blowing of the wind. While the gar dener commands his servant to shake the tree, he intends to fasten its roots and settle it firmer in its place ; and is this an ill-will to the plant ?
[5.] His goodness is seen in temptations, in preventing sin which we were
likely to fall into. Paul's thorn in the flesh was to prevent the pride of his spirit, and let out the windiness of his heart, 2 Cor. xii. 7, lest it should be exalted above measure. The goodness of God makes the devil a polisher, while he intends to be a destroyer. The devil never works but suitably to some corruption lurking in us ; divine goodness makes his fiery darts a means to discover, and so to prevent, the treachery of that perfidious inmate in our own hearts. Humility is a greater benefit than a putrefying pride. If God brings us into a wilderness to be tempted of the devil, it is to bring down our loftiness, to starve our carnal confidence, and expel our rusting security, Deut. viii. 2. We many times fly under a temptation to God, from whom we sat too loose before. Is it not goodness to use those means that may drive us into his own arms ? It is not a want of goodness to soap the gar ment, in order to take away the spots. We have reason to bless God for the assaults from hell, as well as pure mercies from heaven ; and it is a sin to overlook the one as well as the other, since divine goodness shines in both.
[6.] The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in fitting us more for his service. Those whom God intends to make choice instrumentsin his ser vice, are first seasoned with strong temptations, as timber reserved for the strong beams of a building is first exposed to sun and wind, to make it more compact for its proper use. By this men are brought to answer the end of their creation, the service of God, which is their proper goodness. Peter
was after his foil by a temptation more courageous in his Master's cause than before, and the more fitted to strengthen his brethren. Thus the goodness of God appears in all parts of his government.
• V. I shall now come to the use.
. First, Of instruction.
1. If God be so good, how unworthy is the contempt and abuse of his goodness !
(1.) The contempt and abuse of divine goodness is frequent and common. It began in the first ages of the world, and commenced a few moments after the creation ; it hath not to this day diminished its affronts. Adam began
the dance, and his posterity have followed him. The injury was directed
against this, when he entertained the seducer's notion of God's being an envi ous Deity, in not indulging such a knowledge as he might have afforded
him : ' God doth know that you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,' Gen. iii. 5. The charge of envy is utterly inconsistent with pure goodness.
WThat was the language of this notion so easily entertained by Adam, but that the tempter was better than God, and the nature of God as base and
MAEK X. 18. J GOD'S GOODNESS. 365
sordid as the nature of a devil ! Satan paints God with his own colours, represents him as envious and malicious as himself. Adam admires, and believes the picture to be true, and hangs it up as a beloved one in the closet of his heart. The devil still drives on the same game, fills men's hearts with the same sentiments, and by the same means he murdered our
first parents, he redoubles the stabs to his posterity. Every violation of the
divine law is a contempt of God's goodness, as well as his sovereignty, be cause his laws are the products both of the one and the other. Goodness animates them, while sovereignty enjoins them. God hath commanded no thing but what doth conduce to our happiness. All disobedience implies that his law is a snare to entrap us, and make us miserable, and not an act
of kindness to render us happy, which is a disparagement to this perfection, as if he had commanded what would promote our misery, and prohibited what would conduce to our blessedness. To go far from him, and walk after vanity, is to charge him with our iniquity, and unrighteousness, base ness, and cruelty in his commands ; God implies it by his speech : Jer. ii. 5,
' What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and walked after vanity ? ' As if, like a tyrant, he had consulted cruelty in the composure of them, and designed to feast himself with the blood and misery of his creatures. Every sin is in its own nature a denial of God to be the chiefest good and happiness, and implies that it is no great matter to lose him ; it is a forsaking him as the fountain of life, and a preferring a cracked and empty cistern as the chief happiness before him, Jer. ii. 13. Though sin is not so evil as God is good, yet it is the greatest evil, and stands in opposition to God as the greatest good. Sin disorders the frame of the world, it endeavoured to frustrate all the communications of divine goodness in creation, and to stop up the way of any further streams of it to his creatures.
(2.) The abuse and contempt of the divine goodness is base and disin genuous. It is the highest wickedness, because God is the highest goodness, pure goodness, that cannot have anything in him worthy of our contempt. Let men injure God under what notion they will, they injure his goodness, because all his attributes are summed up in this one, and all, as it were, deified by it ; for whatsoever power or wisdom he might haw, if he were destitute of this, he were not God. The contempt of his goodness implies him to be the greatest evil, and worst of beings. Badness, not goodness, is the proper object of contempt. As respect is a propension of mind to
something that is good, so contempt is an alienation of the mind from some thing as evil, either simply or supposedly evil in its nature, or base or un worthy in its action towards that person that contemns it. As men desire nothing but what they apprehend to be good, so they slight nothing but what they apprehend to be evil. Since nothing therefore is more contemned by us than God, nothing more spurned at by us than God, it will follow that we regard him as the most loathsome and despicable being, which is the greatest baseness. And our contempt of him is worse than that of devils ; they injure him under the inevitable strokes of his justice, and we slight him when we are surrounded with the expressions of his bounty. They abuse him under vials of wrath, and we under a plenteous liberality. They malice him, because he inflicts on them what is hurtful ; and we despise him, because he commands what is profitable, holy, and honourable in its own nature, though not in our esteem. They are not under those high obligations as we ; they abuse his creating, and we his redeeming, goodness. He never sent his Son to shed a drop of blood for their recovery ; they can expect nothing but the torment of their persons, and the destruction of their
3G6 CHARNOCK'S WORKS. [MARK X. 18.
works. But we abuse that goodness, that would rescue us since we are miserable, as well as that righteousness which created us innocent. How base is it to use him so ill, that is not once or twice, but a daily, hourly benefactor to us ; whose rain drops upon the earth for our food, and whose sun shines upon the earth for our pleasure, as well as profit ; such a bene factor as is the true proprietor of what we have, and thinks nothing too good for them that think everything too much for his service ! How un worthy is it to be guilty of such base carriage towards him, whose benefits we cannot want nor live without ! How disingenuous both to God and our
selves, to ' despise the riches of his goodness,' that are designed to ' lead us to repentance,' Rom. ii. 4, and by that to happiness ! And more heinous are the sins of renewed men upon this account, because they are against his goodness, not only offered to them, but tasted by them ; not only against tie notion of goodness, but the experience of goodness, and the relished sweetness of choicest bounty.
(3.) God takes this contempt of his goodness heinously. He never up braids men with anything in Scripture, but with the abuse of the good things he hath vouchsafed them, and the unmindfulness of the obligations arising from them. This he bears with the greatest regret and indignation. Thus he upbraids Eli with the preference of him to the priesthood, above other families, 1 Sam. ii. 28 ; and David, with his exaltation to the crown of Israel, 2 Sam. xii. 7-9, when they abused those honours to carelessness and licentiousness. All sins offend God, but sins against his goodness do more disparage him ; and therefore his fury is the greater by how much the more liberally his benefits have been dispensed. It was for abuse of divine good ness, as soon as it was tasted, that some angels were hurled from their blessed habitation and more happy nature. It was for this Adam lost his
present enjoyments and future happiness ; for the abuse of God's goodness in creation. For the abuse of God's goodness, the old world fell under the fury of the flood ; and for the contempt of the divine goodness in redemp tion, Jerusalem, once the darling city of thejnfmite monarch of the world, was made an Aceldama, a field of blood. For this cause it is that candle sticks have been removed, great lights put out, nations overturned, and ignorance hath triumphed in places bright before with the beams of heaven. God would have little care of his own goodness, if he always prostituted the fruits of it to our contempt. Why should we expect he should always con tinue that to us, which he sees we will never use to his service ? When the Israelites would dedicate the gifts of God to the service of Baal, then he would return, and take away his corn and his wine, and make them know by the .loss that those things were his in dominion which they abused, as if they had been sovereign lords of them, Hosea ii. 8, 9. Benefits are entailed upon
us no longer than we obey : ' If you forsake the Lord, he will do you hurt, after he hath done you good,' Josh. xxiv. 20. While we obey, his bounty shall shower upon us ; and when we revolt, his justice shall consume us. Present mercies abused are no bulwarks against impendent judgments. God hath curses as well as blessings, and they shall light more heavy when his blessings have been more weighty. Justice is never so severe as when it comes to right goodness, and revenge its quarrel for the injuries received.