A51840:279
A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…
A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture in two parts : part the first containing LXXIV sermons : part the second containing LXXVI sermons : with an alphabetical table to the whole / by ... Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J. D., 1693
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. So in all spiritual Acts: The whole Ordination of the spiritual Life must be to God; I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God, Gal. 2.19. All the Motions and Tendencies of the Soul are to advance God, and glorify God. In the very spiritual internal Actions and Reachings forth of the Soul after God, why do I desire to have Grace and Pardon? That God may be glorified, that must be the last End. Our Desires can never be regular in asking Grace, till they suit with God's End in giving Grace. Now what are God's Ends in giving Grace? Eph. 1.6. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. All that God aims at, is to make Grace glorious; and that Grace may carry away all the Praise. So in your Desires of Pardon, Heaven and Salvation, you are to desire them, that God may be glorified in your Salvation, and in the Pardon of your Sins. So in our external Actions, Prayer, Worship, Preaching, whatever we do. In sacred things it is dangerous to look asquint, and to serve our selves, our own Lusts, our Covetousness or Pride upon the Worship of God; this is to put Dung in God's own Cup. It were a mighty Affront to a King to fill his Cup full of Excrements. Nothing alienates the Heart from God so much as Self-respect. God hath given us many things, but he hath reserved the Glory of all to himself; as Pharaoh said to Joseph, Gen. 41.40. Thou shalt be over my House, and according unto thy Word shall all my People be ruled; only in the Throne will I be greater than thou. This is the first Branch of Ungodliness, the Negative Part, when we deny God his due Honour.
3. So in all spiritual Acts: The whole Ordination of the spiritual Life must be to God; I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God, Gal. 2.19. All the Motions and Tendencies of the Soul are to advance God, and glorify God. In the very spiritual internal Actions and Reachings forth of the Soul after God, why do I desire to have Grace and Pardon? That God may be glorified, that must be the last End. Our Desires can never be regular in asking Grace, till they suit with God's End in giving Grace. Now what are God's Ends in giving Grace?