An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Religion and the Worship of God, in the whole compass of it, is nothing else but service, a blessed service, a free service, a service infinitely more free than any thing the world calls freedom. ⟨p. 238⟩(Exod. 4.23.) Let my Son go that he may serve me, that is, worship me. All the Sons of God are his Servants, and they have most of the Son in them who have most of the Servant in them. If any deny him service they deny their sonship, or rather (as the Apostle speaks of Non-sufferers in one kind or other, Heb. 12.8.) They are bastards, not sons; yea, God expects whole and all service from us, or that we should serve him with our all, (Deut. 10.12.) Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart. We must serve the Lord, not only with the best we have, but with all the best, with the heart, and all the heart. We serve God no further than we obey him, and we worship him no further than we serve him, and that heartily.

To serve God, (as to love God) is a very comprehensive word, 'tis the sum of all the duty of Man. To serve God is to submit both to what he commands us, and to what he layeth upon us. To serve God is to submit to what he would have us do, and to whatsoever he is pleased to do with us; and so we serve him particularly under sufferings: We should always serve him actively, and we are called sometimes to serve him passively. All Believers are free, and yet they must serve; and they are made free on purpose to serve: We are purchased by the blood of Christ, that we might serve him. Because we are bought with a price, we must not be the servants of men, saith the Apostle, (1 Cor. 7.23.) Whose servants then? Surely the servants of God.¹