The Moral Shechinah Or a Discourse of Gods Glory IN A SERMON Preached at the last YORKSHIRE-FEAST IN Bow-Church London June 11. 1682. BY GEORGE HICKES D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by J. Wallis for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1682. To my Honoured FRIENDS COUNTRYMEN THE STEWARDS Of the last YORKSHIRE-FEAST Mr. William Thomson Mr. Thomas Hutton Mr. Richard Fountaine Mr. John Hargrave Mr. William Wenslay Mr. William Wilkinson Mr. Anthony Warde Mr. Michael Thompson Mr. Christopher Conyers Mr. James Holdsworth Mr. James Gibson Mr. Nicholas Craige Gentlemen ALtho' the Glory of God which is the Subject of this Discourse be the supream end of all Human Actions yet it is very certain from many of the greatest Pretenders to Religion that they have obscure perverse and incongrous Notions of it And if what I have said upon it in this short compass may any way contribute to rectifie such mens apprehensions I shall be thankful to God for it and think my pains very well spent I had presented you sooner with it but that I was hindered by sundry Avocations and perhaps had I published it when you first desired me it might not have done so much Good amongst us as now it may do in cooler times when men are in a better temper and more fit to mind both the concerns of this World and that which is to come I wish you all happiness and shall be ready to serve every one of you in particular as I have all of you in general in first Preaching and now Publishing this Discourse which comes with all due respects from Gentlemen Your most obedient Servant George Hickes A SERMON PREACHED At the Yorkshire Feast July 11. 1682. ON 1 COR. x. 32. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God THE good or bad success of mens undertakings depending very much upon the knowledge of the end for which they are to act it must needs concern all Christians to get right and clear Notions of the Glory of God which Christianity asserts to be the supream end of all Human Actions and which tho' men generally pretend to understand yet it is very certain from many mens inconsistent practices that they are grievously mistaken in the Notion of it or if they be not that they act against their Understandings and Consciences in acting so contrary to while they pretend to act for the Glory of God Wherefore in discoursing upon these words which propose the Glory of God unto us as the Supream end of all Human Actions I shall first endeavour to explain the true Notion of it 2. I shall make a general division of Human Actions into their several sorts and shew under each sort how they are to be directed unto it as unto their chief end and Lastly I shall shew what we must do and how we must behave our selves in our present Solemnity that we fall not short of the Apostles Rule who tells us that whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do we must do it to the Glory of God First I shall endeavour to explain the true Notion of Gods glory In order whereunto I must desire you to take notice that the first Notion of Gods Glory in the Scripture is a Physical Notion for the visible appearance of God or the visible manifestation of himself by Fire Light Clouds Brightness and other Meteorous Symbols of his presence and that the other notions of Gods Glory or Glorifying God which occur in the Scriptures do as I shall hereafter shew generally allude and refer unto this which I say consisted inthe visible appearance or manifestation of God by Fire Light Clouds and such like glorious signs of his Presence of which there are several examples in the Old Testament as of his appearing to Moses in a flame of Fire in the Bush and to all the people upon Mount Sinai which saith the Text was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in Fire and the Sight of the Glory of the Lord was like devouring Fire on the top of the Mount So Exod. xl 38. The Cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day and the Fire was on it by night in the sight of all the House of Israel So Numb ix 15. On the day that the Tabernacle was reared up the Cloud covered it namely the Tent of the Testimony and at Even there was upon the Tabernacle the appearance of Fire until the Morning So Exod. xxvi 16. The Cloud covered Mount Sinai six days and the seventh day God called unto Moses out of the Cloud Thus also the Cloud was wont to appear at the door of the Tabernacle as Deut. xxxi 15. The Lord saith the Text appeared in the Tabernacle in the pillar of a cloud and the cloud stood over the door of the Tabernacle And in the Holy of Holys as in Lev. xvi 2. The Lord said unto Moses speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the Mercy-Seat which is upon the Ark that he dye not for I will appear in the cloud upon the Mercy-Seat So I King viii When the Priest had brought the Ark of the Covenant into the Oracle of the new built Temple under the Wings of the Cherubims the Cloud so filled the House of the Lord that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the Cloud And in Ezek. i. you may read of other splendid appearances whereby God manifested his Presence as by appearances like the colour of Amber Chrystal Saphire and the colours of the Rainbow together with appearance of Fire with brightness round it In these splendid and glorious appearances God was wont to manifest his special Presence among the Jews and the manifestation thereof was emphatically called The Glory of the Lord as in Exod. xxix 43. Saith God to Moses At the door of the Tabernacle will I meet you to speak there unto thee and there will I meet the Children of Israel and the Tabernacle shall be Sanctified by my Glory So in Exod. xxxiii after God had told Moses again and again That his Presence should go with him Then saith he I beseech thee shew me thy Glory i. e. I beseech the shew me some Glorious Token of the Presence and the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon the Rock and while my Glory passeth by I will put thee in the cliff of the Rock and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by So Exod. xvii 10. While Aaron spoke unto the whole Congregation they looked towards the Wilderness and behold the Glory of the Lord appeared in the Cloud And Ch. xxiv 16. The Glory of the Lord abode upon the Mount and the Cloud covered it six days So Ch. xl 34. A Cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation and the Glory of the Lord filled
the Tabernacle So Levit. ix 23. Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle and came out and blessed the People and the Glory of the Lord appeared unto all the People So 1 Kings viii 12. The Priests faith the Text could not stand to minister in the Temple because of the Cloud for the Glory of the Lord had filled the House So the Prophet Ezekiel speaking of the visionary sight which he had of Gods Glory saith As the Appearance of the Bow that is in the Cloud in the day of Rain so was the appearance of the brightness round about the firo This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Lord. I could produce many more Texts out of the Old Testament to shew how the manifestation of Gods Presence by such splendid and glorious Signs was called his Glory but rather proceed to shew how it is alluded and referred unto in the New as in Rom. ix 4. where the Apostle speaking of the Israelites saith To whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory or the visible manifestations of the Presence of God So Heb. ix 5. The Cherubims under which God appeared are called the Cherubims of Glory and Rom. i. 23. Speaking of that unworthy manner in which the Gentiles and the followers of Simon and Menander who complyed with them represented the Majesty of God They changed saith he the Glory i. e. the presence or appearance of God which never was exhibited but by fire light and such like things without any manner of similitude into an Image made like unto corruptible Man and to birds and beasts and creeping things So John i. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father i. e. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal Word as St. Ignatius calls him came in our flesh and dwelt in it as God did in the Jewish Tabernacle and we by his Wonders and wonderful Holiness and other Signs perceived his Presence in it the Presence as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Here you see the Presence and Manifestation of the Godhead in the Body of Christ is allusively called his Glory and in like manner the appearance of God in the Primitive Christian Church by the gift of the Spirit and the extraordinary sanctity and patience of the Christians is called the Glory of God in Rev. xxi where the Christian Church is mystically called the new Jerusalem and the Tabernacle of God in which he dwelt among Men and this holy City wherein God was so conspicuous in the wonderful Graces which he shed upon the Christians had no need of the Sun nor Moon to shine in it for the Glory i.e. the presence of God did lighten it and the Lamb was the light thereof In like manner the presence of Christ in his Ministers is called his Glory 2 Cor. viii 23. If any do enquire of Titus he is my Partner or if our Brethren be enquired after they are the Messengers of the Churches and the Glory of Christ And accordingly the manifestation of him in their Works Doctrine and eminent Sanctity is also called Glory 2 Pet. i 2. Hath given us all things pertaining unto Life and Godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Virtue So 2 Cor. iv 5. The Revelation of God unto the World by the Gospel is called the light of the knowledge of the Glory i. e. of the manifestation of God in the face of Jesus Christ and in 1 Pet. iv 4. Those that suffer'd for Christ are said in allusion to the Shechinah to have the Glory and Spirit of God to rest upon them because as I conceive God appeared as eminently in them in their Confessions and Sufferings as if his Glory had descended upon them in lambent fires and rested upon their heads According to this Explication of the Text when our Saviour foretold the Crucifixion of Peter in these words When thou wast young thou girdest thy self and walkedst whither thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not this he spake saith the Evangelist signifying by what death he should Glorifie God By this time you may perceive that the Glory of God from signifying the Shechinah as the Jews called his visible Presence comes to signifie his Presence or manifestation any other way more especially in the words and actions of men according to which metaphorical sense to Glorifie signifies in the general to manifest or evidence God In this sense the Father is said to glorifie the Son and the Son to glorifie the Father and in this sense our Saviour said of the Sickness of Lazarus This Sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby And according to this sense also the Gentiles and Gnosticks are charged by the Apostle That altho' they knew God yet they glorified him not as God and because he that praiseth God doth in an eminent manner manifest evidence and set him forth therefore saith he in the Psalmist Whoso offereth me praise glorifieth me and from hence I conceive it came to pass that the Tongue by which we publickly confess and acknowledge God and declare the infinite worth and excellencies of his blessed nature came to be called by the name of Glory as in Psal lvii Awake my Glory and in Psal cviii I WILL sing and give praise with my Glory which in the other Translation is exegetically rendered with the best member that I have But more especially and to come nearer to my purpose in this very sense we are said to glorifie i. e. to confess and acknowledge God or make him appear in our works as in that emphatical place of St. John where our Saviour told his Disciples herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and that of the Apostle to the Corinthians Ye are bought with a price there glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's From hence you may perceive that the Glory of God in the moral signification in which it is proposed for the supream End of all human Actions hath a near alliance and reference unto the phrase in the Physical sense thereof for as in this it signifies the visible manifestation or appearance of God in Fire Light Clouds and other refracted colours so in that it signifies the visible manifestation of him in the course of mens Lives So in that the sense of my Text is plainly this Whether you Eat or Drink or whatsoever you do do all to the manifestation of God let him appear in your Conversation make publick recognition of him in your Lives and so order all your Affairs and behave your selves in all your Actions that the World may see that your Souls are possest with a due sense of him and that he is
in you of a truth To this purpose saith the Apostle Phil. i. 10. Approve the things that are Excellent that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Christ Jesus unto the glory and praise of God And so true and exact is this Analogy between the Physical and Moral Glory of God that every righteous person who lives in obedience and subjection to his Laws and walks as a Child of Light doth as effectually declare and set forth God and his Special Presence in himself unto the World as if the Cloud of Glory which filled the House of the Lord constantly surrounded his Temples unto him Face to Face as he did unto Moses as a man speaketh unto his Friend What the Psalmist said of the Heavens may be truly said of Divine and Heavenly men they declare the Glory of God they set forth his Power and Wisdom and Goodness and all his other Adorable Perfections they visibly bear his Image in being conformed unto the likeness of his Son their Holy lives are a Comment upon his blessed Nature they Preach him continually by their Example In a word as the Apostle said of the Stars they are the visible Epistle of Christ to the World written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God they are the Light of the World burning and shining Lights and so shine before men that they may see their good Works and be brought in like manner by the benefit of their example to glorifie their Father which is in Heaven Having now explained the true and genuine Notion of Gods Glory which the Christian Philosophy proposes for the Supream end of Human Actions I proceed in the second place to make a general division of Human Actions into their several kinds that I may the better shew under each kind how we may make God and the sense we have of his infinite Majesty and of our duty to him appear in all our Actions or how we may direct all our Actions to his Glory as unto their supream end For as Cicero saith Nulla vitae pars neque publicis neque privatis neque forensibus neque domestieis in rebus neque si tecum agas quid neque si cum altero contrabans vacare officio potest There is no part of our lives whether we be imployed in Publick or Private Matters in business belonging to the Law or in our Domestical Affairs whether we have to deal with ourselves alone or whether we have to deal with others but it is attended with certain duties in the constance performance of which we make it appear to all the World that there is an Eternal and Immutable distinction between Good and Evil and that there is a God infinitely Wise and Just and Powerful that will judge every man according to his Works Nay in observing these duties which attend us in all our Actions we shew unto all the World the power of the divine assistance within us by which we are enabled so to act and that principle of holy love and fear in our hearts which makes us so constant and regular in conforming our Actions unto the Laws of God But this division of humane actions by Cicero is defective in this that it only concerns our secular actions omitting one considerable part of our lives which ought to be spent in the Temple and in divine worship and therefore laying it aside I shall prefer the Scriptural division of human actions as the most perfect and comprehensive with respect to their objects God our Neighbour and our selves This distinction is founded on Tit. ii 12. where the Apostle tells That the Gospel teaches all men that we should live righteously soberly and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I shall begin with the first branch of this distinction which concerns those actions of ours which have God for their object and are immediately conversant about him as when we speak of him from him or to him be it in Prayers Praises or Vows or in Swearing by his Holy Name In all these cases we immediately direct our selves unto God and when we so behave our selves in them as to let others see the mighty sense we have of his Infinite Majesty and how much we love fear admire and adore him then and only then he appears in those actions which indeed tend no otherwise to his Glory then as they are declarative of his existence and absolute perfections as of his Sovereignty Providence Power Truth Wisdom and Goodness and he that treats him in this Religious manner when he hath occasion to be any of those ways conversant about him doth manifest his Eternal Power and Godhead as effectually as if God stood by him as he did by Moses in a flame of fire in the Bush Wherefore whensoever we have occasion to mention God or speak to others in his Name or whensoever we offer up Prayer or Praises or make Vows unto him or call upon him in Solemn Oaths to attest the Truth of what we Swear let us do it in a manner suitable to his infinite Majesty in such a manner as will serve to express and declare to others what awful and serious apprehensions we have of his most Excellent Nature and if we do so we need not doubt but our Religious Behaviour will make very sensible impressions upon them and contribute more or less like the Sight of his Glory to strike into them the Fear and Reverence of his Holy Name When St. Paul discoursed with Felix concerning the Faith in Christ he did it in such a manner that as he reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgement to come Felix Trembled and had the Glory of God rested all the while upon the Apostle What could the Governour have done more Thus the Presence of God appeared so eminently in the Words and Actions of St. Ambrose when he forbid the Emperor Theodosius in God's name to enter into the Church that his Majesty could not have been more humbled and penitent for the innocent blood shed at Thessalonica altho' he had seen the Cloud of Glory hang over the Temple or encircle the Head of the Divine Prelate while he spoke unto him The Historian tell us that he returned unto his Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sighing Theodor. l. 5. c. 18. and weeping and from these without multiplying other examples we may learn how much God may be glorified and made appear in those actions of men which are immediately conversant about him Hither we must also reduce the Glory that accrues unto God by the Respect and Observance which we ought to shew towards all Things Times Persons and Places which belong unto him as to the Scriptures because they are his Word to the Clergy because they are his Ministers to the Church because it is his House to the
Christian Religion because it is his Religion and to the First Day of the Week because it is the Lords Day All these things challenge a particular respect from us different from all other things of the same name and kind upon the account of their relation unto God and when we treat them with reverence for his sake the honour of it redounds to him because every action of that Nature is a solemn Ackowledgement and Declaration that he is the Great and Holy God These are all genuine duties and effects of Godliness or Religiousness as it is distinguished from other parts of Christian Piety But alas how little of it is practised in this Prophane Age How little Religious and how much Profane and Atheistical discourse is now to be heard in all Companies Nay how is the Worship of God which above all other things is ordained for his Glory dishonoured and profaned and almost perverted to the contrary End by the irreverent and unworthy carriage of man To see how many men behave themselves in the Service of God would tempt an indifferent man to believe that they designed not to acknowledge Wisdom Power and Goodness and their trust in and dependance upon his infinite Majesty but rather to deny him in the Action and declare to all the World that Religion is nothing but Superstition and that it is very uncertain whether there is a God or no or if there be whether or no he concerns himself in the Government of the World To this if we add the general practice of Rash and Vain Swearing on one hand and Solemn Perjuries on the other together with that utter disrespect which is now accounted brave and generous to cast upon all Things and Persons which belong unto God we must needs acknowledge that there are great numbers of men among us who tho' they may profess God yet in their Works deny him being so far from doing whatsoever they do to his Glory that there Actions tend and it is to be feared many of them are designed to extirpate the Notions of him out of mens Minds his Fear out of their Consciences and his Name and Religion out of the World II. So much for the first kind of Human Actions which immediately regard God from whence I proceed to the second which are such as regard our Neighbours and are practised in our Dealing and Conversation with them and in these Actions this is the Rule That they tend to Gods Glory when they tend to the Good of Men and are declarative of that excellent and comprehensive Virtue in us which the Greeks call Philanthrophy the Latines Humanity and the Christian Religion Love This is the general Supream Law which God hath commanded men that they should love one another according to that repeated Precept of our Saviour This is my Commandment and these things I command you that you love one another and that you love one another as I have loved you This reiterated Precept of our blessed Saviour made the Apostle say unto the Thessalonians Now as touching brotherly Love ye need not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another and this saith St. John in his Epist Gener. is the Message that ye have heard from the beginning that ye love one another St. Paul in several places gives us the reason why our Lord so carefully enjoyn'd this duty upon us because it is the fulfilling of the Second Table of the Law By love saith he Gal. 5. serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thy self And love faith the Rom. 13. Worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law This Character of Love which the Apostle gives us is indeed Negative but as all other Negatives are it is founded in positive sense so that his meaning is at large this love worketh no ill but worketh all manner of good to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law In these two prime effects of love to do no ill and to do all manner of good are founded the Laws of Justice and Charity and in these two are comprehended all the duties which every man owes to other men For Justice powerfully restrains us from doing any harm or injury to our Neighbour and Charity pushes us on to do him all good Offices and Kindness and therefore all just and Charitable Actions which spring from the Divine Root of Humanity or Love must needs tend to the Glory of God and the manifestation of his Divine Nature who as St. John saith is love and who in the Saxon Tongue from which the Dialect of our Country is but one remove is called God because he is good as in our Saviours answer to the Ruler who called him good Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or man man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is one good save only God According to this Derivation of his Name the Apostle saith That Love is of God and that every one that loveth is born of God and he that loveth not or hath not the grace of Love in him knoweth not God for God is Love or made up of Love and kindness to men No man hath seen God at any time if we Love one another God dwelleth in us and his Love is perfected in us and hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit of Love In these words dwelleth and dwell the Apostle emphatically alludes to the Schechinah or Glory by which God manifested his Presence in the Jewish Tabernacle or Temple and the meaning of them is that we cannot give better Evidence of Gods abiding in us and dwelling in our Souls than by the Spirit and temper of Love if we would make it appear to the World that he is in us or that we are of him and conformed unto his Image and Example nay if we would maike it appear that we are acquainted with his divine Nature or declare that we believe he hath Loved us Nay would we shew our Obedience to his strictest and dearest Command which he hath exemplified in his Son or give a right proof to others that we love him as he hath loved us it must be by conforming all our dealings with men to the Rules of Justice and Charity which are the the genuine and immediate effects of Love Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him and this Commandment we have from him that be who loveth God loveth his Brother also Nay furthermore the best proof that we can give to our selves and others that we are Regenerate persons and have passed from a state of death unto life is our love to our Fellow-Christians for saith the Apostle We know that we have