Teaching

Question 1: What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God1 and fully to enjoy Him forever.2

Scripture Proofs:

1. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Romans 11:36 (KJV) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
2. Psalm 73:24-28 (KJV)  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.  25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.  26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.  27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.  28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. John 17:21-23 (KJV)  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

There is a difference in regard to end. Now there is a general and a particular end to worship. A general end, and that is twofold; to glorify God and to enjoy God; the one is the work of duty, and the other is the reward of duty.

(1) The great end of duty is to glorify God. Grace heightens all our natural actions to a supernatural intention: 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’

Eating and drinking; therefore especially must duties of worship, and those solemn operations of the new nature. Duties of worship and exercises of grace must be to the glory of God. God is said ‘to inhabit the praises of Israel,’ Psalm 22:3; meaning the temple, the place of worship where God was chiefly honoured and praise.

Psalm 22:3 (KJV)  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 

Duties of worship are chiefly for the honour of God. Now carnal men have other ends; either they use duty in design as hypocrites; or with a natural end, as to satisfy natural conscience. With a design, which is hypocrisy.

Religion is one of the best commodities in his way of trade and commerce; therefore carnal men make ordinances to lackey upon private ends; they pray and preach for esteem and gain to set off themselves; they use the holy things of God for some base ends of their own: 2 Corinthians 2:17 (KJV)  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. 

This is true Simony, to huck out the gospel, and sell our holy things. Hypocrites look upon religion as a device fitted for their turns or else carnal men use worship for a natural end, which is the worship of a natural conscience, and is prostituted to self-respect. A natural conscience is hearty and real in its worship; but not spiritual, because it merely aims at self, some temporal commodity, or eternal salvation, as a mere hire.

O Christians, look at your ends. Many look that the matter be good, that they can raise themselves into any quickness and smartness of affection; but the end is all: Colossians 3:23 (KJV)  ‘And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;’ Let God’s glory be at the end.

(2) The second end of worship is to enjoy God. Many mind duties as a task, and as a mere homage of the creature, and look not upon it as a means of communion, by which God will let out Himself to us. This must be your aim, to use duty to further your joy in the Lord. Duty expressed by ‘drawing nigh to God,’ Hebrews 10:22. You must renew in every exercise your access to God by Him. Now carnal men are content with the duty instead of God and satisfy themselves with the work wrought, though there be no intercourse between God and their souls. Therefore a godly man looks at this, what of God he hath found; how he hath come to Christ as a living stone. You must not be content with the duty instead of God. [Manton, 13:456]

It is carnal to measure all things by ease, peace and temporal welfare; we must consider where we can have the greatest capacity of glorifying God; that is the general rule, even in civil affairs: 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ This is the great end of our lives. A christian doth not look which is fairest or foulest, most smooth or plain, but which is most likely to suit with the purpose of his journey. The plains of pleasure and profit may be more grateful to the flesh, but they lie out of our road to heaven. Means must be chosen with respect to the end; in all deliberate counsels reasons of religion must bear sway. Usually we consult with flesh and blood, and then the conflicts of lusts and knowledge breed scruples and irresolutions; conscience saith one thing, and lust and interests another, and so men are uncertain. [Manton, 14:244]

This life must be extended not only to spiritual duties, and acts of immediate worship, but to all the actions of our natural and temporal life. That natural life which we live, and those things which concern that life, they are ordered by a virtue drawn from Christ by faith in Him. A true believer sleepeth, and eateth, and drinketh in faith; and in the lawful occasions of his calling, as well as religion, faith hath an influence to order them to God’s glory, and with respect of eternal happiness: 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ and Hebrews 11:33  ‘Who through faith subdued kingdoms, fought battles.’

Take God’s directions, and order all things to His glory: Colossians 3:17 (KJV)  ‘And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.’ Every action must be influenced by religion, looking to the promises:  Hebrews 11:11  ‘By faith Sarah received strength to conceive seed;’ by her faith in the promise. Christians are not left to their own nature, neither in words or deeds; they are to look at Christ’s command, and to be looking for His help, and aiming at His glory, still consulting with God, and seeing God in every little work of his. There is not a gnat, a pile of grass, but discovers its author. And as there is a providential heavenly-mindedness that every one may see heavenly-mindedness in all our actions, and so the poorest servant, being under this divine influence, liveth by faith as well as the greatest monarch. [Manton, 15:51]

God will be honoured as the utmost end; and so if in all acts, natural, moral, spiritual, we do not aim at His glory, we are guilty of ungodliness. In acts natural, and matters of least consequence, we must have a supernatural aim: 1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ If I take a meal, I must have an aim at God’s glory in it; in civil acts, and duties of mutual commerce, all must be done as in and to the Lord, Ephesians 5:22; 6:1, 5-7.

Ephesians 5:22 (KJV)  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 

Ephesians 6:1 (KJV)  Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 

Ephesians 6:5-7 (KJV)  Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;  6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;  7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: 

We are to talk in our relations so as God may have honour. In spiritual acts of prayer, praise, and worship, yea, the whole ordination of spiritual life must be unto God: ‘I live unto God,’ (Galatians 2:20). All the motions and tendencies of the soul look that way. This is the difference between holiness and godliness; holiness more properly implieth a conformity to the law, and godliness an aim of the soul to exalt God; and so they are propounded as distinct, 2 Peter 3:11 (KJV)  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 

Well, then, look at your aims; and in eating and drinking, you set up Moloch, it is a meat-offering and drinking offering to appetite, if you do not aim at God’s glory. So in traffic; if you merely regard wealth, you are a consecrated priest to mammon. In these ordinary actions of eating, drinking, trading, you may be guilty of idolatry before you are aware, and may set up the belly, Philippians 3:19, or mammon, Matthew 6:24, in God’s stead; nay, in your very desires of grace your ultimate aim must not be self.

Philippians 3:19 (KJV)  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 

Matthew 6:24 (KJV)  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

To understand man’s chief man, he first needs to understand that he receives his whole being from God. All of his life is at His dispose – For of Him (God), and through Him (God), and to Him (God), are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom. 11:36). Man cannot be at his own dispose, and lord of his own actions. [Manton]

He has a superior, to whom he must give account, seeing he wholly depends upon Him, and is wholly subject to Him. It is primarily in God as a fountain that man depends. God has absolute title over us, and all we possess. It is so great that it cannot be greater.

As our being is from Him, so our moving and doing is through Him, through His providential influence and supporation; therefore all must be for Him and to Him. The motion of all creatures are circular; they end where they began, as the rivers return to the place from whence they came. All that issues from God in a way of creation; and is sustained and preserved by God in a way of providence, must be to Him in the tendency and final ends of their motion. As we must deduce all things from God as their first cause, and continual conserving cause, so we must reduce all things to God as their last end. [Manton]

In eating and drinking, the subordinate end is health, strength and cheerfulness; the ultimate end and supreme end, God’s glory.

When we consider ourselves, the work of God’s power and wisdom. We are not only the creature of God, but the image of God. One calls man the masterpiece of nature. How excellent a painter is the creator, that can draw such an image out of the dust, and scarce two men alike in face! [Manton]

Creation was for man’s good. The stars were made to give light and heat, to cherish man and to cherish the earth; and the waters were made for man’s good. The whole earth is but man’s garden; the plants of it for our use for meat and medicine; the beasts for our food and clothing; in the bowels of the earth there are laid up the veins of treasure to maintain commerce between nation and nation; though men be scattered in several climates of the world, yet God bring them together by travel. The air serves to give man breath; the firmament serves man light and heat; and the heaven of heavens serves for his eternal and blessed habitation. Oh, the goodness of God to man! ‘Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him!’ How may we break out into such holy wonder and admiration!

They were made for God’s glory – Romans 9:36, ‘All things,’ saith the apostle,’are of him, and through him, and to him:’ ‘of him’ in creation; ‘through him’ in the sustentation of His providence, and ‘to him,’ that is, for the uses and purposes of His glory; all things return to the womb of their original, out of which they once came.

So do you reason with yourself; Oh I have a bounteous creator, God has given me all things, for my use and comfort, and all the articles of the lease and grant are only that I should serve His glory! Oh, let me not rob Him of that; let me enjoy the creature, but give God the glory; let me not pervert the end of my creation; all should be to His praise. All the creatures do as it were to proclaim to us, Man! glorify thy creator; God has given us to thee, that thou mayest live; we are ready to fall down and perish for your food. Oh, therefore be thou contented to suffer any inconvenience, if it be the loss of life, that the glory of God may live. We give thee food, meat, nourishment, all that thou requires, if thou wouldst love Him, and praise Him, and live to the glory of God.

The world is round, the motion of all things circular; they begin in God, and end in God; their being is from Him, and the tendency of their motion is to Him. Amen.

Psalm 73:24 (KJV)  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 

A desire to enjoy Him; for these things are valuable as they lead us to God. Our solid joy lies not in outward things, but in our communion God. Their business is to be happy hereafter, and well guided her, that they may attain that happiness. Now there is an inseparable connection between our walking in the time of this life, and receiving into heaven after this life; and he that is resolved to walk by the rule of God’s direction, may promise himself to be received up into glory after his journey is ended.

We have His word continually to guide us in this way, but we need also the assistance of His Spirit. The promised rest is much in their eye, and doth mightily prevail with Him: they would have God to be their guide here, that He may be their rest hereafter.

Question 2: How doth it appear that there is a God?

Answer: The very light of nature in man, and the works of God, declare plainly that there is a God;¹ but his word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation.²

Scripture Proofs:

1. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (KJV) Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
2. Romans 11:36 (KJV) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.