VOL. vni. T
290 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CXXXVII.
to give us breath, ilie middle heaven to give us h'ght and lieat, the highest heaven for our dwelhng-place. The sun runneth and hasteneth to give us hglit. The sun shineth for us, the wind bloAvetli, and tlie water fioweth for our use. The earth and air are for our use, the earth to tread on, the air to breathe in. And sliall not we serve him that made the whok^ course to serve us ? All the creatures are at work for us day and night, for a poor worm of six foot long ! Yea, the creator is at work for us : ' My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' We complain if the creatures do not serve us, and sliall not we serve God who gave us those servants ?
[2.] A right of preservation. He is Lord alone, because he pre- serveth all things : Neh. ix. 6, ' Thou, even thou, 0 Lord, alone ; thou hast made heaven, and the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the sea and all that is therein ; and thou preservest them all.' At whoso table are we fed ? at whose cost and expense are we maintained ? upon whom do we depend every moment for being and operation ? Acts xvii. 28, ' In him we live and move, and have our being ; ' Heb. i. 3, ' He upholdeth all things by the word of his power ; ' he doth every moment continue what he gave at first. Things were not made that they should act and subsist of themselves, as the house abideth when the inhabitant is dead and gone. A daily influence is necessary. As the beams depend on the sun, so do we every moment upon God ; every day we are bound to serve him. If God should turn us off for preservation to ourselves, how soon should we return to our original nothing ! God is disengaged if we serve him not. If, out of indulgence, he continues our beings, what vile ingi'ati- tude is it not to serve him ! Isa. i. 3, ' The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not not know, my people doth not consider.' Would you maintain a servant to do his own work ? Since we live upon God, we should live to him.
[3.] A right by redemption : 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, ' And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God's.' If a man had bought another out of slavery, all his time and strength and service belonged to the buyer. Christ hath bought us from the worst slavery with the greatest price, and shall we rob him of his purchase ? This was his end ; he did not redeem us to ourselves, but to God ; not to live as we list, to exempt us from his dominion ; that is impossible. Saul pro- mised to make him free in Israel that would destroy Goliath, 1 Sam. xvi. 25. But to be free from God's dominion cannot be ; that was not Christ's end in redeeming us, but that we might be put into a capacity to serve God. Well, then, when God hath such a right in us, we ought to obey him.
2. Consider what an honour it is to be God's servants. Servire Deo regnare est. The meanest offices about a prince are honourable. No such* honourable employment as God's service, both in respect of the person whom we serve, the great God, and the service itself ; it is a service of righteousness and holiness, Luke i. 74. This is no drudgery ; our natures are ennobled ; the liberty and perfection of human nature is preserved by this service. And then for the quality of our reward, there is no such wages, no such reward in any service : John xii. 2G,
Veil 125.] sermons upon psalm cxix. 291
' And where I am, there shall my servant be : if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.' Here is true honour, fitted for great spirits that will not stoop to trifles ; and indeed God's servant is the only great spirit. The most eminent servants in the court of kings have but a splendid and more gaudy slavery in comparison of God.
3. What a happiness, as well as honour, both in respect of our pre- sent communion with him, and future fruition of him ! The Queen of Sheba said of Solomon's servants, 1 Kings x. 8, ' Happy are the men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.' Happy those indeed that serve God; they are friend-servants : John xv. 15, ' Henceforth I call j'ou not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth ; but I call you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.' In regard of intimate communion, they are treated as sons, though they be servants. Now it is very comfortable to be taken into God's bosom, and to have access to him upon all occasions. Besides the reward and wages in the life to come, God's servants have great vails. Our earnest is better than the world's wages.