VOL. XIII. I
130 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXI.
2 Cor. i. 20, ' For all the promises of God in liim are yea, and in him amen, to the glory of Grod by us ; ' and Heb. xiii. 17, ' Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account.' The master and parent his work, and he is to glorify God as a master and parent ; the parent is to bring up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Eph. iv. 6 ; the master hath a master in heaven, Eph. vi. 9. The servant his work, Titus ii. 10. It was well said of Epictetus the heathen, If I were a nightingale, I would sing as a nightingale ; or if I were a lark, I would peer as a lark ; but now I am a man, I will glorify God as a man, and praise him without ceasing. If a poor man, I will glorify him by my patient, innocent content- edness and humble submission; if rich, by liberality and public usefulness; when well, I will glorify God by my health, being hard at work for him ; when sick, by meekness and patience ; if a magistrate, by my zeal and activity ; if a minister, by diligence and faithfulness: if a tradesman, by my righteous and conscionable dealing. So that from Christ to the meanest christian, from the king to the meanest scullion, all should be at work for God ; for every man is sent into the world for some cause, and born for some end or other, to act that part upon the stage of the world which the great master of the scenes appointeth.
[4.] All our sufficiencies, gifts and abilities were given us for tliis end. Every man hath some gift, more or less, as well as some relation, as Mat. XXV., every man received his talent; and he that had but one talent, was to give an account of it. Now all these must be improved for God. As the husbandman, when he scattereth his seed on the earth, looketh for a crop and increase ; so when God scattered his gifts, it was not to dispossess himself, but that they might be used for his glory. Every gift and grace received is not barely donum, a gift, but talentum, a talent. We are stewards, and not owners ; not to act for ourselves, but to honour our master. Therefore what honour and glory hath God by our gifts and graces ? God hath dominium, we have but dispensationem. It is ours for use, but not ours for "enjoyment ; as a factor entrusted with his master's goods ; at length it will be seen how we have improved them.
[5.] The end much varieth the nature of the action. It maketh an act to be of another kind ; an indifferent action by the end may become a duty ; a meal is an act of worship ; alms, a sacrifice, Heb. xiii. 18 ; trading for God an act of religion, as well as prayer. On the other side, a duty by the. end may become a sin; as prayer is howling, Hosea vii. 14, when it hath only a natural or a carnal end ; fasting, the bending of a bulrush, Isa. Iviii. 5 ; obedience, murder, Hosea i. 4. Jehu did not the Lord's work sincerely, but for his own base ends and interests. He was anointed at God's command to execute judgment on Ahab's house, 2 Kings ix. 6, 7, and was tem- porally rewarded for it, 2 Kings x. 30 ; his children to the fourth generation should sit on the throne of Israel ; yet 'I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.' Why ? Because he did it only to get a kingdom to himself; and though he executed God's quarrel on Ahab and his house, yet he clave to the idolatry of
VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHL\NS V. 13l
Jeroboam for securing his interest. So reformation may be a covetous design ; non pietate everternnt idola, sed avaritia. Indeed an act for the matter sinful is not altered by the end : for I must not do evil that good may come thereof ; nor use the devil to serve God. But how vile is it then to make God serve with our iniquities, and use his worship as a stale to our own ends !
SERMO>^ XXII.
For tcJiether toe be beside ourselves, it is to God, or icliether lue be sober, it is for your cause. — 2 Cor. v. 13.
Use is to press you to make this your great aim, to glorify God. You must take care, not only negatively, that God be not dishonoured, but positively, that he be honoured and glorified by you, and that in all states and conditions, and also in all businesses and employments. Some have wholly deviated from their great end, and are not yet come to themselves ; and live unprofitably in the world, and do nothing but eat, and drink, and play, and sleep ; they live to themselves, and to their own ease and carnal delights. Alas ! what are these men good for ? To what end have they reason and conscience ? Some things, if they be not good for one thing, yet are good for another ; but a man, if he doth not know God, and love God, and delight in God, and seek the glory of God, is like the wood of the vine, Ezek. xv. 2-4, good for nothing : not so much as to make a pin whereon to hang anything ; good for nothing but to be cast into the fire, and to reflect upon the glory of his justice, to be fuel for the Lord's indignation. Another sort are those who are convinced they should live to God, and do now and then look after him, but are not so overcome by grace, as that this sliould be the overruling principle in their hearts. The last end is principium iiniversalissimum ; it should have an universal in- fluence upon us, and be minded and regarded in all our desires, pur- poses, actions, enjoyments, relations. God's glory should be at the utmost end of every business ; nothing is good that is not directed to the last end ; it is done to the flesh, and not to God. It is impertinent to our gi-eat scope. First. In all our desires, if we desire increase and estate, it is to honour God with it, James iv. 3. Agur measiu-es every estate by ends of religion, Prov. xxx. 8, 9. Nay, spiritual things must be desired, in order to God's glory, Eph. i. 6. AVe must not please oui-selves merely, in the consideration of our own happiness and per- sonal benefit, but as God's glory is promoted by it. Secondly, Our pur- poses. Dependence is the proper notion of a created being ; man hath God for principi^im et finem. It is no more lawful for a man to abstain from res]iecting or seeking his end than it is possible not to depend on his principle. The creature is from another, and for anotlier. Man is for God's glory, and for no other end ; as he is from God's power,