Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_066.TXT

Text File | 1994-07-15 | 7KB | 132 lines

OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD.

BOOK

an experiment of them, what happiness could be enjoyed
in them, as far as a king, a wise man, and a good man,
could go; and when he had finished it, pronounced all
vanity and vexation of spirit. God only can make men
happy; he is the Father of mercies, the Fountain of all
goodness, the Source of all felicity. There may be a
shew of happiness in such and such outward circum-
lances of life, some may be in, with respect to the above
things; but there is no solidity in them; he is the only
happy man whose God is the Lord, Psalm cxliv. 12--15.
wherefore good men, who are sensible of the vanity of
the creature, and all creature-enjoyments, pant after him,
and are importunately desirous of the enjoyment of him,
and cannot be satisfied without him, placing all their
happiness in him: whilst others are saying, Who will
shew us any good? taking up their contentment in worldly
good; they say, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy coun-
tenance upon us; which gives the greatest pleasure, joy,
and satisfaction, that can be had, Psalm iv. 6, 7. and
xlii. 1. and lxxiii. 25.
4. There is nothing but goodness in God, and nothing
but goodness comes from him; there is no iniqu. ity in
him, nothing evil in his nature, no unrighteousness m any
of his ways and works; he is light itself; all purity, holi-
ness, truth, and goodness; and in him is no darkness at
all, of sin, error, and ignorance, 1 John i. 5. nor does any
thing that is evil come from him; he is not the author
of sin, nor does he impel, nor persuade to it, nor tempt
with it; but strongly forbids it, under pain of his displea-
sure, James i. 13, 14. indeed, his decree is concerned
about it; for it could not be, he not willing it by his per-
missive will; but then, though he suffers it to be, he
overrules it for good; as in the case of the selling of
Joseph, Gen. 1. 20. the evil of punishment of sin, or of
affliction, is from God; in this sense there is no evil in a
city, and the Lord hath not done it, Amos. iii. 6. but
then punishment of sin is a good, ..as it is a vindication
of the honour of divine justice, and of the righteous law
of God; and the affliction of the people of God is for
their good; and all evil things of that kind work for their
good, both here and hereafter.
5. God is infinitely good; as his understanding, wis-
dom, knowledge, and other perfections of his, are in-
finite; so is his goodaess; he is abundant in it; it is so
great, that it cannot be said how great it is; finite minds
cannot comprehend it; the height, depth, length, and
breadth of it, are unmeasurable; it knows no bounds nor
limits; it is so perfect that nothing can be added to it:
the goodness of a creature extends not to God, nor is it
capable of communicating any to him, who hath first
given to him, &c. Rom. xi. 35, 36.
6. God is immutably and eternally good; the goodness
of creatures is but as the morning cloud, and early dew,
which soon passes away; of which there has been in-
stances in angels and men: but the goodness of God is
invariably the saute, and endures continually; and though
there has been, and are, such large communications of it
to creatures, it is the same as ever, and remains an inex-
haustible fountain.
7. The goodness of God is communicative and dif-
fusive; he is good, and he does good; "the whole earth

is full of his goodness," Psalm cxix. 68. and xxxiii. '5.
there is not a creature but what partakes of it, more or
less, in some manner or another; but then it is commu-
nicated according to. his sovereign will and pleasure.
A heathen writer {9} argues the goodness of God from the
existence of the world; since it is by the goodness of
God the world is, God must be always good.
8. This attribute of goodness belongs to each divine
person, Father, Son, and Spirit; when Christ says, as
quoted above, there is r, one good but one, that is, God,
it is to be understood not of God personally considered,
or of one person, to the exclusion of the other; but of
God essentially considered: and the design of Christ was,
to raise the mind of the young man to whom he spoke,
to an higher opinion of himself than what he had; even
of him, not as a mere man, whom, as such, he called good;
but as the true God, to whom this epithet, in its highest
sense, only belongs: and it is predicated of the Father,
2 Chron. xxx. 18.. of Christ, John x. 11. and of the Spi-
rit, Nehem. ix. 20. Psalm cxliii. 10. and they must, in-
deed, in the same sense, be good, since they partake of one
common undivided nature and essence, I John v. 7.
The goodness of God, with respect to the several ob-
jects of it, may be considered as general and special; in
like manher as his love and mercy. There is the general
goodness of God, which is as extensive as his mercy; The
Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all
his works, Psalm cxlv. 9. All creatures are made by
God, and as they came from him, they are all very good;
there is a goodness put into them, whereby they become
good and beneficial to others, and especially to men:
there is a goodness in inanimate creatures, in the metals
and minerals of the earth; in the luminaries of the hea-
vens, the sun, moon, and stars; they are pleasant, good to
look at, their form, magnitude, and splendor: they are
profitably good; by their light they themselves are seen,
and other objects; by this men see to walk and work, and
do the several businesses of life; and through their kind
and benign influences shed on the earth, many precious
fruits are brought forth, and the. advantages of them all
men share in; God makes his sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, Matt. v. 45, which is one great instance of
his general goodness. In the vegetable creation there is a
large display of the goodness of God; some herbs, plants,
and trees, being good for medicine, others for food, both
for the cattle of the field and for the service of men, Psalm
civ. 14, 15. Among the animals, some are for one use,
and some for another, and many are meat for men; and
even every creature of God is good, and to be received
with thanksgiving, 1 Tim. iv. 4. and all creatures, both
men and beast, partake of the goodness of God in the
preservation of them, Psalm xxxvi. 6. 1 Tim. iv. 10. and
in the provision of food for them, Psalm civ. 27, 28. and
cxlvi. 15, 16. and cxlvii. 8. Acts xiv. 16, 17. and xvii. 25,
28. 1 Tim. iv. 8.
There is indeed a difference made by God in the dis-
tribution of his general goodness, in the effects of it;
which are not imparted to all creatures alike. God gives
more of his goodness to men than to brutes; since he
gives them reason and understanding; whereby they be-
come more knowing, and to be wiser than the beasts of

9 Sallust de Diis, c. 7`.