Lord where we have first the Act serve and the Object about which it is conversant The Lord. The Act Serve The word Service as applyed to God or Christ is taken either more strictly for that service we perform when we are upon some part of his instituted worship as prayer hearing c. and so is enjoyned in the second Commandement and is so taken Acts 26. 7. Or else it is taken more largely for any duty of Christianity any action of mans life which he performes in obedience to the will of God and subordination to his glory and so it takes in all the other 9. commandements and is thus used Rom. 12. 11. And as I conceive also in the Text. Then for the Object The Lord. In the Heb. Jehovah And whether it is God the Father here spoken of or Christ who is the King mentioned before that was set up and the Son that is to be kissed though it is somwhat controverted among Expositors yet I think it not material to spend time about it seeing we cannot serve one aright but we must serve both the Son as in the Father and the Father as in the Son And then for the persons that are thus more particularly admonisht to serve the Lord they are Kings and Judges men that sit at the upper end of the world The eminency of their place doth not the more acquit them but rather the more ingage them to service Though they be Kings yet there is a King eminently above them from whom their power is derived upon them and therefore they must serve If they be Judges yet there is a Judg higher then they before whose tribunal they must stand and be judged and therefore they must be serving So that the main propositions from hence resulting which I shall insist upon is this Doct. That the great work that every man hath to do in this world especially those that are set down in places of power and seat of judgement is To be serviceable to the Lord. This is the work we come into the world for and if this be not done we shall give but a sad account of our lives to the Lord. God made all creatures for service the Sun Moon and Stars for service the Clouds the Air the Fire the Earth for service c. but much more Man And it is a monster in nature for the creature not to serve its end As for the Sun and Stars above to confine their light within themselves and not to send it down upon the world for the clouds to hold in their moisture and not to resolve it upon the earth for the earth to imprison its fatness and virtue within its selfe and not send it forth in grass corn and fruit for the use of man and beast would not this be a monstrous thing in the world So for man to be serving himself with those powers and abilities that God hath put into him and not the Lord is a thing as absurd and anomalous Look through the whole Creation you shall not find any creature that was made for it self every creature is serving some end without it self So is man much more made for an end without himself which is to serve the Lord. So that Right Honourable my work I come upon this day amongst you is to put you in mind of your Debt I mean that Homage Duty Service and Subjection which you all do owe to the Lord and which must be paid by every one of you for though the Debt of Satisfaction which through sin we owe to the justice of God he remit it for Christs sake to his people yet the Debt of Service which we owe to his glory he neither hath remitted it or ever will remit it to any of the sons of men But that we may a little understand what it is to serve the Lord take this twofold distinction There is a serving God either mediately or more immediately First As to the Mediate Service The whole Creation serveth God by and through man the creatures without reason without sence and without life do serve their Creator as they hold forth to man such footsteps of his glory wherein he may admire praise and glorifie him The greatness of the works of God shew forth his greatness their beauty his beauty their perfection his perfection their order and workmanship his infinite wisdom their course and motion his providence in the world Or else they serve God through man as they serve to maintain him in his Life and Being which being maintained are to be subordinated to the Lord and to his service The Sun sends down its influence that man might live the clouds distil their moisture that man might live the Sea sends forth its waters that man might live the Earth brings forth its fruit that man might live all do serve the life of man that the life of man might serve the Lord. 2. There is a more immediate serving God and so there are but two sorts of creatures Angels and Men whose service can immediaâ—ely refer to God For no other creatures are capable of an immediate application of themselves to him They have not understanding to know him Wills to close with him and so not capable of applying themselves to him or looking at him in any thing they do The second Distinction is this There is a serving the Lord ex Intentione and praeter Intentionem 1. Praeter Intentionem or accidental as to him that serveth and so wicked men who thought of nothing less then serving God yet have eminently served him As Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon served a great service for God against Tyrus Ezek 29. 18 19 20. and God gave him the land of Egypt for his wages though he intended nothing less then to serve God in that Designe And so the King of Assyria was employed by God to execute his vengeance upon the hypocritical Nation of the Jews Howbeit saith the Text he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so as you read Isa 10. 6 7. And so when Baasha executed the vengeance threatned upon the house of Jeroboam 1 King 15. 29. and when Zimri executed the vengeance threatned upon Baâ—sha 1 Kings 16. 12. and when Jehu executed the judgement of God upon the house of Ahab it was service done for God though they did not do it with an intention of serving him yea the most eminent Prophesies upon Record have been fulfilled besides the intention of the instruments As that of Christ's being crucified for the redeeming of the world Pilate and the Jews thought of nothing less then the fulfilling the counsel of the Lord in what they did or in serving his decrees or his glory therein though they were eminently served hereby 2. There is a serving God ex Intentione when the mind and heart of man respect God in what he doth And this is the service that God calls for and the Text calls for and doth alone find acceptance with God Now to this
intentional serving God there are three things necessary that it find acceptance 1. That mans principle be right 2. That his rule be right 3. That his end be right 1. That his Principle be right It is somthing of God in man that can alone aright serve God So saith the Apostle Heb. 12. 28. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Now grace is a divine principle and it is only this whereby a man can serve acceptably The Apostle speaks in Heb. 11. of many Heroick acts of service done by these ancient Worthies as Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Moses c. But that which gave them their acceptance was the Principle they did them by Faith saith the Text and tells us in verse 6. that without faith it is impossible to please God There must be the out-going of the soul toward God in that service which finds acceptance Now no principle can act the soul towards God but that which is divine and springs from him 2. As his Principle so his Rule must be right for God must be served according to his own rule which is his revealed Will and where the rule is dark we must either forbear until God doth clear it up or else act up to it as near as the light we have will lead us And this is the praerogative of man above the creatures below us though they all act by a rule and to an end which their Creator hath set them yet they are not capable of understanding either their rule or their end but man is and therefore if he would be accepted he must have respect to his rule As Saul he offered Sacrifice which in it self was a good thing and the case was somwhat urgent for Samuel came not and the people began 1 Sam 13. to scatter from him and the Philistims to gather together against him but because he walked not by rule in that action he was rejected of God Mans righteousness lies especially in his conformity to the Rule as the Schoolmen speak of a Lex aeterna in Deo an eternal Law according to which God doth all his works both in Heaven and Earth which is the righteousness of God So there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lex scripta a Law written either inwardly in mans heart or without in the Scriptures which is the rule of mans walking and conformity thereunto is the righteousness of man His End must also be right For God is not served when he is not our end A man may be praying and fasting and yet not serve God doing justice giving alms punishing sin rewarding vertue and yet not at all serve God Men indeed look most to other matter and substance of their actions because they lie more open to the view of men but that which God especially looks at in man and which is the most material thing in his actions is his end Somtimes when a man through ignorance mistakes his rule yet if hi◠end be upright he may be accepted notwithstanding As the Apostle in Rom. 14. tells us of two sorts of Christians in that Church some that understood their Gospel liberty and Gospel rule of walking and therefore did not observe days nor confine themselves to eat herbs as others did but yet because in what the one and the other did they had respect to God they did both serve him as he saith verse 6. He that regardeth a day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it And they were both living to the Lord and so both living and dying they were both the Lord's as he also speaks And now these few things being premised I shall proceed to draw forth such inferences from the Point as may most naturally spring from it and be most sutable to the present day and this honourable Assembly And what may be needful by way of Argument to confirm it I shall present in the Application that so I may make the best improvement I can of a little time and speak to your judgements and affections both together Vse 1 And first I shall infer hence somthing for Instruction If this be to serve God as you have heard Then no man can serve God without the spirit of God So that the generation of men that are indeed serving God in the world are alone those that have received the spirit God is a spirit and must be served in spirit and no man can serve in spirit but he that hath received the spirit The Apostle in Rom. 7. 4. speaks of Believers that they were dead to their first husband the Law that they might be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead And why must they be thus married That we might bring forth fruit unto God By marrying with Christ by our union with him we come to partake of his Spirit and so to bring forth fruit unto God The Spirit is that divine sap which is shed from Christ the root into those souls that are in union with him whereby they bring forth fruit unto God And there is a threefold work of the Spirit that must pass upon man before he can be made a true servant 1. A work of Conviction He must be convinc'd of that absolute dependance he hath upon God that he cannot subsist and live of himself without God For until a man doth see his dependance he will not serve A man will not willingly subject himself to the will of one upon whom he hath no dependance Now a man without the spirit his heart speaks that he can subsist of himself by his own wit wisdom providence industry and creature Interest and therefore he regards not God he serves not God but himself or the creature as thinking he depends more upon these then upon the Lord. And this is the reason that when men are to transact any work they are careful about the means but they look not at God or very slightly it is because they think they depend more upon the means then God which is a piece of Atheism that grows in all our hearts and those have found it that are come to know their own hearts and must be rooted up by the convictions of the Spirit before man will indeed become the Lord's servant Yea again He must also be convinc'd that in serving God there is the best reward Every man before he enters upon work is looking what his reward and wages shall be As those in the Gospel that we read of in Matth. 20. 6 7. being asked why they stood all the day long idle they answered because no man hath hired us they would not work till they had some promise of wages now when man is throughly convinc'd that Gods work will have a reward and the best reward this inclines him and draws him to his service now the Reward that God gives it excels 1. In the greatness of it no reward can match it what ever the Devil or
THE FAITHFUL And Wise Servant Discovered in a Sermon preached to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland at their late private Fast in the Parliament House Jan. 9. 1656. By Matthew Barker a Servant of Christ and his Church in the work of the Ministry at Leonards Eastcheap London And his Lord said unto him Well done thou good and faithful servant Matth. 25. 21. Keep therefore and do my STATVTES and JVDGEMENTS for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these Statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding People LONDON Printed by J. Macock for Luke Fawn and are to be sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Parrot in Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the Truly Honourable the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland THE Great Lesson that the Lord hath been teaching man in all Ages which alas he hath yet but a little learned is That he is nothing without God David sought to teach his Son Solomon this in that Psalm that he composed on purpose for him Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the Watchman waketh but in vain Salomon he knew was to succeed him in his Throne and to have affairs of a Publique and weighty Import in his hands and therefore would have him well digest this first and best Rule in Christian Policy That the creature acts in all things in vain wherein it acts without God No rule is more needful for Magistrates to learn and which when once well learned and well practised will of all other things if the world could but once believe it most avail to the prosperity and success of their Affairs When God called Gideon forth to a Publique Work he first tells him he would be with him and then adds Go forth in This thy might If the Creature goes forth in any might but this it is a poor weak thing It is Recorded in Sacred Story that the Israelites followed Saul trembling when he went to Battel against the Philistims They thought they should be strong and victorious when they had gotten a King and no sooner had they him but they follow him trembling Such will all creature strength be to us it cannot deliver us from Fear and Falling or be a Rock to the heart of Man Your deep sense of this Right Honourable was that which I suppose moved you to set apart a day for a more solemn seeking Aid and Counsel from God and wherein you was pleased to call for my poor Service in that days work together with two others far more able That we might do for you according to what Jonathan did to David when he was in streights in the Wilderness of Ziph strengthen your hands in God You were then as in a Wilderness and you did not clearly see your way but have your hands been since more strengthned in God You was pleased to command for so is your Desire to me that I should speak somthing from the Lord to you and what I spake as it was calculated for your Meridian so I intended it for no wider a Sphaere then the Walls of your own House But seeing you are pleased to call for it to walk abroad I have obeyed you though not without some reluctance The Work you met upon was Serious and the Day Solemn so that I durst not but preach plainly as those will find that read Only I must acquaint you that the latter end of the Sermon I preached not because I was prevented by the time chusing rather to be abrupt then tedious Which indeed was a further Motive to me to yeild it to the Press and that I might present that to your Eyes which I could not then present to your Earâ— And here and there I have added somthing above what I spake as being then compelled to shorten where I could with least loss So that this I can say I have presented you with a fuller expression of what was in my thoughts and papers in the Sermon as Printed then the Sermon as Preached VVhat-ever it is though it shews forth much of my weakness yet I assure you it shews forth my hearty willingness to serve Christ and to serve you in a subordination unto him One generation passeth to make way for another and so men serving their generations have past away that others might come in Moses was taken off that Joshua might come in and David to make way for Salomon And so other Powers and Parliaments have past away to make room for you And now ye are upon the Stage and therefore endeavour to Act Nobly to Act Gallantly as standing in the view not of men only but of God and that when you go off you may go off with the Applause I will not say of men but of God himself There is a Providence that orders in what Generation every man shall be brought forth and therefore every man should be enquiring why was I brought forth in this generation and not another And what is the work of this Generation wherein the Lord expects that I should come forth and serve him And it is Satans design and policy to amuse men about other work that concerns them not that so he might divert them from that which is their proper work And shall I be bold here Honoured Gentlemen to put you in mind of that which I hear hath been some time already under your consideration and that is to do something toward the payment of the debts that are yet behind upon the Publique faith especially to the poorer sort Many poor honest people live yet in hope that that Faith will not fail I know the wants and expences of the Nation are great yet Mercy and Justice never to this day did any wrong to a State The condition also of poor Prisoners that would pay if they could as I was solicited to present it before you so I humbly leave it to your Justice and Wisdom to consider of it I know also your work is great and God may cut out more work for you and for his people in this Nation ere long then they are â—â—t aware of Oh it is an happy thing to have Spirit fitted to what work God will engage us in And let us take heed that calm times do not make us secure and settle in the world You know when Sampson slept in Delilah's lap then he lost his strength and lost God and when he went to rouse up himself as at other times then he felt his weakness So if through security and lying in the lap of any beloved Delilah we do fall asleep we hazard the loss of our strength and the departing of God and then when we may be called forth to any work we may arise and think to prevaile as in the days of old when alas our strength is gone Oh be watchful faithful low
in your own eyes and the lower you are thus the more will God delight to honour you and the more honour he puts upon you the lower be you still As we read of Moses Gideon David Salomon yea and Saul when the Lord came to call them forth to publick work and put honour upon them then were they lowest in their own eyes God delights to work by such Instruments that are low in their own eyes yea that may be low in the eyes of others that glory may bee his alone And to be serviceable in your Generation to Christ his People and the Nations whereof you are the Messengers if you please at your leisure to peruse the following Discourse you shall find it to be your greatest Interest â—nd your Truest Wisdom and as I have in my Sâ—â—â—on endeavoured to discover it so that you may eminently attain it shall be the earnest prayer of him who would fain approve himself to be the Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ and of Your Honours in him MATTHEW BARKER THE FAITHFUL And VVise Servant Delivered in a Sermon preached before the Parliament at their late Fast January 9. 1656. From Psal 2. 10 and part of Vers 11. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Serve the Lord with fear c. THis Psalm is an eminent Prophesie of the Kingdom of the Messiah and so acknowledged by the Jews themselves although it agree to David's Kingdom in the letter yet David's Kingdom was not set up so much for it self as to be a type and shaddow of another Kingdom to be set up after it in the world And though it be the most blessed Kingdom that ever arose and set up on purpose for the delivery and salvation of man yet when it came to be set up the whole world in a manner rose up against it In the Psalm we have 1. A Distribution of the persons the several sorts of men that stood up in opposition to it As first The common people and that both of Gentiles Why do the Heathen rage and of Jews And the people imagine a vain thing verse 1. And secondly The Kings and Rulers of the earth The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed v. 2. 2. He shews implicitely at least wherein they do especially oppose it viz. in the Laws Statutes and Ordinances of it Let us break their Bands asunder and cast away their Cords from us verse 3. This Kingdom comes to lay bands upon men to lay Laws and yokes upon the lusts and licentious nature of man which he cannot bear 3. He shews what success they meet with in their opposition as it is a bad work so it meets with as bad success for it is said 1. God laughs at them As a company of mad-men busying themselves about their own ruine vers 4. He that sits in the Heavens shall laugh at them 2. He speaks to them and that in his wrath he gives them warning to forbear as in vers 5. Before he falls upon them he doth admonish them of several things As 1. That it was his King they oppose a King that he himself had set up as in vers 6. 2. A King also setled and established by his Decree as in vers 7. 3. The King also was his own Son Thou art my Son And he tells them the particular time of his Instalment to day This day have I begotten thee Which the Apostle applies Acts 13. 33. to the day of Christs resurrection for though Christ was anointed before yea he was born a King yet he came not into the full possession and execution of his Kingly office until his Resurrection As the Apostle asserts Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of quick and dead Yea and Christ himself attests it Matt. 28. 18. where he speakes after his resurrection All power is given me both in Heaven and Earth 4. He tels them he was a King that he had given universal Lordship and dominion to I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession vers 8. These things they are told by way of admonition but when this prevailes not then Lastly he falls upon them and he breakes them in pieces Thou shalt break them with a Rod of Iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel as vers 9. Now in the three last verses of the Psalm he makes application of the whole preceding discourse and applies it particularly to the Rulers and Governours of the Earth either because they are the most likely to oppose the Kingdom of Christ as fearing it might clash with their earthly and secular interests as Herod did Or else because their subjecting to it is likely to make a fair way for its entertainment throughout the world And he applies it by way of serious advise and counsel to them 1. First he adviseth them to be wise and well instructed as it behoves men in power to be men of wisdom Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth vers 9. 2 He tels them wherein they are to declare their wisdom Serve the Lord with fear rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son which he presseth by a double argument 1. Ab incommodo from the great evil and mischief that was likely to ensue in case they did not thus Least he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little 2. Ab utili from the great and blessed advantage that would follow upon it in case they did Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Thus you have in brief the Analysis of the Psalm But I must go back to my Text which is nothing else as I said but a piece of serious and wholsome Counsel administred to the Rulers and Governours of the world whether higher or lower more fixed or transient about their comportment towards Christ and his Kingdom when he is setting it up in the world And though this word was spoken by David many hundred yea thousands of years ago yet it speaks now as much as ever and is this day brought though by a mean instrument within your walls and speakes to you In the Text we have considerable 1. The matter or the substantial part of the Counsel which is Serve the Lord. 2. Here are the persons to whom it is particularly directed the Kings and Judges of the Earth they are the persons especially admonisht to serve the Lord. 3. Here is the manner how the Lord is to be served Serve the Lord with fear 4. Here is the motive or argument whereby this Counsel is enforced And that is This will be their Wisdom hereby they will shew themselves wise men men well instructed 1. First I shall speak to the matter or substance of the Counsel which is serve the
such love as that which Christ shew'd to the world and was there ever any carriage so unworthy and so unsufferable as that which Christ receives from the World We have the Type of this in the Nation of the Jews You know God did wonderfully for that people brought them out of Egypt by an out stretched arm and carried them through the wilderness by a continual miracle and then setled them in a pleasant land such a land as could not for all things be matched by any upon earth might not now God expect think you eminent love and service from such a people but when they come into the good land they presently defile it with their Idolatries they forget the workes of God and as the Prophet Jeremy expresseth it They say not where is the Lord that brought us out of the Land of Egypt that led us through the wilderness c. So after all the wonderfull works of power and love that Christ hath wrought for the redemption of man and for the setling him in an heavenly inheritance Oh how much is this Christ forgotten How few are there that say where is this Jesus that hath done these things Oh where is he that we may adorn him that we may embrace him that we may devote our selves and all that we are and have to him Ah must not this be for a Lamentation this day may we not lament upon Christs account that he should be so much despised and his service neglected and upon the worlds account that they should no better understand their own Interest then to be serving other Masters and cast him off But to come a little nearer home May not we particularly mourn over our selves and the Nation this day Oh the mercies that England hath received But have we not too soon too soon forgotten them Hath God been served under his mercy and served with his mercy as he should have been Do we ask after the God of our mercies and say Where is the God of all these mercies Where is that God that delivered us from the Bondage of Popery and Superstition in Queen Marys days and from those ensnaring Ceremonies and superstitious Innovations in the late Prelats days Where is that God that appeared for us at Keintâ—n Newberry Naseby Dunbar Worcester c Might not God promise himself that when he had delivered us out of the hands of our enemies we would serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness all the days of our life But do we so And that when he had delivered us from those innovations that were intruded into his Worship he should have a pure worship and pure Ordinances set up amongst us and a joyful and holy walking in them But is it thus And that when once the danger of Saints meeting together called Conventicling was removed they would fall into a sweet and blessed communion and fellowship among themselves But alas is it thus As also might not God expect that those which suffered together and were delivered together should joyn heart and hand together to promote the common Interest of Christ against the Common Enemy But is this found amongst us God told the Jews Zach. 8. 19. that he would deliver them and turn the Fasts of the fourth fifth and seventh moneth into joy and gladness and cheerful Feasts and that therefore they should love the Truth and Peace God hath done much toward our deliverance we must not we dare not deny it we inherit the fruit of the Prayers and blood of many of his precious Saints But after all Do we love the Truth and Peace Is Truth embraced Is Peace preserved Nay Is not the light of Truth darkned by pernicious Errors and the beauty of Peace sadly defaced by unhappy divisions And must not these things be for a Lamentation this day I remember when the Book of Sports came out in the late Kings days there was a general lamentation among the good people of the Land and a holy zeal for the spiritual observation of the Christian Sabbath But now How many have set their Consciences free from any such duty and others are running back to the Jewish Sabbath and that more then every one is aware of And the first step to fall to the latter must be the casting off the former Vse 3 That which I shall next infer from the Truth in hand is with all seriousness to exhort and beseech that that which is our greatest work may be most minded And seeing that Honoured in the Lord you have appointed us to be this day your SPEAKERS to speak to God for you and to speak from God to you give me leave to enjoy that which is the Priviledge of this House to speak freely And I shall be bold to speak to you as standing before the Lord this day in a threefold capacity 1. As Men. 2. As Christians 3. As Magistrates and the TRVSTEES of the three Nations First I shall speak to you as men and as men you are engaged to serve the Lord For First Have you not received your Beings from him Hath not he made you and not you your selves Doth not then the Law of Creation engage you to serve him by whom you are or else you had never been There are certain Duties which Divines call Natural Worship which the light of Nature doth dictate to men and are due to him by the very Law of Creation as to love God fear him trust him so also to serve him and refer our actions to him which God never did nor never will dispense with to the sons of men So that he that lives in the world and is not truly serving God in the world this man sins against the very Dictates of natural light and against the Original and Fundamental right which God claims to us as being his creatures and the work of his hands Shalâ— the thing that is formed say to him that formed it What hast thou to do with me And wherein am I indebted to thee Shall not God enjoy his own Creature And doth he enjoy it if it is not serving him Secondly As man was made by the Lord so he was made peculiarly for the Lord He made the rest of the Creation to serve man but he made man to serve himself He furnish'd him with such Faculties of mind that rendred him capable of knowing praising and serving his Creator and is there but this one creature in this lower world that God made peculiarly to serve him and shall he be disappointed in that one Nay shall the rest of the Creatures keep their station and serve their end and man not serve his When God would Arraigne a people that was rebellious against him he calls Heaven and Earth to hearken Isa 1. 2. Hear O Heavens and hearken O Earth Why What strange thing hath God to bring forth Why this I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me As if he had said Is there such a thing to be
so deeply interested that our motion may not be Retrograde and we loose the things that we have wrought As also for the carrying on your affairs at Sea and the war wherein you are ingaged with Spain wherein you would ask counsel from Heaven this day it is not for me to advise any thing in these things they being so much out of my sphaere I shall only say The Lord direct you Yet only this I shall say that the Monarchy you have to do against is deeply defiled with blood and with that blood which hath the loudest cry and when its iniquity is at the full and its defence taken off it shall be as Caleb said of the Canaanites but as bread for those Instruments that God shall employ to take vengeance Only let me bold humbly to advise you as that which is of the greatest concernment to the success of your Affairs That you would Interest God as much as may be in them all For seeing you are men that do pretend to God in what you do and have his Name upon you you are to expect your success to come in not in a common way of Providence but in a way of prayer faith and sincere serving him in all your undertakings This is the third Inference Fourthly I shall infer somthing by way of Tryal in a word or two that we may a little know our own hearts and whom we are serving whether our selves or the Lord. You may know it First by this If you serve the Lord in what you do then you expect your Reward principally from him for the thing or the person that man is serving from the same doth he expect his reward He that is serving man expects his reward from man He that is serving mammon from mammon he looks for his reward And he that is serving the Lord he expects also his chief reward from the Lord And the sence of that reward which he shall have from God is the motive that quickens him more in his work then any he may receive from man Secondly He that serves the Lord in what he doth hath his eye upon him as his ultimate end He that looks no farther then himself this man is serving himself let his work be what it will be as I said before But when the Lord is Finis operis the end of the work or at least Finis operantis the end of him that worketh then is the Lord served Lastly He that serves the Lord he endeavours to manage his work so as it may be most serviceable to him If a Minister uprightly serve the Lord he will preach the Word and manage the whole course of his Ministry not in such a way as may be most pleasing to men but most to the good of souls and the honour and service of Christ And so I may say of Magistrates and of private Christians if they are serving the Lord they then will so endeavour to act and so steer the whole course of their life as that the Lord may be most served and honoured by them Vse 5 The last thing I infer from the Doctrine is encouragement and comfort to the good and faithful servant The service of the Lord though we may suffer reproach in it yet it is the most honourable and loss in it yet it is the most gainful and pain and trouble in it yet it is the most pleasant service in the world Ah much honoured Senators you that are in the integrity of your hearts serving the Lord besides all that peace and pleasure that you may have at present there is a day coming wherein all your service and labour of love will be returned into your Bosoms an hundred fold Oh how honourably doth that man live and how blessedly shall that man die that hath been doing the Lord's work in the world Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord c. for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14. 13. their works are ceased as to the labour of them but follow them and will be with them for ever as to the reward of them The rich mans riches shall not follow him the voluptuous mans pleasures shall not follow him nor the honours of the honourable shall not follow them but the faithful servants works shall follow him and be with him for ever It is said of David that after he had served his generation according to the will of God he fell asleep Acts 13. 36. How sweetly may that man lay himself down in the sleep of death that hath in his life been serving his generation according to the will of God The Lord himself will give Testimony to such a man as he doth to the faithful servant in the Parable VVell done thou good and faithful servant For a Magistrate for a Minister Mat. 25. 21. for a Christian to have an Euge from Christ for the Lord himself to give an honourable Testimony to a man and his service is the truest honour and the highest commendation And though he be but a servant yet his Master will make him sharer with himself and that in the best thing which he hath which is his joy Enter thou into thy Masters joy And is not this enough to encourage you But yet if a bigger word then this can be spoken we have an expression or two falling from Christ's own mouth and recorded by Luke chap. 12. which I cannot think of without wonder The one you find in the 43 44. verses Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him Ruler over all that he hath Can any thing be spoken more Yes in ver 37. we have a greater word then this which I durst not have spoke if Christ had not spoken it himself Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching Verily I say unto you he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them In the former expression he saith That all that he hath shall be at their service and that is very much But in this latter he saith a great deal more That he himself will gird himself and put himself as into the posture of a servant and come forth and serve them And now Beloved who would not be the Lord's servant And thus I have spoken to the matter of the counsel here given to the Kings and Judges of the Earth which is to Serve the Lord. I shall next in a word speak to the manner how the Lord is to be served and that the Text saith is with Fear Serve the Lord with fear Though they are Kings and Judges and are a Terror to others yet even they must serve the Lord with fear and though they are men that usually have the greatest defence about them yet lie as open and naked to God as any others and therefore must serve with fear Quest But
what fear is this they are to serve with and of what Answ For the former question the Apostle resolves it in that parallel Scripture Heb. 12. 28. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with Reverence and Godly Fear There is a base slavish fear that makes a man run from God and have hard thoughts of him and binds him up from serving him As the unprofitable servant if he speak his heart was bound up from employing his Talent by this base fear Matth. 25. 24 25. Lord saith he I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown c. and I was afraid But the fear wherewith we are to serve God is an ingenuous Son-like fear Such a fear as 1. Springs from Love and that Honourable esteem we have of God which in Hebr. 12. is called Reverence which Moralists tell us is an affection compounded of love and fear and is wrought in the heart by a due sense of that greatness and goodness which is in God 2. Which quickens a man in service For this true Fear is a strong Incentive to action The Apostle to quicken those dull Hebrews in their travel to the true Rest doth endeavour to possess them with this holy Fear Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of us should seem to come short of it Security rocks the soul asleep but Fear awakens it and sets it a work Quest 2. But what are they to be in fear of Answ The verse after this Text doth in general tell us and that is the Lords displeasure lest he be angry and you perish saith the Text and that if his wrath be kindled but a little what then if he should stir up all his wrath as the Psalmist speakes This fear is to possesse every mans heart and is to run through all the Actiâ—ns of his life 1. For natural actions as eating drinking c. we are to manage these with an holy fear of displeasing the Lord. 2. For Civil and Political actions as buying selling trading and commerce in the world him we are also to fear least we displease him 3. As for Religious actions praying or hearing c. we are to mannage these with this holy fear least we displease the Lord by formality distraction of thoughts hypocrisy carelesness or the like But especially Magistrates for they are the persons particularly spoken to in the Text. They are to mannage the whole course of their Government with this fear of displeasing the Lord. They are all subordinated to him and are to give up their accounts to him and therefore are to be exceeding careful that nothing in the constitution or course of their Government be displeasing unto him And they do displease Christ 1. When they oppose his interest in the world when Christ hath a work upon the wheeles for the advance of his Kingdom the establishing of Jerusalem c. then when they oppose their power to this interest then they displease him As when Maximilian the Emperour and some other Princes opposed Luther in that great work he was upon 2. Secondly when they neglect his interest when they do not come forth to serve it with what ever ability or opportunity is in their hand but are wholly swallowed up into a more private interest of their own As Meroz was cursed not coming forth to help the Lord Judg. 5. 2. 3. 3. When they subordinate his interest to their own when they are carrying on an interest of Christ but it is that they may serve some private end of their own upon it when they ingraft a selfish design upon Christs stock that it may the better thrive And thus did Jehu in taking vengeanoe upon the false Prophets of Baal and Ahabs house which was but to confirm the Kingdom to himself 2 Kings 10. 4. When they deal injuriously with his Saints then they do highly displease him Though they are a poor despised people in the world yet their Redeemer is mighty and when they cry he will hear them I find two principal places in the prophesie of Isaiah wherein the Lord is presented in a strange heat of wrath the one is 34. Isaiah the beginning of it The indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations and his fury upon all their Armies verse 2. Their mountains shall be melted with blood vers 3. And the Host of Heaven shall be dissolved vers 4. And my sword shall be bathed in Heaven vers 5. And the sword of the Lord is filled with blood vers 6. Now if you ask me What means the heat of this great wrath he tels you vers 8. It is the day of the Lords vengeance and the yeer of recompence for the controversie of Sion The other place is 63. Isaiah beginning Where the Lord is set forth in his red Apparel and his garment died in blood and treading the Wine-presse of wrath And the reason of all this you read in the 4. vers For the day of Vengeance is in mine heart and the yeer of my redeemed is come We cannot touch God in a tenderer part then in his people for they are the Apple of his eye Justin Martyr in his Apology for the Christians tells the Roman Emperours that whiles they persecuted the Saints the Empire was afflicted with Floods Earth-quakes Pestilence c. It was not their tolerating but their persecuting them that brought those calamities upon them Nothing will sooner bring down wrath upon a people then this And on the other hand to protect and Cherish the Saints is that which God takes kindly at the hands of Magistrates and which is likely eminently to conduce to the prosperity of their affaires according to the promise in the 122. Psal 6. They shall prosper that love thee Only I would be understood as speaking of true Saints and they walking as Saints But I hasten to a Conclusion And therefore I come now to the last part of the Text as I divided it at the beginning and that is the Argument whereby this Counsel is enforced for so I shall make use of it upon the Kings and Judges of the Earth This will be their Wisdom and their understanding Be wise now therefore or And now be wise O ye Kings be instructed ye that Judg the Earth God having before shewd them that their opposition against his Son would be their undoing and break them to pieces he therefore doth advise them as they would appear to be wise men and men well instructed to serve him whereby they should save themselves from that destruction that else would unavoidably fall upon them Every man will be pretending to wisdom and it is a thing so desirable that even fools that have no wisdom yet they will be wise in their own conceit O Sapientia as he said sed ubi es but where is wisdom to be found The Graecians they pretended to it 1 Cor. 1. 22. The Greeks seek after