Now then a sacred work is no sleepy work Our enjoyment of God in Ordinances is a day of salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. It is no night to sleep in It is against reason to 2 Cor. 6. 2. sleep with the Sun shining in our faces In Gospel Ordinances the Sun of righteousness shines in the face of the soul it doth shed its warming and its winning beams upon us The Gospel is called bright John 3. 19. which is to rouse us not to rock us asleep It was once a sharp expostulation of our Saviour What could ye not watch with me Mat. 26. 40. one hour The same query may be put to every sleepy hearer 2. In Ordinances the work we are employed in is opus animae the souls work Will the prisoner fall asleep when he is begging his pardon What are we doing in prayer but suing out our pardons and making up our peace with our offended God The Heir will not fall asleep while he is Evangelium est sublustre quidcam et praegustus clarae lucis sive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. gloriae divinae Quae revelabitur in coelis Chrys hearing the Will read in which he is highly concerned the discoveries of the Gospel are the Fathers will concerning his Children and when we meet in Ordinances we are hearing this will and is that a time of sleep and drowsiness In Ordinances the case of our souls is agitated heaven and eternity are proposed life and death are set before us the silver trumpet of the Gospel sounds and is that a time of sloth and oscitancy Ordinances are the way to life the means of grace not onely the radicall moisture to preserve spiritual life but the very first means to beget it and shall we sleep in Ordinances When the wind blows right shall the mariner betake himself to his bed or to his tackle to drown himself in sloath or to hoise sail and trace the floating Idem sermo aliis est propiâ—iatio ad vitam aliis condemnatio ad mortem quae diversitas non verbo sed nostrae incredulitati debetur fic admonitiones exhortationes doctrinae castigationes quibâ—â— delinquentes ad recipiscentiam vocantur contemptores et impaenitentes judicantur in die ultimo Muse waves Every opportunity of grace is a good wind for heaven and shall we sleep away that seasonable and precious gale How then shall we finish our voyage to eternity We hear Proclamations with great attention Every Sermon is Christs Proclamation to proclaim pardon to all penitent sinners who will come in and lay down the weapons of sin and lust and submit themselves to the Scepter and Obedience of Jesus Christ and shall we sleep in hearing this royal Proclamation It is very observable what awakening and heart-penetrating expressions the Prisoner uses at the bar and there is nothing unobserved by him but with much greediness and attention he hearkens to the Evidence of the Witnesses to the Verdict of the Jury to the Sentence of the Judge and no wonder it is for his life Now the word we hear it is that which shall judge us at the great day John 12. 48. By it our eternal estate shall be disposed either to life or death that blessed word shall cast or crown us and shall we sleep away this word Shall it not then condemn us for mutes and so to be pressed to eternal death Our life our peace our souls are all concerned in the entertainment of this word and we sleep and dream it away surely greater frenzy cannot befall the Children of men Sleeping in Ordinances is a great affront to the richest priviledge we enjoy on this side heaven The time of worship is the souls Term time a few choyce minutes to gain glory in and shall we sleep away these golden filings of time these sweet Veniente Christo mors vigebat et regrâ—bat sed Christus ejus vigorem et regnâ—m sustulit et destruxit Alap opportunities of the soul when Christ is wooing us to court us to a Crown Did we ever understand the true value of Ordinances 1. Ordinances they are the purchases and price of Christs blood that we have a Gospel to hear divine truth to entertain this is the Revenue of Christs death The Apostle tells us Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. Christ by dying brought this life Christ by descending into the dark grave brought this immortality to light And the Gospel is the full declaration of these glorious atchievements And Christ by his Heb. 10. 20. blood hath opened a new and living way for prayer to the throne of grace Heb. 10. 20. And shall a priviledge purchased with blood be slept away We will not throw away Diamonds fetcht from far with care and hazzard nor cast away Rings left us as tokens of love by endeared friends why should we sleep away opportunities not purchased with treasure but tears not with wealth but blood nay the best blood which ever ran in the veins of humane nature 2. Ordinances are the Benjamins mess which are given to few in the world some corners onely of the earth are guilded and guided by this light Hath God indulged us with these distinguishing opportunities and must they pass away from us in a dream This very ingratitude is not so much a trespass as a prodigy Shall Christ select us out to feast with Cant. 2. 4. Esth 7. 1. him in his hanqueting house as once the King selected Haman to feast with him with the Queen and shall we sleep at the table when we should feast upon Gospel dainties shall we drowsily throw away those seasons of love nay the best love which few in the world are honoured with 3. In Ordinances we have the offers of the sweetest grace Quia filius dei est vivus cum Patre et sp sancto deus et quia secundum humanam naturam ad patrem abiit et ad dextram patris est evectus et omnem in coelo et in terrâ potestatem accepit indeut verus deus verus homo preces credentium exaudit ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 orationem ex fide in Christum prosectam non exaudiri Ger. Prayer hath the key of the treasury door John 14. 14. where our comforts are banked up In hearing we have the gracious offers of Christ and in him of life and happiness and shall all these offers these paramount tenders of love be slept away Shall we shut our eyes shut our hands shut our souls against all these rich revenues freely proffered in Gospel dispensations Beasts by natures instinct will not sleep at the provender nor at their manger 4. Ordinances they are precious but transcient priviledges As we sometimes pass upon the water and view a stately structure but we quickly lose the sight of it our prospect is upon the speed so yet a little while and we shall pray no more hear no more enjoy
of his Resurrection when his power was most illustrious The Resurrection of Christ was unparallel'd Others indeed were raised from the grave So Lazarus John 12. 1. So Dorcas Acts 9. 40. And women received their dead raised to life again Heb. 11. 35. But all these retired to their Christus post quam resurrexit talem vitam amplius non vivit immò mori ampliùs non pâ—ssit Alap graves again their renewed life was only a short apparition which was quickly smoothered a little Candle set up after it had been put out which burned for a while and spent it self till it went out again But our Saviour as the Apostle speaks Rom. 6. 9. Being raised from the dead dyeth no more This Sun being risen sets no more nay it is no more inveloped in a Cloud but shines in a higher sphear in a more sublime Orb to eternity Christs Resurrection was not damped with a revocation nor did he fly back again to his empty tomb there to shelter himself till the general Resurrection Nay let us run a little higher the Resurrection of Christ was that glorious work above all others which the Scriptures mention to the Fathers honour Rom. Gal. 1. 1. 1. 4. Acts 2. 24 32. Acts 3. 26. Acts 4. 10. Acts 10. 40. This work it was by which Jesus Christ is made both Lord and Christ and is exalted to sit at the right hand of his Father This act of Resurrection advanced him to the throne who before was stigmatized with the Cross and changed him from a prisoner to be a Prince and Saviour Acts 3. 31. Acts 10. 41. Nay to be the Prince of life Acts 3. 15. And nothing but glory and honour are the Attendants of his Throne To Acts 2. 32. publish this glorious act Christ principally did choose his Disciples Acts 10. 41. Acts 2. 32. Christs Resurrection Acts 2. 25. was the Motto of the Apostles embassie and the emphasis of their Errand the grand argument by which they both 1 Cor. 15. 14. made and comforted believers For indeed the receiving of 1 Pet. 1. 3. our Christ again after the certainty of his death and the solemnity of his burial is the spring of our joy the fountain of 1 Pet. 3. 21. our comfort the stay of our hearts and the assurance of our Hymnus Angelicus ad nativitatem Christi accipiatur 1. Tanquam gratulatio gratiarum Actio z. Tanquam Angelorum votum quod Angeli optant hominibus 3. Tanquam doctrina quae vera est pax scil in Christo solo Theod. Mat. 4. 2. justification This blessed work of Christs rising put the last hand to the work of our Redemption and so fasten'd it that it cannot unravel The Birth of Christ was accompanied with the joy of Angels Luke 2. 13. His life was embroidered with wonders and miracles for every word our Jesus spake was not less than a wonder John 7. 46. His death was imbittered with sorrows and perplexities and sighs were the escutcheons about his Hearse but his Resurrection was the new Birth of the World and the sparkling spirits of a Believers consolation The wise-men of the East rejoyced at his Star Mat. 2. 10. when it did proclaim the Birth of Christ But Believers rejoyce at himself when he himself proclaims his Resurrection The Star retires at the Suns rising And now shall the Resurrection of Christ be unparallel'd for glory and shall it not so far influence us as to make us exemplary for sanctity upon its weekly commemoration the Lords day Shall every thing concur to the honour of Christs resurrection and shall onely our loosness and vanity on the day of it cast a damp and put an ecclipse upon it When we prophane the Sabbath what do we but draw a veil before the glory of Christs resurrection and practically deny that he is sprung from the Grave What loves can those Christians have to or what esteems for their dear Jesus who when his resurrection-day gave new life to the world fresh joy to the Disciples and new wonders to Mankind can yet pollute and defile the Sabbath its constant Memorial Sabbath-breakers are worse than Sadduces they onely deny Acts 23. 8. our Resurrection but these vertually deny Christs for if Christ be risen why do they not adore the rising Sun by Eph. 5. 11. walking in the light on his own blessed day But why do they attempt to ecclipse this glorious day by their sins and deeds of darkness CHAP. LIV. Some miscellanious prescriptions for the better discharge of our duty towards the LORDS DAY THe Concernments of the Soul can be never sufficiently pressed because of the weightiness of the affair and Mat. 16. 26. nothing more conduceth to the advantage of the Soul then the holy observation of Gods blessed day Soul-welfare In die dominico mens nostra in piis exercitiis tota defigenda est Cartw. much depends upon a due and careful observance of it Spiritual Sabbaths very much draw the Soul to its center formal Sabbaths do much retard the Soul in its progress and Sabbaths wasted in prophaneness do very much harden the Soul in sin and vanity and drop apace into the Vials of Gods wrath jogging Vengeance to awaken it which seems to slumber It may easily fall under our observation that one who is slight on the Sabbath will be profuse on the week that sin which is hatched in the Sabbath will be fledg'd in the week And therefore where there is so much danger to lose the way it must needs be safe to take good direction and to set up more lights for our better guidance and this is the further designe of what followes in this Chapter Let love be the spring of all our duties upon the Sabbath-day Prescript 1. Love is a sweet but a forcible principle it works not as a Sword but as a Sun-beam it draws but not drives it Excessus mentis est intentio ad superna Ansel constrains but not compels and it wins by perswasion and not coaction 2 Cor. 5. 14. Fear storms the Town but Love takes it by composition a heart full of love will run through the Datur sancta insania quando mente excedimus deo Bern. duties of a Sabbath as the Sun through the several Signs of the Zodiack with swiftness and delight Nor doth it understand any toyl or weariness Our Sabbath should not be our task but our delight Isa 58. 13. and then we should be on the wing and flye to the Sanctuary as the Doves to the Windows And indeed what is there in a Sabbath which doth not court our love The Lord of it He is our Beloved Mat. 2. 28. Our love our dove our undefiled Cant. 5. 2. Cant. 6. 9. He doth or ought to lie as a bundle of myrrh between our breasts Cant. 1. 13. The Son of man who is the sum of our desires is the Lord of the Sabbath Love of
observe in this Edict of this worthy Prince not unfitly called Pius that the Crimes committed on this day were onely rustical works which might easily meet with an Apologie and lay a specious claim to a dispensation yet the judgments mentioned are fearful and tremendous And the use this noble Emperour makes of these doleful Providences is most excellent and commendable becoming the Throne of Majesty a fit Motto for Princes Courts and Kings Pallaces Luke 7. 25. where holy zeal would be as genuine and proper as soft Rayment and to live piously as becoming as to live delicateâ—y God for the prophaning of his Sabbath hath poured forth wrath upon whole Towns and Corporations as may be abundantly testified by these ensuing Instances Gâ—â—gorius Thronensis who lived a thousand years since and upward in the end of the fifth Century according to Greg. Turon Beliarmines Chronology this learned man a verred That for the dishonour done to the Lords day fire from Heaven burnâ—d â—oth men and houses in the Town of Limâ—ges in France But to come nearer home at Tiverton in Devonshire which was often admonished of the prophanation of the Lords day which day was very much polluted by their An. Dom. 1598. keeping a Market the day following and notwithstanding they would not reform presently after the Ministers death upon the third of April 1598 a suâ—den fire from Heaven consumeth the whole Town in less than half an hour excepting onely the Church Court-house and Alms-house and in this fire was consumed four hundred dwelling houses and fifty persons were destroyed The same Town fourteen years after on the fifth of Auguâ—t 1612. for the same sin was wholly consumed excepting some thirty poor peoples houses the School-house and the Alms-house Thus God redoubled his wrath as he did Pharaohs Dream Gen. 41. 32. to confirm this great Truth viz That Sabbath prophanation is a crying and God-provoking sin and shall be pursued with the severest extremity Stratford upon Avon was twice on fire and both times on the Lords day whereby it was almost consumed and chiefly for prophaning that blessed day and contemning the These two Instances are cited by Bishop Baily word of God out of the mouth of his faithful Ministers And is it not just that Market-Towns should be laid waste where the Souls Market-day is despised and prophaned And it is no wonder if we make Gods day the stage of sin if he make our houses the fuel of wrath God hath brought ruine upon Churches for the sacrilegious abuse of his holy Sabbath the blow which was first given to the German-Churches was on the Lordâ— day which was too carelesly observed among them and on that day Prague Mr. Sheph. in Bohemia was lost a fatal loss which filled the Papists with fury and rage and caused the true Professors of Religion to rowl in ashes Thus Sabbath-prophanation paved the way to their ensuing and intolerable miseries The prophanation of Gods day hath blasted whole Kingdoms and populous Nations The Council of Matiscon imputed the irruption of the Goths into the Empire to the prophanation of the Sabbath Germany may now see that one great cause of their late trouble was that the Sabbath wanted its rest in the days of their quietness and many moderate men have thought that the abuse of the Lords day was a principal procurer of Gods anger since poured forth upon poor England in a long tedious and bloody War and such observed that our Fights of greatest importance were fought on the Lords day As the Fight at Edgehill Newbury c. as pointing at our sin in the punishment and Gods wrath was written in Dominical letters And it is remarkable that Edgehill Fight which was fought on the Sabbath-day first brake the Peace and made an irreconcilable breach between the two contending Parties Indeed God is very jealous of his own blessed day which when men dare to prophane it is not in populous Towns to watch against nor in City-Gates to shut out nor in mighty Kingdoms to resist or beat back his furious and severe indignation Therefore let all the premised Examples in their several varieties cause us to walk with all due circumspection and to keep Gods holy day with just solemnity and holy devotiâ—n and so we may secure our selves against these heavy strokes which have broken others Jer. 19 11. like a Potters vessel CHAP. L. Some Remarkables relating to the dreadful Fire of LONDON which began on the Lords Day Sept. 2. 1666. THat God doth threaten the fiering of Cities for the pollution of his holy day is clear and manifest from Scriptural attestation and more especially from that remarkable Text of Scripture Jerem. 17. 27. the words of the Text are these But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-day and not to bear a burden even entring in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched In this solemn Text we have 1. A specification of the judgment that God will punish Sabbath-pollution with viz. Fire 2. The specification of the Object that this fire shall fall Si violatur Sabbatum vorabit ignis portas urbis i. e non extinguetur ignis donec consumat totam urbem Scimus tunc temporis babitos fuisse conventus in portis Duc suerunt loca celeberrima incensum item fuit templum consumpta domus fuerunt Calv. upon viz. A City not a Village a place of meanness and poverty but a City a place of stateliness and plenty a City a place of traffick and safety 3. Here is the specification of the City Not every City neither but Jerusalem the best of Cities not the subordinate but the Metropolitan City It was not Tyberias a Maritime City not Caesarea Stratonis a Garrison City not Tyre a merchandizing City nay not Samaria the chief City of the Kingdom of Israel but Jerusalem the Metropolis of stately Judah which only was crowned with the honour of being called the City of God Psal 87. 3. Jerusalem where Gods honour dwelt Jerusalem where Gods Temple stood Jerusalem the general Rendezvous of Worshippers at set and solemn times Jerusalem whose fame was noised all the World over yet God threatens this Jerusalem with fâ—re and flames for prophaning his Sabbath and did God onely threaten it No He fully executed his threats upon it Jer. 39. 8. And the Chaldaeans burnt the Kings house and the houses of the people with fire and brake down the walls of Jerusalem God did not onely light and shake the Match in a threat but shot off the Piece in tremendous execution he lays Jerusalem waste which would not hallow his holy Sabbath And is not famous London the sad counterpane of destroyed Jerusalem Englands Metropolis lies in its rubbish fire hath taken hold of it and turned it into ashes What those Chaldaeans were