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4. There are some things which do most please God, as things eminently good are acceptable to him in the highest degree ; as, for instance, faith in Christ is ])leasing to God, but a strong faith is more acceptable than a weak, which needeth props and crutches : John xx. 29, ' Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed ; ' that is more pleasing and acceptable to God. So love to God is also an acceptable thing, but a fervent love doth more please him: John xiv. 21, 'He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him ; ' Ps. cxlvii. 11, ' The Lord taketh i)leasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy/ So for obedience to God : 1 Thes. iv. 1, ' Furthermore then, Ave beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.' So for duties to men ; the apostle had mentioned ' goodness, righteousness, and truth,' now ' proving what is acceptable to God ; ' that is, what is the eminent discovery of any of these graces, that you may excel in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. A renewed man should practise all christian graces and virtues in the highest degree, that he may be more pleasing unto God, that he may be eminent in the faith and love of Christ, and goodness and righteousness to men. Therefore we should not barely inquire what is our duty, but what is well-pleasing and most accept- able to God.
Dock That proving what is acceptable to God is one great duty which belongeth to the children of light.
I shall explain this point by these considerations —
First, Our great end and scope should be to please God, and be accepted with him. The apostle speaketh in his own name, and in the name of all that are like-minded with himself : 2 Cor. v. 9, ' Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.' That is a christian's scope and work, and this he carrieth on living or dying. In the body it is his business to please God, out of the body it is his happiness to be accepted with him. While he is in the body, he would be found still in a course of pleasing God ; and when he goeth out of the body, he would be found in a state of well-pleasedness and acceptation ; one cannot be without the other. ■ And it must needs be so —
1. With respect to God, whose favour ife our happiness, whose wrath is our misery, upon whom we depend for life and being and all things. Dependence begets observance. Men take themselves to be obliged to I)lease those on whom they have their whole dependence, and are very care- ful not to offend them, if possible; and if they be offended, to be speedily reconciled to them. As the men of Tyre, Acts xii. 20, when Herod was highly displeased with them, ' They came with one accord to him, and having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace, because their country was nourished by the king's country.' The mat- ter stands thus between us and God, his displeasure is our destruction : 1 Cor. x. 5, ' And with many of them Gfod was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.' His being pleased is our
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liappiness, both here and hereafter. Here we need him, his presence with us, to direct us in our doubts, to relieve us in our straits, to supply us in our wants, to comfort us in all our troubles, and to strengthen us against our weaknesses. Now they that would have the comfort of God's presence and company in all conditions, and have so much to do with God in the world, they ought to set themselves to please God, and observe his will in all things according to his word : John viii. 29, ' And he that hath sent me is with me : the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always the things that please him ; ' 1 John iii. 22, ' And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.' And hereafter our happiness lietli in our presence with God ; and indeed the one can- not be without the other. None can live with God hereafter but those that take care to please God before they go hence: Heb. xi. 5, 'By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him ; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.'
2. With respect to man, who may be considered either as to his first creation or renovation by Christ. The first creation infers an obliga- tion, our renovation by Christ an inclination to do things grata Deo, acceptable and well-pleasing to God.