Ans. \. To make God to be a God to us, is to acknowledge him for a God; thegodsof the heathens are idols, Ps. xc^^. 5., and we " know that an idol is nothing," 1 Cor. viii. 4., that is, it hath nothing of Deity in it ; if we cry, " Help, O Idol !" an idol cannot help; the idols were themselves carried into captivity, Isa. xlvi. 2., so that an idol is nothing : va- nity is ascribed to it, Jer. xiv. 22., we do not acknowledge it to be a God. But this is to make God to be a God to us, when we do, ex animo, acknowledge him to be God,
1 Kings xviii. 39., All the people fell on their faces and said, " The Lord he is the God ! the Lord he is the God !" Yea, we acknowledge God to be the only God,
2 Kings xix. 15., " O Lord God of Israel which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone !" Deity is a jewel that belongs only to his crown. Yet further, we acknowledge that there is no God like him, 1 Kings viii. 22, 23., " And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord ; and he said Lord God of Israel, there is no god like thee." Ps. Ixxxix. 6., " For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord ? Who among the sons of the migh- ty can be likened unto the Lord." In the Chaldee it is. Who among the angels. None can do as God : he brought the world out of nothing, " and hangeth the earth upon nothing," Job xxvi. 7. This is to make
OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
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God to be a God to us, when we are per- suaded in our liearts, and confess with our tongues, and subscribe with our hand, tliat God is tlio only true God, and that there is none comparable to him.
A. 2. To make God to be a God to us, is to choose him, Josh. xxiv. 15., " Choose ye tliis day whom ye will serve ; but as for me aTid my house we will serve the Lord:" that is, we will choose the Lord to be our God. It is one thing for the judgment to approve of God, and another for the will to choose him. Religion is not a matter of chance, but choice.
Quest. JV/iat is antecedent to, or goes be- foie this choice ?
Ans. \. Before this choosing God for our God, there must be knowledge ; we must know God, before we can choose him ; be- fore one choose the person he will marry, he must first have some knowledge and cognizance of the person : so we must know God, before we can choose him for our God, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9., " Know thou the God of thy fathers." We must know God in his attributes, glorious in holiness, rich in mercy, faithful in promises. We must know God in his Son ; as in a glass a face is represented; so in Christ, as in a trans- parent glass, we see God's beauty and love shine forth. This knowledge must go be- fore our choosing of God. Lactantius said, all the learning of the philosophers was without a head, because it wanted the knowledge of God. — 2. Wherein our choos- ing of God consists. It is an act of mature deliberation ; a Christian having viewed the superlative excellencies in God, and be- ing stricken into an holy admiration of his perfections, he singles out God from all o- ther objects, to set his heart upon ; he saith as Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 2L, " The Lord sbali be my God." — 3. The effect of choos- ing God : the soul that chooseth God, de- votes himself to God, Ps. cxix. 38., " Thy servant who is devoted to thy fear." As the vessels of the sanctuary were conse- crated and set apart from common to holy uses, so the soul who hath chosen (iod to be his God, hath dedicated and set himself apart for God, and will be no more for pro- fane uses.
A. 2. To make God to be a God to us,
is to enter into a solemn covenant with him, that he shall be our God : after choice follows the marriage-covenant. As God makes a covenant with us, Isa. Iv. 3., " I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David :" so we make a covenant with him, 2 Chron. XV. 12., " They entered into covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers." And Isa. xliv. 5., " One shall say, I am the Lord's: and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord ;" like soldiers, that subscribe their names in the muster-roll. This covenant, " That God shall be our God," we have often renewed in the Lord's supper ; and it is like a seal to a bond, to bind us fast to God, and to keep us that we do not depart from him.