4. If we trust in our civility, we make it a god. Many trust to this, none can charge them with gross sin. Civility is but nature refined and cultivated ; a man may be washed, and not changed; his life may be civil, yet there may be some reigning sin in his heart; the Pharisee could say, " I am no adulterer," Luke x\dii. 11., but he could not say, I am not proud. To trust to civility, is to trust to a spider's web.
5. If we trust to our duties to save us, we make them a god, Isa. Ixiv. 6., " Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;" they are fly-blown with sin. Put gold in the fire, and there comes out much dross ; our most golden duties are mixed with infir- mity; we are apt either to neglect duty, or idolize it. Use duty, but do not trust to it; for then you make it a god. Trust not to your praying and hearing; these are the means of salvation, but they are not saviours. If you make duties bladders to trust to, you may sink to hell with these bladders.
6. If we trust in our grace, we make a god of it. Grace is but a creature ; if we trust to it, we make it an idol. Grace is imperfect, we cannot trust to that to save us which is imperfect, Ps. xxvi. 1., "I have walked in my integrity : I have trust- ed also in the Lord." David did walk in his integrity ; but did not trust in his in- tegrity : " I have trusted also in the Lord." If we trust in our graces, we make a Christ of them. They are gootl graces, but bad Christs. To love any thing more than God. is to make it a god.
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OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
1st, If we love our estate more than God, then we make it a god. The young man in the gospel loved his gold better than his Saviour; the world lay nearer his heart than Clnist, Mat. xix. 22. Fulgens hoc au- ram prcestringit oculos, Var. Hence it is, the covetous man is called an idolater, Eph. V. 5. Why so? Because he loves his e- state more than God, and so he makes it his god ; though he doth not bow down to an idol, yet he worships the graven image in his coins ; he is an idolater. That which hath most of the heart, that we make a god.
2dlt/, If we love our pleasures more than God we make a god of pleasure, 2 Tim. iii. 4., " Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Many let loose the reins, and give themselves up to all manner of sensual delights; they idolize pleasure, Job xxi. 12, 13., " They take the timbrel, and the liarp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ ; they spend their days in wealth." I have read of a place in Africa, where the people spend all their time in dancing, and making merry : and have not we many who make a god of pleasure, who spend their time in going to plays and visiting stews, as if God had made them like the leviathan, to play in the water ? Ps. civ. 26. In the coun- try of Sardinia there is an herb like balm, that if one eat too much of it, he will die laughing: such an herb is pleasure; if one feeds immoderately on it, he will go laugh- ing to hell. Such as make a god of plea- sure, let them read but two scriptures, Eccl. vii. 4., " The heart of fools is in the house of mirth." And, Rev. xviii. 7., " How much she hath lived deliciously, so much torment give her." Sugar laid in a damp place turns to water ; so all the su- gared joys and pleasures of sinners will turn to the water of tears at last.
3dlt/, If we love our belly more than God, we make a god of it, Phil. iii. 19., " Whose god is their belly." Clemens Alexandrinus writes of a fish that had its heart in its bel- ly : an emblem of epicures, their heart is in tlieir belly, — they do sncrificari /ari, — their belly is their god, and to this god they pour drink-offerinffs. The Lord allows what is fitting for the recruiting of nature, Deut. XI. la., " I will send grass, that thou may-
est eat and be full." But, to mind nothing but the indulging of the appetite, is idola- try ; " Whose god is their belly." Wliat pity is it, that the soul, that princely part, which sways the sceptre of reason and is a-kin to angels, should be enslaved to the brutish part !
4thli/, If we love a child more than God, we make a god of it. How many are guil- ty in this kind ? they think of their chil- dren, and delight more in them than in God ; they grieve more for tlie loss of their first born, than for the loss of their first love. This is to make an idol of a child, and to set it in God's room. Thus God is oft provoked to take away our children. If we love the jewel more than him that gave it, God will take away the jewel, that our love may return to him again.