that is required of us; but never think of the other, and, perhaps, the principal things too that he expects from us.

Just as if when Moses had broke the two tables of stone, whereon the Ten Commandments were written, one man should have come and snatched away one piece, a second ran away with another piece, and a third with another, till at length ten several persons had gotten ten several pieces, wherein the Ten Commandments were severally written; and when they had done so, every one of them should have striven to keep the law that was written in his own piece, never minding what was written in the others. Do you think that such persons as these are could be reputed the servants of God, and to observe his laws, when they minded only one particular branch or piece of them? The case is our own; we, hearing of several laws and commands which the most high God hath set us, get some one of them by the end, and run away with that, as if we were not concerned in any of the rest. But let us still remember, that the same finger that wrote one of the commands, wrote all the other too. And therefore he that doth not observe all, as well as one, cannot properly be said to observe any at all. Neither indeed doth he serve God in any thing: for though he may do something that God requires, yet it is plain that he doth not therefore do it, because God requires it; for if he did so, he would do all things else too that God requires. And therefore such a person doth not serve God at all in what he doth; no, he serves himself rather than God, in that he doth it not in obedience to God, but with respect unto himself; as to get himself a name and credit amongst men, or perhaps to satisfy his troublesome conscience, which would not let him be at quiet unless he did it.

But now one that would serve God indeed, hath respect to all his commandments, Psal. cxix. 6. And walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the

Lord blameless, as Zacharias and Elizabeth are said to have done, Luke i. 6. And thus, whosoever would serve the Lord in any thing, must serve him in all things that he requireth. And this is that which David means in this advice to his son, saying, Know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him; that is, observe and do whatsoever he enjoins, and that too with a perfect heart and a willing mind.

And so I come to the second thing to be considered here; that is, the manner how we ought to serve God, even with a perfect heart and with a willing mind.

First, With a perfect heart; that is, with integrity and sincerity of heart, not from any by-ends or sinister design, but out of pure obedience to the laws of God, as he is the sovereign of heaven and earth, and, in Christ, our Lord and our God. A thing much to be observed in all our services, without which, indeed, they are no services at all. Insomuch, that should we pray our tongues to the stumps, and fast our bodies into skeletons; should we fill the air with sighs, and the sea with tears for sin; should we spend all our time in hearing of sermons, and our whole estates in relieving the poor; should we hazard our lives, yea, give our bodies to be burnt for our religion; yet nothing of all this would be accepted as a service unto God, unless it be performed out of sincere obedience to his laws, and with a single eye, aiming at nothing but his glory, which ought to be the ultimate end of all our actions, 1 Cor. x. 31.

Secondly, We must not only serve God with a perfect heart, but with a willing mind too,

properly with a willing soul; that is, our will, and all the affections of our souls, should be carried after, and exercised in the service of Almighty God. Our desires are to be inflamed towards it, our love fixed upon it, and our delight placed in it. Thus the Israelites are said to have sought the Lord with their whole desire, 2 Chron. xv. 15. And we are commanded to love the

Lord our God, and so to serve him with all our heart, and with all our soul, Deut. xi. 13. Yea, we are to delight to do the will of God, Psal. xl. 8. as our Saviour did, saying, It is my meat to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work, John iv. 34. Thus are we too to esteem the service of God above our necessary food, pleasing ourselves in pleasing him, and so make his service not only our business, but our recreation too; and whosoever doth not so, whatsoever he doth for God, he cannot be said to serve him, because he doth it against his will, and against the bent and inclination of his soul: and therefore, though, as to the outward act, he may do that which God commands, yet inwardly he doth it not; because his soul is still averse from it, by which means it ceaseth to be the service of God; because it is not performed by the whole man, even soul and body, both which are necessarily required in our performance of real service to him that made them both.

Thirdly, What is the reason why we ought to serve God so? Because he searcheth the hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; that is, he is thoroughly acquainted with every thought in our hearts, and with every motion and inclination of our souls, infinitely better than ourselves are. And therefore it is in vain for us to think to put him off with outward and formal, instead of inward and real service. For he doth not only see what we do, but knows too what we think, while we are doing of it; and doth not only observe the matter of our actions, but the manner also of our performing them. It being his great prerogative to search the heart, and to try the reins, and to have all things naked and open unto him, Heb. iv. 13. So that he sees what the soul doth within doors, in the secret closets of the heart, as clearly as what it doth without in the open streets of the world; every affection of the soul being as manifest unto him, as the actions of the body are: and therefore hypocrisy

is the most foolish and ridiculous sin imaginable, making as if we could cheat and deceive God, and hide our sins from the all-seeing eyes of Omniscience itself, or make God believe that we are holy, because we appear to be so to men,

But to bring this home more closely to ourselves. We have been all at church, perhaps, performing our service and devotions to him that made us; it is true, as to our outward appearance, there hath been no great difference betwixt us; we have been equally present at these public ordinances, and we do not know but one hath prayed and heard the word of God both read and preached as well as another; so that seemingly our services are all alike as to us; but are they so to God too? that I much question: for he hath taken especial notice all along, not only of the outward gestures of our bodies, but likewise of the inward behaviour of our hearts and souls before him: and therefore, as I hope he hath seen many of us serving him with a perfect heart, and willing mind; so, I fear, he hath found too many of us tardy, coming before him as his people come, and sitting before him as his people sit, while our hearts in the mean time have been about our covetousness; and hath plainly seen, though our bodies have been at church, our souls have been elsewhere, thinking upon our relations, or estates, or something or other, besides what our thoughts should have been employed about in so solemn a duty as the public worship. But know this, O vain man, whosoever thou art, that God will not be mocked: and though thou hast not seen, or perhaps so much as thought of him, he hath seen thee and thy thoughts too; yea, at this very moment looks upon thee. And what wilt thou answer him, the great Judge of the whole world, when he shall tell thee to thy face, and call his omniscience to witness, that he saw thee at this, as at other times, play the hypocrite with him, making as if thou servedst him, when thou servedst him not; and instead of serving him with a

perfect heart and a willing mind, servedst him neither in heart nor mind. Let us all remember this when we approach God's house, and also bethink ourselves afterwards whether we have not been guilty of this sin! if we have, we may be sure God knows it, and we shall hear of it another day. But to prevent what justly may be our doom, let us repent of our former neglects in this kind; and, for the future, whensoever we are serving God, let us still look upon him as looking upon us, and fix in our hearts this one thing, that God knows all things in the world. And therefore let us not think to put God off with such careless and perfunctory services as heretofore too many of us have done; but if we desire to serve him at all, let us serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.

Thus I have endeavoured to shew both what it is to serve God, and how we ought to do it: now let us not think it sufficient that we know how to serve God, unless we serve him according to our knowledge. Let us remember our Saviour's words; If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them, John xiii. 17. Which happiness, that all who read this may attain unto, let me advise them, in the name of the eternal God that made them, to renounce and forsake their former matters, sin, satan, and the world, whoever may have hitherto been enslaved to them, and now dedicate them-selves wholly to the service of him, that made them for that very purpose, that they might serve him; yea, and who hath composed our natures so, that the highest happiness that we are capable of consists in our serving him and therefore let us not think that he calls upon us to serve him, because he wants our service; no, be it known unto all, that he is infinitely happy in the enjoyment of his own perfections, and needs not the services of such poor silly mortals as we are, who have nothing but what we receive from him: and therefore he doth not call upon us to serve him, because he cannot be happy without us, but because we cannot be