II. We would next consider this glory as the end of God in creation, providence, and grace, and how the creatures are made subservient thereto. It is evident, that before the existence of any created being, the essential attributes of the Godhead were the same as they are now; yet there was no possibility of their display, just because no creatures existed, before whom they could be displayed. It is quite conceivable that Jehovah might have continued to delight himself alone, without putting forth any act of creative power; but it became his infinite goodness to communicate and reveal itself by giving being to various ranks of intelligent creatures. After he had created the angels, he might have paused for ages longer before he condescended to form the material world, or to people it with inferior beings. But it was his blessed will to increase the happiness of the angels, by increasing their knowledge of himself; and therefore the command went forth, the earth arose out of chaos, and the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, at the new manifestation of the Divine glory. Wisdom and love and power were magnified by their being put forth into exercise.
They continued to be more and more illustrated in the works of providence; but most fully were they exhibited in the scheme of redemption. Every additional display which Jehovah made of himself served to bring into view new attributes, as well as to reveal, with greater clearness, those which had been already, in some measure, made known. Thus love dwells in God as in a fountain, and compassion is an eternal attribute of his being; yet the former was only partially discovered before the Fall, and for the latter, there was no opportunity of exercise until sin had introduced misery into the world.
The glory of the Divine attributes doth shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day, and a fuller and fuller disclosure of them may be looked forward to, in the kingdom of God. They dwell, as in a fountain, in Jehovah; they streamed forth as a wide and rapidly increasing river, in the works of creation and preserving Providence; but they spread into a searchless and unbounded ocean in the displays of redeeming grace. The happiness of immortal creatures doth just consist in the inquiry into the glory thus revealed, because in Him alone is that perfect excellence which can satisfy the desires of the soul. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.“
The heart of man, restless and unsatisfied in itself, longs after something on which it can repose with satisfaction and delight; but in every other object there is some imperfection inherent, and thence arises the necessity of making the glory of God, and the apprehension and diffusion of his glory, at once our sweetest privilege and highest obligation.
As in the very nature of things, this is the best aim, it follows of necessity, that towards this object all the designs of God ultimately point. He desires and purposes the happiness of his people, but still in order to the end of manifesting his own glory; neither can the two ends ever run contrary, as long as the one is made the means towards the accomplishment of the other.
All for the Glory of God 