A. 3. To make God to be a God to us, is to give him adoration : which consists, 1. In reverencing of him, Ps. Ixxxix. 7., " God is to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." The seraphims, who stood about God's throne covered their faces, Isa. vi. and Elijah wrapt himself in a mantle, when the Lord passed by, in token of re- verence. This reverence shews the high esteem we have of God's sacred majesty. — 2. Adoration is in bowing to him, or wor- shipping him, Ps. xxix. 2., " Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Neh. viii. 6., " They bowed their heads, and worship- ped the Lord with their faces to the ground." Divine worship is the peculiar honour be- longing to the Godhead : this God is jealous of, and will have no creature share in, Isa. xlii. 8., " My glory will I not give to ano- ther." Magistrates may have a ci^'il re- spect or veneration, God only a religious adoration.
A. 4. To make God to be a God to us, is to fear him, Deut. xxviii. 58., " That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord thy God." This fearing of God isj 1. To have God always in our eye, Ps. x\'i. 8., " I have set the Lord alwavs before me." And Ps. xxv. 15., " Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord." He who fears God, imagines, that whatever he is doing, God looks on, and, as a judge, weighs all his actions. 2. To fear God, is, when we have such an holy awe of God upon our hearts, that we dare not sin, Ps. iv. 4.,
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OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
" Stand in awe and sin not." The wicked sin and fear not ; the godly fear and sin not, Gen. xxxix. 9., " How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God ?" Bid me sin, bid me drink poison. It is a saying of Anselm, " If hell were on one side, and sin on the other, I would rather leap into hell, than willingly sin against my God." (1.) This glorious and fearful name : he who fears God will not sin, though it be never so secret. Lev. xix. 14., " Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumb- ling-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God." Suppose you should curse a deaf man, he cannot hear you curse him ; or if you lay a block in a blind man's way, and make him fall, he cannot see you lay it ; ay, but the fear of God will make you forsake these sins which can neither be heard nor seen by men. (2.) Where the fear of God is, it destroys tlie fear of man ; the three children feared God, therefore they feared not the king's wrath, Dan. iii. 16. The gi'eater noise drowns the less ; the noise of thunder drowns the noise of a river ; so when the fear of God is superin- tendent in the soul, it drowns all other car- nal fear. This is to make God to be a God to us, when we have an holy filial fear of liim ; " That thou mayest fear."
A. 5. To make God to be a God to us, is to trust in him, Ps. cxli. 8., " Mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord : in thee is my trust." 2 Sam. xxii. 3., " The God of my rock, in him will I trust." There is nothing we can trust in but God ; all the creatures arc a refuge of lies, — they are like the Egyptian reed, too weak to support us, but strong enough to wound us, Oninis 7rio- tus fit super iimnohili. God only is a suffi- cient foundation to build our trust upon ; and then, when we trust, we make him a God to us ; else we make him an idol, if we do not trust in him. Trusting in God is when we rely on his power as a Creator, and on his love as a Father. Trusting in God is, when we commit our chief treasure to him ; our soul is our chief treasure, we commit our soul to him, Ps. xxxi. 5., " Into thy hands I commit my spirit." As the orphan trusts his estate with his guardian, so we trust our souls with God; this is to make him a God to us.
Quest. 1. How shall we know that ice trust in God aright ?