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will be concerned to fanctify the name of God, and his holy Sabbath, and in a word, to have a refpect unto all his commandments. Hence it is that faith in Chrift Jefus (which is just the first commandment in other words) is fo much inculcated in the fcriptures, particularly of the New Teftament; yea, we are exprefsly told, that " without faith it is impoffible to please God;" and " he that cometh unto God, muft believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him."

4. That the command and promife are of equal extent; fo that every man that is bound to obey the command, or to have a God in Chrift as his own God, is concerned in this promife, I am the Lord thy God; or, in other words, he is as much obliged to believe this promife with application, as he is obliged to obey the command. The reafon of this is plain, becaufe a believing the promise with application, is the very thing that the firft command requires of us; and the promise is the very ground and foundation of that faith that is required in the command; and the foundation of faith must be as extenfive as the command of believing, unless we would fay, that God commands men to believe, without giving them a foundation to believe upon : so that, if I be obliged to have the Lord as my God, then it is lawful, yea, plain duty for me viewing the covenant-grant, to fay to the Lord, "Thou art my Lord."

5. As the promife is indefinite, I am the Lord thy God, without mentioning any, or including any, but pointing to every man in particular; fo the precept is indefinite, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, without mentioning any particular perfon to whom it extends. And I think it is obfervable, that both the promife and precept are in the fingular number, as if God fpoke to every individual. And I do think that Infinite Wisdom has fo ordered it of defign, that no man might neglect the promife, that thinks himself bound to obey the precept. The legal heart of man is ready to fall in with this command of the law, and own its obligation; while, in the mean time, it rejects the promife, as a thing it has no concern in. What more ordinary, than to hear fome, especially under awakenings of confcience by the law, fay, O it is a fad truth indeed, that I am a debtor to the law, and obliged to obey it! but as for the promife of God, I am the Lord thy God, I have no inter it or concern in it. But, Sirs, whatever you may imagine, I teli you, that by this way you are feparating what God has joined ; he has joined the command and the promife together, therefore let not your unbelieving hearts or legal fpirits put them asunder; for you can never obey the first command without

clofing

clofing with this promife, I am the Lord thy God. But more of this afterward.

Secondly, I come to inquire what is included or required of us in this command of the moral law, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. I do not defign to launch out in opening of this precept in its greatest latitude, or in telling you of all the duties required, and fins forbidden, in it; that which I have especially in my view, is the obligation that it lays upon us to receive and believe the promise, I am the Lord thy God. And for clearing of this, there are only thefe few things I name, as included in this commandment.

1. This commandment obliges us to believe that God is, which is the firft and fundamental truth both of natural and revealed religion; and except you be eftablished in the faith of this, you believe nothing to purpose. We cannot open our eyes, or look upon any of the creatures of God, whether in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, but this truth must fhine into our minds with fuch a glaring evidence, that one would think there were no need of a command to oblige us to believe it.

2. This command obliges us to believe, that he is such a God as he has revealed himself to be in his word and in his works. It binds us to believe all the difplays that he has given of his eternal power and Godhead, in his works of creation and providence; but especially us, who enjoy the revelation of his word, to believe every thing that he has revealed of himself there; as, that he is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, &c.; that he is but one God in three perfons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, the fame in fubftance, equal in power and glory; that from eternity he decreed all things that come to pass in time; that he is the great Creator that made all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of fix days, and all very good; that by his providence he preferves and governs all his creatures, and all their actions; and that this great God in the " fulness of time, was manifefted in the flesh," in the perfon of his eternal Son, and became a Redeemer and Saviour of loft finners; that he was "made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons ;" and in a word, every other thing that God has revealed of himself.

3. This commandment requires us to believe and be perfuaded, that this glorious God is the chief good of the rational foul; that as his glory is to be our ultimate end, so our chief happiness lies in the enjoyment of him alone; Thou shalt have no other gods before me; i. e. Thou shalt place thy chief happinefs in the enjoyment of me, who am the Lord thy God. So

that,

thar, when God commands us to have him as our God, he commands us to be happy for ever in himself, and to say with David," Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none in all the earth that I defire befides thee."

4. This command requires us to affent unto every word God fpeaks, as a truth of infallible verity, and unto the truth of this promife in particular; that he speaks the truth in his heart, when he fays, I am the Lord thy God. And therefore, not to believe that it is as God fays in this promife, is to call God a liar ; it is an impeaching of his veracity in the promife, and a contempt. of his authority interpofed in the command. From whence it appears that an unbeliever breaks the very first command of the law of nature.

5. This command requires us, not only to believe the truth, of the promise in general, but to believe it with particular application of it, each one of us unto ourselves. It is not a fulfilling of the contents of this command, to believe that he was the God of Ifrael, or the God of the vifible church, or the God of the elect, or of all that believe in him, for all this do the devils and reprobates believe; but we must believe, know, and acknowledge that he is our God; and every one for himself muft fay, in faith, with Ifrael," He is my God, I will prepare him an habitation." The first command requires of us a faith exactly correfponding unto the promife: now, the promise is to every one in particular, I am the Lord thy God; and the command runs parallel with it, pointing out every man in particular, Thou shalt have no other gods before me: and therefore it is a particular applying faith that is here required and called for. Perhaps this may appear fomewhat furprifing to those who never confidered it, that by the first commandment, they are obliged to believe that the Lord is their God by covenant grant and promife. They believe that he is their Creator, and Preserver, and Benefactor; but they never thought he was their God by covenant-grant, or that they were bound to believe it with application, till once they found themselves fo and fo qualified. To take down this fortrefs of unbelief, I would only have you confider,

ft, If ever there was a time fince you had a being, and had the law of God intimated unto you, wherein you was free from the obligation of the first command of the moral law, as it here ftands connected with the covenant or the promise? No, furely. And if so, there was never a time wherein you was not obliged to believe, know, and acknowledge the Lord as your God, upon the ground of the covenant grant: and all the time you have neglected to do fo, you have been living in difobedience to the first command; and while the first command

is not obeyed, which is the foundation of all the reft, not one of them can be obeyed. And I only leave it to yourselves to be confidered, whether you may lawfully live in difobedience to the first command of the law of the great God, or fufpend your obedience thereunto, till you find qualifications in yourfeves, upon which you think you may lay claim to him in a way of fenfe. This is not to ground your faith upon the veracity of God in his promise, but to seek a ground for your faith within you.

2dly, However furprising this way of teaching may appear from the first commandment, yet it is nothing elfe than what you are taught in your leffer, received, and approven Catechifms. The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge the Lord as God, and our God: and to worship and glorify him accordingly.

3dly, I find God requiring faith of finners, and of notorious backfliders, in the fame terms as is here called for, Jer. iii. 4. compared with ver. 1. If we notice the 1ft verfe, and the 2d following, we fhall find that God is there dealing with a company of people who had made defection into idolatry; and he charges them with a perfidious and treacherous dealing with him, under the notion of an adultrefs that had forfaken the guide of her youth, and prostitute herself unto other lovers. However, infinite love opens up its bowels of pity, fends out a found of grace and love to them, faying, in the close of ver. 1. "Though thou haft played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, faith the Lord." Well, what is the return fovereign grace expects from them after fuch a difcovery of his readiness to receive them? See it, ver. 4. "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?" i. e. Wilt thou not from this time obey the first commandment of my law, and know and acknowledge me, and me only, as thy God and Father in Chrift?

4thly, I find that whenever a finful people begins to act faith, their faith, even the first receptive by faith, is expreffed in words which bear a plain obedience uuto what is required in the first commandment, as in the cafe of thefe, Jer. iii. Whenever the call of the word is carried home by the efficacy of the Spirit upon their hearts, they cry out, ver. 22. "Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God;" whereby they acknowledge him as their God, even their own God. So Zech. xiii. 9. And I find that the faints of God in fcripture, when in the exercise of faith, ftill yielding obedience to this first command of the law, and coming in with their appropriating my, Pal. xvi. 2. "O my foul, thou haft faid unto the

Lord,

Lord, Thou art my Lord." With what pleasure does David obey his command, Pfal. xviii. 1. 2. where eight or nine times he repeats his claim, acknowledging God as God, and his own God? And unbelieving Thomas, fo foon as he gets his foot upon the neck of his unbelief, obeys this command, making a folemn acknowledgment of Chrift, " My Lord, and my God."

Unto all this I fhall only add, to prevent mistakes, that when the first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God as our God, it is not to be understood, as if this were done by a faying it with the mouth only; no, no, "With the heart man believeth unto righteoufnefs." We read of fome that "remembered God as their rock, and the high God as their Redeemer; but they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him:" they did not acknowledge him as their God, with their hearts, acquiefcing in him as their chief good and only portion ; and therefore God rejects all their profeffion of kindness. Let us then embrace and acknowledge him as our God, with our hearts, lips, and lives, worshipping, glorifying, and ferving him, as our God, all the days of our appointed time.

III. The third thing propofed was, to speak a little of the connection betwixt the promife and the precept. That there is a connection between them is plain; for the promife is repeated in the command, and the meaning is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, who engage myself by covenant to be the Lord thy God. How fweetly is the law and gofpel connected here! how fweetly does the law ftand in a fubferviency unto the glorious defigns of grace!

I would have you carefully obferve as to this order and connection, that it is suited unto the circumftances of the loft finner, or of fallen man, who has nothing, and can do nothing, but is "wretched, miferable, poor, and blind, and naked." Because man can now do nothing for his life, therefore God will give him life and glory for nothing at all: and as a teftimony of his having got all freely from God, he will have him to obey. It is an order and method fuited to God's great defign, of debafing man, ftaining his pride, and of exalting the glorious freedom and riches of his grace: "Where' is boafting?" fays the apoftle. "It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith." The law of faith is juft the free promife, I am the Lord thy God; I will be to them a Father, &c. Now, by this law, and not by the way of works, felf is abafed, and the glory of free grace exalted.

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