SERMON XXVII.

THE IMPORT AND APPLICATION OF GLORIFYING GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

1 Peter iv. 11.

THAT GOD IN ALL THINGS MAY BE GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST; TO WHOM BE PRAISE AND DOMINION FOR EVER AND EVER; AMEN.

It is one great excellence of the Gospel, that it contains motives adapted to every period of the moral and religious progress, and to every circumstance and condition of life. Among the systems of the ancient philosophers, there was no one possessed of this excellence. Some, as the Epicurians, took virtue at its commencement, and directed the attention to views, which are of real importance to lead the young and inexperienced to the right path; but there they stopped: their doctrines were calculated to hinder the progress of virtue; to fix the mind on those motives which are valuable only when subordinate; and to prevent all the elevated, refined, and disinterested features in which it sometimes presents itself. Others, as the Stoics, contemplated virtue only at its higher elevations; and though their moral system was much better fitted than the former,

to produce and cherish some of the most dignified dispositions, yet it was too refined and elevated for the great bulk of mankind, and left out of view all those steps, by which the heights on which they themselves stood were to be attained. I need scarcely add, that among none existed those grand and comprehensive views of the character and dispensations of God, which are so effectual to guide the footsteps in the way of duty, and to animate and purify the heart.

In the Gospel, the unspeakable gift of God, we have all these. We have the most plain and salutary directions for our conduct and dispositions, in all the circumstances of life, and in every branch of duty; and we are supplied with various motives, fitted to alarm the sinner and reclaim him from the path of destruction, to strengthen the bruised reed, to fan the smoking flax, to support the wavering heart, to edify those who have sincerely chosen God and Christ for their portion, and to lead them on in those paths which shine more and more unto the perfect day.

It is an exalted and ennobling motive which is held out to us by the Apostle in my text. He who feels and habitually acts upon it, is a Christian in deed and in truth; and in proportion as any one makes the spirit of it the principle and guide of his heart and life, must he be regarded as the disciple of Him, whose meat it was to do the will of the great Being who sent him, and to finish his work.

In discoursing from these words, I shall first endeavor to explain their import; and secondly, to show their application.

I. Respecting the import of the expression "That God may in all things be glorified,”—

It is clear that the essential glory and excellence of the divine perfections, cannot be affected by anything that can be done, or by any tribute which can be offered, by the highest created intelligences: "His glorious name is exalted above all blessing and praise."* But the glory of God, as alone it can be affected by his creatures, consists in the homage and service which they render him, and in the manifestation of his glorious perfections and the accomplishment of the great ends of his moral administration-the virtue and happiness of his intelligent offspring.

In the Scriptures, the word "glorify " is often used in reference to God; and the force of it may be easily perceived by considering a few of the instances in which it is employed. It frequently denotes express acts of religious homage, praise, and worship. "Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me." And so in the 86th Psalm, "All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before Thee, and shall glorify thy name; for Thou art great and doest wondrous things; Thou art God alone." And in like manner we read in the Gospel, that those who saw the wonderful displays of divine power manifested in the miracles of Christ, "glorified the God of Israel,"-expressed their admiring praise of Him by whose power they were wrought.

The expression is also used in many important passages, somewhat more generally, to denote, not merely direct acts of religious worship, but also the homage of the heart and the life. In this sense it is used, where our Saviour says, in his sermon on the Mount, "Let your

light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy. ways, hast thou not glorified," was part of the serious charge of the Prophet against the impious Belshazzar. "Ye are bought with a price," says the Apostle Paul,* "therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's:" a passage which may be regarded as closely corresponding with his noble exhortation,† "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

And there is one other connected meaning of the expression. In the Gospel of St. John it occurs in several passages, with a particular reference to the displays of the divine perfections in the Christian dispensation, and the accomplishment of the great and glorious ends for which Christ was sent into the world. This is clearly the case in that interesting scene which took place in the Temple, a few days before our Lord's crucifixion, when, after referring to those sufferings through which he was to fulfil the purposes of his heavenly Father, he said, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name ;”—illustrate in and by me, in that way thou seest best, thy glorious perfections, and accomplish thereby the purposes of love and mercy for which thou didst send me into the world. And to a similar purport is the reply made by God himself to this expression of

devout acquiescence and of devotement to his will and service, "I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

On the whole, to glorify God, in the scriptural sense of the expression, includes the offering of praise and worship; the less direct, but not less acceptable offering of the heart and life; and the promotion of the interests of religion and virtue in the world. We glorify God by whatever manifests right sentiments and affections concerning his perfections, laws, and providence, and by whatever promotes them amongst others. We may glorify God by our public homage, or our private devotion, by our labors or by our sufferings, by our instructions or by our example; and we may glorify him too by our self-denial, our submission, patience, and resignation.

And all this, according to the apostolic direction, should be done "through Jesus Christ." He was desirous, that those to whom he addressed his invaluable Epistle, should, in all things-by what they did, by what they taught, and by what. they suffered-glorify God through Jesus Christ. The import of this expression may be clearly perceived from the corresponding passage of the Apostle Paul, in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Colossians, "Whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,”—do all under the guidance of his precepts, and under the habitual influence of his spirit,-do all as those who own his authority here, and must one day stand before his tribunal. And, in like manner, in the words of my text, the Apostle Peter's desire was, that his fellow Christians should, in all things, glorify God, by the right use of