people might fill their hands and become Priests to a Tyrant's interest when prosperous villany has been bless'd in the Name of the Lord and suffering Innocence has been impleaded as guilty when swearing is in so much credit is look'd on as the Character of Greatness and rash oaths have the reputation of Gallantry when we that have the Name of God call'd upon us live unworthy of that calling make his Name be evill spoken of O! let us pray as the Church has taught us Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law The fourth Commandement The third was the rule of our words the fourth of our works and that which is consequent to them rest That teaches us holy talk This instructs us in holy walking for so our Church-Catechism has resolv'd the sense of this Command to serve God faithfully all the dayes of our life so that 't is not the seaventh day onely but all seaven that we are to serve God in He that would serve God well on the Sabbath in a holy rest must first serve him in his week's labour and doing the work of the six dayes well The second and third concern the Manner of his worship This more especially the Time It hath also as the other two had two parts the Precept and the Reason of the precept The precept is attended with a large explication what is meant by Sabbath and what meant by Keeping it Holy First we may take notice of the extraordinary manner wherein it is deliver'd 't is usher'd in with a Memento Then what is to be remember'd the Sabbath and the Sanctification of it Then follows the explication What is the Sabbath by Opposition first to our dayes of work the other dayes of the week six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all thy work which indeed is precept too as well as concession no less a Command to oblige us to diligence in our calling then a Grant to give us leave to follow it And the injunction is twofold that we labour take pains in our imployment set our selves a work and that we finish and make an end of our business and doe all that we have to doe Then secondly by Position which punctually sets down the day But the seaventh day is the Sabbath What is it next to Sanctify the Sabbath or keep it holy To doe no work on that day nothing of our ordinary imployment wherein the strictness of the Command appears that all of the family as well as the Master all of the city as well as the Magistrate are concern'd being set down here by name Thou master and mistress or magistrate or whatever governour and thy natural dependencies thy son and thy daughter and thy acquired relations whether by Covenant or hire thy manâ—servant and thy maid servant or by purchase and possession thy cattle or by sojourning the stranger that is within thy gates The reason is taken from God's own example whereof we have first the Narration how he made all things in six dayes and rested the seaventh and then the Design of his so doing that he might appoint the Sabbath wherefore he blessed the Sabbath-day or as the Septuagint have it the seaventh day and hallowed it REMEMBER We are too apt all over to forget our duty wordlings especially in the pursuit of their earthly concernments would scarce make a stop at the Sabbath and therefore this Command summons them with a particular Alarum a word of much weight in the Hebrew Idiom where the Verb should be twice repeated Remember to remember i.e. be sure by all means to remember and denotes the former old custom of keeping the Sabbath even from the beginning of the world and therefore presents it here as an ancient institution to be remembred And it quickens our care not only for the observation of the day when it comes but for our preparation for it before it comes we must think of it all the week afore hand and provide for it that nothing may divert us from the celebration of it THE SABBATH-DAY A day of rest and leisure from the works of our ordinary calling that ceasing thus from our earthly affairs we may have opportunity to meditate on heavenly things and lift up our souls from the cares of this life to the contemplation of those joyes gloryes which those that serve God shall have in the world to come where there shall be an everlasting Sabbath TO KEEP IT HOLY To set it aside wholly for the service of God in publick by Prayer reading and hearing God's Word serving God in the solemn assembly in private by meditation and study of God's Book and other holy exercises We are to remember both the day and the keeping the day holy some are ready enough to remember the Sabbath as a time of leisure out of carnal indulgence but they are not so ready to remember the duty of the day to keep it holy and improve it for spiritual advantage SIX DAYES THOU SHALT LABOUR This as it declares the precept so it shews the equity of it if God allow us six we should not grudge him the seaventh Besides it has the force of a command and is deliver'd in the same manner as the other Commandements Thou shalt labour He that 's idle all the week has no right to the Sabbath-rest He that 's careless in doing his own work on the six dayes is unfit to be imployed in God's service on the seaventh The word many times hath a peculiar signification for the service of God and thus it will inferr that every day is a Christian's Sabbath and he is to be doing God's work even when he is doing his own AND SHALT DOE ALL THAT THOU HAST TO DOE Dispatch all thy business and leave nothing undone against the Sabbath that thou mayst be wholly vacant and have thy thoughts as well as thy body at rest and thy mind free from all distractions of worldly cares thou mayst have nothing else to think upon but the worship of God This calls upon us for diligence in our callings that we must not doe our work by halves but go thorough with it And it gives a Typical intimation too that we would in this week of our mortality set upon and accomplish the necessary work of Repentance Faith and Obedience that we may have all our accounts clear'd e're the eternal Sabbath come upon us when if we have left that work undone we shall have no time allow'd us to go on with it and bring it to an end BUT THE SEAVENTH DAY This is the Ceremonial part of the Command but that a seaventh should be kept is Moral For the Iews in memory of the Creation were to observe the seaventh Day which with us is Saturday as their Sabbath whereon God having made all things rested But Christians in memory of a greater work of Redemption led by Apostolical practise have constantly observ'd the first day of the week to wit
Scripture The one was when he came in the flesh in the form of a servant to die for us that he might reign upon the tree as some readings have it in the Psalms The other will be when he shall come in the clouds with power and glory attended with Angels to judge the world at that great and dreadful day when the trumpet shall summon all to appear before the tribunal And when that 's done he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and the time of this his coming and the end of the world he hath left here to be the subject of our prayers and not of our inquiries to exercise devotion not curiosity the uncertainty of the time being an argument to quicken our diligence in preparing for it that we may watch and pray he having told us afore-hand that he will steal upon us as a thief in the night But what need we trouble our selves about the age of the world when our own time is so uncertain that we cannot call the next hour our own and know not how soon the arrest of death may hurry us away to judgement He that dies now in the Lord rests from his labour his good works follow him and if we cannot properly say that the Kingdom of God is come to him we may safely say he is gone to it At the end of the world then is Christ's great coming and the general judgement but at every single death there is a particular doom past when the soul immediately after it's delivery out of the body is dispatched either into the regions of life or lodged in the chambers of death so that in this sense Christ may be said to come too And there is a gracious visit when he comes and knocks at the heart and calls to his beloved by his word When he comes into us to a feast and banquet of love furnished with the consolations of the spirit The sum of this request is that God would declare his power even to the heathen that know not his name and make discoveries of his Majesty by his outward administrations not leaving himself without witness but convince profane spirits that there is a God that rules in the world that he would manage the affairs of the world for his peoples good and for the advancement of the Kingdom of his Son that he would bless the civill societies of men that he would fill Soveraigns with wisdom to go in and out before the people and people with loyalty to their rulers and with love to one another That he would establish the state wherein we live in peace and order preserving us on one hand from the tyranny and oppression of superiours and on the other hand from rebellion and conspiracy of inferiors That he would save the King whom he hath set under himself our supream Head and Governor from all treasons and treacherous designs that he would subdue the people under him cloath his enemies with shame and upon himself let his crown flourish that he would give the King his judgements and make our Magistrates men of courage fearing God and hating covetousness That he would preserve us from all dreadfull calamities the plague pestilence and famine from wars fires inundations from murder and sudden death That he would take a special care of his Church and his chosen ones that he would send labourers into his vineyard that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness that he would illuminate all Bishops and Pastours with true knowledge and understanding of his word that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly That he would inlarge the tents of Japhet remember his ancient people the Iewes gather in the remnant of the gentiles send forth his Gospell into the dark corners of the earth and publish the glad tidings of salvation unto all mankind that he would fill up the number of his elect and hasten the glorious appearance of Christ That he would confound the devices of all that have evill will to Zion and turn the hearts of hereticks schismaticks and bloody tyrants That he would assist those that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience with strength from above and send them the comforter That he would destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth That he would garrison our hearts with his grace that he would teach us his laws that we may walk in his statutes and keep his commands That he would mortify the desires and lusts of the flesh subdue us to himself and make us a willing people in the day of his power That he would open our hearts for the receiving of his word and rule in them by his spirit That his Kingdom may first enter into us that we may enter into it Lastly that we may have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell live in a constant exspectation of our great change that when our Lord comes he may find us doing his will on earth as it is in Heaven And blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing THY WILL BE DONE The nature of God is not made up of a body and soul nor hath he bodily parts as eyes hands feet c. or faculties of mind as understanding memory affections and 't is no less improper to say of God that he knows or wills any thing as that he walks sees c. which are metaphorical expressions taken from men God being pleased in holy writ to condescend to our capacity and speak of himself after the manner of men God is all understanding all will nor is there any thing in God which is not infinite i.e. himself His will then is not a thing really distinct from his understanding or indeed from his essence neither is it a blind power as it is in us that needs the guidance of reason and the light of another faculty to be convey'd into it to represent the object and advise it to choose the good and eschew the evil but is of it self most free most wise most good It self is a law and rule to it self determins it self and is the measure and standard of all goodness righteousness and holiness The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works And his pracepts are more to be desired then gold yea then fine gold sweeter then hony the hony-comb Now there is a twofold will of God that of his decrees and that of his commands Nor do these two cross and oppose the one the other as if God decreed one thing should be and commanded the contrary but they keep a sweet harmony and mutuall correspondence God's word and his providence may seem sometimes to clash and justle one another yet they do keep the same road of righteousness nor does God ever contradict himself or speak one thing and mean another Let God be true and every man a lyar '
him without fear That he would overcome the world for us mortify the old man and trample Satan under our feet Finally that he would save us to the uttermost and compleatly in our whole man body soul and spirit from all and all manner of evil whither of this life or of that to come and would so contrive all events and lay the plot of his eternal purposes that all things may work together for our good and procure our everlasting welfare FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER This is the Doxology which either comes in as a Confirmation to back the foregoing petitions or is added as a bare Confession it being usual that in sacred writings that particle for or because is not alwayes brought in as a causal or rational influence but is many times simply narrative In this later sense the several words may be taken to mean the same thing as in Daniel's prophecy and the Revelation many such synonyma's are heap'd together and in the Psalms several in several places used indifferently to shew that too much cannot be said or too many expressions made use of to set forth divine Majesty We end our Prayer then in an adoration of his exeellencyes and a deep acknowledgement of his greatness represented under a three-fold term Kingdom Power and Glory which are farther rais'd and lifted up beyond our conception by the infinity and eternity of them His Kingdom has neither beginning nor end of dayes his power admits no bounds knows no end and his glory as himself is and was and is to come And as the Church hath worded it which was but a pious descant upon this piece of the Lords Prayer Glory be to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen In the former sense 't is laid at the bottom of the Prayer as a ground foundation of it as if we were pleading to be heard Nor doe we in these our requests seek our selves or study and design our own emolument and advantage but our souls are touched with a love to thy name and we humbly desire thee to accept these petitions in order to thy own glory which will receive some advantage even then when the necessityes of us thy creatures are supplyed If thou be graciously pleas'd to hear us in these our desires Thy Kingdom will be advanc'd thy power made manifest and thy Glory promoted 'T is not for our selves we ask nor can we think our poor concernments an argument sufficient to ground a confidence on but for thy names sake Alas should we aim at Kingdom power or glory what poor short-arm'dâ— short-liv'd thing would it be bound up within the measure of a transitory life of a span length but thine lasts to ages of ages thy Kingdom has the same date as eternity never commenced never shall exspire thy power reaches from everlasting to everlasting and thy glory indures from generation to generation 'T is our earnest request that thou wouldst provide for the honour of thine own name that thou wouldst not be wanting to thy self in the vindication of these thy glorious attributes nor let them suffer by turning thy face away from our prayers And thus these three words may cast back a respect to the several petitions as has been before observ'd to those which concern God in this manner Thine is the Kingdom therefore let thy Kingdom come since it doth of due belong unto thee Again thine is the power therefore let thy will be done for whose will should carry but his whose will no one can resist And lastly which was propos'd first in the petitions that the Prayer might begin and end alike and God's glory might be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it Thine is the glory therefore hâ—llowed be thy name And in subordination to these we proceed to ask in our own behalf wherein yet those attributes seem to be no less concern'd with some such reflection as this Thine is the Kingdom wherefore give us bread it was a Pharaoh's care to provide bread for his subjects how much more will our King and our God supply all our wants and allow us necessaries Thine is the power therefore forgive us our sins for who has power to forgive sins but God Oh! that it would please thee to shew this thy power in pardoning our iniquities and not in avenging them and lastly again Thine is the glory wherefore lead us not into temptation whereby we may bring dishonour to thy name but deliver us from evil that we may glorify thee the author of all our good And all these requests to be granted not for the present only for a day or an age but this provision for his own glory and our wants to be for ever because his Kingdom and his power which are the store whence this provision is to be made and his glory which is to be provided for are for ever as also our wants need a continual supply Now these his attributes having been in ages past and being to last for all ages to come by former experience of those that have been before us and our own beget a confidence for the future that as our fathers trusted in him were not ashamed so succeeding generations shall find 't is not in vain to seek him and that he whose goodness is unexhausted will not be weary of doing good So that the eternity of Gods perfections ingages our posterity to hope in him and concludes this prayer fit to be used as long as the world indures This Doxologie or Conclusion of the prayer is set down only by St. Matthew St. Luke mentions it not and accordingly the Church in her offices leaves it out nor does this difference plead any thing against the formality of the prayer it self or the omission of this part prove that the whole may be omitted and laid aside For as 't has been said before Christ propos'd this Prayer upon two several occasions at two several times one was when he was preaching his Sermon on the mount before a great multitude of auâ—ditors wherein he delivers in a large discourse the sum of Christian institution and the dutyes of a holy life of which Prayer being none of the least himself propounds a pattern for imitation and use The other was more private in the company only of his disciples when after he had been at prayers by himself they desir'd him to teach them to pray as Iohn had done his disciples whereupon he gives them this form for their constant use at least upon solemn occasions when ye pray say c. Now this latter appointment of it leaving out the conclusion shews that it is not an essential part of the Prayer necessarily belonging to it but an addition that may be spared indifferent to be used or not wherefore whether
of honour set him above Angels principalities and powers and hath committed to his trust the Government of the world FROM THENCE To wit out of Heaven whither he ascended and where he now is Christ God Man at the last day in the end of the world riding upon the clouds shall shew himself and HE SHALL COME Attended with innumerable Angels and Saints with the voice of a Trumpet in a glorious manner to the joy of his servants and the terrour of his enemies TO JUDGE For all mankind shall be gathered together from the four quarters of the earth and we must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ to give an account of our works Then shall the books be open'd and every man's conscience shall witness against him and that which hath bin done in secret shall be made known and the thoughts of the heart shall be discovered Then righteous sentence shall proceed from the Iudges mouth according to the Law and the Gospell Then shall be put a difference betwixt the good and bad the righteous and the wicked when God shall reward his servants with a Crown of Glory and destroy his enemies with an everlasting destruction endless torments There is a twofold coming of Christ Christ came first to be judged the second time he will come to judge THE QUICK Those who shall then be found alive who shall be suddenly changed in the twinckling of an eye and without death shall pass from death to life AND THE DEAD For the dead shall rise again as many as from the beginning of the world throughout all ages have lived upon the face of the earth and though they have been mouldered into dust or torn by wild beasts or buried in the waves of the Sea yet they shall take up the very same bodies again to which the soul may again be united God's power bringing this about and his justice so requiring it that every man may in his body reap the fruit of those things which he hath done in the body I BELIEV With the same Faith by which I believ the Father and the Son I believ also in the third Person of the holy and blessed Trinity Being verily perswaded that he is true God and the power of the most High depending upon his assistance and finding by experience that whatsoever good I either doe or have comes all from him IN THE SPIRIT He is therefore called Ghost or Spirit because he partly proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of breathing partly because he breaths into us good thoughts and holy desires wherefore it is added HOLY Seeing that he is not only Holy in himself with such holiness as far exceeds all other blessed Spirits both Angels Saints but also makes us holy by an effectual working of grace in our hearts He it is that applyes the benefits of Christ's death unto us and makes us partakers of the salvation which he hath purchased for us by his blood The holy Prophets and Apostles were the penmen of the Holy Ghost who wrote as they were inspired by him He gathers the Church by the Preaching of the word having furnisht the Apostles with the gifts of tongues provided a ministry and other holy ordinances for the propagation of the Gospell filling up the number of the elect and bringing souls to life THE CHURCH The company of believers whom God hath ordained to life before the foundation of the world was laid whom he hath called out of a state of sin to the profession of Faith in Christ and a holy conversation whom he also doth rule by his Word and Spirit HOLY Gathered and guided by the Holy Ghost distinguished from the rest of the world by holy appointments adorning their profession with holy works CATHOLICK or Vniversal in respect of time place and persons being to last through all ages of the world spread abroad over all quarters of the earth consisting of men of all ranks and conditions God having shut the gate of his Kingdom to none but such as wilfully refuse to enter Now the Holy Ghost bestows upon the Church which he gathers by the word and sanctifies by grace these Blessings which follow THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS Whereby the Saints who are the faithfull ones the chosen and the children of light are united to Christ as their head and amongst themselves as members of the same body the Church drawing virtue life and efficacy from Christ and performing to one another all offices of Charity as being knit together with a spirit of love and bond of peace THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS Which the spirit on our unfeined repentance assures us of by applying the merit of Christ and sprinkling our consciences from dead works with his blood which he powred forth to be a price of souls neither doth he onely seal to our hearts a pardon of former offences shewing us the favour of God reconciled in his Son but doth withall give us power to resist sin for the time to come cleansing us from every defilement of the flesh and spirit subduing our lusts changing our wils and renewing our natures according to righteousness THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY For in the last day when Christ shall come to judgement the trump shall sound and the dead shall arise with the very same bodyes that they had before and every one shall receive according to his works For as much as the wicked shall be thrown into Hell there to be tormented with the Divel with the worm which never dyes and the fire which is never quenched But the good shall enter into LIFE EVERLASTING Where they shall rest from their labours and enjoy God for ever living in abundance of joys and pleasures which neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor can the heart of man conceiv And all these things I believ not onely with an Historical Faith but appropriate unto my self being fully perswaded that God made me by his power preserves me by his goodness and provides for me both in soul and body by his infinite wisdome And that the Son of God whatsoever he hath done or suffered he performed and underwent for my sake that I through him might live And that the Spirit of God dwelleth in me working in me Faith Repentance that I am a true member of the Church that my sins are forgiven me that I shall rise again and see my Redeemer with these eyes who shall out of his free bounty reward me his unworthiest servant with the Glory which shall have no end FINIS THE EXPLANATION OF THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS The Ten Commandements Exodus xx GOD spake all these words saying I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth
Sunday as their Sabbath whereon our Saviour rose again from the dead and shew'd himself to his Disciples Another difference betwixt us is that we are not obliged to that Iudaïcal strictness but are allow'd a chearfull freedom yet not so as to make it a day of pastime for it follows that it is THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD as appointed by him or To the Lord thy God as dedicated to his especial service a day wherein thou art to contemplate the works of the Lord wrought in the Creation and the mercyes of thy God shown forth in thy Redemption a time set apart not for thy business much less for thy sport but for God's glory and publick worship to be spent wholly in performances of holy dutyes IN IT THOU SHALT DO NO MANNER OF WORK Nothing of common drudgery of thy ordinary vocation of thy weeks work none of thy work for it 't is not meant that we should sit still and doe nothing but works of piety as going to Church and the Priest's offering their Sacrifices in the Old Law c. are God's work and works of necessity as provision of food c. are the works of Nature and works of Charity as healing the sick taking the oxe or ass out of the pit c. are works of Grace And these must and may be done without any violation of the Sabbath THOU God here cals all the family to an account so careful he is of his own day And whereas in the other Commandements Thou is directed to every body here it carryes a special warrant to the superiour seeming to require of him that he not onely keep it himself in his own person but take care also that all in his charge keep it too Thou whether thou art magistrate master or mistress of the house father tutor or whatever governour imploy thy authority to see my Sabbath duely observ'd Yet not so as that the superiours negligence shall be an excuse for the inferior's for they are all spoken too here by name AND THY SON Children are naturally more apt to neglect their duty then able to perform it or indeed willing to understand it They must be taught it then and kept to it Acquaint thy son therefore with my wayes and instruct him in my fear Train him up in good courses that he may not be prepossess'd with vicious customs Bring him to Church let him be couversant in Scripture and learn the principles of Religion and seek me early that he may grow up as in stature so in wisedom and grace and favour with God and good men AND THY DAUGHTER No age nor sex priviledg'd from Sabbath-duty And these two words include all inferiours who are not in a servile condition all children pupils scholars citizens subjects whose respective governours are particularly to heed their observance of this day THY MAN-SERVANT AND THY MAID SERVANT All thy servants whether hired or bought all that doe thee work and receive thy wages Neither thy Avarice nor their own lust shall imploy them and cause them to absent themselves from my service Servants that day 〈◊〉 God's servants and their master's fellow-servants yet to be commanded and overlook'd by their masters that they do serve God And indeed it is the master's great interest to see that this day be well observ'd in his family since he cannot well expect that his own work should prosper if God's work be neglected or that those servants will be faithfull in his service who doe not care to serve God THY CATTLE The Greek reads here as 't is express'd in Deuteronomie and thy oxe and thy ass and thy cattle i.e. all labouring beasts which man makes use of for tillage of the ground for carriage of burdens for going of journeys c. that they also may rest from their usual labour and may have a time of refreshment for there is a charity too due to these brute-servants and the good man is mercifull to his beast But does God take care of oxen Though they have a share in his providence yet what are they concern'd in his Law which is spiritual and holy 'T is for man's sake whom they serve in whose charge they are that they are here mention'd And indeed should the cattle have been left out it might have look'd like an allowance to worldly-minded men to have set them on work the attendance of that would have prov'd the imployment of men too for that beasts will hardly work alone without the direction oversight of men NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES He that sojourns with thee within thy city so the Magistrate is concern'd or thy guest in thy house and so 't is the duty of the Master of the family to see that strangers of what countrey or religion soever comply with this Law and doe not violate the Sabbath-rest by travell keeping market following their merchandise or any other worldly occasions The Hebrew words are sometimes taken in a special strict sense so as that the stranger means one of another countrey converted to the Iewish profession and observances call'd otherwise a Proselyte and the Gates being the place of session or assize where the Iudges and Magistrates met for the tryall and decision of causes mean the civil power and jurisdiction But they are here questionless to be taken in the larger and more common sense FOR IN SIX DAYES THE LORD This is the reason of the Command and shews farther the equity of it that we would not think much to doe as God himself did and indeed the morality of it too for this reason concerns all mankind Heathen as well as Iew wherefore to intimate the universal obligation it hath it sayes not the Lord thy God as before but only the Lord. MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH THE SEA AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS He finish'd the work of creation and did all which he had to do in that first week of the world And it would be worth our imitation to consider how God takes a review of every day's work and it would be well for us that we could every night before we take our natural rest take account of our actions and see that they are good and at the weeks end before we enter upon this spiritual rest survey the work of the whole week and say of it not that it were exceeding good but that at least it were not exceeding evil Two things in the method of God's working may be worth our particular notice that the evening is mention'd still before the morning as if God had taken counsel o're night what he should doe next day and that God made man last on the very Sabbath-eve as if he had made him for no other purpose then to keep the Sabbath in the admiration of his works and the celebration of his praise AND RESTED THE SEAVENTH DAY God might have been working on still and set forth his power in new productions for Omnipotence cannot be