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Use. (Vse) Let us declare our selves godly, by being servants of the most high God.

Motive. Consider 1. God is the best (Euripides) Master, he is punctual in all his promises, 1 Kin. 8. 23. There is no God like thee in Heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest Covenant with thy servants. Ver. 56. There hath not failed one word of all his good promise. God is of a most sweet gracious disposition; he hath this property, he is slow to4 anger, and ready to (Psal. 86. 5) forgive: In our wants he doth relieve us, in our weakness he doth pitty us; he reveals his secrets to his (Pro. 3. 32) servants, Psal. 25. 14. He wait on his servants: Was there ever such a Master? Luke 12. 37. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. When we are sick he makes our bed, Psal. 41. 3. Thou wilt make all their bed in their sickness. He holds our head when we are fainting: Other Masters may forget their servants, and cast them off when they are old, but God will not, Isa. 44. 21. Thou art my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. ‘Tis a slander to say, God is an hard Master.

Motive. 2. Gods service is the best service: There are six priviledges in Gods service.

  1. Freedome. Though the Saints are bound to Gods service, yet they serve him freely: Gods Spirit, which is called a free (Psa. 51. 12) spirit, makes them free and chearful in obedience: The Spirit carries them upon the wings of delight; it makes duty a priviledge; it doth not force, but draw; it inlargeth the heart in love, and fills it with joy; Gods service is perfect freedome.

  2. Honour. David the King professeth himself one of Gods Pensioners, Psal. 143. 12. I am thy5 servant. St. Paul, when he would blaze his Coat of Arms, and set forth his best Heraldry, he doth not call himself Paul, […]n Hebrew of the Hebrews, or Paul of the Tribe of Benjamin, but Paul a servant of Christ, Rom. 1. 1. Theodosius thought it a greater dignity to be Gods servant, than to be an6 Emperour. Christ himself, who is equal with his Father, yet is not ashamed of the Title Servant, Isa. 53. 11. Every servant of God is a Son, every subject a Prince: ‘Tis more honor to serve God, than to have Kings serve us: The Angels in Heaven are servitors to the Saints on7 earth.

  3. Safety. God takes care of his servants; he gives them a protection, Isa. 41. 9, 10. Thou art my servant, fear not, I am with thee. God hides his servants, Psa. 27. 5. In the secret of his Tabernacle8 shall be hide me; that is, he shall keep me safe, as in the most holy place of the Sanctuary, where none but the Priests might enter. Christs (Mal 4. 2) Wings are both for healing, and for hiding; for curing, and securing us: The Devil and his Instruments would soon devoure the servants of God, if he did not set an invisible guard about them, and cover them with the golden feathers of his (Psal. 91. 4) Protection, Acts 18. 10. I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. Gods watchful eye is ever upon his people, and the Enemies shall not do the mischief they intend, they shall not be destroyers, but Physitians.

  4. Gain. Atheists say, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances? Mal. 3. 14. besides the vails which God gives in this life (sweet peace of Conscience) he reserves his best Wine till last; he gives a glorious Kingdome to his9servants, Heb. 12. 28. The servants of God may for a while be kept under, and a bused, but they shall have preferment at last, Iohn 12. 26. Where I am, there shall my servants be.

  5. Assistance. Other Masters cut out work for their servants, but do not help them in their work; but our Master in heaven doth not only give us work, but strength, Psalm 138. 3. Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul. God bids us serve him, and he will inable us to serve him, Ezek. 36. 27. I will cause you to walk in my Statutes. The Lord doth not only fit work for us, but fit us for our work; with his Command he gives10power.

  6. Supplies. A Master will not let his servants want; Gods servants shall be provided for, Psal. 37. 3. Verily thou shalt be fed. Doth God give us a Christ, and will he deny us a crust? Gen. 48. 15. The God who hath fed me all my daies: If God doth not give us what we crave, he will give us what we need: the wicked are fed, who are dogs, Phil. 3. 2. If a man feeds his dog, sure he will feed his servant: Oh then who would not be in love with Gods service.

Motive. 3. We are ingaged to serve God; we are pretio empti, bought with a price, 1 Cor. 6. 20. ‘Tis a Metaphor taken from such as do ransom Captives out of prison, by paying a sum of money for them, they are to be at the service of them that ransomed them: So when the Devil had taken us prisoners, Christ ransomed us with a price, not of money, but bloud; therefore we are to be only at his service: If any can lay a better claim to us than Christ, we may serve them; but Christ having the best right to us, we are to cleave to him, and enroll our selves for ever in his service.

  1. I pass to the second Branch of this Character:11 A godly man is not the servant of men, 1 Cor. 7. 23. Be ye not the servants of men.

Quest. But is there no service we owe to men?

Answ. There is a three-fold serving of men.

  1. There is a Civil service we owe to men; as the inferiour to the superiour· The servant is a Living Tool, as Aristotle12 saith, Eph. 6. 5. Servants obey your Masters.

  2. There is a Religious service[…]we owe to men, when we are serviceable to their souls, 2 Cor. 4. 5. Your servants for Iesus sake.

  3. There is a sinfull serving of men; this consists in three things.

  4. When we prefer mens Injunctions before Gods Institutions; God commands one thing, man commands another; God saith, sanctifie the Sabbath; man saith, prophane it: When mens Edicts have more force upon us than Gods Precepts, this is to be the servants of men.

  5. When we do voluntarily prostitute our selves to the impure lusts of men;13 we let them […] lord it over our Consciences: when we are ductill and frameable to any thing, either Arminian or Atheist, either for the Gospel or the Alchoran, when we will be what others will have us; just of Issachars temper, Gen. 49. 14. Issachar is a strong Ass, couching down between two burdens. This is not humility, but sordidness, and it is a serving of men.

  6. When we are Advocates in a bad Cause, pleading for any impious, unjustifiable actings; when we baptize sin with the Name of Religion, and with our Oratory wash the Devils face; this is to be the servants of men; in these cases a godly person will not so unman himself, as to serve men; he saith as Paul, Gal. 1. 10. If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ: And as Peter, Act. 5. 23. We ought to obey God rather than men.

Use. (Vse) How many leagues distant are they from godliness, who do […], who either for fear of punishment, or hope of preferment, comply with the sinful commands of men, who will put their Conscience into any yoak, and sail with any wind that blows profit: These are the servants of men; they have abjured their Baptismal Vow, and renounced the Lord that bought them.

He who is such a14 Proteus, who can change into any form, and bow as low as hell to please men, I would say two things to him.

  1. Thou that hast learned all thy postures, who canst cringe, and tack about, how wilt thou look Christ in the face another day? When thou shalt say upon thy death bed, Lord look upon thy servant, Christ shall disclaim thee, and say, […] servant? No, thou didst renounce my service, thou wert a servant of men, depart from me, I know you not. What a cooling card will this be at that day?

  2. What doth a man get by sinfully inslaving himself? he gets a blot in his name, a curse in his estate, an hell in his Conscience, nay, even those that he basely stoops to, will scorn and despise him. How did the High-Priests kick off Iudas, Mat. 27. 4. Look thou to that.

That we may not be the servants of men, let us abandon (Esther 8. 17) fear, and advance faith: Faith is a world-conquering grace, 1 Ioh. 5. 4. It overcomes the worlds musick and fornace; it steels a Christian with Divine courage, and makes him stand immoveable, as a Rock in the midst of the Sea.

Footnotes

  1. 6 Character. ↩

  2. 1 Bran. ↩

  3. […] ↩

  4. Psal. 103 9. ↩

  5. Servire est regnare. ↩

  6. Nihil regio splendore indignum, si ad hanc ingenuam […] invitentur. Rivet. ↩

  7. Non est onerans sed ornans Dei servitus. ↩

  8. In abdito tento rii[…] sui. ↩

  9. […]. Origen Cont. Cels. ↩

  10. Da Domine quod jubes, & ju[…]e quod vis. Austin. ↩

  11. 2 Bran. ↩

  12. […]. ↩

  13. Ne adulentur, & impiis aeliorum cupiditatibus se addicant, vetat Apostolus. Calv. in 1 Cor. cap. 7. ↩

  14. Omnium scenarum homo. Erasm. ↩

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