II. But the glory of God derived from what may be termed, by way of distinction, his natural attributes, is not the highest description of his glory, or even that in which it properly consists. A being might be powerful, and wise, and bountiful, without a disposition to direct that power and bounty necessarily and invariably in a right and proper channel. It is therefore the disposition to make a proper use of power, and not power itself, in which true glory consists. In answer, therefore, to the request of Moses, that God would shew him his glory, the Lord replies, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.” And when in the morning the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him on Mount Sinai, he proclaimed his name: “and the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands; forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation.” It was the goodness, therefore, and holiness of God, which distinguished his character, which constituted his peculiar glory, and properly supplied his name. These, indeed, as much excel the glory of mere power or wisdom, as mind excels matter. Let us, then, contemplate these as constituting the real glory of God.
1. His Goodness.-The goodness of God is that attribute by which all his other perfections are directed to the best possible end. It is that which renders his wisdom, power, and presence, not only not dangerous, but in a supreme degree beneficial to the whole creation. Now, the goodness of God, like all his other attributes, is infinite. No one can comprehend its extent, can measure its height or fathom its depth: it “passeth all knowledge.” “High as the heavens are above the earth, so high are his thoughts” of love and mercy “above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways.” This is true glory—that the most powerful of all Beings should be the most generous; the most lofty at the same time the most merciful, the most glorious, the most condescending. No finite creature ever was, or can be, as long-suffering and merciful as God. It is the glory of his nature to be exempt from the elements of those passions which tend to diminish the exercise of immeasurable love. “God is love;” pure, unvarying love; love in its essence. No jealousies, nor envy, nor selfishness, nor rivalship, nor private wants, nor poverty of means, can ruffle his mind, or limit the full exercise of his love. But, to understand this subject, we should be translated to heaven. We must see God as he is, and know what he deserves and requires from his creatures; we must understand the evil of sin, and judge of its tendency in its remote effects, if we would learn how gracious and long-suffering, how slow to anger and of how great goodness the Lord is, in passing by the most aggravated provocations of his creatures. Then, and then alone, could we be prepared justly to appreciate the goodness of God. O God of love and mercy! so display to our minds thy goodness and love, that we may ever admire and adore thy transcendent glory displayed in them, and may love thee with all our hearts, and souls, and strength!
2. But the Holiness of God forms another principal feature in his glory: “He will by no means clear the guilty.” Here, again, we discover a tremendous infinity in his perfections. His justice and holiness are as infinite as his goodness. His mercy is not the weak mercy which cannot punish. He does not threaten, without meaning to execute his threats. No. His punishments are awful, irremediable, eternal. To this part of our subject we must approach with trembling. How terrible is his wrath! It is the wrath of the Almighty! Here, like the angels who are represented as singing “Alleluia” while the smoke of the torments of the condemned ascends, we must adore what we dare not contemplate, and submit to what we cannot avert.–Yet, let me suggest, that the holiness of God, however pure, and his justice, however severe, may be the mere modifications of goodness—inseparably connected with it, and indispensably necessary to its very existence. For what is holiness, but the supreme regard to what is just and right? It is equity in the highest perfection. It is the security of the creature, that the power of the Creator will never be abused, never misemployed. It is the defense and the ornament of goodness. It is goodness directed to the purest and best ends, goodness enlightened by reason and sanctioned by wisdom. Holiness is therefore the glory even of goodness itself.
3. But is Justice also a modification of goodness? Yes, strictly so. It is the pledge of its being continued to the creation. Justice towards some is the security of all. Were an indiscriminate mercy to be shewn to all, sin would prevail. and soon prostrate the mercy of God, and efface from the universe every trace of his goodness. That God may continue to be merciful, he must be just. That the universe may enjoy the most perfect and lasting happiness, under the mild effulgence of paternal kindness, it is absolutely necessary that vice should be eradicated and the offender be deprived of the power of contaminating others. Justice to a few is, in fact, mercy to all. Nor let it be forgotten, that his mercy and holiness, thus guarded by his justice, become in their turn the guards of his justice itself. His wisdom directs his justice, his mercy guides and proportions it. In such hands and with such guards, who will ever arraign his equity, or doubt the continuance and perfection of his love?
Thus, my brethren, have I ventured, under the consciousness of that ignorance and infirmity which must attend all human endeavors upon such a subject, to direct your attention to the glory of God. But though the subject is infinite, and infinitely transcends all human powers, it does not follow that we ought not to study it, and to endeavor to familiarize ourselves with it.
In every thing which relates to God, we find ourselves ever learning, yet never able to come to a perfect knowledge. And this is, perhaps, the condition even of angels. Even they may only know in part, and comprehend in part, the glory of God. Their knowledge of it is perpetually advancing, their admiration enlarging, their adoration of it becoming more profound. Like them we must endeavor to adore what we cannot comprehend, and to study what we can only imperfectly understand. And we are encouraged by the example of Moses in this pursuit. The desire to see the glory of God, though evidently conceived and expressed under some misconception of its nature, was acceptable to God, and rewarded by the noblest conceivable display of the Divine nature. And thus every attempt to know God better, and to love him more, will be accepted and rewarded by him. Abraham desired to see the day of Christ, and “he saw it and was glad.” Let us then pray earnestly that we also may behold the glory of God.-But where is it to be contemplated? I answer, Revelation is intended to display it. In the Gospel, especially, we see, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. There an exhibition of it has been presented, such as even to astonish the angels, and make them stoop from heaven to contemplate it. Would you see the glory of infinite Mercy and infinite Love transcendentally displayed? Behold Jesus Christ; see the Son of God freely given by the Father to dwell with us, to suffer for us, and to bring us to glory. In Christ is the Divine glory transcendentally displayed. He was the “brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person!” He that hath seen Him, hath seen the Father.” Let us then study to know the glory of the Gospel. In that we shall perceive the glory of the Lord: and as the face of Moses, when he beheld this glory on the Mount, was illuminated by it, so we “shall be changed into the same image, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The knowledge of God is to be our grand study through eternity. Here then, in this lower school, let us begin as Christians, to learn the lesson which, as glorified spirits we shall perfect in the realms of glory.
All for the Glory of God 