Q.1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

For good reason the Westminster divines put this question first in their catechisms, for indeed, it is the glory of God that all other doctrines must pay homage to, and all points in life be subject. The glory of God is that ocean wherein all the rivers in theology flow and find their rest, and upon which they depend. It is lawful therefore to use this question as a rule in theology: Doth this doctrine give glory to God alone? And if the answer is yes, then the doctrine is true, and if no, then false. In this discussion I hope to explain what that end is that is here spoken of, the glory of God as our most reasonable end, and what it means to enjoy Him forever.
I. Man’s chief end.
What is the chief end of man? The meaning here is not what will be the end of man, as that would be universalism, or what should be the end of man, which is decisionism, but in truth the whole design and purpose of man. That is what God created him for, and what he is obliged to do as a creature accountable to his sovereign. As the catechism begins with this question and moves on to the decrees of God, the providence of God, and then the fall of man into sin, we must take this question in context with the others, and understand that this is chiefly pertaining to Adam as the first man, and that this was the purpose for which God created him as a rational creature endowed with the image of God. Therefore we ought to take this question in two parts, although these two parts are but one, as body and soul are one. The first is objectively, that is that God hath created man for His own glory, not that any creature may add to His glory, or diminish from it, but rather to magnify, and show forth His glory. As all creatures show forth the glory of God in a peculiar manner, the sea to magnify His fullness, the sky His majesty, the rose His beauty, the lion His dread, and so on, so man was created above all these, with dominion over them for the particular purpose of manifesting God’s own love, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth, first in creation, and more abundantly in redemption. These divine attributes were possessed of God in eternity, and are more glorious than all creation, yea infinitely so, and also were enjoyed and seen by Adam in the garden, more so in that single day of uprightness than in all of the days of man’s vanity since the fall, because although in redemption we see God’s peculiar mercy more brightly in Christ than Adam ever saw in creation, yet we must apprehend it by faith, and do not enjoy it but in part, and do eagerly await the redemption of the body, inasmuch as we are still burdened by sin, and cannot perform our duty as we ought to. So that we are blessed in Christ through regeneration and promised an inheritance beyond anything Adam could have conceived of in the garden, but yet as he had moral uprightness beyond anything that can be attained in this life, so his communion with God was perfect, and he did perform that which he was commanded as he was commanded, as God created all things good. This brings us to the question, wherein consisted Adam’s liberty? Was Adam happy because he was permitted to do what he willed, or rather as we affirm in that he was commanded to do what God willed, and was blessed with the power to perform it? Herman Witsius writes, “Man, therefore, just from the hands of his Maker, had a soul, shining with rays of a divine light, and adorned with the brightest wisdom; whereby he was not only perfectly master of the nature of created things, but was delighted with the contemplation of the supreme and uncreated truth, the eyes of his understanding being constantly fixed on the perfections of his God; from the consideration of which he gathered, by the justest reasoning, what was equitable and just, what worthy of God and of himself. He also had the purest holiness of will, acquiescing in God as the supreme truth, revering him as the most dread majesty, loving him as the chief and only good; and, for the sake of God, holding dear whatever his mind, divinely taught, conceived as pleasing to Him, and like to, and expressive of his perfections; in fine, whatever contributed to the acquiring an intimate and immediate union with him; delighting in the communion of his God, which was now allowed him; panting after further communion, raising himself thereto by the creatures, as so many scales or steps; and finally setting forth the praises of his most unspotted holiness as the most perfect pattern, according to which he was to frame both himself and his actions to the uttermost. This is, as Elihu significantly expresses it, Job 34:9, “delighting himself with God.” This rectitude of the soul was accompanied with a most regular temperature of the whole body, all whose members, as instruments of righteousness, presented themselves ready and active at the first intimation of his holy will. Nor was it becoming God to form a rational creature for any other purpose than his own glory; which such a creature, unless wise and holy, could neither perceive nor celebrate, as shining forth in the other works of God; destitute of this light, and deprived of this endowment, what could he be but the reproach of his Creator, and every way unfit to answer the end of his creation? All these particulars the wisest of kings, Eccl. 7:29, has thrown together with a striking simplicity, when he says: “Lo! this only have I found, that God hath made man upright.” Even as Christ saith, “As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And again in the same book it is written, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So we see that true liberty is found in keeping God’s commandments and in glorifying Him, just as this was the chief cause why God created man. Therefore the subjective element in this chief end of man depends upon the first, in so much that it matters not that man attains to a cause, except it is a right cause, and if it is a right cause, it must have its beginning in God, that is that it must be commanded by Him. So that man’s purpose is to glorify God, and this he is obliged to do as a responsible, moral agent, and that he can have no hope at all except God first commands him to it. This also demonstrates the goodness of God towards man in that God should command what is most beneficial for him, that is that the chiefest and highest good is the glory of God, and therefore it is an incomprehensible benefit to man that God should command him to do what promotes his own blessedness. For as there is no end higher than God, so God shows forth His infinite goodness in commanding man to conform to Himself, and to enjoy Him forever. Therefore, as there is an objective element which determines the subjective, even that God hath created man for this reason, so there is a subjective element which hangs upon and depends upon the first, even that it is man’s duty therefore to glorify God in the manner, and by the means which God appoints for him. The glory of God is the chief reason why God hath created thee, O man, therefore pursue this end. So we see that we may rightly distinguish between these, and yet these are truly but one principle.
So we say that man was created by God to give Him glory. If someone should ask, “Why did God make man?” The proper answer would be, “For His own glory” And how so? Was God in need of any addition to His glory? No, for we know that God of Himself is infinitely glorious and hath no need of anything, but rather that the glory of God would be thoroughly displayed and manifested in Creation, and Redemption. Man was created to this end: that he should be an image to reflect the glory of God in the world. Therefore the catechism rightly says that the chief end of man is to glorify God, for this was the purpose of God’s giving Him life and being. His very existence is of God, and therefore ought to redound to God. Thomas Vincent says, “May men have no other chief end than the glorifying and enjoying of God?

A. Men ought to have no other chief end than the glorifying of God, but they may have subordinate ends. For— 1. Men ought to be diligent in their particular callings, for this end, that they may provide for themselves and their families. “Do your own business, and work with your own hands, that ye may have lack of nothing.”— 1 Thess. 4:11-12. 2. Men may eat, and drink, and sleep, for this end, that they may nourish and refresh their bodies. It is lawful to design, and desire, and seek such things as these in such actions, subordinately, or less principally; but in these and all actions, men ought principally and chiefly to design and seek the glory of God. “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”— 1 Cor. 10:31. 3. Men may moderately desire and endeavour after the enjoyment of such a portion of the good things of the world as is needful and useful; but they ought to make choice of God for their chief good, and desire the eternal enjoyment of him as their chief portion. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” or in comparison with thee. “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”— Ps. 73:25-26.”
John Flavel also says, “What then is to be thought of these men, who being wholly intent upon inferior things, forget and neglect their principal end?
A. They are dead whilst they live, 2 Timothy 5:1. They have their Portion in this Life, Psalm 17:14, and their end is destruction; Philippians 3:19.
1. The Christian’s chief end.
And so, seeing it is beyond contestation that man is God’s creature and therefore man is bound to Him to obey all of His commands, and to pursue all of His designs, we move to explain the nature of that duty which arises from it. Man was created by God and for God, and it is only proper and right that his actions be governed by God, and pleasing to God. Man’s every breath ought to give God glory. God has given us life that we might give Him glory. And yet seeing the world is plunged into sin, Adam having utterly corrupted himself and his seed, it would be superfluous to discourse as if we were speaking to man in general seeing man is dead in sin, and it is only Christians who in regeneration do pursue this principle of glorifying God. And so, in discoursing and meditating upon the glory of God as man’s end, we must see ourselves as men who were thus created by God for His own glory, and submit to that design, for except we humble ourselves before Him and know ourselves to be under His rule, we can never rightly obey in any one thing that He commands us. This refutes the devilish doctrines of the antinomians who cast off God’s law, and thereby yield themselves to all manner of sin and unrighteousness, having no rule to guide them. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” It is of no consequence, say the antinomians, whether you obey or not, seeing the law is abolished, absolutely and hath no hold nor power over us. Therefore they cannot glorify God, seeing they do not come under His authority so to be ruled and governed by Him. Therefore as Christians we know we are obliged to obey Him, and so submit ourselves to Him in deference and true obedience, asking Him for the guidance to show us how to obey, and the grace to give us the power.
2. The glory of God as a principal motive.
We also see from this that this principle stretches into all corners of human thought and motive, yea it deals chiefly with the spiritual and after that to the fruition thereof into action.
The glory of God is not seen in the outward show of religion, as in preaching, praying, reading, doing works of charity and so forth. That is to say, that these do not glorify God unless they come from a right motive, even that glory. So that those who aim to justify themselves by these things, and aim in these things to please men, as preachers who corrupt the nature of the gospel for praise, or fear, as men who pray for worldly possessions, and to boast of their prayers to others, those who read with the aim of making scripture to agree with their natural reasoning, and those who give to the poor that they might seem more righteous than others, these do not glorify God, because God has no use for them. But in preaching, to preach Christ and Him crucified for sinners, condemning the world in all its luxury, and self-righteousness exhorting men to repent from an earnest will for God’s word to be heard in truth, and for His people to be built up, this glorifies God. To pray in the secret place for spiritual treasures as God’s grace and blessing, the countenance of His face, and His wrath to come upon the wicked, this is to glorify God. To read scripture with the aim to grow in grace and in the true knowledge of God, this is to glorify Him. Therefore it is not what man sees that glorifies God, but the hidden work of faith which is God’s own work in the soul. This faith is seen by its works, and this is truly what pleases God. For as there are three components that are necessary for there to be a good work, so without these, all the flourishes of the hypocrites will be shown to be nothing by wind and vanity. First, in order to glorify God by a good work it must be something God has commanded. Did God command men to preach? Yes, but specifically to proclaim the truth of His gospel. Therefore, unless they preach to men His word, it were better for them to have never been born than to take God’s holy word on their lips, and by it, perish on the stumbling stone. The Psalm says, “What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.”
And the prophet says again, “But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” So to preach false doctrine under the guise of true religion is not an acceptable work, but is double wickedness. Secondly, it must be done with the knowledge of the law, that is in faith, and because it is commanded. What profit is it to obey, if we do not know what we are doing, or who we are following? Doth not the prophet rebuke implicit faith and practice, saying, “If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?” Will you follow that which you know not to be true, or may even doubt whether it is, and have not searched the scripture to see if it is so? So a man who offers God obedience on the altar of ignorance cannot hope to be accepted by Him. God is a just God and will revenge Himself on those who mock Him by offering to Him that which is blind. “If you know these things, happy are you if you keep them.” Therefore in order to keep them, we must first know them. Thirdly, for a work to glorify God it must be done with the proper motive, that is God’s glory must be its design and end. This is the consummation and perfection of obedience, even that of love and goodwill to God. Therefore these three components here spoken of are but one, seeing that no hypocrite can obey God, because although for the form of things he may do things that God commands, yet for all these he is guilty seeing he has corrupted them by his own aim and design in them. He preaches, but lo! He preached falsehood. He prays, but lo! He prays to an idol, and for his own reputation. He reads, but lo! It is for his own self-love and his lust for knowledge so that he may boast over others, and call them ignorant and dumb dogs, and so that he might receive the worship and glory which belongs to God. O woeful condition of man! These inclinations of the hypocrite are natural to us, and these lusts for our own glory are those propensities that we are born enslaved to! I am not here speaking of but a few cases, but the principle of sin in the heart of man, that he by nature doth not seek after God, as the scripture says. That is that man doth not seek after the glory of God and therefore, “neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Rom. 1:21-23
And so we see how wretchedly foolish man is that he acts against his own good by pursuing death and not hearkening to the word of God. Every man is obligated by his creation, and by the law to give God glory, and every man from birth is a self-serving devil who hath no view, no knowledge, and no desire for God’s glory, and therefore cannot glorify Him. So we see that according to the law, all thoughts are to be held captive to the obedience of the knowledge of Christ, and nothing in all our thoughts, apprehensions, desires and motives is to be lacking this principle, that we aim to glorify God by them, that it is approved by Him, and that we know and understand that His law is the guide and principle which we are to follow. So we see that when the apostle says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” He does not mean to say that everything you do is consecrated and holy, as the false professors of the church vainly imagine, putting this verse in picture frames so that by this holy principle they might disguise all their abominable works and call it good seeing they aim to glorify God by their false gospel, their hypocritical gatherings, and their works of “charity.” But yet for all this, God will not be mocked, and He will bring vengeance on those who do not know Him, and cloak their sin in hypocrisy. But when the apostle says, “whatsoever ye do” it is the same as when Solomon saith in the Proverbs, “be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.” That is, make it your aim and goal to bring all your thoughts and deeds to the obedience of the law, inasmuch as God is holy, and the law is exceedingly broad, and we are a people that fear Him and seek to obey Him in all things. Therefore seeing we are a people who fear the LORD, let us as the apostle exhorts be so acquainted with the law that we might know how that eating and drinking might glorify Him, seeing that man being brought into captivity into the bondage of sin hath brought God’s curse upon himself, so that his eating and drinking prolongeth his worthless existence, his sleeping is self-indulging sloth, his waking is readiness to sin and commit transgression, and his plowing is abominable iniquity. As the scripture says, “The plowing of the wicked is sin”, “the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination”, “they do evil with both hands, earnestly” “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.” And such like passages show that man can only do that which is evil in the sight of God, and therefore it must be explained how man is restored to bring Him glory, and how his actions may show that he has something of God in Him. For truly, as we are obligated to do the whole law of God, and cannot be saved until we come to this knowledge, so when we have flown to Christ for refuge and comfort we might ask of Him, “how might I do thee service, and pay thee due reverence, seeing thou hast done all this for me? Even giving thy perfect life for such a wretch as I?” For truly the law hath in no wise lost its force after we are delivered from death, for is it ever said in the scripture that we are freed from obedience? Is not obedience to God and the pursuit of His glory the greatest liberty that can be attained? And is not heaven a world in which all the people of God do manifest their love to Him by obeying Him perfectly in glory forever? Yes, verily. And so we see that although we be weak and feeble creatures, prone to sin and temptation, yet as it is our duty to keep the whole law, so it is our design and delight to do the same, looking unto Christ for righteousness, even unto His blood for justification, and looking unto His grace and mercy for strength to keep His word and give Him the glory and praise which is due to His name, as saith also the Psalms.
Thomas Watson says, “Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial; now, man being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself, and that should be, that he may lift up God in the world.”
3. The glory of God as the chief end of man.
When God created Adam in the garden, He endowed Him with a rational soul, immortal and imprinted with the image of God. But by sin came death, and therefore man though his soul endures forever, yet his body is subject to death, and he must face the penalty for so great an error as sin. Man corrupted and defiled the image of God, therefore God cast Him from His presence, and set a watch over the garden, lest man should think that he can restore this communion by natural means. Therefore except we be restored, and that by God’s own will, we are liable to death and to hell forever. But here we are speaking of the glory of God, and in reference to what is that good thing that man should find to do while on the earth.
Man comes from dust and goes to dust. What thing therefore shall man find on earth that is notable, or defining? If he should build many buildings, or write many books, does he not return to the dust like every man? If he should reign over a thousand kingdoms, and make a name for himself so that he should be remembered in history, is his grace not the same as every other man’s and shall not his successor bring his kingdom down to nothing? Is his time on earth lengthened by his efforts, or diminished by his own will? What lasting effort can man endeavor to, or work for? Do not all the greatest kingdoms in the world become rubble, and wax weaker with time? If man should exalt himself in the security of his power, will not God abase and destroy him? Was not this the error of Nebuchadnezzar? His kingdom that God lifted up from dust (and that in order to punish His people) lifted up his heart of dust, and this brought God’s anger down upon him, and he was made to eat grass and live like an animal, so that he might see that God alone reigns in heaven, and sets over the kingdoms of the earth whom He pleases. Therefore if we would see our works established, and brought to a glorious end, we must build our foundation on the glory of God. This is not our own work, but properly the work of God, building His temple in us, and working through us by His powerful grace.
This is our reasonable end, that we give God the glory for all our grace, our gifts, our shelter, our security, and our prosperity; that we seek after heavenly things, and not earthly things, as the scripture exhorts, so that in all things God may be glorified, and He would not have reason to be angry with us and chasten us because we wander from this principle, but that we might be confident in Him, and assured of His promise to us, having brought our lives by grace into conformity to His will. These treasures are those which last forever, and will be with us in this life, and that which is to come.
Our own works of the flesh cease and are burned up, but God’s glory remains forever. [1 Cor. 3:13-15, Gal. 6:8]
Therefore the principle of faith which He implants in the soul by regeneration is a seed that shall grow up into eternal life. What God begins by grace in regeneration, He continues by grace in sanctification, and completes by grace in glorification.

II. The glory of God.
Having explained man’s duty before God, drawn from his reason for existence and a few of the chief principles relating to it, I think it important to discourse on the nature of God’s glory in general in order to properly define it.
First, there is a distinction to be made between God’s glory, and our duty to glorify Him. That is, between God’s intrinsic glory which He cannot share, and His glory manifested, which we are obligated to do. God is glorious in Himself, and we as created beings cannot add to His glory, nor take from it. Although our actions may show forth God’s glory, they are not in themselves glorious. This is to steal from His glory. This principle refutes the madness of the Arminians who bloated with self-love and pride, aim to make themselves a ladder that reaches to heaven made up of free will, and good works. This their wretched attempt we see plainly enough is vanity and iniquity, as we cannot show forth God’s glory except He give us the means and ability, and if He does so choose to give, we can do nothing but issue forth His praises which are quite contrary to our own! Therefore to boast in self and imagine a free will which can take you to heaven is to prove yourself an unregenerate, still bound in iniquity, and a debtor to the whole law. Go therefore, and climb, and see how high your ladder will take you. Inasmuch as it was made from this world, even man’s defiled brain it cannot take you beyond it, but will only be a means by which God will cast you down, bring you low and abase you even to hell. For whomsoever will glorify himself, him God will bring down. God mocks this vanity of free will in Job saying, “Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.” Job 40:7-14 Therefore we see that those whom God designs to glorify Him, He illuminates by regeneration, showing them their sin and iniquity by the law, thereby driving them to their only hope of redemption which is the propitiation of the Lord Jesus Christ. To assent to any kind of free will is to overthrow this principle entirely. Therefore we see the madness of those also who, under the guise of evangelical unity invite into communion heretics and false professors, showing themselves also to be devoid of any desire for God’s glory, inasmuch as God forbids communion with heresy, declaring those guilty of blood who do not mark and avoid them. [Ezk. 3:18] Therefore Thomas Watson says, “Peace with Arminian? This is a peace of the devil’s making.” And the congregation of Israel is commanded to stone Achan and burn him and his belongings, including his family; and wherefore? He was executed by the law because he coveted a garment of the heathen. Therefore if this pernicious doctrine of free will infiltrates the church, it is our duty to cast out from our company any who are defiled by it, and burn up their false doctrines with the pure reason of holy scripture, so that the church be not defiled by it, and that we may go forth and conquer. Therefore Joshua in inquring into the matter saith to that pestilent member, “Give glory to the LORD God of Israel! Therefore we see how practical this doctrine is, insomuch that to behold and believe the doctrine of the glory of God, this keeps us from breaches in the law, which cause God to be angry with us, and this keeps us from heresy which God threatens with divine vengeance. Therefore let us take heed, and diligently hear the instruction from the word of God.
1. God’s glory defined.
And so, we come to the precise definition of the glory of God. What is the glory of God? God’s glory is a trait of His character. He is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably and incomprehensibly glorious. This glory He cannot part with or share with another. He is glorious in Himself and by Himself. He alone is glorious. In Acts 7:2, Stephen calls Him, “The God of glory.” In Exodus 15:11 He is referred to as, “glorious in holiness”. He cannot cease from being glorious inasmuch as from being holy or good or just. He is glory in inexpressible majesty, and therefore all His decrees and the execution thereof will certainly, and effectually bring Him glory and show Him to be glorious. This we have no doubt of. The word for glory in the original means weight or significance. This God revealed to Moses when He said, “I AM THAT I AM” Meaning to say that your existence depends on mine. You have no significance except it is derived from Me. I am eternally glorified, and will be from everlasting to everlasting. Therefore it is said in the Psalm of Moses. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” This is the sincere confession of faith which is the expression of every Christian, even that God is glorious and He alone is worthy to be praised.
He makes His deeds known, and all His people speak of His glory. He delivers us from death and we behold His glory in His Son, and therefore we praise Him and speak of His righteousness alone. As the Psalm says, “I will go in the strength of the LORD God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.” He is glorious in His wrath. He sets man up in slippery places, and then casts him down to destruction. He makes man to be esteemed for wisdom and honor in this life, and sends him delusion which condemns him in the next. As the Psalm says, A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever.” God displays His glory in the eternal punishment of sin. He pours out His Spirit where He wills, and upon others He holds them in wrath that they might never see the light. So Calvin says, “As God by the effectual working of his call to the elect perfects the salvation to which by his eternal plan he has destined them, so he has his judgments against the reprobate, by which he executes his plan for them. What of those, then, whom he created for dishonor in life and destruction in death, to become the instruments of his wrath and examples of his severity? That they may come to their end, he sometimes deprives them of the capacity to hear his word; at other times he, rather, blinds and stuns them by the preaching of it.” This divine punishment we were worthy of for sin. Sin is not only worthy of punishment in the next life, but in this life also, as an ox is fattened for slaughter.
Oh! The riches and endless bounty of free grace poured out to unworthy sinners!
We who receive of His goodness apprehend His glory in Christ. Jesus Christ is the express image of God’s glory. He gave up His life for His elect, that we might also live for God, and through Him attain to our reasonable end. The glory of God is not revealed to man apart from Jesus Christ. Therefore those who do not glorify God by Him are cast out as worthless. All of the glory of God flows from the eternal Godhead, and He who does not honor the Son, can never honor the Father. This refutes the pernicious notion of common grace. What! Call grace common? Call that which God hath purchased for His people by the blood of His Son a common thing? And so we see God’s curse on these miserable brutes, saying in Hebrews, “how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith He was sanctified an unholy things, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.” God pronounces a most bitter curse on all who deny Limited Atonement and call grace common. The things of this world are common, as eating, drinking, sleeping, as money, wealth, fame, and pleasure also, but these are not of grace, but are of this world, and all men who love this world, calling these earthly things grace do not have the love of God in them. Those who call grace common, call Christ’s death which purchases grace common, and so spite the Spirit of grace who gives to men this grace according to the divine election of the Father and the perfect purchase of the Son. God is glorious in Himself and of Himself, and therefore all that He hath decreed will most certainly bring Him glory. He hath decreed, and who can turn back what He hath uttered from His mouth? The weight of all the world, and all the comes to pass in it hangs upon this principle of God’s glory. So we will see in another question, “God for His own glory hath foreordained whatsoever cometh to pass.” He hath decreed it, and it hath been for His own glory.
2. God’s glory restored.
Therefore it is incumbent upon us to explain how it comes to pass that sinful man is made again to give glory to God. Seeing that Adam hath fallen, and man is estranged from God, and is unprofitable, how can man be turned from his way to seek after God?
God is indeed eternally glorious, and we are commanded by Him to give Him glory, and this is done as Watson says, by “Lifting up His name in the world.” When we believe in God, love God and live for God, according to His desired will, we give Him glory.
If God is glorious, and none besides Him, it is reasonable to conclude that only what He approves of tends to this glory. It is not what we approve but what God approves of that glorifies Him. What God does not desire, or does not approve of can never complete its purpose. It is a dead end. An action which hath for its principal cause anything besides the glory of God is like a train heading for a deep chasm with no tracks to guide it. Every breach in the law is a breach in God’s glory, and He is obliged by His holiness to revenge Himself upon us for it. It will meet an end that ultimately brings glory to God, but it will be the glorification of His wrath in our destruction, if He be not appeased for it. God is glorified in the damnation of sinners, and He is well pleased to show His justice and wrath against sin. The prophet says, “The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he hath done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.” But God is most glorified in His own work of redemption, which begins in regeneration, and ends in heavenly glory. He is glorified by His people putting on those holy attributes that do show forth the righteousness of God in the world seeing it is the garb of His own weaving. God’s glory is the direction which our souls move towards in holiness as we journey to the heavenly kingdom. Christ is the conductor, the church is the train, the scriptures are the tracks, grace is the engine, and faith is the fuel. All these components are God’s own building. We cannot make it to heaven except He take us there by all these means. As the scripture saith, “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” So we say, without this desire to glorify God no man shall see the Lord. And so, when God implants His image on the soul again by regeneration, renewing us to a life of obedience, He causes us to give Him glory, and this He does by His own power. The Psalm says, “call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” So the beginning of the life of faith is when we are thoroughly convicted of sin through the law and driven to despair of saving ourselves by works or free will, then do we cry out for God to have mercy upon us, and see this mercy only in the justice revealed at the cross. For we know that except Christ die for us, God’s wrath must be poured out upon us. So we cry out to Him, seeing that He hath planted this life in our soul, and He replies, “I will deliver thee.” And then the Psalm says, “Thou shalt glorify Me.” This is a profound demonstration of the gospel here, and what we are chiefly speaking of. Even that God is full of wrath and will not at all acquit. He will execute vengeance on all those who do not conform to the law in its entirety and that perfectly, and that continually. This principle of God’s justice removes all boasting from the enlightened soul, and therefore calling upon God for mercy which much be in accordance with justice, receives grace and forgiveness, and redemption in Christ, who was sent for such a soul. And so we cannot begin to glorify God except we be made partakers of Christ by faith, and are united to Him by effectual calling, seeing it is God’s righteousness alone that justifies sinners, and His work alone which causes the sinner to glorify Him. Therefore Thomas Watson says “Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity; it respects God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost his life for us; and God the Holy Ghost, who produces a new life in us; we must bring glory to the whole Trinity.” And so, except we believe in the election of the Father, the Limited Atonement of the Son, and the Irresistible Grace of the Spirit, we can in no wise give glory to God.
And so we see that we give glory to God when we believe in Him and obey Him.
To believe in God is to assent to the glorious truths of the gospel. Faith is the ground of all our fruit, and unless this ground is watered from above, our fruit withers, is taken by ravens, choked by cares, and ultimately meets an untimely end and dies. “We must believe that He is.” [Heb. 11:6] Virtue comes from faith, and faith from grace, and therefore faith itself is a virtue which seeks growth and increase from grace. Faith is a humble grace which feeds from the hand of promise. God makes promise to give and faith receives it freely. All imaginations of self-improvement, reformation, or sanctification apart from God’s free gift is contrary to faith. Therefore all forms of self-love and self-righteousness are abominable and cannot glorify God. Faith hath a view to Christ as the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Faith sees that we must have a saving interest in the blood of Jesus Christ or we cannot give glory to God. All the rivers of glory flow from this ocean. If we do not have Christ, we can only receive at the hand of God destruction and wrath. We must be saved by grace, regenerated by the Spirit of God, and brought to life in Christ before we ever give glory to God. The Spirit creates faith in us, and faith unites us to Christ who is the source of all those graces which please God and which glorify Him. We glorify God therefore when our faith is in Jesus Christ. Are our sins many? Is the devil constantly tempting us and accusing us before God? I say, have faith in God, and apply His redeeming blood to your soul for the forgiveness of sin! Say to Christ, “You are the salvation of my soul!” Cast off your sins and the guilt thereof and give glory to God in Jesus Christ. Hath He removed the guilt of sin, and given thee a clean conscience? Why tarriest thou then here and continue in sinful practices? If Christ declares thee righteous, wilt not He also cleanse thee and make thee so? Yea, and more than we could hope. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” God is glorified in our salvation, and here our sanctification is linked to it. If Christ justified us, shall He not also sanctify us? Yes, and this brings Him glory. Cry out therefore to God, and pray that He Himself will sanctify you by His own blood. He is able to perform more than you can ask. The glory of God is inseparably linked to the cross of Christ.
You may as soon give life to a body without blood, than give glory to God without Christ, for it is only through His blood that we are brought to spiritual life, and enabled to bring glory to His name. Faith hath an eye then to the invisible, and not to that which we see on earth. “By faith Moses endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.”
We give glory to God when we believe His word above all reason. Human reason says to trust yourself, and trust your senses, but true wisdom trusts in God’s promises, and therein gives glory to God.
If we truly believe God, we will trust that what He promises in His word will surely come to pass, and therefore we will remain quiet in troubles knowing that Christ is the Captain of the ship and steers us to that blessed end – the glory of God.  Thomas Watson says, “Unbelief affronts God, it gives him the lie; ‘he that believeth not, maketh God a liar.’ 1 John 5:10. But faith brings glory to God; it sets to its seal that God is true. John 3:33. He that believes flies to God’s mercy and truth, as to an altar of refuge; he engarrisons himself in the promises, and trusts all he has with God. Psa 31:5. ‘Into thy hands I commit my spirit.’ This is a great way of bringing glory to God, and God honours faith, because faith honours him.”
We also glorify God by obeying Him.
No act so glorious, no work so sweet but that which submits to the word of God.
God’s glory is revealed in us when we keep His word, and obey His commandments. This is showing forth the glory of God in the world. God’s commandments are fragments and beams of His essential glory. They are written in heaven by His holiness. Therefore if our motive is the glory of God, we will earnestly desire to keep these commandments and teach them to others. We will walk in the straight path of God’s law, and seek His glory there. Oh, that we would have the mind of Christ, and say, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” [Ps. 40:8]
Whether we lose our own glory, are persecuted or afflicted, yet our mind should be set upon God’s glory, and our feet inclined to His word. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
For when we walk according to God’s commandments we walk toward glory. As Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress we see the light, and walk the straight way toward the Celestial City.
There may be times that we find ourselves stumbling off the road, and into danger, but through the correction of God’s word, and the exhortation of holy ministers we will by grace find our way back onto the path of obedience, and walking in a way that pleases Him.
Therefore in all things, let us aim for His glory. Let this be the target that you shoot for, the goal which you run to, and the motive that drives you. Let God’s glory fuel your fire, and let no man put it out.

III. The enjoyment of God forever.
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. So we have talked about the objective reason for why God hath created man, the subjective motive which man is ruled by, and now we come to the final estate whereto this leads him, and all this is summed up in this one word, “end.” The end for which God made us, the end for which we live, and the end of all things, which truly is no end, but is eternal as God is eternal, we in Him and He in us in the perfect enjoyment of Him in holiness and purity. The Psalm says,
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” (Psa. 73:25)
God has promised that for every soul that loves Him, He will give a crown of glory, and they will live with Him in heaven fully to enjoy Him forever. Therefore to those who believe in God, He hath promised us an inheritance beyond our highest comprehension. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” and again it is written, “He hath prepared for them a city.”
However, enjoyment itself is not our reasonable end, but the enjoyment of God. Therein do hedonists make an idol out of their enjoyment of God. This principle refutes their vain notions, for man was created to pay reverence and homage to his creator, and to imagine that pleasure is our chief end is to make a god of pleasure and suppose that God is subservient to our own lusts. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, but our chief motive is not enjoyment, but the glory of God. If we desire to enjoy Him forever, this must be our concern – that He is glorified by us and it is not because we enjoy Him that He so grants us this grace, for that is all the same as to say that God is indebted to give man blessedness because of this enjoyment, which is impossible seeing that God grants grace sovereignly, not due to anything in us, and also inconsistent with the testimony of the saints who suffered, and Christ also who bore the weight of God’s wrath, and yet pleased God above all.
Our enjoyment itself is nothing but inflated vanity if it is not found pleasing to God.
Therefore it must be directed and guided by His word. We enjoy God because God is worthy to be enjoyed.
1. Enjoyment of God in this life.
And yet how can we hope to have any kind of enjoyment of God in the next life if we have none in this life? Thomas Watson said, “We must have conformity to him in grace, before we can have communion with him in glory.” But ask those in the church what the glory of God means, or what the scriptures say of God’s glory, and see if they have any real answers. Most will proclaim with their lips that they desire to glorify God, but who will render Him true praise? If you begin to proclaim the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the doctrine which is the only means of glorifying Him, they will say, “You are overly critical and lacking charity and love for your brothers in the church.” “You and who else believes as you do?” “Nobody in the church is teaching that.” And many other such non-Biblical arguments they use, showing it is not God’s glory they aim at, but their own.
Shall man live as he pleases, and claim a crown of righteousness? God forbid. A man without grace will never give God glory. The enjoyment of God begins in this life, although it is by faith, and not by actual possession, in hope and not in perfect fulfillment. As Paul says in Hebrews of the Old Testament saints, “These all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.” So it is said of the New Testament saints pertaining to our future inheritance in glory. So you see, our faith is not different from theirs! It is of the same substance. They awaited Christ to come in the flesh, and saw it afar off by faith, and we await Christ to come in glory in the revelation of His power, and though we see it afar, yet do we with patience wait for it. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any many draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
If we do not bring glory to God in this life, He will cast us out as worthless, and we will receive no glory in the next. Paul says in Colossians 1 that the riches of the glory of God are in Jesus Christ, and in Him we have hope of glory. But how can we say that we hope in His glory when we do not give glory to His name? If we do not love Him now, how can we love Him then? Therefore if we are to enjoy God in paradise, we must enjoy Him by those ordinances and institutions that He has provided for us.
We must enjoy Him in His word.
Does God reveal Himself in His word? Then all our hope of glory is found therein.
There is not one iota of glory for man to behold outside of God’s word. His word is a most sure and complete guide to the enjoyment of Him forever. The fulfillment of all our spiritual desires is found in Holy Scripture.
It is food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, medicine for the sick, light to the blind, hope in despair, a comfort to the weary, life for the dead, and a perfect rule of life with the end thereof being the glory of God. If we do not enjoy God through His word, it is not God we enjoy. This also exhorts us to heed the word preached. Do we have desire to know the mysteries of religion and profit in the Word? Then take heed, and listen to the faithful ministers of the gospel. God labors by His Spirit to send them to you and teach you good things that they may bring them to your ear, and will you spurn this kindness? 2 Chron. 36:15 says, “The Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” The prophet Amos also says, “Surely the LORD God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” And surely you see how rare it is to hear a true minister of the word, seeing the church is given to numerous heresies, and abominable idolatries which drown men in perdition. We see everywhere the heresies of modern Calvinism, Arminianism, antinomianism, dispensationalism, and a hundred other wicked opinions which spawn from the devil and from hell and which have no view to the glory of God. Therefore it behooves us as His people to hearken to His voice, and glorify Him by taking heed to His word, and those who are sent by Him to explain it to us.
If God is our Father and His glory is our aim, then we must take the church to be our mother, and submit ourselves to her teaching and doctrine. Not as the Romanists who blindly follow vain traditions, and who have traded the purity of the gospel for harlotry, and salvation by works, nor as the Calvinists who with their pseudo-intellectualism blind the souls of many, dragging them into paradoxes, and false distinctions, but as dear children of God that desire to do His will, we must submit ourselves to those whom God has put in charge of our souls. Paul says in Hebrews 13:17, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”
If we would enjoy God in heaven, we must learn to enjoy Him here, in His word preached by faithful ministers, and in His ordinances. Thomas Watson said, “This sweet enjoyment of God, is, when we feel his Spirit co-operating with the ordinance, and distilling grace upon our hearts, when by the Word the Spirit quickens and raises the affections, Luke 24:32, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us?’, when the Spirit transforms the heart, leaving an impress of holiness upon it. 2 Cor. 3:18. ‘We are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.’ When the Spirit revives the heart with comfort, it comes not only with its anointing, but with its seal; it sheds God’s love abroad in the heart.” We show that God’s love is truly shed in our hearts when we delight in truth, in the word preached, and in His holy ordinances.
Therefore if we are ever to enjoy God in heaven, we must enjoy Him here on earth. To lust after the things of this world is unbecoming the man who has seen the hope of the glory of God. How foolish then is sin! It is to close our eyes to truth, and walk blindly into death. How much hard pressed are we then to behold Him and to zealously seek after His glory.
We must take delight in believing in Him, in obeying Him, praising Him, adoring Him, loving Him, submitting to His will, being content with providence, adhering to faithful doctrine, supporting and loving the truth, being conformable to His image, and making His glory our chief aim in all things.  God has a particular reward for each of His saints, and a special treasure in heaven for every motion of the soul that gives Him glory. In giving us Himself, He is giving us an infinite and eternal treasure. God Himself is our chief end. It is Him that we look forward to, and to Him that we give glory. Therefore Jesus says that the great commandment of the law is to love God, for God alone is sufficient for the soul’s full rejoicing, and enjoyment. Therefore take your eyes off the world, and by faith gaze with your soul at the beauty and glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is in God alone that man’s chief end is found, and if we would ever hope to enjoy Him in the next life, He must be our chief delight in this life.
Enjoyment of God in the next life.
For those who are saved by grace through faith, and made partakers of the divine nature through the blood of the Son of God, God has promised to bring their grace to full fruition, and they will enjoy Him in paradise forever. “As it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)
Therefore the chief end of man is to enjoy Him forever. It is unending and eternal bliss.
What greater glory can be conceived than God Himself? What better companion, better friend, better Father, better lover, better Comforter than God?  God is the highest good, and the Supreme fountain of holiness, and He is the only being which can fill the soul of man with true delight. The love we experience on this earth (which is only a painting of true love) is only a taste of the full sweetness we will enjoy in heaven. It is but a drop of water to the ocean of the fullness of the glory of God. The greatest apprehension of good we have on earth is tainted by sin. Our nature still reeks of corruption, and we can never be free of it while on earth. We cannot be perfect until we are perfected by God in glory in heaven. Therefore it is inconceivable to us what we shall enjoy. We cannot know it. It is hidden from us that we might hope for it, yearn for it, and groan for it. 2 Cor. 5:2 says, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.”
Likewise Romans 8:20-25 says, “For the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
Also 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Therefore as John says in the next verse, he who has this hope in Him, and yearns for heaven, eagerly waiting for the redemption of the body purifies Himself, and desires to glorify God in this life. For if we truly hope for glory, and believe that God is able to do more than we ask or think, yea if God is our portion, and our delight is in His Person, we will pour all our work, service, love, affection, and hope into this eternal ocean of God’s glory knowing that this is our chief end – to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Brief lessons for review.
What is the end for which God created man?
The end for which God created man was His own glory.

What is the chief rule by which man ought to guide his mind, will and affection?
The chief rule by which all men ought to walk is the glory of God.

What is the end of all those who in this life glorify God?
The end of all those who in this life glorify God is the enjoyment of Him in heaven forever.

Can those who do not know God be said to glorify Him?
All men are estranged from God by sin, and therefore those who do not know Him cannot glorify Him.

How comes it to pass that fallen man is enabled to glorify God?
God in His mercy hath elected us by His own will, redeemed us by His own power, and regenerated us by His own grace so that we might be enabled to glorify Him and attain to our chief end.

How do we know what is glorifying to God?
The scriptures are the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

How do believers glorify God in this life?
Believers glorify God in this life by believing in Him, worshiping Him, adoring Him, highly esteeming Him, obeying Him, being careful to please Him, and fearful to in any way displease Him, loving Him, being zealous for Him, and studying His commandments that they may conform their whole life to His service.

How doth the heresy of Arminianism overthrow the glory of God?
The heresy of Arminianism overthrows the glory of God by supposing that grace is common to all men, and each man must choose for himself whether or not to serve God in repentance and faith.

How doth the heresy of Antinomianism overthrow the glory of God?
The heresy of Antinomianism overthrows the glory of God by supposing that man is not obligated to obey his creator, that God cannot restore man to life again, and that God conducts those to glory who do not partake of grace.