Selected quad for the lemma: child_n
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A67234
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The duty and obligations of serving God a sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-hall, July xxix, 1694 / by Christopher Wyvill ...
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Wyvill, Christopher, 1651?-1711.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing W3785; ESTC R38323
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12,959
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34
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THE Dean of RIPON's SERMON Before the QUEEN July xxix 1694. The Duty and Obligations of serving God A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL JULY xxix 1694. BY Christopher Wyvill D. D. And Dean of RIPON Publish'd by Her Majesty's Especial Command LONDON Printed by Tho. Warren for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCIV A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN Joshua xxiv 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose 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 dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. THESE are the Words of Joshua which he spake to the Children of Israel after by the Providence and Blessing of God he had setled them in the Land of Promise He had gathered all the Tribes of Israel together at Shechem and called for the Elders of Israel and for their Heads and for their Judges and for their Officers and they presented themselves before God and there did he recite unto them the Benefits which God had done unto them and to their Forefathers the Wonders which he did in the Land of Egypt and the fearful Things by the Red Sea how he had preserved them in the Wilderness delivered them out of the hand of their Enemies given them a Land which they did not labour for Cities which they built not Vineyards and Olive-yards which they planted not And from thence he takes an occasion to exhort them to fear the Lord and to serve him in sincerity and truth and to put away the gods which their Fathers served on the other side the Flood and in Egypt and to serve the Lord only the onely true God and then saith he in the Verse of my Text If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve By which manner of expression we must not conceive that it was his intention to leave it as an indifferent matter whether they served God or not or thereby to free them from the Obligations they already lay under of serving the Lord only but rather that it was his Design by these words to try and to prove their Inclinations and Affections towards the Almighty and to induce them by a wise and a deliberate Consideration to a Resolution of serving the Lord only and to bind them the more strictly to his Service as having of their own free will chosen him to be their God The Service of God is a reasonable Service he would have men consult their own Reason and consider what they do and wisely and seriously to make choice of him This it seems Joshua himself had done and by his own Example would excite the People to do the like for he acquaints them with his own Choice and Resolution upon the Matter For as for me saith he and my house we will serve the Lord and a brave and a noble Resolution it was that although all others by a base Rebellion should Apostatise from God although they should choose them other Lords and make to themselves other Gods whilst others put themselves under the subjection of wild Passions and vile Affections serving divers Lusts and Pleasures yet he with his whole Family would serve the onely true God the great Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth And what was his Resolution at that time should be ours now for we have the same God to serve that he had and the same and yet far greater Motives to induce us to it And that which makes his Example the more remarkable and the more inforcing is this that he was a soveraign Prince and Commander in chief of all the Hosts of Israel and yet neither the Charms nor the Troubles neither the Pleasures nor the Cares with which so high a Station is usually attended could keep him off from a vigorous prosecution of the great business of Religion and of the true Service of God And when such as he when Princes and noble Persons when rich and great Men make an open profession of serving God when they make it their choice and their delight and their business what an excitement and encouragement must it be to inferiour people to do the like And indeed the Duty of serving God is so just and so reasonable the Obligations and Motives to it so many and so weighty that if we seriously consider the matter it will appear to be the wisest and the best choice that we can make In discoursing therefore upon this excellent Subject I shall endeavour through God's assistance briefly to do these Two Things I. To shew what it is to serve God and II. To shew what Obligations and Motives there are that can induce a man to resolve so to do And may that great and good God whom we serve give such a Blessing upon what I shall now say as that his Name may be thereby glorified and our selves advantaged I. Now then as for the First of These to serve God is not only to profess God's true Religion but to live according to it and to behave our selves in such a course and way of living whilst we are in this World as may evidence the sense we have of the great Majesty of God and of his Soveraignty over us This in general is the meaning of serving God as it is taken in the largest sense and in the full extent for I shall not confine it to any one particular part of Piety but look upon it as it takes in the whole compass of Religion and that we may the better understand when we observe this Duty and when we decline from it I shall shew how we may serve God in what things God may be served by us and what are the proper Qualifications of That Service 1. First then We serve God by obeying his Commands and by executing his Will and Pleasure in those things which he requires of us For Obedience to the Commands of God is one great part nay the first the very chief and principal part of that Service which we owe him and which he who is resolved to serve God acceptably must be sure to mind without This our Service of him is very lame and imperfect or rather in truth nothing at all There can be no better proof of Service than Obedience Know ye not saith St. Paul that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are whom you obey And it is his Advice that Servants should be obedient to their Masters and therefore if we would approve our selves the true Servants of God we must heartily and sincerely endeavour to obey all his Commands whether they be against our present Inclinations and worldly Interest or not With what chearfulness did the Servant of the Centurion in the Gospel conform himself to the Commands of his Lord who if he did but say