1126 SERMONS upon Sean.XIX. time to come : Therefore we are Paid to be Servants of Righteoufnefs ; it is fervice in regardof the ftri&nefs of the Bond, but "¡betty in regard of the fweetnefs of the Work ; it is fervice, becaufewe live according to theWill of another ; but it is liberty, becaufe of our inclination and delight to do it. In thou , though we are faid to be the fervants to Righteoufnefs , yet there is no work more pleafant , more honourable , more profi- table. 1. More pleafant, becaufe it implieth a Re&itude and Ìlarmony in the Soul of man; it is a reaft to the Mind to do thofe things that are good and holy. The Heathens taw it, Mtio Bodo. wesLTic p, &c.it breeds ferenity 5 furely, much of the happinefs of a man is to in- joy himfelf, which a wicked man cannot do,whilft his Soul is in a Mutiny, and his Heart difallowethhimfelf in the things which he doth love and prat$ife, and his Convi &ions check his Affections and Inclinations: The fruit of rigbteoufnefi is peace, ifa.32. 17. And all the paths ofmifdom are pleafantnefs, Prov. 3. 17. In the Body the vigorous motion of the Spirits breedeth cheartulnefs; and Health arifeth when all the humors of the Bo- dy keep their due temperament and proportion. In the World , when all things keep their place, and the Confederacies of Nature are not difturbed, the Seafons go on com- fortably. In a Kingdom, Pax eft tranquillitas ordinis, when all perlons keep their rank and place, there is Peace : So when all things are rightly governed and ordered in the Soul. 2. No work more honourable , Prov. 12. 26. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. Many think it to be a low fpirited thing to be godly , and on the contrary imagine it a fort of Excellency to be free from the reftraints of Religion , and to live a life of Pomp and Eafe , without any care of the World to come. The fenfual World efteemeth little of a good man ; but alas ! that carnal Life, whichmaketh (hew of eafe, delight , honour and riches , is nothing to the Life of Grace : for if God be excellent, they are excellent, they are made partakers of his ,Nature, 2 Pet. t. 4. admitted into the Communion of his Life, which all others are deprived of,. Eph. 4. 18. when others live as Beafts, they live as God; when others live as Beafts , their life is imployed about the nobleft Objeás and Ends, and is of iffed by the immediate influence of Gods own Spirit. Therefore if Honour be derived from the true Fountain of Honour, thofe who are molt God -like, are the moil noble and excellent. 3. No work is more profitable ; for it giveth us the favour and fellowfhip of God for the prefent, and makes way for an everlafting fruition of him in Glory. 1. The Favour and Fellowfhip of God for the prefent. What an unprofitable drudge - ry is the life of an unfan&ified Worldling , in comparifon of the work of an holy Man, who lives in Communion with God, and attendance upon God, and Bath accefs to him when he pleafeth, with affurance of welcome and audience ! He Bath a furer interefl in God, than the greateft Favourite in the Love of Princes. God never faileth him, Pfal. 118. 8, 9. It is better to truf in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. It is better to truf in the Lord, than to put confidence in Princes. A poor Chriflian, that liveth in obfcurity in the World, is never upbraided with the frequency of his Suits, never denied Audience, never Bath caufe to doubt of fuccefs. The Princes of the Earth have uncertain minds, love to day, hate to morrow, as in the inflance of Haman; their Being is uncertain, Pfal. 146. 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day all his thoughts perifh. t Kings 1.21. Otherwife it 'hall come to pat , when my Lord the King fhall fleep with his fathers, that I and my fon Solomon fhall be counted of- fenders. Therefore attendance upon God is furely a noble work, to be made Courtiers, and Family - fervants of the infinite Soveraign, their Hearts are imployed in loving him, Tongues in praifing him, Lives in ferving him, and are conftantly maintaining converfe with him through the Spirit ; furely thefe have the moll profitable fervice Creatures can be imployed in. 2. The everlafting Fruition of God in Glory hereafter, Pfal. 57. i 5. 1ril behold thy face in righteosfnefs, I fhall be fatisfied, when 1 awake, with thy likenefs. i Joh. 3. 2. Now we are the fens of God, but it cloth not yet appear what we fhall be ; but this we know, that when he 'hall appear, we ¡hall be like him, for we ¡Gall fee him as be is. Then we (hall be admit- ted into his immediate Prefence to fee his Face, and thall be changed into, and fatisfied with his likenefs : we (hall then live with God for ever , and be in a larger capacity to know God , and love him ; and then our work (hall be our reward , we titan be ever - laftingly loving and pealing of God. Well then, though we are not altogether at li- berty, when freed from fin , but enter into another Service, yet this Service is no Bon - dage, but a Bleflednefs, and a beginning of our eternal Happinefi, and therefore to be preferred beforeLiberty it felf. 5. No
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