Profession They are called so Levit. 25.41 42. and since this you have born his Name and Liv'd in his House and eat of his Bread and pretended to his Wages you have a Work to do and shall at last be called to a Reckoning when the Great Master comes but alas alas How many are there that are the Servants of Christ in Name but really the Servants of Sin all the time For know you not His Servants you are whom you obey Rom. 6.16 Jesus saith unto them Verily verily I say unto you He that committeth sin is the Servant of sin Job 8.34 You your selves were sometimes foolish serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Tit. 3.3 Rom. 6.17 20. 2 Pet. 2.19 You are by nature Slaves in your noblest part to the vilest of Creatures in the basest drudgery How has the Devil made you serve blindfold in Bonds and Chains If you are once made sensible of your case you would sigh and groan to be set at liberty you would be very inquisitive to find out a better place you would long to be directed to some better Service And if so I come to give you notice to my Master who tho' he wants not you nor any Servant that he has is very willing to entertain you in his Service It is an honourable Service and a profitable Service there is no such Master no such Wages to be had any where else Our Lord Jesus Christ offers to stand in many near relations to you and you that know what it is to go to Service should know upon what terms you may become the Servants of Christ See then 1. That you give up your selves to God and our Lord Jesus Christ by a solemn Covenant and Contract It is by Contract that you are Servants in the places where you live you knew what you did when you were hir'd upon what terms you took the Earnest Now Why stand you all the day idle Why are your Souls so long out of the Service of so great so good a Master Say not No Man has hir'd us I this Day call and invite you into the Family of God the Houshold of Faith Will you accept of his terms and consent to the Covenant He stands not with you upon the rigorous terms of the Covenant of Works He has admitted a Surety who has satisfy'd the Demands of Justice and purchas'd most excellent terms of Grace for you And now what does the Lord thy God require of thee He expects that you renounce your former Masters He will have all his Servants be for him and not for another no Man can serve two Masters He expects that you should reverence his Son that being ransom'd from your Slavery and bought with the price you should depend on his Merits and submit to his Will and serve him in your Souls and Bodies which are his Now who is He that engageth his heart to approach to God Have you considered his terms You must for sake your Father's House and your own People The divers Lusts and Pleasures which you formerly served must be entirely and eternally abandoned you must renounce your vain Confidences and submit to his righteousness you must deny your own Wills and stoop to his Word you must give up your Selves Souls and Bodies to be rul'd by him as ever you hope to be sav'd by him Do you now like his terms If you say No as the Lord liveth He will come down no lower Wherefore yield your selves unto the Lord as you have yielded your members Servants of iniquity unto iniquity so now yield your members Servants of righteousness unto holiness I know it must be the Finger of God that must turn about your Hearts and make you willing to his Contract And who knows but it may be the day of his power to some poor Souls Wherefore ponder upon your state by nature till you are deeply affected with your former slavery let the making of this Contract be look'd upon as the most solemn transaction of your Lives Get into a corner and count the cost He sees you as he did Nathanael as some think about the same work under the Fig-tree Reckon upon bearing the burden and heat of the day upon storms and many a cold blast in your Faces beg as for your Lives the assistance of his Spirit and let each of you take to himself words and say Other Lords have had Dominion over me but I am thy Servant truly I am thy Servant I put my self under the wings of the God of Israel I will never be the World 's again nor Sin 's nor Satan's any more I am thine and thou art mine Amen And the Lord God of Israel say so too Being thus hired you must see then 2. That you diligently apply your selves to know and do the will of your Master Being bound you must obey having open'd your mouths unto the Lord you cannot go back You are in for your Lives yea for ever and ever You must have your ear bor'd to the Posts of the Door and say I love my Master and will never depart from him You must chiefly delight in the inward part of your work but baulk no duty for any difficulty or danger that you may meet with therein You must not be quarreling with your Fellow-Servants when you should be at work but do all you do as approving your selves to the eye of your Master You must depend on the strength of Christ in all the Service you perform and when you have done all must count your selves unprofitable Servants and look only to his Grace and Merits for Pardon and Acceptance Nor shall you ever say that He is a hard Master reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he did not strow You shall have no occasion to liken him to the Egyptian Task-Masters that required Brick but gave no Straw He is neither Tyrannical in his Commands nor niggardly in his Encouragements He is not difficult to be pleased nor will he always chide He stands not upon legal perfection but admits of Repentance and Sincerity He offers his assistance that you may do all through Christ strengthening you He allows you to look to the recompence of reward that you may go the more chearfully on as those that know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. 2. The next Duty of Servants is to improve the time of youth and strength The usual time of going to Service is in the younger years in that Age only are they thought fit for the Service of Men Oh let not the main work then be neglected in it To this purpose I commend to Servants these two Considerations 1. How advantageous a time the youthful Age is and what pity it is so free a time should be lost an Age in which God usually lays hold on the hearts of those whom he brings home to himself and in which Conversion is much easier like the bending of a tender Twig than when some old knotty Root is to
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
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
Commandment about the Sabbath was for their Servants as well as themselves He adds this to the Law in one place That thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Deut. 5.14 This is now the Labourers rest and see you lose not a minute of so precious a time Dispatch your Business the sooner the Night before shake off your Worldly Thoughts and go seasonably to rest that you may not lie abed longer on the Lord's Day Morning than at other times Oh think not when you say you want time to keep a Sabbath in an outward slothful rest as your Horses and other Beasts do Meddle with no worldly Business on this Holy Day but what is of Necessity and count nothing of necessity that hinders the Work of the Day and may be put off till another time If you have Masters that know the Worth of a Sabbath they 'll take care of you especially on this day not only to keep you from all Business that is not suited to the Day but to put you upon all Holy Exercises therein and how sweet is it to see Masters come to the Publick Assemblies furnished with their Train not suffering a Servant that can be spar'd to stay at home or lagg behind And if you have careless Masters that would have you make your visits or go journies on this Day because they cannot spare you on another rather deny your selves the Liberty offer'd you than be depriv'd of the Dearer Liberty of the House of God Above all avoid the prophane Feasts that yet are kept up in some places on the Lord's Day Let no Business of your own hinder you where it may be from attending Forenoon and Afternoon on the Publick Worship and that with Seriousness and Reverence as those that know into whose Presence you are come and beg earnestly for the Power of the Spirit to accompany the Word to your Souls Do not think the Sabbath is ended when the Sermon is done Let no wicked Companions perswade That you may find your own pleasures on this Holy Day Isa 58.13 Remember what an Inlet Sabbath-breaking has been into all Wickedness how many wicked Servants from cheating their Masters have been drawn to other Crimes and on the Gallows confess'd That neglecting and prophaning the Sabbath was the sin that exposed them to those Temptations which brought them thither Be you a Companion of them that fear the Lord and if you have none such to confer with about what you have heard as you go home or when you come there be the more by your selves double all the Spiritual Duties now that you have less time for on other days Be ready to give an account of your profiting if you are so happy as to have Masters that will examine you and count not the Day or the Duties therein a Weariness but call the Sabbath a Delight Admire the Kindness of God to poor Servants in appointing a Day on purpose for that which else you could hardly have found time for Look upon it as the Great Thanksgiving-Day Praise him for all his wondrous Works especially for your Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ who when He had finished his Suffering-work did rise again from the Dead on the First Day of the Week and set his own Name on that Day That they that are tyred with their Labours all the Week may rest upon it That the meanest of his People may rejoice therein in hopes of an Everlasting Sabbath above where these Earthly Relations will cease and there will be no more Distinction of Master and Servant but all swallowed up in one Spiritual Relation to Him of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named and in one Holy Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever FINIS