3. SERM. III. The Third Sermon on the Nature of God.
SERM. III. The Third Sermon on the Nature of God.
F or his Name alone is excellent . – Psal. 148:13.
But a second Use is this that we are now to proceed in, Oh how vile is sin then that is committed against such a God as this is? There is nothing in the world can show a soul the evil of sin, but the sight of God. If we should tell you never so much of the terrors of the Law, and of hell fire, though you might see the desert of sin somewhat, yet until you come to see with what a God you have to deal, you can never know what the evil of sin means. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, saith David, that was the thing that struck David's spirit, David knew that it was against God that he sinned; when God shall come to the conscience of a sinner, and present himself before his conscience, and say, Oh wretched sinner, it is I that you have sinned against, as Christ did in Act. 9, unto Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? So when God shall say, Sinner, sinner, why dost thou rebel against me? If God would but give us one sight of himself, that we might behold him as he is upon his Throne, in this excellency of his Name above all things, it were impossible but the heart of a sinner should even
break at such a sight. Certainly one day every sinner shall have a sight of God: Happy it is now for us to have such a sight of God here in this world, that may cause us to see the evil of our sins, for otherwise the sight of God hereafter, will certainly sink our souls into the bottomless gulf of horror and despair. When Daniel was about to confess his sin, in Dan. 9. Mark how he begins, because he would get his heart to be affected with his sin, and the sins of the people that there he confessed: Mark how he begins his prayer,
And I prayed (saith he in the 4th ver.) unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God; thus he begins, I made confession (saith he) I prayed and made confession of sin, and said,
Oh Lord, the great and dreadful God: first he looks upon God how great and dreadful he was, and this it was that caused him to confess his sin with humiliation: you that say your prayers, and will confess that you are sinners, did you but at the beginning of your prayers, when you go to confess your sin, cast up one eye to heaven, and behold this God upon his
Throne, and see him to be the great and dreadful God, it would cause you to confess sin after another manner than ever yet you have done: It is a good thing therefore in our prayers, when we are about to confess sin, first to set before our souls the greatness and the dreadfulness of that God that we have sinned against. When this Prophet Daniel would humble that proud
Belshazzar, in Dan. 5:23. Mark what he saith, And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are thy ways, hast thou not glorified: This speech set home upon a man's conscience, were enough to break the proudest and stoutest heart in the world. If so be that the eyes of the proudest stoutest sinner were opened to see God in his glory, and to hear the Lord speak thus to him, that God in whose hand is the breath of thy nostrils, and all thy ways, that is the God that thou hast not glorified, thou doest not think with
whom it is that thou hast to deal; but that is the God that you have heard preached of thus, Whose Name alone is excellent, such an infinite and glorious Deity is that Deity that thou hast neglected and despised, and preferred thy lusts before: Oh if God would but give commission unto your consciences to speak this with power to you, that God that is thus glorious and excellent you have sinned against, oh it would be of wonderful force to break the hardest heart of men. And in Psal. 104:1,2. Do but see there how
David had his heart rising against sin and sinners upon the consideration of the excellency of God, there he speaks of the same argument that we have here in the Text, Bless the Lord, Oh my soul: my God, thou art very great, thou art clothed with honor and majesty (and so he goes on) who coverest thyself with light as with a garment. He proceeds in the Psalm describing the greatness and excellency of God: But then when he had done describing
God's excellency, and found his heart warmed and enlarged, and raised with the meditation of the excellency of God, Mark how he breaks forth in the last words of the Psalm, Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more; bless thou the Lord, Oh my soul: As if holy
David should have said thus, Oh Lord, I see thee to be very great, and thou art clothed with honor and Majesty, and thy Name is excellent above all things: What? And are there any wretched creatures that will dare to presume to rebel against thee who art so great, that will dare yet to set their will against thy will, and to prefer their lusts before thee? Oh cursed be those sinners, Let the sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. There is infinite reason that wicked wretched creatures should be forever consumed, that sin against such a God as thou art, who art so great as thou art. My brethren, it is no marvel though the people of God are so afraid of sin; many of you wonder at the niceness of the consciences
of many people, that they dare not commit any known sin for a world; you wonder at them why they should be so nice, you think it is foolishness:
Would you know the reason? It is this, God hath shown unto their consciences a sight of himself, they have had a sight of the glory of the Majesty of the great God, Whose Name alone is excellent, and it is that that makes them afraid of sin forever, and makes them look upon sin as the greatest evil, and even tremble at the least temptation unto any sin whatsoever. And that is the second Use, Great is the evil of sin, if committed against such a God.
Thirdly, Hence then if God be thus excellent above all, from the meditation of the Excellency of God and his glory, we see cause to be vile in our own eyes; the higher we see God to be, the lower we should be in our own eyes, there is nothing will take down the spirit of a man more than
God: I dare say of every proud heart in the world, such a one knows not God, never had a sight of the glory of God that he hath to do withal; the sight of God will wonderfully humble the heart before him, Job 42:5, is very famous for this, Job saith, With the hearing of the ear I have heard of thee, but now mine eyes have seen thee (what follows then upon that)
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job that was a holy man, yet he confesses that he had but even heard of God, he never had such a sight of God as God gave him at this time, and upon the sight that he had of God, though he were a holy, and a gracious man, and could stand in his uprightness, yet saith he, Mine eyes have seen thee, and therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Oh that God would give such a fight of himself to all your souls, to those proud, stout, and rebellious sinners that have gone on in ways of rebellion against him. You have heard of God by the hearing of the ear, but have your eyes ever seen him? If God would but
give you a sight of what I have briefly spoken to you, you would certainly fall down before him, and abhor yourselves in dust and ashes: So the Prophet Isaiah, though a godly man, yet in Isa. 6, he heard the Cherubim's and Seraphim praising of God, and crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; And there was a vision of God upon his Throne to the Prophet, what follows? Saith the Prophet, Woe unto me, for I am undone! Why? For I am a man of polluted lips, and I dwell among a people that are of unclean lips;
Woe unto me, for I am undone, for I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!
I see the Lord upon his Throne, and I behold the blessed Angels how they admire at his glory, Oh woe to me, I am undone. If so holy a man shall thus cry out upon the sight of God, and say, Woe to me, I am undone, because I am a man of polluted lips! Oh what mayest thou do then, that art a man of polluted lips, and polluted heart, and polluted life? Oh how are thy lips polluted! The Prophet Isaiah, he was no swearer, neither was he one that would talk filthy unclean talk, but yet he complains he was a man of polluted lips, and cries, Woe to me, I am undone, because I have seen the Lord: Oh how would thy heart then be humbled? What cause at least is there that thy heart should be humbled that art so polluted as thou art? The sight of God should mightily humble us before God, Psal. 8, the beginning,
Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth? Saith the Prophet David, and so he goes on to show the excellency of God; then he cries out in ver. 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? Lord thou that art so excellent in thyself above all things, it is a wonder that thou shouldest vouchsafe so much as to look upon man. It may be thou lookest high, because thou art a little above thy brethren, but if thou hadst a sight of God, thou wouldest wonder that this
God should look to thee, Psal. 113:6, there you have such an expression,
That God doth humble himself to behold the things that are done in heaven:
Why what an expression is hereof God's excellency? God is so excellent that he doth humble himself to behold the things that are done in heaven: now if he be so excellent as to humble himself to the beholding of the things in heaven, then how doth God humble himself to behold things done in earth, to behold such wretched vile creatures as thou art? Oh be vile in thine own eyes upon the sight of the great God, and by these three Uses, you may have three Notes whether ever God hath made known himself to you, or no.
First, Are you ashamed and confounded in your thoughts for those low poor thoughts you have had of God?
Secondly, Hath the sight of God caused you to see the dreadfulness of the evil that there is in sin?
Thirdly, Hath the sight of God made you to be vile in your own eyes?
That is a good evidence that you have had some sight of God indeed.
In the fourth place, If God be thus excellent, and his glory so great above the earth and heavens; Hence we may learn to know the vanity of the creature. Set but God now, and the creature together, nay, all the creatures in the world together, Oh how is the vanity of all creature-comforts in the world made known to us. There are many ways to convince us that there is a vanity in all things in the world, by the strength of reason we may be convinced, and by experience: A man sometimes that hath an estate, God doth but touch his body, and lays him upon his sick-bed; such a man saith,
Oh what a poor thing is it to enjoy all the world? Had I all the world at my command, I could have no comfort in it, and therefore what a vanity is there in the creature: And another perhaps by arguments and reasons, will tell you that everything is vain, and there is no contentment, nor continuance in
anything in the world: When we see men that are rich and great die, and carry nothing with them, we are ready to say, Oh how vain the world is!
These are some means to cause us to see the vanity of the creature: But what are all these to the sight of God? The sight of the glory of God, it is infinitely more powerful to discover the vanity of all things in the world to us: That man, or woman, that hath had once a real sight of this God in his infinite excellency, will not much regard what becomes of him concerning outward things in this world. He that sees God to be great, will see all other things to be small. And indeed we never see God to be truly excellent, except we see him alone to be excellent. Thou thinkest thou knowest somewhat of God, I but still the excellency of the creature is glorious in thy eyes: Certainly thou dost not know God aright: If thou knowest God aright in his excellency, thou knowest him Alone to be excellent, and therefore if thou knewest no other excellency but God, all other things would be but vanity in thine eyes. In 2 Cor. 3:10, saith the Apostle there concerning the glory of the Law, compared with the glory of the Gospel, That that which was made glorious, now had no glory by reason of a greater glory that is come: So I may say in this case, the things of the world that were glorious in thine eyes before, yet now they are not glorious, but all darkened, because there is a greater glory that now comes and shines in upon thee. If a man had lived in a dark Dungeon under the ground all the days of his life, and never had the glimpse of any light whatsoever, never since he was born, if on a sudden a candle should be brought to him, he would admire at that glory; but now if this man should afterwards be brought into the world, and see the glory of the Sun, the glory of the candle would be nothing to him:
So the men of the world, because they live as it were in darkness, they have some comforts in the creature, and they think them to be glorious, for they
know no better: But that soul that hath had a sight of God, comes to see that all things in the world are but darkness to him. There is nothing can disengage the heart of a man from the creature, so, as a sight of God. You have a notable Scripture for that, how a sight of God doth dis-engage the heart of a man from the creature, in Act. 7:2. And he said, Men, Brethren, and Fathers, hearken, The God of glory appeared unto our Father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy Country, and from thy kindred, and come into the Land which I shall show thee: And so he shows how Abraham was content to forsake all his friends and Country; Why? The God of glory appeared to him: it is said upon this, when the Holy Ghost would show what it was that brought Abraham out of his Country, that took off his heart from all his friends and Country, to go into a strange Country, saith the Holy Ghost, The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham: Let a man's heart be never so much glued to any contentment's that are here in the world, let but the God of glory appear to that man, and all things are vanity, then the heart quickly comes off from anything. And indeed though there may be many arguments that may make men and women to deny themselves very much the use of creature-comforts, yet the heart is never thoroughly taken off till the God of glory appear to the soul. A notable example of self-denial it that of Moses, Moses that might have had all the riches and glory of Egypt, might have been next to the King himself, an heir, for so some write, that Pharaoh had no son, and that Pharaohs daughter did adopt Moses, to the end that he might be an heir to the Crown, and yet Moses that had all riches, and the treasures of Egypt at command, yet he forsakes all; but though he forsook all for a while, yet you will say, did he not repent him afterward?
No, saith the Text, Heb. 11:27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the
wrath of the King, for he endured, as seeing him that is invisible, that was the thing that did it, it made Moses forsake all the riches of Egypt, and endure, to go on, and never repent him for making such a choice: What was the great thing that did take Moses off from the creature? It was the sight of God, that God that was invisible: My brethren, the sight of God, it puts a mighty magnanimity upon a man's heart; there is nothing great to a great spirit, nor nothing can greaten the spirit of a man or woman, so as the sight of the great God; no men and women in the world have such great spirits as those that have seen the great God: And the oftener any one hath the sight of the great God, I say, the greater will such men's and women's spirits be; they are raised to that height, that all the world will not satisfy such a soul for the portion of it. And this again in the fourth place, may be a Note of Trial, whether ever you have seen God alone to be excellent; Hath it taken off your hearts from the creature? Hath it engaged your hearts fully to God himself, that you can say, There is none in heaven, nor none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee.
In the fifth place, Is God's Name alone excellent? Oh my brethren, study to know God then: Labor to search into this Excellency so far as we may, and God gives us leave; God hath revealed much of himself to us in the Scripture, and in the book of the creature, and God expects that what is revealed of him in the Scripture, and in the book of the creature, that the rational creatures, Angels and Men, should labor and search to know: There is nothing so sweet, so amiable, so lovely, so delightful unto a rational creature (if it be purged from the filthiness and corruption of sin) as the sight of the infinite first being of all things: Why here is concluded all excellent sights whatsoever; some men are taken with such a sight, to behold fair buildings, and others to behold brave pictures, one with one
thing, and another with another: Oh but the sight of God hath all sights in it that may delight the soul, and give content to the heart of Man or Angel: and therefore labor to know the excellency of God. You poor creatures that have minded little all this while but merely to understand your Trades, and how you may get a shilling or two to provide for your families. Oh but know there is a higher object for you to busy your thoughts and hearts about: Learn to know this God, who alone is excellent, and be not discouraged at those things that have been spoken, though they are above thy reach at first, yet if your hearts be pure, and cleansed from filthiness, you have the promise, in Matth. 5:8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It may be you that are poor people, you can never come to get learning to have the knowledge of Arts and Sciences, and such things; I but if you have clean hearts you are blessed in this, God saith you shall see him: Labor to study God, and labor to know God more; Psal. 91:14. Mark how acceptable it is to God for his creature to labor to know him, I will set him on high, because he hath known my Name. Thy Name, O Lord, alone is excellent, and thy glory above the heavens and earth. And I will set him on high, because he knows my Name. Oh, saith God, yonder is a poor creature that above all things in the world desires to know me: he hath had a little glimpse of my glory, and oh how earnest is his heart to know me! I will reveal more of myself to him, and then I will set him on high, because he knows my Name, the Lord hath a high account of those that know his
Name: As for those ignorant creatures, let them be what they will in regard of outward things, yet if they be ignorant of God, they are vile and low, and base in God's esteem; but take a soul that knows God's Name, the Lord will set him on high; such a one is high in the very thoughts of God, and the Lord doth take pleasure to make such a soul to be high: Paul in Phil. 3:8,
did account all things dung and dross (for what?) for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ: For indeed in the knowledge of Christ, God is known; and if you would study the knowledge of God, it must be in Christ, you can never know God but in Christ, Matth. 11:27, saith Christ there, No man knows the Father but the Son, and him to whom the Son shall reveal him. It must be Christ that must reveal the glory of God to our souls, or else we can never come to know him savingly.
Sixthly, If God be thus excellent above all, and his glory thus above the earth and heavens, hence we are taught to labor to keep the sense of the infinite distance that there is between God and his creatures always in our hearts: And this is a point of marvelous consequence, the sense of the distance between God and us: If God be infinitely above the creature, then
God expects that we that profess any knowledge of him, that we should evermore have our thoughts upon God's excellency, raised in a kind of infiniteness above what we think of the excellency of any creature; and our hearts then should work after God in a kind of infiniteness more than ever they did work after any creature, as there is an infinite disproportion between the excellency of God, and the excellency that there is in any creature. I beseech you observe what I am speaking, for it is of marvelous use to help us to sanctify God in all our ways; as there is an infinite distance between the excellency of God, and of all creatures, so there ought to be in a kind, an infinite distance between what our hearts are in the working after God, and the working after the creature, otherwise we lift not up God's
Name in his excellency and glory. And indeed a gracious heart will make it so; and in this I conceive the very work of grace consists, in that it is such a principle in the soul of a man or woman that is converted, that though such a one be a finite creature, yet it hath a kind of infiniteness in the working of
it after God. You will say, Infinite, how can that be? True, I confess properly it cannot be infinite, but thus it is infinite in its kind, that is, such a creature hath such a principle as it would fain, if it were possible, work infinitely after God: And, Further, This principle of grace doth cause this in the heart, that it will never limit its self in any working after God, and therefore hath a kind of Infiniteness; and here is the difference between one that hath true grace, and the most glorious hypocrite in the world; An hypocrite he will ever be bounding his working after God, and think thus much is enough, what need anymore? If I do thus and thus, why I may do well, and go to heaven at last, and so doth bound himself: But now where there is the least dram of true grace, though there be many weaknesses in the soul, yet such a soul doth never bound itself in working after God. I indeed heretofore have set out my heart to the creature, but now I would fain, if I could, let out my heart infinitely after God: Why? For I see an infinite distance between the good there is in the creature, and the good there is in God; certainly where this is, there is grace, and this one note were enough to discern the truth of grace in the heart: If the sight of God have wrought this, that whereas heretofore thy heart hath been let out after such and such creature-comforts, now thou dost desire, if it were possible, to let out thy heart infinitely after God; here is the work of grace, and in this thou goest beyond any hypocrite: Oh keep this constant in thy soul, this is the especial sanctifying of God's Name in all our ways; when we see that God gives us leave to let out our hearts towards the creature in some measure, then there is a great deal of danger, that we should have our hearts stick in the creature, and that we should not have that disproportion in the letting out of our hearts to the creature, and to God, as ought to be: And this is the ground of all Idolatry in the world, when men
have seen some excellency in the creature, they have been taken with it, and there have stuck, and have not been carried from the creature to God. And that is Heathens Idolatry, when they see an excellency in the Sun, they think that is God: So Christians Idolatry may be in this, If there be any creaturecomfort that thy heart closes withal, and there thou dost stick, and thy heart is not carried to God, yea, is not carried to God in such a disproportion as there is between him and the creature; I say, so far as thou wantest that that thou art capable of in this kind, so far thou art guilty of Idolatry. Oh that this one note might stick upon us, There is none like unto thee, O Lord: Canst thou say this out of the uprightness of thy soul, as in the presence of God,
Lord thou that knowest all things, knowest that though I have a vile heart that is let out after the creatures more than it ought to be, yet Lord thou knowest that my heart is let out after nothing so much as after thee? That would be a good argument of a gracious work of God upon thee: Surely if none be like unto the Lord, then our hearts should be after nothing so as after the Lord: We must not content ourselves with a little love to God; Is there such a disproportion between thy love to the creature, and thy love to God, as there is between God, and the creature? Thou sayest thou lovest
God, I but it may be thou lovest the creature as well: Doest thou think that this will satisfy God? When thou hearest that God's Name alone is excellent, God expects that thy love to him should be in a kind infinite above that love of thine to any creature else.
And there is this one thing further, with which I will conclude, Surely if God's Name alone be excellent, then in a proportion God's people alone are the excellent people upon the earth. According as a man's God is, so is he; as you know men conceive their excellency to be according to the excellency of him whom they serve; according as a man's God is (I say) so
is he: Now if God alone be excellent, and he be thy God, then thou art excellent; the people of God are therefore excellent, because their God is so excellent; this is the reason of that phrase that you have in Prov. 12:26. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor: Why is a righteous man more excellent than his neighbor? It may be the righteous man is a poor man, and his neighbor is a rich man, perhaps this poor good man's next neighbor is a Knight or a Noble-man, yet he is more excellent than his neighbor: Why?
Because his God is more excellent, because the infinite Lord of heaven and earth is the portion of a righteous man: If God be alone excellent, then the righteous is alone excellent; and I will give you a Scripture or two to show, that according to the excellency of God, in a proportion doth appear the excellency of the children of God; compare Deut. 33, and the 26th ver., and the 29th ver. together: In ver. 26. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun: then, in ver. 29. Happy art thou O Israel, who is like unto thee?
You see that there is a reflection of the glory of God upon his Saints, there is none like to God, and there is none like to God's people. And so in 2
Sam. 7:22, you have an expression to the same purpose, Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears: then in ver.
23. And what one Nation in the earth is like thy people? So that we see here, that according to the rise of God's excellency, so is the rise of the excellency of his Saints. In a proportion they rise in their excellency as God rises in his: If God be alone excellent, certainly they are the excellent people in the world: And why? Because the excellency of God is manifested over them to do them good. Here is a note that hath abundance of soul-satisfying encouragement to all the Saints of God in any of their afflicted conditions whatsoever; thou hast heard that God's Name is alone
excellent, so add this to it for thy comfort, who art one of God's, that God accounts his chief excellency in his manifestation of himself in all the world, to be, that he might let out himself for thy good, and do good to thee, and that I will show you by a Scripture or two, in Psal. 68:34. His
Excellency (saith the Text) is over Israel: Oh Lord, there is an excellency in thee, and how doth this work, where doth this excellency of thine appear?
Why it is over Israel; The Excellency of God it is over Israel; saith God, I have chosen out my Church, and mine Excellency shall be over them, and manifested towards them for good; therefore in Exod. 15:7, there where
Moses is praising God for the great things that he doth for his people, saith he, in the Greatness of thine Excellency thou hast done this thing; so that God doth delight to show his Excellency, yea to show the Greatness of his
Excellency for the good of his people: Oh how should the Saints of God make their boast of their God, and rejoice in him, and be encouraged in God alone! Though thou hast no other portion then God alone, thou hast portion enough. In Mic. 5:4, there is an admirable Scripture for the encouragement of the hearts of God's people in God alone, And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the Majesty of the Name of the Lord his God: It is a Prophecy there of Christ, and as it is true of Christ, so of all the members of Christ, they may stand when the world falls, whatsoever becomes of the world, whatsoever troubles are about them, they are to stand, and rejoice themselves in the Name of the Lord, in the strength of the Lord, and in the Majesty of the Lord their God: the knowledge of this reference that the Saints have to God, it is that that should put courage and boldness into their hearts before all the world, Rev. 22:4. And they shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their fore-heads. They shall see the face of God (and what then) then the Name of God shall be in their fore-heads,
they shall have a boldness and courage in the cause of God; whatsoever becomes of the world, yet we have happiness enough in God: Oh rejoice, rejoice in this (I say) you that are the people of God, for there is none excellent so as you are excellent, and if so be that God now invests you with this excellency. Two or three more Uses might be to finish the Point.
What cause then hast thou to fear this God, and to serve this God in all thy ways, and to worship him as a God whose Name is alone excellent? Who would not fear thee? There is none like unto thee, Jer. 10:7. Who would not fear thee, Oh King of Nations, &c. Let this God be feared by us, let us labor to hold forth the excellency of this our God in our lives and conversations, in our whole course: Oh that it might be written upon our lives, The Name of God is alone excellent; all you that profess to have any interest in this
God, you should walk so in your conversations, that it may be written upon your lives, The Name of God is alone excellent, and his glory is above the earth and heavens. Oh take heed that this blessed Name of God, that is alone excellent, be not dishonored and polluted by you; that we might have been large in, if we had time. James calls it, about Jam. 2:7. That worthy
Name of the Lord: you that profess yourselves to be Christians, and profess godliness more than others, know, that you have the Name of God upon you, and this Name of God it is excellent and glorious, let it not suffer by you: Oh woe to you that ever you were born, if you should be instruments of polluting the Name of God. Mee thinks any one that makes profession of God's Name, should think with himself, it were better that I were dead and rotten under the clods, than that ever I should live to pollute this blessed
Name of God that is so excellent: What? Was I born that I might live to have my hand in so great a mischief as that this glorious Name of God should be darkened by me? Oh, the Lord forbid: Know what the Name of
God is that you profess, and meditate how excellent it is, and let this be a strong argument to keep you from sin: When any temptation comes, oh set this against it, Shall I pollute this Name of God that is so infinitely excellent? No man or woman can die with peace, and have peace upon their sick-beds, except they can be able to look back into their lives, and to say,
Lord, though there hath been much weakness in me, and in many things I have dishonored thee, yet it hath been my care in my generation, and in the place that thou hast set me, to lift up thy Name, and I have done something through thy grace to lift up thy Name. Oh that I could leave this point upon your hearts, that every one of you might go home and make but this one
Use of it; I have heard That the Name of God is excellent alone, and his glory is above all: This likewise I have heard to be my duty, that this was the great work that I was born for, that I should do something to make
God's Name great before all those with whom I do converse; think everyone of this, how long hast thou lived? Many of you will be ready to say, I have lived thus long in such a place, and it may be that you can say that you have done no man wrong, but good; But what canst thou say to this
Question? I appeal to thy conscience, Hath the Name of God been made great by thee? Hast thou done anything to lift up this glorious Name of God in the place wherein God hath set thee? It may be thou hast not thought that this was thy work; but this is the work that God expects from thee, that thou shouldest give up thyself to study by all the means that possibly thou canst, to lift up God's Name, and deny thy own Name; no matter though that be cast into the dirt, so be it the Name of God be lifted up; with this resolution,
Oh that you would but go away, and that this one note might stick in your hearts, I am convinced that the Name of God is infinitely glorious, and
therefore for the time to come, through his Grace, whatsoever becomes of me, yet I will do what I can to lift up his Name.
Consider what hath been said in the Text, and the Lord give you understanding.
PT. II. The Excellency of Christ.
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