J. 3. We may know God is our God, if be hath given us the hearts of children. Have we obediential hearts? Ps. xxAni. 8. Do we subscribe to God's commands, when his commands cross our will ? A true saint is like the flower of the sun : it opens and shuts with the sun, he opens to God, and shuts to sin. If we have the hearts of children then God is our father.
A. 4. We may know God is ours, and we have an interest in him, by our stand- ing up for his interest. AVe will appear in liis cause, and vindicate his truth, wherein his glory is so much concerned. Athana- sius was the bulwark of truth ; he stood up for it, when most of the world were Arians. In former times the nobles of Polonia, when the gospel Avas read, did lay their hands upon their swords, signifying that they were ready to defend the faith, and hazard their lives for the gospel : no better sign of our having an interest in God, than by our standing up for his interest.
A. 5. We may know God is ours, and
an interest in us, Cant. ii. 16., " My belov- ed is mine, and I am his." When God saitli to the soul, "Thou art mine;" the soul answers, " Lord I am thine ; all I have is at thy service; my head shall be thine to study for thee ; my tongue shall be thine to praise thee." If God be our God by way of donati()n, we are his ])v way of dedication ; we live to him, and are more his than we are our own. And thus we may come to know that God is our God.
Uae \st. Above all things let us get this great charter confirmed, that God is our God. Deity is not comfortable without propriety. Tolle Deum, et tille Deum, Aug. O let us labour to get sound evidences, that God is our God ! We cannot call health, liberty, estate, ours; O let us be a- ble to call God ours, and say as the church, Ps. Ixvii. 6., " God, even our own God shall bless us !" Let every soul here la- bour to pronounce this Shibboleth, ' My God.' And that we may endeavour after this to have God for our God; consider, 1. The misery of such as have not God for their God. In how sad a condition are they, when an hour of distress comes? This was Saul's case, 1 Sam. xxviii. 15., " I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and the Lord is departed from me." A wicked man, in time of trou- ble, is like a vessel tossed on the sea with- out an anchor, it falls on rocks or sands ; a sinner, not having God to be his God, though he make a shift while health and estate last, yet, when these crutches which he leaned upon are broken his heart sinks. It is with a wicked man as it is with the old world, when the flood came ; the waters at first came to the valleys, but then the peoj)le would get to the hills and moun- tains, but when the waters came to the mountains, then there might be some trees on the high hills, and they would climb up to them ; ay, but then the waters did rise up to the tops of the trees, — now all ho])es of being saved were gone, their hearts fail- ed them. So it is with a man that hath not God to be his God : if one comfort be taken away, he hath another, — if he lose a child, he hath an cstnte, — ay, but when the waters rise higher death comes and takes
we have an interest in him, h\ his having away all ; now he hath nothing to help
224
OF THE PREFACE TO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
himself witli, no God to go to, he must needs die despairing. 2. How great a pri- viU'ffe it is to liave God tor our God ? Ps. exliv. 1.3., " Happy arc tlie pco|)lc whose God is the Lord." Beatitude hofninis est Dens, Aug. That you may see tlie privi- lege of this charter;
1. If God be our God, then, though we may feel the stroke of evil, yet not the Bting. He must needs be happy who is in such a condition tliat nothing can hurt him ; if he lose his name, — it is written in the book of life ; if he lose his liberty, — his conscience is free ; if he lose his estate, — he is possessed of the pearl of price ; if he meets with storms, — he knows where to put in for harbour ; God is his God, and heaven is his haven.
2. If God be our God, then our soul is safe. The soul is the jewel, it is a blossom of eternity, Dan. vii. 15., " I was grieved in the midst of mv bodv ;" in tiie Chaldee it is " in the midst of my sheat/i." The body is but the sheath ; the soul is the princely part of man which sways the scep- tre of reason ; it is a celestial spark, as Da- mascene calls it. If God be our God, the soul is safe, as in a garrison. Death can do no more hurt to a virtuous heaven-boi'n soul, than David did to Saul, when he cut off the lap of his garment; the soul is safe, being hid in the promises, — hid in the wounds of Christ, — hid in God's decree. The soul is the pearl, and heaven is the ca- binet where God will lock it up safe.