10.

own Him for their Lord and Master. But mankind in general, and particularly we, and all the members of His Church, have another and more special obligation upon us to do it; forasmuch as when we were sold under sin, and therefore subject to the wrath of God, the Lord Jesus was pleased to purchase and redeem us to Himself, on purpose that He might be our Lord and Master, and we His subjects and servants, in the strictest sense that could be for it is written, "that He purchased His Church Acts 20. 28. with His own blood." We are redeemed from our vain conversation with the precious blood of Christ, as of" a Lamb 1Pet. 1. 19. without blemish and without spot," for He " gave Him- Tit. 2. 14. self for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," and so "deliver us from the wrath to come.' " 1 Thess. 1. Wherefore we being thus bought with a price, "we are none 1 Cor. 6. 19. of our own," but we are wholly His who bought us, His lot, His flock, His purchase, His inheritance, His saints, His servants, His elect, His, His treasure, His special or peculiar people, as the Children of Israel are called. And Exod. 19. 5. so are all the true Israel of God, they are a chosen gene- 1 Pet. 2. 9. ration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people" unto Him, and He is in a peculiar manner their Lord and Master: He exerciseth a peculiar government over them, and takes special care of them above all people: He having redeemed them to Himself, as their great Lord and Patron, He nourisheth and maintaineth them at His own cost and charges: He supplies them with all things necessary both for life and godliness: He feeds them often at His own table: He appoints them all their several places and stations in the world, where they may do Him best service: He gives them every one work to do, and calls them to account how they do it: He defends them from all their enemies, and suffers none to do them hurt: He blesseth and sanctifieth all occurrences to them, so as to make all things [Rom. 8. work together for their good: if they happen to go astray, He, one way or other, brings them back again, to mind the business that He hath set them: if they offend, as they often do, His and their Heavenly Father, He makes atonement and reconciliation for them: if their hearts be broken,

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28.]

SERM. XXXIII.

[Eph. 3.
16.]
[Phil. 4.

13.]

or their consciences wounded for their sins, He binds them up, and heals them again, so as to make them sounder than they were before: if they be infirm and weak, not able to do the work He employs them in, He refresheth, He animates, He strengthens them with His grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man; so that they can do all things through Christ that strengthens them. In short, He gives them whatsoever they have, He supplies them with whatsoever they want, He directs and assists them in whatsoever they do: and when their day is spent, and their work done, He gives them great recompense of reward, saying to every one Matt 25.21. of them, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Ps. 8. 1.

Dan. 9. 17.

6

"The joy of thy Lord:" a phrase much to be observed; for hereby He puts us in mind, that He is not only a Lord in general, but that He is our Lord, and the Lord of every one of us in particular, and that we ought to look upon Him as such and so His people have always done. In the Old Testament, they did not only call Him the Lord,' but also, our Lord;' as David said, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!" Ps. 110. 1. And, my Lord;' as David again, "The Lord said. unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand." And Daniel, "And now, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, 1, for my Lord's sake," as the words may be rendered. And so in the New Testament, when the Apostles, Disciples, or such as believed in Him, spake of Him, with relation to the Church in general, they usually call Him, as we do in our public prayers, "Jesus Christ our Lord," as being the Lord of the whole Church, and of all the members of it alike: but when they speak of Him, every one with relation to himself, every one appropriates Him, as it were, to Himself, and calls Him "his Lord" in parLuke 1. 43. ticular. "Whence is this to me," saith Elizabeth, "that John 20. 13. the mother of my Lord should come to me?" "They have taken away my Lord," saith Mary Magdalen. "Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God." And Phil. 3. 8. St. Paul, "I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." And so we all may, or rather, so we ought all to do. It is not enough

ver. 28.

for me to acknowledge Christ to be the Lord of all believers in general, but I must look upon Him as my Lord, and my Master, in a particular manner; and so ought every one of us to do: "He tasted death for every one of Heb. 2. 9. us." And every one of us is "baptized into His death," [Rom.6.3.] and we then covenanted with Him, and promised every one of us to be His servant, and to own Him for our "Lord and Master;" which therefore we are every one bound to do all our life long. I say, "all our life long :" for it is not enough for us to acknowledge it in general, or to think of it only now and then; but we ought to live with a firm belief, and with a constant sense of this upon our minds, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Patron, our Master and Governor; and that we are always at His service, under His command, entirely subject to His will and pleasure: He may do with us what He will, and we cannot gainsay it; He may command us what He pleases, and we are bound to do it. Neither must we look upon Him as our Lord only at a distance, but as one that is always present with us, wheresoever we are, and takes notice of every thing we do, intending to reward or punish us, according as we do, or do not what He commands, and so as He commands it to be done: especially when we are at Church, we are then to look upon ourselves as in the House of our Lord, where He Himself assures us He is specially present, saying, "Where two or three are gathered together in My Matt.18.20. Name, there am I in the midst of them." But above all, while we are at His Holy Table, where every thing hath the nearest relation to Him that can be upon earth: the Table 1 Cor.10.21. itself is the Table of the Lord, the bread which we there ch. 11. 29. eat, is the body of the Lord, the cup we there drink, is the ch. 10. 21. cup of the Lord, the whole feast is called, "The supper of ch. 11. 20. the Lord, of our Lord and Master Christ." And therefore all the while that we are there, we should carry ourselves with that reverence and godly fear, which becometh servants in the presence of their Lord, their Mighty, their Almighty Lord, the Lord of the whole world.

Could we keep this great truth thus always fixed upon our minds, it would be of mighty use and advantage to us,

XXXIII.

SERM. through the whole course of our lives: as I promised to shew in the next place, and may easily do it.

For which purpose we may first take notice that one great reason, wherefore so many of those who profess the Gospel of Christ, take no care to live according to the rules prescribed in it, is, because they look upon Christ only as their Saviour, not as their "Lord and Master." They have been taught, and accordingly believe as they ought, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, that He died for 1 John 2. 2. them, and was thereby "a propitiation for their sins, and not for theirs only, but for the sins of the whole world." And therefore they hope that He will save them from the wrath of God, and from all the punishments which are due unto them for their sins. And this is all that men generally expect from Christ their Saviour: and it is true, they have all the reason that can be to expect it from Him, if they do but observe what He hath appointed, in order thereunto. But this they seldom do, upon this account, because looking upon Christ only under the notion of their Saviour, Mediator, and Advocate, to make atonement for their sins, they are apt to be secure, and take no further care of doing what He hath appointed and commanded, in order to their obtaining pardon and Salvation by Him. Whereas, if they would look upon Christ as their Lord as well as their Saviour, their Master as well as their Redeemer, and therefore their "Lord and Master," because their Saviour and Redeemer, as I have shewn He is; they would then see themselves as much obliged to obey His laws, as they are concerned to believe His promises; and be as fearful to offend Him, as they are desirous to be saved by Him. There is no temptation they can be under, there is no duty they can set about, there is no place, no employment, no condition or circumstance of life they can be in, but this, if duly considered, would be a check upon them, and help to keep them within their line: but I shall instance only in such uses, which the Holy Scripture directs us to make of this great truth, that the Lord Jesus is our "Lord and Master."

I shall begin with that use which our Lord Himself

makes of it in this place. He, after His Last Supper, condescended so far as to wash His Disciples' feet: but when He came to Simon, Simon said to Him, "Lord, dost John 13. 6. Thou wash my feet?" Our Lord, among other things, answered, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me:" upon which, Simon Peter said, "Lord, not my feet only, ver. 9. but also my hands and my head." Where we may observe, that when St. Peter spoke to Him, he still called Him Lord; from whence our Lord seems to take the occasion of uttering these words; "Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am:" and then He adds, “If I ver. 14-16. then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither He that is sent, greater than He that sent Him." His washing of His Disciples' feet, was a great instance of His kindness to them, and likewise of His humility and condescension. This therefore is the use that He Himself did, and would have us to make of this doctrine, that seeing He is our great "Lord and Master;" and yet He stooped so low, as to do such a mean office for His Disciples we who are His disciples and His servants, should think nothing too mean, nothing too low, that we can possibly do for one another. And this is that virtue, wherein He would have us, in an especial manner, to follow His example: "Learn of Me," saith He, "for I am meek Matt.11.29. and lowly in heart." And it is very observable, that He would have us learn meekness and patience, as well as humility of Him, upon this account, because He is "our Lord:" "The disciple," saith He, "is not above his master, ch. 10. 24, nor the servant above his lord: it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?" This is a thing He would have them take especial notice of, so as to keep it always in their minds: "Remember," saith John 15. 20. He, "the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they

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