What the Service of Christ implies In the general Notion to serve Christ implies Obedience to his Will as the Rule of our Actions with aims at his Glory as the End of them His Will revealed in the Scriptures is a Rule eminently and exclusively Eminently for it has all the Perfections of a Rule 'T is clear and compleat sufficient to make us wise to Salvation and to direct us in the Way everlasting 'T is called the holy acceptable and perfect Will of God 'T is a Rule Exclusively To speak strictly no Creature can be a Rule to another for they are all in an equal Line of Subjection to the Creator One may be a Guide or Governour to another according to the Rule of God's Word The Laws of Men cannot reach and bind the Conscience immediately but by virtue of God's Command nor unlimitedly but as they are consonant with his Laws Now a universal respect to the Will of Christ as the Rule of our Lives is truly to serve him And the aiming at his Glory in all our Desires and Endeavours either actually or habitually is an essential Ingredient in his Service The actual Intention in every performance is not absolutely necessary Many good Actions may proceed from the Influence of the habitual Intention An Arrow that is directed by aim may hit the Mark tho in its flight the Eye be turned off from it But the ultimate scope of our Life which ought to be often renewed in our Minds must be to please and glorify Christ according to the Apostle's Expression To me to live is Christ. I will more distinctly open these Things under the following Heads 1. The Church is a distinct Society from the World of which Christ is the Head and the State of Christianity is a high and holy Calling and all who are brought into it by the outward Ministry of the Word or in Conjunction with it by the internal Grace of the Spirit are obliged to the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel the same Duties and the same Rewards are common to all And living according to that Spiritual State in Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety is to serve Christ. Thus the Adoration the Honour the Homage we render to God the making him the sole Object of our highest Love an entire relyance on the Mediator for our Salvation an earnest desire to please him in all Things and an equal fear to displease him the exercise of compassionate beneficent Charity towards Men briefly a Holy and Heavenly Conversation is the universal Duty of Christ's Servants And that our Service be accepted it must be performed with Humility Zeal and Constancy With Humility and Dependance upon the Mediator for Divine Grace and Acceptance Every spiritual Act requires a Supernatural Power Not a holy Thought or Word springs from naked Nature Our Saviour tells his Disciples Without me you can do nothing As the Branches derive Life and active Sap from the Root that makes them flourishing and fruitful so from his sanctifying Spirit that was purchased by his meritorious Sufferings and is conferr'd by him in his Glory we are made fruitful in every good Work And in the beloved Son we are only accepted This general Service due to Christ must be done with Zeal We are commanded to be fervent in Spirit serving the Lord to work out our own Salvation as the Apostle with most lively Emphasis enforces the Duty Our most ardent Affections and active Powers are to be imploy'd in this work remembring that our Lives are short and uncertain Time flies upon the swiftest Wings That the Work is of infinite and everlasting Consequence in comparison of which our fervent Diligence in worldly Affairs is like the throwing of Straws and Feathers with our utmost strength remembring that we are always under the pure Eye of our Divine Master that will call us to an exact Account To be cold and careless in his Service disparages his Excellency and will defeat our hopes The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence With Constancy He delivered us from the Hands of our Enemies that we might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Lives The travail of Faith continues till heavenly Vision be brought forth and the Labour of Love till the Reward be obtained I will not insist on this being to resume the consideration of it afterwards 2. In the various Conditions of Life in this World we are to serve Christ. The entire Man is the Object of God's tender Care and Providence and accordingly he has wisely ordered divers Conditions and special Callings of Men wherein they are engaged and employed for the Support and Comfort of themselves and the publick Good And as in a Circle from every Point of it a streight Line may be drawn to the Centre so in the vast Sphere of this World from every lawful Calling there may be a direct prosecution of our last and blessed End the Glory of God in conjunction with our Salvation There is no state of Life so low and mean but a Christian may so manage it as to excel in Holiness and consequently Honour Christ As Phidias that famous Sculptor expres'd his Art to Admiration not only in Gold and Marble and Ivory but in mean Materials in Wood or ordinary Stone The Apostle often inculcates this Lesson upon Servants to obey their Masters with Fidelity and Cheerfulness for ye serve the Lord Christ Col. 3.24 Eph. 6.7 It was to a mortal Man and if it might be of a perverse humour their Service was immediately addres'd but if from Conscience of their Duty to Christ and a direct intention to please him they performed it that Respect sweetened and ennobled the Service 'T is the Spirit and Perfection of Christianity to transform and elevate the lowest Actions it makes the Service of a Slave to be Divine Obedience which is the most free and noble Act of the reasonable Creature From hence the same Apostle enforces the Duties of Servants that they may adorn the Gospel of God our Saviour The faithful Discharge of their Service redoubles the Lustre of the glorious Gospel and recommended it to their Pagan Masters And 't is equally true that in every lawful Condition of Life when Men are conversant in the Duties proper to it with a respect to the Command of Christ when their civil Actions are ultimately resolved into his Glory they perform Religious Obedience This is enjoyned in that comprehensive Precept Whatsoever you do in word or deed do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that is with a respect to his Will and for his Honour I shall only add that Diligence in our civil Callings must always be in Subserviency to the great End of our general Calling the Salvation of our Souls to which we are primarily and indispensably obliged The Life of a Christian is a walking with God and the way is in the performance of holy and civil Duties And
Liberty of the Sons of God By dying he destroyed him that had the Power of Death and triumphed over Principalities and Powers on the Cross. We have Freedom of Pardon and of Grace and the natural and necessary Consequence is that we cheerfully serve him that set us free This is expressed by Zacharias in his divine Thansgiving that being delivered from the Hands of our Enemies we might serve him withour Fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the Days of our Lives In what a holy Extasy does the Psalmist break forth O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant and the Son of thy Handmaid thou hast broken my Bonds Yet this was but the rescuing of him from some temporal imminent Danger How much dearer and stronger Ingagements bind us to serve our Redeemer who has freed us from the Power as well as Punishment of Sin Love should correspond with Love As Love descends in Favours and Benefits it should ascend in Thankfulness and Duty St. Paul had such a lively apprehension of our Saviour's Love that it had an absolute Empire in his Heart and Life he expresses it in the most significant manner The Love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again The Word constraineth signifies properly to be intirely under the Power of another As the Prophets inspired by the Spirit of God only spake and acted according to his extraordinary Motions in them Thus the Love of Christ had such an absolute Empire in his Heart that his whole Life was spent as a vowed Oblation to his Service and Glory And whoever does not live a spiritual Life as the Servant of Christ never yet felt the Misery of this Bondage of Sin nor the sweetness of that Liberty which the Son of God has purchased for his People Lastly We are the Servants of Christ by solemn Covenant and the most sacred Ingagement In the Covenant of Grace God and Man are the Parties And such was his condescending Love that he came down from Heaven and assumed our Nature on purpose to seal his part in his own Blood the Promise of his pardoning Mercy of his sanctifying Spirit and his rewarding Goodness to all that with unfeigned Consent and firm Resolution will seal the Counterpart of their Duty and Obedience to him We are entred into his Family and the Relation of his Servants in Baptism and vowed universal Obedience to our new Master in defiance of all Temptations whether inviting or terrifying in the World For this reason Baptism is called the Answer of a good Conscience towards God We wear his Colours are distinguished from the Heathens by the Title of Christians We ratify in a most solemn manner our Covenant by the Seal of the Lord's Supper wherein we sacramentally eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Now from hence arises a new Obligation to serve Christ He had a Soveraign Right in us antecedently to our dedicating our selves to his Service but from our voluntary Consent accrues another Title whereby he claims our perpetual Service The Law of God binds us without our Consent but our Consent increases the Obligation and if we are careless of our Duty and desert his Service we break double Bonds and are guilty not only of Disobedience to the Law but of perfidious Violation of our Covenant 'T is observable in the Parable of the Talents they were committed to Servants from whence a double Obligation springs to employ them with intire Fidelity for the Master's Profit A Merchant sends Goods to his Correspondent who is bound to make faithful returns upon the account of commutative Justice that reaches all but a Servant is under a special Obligation and if he wasts or neglects the improving his Master's Goods he does not only break this Trust reposed in him but violates the Duty of a Servant that obliges him to manage them according to his Master's Will and for his Profit The Account will be particular and exact for all our Talents at the last None so high that shall be excused none so mean that shall escape that strict Inquiry For he that knows all things shall be our Judg. The Servant that had but one Talent was called to account for it and condemned for neglecting to improve it He pretended that he hid it out of caution lest it should be lost knowing his Master's Severity but his vain excuse was retorted upon him to aggravate his Sin and Sentence Cast the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth A Judgment as righteous as terrible For the Guilt of his Rebellion in not using his Talent according to his Master's Order and Unthankfulness in despising his Gifts and an unrighteous depriving of others of that Benefit that was by the Master's Will due to them 3. We are to consider the final Reward of Christ's Servants under two Heads 1. The Order of the Reward 2. The Excellency of it 1. The Order in giving it after the Service of Christ faithfully and constantly performed 'T is the revealed Will of God that all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father The Son is the Heir of his Love and Glory and in serving him the Father is honoured and obeyed And as our Saviour reigns eternally in Heaven after the finishing his Work injoyned him by the Father so according to his Example we receive the Crown of Life after the course of our Obedience This is the Tenor of the Promise To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in his Throne The Order in dispensing the blessed Reward does not in the least eclipse the Honour of God's Grace or afford the least shadow of presuming upon any Merit in our best Services The Wages of Sin is Death 't is the just Desert of it but the Gift of God is eternal Life in Jesus Christ our Lord. The eternal Election of Persons to Life the preparing of them by sanctifying Grace for Glory and the actual possession of it is from the most free Favour of God Election is the first Fountain of Water springing up to eternal Life For what could induce God when all Mankind was equally involved in Guilt and Misery to choose some to be Vessels of Grace and of Glory but his soveraign Pleasure and pure Grace The Elect were in the Eye and Heart of God from Eternity appointed to supernatural Happiness but that free and insuperable Decree is accomplished according to the Law of Faith the unchangeable Order of the Gospel and that is that Heaven shall be the Reward of the faithful Servants of Christ not for the true Desert of their Service but the most gracious and rich Bounty of God The
as Companions in a Journey are together all day but have set times of refreshing themselves so a Christian in his coelestial Journey is to walk always before God uprightly in all temporal Affairs to regard his Presence and every day at set times to draw near to him by Prayer and Thanksgiving and to represent his Greatness and Glory in so solemn a manner that there may be a serious habitual Constitution of Spirit respecting him in all his Actions If there be a neglect of heavenly Communion with him and of our spiritual State and a perpetual Consumption of our Thoughts Time and Strength for secular Advantages and Interests Men are Slaves of the World not Servants of Christ. 3. The Service of Christ is more eminently performed in some special Offices ordained for the Glory of God and the publick Good And such are the civil Magistracy and the spiritual Ministry 1. Magistrates the highest and subordinate in the Scale of Government are by designation to their Office to serve him They are called the Ministers of God for the good of the People Princes may be considered in a double Capacity as Christians and as Princes and in both they are obliged to serve Christ. As Christians by an inflexible necessity without Priviledg or Dispensation they are bound to obey his holy Laws as strictly as every private Person as Princes they are subject to him not only upon the account of his Deity simply considered but his Office as Mediator In his mortal State he did not exercise Regal Power nor appeared with conspicuous marks of Royalty for it was incongruous to his End The Redemption of the lost World was to be obtained by Sufferings But his Supremacy over the World is a Prerogative annext to his being Head of the Church a Title that infinitely transcends all Angelical much more Human Principalities He is stiled the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Princes are commanded to kiss the Son a Token of the Adoration and Homage they owe to him As Princes they are to exercise their Power and Authority to repress Wickedness and preserve the publick Tranquillity For without the restraints of Fear the most savage fierce Beasts would be less dangerous than Men to Men. They are to encourage Moral Goodness and not only to promote the civil Prosperity but eternal Felicity of their Subjects Accordingly the Apostle exhorts Christians to offer up Prayers and Supplications for Kings and all in in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty When Princes are inspired with Sentiments and Resolutions becoming their Lieutenancy to the Lord Christ when they govern their Greatness and employ their Power in subserviency to his Interest when they protect and encourage all that seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof as the clear direct way that leads to it they shall obtain the brightest richest Crowns in the State of Glory But those who are a Terror to the Good and encourage evil Doers their mighty aggravated Sins will sink them into the deepest Damnation 2. Those who are consecrated to the Spiritual Function of teaching and governing the Church are in a peculiar manner the Servants of Christ not as he is the Lord of the Earth but of Heaven considering the Quality of their work and the End of it For 't is wholly conversant about the Souls of Men to open their Eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and inheritance amongst them which are sanctified by Faith that is in Christ And as 't is express'd in other Words of Scripture to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son This Relation extends it self from the highest Apostle to the lowest in the sacred Office St. Paul frequently stiles himself the Servant of Christ and by that Title he expresses any that are by office employed for the saving of Souls The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all Men apt to teach As Christ is called the Servant of God by way of Eminency and was anointed to to preach the Gospel so those who are dedicated to that Work are his Servants in the most proper sense and are to follow him the most excellent Example and highest Master in that Divine Work This I will more particularly insist upon being suitable to the present occasion and lay down some Rules directing how the Ministers of Christ may serve him acceptably so as to be rewarded in the Heavenly Glory 1. They must by serious study furnish themselves with Divine Knowledg and substantial Learning for the Discharge of all the parts of their Office To instruct the Ignorant to refute the Erroneous to reform the Unholy and to comfort the Humble and Disconsolate Our Saviour compares the Ministers of the Gospel unto a Man that is an Housholder which brings forth out of his Treasure things new and old 'T is his Duty to give to the Flock Meat in due season for which not only Fidedelity but Wisdom is requisite 'T is the Apostle's charge to Timothy Give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear before all If Timothy who had supernatural Gifts by Inspiration was obliged to be intent and diligent in the application of his mind to the Mysteries of Godliness how much more should those who must acquire Knowledg by search and Industry and the Divine Blessing upon it As Fountains by secret Passages derive from the Sea the Waters that flow in their Streams so Ministers by reading and Contemplation and Prayer in their Retirements obtain the Knowledg of Divine Things which they convey in their Sermons to the People With the Notional an Experimental Knowledg of Divine Truths is absolutely necessary to a Minister to save himself and most useful to save others 'T is not a perfect Systeme of Divinity in the Head not an universal knowledg of spiritual Things confined to the Brain that has a saving Efficacy 'T is not composing a Sermon with exquisite Art and the delivering of it like an Orator that makes him accepted with God For without a cordial Sense of Divine Truths he only lends his Tongue in that holy Service like a Reciter in a Scene all he does is but external Appearance God sees and requires the Heart without it neither the Head nor the Tongue of a Minister tho his Speculations are sublime and his Words Drops of Gold are of any value And usually the Sermons of such are without profit to the Hearers The sound of words only reaches the Ear 't is the Mind convinces the Mind and the Heart perswades the Heart He that is strongly convinc'd of the Truth of eternal Things he will speak of them with assurance as an Eye witness and in a lively manner He that is burning
and open a Passage for sanctifying and saving Doctrine into the Hearts of Men. This is the successful Method to convince those who are seduced with Errors and to reclaim the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just. The Defence of the Truth must be managed in a calm peaceable manner as the Sun scatters and overcomes the darkness of the Night and Clouds without noise 'T is the Apostle's Counsel In Meekness instructing those that oppose themselves Without Contumelies and Revilings for Injuries convince no Man The Human Spirit is naturally proud and stiff and will resist such Arms Fierceness and Scorn irritate the Passions and hinder impartial and serious Deliberation that opens the Mind for receiving the Truth To perswade the Soul the mild and placid manner of conveying the Truth is as effectual as the Irradiation and Evidence of it And to reclaim the disobedient there is nothing more powerful than Gentleness and the constraint of Love The most fervent Reprehensions of Sinners must be mixt with tenderness to their Souls Under the Law there was a severe Prohibition of offering Sacrifices with the common Fire But only with that Fire that came from Heaven and was preserved Day and Night in the Temple The Allusion is easy and fit The Reprehension of Sinners in the Pulpit must be always from Zeal for the Honour of God and the Eternal Salvation of Souls not from natural fiery Passions If a Minister denounces the Judgments of God with Compassion to Souls if he thunder and lightens in his Sermons a Shower of repenting Tears will follow in convinced Sinners 6. A Minister of the Gospel must joyn a holy Life with found Doctrine according to our Saviour's Description of him He that shall do and teach my Commands shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven He must not only be free from Pollutions but excel in Vertues nothing in his Conversation should be worthy of Reproach nothing but what is worthy of Imitation He must lead a Life answerable to the Excellence and End of his Calling He is to preach a Doctrine so holy divine and venerable that it would become the unspotted Angels to be ministring Spirits in revealing it to Men. He is therefore strictly obliged to shew forth the Power of Godliness and the Beauty of Holiness in all his ways He must imitate and honour his Master who inseparably united saying and doing in himself He must adorn the Gospel by expressing the Efficacy of divine Truths in his Actions Under the Law he that had touch'd a dead Body was forbidden to approach the Sanctuary and what a Violation is it of all the Rules of Decency and Reason for one who is employed in the holy Service of the Gospel to be polluted with dead Works Tertullian writing of the Excellency of Patience and reflecting upon himself how opposite his fiery Nature was to that Vertue was deeply affected with Grief and Shame and drew up his own Arraignment and Process for his Impatience How much juster Cause has an unholy Minister to be surprised with Horrour and Confusion considering the irreconcileable opposition between his Doctrine and his Life How just and stinging is the upbraiding Speech of God to such how peremptory the Rejection What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes and to take my Covenant into thy Mouth since thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my Words behind thee The End of the sacred Ministry requires Holiness in those who perform it That is to convert Men to the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel Now the Practice of a Minister gives Weight and Efficacy to his Doctrine the exemplifying of it in his Actions is the most powerful perswasive to draw Men to their Duty Therefore the Apostle commands Titus in all Things to shew himself a Pattern of good Works As the Plants that are productive of Balm and Myrrh and Incense have a Fragrancy not only in the precious Liquor that distils from them but all their Branches and Leaves and Bark are Aromatick Thus a Minister of the Gospel must be Holy not only in his Doctrine but in all manner of Conversation Be thou an Example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity is the solemn Charge to Timothy He that is holy in his Profession and unholy in his Life both discredits the Gospel and hardens Men in their Sins Though his Tongue may direct to Heaven if his Life leads to Hell the Authority of his Actions will be more prevalent than of his Instructions The Vices of a Minister are more conspicuous and infamous than of private Persons As a Blemish in the Eye is more conspicuous and disfiguring than in a concealed Part of the Body and they have the most corrupting destructive Influence upon others For there is nothing more natural than for Men to think that Ministers do not believe what they preach when there is a visible Contradiction between their Lives and their Words That their most zealous Sermons are rather Pageantry than serious Piety and accordingly to slight them This is a principal Reason that the Conversion of Sinners is so rare 'T is not from any defect in the word for that is not like some medicinal Drugs that lose their Virtue by Age it has the same Divine Power to revive dead Souls to transform the carnal into spiritual Persons to clarify the Mind that it may see things invisible to reconcile the Will to the Sanctity of God's Law to calm the stormy Affections and leave an Impression of its Purity in the Hearts of Men but the admirable and secret Grace of the holy Spirit is not usually concomitant with the Ministry of those who grieve him and quench him in themselves and they render the holy Doctrine ineffectual by their discordant Conversations It was the Character of the wicked Pharisees from the Mouth of Christ They say and do not and to them and all that are involved in the same Guilt the Saviour of the World threatens the most heavy Damnation 7. Humble fervent and continual Prayer to the Father of Mercies and the Father of Spirits that he would bless the outward Ministry is requisite to make it effectual The Conversion of Man is not wrought by Man but by the Energy of the holy Spirit God instructs us what he does in the more secret Operations of Grace by what he does in the more visible Operations of Nature This is express'd by the Apostle Paul plants and Apollos waters but God gives the Increase A Man plants a green Stick and waters it but the God of Nature forms the Tree in all its Parts the Root the Sap the Trunk the Branches and the Fruits The planting by the Hand of Man is necessary for the Growth of a Tree but what is that to the Divine Blessing Thus according to the ordinary Method of Divine Grace God unites his marvellous Power with the weak Ministry of Men for the Salvation of Souls and according
the pure Possibility of Being without the giving actual Being to us The natural Law that shines in the Minds of Men in the Knowledg of what is just and good and in the Conscience of what is evil binds them with the deepest Humility to acknowledg the Greatness and Goodness of our Creator and in the sense of this first and fundamental Benefit to consecrate our selves for ever to his Service 2. We are his Servants not only upon the general Title of Creation but in a more peculiar manner by Redemption Man by his Disobedience was fallen into a woful Bondage his Guilt subjected him to the threatning that contained two Deaths in one Sentence the temporal and present of the Body and the eternal of the Soul The righteous Judg of the the World whose Law was broken required an honourable Reparation of it the most costly Sacrifices of Beasts a Sea of Blood could never atone his Displeasure Nay the Obedience and Sufferings of Men and Angels were of no value to satisfy his injured Justice Thus Mankind was desperately lost our Ruines if I may so speak were sowed with Salt we were concluded under his most righteous and fearful Wrath If the Love and Wisdom of God had not accorded to find out that astonishing expedient of uniting the eternal Son of God with the human Nature in one Person that as Man he might voluntarily submit to bloody Sufferings and as God give an infinite Merit and Value to them and thereby purchase our Redemption This is accomplished by Jesus Christ The Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all he gave his Life a ransom for us From hence a new Right springs of his Dominion over us as the Apostle invincibly argues Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your Bodies and in your Spirit which are God's The naked representing of this to the serious Mind must awaken a dear Sense of our Obligations to our Saviour but if we solemnly and deliberately contemplate this amazing Benefit out of what Rock is the Heart framed that is not soften'd and melted in Love and Obedience to our Blessed Redeemer To heighten the Sense of our Obligations Consider 1. A more excellent Goodness is visible in the redeeming Man than in creating the Angels upon the account of the distance of the Terms and the Difficulty of the way to effect it In the Creation of Angels Goodness was rich indeed there being no Possibility of desert in pure nothing but it was simply free whereas in our Salvation it is merciful beyond all Imagination for by our Rebellion we were justly fallen under the Wrath of God Their Creation was without the least strain of his Power He spake and it was done But there was a legal Bar against our Restitution To remove it his Son endured the Curse of the Law for us and bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree Divine Love in our Redemption not only exceeds what was shewed in the Creation of Angels but is admirably illustrated by a higher comparison For the Father seemed to love us above his only begotten Son whom he spared not but delivered him up for us all and the Son loved us above his Life which he laid down for us 2. By the way of our Redemption he has infinitely honoured our Nature that was so vilified by the Fall Man whose Soul was an immortal Spirit stamped with the lively Image of God capable of everlasting Communion with him in Glory was sold for nought Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be very desolate That Man who had the two great Lights of Natural Reason and Divine Faith should prefer the pleasing an irregular Appetite before the Favour of God and for a vain Fancy lose the most substantial Happiness Thus Man being in Honour and understood not became like the Beasts that perish nay viler than the Earth And all the Children of Adam sin according to the Similitude of his first Transgression O the cheap Damnation of Sinners For transient Pleasures and mean Profits they venture upon eternal Death This guilty and woful Folly not only defiles but debases Men to Hell Now the Lord of Life and Glory by suffering an ignominious Death for us has with the clearest evidence discovered the true Worth of Souls That they are precious beyond comparison since the whole World is not a valuable Compensation for them We are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish That sacred Treasure of Heaven that was laid down for us exceedingly increases our Obligations to the Blessed Redeemer 3. By giving himself for us he has not only freed us from the Wrath of God but restored us to his dearest Favour We are translated from the fearful State of being God's Enemies into the amiable joyful State of his Children And consequently our Redeemer has purchased for us not only Salvation from Hell but eternal Glory a Life more divine and durable than the natural Life in Paradise How can we seriously think of this transcendent Benefit without a rapture of Affection He infinitely deserves our Love and Service who has bought us with so dear a price and purchased for us a glorious and incorruptible Inheritance 3. We are his Servants by his Deliverance of us from our Spiritual Enemies Satan Sin and Death Since the Devil obtained a woful Victory over us in the Fall of Adam great was the Triumph of Hell And though he be an Usurper of God's Right which could never be extinguished yet by our Overthrow he has a kind of a Title to us and keeps us as the Spoils of his Victory And having revolted from God we are justly though miserably under the Powers of Darkness We are chained in the lowest and the vilest Bondage The Soul and Body are under his tyrannous Dominion and suffer the deepest Wounds of Infamy and Cruelty He fetters our Minds with dangerous Delusions our Wills with divers Lusts and Passions and leads Men Captives in the ways of Sin till they fall into Hell the Centre of Misery Now as in redeeming a Captive there must be the paying the Ransom and the breaking his Chains that he may be restored to Liberty So besides the Price that was payed to God the Supreme Judg for our Discharge our Saviour has broken our Chains he by the sanctifying Spirit dispels the Darkness of our Minds softens the Hardness of our Hearts subdues the Rebellion of our Wills rectifies the Disorder of our Affections that we may be freed from the Domion of Sin as well as from the Obligation and Terrors of the Law He has broken the Powers of Darkness that conspired to keep us fast in the Intanglements of our Iniquities he has freed us from the spiritual Pharaoh and his cruel Task-Masters the imperious violent Lusts that are seated in the Heart and restores us to the glorious
Esteem and Affections of Men unless they are prodigiously degenerate and corrupted by their Lusts. The Heathens were convinc'd that Honour is the extrinsick Tribute always due to Vertue and some were so strict and had such Divine Thoughts as to maintain that Vertue is the only true Nobility 'T is foretold in Scripture The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance They leave an honourable Evidence of their Graces and Vertues in their Works and are of precious memory when the Name of the Wicked shall rot But the Reward our Saviour promises is the Honour that comes from God only And as his Majesty infinitely transcends all Earthly Principalities so in proportion the Honour that he confers upon his Servants is above all the Titles of Honour all the swelling Praises of Men. This Reward is given in the next World Here the Servants of Christ are sometimes darkened with many Afflictions and buried in sad Obscurity before they are dead They are the Objects of Scorn and Contempt St. Paul who was an incarnate Seraphim whose Zeal in the Service of his Divine Master exceeded all the Apostles yet was as he declares vilified as the off-scouring of the World Now such is the excellent Goodness of God that he will certainly in the next Life reward with the highest Honour all who have advanced his Honour The Honour and Glory of the future state is concealed at present 't is wrapt up in a Cloud only some glimmerings of it glance upon our Eyes Light is sowed for the Righteous the plenary Revelation is hereafter 'T is true the Apostle tells us that Life and Immortality are brought to Light through the Gospel But that is only to be understood of a Comparative Revelation to what was under the Law 'T is brought to the Light of Faith which is like to Break of Day when the Shadows of the Earth and the Light of Heaven are mixt There is a Veil between us and the Glory of Heaven partly to try our Faith whether we will believe the Promise of God without sensible Discoveries of it and to try the sincerity of our Love whether we love God for Himself without the distinct unfolding of that excellent Glory and to comply with the weakness whilst we are in such temper'd Tabernacles of Flesh. If the Beams of his Glory were display'd before our Eyes we should be struck with blindness as Saul was at the brightness of Christ's appearing to him The Flood of Light would swallow us up in Extasy and Amazement Our faint Faculties cannot sustain his Glorious Presence As God told Moses No Man can see my Face and live St. John tells Believers Now we are the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be Now our Names are written in the Book of Life in the Rolls of Eternity now we are Adopted into the Line of Heaven now we are cloathed with the Righteousness of Christ the Royal Purple Robe dyed in his Blood we have the Priviledges of the justified State we have a Right to the Eternal Kingdom by our Saviour's Purchase and the firm Covenant of Grace we have the Holy Spirit of Promise who is the earnest of our Inheritance and the Seal of God's Love to us But the full partaking of that Glory is reserved till we leave this visible World I will briefly glance at the several Degrees of the Reward that shall be conferred upon all whom the King of Glory delights to honour in the next World 1. The Scripture reveals that the Souls of just Men first come to the perfection of Glory If Adam had continued in his holy State after a short Immortality upon Earth he had been translated Alive and entire in Soul and Body to Heaven The everlasting Doors had been opened wide for his Reception But since our Disobedience tho our Guilt be pardoned the Gate is so strait that the gross Spoils of our Flesh must be left behind us Now immediately upon the dissolution of the Saints God sends a Guard of Angels his most noble Creatures to convoy their Souls into the Courts of his Honour into the Chamber of his glorious Presence Divine Dignity This is the priviledg of his chosen Friends and Favourites of the most illustrious and blessed Creatures In Heaven the Divine Majesty is seen in its Glory And if one Ray of it reflecting upon Suffering Stephen adorn'd him with Angelical Glory how much more will the Face of God most radiant and resplendent transform the Soul into an admirable Similitude of his Perfections When we shall see him as he is we shall be like him by his everliving Spirit the principle of the Divine Life and Beauty in the Soul as the Soul is of the natural Life and Beauty in the Body There will remain no shadow of Error in the Mind no mixture of Evil in the Will no Pollution in the Affections but the full Likeness of God in Holiness and Joy This is the highest Honour an immortal Spirit is capable of The State of Innocence wherein Man was created is call'd a State of Honour The Angels are dignified with the Title of Saints And God is glorious in Holiness It follows therefore when the Spirits of just Men are made perfect they partake of the Heavenly and Divine Honour If the Joy that springs from believing whilst we are in this Vale of Tears be unspeakable and full of Glory how glorious is the Joy that springs from the clearest Sight and the most intimate Fruition of the blessed God the Joy that is without defect or end as the Psalmist expresses In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore 2. At the last day their Bodies shall be raised and refined to a Spiritual Excellency and transformed into the Likeness of Christ's glorious Body The Apostle declares That the Consummation of the Saints Glory shall be at Christ's Appearance Then their Souls shall be reinvested with shining Robes of Immortality They shall be placed at the right Hand of the everlasting King which implies the highest Honour as God's being at our right Hand implies Protection and Defence They shall then receive a most glorious Testimony of his Acceptance Well done good and faithful Servants enter into your Master's Joy After they are approved they shall sit upon Thrones and judg the the World even the Prince of Darkness with all his Apostate Trains they shall give their solemn Suffrages to the Judgment pronounced by our Saviour saying Hallelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his Judgments And after the last Act of his Regal Office our Saviour will lead them into the Kingdom of his Glory to reign with him for ever and ever Who is able to unfold this excellent Glory all Humane Words are unworthy and too narrow to express it only the lively and ravishing Experience of that Glory can fully reveal it to us The meanest Saint in that Kingdom
the Glorified Saints who are the Princes of his Court and the Heavenly Nobility And the nature of the Work that is sublime and excellent becoming an Intellectual Soul that is Spiritual by Nature and Divine by Grace 'T is the most sweet and easy Service This will seem incredible to those who judg of the Delights of the Spirit by the Principles of the Flesh. In this Sense also the Carnal Man understands not the things of the Spirit Who can discover the Pleasure of Musick to one that was born Deaf or describe the Light of the Sun to one that was ever Blind who can see a Taste The Truth is the Life of Carnal Men has the appearance of Joy but not the reality And the Life of the Saints has a gloomy Melancholly appearance but has an inward cordial Joy incomparably above all the vain flashy Delights of the World A Carnal Man that serves divers Lusts and Pleasures is sometimes rack'd and vex'd betwixt contrary Passions Every Lust has a secret Sting with its Honey And as the corrupt Heart is its own Tempter so the guilty Conscience is its own Tormenter Besides the fearful apprehension of what shall follow in the next World when the revenging Justice of God and the cruel Malice of Satan shall concur to make the Sinner miserable is sufficient to poyson the sweetest Pleasures of Sin But the Life of a Saint is regulated by a Law that is always at Union in its Precepts He has Divine Assistance to enable him to perform it His gracious Master will pardon his Infirmities The Content of Conscience the Joy of the Holy Ghost that rewards our Duty here far exceeds all the Severity and Difficulty that the Carnal Nature complains of in obeying the Divine Law The Yoke of Christ is truly easy and his Burthen truly light His Service is the most profitable He will protect maintain and everlastingly reward his Servants Is there any Master so rich so liberal so faithful as Christ How often do the Slaves of the World complain that they have spent themselves in vain As Jacob reproached Laban Thou hast deceived me and changed my Wages ten times so may the Worldlings say whose Hopes have been often charm'd with the specious Promises of the World and deluded in the end Dear bought Experience at last convinces them of their woful Folly in seeking for Happiness where it was not to be found and neglecting to seek it where it was But the Servants of Christ have at the present their Fruit unto Holiness and in the end everlasting Life The Service of Christ here is Freedom Victory Empire and hereafter a triumphant Felicity I shall now address my self to the present Occasion which is to pay our last solemn Respects to the Memory of the Reverend Dr. Thomas Jacomb who was so universally known esteem'd and beloved in this City that his Name is a noble and lasting Elogy I shall not give an account of the time he spent in Cambridg where he was Fellow of Trinity Colledg and worthily esteemed in that flourishing Society But confine my Discourse to his Ministry in London Here the Divine Providence disposed him into the Family of a Right Honourable Person to whom he was deservedly very acceptable and whose real and most noble Favours conferred upon him were only to be equalled by his grateful and high Respects and his constant Care to promote serious Religion in her Family He was a Servant of Christ in the most peculiar and sacred Relation And he was true to his Title both in his Doctrine and in his Life He was an excellent Preacher of the Gospel and had a happy Art of conveying Saving-Truths into the Minds and Hearts of Men. He did not entertain his Hearers with Curiosities but with Spiritual Food He dispens'd the Bread of Life whose vital Sweetness and nourishing Vertue is both productive and preservative of the Life of Souls He preach'd Christ Crucified our only Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption His great design was to convince Sinners of their absolute want of Christ that with flaming Affections they might come to him and from his Fulness receive Divine Grace This is to water the Tree at the Root whereby it becomes flourishing and fruitful whereas the laying down of Moral Rules for the exercise of Vertue and subduing vicious Affections without directing Men to derive Spiritual Strength by Prayer and in the use of Divine Ordinances from the Mediator the Fountain of all Grace and without representing his Love as the most powerful motive and Obligation to Obedience is but pure Philosophy and the highest effect of it is but unregenerate Morality In short his Sermons were clear and solid and affectionate He dipp'd his Words in his Soul in warm Affections and breath'd a Holy Fire into the Breasts of his Hearers Of this many serious and judicious Persons can give Testimony who so long attended upon his Ministry with delight and profit His constant Diligence in the Service of Christ was becoming his Zeal for the Glory of his Master and his Love to the Souls of Men. He preach'd thrice a Week whilst he had Opportunity and Strength He esteemed his labour in his sacred Office both his highest Honour and his Pleasure At the first appearance of an Ulcer in his Mouth which he was told to be Cancerous he was observed to be not much concerned about it than as it was likely to hinder his Preaching that was his delightful Work and when he enjoyed Ease and after wasting Sickness was restor'd to some degrees of Strength he joyfully return'd to his Duty Nay when his Pains were tolerable Preaching was his best Anodyne when others fail'd And after his Preaching the reflection upon the Divine Goodness that enabled him for the discharge of the Service was a great relief of his Pains His Life was suitable to his Holy Profession His Sermons were Printed in a fair and lively Character in his Conversation He was an Example to Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity He was of a staid Mind and temperate Passions and moderate in Counsels In the managing of Affairs of Concernment he was not vehement and confident not imposing and over-bearing but was receptive of Advice and yielding to Reason His compassionate Charity and Beneficence was very conspicuous amongst his other Graces His Heart was given to God and his relieving beneficent Hand to the living Images of God whose pressing wants he resented with tender Affections and was very instrumental for their Supplies And as his Life so his Death adorn'd the Gospel which was so exemplary to others and so gracious and comfortable to himself The Words of Men leaving the World make usually the deepest Impressions being spoken most feelingly and with least Affectation Death reveals the Secrets of Mens Hearts And the Testimony that dying Saints give how gracious a Master they have served how sweet his Service has been to their Souls has a