NO sucn D1mw I Gotl is rcbtcd to all the creatures he has made. Hence our know- lcrlgo of him is not unreal, because it is relative; but real, because in knowin(J' God's relations to us, wo, so for, know him as he is. God was Israel's Re,leemer. lfe had redeomerl thorn that they might be his. He would have the entire life of his redeemed onos spent in covenant relationship with him. Hence he sets his own Law on the basis of thoso relations. And so it is 110w. We are ilot expected to love a Being 1vhose relations to us are doubtful or obscure,or whose mind and will towards us are unknown. 'We love because he first loved us. II. 'fllE VARIED ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH ARE SET UPON A LIKE BASIS, AND HA VE IN IT TIIEIR REASON AND POWER. The following suggestions may be developed largely with great advantage. I. The conception of law is materially changed when we know that it comes from One who loves us infinitely, and cares for us witll a tender care. This gives sweetness to the command. We are" under law to Christ." 2. "The Lord thy God;" that gives the worship of God its charm. 3. This is the truth which is objec- tively disclosed by the Incarnation. 4. It is the truth which the Holy Ghost graves on the hearts of the saints (Rom. viii. 15). 5. 'fhis truth shows us that real religion is love responding to love (1 john iv. 19). 6. It gives a manifest ground for trust. We know whom we have believed. 7. It gives a charm to every precept. 8. It gives meaning to every trial (eh. viii. 5). 9. It is in the light of this truth that prayer becomes possible, and is seen to be reasonable. 10. This gives a solemn aspect to our responsibility (Ps. lxxxi. 10; Amos iv. 12; Heb. iv. 13). 11. The fuller understand- ing of the words, "My God," will be the result of ripeness in grace (Zech. xiii. 9 ; Isa. xii. 10-20). 12. This is pre-eminently the tmth which gives its certainty and its glow to the hope of future glory (Mark xii. 26; Heb. xi. 16; Rev. xxi. 3, 7). Ill. SEEING. THE WIDE BEARING AND VAST IMPORTANCE OF TIIE TRU'TLI IN THE TEXT, WHAT. SHOULD DE WITH us ITS PRAarICAL OUTCOME? 1. Seeing the fearful havoc agnosticism would make, if it should ever come to govern human thinking,' let us show men: (1) That a God out of relation to us does not exist. (2) That the one God is related to us as Creator, etc. (3) That his varied rel:µions are explicitly revealed, specially through the Son and through the Holy Ghost. (4) That these relations are to be apprehended by our moral and spiritual nature, and not by the intellect alone. It should never make us stagger that, after getting to the very outer rim of natural knowledge, men r.hould look out on an awful blank, and call it " the great unknown." It shows us only that they cannot find God in that way-not that there is no way of finding God, still less that God cannot find us or make his communica- tions intelligible to us. Do not let us suffer men to think that God cannot be found because no one can find him out to perfection ! He is our God. 2. Since God is our God, let us cultivate fellowship with him. It is for this purpose he hath revealed himself, that we may come to him (1 John i. 1-3; Heb. x. 19-22). 3. Let us seek to realize the blessedness of a known and happy relationship to God, enjoyed through Christ, by the Spirit, in a life of penitence, faith, devotion, and love (Isa. lxi. 10; 1 Chron. xii. 18; Ps. lxvili. 28; xlvi. 1; xviii. 29; cxlvi. 5). 4. Let faith in the love of our God fill up our duties with glorious meaning:, and make the discharge of them a delight (eh. vi. 5; xxviii. 58; Lev. xxv. 38; xi. 45; Isa. xii. 10; Jer. iii. 13; Micah vi. 8; Rom. xii. 1). 5. Let the fact that God is our God create, confi_rm, and perpetuate our assurance of immortal blessedness. See the wonderful words in Matt. xxii. 31, 32 ; Heb. xi. 16. .As if God would be a.shamed to be called our God, if he did not mean to do something worthy of the name! Wondrous grace! How perfect the reconciliation effected by Christ, to bring together the holy God and sinful men in blest accord and union for ever!
Ver. 7.-The first commandment. God the sole object of worship. "Thou shalt hav~ none other gods before rue." So runs the first of the ten commandments. (For the specific direction of each, see enumeration in Homily on ver. 6; for the completeness ~f the whole, see Homily on vers. 22-33.) It has been well observed, in reference to the delivery of the ten commandments, that "this is the only authentic case in the history of the 1 See this vividly illustrated in a poem by Mr. Buchanan, entitled, 'J u.stiniM,' Con• temporary Reiiew, Jonunr;v, 1880. 88 'J.iirn DOOK O:ll' DEtrTgRONOMY. [cn. v. 1-33.