(3c?.) Because of the imperfection that cleaveth to our best services and actions. We show forth too much of Adam, and too little of Jesus ; and in all our best duties there is much of man to be found, but little of Christ ; therefore if he should reckon with us, and call us to an account for what is amiss, who could abide it ? Ps. cxxx. 3. There is not a man to be found who hath not some fault and failing. I might add the disproportion between our glorifyiDg of him and his glorifying us, but of that I spake before ; therefore here is no room for pride and the presumption of merit.
Use 1. To inform us that we should not be troubled at the reproach and shame we meet with in glorifying Christ ; besides that everything which relateth to Christ hath an honour put upon it for its relation to him. It is said of Moses, Heb. xi. 26, ' Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.' The people of God were most reproachfully afflicted and oppressed in Egypt. Christ was ever the head of the church, and therefore he calleth it, ' the reproach of Christ,' though little of Christ were manifested then. Besides this, the final reward of eternal glory doth abundantly recompense all our sufferings for Christ, be they never so disgraceful. Certainly if we weigh these things in a true balance, the reproach of Christ and the recompense of reward, we should put a high price and value upon the reproach of Christ, rather than disdain at it. If the cross giveth us a title to the crown, self-denial is a good bargain.
Use 2. To press you to make this your great care, to glorify Christ. It is not enough, negatively, that he be not dishonoured by you ; but, positively, that he be honoured and glorified. And here — (1.) Let me state your work ; (2.) Prescribe means ; (3.) Quicken you by a few motives.
1. Let me state your work — (1.) Fix your end and intention ; (2.) Use fit means ; (3.) By these means earnestly pursue it.
[1.] Fix your end and intention, which is, to glorify God in Christ. Till the end be fixed, we do but shoot at rovers, and live at peradven- ture and haphazard ; it is our end must fix our minds, which otherwise will be tossed up and down in a perpetual uncertainty, and be distracted by a multiplicity of objects and desires, that it cannot continue in any composed and settled frame. David beggeth this grace of God : Ps. Ixxxvi. 11, ' Unite my heart to fear thy name.' And the apostle telleth us, James i. 8, that ' a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.' A divided mind breedeth an uncertain life ; not one part of our lives will agree with another, because the whole is not firmly knit by the power of some last end, running through all. Most men's lives are but a mere lottery, because they do not fix their scope, never minding
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338 SERMONS UPON 2 THESSALONIANS I. [SER. XV.
in good earnest why they came into the world. The fancies they are governed by are jumbled together by chance ; if right, it is but a good hit, a casual thing ; they live by chance, therefore no wonder if they walk at random, since they have not proposed any certain scope and aim to themselves. Eouse up thyself then, and consider the end for which you were created and sent into the world. Our Lord saith, John xviii. 37, ' For this cause was I born, for this end was I sent into the world/ So should every one consider, For what end was I born and sent into the world ? what is my errand and business here ? Will you once sit down, and ask in good earnest, for what purpose you came into the world ? Certainly God hath made nothing in vain, but hath assigned to every creature its own use and operation. If you were made for nothing, you have nothing to do in the world but to furnish and fill up the number of things, as stones and rubbish do ; or is it merely to grow in stature, as life was given to the plants, to grow bulky and increase in length and breadth ? To what end is it to eat and drink, to play and sleep, and melt away our time and strength in ease and sensual delights? This is to play the beasts, for it is their happiness to enjoy pleasures without remorse. God gave man those higher faculties of reason and conscience to some higher use than to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. It was well said of a heathen, Si essem luscinia, &c. — If I were a nightingale, I would sing as a nightingale ; if I were a lark, I would peer as a lark ; but since I am a man, I will glorify God as a man, and praise him without ceasing. But you are born a christian, within the pale of the visible covenant ; and what is your end but to come to God by Christ, to glorify him, and to be glorified with him ? Fix that steadily and sincerely, and this end will shine to you in all your way, and direct you what you should do, and how you should live ; stick at nothing, though never so troublesome to the flesh : Phil. iii. 11, 'If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.'