ness, and declare the wonders that He doth for the children of men." Yea, He calls upon all things in Heaven and earth to praise Him for His creation, and establishment of them by His word, saying, "Let them praise the Name of the Lord; Ps.148.5,6. for He commanded, and they were created: He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which shall not pass." And though we know but little of what the Saints and Angels do in Heaven, we know they praise God there, for the great and glorious works that He hath done, saying, or singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, Isa. 6. 3; the whole earth is full of His glory;" and, "Thou art ch. 4. 11. worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

Rev. 4. 8.

And though we of the Church Militant here on earth, cannot do it so well as they who are triumphant in Heaven, yet we ought to do it as well as we can; especially in all our religious assemblies this being the great end of our meeting together upon such occasions, that we may adore and praise God together, for the wonderful works that He hath done, and still doth in the world: and that is the reason wherefore our Church hath so wisely contrived it, that a great part of our public Liturgy consists of " psalms, and [Eph.5.19.] hymns, and spiritual songs," setting forth the glory of our Almighty Creator. And they who do not join with us in it, do not only deprive themselves of the benefit of our prayers, but rob God, as much as in them lies, of the praises which are due unto Him.

18.

But we must give glory to God, not only altogether, but every one apart by himself, for every thing that happens in the world, within the compass of our sight or knowledge: according to the rule prescribed to us, "In every thing give 1Thess. 5. thanks." For seeing nothing can be done without God, we ought to acknowledge Him in every thing that is, and to praise Him for it; whatsoever He doth, proceeding from the same infinite wisdom, power and goodness, which He manifested in the creation of the world.

And this, indeed, is that which is properly called Religion: so that as ever we desire to be religious indeed, we must live with a constant sense of this upon our minds, that Almighty

LV.

SERM. God made and governs the world, and orders and disposeth of all and every thing in it by the same Divine perfections, and to the same holy ends and purposes for which He made it and therefore must ascribe all honour and praise unto Him, for all His providential dispensations, one as well as another; it was for this end He made us, and this is all that He expects from us, for all the great things He hath done for us; wherefore, unless we do this, we do not answer the end of our creation, but live to no purpose in the world; and then can expect no other, but that He who made us should be angry with us, and dash us in pieces, as a potter [Ps. 2. 9.] doth such vessels as are good for nothing: whereas if we glorify God in all things, we are always doing the work He sent us into the world about, and therefore continue always under His favour and protection, and have all things concurring under Him to make us happy. For looking upon all things as coming from His infinite wisdom and goodness, we are always easy in our minds, and well pleased with every thing that happens to us, saying Ps. 39. 10. with David, "I was dumb and opened not my mouth, for it 1 Sam.3. 18. Was Thy doing;" or with old Eli, "It is the Lord, let Him Job 1. 21. do what seemeth Him good;" and with Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord."

But for that purpose, we must glorify God, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to His service. As He doth all things for Himself, to His own glory,

1 Cor.10.31. so must we; "Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do," we must "do all to the glory of God." This is the only way whereby it is possible for us to serve Him in the world, by promoting the same end and design which He proposed to Himself in the creation and government of it. And seeing He made us, as well as all things else, for Himself, we are bound by the laws and the end of our creation, to be as subservient to Him as we can, in promoting His honour and glory in the world, by doing the business, and observing the commands which He for that purpose hath set us; by vindicating His supreme authority over the world, against all that have the impudence to oppose it; by resigning up ourselves wholly to Him, and submitting to all that He shall

see good to lay upon us: by persuading all we can to enter into His service, and to join with us in admiring the wonderful works that He hath done, in extolling those infinite perfections which He manifested in them, in worshipping His Divine Majesty, with reverence and godly fear; and in giving Him the glory that is due unto His Name, for His making us and all the world, and for His making us for Himself, to glorify Him for all the great things that He hath done, even for all things that are. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Him be glory for

ever." Amen.

SERMON LVI.

THE GLORY OF GOD, THE FINAL CAUSE OF ALL THINGS.

SERM.
LVI.

PROV. XVI. 4.

The Lord hath made all things for Himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

THOUGH God was infinitely happy in the enjoyment of Himself from all eternity, and therefore could not possibly be any way better for any thing else; yet howsoever, out of His essential goodness, He was pleased to exert His Divine perfections, so as that others also might behold, admire, and enjoy them; and so as that the glory of all He did, might rebound and return to Him that did it: wherefore He is here said to have "made all things for Himself;" yea, and "the wicked also for the day of evil."

That I might give you what light I can into this great truth, I promised to consider the two great works wherein He hath manifested His glory; the creation of the world, and the redemption of mankind; under which, all that He hath done may be comprehended: and from which we may easily discover, how He made "the wicked also for the day of evil." The first I have already dispatched, by shewing how His glory appeareth in His making all things out of nothing, in His upholding all things in their being, and in His government and disposal of all things that He hath thus made and upholds. We are now to consider His other great work, the redemption of mankind, and how He did it for Himself.

But to set this in such a light that all may see it, it will be necessary to open the way, by shewing what occasion there was for His doing it: for which purpose we may observe, that man being made in the image of God, perfectly good,

and fitted in all respects for the work he was made for, even to glorify Him that made him; if he had continued in the same state wherein he was first made, there would have been no need of His being redeemed or made over again: but we find, by woeful experience, that man is now become another kind of creature than he was at first, an ignorant, a foolish, an ungrateful, an useless, a sinful creature; disordered in all the faculties of his soul, and in all the members of his body averse from good, and inclined to all manner of evil; insomuch that God knows every "imagination of the thoughts Gen. 6. 5. of his heart is only evil continually." By which means, of the most happy, he is now become the most miserable creature upon earth, good for nothing but to be cast into the fire, the fire of God's wrath, which is incensed against him, and ready every moment to devour him, in that he is no way for the use he was designed for. Neither is this the case only of some few, but of all mankind. "They are all gone astray, Ps. 14. 3. they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doth good, no not one." And therefore "all by nature are the Eph. 2. 3. children of wrath," one as well as another.

fit

But how comes this about that we could never have known at this distance, if God Himself had not caused it to be recorded in the Holy Scriptures given by His inspiration? But there we have the whole history of it, attested by His own infallible Spirit; and the several parts of it explained in other places of His Holy Word: from whence I shall endeavour to make it as plain as I can.

When God therefore created the Heaven and the earth, as He made man a reasonable creature upon earth, so He made other reasonable and intelligent creatures in Heaven to be His Angels, that is, His messengers or ministers in promoting and accomplishing His end in the creation of the world. These He made without any sort of body, pure and perfect spirits, which being all left to their liberty whether they would continue in the same state wherein they were made or not; many of them chose to leave it, and so fell Jud. ver. 6 ; down and degenerated into unclean and wicked spirits, called, "The Devil and his angels."

Now man being made in a state of purity and perfection, like that from which these angels fell, they envying his

2 Pet. 2. 4.

Matt.25.41.