What Is the Chief End of Man?

Answ. Man’s chief end is, to
glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

(“). What do you mean by that end which all men propose in their actions? A, That which they seek to obtain in and by their actions.

Q. What ought man to make his chief or highest end

A. The glorifying and enjoying of God, Rom. xi. 36.

(“X Why ought man to make the glory of God his chief end? A. Because it was God’s chief end in making,

preserving, and redeeming man, .Prow xvi. 4.

Q. May man have no other end in any of his actions

A. Yes 5 but it must be a subordinate end, which tends to obtain the chief end, 1 Cor. x. 31.

Q. What may be some of men’s subordinate ends?

A. To provide food and raiment, and procure health, peace, liberty, and safety to themselves or others.

{”). Of how many parts doth man’s chief end consist?

A. Two; his chief duty, which is to glorify God: and his chief happiness, which is to efijoyGod.

Qj How is the glory of God usually distinguished?

A. Into his essential and declarative glory.

Q. What is the essential glory of God?

A. That which he is and hath in himself, Exod. iii. 14.

Q. What is God’s declarative glory? A. The shewing forth of his glory in and by his creatures, Isa. v, 16.

Q. Can we add any thing to that glory which God hath in himself? A. No 5 for it is infinite, Job xi. 7.

Q. How then do creatures glorify God?

A. By shewing forth or declaring that he is glorious.

Q. How do beasts and lifeless creatures glorify God?

A, God shews forth his glory in and by them*

Q. How do devils and wicked men glorify God? ’

A. Not willingly; but God over-rules their works, however sinful, to his own glory, Psalm lxxvi. 10*.

Q, How ought angels and men to glorify God?

t A A. By doing all things with a view to shew forth and declare his glory, Psalm xcvi. 7. and cvii. 8, 15, 21.

Qj With what ought we to glorify God?

A. With our hearts, lips, and lives. Psalm ciii. 1.

Qj How should we glorify God with our hearts?

A. By knowing, trusting in, loving, admiring, adoring, and remembering him, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9« Psal. ciii.

Qj. How should we glorify him with our lips?

A. By praying to, praising, and commending bin*

Qj. How should we glorify him with our lives?

A. By doing every thing which he commands out of love to him, Deut. x. 12. Matth. xxii. 37, 38.

Q. How did Adam in innocency glorify God?

A. By giving perfect obedience to his law, Eccl. vii, 29-

O. Do men still answer their chief end in glorifying God? A. No j all men have sinned, and come

short of the glory of God, Rom. iii. P, — 23.

Q. Hath God then lost his end in making man?

A. No j he will glorify his justice in damning some men, and his mercy in saving others, Rom. ix. 22, 23.

Q. Who hath most eminently glorified God? A. Christ.

Q. Where hath Christ glorified God?

A. Both on earth and in heaven, Heb. i. 3.

Q. How did Christ glorify God on earth?

A. By obeying his law, and suffering his wrath, in the room of elect sinners, John xvii. 4. Matt. xx. 28.

Q. How doth Christ glorify God in heaven?

A. By pleading for his elect, and sending his Spirit to apply his purchased redemption to them, John xiv. 16, 17.

Q. When doth a sinner begin to glorify God aright?

A. When he first believeth in Christ, 1 John v. 10.

Q. How doth faith or believing glorify God r

A. It credits his word, unites us to Christ, and so makes us fiuitful in good works, Rom. iv. 20. John >:v. 5.

Q. What is a good work? A. A work commanded by God’s law, performed in his strength, from love to, and with a vie?- of glorifying him.

Qj Doth faith make us glorify God in all our works

A. Yes; 1 Cor. x. 31. Psal. cxv. 1, 1. Rom. xiv. 8.

Q. How doth faith make us glorify God in our natural actions as eating or drinking,? &c. A. By making

us seek and receive a covenant-riht. to, and thank God for

Quest. 1. 0/ Man’s chief End. 3

our food and raiment; and use them to fit our bodies for the service of God, Rom. viii, 32 Deut. viii. 10.

Q. How doth faith make us glorify God in our civil business? A. By making us diligent in our trades

and callings, from a regard to God’s commands j and causing us use the gains of them to his glory, Isa. xxiii. 18.

Q. How doth faith make us glorify God in religious services? A. It makes us perform them in the

strength of Christ’s Spirit, and look for acceptance of them only through his merit and intercession, 1 Pet. ii. 5.

O. What should we aim at next to the glorifying of God? A. The enjoying of him, Psalm xliii. 4.

p. What is meant by the enjoying of God?

A. The receiving, living on, and rejoicing in him as our portion, Psalm xvi. 5, 6. Isa. lx. 19, 20!.

£h Why should we seek to enjoy God I

A. Because he only is a suitable and sufficient portion for our souls, Hab. Hi. 17, 18. Psal. cxlii. 4, 5. lxxiii. 25,26.

Q. Why cannot the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world, be a satisfying portion to our souls?

A. Because they are vain and empty, unsuited to the spiritual nature, and disproportionate to the boundless desires of our immortal souls, Mat. xvi. 26. Psal. lxxiii. 25.

£h How did Adam in innocency enjoy God?

A. By perfect friendship and fellowship, but sin quickly broke up that, Isa. lix. 2. Rom. v. 11. Gen. in.

Qj. What do all men now by nature enjoy instead of God?

A. Sin, Satan, and the world, 1 John ii. 16.

Q. How do they enjoy these? A. They have sin as their pleasure, Satan as their prince and father, and the world as their portion, Heb. xi. 25. John viii. 44^

Q. Can we enjoy God in our natural estate?

A. No j for what communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15.

Q. Is there any way to recover the lost enjoyment of God? A. Yes, by Christ alone, Acts iv. 12. Eph. ii. 18,

Q. When doth a sinner first begin to enjoy God?’

A. When he first receives Christ, and rests on him.

Q. In what means and ordinances is God to be enjoyed?

A. In prayer, reading or hearing God’s word, meditation, fasting, receiving the sacraments, &c.

p. Do the saints often enjoy God in these ordinances A 2-

A. Yes; for these are their great delight, and they are much engaged in them, Psal. xxvii. 4. and lxxxiv. 10.

Q. What satisfaction doth a soul find in the enjoyment of God? A. Unspeakably more than in the abundance of til worldly good things, Psal. iv. 6, — 8.

Qj Where and when do the saints enjoy God?

A. On earth in this life, and in heaven hereafter.

Qj. How is God enjoyed in this life on earth?

A. By our receiving the influences of his grace, and having his love shed abroad in our hearts, 1 John i. 3, 7.

Q. How is God enjoyed in heaven? A. By our

being ever with him, and receiving that fulness of joy which is at his right hand, Psalm xvi. 11. and xvii. 15.

Q. Wherein doth the enjoyment of God on earth, and that in heaven agree? A. It is the same God who

is enjoyed j and the enjoyment of him here as truly humbles and satisfies the heart, as that in heaven.

Q In what do they differ?

A. In the manner and measure of enjoyment.

Q. How do they differ in the manner of enjoyment?

A. Here God often hides himself, and we enjoy him through means and ordinances as through a glass darkly; but in heaven we will enjoy him uninterruptedly and immediately, and see him face to face, 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

Q. How do they differ in the measure of enjoyment?

A. Here we enjoy God only in part *, but hereafter we shall enjoy him fully, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 1 John iii. 2.

Q. Shall the saints in heaven receive into their souls all the infinite fulness and sweetness that is in God?

A. No; but their infinite souls shall be filled with as much of it as they can hold, Eph. iii. 19. Psalm xvii. 15.

O. What is the sure pledge and earnest of our enjoying God in heaven?

A. Our enjoyment of him here, Psalm lxxiii. 24, 26.

Q. Why is the glorifying of God placed before the enjoyment of him? A. Because the glory of God is of more value than our happiness, Isa. xl. 17.

Q. Whether is our glorifying or enjoying of God first in order? A. We must first enjoy God in his gracious influences, and then glorify him; and this leads on to further enjoyment of him, Psalm cxix. 32.

Q Is our delight in the glory or glorious excellencies of God as satisfying to us, to to be our chief end or motive in our actions, religious or moral? A. No; but

our shewing foith the honour of these glorious excellencies, Isa. ii. 11. Psal. xvi. 4. Isa. xliii. 21.

Q. Why may we not make oar own delight in the glory of God as satisfying to our desires, our chief end and motive? A. Because this would be a setting up of our own happiness above the glory of God.

Q. Who alone may expect to enjoy God in heaven?

A. Only such as glorify him on earth, Heb. xii. 14.

Q. Why are the glorifying and enjoying of God joined as one chief end? A. Because none can obtain or

rightly seek the one without the other, 1 Cor. xv. 58.

Q. How do we most highly glorify God?

A. By receiving and enjoying him most fully.

Q. What chiefly secures our enjoyment of God?

A. The concern of the glory of God in it.

Q. How is the glory of God concerned in our enjoyment of him? A. All his attributes are in Christ engaged for our enjoyment of him -7 and their glory shines brightly in fulfilling these engagements, Isa. xxx. 18.

Q. How long shall the saints glorify and enjoy God?

A. To all eternity: for we shall ever be with the Lord, 1 Thess. iv. 17. Isa. lx. 19, 20.

Q. What are the grounds which secure the eternal enjoyment of God to believers? A. The infinite and eternal love of God; the extent of his promise 5 and the infinite merit, and eternal intercession of Christ.