A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 53
Of the Commandments.
Exod. 20.1.
I am the Lord, thy God, &c.
3.TO all such as can make out this Covenant-Union, It exhorts to several things.
I. If God be our God, let us improve our Interest in him, cast all our Burdens upon him; the Burden of our Fears, Wants, Sins, Psal. 55.22. Cast thy Burden upon the Lord. Wicked Men who are a Burden to God, have no right to cast their Burden upon him; but such as have God for their God, are called upon to cast their Burden on him. Where should the Child ease all its cares, but in the Bosom of its Parent? Iudg. 19.20. Let all thy Wants lye upon me. So God seems to say to his Children, let all your Wants lye upon me. Christian, what doth trouble thee? Thou hast a God to pardon thy Sins, to supply thy Wants: Therefore roul your Burden on the Lord, 1 Pet. 5.7. Casting all your Care on him. Whence are Christians so disquieted in their Minds? they are taking care, when they should be casting care.
II. If God be our God, let us learn to be contented, though we have the less of other things. Contentment is a rare Jewel, it is the Cure of Care. If we have God to be our God; well may we be contented, I know whom I have believed, 2 Tim. 1.12. There was Paul's Interest in God, 2 Cor. 6.10. As having nothing, yet possessing all: There was his Content. That such who have Covenant-Union with God may be fill'd with Contentation of Spirit, consider what a rich Blessing God is to the Soul.
1. God is Bonum Sufficiens, a sufficient Good. He who hath God hath enough: If a Man be thirsty, bring him to the Ocean, and he is satisfied; in God there is enough to fill the Heaven-born Soul▪ He gives Grace and Glory, Psal. 84 11. There is in God not only a sufficiency, but a redundancy: He is not only full as a Vessel, but as a Spring. Other things can no more fill the Soul, than a Mariners Breath can fill the Sails of a Ship. But in God is a Cornu-Copia, an infinite fulness. He hath enough to fill the Angels, therefore enough to fill us. The Heart is a Triangle, which only the Trinity can fill.
2. God is bonum Sanctificans, a Sanctifying Good. First, He sanctifies all our Comforts, and turns them into Blessings. Health is blessed, Estate is blessed, he gives with the Venison a Blessing, Psal. 132.15. I will abundantly bless her Provision. He gives us that Life we have, …anquam ar…abo, as an Earnest of more. He gives the little Meal in the Barrel, as an Earnest of the Royal Feast in Paradise. Secondly, He sanctifies all our Crosses. They shall not be destructive P…ishments but Medicines; they shall corrode and eat out the Venom of Sin, they shall Polish and Refine our Grace. The more the Diamond is cut, it sparkles the more▪ Gods stretching the Strings of his Viol, is to make the Musick better.
3. God is bonum se…ectum, Choice Good; all things sub sole, are but ba… s…abelli, as Austin, the Blessings of the Footstool; but to have God himself to be ours, is the Blessing of the Throne. Abraham gave gifts to the Sons of the Co…ubines, but he setled the … …5.5. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. God may send away the Men of the World with Gifts, a little Gold and Silver, but in giving us himself, he gives us the very quintessence, his Grace, his Love, his Kingdom. Here is the Crowning Blessing.
4. God is Bonum summum, the chief Good. In the chief Good, there must be First Delectability, it must have something that is delicious and sweet: And where can we suck those pure quintessential Comforts which ravish us with Delight, but in God? In Deo quadam dulcedine delectatur anima, imo rapitur; At Gods Right Hand are Pleasures, Psal. 16.11. Secondly, In the chief Good there must be Transcendency, it must have a surpassing Excellency. Thus God is infinitely better than all other things; 'tis below the Deity to compare other things with it. Who would go to weigh a Feather with a Mountain of Gold? God is Fons & Origo, the Spring of all Entities, and the Cause is more noble than the Effect. It is God that bespangles the Creation, that puts Light into the Sun, that fills the Veins of the Earth with Silver; other Creatures do but maintain Life, God gives Life. God infinitely out-shines all Sublunary Glory; he is better than the Soul, than Angels, than Heaven. Thirdly, In the chief Good, there must be not only Fulness but Variety; where Variety is wanting, we are apt to nauseate; to feed only on Hony, would breed Loathing; but in God is foreign all Variety of Fulness, Col. 1.19. He is an Universal Good, Commensurate to all our Wants; He is Bonum in quo omnia Bona, a Sun, a Portion, an Horn of Salvation: He is called the God of all Comfort, 2 Cor. 1.3. There is a Complication of all Beauties and Delights in him; Health hath not the comfort of Beauty, nor Beauty of Riches, nor Riches of Wisdom, but God is the God of all Comfort. Fourthly, In the chief Good there must be Eternity. God is foreign: He is a Treasure that can neither be drawn low, nor drawn dry. Though the Angels are still spending on him, he can never be spent; he abides for ever. Eternity is a Flower of his Crown. Now if God be our God, here is enough to let in full Contentment into our Souls. What though we want Torch-light, if we have the Sun? What if God deny us the Flower, if he hath given us the Jewel? How should this rock a Christians Heart quiet? If we say God is our God, and we are not content, we have cause to question our Interest in him.
III. If we can clear up this Covenant-Union, that God is our God, let this chear and revive us in all Conditions. To be content with God, is not enough, but to be chearful; what greater Cordial can you have, than Union with Deity? When Jesus Christ was ready to Ascend, he could not leave a richer consolation with his Disciples than this, Tell them, I go to my God and their God, John 20.17. Who should rejoyce, if not they, who have an Infinite, Alsufficient Eternal God to be their Portion, who are as Rich as Heaven can make them? What though I want Health, I have God, who is the Health of my Countenance and my God, Psal. 42.11. What though I am low in the World, if I have not the Earth, I have him that made it. The Philosopher comforted himself with this, though he had no Musick or Vine-Trees, yet foreign here are the Houshold Gods with me. So though we have not the Vine or Fig-Tree, yet we have God with us. I cannot be Poor (saith St. Bernard,) as long as God is Rich; for his Riches are mine. O Let the Saints rejoyce in this Covenant-Union. To say God is ours, is more than to say Heaven is ours. Heaven would not be Heaven without God. All the Stars cannot make Day without the Sun. All the Angels those Morning Stars, cannot make Heaven without Christ the Sun of Righteousness. And as to have God for our God, is matter of rejoycing in Life; so especially it will be at our Death. Let a Christian think thus, I am going to my God. A Child is glad when he is going home to his Father. This was Christs comfort when he was leaving the World, Iohn 20.17. I go to my God. And this is a Believers Death-bed Cordial, I am going to my God; I shall change my Place, but not my Kindred, I go to my God and my Father.
IV. If God be our God, then let us break forth into Doxology and Praise, Psal. 118.28. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee. O infinite Astonishing Mercy, that God should take Dust and Ashes into so near a Bond of Love, as to be our God▪ As Micah said, Iudg. 18.24. What have I more? So what hath God more? What richer Jewel hath he to bestow upon us than himself? What hath he more? That God should put off most of the World with Riches and Honours, and that he should pass over himself to us by a Deed of Gift, to be our God, and by virtue of this, settle a Kingdom upon us. O let us praise him with the best Instrument, our Heart, and let this Instrument be scrued up to the highest Peg: Let us praise him with our whole Heart. See how David riseth by degrees, Psal. 32.11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoyce, and shout for Ioy. Be glad, there is Thankfulness, rejoyce, there is Chearfulness, shout, there is Triumph. Praise is called Incense, because it is so sweet a Sacrifice. Let the Saints be Queristers in Gods Praises; the deepest Springs yield the sweetest Water. The more deeply sensible we are of Gods Covenant-Love to us, the sweeter Praises we should yield. We should begin here to eternize Gods Name, and do that Work on Earth, which we shall be always doing in Heaven, Psal. 146.2. While I live will I praise the Lord.
5. Let us carry our selves as those who have God to be our God; that is, when we walk so that others may see there is something of God in us. Live Holily. What have we to do with Sin? Is it not this, that if it doth not break, yet will weaken the Interest, Hos. 14.8. What have I to do any more with Idols? So should a Christian say, God is my God, what have I to do any more with Sin, with Lust, Pride, Malice? Bid me commit Sin, as well bid me Drink Poison. Shall I forfeit my Interest in God? Let me rather Dye than willingly offend him, who is the Crown of my Joy, the God of my Salvation.