had faid to their fathers, Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, faying, I am the Lord thy God; i. e. I am the very fame promifing God that fpake unto Abraham, and what I faid unto him, I fay it over again unto you his pofterity, and give the fame ground for your faith that he had; as I was his God, so I am the Lord thy God. God does not come and go upon his promife, he is not yea and nay: he does not make a promise one day, and retract it another; no, it is always yea and amen. He does not fpeak of the promife made to Abraham as a thing out of date after fo many years; no, It is as frefh and green with me as the first day I made it, I am still the Lord thy God. The promise is renewed in their own perfous immediately by God, and they have as good a foundation laid by this means, as ever Abraham had, who believed without ftaggering.

4. These words, I am the Lord thy God, contain the leading promife of the covenant of grace; and there is more in them than heart can conceive, or tongue exprefs; for here is an infinite God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, making over himfelf in two or three words to man upon earth. Ŏ what can he give more than himself! and what will he not give when he gives himfelf! Rom. viii. 32. " He that fpared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not with him alfo freely give us all things?"

5. This promife is fo framed by Infinite Wisdom, as to point to every individual perfon in the camp of Ifrael. It is not ye collectively, but thou in the fingular, as if he fpake to every individual person in the camp, and every man was to look to it as pointing at him in particular; like a well drawn picture, it looked every man in the camp ftraight in the face. And not only did this promife point to every man and woman there prefent at mount Sinai, when the law was delivered, but it looked forward to all fucceeding generations, and every man and woman that fhould fpring of them; for this "promife was to them, and to their feed." So that no fooner did any of the pofterity of Abraham come into the world, but God faid to him, as much as to the men that were at the foot of Sinai, I am the Lord thy God. And no fooner did one of the Gentile nations join himself to the commonwealth of Ifrael, but immediately he found the God of Ifrael faying to him, I am the Lord thy God: and in this refpect, this promife was a door of faith opened unto the Gentiles, even before the coming of Chrift. And when Chrift came in the flesh, and by his death and refurrection, and publication of the everlasting gofpel unto the Gentile world, broke down the partition-wall betwixt them and the Jews, this promife, as well as the law fubjoined thereunto, extended itfelf, not only to the Jews and

their feed, but to the Gentiles, who were " afar off, and to as many as the Lord our God fhall call" by the found of the gofpel-trumpet. So that now, under the New Teftament, this promise becomes a ground of faith unto us, as well as unto them; and we have the fame interest in it that they had. But, to clear this, I shall add,

6. A fixth remark, namely, that this promife may be confidered in a threefold fituation; either as it is in the heart of God, or as it is in the word of God, or as in the hand of faith.

1ft, As it is in the heart of God, or in his counfel or decree. And when viewed in this fituation, it is peculiar only to his chofen people, whom he has "loved with an everlasting love" before the foundations of the world. But as it is in God's heart, it is not an object of faith unto any of Adam's posterity; no, not to the elect themfelves, because they do not know that they are among the number of the elect till they be actually believers: no man can fay, at the first inftant, in a way of believing, The Lord is my God, upon the ground of electing love. So that the promise in this fituation, being all one with the decree, must be laid aside as an object of faith at the first inftance.

2dly, The promise may be viewed as fituate in the word, as it is published and proclaimed to the vifible church, “to whom belong the adoption, and the giving of the law, and the promises." View it in this fituation, it is a ground of faith to every one that hears it. God faid to every man in the camp of Ifrael, and he fays to every man and woman in the visible church, I am the Lord thy God, and Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And the man or woman that does not know and acknowledge God as his God in Chrift, upon the ground of the promife, confidered in this fituation, (in the word), as it is held forth in common to all as the object and ground of faith, at once rebels against the authority of God in the command, and gives the lie to his faithfulness engaged in the promise. And, therefore, "Let us fear, left a promise being left us of entering into his reft, any of us fhould come fhort of it; for unto us is this gospel preached, as well as unto them," Heb. iv. 1. 2.

3dly, This promife is alfo to be confidered as in the hand of faith, or as it is applied and poffeffed in a way of believing. And, in this fituation, it is only peculiar to a believer to have the Lord as his God; because it is only he that has a faving intereft; it is he only whofe “soul hath faid unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord," upon a covenant. ground.

Secondly,

Secondly, I come to inquire, what may be the import of this promife, or of this covenant-grant, that is here laid as a foundation of faith unto Ifrael, and unto the church in all fucceeding generations.

Before I go on, I would put you in mind of what I faid already, viz. that this covenant-grant or promife goes upon the ground of a ranfom found, and fatisfaction paid unto juftice ; upon which account only God's anger is turned away, and he comforts us with fuch declarations of his grace as this in my text, I am the Lord thy God. In which words, I conceive he promises these three or four things, not to multiply particulars.

1. The infinite God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, makes over himself by covenant as the foul's portion and inheritance for ever. And O what a vaft, large, and glorious inheritance is this! O Sirs, when God fays, I am the Lord thy God, he fays more than if he had faid, Heaven is thine, earth is thine, the glories of both are thine! There is fomething in this promife, that "eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive," &c. No wonder though David cried out upon the views of the Lord's being the portion of his cup, Pfal. xvi. 6. "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage." O it is a furprising armsful the foul has, when by faith it grafps an infinite God in this little word, I am the Lord thy God!

2. When he fays, I am the Lord thy God, he in effect says, All that I have I make it over unto you. And O when he makes a grant of himself, what else will he with-hold! "He that fpared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not with him alfo freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. Has he life? Yea, he is the fountain of life. Well, in this promise he gives life unto thee, "Because I live, ye shall live alfo." Has he light in himself? Yea, "God is light, and with him is no darknefs at all." Well, "he fhall be thy everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Has he love? Yea, "God is love." Well, he who fays he is thy God," will fhed abroad his love upon thy heart by the Holy Ghoft, and circumcife thy heart to love him." Has he honour? Yea, "his work is honourable and glorious." Well, thou shalt be preferred; if thou take him as thy God, thou fhalt have a "place among them that stand by" about his throne. Has he riches? Yea, "honour and riches are with me." Well," he will fill all thy treasures" with gold better than the gold of Ophir. Has he "rivers of pleasures, and fulness of joy in his prefence, and at his right hand ?" Well," the times of refreshing shall come forth from his prefence" into thy foul.

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3. When

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3. When he fays I am the Lord thy God, he engages that all the attributes and perfections of his glorious nature hall jointly confpire and be forthcoming for thy good O Srs, immediately upon the breach of the first covenant, all the attributes of God put on an air of wrath and vengeance againít man; hence Adam, after he had finned, falls a trembling, and flees in among the thickets of Paradife to hide himleli. But O! the divine attributes, as they thine in the face of our Immanuel, and are difplayed through his blood and fatisfaction, appear with an air of grace, love, and pity, inviting finners to come and fhelter themselves under them, from the wrath and curfe due to them for fin. So that when God f.ys, I am the Lord thy God, it is upon the matter as if he should say, O impotent and helpless finner, come under my fhadow, take me as thy own God, and my power shall be employed to help and protect thee. O foolish and bewildered finner, my wif dom fhall be thine, to direct and inftruct thee. O polluted finner, who haft "lien among the pots," my holiness fhall fanctify thee, and "make thee like the wings of a dove," &c... O guilty finner, my mercy fhall pardon thee; yea, my jullice fhall acquit thee, on the score of the ransom that I have found: my goodness fhall fupply all thy need, and my truth and faithfulness is impignorate to accomplish all the promises unto thee: my omniscient eye fhall "run to and fro, through the whole earth, to fhew myself strong on thy behalf:" my providence fhall be employed to manage all things for thy good and advantage: "I will ride in the heavens for thy help, and in mine excellency on the fkies."

4. I am the Lord thy God; i. e. Whatever I the infinite and eternal God can do for thy advantage, it fhall not be wanting. And O what cannot the arm of omnipotency do!" he doth great things, yea, wonders without number." What wonders has God wrought for his children and people, in all ages of the world? It was he that faved Noah by water from perifhing in the flood. It was he that made a lane for Ifrael through the deeps, as if it had been dry land. It was he that dissolved the flinty rock into floods of water, fufpended the fury of the devouring flames, and ftopped the courfe of the fun. "His hand is not fhortened, that it cannot fave." Now, whatever that omnipotent arm, that "ftretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, can do for thy falvation, it fhall not be wanting. All this, and infinitely more than I can name, is wrapped up in the bofom of this covenant-grant, which is here laid as the foundation and ground of our faith, I am the Lord thy God. And thus much concerning the pro

mife.

VOL. II.

II. The fecond thing propofed was, to speak a little of the precept fubjoined or annexed unto this covenant promife, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And, in fpeaking to the precept, I fhall obferve the fame method as in difcourfing upon the promife; 1. By premising some remarks. 2. Inquire into its import.

Firft. I would offer fome remarks upon it. As,

1. I remark, that as the promife, I am the Lord thy God, is given forth by a God in Chrift; fo the precept in this fitua

tion must needs come from the fame fountain. This law or commandment must be viewed as in the hand of a Mediator, and not of an abfolute God. The reason is plain, because the command obliges us to have him as our God, to love and truft him as our own God, which a finner cannot do, but only as he is in Chrift. Here the command ftands under a covenant of grace, as is evident from the preface. Indeed, if that glorious preface, or covenant-grant, I am the Lord thy God, had not gone before the command, we might have taken it as coming from an abfolute God; but, taking the precept in connection with the preface, we must needs take up the law here as in the hand of a reconciled God in Chrift, and as coming from that glorious fountain. And therefore let us fay, with the church, "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, and he will fave us."

2. This commandment of the law, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, narrows and extends its obligation upon the children of men, in a fuitablenefs to the revelation that he makes of himself. When God reveals himself only by the works of creation and providence, as he doth to the heathen world, then this commandment obliges us to know and acknowledge him as a God Creator and Preferver; but when he fuperadds to this the revelation of himself as a reconciled God, a redeeming God in Chrift, then the law fuperadds a new obligation, namely, to know and acknowledge him as fuch, and to claim him as the God of falvation; a faving, pitying, pardoning God. v1

3. As the promife, I am the Lord thy God, is the leading and fundamental blefing promifed in the covenant of grace, which draws all other bleflings along with it; fo this precept, Thou fhalt have the Lord JEHOVAH as thy God, is the leading and fundamental duty of the law, which sweetly and powerfully contrains the foul to obey all the other commands of it. The reafon of this is plain : when a perfon is determined to know and acknowledge God as his own God in Chrift, it binds and obliges him inevitably not to bow down to images, or to give that worhip and glory to any other, which is due to him alone; he