340 SERMONS UPON 2 THESSALONIANS I. [SER. XV.
their use, either as an eye, or as a hand, or as a foot, vein, sinew, artery ; so every one hath some relation which they are to improve to the glory of God and the good of others. The Mediator hath his work, and he giveth his account to God : John xvii. 4, ' I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.' The minister hath his work, and he is to ' watch as one that is to give an account,' Heb. xiii. 17. The magistrate hath his work : Horn. xiii. 4, 1 He is the minister of God for good.' The courtier hath his work : Neh. i. 11, ' Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man ; for I was the king's cup-bearer.' The master and parent, the wife, the children, the servants, have all their work, and may glorify God in their place ; so that from the highest to the meanest christian, all should be at work for God.
(5.) You must observe and keep a constant reckoning how you glorify God in Christ. What have I done in pursuit of my great end ? Com- paring our way with our end and rule is the way to awaken us : Ps. cxix. 59, ' I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimon- ies.' Alas J many rise, and eat, and drink, and sleep, and trade, and die, and there is all that can be said of them ; little have they served God, and done any good in their generation. Consider frequently and seriously, what is it that my soul doth principally aim at in all that I do ? For whom are you at work ? For whom are you speaking and spending your time ? To whose use do you employ your souls and bodies, your time, estate, labours, and cares ? What is it sets you a-work, and doth most sway with you ? What do I live for ? What is thy end in all these things ? Christ said, ' I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me,' John viii. 50. To whom should we live but to him from whom and by whom we live ?
(6.) Consider what cause we have to bless God for Jesus Christ and the great mercies of our redemption. Our love is but the reflex of God's love, the beating back of his beam upon himself, because he loved us in Christ. He showed love to us in creation, when we started out of nothing into the life and being of men ; but more love in redemption, when his Son came to die for us, Kom. v. 8 ; 1 John iv. 10, ' Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' This astonishing instance of his love should mightily excite us to a zeal for his glory and a delight in his service, yea, to part with and leave all for his sake, and to give up ourselves wholly to him, Kom. x.
2. The means to help us.
[1.] The new nature is requisite, that we may in all things mind God's glory. The obligation is upon all men, the inclination only in the regenerate. It is more easy to convince us of our obligation to live to God than to get a heart and disposition to live to God ; but the new creature, that is created after God, bendeth and tendeth towards him. While we are carnal, we live to ourselves and seek ourselves : Hosea x. 1, ' Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.' But when God giveth another heart, our end is changed ; we are ' created again in Christ Jesus,' Eph. ii. 10. But to what purpose and end had we this being, but to be to the praise of the glory of his grace ? Eph. i. 12. Why was so much mercy showed to us, our persons recon-
VeR. 12.] SERMONS UPON 2 THESSALONIANS I. 341
ciled, our natures changed, but that we might glorify God, and admire his grace, and live answerably to his love, in a thankfnl obedience to his precepts, and promote his kingdom and interests in the world to the utmost of our power ?
[2.J Love to God is the immediate root and principle of this sincere aim at the glory of God in all that we do : 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, ' The love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him who died for them, and rose again.' Self-love devoteth all to self, to our own honour, and profit, and pleasure ; but love God sincerely, and then his honour will be dearer to you than your own interests. Now should we not love God, who hath made himself so amiable to us in Christ ?
[3.] Think often of God's interest in you, and what a full right he hath to all that we have, are, and can do. Every one must have his own : ' Give to Cassar the things which are Cassar's,' &c. God hath a full right and power to possess, dispose, and use the creature at his own pleasure ; therefore we that are the Lord's should live and act for the Lord. It is often pressed : 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, ' Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own ? for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's ; ' Rom. xiv. 7, 8, ' None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself : for whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord.' It is meet God should be served with his own, and therefore we must resign up ourselves to the will, use, and service of our Creator, Eedeemer, and Sanctifier : Born. xi. 36, 'Of him, and through him, and to him are all things.' As we must deduce all things from God as their first cause, so we must reduce all things to him as their last end, and devote all our time and strength to his service, use, and honour.