III. We come now briefly to notice some of the practical directions arising out of the subject thus understood.
1. If our only true enjoyment is to be found in the knowledge of the glory of God, this fact affords a new argument for highly estimating that whereby this glory is revealed. Now, although the heavens are telling the glory of God, fallen man cannot hear the sounds they utter; and although the firmament is displaying his handy-work, sin has so blinded our perceptions that we cannot discern what is unfolded to our view. Neither is it through the creature primarily, that the Spirit of truth communicates the knowledge of God to sinners. When the Spirit works upon the mind of a rebellious creature, he reveals the knowledge of the glory of God only in the face of Jesus Christ. Upon Him, then, the eye of faith is to be fixed, inorder to the clearer and fuller apprehension of that which alone can satisfy the soul. He is well acquainted with the forgetfulness of our hearts, and therefore he hath condescended to use a variety of expedients to aid our recollection of him. If we eat our daily food, we are reminded that He is the bread of heaven; if we go out or come in to our dwellings, we are admonished of that comfortable truth: “I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall go in and out and find pasture.“ We cannot lift up our eyes to the heavens, or feel the rays of the sun, without perceiving an emblem of the Sun of Righteousness. He hath encompassed us about with memorials of himself. He hath made this earth one great repository of love, and hath filled it with tokens to keep up the remembrance of his worth continually in our hearts. The light reminds us of his doctrine, and the darkness faintly represents the horror of his sufferings. He meets us in every avenue of life, he knocks at the door of our hearts, that we may open our eyes to gaze upon his beauty, and see there the revelation of that glory which can alone produce satisfying delight.
2. In order to carry out into our habitual conduct the precept of the inspired apostle, it is necessary that we cordially acquiesce in the design of God. As long as we adopt any other end, we are pursuing vanity and lies. The whole plan of providence moves on in conformity with this great object; and the creatures must, either willingly or unwillingly, subserve its accomplishment. We may subserve it willingly; and then we move onward in peace and satisfaction, because at every step we are tending to an increase of happiness, and advancing in a course of unlimited progress. We may subserve it unwillingly; and in the very opposition of our will, we cherish the seeds and principles of misery. If there be true happiness in sin and disappointment and sorrow, in feeding on ashes and delighting in vanity, then, and then only, is there abiding enjoyment to be found in a course of opposition to the will of God. Those who are willing and obedient, subserve the glory of his grace; those who refuse and rebel, subserve the glory of his justice.
3. Diligently cultivate the use of those means which are fitted to increase our knowledge of God. Peter declares that all things pertaining to life and godliness, are given to us “through the knowledge of Him who hath called us;“ and the prayer of Paul for the Colossians, was, that they “might increase in the knowledge of God.“ The aim of the heart may be right, and yet, through ignorance, great mistakes may be made, in the way of seeking its attainment. You cannot be fit for diffusing abroad amongst others the glory of God, unless you yourselves have been made acquainted with his character. Therefore, in all things, in all your readings, meditations, prayers, intercourse with others, and acts of obedience in outward conduct, aim more and more to be discovering him who is unsearchable, and more clearly to be perceiving him who is invisible; that, having knowledge for yourself, you may in temper, spirit, word and action, be instrumental in revealing that knowledge to your fellow-men. Where God is utterly unknown, there moral darkness reigns in all the horrors of spiritual death; where only a very few are acquainted with his ways, the light diffused around them, is but the twinkling of a distant star; where multitudes have experienced the revelation of his glory, the atmosphere in which they breathe becomes radiant with spiritual illumination; and were every heart fully under the influence of divine knowledge, earth would reflect back again from its regenerated bosom the image of celestial blessedness.
4. Before engaging in any pursuit, consider how it bears upon the great ultimate end of all things. God hath given you mental faculties, and you ought to employ them; but see that they are employed about those objects which tend to promote his glory. Pursuits of a trifling character, and especially those which require much expenditure of time and labour, as many mere worldly accomplishments do, are unworthy of an heir of heaven. God hath given you affections, and these affections are not to lie dormant; but see that they are awake to objects becoming a pilgrim and a stranger upon earth. He permits you to enjoy intercourse with your fellow-men; but see that your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. He commands you to work with your own hands; but see that a love of wealth do not insinuate itself into your hearts in the very act of lawful engagements. In fine, labor to carry out into practice the knowledge previously acquired. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.“ The mere doctrinalist shuts up the avenue through which new communications of Divine knowledge enter into the heart. In vain, therefore, the selfish, the avaricious, the proud, the ambitious, profess to seek the knowledge of God. It is in the way of self-denial, of lowliness, of dependence, that fresh revelations of Divine beauty meet the traveler in his journey heavenward.
5. Consider the variety of ways in which we may advance the Divine glory. Some to whom God hath given strength and ability, are called upon to glorify him in direct exertion for the diffusion of his truth; others are laid aside by weakness and infirmity, and called to bring glory to his name by meek submission to his dispensations. But no condition in life excludes us from the privilege. In the government of our own hearts, in the cultivation of secret communion, in the silent prayer that enters into the ear of Him who seeth in secret, in the performance of our relative duties with meek forbearance and long-suffering kindness, in the quiet discharge of domestic duties, the husband, the wife, the master, the servant, the parent, the child, all may, in their measure, willingly and happily aid in the diffusion of that glory, in the view of which all the redeemed millions shall finally rejoice. May the good Spirit open your hearts to the reception of any truth I have stated, graciously hinder the reception of any error, into which, through human infirmity, I may have fallen, and smile upon my labor, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Source: The Weekly Christian Teacher, conducted under the sanction of Ministers of Various Evangelical Denominations, Vol. 2, Dec. 1, 1838 – Nov 23, 1839. Glasgow: A. Fullarton and Co., 1839.
All for the Glory of God 