Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part 1 · Sermon 10
That God the Father Almighty is to be served.
Joshua 24.15.
But as for me, I and my house will serve the Lord.
THe resolutions of a dying man are most weighty, and of most regard: Because however the heart of man being deceitful above all things, may in the time of youth,Jer 17.9. 1 Sam. 28.14. health, and prosperity, put on Samuels mantle, and act a part: yet when it draws toward the Exit, at the sight of Gods Tribunal, off the the mantle goes, and it discovers it self barely and really to the view of man.
Joshua was now old, and going the way of all flesh, he had acted fairly all his life, and being now come near the Plaudite, he calls the Elders, the Heads, the Officers of all Israel together to hear the Epilogue: He acquaints them what God had done for them,Verse 14. and therefore mindes them what they were to do for God; To fear him, to serve him in sincerity and truth, and not to serve any other God.Verse 2. Not the God that Terah and Nahor served in old time on the other side of the flood,Verse 15. nor yet the Egyptian, nor any Amoritish Idol. And if this good counsel should seeme evil to them, by a bitter Sarcasme he puts them to their choice; Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the Teraphims, your fathers gods, or Jehovah the God of your fathers: whether the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell, or the God of heaven who gave you their land to dwell in.
However, should you be so impious and sottish to make an ill choice; yet be it known to you, that not I, nor any of mine will do it. Shake off your yoke you may, and serve what stock or stone you please; But as for me, I and my house will serve the Lord.
In this pious resolution there is not a word, which is not verbum vigilans; and it were an argument then of too much sloth, to be either drowsie or asleep when they are recited. Or if you had rather apt and fit words; for they will make your faith Practical; and to that purpose I have chosen them, that you may serve that God whom you beleeve to be your Father, whom you confesse to be Omnipotent, and maker of all things. Solomon tells us,Prov. 25.11. that such words are spoken upon their wheeles, and then in their turning they will turne to us one good lesson or other. That then these wheeles turne not too fast, and so the lesson be turned away too, I will endeavour thus to stay them. For sufflaminandus est noster Joshua, this our Joshua is to be trigg'd. Let then the first stop be.
1. At But, the Adversative particle.
2. The second at the chief person. I, that noble Joshua.
3. The third at his family or houshold. Domus mea.
4. The fourth at that which unties them, the copulative, &, I and my house.
5. The fifth at the Act upon which the maine weight lies, I and my house will serve.
6. The last at the object of his service, The Lord. Without which Joshua and his house might have little thanks for his labour.
The speech then, though very compendious, is exceeding rich; and that you view and prize it as you ought, and being it into practice, I will more fully open unto you the particulars.
1. But as for me.
And here we must make the first pause; for But is particula adversativa, ever a note of discretion, or else distinction, and adviseth us to put a difference betwixt person and person, thing and thing; somewhat that is said or done before, and somewhat that is to follow after. It doth so here; notice out to us a manifest resolution in Joshua, in case the Israelites should revolt from God, not to be like them. Possible it was, that they and their posterity might fall away from the true service of God, as indeed they did; But he and his would never do it. Let them run their own course, another way he was resolved to take. They theirs, He his. That way they, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Yea, but what folly was this in a wise man, and what want of policy? What, one Joshua wiser than a whole Nation? What one single tribe or family more precise than a whole State? Yea, than the whole world, when it leaves the world to serve God;Psal. 111.10. Prov. 1.7. & 15.13. Rom. 1.30. Matth. 7.14. 1 Kings 9.10. & 12.28. 2 Sam. 22.24. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome; with that a man must begin, or else they may be witty, but never wise. Witty to finde out many inventions, not so wise to follow foreign, the beaten, but strait and narrow way that leads to life. The broad is not the way to heaven, and yet in it most run; But he that leaves it, and turnes from it to the strait, is wiser than a whole Nation.
Who had the wit, Eliah, or the ten Tribes, when he stuck to God, and they revolted to Baal? Who wiser, Jeroboam that set up his Calves, or David, who served his God with an upright heart? Who was the greater Politique, Noah, or the whole world? they who perished, or he who was saved in the Ark? The Sodomites that were burnt up, or Lot that was one of the ten righteous persons in those wicked Cities? Let the matter then be well examin'd, and Religion will be found to be the best policy; and constancy in and to the Truth, the strongest foundation for security, peace, and prosperity.
Mat. 26.33.Saint Peters resolution then was very commendable, Although all men shall forsake thee, yet will not I; of which minde the rest of his fellows were, for likewise said they all. For let it be granted, that out of weakness they stood not to it when the time came, yet their purpose was praise-worthy. Now the same minde ought to be in every one of Christs followers, never to follow a multitude to do evil,Exod. 23.2. but to be resolute in the old and good way, firmly resolving within himself, Though all men forsake the truth, and worship their own imaginations,Gen. 49.6. Psalm 26.8. yet will not I. My soul shall not come into their secr…t, nor to their assembly mine honour shall not be united. My foot standeth right, I will praise the Lord in the great Congregation.
1 Cor. 4.9, 13.Be it, that for this thou be esteemed foreign, the off-scouring of the world, a spectacle to men and Angels; be it that thou be the musick of a prophane eare, and hooted at as some strange thing. Be it, that they which sit in the gate speak against thee, esteem'd as Saint Paul, a pestilent fellow,Psalm 69.12. Acts 24 5. 1 Kings 17.18. Luke 9.62. Job 31.36. Rev. 3.16. Tit. 2.14. Ephes. 5.15. Matth. 5.29. Isa. 58. Matth. 11.12. Jer. 15.19. Ephes. 2.2. 1 Peter 4.2. Rom. 12.2. or as Elijah, a troubler of Israel; yet having put thy hand to the Plough, look not back, but hold it thy greatest honour to be dignified and stiled with Joshua, Servus Domini, Verse 29. The Servant of the Lord. Binde it as a Crown to thy head, to be singled out for a good man, and to make conscience of those duties which other men never shrink at, or think on; as to be hot in Religion; to be zealous in good works; to walk circumspectly; to pluck out the right eye; to make the Sabbath a delight; to take heaven by force. For God exacts in his children an excellency beyond other men, and that they hold a strange counter-motion to the courses of the World; They are the precious separated from the vile; and therefore must differ from the course of this World, from the lusts of men, and from the corruption of the times.
Christians ought to be men of singularity; singular I say in holiness, in purity, in charity, in meekness, peace, humility, but not in faction, schism, and furious zeale. And here the counsel of Saint Paul is of singular use, It is good to be zealously affected in a good matter. Gal. 4.18.The thing must be good, or else the zeale will be stark naught.
Now zealots there be too many; who, let authority command what it may lawfully, start aside with rebellious Co…ah, and cry, We will not come up. God forbid that we should obey man.Num. 16.12. Ego & domus mea serviemus D…mino. Live and dye we will, that's sure, with a cleare conscience. But Science is the ground of conscience; and if that knowledge may be nick-named, and so no knowledge, indeed much more may conscience, which applieth that knowledge to particular acts.1 Tim. 6.20. A polluted and defiled conscience there is, which begets a vaine and defiled Religion. There is Asinina conscientia; there is Lupina. The conscience of the Ass, and the conscience of the Wolf. A conscience so simple, that it will straine at a gnat, make a scruple at every thing indifferent in it self, especially if commanded by a Superiour. Then there is will-worship, or else superstition, or I know not what in it; away with it; others may, but I will not come neare it. By the help of God,Acts 4.19. Judges 8.33.9.4. 1 King. 12.28. Dan. 3.5. Mat. 26.15. I and my house will serve the Lord. The Lord, and not man; for whether it be fit to obey God or man, judge ye. Another conscience there is, that no Wolves Throat is wider; any thing enjoyn'd, be it right or wrong, will down with it. The worship of Baalberith, the Calves in Dan and Bethel, Nebuchadnezzars golden Image, Judas's thirty pieces of silver, the Pharisees Corban, what you will shall be swallowed.Mark 7.11. And here indeed, and none but here, is the right Application of this Text, and this example; that, command who will, upon a certaine evidence of conscience that God commands otherwise, refuse we may, nay must; For Si aliud Deus, aliud imperator jusserit, contempto hoc, obtemperandum est Deo, August.If God commands one thing, and the Emperour the flat contrary, we must despise man, and obey God.
And such was this present case, not a dispute of Rites and Ceremonies, not a matter of decency and order, of Unity and Uniformity in the worship of God; but in effect whether Jehovah should be God; and as God worshipped, or the Idols of the Amorites be set up. Now in such a case not to be stout and zealous, were either flat Apostacy, or at best Neutrality. Both impieties that God hates. Joshuah in such a case was too stout to yield. A party he shew'd himself, being zealously bent to stand it out single, yea, though it were against all Israel. Desert me if you will, choose another God if you please; resolv'd I am, that the Lord of heaven shall be my God. Come on't what will, I will serve him.
2. But as for me. I, Ego.
As I am the first man in the State, and the chiefest man in my family, so I'le be the formost man in the service. And will you mark me one thing by the way? and mark it you shall do well; for it is almost a miracle, that Ego should meet together with Serviam. For it is a wonder that so great a person, and such a duty should kiss each other. Usual it is not with such an I per se I as Joshuah, such a Grandee, so Valiant a Captaine, so mighty a General and Conquerour, to entertaine a thought of this service. They, with the great Alexander will be Gods themselves;Arrian, Sueton, Tacit. or with the Romane Augustus, suffer Altars and Temples to be erected to their Deities forsooth, be adored and not adore; served and not serve;
Raro conveniunt & in una sede morantur
Majestas & honor Domini.
For such with Pharaoh ask proudly, Who is the Lord, that a people should be let go to serve him? Exod. 5.2. Isa. 36.20.or with that eloquent and bitter-tongu'd Rabshekah, What's the God of Israel more than the Gods of other Nations, that such high and mighty things as they should fall down and worship him? Christ is no more with them than a bare Galilean, the Carpenters Sonne, and his Gospel a gainful story. For Popes can blaspheme, and Princes can be prophane; and these earthly Gods, scoff at the God of the whole earth. This they can do, and some of them have done; But not one of them but had cause enough to repent it. The hand of this mighty Lord was upon the proudest Sir of them all, and force them to confess, that it had been far better to have been his servants.
The time came when the proud Pharaoh himself is glad to put his mouth in the earth, and speak in a low voice, God is righteous, and I am wicked. Exod. 9.27.And when haughty Senacharib shall flie with a hoook in his nostrils,Herod. lib. 2. and write for all posterity to reade, foreign, Let a man look upon me, and learn to feare God. And that great Conquerour of the East when he sees his blood, confesses it to be foreign, not foreign, blood, the very same for substance that flows out of other mens veines,Hom. Il. not that thin and serous distillation that was wont to flow from the wounded Deities, as the Poets feign'd, and his flatterers would make him believe. To be brief, that Renegado Julian may end with this desperate acknowledgement, Ʋieisti Galilaee, O Galilean thou hast overcome, with the same breath professing his own ma…ice, and Christs power. His inveterate malice by the scorne, but the power of this Galilean in his victory over him. At which time, had you been by, when these fearful plagues fell upon these proud monsters that would be none of Gods Servants, you might have seen their Servants and Sycophants that we…e wont to glory in these great Lords,Isa. 8.22. and more to serve them than God, perhaps to curse their King and their God, and look upward.
Better it is to do that for love, to which a man may be brought for feare. Though men be the greatest Potentates and Grandees upon the earth; yet with Joshua to write themselves Servus Domini, and with David to acknowledge, I am thy servant Lord, I am thy servant; and with Saint Paul to subscribe, The Servant of Jesus Christ, Psalm 116.16. Rom. 1.1. Tit. 1.1.and day by day to do him homage. Conceive what you list, shame it is none, nay, 'tis the greatest honour to finde an Honourable Personage honouring God upon his knees. For this is the Triumph of Religion, to bring down the greatest Lords, and make them Servants.
2. And God is best pleased when he sees the great man at his service; for the meanest will be sure to follow him; Honour they will him, that their Master honours; and despise him, whom he despiseth. Great reason then there is, that as Ego, I, stands in the Text, so he go before Domus, the House; that he be first in his service, as he is in his place.
First, And that first in respect of his Receipt; more he hath receiv'd than any of his family, and therefore is richer in Obligations. Oblig'd for more wealth and for more honour, bound for the fat of the earth, and the dew of heaven conferr'd upon him Centuplum, Gen. 27.28.an hundred to one more than any of his houshold; and is it reason then that his payment of thanks, and return of service be less? Somewhat proportion'd, questionless, these would be; More acknowledgements, where greater blessings are bestow'd.
Secondly, More in respect of his Accompt; for he that hath received much,Matth. 25.16. must give an accompt for much; for no less than five Talents, who hath received five. Now suppose that these are laid out for that use they were given, in the service of God, and the advancement of his glory, then the accompt shall be with joy. But if upon his own lusts, at the General Audit no quietus est will be had,Heb. 13.17. Matth. 25.26. the accompt will be with grief. Out of his Lords mouth whom he should have serv'd, he will heare, Ah serve nequam, Luke 12.47. Wisd. 6.6. Rev. 18 6.O thou wicked servant! Thus I did by thee, and thus and thus thou deal'st with me; his reward will be stripes, many stripes; for the mighty men shall be mightily tormented.
Thirdly, To return to what I begun this point with; first in respect of his Family; for they'le all be the better if he be the first, and all be the worse when hee's the last. As then Joshuah, or any in Joshuahs place is chief in the House, so it becomes him to be the chief example in the House: The first Servant of God. Philo the Jew tells us, that God placed the fifth Commandment foreign, as it were, in the Confines of both Tables, because the practique part of both Tables did much depend upon it; the service to God,1 Kings 14.16. 2 Chron. 31.20 Amos 5.24. and the service to man. Jeroboam sinnes, and he causes all Israel to sinne with him. Hezekiah did that which was good and right, and truth before the Lord his God, and in his time judgement did run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty streame. The Lacedemonian Souldiers being ask'd, Which way they, who being wont to live by forrage and spoile, became on a sudden so honest and abstenious? answered, We are the same now and heretofore, foreign, but we have now another General than we had before;Xenoph. 3. graec. hist. for instead of a thievish Thymbrion, we have a just and modest Dercyllus. For too true it is, the example of the Master is the Servants Rule; the Lords l…fe, his followers Law.Claud.
—Non sic inflectere sensus
Human s edicta valent ut vita regentum.
For whether this be done out of flattery or no, it is not certaine; For by assimilation he hopes to strengthen himself in his Masters affection, without which he knows that love cannot long last; for Idem v…lle, Plutarch. Cicero de amicit.& idem nolle ea dem…m firma …micitia. Hence it is that his Masters life is his glasse; and he assures himself to please most, when he most resembles him: Or whether it proceed out of a presumption of great wisdome and judgement in those they follow, that direct them, as they conceive to make the best choice; or else, which is most likely, a feare to displease. For, for a poor Servant to dislike wha… his Master loves, and practice what he hates, were to upbraid his course and choice, cast him out of favour, and pull upon himself what was laid to Jos…phs charge, though falsely, The H…brew servant that thou broughtst in unto us, c…me into to mock us.Gen 39.14.
For some of these reasons, or all these, the poor servant wil… be observ…nt of his Masters way; ait, aio; negat, nego; say what he sayes,Terent. and unsay what he de…es; depend upo… his Masters tongue, his Masters eye, his Masters nod, sh…pe himself wholly to his Ma…ters Religion and fashion, Ʋt trahitur nervis alienis mobile lignum.Horat.
Tell me now, whether Ego, Joshuah the Lord of the Land, had not need be at service, when the good life and Religion of his family depend upon his example and devotion?
To what the… shall I liken such a man, or to what shall I compare him? To me he seems to resemble the brazen Serpent set up by Mo es in the Wilderness, that heal'd, being o ly beheld.Num. 21.9. Conceive you …aw a great multitude thronging about that exalted picture, some hea…ed▪ some to be healed, others wond…ring which way this could be, that the sight of a piece of b…ass raised upon the top of a pole, could heale a mortal wound, and yet blessing the Name of God, when they saw (without any torment of the disaffected party, or help of Art, or length of time) the malignity of the ve…ome i… a moment to abate, the sting pull'd out, and the languishi g man cured. Be pleased to compare every great personage with this Brazen Serpent, and you shall see greater things than these; except you suppose it a lesse matter to repaire the sores of a vitious soul, than of a wounded body. Look on him all you that are under him, and you shall see a living salve set on h gh, which without any cost or long study, Art or Rule, will cure by the sight, and heal by an insensible motion. In the face and practice of an eminent person, there is such force and vertue, that he heals where he is but seen; and more miraculously, in an instant works upon an invenom'd and a poysoned soule, than either the straitest prohibition of the wisest Law-givers, or the studied Rules and Precepts of the gravest Philosophers, or the Thunder and Lightning of the most powerful Divi…es. Where he comes, he dashes sinne out of countenance, and gives life to Religion, Odium peccandi non metum facit, Seneca.his followers more hate sinne, than feare it. And when he enters in o the Temple, foreign, a Canon and Rule goes in with him,Naz. de Basil. and example to others how they ought to behave themselves at the…r devotions. That by his reverence they learn to enter in a reverent manner, fall upon th…ir k…ees and bless God, when they see him humbly on his knees, and hear, and learne their duties, when they behold their Master attentively to learn his. That will fall out, what the Senate with one voice in a publick acclamation profess'd to Severus, Xiphilin. in Severo.foreign. All will do all things well, because thou dost begin well.
3. My House.
Let then Ego the Master be sure to serve the Lord. But all the service must not lie upon him. Domus the family must do its part also. Serve rhey must as well, nay indeed better than before their Master. For the Master and the man have both dependance on a h…gher Lord, and in Relation to him the homage must be done by both. The great Lord must not omit, nor the menial servant must not be behinde; Joshua enters the Covenant not for himself alone, but for his house too, I and my house will serve.
But because the servant is very like to follow when the Master goes before, I shall need to say the less of it; and yet a word in their eare will not do amiss. For first,
1. What is the house? what save a little Kingdome containing all the Societies of Husband and Wife, and Father and Sonne, and Master and Servant in it? Or if you had rather, a body compacted of many members, of which the Master is the Head, the rest the parts, an eye, an eare, a hand, a foot, in a higher,Obstetrixon ajorum. in a lower place, as their worth is; for by these names the Persians were wont to call their servants.
Now if the eye be evil, you know what will follow; the head will have but a dimm and a dark light to see by; or if the hand be wither'd, or the foot lame,Ephes. 6.6. Col. 3.22. the service will be according. The endeavours will be lame, and the obedience blinde, where the Inferiour serves with eye-service, and not from the heart. Let the man then serve a Lord above, as well as a Lord below, and be taught, that he hath a duty to do out of conscience as well as feare, or else he may wait at the Table, and hang on for his meat, but he will fall off, or be shak'd off, as a leaf from a Tree in the downfall of Winter, when there is most reason to stick fastest on. I will never be perswaded, that he will ever be a true servant to man on earth, that is not a devout and Religious servant to God in heaven. If he be false to his God, how can it be expected that he should be true to his Image? Religion and conscience must make him what he should be,Mat. 26.49. or else with Judas, he may bring an Ave in his mouth, when he harbours villany in his heart.
2. Besides it stands every Servant upon, that his Masters business be promoted, and thrive well under his hand. Now what can his diligence do without Gods blessing?Prov. 10.4, 22. The diligent hand makes rich, saith Solomon; And the blessing of God makes rich, saith he in the same Chapter. Diligence with Gods blessing; with both these the work may well go on; but without either, very slowly, and without the last never. For exclude the blessing, and 'tis but in vain to rise early,Psalm 127.2. and so late take rest. And I pray which way can a blessing be brought upon our labour, but by falling on the knee and asking it? God being serv'd, he will serve them and their Master; whereas if they disserve God, their Masters necessities may for their impiety receive a check from heaven. Take notice of it, you shall find how God blessed the Master, when the Servant pleased God.Gen. 30.27. Laban was the better, when Jacob was within his doors, though a very churle; yet he had learn'd this by experience, That the Lord had blessed him for Jacobs sake. Gen. 47.20.How was Pharaohs estate improv'd by the wise service of Joseph? I forbear more examples. Let then every servant that bears any good-will to his Master and his prosperity, first serve God. So what he undertakes may prosper, not otherwise.
3. But if he love not his Master, yet let him love himself. God hath made him of the same mould that he made his Master, though he raised his Lord to be a vessel of honour. His Lord a vessel, and the man a vessel too, and therefore both for service. In his degree and place then, he, as well bound to serve as his Lord. A soul he hath to save, and an accompt to make for his time, his duty, as well as the greatest Potentate on earth. He shall be no more past by and forgotten, than those great ones; and therefore he must be diligent to do his duty. A Vision Saint John had,Rev. 20.12 and in it he saw the dead gr at and small stand before God. Look upon those at the Bar, and you shall not only finde the Grandees there. You that stand and wait now, must await your doom then. The meanest person must appear; the small as well as the great; the man as well as the Master; He at the Table, and that other in the Stable must then stand forth, and give an accompt how they have serv'd this Lord. Your own accompt, your Masters prosperity, your foreign, or eye-service which then must be answered for, will I hope, be sufficient motives to you of the family, that you serve God.
4. I and my House.
Hitherto have I consider'd the Lord and his Servant single and apart. Now I come to speak of them joyntly; for in Gods publick service disjoyn'd they must not be. The Commandment runnes in this form, Thou and thy Son, Exod. 20.10.and thy Daughter, thy man servant, and thy maid servant, &c. When the Sabbath comes, and the service to be done out of the house, the Master must not appear alone in the Church, and the servant left to his corner. Nor when publickly in the house, the Master must not petition in his Closet, and the servant apart in his Chamber; It is as it should be, when both meet, and joyn their force. This same Et is foreign, a Conjunction Copulative, and it knits them both together.
And together they would be kept united in Gods house, as they are hous'd under one roof. For as in the body natural it fares betwixt the stomach and the head; a Rheumatick head marrs the stomach by continual distillations; and a cold stomach fills and offends the head with raw vapours: So is it here; the Master neglecting to serve God, as the head, distills a neglect that marrs and cooles the whole house; and the house by him dis-affected, sends up most ill-favour'd vapours, that too often disquiets and distempers his brain. Great quietness, content and ease there is in the family, when they both joyn in divine service. The father of the faithful may be in this case a pattern to the faithful. A peremptory command he layes upon his children and his houshold to keep in Gods way, and to be just and upright; and God takes notice of it, and upon it makes him à secretioribus, of his Privy Council,Gen. 18.19. I know Abraham that he will command, &c. and therefore shall I hide ought from him that I am to do? He will not hide my wayes from his, and therefore I will not hide my wayes from him.
Joshuah was for his house as well as himself; Moses for the whole people, Thou shalt teach, whet, or sharpen my Statutes upon thy children. Deut. 6.7.Pauls care was to instruct all the Churches. Davids call general, Come, 2 Cor. 11.28. Psal. 95.1, 6.l…t us kneele, &c. Come, let us go together to Gods worship. That permission of Pharaoh will work coldly, Go ye, go to Church, and serve the Lord. Davids call is of more power, Come with me to serve God; come my Wife, Exod. 8.25.come my Son, come my Kinsman, come my servant, go along with me, and joyn with me in Gods service. This, this is it which will add much life and heat to our publick devotions.
And here will I sing unto you of mercy and judgement, being a Psalm set by David to tune his houshold, and if we learn it, and give good eare to it, it will keep our families in tune too.Psal. 101. First, for Ego, the Master.
1. That he behave himself in a perfect way, verse 2.Verse 2.
2. That he walk in his house with a perfect heart.
Verse 3.3. That he set no wicked thing, or of Belial before his eyes.
4. That he hate the works of them that turne aside, never cleave to them.
Verse 4.5. That wicked persons be not known to him, no dealing, no acquaintance with them, no counsel to be taken from them.
Thus wary he ought to be over himself, and after let him reflect upon his family, to which he is to extend his mercy and his justice; For those are the other two straines of the Psalme.
Verse 6.1. Mercy and favour to be extended to him that deserv'd it. Could he but hear of a faithful man in the Land, his eye should be presently cast upon him, that he might dwell with him. He that walk'd in a perfect way, he was a servant for him. Thus favourable would he be to good men.
2. But as for the naughty persons, they were like to taste of his justice.
1. Were any retainer of his a pickthank, one that privily slandereth his neighbour,Verse 5. he was resolv'd to cut him short.
2. Were a man of a proud look, and a proud heart, one who would not obey,Verse 8. and submit, he should not be endured. I will not suffer him.
Verse 7.3. Did he work deceit, he must seek him another Master; for he should not dwell within his house.
4. Were he a lyar, out of his sight he must, under his roof there was no staying for him.
This was the Musique that David sung to his family, and if you would be pleased to call for the Song oftner, and put every straine thereof in practice, you might finde far better harmony within dores, than perhaps you do; there would not be such jarting and discord in the house. For these tell-tales and high, proud, surly servants, these deceitful, bloody men and lyars, set all out of order. Set then your families to the tune of this Psalme. Let the Master as it were the Base set himself in tune, and to himself tune all the lesser instruments. The truer strings let him winde up to a just height by rewards and mercy. The false and uneven let him break or cast aside by severity and justice. O then quam bonum & jucundum, Psal. 133.1.how sweet and pleasant will be that Musique which he and his family will make in the eare of God,Cicero. de Senec. and unexpressible is that content which he will take in it himself; when his servants fear him, his children reverence him, old and young respect, love, honour him! Deare he will be to all, because he is deare to his God. This, this will be the effect of his piety. 'Tis wisdome then to put on Joshua's resolution, and to perform what he here undertakes, I and my house will serve the Lord.
5. Serviemus Domino. Serve the Lord
All this while I have only prepared the men, but now I shall set before them their duty, Bring down the Lord and make him a servant; and raise the servant, and make him a little Lord, a free-man at least; for Servire huic Domino libertas, To serve this Lord is the sole liberty. He is no drudge to the world, no slave to the Devil, no captive to the flesh, which is Gods servant. The Law of Jesus Christ hath made him free.Rom. 6.18 22. 1 Cor. 7.22. Luke 1.74. Liberati serviamus, Being then freed, let us serve.
Serve with true and religious service; for fashionable and complemental this Lord cares not for. Would that be taken, he should have as many servants almost as men, dissemblers good store, that would come and crouch, and make their mouth kisse their hand;Job 31.27. ready to subscribe, engage, and professe, your servant Lord, you servant, I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With such complements men may be deluded, but Jesus Christ will not; for not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall presently be inroll'd in his service;Matt. 7.21. as the planter expects from his tree more than fair blossomes, or green leaves, so doth he expect from his servants more than specious word. Works he calls for, and real service, which whether it be so or no, necessary it is, that it be examined according to the Act, the Rule, the Fountain, the Object; the very act that we do, the rule by which it is to be done, the fountain whence it flows, and the object upon which we reflect in the doing of it.
1. In one word the Acts are the whole worship of God, begun and continued within, expressed and performed without. The service of the heart, the service of the eare, the service of the knee, tongue, hand; Faith, Hope, Love, Feare, Trust, Honour, Humility, Obedience, Patience, Prayer, Thanksgiving, Almes, Fasting. And all these exhibited sincercly, entirely, constantly. Sincerely, and so not polluted with carnality, nor blended with hypocrisie; entirely, and then not choosing in what we will serve, in what we will not serve; and constantly, and then not waiting upon him to day, and falling off to morrow, as pleasure or profit call upon us.
2. The limbs only, and lineaments of your work I have, as it were, with a back coale, set before you; I must leave it to you to fill up the empty spaces; which that you may the easilier do, I next present you with the rule you are to work by: Which is not one of your own making, but made to your hand. We setting light by the rule of God, thinking it a goodly matter to be witty, and to finde out things of our selves how to serve him; This makes men not to forbear even in things that pertaine unto Gods worship, but every day to devise new tricks, opinions, fashions, newly and fresh taken up, which their fathers never knew of; or else to revive and renew the old imaginations, and mingle and card them with Gods commands, that men may fall down, adore and worship them.
But God hath taken order to the contrary, You shall not do every man what seemes good in his own eyes, or findes out in his own braines,Deut. 12.8. but what I command you, that only shall you do. Nay, Moses himself the Law-giver, who brought an order for this service, might do no other;Exod. 25.40. & 26.30. secundum formam in monte, according to the patterne in the Mount he was to prescribe and do all things; and shall any man then dare to forge another?2 Kings 17. There were indeed some who attempted to bring in a new forme, to fear the Lord, and serve their own gods also; but God sent Lions among them to destroy them: For that was not the manner of the God of the Land. Served he will be, and only so served as he hath prescribed in his Word.
3. Now the fountain from which this service must spring is Devotion,Thom. 2. 2. q. 82. Art. 1. which makes a man quick and ready to piety, and wakeneth and disposeth him to do his duty with facility and easinesse. The greatest hindrance in our service, is, the corruption of our nature, from which there proceeds a great inclination to be obstinate and rebellious. This makes every command of our Lord difficult, and to our apprehension impossible. Now against this difficulty and heavinesse, our good Lord hath provided a most fit and convenient remedy, to wit, the vertue and assistance of devotion. For even as the Northwind scatters and dissolves the clouds, and leaves the aire bright and clear, so true devotion shakes off from our soul all this heavinesse and difficulty, and leaves her afterwards ready and disposed to do any thing that our Lord commands. Non fingit laborem in praecepto. It talks not of a Lion,Prov. 26.13. Mark 16.3, 4. Acts 9.6. or I know not of what perilous beast in the way, it goes on though there be a great stone at the mouth of the Sepulchre; asham'd it is to confesse that any command is too hard for it, and therefore it sayes with Saint Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? How fit devotion makes a man to work, appears in one of Gods best servants,Psal. 119.32. that thus professeth before his Lord, I will run the way of thy Commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty.
4. But nor the alacrity, nor the service is to any purpose, if it be placed upon a wrong object. Better a great deale forborne, than exhibited; for the more zealous any man is, the more officious in the service of a false God, the more trayterous, the more false to his true Lord. That you gad not then about so much to change the way,Jer. 2.36. listen to Joshua, he will tell you whom you must serve. It is the Lord.
A Lord then, that is, every Lord that comes in your way, you may not serve: Nor Baal, nor Ashteroth, nor Milcom, nor Dagon, nor any of the gods of the Nations; nor Mammon, nor your belly, nor the image of the beast, later erected Idols.Matth. 6.24, Phil. 3.19. Rev. 16.2. Rev. 17.14. But you must serve the Lord, The Lord, foreign, him who is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Them, why should you serve? for they are no gods; see what names of shame and scorne this Lord hath put upon them. Gelilim, gods of dung, Shikutsim, Ezech. 20.8. Dan. 9.27.or foreign, abominations, loathsome pieces, that defile the conscience, and are of as much account in his eye, as dung and excrements is in ours. This they are in themselves; but to their followers and servants they become Emim, 1 Chron. 15. Jer. 50.38. Isa. 45.16.gods that fright them into their duties; or Zirmi, Tormina, such as are upon women in child-birth, to theirr servants they bring nothing but sorrow. They that serve them are guilty of folly. Loammi, no people, or at best a foolish people;Hos. 10.15. Hos. 1.9. Deut. 32.11. Hos. 10.13. Hos. 8.10. Exod. 20.2. foolish indeed that eate the bread of lies, foolish that put their trust in the Spiders web; for such their confidence is a net which the wind breaks, or broome sweeps down. Such gods then you must not set up nor serve coram eo, gnal pani, before his face, so long as he lives, so long as he is, you shall choose no other God. For in opposition to these it is, that Joshua makes here his protestation.
He remembers what Moses had left upon record, with which our Saviour chased away the Devil;Deut. 10.20. Matth. 4.10, 11 It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Him, and him alone. For though the Heathen gods were good fellows, and could be content to share in each others servives; yet our Lord is a jealous God, and will have all or no part of our service; he never made any deed of gift, by which he set over any parcel of his honour to another.
And to my understanding, two motives are couched in these two words, to quicken us in his service. The first is in the Act, Serviemus, the other in the Object,Scaliger in Varronem ex Jurisconsultis. Domino. 1. Servire is by Grammarians derived from servare to save, from whence comes servus, or servando; For they were first called Servi, who were Servati, being taken by the Souldier, had their lives saved, in regard of which favour servants they must be to that man who saved their lives. In respect of which favour Joshua might very well covenant for himself, for he knew what it was to be a bondslave; he was one of those that burnt the brick.Exod. 1.14. This Lord had saved him, and then he had reason to serve him. And in his delivery, the liberty of his posterity was purchased also, and the freedom of the other Israelites in the setting at large of their fathers. Being then saved from Pharaohs fury, and the Egyptian power, saved since from Og King of Bashan, Verse 6.7.8.9, 10.11.13.and from Sihon the Amoritish tyrant. Sav'd from Balaaks craft, and Baalams curse; Sav'd again at Jericho from the confederacy of seven Princes; Sav'd only? nay enrch'd too by a gift of land, for which they did not labour, and of Cities which they never built, and Vineyards and Olive-yards which they never planted. And what shall we make of all this? tell me, can it amount to lesse than a bond or an obligation? Would not every weak understanding draw Joshua's conclusion out of such premises? Now therefore serve the Lord. Servati you are, therefore it is fit you should be Servi. Sav'd, and therefore by the Law of equity and Nations,14. to be at his command that sav'd you.
That the same argument concludes us, I need not doubt, who were sav'd as many wayes as ever Isra…l. Our ignorance in times past was beyond that darknesse of Egypt; sav'd we were from that; sav'd again from the powder you know where; and sav'd from the Armado, you know when; and yet we expect a day of redemption. But all these deliverances laid together are nothing to the Suprema Salus, A safety promised to Israel, Rom 6.17, 18. 2 Tim. 2.26 Luke 4 18. Ephes. 2.3, 4.but purchased and conveyed to us by the blood of Christ. Servants we were of sinne, and sav'd we are, and made servants of righteousnesse. In captivity we were to Satan, taken by him at his will; but Christ hath preached deliverance to the captives. Children of wrath we were, but saved from that, and become sons of his love, Prisoners we were, tied wi…h the chains of our sins, and with the bonds of iniquity, and sitting in the darknesse and shadow of death.Luke 1.79. But he hath knocked off the chains, and broken these bonds, dispelled this darknesse, and brought us into his marvellous light, and therefore servati serviamus, being so miraculously saved, and from such and so many dangers,1 Pet. 2.9. let us vow to bestow our whole lives in the service of that Lord who hath out of meer mercy and love saved and delivered us.
2. Bound we are to serve then, so oft as we reflect upon his goodnesse; yea, and bound to serve again, when we consider his greatnesse. Dominus est, Psal. 145.3.It is the Lord, of whose greatnesse there is no end, and why then should there be any end of our service? So that in this word Lord, the…e is, as I conceive, a second motive couched to perswade our homage: Adoration being due to Lordship and Dominion. In earth we serve none, either with natural, moral, or civil reverence, except a Superiour, him whom the Law stiles father, one to whom this grand Lord hath imparted some of his power.
That we serve these with a civil and humane honour,Nazianz. it is because they are Representatives of this Lord, some in full and well proporion'd Statues, as Kings, others in pictures down to the middle, as greater Lords; others in lesser meddals to the shoulders only, as all inferiour Magistrates. To these we must submit, to these we must bend, because they are hi…her powers;Rom. 13.1. which shewes evidently, that where no Lordship, no service is due, but with the title the duty is annexed.
Inseparably annexed I say, it is, and to be paid, not upon courtesie, but upon due debt Due to all those earthly Lords after and under …od, because their Dominion is not absolute, nor their Lordship supreme. It is à De…, sub D…o, in Deum. But due to this Lord absolutely without any limitation, because he is the Lord Paramount of heaven and earth. Even Angels and Saints may not be sharers in this service; and why so?Heb. 1. Rev. 19. because though they have Grace and Glory above men, yet Dominion they have not; ministring Spirits they are; Ministers then, not Lords; brethren and fellow-serva…ts, not Masters and Commoners, and therefore uncapable of divine honour. For no man ever offered such a service to a y, quem non aut Deum sc…vit, aut p…tavit, …ut finxit, whom he thought not, or knew, or fain'd not to be a God.
Weigh then the strength of this last reason, God is the Lord, the Lord absolute without any condition, the sole Lord without compare: Lord of men and Angels, Lord of death and Devils, Dominus dom…norum, Lord of al earthly Lords and Subjects; and therefore as is his Lordship, so let his service be, absolute, sole, supreme. No other serv'd in stead of him, no other serv'd together with him.
1 Tim. 3.16.The Conclusion, foreign, for Reproof, Correction, Instruction.
And of this we will soon agree, that this Lord is to be served, and solely to be served; I would to God, that men would as easily do it, as agree that it is to be done. Were it perform'd, our good Lord would have no reason to complaine to this day, as he sometimes did, If I be a Lord, where's my feare?Mal. 1.6.
Two duties he calls to us for. First, To heare his voice; and his voice will direct us in all duties of piety,Deut. 5 1. Luke 9.35. and charity. Now with him for that we will not much stick: For an houre, or two, or three, as the Preacher is longer or shorter winded, we can be content to lend him our eare, supposing then that we are …f his most dutiful servants. This I condemn not; yet I would not have any servant mistaken, to take that for sole service, which at the best is but the rule of his service. For Preaching is doctrina cultus, not cultus ipse. It …s only a doctrine that teacheth, and the way that leadeth to the service of God, but not properly the service it self. This was necessarily to be noted, because that many now think that they have sufficiently serv'd their Lord, when they have heard a Sermon, which gave occasion to the Adversary to scoff, that the Religion of the Hereticks (for so those of Rome stile us) was a meer preach.
A second service then there is, and it consists in doing of our Lords will after we have heard it; James 1.22.to which Saint Paul was so inclineable, that immediately upon the voice,Acts 9.6. he ask'd, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? what service is it your pleasure to command me? It is service that denominates the Servant, and doing his will that honours the Lord. And it is so absurd a matter to think otherwise, that Christ in admiration asks, With what face any man could call his Father Lord,Luke 6.46. and not do as he was bid? How call you me Lord, and do not as I will you? As much as to say, which in another place he expresseth, 'Tis to no purpose to say, Domine, Domine, Lord, Lord. Lord in thy Name we have cast out devils. Mat. 7.21, 22, 23.Lord, Lord, in thy Name we have prophesied: Lord, in thy Name we have done wonderful works. All I say is in va…n, if yet we be workers of iniquity.
Well then, how goes our service? What it is in our Closet, I ask not. For it is in secret, and he that sees in secret can best judge of it; I pray God it be daily and not intermitted;Psalm 99.5.132.7. 2 Chron 29.29. August. in Psa. 98. fervent, and not interrupted. The Lord God add to our prayers, how many soever they be. What it is in publick we see. In old time Moses bowed before the Ark, and Hezekiah worshipped and bow'd the head in the Temple; and in the purer times nemo manducabat nisi prius adoret.
But now the indecency of the place first shews that we are like to be slovenly servants. Next our approaches are very irreverent; in we come, our hat is not moved, and down we clap, and dishonour our head, our Head Christ more;1 Cor. 11.4. we seal not our prayer, for our Amen is silent, the lips scarce move, nor the knee can be got to bow. Homly God wot, and familiar our behaviour is, it cannot be called service, there is so little of a servant in it.
Asham'd I am to insist longer upon this; it were to upbraid you with your whole service. For very shame then out of the Church I go, to view your lives abroad; And there I feare me, I shall find you too loose, when your service in your Lords nearer presence is so profane. It fareth with us, not as if God were the Lord, and we to do his Will, but as if we were the Lords, and he to do ours. May he not renew his old complaint taken up against a people that he had entertain'd for his mental servants? Thou hast made me to serve with thy sinnes, thou hast wearied me with thine iniqui ies. Isa. 43.24.'Tis a homely word, but I cannot fo…bear it, that you may forbear to do it, we make him lacquey to our vile affections.
There be that lay the whole burden of their sinnes upon God, and make his Name serve for their own ends. In his Name they speak, and would be reputed his best Servants, that they may gaine repute and credit. 'Tis old, but true, In nomine D mini inc…pit omne malum. They would have men believe they are drawing h s Will, when it is their own. It was forsooth the will of God that Jehu was doing, when by the blood of Ahabs Sonnes, he was thirsting after a Crown.2 Kings 10.15. 2 Sam. 15.7. It was the will of God that commanded Absolom to Hebron, to pay his vow, when he stole the hearts of the people, and meant to dethrone his Father. No such great mischief ever attempted, perfected, as that which hath had the Name and Will of God affixed to it.
The covetous Pharisee comes in the Name of God,Mat. 23.14. and fools the poor Widow into a belief, that God hath not such another devout servant upon the earth as he; under which colour he creeps into the silly womans house, and with a long prayer, and a leven'd face, devoures her. Said it is, that the Romish Jesuite, and the preciser brother, are cozen Germans to this old Hypocrite; the one making as good a Market of his dirges, trentalls, and hallowed graines; the other of his groans and sighs, and Oh Lord God, and good Father, as ever that Viper did of his tedious Orizons. The leud Strumpet too, she looks as demurely as the chast Susanna, who would conceive no less upon a groan fetch'd at a Sermon, but she were at least the hand-maid of the Lord, when she is Mary the City sinner, or rather the Cities sinne, making this Religious Face to serve her turne, and her Lord to serve her lust.
And as if this were a small matter thus to counterfeit our Lords Name, there be that reject him, as if he were not worth the serving, and professedly set up another Lord; in their l…ves I am sure, be their words what they will. Ever since Our Father which art in heaven hath been cast aside, I believe in God hath been banished with it; and that which makes me think so, is, because 'tis evident that the greatest part of the godly fall low in the wedge of gold, and devoutly worship: Though Christ tells them, that it is foreign impossible, Ye cannot serve God and Mammon; be godly, and covetous: Mat. 6.24.Let the Catalogue of Gods Servants be call'd over, and though you may brand many of them for foul enormities, yet you cannot say that one of them was a Mammonist. Again, there be that serve their sense and appetite, whose God is their belly, their Kitchin is their Temple, their dainties the sacrifice,Phil. 3.19. their Cook their Priest, and their Paunch the Altar. Every where sin is a great Lord, and hath a long train of Servants; This same Agrestis & furiosus Dominus, as Sophocles calls him, raigns and wears a Crown, makes Laws, and is obeyed in every Corner.Rom. 6.18, 20. Though there is an foreign for that too; If you be the servants of sinne, you cannot be the servants of righteousness.
And heare you? Our Joshua is at his Non potestis also,Verse 19. You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your trespasses and your sinnes. How? not serve the Lord? No, not the Lord and Baalim, other Lords, for that is his meaning; not the Lord and your belly, not the Lord and your purse, not the Lord and your sinne, not the Lord with a mask and a visour on. For he is
1. An holy Lord; What should he do with unclean, impure, u…holy, and voluptuous Servants? His purity will not away with their impurity; his Sanctity with their pollutions. If the belly and sinne, Bacchus and Ʋ…us be Masters, he scorns your offer of service to him. Down these must, where he is set up.
2. And as he is holy, so is he jealous too; his glory he will not give t… another. No Husband more impatient of a corrival in his bed, than he of a Co-partner in his Service.Isa. 1. foreign, He abominates that the dirty Lord Mammon should be served with him, much more preferr'd before him. Down this Idol must, and all other false Gods, or else no Servants of his.
3. And from his jealousie proceeds his fury. This puts him into such a rage,Isa. 28.21. & 27.4. Bern. Serm. 5. de natali Dom. Tertul. ad Mar. lib. 2. cap. 11. Et de Resurr. carnis. c. 14. that he will not forgive. It forceth him to do his work, his strange work; to bring to pass his Act, his strange Act. In the former Chapter of Isaiah he tells us, that anger is not in him. That his nature is to pardon; this is ingenita, proceeds from his bowels; to that other he is constrain'd; and therefore the effect of his Justice is opus alienum, call'd a strange work. Ita prior Dei bonitas secundum naturam, severitas posterior secundum causam, So then the goodness of God is first in him according to his Nature, his severity is after according to the cause that he findes in us. For when once his Servants come to this,Jer. 42.20. James 1.8. Isa. 2.9. Jer. 18.23. Rev. 3.16. that they dissemble with him, carry a double heart, use his Name, and abuse his service, he will not forgive, he will not pardon. Holy he is, and he will not be prophaned; jealous he is, and he may not be consorted; severe he is, and he will not be hypocritically served; for such a Laodicean he will spue out of his mouth. The Jews have to this day this Saying commonly in their mouths, Non tibi O Israel accidit ulla ultio, in quâ non sit uncia de iniquitate vituli; i. e. O Israel, there is no punishment which befalls thee, in which there is not one ounce weight of the Golden Calf. So it is not; however in their judgement it justifies Joshua's word, that he is a jealous God, and he will not pardon.
And now I put you to your Option, as Joshua did these Israelites, Eligite vobis, choose you whether you will serve this great Lord or your selves; this Father Almighty, or your own imaginations. And methinks I hear you reply as they did, Absit, God forbid that we should serve any other. Nay, we will serve the Lord by all means. Servants of the Lord we will be. Oh that there were such an heart in you alwayes! Deut. 4.6. & 5.29.for this would be your wisdome and understanding in the sight of the people with whom you live. But if this be your minde, then this day renew the Covenant, which you made when you became Gods servants.
A bond you gave at your Baptisme to forsake all the enemies of this your Lord, and to serve him; and of this, that stone, the Font is a Witness; and Surety you gave for performance of this Bond. Pay therefore what you have vow'd, serve this Lord, obey this Lord whom you have chosen to be your God; for to your obedience are the promises made; The blessing in the City, and the blessing in the field:Deut. 28. The blessing to the fruit of your body, and the blessing to the fruit of your ground; the blessing to your Kine, and the blessing to your Flock. These I after Moses, propose as good powerful motives only. There is a blessing promised beyond all these, purchased and assured by the blood of Christ, to every good and faithful Servant. Serve then out your time, and your Lord will surely pay you better wages than any earth can afford. He will call unto you, Euge, Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter into thy Masters joy. His joy it will be to Crown thee, thy joy to be Crown'd at that day; when with the rest of thy fellow Servants, he shall call unto thee, saying, Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Which God grant, &c.
To the Noble and his much Honoured Friend THOMAS LOWER, Esq; WILLIAM NICOLSON prayeth happiness in this World, but especially in the future.
Noble Sir,
I So much presume of acceptance of what I offer to your Candour, that I do not beg it, but enjoyne it. For it is your and my Jesus in the bosome of his Father, in the womb of his Mother, in his Cratch, on the Cross, in his grave so low, and in his Throne of Glory so high; In a word, it is our common Saviour; Him I here present you, because I know, notwithstanding your vertues, you need him. And with the same hand I reach him to you, I take him back againe, because I need him more than you; being one to whom God hath lent more yeares, and therefore conscious to more sinnes; One placed in a publick Office, and therefore to answer for other mens deficiencies as well as my own. Whereas therefore others who present gifts, freely part with all unto him on whom they bestow their free-will offering: I cannot on other terms resigne my Saviour into your hands, but that you be content I share with you. His Name is an Oyntment poured forth; and it may very well sweeten us both, because it is sufficient to perfume the whole world. Other sweets must be set aside in comparison of this, because they are indeed dung to this.
The ill hap is, that this sweet Name hath of late past through some slovenly hands, who have exposed it so rudely, that it caused too many to nauseate. For when busie flyes fall into the Oyntment of the Apothecary, they cause it to stink. That then this precious balme be return'd to its prime worth, esteeme, use, I have endeavoured according to that measure of Grace which God hath bestowed on me, to set it forth as it was at first, before it became sullied by their sluttish fingers. If I have done well, and as fitting so precious a subject, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that I could attain to.
Your ingenuity, affability, courtesie, condescension, hath been alwayes such, that it hath wonne upon the hearts of all that know you, and among others hath made me, the least of many, one of your Votaries, on whom you have alwayes cast so kinde an aspect, that you made old Cato's Observation good, That old age is not odious to young men, Bonâ indole praeditis, enobled with the tincture and seeds of vertue and goodness. These of your Noble and excellently endowed Father yet live in you; which that they may ripen, and in you bring forth the fruits of true piety, I thought good to moysten with the blood of my Saviour; than which there cannot be a better Manure to the practice of piety. In this my prayers are that you thrive and grow, till you come to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus. So I take my leave, and remaine one
Who is ready to do you true Christian service, WILLIAM NICOLSON.
These following Sermons are applyable to the second part of the Creed, concerning that great work of mans Redemption by Christ Jesus.