SERMON CIV.

PRESENT DUTY BEFORE APPROACHING

DARKNESS.

JER. xiii. 16.

Give glory to the Lord your God, before he caufe

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darkness.

HESE words are part of a weeping prophecy, wherein the prophet is attempting to awaken this fecure and ftubborn people to repentance, from the confideration of the judgments of God that were coming upon them, of which we read in the preceding part of the chapter: and now he comes to give them good and feafonable counfel, verfe 15. "Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud; for the Lord hath fpoken." God has paft his word, and the decree is gone forth: and then he calls them to repent, and give glory to God, before he caufe darkness.

From the connexion we may obferve these few things.

1. That God, in his moft fevere threatenings, and moft awful pr vidences, aims at mens repentance, and returning to him.

2. Thefe who defpife the threatenings of divine wrath, fhould stay still and hear what the Lord fays to them; as you may fee, Prov. i. 25, 26, 27. "But ye have fet at nought all my counsel, and would none of my

*This Sermon was preached at Cambufnethen, on Wednesday, Auguft 3d, 1737. being a Faft-day, appointed by the Affociate Prefbytery, at the carneft defire of the Societies in those bounds.

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reproof: I alfo will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as defolation, and your deftruction cometh as a whirlwind; when diftrefs and anguish cometh upon you." See alfo ver. 33. They that hearken unto me fhall dwell fafely, and fhall be quiet from fear of evil;" whereas thefe that hearken not, he will laugh at their calamity. "Be not proud; for the Lord hath spoken."

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3. What hinders people's hearing, when God fpeaks either by word or rod? What but pride? Be not proud; do not think yourfelf too good to be taught. Be not fcornful, be not wilful, be not fecure when God threatens; be not impatient when God ftrikes: for pride is at

the bottom of both.

4. We ought to confider who speaks to us by the word and rod: "The Lord hath fpoken;" he whofe authority is irrefiftible: therefore, bow your fliff necks and flout ftomachs, which proceeds from hardness of heart, and a cuftom of finning. Confider, might he fay, it is not with Jeremiah you have to do; it is not with the minifter you have to do; it is with the great God; "Be not proud; for the Lord hath spoken." When you harden yourself against the word and the rod, you harden yourfelf against God himself.

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Another counsel is in the words of my text, Give gloto the Lord your God, before be caufe darkness.

Where obferve two things; firft, an exhortation ; and then a motive. The exhortation is, Give glory to the Lord your God. Here is a merciful counfel God gives them, faying, Give glory to the Lord; opening up yet a door of hope to them and here is a merciful compellation he takes to himfelf, The Lord your God. Here we may obferve, that God, amidst his threatenings, does not forget that they are his people, and he their God ; fee Jer. iii. 12, 13, 14. He calls himself the Lord their God, that he may fhame them for forfaking him, and that he may invite them to return. Give glory to the Lord your God; not to your idols, not to other gods. Give him glory by confeffion of fin, by repentance and reformation. This is a comprehenfive duty, containing all other duties in the bofom of it.

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We have here the motive to this duty, before he caufe darkness; before he bring fuch judgments upon you, as you fhall fee no way of escaping. Darkness and diftrefs will be the portion of these that repent not, to give God glory. When these who, by the fourth vial, were fcorched with heat, repented not, to give glo ry to God, the next vial filled them with darknefs, Rev. xvi. 9, 10.

The doctrinal obfervation we incline to profecute from these words, is the following.

DOCT. That it is the duty of a finful people to give glory to God, before he caufe darkness: to repent, before he bring judgments upon them.

We ought to give glory to God actively, in a way of duty, before he glorify himfelf, paffively, upon us in a way of wrath. This is the great call of God in his word, Ifa. lv. 6, 7. "Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forfake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 1 Chron. xvi. 26, 30. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him; worship the Lord in the beauty of holinefs. Fear before him all the earth. Mal. ii. 2. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, faith the Lord of hofts, I will even fend a curfe upon you, and I will curfe your bleffings. Rev. xiv. 7. Fear God, and give him glory, for the hour of his judgments is come. Rev. xvi. 9, 10. And men were fcorched with heat, and blafphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the feat of the beaft, and his kingdom was full of darknefs, and they gnawed their tongues for pain. Pfal. xcvi. 7, 8, 9. Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and ftrength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.

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O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him all the darth."

The method we propofe for the further illuftration of this fubject, through divine affiftance, fhall be as follows.

I. We would speak a little of this glory that is to be given to God, and what it is to glorify him.

II. Enquire how we are to give him glory, or by what means we are to glorify him.

III. What is imported in the expreffion, Give glory unto the Lord your God.

IV. Speak fomewhat of the motive here affigned, Before be caufe darkness.

V. Deduce fome inferences for the application of the whole.

I. We would speak a little of this glory that is to be given to the Lord, and what it is to glorify him. God's glory is either effential or declarative. His effential glory is the incomprehenfible majefty of his Deity. This is incapable of addition or diminution; for, our heavenly Father is perfect, and our goodness extendeth not unto him, Pfal. xvi. 2. His declarative glory is, when either he himself, by his word, work, or Spirit, manifefts his glory to men or angels; or when they endeavour to declare how glorious he is, by know. ing, loving, fearing, ferving, obeying, praifing, and commending him; by worshipping him, by believing in him; by trufting in him, and depending upon him, and advancing his glory, by their thoughts, words, and actions.

We cannot glorify God, by adding any glory to him. It is his prerogative thus to glorify us; and thus he did in the first creation, when he crowned man with glory and honour, Pfalm viii. 5.: and thus he does in the fecond creation and reftitution of our lapfed state, when he gives the beginning of glory in regeneration; for grace is glory in the feed; and glory is but grace in the flower: therefore, we are faid to be changed into the fame image from glory to glory, 2 Cor. iii. 18.

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And thus he does in the confummation of our holiness and happiness in heaven; as Chrift faid, John xvii. 1. "The hour is come; Father, glorify thy Son:" fo when the believer's hour is come, the hour of death, God will then glorify him with himfelf, as verfe 5. "Glorify me with thyfelf, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." So will believers be glorified in that glory which he prepared for them before the foundation of the world. It is, I fay, God's prerogative to glorify us; but in that fenfe we cannot glorify God, no more than we can create a new Godhead; but our glorifying him is a declaring him glorious. We give him glory, when we afcribe glory to him. Brute creatures glorify him paffively, but rational creatures ought to do it actively. Wicked men eclipfe his declarative glory by fin, which yet is the greater wrong done to themselves than to him: for, as the fun is ftill full of light in itself, when you fee it under an eclipfe, by the moon's interpofition between us and it, which, indeed, is not fo properly an eclipfe of the fun as of the earth; fo, the glory of God is,eclipfed by the fin and wickednefs. of men; not by depriving God of any perfection, but they deprive themfelves, whofe highest end and perfection is to glorify God, and to be made conformable to him. Thus to glorify God, is to fhew forth his glory; and to afcribe glory unto him.

II. The Second thing I propofed was, To fhew, How we are to glorify God; or, by what means to give him glory?

In general, we are to glorify God with our whole man, foul and body; 1 Cor. vi. 20. “ Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in fpirit, which are his ;" that is, both with the inward and outward man with the inward man, by loving him with the greatest love, ftudying acquaintance with him, longing after him, delighting in him, fearing his name, and following hard after him with the outward man, and that both with our lips, and with our lives; with our lips we ought to pray and praife God, fpeaking to him, and of him, and for him; our tongues fhould be pencils, to delineate and exprefs the glory of God: many there VOL. VI.

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