Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/321

 Firstly, The duty here enjoined, that is, to glorify God.

Secondly, The manner of performing it, that is, with one mind and one mouth. And, Thirdly, Put you in mind of your high obligations to comply with this duty, not only because of the signal deliverance which we are met together to celebrate, but by reason of that infinite number which God hath vouchsafed to favor us with at other times, no less worthy our remembrance and thanks. I begin with the duty here prescribed, and that is, to glorify God, by which we may not understand that we can add any thing to the glory and perfection of the divine nature, for that is not in our power; for God is the same yesterday and to-day, and admits of no new accessions to his glory, by any thing we can say or do. The glorifying of God consists chiefly in these two things—in a high and honorable esteem and reverence for him in our hearts, and likewise in all outward expressions of honor, duty, and reverence towards him in our lives. The one is internal honor, whereby we are said to glorify God in our souls and spirits, the other is external, whereby we glorify him by our conversation and behavior.

I say, to glorify God is to have a high and honorable esteem and reverence for him in our hearts; to entertain thoughts worthy of him, and have conceptions imprinted in our minds, suitable to the eminence and perfections of his nature, that is to apprehend him to be really as he is—superlatively good, wise, powerful, holy, and just; to take him for our Maker and Preserver, and to own our absolute and entire dependence upon him, and pay him our homage and adoration accordingly. In such internal and devout acts of the mind, does the glorifying of God chiefly and principally consist;