To glorify God is not to add to his essential perfections, or felicity, or real glory.[127] The glory of God is a word that is taken in these various senses: 1. Sometimes it signifieth the essential, transcendent excellencies of God in himself considered; so Rom. vi. 4; Psal. xix. 2. 2. Sometimes it signifieth that glory which the angels and saints behold in heaven: what this is, a soul in flesh cannot formally conceive or comprehend. It seemeth not to be the essence of God, because that is every where, and so is not that glory; or if any think that his essence is that glory, and is every where alike, and that the creature's capacity is all the difference betwixt heaven and earth, he seems confuted in that the glory of heaven will be seen by the glorified body itself, which it is thought cannot see the essence of God. Whether, then, that glory be the essence of God, or any immediate emanation from his excellency, as the beams and light that are sent forth by the sun, or a created glory for the felicity of his servants, we shall know when with the blessed we enjoy it. 3. Sometimes it is taken for the appearance of God's perfections in his creatures, either natural or free agents, as discerned by man, and for his honour in the esteem of man. John xi. 4, 40; 1 Cor. xi. 7; 2 Cor. iv. 15; Phil. i. 11; ii. 11; Isa. xxxv. 2; xl. 5, &c. And so to glorify God is, 1. Objectively, to represent his excellencies or glory; 2. Mentally, to conceive of them; 3. and Verbally, to declare them. I shall therefore distinctly direct you, 1. How to glorify God in your minds. 2. By your tongues. 3. By your lives.
_Directions for glorifying God with the Heart._
_Direct._ I. Abhor all blasphemous representations and thoughts of God, and think not of him lamely, unequally, or diminutively, nor as under any corporeal shape; nor think not to comprehend him, but reverently admire him.--Conceive of him as incomprehensible and infinite: and if Satan would tempt thee to think meanly of any thing in God, or to think highly of one of his perfections, and meanly of another, abhor such temptations; and think of his power, knowledge, and goodness, equally as the infinite perfections of God.[128]
_Direct._ II. Behold his glory in the glory of his works of nature and of grace, and see him in all as the soul, the glory, the all of the whole creation.--What a power is that which made and preserveth all the world! What a wisdom is that which set in joint the universal frame of heaven and earth, and keepeth all things in their order! How good is he that made all good, and gave the creatures all their goodness, both natural and spiritual, by creation and renewing grace! Thus "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work," Psal. xix. 1. "His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise," Hab. iii. 3. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth," Psal. xxix. 3; cxlv.
_Direct._ III. Behold him in the person, miracles, resurrection, dominion, and glory of his blessed Son:--"who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; upholding all things by the word of his power, and having by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made better than the angels," Heb. i. 3, 4. "By him" it is that "glory is given to God in the church," Eph. iii. 21. "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Phil. ii. 9-11. "Pray," therefore, that the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the acknowledgment of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand in the celestials, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be Head over all things to his church," Eph. i. 17, &c. "The Father hath glorified his name in his Son," John xii. 28; xiii. 31, 32; xiv. 13; xvii. 1.
_Direct._ IV. Behold God as the end of the whole creation, and intend him as the end of all the actions of thy life.--You honour him not as God, if you practically esteem him not as your ultimate end; even the pleasing of his will, and the honouring him in the world. If any thing else be made your chiefest end, you honour it before him, and make a god of it.