I might fal as low as a Skul in a Kitchen and tel him that even among his dust and durt there is a Male to be offered unto God yea and such as God wil accept with a good wil in Christ Jesus On the other concerning Magistrates I might fly as high as the Head of the Nation but I aspire no higher than to the Head of this Auditory and Honorable Society and I shal only make bold to say over again the words of Paul Let him that ruleth do it with diligence for the Sacrifice in my Text cals me chiefly to speak of services immediatly and properly holy viz of Worship and adoration And to stir up your pure minds to perform these after the best manner give me leave to inforce the Exhortation by a few considerations As 1. Motives If they be not so done it frustrates one great end of all our services viz to ingratiate our selves with God now such an one becomes not the more gratious but the more odious by all his services my Text saith he is cursed and the more he doth in such a way the more accursed It is a most sad thing to loose our aim and expectation in a matter of such great concernment thou hast taken to thy self a form of godliness thou walkest the rounds of Religion and art pretty severe in thy way hereupon thou blessest thine own soul and thy heart is ful of hope and yet miserable wtetch when all is done God wil nor more accept thy person or look favourably towards thee than if thou hadst never performed any good duty in thy life Yee have brought me the sick and the lame should I accept it at your hands saith the Lord of Hosts in the Verse fore-going my Text. The question is a most vehement tie as if he had said I detest and abominate your Offering accept it I wil no more accept it than a doggs-head the price of an Whore or if you offered unto me swines-flesh yee may go on in this way and heap up services unto Heaven and yet at the last He throw you down to Hel. Oh this is a sad thing and seriously to be considered Thou hast been filling and filling all thy dayes but now what wil be thy reward in the end God kicks down the Vessel in a scorn oh how wil this sink thy soul in horror how wilt thou cry out in bitternes and anguish of heart Operam â—leam predidi I have lost all my work and I am lost God is infinitely above and knows it I am a great King and know my self to be worthy of the Male of the Flock and lesse I wil not accept Even our Grandees on earth look for great respect and indure not in the lest to be slighted or under-valued Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory being presented with a curious peece of Needle-work stood beholding and praising the Woman and her skil but quoth this vain-gorious fool and I can make a better if it please your Majesty and canst thou make a better said the Queen and do not I deserve that best and with that threw it down in a scorn and with-drew Even as Augustus Caesar if my memory fail me not being invited by a Pratrician of Rome but finding his provision not very extraordinary after supper whispered the Noble mans ear and instead of Thanks gave him a more regal check for his less civil entertainment Non putassem me tibi tam familiarem I thought you had not looked upon me as such an ordinary Fellow This is the great spirit of our mortal and dying Gods much more of him that ever liveth He knoweth his own peerless excellency and goodnes and accordingly beareth the grea test reverance and respect to his own sacred person and expects that others should do it too but takes it very il if man his Creature dos derogate from his greatnes by the littlenes of his reverence and respect in what he presents unto him God is infinitely above and knows it so man is infinitely beneath and should know it also wherefore let us consider 2 Our own vilenes and basenes how unworthy we are at the best to do service unto God yee know what the great Patriarch Abraham said while he stood near unto God I am but dust and ashes fitter to be trodden on then treated with 'T is our great priviledg that we may come near and be Officious unto so glorious and blessed a God if wise therefore we would set off our selves in the best dresse that we may find grace in his sight Joseph though called in hast out of the Dungeon to appear before Pharaoh first shaved and washed and changed his garments this he did more prudentially the more to commend his person to the King even so let us prize our priviledg of standing before the God of the whole earth and with the greatest care and complement commend our service unto God 3. How can we say we love God unless we offer the Male of our flock True Love is most noble generous neer of kin unto Heaven for God is love This high born off-spring scorns to be base even there where it might be bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor 13.5 Love doth no unworthly or unseemly thing but if the blind and the lame be not unseemly for the highest Majesty judg yee wherefore Love wil not indure it but bringeth forth her fatted Calfe and furnisheth her Table with her choisest store Elkanah gave unto Peninnah and her Children portions but unto Hannah a worthy portion for he Loved her 1 Sam 1.5 her vertue fild his heart with Love and his Love fild her hands with bounty Love if any such thing wil force us to bring unto God a worthy Offering Love loves to abound and wil make us bountiful his Altars shal overflow with the fat of Rams and of Lambs and with Alexander the Great wee 'l scorn a few drams but throw on handfuls of incense upon those holy fires 4. If we serve not God after the best manner in time we shal be weary of God and of his service Yee bring the sick and the lame and yee say what a weariness is it the lesse they did for God and the more unworthily and the more tedious and cumbersome it was unto themselves Nothing more emasculates the spirit nothing more deadens the heart unto duty than a dul and lazie performance of duty whether publick or privat or secret As one speaks of secret prayer if it be done only in a formal way without life and spirit it wil strangely take a man off from praying so that in time he wil flie his closet and even loath his own Oratory The Ravens seeing their yong Ones now newly excluded callow and naked forsake and leave them to the dew of Heaven so we beholding the fruit of our souls naked and unlovely wil be as little pleased with our own devotions But duty done with life and love wil make a man in love
in evil wayes They have appetitum caninum and swallow down Hel at a bit as if they were afraid others should get the lest share of it besides themselves As I have seen an hungry Dogg swallow a bone without chowing for feare his fellow should come to touch it Oh how mad and how violent are wicked men in the prosecution of their Lusts shal not their excessive wickedness provoak us to exceed in goodness do we not serve a better Master are we not about a better work do we not expect a better reward when Job provided a sacrifice for the World 't was the Male of his flock and when we provide a sacrifice for our God shal it not be the Male of our flock God put us not off with Saints or Angels though he had store and choice but one better then all the only lovely Lamb in the Fold for brightness and perfection even his own dear Sonn He spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all Rom 8.32 what therefore shal we render unto the Lord gratitude wil answer I have nothing good enough but the best which I have sha◠forever be at his service Which that we may do let us observe these following rules Let all our services be ordered according to the rule of the Word Meanes we may not presume to know above what is revealed To the Law to the testimonies we may expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans 12.1 by 1 Pet 2.2 where we have the same epethite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is there translated the milk of the Word and not reasonable Milk and then our sacrifice wil be the service of the Word viz according to the word of God Here we must stick otherwise we shal strangely vanish away in our own foolish imaginations and set up graven images which we all know is abominable in the eyes of God that service is peformed in the best manner which God saith is the best for God is sole Judg in this matter and not our foolish and fond opinions we may see groves and Idols a world of vanity and wil-worship in the world among all Sects and perswasions But while they take freedom to abound in their own sence doing what is right in their own eyes let us only do what is right in the eyes of God 2 Let all our sacrifices be offered upon the golden Altar Jesus Christ It is the Altar that sacrificeth the gift Mat 23.19 yea and inricheth it too and only makes it of worth and value Christ is Gods beloved Son in whom he is wel pleased and for his sake wil not quarrel with us or our Offering though we do not attaine unto the perfection of the Sanctuary yea the spots of our sacrifices are easily covered by his spotless righteousness so that God himself wil say here is an Offering according to my mind Where ever Christ is there God is fully satisfied for his eye is so taken with this lovely object that he cannot look off to see else-where what is done amiss 3. Time also and its opportunity is much to be observed for helping on this work especially there let us put our selves upon service when the good fit is upon us I intend soberly and seriosly when the spirit of grace moveth more sensibly upon the face of our souls warming and melting our affections and unkindling gracious desires in us and there are such golden seasons now strike while the iron is hot now to reading praying thanksgiving c for now thy hands wil drop with myrh and thy fingers with sweet smelling myrh O how holy are such breathings how seraphical such expressions how wil thy soul mount upward how near wil it come unto God! and thou whether in the body thou canst not tel or out of the body thou canst not tel 4. Keep a sacred reserve of the strength of thy Spirit and the best of thy affections for God and for his service and let them not consume and blaze out among the lying vanities of this world if we do not use the world as if we need it not we shal serve God as if we served him not There was a time when Solomon gave unto the Lord the Male of his Flock but when afterward he suffered his heart to be taken with si ver and gold with Wine and Women with Men-fingers and Women-fingers with Orchards and gardens and Vineards with Apes and Peacocks and all other the vainer delights of the Sons of men Solomon was another Man and now presently instead of a Male he offered unto the Lord a Corrupt thing The Lord said unto Moses Exod 30 34. take unto thee sweet spices and thou shalt make it a perfume a confection after the Art of the Apothecary tempered together pure and holy and as for the perfume which thou shalt make you shal not make unto your selves according to the composition thereof Whosoever shal make like unto that to smel thereto shall even be cut off from his people This was a sweet only to be smelled in the Sanctuary and not else-where upon paine of death so I conceive there are several aims and high breathings in our affections which are only for God but to spend them upon our selves would be the greatest sacriledg and moreover puts us upon an in possibility of performing the duty I have alwayes observed people high and hot in their pastimes and pleasure as low and as cold in their prayers and performances They who suffer themselves to admire Romances and Play-books and seldome seen to affect Sermons and Gods-Book but they hear and read with a certain kind of loathing and fastidiousness The reason is this the purer strength of their spirit is spent upon vanity and therefore feeble and weak in the things of solidity A tree running out in foolish excrescences the fruit is rare and little and that too of the basest sort In your common Limbecks the purer spirits being drawn out and gone nothing is left behind but a Caput mortuum fleam and dreggs Therefore we must be careful to keep in our spirits to moderate our Joyes and to check our desires and not to suffer our selves to love any thing beneath God with an excessive love midling affections are enough for these things as for those high breathings of soul let them wholly be sacrificed unto the Lord. Stop up the floud-gates that the pools may be ful when yee go unto God and now open all and let them flow as fast as they can the faster the better I love such a thing with all my heart a common saying but once a grave Christian replied not lesse piously than truly why for shame all thy heart for this trifle and that and for every vanity all thy heart must be for God else thou wilt have for God no heart at all To conclude Thou hast in thy flock a Male but if that be meat for thine own palate if that be consumed at thine own Table then when thou comest to offer thou wilt most certainly sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing Gloria in exelsis AMEN POSTSCRIPT I Have under two or three Heads put in a little more filling which for fear of tediousness I thought good silently to passe over in the Pulpit B A.
eager appetite as a Longing-Woman her much desired Morsel Again we should find as much sweetness in the Word and divine revelation as an elegant Palate in marrow and fatnes How sweet are thy words unto my tast yea sweeter then honey to my mouth Ps 119.103 So likewise in privat and secret to read pray and pour forth our souls to peform all Christian duties of meditation and self-examination c all these are to be done with strength of desires and fulness of delectation Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth himself greatly in Gods Commandements he doth what is his duty and delights yea greatly delights in what he doth so that in comparison he Loves and delights in nothing ease As for Wife and Children and the injoyments of this world he Loves them as if he loved them not yee know where I have the phrase 1 Cor 7.30 The rule is to rejoyce as if we rejoyced not to buy as if we possessed not to use the world as if we used it not Now this holy man of God observeth this rule having the maine stream of his affectious flowing forth to God and only some little out-lots to the things of this world God hath his heart and then he loveth in good earnest as it is said of Elias he prayed earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prayed in praying so they delight in delighting and love in loving and this love of God is like the rod of Aaron among the rods of the Magicians consuming and devouring whatsoever standeth in competition What we have spoken here more largely in the Explication we may find as shortly in the words of our Saviour John 4.24 They who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth Let this suffice for the first part of the Doctrine we now come unto the second viz why it must needs be detestable unto God if we do not sacrifice unto him the Male of our flock The first reason may be this Because it is so contrary to the way and method of God Confirmation so contrary to the rule and prescript of God provided in the case Let us see the Platform of Gods Ecclesiastes or Church-discipline chalked out to Israel in the Wildernesse and because we are to sacrifice wee 'l bring you to the Tabernacle where yee can see nothing base or common nothing refuse or vile but choice costly and pretious as could be had these dayes upon the earth Read over at your leisure the 25 26 27 28 Chapters of Exodus Let them bring gold and silver and brasse and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linnen and Goats-hair and Ram-skins died red and badgers-skins and Shittim-wood c. and let them make a sanctuary that I may dwel amongst them Every thing in this Sanctuary was very rich and costly either massy-â—old or at lest select wood ovâ—r-layed with gold As the Ark the taâ—le of Sâ—â—w-bread were shittim-wood yet over-layed with gold but the Cherubims and Mercy-seat were pure gold v â—7 18. c 25. So likewise the dishes spoons and covers ver 29. the candlestick tongs and snuffdishes ver 3â— and 38. The oyl for the Lamp was to be pure olive chap 27 20. Now for Aron and his Sons the Priests who were to administer before the Lord Moses was commanded to array them most gorgeously Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy Brother for glory and for beauty and thou shalt speak unto all who are wise hearted whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom that they make Aarons garments to consecrate him that he may minister unto me in the Priests Office and these are the garments which they shal make a brest-plate and an Ephod and a Robe and a broidered coat a mitre and a girdle c and they shal take gold and blue and purple and fine linnen c. chap 28.2 3 4 and 5 verses These for the Offering God required the first ripe fruits which we all know are stil the choice and the fairest the top ears of corn and the principal wheat If they brought an Offering of the increase of their flock it was to be a lovely Lamb without blemish Levit 1.3 if of the fruit of the field It was to be the finest of the flour and the kidnies of the wheat In one word yee may see what God saith unto Aaron Chap 2 I have given thee the best of the Oyl and the best of the Wine and of the Wheat and the first fruits which they shall offer unto the Lord Numb 18.12 Afterward in the dayes of Solomon when this Tabernacle grew into a Temple it lost nothing of its pompeous ceremoniousness but rather increased in glorie and became much more magnificent for David that great Warriour and most victorious Captain consecrated the spoils of many Crowns and Kingdoms to the House of God and much more super-added by Solomon his Son Certainly it was the goodliest pile and most stately structure that ere the sun beheld and all other things were in a just equippage The Priests the Levites the Sacrifices the Offerings the Altars Tables Vessels Vtensils and all the appurtenances all rich and costly and nothing common and forbid among them Now God in all these things did shew clearly as in an emblem that his service and worship was a thing most sacred and solemn that he did expect the best of man in all their approachings unto his Majesty and that nothing lesse should ever be accepted at his hands This likewise is his Law in the Third Commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vain The first Commandement sheweth who is to be worshipped viz. the only true God the Second after what rule viz divine revelation and not hnmane imagination the Third after what manner Thou shalt not take his Name in vain that is thou shalt not presume to intermeddle with God or his Worship after a slight and empty way bvt holily reverently most devoutly as is beseeming his sacred Majesty for the Lord will not hold them guiltless that is according to my Doctrine he will curse them The fourth sheweth the time of publick Worship and I rather mention it because of that appendent to it making cleer to our purpose Levit 19.30 Yee shall keep my Sabbath but that 's not all it follows and reverence my Sanctuary I will be sanctified in them that come near me and before all the people will I be glorified saith the Lord Levit 10.3 Let them make their addresses to me after such a worthy manner that glory and not dishonor may redound unto my Majesty by their service and homage and this makes way for the second ground of the point viz. The blind and the lame are a reproach unto God and do much derogate from the greatnes of his Majesty of this God seems to convince them in the words immediatly following my
Text for I am a great King but yee make of me by your unworthy service and Offering as if I were some poor mean and slender Deity it follows and my Name is dreadfull among the Heathen that is I have gotten to my self a great Name in a l the earth so that the very head of the Heathen hath made a decree that men fear Dan 6.28 unto which I suppose these words do relate and tremble before the God of Daniel the God of Israel I am known to be a God of Gods and a Lord of Lords and yee are known to be my people 'T is known my dwelling place is in Sâ—on and my Temple in Jerusalem hither the Tribes come up and all the Kindreds of the earth to bring oblations upon mine Altar But now that they come and see what can they guesse by the meaness of their service and the baseness of their Offering but that I am not the same mighty God and dreadful Majestie as I am reported else sure I should obtain more reverence and respect among mine own people and in the house which is called by my Name Thus instead of upholding my brightness yee obscure my glory and lay mine honor in the dust Even such and greater is the indignity in the dayes of the Gospel if our services be mean and and low and not performed with the greatest curiosity and exactnes A little present speaks a man a little Prince to whom it is sent even so jejune and empty devotions insinuate no lesse than a thin and empty Godhead to whom they are performed But if this be not Blasphemy I know not what it is to blaspheme needs therefore must such a one be accursed Quod erat probandum This being cleared now we shal descend to Application Application The use of this point affords something unto us by way Of Reprehension Exhortation 1. It reprehends those men who say at lest think Reprehen that the Table of the Lord is contemptible who slubber over all their services as a meer trival business of the lest concernment They have in their Flock a Male that is they have Life Spirit and much activity in things concerning their own pleasure profit or preferment but as to God and his service they are sleepy and careless negligent and supine in these they are as dul as Lead in those more sharp and keen then a Razer God shal be put off with what comes next to hand let it please or displease take it how he wil. Religion with the most men hath the Curse of Cham upon it it is made a servant of servants a slave and an underling and every thing is preferred before it and obtains greater respect in the World But I will unloose my whip into three several Lashes for three sorts of Men Atheists Papists and Formalists and yet something wil be left for our selveâ— 1. Atheists Truly there is Gods plenty At quid dixi muto factum I mean the Devils plenty of such in our Land even a prophane generation of Men who are so far from Offering the Male of their Flock that they Offer Male nor Female sound nor sick best nor worst flesh nor fleece neither a holy nor a corrupt thing They have Gallio his eyes and look upon Religion as a meer matter of words and names an ayery empty nothing wherefore God is not in all their thoughts so as to do homage unto him neither have they conscience in any such matter Give them for back and for belly for their lusts and carnal appetites and you have the very outside of their desires what care they for preaching or praying whither ever Sermon more or Sabbath more in the World goe to their House for they are scarce seen in the Holy Assembly and you shal find there nor Altar nor fire incense nor sacrifice nor any tending towards Worship They neither read nor pray or perform any good family-Family-duty from one end of the yeare to the other in a word they are meer Swine and bruites in the shape of men But I dare not long abide with them under the same Roof no more then John with Cerinchus in the same Bath lest it should fal upon my head valeant fare them wel only I wil write upon their doors Anathema maranatha Deus Judex vindex God wil come and Judg them 2. Papists Now I must send my Doctrine on an Embassie and let it fly with a swift wing to the Towers of spiritual Babylon for we have no Papists among our selves O utinam would to God it were so but yet let it go and now that it is arrived it may perhaps Primâ fronte commend applaud instead of censuring and reprehending Behold here are Temples and Altars Sacrifices and Priests and all in their Pontificalibus Magnus equidem apparatus A great appearance and yet when all is done a meer Outside but our Doctrine requireth Truth in the hidden man Here is aureum vellus the lovely fleece of the Male of the flock but the fat and the flesh and the inwards are not to be found Truly their service and pompous cerimoniousness is like a Sacrifice of paint as when I see Abraham and Isaack pourtrayed upon the wall and the Altar built the wood laid in order and the Father bowing down upon the Son to make him a Sacrifice my phanticy is moved though all is but a phantasie or if you will this their outward glory is like Esaus goodly rayment for all underneath is Jacobs hollowness and deceit Si parvis componere magna licebit Let us see their sin-Offering so it is indeed the sacrifice of atonement making which they cal Penance A Papist sinneth and confesseth to the Priest so many Rosaries of Ave Maries and Pater nosters are to be mumbled and rolled over say them they wil except they mistake their Beads but see the vanity whilst they are walking in the streets busie about Merchandi zing playing at Cards between first and second course interlard them with Oaths and execrations and yet on againe til the task be fulfilled and the man is devout and perhaps dies a Saint But if this be not to offer unto God a corrupt thing judg ye And our ignorant 3. Formalists are Ejusdem farinae like to like Mr Rogers of Dedham as he in his plain but solid way to his Parishioners Yee wil say your prayers indeed but how while unbuttoning your doublets pulling off your shooes and stockings when you are in your Beds and the latter end of your Pater noster falls asleep in your mouths Oh worthy service and as worthily performed And truly 4. The best of us all comes under censure how often do we offer the blind and the lame how poor how thin how cold how sleepy how dead how superficial how formal how lazie how sluggish how low are we generally in all our holy and religious Offices how faintly how feebly how weakly how sickly how slovenly how lazily and how every
way unmanly are they managed and transacted Let no man say what need so many words for I need them and ten times more and all too little to set forth the wretchednes and unwor thines of our daily Sacrifice of our common and customary devotions Oh how little good is to be found in the best of our services Bonum est quod sui plenum est Good is that which is ful of it self as gold that nobler mettle is ful of it self and therfore the heaviest of all mettles But alas how unempty are our devotions of themselves viz pious and holy affections and desires even like a puff in ones hand you may squeeze them to nothing or like the Lamb in the verse preeding my Text so light and macilent that the blast of ones mouth would have blown it off the Altar God saith My Son give me thine heart and we give him the lip and the knee the eye and the ear but our hearts are far from him Matth 15.8 That which should be the work of the spirit is commonly no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer bodily labour Let us look upon two o◠three particulars wherein the great stream of our Religion flows viz reading praying and hearing How often is reading the labour of the eyes Yee have set your selves a task to read good Books and so many Chapters in the Bible every day by the way no good Books should take us off from reading the Scripture in the pure and simple Text yea I would hate the loveliness of that Book though lovely only for the piety of the matter and sublimity of the stile which should in my affections stand corrival with the Word and bewitch my mind more with love and admiration than those sacred Oracles in their own phrase and expression But for our reading the visive Organ is only altered and affected and this is the greatest part of that service The words in the Book say Jesus Faith Repentance and the like just while we look upon them imprint their image upon our eyes but make little or no impression upon the understanding and the lest alteration upon the wil or affections so that after we have read over the Bible again and again our understanding is as unfruitful our affections as carnal as if we had never read a word in our lives So for our prayers we say our prayers but not pray our prayers Our tongues are vocal but our hearts are silent They fulfil their task and run their round as an horse in a Mill by a continual custom they will go from petition to petition until the words be said and the prayers be done But in the interim the soul lay dorment and fast asleep and in all these words uttered not a voice nor put up any request at the throne of Grace If God know what we have prayed for t is many times more then we know our selves so little of our mind and spirit went along with the duty Then for hearing the sound of the Ministers voice strikes upon the ear and finds a passage into the head but as we say proverbeally in at one ear and out at another because our spirits do not way-lay these heavenly truths and surprize them in their passage The rich Traveller would passe on nay stand saith the Theef I must have your Treasure so those rich Treasures of all Heavenly wisdome wil suddenly glide away unlesse greedy desires like a Theef presently lay hold and carry them into the secrets of the heart there to rifle and rausake them but here we are men too too honest for our own good Truth often passeth by and yet we never come to finger the lest of her Treasure Generally this is the best account of a Sermon there was a great Audience he was a rare man he had a strong and a clear voice was very zealous and pressed things home But what here they are utterly to seek Even as Ahimaaz 2 Sam 18.29 that came from the Battle of Absalon parting and puffing what is the News saith David I saw a great tumult but I know not what it was so as you would think they are much taken and heard great matters but what They know not what only they have heard they have read and they have prayed they satisfie themselves that the work is done though never so unworthily But my Brethren these things ought not so to be Therefore For the future let us be more careful in this matter Exhort let us make Conscience not only to sacrifice but also to offer the Male of the Flock not only to serve God but in the best way and manner I have prepared for the house of my God with all my might saith David 1 Cron 29.2 It was for God and his House therefore he did with all his might so what-ever we intend for God should be to the utmost of our powers A true Isralite in antieut times was able to witnesse at the Altar I have brought the best Lamb in my flock and a better I could not find So good Christians should do service to God in that manner as that they may justifie themselves and say I could not have done it better Grace should imitate nature which stil puts forth her strongest abilities A stone fals downward as fast as it can and faster it cannot fal fire flies up as fast as it can and faster it cannot flye So we in all our services to God should be pious and devout as we can This rule with some proportion is heedfully to be observed not only in our services immediatly holy such as were even now mentioned reading praying c. but also in those which are holy by a mediem remotely holy and one removal from God such are the services of our secular imployments in our ordinary vocations and Callings Here commonly the next thing is man but it is ultimately resolved into God As for examples sake an Apprentice or servant serveth in the next place his Master but in serving his Master he doth finally service unto God who gave the Command Again a Magistrate who is the greatest Minister of the people his service in the next place is unto them in protecting them from evil and consulting for their good and welfare but yet in the last and chief place it is unto God who requires as much at his hands In such services as these which are remotely holy we must yet be careful to offer the Male of our Flock See for servants Col. 3.23 Servants obey your Masters not with eye service but in singleness of heart and whatsoeuer yee do do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men for yee serve the Lord Christ How so I serve Peter and Paul I but in serving them you obey a command and so serve a greater Master See for Magistrates Rom 12.8 Let him that ruleth do it with diligence not only rule but do it faithfully and with the greatest care In the one concerning servants