must please God chiefly as the one thing necessary yet in and under him the same Apostle tells you That your Obedience to your Masters lies in doing their pleasure in all that they set you about Tit. 2.9 Exhort Servants to be obedient to their Masters and to please them well in all things Indeed we read of a pleasing Men that will not stand with our being the Servants of Christ You therefore still remember God is their Master and yours And if your earthly Master command any thing contrary to God's Word as to Lye or Cheat for his gain or the like as you love your Souls obey God rather than Men. But now as to all lawful things the Command stands good Col. 3.22 Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh So that if the things be mean or low and as you think below you you must not nicely stand upon your Honour but set about your work yea tho' the Command be harsh and unpleasant you must bring down your high Stomach and submit So you 'll read 1 Pet. 2.18 Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward If your Master be froward hasty difficult to be pleased and it may be ready to injure you this is his sin and a very great one yet you must perform your Duty to God and him But you 'll say Is there no Remedy for a poor Servant oppress'd by a Churlish Nabal no way to avoid his Rigour and unjust Severity Why Yes He may for the present withdraw himself prudently to avoid his Master's rage and tho' in case of the utmost extremity the Servant may obtain the help of the Magistrate against an unreasonable Master yet usually the Apostle's Caution is sufficient for the Servants to forbear all muttering returns which he calls Tit. 2.9 not answering again Which is not meant that they must refuse a respectful Answer to Questions when they are ask'd That is as great a fault on the other side as the Wise Man saith when they understand not to answer Prov. 29.19 But that they should not thwart and contradict or by rugged and unmannerly words provoke their Master's Indignation against them On the contrary there is required a willing Obedience called a doing what they do heartily or from the heart Col. 3.23 and if in harsh and unpleasant things you must obey how are they to blame that refuse their Masters Orders in the most gentle and necessary things That will tell their Masters they were not hir'd to be catechiz'd or the like Which is not only an affront to God in the contemning of his Ordinances for your Souls but a disobedience to them whom God has set over you For when you become Servants it is not only in this or that work that suits your humour as if you were to set your Conceits and Wills against their Commands but in all lawful things belonging to your place whereby you may testifie your Obedience to them CHAP. IV. The Duty of Servants 3. towards their Fellow-servants in the Family and Neighbourhood THey that are of the same Calling or state of life in the World are wont to be counted Brethren and especially when they live near to each other should most entirely love as such Society is the great Comfort of Life and Equality of Condition much adds to the sweetness of it where there be other higher Qualifications Indeed there is hardly any word so much abus'd as that of Good-Fellowship Men mistake the Order of it making it chiefly to respect the Body which is to be minded in subordination to the Soul and no less the Matter of it Good-Fellowship with them is to be amongst their Cups at best in idle Chat and Vanity And Servants and Youth hear it told by some grown grey in carelessness What love and good neighbourhood there was when they had not so much Preaching nor such ado about Religion But the Christian Servant has not so learned Christ There are more noble Ends of Society than careless Servants know such as 1. Mutual Watchfulness especially over the Souls of each other It is true That here Charity must begin at home in a cautious fear of danger to your own Souls especially if your Companions in the Family be none of the best Take heed you be not Tempters of others nor your selves tempted by them Remember the Exhortation that speaks unto you as unto Children Prov. 1.10 My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not And undue Familiarity between Servants of different Sexes in a Family has had fatal and tragical Effects How often has Opportunity and Privacy expos'd Men and Maids that live together to the Devil's Temptations And in houses where the Masters have set battlements on the roof they have leap'd over into the ditch for a Whore is a deep ditch and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein Prov. 22.14 How much more are Servants in danger where they have no warnings but wicked Examples how soon do filthy Words and wanton Dalliances betray them He that feareth the Lord shall escape the snare but the sinner shall be taken in it Eccles 7.26 And if they be of the same Sex there is no small danger in a converse with those that have infectious diseases and running sores of prophaneness upon them If they be only in the Neighbourhood that are thus infected it is more easie to avoid them 2 Thes 3.6 Now we command you That you withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly Who toucheth pitch and is not defiled Can any take coals in his bosom and not be burnt But if the Plague be in the House where you are and your Fellow-servants Drunkards prophane Swearers Scoffers at Religion your Case is the more dangerous How came you into this Hell on Earth where these things are suffered Ought you not to be deeply humbled That you made no better choice And upon what terms do you stay longer there You had need have a clear Call to dwell in a Pest-house Nevertheless while you stay in that place Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but shalt in any wise rebuke him and not suffer sin upon him Lev. 19.17 It seems without this you can neither testifie your hatred of their sins nor free your selves from the imputation of hatred of their Souls You must do it in faithfulness to your own Souls and you know not but you may thereby gain theirs You must watch the best Opportunity that your nearness to them will afford you to tell them their fault between them and you alone and with plainness lay open their sin before them this open rebuke is better than secret love And continue your Duty if they go on to sin unless by scoffing Malignity and Fury they shew themselves to be the dogs and swine that you must not throw your pearls before lest they turn again and rent you And then you
God of my Master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this day and shew kindness to my Master Abraham c. Prayer is the means to know your duty in your Service and to be able to perform it by this means you may have the testimony of your Masters and of the truth it self which Jacob had of his Master Laban Gen. 30.27 I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake And this leads me to the second Part of the Servants Duty CHAP. III. The Servants Duty 2. towards their Masters HE is the good Christian that is good in the place and relation wherein God has set him and that is the Religious Servant who out of a Principle of love to God and in obedience to his Command does perform his duty to them to whom God has subjected him Your Duty therefore towards your Masters consists 1. In the reverend subjection of mind and respectful honour that your place requireth Let as many Servants as are under the Yoke count their Masters worthy of all honour that the name of Christ and his Doctrine be not blasphem'd 1 Tim. 6.1 2. this command of the Apostle is the more remarkable because it is spoken to them that had Infidel Masters and if yours be Unbelievers wicked Persons without so much as a profession your Duty is more difficult it is hard to honour a Fool or reverence one that you frequently see in his Vomit of Drunkenness or venom of Malice and Passion But yet their Authority they have from God and you must reverence the Image of God's Dominion in them lest you cause the name of Christ to be blasphem'd and lest you give occasion to the wicked Man to reproach Religion and to say These are your Professours your Religious Servants ay they are all alike And if so be that God has subjected you to those that are serious and Godly you must honour them the more So saith the same Apostle ver 3. and they that have believing masters let them not despise them because they are Brethren but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit Be not you like those insolent Youths that set light by their Masters either before their faces or behind their backs God has not set you as Companions with your Masters nor does he allow of a sawcy Carriage in their presence nor to talk disrespectfully of them or of their Imperfections in their absence The more careful they are to instruct reprove and restrain you from sin and vanity the more do you prize them and bless God for them Be as ready or more to be catechized examined and directed about your Souls as about any business that you are employ'd about 2. Your Duty lies in a Religious faithfulness and constant fidelity in all that you undertake When you hired your selves you sold your time and labour to your Masters all but what God and nature more immediately requires to be reserv'd and besides the sin against God in idleness you defraud your Master if you idle away an hour that should be employ'd in his business And to delay his Messages put off his work to others to slubber over his work or leave it half undone is to rob your Master of the Wages that is due for the work which you should have done accordingly but did not This is the Eye-Service which the Apostle condemns Col. 3.22 when Hypocritically you seem earnest in his work when his Eye is upon you but loyter away your time when he has turn'd his back They that are unfaithful in their Master's work will not 't is to be fear'd make much Conscience of defrauding him in his Estate How quickly does the Devil teach an ungodly Servant to make bold with his Master's Money in buying or selling and to excuse it by the secrecy or smalness of the matter till they who made nothing to trample on God's Law for a Peny came afterwards to Pounds and higher Robberies And here let me beg of Servants to take heed of Ale-Houses Gaming-Houses places of Drunkenness or Uncleanness of loving Cards and Dice or sitting up to unseasonable hours at such Vanities such will need much Money to play away and riot away and then how strong is the temptation to keep back or convey away part of the Money that you sold the Goods for if you have any of these Devices know It is a downright Theft and if it be but a Peny you know not where it will stop They that take a little when the Temptation is strong will venture upon a great deal and they that rob their Master to day will rob others to morrow And how sad and bitter a Case must this prove when the best that can be hop'd for is a Confession of your Theft full of sorrow and shame and the restitution of every farthing to the utmost of your power without which there can be no Repentance and so no Salvation And if this be not done your Thefts in your Service will be like Moths in your Goods when you come to get something of your own of your own did I say Yea till you have made restitution you do not eat your own bread and 't is not your giving part of your ill-gotten Money to the poor that will prevent the horrour of Conscience at last God hates robbery for burnt-offering I 'll add but one Instance more under this Head which is the Perfidiousness of Servants in any Trust committed to them Like the unjust Steward that when there was owing his Master an hundred measures of wheat order'd them to take their bill and write fourscore And if you should say but did not the Lord commend the unjust steward Yes for his wisdom not for his cheating his Master It is a Parable and we must mind the scope of it which is to shew us a pattern of foresight how we should secure a better habitation when these Tabernacles fail as this wicked Servant look'd about him what should become of him when his Master turn'd him out Another manner of Servant was Jacob who had a hard Service in the Summers Heat and Winters Frosts for twenty Years yet could say Gen. 30.33 My righteousness shall answer for me and if it be said Did not Jacob play fast and loose with his Master in laying the Rods in the watering Troughs I suppose not the effect being not natural but by a Special Providence and therefore we find the fact not by his own invention but by God's appointment in a Dream Gen. 31.10 who thus gave away what was Laban's to Jacob. But beyond all Examples is that plain Command Tit. 2.10 Not purloyning but shewing all good fidelity that they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things 3. Your Duty lies further in a willing Obedience and conscientious hearkning to your Master's Commands And tho' you must not perform your Service as Men-pleasers Col. 3.22 i. e. as meerly such you
have prevented much of that disorder that is in almost all Parishes which now is not so easily cur'd but it requires all your care and diligence to restrain that wickedness which ignorance has caus'd What saith the Law Deut. 22.8 When thou buildest a new house thou shalt make a Battlement upon the roof that thou bring not blood upon thy house if any fall from thence family-Family-Duties Prayer Reading singing Psalms repetition of Sermons Catechizing of Servants c. are like so many Fences or Battlements on one side Commands Reproofs Corrections and Restraints from sin are Rayls or Battlements on the other and if you set not these Battlements on your Roof woe be to you if any fall from thence and if you say I do not push them down I do not force them or require them to take such courses I would not have them fall Nay but this is not enough you must set Battlements to prevent their ruining themselves If you say further but if I do set Battlements they may climb over them and do what I can will run on to their destruction why then their blood will be on their own heads and you have delivered your house from the guilt thereof By all this you may see to how little purpose your complaint of wicked Servants has been When your own Purse is touch'd by unfaithful Servants you feel it You might have known it before when you saw how averse they were to knowledge c. that they that were not faithful to God were not like to be faithful to you that if you suffer'd them to haunt evil Company and break the Sabbath and to live in riotous Courses that these Extravagancies would call for Money and where should they have it but by defrauding you And if your grief be indeed for the sin of your Servants against God I beseech you look inward it may be your selves were Servants once and you liv'd in carelessness towards God and unfaithfulness toward your Masters and now God is visiting your sin upon you And what comfort can you hope for in your Families till that guilt be remov'd And if you are in earnest why are you as indifferent about the Servants you chuse since you have had this experience of their wickedness as you were before Nay why after trial of their obstinacy do you not rid your hands of them You know David's resolution Psal 101.7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight But if any keep a debauched person a Drunkard prophane Swearer obstinate against God and Goodness for a second Year because it may be he is strong and able to do his work I note that Man as there are noted Families in the Apostles sense 2 Thes 3.14 and assuredly your sin will find you out But if you will be zealous for God and against sin in your Families how much may some of you do towards the promoting Religion in the Countrey and what a Colony of young persons may from time to time go out of your houses to bear up the Name of Christ in the places where they dwell What a blessing of the Lord will be within your Tabernacle What comfort in your Relations What joy in Afflictions and even Death it self Your House shall be built by Wisdom and established by Understanding Prov. 24.3 that this little Book may something promote this main design of Family-Godliness is the Prayer of Your Unworthy Minister and Servant for Jesus Christ Richard Mayo THE CONTENTS PREFACE MAster 's of Families have a Charge of Souls Their Care in chusing Servants to instruct them and restrain them from sin Blessing upon Godly Families CHAP. I. The Kind of Servants treated of The Providence of God in appointing the Servant's Calling the Vsefulness of it not against Christian Liberty CHAP. II. The Slavery of Souls by Nature Of the Servants entring into the Service of Christ by solemn covenanting with him their Carriage in that Service Advantage of a Time of Youth the Dreadfulness of the neglect of that Season Sins of Youth Death-bed Repentance What Families Servants should chuse Of doing what they do unto the Lord. CHAP. III. The Servant's Reverence to their Masters Of Fidelity to them Of Eye-Service Of cheating and defrauding Of Obedience in harsh and unpleasant things Of doing what they do heartily Not answering again CHAP. IV. Of Servants tempting each other to sin Sinful Familiarity of Servants of different Sexes Of reproving and warning the unruly Of Holy Conference Of Servants helping each other in their Work and in Soul-Affairs CHAP. V. The careless Ignorance of some Servants and danger of it Of Catechizing and Servants submitting thereunto and how Of fervent Prayer for Knowledge Of Knowing Christ CHAP. VI. The Hardships of Servants Danger and Cure of Discontent The Priviledges of Servants The miserable Condition of Slaves in other Parts Of the Temptations of Servants of State in Great Places Inconveniences of the Condition of poor House-Keepers the worst Slavery of all The Freedom of Godly Servants The Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God CHAP. VII Servants Want of Time How Godly Servants gain Time How Wicked Servants waste their Time Danger of it Of the Lord's Day and how Servants must improve it A PRESENT FOR SERVANTS CHAP. I. Of the Kinds of Servants and of the lawfulness of the Servants Calling THERE is scarce any general Name of a Calling that contains under it such different kinds of Persons as this of a Servant Some Service being so high and honourable that there is no Subject so great but that glories in being Entitled the King's Servant in the various Offices of his Houshold and some Service is so vile and miserable that the poorest Person in a Free Land is happy in being delivered from it There are three sorts of Servants that I shall name tho' it be only for the last of them that I have intended this Discourse 1. There are Servants of State that make up the Retinue of Great Men and Nobles who living in Ease Pleasure and Worldly Delicacies have no agreement with those that I am concern'd with save in the bare Name 2. There are Slaves and Vassals sunk in the lowest state of misery in the World being under the sole disposal of the uncontrouled Wills and Lusts of their often barbarous Owners And these are so either justly being condemn'd for some Capital Crimes and in Mercy Repriev'd and spar'd as to Life but deprived of their Liberty and many Comforts of Life or else unjustly by a violent Captivity or by unrighteous Sales and Contracts But I leave these under God to those who are acquainted with their Circumstances and Temptations and have opportunity to help them in the way to Heaven And shall apply my self to 3. A Third sort of Servants in a state of Life between the two former and which are most usual amongst us as making up a part of every Family and they are such as
can do no more unless by getting others to rebuke them who by their Authority may be more likely to prevail as Joseph brought to his Father his son's evil report And if Providence has cast your lot amongst such as are civil and towardly your Duty will be more easie They will willingly be warn'd by you and thankfully take your cautions for their Souls good you will not be tempted so much to use the words of the first Murderer Am I my Brother's keeper but if not only civil but Godly Servants meet in the same House or Neighbourhood they will agree together to watch over and mutually to admonish one another Two are better than one for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow but wo bo to him that is alone when He falleth for He hath not another to help him up and if one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken Eccl. 4.10 c. By this watchfulness over each other they will be combin'd against the Devil's Temptation and fortified against the flouts of those that will think it strange that they run not with them in the same excess of riot Especially if they conscientiously observe the Second Duty which is 2. Christian Conference the Servants discoursing together about the things of God Besides your vacant Hours in Winter Evenings and when your Work is done many parts of your Work afford leisure for Discourse yea and matter for spiritual improvement if your Hearts will serve you Some of you have more knowledge than others and some more tender affections and how well would these Gifts be employ'd if like those that feared the Lord Malac. 3.16 You spake often one to another about Soul-Affairs Good Affections in Discourse do even naturally kindle the like in those you are talking with as Metal put into a Furnace is never melted so soon as when added to some of the same Metal melted before As Iron sharpens Iron so does the Countenance of a Man his Friend How easily may two or three well-disposed Servants carry away a whole Sermon in their Memories when they shall repeat over the Heads to each other as they go along or when they come home This would make your hearts burn within you and prepare you for examination of your Masters in the Family-Worship But there are none so sitted for Christian Conference as they that can Communicate to each other what God has done for their Souls The Schoolmen say Angels of an Inferiour Order cannot enlighten those of a Superiour Sure I am the meanest Servant that is truly Gracious tho' of weak Parts and Gifts may enlighten and warm by their humble Converse those that have greater Natural Endowments 3. The other Duty is their ready helpfulness of each other in all things wherein their assistance may be useful Take each others concerns as your own not as Busie-bodies but as helpers of them in their Work when your Master's Service may be the better carry'd on Let there be no fallings out amongst your selves no more than grumbling at your Masters that other Servants have lesser work or better usage than you Be as desirous of their good as your own and as ready to help them in any Sicknesses or Straits that your Fellow-Servants may be in as you would be to be helpt your selves in the like case And especially rejoyce if you may be any ways helpful for their Souls Some of them cannot Read and you may teach them and many ways further them in knowledge or encourage any good Inclinations When other Servants provoke one another to wrath you must provoke your Fellow-Servants to love and good works One Servant easily brings another to Instruction by Counsel and Example and makes every Duty delightful by Company in it And how sweet is it for Servants to get into a Corner and Pray together What a Blessing will they be to one another and to the Family and Neighbourhood where they Live CHAP. V. Of the Temptations and Hindrances of the Servants Calling 1. By being bred in Ignorance THE Duties of Servants are of such Importance that the Devil and a corrupt Heart will be sure to lay in the way or at least to pretend many hindrances Indeed all Places and Callings have their Inconveniencies and the Devil suits his Baits not only to the inward Constitutions but to their outward Conditions He has one Wile for the Rich and another for the Poor one for the Master and another for the Servant And as every one should be acquainted with his Special Duty so with the particular Temptations to which his place does expose him and what Remedies the Word does prescribe I shall name three Hindrances of Servants more comprehensive than the rest 1. The First is Ignorance the common snare of Countrey Servants Many of which by the Poverty and Carelessness of their Parents and Friends cannot so much as Read and tho' some would Charitably have paid for their Schooling in their Child-hood they could not be spar'd from their Work Many of them are of such a rough Disposition and rugged temper that they are as a wild Asses Colt Job 11.12 and indeed this is the dreadfulness of their case that they are not only ignorant but as they grew up are affectedly and willingly so Nay so far are some besotted that they make their ignorance their excuse or pretence to cast off all duty and to oppose those that would help them in it they think it enough to say they are not Book-learn'd or are no Scholars and though they were created with faculties capable of understanding and remembring the things of God and in other things are wise for their age and breeding yet the Oxe knows his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but my people do not know Isa 1.2 Great is the compassion and condescension of God in revealing the mysteries of Religion to us He has not dealt so with other Nations He might have spoken his mind in lofty strains above the capacity of Creatures to conceive but the necessary things are so plainly revealed and easily remembred that even Children have attained to great understanding therein and yet they are truths of so great moment that the learned Apostle despis'd all the wisdom of this World in comparison of the knowledge of Christ nay these things the Angels themselves desire to pry into How frequently has this general ignorance been bewail'd and the danger of it discovered to our careless Servants How often has the cry of wisdom been heard How long you simple ones will you love simplicity and ye fools hate knowledge if you had had no means of Grace nor Gospel light the case had been lamentable Pro. 29.18 where there is no Vision the people perish but this is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than light Joh. 3.19 if the word of Christ had not been spoken to you you had not had sin in
but in the temper of their Spirits till the heart be chang'd and cur'd But I shall mention such remedies as do particularly respect the persons to whom I am speaking It concerns All that lie under this temptation to consider the Soveraignty of God and his Wisdom in appointing their lot that Nature is contented with a little and Grace with less considering that the lowest condition out of Hell is mercy to poor lost Sinners how easily God can change their lot if he sees it good and how sweet the lowest state may be made to them by Quietness and Contentment But there are two special Considerations that I commend to Servants in order to the removing this hindrance of their Duty that from henceforth they may bear the Inconveniencies of their Callings with a more composed mind that they may not be weary of their condition or irksomely long for alterations of it but may wait God s leisure and be kindly affected towards others that are in a higher condition in the World than they 1. And the First Consideration is The happiness of the condition of Servants in comparison of that of many others For not to compare you with the Miserable Vagrants that eat the Bread out of the Mouths of the true Poor touching which disorderly Persons we have the Apostle's Command That if they will not work they must not eat I rather speak of the Condition of such as you never knew or considered in your Discontent How far then has God set you above Servants in other Times and Places which have been and are compelled to Slavery and forced Subjection to the Lusts of Men. Of this sort were many of those Servants to whom the Apostles wrote and if they were to do their work heartily without grudging how much more should you And in our Age have you never heard of the Slaves in the Plantations and how they are us'd especially with respect to their Souls by some more Savages than the Negro's that they call so And what Servant in England dares repine at their state that has ever known the Condition of their own Countrey-men when Slaves in Algiers and other places For not only are they enslav'd in a strange Countrey whereas the Smoak of ones own Countrey is sweeter than the clearest Air in a strange Land but the Miseries they suffer under Barbarous Masters calls for your pity towards them and contentment with your merciful Lot For being bereft unjustly of all their Goods they are constantly compelled to the hardest Labour without any rest scarce to drink a little Water and eat their decay'd Barly and Broth of Camels worn out with Work like themselves and this with the only intermission of four Days in the Year upon the slightest Faults cruelly beaten that they often die of their pain Indeed their Lives are no further valu'd than for their Service or Slavery and their Souls in greater danger by continual Temptations to escape all these Hardships by a dreadful Apostasie And to leave these to consider some others that seem to have a Life as full of Pleasure as these that I have mention'd have of Misery I mean the Servants of State whose Life you so much envy for their Ease and Fine Cloths Did you but consider their Temptations to Idleness and thereby to almost all other sins you would see that God has delivered you from many snares to which they are daily expos'd By appointing you a moderate Labour which is for the Health of your Bodies and the good of the Publick your Souls are not in danger of flattering the Great or ministring to the Pride and Lusts of those that think their Riches priviledge them to live a Life of Sloth and Sensuality Not that it is thus in all great Houses God forbid but that it is very difficult for a Camel to get through the Eye of a Needle And how general is the Debauchery and Ruine of those Servants that at first you grudged at But to come nearer home how free is the Servants Life and void of those Troubles to which even your own Masters and others that live round you are frequently expos'd They have great Rents to pay and the Money hardly got to pay them with they have Meat and Drink to provide for you and Wages at the Years end one trespasses on their Fields and another defrauds them of their Debts They hardly bear their own wants and more hardly the wants of Wives and Children They have Losses to be made up abroad and Houses to be repair'd at home And you see all this but feel it not You have no care next to the pleasing God but to do your work in the Day and sleep quietly in the Night Are not these burdens on their Minds greater than any you bear on your Shoulders And to name but one thing more under this Head Is there not a worse service or slavery than that I speak of in Algiers Are there not Covenant-Slaves of Satan that have sold themselves to work wickedness and made a kind of League with Hell All that worse than Egyptian Service wherewith they are made to serve Is it not with rigour And though they are Lords and Ladies and have long Trains of Servants yet if they are Unconverted Are they not Servants Yea Bond-slaves to Sin Satan Mammon and the fear of Death Let not thy heart envy sinners But this last Comparison does respect the Godly Servants only and so brings me to the second Consideration to cure this Discontent viz. 2. The much more happiness of the Servants of God though in the lowest and meannest services amongst Men. As He that is called being free is the Lord's Servant so He that is called being a Servant is the Lord's Free-man 1 Corinth 7.22 Though he ty'd fast your Yoke by his Word in all due Obedience to your Masters yet having broke the Yoke of Sin He has made you freer than Princes that continue under it Whom the Son makes free they are free indeed John 8.36 His Service is perfect Freedom though your Service to Men should be heavy to a Bondage How precious a Liberty has Christ bought for you and bestow'd by his Spirit upon you if you belong to him though the meanest Servant here in the lowest Cottage He has given you the external Liberty of his House admitted you to feast at his Table given you free leave to partake of his Provision and appointed his Stewards to dispence it accordingly and whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas all are yours He has sweetned this with a Liberty of Conscience and of a Judgment rightly inform'd for though he has not delivered you from a subjection to Magistrates any more than to your Masters yet so free has he made you That nothing shall bind your Conscience but his own Word and all your Obedience to the Commands of Men shall be for Conscience sake towards God requiring that subjection But above all where the Spirit of the Lord is there is
be cleav'd which must have many a Blow and indeed as every thing is beautiful in its season so how lovely is early Piety when the Young Man in the Gospel had but some good Inclinations it is said Jesus lov'd him How strong are such like to be and grow in Grace when like a Plant early set it has time to take Root How fruitful will they prove when they shall still bring forth fruit even to old Age What useful experimental Christians do such prove who have had a long time to tast the sweetness of the ways of Christ that they early chose None ever repented at last that they came in to Christ too soon on the contrary the Comforts of the Holy Ghost soon convince them that they have not lost their Pleasures but chang'd them left sensual Transitory Delights for such as are Spiritual and Eternal 2. On the other side How dreadful the neglect of the time of youth will prove how woful the hazard and how certain the damage Unconverted Youth is as full of sin as Job's Body was of sores We read of youthful lusts the iniquities of our youth which corrupt Nature in that Age is strongly inclined to How long a Vacation is there usually from God and Duty What foolish talking and jesting which is not convenient Is there not if not Oaths and Execrations yet abominable lying in the Tongue How sad is it to see the Pride and Vanity Disobedience to Parents Contempt of Advice vilifying of the Ministers and Servants of Christ and above all the prevailing Love of Pleasures unlawful Pleasures or at least of ill Report reigning amongst Youth at this day if through Grace they be awakened in their elder Years which is the best that can be thought of yet how bitter will these youthful Sins be to the Conscience when they are made to possess the iniquities of their youth they will quickly receive of the Lord double for all their sins i.e. doubly and triply more of horrour than ever they found of sweetness in them But alas it is very seldom so well with them who have lost their Youth in Sin Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spot c. How impossible almost to reclaim them especially if they spent their Youth in Vanity under the Gospel Life is uncertain and you have no assurance to live a day and if you live till Age alas how soon will it come the time in which you will say We have no pleasure in it How little is the Sinner that has miss'd his time and grown grey in sin acquainted with the Importance of the work which he has so foolishly delayed Do you think in your Consciences That all which you have so frequently heard of Conversion and Regeneration all about a Life of Self-denyal Meekness Humility and Contempt of this World is no more than to say Lord have mercy upon me when you are sick or to send for the Minister to pray by you Can the Work that requires the best Instruction the greatest Strength and Composedness of mind and Retiredness from the World be performed at last when you have spent your Youth and Strength in Ignorance and Obstinacy and come to be full of Pains of Body and Agonies of Mind and tyred with Company in Sickness and the over-officious Love of Friends as careless as your selves I know the Instance of the Thief upon the Cross is urged for a putting off Repentance to the last But suppose it were granted That there was no Work begun on his Soul before those last hours yet how many thousands have miscarried by such Delays to one single Instance of a Man that escapd Is not one to so many thousands bgreat Odds and he brought in at such an extraordinary season as never was before nor ever will be again It was in a time when all things were carried in a miraculous way the Sun was darkned the Rocks split the Temple-veil rent the Earth shook and the Graves opened and a Sinner converted at the last Our Lord was spoiling Principalities and Powers and as Captains snatch a Standard from the Enemy as a token of Victory so did our Lord rescue this Soul out of the hands of Satan as a Standard gain'd to make a Shew of it openly triumphing thereby over Satan in his Cross And how easily may this Instance be retorted on the careless Wasters of their Youth that the Thief on the Cross came in at the first Call and for ought appears to us had never one Gospel-Invitation before Did he ever despise the offers of Grace from Year to Year as you have done What a difference does this make that you have had duving your time of Youth and Vanity Line upon Line Precept upon Precept and have grieved quenched tempted vexed resisted and even done despight to the spirit of Grace And do you think to command the free influences of the Spirit when you have miss'd your time and he saith He will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your fear cometh 3. The last thing I shall name in the Servants Duty towards God is to do what they do in their places as to the Lord and not unto Men Col. 3.23 Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus as eyeing the Image of his Authority in those that God has set over you for you serve the Lord Christ In order to this 1. See that in the entrance into Service or any new Place you mind chiefly where you may have the greatest advantages for your Souls Let not the easiest work or most wages be the main thing in your Eye in the places where you go Do not run into an infected place for some little outward advantage Do not chuse to live in a Parish where there is no preaching Ministry nor in a Family where there is no worship of God especially if the Governour or Members of the Family be notoriously prophane shun such a House as you would one in which the plague were broke out And if God has cast your Lot into a Godly Family esteem it as a special favour and remember to improve the price put into your hands It was a startling Speech of a holy Minister to a Maid Servant and prov'd of great use to her Machin in vit when observing how God had plac'd her in a Religious Family He told her That if she went to Hell out of that Family she would have a deep place there 2. That in doing the work of your Earthly Masters you seek the strength and aim at the glory of your heavenly Master Not to mention the Lord's Day as yet you must every day conscientiously beg a blessing upon your work and commit your Souls Bodies Relations and lawful undertakings into the hands of God by Faith and Prayer you partake of the Mercies of the Family and therefore you must pray down a Blessing upon it You remember Good Eleazar Gen. 24.12 O Lord