Two dissertations, I. Concerning the end for which God created the world. II. The…

2. THE glory of God is spoken of in holy scripture as the last end for which that part of the moral world that are good were made. Thus in Isai. 43. 6, 7. "I will say to the north give up, and to the south keep not back, bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea I have made him". Isai. 60. 21. "Thy people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand, that I may be glorified". chap. 61. 3. "That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified".

IN these places we see that the glory of God is spoken of as the end of God's saints, the end for which he makes them, i. e. either gives them being, or gives them a being as saints, or both. It is said that God has made and formed them to be his sons and daughters, for his own glory: That they are trees of his planting, the work of his hands, as trees of righteousness, that he might be glorified.—And if we consider the words, especially as taken with the context in each of the places, it will appear quite unnatural, to suppose that God's glory is here spoken of only as an end inferior and subordinate to the happiness of God's people; or as a prediction that God would create, form and plant them that he might be glorified, that so God's people might be happy. On the contrary, if we take the places with the context, they will appear rather as promises of making God's people happy, that God therein might be glorified. So is that in the 43d chap. as we shall see plainly, if we take the whole that is said from the beginning of the chapter. 'Tis wholly a promise of a future, great and wonderful work of God's power and grace, delivering his people from all misery, and making ⟨p. 59⟩them exceeding happy; and then the end of all, or the sum of God's design in all, is declared to be God's own glory. "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.—I will be with thee.—When thou walkest through' the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, nor the flame kindle upon thee,—thou art precious and honourable in my sight. I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, I am with thee.—I will bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory."