Mat. v. 16. "Having your converfation honeft among the Gentiles, that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may, by your good works, which they fhall behold, glorify God in the day of vifitation," 1 Pet. ii. 12. While others, by their evil works, draw people from God, we, by our converfation, fhould draw them to him.

III. The third thing propofed was, To fhew the import of the expreffion, Give glory to the Lord your God. And here you may obferve the import of it, 1. With relation to the act, giving God glory. 2. With relation to the object to whom it is to be given, to the Lord your God.

1ft, With relation to the act, Give glory to God. And,

1. It is a giving, not profeffing or promifing only, but giving glory to God. This giving glory to God, doth not ly in refolution only, for the time to come, or hereafter I will do fo and fo; but it is prefent humiliation he calls us to: "Now is the accepted time, before the decree break forth;" before darknefs come on, give glory to the Lord.

2. It is giving, not extorting; for, as it fhould be at prefent humiliation, fo a voluntary one. Pharaoh was at length humbled, Exod. ix. 16. faying, "I have finned against the Lord your God, and againft you :" but it was extorted. Sparks come naturally from a fire, but not from a flint, unless it be fmitten: then is our humiliation right, when it is natural and voluntary ; Give glory to God.

3. It is giving, and not commanding others to do fo, but ourselves giving glory to God: intimating, that it is not only prefent and voluntary, but proper and perfonal humiliation, Zech. xii. 10. “ Every family apart, and their wives apart;" every perfon apart, every man and woman apart. This is the call of God to us, Give glory to God.

4. It is giving, and not lending for a time, importing an upright, ingenuous, and honeft humiliation: not bowing down the head like a bulrufh for a day, Ifaiah Iviii. 5.; but it is fure work, like that mentioned, Neh.

ix. 38. "Becaufe of all this we make a fure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priefts, feal

unto it."

5. It is a giving, not a felling: importing, that it is a free, not a mercenary humiliation, that the Lord calls for. Some people would give some glory to God, providing they might thereby gain fome glory to themfelves, like that of Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 13. "I have finned; but now honour me before the people." But we are to give glory to God; and take fhame to ourfelves, and acknowledge as it is, Dan. ix. 8, 9. that, " To us belongs confufion of face, becaufe we have finned but to the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness :" to him belongs all the glory.

6. Hence it is giving and not parting stakes, if we' may be allowed the expreffion, with God; importing, it must be full and entire humiliation. Men will confefs their moral and not their intellectual fins; the evils that relate to their morals, their drinking and whoredom, and other grofs evils: but as to the evils that relate to their principles, they are thy to make acknowledgement of their errors and ignorance. They will hardly own they are fools; but they that give glory to God, and none but thefe, will confefs their total corruption of heart, as well as way.-Thus we fee what is imported in thefe words, as it concerns the act, Give glory to God.

adly, We may confider the import of the words, as it relates to the object; Give glory to the LORD your God. It imports,

1. A glorifying him in his fovereignty: give glory to the Lord, as he is the Lord of heaven and earth; the Lord of lords; the Lord of angels; the Lord of men and devils; the Lord of our life; the Lord of our breath; the Lord of our time and talents; the Lord of our health and, wealth, and enjoyments; the Lord of all that we have and are; the Lord of our house, and land, and children; the Lord-difpofer of all things, to whofe government we ought to fubmit. We do not give him glory, if we do not practically acknowledge his Lordship, and own him as our Lord and Sovereign.

2. It is a glorifying him in his propriety in us, as the Lord our God. This is what we are called and commanded to do in the very first command of the law, " Thou fhalt have no other gods before me;" which requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the Lord our "God and Redeemer, and to worship and glorify him

accordingly." Never will we be truly humbled, nor give him the glory due to him, unless we come to him as the Lord our God, laying hold on his covenant, that fays, "I will be thy God." The faith of this relation in Chrift is prefuppofed to our coming; "Return, ye backfliding children, and I will heal your backflidings," Jer. iii. 22. O the faith of this mercy of God in Chrift would make us return to him' as our own merciful God, faying, "Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the Lord our God." -Thus much for the import of the expreffion, Give glory unto the Lord your God. I come now,

IV. To the fourth thing propofed, viz. To fpeak a little of the motive, namely, Before be caufe darkness. I fhall fpeak to this head, 1. By confidering the feveral fignifications of darknefs in fcripture. 2. By offering fome remarks concerning the darkness here spoken of.

ft, I fhall confider the feveral fignifications of darknefs in fcripture.

1. Sometimes darkness is put for fin in general, and for Satan's kingdom; "He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and tranflated us to the kingdom of his dear Son," Col. i. 13. The gofpel is defigned to open men's eyes, and to bring them from darknefs unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Acts xxvi. 18. Now, when we understand it in this fenfe, to give glo ry to God before he cause darkness, may have this import, viz. before he give up to the power of fin and Satan, by leaving us altogether under the dominion of fin. It is true, God is not, and cannot be the author of fin, nor can he be properly the caufe of it, no more than the fun can be the caufe of darknefs; but as when the fun withdraws, darkness fucceeds; fo when God departs, fin and Satan muft have the fway.

2. Some

2. Sometimes darkness is put for ignorance and blindnefs of mind, incredulity and unbelief; Jonn i. 5. "The light fhines in darkneis, and the darknefs comprehendeth it not. Mat. iv. 16. The people that fat in darkness, faw great light." Then the meaning is, in this fenfe, Give glory to God, before he give you up to judicial blindness of mind, and to final unbelief, according to that threatening, Ifa. vi. 10. "Go tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; fee ye indeed, but perceive not: make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and fhut their eyes; left they fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." On! dreadful judgment !

3. It is put fometimes for error and impiety, in oppofition to truth and holinefs; 1 John i. 5, 6. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" that is, no untruth or unholiness and' again, "If we fay we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lye, and do not the truth." Now, in this fenfe, the meaning of it is, Give glory to God, before he give you up to the errors of the times, and to a spirit of delufion, like that threatened, 2 Theff. ii. 10, 11, 12. "Because they received not the II, love of the truth, that they might be faved; for this cause God fhall fend them ftrong delufion, to believe a lye, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness."

4. Sometimes darkness is put for forrow, grief, and heaviness; Mic. vii. 16. " Too' I fit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me;" that is, when I am overwhelmed with heavinefs and grief, the Lord will be my comfort; as it is faid, "Light is fown for the righteous, and gladness to the upright in heart;" where light and gladnefs fignify the fame things, even as darkness and heavinefs fignify the fame: hence the meaning of the word in this verse is, Give glory to God, before he cause grief and forrow to come upon you, as travail upon

a woman.

5. Darkness is fometimes put in fcripture, for the lofs of Chrift and the gofpel, and the blind miferable state that follows thereupon; thus John xii. 35. "Yet a little while, fays Chrift, and the light is with you; walk while

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ye have the light, left darknefs come upon you," ver. 36. While ye have the light, believe in the light:" then the meaning is, Give glory to God, by believing and walking in the light, before he caufe fuch dreadful darknefs, as that of taking away the candleflick, or removing the gofpel, the means of grace and falvation. This is one of the greatest plagues and judgments: but fpiritual judgments, though heavieft, are generally leaft felt and understood. Therefore,

6. Darkness is, in fcripture, fometimes put for great

afflictions, and heavy calamities; Ezek. xxxii. 8, 9, 10. "I will fet darknefs upon thy land, faith the Lord, &c. Joel ii. 2. The day of the Lord cometh, a day of darkness and of gloominefs, a day of clouds and of thick darkness; as the morning fpread upon the mountains: a great people and a ftrong, there hath not been ever the like, neither fhall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations: a fire devoureth before them. Zeph. i. 14,1 17. The great day of the Lord is near: the mighty man fhall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and diftress, a day of waftenefs and defolation, a day of darkness and of gloominefs, a day of clouds and of thick darknefs, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities. And I will bring diftrefs upon. men, that they fhall walk like blind men, because they have finned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as duft, and their flefh as the dung. Lam. ii. 1, 2. I am the man that hath feen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me into darknefs, but not into light." And it is in this sense especially, that fome take the words of the text; and fo the meaning is, Give glory to God, before he fend more heavy difpenfations, grievous afflictions, and terrible calamities; perfonal, congregational, and national.

7. Darknefs is, in fcripture, fometimes put for death and the grave; Job x. 31. "Before I go whence I fhall not return, even to the land of darknefs, and the fhadow of death. Alfo ver. 22. A land of darkness, as darkness itself, and the fhadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." Then, Give glory to God, before he cause darkness; that is, before his mes

fenger,