Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1764.

John Witherspoon (1723-1794) was a leader of the evangelical party in the Church of Scotland, and in 1768 became the president of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. Among his students were President James Madison, ten cabinet members, twelve state governors, sixty congressmen and three Supreme Court justices. He himself served in the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1782, and was the only minister of the gospel among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1789 he took a prominent role at the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.

"And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." Exodus 33:18.

These are the words of an Old Testament saint; of that Moses who as a servant was faithful over all the house of God. True piety is the same in substance in all ages, and points at one thing as its center and its rest, the knowledge and enjoyment of God. In the preceding verses, Moses had been employed in earnest prayer and intercession for the people of Israel. He had met with success and acceptance in these requests; for it is said, in the fourteenth verse: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." And in the seventeenth: "And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." The condescension of a gracious God, though it satisfies, does not extinguish the desires of his saints, but rather makes them more ardent and importunate; for he immediately adds, in the words of the text, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." It is highly probable, from what follows, that this desire included more than was proper for the present state; yet such a discovery as was possible, or could be useful to him, is graciously promised: "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy."

My dear brethren, it is our distinguished privilege that we have daily unmolested access to the house and ordinances of God. We ought to rejoice that we have so many clear and express promises of the divine presence in New Testament worship. But what cause have we to be ashamed, that we are so exceeding prone to stop short in the threshold, to content ourselves with the mere form, instead of earnestly breathing after real, inward, and sensible communion with God. I have therefore chosen this subject, in the view of that solemn ordinance, the Lord's Supper, where we have a sensible representation of Christ crucified, the great mean of our access to God, that we may serve him, on that occasion particularly, and the remaining part of our lives habitually, in spirit and in truth. And, oh, that we may have daily more experience of the sweetness and benefit of his service on earth! and may daily long more for that time when we shall serve him in a manner infinitely more perfect and joyful in his temple above!

In discoursing on this subject, I propose, in dependence on divine strength, I. To explain what is the object of a saint's desire, when he saith, in the words of Moses, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." II. To improve the subject — particularly by pointing out what is the most proper preparation for such a discovery.

First then, I am to explain what is the object of a saint's desire when he saith, in the words of Moses, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." It is very probable, from the passage following the text, which I have read, that Moses had some regard to the sensible appearance which, in that dispensation, did often accompany or notify the immediate presence of the angel of the covenant. He desired, probably, to be strengthened for beholding steadfastly the Shechinah, or bright and luminous cloud which sometimes appeared over the tabernacle, and, by its glorious luster, tended to affect the mind with a sense of the power and sovereignty of the Lord Jehovah. But this, surely, was not all; for this, in itself, was only a subsidiary mean, which served to carry their views to the real and spiritual glory of God. To the last, therefore, we shall confine our attention, as to what the gospel particularly opens to us, and what believers are enabled by faith to apprehend.

When Christians, then, desire to see the glory of God, it seems chiefly to imply the following things. 1. They desire to see the glory of an eternal, independent God; they desire to see the only living and true God in his own inherent excellence and infinite perfection. God is the source and sum of all excellence; or, in the language of the Psalmist, "the perfection of beauty." Every thing noble or beautiful in the creature is only a faint ray from the fullness of the Creator's glory. Therefore he is the proper object of the highest esteem and most profound veneration of every reasonable creature. The vision and fruition of God constitute the employment and happiness of heaven: and even here, while they are in preparation for the higher house, the saints desire such a discovery of the divine glory as their condition will admit of, and take pleasure in contemplating his nature as revealed to them both in his word and in his works. They dwell with adoring wonder on all his attributes, which are boundless and unsearchable: the immensity of his being, who fills heaven and earth with his presence, who seeth in secret, and from whom the thickest darkness cannot cover us; his irresistible power, "who spake, and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast", who called this great universe out of nothing into being, "who doth in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth whatever seems good unto him"; his infinite holiness and purity, with whom "evil cannot dwell, nor sinners stand in his presence, who looketh to the moon, and it shineth not, to the stars, and they are not pure in his sight"; his infinite wisdom, "who worketh all things according to his will, who bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought, and makes the devices of the people of none effect"; his boundless goodness, which fills the earth and flows in plenteous streams to all the creatures of his power.

But perhaps some are saying, what is there extraordinary or peculiar in all this? is it not clearly revealed in the word of God? can any Christian be ignorant of it? If Moses in that early dispensation desired a discovery of the divine perfections, nothing of that kind is wanting to us, who, since the fullness of time, have so complete a revelation in the New Testament. But, my brethren, I must beg of you to observe these two things:

1. That there is in the fullness of the Godhead an infinite and endless variety even for the employment of our intellectual powers. Well might Zophar, in the book of Job, say, Job 11:7-9: "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea."

2. That the real and proper knowledge of the glory of God is by inward and spiritual illumination. The holy scriptures themselves, however clear a discovery they contain of the nature of God, are no better than a sealed book to many even of the greatest comprehension of mind. It is one thing to think and speak and reason on the perfections of God as an object of science, and another to glorify him as God, or to have a deep and awful impression of him upon our hearts. Real believers will know this by experience. A discovery of the glory of God is not to inform them of a truth which they never heard before, but to give lively, penetrating views of the meaning and importance of those truths of which they had perhaps heard and spoken times without number. Sometimes one word spoken of the Eternal, the Almighty, the Holy One, will be carried home upon the conscience and heart with such irresistible force, as to shew them more of God than ever they had seen before. O what a difference is there between the way in which we use the same words in prayer or praise, at one time and at another! None but downright atheists will deny the omniscience and omnipresence of God; but how far is this general acknowledgment from that overwhelming sense of his presence which believers have sometimes in his worship in public or in secret. What a new sense of God's presence had Jacob at Bethel, when he said, Gen. 28:16-17: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not: and he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" What a sense of God's presence had Hagar, Gen. 16:13, when "she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me; for she said, have I also here looked after him that seeth me?" Or Job, when he expresses himself thus, Job 42:5-6: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

I shall only farther observe that it plainly appears that this discovery of the glory of God belongs only to his own people. Wicked men are said in scripture to be such as know not God. They are also described a little differently, as not having God in all their thoughts; not but that wicked men may have a general or customary belief in the being and perfections of God, but because they have not that intimate sense of his presence, that discovery of the glory and amiableness of his perfections, which is peculiar to his own children. Even the natural perfections of God, his power and wisdom, cannot be beheld with such veneration by any as by those who are sensible of their obligations to serve him. But above all, the glory of his infinite holiness and justice can never be seen, but by those who desire to submit to it; nor the glory of his infinite mercy, but by those who see themselves indebted to it. This leads me to observe,

2. That the believer desires to see the glory of a gracious and reconciled God, not only infinitely glorious in himself, but infinitely merciful to him. This view ought never to be separated from the former. Take away the divine mercy, and the luster of his other perfections is too strong for us to behold. The power, wisdom, holiness and justice of God, separated from his mercy, speak nothing but unmixed terror to the guilty. It is very probable that there was something in the desire of Moses, in the text, according to his own view, ignorant and unadvised; but God granted his request only in such a way as could be useful to him. When he says, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory," the answer is in the following terms, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." And again, it is said in the following chapter, verses 6-7: "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty: visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

We may also see that in the whole dispensation of divine grace to men, God is represented as coming under a peculiar relation to them; and they are called not only to serve him as God, but to trust in him as their God. Every hearer must be sensible how essential this is to a believer's desire of seeing the glory of God. He cannot consider him as God over all, without at the same time remembering that he is one with whom he hath to do. There is also a necessity here peculiar to ourselves. The holy angels consider him as their maker and their happiness; but the children of Adam must consider not only his goodness to the innocent but his mercy to the guilty. This glory of God shines brightly, and shines only in the face of Jesus Christ. God, we are told, "dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto. No man hath seen God at any time; but the only begotten of the Father, he hath declared him." In this wonderful dispensation, indeed, all the perfections of God are found united; but above all, "Grace and mercy shine and reign through righteousness, by Jesus Christ our Lord."

Here I must add, that the believer not only desires to see the glory of God's mercy in general, as displayed in the gospel, in which he may have a share, but to take an appropriating view of it, as what he hath a clear right and title to call his own. Doubtless the mercy of God is published, offering salvation to the chief of sinners. It is their duty to accept of it; it is their interest to cleave to it. But they are many times deterred by what they see in God; they are many times discouraged by what they feel in themselves, and are afraid to assert their title to so great a blessing. But when by the Holy Spirit they are enabled to see the infinite price paid for their redemption in the cross of Christ; when they see the riches of divine grace in the cross of Christ; when they hear the urgent invitations to them to believe in the cross of Christ; when they are enabled freely to renounce and quit hold of every other claim; when their hearts are sweetly constrained by the bonds of their Redeemer's love; they can then look upon God as their reconciled Father through him who hath made peace by the blood of his cross, and say unto him, My Lord! and my God! What an endearing view is this of the divine glory, and what ineffable satisfaction springs from it to the soul! What an unspeakable consolation to those who have been wounded in their spirits, and grieved in their minds, when they are enabled to apply the encouraging promises of the holy scriptures! Isa. 1:18: "Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 43:25: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine own sake; and will not remember thy sins." Isa. 44:22: "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee."

Go to the next installment:
The Object of the Christian's Desire in Worship: Part II