Secondly, Why this should be so.
1. Let us consider the equity as to matter of right ; it should be so.
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VeR. 20.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 339
2. The necessity as to matter of evidence ; it must be so.
3. The conveniency as to matter of benefit.
1. The equity as to matter of right. All rules of equity will oblige you to this, whether you consider the master, the work, or the reward.
[1.] The master, if you consider how great and how good a master you now serve. If you consider him as great, you can never do too much for him ; or as good, not so much as he deserveth of you.
(1.) As a great God he cannot be too much loved, nor obeyed too exactly, nor served too diligently ; all is short of the greatness of his majesty. We have mean thoughts of his glorious excellency if we think that anything will serve the turn, or that such a God will be put off with anything ; though we have formerly consumed our strength in the service of sin, yet a little slight obedience will be enough for God, we need not be so strict and exact ; this is as bringing the sickly lamb instead of the male of the flock. And therefore Gotl pleadeth his majesty : Mai. iii. 14, ' I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts.' Therefore, if you have a greater master than you had before, you should do as much or more work than you did before : Col. i. 10, ' That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing ; ' 1 Thes. i. 12, ' That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.'
(2.) As good ; he hath deserved at our hands more than ever we can repay him. By experience we have felt the evil of sin, and why should we indulge it any longer ? We have also ' tasted that the Lord is gracious,' 1 Peter ii. 3. And why should we not prize and love him, and value his service? The Lord our God is the best master, and therefore we should serve him cheerfully. He is not true to God, and hath not a due sense of his mercy, that is indifferent and cold in his service. We are bound ' to serve God with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things,' Deut. xxviii. 47 ; that is, because of our obligations from common providence ; but how should we serve him for his mercies in Christ, wherein he is infinitely good to us ? Eom. xii. 1, ' I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, that is your reasonable service ; ' 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, ' For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.' There the obligation is much greater. Nature will teach us to lore those that love us ; and who loves us better than God, who hath provided pardon and life for us ? Shall we go about his work with backwardness and weariness ? You should serve him after another manner, with more zeal, diligence, and exactness.
[2.] The work, which on the one hand is sin, and on the other, righteousness. To be hot and earnest in sin, and cold and neghgent in our duty, when God hath set thee in a better work, how can this be justified, not only before the bar of God, but of any sound reason ? Surely the best work requireth the best strength. Now which is better, to be rebelling against our creator, and violating the rectitude and har- mony of our own nature, or to be serving our creator, and regulating
340 SKKMONy Ul'ON ROMANS VI. [SeB. XX.
our faculties ia their due order and proportion to the great ends and uses for which we were made ? There is a great deal of difference between the way we have left and the way we are put into by grace ; the one is our distemper, the other is proper work for a man, that our endeavours should show how much we prefer the one before the other ; for surely it is better for us to live as a man than to live as a beast : Ps. cxix. 140, ' Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant lovetli it.'
[3.] The wages, which is eternal life. Now the question is, whether you will seek heaven as fervently and diligently as before you sought the world, and the fleshly pleasures thereof. Will you now be contented with a sluggish wish, and lazy, dull endeavours, whereas before you thought you could never do enough in the pursuit of your lusts ? Will you not bid as much for a jewel as you would for a bead or a piece of glass ? In all reason more. If you laid out your strength before for nought, for that which satisfieth not, will you now stand Imcking when a blessed inheritance is offered to you? Who can excuse you from folly ? We are bidden to seek after these things in the first place : Mat. vi. 33, * Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness thereof ; ' 1 Cor. xv. 58, ' To abound in the work of the Lord ; ' Phil. ii. 12, ' To work out our salvation with fear and trembling.' We are, on the other side, bidden ' to use the world as if we used it not,' 1 Cor. vii. 31. Now, then, what will you do ?