N00618:47
A good master well served. A brief discourse on the necessary properties & practices…
A good master well served. A brief discourse on the necessary properties & practices of a good servant in every-kind of servitude: and of the methods that should be taken by the heads of a family, to obtain such a servant. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Two lines from Joel]
printed by B. Green, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. This is the first Counsel that calls for your Attention; Servants, In the first place, Become the Devoted Servants, of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, The Lord of all. O that you might all of you •e able to say, as he in Psal. 116. 16. O Lord, Truly I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant. It is Observable, That the Homage which we owe unto the Heavenly Lord, is ordinarily described by Metaphors drawn from the Service, of an Earthly Master. Among such Metaphors, I take a special Notice of this One; That the Lords calling of a man to Serve him, is expressed by His calling of that man, unto His Feet: In the Hebrew Original of the Old Testament, the […] for, A Servant, usually is, One at the Feet of his Master. At their Tables they Lay down on Carpets, and so the Servants that waited on them, stood at their Feet behind them. Thus among the Roman Writers also. Ad Pedes, or, A Pedibus, is the Phrase for a Servant: ⟨p. 22⟩he was a, Serv•s, who, Ad Pedes steterate Well then; Servants, Do you come away unto the Feet of the Lord Jesus Christ; and whatever Service you have to do for your Masters, Let something analogous to that Service be done in the first place, unto that Holy, Holy, Holy Lord Almighty. It is commanded you, in Eph. 6. 5. 6, 7. Servants, Be obedient unto your Masters, as unto Christ; Not with Eye service, but as the Servants of Christ; with good will, doing service as unto the Lord. And it is again commanded you, in Col. 3. 2, 3, 4. Servants, whatever ye do, do it Heartily, as unto the Lord; for ye serve the Lord Christ. So then, This is the first Thing, that is to be urged upon you; Oh! That you would become the Sincere, and Hearty Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ! Then we shall hope to see you, Dutiful Servants unto those Masters and Mistresses, under whom our Common Lord hath Stationed you.
1. This is the first Counsil that calls for your Attention; Servants, In the first place, Become the Devoted Servants, of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, The Lord of all. O that you might all of you •e able to say, as he in