Day 2. BY what Publick Exercises of Religion the Christian Sabbath is to be celebrated hath been at large declar'd both from the Precepts and Practice of the Apostles It remains that we inquire how it is to be sanctified in Private which is a Duty no less incumbent upon us than the former For the multitude of our Affairs not permitting us on other Days to intend the Matters of Religion with that freedom and solemnity which becomes them there ariseth a necessity when we have both leisure and so fair an Invitation to it to apply our selves to the performance of it and supply those Defects which the Necessities of the World have made Taking it therefore for granted that such a Sanctification is requir'd I will make it my business to inquire wherein it doth consist and what particular Duties it exacts Onely because I have not told you how we are to intend the Publick Exercises of Religion I will mix that with the Consideration of the other and so give you a kind of History of the due Observation of the Day The lord's-Lord's-day saluting our Horizon and admonishing us both of the Blessings and Duties which it brings it is but reasonable where the Labours of the foregoing Day have not made it necessary to do otherwise that we should be up betimes to meet them and pay them that Regard which they deserve as remembring that the Christian Sabbath is rather a Day of Business than of Rest though of an easie and a gracious one Now the first Business that presents it self on that Sacred Day is the offering up our Sacrifice of Praise for the Resurrection of our Lord and the Opportunity we our selves have to celebrate it And herein it becomes us to be so much the more hearty because it is the Ground of its Institution and that which gives it both its Being and its Name Next to the Sacrifice of Praise subjoyn we that of Prayer for the Assistance of God in the due Celebration of it not onely our own unaptness so requiring but the importance of the Business we are to intend and particularly of the Publick one For now we are not as upon other Days barely to worship God but to do it with a more than ordinary fervour as being thereby to supply the Defects of our past Piety and lay a firm foundation of our future one The Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise being thus offer'd up to God and thereby an entrance made into the Sanctification of the Day there is then place for those Businesses which our own Necessities or Conveniences invite to the performance of but so as that we remember we have a weightier Business to intend and particularly our looking back into our past Impieties For inasmuch as we are assur'd that God heareth not sinners such I mean who continue in them without remorse we are in reason before we address our selves to the Duty of Publick Prayer to break off our sins by repentance and like the Prophet Moses to put off our shoes before we tread upon holy ground Not that it were not convenient that this should be done at other times and we to inquire every Night as Pythagoras his Scholars were oblig'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein have I offended what good have I done and what omitted and accordingly as that Philosopher * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adviseth either to afflict or chear our selves But that howsoever it should either through the necessity of our Affairs or inadvertency be omitted at other times we should not fail to do it then when we are to address our selves to Publick Prayer by which if by any thing we must hope to obtain God's Favour Imagine now the Bell calling you to the Publick Assemblies or rather because both the Jewish Sabbath and ours was instituted for the holding of them that you hear God himself doing it In answer to which Call you are to bring both your selves and your Dependents and that too at the Beginning of God's Publick Worship The former because though other Persons may sanctifie the Sabbath by their own single Piety yet they who have Children and Servants are to see to the Observation of it in them as being under their direction and command Though were they not so oblig'd the Advantage that might arise from the doing of it might be a sufficient inducement to endeavour it that which made Abraham so great a Confident of God being that God knew he would command his children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord as you may see Gen. 18.19 But neither is there less reason that the Beginning of God's Service should have both their Company and ours than there is that it should have it at all an imperfect Service arguing a slight esteem of him and that we are no farther his Servants than we our selves please And it calls to my mind that Expostulation of God in Malachi chap. 1.8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour Will he be pleas'd with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of hosts For what is that but a blind and a lame Service where it may be the best part of it is wanting or how can we think God will be pleas'd with that which an Earthly Prince would disdain to accept We may suppose by this time the Man who desires to sanctifie the Lord's-day aright entred the Church where having prostrated himself before the Divine Majesty and implor'd his Blessing upon his Endeavours he will need little other direction than to mind that which he comes about and not either drowsily or irreverently to perform it Onely that I may set the better edge upon his Devotions I will apply my Instructions to some of those particular Duties which the Day and the Order of our Service doth require With admirable reason doth our Church and almost * Thorndike Rel. Assembl ch 10. all the Reformed ones begin their Service with Confession of Sins as knowing how likely they are whilst thus bewail'd to separate between us and God And there is the same reason we should bring to the Rehearsing of it that due Remorse and Sorrow which the consideration of our several Offences call for otherwise we rather dare God to avenge himself upon us than take the way to appease or please him But when we who are vile enough in the eyes of God make our selves such both in our own esteem and expression when we frankly lay open the Errors we have committed and acknowledge them to be such by our inward Contrition and outward Sorrow then our Confession is no less sure to be follow'd by the Absolution of God than it is by that of the Priest or rather that God will confirm that which the Priest pronounceth it being not certainly for nothing that our Saviour hath said Whosesoever
thy duty towards God Answ My duty towards God is to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship him to give him thanks to put my whole trust in him to call upon him to honour his holy Name and his Word and to serve him truly all the days of my life Quest What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour Answ My duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as my self and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me To love honour and succour my Father and Mother To honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him To submit my self to all my Governours Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters To hurt no body by word or deed To be true and just in all my dealings To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart To keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering To keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity Not to covet nor desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLICATION OF THE DECALOGUE DISCOURSE I. Of the Law of NATVRE How it doth appear that there is such a Law What the general Contents of that Law are And of what continuance its obligation is A digression concerning mens misapprehensions in the matter of Nature's Law and from whence those misapprehensions do proceed Of what use the knowledge of Nature's Law is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and of Christ PRoposing to my self to entreat of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments according as the Catechism of the Church of England hath understood them I foresee it necessary to premise somewhat concerning the Divine Laws in general and then of the Ten Commandments in particular For as that Catechism though it restrains Gods holy will to the Ten Commandments yet doth it upon supposition of their containing in them all other his Laws and Commandments so before we descend to the Explication of those Ten it will be necessary to enquire By what Authority they stand how they come to oblige us and what measures we are to proceed by in the Interpretation of them Now the Laws of God are of two sorts to wit either Natural or Positive by the former whereof I understand such a Law or Laws as are founded upon natural principles and investigable by them by the latter such as have no other visible foundation at least than the meer good pleasure of God and are therefore to be known only by revelation from himself The Law of Nature again hath these four things to be enquired into which accordingly shall be the boundaries of my discourse concerning it 1. How it doth appear that there is such a Law 2. What the general Contents of that Law are 3. Of what continuance the obligation thereof is 4. Of what use the knowledge thereof is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and Christ I. It is very well observed by the judicious Hooker and will be evident to any man that shall consult his own understanding that all knowledge is at length resolved into such things as are clear and evident of themselves for all knowledge of things obscure being made by such things as are more known than the things we seek after either it must terminate in such things as are clear and evident of themselves or we can have no certain knowledge of any thing That by which we endeavour to know any thing requiring still something to manifest it and so on in infinitum Now though a resolution into things clear and evident of themselves be not always actually made nor indeed necessary to be so the intermediate principles of any Science coming by discourse to be as well known as those things which are clear and evident of themselves yet being now to penetrate as it were into the very bottom of all Moral Truths it will be requisite for us to dig so much the deeper and deduce the being of the Law of Nature if not from such principles as are the lowest in their kind yet from such as are nearest to them I have * Explic. of the Apostles Creed elsewhere shewn and shall therefore now take it for granted that there is such a thing as an Alwise and good God that that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world and all things in it which being granted it will follow that there is a right in God to give Laws to his Creatures in such things as are in their power and suitable to their nature to execute For what can be more rational than that every one should have the disposal of those things which he is the Author of and consequently if God be the Author of all things that he himself should have the command of them All therefore that will be requisite for us to enquire into is whether as God hath the power of giving Laws to his Creatures and to man in particular so he hath actually done it and consigned him to the obedience of them Now for this we shall need no other proof than that freedom of will which God hath given to humane nature for being man is not carried by any inevitable necessity as other Creatures are but left to the guidance of his own reason and will either he must have a Rule set him to proceed by or it shall be in his power even by the consent of the Almighty to disturb the order of Nature Now forasmuch as it can be no way suitable to the wisdom of any one to put Creatures into a power that I say not into a kind of necessity to disturb his own orders and designs therefore God being Alwise must necessarily have prevented this inconvenience and given him a Rule to direct his will and operations Again being it appears not that man at the first had any other revealed Law of God than that of not eating the forbidden Fruit and many Nations of the World have no opportunity to know those Revelations he hath since made it follows that God hath implanted in the soul of each particular man a Law by which he is to act or at least such principles from which he may deduce it Lastly forasmuch as there is in all men a conscience excusing or commending them when they have done any thing they apprehend to be good but disapproving and condemning them if they have done any thing which they believe to be evil it follows undeniably that there is a Rule whereby our actions are to be guided For if mankind were left at large what ground could there be of his either applauding or condemning himself for any supposed either virtuous or vitious actions Neither is
the Lord blessed the * or Sabbath day seventh day and hallowed it PART I. The Contents The general Design of the Fourth Commandment the setting apart a Portion of our Time for the Worship of God and particularly for the Publick one The particular Duties either suh as appertain to the Substance of the Precept or such as are onely Circumstances thereof Of the former sort are 1. The Worshipping of God in private and by our selves the Morality whereof is evidenced from the particular Obligation each individual Person hath to the Divine Majesty 2. The Worshipping of him in consort with others which is also at large establish'd upon Principles of Nature and Christianity 3. The setting apart a Time for the more solemn performance of each As without which Religious Duties will be either omitted or carelesly perform'd but to be sure no Publick Worship can be because Men cannot know when they shall meet in order to it 4. Such a Rest from our ordinary Labours as will give us the leisure to intend them and free us from distraction in the performance of them BEING now to enter upon the Fourth Commandment about the Nature whereof there hath been so much Contention in the Church of England I cannot forbear to say There is all the reason in the World to believe it to be Moral in the main as having a place among those Commandments which contain nothing in them which is not confessedly Moral But because when we come to understand its general Design and particular Precepts we shall be much better able to judge whether or no and how far the Matter thereof is Moral I will without more ado apply my self to the investigation of them and shew to what Duties it oblig'd Now the general Design of this Fourth Commandment is the setting apart a Portion of our Time for the Worship of God and particularly for the Publick one That it designs the setting apart some Portion of our Time the very Words of the Commandment shew as not onely acquainting us with God's sanctifying a Seventh part but obliging the Jews in conformity thereto to rest from their ordinary Labours and observe it as holy unto the Lord. The onely difficulty is Whether it designs the setting apart of that Time for the Worship of God and particularly for the Publick one For the proof of the former part whereof though I cannot say we have the same clearness of Evidence from the Letter of the Commandment it self yet I shall not scruple to affirm That it may be inferr'd from thence by necessary consequence and not onely be prov'd to be a part of the Precept but the principal one For how is that day kept as holy which hath nothing holy performed in it Or what reference can it have to God as the Word holy implies where God is not at all honour'd in it Neither will it suffice to say That the very Resting on that day is of it self a Consecration of it unto God For as it becomes a Consecration onely by the Parties so resting in compliance with the Command and Ends of God so it supposeth at least that they should on that day order their Thoughts to him and rest from their ordinary Labours in contemplation of his Command and in remembrance of his resting from that great Work of the Creation Again Though to rest from their ordinary Labours especially as was before understood were a kind of devoting it unto God yet there being other and more acceptable ways of keeping it holy than by a simple Rest from them it is but reasonable to think when God caution'd the Jews so to remember it he design'd no less to be honour'd other ways Lastly Forasmuch as God not onely commanded to keep it holy but in this very Precept represents it as his own * But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God as in Isaiah ‖ Isa 58.13 under the Title of his holy day and the holy of the Lord he thereby manifestly implies that it should be dedicated to his Worship and not onely not be profan'd by ordinary Service but hallowed by his own For how is it God's Holy day but by being dedicated to his Service or how observ'd as such but by giving him his proper Service in it Whence it is that where the Prophet Isaiah gives it those Elogies he insers our honouring him from them as well as the not pleasuring of our selves Though therefore so much be not directly and in terminis express'd yet it is clearly enough imply'd that God design'd his own Honour and Service in it and commanded it to be set apart for the performance of it Lastly As God design'd the setting apart of a certain Time for his own Worship so more especially for the Publick one Of which though there be no Indication in the Commandment it self yet there is proof sufficient in the 23d Chapter of Levitious where we find not onely the forementioned Rest required but the day it self appointed for an holy Convocation as you may see ver 2. of that Chapter And accordingly though the Jews did generally look no farther than the Letter of the Law and some of them as is probable here content themselves with an outward Rest as by which they thought to satisfie the Commandment yet the generality of them have in all times look'd upon the Service of God as the End for which they were commanded to keep the Sabbath For thus Josephus in his second Book against Appion tells us Thorndike of Religious Assemblies ch 2. where this of Josephus and that of Philo are quoted That Moses propounded to the Jews the most excellent and necessary Learning of the Law not by hearing it once or twice but every seventh day laying aside their Works he commanded them to assemble for the hearing of the Law and throughly and exactly to learn it As in like manner Philo in his Third Book of the Life of Moses That the Custom was always when occasion gave way but principally on the seventh day to be exercis'd in Knowledge the Chief going before and teaching the rest increasing in goodness and bettering in Life and Manners I will conclude this Particular with that of St. James Acts 15.21 where to fortifie his Opinion concerning the prohibiting of Blood to the Gentile Christians he alledgeth for a Reason That Moses had in old time them that preach'd him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day From all which put together it is evident that the Service of God and particularly the Publick one was the Thing designed in this Commandment The Jews themselves who were none of the most quick-sighted being able to discern it and accordingly both of old and in latter days framing their Practice after it The general Design of the Commandment being thus unfolded proceed we to the Particular Things under Command which for my more orderly proceeding in this Affair I will rank under two Heads to wit 1. Such as appertain to
the Substance of the Precept Or 2. Such as are onely Circumstances thereof I. Of the former sort again are these four things 1. The Worshipping of God in private and by our selves 2. The Worshipping of him in consort with others 3. The setting apart a Time for the more solemn performance of each And 4. Lastly Such a Rest from our ordinary Labours as may give us the leisure to intend them and free us from distraction in the performance of them Now concerning each of these there cannot be the least doubt of their being Moral and consequently of Universal Obligation 1. That so it is to Worship God in private the Obligation each of us have to the Divine Majesty and the Words of the First Commandment shew For being he is the Creator and Sustainer of each Individual as well as of Humane Nature being there is no individual Person which hath not some peculiar Obligation to the Divine Majesty whether in respect of some Blessing receiv'd or Evil averted from him lastly being as was before shewn those Expresses of the Divine Goodness lay a necessity upon the Person that hath receiv'd them to honour the Author of them it follows because each individual Person hath been so oblig'd that each of them do for himself acknowledge those Obligations and pay God that Service and Adoration which is due because of them Again Forasmuch as the First Commandment doth not onely exclude the having of other Gods but injoyn the having and owning of the True forasmuch as it requires that of every individual Person as the expressing it in the Singular Number shews lastly forasmuch as the Matter of that Commandment is Moral it follows That to worship God in private and by our selves is a Moral Duty Which was the first thing to be prov'd 2. From the Private Worship of God or that which is due from each particular Person pass we to the Worshipping him in Publick which we have before shewn to be the Design of this Commandment Where first of all I shall shew it to be a Moral Duty and secondly a Christian one To worship God in consort with others being generally look'd upon as so much a Duty that no Sect of Christians for ought I know have ever made a question of it I have often wondred with my self whence so general a Perswasion should arise since the New Testament hath said so little by way of Precept concerning it But considering with my self that the same Perswasion hath prevail'd whereever the Worship of God hath taken place I entred into a suspicion that the same Common Principles had been the Author of it in both even those which Reason and Nature teacheth And indeed that there is enough in them to oblige Men to a Publick Worship will appear to any that shall consider 1. Not onely that God hath made Man a Sociable Creature but that Men have actually entred themselves into Societies For as it was but reasonable that those whom God had made Sociable Creatures should in return for so great a Blessing give a proof of it in his Service and with joynt Forces worship him who had both inclin'd and fitted them so to associate so actually entring into Societies they thereby became Sharers of the good or evil Fortune of those respective Societies which they espous'd In consideration whereof as they were oblig'd either to pray or give thanks according to the several Fortunes which befel them so to do both those Duties not onely apart and by themselves but in conjunction with those to whom they were so associated common Sense requiring that where the Blessing obtain'd relates to any Body that Body to which it so relates should pay its Thanks for it as on the other side that where the Evil either threatned or undergone relates to a Community that that Community to which it doth so should offer up its joynt Prayers to God to avert that Evil from it My second Argument for the Morality of Worshipping God in Publick shall be taken from the Obligation that lies upon us to provoke each other to the Adoration of him For being by the Design of our Creation not onely to glorifie God in our own Persons but as much as in us lies to procure the Glorification of him by other Men we are accordingly as our Saviour speaks so to make that light of ours to shine before men that they seeing our works of piety may glorifie our Father which is in heaven Now forasmuch as it is no way proper that our Personal Devotions should be so laid open because of necessity containing such Petitions as are not fit to be communicated to the World Reason requires that there be a Publick Worship instituted by our diligent attendance whereof we may provoke each other to the more devout Adoration of our Maker Which Argumentation I do the rather make use of because the Author to the Hebrews useth the same where he speaks of the Publick Service in pursuance of his exhorting to * Heb. 10.24.25 consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works adding not forsaking the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some then was but exhorting one another and so much the more as they saw the day approaching Lastly Forasmuch as on the one hand there is a necessity of instructing the Generality in the Duty they owe to God and every one that stands in need of Instruction cannot have a particular Teacher assign'd him as on the other all of us do stand in need of each others help in promoting our Petitions unto God it is but necessary we should sometimes meet together that they who stand in need of Instruction may receive it and both Teacher and Taught put to the utmost of their Endeavours to obtain of God those Blessings which they need For as God knows our Devotion is at best but weak and consequently may well require the twisting of some others with it so there is none of us which may not be sometime indispos'd to ask as we ought or unlikely by reason of some Sin to prevail though we should By which means as our own Prayers must needs be very defective so that defect naturally prompts us to adjoyn our selves to other Men as by whom it will be best supply'd What St. Paul spake concerning Charity being no less true in the matter of Devotion That the abundance of such or such particular Persons may be a supply for the want of others as on the other side that when their abundance fails the abundance of the other may be their supply and so by turns be assisting to each other The Morality of Publick Worship being thus establish'd proceed we according to our proposed Method to shew it to be a part of Christianity which will bind it so much the faster upon our Consciences In order whereunto I shall alledge first its being a part of Moral or Natural Religion according as was but now declar'd For it being the
Benefits they receive from them or be rendred inexcusable if they did not But then if we add farther That they who have instituted those Days have moreover fitted them with such Services as may both explain their meaning and the use we are to make of them so it will be impossible for those who shut not their Ears as well as their Eyes to be ignorant of those Truths the Notices whereof they are intended to convey But beside that such Institutions minister to the Instruction of the weaker sort which God knows are both the most and most carefully to be provided for they are also of excellent use to bring the Occasion thereof to the remembrance of the Strong and oblige them to consider what they know For being plac'd so near as the Church can fix them upon the Returns of the same Periods of Time wherein they are recorded to have hapned and being moreover distinguish'd from other Days by visible Solemnities and the Commemoration of that remarkable Work which they sometime produc'd the notice of them is in a manner thrust upon us whether we will or no And though we may be so bruitish as not to remember them with those Affections which becomes us yet it is made impossible for us to forget them Lastly As the setting aside particular Days for particular Accidents is of excellent use to bring them to the remembrance of the Strong and oblige them to consider what they know so they minister an occasion shall I say or rather an incitement to us all more particularly to consider them and improve them to our utmost advantage For as it is easie to suppose those things will be but superficially consider'd which are not allow'd a distinct consideration so the thus separating them from each other lays a kind of necessity upon Men to look more nearly and narrowly into them and weigh all the Advantages which they contain By which means they who otherwise perhaps would have had but a slight taste of any shall suck them in in greater proportions and not onely find in themselves a fuller perception of their Sweetness but a more grateful sense of his Goodness from whom they come Thus for example whilst the Feast of our Saviour's Nativity doth not onely admonish us of that but in a manner determine our Thoughts to it we have thereby both an opportunity and an engagement I will not say so much to dive into the Mystery as to contemplate the Goodness of him who was so incarnate passing through all those Stages through which his Goodness and Condescension did from the Assumption of a Humane Body to all those humble and even contemptible Circumstances in which he was pleas'd to assume it Such are the Advantages of the Fasts and Feasts of the Church wheresoever they are diligently intended It remains that we inquire in what account they are to be held the third thing propos'd to be discours'd of And here not to tell you because no Man for ought I know hath ever taken upon him to affirm it That such Days have no inherent Holiness in them nor yet because the Church doth not represent them as Apostolical Institutions though the Feast of Easter have a fair pretence to it and much less as Divine Commands it shall suffice me to represent them as set apart by the Church of God for the Commemoration of those Things whose Titles they bear For though this do not make them equal to such as have the Command of God for their Institution nor yet to that Lord's-day which with great probability pretends to an Institution by the Apostles yet as it separates them from the Rank of Ordinary Days and consequently obligeth us so to look upon them so it particularly obligeth us to intend those several Offices for the performance whereof they are set apart For if for instance it be in the Power of the Church to set apart certain Days for the Commemoration of the Divine Goodness towards us there is no doubt but it is the Duty of particular Members to comply with their Institutions and make the Mercies which they so commemorate the Occasion of their Thanks and Praise This onely would be added That as what is so determin'd by the Church may by the Laws of the same be taken away if the Profit or Necessity thereof do so require so particular Persons may without Sin omit the Solemnization of them if the necessity of their Affairs shall so require For if the Sabbath it self was to yield to Necessity much more those Festivities which pretend not to the Institution of the Divine Majesty Care onely would be taken Vid. Daven in Col. 2.16 that under a false pretence of Necessity Men violate not the Order of the Church For so doing they shall offend against God as well as it because profaning those Days which were set apart for his Worship and Service 2. Having thus consider'd the Determination of the Time of our Worship which I said to be one of the Circumstantials of this Commandment proceed we in the next place to consider the Manner of its Observation where again these three things would be inquir'd into 1. What kind of Rest it was to be observed with 2. Whether it admitted of any Recreation And 3. Lastly With what Holy Offices to be celebrated Subjoyning to each as being the principal thing we are to aim at how far we our selves are concern'd 1. I begin with the first of these even the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews in the Observation of their Sabbaths Concerning which I shall shew 1. What kind of Rest it was 2. To whom and in what manner it appertain'd 1. For the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews it was evidently strict enough and such as excluded all kind of Labour which was not either plainly Necessary or was not grounded upon Pious and Charitable Considerations such as were the Circumcising of Children upon the Sabbath slaying of Oxen for Sacrifices or lending Help to the Distressed For beside that here and elsewhere the Voice of God is not as it is in some others * See Lev 23.7 8. That they should do no servile work but that they should do no manner of work upon it beside secondly that they were forbidden so much as to kindle a fire on it as you may see Exod. 35.3 the Rest seems to have been so strict as not onely to restrain Men from Labour but even from moving from their Places For abide ye saith God Exod. 16.29 every one in his place let no man go out of his place on the seventh day And though there is no doubt this was to admit of some relaxation because that would have hindred them from resorting to the Solemn Assemblies for the holding whereof I have shewn the Sabbath to be set apart yet it is apparent enough from the End of its Institution and the Jews * Vid. Act. 1.12 Selden de Jure Nat. c. l. 3. c. 9. Practice that there was somewhat more than
better and render them more apt for the Practice of it both the Chaldee * Chal. pro eo quod est in Hebr. faciendo voluntatem tuam ut non facias necessaria tua pro ab inveniendo voluntatem tuam neque provideas in eo quae tibi necessaria sunt and the ‖ LXX pro à faciendo vias tuas ab inveniendo voluntatem tuam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuagint understand it of the pleasure of gain of making provision for their necessities and commodities Which restriction is the rather to be admitted as because the Sabbath was ordain'd for †Vid. Exod. 23.12 ubi LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. refreshment so because there is not the least mention elsewhere of forbidding Recreation on it Add hereunto what will farther confirm the former Notion that of the same Prophet vers 3. Behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labours For as it is probable from what he there subjoyns concerning the exacting of their labours that he meant no other pleasure than the pursuing of their profits so that he could not mean pleasures in the proper acception of the Word the fifth Verse of the same Chapter shews he there intimating that they were not wanting in afflicting their souls which shews they were far from finding pleasure This onely would be added That as Recreation how lawful soever in it self may upon other Days become unlawful according as it may happen to be circumstantiated so it will become so more especially upon this if either it be unsuitable for the Kind to the Gravity of such a Solemnity or take up too much Time in the exercise thereof Upon which account I should make no difficulty to condemn as the Statute 1 Caroli chap. 1. did all Meetings Assemblies or Concourse of People out of their own Parishes for any Sports or Pastimes whatsoever or any Bear-baiting Bull-baiting Enterludes or Common Plays within them these latter as they are rarely managed without either those Vanities or Heats which are very unsuitable to the Day so both the one and the other being not well to be either provided for or attended to according as that Statute remarques without entrenching upon those Duties for which it was set apart Besides when it is apparent how great the Necessities of Men's Souls are and how little leisure the Common sort have to consider them upon other Days when it is farther apparent how ill the other Festivals of the Church are observ'd and consequently how little likelihood there is of Mens supplying those Necessities in them by a conscionable discharge either of Publick or Private Duties of Religion lastly when it is apparent how apt Men are to exceed and upon a pretence of the lawfulness of Recreation on it to convert that Day which was set apart for God's Service into a Day of Sloth or Merriment it is easie to see how much it concerns Men to set Bounds to their Recreations on it and avoid a profane neglect as well as a too nice and superstitious observation of it PART IV. By what Religious Offices the Jewish Sabbath was sanctified which beside the offering of Sacrifices and other such Legal Ministrations are shewn to have been the reading of the Law and the Prophets An Explication of and Exhortation out of them Praying to and Praising God A Transition to the Publick Sanctification of the Lord's-day where the several Offices thereof are commemorated and evidenced at large both from Scripture and Antiquity Of Reading the Scriptures in the Publick Assemblies and the both Necessity and Vsefulness of continuing that Practice in them That the Reading and Hearing of the Scriptures is no improper part of God's Worship A Caution against those who reject the Reading of the Scriptures as insufficient to convert Souls unto God Of the Explication of the Scriptures and Exhortations out of them What the Ancient Form of Sermons was and the Vsefulness of all Concerning Prayer and Praise both which are at large evidenc'd to be Parts of the Lord's-day Service The vanity of those Mens Pretences who absent themselves from our Publick Prayers because as they think they can make as good at home The Administration of the Lord's-Supper a great part of the Office of the Day 3. BEING by the Order of my Discourse to inquire by what Offices the Jewish Sabbath was and ours is to be sanctified after its example I must admonish you in the general That it is especially by such as are strictly and properly Religious For though God may be honour'd by other Offices yet those tend more directly towards it and consequently also to the Sanctification of those Days which were set apart for his Honour Setting aside therefore for the present what place other good Offices may have in it I will make it my business to inquire what Religious ones were requir'd toward the Sanctification of the Jewish Sabbath and what are to the Sanctification of our own And first of all if the Question be concerning the Sanctification of the Jewish Sabbath and particularly concerning the Sanctification of it in Publick so beside the offering of Sacrifices and other such Legal Ministrations we shall find they had 1. The Reading of the Law and the Prophets For that this was a great part of the Business of their Sabbath is evident from what was * See Part 1. of the Explic. of this Commandment heretofore alledg'd out of the Jewish Writers and a Passage of St. James but may be made yet more clear from Acts 13.27 where St. Paul not onely affirms the Prophets to have been read every Sabbath-day but makes it an aggravation of the Jews ignorance in the matter of our Saviour concerning whom they so clearly foretold 2. But beside the Reading of the Law and the Prophets which yet was always a part of their Service they had at least for the most part an Explication of them by those who were the most eminent in Knowledge among them And accordingly as we find our Saviour after the reading of a Passage in Isaiah proceeding to the Explication of it Luke 4.16 so the Rulers of the Synagogue of Antioch after the reading of the Law and the Prophets sending to Paul and Barnabas to tell them that if they had any word of exhortation to the people they should say on Acts 13.14 Agreeable hereto is a Passage of Philo concerning a Sect among the Jews call'd Essenes to wit Thorndike Rel. Assembl ch 3. p. 60. That coming to their Holy Places called Synagogues they sit down in Ranks according to Years the Younger under the Elder with fit decorum dispos'd to hear Then one taketh the Book and readeth another of the best practised cometh afterwards and recogniseth that which is least understood that is expoundeth it From all which it appeareth that the Exposition of the Law and the Prophets was a part of their Sabbath-Service as well as the Reading of it 3. The
Case is no less plain as to the Duty of Prayer which is one of the most proper Acts of Divine Worship St. Luke not onely telling us of a Place built for Prayer but of certain of the Jewish Women also resorting to it on the Sabbath-day and St. Paul taking occasion from thence to open his Doctrine to them Acts 16.13 Which Passage is the more to be noted because where there were no Synagogues yet they had their Places * Grot. in Act. 16.13 of Prayer which shews they look'd upon that as one of the more especial Parts of God's Worship and such as ought not to be neglected though the Reading of the Law and the Prophets should 4. Again As Prayer was a Part of the Business of the Sabbath so also Praise and Thanksgiving even by the Directions of God himself For as we find it to have been the Office of the Levites to stand every Morning and Evening to thank and particularly * See the Septuag Version of that place and Thorndike of Rel. Assem c. 7. p. 219 c. upon the Sabbath-days 1 Chron. 23.30 so the Title of 92 Psalm proclaims it to have been made for the Sabbath-day as you may see if you please to peruse it And indeed well may we think Praising God a part of the Business of the Sabbath when the Sabbath it self was instituted in remembrance of the Creation and therein both of their own Being and the Means which that furnish'd for their Support Such were the Offices by which the Jewish Sabbath was to be sanctified and not unlike it is probable was their way of Sanctification of it in private But because we have not the like Evidence for it we will leave Men to their own Conjectures and pass to the Sanctification of the Christian one for my more orderly Explication whereof I will consider it 1. As to the Publick And 2. Then as to more Private Concerns 1. And first of all if the Question be concerning the Sanctification of it in Publick for which both the one and the other Sabbath were chiefly separated so we shall find the Reading of the Scriptures to have had a place in it as well as in the Jewish one It is true indeed if we look no farther than those slender Narrations which the New Testament gives us of the Lord's-day Service we shall not be able to discover any thing which may warrant us to affirm that the Reading of the Scriptures had any place in it But as that is not much to be wondred at when we see so little there concerning the Observation of it at all so there want not Reasons to believe however there be no express mention of it that the Reading of the Scriptures had a part in it even then For as it is not easie to suppose especially when there were so many newly converted Jews that they would lightly depart from the Custom of the Synagogue where the Scriptures were constantly read so it is probable they did not because there was the like necessity of Reading them that there had been in the Jewish Synagogues For though since Printing came in use the Scriptures are become more common yet anciently they were in few Persons hands and consequently if they had not been read in Publick the generality of Christians would not have had Knowledge enough of them to have guided them in their Opinions and Actions Since therefore it was but necessary they should be read it is but reasonable to conclude they were especially when we know our Saviour to have exhorted to the search of them and St. Paul to represent them as able to make a man wise unto salvation But it is not onely Probability we have to ground our selves upon as to the Scriptures being made a part of the Lord's-day Service For though as I said there be no mention of Reading them upon that Day yet there is mention of Reading them in their Assemblies which that Day was set apart for the holding of For thus Col. 4.16 we find St. Paul giving in charge that when that Epistle of his had been read amongst them they should cause it to be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and in like manner read that from Laodicea themselves And thus too though with much more earnestness he gives a Charge to the Thessalonians that that Epistle of his should be read unto all the holy Brethren 1 Thess 5.27 But because Customs like Rivers are beheld with the greatest advantage at some distance from the Springs from whence they flow from the Practice of the Church in the Apostles Times pass we to those that immediately succeeded where we shall find clearer Expresses of it For thus it is the Affirmation of Justin Martyr * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. pag. 98. one of the Ancientest Writers the Church hath That upon the day call'd Sunday there was an Assembly of all that abode in the Cities and the adjacent Countries where the Commentaries of the Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets were read so far as Time and other Duties would give leave Agreeable hereunto is that of Tertullian in Chap. 39. of his Apologetick where speaking of the Business of Christian Assemblies which is principally to be understood of those of the Lord's-day because the Chief he hath these Words ‖ Coimus ad literarum divinarum commemorationem siquid praesentium temporum qualitas aut praemonere cogit aut recognoscere We come together to the repeating of the Divine Scriptures according as the condition of the present Times enforceth either to forewarn or look back In like manner the same Tertullian †De Animâ cap. 9. Jam vero prout Scripturae leguntur aut Psalmi canuntur aut Adlocutiones proferuntur aut Petitiones delegantur ita inde materiae Visionibus subministrantur speaking of a certain Virgin who had Revelations during the Solemn Service of the Lord's-day affirms That the matter of her Visions was ministred as the Scriptures were read or Psalms sung or Exhortations produc'd or Prayers preferr'd Which shews the Reading of the Scripture to have been a part of the Publick Service and particularly of the Day of the Christian Sabbath Now though what hath been said be sufficient to shew the Reading of the Scriptures to be a part of the Publick Service and as such to be diligently attended to yet because some have rejected it as of none or of little Edification and others as more proper for the Closet than the Church I will before I proceed obviate each of these Opinions and shew the groundlesness thereof For be it first that the main Design of the Scriptures is to teach us how to live and particularly in reference to God upon which account the Reading of them may seem rather a Means to instruct us in than any Part of the Worship of God yet if it be with a regard to the Author of them so we shall find both
from others For if that were a matter of rejoycing why should we make it a matter of Sorrow and when God calls so loudly to Joy and Gladness present him with all the Expressions of Grief And it calls to my mind that known Passage of the Book of Nehemiah where the People of Israel wept sore at the hearing of the Law for in stead of encouraging them in it Ezra who read the Law bad them go their way eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions to them for whom nothing was prepar'd because that day was holy to the Lord Nehem. 8.9 plainly intimating that such a Return was no way becoming a Day of Gladness and if so neither a Christian one Sure I am as the Ancient Church * Tertull. de Coronâ Die Dominico jejunium nefas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare religiously abstain'd from fasting on the Lord's-day as no way suitable to the Business of it so the Apostles and the Church in their time not onely held their Lord's-Supper on it but those Feasts of Charity also which were the Attendants of it But neither is it less unreasonable if Men would consider it without prejudice to enjoyn Men so to keep up their Intention of Sacred Things as not to allow a Relaxation of it at their Meals For as it is absolutely impossible so long as we carry about us the Infirmities of Humane Nature to have our Thoughts always fix'd upon Heaven and Heavenly Things so by imposing it either upon our selves or others we make our selves the more unapt for the Publick Worship of God when we are call'd to the Celebration of it our preceding Intention taking off from that Vigour and Spriteliness which is requisite to the performance of it On the contrary if we would but for some time unbend our Cares or divert them to less serious purposes like those who run back to make the more advantageous Leap we should come on with the greater vigour and not onely not dishonour this Sacred Day but sanctifie it the more Having thus given our selves some respite from Religious Exercises and thereby fitted our selves for the more advantageous performance of it it will be time for us both to look back to the Duties we have pass'd and forward to the Duties that remain the former that if any thing have been amiss in them we may retract and bewail it the latter that we may come prepar'd to the due performance of them But of all the Duties that are to take up our Thoughts between the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice there is none which is more incumbent on us than a serious Reflexion upon those we have receiv'd from the Mouth of our Instructer For as otherwise they will be apt to slip out of our Minds and thereby deprive us of those Advantages which might otherwise accrue so unless we meditate upon them like Meat unchew'd they will contribute little to our Nourishment in those Spiritual Graces wherein we are to grow From a Reflexion upon what is past pass we to a Consideration of that which is to come even those several Publick Duties we are again to pass Where setting aside all other Thoughts we should endeavour to imprint in our Minds how much it concerns us to intend them For as by so doing we should be the more excited to implore the Divine Assistance without which it is impossible to be done so we should be much more apt to pay them that Regard which the Importance thereof doth require It being no slight Consideration where it is well inculcated that our Eternal Welfare doth depend upon it and that as we observe this Temporal Sabbath we may either attain or come short of that Eternal Sabbath in the Heavens For as there is no doubt our Eternal Welfare depends upon the performance of Religious Actions and particularly of those wherein the Honour of God is immediately concern'd so there will be little likelihood of our intending them at other times if we slight them over then when we have both leisure and all other requisite means to help us in the performance of them By these and such like Considerations if we arm our selves we shall be in a good disposition to offer up the Evening-Sacrifice which suppos'd we shall neither need any Incitement to the performance of it nor Direction after what manner we are to doit it being not hard especially after what was said concerning the Morning-Service to read our own Qualifications in those Duties which we are summoned to perform Suppose we now having laid down Rules for the Observation of it so far that the Religious Man hath assisted at the Evening Sacrifice and thereby acquitted himself of the Publick Duties of the Day yet even so there will not want wherewith to exercise himself till he commit himself to his Rest and unto God Not but that there is place for necessary Occasions and a moderate Relaxation of himself but that his Heart ought to be in a disposition to embrace all Occasions to do Honour to God and to the Day Among which I reckon chiefly the Meditating upon what he hath heard and Applying it to his own Soul it being for want of this that so many Souls perish which might otherwise have prov'd glorified ones They hear indeed what they ought and what they ought not to do they listen to the Judgments which God denounceth against the one to the Promises whereby he encourageth the performance of the other but taking no care afterwards to consider how far they are concern'd in either both the one and the other quickly vanish and they go on as securely as if they had nothing to fault in themselves or there were no other World to punish them though they had But not any longer to entertain the Mind of the Religious Man with such Things wherein God's Glory is immediately concern'd let us see whether he may not find Matter enough for his Lord's-day Service in visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction in which St. James makes Religion in part to consist For though it be true that those are no part of the Worship of God or Christ for which especially this Day is set apart yet they draw so near towards it that they may not onely be thought to be a part of the Business of it but a considerable one our Saviour having told us that what is done unto the Sick and the Distressed he takes as done unto himself And accordingly as Justin Martyr * Apol. 2. p. 98. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tells us that Charity had a constant place even in their Publick Assemblies upon it the Rich according as they saw good contributing to that Stock out of which the Poor and the Necessitous were to be reliev'd so that that and other such like Works were no way improper to the Day St. Paul shews where he commands the Corinthians as he had before the Churches of Galatia to lay by them on
as the Scripture which is more to be credited hath taught us another Lesson because forbidding us to say ‖ Prov. 24.29 I will do to my Neighbour as he hath done to me I will render to the man according to his works so it hath elsewhere assign'd such Reasons of it as both shew the unlawfulness of such a Procedure and take off from the force of its Pretensions For giving us to understand that God to whom Vengeance originally belongeth reserveth that part of Justice to himself †Rom. 12.19 and to those whom he hath entrusted * Rom. 13.4 with his Authority it doth consequently make it unlawful to any other than such to assume to themselves the Execution of it and therefore also to do to Men as they have before dealt with them If he who hath his own Injuries return'd upon him receive no more than he doth deserve yet will not that warrant our retaliating them because we have no Authority to chastise him The more Equitable as well as more Christian Rule is certainly Do to other Men as ye would they should do to you as you your selves if you were in their Circumstances would be forward enough to desire from them So doing you will not onely not usurp upon the Prerogative of God or of his Vicegerent but comply with the Sentiments of Nature and Revelation with the several Precepts and Intimations of the one with the Law and the Prophets and Gospels of the other THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth theé PART I. The Contents A Transition to the Duty we owe to each other whether consider'd onely as Men or under a more near Relation The latter of these provided for in this Fifth Commandment which is divided into a Duty and a Promise An Essay toward a general Explication of the Duty where is shewn That under Father and Mother are comprehended 1. Grandfather and Grandmother and other the Ancestors from whom we came because though at a distance Authors of our Being 2. Kings and all that are in Authority partly because in the place of Parents to their People and partly because their Authority is a Branch of the Paternal one and succeeded into the place of it 3. Our Spiritual Pastors because begetting us to a better Birth And in fine All that are our Superiours whether in Authority Dignity or Age. The like Comprehensiveness evinc'd in the Honour that is requir'd which is shewn also to include Fear and Love together with the Expressions of them and Honour The Duty of Superiours connoted in the Honour that is to be paid to them and how that Duty may be inferr'd An Address to a more particular Explication of the Duty where the Honour of Parents is resum'd and the Grounds thereof shewn to be first Their being under God the Authors of ours and secondly the Maintainers of it The Consequences of the former Ground propos'd and shewn to preclude all Pretences of Disrespect OUR Duty to God being provided for in the first place as which is both the Foundation and Limitation of all others proceed we according as the Decalogue invites to consider the Duty we owe to each other which may be reduc'd to two Heads that is to say such as we owe to one another as Men or such as arise from some more intimate Relation between us The latter of these is my Task at this time because the Design of the Commandment that is now before us for the Explication whereof I will consider 1. The Duty enjoyn'd And 2. The Promise wherewith it is enforc'd I. Now though if we look no further than the Letter we could not be long to seek what that is which is here bound upon us yet because I have before shewn that many things are contain'd in a Commandment beside what is express'd in it to attain the full importance of this we must enter into the very Bowels of it and extract that Sense which is wrapp'd up in it as well as that which is apparent In order whereunto I will inquire 1. Whether any Superiours are here meant besides Fathers and Mothers 2. What is the importance of that Honour which is here requir'd 3. Whether the Commandment provide for the Behaviour of Superiours towards Inferiours as well as of Inferiours towards them 1. And first of all though Father and Mother be the onely Persons express'd to whom we are requir'd to give Honour yet the general Reason of the Commandment obligeth us to extend it to Grandfathers and Grandmothers and other the Ancestors from whom we are descended because though they contributed not immediately to our Birth yet mediately they did as being the Authors of those from whom we deriv'd it Whence it is that in the Scripture they have often the Name of Fathers as Your Father Abraham rejoyc'd to see my day and was glad But beside that Grandfathers and Grandmothers are to be understood and other the Stocks from whence we came there is no doubt but Kings and all that are in Authority are included in the same general Names Witness first their being in the place of Fathers to those who are under their Dominion For though as Moses sometime told God they do not beget their People if we understand it with reference to their Natural one yet as their Civil Birth is from them so they carry them in their bosom as a nursing Father beareth the sucking Child as the same God commanded the angry Moses Num. 11.12 Again As Kings are in the place of Fathers to their People especially in respect of their Tuition so the Authority of Kings is a Branch of the Paternal one and succeeded into the Place of it Of which beside the Testimony * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Sanders de Oblig Conscient Praelect 7. sect 16. of Aristotle who was no Friend of Kingly Government and the great number of Kings that was anciently in every little Country and particularly in the Land of Canaan we may discern evident Marks in the Authority of Fathers even after the Empire was otherwise dispos'd of these having anciently the Power of Life and Death which is one of the principal Flowers of the Regal Diadem Now forasmuch as Kings are not onely in the place of Fathers to their People but vested in that Authority which was originally and naturally theirs it is but reasonable to think that when God commanded to honour these his Intention was to include the other as who beside their resemblance to them had also the best part of their Authority Next to Kings and Princes consider we our Spiritual Fathers even those who beget us to Piety and to God concerning whom there can be no place for doubt that they ought to be understood in those Fathers we are here commanded to revere For if our Earthly Father is to have Honour those certainly ought not to go
whence it is that they are call'd Masters according to the Flesh but by virtue of that Great Law of Christianity which commands Men as much as in them lies to promote the business of Religion Which lying more in Masters powers than in other Mens by means of that Authority they have over them there doth from thence arise an Obligation upon them to promote Religion by their commands in all those which are subjected to their Dominion And indeed as that which is honest will very rarely be found to be separate from profitable if Men would estimate the advantageousness of a thing by that which is most certainly and lastingly so so there cannot be a more compendious way to promote our Interest in the World than by endeavouring as much as in us lies to make those Religious whom we employ Because as what such do is most faithfully and diligently done so it is most likely to be prosper'd by the Divine Providence from whom as all other good Gifts so this Worlds Wealth will be found to come PART XI Of the Promise wherewith the Duty of this Commandment is enforced and what the due importance of it is Where is shewn 1. That the Blessing here promis'd is a long and happy Life and particularly in the Land of Canaan 2. That that Blessing is to be expected from our Parents as well as from God partly by that sustenance and encouragement which our Honour will prompt them to afford and partly by their Intercession with God for us Vpon occasion whereof the efficacy of a Parent 's blessing is declar'd and the reasonableness of Children's desiring it of them is asserted 3. That the Blessing here promised implies a contrary Curse to the Violators of the Commandment as is evident both from the ineffectualness of a single Promise to perswade and the denunciations of God elsewhere Whether or no and how far the promise belongs to us Christians Evidence of its belonging to us from the obligation of that Duty to which it is annexed and from St. Paul's making use of it to perswade the Ephesians to the performance of the other An Essay toward the shewing in what manner and measure it appertains to us Where first is made appear that it appertains not to us in the same manner and measure wherein it did unto the Jews Evidence hereof from its referring to the Land of Canaan which was the proper Portion of the Jews and from the nature of those earthly promises that were made to them those as they were not clogg'd with the same exceptions wherewith they are now so intended in a great measure as shadows of more substantial Blessings That this and other such like Promises appertain to us First and chiefly in the Mystery or Substance where withal is shewn what the Mystery here adumbrated is even a Happy and Immortal Life in Heaven That they appertain to us also in the Letter but not without the exception of Persecutions nor yet any farther than they shall be found to be subservient to our Spiritual welfare and the Glory of God and of his Gospel Enquiry is next made whether or no and in what proportion the present Promise doth belong to the Observers of the several Duties of this Commandment That it belongs in some measure to all is evidenced from the extensiveness of the Duty which the Promise is in reason to answer But first and principally to the Honourers of Parents because that is the only Duty expressed and because that tye which Parents have upon us approacheth nearest unto that whereby the Honour of God is bound upon us The honourers of other Superiours more or less entitled to it according as those Superiours approach neerer to or are farther removed from our Natural Parents The consequence whereof is that it belongs more to the honourers of our Civil and Spiritual Parents than to other Superiours as again more to the honourers of our Civil than Spiritual ones because the former have a greater Interest in our Temporal Being The Explication concludes with enquiring what appearance there is of the literal completion of this promise Evidence hereof in the Honourers of our Natural Parents from the observations both of Greeks and Jews As in the Honourers of other Superiours and particularly of our Civil or Spiritual Parents partly from the orderliness of their behaviour which is more likely to be successful than Turbulent and Seditious ones and and partly from their preventing those Wars and Confusions which do principally occasion the shortning of Mens days II. HAVING entreated at large in several Discourses of the Duty here enjoin'd as well that which we owe to our Civil and Spiritual Parents together with all other kinds of Superiours as that which we owe unto our Natural ones it remains that we proceed to the Promise wherewith it is inforc'd of the prolongation of our days For though the words wherein it is express'd look rather like a Motive drawn from the Consequents of our Honour than a Promise of what God will bestow upon it yet as that Law-giver who proposeth any thing under the Notion of a Motive must if he Act like a Law-giver both represent that which is advantageous and moreover if the thing depend upon his Will an assurance of his own readiness to contribute towards it which is the very formality of a Promise so that that which God proposeth under that Notion was intended as a Promise St. Paul gives us to understand Ephes 6.2 He there stiling this Commandment a Commandment with a Promise and the first of that Nature meaning thereby the first of the Decalogue to which there was any express and special one Taking it therefore for granted that the words now before us have the nature of a Promise to the due observers of this Commandment I will make it my business to enquire 1. What is the due importance of it and 2. Whether or no and how far it appertains to us Christians upon the performance of the duty enjoin'd 3. Whether and in what proportion it belongs to the several duties therein contain'd I. Now there are three things within the resolution whereof the answer to the first of these will be comprehended 1. What the Blessing here promised is 2. From whom it is to be expected And 3. Whether it implies any thing of a Curse to the violators of the Commandment 1. What the Blessing promised is we shall not be long to seek because so particularly expressed in this place and in the parallel one of Deuteronomy chap. 5. 6. it being evident from them both that a long life is promised from that of Deuteronomy * And that it may go well with thee that that life shall be happy as well as long and from both again that that long and happy life should be spent in their own Country and particularly in the Land of Canaan that being the Land promised by God unto the Israelites and to which this Promise and in a
guiltless to a sense more severe than the Words do of themselves import The forementioned Story shewing it to be alike or rather more severe than the visiting of the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth Generation with which the former Commandment is enforc'd From the Business of the Gibeonites pass we to a no less famous Instance of God's displeasure against Zedekiah who after he had given an Oath of Fidelity to the King of Babylon yet no less impiously than foolishly brake it by rebelling against him For Shall he saith God by the Prophet Ezekiel prosper Shall he escape that doth such things or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered As I live saith the Lord God surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King whose Oath he despised even with him in Babylon shall he die Ezek. 17.15 16. And again vers 18. and so on Seeing he despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant when loe he had given his hand and hath done all these things he shall not escape Therefore thus saith the Lord God As I live surely mine Oath that he hath despised and my Covenant that he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his own head And I will spread my net upon him and he shall be taken in my snare and I will bring him to Babylon and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespass'd against me Which accordingly we find to have come to pass For the same Scripture informs us That because Zedekiah rebell'd against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by God God brought upon him the Army of the King of Babylon which took him and brought him to their Master where he had Judgment given upon him and after he had had his Sons slain before his Eyes had those miserable Eyes of his put out as you may see in Jeremiah chap. 39. Such was the displeasure of God against King Zedekiah for violating the Oath of God And if so we may be sure God will not hold any Man guiltless that so taketh his Name in vain The onely thing remaining to be prov'd is That God will not hold him guiltless who dishonoureth his Name in a Vow which accordingly I come now to evince In order whereunto I will consider first those who make unlawful or trifling Vows and then those who violate what they have made That God will not hold him guiltless who sins in Vowing will manifestly appear if we reflect upon his displeasure against the Profaner of his Name in an Oath For inasmuch as a Vow is more Sacred than an Oath because whilst in the latter God is onely cited as a Witness in a Vow we contract with him as a Party he who holds the Swearer guilty must be thought to do so much more to him who profanes his Name in a Vow and doth not onely apply it to a Sin or to an Impertinence but as I may so speak doth it to his face The Reason is the same in him who breaks the Vow he hath made and acts contrary to what he hath most solemnly promis'd to the Almighty he that so does as he contracted with God as with a Party so falsifying to him directly and immediately and consequently because so much the more dishonouring him the more liable to the severity of his displeasure And accordingly when Ananias and Saphira had agreeably to the Custom of those Times by a Vow dedicated the Price of their Possessions unto God God for a partial breach of that their Vow inflicted a sudden death upon them and made them feel the dreadfulness of that Name which they had profan'd So true is that of Solomon * Prov. 20.25 even in the Times of the Gospel That it is a snare to a man to devour that which is holy and after vows to make inquiry The forementioned Offenders having not onely been taken in the Snare but made to feel the Hands of the Fowler Thus which way soever Men take the Name of God in vain they incur the displeasure of the Almighty and though they are not always immediately punish'd yet they are so often enough to shew that God doth not hold any of them guiltless and that whom he now spares he will punish so much the more hereafter when he comes to render to every Man according to his Works What remains then but that I admonish if not for the Sacredness of the Name of God yet that at least for the security of their own Souls and Persons Men would not take that Name of his in vain For if either the Threat of God or the Exemplifications of it in those that have offended may be credited the taking of his Name in vain however such as to what it is apply'd to yet will not be vain as to the Consequences thereof For as it shall be with effect so a very direful one to those who are the Authors of it They shall not as they do often with Men find Commendation and Applause they shall not be look'd upon as so much the better bred or the greater Wits for it lastly they shall not as they do for the most part here find an Excuse for their Profanations and be absolv'd either from all Offence or all that is notorious God whose Name they take in vain and who is the most competent Judge of their Actings having promis'd or rather threatned that he will look upon them under another notion and not onely not hold them guiltless but look upon them as notorious Offenders And indeed thus far the Judgment of the World hath concurr'd with that of God as to condemn the taking of it to a Lie False Swearing and Perjury having not onely been branded with reproachful Punishments but the Authors thereof excluded from giving Testimony in any Courts of Judicature If other Profanations of God's Name have not found the like Censure it is not so much because they imagin'd them specifically different but because they are not so immediately destructive to Humane Society which Humane Judicatures are more particularly oblig'd to preserve But as that is accidental to the taking of God's Name in vain or at least makes the Crime to which it adheres onely gradually different from the other so the Judgment-seat of God takes notice of all that entrencheth upon his Honour and will therefore be sure not to hold them guiltless who any way take his Name in vain THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT Remember that thou keép holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy son and thy daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant thy cattel and the stranger that is within thy gates For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore
that day as God had prosper'd them toward the relief of the poor Saints at Jerusalem The same is to be said of reconciling Parties at variance of endeavouring to beget or maintain Friendship as by other ways so by a kind and neighbourly treating of each other witness those Feasts of Charity of which St. Jude speaks which were anciently an Appendix of the Lord's Supper as that was of this Sacred Day Care onely would be taken that whilst these have their due Regard we forget not those higher Purposes for which the Day was set apart such as are the Reading of the Scriptures and other such Books of Instruction and Devotion our instilling into those who are under our respective Charges the Precepts of a Holy Life and in fine the Commending both of our selves and them by Prayer to the Protection of that God to whose Service this Day was set apart AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLICATION OF THE FOLLOWING Commandments IN A DISCOURSE Concerning that Most Excellent RULE OF Life and Manners Which prescribes The doing as we would be done by And is moreover Represented by OUR SAVIOUR AS The LAW and the PROPHETS LONDON Printed for John Martyn at the Bell in St Paul's Church-yard M.DC.LXXV AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLICATION OF THE FOLLOWING COMMANDMENTS In a DISCOURSE concerning that Most Excellent RULE of Life and Manners Which prescribes The doing as we would be done by The Contents Of the Nature of the present Rule and that it is neither the Primary nor an Absolute Rule of Humane Actions The former hereof evidenced from our Saviour's recommending it as the Sum of the Law and the Prophets but more especially from that Divine Law 's being the Primary Rule of them The latter from the possibility of our Desires becoming irregular and so far therefore no legitimate Measure of our Actions Inquiry is next made into the Sense and Importance of it where is shewn first both from the Nature of the Rule and particular Instances That we are to understand thereby The doing unto others what we our selves can lawfully desire to be done unto our selves by them An Objection against this Limitation answered It is shewn secondly That we are to understand by it The doing unto others what we should desire to be done unto our selves if we were in their place and condition As thirdly That we should do to others what we should desire to be done unto our selves by those particular Persons or any other A Transition to the Consideration of the Equitableness thereof which is evinced first from the Reputation it hath either procur'd to it self or met with among Natural Men from its being so esteem'd of even by those who do most transgress it and from the Equality of all Men both in their Nature and Obligation to the Divine Laws Of the Comprehensiveness of the present Rule and in what sense it may be affirmed to be the Law and the Prophets In order whereunto is shewn first That it is not to be understood as an Abstract of that Part of the Law and the Prophets which contains our Duty to God as which the present Rule is neither any proper Measure of nor intended by our Saviour as such Secondly That it comprehends in it the whole of our Duty to our Neighbour and particularly all those which are compris'd in the following Commandments A Conclusion of the whole with a Reflexion upon that more usual Rule of Humane Actions even of doing to Men as they have done to us the Iniquity whereof is noted and censured THOUGH Abridgments where they are rightly order'd do onely pare off unnecessary Things and like Pictures in little present us with all the Lineaments of that Work they pretend to abridge without taking notice of its Dress or the Embellishments thereof yet they are for the most part so ill manag'd that they do rather maim than contract it and in stead of giving us a just Prospect of the Whole present us with no one Part entire But as we cannot lightly presume those Abridgments to be such which have the Wisdom of the Father for their Author so if we carefully survey the Abridgment that is now before us we shall find it to be as comprehensive as our Saviour hath represented it and not onely a Compendium of but the very Law and the Prophets There being no one Precept of the Second Table to which this Great Rule of Life and Manners will not reach and lead us both to understand and practice Onely as in reason Men ought to have a distinct knowledge of the Rule it self before they proceed to consider it as the Abstract of others so I intend accordingly to inquire into its Nature Importance and Equity before I attempt to shew the Comprehensiveness thereof 1. That the Rule we have now under consideration is no primary Rule of Humane Actions is evident both from that Argument whereby our Saviour hath enforc'd it and the Measure from which Humane Actions receive their Rectitude or Obliquity For our Saviour pressing upon his Disciples The doing as they would be done by upon the score of its being the Sum of what the Law and the Prophets taught he gives us thereby to understand That the Law and the Prophets are the Measure of that also no less than of our Conversation and Obedience And though to Minds not prepossess'd this one Consideration might suffice to perswade that the Rule now before us is no Primary Rule of Humane Actions yet I cannot forbear to say it will become much more apparent if we consider from whence Humane Actions receive their respective Rectitude or Obliquity For receiving both their Denomination and Quality from the Law and Will of God to whom as being our Lord and Maker we are in reason to conform the doing as we would be done by can be no farther a Rule of our Deportment than as those Desires of ours shall appear to be conformable to his Laws and consequently those Laws of his and not our own Desires the Primary Rule of Humane Actions Of what use this Observation is will hereafter appear more clearly when I come to declare the due Importance of the Rule now before us It may suffice here to note That being no Primary Rule of Humane Actions it cannot have place but either in the want of some express Law or where we are under any prejudices against it For the Law and Will of God being the Primary Rule of Humane Actions there is no doubt but if that give us information we ought to be guided by it and not seek direction elsewhere Otherwise we do like those who take directions from a Clock at the same that the Sun stares them in the Face and by a Language that is easie to be understood calls upon them to look up to him or upon those Dials whereon he shines For as it would be absurd for any Man to take his Directions from such Helps when he may know the Hour of the Day from
the other so it would be no less for us to investigate our Duty to our Neighbour by what we our selves would desire to be done to us when at the same time we may read that Duty in God's express Declarations concerning it Onely as it may sometime happen and I wish I could say it doth not often do so that what is clearly enough reveal'd may yet be obscure to us or at least difficult to be practis'd through the Prejudices we have against it so in that case I should no way doubt the foremention'd Rule may be made use of to instruct us in our Deportment to our Neighbour He who in such a case considers what he himself could be content to have done unto himself if he were in the same Circumstances with his Neighbour making use of it not so much to detract from the Honour of the Primary Rule of Vertue which so far as he understands it he faileth not to consider but in compliance with his own Infirmities and that he may be the more easily induced to yield Obedience to it Men being more apt to see what is just and equitable when their own Concernments are interwoven with it than they are in the condition of a Stranger 2. It is to be observ'd secondly That as to do as we would be done by is no Primary Rule of Humane Actions so neither is it though in a secondary sense an absolute and unlimited one Because though we cannot desire any thing which comes not unto us under the notion of Good yet we may take that for Good which is far from being such and consequently make it the Object of our Desires For what through the weakness or rather crazedness of our Understandings what through the Power our Affections have to corrupt and debauch their Sentence it happens not infrequently that even these also do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and prophesie rather what is suitable to the corrupt temper of those that ask than what is agreeable to Truth and Equity Upon which as there will necessarily follow a like Irregularity in our Desires because moulded and fashioned by our Understandings so those Desires of ours therefore can no more be an absolute Rule of our Deportment than they can be suppos'd to be the Primary one But from hence it will also follow that when we make the present Rule our own we understand the doing unto others as we our selves can fairly desire to have done unto us by others For to do as we would be done by being not the Primary Rule of Humane Actions nor yet an absolute and unlimited one it is in reason to be bounded by that Law of God which is the Primary Rule both of our Desires and Actions and therefore also the Measure of this Rule no less than of our Conversation and Obedience It being thus evident of what nature the Rule before us is that is to say a Secondary and a Limited one inquire we in the next place into the due Importance of it Where 1. First The Premises so perswading we are necessarily to understand the doing unto others what we our selves can Lawfully desire to be done unto our selves by them For if our desires be irregular those Actions will be also such which receive their Measure from them and consequently cannot be supposed to be any part of our Saviour's meaning Thus for instance if a Woman should consent to comply with anothers Lust upon the score of her own desiring that that other should so comply with hers we are not to think that Action of hers to be therefore legitimate or indeed to admit of any Excuse because her Desire being sinful that Action must also be so which is influenc'd and directed by it In like manner if it should be pleaded as it sometimes is by those who call for Liberty of Conscience That we our selves if we were in their Circumstances would not be well pleas'd to be restrain'd I should think it no hard matter to prescribe against that Plea from the Limitation before laid down For the Question is not Whether we our selves if we were in their Circumstances should not desire a freedom from Punishment for what Malefactor doth not how obnoxious soever to the stroke of it but Whether we can lawfully desire it and whether the Supreme Magistrate ought not to punish those who seem to him to transgress the Rules of Christianity whatsoever their Pretences be Which if true that other Plea will come to nothing For as it ceaseth not to be lawful for the Magistrate to inflict a Punishment upon Malefactors because it is not unlikely that if he were in their Condition he would not be over-willing to suffer it so neither for the same Person supposing as was before suppos'd to restrain those who live in disobedience to the Laws of Christianity because if he were so affected he would be desirous to be freed from it It is indeed an excellent Rule to do as we would be done by it is of great advantage to the right ordering of our Lives and of like necessity to be considered But as it is not either the Primary or an Absolute Rule of Humane Actions so there is no doubt it is a much more excellent Rule to do to other Men what God hath particularly directed us to do and what we our selves if we were well advised would desire they should do to us This onely would be added That when I say we are to understand by doing as we would be done by the doing what we our selves can lawfully desire to be done unto us by others we understand this Limitation onely where some particular Rule may appear to judge of the Lawfulness of the Action by For though there may and no doubt ought to be place for the consideration of the Lawfulness of our Desire where any such Rule appeareth yet there is no necessity at all for such a Consideration where no such particular Rule appeareth partly because in that case we may reasonably presume the Desire to be lawful and therefore need not make any scrupulous Inquisition into it and partly because the Rule now before us having place especially in the want of a more particular one it is in reason to have its full force in the directing of our Actions where no such particular Law appeareth to controul it But because it may be said That if the foresaid Limitation be at all admitted the Rule we have now before us will be so far forth of no use it seeming as easie to discover what we ought to do unto others as what we may lawfully desire to have done unto our selves Therefore before I proceed to any new Limitations I will endeavour to remove that Umbrage which the following Considerations will effect For though it may be as easie in it self to discover what we ought to do unto others as what we may lawfully desire to have done unto our selves yet it is not so considering the Prejudices we lie under