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SERMON III.

I THESS. IV. 11.

And that Te Audy to be Quiet, and to do Your own Business.

W

HEN the Gospel of Christ, that Wisdom from above, which is firft pure, then peaceable, was first publifh'd to the World, fuch was the Oppofition of the Luft of Men to the Purity of it, that for the fake of That which they could not deny, and durft not openly condemn, they deny'd the Peaceable Nature and Tendency of it. It was indeed too pure to be peaceable to Them, and therefore they endeavour'd to have it believ'd to be so to all the World. Accordingly we find it, as frequently as falfly, urg'd against Our Saviour himself, and his Apo

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ftles, who went about teaching, and doing good, that what they taught was a Turbulent and Seditious Religion; and that they themfelves, the Publifhers of it, were the Difturbers of States and Kingdoms, and the known Destroyers, wherefoever they came, of the common Peace and Quiet of Mankind. Thus the Jews, at the Preaching of St. Paul at Theffalonica, tho' they themselves were in an open Riot, for They took unto them, as the Text fays, Acts 17.5. certain lewd fellows of the bafer fort, and gather'd a Company, and fet all the City on an Uproar, and affaulted the boufe of Jafan; yet had the Impudence to accufe St. Paul, and his Fellows, of the Crime which they themfelves were at that time actually guilty of, crying, Thefe, that have turn'd the World upfide-down, are come hither alfe. But this Charge, by which the Gospel of Chrift was at first fo Blafphem'd, by the unexampled Meekness of our Saviour, and the Peaceableness of his Doctrine, and the inoffenfive Carriage of thofe that were the firft Teachers and Learners of it, was vifibly confuted, and utterly overthrown. And it were devoutly to be wifh'd, that the fame Imputation, which in those more pure and early times of Chriftianity was fo notoriously falfe, were not as manifeftly made true in Our time, upon whom the Ends of the World are come; that

there

there were nothing of that restless and perverse Spirit among us, that Delights in Confufion and Disorder; but that we had all carefully and faithfully preferv'd our gracious Lord's laft Legacy, which he gave us, when he faid, Peace I leave you; and had no need to have been fo earnestly entreated by the Apostle, in the latter end of the foregoing Verfe, and the first of my Text, I beseech you Brethren, that Te ftudy to be Quiet.

Muft we then be fo paffionately urg'd, muft we be befeech'd to be Quiet? What is there, that for its own fake feems to be more Defireable? Must we make it a Study to be Quiet? What is there, that at first fight seems to be more eafy? Yet how amiable foever this Duty is, fuch is the general Neglect of it, that it may feem reafonable to exhort, and to prefs, and befeech Men to it; how eafy foever it feems, yet it is really fo hard, that it may well require our utmost Endeavour and Study to perform it.

I fhall therefore, Firft, fhew wherein this Duty confifts, and what may be understood by our Studying to be quiet, and to Do our Own business, with fome directions relating to the Practice of this Duty.

II. Lay

II. Lay before you the Advantages that accrue from the right obferving of this Precept of the Apostle, both to our Private Selves, and to the Publick.

First then, to Study to be Quiet, may imply an earnest and fincere Endeavour, to bring our Minds to that gentle and ferene, and truly Christian Temper, that neither any inward Commotions of diforderly Paffions, or irregular Defires, nor any outward Contingencies, or Affaults of Fortune, can be able to difcompofe. To work in ourselves an Unconcernedness for all other things, but the things that belong unto our Peace: To put ourselves out of the reach of being difturb'd, by rightly judging nothing, on this fide Heaven, confiderable enough to make us uneafy, or forfeit our Quiet for it; To fit ourselves, by thus abftra&ting our Thoughts from the Noife and Trouble, and Strife and Business, andVanity of the World, for a Communication and Entercourfe with God, and the Peaceful Spirits above. For in none but Minds thus Compos'd and Even, do the bright Reflections of the Deity and Angels fhine: as in a Calm and Smooth River, all the Beauties of the Heavens, the Sun, or Stars appear in all their Luftre, and equally almost delight us when reflected there, as when we fee them shining in the Firmament

⚫ above;

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