3. The more ive praise God, the more we should praise him, for it is th'e gift of God. When God sees we honour him, and frame ourselves that we may be such as may honour him, by emptying and disabling ourselves to be sufficient to do him any service, he will bestow more upon us. As men cast seed upon seed where there is fruitful ground, but they will sow nothing upon a barren heath. So the more we set ourselves to do good in our places, the more we shall have advantage thereunto ; and the more we do good, the more we shall do good. When God sees we improve our talents so well that he trusts us withal, he will trust us with more.
4. Again, consider our glorifyinrf and ptramng God causeth others to do so, which is the main end wherefore we live in this world. It is the employ- ment of heaven, and we are so much in heaven as we are about this work. And when God gives us hearts to glorify him here, it is a good pledge that he will afterward glorify us in heaven. Who would lose the comfort of all this, to be barren, and yield to his base, unbelieving, dead heart ? to save a little here ? to sleep in a whole skin ? and adventure upon no good action ? Who would not rather take a course that hath such large encouragements attending it both in life and death ? I beseech you think of these things. Christ, ere long, will come to be glorified in all those that believe, 2 Thes. i. 10. He will come to be glorified in his saints. Our glory tends to his glory. Shall we not glorify him all we can here, by setting forth his truth, by countenancing his children and servants, by doing good, and deserving well of ungrateful times we live in ? Let men be as unthankful as they will, we look not to them, but to the honour of God, the credit of reli- gion, the maintenance of the truth, &c. Let men be as they will be, base and wicked, enemies to gi'ace and goodness, we do it not to them, but to God. Consider this. Will Christ come fi-om heaven ere long to be glori- fied in us, and shall not we labour to glorify him while we are here ? He will never come to be glorified in any hereafter, but those that glorify him now. As we look, therefore, that he should be glorified in us, and by us, let us glorify him now ; for so he condescends to vouchsafe to be glorified in us and by us, that he may also glorify us.
Quest. St Paul saith, the wife is the glory of the husband, 1 Cor. xi. 7. What means he by this ? Solution. That is, she reflects the graces of a good husband. If he be good, she is good ; she reflects his excellencies. So let every Christian soul that is married to Chi'ist, be the glory of Christ, reflect his excellencies, be holy as he is holy, 1 Pet. i. 15, fi'uitful as he was in doing good, meek and humble as he was ; every way be his glory ; and then, undoubtedly, when he comes to judge us, he will come to be glo- rified in us, having been before glorified by us.
Beloved, these and such considerations should set us on work how to do Christ all the honom- we can. As David saith, ' Is there any of Jonathan's posterity alive, that I may do good unto them for his sake ?' 2 Sam. ix. 1, so, considering we shall be so glorified by Christ, and that he will do so much for us in another world, we should inquire, Is there any of Christ's posterity here, any of his children in this world, that I may do good unto
834 THE saint's safety in evil times.
them ? Is there any way wherein I may shew my thankfulness, and I will doit? Let us consider that we shall be for ever and ever glorified. The ex- pression of it is beyond conceit. We shall never kuow it till we have it. Let this, I beseech you, stir us up to study how we may be thankful to God, set forth his gloiy, and deserve well of the church and times wherein we live. God hath children and a cause in the world which he dearly loves, let us own the same, and stand for it to the uttermost of our power, maugre all the spite and opposition of Satan and his wicked instruments.
The Lord in mercy settle these truths upon our hearts, and encourage us in his most holy way.
NOTES.
(h) P. 315. — ' I find that most ancient and modern writers by lion understand
Nero This is the common view of ' the Fathers ;' and, of contemporaries of
Sibbes, of Thomas Hall of King's Norton. All wishing to obtain much learning and quaint application will not be disappointed if they consult the latter's ' Exposition' of 2 Timothy, c. iii.-iv. (folio, 1658). See pp. 449-50. ' When we consider the position of the apostle,' observe Webster and Wilkinson, ' the good confession he main- tained in spite of desertion and discouragement, we may reasonably conceive he re- fers to 0 avTidixoi; 7}/muv biaSokog i)g Xcuv wjuo/xsvog, 1 Peter v. 8.' (Greek Testa- ment, with Notes Grammatical and Exegetical, vol. ii. 1861.) It will be noticed that Sibbes adopts the impersonal reference. Psalm xxii. 21, Proverbs xxvi. 13, illustrate his interpretation.