THIS is an expression of very frequent occurrence in the Sacred Scriptures. It is also much used by ministers, as well as by all professors of Christianity. It is therefore of some importance to understand its meaning. That we may do this, let us first inquire into the meaning of the word glory. Perhaps as intelligible an explanation of this word, as we can obtain, has been given by Dr. McKnight. He says, that it signifies, "the bright rays of the sun, by which the sun himself, and all other objects are made visible." Allowing the accuracy of this definition, our English word glory most happily expresses the idea intended to be conveyed by it. Hence the sun is said to glow, that is, his rays dart forth in every direction, diffusing, by their radiant beams, light and heat. The man glows with joy or anger; his cheeks glow with beauty, and his words with wisdom. Hence also it is said, such a man pants for glory; by which is meant that he is ambitious to surround himself with the rays which emanate from a mind that performs splendid actions. These actions constitute his glory. Whatever natural or acquired abilities a man may possess, unless these abilities are called into ac

tion he can have no glory. The glory of Abraham, Moses, and others, consists in the noble actions which they performed in the sacred cause in which they were engaged. These form a halo of glory around their characters, which renders them illustrious or glorious on the page of history.

Alexander, Cæsar, and other heroes of whom we read, could have had no glory, however wise and courageous they might have been, had not their wisdom and courage been exhibited by those splendid achievements which have emblazoned their characters among men.

From these remarks we may understand what is meant by the glory of God. It is the shining forth of His perfections, or the splendour with which He surrounds Himself, whenever He makes an exhibition of His character in any of His works or ways. This, it is believed, is the sense in which the Sacred Scriptures use this most expressive term. When the request of Moses to "see the GLORY of God" was answered, it is said, "The Lord descended in a cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord-the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,

vens."

forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, Exod. xxxiv, 5-7. In this manifestation were unfolded to the view of Moses the perfections of Jehovah, and when he beheld them he beheld Jehovah's glory: for in this, the outbeamings or shining forth of these perfections, his glory consisted, and not in the mere possession of them. In Psa. viii, 1, it is said, "How excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy GLORY above the heaThat is, Thy perfections shine with such a brilliancy as to eclipse, by the splendour of their glory, all the luminaries of heaven; and this exhibition of thy perfections, renders thy name excellent, because by it thy name, thy true character is known, through all the earth. The celebrated passage in Habakkuk, so justly appealed to as an instance of true sublimity of writing, contains a similar sentiment::-"God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. His GLORY covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." Having thus spoken of the transcendent glory of Jehovah, shining with such inconceivable splendour, as to cover, that is to hide, even the whole heavens by the glare of its radiant beams, the prophet proceeds to show the manner in which it thus displayed itself, by an awful exhibition of the Divine character in his wonderful ways of working." His brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his power," (not revealing, but hiding, as if, notwithstanding all this illustrious exhibition of his power, the most of it was still concealed.) "Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet," &c. The entire passage is a most VOL. X. January, 1827.

awful development of the righteous character of God both in scattering and avenging his enemies, and collecting and saving his people; and all this was but an exhibition of his GLORY by the shining forth of his perfections.

These instances of the beaming forth of the character of Jehovah, consisted chiefly in those exhibitions of himself through the medium of his works, and by other such visible tokens as he chose to select for that purpose. After the coming of Christ, Jehovah is said to have diffused the rays of his glory in the moral world through Him. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the GLORY of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv, 6. Here the perfections of God are represented as concentrating and as shining in their collected strength, in the face of Jesus Christ; so that by looking unto Jesus, we behold the glory of God. Hence Christ is the light of the world, because the rays of the divine glory falling on him, are thence diffused throughout the moral world. While, therefore, we look unto God, through Jesus Christ, "with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord," we" are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. iii, 18.

Undoubtedly the Almighty is supremely excellent in and of Himself, and might have so existed for ever, without ever exhibiting His perfections in creation and providence, or giving a special revelation of them to His creatures; but under such circumstances His excellencies would have been known only to Himself: His glo ry, properly speaking, would have

3

been as if it were not. He might, indeed, have contemplated Himself with infinite delight; but allowing that we have given an accurate definition of glory, that it consists in the manifestation of His perfections, this glory could have had no existence. We may, indeed, conceive it possible for Him to possess infinite intelligence, omnipotence, and all those perfections usually ascribed to Him, and to derive supreme enjoyment from their possession, without making any such display of them as is now beheld when His glory is seen. His glory, therefore, does not consist in the mere possession of these perfections, but in making such a display of them, that we may say with the psalmist, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work."

From these remarks we may inquire whether there be any foundation for the distinction, which has been sometimes made, between the essential and declarative glory of God. If His glory, as has been supposed, consists in the display or exhibition of His perfections, whether in the works of creation and providence, or in the special revelation of Himself to men in the face of Jesus Christ, then this distinction falls to the ground. Whatever glory he may possess, of which we have any knowledge, is susceptible of being declared. We may as easily, since He hath declared Himself to man, speak of any of His perfections, such as His spirituality, immutability, ubiquity, omnipotence, wisdom, justice and goodness, as we may of the exhibition of any of these perfections. And as He cannot make a display of them, without, at the same time, exhibiting His glory; and as His glory consists altoge

ther in this display of His perfections; this is His essential glory, because He has no other. His glory, not being an inherent property of His nature merely, but an emanation of His perfections, by which He himself shines forth and surrounds Himself with the radiant beams of His own perfections; there can be no foundation for the supposed distinction between His essential and declarative glory. His glory is one and the same, not contemplated, like the attributes of His nature, as a distinct perfection, but as the collected strength of the whole, diffusing itself in every direction, enlightening the world by its inconceivable splendour.

The glory of the sun does not consist in the mere properties of his nature: for, allowing him to possess all his inherent properties in their fullest extent, his glories may be hid by an intervening cloud; but let this cloud be dispersed, the sun will shine forth in his splendour and exhibit his glories; his glory consisting in the "bright rays by which he himself, and other objects are made visible." So the glory of God consists in this, and in nothing else, namely, the beaming forth of those perfections by which He makes Himself known, as He did to Moses, when He proclaimed His name unto him. While these perfections are displayed, without any intervening object to obstruct His rays, His glory is beheld. But whatever tends to cast a shade over the character of God obscures His glory, though He possesses in Himself these perfections in all their fulness. When the psalmist says, "The heavens declare the GLORY of God," he speaks of this glory as being one and indivisible, and not as being divided between "essential" and "declarative" glory. How strange would it sound for

any one to paraphrase this passage thus "The heavens declare thy 'declarative' glory!"

From every view of this subject, therefore, we cannot but conclude that the nominal distinction, so often made between God's essential and declarative glory, is wholly without foundation; and that the word, "declarative," in this connexion, is a mere feeble expletive, which ought to be disused as unbefitting the subject. It likewise follows that we need no such qualifying word as "essential," when we speak of the glory of God, seeing that God cannot exist, under the present circumstances of the world, without an exhibition of His perfections, which forms the halo of glory which surrounds his character. This is as needless as it is to speak of His "essential" wisdom, justice, truth, &c, as though he possessed an accidental, adventitious wisdom, justice, truth, &c. We may, indeed, say that all these things are essential to His existence, because he cannot exist without them; but they ought not to be distinguished by such a qualifying epithet as would suppose that He possesses the like attributes merely in a nominal way. The fact is, the perfections of God form

the subject of a proposition of which we predicate His glory, the same as God becomes the subject of the proposition when we say, He is good, the one resulting from the other, and standing related to each other as cause and effect.

Instead, therefore, of introducing the enfeebling expletive, "declarative," when we speak of the glory of God, it is much more becoming, as well as orthodox, to imitate the language of Scripture, which always acquires force from its simplicity, and say, "whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." How would the force and energy of this passage be weakened by qualifying the concluding expression, by the introduction of the word "declarative." How much more exceptionable, if not altogether disgusting, is it to use this phrase in our ad. dresses to the Deity-"Help us to promote thy declarative glory!" Let us, therefore, declare the glory of God by preferring the simple and energetic language, found in the Holy Scriptures, in which good sense, correct taste, and profound theological truth, are always combined with deep reverence for the sacred Author of the inspired volume.

care of, to visit, to inspect, to review, or to muster.