SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIY. 63. 307
last end, but of your chief end ; what should be the great aim of your lives, even before death comes ? All religion lies in this, in fixing the aim of your life ; all the difference between men and men is in their chief good and utmost end- In the managing of this meditation, I shall pursue it in this method ; not that I prescribe to you, but that I may set some bounds to my own discourse. However I shall use such a method as is most facile and obvious, not exceeding the capacity and reach of the meanest. The work of such a meditation may be divided into three parts — (1.) The considering work ; (2.) The plotting and contriving work ; (3.) The aro:uinof work.
First, In the considering work you may propound these or such like things to your thoughts.
1. Man was made for some end. All God's works are referred to the service and use of his glory : Prov. xvi. 4, ' The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of wrath/ God, being a wise agent, must have an end ; now God could have no other end but himself and his own glory, for the end must be more worthy than the means, something better and above all created things ; and if God made all things for himself, then man, who was the visible masterpiece of the creation, the lesser world, the compendium and sum of all God's other works. So the apostle, Kom. xi. 36, ' For of him, and through him, and to him are all things.' All things are of him as a creator, through him as a preserver, and to him, or to his glory ; from him as the first cause, to him as the last end. Certainly God did not make such a glorious creature as man for any low use. The whole creation was for man's use, and man was for God's glory : Ps. viii. 3, 4, ' When I consider the heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him ? ' He was God's deputy and vicegerent, created to enjoy the comfort of other creatures, and to exercise dominion over them ; the whole world is his palace, arched with heaven, and floored with earth, but still, that he might be faithful to his Maker, and do his homage to God, and give him the rent and tribute of his glory and praise. And therefore if the heavens do declare the glory of God, and the creeping things, and all beasts in their rank and place, much more should man, who was furnished with higher privileges, and with an higher capacity. "VTe have faculties that are especially suited to this purpose ; therefore it Ls said, 1 John v. 26, 'He hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true.' Certainly God never made such a glorious creature for wealth or pleasures, but for an higher use and piu^ose, even for himself. If you do but look upon his mind and understand- ing, you will find it to be a wrong and debasement to take it off from a spiritual use, and put it to a carnal.
2. This end is the enjoying and glorifying of God. To enjoy God is man's happiness, and to glorify God is man's work ; by glorifying God he comes to enjoy him, and he enjoyeth him that he may glorify him. Herein he differeth from other creatures ; they were made only to glorify him, not to enjoy him, but man to glorify him, and enjoy him too.
308 SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63,
[1.] He was made to enjoy him, for that is his happiness. Domine, fecisti nos propter te, et irrequieium est cor nostrum, donee perveniat ad te. The soul is made up of unlimited and restless desires ; there are such crannies and chinks in the soul that cannot be filled up but by the enjoyment of God; we were made for him, and we are not quiet till we do enjoy him. Nature will teach us to grope after an eternal good, as the Sodomites did after Lot's door in the dark : Acts xvii. 28, ' That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him.' So Ps. iv. 6, ' There be many that say, Who will show us any good ? ' It should be translated, The many say, &c. ; for this IS the voice of the multitude ; all are for good, for something that is every way satisfying and contentful. There are some remains of entire reason and right nature, as Job's messengers said, Job i. 15, ' And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.' There are some obscure instincts that are alone escaped out off the ruins of the fall, to tell us that God is our chiefest good, and therefore must be our utmost end. But the scriptures go further, and teach us that there is no way of enjoying God but in Christ, and till then man can never be happy. God is the centre of the soul, the place of the soul's rest. All things move to their own place, so should man to God. It is monstrous to see things move contrary to the impulse of nature, to see fire to descend, or a stone to leap upward ; so it is as monstrous in grace for our souls to descend, and to cleave to those things which are without us, which were made only to rest in God ; our souls are of a heavenly original, and therefore .should tend thither. Say then, This is that which will make me happy here and hereafter, and therefore why should I run elsewhere ? It is against grace and nature. There is a principle in nature by which all creatures aim at their own satisfaction ; there is a weight and propen- sion that poiseth them to their happiness. If I would show myself a christian or a man, all my comfort lieth in enjoying God in Christ : Isa. xlvi. 8, ' Remember this, and show yourselves men.' He is a beast that can satisfy his soul with the world, and he is a devil that can satisfy liis soul with sin. Let me show myself a man, and return to my own rest. Things are miserable when they do not attain their end ; so shall I be out of my place, tossed to and fro till I return to God ; the faculties of the soul are misplaced, and are as a member out of joint.