1. The First and Great Obedience, and the Sum and Substance of that Obedience, which we owe unto God, is the Devotion of our selves unto the Service of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we should Serve the God that made us, This is the Grand End for which we are made by God: Of mankind, it is by the Eternal Maker said, This people have I formed for my self, they shall show forth my praise. But it is the Son of God, who is that Word of God, of whom we are told, in Col. 1. 16. All things were Created by Him, and for Him. And the Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, He is that, He•• of God, and that Lord of All concerning whom 'tis the Will of God, expressed, in Joh: 5 23. That all men should Honour the Son, even […] they Honour the Father. The Dues which belong to God from us, the Lord JESUS CHRIST, our Immanuel, and our God manifest […] the Flesh, is the more immediate Receiver of them. He hath a Right unto us not only as He hath Made us, but as He hath Bought us too; & as we are directed, in Eph. 5. 20. To give thanks unto God, and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; thus, our Service is then most agre•• ably and effectually yielded unto God, […] we distinctly put the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon all, as being a Servicein•e•ded for Him immediately. All the Mercy of God ⟨p. 8⟩unto us, comes through' the Hand of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the God man, and the Mediator between God and Man. Hence, tho' it were an Impiety, to Exclude the Consideration of God the Father, or of God the Spirit, in that Service which we are to render unto God for His Mercy, yet we then render it after the most Christian manner, when we carry the Lord JESUS CHRIST in our Thoughts, as the next Object of it. Wherefore, in the Meditations which I am to give you, I shall study still to insert the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, as calling for that Service, which is to be done in the whole of our Obedience unto God. And this I do the rather, because of a boiling Antipathy in my Soul, against the Paganism of those Traitors unto the King of Heaven, who tho' they call themselves Divines, yet would have their Sermons and Writings valued, for the same cause that Blessed Austin undervalued the Books of their Brother Cicero, Quia Nom•• Christi non est i•i; the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST is not there.
1. The First and Great Obedience, and the Summ and Substance of that Obedience, which we owe unto God, is the Devotion of our selves unto the Service of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we should Serve the God that made us, This is the Grand End for which we are made by God: Of mankind, it is by the Eternal Maker said, This people have I formed for my self, they shall show forth my praise. But it is the Son of God, who is that Word of God, of whom we are told, in Col. 1. 16. All things were Created by Him, and for Him. And the Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, He is that, He•• of God, and that Lord of All concerning whom 'tis the Will of God, expressed, in Joh: 5 23. That all men should Honour the Son, even 〈…〉 they Honour the Father. The Dues which belong to God from us, the Lord JESUS CHRIST, our Immanuel, and our God manifest 〈…〉 the Flesh, is the more immediate Receiver of them. He hath a Right unto us not only as He hath Made us, but as He hath Bought us too; & as we are directed, in Eph. 5. 20. To give thanks unto God, and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; thus, our Service is then most agre•• ably and effectually yielded unto God, 〈…〉 we distinctly put the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon all, as being a Servicein•e•ded for Him immediately. All the Mercy of God ⟨p. 8⟩unto us, comes thro' the Hand of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the God man, and the Mediator between God and Man. Hence, tho' it were an Impiety, to Exclude the Consideration of God the Father, or of God the Spirit, in that Service which we are to render unto God for His Mercy, yet we then render it after the most Christian manner, when we carry the Lord JESUS CHRIST in our Thoughts, as the next Object of it. Wherefore, in the Meditations which I am to give you, I shall study still to insert the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, as calling for that Service, which is to be done in the whole of our Obedience unto God. And this I do the rather, because of a boiling Antipathy in my Soul, against the Paganism of those Traitors unto the King of Heaven, who tho' they call themselves Divines, yet would have their Sermons and Writings valued, for the same cause that Blessed Austin undervalued the Books of their Brother Cicero, Quia Nom•• Christi non est ii; the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST is not there.
