(_c_) _Is. 43:7_—“_whom I have created for my glory_”; _60:21_ and _61:3_—the righteousness and blessedness of the redeemed are secured, that “_he may be glorified_”; _Luke 2:14_—the angels’ song at the birth of Christ expressed the design of the work of salvation: “_Glory to God in the highest_,” and only through, and for its sake, “_on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased_.”
(_d_) _Ps. 143:11_—“_In thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble_”; _Ez. 36:21, 22_—“_I do not this for your sake ... but for mine holy name_”; _39:7_—“_my holy name will I make known_”; _Rom. 9:17_—to Pharaoh: “_For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth_”; _22, 23_—“_riches of his glory_” made known in vessels of wrath, and in vessels of mercy; _Eph. 3:9, 10_—“_created all things; to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God._” See Godet, on Ultimate Design of Man; “God in man and man in God,” in Princeton Rev., Nov. 1880; Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:436, 535, 565, 568. _Per contra_, see Miller, Fetich in Theology, 19, 39-45, 88-98, 143-146.
Since holiness is the fundamental attribute in God, to make himself, his own pleasure, his own glory, his own manifestation, to be his end in creation, is to find his chief end in his own holiness, its maintenance, expression, and communication. To make this his chief end, however, is not to exclude certain subordinate ends, such as the revelation of his wisdom, power, and love, and the consequent happiness of innumerable creatures to whom this revelation is made.
God’s glory is that which makes him glorious. It is not something without, like the praise and esteem of men, but something within, like the dignity and value of his own attributes. To a noble man, praise is very distasteful unless he is conscious of something in himself that justifies it. We must be like God to be self-respecting. Pythagoras said well: “Man’s end is to be like God.” And so God must look within, and find his honor and his end in himself. Robert Browning, Hohenstiel-Schwangau: “This is the glory, that in all conceived Or felt or known, I recognize a Mind, Not mine but like mine,—for the double joy Making all things for me, and me for Him.” Schurman, Belief in God, 214-216—“God glorifies himself in communicating himself.” The object of his love is the exercise of his holiness. Self-affirmation conditions self-communication.