served his own generation by the will of God, and fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.” In order therefore to describe and recommend to you the christian servant, we shall consider the office which he sustains; the manner in which he is to discharge it; and the state in which it terminates. I. Let us consider, in the first place, THE OFFICE WHICH HE SUSTAINS. I make this a distinct and primary subject of consideration, not that there is any difficulty in ascertaining what christian service is, but because I am desirous you should perceive and feel that it is an essential part of christian character. It is true that the office of servant is not the only one which a man of God sustains; nor is the name the only one which is descriptive of his character and life. He is a disciple; who sits at the feet of Jesus, and learns from his word the great mystery of godliness. He is a professor of Christ’s gospel; who publicly declares his belief of its doctrines, and his subjection to its authority. He is a soldier; who endures hardness, and fights the good fight of faith. And he is a son; a child of God; a partaker of the spirit of adoption, whereby he cries Abba, Father; and an heir of God through Jesus Christ. But he is a servant, in a sense which includes these names and relationships, and which describes a condition, in some respects superior to them all. As a servant is one who is subject to the authority of another person, and is employed on his behalf, so a christian is in willing subjection to God, and is employed by and for his Master in heaven. Formerly he was in the service of Satan, serving divers lusts and passions; but from that service he has been redeemed, not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ; and from that service he has been called by the effectual voice of the Holy Spirit, who has constrained him to renounce sin, and Satan, and the world, and to consecrate his service to the Lord. “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked, that, though ye were the servants of sin, ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”