The serviceable man. A discourse made unto the General Court of the Massachusetts colony,…

A People, implies a Multitude of men, and therewithal some Combination or Association of ⟨p. 9⟩them. Blessed be our God, there is a Number among the children of men, who by Agreement, may be called, His.

II. 'Tis also to be taken for granted, That every man should study to be Serviceable unto the people of God. This people, in its Militant Condition here, has many things to be Done for it; and our God hath so Disposed of us, as to make us need the Help one of another. The people of God may say unto us, as in Philem. 19.. Thou owest unto me, even thine own self. We owe the utmost Service unto the Great God, as our Creator and Preserver; but He has made His People the Receivers of his Rents; they have His Letter of Attorney for all the Goodness that we can extend unto them. The people of God are continually in circumstances, that call for the Assistance of all that are Well-affected unto the Dust of Zion. We cannot with any face pretend to be of them, if we now withhold, any of that care, or cost, or Time, with which we may be Serviceable to them. They make up, The Mystical Body of Christ; and we are worse than silver Hands, or wooden Legs, in that Body, if we are not so sensible of, as to be Serviceable in, their Difficulties It was for the Good of this people, that the Son of God, underwent all the Troubles ⟨p. 10⟩and Sorrows of His deep Humiliation; and we are None of His, if we count it any Humiliation unto our selves, to do any thing that may be for the Good of such a people.

II. 'Tis also to be taken for granted, That every man should study to be Serviceable unto the people of God. This people, in its Militant Condition here, has many things to be Done for it; and our God hath so Disposed of us, as to make us need the Help one of another. The people of God may say unto us, as in