that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

To whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and honour now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON CCX.

Of doing all to the glory of God.

I COR. X. 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

T

Hese words are a general conclufion inferred from a particular cafe, which the Apostle had been

discourfing of before; and that we may the better understand the meaning of this general rule, it will not be amiss to look back a little upon the particular cafe the Apostle was speaking of; and that was concerning the partaking of things offered to idols, and that in two cafes; either by partaking of the idol-feasts in their temples, after the sacrifices; or by partaking of things offered to idols, whether they were bought by Chriftians in the market, or fet before them at a private entertainment, to which by some Heathens they were invited.

The first he condemns as absolutely unlawful: the ether not as unlawful in itself, but in some circumstances upon the account of scandal.

The first cafe he speaks of from ver. 14. to the 23. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, flee from idolatry. I speak to wife men: judge ye what I say. As if he had said, you may easily apprehend what it is I am going to caution you againft. And first he tells them in general, that they who communicated in the worship of any deity, or in any kind of facrifice offered to him, did, in fo doing, own and acknowledge that for a deity. To this purpose he inftanceth in communicating in the Christian facrament, and in the Jewish sacrifices, ver. 16. 17. 18. The cup of the blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Ifrael after the flesh : that is, the Jews, are not they which eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar? Thus it is in the Christian and the Jewish worship. And the cafe is the fame, if any man partake of the idol-feasts in their temples. This he does not express, but takes it for granted they understood what this discourse aimed at.

And then he answers an argument, which it seems was made use of by some, particularly the Gnosticks, of whom the Apostle speaks, chap. viii. and that was this. If an idol be nothing, and consequently things facrificed to idols were not to be confidered as facrifices, then it was lawful to partake of the idol-feafts, which were celebrated in their temples. And that the Apoftle speaks of these, is plain from his discourse againft the Gnosticks, who made use of this argument for the lawfulness of communicating at the idol-feafts, chap. viii. 4. As concerning therefore the eating of things which are offered in facrifice unto idols; we know that an idol is nothing in the world, &c. And ver. 10. If any man fee thee which haft knowledge, alluding to the very name of Gnofticks, if any man see thee which hast knowledge, fit at meat in an idol temple.

This then is that partaking of idol-feafts, which the Apoftle here speaks of, which they pretended to be lawful, because an idol is nothing. This, fays the Apostle, I know as well as you, that an idol is no real deity, but for all that, the devil is really worshipped and ferved by this means, ver. 20. But I say that the things which the Gentiles facrifice, they facrifice to devils, and not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils : ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of devils.

Having declared this way of partaking of things offered to idols, to be unlawful in itself, and a virtual renouncing of Chriftianity; then he proceeds to the confideration of the other cafe, of eating of things offered to idols out of their temples, which might happen several ways. Sometimes being fold by the Priests, they were expofed to fale in the market. Sometimes the Heathens carried fome remainders of the sacrifices to their houses, and inviting the Christians to a feast, might set these meats before them; what should Christians do in either of these cafes?

First, He determines in general, that out of the temples it was lawful to eat these things, because in so doing they communicated in no act of worship with the Heathens: it is lawful, he says, in itself; but because it might be harmful to others, and give scandal, in fuch circumstances, it became unlawful by accident. Ver. 23. All things are lawful to me, but all things are not oxpedient; all things are lawful for me, but all things e dify not. Things which are lawful in themselves, may in some cafes be very dangerous and destructive to others, and we should not only confider ourselves, but others also. Let no man seek his own : but every man another's welfare. And then he comes to the particular cafes. Whatever is fold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for confcience fake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. We may take these things from God's hand, who is the true Lord of them and of all creatures. For this reason we may without fcrupulous enquiry use those meats which are publickly expofed to fale.

And fo likewife in the other cafe, if we be invited to the table of an Heathen, we may eat what is fet before us, without enquiring whether it be part of an idol-facrifice. But if any man tell us, that this meat was offered in sacrifice to idols, in that cafe we ought to abstain from eating of it, for his fake that shewed it, and for confcience fake; that is, out of regard to the opinion of those, who think these meats unlawful: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. Alfo in another fenfe, God hath made fuch abundant provifion for us, that we may abstain from this or that meat without any great

great inconvenience. Confcience, I say, not thine own but another's. He had said before, we should eat of what was fet before us, asking no question for conscience fake; that is, not making it a matter of confcience to ourselves: now he says, if we be told it was offered to an idol, we should not eat for confcience fake; that is, not as making a matter of confcience of it to ourselves, but out of regard to the confcience of another, to whom it might be a scandal. For why is my liberty judged of another man's confcience? and if I with thanksgiving be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? that is, why should another man's confcience be a prejudice to my liberty? if another makes confcience of it as unlawful, why should his confcience govern mine, and make me think so too; or why should I be evil spoken of, for thinking it lawful to eat any thing set before me for which I give thanks? This is a little obscure; but the plain meaning of the Apostle's reasoning seems to be this; though I have that regard to another man's weak conscience, as to abstain from eating what he thinks unlawful; yetam Inot therefore bound to be of his opinion, and think it unlawful in itself: I will confider his weakness so far as to forbear that which I am perfuaded is lawful to do, but yet I will still preserve the liberty of my own judgment; and as I am content to give no scandal to him, so I expect that he should not censure and condemn me for thinking that lawful, which he believes not to be so: and then from all this discourse, the Apostle establisheth this general rule in the text, Wherefore whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. To which is parallel that other text, I Pet. iv. 11. That God in all things may be glorified. So that this general rule lays a duty upon all Christians of designing the glory of God in all their actions; all the difficulty is, what is here meant by this, of doing all things to the glory of God. The Jews have a common faying, which seems to be parallel with this phrase of the Apostle, That all things should be done in the name of God. And this they make so essential to every good action, that it was a received principle among them, that he who obeys any command of God, and not in his name, shall receive no reward. ward. Now that to do things in the name of God, and to do them to his glory, are but several phrases signifying the fame thing, is evident from that precept of the Apostle, Col. iii. 17. And whatsoever ye do in word, or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, to his glory. Now for our clear understanding of the sense of this phrase of glorifying God, or doing things to God's glory; we will confider the various use of it in fcripture, and so descend to the proper and particular sense of it here in the text.

The glory of God is nothing else but the honour which is given to him by his creatures; and confequently, the general notion of glorifying God, or doing any thing to his glory, is to design to honour God by fuch and such actions; and this phrafe is in scripture more efpecially applyed to these following particulars.

I. We are faid in scripture to glorify God by a folemn acknowledgment of him and his perfections, of his goodness and mercy, of his power and wisdom, of his truth and faithfulness, of his fovereign dominion and authority over us. Hence it is that all folemn aEtions of religion are called the worship of God, which signifies that honour and glory which is given to him by his creatures, signified by some outward expression of reverence and respect. Thus we are faid to worship God, when we fall down before him, and pray to him for mercy and blessings, or praise him for favours and benefits received from him, or perform any other folemn act of religion, Pfal. lxxxvi. 9. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.

But especially the duty of praise and thanksgiving is most frequently in fcripture called glorifying of God, or giving glory to him. Psa.lxxxvi. 12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify thy name. Matth. v. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may fee your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven; that is, praise him upon that account. v. 25. it is faid of the man fick of the palsy, that when he was healed, He departed to his own house, glorifying God; that is, praising God for his great mercy to him. And Luke xvii. 18. our Saviour speaking of the ten le