SER M. viour, during their Attendance in the Houfe VII. of GOD, too frequently fhews. From thence

one would judge, (what it is to be feared is often the Cafe,) that they think the Duties and Offices of Religion are things they are not concerned in; and that they come to Church, not as the Servants of GOD but of Men: And that the Time they spend in it, they think not allowed them for the Benefit and Improvement of their own Souls, but rather, like their Attendance at other publick Meetings, for the Credit of their Mafters. I do not fpeak this of Servants univerfally: I observe, and hope, and promise myself much better things from fome here prefent. But that what I fay is too true of many of them, you know too well. But though this Negligence and Carelesness in Religion chiefly affects such Servants themselves; yet let not their Masters and Mistresses imagine, that they are free from a Share in the Guilt, except they use all proper Means to inftruct them better.

And the best Way to make your Servants obfervant of the Duty they owe yourselves, is to make them first the Servants of GOD. Let me therefore exhort you to lay hold of the Opportunity that is now offering, to bring them, if you can, to the Acknowledgment

and

VII.

and Profeffion of that Religion into which they S ER M. have been baptized; to vow in their own Names, and to take on their Perfons, the Practice and serious Obfervance of it for the future; and that the Holiness of their Lives may always prove, that this Grace shall not have been bestowed upon them in vain; but that GOD is in them of a Truth. And may he grant to all bis Servants Grace to withstand the Temptations of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and with pure Hearts and Minds to follow him the only true GOD, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SERMON

SERMON VIII.

The Parable of the Sower.

SERM.

VIII.

LUKE viii. 5, 6, 7, 8.

A Sower went out to fow his Seed; and as be fowed, fome fell by the Way-fide, and it was trodden down, and the Fowls of the Air devoured it.

And fome fell upon a Rock, and as foon as it
was fprung up, it withered away, because
it lacked Moisture.

And fome fell among Thorns, and the Thorns
Sprang up with it and choked it.

And others fell on good Ground, and sprang
up, and bare Fruit an hundred Fold.

IN

N order to make the beft Improvement of the Words, let us firft examine into the Senfe and Occasion of them.

Now the Occafion of them our Lord's own Expofition fhews was to fet before us a very melancholy Relation of the great Unfuccefffulness and Unfruitfulness which attended his

I

Preach

VIII.

Preaching amongst the Jews: Not but he SER M, had Hearers enough, and in Abundance: For we are told, that juft before he delivered this Parable, Much People were gathered. together, and were come to him out of every City; and preffed upon him in fuch Multitudes to hear the Gofpel, that to get out of the Throng, he was forced to remove into a little Ship that lay waiting upon the Lake of Gennefareth, close to the Shore, and from thence to preach to them, whilft they stood crowding on the Land to hear him, Compare ver. 4. with Matt, xiii, 2. and Mark iv. I. Hearers therefore and Followers our Lord had abundantly: And yet, as it ap pears from the whole Course of his Preaching, the Numbers were, in Comparison, but very few, by whom he was heard with any Succefs. That the little Progress therefore which the Gospel made in the Hearts of his Hearers, might not be imputed to the Gofpel itself, or to him that preached it; he utters this Parable of a Sower and his Seed; reminding them that, though the Seed may be good, and the Sower ever fo diligent and careful, it may yet come to pass that, for want of due Preparation in the Ground, three Parts in four of the Seed may be loft. That

one

VIII.

SER M. one Part of it, being scattered by the Way-fide, or on the Paths, would be trodden down by Men, or picked up by the Fowls of the Air that devour it: That another Part, falling among ftony Places, and not having Earth fufficient to cover it, would fpring up too foon, and through the Reflection of the Sun too vehemently from the Stones, would wither for Want of Root and Moisture; and that a third Part falling into Places overrun with Briars and Thorns would be choked by the Weeds that grow up with it, and so hindered from bringing any Fruit to Perfection whilft only a fourth Part, that happens to fall upon good Ground, would bring forth Fruit, and that in fuch Plenty, as to yield thirty, fixty, or an hundred Fold. Not that the Harvest should bring in an hundred Times the Quantity of all the Seed that is originally fown; for much of the Seed mifcarries, we fee, and comes to nothing: But that when the Corn happens to fall upon very good Ground; it comes often to pafs (as Experience has fhewn) that fo many Stalks fpringing out from one Grain, and fo many Grains on every Stalk, that for a fingle Grain fown in the Ground, the Reaper shall receive an hundred in it's Stead.