of it can be sufficient and therefore doe such a duty with thy might pray with thy might heare with thy might stand for God with thy might and so for any other duty The want of this is the bane of a great many duties and of much service which are made void and unprofitable by this very meanes nay instead of a reward they shal have wrath and vengeance for their wages according to that of the Prophet Ieremy Ier. 48.10 cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lord negligently or deceitfully that might do it better then he does but doth not put out himselfe Or that seemes to do it otherwise then he doth it in deed seeming very zealous God when there is neither for life nor heat within Burning lippes and a wicked heart like Solomons plate a potsheard covered with silver drosse Pro. 26.23 Oh heare and feare The third part of this faithfulnesse Sincerity 3. is sincerity and uprightnesse in heart which is when a soule doth the service of God and the duties of it in obedience to his command aiming at him and his glory in the workes and duties that it doth performe The Lord would have servants looke through their earthly masters in the service they doe for them Eph. 6.5 and and to have an eye to Christ in what they doe who is the chiefe Master of all but much more then ought he to be especially eyed and aymed at in those actions which are immediately done unto himselfe true the eye of man cannot pierce the heart to diserne the intention of that but the Lords doth For however a servant may be accounted faithfull when as he doth not purely looke at his Master in the service he doth for his Master cannot see his heart yet he cannot be nor is accounted a faithfull servant with the Lord unlesse he lookes more at the Lord then at himselfe or any other In the 7 of Zach. 5. the Lord puts this question home unto them did yee at all fast to me and doubles it againe even to me that whereas they might be ready and overforward to make answer for themselves and say Yes Lord we did what we did to thee he replies even to me are you sure you did it to me that you looked purely at me c. The want of this makes void and vaine our worke and prevents that reward that else we might have as is cleare from Mat. 6.5 and 16 verse as if the Lord had said if you looke not at me in your worke why should you looke at me for wages for the worke you doe The fourth branch of this faithfulnesse required Faith or Believing 4. in the service of God to make it profitable is Beleeving which is that when the soule hath proved it selfe to be in covenant with God according to the first direction that then it stirres up it selfe to exercise faith in the beleeving Applying and pressing of those promises which it hath right and title to as touching assistance accceptance answering rewarding and the like The Apostle shewes the absolute necessity of faith Heb. 11.6 even in the exercise of it to be in those that approach nigh to God in any service of his Iam. 1.6 7 as in prayer Saint Iames shewes that such an one as doth not pray in faith without wavering must not looke to receive any thing as wages for his worke from the Lord though he may receive much from man rewards and applause c. Yet from the Lord he must looke for none if he doe he is but deceived and so shall bee The Lord saith to them that come to him as he said as he said to those blind men what doe you come to me for sight Matth. 9.28 29. according as you beleeve so shall you speed c. I am preswaded that if these men had come to our Saviour in an ordinary formall way led by the example of others that because they saw others that were blind and lame goe to Christ therefore they would goe too they might have gone away as blind as they came for any sight or benefit that they should have had from him And so if people goe to God in duties as in prayer in an ordinary formall way because it is the order and fashion to goe to God and pray in time of want they may goe often enough and pray long enough ere they shall obtaine and worke till they be weary in the service of God ere they get any good reward for it yea though a man be a beleever and hath that singular gift and grace of faith in him yet this is not enough unlesse he doth stirre up this gift and grace so as to have the use and exercise of it even in the time of working and doing God service for a habite is onely so farre of use and profitable as it is brought forth into act and exercise Experience shewes that the same soule which seemes one day to worke for nothing and to labour in vaine with God in the duties of his service another day or by another duty is sent loaden away full of the desires of its soule and thinkes it selfe abundantly rewarded the reason will be found to be from hence if it be well looked into that faith was more exercised at one time then at another If therefore thou wouldest not have the service of the Lord and the dutyes of it to be in vaine unto thee then worke in faith Last of all Perseverance 5. this faithfulnesse consisteth and is to be shewed in perseverance holding on without fainting Rev. 2.10 Be faithfull unto the death that is in persevering to the last for thus faithfulnesse is shewed he is not accounted a faithfull servant that gives over his work before it be done nor he faithfull to god or his own soul that gives over before he speed Psal 123.2 We waite upon the Lord untill he have mercy upon us so should a Christian refolve not to give over or away from God without an answer I doe not deny but a Christian may be held off and delayed in his suite and service that he may even make some question whether he hath not quite lost his labour whether ever his prayers shall be answered and his service rewarded or no for all may seeme to be in vaine 1 Cor. 4.5 Oh! but stay a while and Iudge nothing before the time much lesse this to say or thinke that the Lord will be so hard and unfaithfull as not to reward your labour for the full and set time of the Lord payment is not yet come I wish that well knowne place in Mat. 24 13 were as wel considered of as knowen He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved In which words amongst many things considerable there be especially two for our present purpose the condition of the promise and the promise it selfe Perseverance is the dutie required in all the parts of Gods
here they are reproved ye have said it is vaine to serve God These words are an answer to their cavil or a fresh accusation and reply upon their stout selfe-justifications in the former words verse 13. What have we spoken so much against thee Divers doctrines the words afford as 1. That Carnal hearts are ful of proud cavils at Gods wayes Mat. 25.24 c. 2. That the Lord takes notice what hard thoughts men have of himselfe and his wayes But letting them passe observe this Doct. That carnall hearted people doe judge the serving of God in exactnesse to be but a vaine thing or that they account the true service of God to be but a vaine service 1. I say carnal hearts doe thus judge ye have said The Lord did not intend to charge all this people with this crime nor yet any of those whose hearts were upright with him for they esteemed far otherwise of the service of God as appeared by their practice in the 16. verse onely he intended such as were in outward covenant with him who though they were in Israel were not of Israel Againe I adde that they judge the exact serving of God to be vaine they will acknowledge a necessity of serving God take it in their way and fashion they will give it in charge to their children and servants when they goe to bed Sirs have a care and serve God if you doe not serve God he wil not blesse you c. But to be so exact and precise in serving of God to be so strict in keeping of his Ordinances and in walking mournefully before the Lord of Hosts as these words are partly expounded by those that follow them this way of serving the Lord is every where spoken against by Carnall hearts as here It is vain to serve God Nay it wil be no hard thing to prove that to serve God at all or that the service of God in general is held by them to be but a vaine thing and if this be proved the other wil follow much more as being included therein and this is the thing that I shal first endeavour for the further conviction of carnal hearts that hereby they may see themselves and their conditions True it may be they wil not beleeve it and it may be they doe not thinke that they thinke so but they doe not know their hearts as the Psalmist said of those wicked men Psal 49.11 that their inward thought is so and so viz. that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations c. He seemes to distinguish betweene thought and thought an outward and an inward thought their uppermost thought that lies next the understanding and conscience and that is otherwise but there is another thought that lies beneath and under this which they know not themselves and that is thus that it is in vaine to serve God The truth of this is proved from Iob. 21.15 what is the alnighty we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray to him and from Isay 58.3 wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not wherefore have we afflicted our soule and thou takest no knowledge And it is further cleared and confirmed by these evidences or evidenced by these particulars 1. By their wilfull and totall omission of some known required duties so except it be some strait-laced hypocrite one of a thousand there is not a carnal heart to be found but may be taken tardy this way The Pharisees as strict as they were yet lived in the constant omission of known required duties and those of the chiefest sort whereupon our Saviour told them that these things they ought to have done being things of most weight And that they laid aside the commandement of God Mark 7.8 As a man buying a large bargaine doth pick and choose when he comes at that which doth not like him hee layes it aside and wil none of it this is not good saith he I doe not like this So did they and so doe all carnal hearts when a Commandement from God comes at them requiring a duty which they doe not like they lay such a Commandement aside as if it were an uselesse Commandement that it were in vaine to obey such a commandement that either no reward would come in for keeping that Commandement or not enough to countervaile that paines and losse that would follow upon the keeping and obeying of it And this is evidence cleare enough to prove that in their hearts they thinke that the whole service of God is in vaine for did they thinke otherwise of the service in generall they would thinke otherwise of the severall acts and parts of the service did they really beleeve that there were reward in keeping of any of Gods Commandements they would also beleeve a reward for keeping all and every one And therefore as he that breaketh wilfully and constantly one point of the Law is guilty of the breach of the whole Law so they that are guilty of judging the service of the Lord vaine in any one particular are guilty of Judging it so to be in the generall They then that doe omit and neglect prayer in the morning doe in their hearts think it in vaine to pray in the evening c. Others there are that wil choose to do things that are vaine rather then be imployed in any part of Gods service how wil they spend their time some playing others sleeping and ideling a-away their time doing either nothing or that that is next to nothing and worse then nothing rather then serve God is not this a cleer case that these people doe think it to be vaine to serve God or else they would not doe as they doe Secondly the truth in hand appeareth by their slighty performing of those duties that they doe undertake dealing with God deceitfully as they in Acts 5.1.2 and turning the Lord off with any thing as these people reproved in the text of whom see Chap. 1.13 Mal. 13. ye brought that which was torne lame and sick saith the Lord when they had a beast that was worried baited and bitten that it was in danger to miscarry and dye or good for little or nothing that they brought and offer'd in sacrifice Yea wil the Lord put us to such cost and charge and must we of necessity offer him so many sacrifices is there no shift for it c. Well wee 'l come off as good cheap as we can he shal have the very worst wee have those that are worth least to be sold wil we offer now their offering such sacrifices as these shew'd that in their hearts they thought it in vaine to offer any at all that they were but lost and cast away for had they believed that the Lord would have rewarded them for their services and satisfied them fully for their Sacrifices that they should not have been loosers by any thing that they had offered he should then have
had the very best that they had knowing that the better any thing is that they offer to God the greater is the reward that God wil give to them for it For this wil make a soule free for God As David who knowing what a bountiful pay-master the Lord was would not offer him sacrifice 2 Sam. 24.24 of that which should cost him nothing Why just thus doe earnal hearts in doing the Lord service as these people did in offering him sacrifice they bring him the torn blind and lame Yea is there no help but I must doe duties heare pray repent give almes and the like wel then I l'e shift as as wel as I can if I must heare I 'le hear at my leisure when I have little else to doe If I must give it shal be of that which I got by usury bribery or the like If I must pray in my family it shal be the last thing I doe immediately before I goe to bed being half asleep and halfe awake If I must repent I wil doe it when I am ready to dye and goe out of the world when I feel the house crack and it be ready to tumble downe about my eares then wil I seeke out for another habitation and so for other duties This is the practice of carnal hearts thus to turn the Lord off with the worst which is a cleare evidence against them that they Judge his service to be but vaine service Thirdly this truth may be evidenced by their wearinesse in their serving the Lord though in a slighty and formal manner as this people in that place before named are charged with this very thing Malac. 1.13 yee have said what a wearinesse is it and yee have snuffed at it c. And thus are carnal hearts soonest weary though in some regard they have by far the least cause Of all men one would thinke that these people should not be weary of serving the Lord that are at so little paines and cost and so formal therein It might rather be thought that the people of God which doe so put out themselves and spend their spirits in the service of the Lord that they should rather be weary then such as are slighty and formal therein turning the Lord off with lip-labour and bodily exercise And it is true indeed if wearinesse in the service of God did arise from the expence of Spirits then the godly should be sooner weary then those that are carnall but indeed this is not the cause of it but rather a dislike of the service it selfe from an indisposition in the heart being carnal to a duty or service that is of a spirituall nature hence it is that the people of God who love the service of God after such time as they have been much with God in the duties of his service and have both wearyed their bodies and wasted their strength and spirits yet delighting in the Law and Service of God after the innerman are not yet weary of the duty or service it selfe but wish that they had fresh strength and Spirits For it is one thing to be weary in the service of God and another thing to be weary of the service of God The first may befall a gratious heart or child of God but the latter is the property of those that are onely carnall And againe there is much difference betweene that wearisomnesse that ariseth from inabilities to hold out any longer in the duty or service and that which springeth from a dislike of the duty or service it selfe both in the affections from that contrariety that is in the heart being carnal to the duty or service as spiritual as also in the judgement from secret feares and thoughts of losing its labour and so being in vaine The earnal heart is weary of the service of God in this last manner as wel as in the first and that upon this last ground also whereby the truth in hand is evidenced Fourthly it is clearly evidenced that they think the service of God in vaine By those base and hard thoughts which they secretly harbour of such as serve God more and better then themselves this is a thing very commonly found in carnal hearts and who wil serve God a little to be bitter in censuring of them that serve him much those that keep their times and go their pace and are of their Last and straine they can like wel enough But such as exceed them they suspect for too much nicenesse what wil not common Prayers please them but they must have conceived Prayer wil not praying with others and in the family suffice but they must Pray alone and in their closets wil not one Sermon a day content them but they must hear all day long and are not Sermons on the Sunday sufficient but they must run to Sermons and Lectures in the week too c. Thus condemning the generation of the righteous and such as are better then themselves These thoughts and speeches proceed from carnal hearts which conceive in themselves that the service of God is altogether in vaine for if they did really beleeve that it were good and profitable to serve God a little then it would follow even by the rule of common reason that it is much better to serve him more and so still the more the better Take a man which beleeveth that such a worke or Trade is gainefull and profitable though he himselfe cannot work or earne that way by reason of age or infirmities yet wil not hee condemne those that can and doe but wil blesse them and their condition wishing that he were in the same himself Alas saith he I am grown old my sight and strength decayes that my work is gone I can make no earnings but lose my time c. Oh but such or such they are happy for they can work and earne I am glad that others can though J cannot but I would I could work for I know it is profitable worke and wil bring in great advantage to him that labours in it whereas another it may be slights that work and trade and condemnes them of folly that follow it most and all out of ignorance and that because they thinke it to be but labour in vaine Thus it is concerning the service of the Lord and the trade of godlinesse those that are truly godly wil rejoyce that others serve God and can do it better then themselves I am a poore ignorant creature a dwarfe and a nurling and grow very slowly but I am glad to see others grow my Spirit is straitned and bound up but others are large hearted for God and God lets out himselfe to others though he be a stranger to my Soule I am hard hearted and cannot mourn for my own or others sins and for the afflictions of Gods Church and people which I ought to doe but cannot Oh but such or such they can doe these things wel blessed be God I am glad that any
have done some good to others but here no body hath been the better for me but for ought I know rather the worse It may be I have been a Ionah or an Achan amongst Gods people to provoke the Lord to displeasure and to cause him to withhold that mercy from that Assembly I joyned with which they might have had if J had been from amongst them but however I have deluded others and play'd the hypocrite seeming better then I am and fit to be amongst Gods people which I was not have hardened my heart and am to be sure never the better if not much the worse These and the like complaints are commonly made by the people of God as if his service were indeed altogether vaine To this I answer divers wayes Answ 1 That the service of God which a Soul does may be may be profitable to others though for the present or in his own apprehension little or nothing so to it selfe For the Acts or parts of Gods service are of divers kinds Some in which the Lord and master himself hath the chiefest hand he being especially the Agent and we patients as hearing the word receiving the sacrament and duties of that nature Other some againe there are in which man is more said to be an Agent then in the former As in prayer workes of charity taking up the crosse and the like Now its true for the first if a soul gets no good at them it selfe at the word at the sacrament and the rest of that kind That service is like to be in vaine altogether But for the latter it will not hold viz. in sufferings for Christ and the like though a man may seeme to have lost not his labour onely but much other wayes in his estate credit liberty and the like in so much that he may suffer the spoyling of all his goods and himselfe dye in the Gaole yet this service may not be in vaine For besides his own gaine in spirituall respects the Church of God may have more light and liberty hereby in after times Also of prayer and seeking the Lord the like may be said for as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.14 that the parents lay up for the Children so doth one Christian for another For these duties are properly compar'd to sowing of seed and Christ saith one soweth Joh. 4.37 and another reapeth And I doubt not but many a christian and parent hath prayers hanging upon Gods file in heaven unanswered for their Children and the Church of God though made long agoe so that that may seeme to be labour lost that was taken that way But yet as Ahasuerus Ester 6.1 call'd for the Records after a certaine time and finding there such a piece of service done by Mordecai not yet rewarded he forthwith gave him wages for his work and bountifully rewarded him So the Lord in his due time will look over his files as I may so speak and finding the parents prayers made for the childe and the Christians prayers made for the Church of God hanging still unanswered he will undoubtedly return them an answer in a time accepted And because a parent or a christian does not receive an answer hereof presently or wages for his work in the service of the Lord or live to see others the better for it shall he therefore conclude It is a vaine service or the work a vaine work Simil. When a man hath beene at paines cost in tilling sowing of his ground though hee doth not live to the harvest to reape the crop himselfe yet wil he not account his labour lost because he can make his will of it and his heires executors and such as he doth intirely love shall be the better for it Even so it is here The Church may be the better others the better for thy labour And therefore this work and service is not to be accounted vaine Answer 2 Secondly I answer that the Lord doth not alwayes pay his servants wages for the work they doe him in ready mony as they use to say Simil. but many times by way of exchange giving of them something in liew yet alwayes for the best unto them Even as you pay your workmen when they have wrought with you and done you service you doe not pay them it may be in ready mony gold silver and the like but with such commodities as they stand in great need of which happily are scarce and rare and such as they could not buy with their money if they had had their wages paid them therein Now if these servants should goe away and exclaime on you and on your service that because you did not pay them in ready money as they expected they should therefore say that your service were a vaine service and that they had wrought with you for nothing and the like would you take this well at their hands Why yet thus dost thou deale by the Lord Thou attendest upon God in duties and ordinances in hearing praying and the like and thou dost him some service Now thou expectest to be paid down at the stub as it were in ready money That is to say thou lookest to grow in parts as in knowledge in quick apprehension and ability of expression in conference or prayer as others doe and because thou dost not so thou art ready to complaine that this service of God is vaine and that thou hast but lost thy labour therein Whereas it may be the Lord hath given thee something in stead of these which is better and daintier and which thou couldst not have purchased with these if thou hadst never so much of them For instance it may be he hath given thee a tender conscience and an humble heart instead of those other which thou didst expect Well if he hath thus paid thee I tell thee he hath done thee no wrong For these are things which thou couldst not have purchased with thy parts were they never so great and high Answ 3 Thirdly I answer that thou canst not conclude that the service of God is in vaine though thou thinkest thy selfe never the better or as yet beest never the better for the present unlesse also thou art able to conclude that thou never shalt be the better hereafter neither which I am sure thou canst not possibly doe Suppose thy prayers as yet be not answered art thou sure that they never shall be answered though thy corruptions be not yet subdued nor Satan as yet troden under foot how dost thou know that they never shall Nay how dost thou know but that this delay may bee fully satisfied for when the Lords time is fully come We find how Moses speaks to the people of the Lord in this manner Deut. 8.15 16. who led thee through that great and terrible wildernesse wherein were siery Serpents and Scorpions and drought where there was no water c. that hee might humble thee and that he might prove thee to doe
thee good at thy latter end Mark that phrase well at thy latter end which imports the time of Gods shewing mercy to many even of his own people that they shall not have the good of Gods present dealings with them till their latter end It may be before this Message came from the Lord to this people they began to repent them in part of what they had done in following of Moses and putting themselves upon so many hardships and think all to be but labour lost and their service in obeying the Lords commands to be in vaine but now they are answered and taken off from this hearing that the time of their reward was not yet come but that verily it would come and that without faile to wit in the latter end So then it 's clear that a soul in obeying God and in doing him service may bee led through a wildernesse where it may meet with serpents scorpions drought and a great deale of hardship and be much disappointed in its expectation and desires And yet the Lord may intend it good at the last and plentifully reward it for all the service it doth for him And therefore let not any complaine till they have cause Ps 9.18 The patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever And Ps 58.11 verily there is a reward for the righteous And Yet a little while Heb. â— 37 and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Have you never heard it rumor'd and reported very commonly and confidently that such or such a ship hath been quite cast away and lost and yet that ship hath come home afterwards richly laden So t is oft' in Prayer and other duties and therefore be not overmuch discouraged though you enjoy not the present fruit of your labours in due time Gal. 6.9 you shall reap if you faint And thus far in answer to these thoughts and objections that are in the people of God from the first ground in themselves Obj. 2 The second ground of this Feare followes to be answered Namely That indiscernable difference that is in themselves betweene their serving and not serving of God The Soul saith surely I cannot perceive that I am any whit the better for all the service that I have done to the Lord For all my Prayers hearing christian communion and the like I am as well when I omit serving of him or when I am slighty in his service as when I serve him most and best of all I prosper as well in my businesse and returne as safe home from my journey when I set forth without seeking direction from the Lord as when I do seek him before I goe out I sleepe as sweetly when I goe to bed without Prayer as when I do pray and so for other particulars Therefore this serving of the Lord seemes to be vaine To this also I answer divers wayes Answ 1 First That it is a sad thing that any of Gods people should Try and Tempt him in this manner to doe as if they should say I le see what the Lord will doe for me without asking and the like that any who have tasted how gracious the Lord hath beene unto them in a duty or ordinance that they should in the least degree willingly omit such a duty againe and that they should to speak after the manner of men disappoint the Lord thus That when the Lord shall goe into thy Chamber or Closet at the usuall time of Prayer with his eare open to the Prayer that thou hadst need to make him that then thou shouldest not be there but he must be forced to turne himselfe away missing whom hee looked for That when the Lord bringeth mercy in his hand as it were to bestow upon thee that thou shouldst not be there to receive it but he must be forced to carry his mercy back againe with him and when he bringeth his bottle to put up thy tears thou sendest him empty away This I say is a very sad thing Answer 2 But secondly I answer that if there be no difference in thine outward man in thy estate body name and the like yet there may be great difference in thine inner man and soul and I dare say there is so Doth not thy neglect of duty beget a dislike of duty doth no disuse in Gods service breed an auknesse and an indisposition thereto I doubt not but if the heart be well observed it will be acknowledged that this is true that it is thus And is this nothing Answer 3 Thirdly I would demand of those that say they can find no difference in themselves between the time when they serve the Lord and when they do not serve him whether they doe never at no time find any difference Sometimes it may be you find little or no difference the Lord meets you not in duties but you go away empty with hardnesse in your hearts and blacknesse in your bosomes and the like as you conceive But is it alwayes thus are you never answered in the joy of your soules does the Lord never give you a good look nor shew you a pleased face If you have any Joh. 15.11 slight them not are the consolations of God small unto you Or if you have none yet that thou art upheld in the way and in the work of the Lord to go on in his service even this very thing is a great mercy and is very like to be the fruit and wages for the former work and service thou hast done him And it is all one whether the Lord doth give the soul what it would have presently or strength to persevere in his wayes till he doth meet and answer it Of the two the last is rather the best because the soule honours God most by this Answer 4 Lastly consider if thou hast such and such things gifts or parts in as full a measure when thou dost not serve God as when thou dost serve him most exactly yet thou canst not look upon them as such speciall mercies if they come not in the way of seeking and serving God Psal 69.22 The very table of wicked men is made their snare Prov. 1.32 the prosperity of fooles shall slay them 2. There be also thoughts in the hearts of Gods people about the vanity of Gods service arising from some ground in others for thus they reason Obj. Those that have no care at all to serve God or to attend upon the duties of his worship yet they seeme to spred and to fare as well as those that serve him most and best of all and therefore the serving of God seemes to be in vaine To this also divers answers may be made Ans 1 As first that there is much difference in the maine and in that which ought most to be regarded Though they may seeme to be as well in their outward condition and for their body yet not with their soules for they are not in Gods wayes nor
serving the Lord. Onely they say that they themselves are never the better they thinke they heare and pray and doe all in vaine Whereas Carnall hearts and such as are naught they doe not accuse or condemne their own particular serving of God but the service of God it selfe in generall As here in the text You have said it is vaine or a vaine thing to serve the Lord. Now there is a wide difference in this also easie to be discerned and let every soule try it selfe by this signe Thirdly 2 Difference or trial though there be such thoughts as were spoken of to be found in the hearts of Gods people yet they are not such as beat them off from the use of meanes reading hearing praying and the like but they wil still serve the Lord though the feare the losse of their labour in their serving of him though they feare they pray but in Vaine yet they will pray still and so for other duties Many poore soules have complained much of their unprofitablenes in Gods service that they have but lost their labour and all in vaine which they have done and the like whereupon for their triall they have beene asked after this manner why doe you not then give over why doe you heare or pray still To which they have made answer that they could doe no otherwise though I feare it is but in vaine to pray yet I cannot but pray heare conferre and the like Thus another and thus another saith So that it hath beene evident that there was some Principle in them that hath carryed them on in the wayes of God and in his service notwithstanding the sence of their former unprofitablenesse in the same Or if at a time or for a while they have beene beaten off and so desisted yet it hath not beene out of distast of the duty so much as their own unfitnesse and indisposition thereunto though yet they themselves may and do conceive that they doe really disaffect the duty it selfe Simil. As a distempered stomack may seeme to loath good meate whilst it is distemperd and even that which it naturally loves very well And so it is in this case Whereas a carnall heart is willing to admit of this as a pretence for his sloth that the service of God is in vain that so with the more peace and quiet he may sit still and fold up his hands and so he doth So that his thoughts about the vanity of the service of God doe beate him off and out of the service it selfe And this is a great difference Fourthly there is difference in the effect of these thoughts 4 Difference or trial For in the hearts of the Godly they are soone followed if not attended for the present with much sorrow and selfe-shaming as in the 73 Psal Comparing the 13 verse with the 22 verse Whereas they that are carall doe not thus as for the unGdly it is not so with them They are hardly humbled for words or actions against God much lesse for thoughts The next use to be made of this point 3 Vse of Caution is an use of Caution for Warning And that 1 to the wicked 2 to the Godly 3 to all in general First to the wicked Caution 1. to the wicked to warne them ever hereafter to take heede of this sinne of censuring the service of God for a vayne service Or them of Folly or losing their Labour which keepe this service or worke hard in it Know that though it be in vaine to you as indeed it Can be no otherwise as you go to worke yet doe not thinke that it is in vayne to all others Though you get no good by the word you heare or are never the better by the prayers you make and the like yet do not thinke but that there is good to be gotten by them and that others are the better for them Simil. Because a tradesman out of his bad husbandry doth not thrive in his trade shall he goe and condemne the trade it selfe or censure those of folly that drive such a trade as that is Nay rather let him mend his husbandry and follow his trade in a better manner and then he may thrive though hitherto he could not So it is here For men are ready to condemne this trade of Godlynesse and to suspect the worst by the service of God because they profit no more by duties and ordinances whereas the fault is not in the ordinances but in themselves they prepare not their hearts to seeke the Lord they serve him not for matter Manner measure end as they should doe which if they did they might soone finde it were not in vaine to serve God Secondly Caution to the godly it is for Caution and warning unto the people of God that they take heed how they harbour such thoughts as these are of the service of God For as a Divine saith though you cannot hinder the birds from flying over your heads yet you may keepe them from making Nests in your haire so though such thoughts as these may arise or be cast in by Satan yet suffer them not to settle upon your hearts This is the brand of a carnall heart O let it not be set upon any of you that have any truth of grace in you If the Devill can but fasten such thoughts upon any of you as to make you thinke or feare that the service of God is in vayne he will easily prevaile with you either wholly to forsake it or else to be very remisse and negligent in it Simil. If a man be sick and weak and he be prejudic'd against men and means and perswaded that no physitian or physicke can doe him good that man is in the high way to death for either he will not meddle at al with meanes or else stray from the rules that are prescribed him and then though it be not in vayne to take physicke yet to be sure he will make it in vaine And the same will people doe for their soules if they come to entertaine a prejudice against the service of God We finde this to be the counsel of the Apostle Heb. 10.35 Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward It seemes then that that which is of great worth and will at length be very profitable is in danger to be cast away by the people of God as vaine and nothing worth It is the case and condition of many a poore soule to stand staggering and remaine doubtfull as not knowing what to thinke of of it selfe one while it hath a doore of hope set open to it it that some glimps glimring of the light of Gods countenance and some confidence of his love and mercy which doth much refresh it another while that doore is shut and there is nothing but darknesse and feare in the soule and it suspects its former confidence to be but meere delusion that it was mistaken and the like
meddle with my worke It was an answer which they gave in the 20 of Mat. 6 verse why they stood so long idle because no man had hyred them as if they should say we had as good doe nothing as to worke before we are hyred and it is most certainly true here that till a soule be agreed in the sence before mentioned with God It shall have no reward for the work it does but loseth al its labour Job 9.29 As Iob saith if I be wicked why then labour I in vaine so surely all the labour that a wicked man takes whilst he is wicked and in the state of sinne and nature is but lost he does but labour in vaine Vers 20. The Prophet saith Psal 139. Thine enemyes take thy Name in vaine which holds very firme in this sence namely That whilst people remaine enemies to God and are not truely reconciled to to him through Christ they take his name word Sacrament and all they meddle withall in vaine Should they heare pray doe suffer or performe never so many duties of the Lords service yet all would prove in vaine unto them and they should never have comfort nor profit by any thing they doe It is a great deale of time that some spend of paines that they take and cost that they are at about the duties of Gods service who yet if they goe on as they have begun will lose all at the last Oh! therefore let me prevaile with so many of you this day as never tooke this course now to enter upon it get you home enter into your chambers and commune with your hearts about your conditions and this worke labour to see your misery by nature and sinne and so long as you stand in emnity with God and God with you begge as for more then your lives to be at peace with him and be glad of reconciliation with him upon any termes you may goe on still in your old way of formality if you please without taking this course as long and twice as long if you live as you have done thinking that if you be diligent in duties and painefull in the service of the Lord especially with honest hearts as you call them that then you shal not lose your labour but that God will reward you for the service you doe and it may be that some of you may intend so to doe notwithstanding what ever hath beene said against it and so they may if they please to their shame and heart-smart but if this be the way to true peace or profit the Lord hath not spoken by me And when they have wearied themselves in this their way and misse what they looke for which they will most certainely doe if they looke for any good then will they acknowledge the truth and necessity of this counsell and when it is too late will bewayle that they tooke it not in time Direction 2 Secondly if you would not have the service of God prove a vaine service then take heed of a slighty spirit in the performing of it and of having low and meane thoughts of those duties that thou undertakest the doing of but labour for high and pretious thoughts of the duties of this service and of the ordinances of God which thou commest to be a partaker of that thou may'st looke upon the service of God as honourable and much desirable service and the parts and duties of this service as very profitable as those means which the Lord hath ordained for thy great good To look upon prayer as a profitable ordinance and meanes very forcible with God to breake open his treasure and to obtaine all needfull mercies by So for the word the Sacrament and the rest many there be which performe many of the duties of Gods service but yet come not with such thoughts as these are but looke upon them as meane ordinarie things and that because they know not the worth and pretiousnesse of them and never found or got any great good by them when as the ground thereof is in themselves they come with low thoughts and slighty estimation to the ordinances and then no marvell they find them vaine and unprofitable to them Direction 3 Thirdly he that would not have the service of God in vaine unto him must looke that he be faithfull in the doing of it And this faithfulnesse is to be shewed in these five things Carefulnesse Faithfulnesse in Gods service to be shewed in 5. things Carefulnesse Diligence sinceritie Beliefe and Perseverance First it is to be shewed in carefulnesse of universalitie of obedience that a man be carefull in attending upon all Gods wayes and in doing all that worke that God sets him about He is not a faithfull servant that will pick and choose his worke to doe onely that which likes him and leave the rest so neither is he a faithfull servant to God that will doe onely some not all that will attend upon God in some duties and ordinances but omit othersome and that can be content to put his hand to Gods worke but not to his neck or his back to his crosse or burthen doing-worke will down but not suffering-worke Well thinke better of it and baulke none of Gods worke but take it as it lies in order and comes for that part of Gods service that thou neglectest may be that in the doing whereof the Lord may intend to shew thee much mercy and to give thee a reward for that and other service together If it be secret prayer or such a duty that thou livest in the neglect of thou may'st bereave thy selfe of much good in the neglect of it for as God meets one in some dutie rather then in other-some so that may be that very dutie that God may intend to Communicate more mercie to thee in then any other So the like may be said of sufferings for the Lord hath let out more of himselfe sometimes in a prison then any other way And therefore as David shewed his faithfulnesse in having respect to all Gods commandements Psal 119.6 so let us Secondly Diligence 2. this faithfulnesse lies in doing the worke of the Lord diligently when the soule puts out its selfe in what it undertakes for God A man is not therefore a faithfull servant to his Master because he puts his hand to every worke and shunneth none if yet he slubbereth over his worke in a lazy and slothful manner and doth none as he ought to doe but the doing of it to his utmost sheweth his faithfulnesse as well as his doing of it at all and this is that which the Lord calls for Rom. 12.11 Not slothfull in businesse fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. So in another place Eccles 9.10 what ever thy hand findeth to doe doe it with thy might if it be not a duty meddle not with it doe it not at all but if it be a duty a duty to God what exactnesse in the doing
service and the Lord is not tyed to give any reward or make payment till this dutie or condition be performed Mat. 20. the Labourers that had wrought in the vineyard were not called to take their payment till the evening and end of the day True sometimes the master of the field will come in amongst his harvest men about noone or some other time of the day and give them a largesse for their incouragement over and above their wages but how ever at night they shall have their reward without faile and they have no cause to complaine if they stay till then and have no more then their wages even so is it here the Lord is pleased sometimes to come in very sweetly to a soule whilst 't is at the work labouring in his service at the word in a prayer in a sacrament or the like gives it some inklings of his love and sealings of his spirit which are as Largesses to the soule that glad the heart and doe much incourage it in the wayes and worke of God c. But you must know that this is an over-plus of his love which though he doth sometimes bestow yet not alwayes for it is the portion even of som that fear the Lord to walk in darknes see no light Isa 50.10 for the Lord will be left free in this and it is more then he will make promise of that there may be no ground of complaint to any onely the certaine and standing wages is salvation and this he bindes himselfe by Covenant to give in that sorenamed place Mat. 24.13 he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved as if he should have said if there doe come any thing over and beside what I promise and good may it doe you take it and be thankefull onely this is that you may trust to Salvation He shall be saved and will not this wages be sufficient hath he any cause to say that the service of God is a vaine service that shall have this at the last how little soever he hath for the present he knoweth not what salvation is that thinks it will not surely if thou wert as sore a labourer as ever wrought for God and shouldst beare the burthen and heate of the day yet shouldst all thy dayes eat in darknesse and never have good looke from God nor any incouragement in his worke yet this penny of salvation at the night of death and those things that accompany the same would be wages sufficient therefore cease thy complaints and persevere in thy endeavours Thus have I at large shewed you what you must doe if you would not have the service of God to be made void and vaine to you 1 Get into Covenant with God 2. Take heed of a slighty spirit in the service of God 3. Looke well to your hearts that they be found faithfull in the mayne especially in those five partioulars In Carefulnesse in Diligence in Sincerity in Beliefe and in Perseverance And now give me leave in the Closure of all to speake to you as David spake to the people 1 Chro. 29.5 Who now is willing among you to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord shall I helpe the Lord to never a servant more by this dayes worke Believe it Friends you 'l never meet with a better Master to be sure you 'l never meet with so good a master if you should travell to the utmost parts of the Earth It 's held indeed as a discour tesie in the world and a poynt of dishonesty to wish or procure away a servant from one master to another But I wish with al my heart I could this day procure some of the worlds the Devills or sinn's servants to become the true and faithfull servants of the most high God For my part I would be willing to venture the displeasure of their old Masters And you for your part I dare say would be highly thankfull unto me for wishing you to such a service If I could perswade any soule heare to leave its old drudgery and to accept of the service of God thou wouldst soone be ready to say as David said to Abigail 1 Sa. 25.32.33 Blessed be the Lord God of Israell which hath sent thee this day to meete me And blessed be thy advice blessed be thou For I was even wearying my self in a way of vanity I was serving the worst master and doing the worst work in the world I was about to receive the worst wages that ever poore creature received for the wages of sin is death And therefore blessed and for ever blessed be that God that hath sent forth a messenger to stop me in that way to let me see the vanity of that old service in which formerly I tooke so much delight and to perswade my heart to delight in that new service of the Lord which formerly I judged as vaine and fruitlesse Well friends be perswaded this day and the Lord perswade you to dwell in the tents of Shem. Gen. 9.27 The Lord perswade you to accept of his reasonable service be not afraid of it there is all the reason in the world you should serve him T is true there are strange reports that goe about of this service T is a way that is every where spoken against Goe amongst them that have much meanes of knowledge and much knowledge by the meanes and they speake against it there are any of the Rulers of the scribes and pharisees so forward in the service of God Joh. 7.48 Go amongst them that are ignorant and they speake against it there as if it were the vilest drudgery in the world whereas the Apostle sayes 2 Cor. 3.17 its perfect freedome Ioh. 8.36 if the sonne make you free then are you free indeed Beleeve it when you come to dy you will have more comfort by one week spent in this service then in many years spent in the service of sinne and Satan Be perswaded therefore to accept of the service of God this day As he makes a gracious profer to entertaine you be content to accept of it with all thankefulnesse take Gods Festing penny receive his earnest subscribe to the indentures of his Covenant And then the match is made betwixt God and your soules according to that remarkable Prophecy Esay 44 5. One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand vnto the Lord and Surname himselfe by the name of Israell And this was that which David preferred above the Chiefe flower in his Crowne even to be call'd the servant of the Lord Psal 18. the title rather then a Lord of servants Let this be the utmost ambition of each gracious soule that it may say as he did Psal 116.16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the sonne of thy handmayd thou hast loosed my bonds To every such