We use this term upon various occasions, and it is very commonly received among men, such as servants to their employers, children to their teachers, and the like; but strictly and properly speaking, it belongs to none but to the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ himself enjoined: "Call no man your master, for one is your master, even Christ." (Matthew 23:10) There is certainly a somewhat of great softness in the expression in relation to Christ. We should not give this title to the person of God the Father, or God the Holy Ghost; it seems too familiar. But eyeing Jesus in our own nature, the heart feels a nearness of affection, and the terms then of master, honoured Lord, seem expressive both of duty and love. Every thing in Jesus, and every office in Jesus, makes this title pleasant. You call me master, and Lord, (saith that gracious Redeemer to his disciples when upon earth) "and you say well, for so I am." (John 13:13) I know not whether I shall offend, but I cannot forbear making a quotation from the writings of an eminently devout man of the sixteenth century upon the subject: I mean, George Herbert, who seemeth to have hung upon the name of Jesus his master, as the bee hangs upon the flower.
How sweetly doth my master sound, my master!
As ambergris leaves, a rich scent.
Unto the taster
So doth these words a sweet content,
An oriental fragrancymy master!
My master! shall I speak? O that to thee
My servant were a little so,
As flesh might be,
That these two words might creep and grow
To some degree of spiciness to thee!
For when my master, which alone is sweet,
And ev'n my unworthiness pleasing,
Shall call and meet
My servant, as thee not displeasing,
That call is but the breathing of the sweet.
This breathing would with gains, by sweet'ning me,
(As sweet things traffic when they meet)
Return to thee:
And so this new commerce, and sweet,
Should all my life employ and busy me.