God a Christians Choice, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. The Introduction. Connexion of the words obſerved. Text conſidered; and the Doctrine drawn.
Joſhua 24.22.
And Joſhua ſaid unto the people, ye are witneſſes againſt your ſelves, that ye have choſen you the Lord, to ſerve him, and they ſaid we are witneſſes.
BEloved, if I ſhould ſpeak to you in the words of Joſhua here, as he did to this people, would you, could you return the anſwer that this people did return to Joſhua? you that are here in this place. Have you choſen the Lord to you to ſerve him, yea or no? how many perſons are there that are yet to chuſe their Religion? to chuſe their God! after they have lived many years in the world. Nay Beloved, are not you yet to chuſe your God? the Lord help you to conſider it; how many people be there that are either altogether to chuſe to this day, or elſe have choſen others beſides the Lord, the true God! how many have choſen the God of this world for their God! How many have choſen Satan to be their God! and how many are joyned to ſin as their God, and theſe only will they ſerve; whereas it is the great duty and priviledge of Chriſtians, to joyn themſelves, and to be joyned to the Lord, Iſa. 56.3. with*foreign 1 Cor. 6.17. not glued to ſin, but to the Lord, which denoteth the neareſt conjunction, and firmeſt adheſion, that can't be parted, or taken aſunder.
Now my deſign in choice of this Scripture is, not to ſpeak to you concerning ſcrupulous queries, or of diſputable and doubtful things, but to treat with you about the main thing, of your chuſing God to be your God; only a little that you may take notice of the order, and connexion of the words. You may find in the beginning of the Chapter, that holy Joſhua now going the way of all the*Chap. 23.14. Earth, having brought the Children of Iſrael into poſſeſſion of the promiſed Land, juſt at his departure, gathers together the Repreſentatives of the whole body of the people. v. 1. And Joſhua called for the Elders of Iſrael, and for their Heads, and for their Judges, and for their Officers, and they preſented themſelves before the Lord, &c. and in a general convocation recites the whole Narative of God's dealing towards them ab crigine, from their very Original, i.e. not only from the beginning of their being a Nation, but from the choice of Abraham their Father, (who was by deſcent, nation, and practice an Idolater before God cal'd him, v. 2, 3.) to that very day and time that he ſpake unto them. In the 14th ver. he gives them an exhortation, to behave themſelves anſwerably to all thoſe benefits beſtowed upon them, in a ſuitable practice towards him. Now therefore fear the Lord, and ſerve him in ſincerity, and in truth, and put away the gods which your Fathers ſerved, &c. and that he might the more effectually win upon them, he offers it as it were to their choice, v. 15. and if it ſeem evil to you to ſerve the Lord, chuſe you this day whom you will ſerve, whether the gods which your Fathers ſerved that were on the other ſide of the Flood or the gods of the Amorites in whoſe Land ye dwelt, and cloſeth up the verſe with his own holy reſolution, — but as for me and my houſe we will ſerve the Lord; he propoſeth to them others, if they thought they had deſerved better of them, than God had, by what he had done for them. The people ſeem with indignation (as they had juſt cauſe) to anſwer, and utterly deteſt the motion: and therefore give their full aſſent to the ſervice of God, on conſideration of the mighty wonderful works he had wrought for them. God forbid that we ſhould forſake the Lord to ſerve other gods, v. 16. and they rehearſe his Works v. 17, 18. for the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up, and our Fathers out of the Land of Egypt, &c. thereupon they reſolve, that they will ſerve the Lord only. Now Joſhua again that he might the better fix them in this their aſſent and choice, tells them that they could not ſerve the Lord, for he is an holy God, v. 19. that is, as they ought if they did not forſake their ſins, or other gods, and cleave to him ſtedfaſtly; then ſaith he, ye cannot ſerve the Lord, viz. acceptably, and well pleaſingly. Their reply, with full and joynt conſent is reiterated v. 21. they ſaid nay, but we will ſerve the Lord.
The words of the Text do contain the ratification,General ſcope of the words and firm concluſion of the Covenant that is made between God and his People, upon the moſt ſolemn deliberation that can be expreſſed.
In them you may take notice of theſe two things,Particulars in the words in particular.
I. There is Joſhua's Propoſal and Declaration of a double act of this people:
1. Choice of God to be their God, ye have choſen you the Lord to ſerve him:
2. Their own witneſs to the act, Ye are wineſſes againſt your ſelves; as if he ſhould ſay, your own act and deed this day, ſhall be proof and evidence againſt you, if you decline from following the Lord in time to come, your own Conſciences within you, and your own act and deed without you, ſhall teſtifie againſt you.
II. Here is the Peoples acceptance, and yielding to this propoſal, wherein they do diſcover their unfeigned aſſent and conſent to what Joſhua ſaid in the laſt words, and they ſaid we are Witneſſes.
Now the matter I ſhall cull out of theſe words to treat of, (paſſing by what elſe I might conſider in them) is the act of this people, in chuſing the Lord to be their God.
Doct. The Doctrine is this.
That God is, and God ought to be the choice of every good Chriſtian. O who will not ſay Amen to this Truth! Or take it thus; That it is the higheſt and greateſt duty of Chriſtianity, to chuſe God unto our ſelves, to chuſe the true God to be our God: ye have choſen you the Lord. The anſwer of the people before, and what is here ſaid of them, doth ſuit with the propoſal of Joſhua in the very letter, v. 15. chuſe you this day, whom ye will ſerve, &c. Here, and before they have made God their chief and only choice. Ye are witneſſes againſt your ſelves, that ye have choſen the Lord to ſerve him. This is fully expreſt in the Prophet David's words, who ſeems to have done the very ſame thing. Pſal. 16.2. Oh my ſoul, thou haſt ſaid to the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodneſs extendeth not to thee. O my ſoul, thou haſt ſaid unto the Lord, &c. the Prophet ſeems to entertain a ſoliloquy with his own ſoul, he had choſen God to be his God, and he was able to ſpeak it with the greateſt confidence to, and before God himſelf, which argues full aſſurance, thou art my Lord, and to this choice he had made of God, he was reſolved to ſtick and ſtand, ſo far was he from chuſing others, or being taken from God, that he would not make mention of them, or any thing that concerned them. v. 4. Their ſorrows ſhall be multiplyed that haſten after another God, their drink Offering of Blood will I not offer, nor take their name into my lips. So Gen. 28.20, 21. Jacob was flying from his Brother Eſau, and he ſaid, if God will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on, the Lord ſhall be my God; if Jacob will take God to be his God upon the account of a little bread and water, and apparel, then ſurely we have greater encouragement to take him to be our God. The teſtimony of theſe two eminent Saints of God, are ſufficient to prove the truth; beſides the peoples act in the Text ſpecified.