madness of opposing irresistible power, and dissenting from infallible wisdom: the unworthiness of offending and abusing immense goodness; the injustice and disloyalty which are couched in the disobedience of him, who by so many titles, and on so many obligations, is our Lord; the abusiveness of evacuating all his laborious and expensive designs in acquiring us; the levity and giddiness of disavowing him by our practice, whom we so often have acknowleged our Lord, and vowed intire subjection unto.

that

3. Again, if Christ be our Lord, then are we not our own lords, or our own men; we are not at liberty, or at our own disposal, as to our persons or our actions: those rules of the civil law, that a servant can possess nothing of his own, no profit can simply accrue to him,'* but all in result must go to his lord; that he is reckoned nobody in law, and the like, do most perfectly agree to us in regard to Christ, who is on so many accounts absolutely our Lord, infinitely more than one man can be to another. We consequently must not think to have our own wills, we must not attend our own business, we must not please our own appetites, or gratify our own desires, or enjoy our own pleasures, or follow our own fancies, or regard our own profits, or seek our own honor; we must not undertake or prosecute any thing merely our own, or farther than doing so is subordinate unto or consistent with the service, interest, and glory of our Lord: otherwise we do constitute ourselves the lords and masters, in effect renouncing and casting off him if he be truly our Lord, it is his will and word that should be the rule of all our actions; which we should diligently attend unto, which we should readily observe: it is his business, that we should with especial care mind, and most earnestly prosecute; it is his advantage and credit, that we should propound unto ourselves, as the main aims of all our endeavors. Whatever we design or undertake of moment, we should do it with this formal consideration and reference; doing it as the servants of Christ, from conscience of our duty to him, with intention therein to serve him, with expectation

*Arist. Pol. i. 3.

of reward only from him; according to those apostolical precepts; Whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of our Lord:' we must 'glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his :' we must 'not live to ourselves, but to him that died, and rose again for us since whether we live or die,' (that is, whatever action we set on relating either to life or death,) we are the Lord's;' we should direct all to his honor, profit, and service.

4. If Christ be our Lord, (absolutely and intirely such,) then can we have no other lords whatever, in opposition to him, or in competition with him; or otherwise any way than in subordination and subserviency to him; No man,' as he doth himself tell us, ' can serve two lords;' that is, two lords having collateral or equal authority; their injunctions will interfere, oppose, or supplant one the other; our affections will incline to one more than to the other; at least we shall be detained in hovering suspense; our leisure, our care, our endeavor being employed in the service or attendance of one, will force us to neglect and disappoint the other; Ye cannot serve God and Mammon;' serving wealth (that is, eagerly affecting it, and earnestly pursuing it) is inconsistent with our duty to Christ; the like may be said of honor, of pleasure, of curiosity, of any worldly thing; for, He that will be a friend of the world, is thereby,' saith St. James, constituted an enemy of God;' and if he thereby be made an enemy, he surely can be no good servant; a servant being (as the philosopher calls him) humilis amicus, a meaner sort of friend; who performeth service out of good-will and affection; like St. Paul, who discharged that high and laborious service, of preaching the gospel, incumbent on him, and of that kindly necessity which he expresses, saying, The love of Christ constrains me;' or, as St. Peter injoins those particular servants of Christ (employed by him in teaching and guiding his people) to do their duty, uỳ ȧvаyкασт☎s, ȧXX' èkovolws, ' not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;' or as St. Paul chargeth all servants, per' evvoías dovλevei, 'to serve with good-will, as to the Lord, and not to men.' It is indeed the proper nature and the

necessary condition of this service, that we decline, forsake, renounce, detest all other obligations, all affections, all incumbrances, which may avert us from a close adherence thereto. 'Whoever,' saith he, he be of you, that forsaketh not (or, who renounceth not, who biddeth not farewell to, os ovк áæоráoGerα) 'all that he hath, cannot be my disciple,' or my follower and servant: 'If any man cometh after me, and do not hatehis father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea and his own life, he cannot be my disciple;' he cannot indeed truly and heartily be so, who in love and observance of Christ will not readily forsake and lose all.

5. Particularly therefore, if Christ be our Lord, we are thereby disobliged, yea we are indeed prohibited, from pleasing or humoring men, so as to obey any command, to comply with any desire, or to follow any custom of theirs, which is repugnant to the will or precept of Christ: If,' saith St. Paul, I did yet please men,' (that is, humor, soothe, or flatter them, so the word åpéσkeɩv doth import,) I were not the servant of Christ;' that is, I were not such in effect, I did in so doing not behave myself as a servant of Christ; as it becomes such an one, and as such an one is obliged to do. And, 'Ye,' saith he again, are bought with a price, be not the servants of men,' (or, 'ye are not the servants of man,' so the words will bear rendering;) that is, ye therefore do not, or ye therefore ought not, to perform service to men, absolutely as such, or with ultimate relation unto them; but when ye lawfully and allowably do it, ye do it out of conscience, and regard to Christ, as his servants. We may indeed, yea in duty we must, obey men humbly and willingly, diligently and faithfully, in our stations, and according to our conditions, as we are placed and called in this world, either as subjects or servants; but we must do this in subordination to our principal and supreme Lord; in obedience to his command, and with regard to his service; so we are taught by St. Paul; Servants,' saith he, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, (that is, very respectfully and carefully,) in singleness of heart, as to Christ; not in eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ; doing the will of God from the soul; serving with good-will, as to the Lord, and not unto men :' and,

'Be subject,' saith St. Peter, to every human constitution, dia Tov Kúpior, for the Lord;' (that is, out of conscientious regard or affection to the Lord; because he is our Lord;) as free, and not having your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God:' yea, Whatsoever' (saith that wise instructor, St. Paul, again) 'ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive back the recompense of inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ.'

6. It is, we see, (which may be another improvement of this consideration,) not only an engagement, but an encouragement to the performance of all duty; particularly to the performance of those hard duties, (so contrary to natural will and stomach,) cheerful obedience and submission to men; who often, as St. Peter intimates, are okoλioì, crooked, or untoward, and harsh in their dealings with their servants; to whom yet on this consideration he injoins us willingly to yield obeisance, no less than to the good and gentle; for that in this and all other performances of duty we do serve a most equal and kind Master, who will graciously accept our service, and abundantly requite it; a Lord, that will not suffer his servants to want any needful sustenance, any fit encouragement, any just protection or assistance; who will not only faithfully pay them their promised allowance, but will advance them to the highest preferment imaginable. No man ever had reason to complain with them in the prophet; It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances?' No; the devil himself, with envy and regret observing the benefits and blessings which the pious man enjoyed in regard to his faithful service, could not but say; Doth Job serve God for nought? hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.' No wonder, argued the detracting spirit, and little thank or praise is due to a servant, whose service is so bountifully rewarded. Indeed our Lord is not only just and faithful, so as to render unto every man idiov μiolòv κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον κόπον, a proper reward answerable to his proper pains; but he is exceedingly, beyond expression, liberal in

bestowing on his servants retributions infinitely surpassing the desert and worth of all their labors: for their small, weak, faint, imperfect, and transitory endeavors, (by all which he is indeed really nothing the richer, or the greater,) he returneth blessings in nature, in degree, in duration, immensely great, precious, and glorious. He fails not here to feed them with food convenient, to clothe them decently, to supply all their needs, to comfort them in all distresses, to keep them in all safety, to deliver them from all evil; he afterwards conferreth on them a kingdom, an incorruptible and unfading crown; a state of perfect joy and endless glory.

7. It is a great comfort also for a Christian (how mean and low soever in his worldly condition) to consider the dignity and excellency of this his relation; how great and how good a Lord he serveth; that the greatest princes are his fellow subjects; (for, He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords:' ' All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.') Yea, that the highest angels are his fellow servants; (as the angel in the Revelation told St. John.) That although his Lord be so high in power and glory above all, yet he is so gracious, as not to neglect or despise him; but condescendeth to regard the lowest of his servants with equal care and favor as the highest; He accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands,' said good Elihu ; and they all, we might add, are the price of his blood.

8. And as it is a comfort to the meanest, so it is no shame or disparagement for the greatest of men to serve such a Lord; it is a relation in itself more worthy and honorable than the highest dignity or preferment in the world: to wear a crown, how rich soever; to command the whole earth; to possess all the land, and all the gold under heaven, are beggarly, trivial, and sordid things in comparison thereto; a servant of Christ (the apostolical style) is a style far more glorious than all those windy titles, which the greatest monarchs assume to themselves; having such a place in God's peculiar regard and care doth exceed all privileges and advantages, all glories and dignities, which any person is capable of: well therefore did St. Paul, in respect to the excellency of the knowlege of Jesus

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