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IT was well said of a father to his sonne: Know thou the GOD of thy father, and serue Him. How shall a man serue Him, that doth not know Him? And what will it profite to know Him, if hee doe not serue Him? But if men doe serue Him, they shall end their daies in prosperity, and their yeares in pleasures: Or if Hee try them with the Crosse, Hee will after∣wards honour them with a Crowne. Their griefes shall end in Glory, their mourning in Mirth, their tentations in Try∣umphes,
their vinegar shall bee changed into Wine, and though they haue sowne in teares, yet they shall reap in Ioy. What de∣sirest thou in a Maister? Wise∣dome? His Wisedome is infinite. Greatnesse? His Greatnesse is incomprehensible. Strength? Hee can do all things, nothing is impossible with Him. Valour? Hee is not afraid of death, no∣thing can dismay Him. Magni∣ficence? Hee is the LORD of Hoasts, cloathed with Glory and Honour: Hee couereth Himselfe with light, as with a gar∣ment, and spreadeth the hea∣uens like a curtaine. Hee maketh the clouds His Chariot, and wal∣keth vpon the wings of the Winde. Hee sitteth vpon the circle of the earth, and the inha∣bitants thereof are as Grashop∣pers. Hee bringeth the Princes
to nothing, and maketh the Iudges of the earth, as vanity: His garment is white as snow, the haire of His Head like pure wooll, His Throne like the fie∣ry flame, and His Wheeles as burning fire: Thousand, thou∣sands Minister vnto Him, and ten thousand thousands stand before Him. Wouldst thou haue a Maister rich? The earth is the LORDS, and all that is therein, the round world, and all that dwell within it. One that can aduance thee? Promotion comes neither from East, nor West, nor South, nor North, but from GOD, Who throweth the proud from his Pinacles, raiseth the needy out of the dust, and lifteth vp the poore out of the dung, that Hee may set Him with Princes, euen with the Princes of His people. Or
One, that is kind and louing, patient and compassionate? The LORD is gracious and merci∣full, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Hee will fulfill the de∣sire of them that feare Him; Hee will heare their cry and saue them. Men will serue men, spe∣cially such as may doe them good, or defend them from harme: Why then should wee not much more willingly serue GOD, who is able to saue a man, though all would destroy him, and to destroy him, when nothing can saue him? If Hee blesse, who can curse? If Hee curse, who can blesse? Some∣times a seruant serues a Maister, who growes weary of him, be∣cause hee thinkes hee may proue costly to him. Many Maisters hauing serued their turnes shake off their seruants, as a dogge
doth water, or as a man would do burres: and a good seruant may sometimes waite long, and get little: But GOD neuer forsakes, or turnes out His ser∣uants: Hee lets them not serue Him vnregarded, but as they honour Him, Hee honours them: And the more they serue Him, the freer they are in this world, and the greater rewards they shall receiue of Him in the world to come. And it is to bee obserued that yong folkes vsu∣ally do giue themselues to bee seruants of men: Why then should they not giue themselues to the seruice of GOD, whom to serue is indeed to reigne, and in whose seruice that may bee gotten which cannot bee found in the seruice of any mor∣tall man? O that wee would re∣member our Creatour in the
daies of our youth, and inure our neckes to His yoake, whiles wee are fresh and tender! But what must be the Rule of our seruice? Surely, not our wils, who are but seruants, but His Will, who is our Maister, which hee hath reuealed to vs in His Word, to which wee ought to conforme and apply our selues infeare and humblenesse, inde∣uouring to obey Him in all His commands, sincerely, cheere∣fully, and to our end; so shall we bee sure to dye in His grace, and to bee raysed vp from the graue of death to possesse the glory of Eternall Life.