Lukes expression Act. 25. Yet as empty a thing as it is if it were of any permanency it were worthy the better regard But that that maketh it the verier vanity is that it is a thing so transitory it shall and must be done away But the glory of the great King of heaven remaineth and shall not cannot be done away for ever The glorious Majesty of the Lord endureth for ever Psal. 104. If then that be glorious much more this but how much more is more then any tongue can utter or heart conceive So that if we look at God we cannot leave out Glory 6. Nither if we speak of Glory may we leave our God and that is a fourth Point For as no other thing belongeth so properly to God as Glory so neither doth Glory belong so properly to any other person as to God The holy Martyr S. Stephen therefore calleth him The God of Glory And the holy Apostles when they speak of giving him glory do it sometimes with the exclusive parcle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the onely wise God or as the words will equally bear it onely to the wise God be glory to him and onely to him Yea and the holy Angels in that Anthem they sang upon our Saviours birth when they shared heaven and earth their severall portions allotted us our part in peace and the good will of God but with reservation of the whole glory to him Glory be to God on high and in earth peace and towards men good-will It is well and happy for us if we may enjoy our own peace and his good-will full little have we deserved either of both but much rather the contrary but we were best take heed how we meddle with his glory All other things he giveth us richly to enjoy many a good guift and perfect giving He hath not withheld from us any thing that was his and useful for us no not his only begotten Son excepted the best guift that ever was given and a pledge of all the rest Ey and he will give us a kind of glory too the Lord will give grace and glory Psal. 84. and that not a light one neither nor fading away but such as neither eye nor ear nor heart of man can comprehend so massie and so durable an eternall and exceeding weight of glory But that divine infinite incomprehensible glory that belongeth to him as supreme King of Kings as his peculiar Prerogative and the choisest flower in his Crown of that he is most jealous in that he will brook no sharer And he hath made known to us his royall pleasure in that point Esay 42. My glory will I not give to another 7. He will part with none you see it seemeth rather fifthly by the forme of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he looketh for some from us For what else is it to glorifie but to make one glorious by conferring some glory upon him which he had not or not in that degree before And to God how can that be done whose glory is perfect essentiall and infinite and to what is perfect much less to what is infinite can nothing be added What a great admirer of Virgil said of him tanta Maronis gloria ut nullius laudibus crescat nullius vituperatione minuitur was but a flaunting hyperbole farr beyond the merit of the party he meant it to But the like speech would be most exquisitely true of him of whom we now speak indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather then an hyperbole Whose Glory is truly such as all the creatures in the world should they joyn their whole forces together to do it could not make it either more or less then it is 8. We must therefore of necessity forsake the proper signification of the word Glorifie which is to adde some glory to another either in specie or in gradu which before he had not and understand it in such a sense as that the thing meant thereby may be feisible And so to Glorifie God is no more then to shew forth his glory and to manifest to our own consciences and to the world how highly we prise and esteem his glory and how earnestly we desire and as much as in us lieth endeavour it that all other men would also with us acknowledge and admire the same Sing praise to the honour of his name make his praise to be glorious Psal. 66. Not make his essence to be more glorious then it is in it self but make his praise to be more and more glorious in the eye and esteem of men That so his power his glory and mightiness of his kingdome might be knowen unto men and that men might ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name and that men might sing in the way of the Lord that great is the glory of the Lord. To endeavour by our thanksgivings confessions faith charity obedience good works and perseverance in all these to bring Gods true religion and worship into request to win a due reverence to his holy name and word to beget in others more high and honourable thoughts concerning God in all those his most eminent attributes of Wisdome Power Iustice Mercy and the rest that is in Scripture language to glorifie God 9. One thing more from the person of the Verbe and then you have all It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God may be glorified and so leave it indefinite and uncertain by whom it should be done but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye may glorifie him The thing to be done and they to do it One would think the glorious Angels and Saints in heaven were fitter instruments for such an employment then we poor sinful Worms upon earth Very true they in heaven are fitter to do it and it is best done there but there is more need of it upon earth and if it be done here in truth singleness of heart it is very well accepted Poor things God knoweth our best services are if God should value them but according to their weight and worth But in his mercy and that through Christ he graciously accepteth our unfained desires and faithful endeavours according to that truth we have be it never so little and not according to that perfection we want be it never so much Alas what is the tinckling of two little bells in a Countrey-steeple or the peoples running to the Towns-end and crying God save the King to adde any honour or greatness to the majesty of a potent Monarch Yet will a gracious Prince take those mean expressions of his subjects love as an honour done him because he readeth therein their hearty affections towards him and he knoweth that if they knew how to express themselves better they would So it is here It is not the thing done that is looked at so much as the heart Set that right first and then be the
be carried away Greater is he that is in you saith S. Iohn that is Christ then he that is in the world that is the Devil Christ came into the world on purpose to destroy the works of the Devil and he did atchieve what he came for he hath destroyed them And amongst his other works he hath destroyed this Purchase also wrung the evidences out of his hand even the handwriting that was against us and having blotted defaced and cancell'd it took it out of the way nayling it to his Cross. 28. Such was his Power his Love secondly not less which made him as willing as he was able to undertake this work of our redemption In his love and in his pitty he redeemed them Esay 63.9 There is such a height and depth and length and bredth in that Love such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every dimension of it as none but an infinite understanding can fathom Sic Deus dilexit So God loved the world But how much that so containeth no tongue or wit of man can reach Nothing expresseth it better to the life then the work it self doth That the Word should be made Flesh that the holy one of God should be made sin that God blessed for ever should be made a curse that the Lord of life and glory should suffer an inglorious death and poure out his own most precious blood to ransom such worthless thankless graceless Traitors as we were that had so desperately made our selves away and that into the hands of his deadliest enemy and that upon such poore and unworthy conditions O altitudo Love incomprehensible It swalloweth up the sence and understanding of Men and Angels fitter to be admired and adored with silence then blemished with any our weak expressions 29. I leave it therefore and go on to the next his Right When de facto we sold our selves to Satan we had de jure no power or right at all so to do being we were not our own and so in truth the title is nought and the Sale void Yet it is good against us however we may not plead the invalidity of it for so much as in reason no man ought to make advantage of his own act Our act then barreth us But yet it cannot bar the right owner from challenging his own wheresoever he finds it And therefore we may be well assured God will not suffer the Devil who is but malae fidei possessor an intruder and a cheater quietly to enjoy what is Gods and not his but he will eject him we have that word Iohn 12.21 Ejicietur now is the Prince of this world cast out and recover out of his possession that which he hath no right at all to hold 30. Sundry inferences we might raise hence if we had time I may not insist yet I cannot but touch at three duties which we owe to God for this Redemption because they answer so fitly to these three last mentioned assurances We owe him Affiance in respect of his Power in requital of his Love thankfulness and in regard of his Right Service First the consideration of his Power in our Redemption may put a great deal of comfort and confidence into us that having now redeemed us if we do but cleave fast to him and revolt not again he will protect us from Sin and Satan and all other enemies and pretenders whatsoever O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee Esay 43. If then the Devil shall seek by any of his wiles or suggestions at any time to get us over to him again as he is an unwearied sollicitor and will not lose his claim by discontinuance Let us then look to that Cornu salutis that horn of salvation that God hath raised up for us in Christ our Redeemer and flie thither for succour as to the horns of the Altar saying with David Psalm 119. I am thine oh save me and we shall be safe In all inward temptations in all outward distresses at the hour of death and in the day of judgment we may with great security commit the keeping of our souls to him both as a faithful creator and as a powerful Redeemer saying once more with David Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Psalm 31.6 31. Secondly the consideration of his love in our Redemption should quicken us to a thankful acknowledgment of his great and undeserved goodness towards us Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand of the enemy Psal. 107. Let all men let all creatures do it but let them especially If the blessings of corn and wine and oyl of health and peace and plenty of deliverance from sicknesses pestilences famines and other calamities can so affect us as to provoke at least some overly and superficial forms of thanksgiving from us how carnal are our minds and our thoughts earthy if the contemplation of the depth of the riches of Gods mercy poured out upon us in this great work of our Redemption do not even ravish our hearts with an ardent desire to pour them out unto him again in hymns and Psalms and songs of thanksgiving with a Benedictus in our mouths Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people 32. Thirdly the consideration of his Right should bind us to do him service We were his before for he made us and we ought him service for that But now we are his more then before and by a new title for he hath bought us and paid for us and we owe him more service for that The Apostle therefote urgeth it as a matter of great equity you are not your own but his therefore you are not to satisfie your selves by doing your own lusts but to glorifie him by doing his will When Christ redeemed us by his bloud his purpose was to redeem us unto God Rev. 5.9 and not to our selves and to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 and not to it And he therefore delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might the more freely and securely and without fear serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives Luke 1. which being both our bounden duty and the thing withall so very reasonable we have the more to answer for if we do not make a conscience of it to perform it accordingly He hath done his part and that which he was no way bound unto in redeeming us and he hath done it to purpose done it effectually Let it be our care to do our part for which there lie so many obligations upon us in serving him and let us also do it to purpose do it really and throughly and constantly 33. Thus is our Redemption done effectually it is also done freely which is the only point now remaining Not for price nor
performance what it can be God is both pleased and honoured therewithal Who so offereth praise glorifieth me Psal. 50. That is so he intendeth it and so I accept it 10. You have now all I would say by way of explication from these words The particulars are six First we should propose to our selves some end therein Secondly look at God Thirdly that God may have glory and that he alone may have it Fourthly Fifthly that something be done for the advancement of his glory and Lastly that it be done by us The result from the whole six taken together is That the glory of God ought to be the chiefest end and main scope of all our desires and endeavours In what ever we think say do or suffer in the whole course of our lives and actions we should refer all to this look at this as the main Whatsoever become of us and our affairs that yet God may be glorified Whether ye eat or drink saith S. Paul or whatsoever else ye do let all be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. He would have us not onely in the performance of good works and of necessary duties to intend the glory of God according to that of our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven but even in the use of the Creatures and of all indifferent things in eating and drinking in buying and selling and in all the like actions of common life In that most absolute form of prayer taught us by Christ himself as the patern and Canon of all our prayers the glory of God standeth at both ends When we begin the first petition we are to put up is that the Name of God may be hallowed and glorified and when we have done we are to wrap up all in the conclusion with this acknowledgement that to him alone belongeth all the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever 11. The glory of God you see is to be the Alpha and the Omega of all our votes and desires Infinitely therefore to be preferred not onely before riches honours pleasures friends and all the comforts and contentments the World can afford us in this life but even before life it self The blessed Son of God so valued it who laid down his life for his Fathers glory and so did many holy Martyrs and faithful servants of God value it too who laid down their lives for their Masters glory Nay let me go yet higher infinitely to be preferred even before the unspeakable joyes of the life to come before the everlasting salvation of our own souls It was not meerly a strain of his Rhetorick to give his brethren by that hyperbolical expression the better assurance of his exceeding great love towards them that our Apostle said before at Chap. 9. of this epistle that he could wish himself to be accursed to be made an Anathema to be separated and cut off from Christ for their sakes Neither yet was it a hasty inconsiderate speech that fell suddenly from him as he was writing fervente calamo and as the abortive fruit of a precipitate over-passionate zeal before he had sufficiently consulted his reason whether he should suffer it to pass in that form or not for then doubtless he would have corrected himself and retracted it upon his second thoughts as he did Acts 23. when he had inconsiderately reviled the High-Priest sitting then in the place of judicature But he spake it advisedly and upon good deliberation yea and that upon his conscience ey and upon his Oath too and as in the presence of God as you may see it ushered in there with a most solemn asseveration as the true real and earnest desire of his heart I speak the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost Not that S. Paul wished their salvation more then his own understand it not so for such a desire neither was possible nor could be regular Not possible by the law of Nature which cannot but begin at home Omnes sibi melius esse malunt quà m alteri Nor regular by the course of Charity which is not orderly if it do not so too That is not it then but this That he preferred the glory of God before both his own salvation and theirs In so much that if Gods glory should so require hoc imposibili supposito he could be content with all his heart rather to lose his own part in the joyes of heaven that God might be the more glorified then that God should lose any part of his glory for his salvation 12. And great reason there is that as his was so every Christian mans heart should be disposed in like manner that the bent of his whole desires and endeavours all other things set apart otherwise then as they serve thereunto should be the glory of God For first all men consent in this as an undoubted verity That that which is the chiefest good ought also to be the uttermost end And that must needs be the chiefest good which Almighty God who is goodness it self and best knoweth what is good proposeth to himself as the End of all his actions and that is meerly his own glory All those his high and unconceiveable acts ad intra being immanent in himself must needs also be terminated in himself And as for all those his powerful and providential acts ad extra those I mean which are exercised upon and about the creatures and by reason of that their effluxe and emanation are made better known to us then the former if we follow them to their last period we shall finde that they all determine and concenter there He made them he preserveth them he forgiveth them he destroyeth them he punisheth them he rewardeth them every other way he ordereth them and disposeth of them according to the good pleasure of his will for his own names sake and for his own glories sake That so his wisdom and power and truth and justice and mercy and all those other his divine excellencies which we are to believe and admire but may not seek to comprehend might be acknowledged reverenced and magnified Those two great acts of his most secret and unsearchable counsel then the one whereof there is not any one act more gracious the Destination of those that persevere in Faith and Godliness to eternal happiness nor any one act more full of terrour and astonishment then the other the designation of such as live and die in Sin and Infidelity without repentance to eternal destruction the scriptures in the last resolution referr them wholy to his Glory as the last End The glory of his rich mercy being most resplendent in the one and the glory of his just severity in the other Concerning the one the scripture saith that he predestinated us to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.