[3.] Besides the right and intention of the Creator there is an obli- gation left upon the creature to love and serve him that created us, namely, as he showed more love to us than he did to any other creatures except the angels. He gave being to other things, to man his image. N<>w the whole use of an image and picture lieth in the resemblance. We do not answer the dignity put upon us in our creation if we do not resemble the wisdom, purity, goodness, and mercy of God, which we can only do by living to him. We deface that which God intended for a glory to man, and cast it away as a thing nothing worth. He made man lord of all things, Gen. i. 26 ; and the psalmist noteth it, Ps. viii. 6, ' Thou hast put all things under him.' Subject to our dominion, or created for our use ; and shall we not serve him that hath made the whole course of nature to serve us ? All the creatures are at work for us night and day, for a poor worm of six feet long ; and shall not God be honoured and served for this ? We are troubled if the creatures do not serve us, if the course of nature be varied, if the sun do not shine in its season, and showers of rain in their season ; and why are we not troubled if we do not serve God ? There is no debt from the creatures to us ; they serve us only by the bounty and appointment of God. We are not only appointed to serve him, but indebted to him. In our constitution every member of the body is an obliging mercy ; if we want any one sense, and could meet with a person that can restore it, as the loss of an eye or an arm, how would we love and honour him ! And will not you remember your Creator, who gave them to us at first ?
2. Preservation, by which the title of creation is daily renewed and reinforced. Now Christ is interested in all this, as all things in heaven and earth are gathered together in him : Eph. i. 10, ' That in the dis- pensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.' 'Ava/cecfxiXauoaaaOai, is the apostle's word, as the words of a speech are recapitulated and summed up that they may not be lost. And if we consider the creature's mutability, and how every moment we are in danger to be lost, preservation is as beneficial as creation. We are continued by his providential influence every moment in our being
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and operation, as the beams are by the sun : Acts xvii. 28, ' For in him we live, and move, and have our being; ' Heb. i. 3, 'And upholdeth all things by the word of his power.' Things were not made that they should act and subsist of themselves, as the house abideth when the archi- tect is gone ; therefore we are bound to serve him every moment : Neh. ix. 6. ' Thou, even thou, art Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all thiugs that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all.' And he doth not this out of necessity, but of his own free will. If God should turn you off for preservation to yourselves, what would you do to keep yourselves from falling into nothing? If you live, and act as your own men, is not God disengaged from providing for you? As he that leaveth his master's work is no longer reckoned as a branch of the family, but left to live upon his own calling.
3. Redemption. This giveth a proper right to the second person : 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' For ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.' They are not yours, but God's. To make this consideration the more effectual, let us con- sider—(1.) The right ; (2.) The price.
[1.] Let us consider how there accrueth to Christ a right by redemp- tion. God had a right in us by creation, a fair and full right, which we could not make away by sin. We had indeed sold ourselves unto God's adversary for enjoying the pleasures of the flesh: Isa. lii. 3, 'Ye have sold yourselves for nought.' Though we could not alienate our- selves by any covenant, implicit or express, from God's dominion of jurisdiction over us, yet we did renounce his service ; so that God was no otherwise our lord than a king over rebels and traitors, who may withdraw their allegiance, yet cannot abrogate and make void his jurisdiction. This right that God had in us did only move him to take vengeance of us, as the right of a prince to chastise the rebels, and re- duce them by strong hand to their obedience. We had interest in his gracious protection ; so that now to restore us, not only to his service, but favour, Jesus Christ came and made satisfaction, and therefore is said to purchase us to God, Rev. v. 9 ; and therefore this should highly oblige us to serve him. God lost no right by the fall, but we lost privilege ; it was a right that was comfortable and beneficial to us, and therefore we are not our own, but his, by all the laws of equity.