CVIII.

SERM. should aim at that, only that he may glorify God by it: and in whatsoever a man doth in order to it, he may lawfully aim at his own Salvation, and have an eye to the recompense of reward; but that should be in order to his glorifying God for ever. So that this ought to be the ultimate or last end of all our actions, in respect of which, all other ends which we propose to ourselves should be but as means that tend to it: otherwise we can never obey this command which our Almighty Creator hath here laid upon us by His Apostle, saying, "Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

This I confess, at first sight, may seem a very hard lesson: at least, I fear it is but seldom practised; mankind in general looking no farther than to gratify their flesh with the pleasures, their eyes with the riches, or their fancies with the honours of this world. One or other of these is the only end that most men aim at in every thing they do. But that reasonable creatures, and such too as pretend to be Christians, should make such things as these the end of any, much more of all their actions, is one of the most unaccountable things in nature. There can be no reason assigned for it, except this one, that reasonable creatures themselves will act without reason, and against it too; suffering their appetites, their passions, or their humours to overpower their judgments, and put out or stifle that little light that is within them; so that they can look no farther than to such things as are present, and lie just before them, even the little inconsiderable trifles of this world, which can never do them any real good, as their own reason, if it was duly consulted, would soon convince them: and so it would too, that there is nothing in this world worth our aiming at but the glory of God; but that that will answer all the ends we can in reason propose to ourselves in any thing we do, and by consequence ought to be first and chiefly intended; which is the last thing I promised to shew.

IV. And it is a thing that may be easily done. I need not go from my text for it for we cannot but all acknowledge that there is all the reason in the world that the will of Him That made us and gives us power to act should be the rule and standard of all our actions. But here we see

that He hath declared it to be His will, that "whatsoever we do, we should do it to His glory." And if it be His will, it must needs be our duty and we are bound always to observe it, as ever we desire that any thing we do should be good and acceptable in His sight.

:

Although this be reason enough why we ought to do all things to the glory of God, and we ought to do so only for that reason; yet, to explain and press it a little farther, we may observe, that God being infinitely wise, and good, whatsoever end He proposeth to Himself in what He doth, must needs be the wisest and the best that can be: and that we and all who are capable of it are bound to imitate Him as near as we can; to "be holy as He is holy," and to be 1 Pet. 1. 15. "followers of God as dear children;" and so to carry on the Eph. 5. 1. same designs, and to aim at the same end as He doth, in every thing that we do by Him. But whatsoever He doth, He doth it only for His Own glory; as the wise man saith, "the Lord hath made all things for Himself." "For Him- Prov. 16. 4. self," that is, for the manifestation of Himself, His Wisdom, His Power, His Goodness, His Mercy, and all His Divine Perfections; which, as I have shewed, is that which He Himself calls His glory, and which the Scriptures always mean by that word. So that to do all things for Himself, is the same as to do all things for His Own glory. Thus He Himself explains it, saying, "this people have I formed for Isa. 43. 21. Myself, they shall shew forth My praise." And in the same chapter again, " I have created him for My glory." And as ver. 7. it was for this end that He made all things, it is for this end that He governs and orders all things that He hath made. As He said to Pharaoh, "And in very deed for this cause Exod. 9. 16. have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee My power; and that My Name may be declared throughout all the earth." And so in the case of Lazarus, when our Saviour heard that

he was sick, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but John 11. 4, for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." The same may be said of every thing God doth; He doth it for His Own glory. Neither can we imagine for what other end He can do any thing, being infinitely happy in Himself; and therefore, in order to our imitating Him, as we are bound, according to our capacities, we must do so

CVIII.

SERM. too: whatsoever we do, we must do it "to the glory of God;" and so carry on the same design in the world that God Himself doth, which must needs be acknowledged to be as much our interest as it is our duty; for we shall hereby "walk as Enoch" did, "with God," in His steps, and so continue always in His favour, and under His protection.

[Gen. 5. 24.]

And, besides, as God made all things else, so He made mankind in general, and us in particular for Himself. He did not make us to rake in kennels, and to scrape together the dust and dirt of the earth; to stand gaping after popular air, nor yet to sit still and do nothing: He did not make us to wallow like swine in the mire, or to gratify our flesh with brutal pleasures: He did not make us for the devil, to be his slaves and vassals; nor for this wicked world, to follow the pomps and vanities of it; neither did He make us for ourselves, to humour and please ourselves, or to seek our own honour or applause: but He made us wholly and solely for Himself, to serve and glorify Him: and unless we do that, we do not answer His end in making us, and so live to no purpose in the world. And whatsoever it is we do, that doth not tend to that end, will turn to no account at all; it I would have been better for the world if it had never been done, and for us if we had never done it; and, therefore, as ever we desire not to labour in vain, and to no purpose, or which is worse, to an ill one, "whatsoever we do, we must do it to the glory of God."

Especially considering, that as God made us for this end, so it is for this end that He still preserves and supports us in our being it is for this end He gives us health, and strength, and life, and all things necessary to it: it is for this end He continues our senses and reason to us, and all the powers and faculties of our souls: it is for this end He hath revealed His will and pleasure to us, that we know how to do it yea, it is for this end He redeemed us to Himself with the blood of His Only-begotten Son; so that we are none of our own, but are "bought with a price;" and 1 Cor. 6. 20. therefore, as the Apostle argues, should "glorify God both in our body and in our spirit, which are His." And if we be wholly His, as we certainly are, then we ought to be wholly employed in His service: but we are capable of

serving Him no other way, but only by promoting His honour and glory in the world: which, therefore, we are bound to endeavour in every thing we do: otherwise He will look upon us as idle and unprofitable servants, and "cast us," as such, "into outer darkness:" whereas, if we [Matt. 25. 30.] do all we can to honour Him, He Himself will honour us. We have His Own Word for it, saying, "Them that honour 1Sam. 2.30. Me, I will honour." And, "if any man serve Me," saith John 12. 26. Christ, "him will My Father honour." And what can we desire more, than to be honoured by God Himself? "This [Ps. 149.9.] honour have all the Saints;" all who, "whether they eat or drink, or whatsoever they do, do all to the glory of God."

What now remains, but that knowing our duty, we should all resolve, by God's assistance, for the future to do it? For which purpose, in every thing we do, especially that is of weight and moment, let us remember the end for which God Himself would have us do it, and do it only for that end. Whatsoever we think will tend to His glory, let us set about it with all our might: but whatsoever may cast any dishonour upon Him, let us avoid and shun, although we were sure to get the whole world by it. Every morning let us consider what we can do that day for Him Who gives us all we have and at night, whether we have done it or no. Whatsoever talents God hath put into our hands, let us remember that we are but stewards, not proprietors of them; and therefore improve them only for our Master's use. In short, from this time forward, let this be the great end and design we carry on in the world, even to glorify Him That sent us hither, and redeemed us to Himself for that very purpose. Let us but do this, and then we may be confident that we shall live under His care and protection, and have His love and favour, His blessing and assistance attending us all our days upon earth; and at length shall get to Heaven, where we shall both glorify and enjoy Him for ever, through His Only Son: to Whom, &c.

SERMON CIX.

ALL THINGS TO BE DONE IN THE NAME OF CHRIST.

COL. iii. 17.

And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving Thanks to God and the Father by Him.

THERE are three ways whereby we come to the knowledge of things, and are moved to act accordingly; our senses, our reason, and faith: the first we have as animals; the second as men; the third as Christians. By our senses we perceive only gross and material objects, with their several accidents and qualities, as their colour, their smell, their taste, their sound; whether they be soft or hard, and the like these we have in common with other animals, which are affected only with such kind of things, and with them only as they seem, every one to its proper sense, to agree or not to agree with their natural constitution and temper. By reason we can lay many such things together, reflect upon them, gather inferences from them, and improve them to our best advantage, not only as we are single persons, but likewise as we are of societies, and converse together by it we can abstract our thoughts from matter, and exercise them upon things that have no dependence upon it, such as the truth and falsehood of a metaphysical proposition, and the like: by it we can raise up our minds so far above all sensible objects, that we can contemplate upon Him who made and governs them, and from thence can see how much it concerns us to do what we can to please Him; and foresee, that we must one day give an account to Him of all our actions, and be happy or miser