to Life Everlasting but he that believes by a special mercy to him in particular his sins are forgiven or which is all one that he is elected for without that there is no remission The Faith of the Gospel they think is too general without life and common to the Devils who believe and tremble they are Believers and Quakers too and yet are Devils I cannot say how much of the Gospel they believe but by their trembling and their own confession to our Saviour Art thou come to torment us before our time that they believed the Article of the last Judgment that they shall be one day tormented for their sins By the way the Devils may shame them that have not learned so far in their Creed But notwithstanding this we must not be so kind to the Devils as to think they have the Faith of the Gospel because that works by love Circumcision availeth not any thing nor uncircumcision but faith that worketh by love Gal. 5.6 I think no man hath so much charity for the Devils as to think they have any There is no reason therefore why the Faith of the Gospel should suffer for their sakes The word of Faith saith St. Paul Rom. 10.8 is that which we preach and that was the Gospel Our particular election may be written in the Book of Life in Heaven but it is no where to be found written in the Book of the Gospel True Faith is that which we preach saith the Apostle but this Faith of Election no man can preach for who can say and say truly of his own knowledge that I or you or any man by name is elected Now if this Faith cannot come by hearing what will become of our Sermons indeed of any thing that can be called Religion or Sowing to the Spirit for that leads us a way to Heaven through believing some mysteries we understand not through many a heavy and hard law of mortification and denying our selves whereas this Faith cuts off all that and may well go for sowing to the flesh For first in favour to this it shrinks up all the duties of the Gospel into Faith and then all Faith into one Article and that not in the Creed neither and something they pare from that too it works not as an act which we may call ours for that will prejudice Gods free Grace but as a relation to Christ and in the Logick Schools it is disputed whether Relations have any real being or no. And thus all hangs upon a Pins point and leaves not a Corn to be sown to the Spirit We may therefore conclude that this and the other Pretenders are all deceived mistake the Field of the Spirit which is the Gospel and sowe quite beside it It will be now time to enter into the Field it self and see what work the Spirit there sets us to It is a large Field and reaches as far as the Gospel indeed too large to be passed through at one time But this as a great Country may be seen in a little Chart. 1. One of the works and a chief design of the Spirit in the Gospel is a godly righteous and vertuous life 2. And a second is like to it A right Faith in the Mystery of Christ and Salvation 3. A third is a devout and reverent worship of God in Prayers Praises and Confessions 4. A fourth is a careful use of the auxiliaries of Grace Sacraments Fastings and other acts of Humiliation 5. Fifthly Then we have the adorning all these with comely and decent Ceremonies This last though far from the Heart of Religion is yet within the Body of it as well as the rest One thing more I have not yet named which seems at a farther distance from the great duties of the Gospel and yet hath the advantage above the rest that it is here expresly called sowing to the Spirit and what that is we shall learn from the Verse precedent where 6. The Apostle exhorts him that is taught in the Word to communicate to him that teacheth in all good things If there be any coherence in the discourse any reason in the rational Particle for For he that soweth unto the Spirit The communicating our Goods for the Gospel is true sowing to the Spirit This duty therefore together with those already named are all Sowing to the Spirit and have a joint tendency to life everlasting For the meaning is not that any of them apart make a full Title to it but according to their quality and degree carry us their part in the way towards it It is therefore but a piece of fraud and Sophistry to discountenance one duty by setting up a greater against it as the manner is that the main purpose of the Gospel looks another way And so run down one duty with another the less with the greater as Great Persons do their Inferiors This is not onely a Deceit but plain mocking of God who commands both and a setting him against himself I note this Fallacy in common that it be not made use of here on our particular to mislead us from the due regard ought to be given to the maintenance of those that minister in the Gospel though it be not the accomplishment of the great duties yet hath a remote influence upon all Set it in as low a place in Gods House as you please but for the Spirits sake let it not be turned out of dores I single out this duty from the rest that may deserve our care more and need it less It hath fewer friends to speak for it I confess but the true reason why I do it is because it was the particular occasion of the Apostles delivering this doctrine and in this I shall keep both a better measure with the Time and with the Apostles intention and it is a point too wherein we are as much deceived as in any Our worldly Goods by nature and kind are Carnal yet being sown to the Spirit become spiritual they are infranchised and incorporate into the Family and Retinue of the Spirit they alter their property not by imprinting any real indelible character into them as envy and ill-will objects but giving onely the respect that persons of low birth have when they are adopted or affianced into a more noble Stock When the Flesh serves the Spirit it is advanced above her condition the Volatile nature of the Flesh is fixed by the Spirit and helps to make up the title to everlasting life This is warrant enough for me to make a Suit and reward enough for those that grant it That for Gods sake and the Spirits when the Church Revenue comes into your thoughts to cast an eye if not of duty of compassion upon such miserable places where there is but too much necessity for it I can speak of my own knowledge that there are many hundreds of Parishes in this Kingdom where there is not so much yearly maintenance for serving the Cure as one of your Foot-men stand
of instruction in it which they have not heard a thousand times before They who come to Prayers for these ends may indeed be disappointed because they come without their errant This is a Sacrifice for the praise and honor of God if it edifies that we have no cause to complain A Sermon I confess may fit our turns better in both these respects if it be as it should be It is no doubt a more pleasing entertainment of the time if it be to edifie our liking and fitter for instruction if it be to edifie our learning But then to say Divine Service doth not thus edifie is to blame the Prayers because they are not a Sermon You would take it ill as well you might if I should except against Sermons because they are not Prayers i. e. a Sacrifice of praise for the worship of God as certainly they are not But let both have their dues and they are both good edifiers The Sermon of Faith and Knowledge the other of the Praise and Worship of God Yea that part which of all the rest seems least to edifie The Hymns and Psalms and Anthems with Musick edifie the praise of God I will praise the name of God with a sung and magnifie it with thanksgiving Psal 69.30 Yea the very instruments themselves have their part in praising God Therefore will I praise thee and thy faithfulness O God playing upon an Instrument of Musick Unto Thee will I sing upon the Harp O thou holy One of Israel Psal 71.20 This perhaps may be allowed to David to use the Art wherein he excelled and may agree with the Jewish service but not with the Christian Nay St. Paul Rom. 15.8 in the place I named before assures us That it was a promise made to the Fathers that Christians should so glorifie God by Confessing to Him and Singing to His Name the very Singing is not omitted and that not of Him only but to Him which seems so ridiculous to some to sing our Prayers or any thing that is offered to God But it did not so to him that knew it better Psal 104.33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being What ever others think he was resolved to live and die in it I shall trouble you with no more of their Objections These only I have taken out of a greater heap because they are such as confront the Plain Doctrine and Letter of the Text and are the most popular insinuations wherewith unwary people have been deluded But you will say though we see no reason to approve of these men yet have we not reason to pity them For they are content to lose their Livings for their Consciences What they lose I cannot say but for pitying them I should be apt enough if I did not see some Gallants venture more for a young wanton Mistress than others for a chast and sober wife If they be so fond of their new Directory and Covenant as young lovers are in the first heat of their affection who say That they had rather beg together than part who can help it Yet I will hope that a little more time and a little less Indulgence which uses to make the one will make the other wiser too And so I leave them and come to Our selves whose Judgments have not been so far corrupted as to be enemies to the Liturgie yet I know not how something hath so poisoned our Affections that we are not so good friends to it as might be wished We care but little to come to it and have as little respect when we are at it we fit it out or talk it out so as nothing seems to be more impertinent and wherein we are less concerned than in this Service Why will you go to Church say they there 's nothing but Prayers That is in words at length There 's nothing but praising and honouring God It is not possible that any could be thus bold with their Creator if they did not deceive themselves with a perswasion that a full amends may be made him another way That obedience to Gods Commands a vertuous and godly life is the best Sacrifice He that keepeth the Law Ecclus 35.1 Psalm 4.5 saith the Son of Sirach bringeth Offerings enough And David an Author of more credit tells us of a Sacrifice of Righteousness And the Apostle in this chapter To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Verse 16. These are and every other act of Vertue may be a Sacrifice and God honoured by them But yet not such as will serve to satisfie the Duty of the Text. The Sacrifice of obedience is Metaphorical i. e. God accepts it as well as if it had been a Sacrifice that is something given to himself But the Sacrifice of praise is proper without a Metaphor The original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess imports something to be destroyed but that is meer accidental to the notion of Sacrifice It doth distinguish the kind but not constitute the nature of it which is accomplished by offering something to God in acknowledgment of him And for this use the fruit of our lips is as proper as the fruit of our flocks or of our fields ever were So likewise the honor which God receives from our obedience differs from that of Sacrifice for that is only of consequence and by argumentation i. e. It suits with the nature and will of God as we say Good servants are an honor to their Masters by reflection But the honor by Sacrifice is of direct and special intendment it hath no other use and is a distinct vertue from all other acts of obedience and of a different obligation I should not trouble you with these nice distinctions if they did not carry with them matter of important consequence least a necessary service should be shuffled up and quite lost in the croud of other duties For though God hath the honor of obedience and a vertuous life if we deny him the honor of a Sacrifice besides we rob him of his due and a greater Sacriledge we cannot commit For that which goes upon the common account of Sacriledge robs God only of things dedicated for his service and yet that crime hath fired the nests of those that took Coals from the Altar to warm their own harths but this is the robbing God of the Service it self to which the other is but an accessory It is a fallacy and piece of practick sophistry that cozens the world for men to think themselves discharged of one duty by the zeal they bear to another as if God were not rob'd so long as we leave him any thing Now as it is well worth our care that this Service be not lost in the crowd of other duties so will it be much more that it be not lost in worse company in a throng of Vices And lost it will
that which came next to hand Nor doth the Text put you to seek far what you are to do It is but your own business In both respects it may be thought unfit for this Audience which is not of that quality to be entertained with no better Provision than what comes next to hand and especially if that should prove plain and homely as this is To do our own business and as it follows To work with our own hands This is but a kind of Mechanical Doctrine and what should that do here in Court Not to leave my self and the Text under this prejudice That I sought no farther for it was not of easiness or neglect but Choice Because I found it not only in conjunction and company with the excellent Study of Quiet to which any kind of retainer at large might deserve respect but also Because I saw it set by the Apostle in a place of near and intimate relation a Principle and Foundation to it The next way to be quiet abroad is to be busie at home And though it be but plain Doctrine 't is never the worse for that use for Foundations are best when plainest It is noted as a cause why men make little proficiency in Arts and Sciences that the Principles and Elements are not so well studied as they should be And the reason why they fall under that neglect is Because none of the great things which the Art it self promises are seen in the Principles at first And therefore Quintilian that the Schollars of his Art might not be discouraged with the meanness of his First Elements tells them that Latent Fundamenta conspiciuntur aedificia there is little to be seen in the Foundation that lies hid under ground all the beauty and luster is in the Superstruction This doing our own business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a practical principle whereupon depends much of the business of our whole lives and so hath the fate of other foundations to be little seen and regarded It lies low under ground and we overlook it as a thing not worthy any mans thought or care But to give it the due we must not look upon what it is in Sight but what it is in vertue a Principle and Foundation whereupon is built that which is the desire of all good men the publick peace and quiet of the Church and Kingdom And then we may allow it to be good Doctrine which hath so good a Use It is a good tree that brings forth good fruit But then you will say It must be in season too Now the wise man tells us Eccles 3.9 There is a time for war as well as a time for peace And can it then be seasonable again and again thus to importune the study of such things as make for peace at a time when we are all and have cause to be in preparation for war Indeed if it were such a peace as would weaken the hands of any in the pursuit of that Just Necessary and Royal Expedition it were a most unseasonable Solecism But we must know As there is a War that makes for Peace so there is a Peace that makes for War Unity among our selves binds us close together we are the stronger for it Vis unita fortior in divisions and discord strength is distracted and scattered Dum singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur Domestick Peace then though it comes not out of the Artillery is good Ammunition for War And it falls in well too with the express Letter and Doctrine of the Text It is our own business As it is the proper business of a King to protect His Subjects from the Insolencies and Injuries of proud insulting Neighbours so it is the business of every good Subject too to assist Him in it with their Lives and Fortunes Whether therefore we seek for Peace at home or have cause of War abroad the duty of the Text is for us We are doing our own business But though it be a good Foundation to build on every way yet except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build Let us therefore before we go farther in the work go to him for a blessing upon it c. That ye study to do your own business I Take in the word study being forc'd by the necessary construction of Grammar and Reason For an object without an act imports nothing to do our own business may be as well a fault as a duty but if study be taken in the sense is certain and perfect it is that wherein we shall do well to imploy our study As we are to study to be quiet so we are to study also to do our own business The words will bear two senses as there are two sorts of offenders about business nihil agentes and aliud agentes And in the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes 3.11 the idle that work not at all and the busie-bodies so we translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Text will reach them both for either it sets every one awork to find himself some business or it restrains and confines him to that which is his own The former against Idleness is a good lesson that to awaken the lazy sluggard out of his dead sleep for they are as S. Paul speaks of his idle wanton widows 1 Tim. 5.6 dead while they live There is no more life in an idle man then in an Idol-god that hath eyes and see not ears and hear not but the other sense seems to agree better with the scope of the place and will afford work enough for this time the Apostle seems to have observed some among them too much busied in matters that brought trouble and disquiet to themselves and others for remedie whereof he enjoyns them to look to their own business But how their own For it may be a fault and a great one too so to do our own business as not to regard what becomes of others that if our own turns be serv'd and we get no matter who loses This is deservedly forbidden by our Apostle himself to the Philippians chap. 2. ver 4. Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others And in the 21. v. complains of it too that every one seeks his own and not the things which are Jesus Christs But our own here and our own there are two different things That which he blames there is our own of interest there may be too much of our own in that but that which he commands here is our own of duty and office In this it must be so much our own that it must be none but our own Having reduced the words to their proper genuine sense in this Lesson there will fall to be learned these particulars 1. That there is and ought to be a propriety in business that to every one there belongs something that he may properly