made in Christ, who was the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person: Heb. i. 3.

In him, heaven was brought down to earth; the infinite comprehended; the invisible made conspicuous; and all the mira cles, both of grace and glory, reconciled to our very senses. In him, all the Attributes of the Divine Nature are so interwoven with the Infirmities of the Human, that, if I may so speak, God in him studied to exhibit to us a person like ourselves, to give us some advantage for our apprehensions to conceive of his infinite perfections. In him, Omnipotence became weak; Eternity, mortal; Innocence itself, guilty; God, man; the Creator, a creature; the Maker of All, its own workmanship: life itself, in him underwent the sentence of death: and all these strange and impossible truths, as for other ends; so for this, that we might have some clearer hints and discoveries of the infinite glories of God, which in their full brightness would only dazzle and confound us, and were discernible by us only thus tempered and obscured. And, therefore, the Apostle calls him, God, manifest in the flesh: 1 Tim. iii. 16. Certainly, God in flesh must needs be rather veiled and hidden, than manifested. But, although to himself he was obscured, yet to us he was manifested; because, if the glory of the Deity had not been thus clouded and allayed, it had not been manifested. For that light, which when tempered makes us see, will strike us blind when too glorious: as we may safer direct our eyes towards the sun when it is under an eclipse, than when it shines with unchecked rays. Hence St. John, speaking of Christ in the mean estate of his humiliation, saith of him, John i. 14. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Thus, now, you have seen what the Essential and Declarative Glories of God are.

2. Let us now consider why this attribute should so eminently be ascribed unto God: Thine is the Glory.

Now there may be Three reasons given of it.

(1) Because all, that is excellent and glorious in the creatures, is to be found in God; and that, either formally or eminently.

Is grace or holiness, wisdom or strength, duration, justice, or mercy, any excellency in those creatures to which they are attributed? they are all in God, formally, and infinitely more glorious, and with infinite more perfections, than they are in the

creatures: for created beings have but their limited and stinted proportions of these qualifications; but God is infinitely holy, infinitely wise, infinitely just, and infinitely merciful. These things are in him without allays or mixtures from their con traries. He is Holy, without any mixture of sin: Wise, without any mixture of folly: Just, without any mixture of iniqui ty: Merciful, without mixture of cruelty. Yea, these are all in him, without any bounds set them by his nature and capacity; for they are his nature, and therefore as infinite and as unbounded as it. Again, those excellencies, that are in the creatures and cannot formally agree with the Divine Essence, yet they are all in him, eminently. Are any creatures excellent for the beauty and symmetry of their parts, for light, for motion or such like qualities, that do not belong unto the Divine Nature? Yet all these are eminently in God: for he is the prime and original cause, from whom they derive their being and perfection: so that all glory is his; his incommunicatively from any other, communicatively from him.

(2) All glory, in respect of God, is but darkness and obscurity.

And so it was both a true and divine conception of Plato, when he said, That light was but a shadow of God: for, as shadows are vastly dark, when the light that surrounds them appears; so God is infinitely brighter than light itself. Yea, the sun, that created fountain of light, is but a black coal compared with this Eternal Father of Lights. This is well expressed by Job: xxv. 5. Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. As the light of the sun, when it ariseth, drowns and extinguisheth all other lights; for its brightness, as it brings a day to all the rest of the world, so it brings a night to the stars: so the infinite brightness of the glory of God overcasts all other glory whatsoever, with night and obscurity. Hence it is said, that God charged his angels with folly: Job iv. 18. so that if those wise and intellectual creatures be compared with God, they are but foolish and ignorant; for the glory of his infinite and unsearchable understanding so far transcends their reach, that they know nothing, in comparison with him, who knoweth all things. The two chiefest glories of men are wisdom and strength; wisdom to contrive, and power to execute: these perfect him, as he is a man. But yet see how the Apostle undervalues both these, when compared with God: 1 Cor. i. 25. The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the

weakness of God is stronger than men. And, therefore, because God's glory is infinitely surpassing all others, our Saviour ascribes it to him peculiarly: Thine is the glory.

(3) Because all other glories in the creatures serve only to illustrate the glory of the Great God.

Seest thou any excellency and perfection in any of the crea tures? God hath so endowed them with it, not that thou shouldest fix there, and make that thy idol: but that thou mightest have a hint from thence, how much more perfect he himself is; and take thy rise from visible excellencies, to admire those that are invisible. Is there so much beauty and harmony in the frame of nature? Think, then, how much more harmonious and orderly are the counsels and designs of the Great God, who hath contrived and disposed the whole course and circuit of Second Causes. Is there so much awe and dread in the presence of an earthly majesty, to daunt all that are not impudent and profligate offenders? Think, then, how infinitely venerable is the face of the Great God; since it is only some ray of his authority and majesty shining in them, that makes them so dreadful. Is it such a pleasant thing to the eye to behold the light? Raise, then, not thine eye of sense, but thine eye of faith, to consider how infinitely bright and glorious that light is, that is never clouded; that light which, though it infinitely diffuse itself, yet resides always in its centre: For God is light, and in him is no darkness at all: 1 John i. 5. Thus you see that God hath therefore made any created being glorious and excellent, that it might serve as a monitor to put us in mind of his greater glory; and, the more excellent any perfections are in the creature, the greater advantage have we from them to raise our meditations unto God.

3. And, having thus shewn you why glory is in such an especial manner attributed unto God, Thine is the glory; it remains now to consider, what force this plea hath to confirm our faith, that we shall obtain from God those things which we pray for.

And, here, let us see its influence upon every petition.

(1) The Glory is God's: therefore his Name shall be Hallowed.

For his declarative power consists in the hallowing of his name: since, to hallow, is nothing else, as I shewed you in the explication of that petition, but to declare God to be holy; and this is to give glory unto God. Hence we have them both

joined together: Lev. x. 3. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh to me; and, before all the people, I will be glorified. To sanctify, is to glorify God: and, therefore, what better argument can we urge that God would provide for the sanctifying of his Name, than this, that the glory is his; and if his Name be prophaned in the world, his glory needs must suffer? How can the world know that God is infinitely glorious in all his perfections and attributes, unless he take care by his own methods to have his name sanctified among his people in their expressions and actions, and to have it sanctified upon the wicked in their plagues and punishments? Therefore we may well pray in faith, Hallowed be thy Name, for thine is the Glory.

(2) The Glory is God's: therefore his Kingdom shall come. For where should he be honoured, but in his own kingdom? God is greatly dishonoured, and his glory traduced, in the rest of the world: and, therefore, if he will have any glory secured and maintained, he must take care of his Church to maintain and propagate it: Ps. lxxvi. 1. In Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel. The glory of a king falls together with his kingdom; and it lays a blot upon his honour, if he should suffer his enemies to overthrow it, while he hath power to defeat their enterprises: since, therefore, the glory is God's, we may be confident that he will provide for the security and welfare of his own kingdom; and will, for his honour's sake, establish it so sure, that the gates of hell, all the power and policy of men and devils, shall never be able to prevail upon it, to its extirpation. Hence, then, whensoever we see the rage of the professed enemies of the Name of Christ encroaching upon the borders of his dominions, when the state of the Church Militant seems visibly to impair, or when the hypocrisy and wickedness of those who are the professed enemies of Christ seems to eat out the very heart and power of true godliness, we may well pray pray in faith, Thy kingdom come: Lord, raise, Lord, enlarge, Lord, establish it; for thine is the Glory: and, unless thou wilt confine thy glory only to heaven, and account the praises and eternal hallelujahs of saints and angels a sufficient adoration for thy great Name, Lord, have regard to this thy poor decaying kingdom, for, only in it and in heaven, is thy glory celebrated. And, if thou leavest this thy kingdom to be overrun by the agents and ministers of the Devil, if prophaneness and idolatry gain ground in it so as to thrust thee out of the throne, what were this, but

to give thy glory to another, which thou hast promised not to do?

(3) The Glory is God's: therefore his Will shall be done in Earth as it is in Heaven.

The greatest glory, that God can receive from us, is by our obedience: John xv. 8. Herein, saith our Saviour, is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. God's chiefest glory is his holiness; and therefore he is styled, glorious in holiness: and we have no better way to glorify the holiness of God, than by endeavouring to be holy as he is holy; for then do we declare it to be a thing which we value as most excellent and glorious, when we strive to imitate it, and would fain get as much of it as our frail natures can receive. And, therefore, we may well pray in faith, Thy Will be done, for thine is the Glory; because the greatest glory we can give to God, is by doing his will.

(4) The Glory is God's; and therefore will he provide for us our Daily Bread, and all things that are necessary for our good. And, therefore, when God was miraculously to provide bread for his people in the wilderness, he tells them, Exod. xvi. 7. In the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord. And, certainly, it is not for the glory of God, that any of his should want things fitting and necessary for them. Only let us leave it to him, to judge what is so. For, although he should reduce thee to a morsel of bread, and a cup of cold water: yet he gives thee all that is fit for thee; and should he give thee more, it would not be a boon, but a curse.

(5) The Glory is God's: therefore he will Forgive thy Debts and Trespasses.

The Wise Man hath told us, Prov. xix. 11. that it is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression: and shall it not much more be the glory of God, whose mercies are infinitely more glorious than our charity can be? Yea, he tells us, Prov. xxv. 2. that it is the glory of God to conceal a thing; that is, to hide and cover our sins, so that they shall not be found against us: and expressly, Eph. i. 6, 7. that we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, to the praise and glory of his grace. And I have shewed you, in opening of the petition, that it is a very high honour and superiority to forgive: it is the perogative-royal of