Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	call_v	day_n	work_n	4,259	5	6.6100	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50469	A present for servants, from their ministers, masters, or other friends, especially in country parishes. Licensed, Jan. 20. 1692.	Mayo, Richard, 1631?-1695.	1693 (1693)	Wing M1529; ESTC R214162	28,409	95

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

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

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