[2.] It is the evidence of our interest in the Son. Those that mind Christ's glory, he mindeth their salvation. He is interceding for you in heaven when you are glorifying him on earth ; he is doing your business in heaven when you are doing his business in the world; lie is your advocate, and you are his bailiffs and factors: Mat. x. 32, ' Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.' When you own Christ in the world, and avow his name and truth in the world, you shall lose no- thing. When you come to pray, Christ will own you : Father, hear him, this is one of mine. You cannot honour Christ so much as he will honour yon. When carnal men come to pray, Christ saith, 'I know them not.' Oh ! it is sad to be disowned in the court of heaven, when Christ disclaimeth any interest or intendment in his purchase for us, they are nothing akin to me, are none of mine. When we do all things for by-ends, we disclaim God for a paymaster, and therefore must look for our reward elsewhere.
[3.] It is a sign of your interest in the Spirit : John xvi. 14, ' He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you ;' that enlightening, quickening comfort and refreshing which we have, when it is used to the glory of Christ, it is a sign the Spirit dwelleth in us.
2. Because the glorifying of God in Christ is the great condition of the covenant of grace. God hath made a bargain with believers to give them grace, and by way of return he expecteth glory. All the l^rivileges of the covenant are leased out to the heirs of the promise, and this is the rent and acknowledgment which God hath reserved to himself. See the form of this contract, Ps. 1. 15, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' In all experiences of grace God will be glorified. Glory and praise are the
VePv. 10.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 261
revenues of the crown of heaven, and all the persons of the Godhead are joint-possessors ; the Father will be glorified, the Son and the Spirit will be glorified too. Well, then, they that expect all comfort, and do not regard dut}^ they mistake the tenor of the covenant. God must needs be angry when we deny him his rent and acknowledgment; 5'ou forfeit your lease and charter, and how will you do to pray with confidence ? It is notable in the covenant of grace, what God doth to us in a way of mercy, the creatures return to God again in a way of duty. God justifieth, sanctifieth, glorifieth the creature, these are the great blessings of the covenant ; and in our way we are to do it again to God to justify, sanctify, and glorify God. To justify God : Luke vii. 29, 'And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justi- fied God, being baptized with the baptism of John.' To sanctify God: Isa. viii. 13, ' Sanctify the Lord of hosts in your hearts ;' and here, 'I am glorified in them.' We are to justify God, his ways against the cavils of the world, the riches of grace against the prejudices of our own hearts ; to sanctify God, to set him aloof in point of fear and trust, above all the powers and excellences in the world, as to sanctify is to set apart from common use ; and then we glorify him when we advance him in our thoughts, and faith, and esteem. Our best thoughts are but a disgrace to the Godhead ; he is advanced far above all blessing and praise; yet God counteth he hath another throne when he is ex- alted in thy heart.
3. Because we gratify the aim of God. God's great end in all his dispensations is to glorify his Son, and in his Son himself ; God seeketh his own glory by glorifying Christ in our nature. We had neither had word, nor gospel, nor Christ, nor grace, but for his glory. It is said, Prov. xvi. 4, ' The Lord hath made all things for himself ;' that is, for the manifestation of his glory ; for God, being so perfect as he is, can no other ways be advanced ; it must be, therefore, to make himself known. He made the world that he might be glorified, and for the same reason he made us in Christ: Eph. i, 12, ' That we should be to the praise of his glory,' 669 TO ehat ; all that we are in religion is for this end. We had need respect God's glory, for we owe all that we have to it ; God is set upon it : 1 Sam. ii. 30, ' They that honour me, I will honour.'
Use 1. Information. We lose nothing by glorifying Christ ; it is a pledge of our interest in his intercession. We shall have this honour and comfort, that Christ will be our advocate. In the world we are like those six hundred that were David's companions in the wilderness, they had hard service and little wages ; but when David was crowned in Hebron, they were all advanced to offices and places of power and trust. In the world, if we glorify Christ indeed, we shall meet with hard entertainment, but j^ou will not repent of it when Christ appeareth in the day of his royalty. Nay, for the present you will lose nothing ; worldly losses are made up in spiritual comforts, and that is a good ex- change. Do but observe Peter's question and Christ's answer : Mat. xix. 27, 28, 'Peter said, Behold we have forsaken all, and followed thee, what shall we have therefore ? ' In Peter's question we may observe, that albeit we suffer little for Christ, we think much of it. Peter's case was poor and slender. Alas ! what did he leave ? A poor cot- tage, a net, a fishing-boat ; he had no lands nor heritage : from a