speaketh will choak the Word much more the pleasures of the world when they are more soft and sutable to delicate flesh and corrupt nature As in the Primitive Times more Apostates were made by the flatteries of Julian then the fires of Dioclesian and smiles more harm'd the Church then smarts Nothing more likely then to shoote away bowle away whatever we have been affected with Hos 6. 4. in holy Ordinances and Administrations Mat. 13. 22. Nay the very Liturgy of our English Church composed with so much exactness and deliberation as is often urged by the admirers of it commands the fourth Commandment to be read as well as the other nine and there pardon is begg'd for the breaches of this Commandment for time past Lord have mercy upon us and then Grace is importun'd to observe it better for the time to come where it is prayed and incline our hearts to keep this Law Where these three things are considerable 1. That by the Sabbath the Church understands the Lords day only 2. That she takes the observation of the Lords day founded upon the fourth Commandment 3. That she intended that day to be kept as a Sabbath and therefore begs pardon and grace which if so there can be no room for unnecessary labours and needless Recreations both which are but presumptuous incroachments on Gods appropriated day As holy Augustine forbad hunting and all worldly pleasures And Leo the Emperour Nullis Augustine Leo the Emperour volumus voluptatibus occupari Our will is No pleasures to be used as being the great obstructions to the spirituality of a Sabbath they discomposing the soul for sublime and heavenly intercourses to be spiritually raised and to be pleasurously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Rev. 10. addicted on the Lords day being strange inconsistencies Recreations on the Sabbath they are too much the evidence of a formal spirit To the holy soul the Temple is his Triumph Prayers his pleasure Ordinances his delight the Sanctuary his satisfaction David counts one day in Gods Courts better then a thousand Flashy and frivolous Recreations Psal 84. 10. on a Lords day to a gracious spirit they are his little-ease and the clipping of his wing the Souls confinement and Psal 63. 2. restraint the Prison grate between him and Christ no way his Pleasure but his Purgatory and where they are received Psal 43. 4. with gratefulness and contentment they loudly Proclaime too much froth and vanity David danced at the enjoyment of Cant. 2. 4. the Ark but these leave the Ark to sport and dance 2 Sam. 6. 16. Recreations on the Lords day They are the debasements of spiritual mercies as if there were no captivating power in Divine Ordinances to hold the soul intent for a day no Psal 19. 10. Psal 42. 4. honey comb in the Word to please the taste no pleasing vent in prayer to ease and satisfie the Soul as if singing of Psalms made no musick and reading the Scriptures did yield no delight Ah with what patience and content did the Jewes hear the Law read in the time of Nehemiah The people stood Nehem 8. 7. in their place saith the Text quoted as if they were staked and fastened without any desire of removal Their serious attention chained them to their present station Paul preached Acts 20. 7. till midnight the sweet Oracles of God drowned all wearisomness and distaste Ordinances have a savour in them Rom. 3. 2. which refresh and raise the Saint and there is no need of carnal sports to wear off any tedious abhorrency To affect or use these pastimes on the Sabbath is to embase the value of Divine exercises and to charge holy duties with abortive Hos 9. 14. emptiness as if they were barren wombs and dry breasts Let the Umpirage in this case be referred to the holy Psalmist in the Text quoted in the Margin Psal 1. 2. Recreations on the Sabbath they are the spring of impertinent discourse which is expresly forbidden in the Text for saith the Text Nor speaking thy own words In our sports more especially Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak as our Saviour saith Sports are the very Mat. 12. 34. Malitiae sermonis sons est malitia cordis ex quo necessi est ejusmodi maledicta per os ebullire sicut ex faetido fonte non possunt nisi fatidae aquae per fâ—stulas effundi Par. Dr. B. Mark 6. 22. Mark 6. 27. James 3. 6. Peccatum quod alter incurrit operando tuum facis obloquendo fuel of vain and frothy discourse A holy man observes That some men they never make an end of their pleasures nor an end of talking and hearing of them their Hawkes are not only on their fists but on their tongues There are two things which spring a mine of impertinent discourse Feasts and Sports We may as well separate blackness from the cloud as frothy language from frothy pleasures Nay how often are pastimes stained with sinful protestations the fatal taking of Gods Name in vain nay with Execrations and Oaths the scum of Hell it self Where did Herod make his wretched promise which was died in the blood of the Baptist but at a dancing when Herodias her Daughters feet did not trip so much as Herods tongue And if at any time the tongue is set on fire of hell as the Apostle James speaks Games and Pastimes presently become the bellows to blow up the fire Sports are usually the tongues Courtizan to draw it to folly and wanton intemperance with frothy rejoycings and carnall triumphs nay heats and passions are mixt with our recreations and the tongue is to proclaim them The mirth which attends pastimes will not be cag'd up in the breast but will fly out inimpertinent and unsavory language How often in sports do we call our Brother fool and yet our Saviour Iracundiae litis vanitatis censurae verba a Satana procedunt et ad Satanam tendunt illic incipiunt et illic rapiunt Mat. 6. 22. Psal 39. 1. saith that very expression puts us in danger of hell fire And therefore let any serious Christian make his own conscience the Tribunal to which I dare appeal whether this flatulent and unseemly discourse the inseparable companion of Games and Pastimes be not a sinful undecency on Gods holy Sabbath and an opposition to the very Text surely then if ever with David we should take heed we offend not with our tongue Recreations on a Sabbath They are an indignity offered to the noble and precious soul Shall the body that mass and Isa 2. 22. pile of dust cemented onely with a little flying breath that Corpus est ergastulum animae Plato bag of flegm and cholar that prison of the soul as Plato used to call it enjoy the time of six whole dayes and the soul that piece of eternity in the bosome the breath of God the saving
of which was the grand and forcible attractive of Corpus hoc vinculum carcer est animae ex quo exire cupit sanctus esse cum Christo Hierom. Christs incarnation and death this darling of Heaven not enjoy one day but it must be retailed and canton'd into divers divisions Some parts of it must be spent in the labours of our Callings and some in solemn Duties in the publick Congregations and some in sports and delightful Recreations when the publick is over and some in private Duties if there be any time and this torn and rent Sabbath something like Joseph's Coat of many colours must be the Gen. 37. 3. onely morsel for the immortal soul But how irrational is it for the soul that better part of man which shall live as long Mat. 16. 26. as God himself to be straightned and pinnion'd to a few Vita carnis tuae anima est vita animae tuae deus est quomodo moritur caro amissâ animâ quae vita ejus est sic moritur anima amisso deo qui vita est ejus August hours It must not enjoy one whole day onely the leavings of our work and recreations the crumbs which fall from the bodies table Let the Christian who is solicitous of his souls eternal interest consider whether this pittance of time onely a few hours on a Sabbath be sutable to the vast and unlimited soul especially if we observe that the soul sways the body the body follows the condition of the soul and not the soul the estate of the body Labours are forbidden on the Sabbath much more Recreations That labours are prohibited the fourth Commandment is the pregnant testimony of now sports toys pastimes Melius est in Sabbato araro quam saltare Aug. Enar. in Tit. are of less avail then labours It is a memorable speech of Augustine Melius est in Sabbatho arare quam saltare It is better to plow then to dance upon a Sabbath Labours may bring in some Income so not sports there is a temporal profit and emolument in the one none in the other Concerning sports we may say that the Gamesters labour for that which is not bread there can be no supplies Isa 55. 1 2. from the breast of a recreation Pastimes are clouds without water Recreations more tempt and flatter the flesh then Labours do Toyle doth not pamper dancing hunting shooting do they are sun-shines which make the dunghill of mans heart reak with noysomness It was once the expostulation of a holy man worth the transcribing his words are these What shall I say of the Zeal of worldlings which may controule Mr. Greenham the security of our sins worldly men never seek for pleasure Vita in delitiis agens mors est umbra mortis quantum enim umbra propè est corpori cujus est umbra tantum pro certo vita illa voluptuario inferno appropinquat Bern. Serm. 48 in Cantic 15 James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 52. whilst profit doth drop and so long as they may gain a penny how diligent are they they will not sport or play But the Sabbath is the market day of our souls where we should gather whilst the sun shines Here is profit and so there ought to be diligence and therefore we should lay aside pleasure and we should say what have we to do with Recreations any more yet how many neglect their pleasure for the world and we will not for heaven or our souls But after the publick Ordinances are over nay multitudes in the very time of publick Worship follow their sensual Recreations I was going to say Abominations It was a saying of King James Though without superstition Playes and lawful Games may be used in May and good Chear at Christmas yet alwayes provided that the Sabbath be kept holy and no unlawful pastime be then used And as a worthy and holy man observes No man can think Dr. B. upon that day to be so disordered as to follow his ordinary pleasures without great contempt of God and Man Vpon that holy day all sorts of men must utterly give over shooting hunting hawking bowling c. and they must no more deal with them then the Artificer with his Trade or the Husband-man with his Plow I shall shut up this particular with a pious Bp Hall of Exeter Contemp Lib. 17. Ejaculation of a Holy and Reverend Bishop who thus vents himself I wonder what these kind of men viz. those who bathe themselves in pleasures upon the Lords day will do when they come to Heaven if ever they come there where there is a continued Sabbatisme without intermission surely they will wish themselves on Earth again unless they keep a Sabbath better here below Do we not pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven there the Angels do nothing but praise God Do we hope to be like them in Glory and not endeavour to be like them in duty Our Heaven above is a continual Sabbath our Sabbath below should be a continued Heaven The Sabbath not the sports on the Sabbath should be our delight Recreations on the Sabbath are forbidden by all kind of Laws 1. By Divine Law viz. the fourth Commandment Requies requiritur in quarto Praecepto cōmendatur et ubique amatur sed illa requies in solo deo certa et sancta invenitur Aug. where Labours are expresly forbidden and sports are an equal if not a greater impediment to the duties of the Sabbath both publick and private the sweets of Recreation influencing the mind and withdrawing the heart much more then the sweats of Labour Surely if we must not toyle we must not trifle on Gods holy day 2. By the Law of Nature which requires a total abstinence from all works both of Labour and Pleasure during the time allotted and consecrated to Gods service publick Dies dominicus abipsis Apostolis sacris actionibus est consecratus Bucer and private But the Lords day is that time allotted we cannot work and worship both at once and if when we should worship we follow our pleasures or our profits Is not this to subordinate the Divine Will to mans Fancy 3. By the Law Political which requires a total resting from all kind of labour or diversion and applying our souls Edw. the 6th wholly and onely to Religious Exercises as the Statute of Act. Primo Carol. Primi King Edward the sixth of blessed memory a Law yet unrepealed That English Josiah the morning Sun of Reformation Ad Sabbathi rectam observationem duo requiruntur quies et quietis illius sanctificatio Ames med Theol. in England began early to confine the Sabbath to the two great designs of it Rest and Sanctity and in this he shewed himself to be Custos utriusque Tabulae a Keeper of both the Tables And indeed the enjoyning of the holy observance of Gods blessed day is a rare
Law and in the time of the Gospel these are the products of Gods eternal grace and favour That God should subdue sinners to himself hedge up their way with thorns lay Hos 2. 6. Jer. 2. 24 stumbling blocks before them in their sinful carier that he Tiadam eos in miseriam unde se nequeant explicare Riv. should take sinners in their moneth and dispose of unthought of circumstances and passages of providence for the turning of transgressors into the way which leads to everlasting life all these things speak the eternal grace and favour of Eph. 1. 7. God But Secondly Divine grace may be taken for grace the effect for the graces of Gods spirit which in eternal love and grace and favour he plants in the soul and this work of grace merits our sweetest meditation And here we must meditate On the powerfulness of the work of grace Grace is an irresistible principle a torrent which bears down all before it Manassah was prejudiced against the impressions of grace by Gratiae Vocabulum tria denotat 1. Gratuitum actum divinae volunâ—atis accepton t is hominem in Christo peccata misericorditer condonantis 2 Eph. 9. 3. Rom. 24. Hic amor gratuitus est primum dâ—num in quo omnia alia dona dautur Hâ—nc gratiá acceptationis Aquin. vocat Secundò sub gratiae vocabulo complectitur Apost omnia hubitualia dona quae deus infundit ad animam sanctificandam sâ—il Fides charitas c. atque omnes virtutes et omniâ— dona salutarta sunt gratiae Eph. 4. 7. Hanc gratiam inhaerentem paeâ—è solum agnoscunt Pontificii et illam interim acceptantem quae est hujus sons sâ—aturigo nimis negligunt Tertiò Gratia denotat actuale auxilium dei quo renati post acceptam habitualem gratiam corroborantur ad exercenda bona opera et ad perseverandum in fide et pietate nam homini per gratiam renovato et sanctificato necessarium est quotidianum dei adjutorium ad singulos octus et necessaria est horum omnium connexio Daven scandalous and prodigious sins he was a pattern of impiety 2 Chron. 33. 5 6 7. Mary Magdalen was fortifyed against those sacred impressions by seven Devils Luk. 8. 2. Paul was garrison'd against those divine illapses of grace by an obstinate antipathy to the Gospel and the profession of it he barbarously persecuted the Church of Christ Acts 9. 2. And Peter turns his back upon grace by denying Christ the fountain of it But yet neither Prophaneness Impurity Rage Apostacy or the Devils themselves can withstand the powerful influences of grace But God by his grace humbles Manassah 2 Chron. 33. 12. brings him upon his knees to importune forgiveness Melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 44. and she bedews those checks with her moans which she had so much prostituted to her lusts the evil spirit must give way to the good spirit to carry on his good work on her soul Nay grace softens Paul into submission and indisputable compliance Acts 9. 4 5. And Peter by a look of grace Luke 22. 61 62. turns to Christ by lamentation whom he had dishonoured by desertion By grace God breaks the hard heart Ezek. 36. 26. supplies the stubborn will Ezek. 36. 27. brings down the lofty spirit 2 Chron. 32. 26. writes his Law in the inward man Jer. 31. 33. and raiseth a stately fabrick of holiness out of the very rubbish of nature Ezek. 11. 19. Ezek 18. 31. and so the Convert becomes a new and lovely creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Indeed a work of grace may be reproached but it cannot be resisted we may pursue holiness with scorn but we cannot withstand its work and operation by force or the most resolved might The spirit which worketh grace in the soul plucks down Satans strong holds plucks up rooted corruptions which have been long setled and riveted in the heart plants holy qualifications and habits in the Saint creates holy tendencies and inclinations and the Regenerate person becomes passive and sweetly yields to the force and power of this blessed work Christ throws his chain over him and he smiles himself into a voluntary and pleasing Captivity 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The work of grace is often compared to a new birth Joh. 3. 5. Now when the throws and pangs come upon the woman with child she cannot with-hold her Issue but freely and with joy she brings forth the Man-child into the world Joh. 16. 21. And so when the spirit of grace carries on the new-birth the loynes of the Convert cannot with-hold but with joy a Saint is born into the world Grace like a sun-beam pierces powerfully though sweetly and is alwayes prosperous though sometimes strange in its designe Let us meditate on the Arbitrariness of the work of grace Indeed grace like Christ is a most free gift it knows no entail Spiritus sanctus non secundum dignitatem et merita sed quos et quando vult arâ—anis suis afflatibus aspirat dividens dona sua singulis sicut vult Ger. nor admits of any claim It is not in the power of a Holy Father to transmit his spiritual worth though he may conveigh his temporal wealth to his beloved Child The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3. 8. And this wind is the spirit of grace as Augustine well observes and the words of the Text make it plain The freeness of this glorious work of grace which God works upon the hearts of his people may be fully and amply discerned In the nature of Election which is a voluntary choosing of some out of many now vocation and sanctification are 1 Cor. 12. 4. 1 Pet. 1 2. 1 Pet. 5. 13. Jer. 3. 14. 1 Pet. 2 4. Rev. 17. 14. Rom. 11. 5. Rom. 9 11. Jer. 3. 14. onely the fruits of Election as most evidently the Apostle Eph. 1. 4. He hath chosen us to be holy We are holy because we are chosen And so Acts 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed We believe because we are ordained to eternal life Nothing is more arbitrary then election free choyce God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy as the Apostle speaks Here it is true one is taken and another left as our Saviour speaks in another case There is two of a Tribe and one of a Family as the Prophet speaks It may be one in a Pâ—w is converted by a Sermon others in the same Seat not in the least wrought upon as the same Fides electorum non fides eligendorum ut clamitant Arminiani Sun ripens some fruits and rots others Nothing then is more free then election which is the spring and fountain of grace and sanctification Faith is called the faith of the elect Tit. 1. 1. Paul was converted after an unusual and Tit. 1. 1. strange manner because he was a chosen vessel Acts 9. 15. There are but few chosen as our Saviour
may arrive at the Nobility of those Bereans who searched the Scriptures whether what the Apostles delivered were consonant and agreeing to them or no Acts 17. Acts 17. 11. Ignorantia negloctus dei ô quantum malum est et in quot et quanta mala Gentilâ—â— per hanci ignorantiam inciderint Alap 11. By constant reading on the Sabbath morning we come acquainted with the body of the Scriptures and so are fitted to entertain particular truths which may be delivered in publick by the Minister Well read Lawyers easily understand particular cases Ignorant persons like Children take in what ever is in the spoon whether Sugar or Poyson An ignorant Auditory wholly depends upon the conscience of the Minister and blind-fold grasp all with an implieit faith they drink in all which is delivered and so most probably the dregs at the bottom But our preparatory reading in private will enable us the more to judge and discern of publick Gospel discoveries Secondly Nor is it a small advantage that Gods word should take livery and scizin of our hearts in the beginning Quo semel est imbuta recens servâ—bit odorem testa diu of the Sabbath and so accommodate our hearts for future Ordinances Vessels retain the sent of the first liquor The Summer much follows the quality of the Spring Conversing in our closets and families with Gods word will much conduce to a spiritual frame of heart The tracing of a Chapter or two in the morning at home will mould the heart to a sweeter compliance with Christ in his Ordinances The reading of the Law made Josiah weep 2 Chron. 34. 27. and then he was flexible for every good purpose Thirdly Theophylact hath an excellent argument to this purpose One great end of the Sabbath saith he is to give Lex homines praecipit in Sabbatum quiescere ut lectioni vacent homines Theoph. us respit for the reading of the Scriptures which is meant not onely of the publick reading in the Church but also of private reading at home the Gospel being nothing else but Christ opened and expanded to study Christ is the purport not onely of our publick but private devotion To read the Scriptures then is one duty which must take up our private leisure on the morning of a Sabbath Fourthly The Lord Christ and his Apostles in alledging Mat. 21. 13. the places of the Old Testament do generally say That it is written or as it is written in the Book of the Psalmes or Luke 20. 42. this was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah Now how much Acts 1. 20. shame will befall us if when the Minister alledgeth Scripture Acts 2. 16. quotations we may say of the word as they did of the Holy Ghost they had not so much as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost or no Acts 19. 2. So we never read of such a Text we never met with such a Scripture we never were acquainted with such an example as is cited by the Preacher This might discolour our faces with blushes of shame and regret It was a sharp redargution of our Saviour which he gave to the Jewes when he remitted them to search the Scriptures John 5. 39. they making their Scriptural knowledge the greatest of their boast and ostentation And indeed to be a stranger to the Oracles of God neither becomes our interest nor our profession And Fifthly In this the Disciple must not be greater Cultus ipse publicus quà m maximè solennitèr est celebâ—andus et postulat necessariò illâ— exercitia Scripturum lectionis meditationis precum c. Quibus paratiores simus ad publicum cultum ut ille etiam in nobis verè efficax reddatur Ames then the Master On the morning of the week day He preached the word John 8. 2. And in the morning of the Lords day we should read it which as he did dictate we must survey if he was early in the dispensation of it it well becomes us to take the dawnings of the Sabbath for its perusal and lection let us take the dropings of this honey-comb at the first effusion And thus much for those Duties which are incumbent upon us in the morning of a Sabbath before we associate with the Assembly of Gods people We must dress our inward as well as our outward man before we come to the Congregation CHAP. XXVII How we must demean our selves in the Publick Assembly on the Holy Sabbath HAving thus performed our Morning Exercises in private Psal 84. 1 2 Psal 122 1. Psal 87. 2. how chearfully should we repair to the Publick Assemblies and draw nigh to the publick Ordinances on this acceptable day of grace and salvation when Christ Isa 2. 2 3. Psal 42. 4. sits in state scattering treasures of grace among hungry and thirsty souls who are poor in spirit and wait for spirituall Almes David admired the amiableness of Gods Tabernacles Deus pluris facit preces in Ecclesiâ quà m domi factas non ob locum sed ob considerationem multitudinis fidelium deum communi consensu invocantium Riv. Psal 84. 1. and he longed for the Courts of God rejoycing when they said to him Let us go to the house of the Lord Psal 42. 4. And the Prophet Isaiah speaking of Gospel times seems to foretell the disposition of Gospel Saints Many people shall go and say Come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his wayes and we will walk in his paths Isa 2. 2 3. And the Apostle adviseth us by no means to forsake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Heb. 10. 25. whom he brands with reproof and reproach Publick Ordinances they are our spiritual Exchange our holy Mart our heavenly Fairs where we buy up and fit our selves with all heavenly Commodities In these seasons we store our selves with grace knowledge and comforts which may abundantly serve us till the revolution of another Sabbath It was once the sad complaint of the Church That the wayes of Sion did mourn because none came to her Assemblies Lam. 1. 4. The want of publick Ordinances might put a Nation in sack-cloath they being the badge of the Church and the glory of the Kingdome Indeed holy duties in private they are of great use and have their blessing But publick Ordinances are the chief work of the Sabbath It is worthy our observation that the Sabbath and publick service are by God himself both joyned together Ye shall keep my Sabbaths saith God and reverence Ezra 10. 1. my Sanctuary Luke 19. 30. The Sabbath and the Psal 68. 26. Sanctuary are coupled as being twins of happiness Every thing is beautifull in its Season Private duties are beautiful Numb 10. 3. and are in season every day But publick Ordinances are never so lovely and beautifull never so much in their full sea as upon Gods
Prophet Jeremy adviseth us Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens The soul is principally interested in all holy duties First Not only because in all holy services God principally eyes the heart Prov. 23. 26. Or Secondly Because Gospel Ordinances chiefly influence and aim at the heart But Thirdly Likewise because the welfare of the soul is the only Port we sail to in all our attendance upon Gospel opportunities It is the souls conviction the souls conversion the souls edification and building up in its most holy faith which is the grand design in every Evangelical administration Now for the composure of our inward man in Eph. 3. 16. holy Ordinances Let us apply our understandings to the word and the work we are about The wise man saith Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and when we Haec lux in intellectu in tenebris micans sovenda est studio et diligenti operum dei commentatione et experimentis et otio veluti rubigine corrumpitur Cartw. come to holy Ordinances it is both our duty and our wisdom to snuff this candle that it may burn the brighter to see the mysteries of the Gospel and this is suitable to the Apostolical Counsel 1 Pet. 1. 13. Gird up the loâ—ns of your mind A metaphor taken from travellers who gird their garments close that they may not be impeded and hindred in their journey When we draw nigh to God in Ordinances we must bend our minds and be intent on the word and drink in truth as the parched ground doth the rain we must screw up our minds to an acurate observation of what ever is revealed unto us from divine Writ If the Gospel John 3 19. be light it is the eye of the understanding must behold this light If the Gospel be a day it is the eye of the mind must Rom. 13. 12. discern this day Some hear the word and understand it Isa 6. 10. not and this is Gods judgment But some hear the precious truths of God and entertain them not and this is mans sin Men shut the eye of their understanding by carelesness and neglect We should hear the word as condemned men their pardons as Legatees the Wills wherein their Legacies are set down with that intenseness of minde Preaching if we spur not up the minde to pursue it is a noise Pater nobis deâ— illuminatos oculos cordis nostrâ— ut ejus lumine illustâ—ati Christum plenè agnoscamus Ambr. not the word an inarticulate sound not soul-saving Doctrine And that our understanding may discharge its office prayer must precede That God would open the eyes of our minde that we may see the wonderfull things of the Law Psal 119. 34. and we must beg eye-salve Rev. 3. 18. and that God would give us the spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. to shed a light upon our understandings Luke 24. 45. that we may dive deep into the profound Mysteries of the Gospel We know not what ardent prayer and a diligent minde may Christus solus operit intelleâ—tum Scripturarum Chemnâ— Mel in Ore melos in Aure. Bern. accomplish towards Scripture knowledge Indeed the Gospel is proportionate to every thing in man it is honey to the taste and Gold to the interest of man Psal 19. 10. It is musick to his ear Ezek. 33. 32. light to his eye John 19. and comfort to his heart Rom. 15. 3. And pity it is the shutting of an eye a little rareless remisness and not bending the minde should rob the soul of such unsearchable treasure We must deal with our hearts to embrace the word in the dispensations of it The Gospel is not only to be let in by Prov. 23. 23. Verbem dei sâ—t domesticus non peregrinus non forâ— stare sed in domo cordis continuò versari Daven our apprehensions but to be lockt in by our affections and we are to entertain it not only in the light of it but in the love of it The Apostle complains 2. Thes 2. 10. That many did not entertain the truth in the love thereof that they might be saved The truths of God must have the heart and we buy them not by our audience but our espousals The word must dwell in us Col. 3. 16. and not as a transient guest but as an inmate Scholars may understand the word but Christians embrace it It is a rare speech of the holy Psalmist Psal 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times The word is the Mat. 13. 23. seed the heart the ground where this seed must be thrown John 5. 40. David calls the Law not his light but his love Psal 119. 97. and his delight Psal 119. 35. When we come to Ordinances we must resolve to treasure up truth and entertain it as Lot the Angels Gen. 19. 3. Or the Virgin Mary the wonders of her time Luke 2. 19. A refractory will renders all opportunities of grace abortive The two Disciples Luke 24. 32. which came from Emmaus question one with another Whether their hearts did not burn within them when Christ had opened the Scriptures to them intimating to us that the heart is properly the Altar upon which the fire of the word is to be laid to the sacrificing of our lusts and the inflaming of our graces And it is the glorious promise of God to write his Law upon our hearts Jer. 31. 33. Let us meet this blessed promise in bringing our hearts to every Gospel dispensation We must put our memories upon employment when we come to holy Ordinances The memory it is the Secretary of the soul and as at Council boards the Secretary cannot be absent so at Ordinances which are the Council table Acts 20. 27. where soul-concernments are agitated and transacted the memory must not be absent We must not write the word when preached to us in dust but in marble not in a heedless neglect but in a faithfull remembrance We do not throw Pearls into sieves to drop out The paradox is greater Memoâ—ia ignis gehennae est â—emedium apâ—rimè utile contrà omnes tentationes Chrysost Rev. 14. 6. when we put the eternal Gospel into a treacherous and faithless memory Surely we shall never practice that truth we cannot remember if we do not mind the word we shall never live it We cannot read blotted lines or understand torn papers and if the word lie onely upon the surface of the memory it will never get within the bark of the life That Sun-dyall will never give us the time of the day which wants the gnomon to cast the shadow charge thy memory to retain every truth thou hearest Let it pick up the filings John 6. 12. of divine Truth that nothing may be lost The richest Fringes are so many several threads wrought together We do not Agnoscamus
et deploremus communem honc humanae naturae corruptionem quòd in mundanis quidem sive quis nobis benefaciat sive nos offendat satis acrem habemus memoriam Ac in Divinis Benefaciat deus nobis sive nos puniat facillimè obliviscimur Lys address our selves to Ordinances to see our faces in a glass as the Apostle speaks Jam. 1. 23. and presently forget both our featute and complexion Whatever truth thou forgetest so much is lost to thy soul We put not our Treasure in broken baggs The forgetful hearer is guilty of the same unthriftiness Let us before-hand beg of God a firm and tenacius memory He who gives wisdome Jam. 1. 5. to understand his word can give us a memory to retain it All the faculties of the soul are created enriched by him Remembred Truths are probably riveted in the heart and revealed in the life It is a most gracious providence of God that he commits his Word to writing And shall that Word which hath been preserved by God for many Ages even to a Miracle the fury of Man the rage of Persecutors the malice of Satan the subtilty of Hereticks being considered shall that blessed Word I say be lost by thee in a moment where God hath brought a Pen to set down wilt thou bring a spunge to blot out Let us be serious and consider God remembers those truths we forget and if they are not the guide of the life they will prove the guilt of the soul Let us summon conscience to appear at every Ordinance Satan will give us many dispensations in holy duties and divine worship He will permit us an ear to hear a tongue to pray nay he will not disquiet us in our transient heats of zeal and sweet passions of joy as Herod heard the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 6. 20. sweetly Our affections for a little time shall be dallianced and delighted with some sweet Truths especially if they be set off by the musical voyce of the Preacher but this evil one will never suffer if he can obstruct it that conscience shall come into the Assemblies of the Saints within the hearing of Gods sacred and saving Word Indeed the purpose and design of the Word is to deal with conscience Cant. 5. 16. Rom. 7. 24. to work upon conscience to convince conscience of the sinfulness Eccles 1. 1. Mat. 16. 26. Ephes 2. 10. Mat. 11. 29 30 Luke 7. 45. Acts 2. 37. Mat. 10. 30. 31. John 8. 8. Rom. 2. 15. In Basilica cordis humani Deus tribunal constituit legesque in ejus tabulis incidit digito suo rationem creavit judicem conscientiam actorem Testes cogitationes quae vel accusant vel defendunt hominem 1 Sam. 16. 6 7 8. of sin of the loveliness of Christ of the vanity of the creature of the preciousness of the Soul of the beauty of Holiness of the easiness of Christs Yoke c. Christ he Preaches and convinceth Mary Magdalen in her conscience and she melts in tears at his feet Peter convinceth the conscience of the stubborn Jews and they are pricked at the heart Paul and Silas convince the conscience of the Jaylour and he is in a fit and an agony of trembling and despair and presently falls upon enquiry after life and salvation When thou approachest to Ordinances if a sin be reproved let conscience speak is not this my default If a duty be pressed let conscience speak is not this my tye and obligation If a corruption be unmasked and detected let conscience speak is not this my Dalilah my right eye which with Antigonus in his Picture I put my finger upon If self-denial be urged let conscience answer is it not the Cross I have so wriggled under and have been so impatient of Conscience is the chief Guest which is invited to the feast of an Ordinance To leave conscience at home is to let all the sons of Jesse to pass by and to keep back David too and so Samuel may go back again with his anointing Oyl Let us come to holy Ordinances with secret and severe resolutions to live them over to practice every Prayer we put up to act every truth we hear and to adorn every Ordinance we enjoy Our mingling with the people of God in holy worship is onely the bare canvass It is Conversion brings the Pencil and the colours to draw a fair and beautifull piece Moses when he came down from conversing with God his face shone Our light must shine before men Exod. 34. 30. after our communion with God in Ordinances The light Mat. 5. 16. Conciones sunt verba vivenda non tantùm audienda of the Gospel must enlighten our lives as one taper lights another It is rare when our heart is suitable to Gods nature as it is said of David 1 Sam. 13. 34. and our life is suitable to Gods Law And indeed though the spiritual life as the natural begins at the heart yet it doth not end there but proceeds to the hands and the feet c. The same water which was in the VVell is in the Bucket The holy heart is like a box of Musk which perfumes and scents the tongue the eyes the ears the hands and whatever is near it with sanctity and holiness The Ordinances should impress our hearts and influence our lives and therefore a holy conversation is called a conversation becomming the Gospel Phil. 1. 27. If we are resolved upon sin let us lay aside holy Sabbaths holy Duties holy Ordinances When the Preacher hath shut up all in the Pulpit the hearer is to begin in his practice the strokes in Musique must answer the notes and A morte Christi omnis piorum ministrorum sufficientia aptitudo dimanat qui aures verbo percipiendo et pollices actionibus sacris praeparat Riv. rules set down in the Lesson Our actions are these musical strokes which must answer the rules set down in the Sermon It is observable that the blood was to be sprinkled on Aarons right ear on his right thumb and on his right toe Exod. 29. 20. The first did note the right hearing of the Word the second and third his working according to the tenor of it His working by it and his walking in it Our Saviour couples hearing and keeping the Word together Luke 11. 28. The Porter is not so rich who carries the baggs of Silver as the Merchant who ownes them He is not so happy who hears the Sermon as he who lives it As one well observes The Virgin Mary was more honoured that she was the member of Christ than Rom. 6. 13. that she was the mother of Christ Life and holiness set off the lustre and beauty of Ordinances A savoury Christian is an Ornament to holy institutions Prayer is musique when holiness sets the tune The Gospel is glorious when holiness 2 Cor 4. 4. gives the shine and reverberates bright beams upon it Let
Isa 59. 2. Gods service and to waste any part of it upon our gains ease or pleasure is to rob God of his offerings which is Macrob. Saturn l. 1 c. 16. matter of complaint and condemnation Mat. 3. 8 9. While we make bold with Gods day we do but mangle it and every Illorum dierum quibusdam horis fas est jus dicere quibusdam fas non est jus dicere Macrob. waste is a wound in it Indeed Macrobius tells us That the heathens had their dies intercisos bipartite dayes which were divided between their God and themselves Semisolemnities And the Papists have their half holy dayes as St. Blacies day and others c. But we have not so learned Christ It was an excellent constitution of King Pepin of Abstinere in eo diâ— primò mandamus ab omni peccato et ab omni opere carnâ—li â—t ab omni opere terreno et ad nihil aliud vacare nâ—si ad orationem et ad ecclesiâ—s concurrere cum summâ mentis devotione Concil Forojul cap. 13. France We command saith he That all abstain from every sin and from every carnall work and from every earthly work and to be at leisure for nothing but prayer and Church assemblies with the greatest and highest devotion and with charity to bless God who upon this day rained down Manna in the desart and fed so many thousands with bread Morsels nay grains of time are savoury upon a Sabbath The soul can feed upon the crums of such a day Sabbath wastes are the throwing away pearls the casting over-board the best goods which might enrich us to all everlasting That time thou mispendest on a Sabbath might be Gods time for the calling thee home to himself CHAP. XXXVII Some further Directions conducing to the same End Dir. 6 LEt the whole man be employed on the Sabbath 1. All the parts of the body The tongue in prayer the ear in attending the knee in submission the eye in contemplation the hand in charitable contribution This Rom. 12. 1. would be a sacred symphony and make the body not only a a reasonable but an acceptable sacrifice 2. All the faculties of the soul must understand their several offices and tasks 1. The understanding must drink in truth as the tender Deut. 32. 2. herb the small rain and the new mown grass the seasonable Nondum in observatione externorum exercitiorum Sabbati plena est sanctificatio nisi eo fine quó institutum est ut piè sanctè et interiùs haec gerantur Qui est sabbatismus internus Leid Prof. Cant. 5. 16. showers Then the understanding must be as the lights of the Sanctuary of very great use 2. The will must embrace the Doctrines of the Gospel The understanding sees the commodity the will buys it The understanding fastens the eye upon the treasures of the Gospel but the will fastens the hand the understanding is the purveyor of truth but the will brings it home 3. The affections must be employed in pursuing Christ and in holy meltings in sacred duties the soul must be all afloat in loves and delights on Gods blessed day then our affections must follow the prey our dear Jesus our Beloved who is altogether lovely 4. The Memory must be the Scribe to set down every heavenly counsel every thing which drops from the heart of God As that King of Syria whose Ambassadours catched at every word 1 Kings 20. 33. The Memory must record every soul-concernment it must be the Exchequer where the riches of Ordinances are reposited and laid up And after all we must with the Virgin Mary ponder all those things in our hearts Luke 2. 51. Thus both soul and body must be Luke 2. 45. espoused in Sabbath service they must as Joseph and Mary go both together to seek Christ as the two Disciples which went to Emmaus both must joyn in conversing with Christ Luke 24. 15. Though the body act the part of Martha in Luk. 10. 29 41. the week and is cumbred with many things yet it must act Maries part on the Sabbath and mind onely the one thing necessary and lie at Gods feet in holy dispensations Body and soul on the Sabbath are as those two Disciples that went to Christs Sepulchre John 20. 4. but the soul is that Disciple which out-runs the other and comes soonest to the end of their Enquiry the soul comes quickest in and closest up to Christ Mariners observe that the two stars Castor and Pollux when they are asunder they prognosticate Intus est in corde est sabbathum nostrum August foul weather but when together they portend a fair and calm season so when we bring onely the body to the Ordinances of a Sabbath it portends nothing but sorrow and disappointment but when soul and body both meet in sacred duties upon this holy day it is a good prognostication Mat. 6. 24. of fair weather to the Christian smiles from above Luke 16. 13. and peace from within In the duties of a Sabbath we must study devotion but not division we must not think to please the flesh and to please the Lord too on his own day Direct 7 Works of mercy do very well become the Sabbath This is a day of love and mercy If in the times of the Law the Law of Circumcision a painful Ordinance was not to be omitted Opera misericordiae nemo illo die facere prohibet ut sub vâ—nâ—re egeno curare aegrotum Opem consilium afflicto laboranti afferre Cujus cura illo die nobis maxime commendatur Rivet in Decal John 7. 22. Much more in the times of the Gospel a law of Love must bind us and oblige us on a Sabbath Love is under a Command as well as Circumcision John 13. 35. Rom. 13. 10. Mercy it is the very musique of Gods Attributes Psalm 108. 4. it is the Almoner to provide for mans wants it is the service of Angels Luke 22. 43. And it is the comely dress which sets off the beauty of a Sabbath That we have a Sabbath is an Act of divine mercy and we cannot duly keep a Sabbath without employing our selves in the works of mercy Tertullian in one of his Apologies joyns Prayer reading of the Scriptures and giving Almes together as being all equally the duties of a Sabbath With him joynes issue Learned and profound Huc referenda sunt reliqua misericordiae opera quibus sabbatum minime profanatur Just Mart. Chemnitius who speaking of the Church of Brunswick saith That upon the Lords day a great multitude of people are gathered together to praise God to hear his Word to receive the Sacrament to holy Prayer to give Almes and other exercises of godliness Thus Charity is mingled with other holy duties Gualter cryes out Let us admire the goodness of God in giving us a day of Rest and shall not our bowels Dei bonitatem exosculâ—mur
qui nobis consecravit quietis diem Gualt be softest on that day when Gods mercy is sweetest Mans pitty is a good handmaid to wait on Gods bounty That day which is a day of life to us should be a day of love from us Charity on a Sabbath is like fire put to Juniper it turns it into a perfumed flame Now there is a four-fold Charity we must exercise on Gods holy day There is Charitas oeconomica Charity to our Families It is very observable that every clause in the 4th Commandement Manifestè praecipitur mandati verbis quieti sabbati rationem habendam esse servorum ancillarum quo quisque admonetur de assectu charitatis erga domesticos suos et insatiabilis avaritiae impetus restringitur Muscul Quo magis à dei dilectione recedimus eò magis à proximi distamus quantum verò dei â—haritati adhaeremus tantum et proximi et proximi deo conjungimur Biblioth Patr. is an injunction to Charity We must be tender to our servants they must not work we must be compassionate to our Children they must not toyl we must pity our beast that must not drudge we must have bowels to the stranger within the Gates he must rest and be refreshed so that we may say with the Apostle Rom. 13. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the Law The Command for the Sabbath is written in golden Letters of love and Charity The Lords day must be spent not in the sweats of labour but in the sweets of duty not in wearisome toyl but in holy rest Parental or despotical rigour is an open breach of this Command which breaths nothing but sweetness and indulgence The Sabbath is no day for the forge or the plow it was never set apart to waste our spirits but to mind and negotiate the affairs of our souls Bishop Andrews saith Mercy on a Sabbath is the sanctification of a Sabbath Surely those Governours of families do highly prophane the Sabbath where the maid-servant must toyl at the fire to provide for their luxury The man-servant must be no otherwise employed then to serve their company Children must wait and serve at the table to shew the grandure of the family where instead of singing Psalmes there is clattering of Dishes and instead of gathering Manna there is gathering up of fragments and instead of a composed lying at Christs feet Politicum illud est ut quâ—es concedi debeat iis qui subsunt alienae potestati Jer 17. 21 22. Psalm 105. 27. in holy Ordinances there is nothing but hurries noyse and confusion Here it might be expostulated Shall servants have no breathing for their souls no necessary pauses to mind eternity Is not this more then Aegyptian bondage Is not not this to cause our families to return back to the Land of Ham to their wonted captivity and thraldome Can such Governours disciple it after Christ and yet have no bowels Quae officia hic demandata etsi videantur levia et rusticae â—bi de pecore aberrante redâ—cendo et asino sublevando agitur non tamen nobis talia erunt si perpendamus finem legulatoris qui non tam animalium rationem habuit quà m hominum Riv. to the immortal souls of their inferiours Christ shed his blood for precious souls and these will not dispence with a humour with their pride with a feast with an entertainment for the good and advantage of a never dying soul But such cruelty and oppression saith Dr. bound is the scandal of Christianity and unravels all that mercy which is folded up in the fourth Commandement God in the Law commands us to pity and shew mercy to our enemies Oxe Exod. 23. 4. to an Oxe which is a beast to be fatted for the slaughter to our enemies Oxe whose enmity might damp our charity and yet here we must shew compassion How much more must the soul of a Child or a servant be precious to us Shall thy servants here lie among the pots and hereafter among the flames and wilt thou do nothing to prevent it Wilt thou not give them Sabbath room to sayl to Heaven in Surely this is the dregs of tyrannie Well then this piece of Charity we must shew upon a Lords day we must be tender to our families we must call them from all toyl and labour to wait on God in his sacred institutions In a word to despise our servants on a Sabbath so as to think they are onely fit to drudge here is an act of pride ond insolency Such remember not that Paul wrote an Epistle to Philemon for his servants sake and to employ our servants Philem. v 16. on a Sabbath and not regard what becomes of them hereafter is an act of inhumanity and such forget that the poor receive the Gospel Mat. 11. 5. The lame the maimed were brought to the Kings feast Luk. 14. 21. and the difficulty Mat. 10. 25. lies how the rich man shall get to heaven Luk. 18. 25. Nay Mat. 19. 24. Christ himself took upon him the form of a servant Phil. Mat. 16. 26. 2. 7. Thy servants soul is of an higher price then the world Mat. 11. 25. It is observed by a worthy man That in the fourth Commandement Rest is granted to those who have most need of it to the poor servant and the friendless stranger to shew that it is even a duty of nature to be pittiful and charitable to our families upon Gods holy day There is Charitas crumenae a charity of the Purse which Petit pauper suum pauculum temporarium Da et recipies magnum eternum Aug. we must likewise shew on the Sabbath Now we must find objects to be the Cisterns of our bounty we must here occurrere ut succurramus meet some whom we may minister to Augustine his rule is a golden Rule on this day The poor petitions a little of our temporals give it him thou shalt receive it in eternals But if we object our inability It is replyed It is not how much but out of how much God looks at The widdows two mites was a commended charity even by Christ himself But let this caution be minded Caution let us take heed in our giving that we do not take away on other dayes to give on this day rob the week to Recondet Christianus apud se cumulet auctumque deinceps et cuâ—â—â—latum deferat Sclat adorn the Sabbath this is pride not charity and the greatest portion is given to Satan But let our charity on the day of the Lord be according to the simplicity of the Gospel and so our charity may make our purse the lighter but it will make our Crown the heavier and what we have laid out in one world we have laid up in another In the Conseruntur eleemosinae sec discretionem unius cujusque propter egenorum subsidium aegrotorum et exulum solamen primitive times there were
collections for the poor every Lords day 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. A consecrated day being fittest for a consecrated dole the week day being the seeds time the Sabbath the harvest for Christian charity This sacred stock as one calls it which is laid up in the week day will be put to the highest and the holiest usury on the Lords day if the hearts of the poor be filled with food and gladness and the backs of the poor wear the livery of our bounty Just Mart. Justin Martyr speaking of the order of Christians upon the Lords day in his time affirms That Almes are given Chrysost in 1 Cor. 11. Hom 43. according to the discretion of every man for the relief of the poor the fatherless and the banished Chrysostome observes that the duty of charity is most seasonable on a Sabbath because it is a day wherein God appears in his best and largest bounty to us then he gives us his sweetest ordinances then he enricheth us with Gospel priviledges then he drops Qui aliquià recondit et thesaurizat pauperibus hic sibi ipsi thesaurum comparat et coelo reponit Alap down upon us his divine graces In our Churches at this day the poors bread is set up for distribution on the Lords day which imports the sweet correspondency between that day which is a day of love the duty which is an act of charity A learned man takes notice that this custome of relieving the poor on the Lords day was grown obsolete at Constantinople till the worthy Chrysostome restored that commanded duty And this custome well becomes the Sabbath for what are we but Almes-men at the throne of Gods grace on the time of Gods day Indeed the Sun of Righteousness as on this day arose and scattered his beams of light and love and the world rejoyced in that appearance let us scatter our hounty and laudable charity on this day that the poor Conferre in pauperes debemus in diem dominicum Buc. may rejoyce in our seasonable contributions Let us remember the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 16. 2. we render it laying by but it is treasuring up He that layes up and treasures for the poor layes up an everlasting treasure for himself And let us consider charitable words are not enough the love of the tongue only is flattery not charity it is adulation and not affection Words are cheap and the pities of language Nehem. 8. 10. Johannes Archiepiscopus are at no cost or charge The belly is not filled with roseat phrases nor the back cloathed with the embroydery Alexâ—nâ—â—â—nus 〈…〉 eò plus alâ—â—nde recipiâ—bâ—t hinc ipse Deo dicere solebat videbo Domine quis citiùs deficiet an tu mihi dando an ego aliâ—â— distribuendo Alap of indulgent language only to bid the poor be filled or be cloathed is not compassion but dirision And therefore on the Sabbath our love must be the charity of the purse and not only of the lip we must act good works and not only give good words Faith acts not without love Gal. 5. 6. and love acts not without works Heb. 13. 16. When we are blessing God on a Sabbath let the poor be blessing us it will be sweet harmony when our heart and the poors loyns both praise God together On the Sabbath we must appear before God Psal 42. 2. And the Old Law commands us not to appear before God empty Deut. 16. 16. Charity on any day is Silver Bullion but on the Sabbath is Golden Ore Let us therefore on that holy day feed the hungry refresh the thirsty receive strangers cloath the naked visit the sick and comfort those in prison this will redound to our account in that day when acts of Charity are the recorded Mat. 25. 36. characters of a sincere and sympathizing Saint Mat. 25. 35. And happily capacitate us for the donative of a Crown There is Charitas Corporalis Mercy and Charity to the bodies of others It is recorded of our Saviour that usually upon the Sabbath he visited the Sick healed the Criples Mar. 1. 30 31. Insigniora miracula edidit Christus in diem Sabbati Athan. restored the Blind and in this he leaves himself a president to others and a pattern for holy imitation We meet with divers Miracles which Christ wrought on the Sabbath on this day the eye of his pity guided the hand of his power his strength and his sweetness both conjoyned in acting and on this day Christ would be both Pastour and Physician And in his miracles on the Sabbath divers things are observable 1. He cures all varieties he healeth partial and external distempers Mat. 12. 13. he healeth the most durable and Nihil extrà legem fecit Christus curans in die Sabati Iren. lasting distempers John 5. 8. he healeth the most chronicall and habitual distempers Luke 13. 10 11. he healeth the most threatning and drowning distempers Luke 14. 4. Nay Christ on the Sabbath dislodgeth Satan himself Mark 1. 34. Diabolus vocatur potestas aeris quia in Aere miscet ventos tonitru fulgura et in A cre i. e. in mundo inter homines potestatem suam exercet eos tentando et vexando et quoquo modo nocendo Aquin. Satan at his word shall fall as lightning though he be Prince of the Air and God of this world Christ casteth out many Devils on the Sabbath Legions of Spirits are but atomes which scatter at his rebuke and disperse themselves after new enquiries Thus all varieties of diseases are cured by Christ on a Sabbath and will ye know why upon this day because this day is a season of shewing mercy 2. That which is observable in Christs cures upon the Sabbath is he justifies all his Cures as the sanctification and not the prophanation of the Sabbath Luke 13. 15 16. Works of mercy are the perfume not the pollution of a Sabbath not its eclipse but its observation And this Christ shews by the custome of the rigorous Jewes themselves and Magnae est stultitiae prohibere hominem à sanatione in diem Sabbati Theoph. by the light of nature Luke 14. 5. Christ is the Lord not the Task-master of the Sabbath And mans weale is to be carried on that day by cures as well as ordinances and the sick bed as well as the sick soul is to be visited Mercy is the sweetness and the epiphonema of a Sabbath Iraeneus avers that the true sanctification of the Sabbath Vera Sabbati sanctificatio est in operibus misericordiae Iraen lies in works of mercy We then keep the Sabbath when we are pitiful to our own souls and to our brothers body and we may serve God on that day as well in a dungeon in visiting a prisoner of Christ as in the sanctuary in waiting on an Ordinance of Christ Iraeneus observes Christ did more works of Charity upon the Sabbath then upon other Multò
wonder then Intus est in corde est Sabbatum nostrum Aug. if St. Augustine cry out Our Sabbath is within in our hearts There indeed is the musical spring of joy Let us take heed of grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. No fountain casts out sweet and bitter water a grieved spirit will not dash joyes upon the soul the mournful Dove flies Offenditur spiritus verbis putidis etiam quo vis peccato Hier. away We must cherish the graces if we will possess the joyes of the spirit The birds sing most sweetly in the spring when every thing is fresh and green Gods spirit in the soul yields its freshest delights among flourishing graces when the Peccata sunt injuriae contumeliae spquae eum contristantur Alap seared boughs of corruption are broken down Sin and vanity break the strings of the spirits musick and chase away the Comforter from our coasts as birds hushed away leave the place of their present abode Let us not suspend our answer to the spirits excitations Let us listen to every motion and apply our selves to every counsel of this inward Monitor Slighted advocates plead no more we must hearken to every whisper of the Holy Ghost who first commands and then comforts To stir up to holy duties to good works to circumspect walking is the office of the spirit but to ravish the soul with divine delights is the reward of the spirit Observe holy David Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul He was now acting the duty of meditation and then the spirit besprinkled him with dews of joy A Deus per essentiem est totus consolatio immò Mare Oceanus consolationis quem in servos suos etiam in hac vitâ effundit learned man saith God is an Ocean of consolation Let not our sin and disobedience be such banks and ramparts that this Sea cannot overflow us with complacential effusions Obedience indeed and duty make way for the streams of spirituall comfort And to our case let us keep the Sabbath circumspectly and we shall keep it comfortably Let us follow the spirit in every duty obey the dictates of the spirit in every Ordinance When the spirit prompts us to prayer let us tune our hearts to that duty and not fold our hands in sloth and negligence when the spirit suggests to Prov. 6. 10. us the import of an Ordinance let us not be slight and careless in that holy institution and let us consider the motions Prov. 24. 33. of the spirit go before the melodies of the spirit And thirdly Let us study to be in the spirit on the Lords day This duty must Look downwards we must avoid whatsoever opposeth the spirit whatsoever may quench that celestial flame 1 Thes 5. 19 We must on the Sabbath lay aside all temporal cares Cares at all times are thorns Mat. 13. 22. But on a Sabbath they are thorns in a flame not only scratching but scorching Indeed the Lords day is not without its cares but they are heavenly not worldly cares care to please the spirit not to please the flesh care to lay up treasures in heaven not to fill our coffers below The soul then must be Divina benedictio Sabbati est quâ sibi deus studia occupationes asserit Calv. cared for how to prepare it for duty how to pacifie it with pardon how to beautifie it with grace how to fit it for eternity Head and heart must be at work on the Sabbath but it must be for the soul not for the outward man But to set our servants on work in our callings to be in our counting Mat. 16. 26. house to contrive business for the following week on Gods holy day this is not only to defile the Sabbath but to affront providence as if God who takes care for the Lillies of the field Mat. 6. 30. could not provide for the strict observers of his holy day We must throw away all worldly thoughts How many are there whose thoughts are as fresh and affections as vigorous towards the world upon the Sabbath day as if they were trading in their shops walking in the Exchange or Exod. 8. 24. posting their Books and pursuing their bargains I may say to such as the Lord to Satan Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke Plaga muscarum fuit foedo colluvies quae fuit numerosa et molestissima immò et nocentissima et ideo molestissima quia numerosissima Riv. thee what is this but to turn time into a chaos where there is no distinction between light and darkness between the Egypt of the week and the Goshen of the Sabbath This day is a day of light life and salvation and shall worldly thoughts that judgment of lice or flies stain and ecclipse it Worldly imaginations on this day they are the sacriledge of the mind the worm at the root of duty the souls destructive avocation the Shibboleth of a covetous man the bluster and gross miscarriage of a Christian they are the souls imprisonment when it should be enlarged in the way of Gods Ordinances We must take heed of unnecessary diversions The heart is wholly to be set on God on his own day One observes The Law is spiritual and so is the fourth Commandment and is not fully obeyed by outward conformity but it requires the Rom. 7. 14. inward truth and bent of the heart Happily we shut up Psal 51. 6. our shops on a Sabbath so the Law of the Land commands but do we shut up our hearts on a Sabbath that nothing unseemly may intrude Do we bring our hearts and Christ together and lock them both in that nothing may interrupt their sweet and mutual intercourse It is a vain thing to dissemble with God on his own day He can unriddle and will judge our splendid and varnished artifices Let us not play the hypocrites but walk in the spirit the whole stage of Rom. 8. 2. the Sabbath To keep our doors close is an empty ceremony unless we keep our hearts close to God and Christ in Ordinances in Family and secret duties Diverting imaginations are the cobwebs of the mind the sores which In dic Sabbati ab omnibus aliis curis et studiis omninò obstinendum est Gual fester the heart as Dalilah her smiles did Samson and so entangle the soul that it cannot enjoy its freedom with Christ on his own blessed day Such divertisements disturb the Musick of Ordinances and eat out the profit of holy Communion with God if we will be working on a Sabbath Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Augustine Phil. 2. 12 13. Aug. de temp Serm. 251. speaks most excellently in one of his Sermons That we may be fit and ready for Gods service on his own day there must be nothing to cumber us and we at that time must cast off the interposition of worldly
any man shall put any holiness in a day which God doth not and so think one day more holy then another this is fond superstition and this indeed is to observe dayes and of this the Apostle seems to speak when he saith ye observe dayes But when the Lord shall put holiness upon one day more then another we then do not put any holiness in the day but God doth it nor do we place any holiness in one day more then another but God placeth it first And this is no observation of dayes which the Apostle condemns but it is the will of God which we must be subject to Object 3 The third text of Scripture which is urged to favour this strange notion is Gal. 4. 10. Ye observe dayes and moneths and times and years I am affraid of you least I have bestowed on you labour in vain Answ Now to answer this third text of Scripture subpaenaed in to serve a turn but speaking little to the purpose It is replyed Dies observatis scil Judaicos Dies uti Sabbata menses uti Neomenias tempora uti Pascha Pentecosten Annos septimum remissionis quinquagessimum Jubilaei 1. That if we consult the context we shall find the Apostle very angry with the Galathians for leaving Christ the substance and betaking themselves even in point of justification to the carnal observation of Jewish shadows which after Christs coming were to disappear which the Apostle in an holy heat calls beggarly rudiments and he the rather terms them so because now they were antiquated and out of date but the Sabbath I do not say the seventh day from the Creation is no such thing but for the equity and substance of it is still of the same use as ever viz. fit Hieron Chrysostom c. for mans refreshing and Gods more solemn worship nor is it nor will be insignificative till we sing a requiem to our souls in glory and therefore by no means to be numbred with An veâ—ò nullum est discrimen temporum observandum Malè igitur agricolae tempora state sationis et agriculturae observâ—nt Malè dâ—stinguimus dies menses et annos in Politiâ Malè dominicum diem observamus in Ecclesiâ Minimè Apostolus non improbat discrimen temporum quae deus ipse ordinavit nec dies festos in ecclesiâ ordinis doctrinae gratiâ Par. in Galat. Tertul. contrà Marcion lib. 1. cap. 20. the observation of dayes and moneths and years seeing the Apostles observed the Lords day weekly and sabbatically and not monethly or yearly as were the Jewes Sabbaths and holy dayes which pertained to the bondage and servitude of weak and beggarly rudiments of which the Apostle here only speaks And it was far from the Apostle to reckon any of the Ten Commandments where the Sabbath is lodged as a weak and beggarly rudiment and so let it be abhorred of all Christian hearts The Moral Law the Apostle James calls a Royal Law Jam. 2. 8. so far is it or any Commandment of it from being beggarly and pedantick But to answer the Text fully and succinctly All interpreters both Protestant and Popish interpret these times mentioned in the text of Jewish times the several festivals of the Jewish Church being couched under one of the terms in this text of Scripture By dayes we must understand their Sabbaths by months their New moons by times their four feasts in the year 1. Their Passover which was the feast of the spring Exod. 12. 2 18. which was celebrated in the month Nysan answering to our March 2. Their Pentecost which was the feast of the summer Acts 2. 1. which was celebrated in the month Sivan either in the latter end of May or the beginning of June Festa Christianorum hic non damnantur nam sic et dies dominicus damnatur quem tamen et ipsi servant haeretici sed tantùm damnantur fesâ—a Judaeorum quae a Christiaâ—is pulchrè distinguuntur Alap 3. Their feast of Expiation Lev. 23. 27. which was celebrated in the month Tisni the feast of the Autumn answering to our September And 4. The feast of dedication Joh. 10. 22. which was their winter feast and was celebrated in the month Cislieu which answers to our November By years which the Apostle mentions in the text we must either understand the seventh year which was the year of release when every creditour which lent any thing to his neighbour released that loan and was not to exact it Deut. 15. 2 3. or else the fiftieth year which was the year of jubilee All these therefore being manifestly Jewish feasts they nothing appertain to Nota synechdochen per observantias dierum Apostolus intelligit omnes ceremonias legis veteris Alap in Gal. the Christian Sabbath It is very observable that Alapide a learned though Jesuitized Papist and Paraeus a learned and worthy Protestant both agree in the very words commenting upon this text of Scripture saying That here the observation of dayes by a synechdoche of the part for the whole is put for the whole body of Jewish Ceremonies One particular branch for the whole mass and kind of them Thus Species una pro toto genere ceremoniarum ponitur observatio scil dierum the interpretation of this text is so clear and manifest for Jewish Festivals that the most differing writers centre in the same exposition as the Jew and Gentile accord in the pleasantness of the Suns light And so these three texts of Scripture which our deluded Opinionists supposed a threefold Par. in Gal. cord which could not quickly be broken Eccles 4. 12. Cuiviâ— textus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consideranti erit extra Controversiam are easily answered and the cord untwisted and left to the judicious Reader to consider whether they are not the most impertinent allegations But further to discover not onely the weakness but the wildness of this opinion let us take notice To make every day a Christian Sabbath is to contradict the wisdom of God for the wise God could have appointed Rom. 11. 33. some part of every day to be kept holy rather then one whole O alta divinitas O profiâ—â—dos thesauros sapientiae et scientiae dei O abyssalem et immensam sapientiam deâ— Ambros day together but his unsearchable wisdom saw this proportion of time on every day most unmeet and in respect of mans many cumbers which do too easily entangle his thoughts and surprize his mind and affections altogether unfitting for him For within some small piece of a day he cannot ordinarily nor so easily recover himself and unloose himself from the world to find the end of Sabbath service which is a most sweet and full rest in communion and holy converse with God But now when a whole day is set apart for that sacred purpose man can better call off his thoughts from Dies Sabbati gratus est deo prae aliis hebdomadae
Sabbatical controversies yet in this particular they speak very plausibly not without a note of good zeal For thus they speak That in reason it is fit now under the Gospel to allow more time for Gods service rather then lesse Gospel seasons call for greater services Buc. de regn Christi And indeed in this we heartily accept their just acknowledgement It is a witty descant of the learned Weems Vt aliqua dies in septimana sit deo dedicata praeceptum est stabile et aeternum God giveth us saith he six whole dayes for our use and therefore we should give him one whole day for his Sabbath or else we have two measures in our bag a little one to meet out with and a great one to receive in with which is an abomination to the Lord. Jacob. de Valent. Argum. 8 And is it not most just and meet that since mans life upon Divinum magis est et utilius spiritualibus fidei et religionis vacare quam terrenis operibus esse intentum Muscul earth is a pilgrimage and he hath no abiding City here but looketh for one above therefore he should not spend all his time his thoughts and studies upon the trivials of the world and the services of the week but as some time every day so also some one day every week to retire from the world and to draw near to God in his holy and fructiferous Ordinances and to seek communion with him with whom he expects to live for ever in glory and blessedness Videamus in sacrâ scripturâ totum divinum cultum in sabbato comprehendi Atque ideò haec lex tam saepe in scripturis repetitur diligentèr inculcatur gravitèr urgetur obedientia ejus plurimùm laudatur et neglectus ejus severè vindicatur Leid Prof. No Command pressed with more vehemency than that of the Sabbath God in his word doth not press things trivial or indifferent but those which are most necessary and of the greatest importance As the Apostle speaks of the Ministers preaching in season and out of season so it may be said of Gods pressing this Commandement he takes all occasions to urge and importune it and the Leyden Professors give us this reason Because all divine worship is comprised in a due observation of Gods holy day And the breaking of this Command God calls the breaking of all his Commandements Exod. 16. 28. Let us glance a little at the jealous God and see what methods and importunities he hath used to preserve his Sabbath holy and that it might not be defiled and polluted No sooner God gives this command for the Sabbath in the midst of thunders and lightnings upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19. 18. Exod. 20. 8. But he gives a new and strict charge for the due observation of his Sabbath Exod. 31. 13. and thunders out his threats against all who ever shall violate or make any breaches upon it Exod. 31. 15. And presently he insinuates an Argument of love to endear the people of Israel to this Commandement Exod. 31. 16 17. and tells them it shall be a perpetual Covenant betwixt Hoc de Sabbato mandatum toties inculcari videmus ut necessatiò sit credere illud in populo fuisse magni momenti Riv. him and them the very tye of friendship and amity between them and it should be a signe of Gods owning them for his peculiar people and their owning him for their onely God The Jews should be known to belong to Jehovah by their observation of his Sabbath that should be the Shibboleth to distinguish them from the Chaos of the rest of the World But after this a few days sliding away God renews his Command for the Sabbath Exod. 35. 1 2. in a full assembly of the people that none might plead ignorance and that a repeated Law to their Ears might be a rivetted Law in their hearts And lest the Israelites might interpret this Law of the Sabbath positive only and so transient God presently after this inserts it among the Laws natural that if the Jews Qui Sabbatum custodiebat hoc ipso tacitè profitebatur Deum esse conditorem coeli et terrae qui verò contemnit Sabbatum videtur inficiari deum esse creatorem mundi sic qui diem dominicum celebrare recusat videtur negare Christum resurrexisse Vatabl. should forget Mount Sinai they might have a principle in their own breasts to lead them to the obedience of this Law God tells them Levit. 19. 3. They must honour their Father and their Mother and keep the Sabbath God would have the one Law as fairly written and as deeply engraven on their hearts as the other and he joyns neighbour Commandements together Nature leads them to reverence their Parents Religion Gratitude Reason Obedience and much of Nature should draw them to keep Gods Sabbath And which is not to be over-passed the same Law of the Sabbath is inculcated again in the same Chapter Levit. 19. 30. where God reckons up his Feasts which he will have observed throughout the current of the year there God takes an occasion to begin with his Sabbath and so Levit. 23. 2 3. that Feast must be looked upon in the first place they must first seek the observation of the Sabbath and all other Feasts shall be added unto them for greater splendor Mat. 6. 33. and solemnity When God tells the Jews of his Sacrifices what kinds in what order on what seasons he will expect them he enjoyns duplicate Sacrifices on the Sabbath Numb 28. 9 10. to intimate plainly to us that the more service he hath from us on that day the more grateful it is to him When Moses repeats the ten Commandements to the people of Israel a little before his death he forgets not the Commandement for the Sabbath Deut. 5. 14. that lies still in the bosom of the Decalogue as the beloved Disciple leaned upon the bosom of Christ John 21. 20. this Command hath neither lost its site nor force When the Civil Government was changed in the state of the Jews from Judges to Kings still the observation of the Sabbath is the same 1 Chron. 9. 32. There may be a change in the times there must be none in the Sabbath the care of the Sabbath is the duty of every Governour by what Name or Title soever he be distinguished And in after Ages the Prophets press hard for the observation of the Sabbath Jer. 17. 21. And this was one considerable piece of their message to the people God still alarms his people to Sabbath-holiness And if the people fail in the observation of Gods holy Sabbath how sharply doth God upbraid them by his Prophets Ezek 20. 12. as a most ungrateful and inconstant people and how bitterly doth he expostulate with them as a froward and shortly to be forlorn Generation Ezek. 20. 13. and looks upon the violation of his Sabbath as a contempt poured out upon all his
Indeed it is the property of a natural Son not only to mind the word but to imitate the example of his good Father Slaves must have commands but Sons study Patterns as the ingenuous Scholar minds the Copy more then the passionate word or the Ferula of his Master One of Gods rich promises carries this treasure in it I will guide thee by mine eye Psal 32. 8. Thou shalt look on me and so walk hoâ—ily before me Not only Gods will but his eye shall be our conduct So then Gods example re-inforces our obligation for Sabbath-holiness Cumque deus ita quiescat die septimo ut tamen non cesset ob omni opere sed rerum universitatem conservet et gubernet Ita quoque Sabbati sanctificatio non consistit in ignavo otio sâ—d ut ea operemur quae ad dei gloriam faciant Ger. In this affair we have all ties of obedience not only the force of a righteous command but we may see our selves in the Chrystal glass of divine example And it is well observed by Gerard God saith he did not so rest on the Sabbath from all work but still on that day he preserved and governed all things So our sanctification of the Sabbath doth not consist in a slothful idleness but in working thâ—se things which make to the glory of God So let us thus imitate God on his own day Indeed Gods patteâ—n is the Archetype of all our actions the surest glass for us to dress our selves by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath said it is the rule of all truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath done it is the rule of all practice wherein the blessed Jehovah is imitable It was the Apostles glory that he followed Christ and so far he would have all Christians Omnis actio Dei nobis pietatis virtutis est regula Basil follow him 1 Cor. 11. 1. It is an excellent saying of Basil Every action of God is to us a Rule of all vertue and piety And if in all other things so in keeping the Sabbath in holy Rest Philo the Jew could say Follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Phil. Jud. God in resting on the Sabbath you have his Example you have his Prescript and therefore spend that day in holy contemplations God in this momentous concernment of the Sabbath seems to speak as in the Prophet Malachi Mal. 1. 6. A son honcureth his father and a servant his master If I be a father where is my honour if I be a master where is my fear And if I have rested upon the Sabbath why do you disturb it by secular works hy sensual delights by prophane actions or by unseemly carriages so unbecoming a holy Sabbath In prophaning Gods day we break through a double bar of precept and presidency and so dye our sin in a double dye Arg. 4 The light of Nature leads us to a Sabbath let the light of Scripture lead us to a holy observation of it The Law of Habet venerationem justam quicquid excellit Cicer. de Nat. Deorum Nature instilleth this notion into us That God paramount who is Superlative in all Excellencies and Perfections is to be worshipped That to the performance of this worship certain times are to be deputed that none is so fit to depute that time as that Deity whose worship it is And therefore to keep this day which God hath appointed holy to the same Lord to sanctifie it in holy Rest and spiritual worship which Brerewood saith Is the Body and the Soul of the Sabbath All this is nothing but an obsequious following of the guidance and conduct of Nature Aquinas here gives us a good Rule Seeing saith he that the moral Precepts Aquin 2da 2dae quaest 122. Artic. 4. are of those things which agree to humane reason as they appertain to good manners the judgment whereof is derived some way from natural Reason it must needs Breerw part 2. pag. 67. be that those things pertain to the Law of Nature And is there any thing more accommodate to right reason more conducing to good manners then to dedicate some time to the honour of God especially that time which is of his own appointment If we have Souls to look after must there not be seasons for that purpose And who shall better Mark 2. 28. Aquin. 1mae adae quaest 10. Artic. 1. 3. appoint that season than the Saviour of the Soul Again the Sabbath was made for man Mark 2. 27. was it not for the better part of man that piece of Eternity which he carries in his bosom And how can we better consult our Souls good than in duties of Divine worship Thus the very dictates of natural reason command the holy observation of the Sabbath And therefore the observation of the seventh day which was the Sabbath till the coming of Christ was no strange thing among those who know nothing above the light of Nature Homer an Heathen Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. tells us That the seventh day is holy Callimachus an Heathen Author informs us That the seventh day is the Birth-day chief and perfect And Eusebius affirms That almost all as well Philosophers as Poets know the seventh day to be most sacred And shall these Pagans who had onely glimpses of natural light smatch and rellish Quis Diem illum sanctissimum non honorat unaquaquehebdomadâ recurrentem Phil. honour and venerate the day of the Sabbath and shall we turn Heathens on that day or fall some degrees below them I shall say with the Apostle Rom. 6. 2. God forbid The learned Andrews observes That sufficient is found in the heart of the Gentiles to their condemnation who shall dare to break the Law of the fourth Commandement The very light of Nature shall rise up in judgment Rom. 6. 2. against Sabbath-breakers and it shall be more tollerable for Hesiod a Heathen Poet who pronounced the seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod day holy and Alexander Severus a heathen Prince who on that day frequented the Temple as formerly hath been hinted then for this Generation It was a rare saying of Seneca a sage Heathen who reckoning the Sabbath a Festival for Religion condemned the then manner of observing of it and saith he Let us forbid the lighting of a Candle upon a Sabbath for neither do the Gods want light and men themselves are not delighted with smoke he worshippeth God who knows him This golden Quoniam rerum humanarum variiâ— maltiâ— occupationibus curis distracti praepedimur ita ut non facilè officia pietatis praestemus saying how will it condemn many drossie Christians who set fire on their lusts on Gods holy Sabbath It is a good Notion of Azorius Man saith he is so hurried and distracted with the affairs of the world that he is impeded in and unfit for the worship of God But God therefore hath appointed
Charity And now shall the Heathen make it an inexpiable Crime to work upon one of their holy days and shall it be venial for us to follow our works and pursue our lusts on Gods holy day Shall Saturn and Jupiter be honoured with more solenmity and served with Exod. 15. 6. more care and sedulity than Christ or Jehovah Sure this Exod. 15. 11. must needs be the dregs of prophaneness to give our heavenly Father and our dear Redeemer whom sometimes we call our Beloved less veneration on his own day then Pagan Worshippers give their Idol Gods on their Festivals How strange is it that we must go to Dagon to learn how to use the Ark and must repair to the Roman Flamins or the 1 Sam. 5. 2. Syrian Priests to know how to keep a Sabbath God sends the sluggard to the Ant and the Pismire to learn fore-sight and industry Prov. 6. 6. And he may send Sabbath-breakers to the Gentiles and Paynims to learn Sanctity and Devotion But let Christians say the solemn Devotions of Pagans shall heat our zeal but not reproach our slâ—th they Psal 26. 6. shall only serve us to take aim how we may steer our Devotion with greater fervour and dexterity Argum. 6 Let us observe the zeal of holy men mentioned in Scripture who have been eminent for Sabbath-observation The Apostle gives us a good rule Heb. 6. 12. Let us be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises These Patterns of Piety may be our conduct and guide in this matter take them in what age you will the Sabbath still lay near their hearts and was venerable in their practice 1. Some before the Law were remarkable for Sabbath-holiness they dreaded the pollution of Gods day before the terrours and smokes of Mount Sinai And though they were in a Wilderness they had not so lâ—st themselves but they knew how to meet with God on his own day And as Manasseh Ben-Israel well observes The Jews were forced Cogita in Aegypto ubi serviebas etiam ipso sabbato peâ— vim te coactum ad labores Et sic saâ—ientes inter Judaeos Deut. 5. 15. unanimiter applicant Manas Ben. Israel to neglect the Sabbath in Egypt by reason of the violence and cruelty of their Taskmasters but when God brought them out of that Land of bondage one of their first works was Sabbath-observation Their Delivery is historically related in the 14th Chapter of Exodus and their observation of the Sabbath in the 16th Chapter of the same Book So Exod. 16. 30. So the people rested on the seventh day which must needs be meant of an holy Rest for a naked bâ—re Rest is the loss not the sanctification of a Sabbath And if the people of Israel had so rested God soon would have taken notice of it and have severely threatned if not sorely punished it but no word of reproof but only of those Quieverunt Israelitae non solùm illo die frustrati fuerunt spe suâ egrediendi sed aliis diebus septimis consequentibus Riv. who went out on the Sabbath to gather Manna some few straglers Exod. 16. 27. who instead of finding Manna lost their way and met with a reproof instead of a meal Now here we meet with Gods people keeping Gods day before the fourth Commandment was proclaimed by sound of Trumpet Now shall the people of Israel without the sanction of a law rest with God on his own day and shall Christians who have not onely the force and obligation of the fourth Commandment but the alluring argument of Christs Resurrection to oblige to the sanctification of the Sabbath shall they be careless and negligent vain and frothy on Gods holy day Surely the darkness of an Heathen and the twi-light of an Israelite wandering up and down in a wilderness will bear witness against such a generation 2. Some holy men under the Law I shall only select here the rare Example of good Nehemiah an excellent pattern for Magistrates and People how carefully to observe Gods holy Sabbath And his Zeal shall be comprised in four particulars He looked upon the reforming of Sabbath-abuses as a principal part of Reformation therefore he reproves threatens and sets watch to observe the prophanation of this holy Nehem. 13 15 16. day He beareth his testimony vigorously against it Nehem. 13. 15. And here the courtesie and common civilities which are given to strangers bear no sway with him Nehem. 13. 16. He will not strain courtesie when the honour of God is concerned obedience is better then sacrifice much 1 Sam. 15. 22. more then civilities The pollution of a Sabbath that God provoking sin makes this holy man wave all fair and debonaire carriages and turns courtesie into severity and usual reception into just indignation Nehemiah thinks the cause of the Sabbath worth contending for with the Nobles themselves Nehem. 13. 17. not only with inferiour people who are soon hushed with his Authority and tremble at the Magistrates sword but with the Peers of the Realm who might enter the lists with him or hatch some conspiracy against him but holy zeal is no Nehem. 13 17. respecter of persons and in this Nehem. like the three children Dan. 3. 18 19. Is not sollicitous to pore upon his own concerns or interest duty and not safety guides him a rare pattern for Magistrates This good Governour personates the Prophet and gives in a narrative not only of those judgements which had overtaken those who had prophaned the Sabbath in former times but he fore-tells the same calamities to ensue upon Nehem. 13 18. the present Age if Gods Sabbath be defiled Nehem. 13. 18. He turns all his speech into action the true genius of piety for indeed councils and threats are both abortive untill enlivened by execution therefore Nehemiah scatters Nehem. 13. 21. strangers by force Nehem. 13. 21. and chases them away from Jerusalem that they should not come near it upon the Sabbath day Neh. 13. 21. And he lays a severe command on the Levits for Sabbath-sanctification and in the discharge of his duty he recommends himself to the mercifull and kind remembrances of the Almighty Neh. 13. 22. And here as our Saviour saith let us go and do so likewise Luke 10. 37. Let us imitate the zeal of this excellent man whose name for his love to and care of Gods Sabbath lives in the blessed Scriptures and there shall survive to all perpetuity But shall Nehemiah not permit a piece of ware to be sold on the Sabbath without the gates of the City and shall we commit a lust on Gods day within the walls of a house of a Stews or an Ale-house Shall he forbid all Merchandize and shall we traffique with Hell on the Sabbath day Surely his Zeal will turn into our flame and this will fall in with other aggravations of our sin we scribled after so fair a copy 3. Some after the Law
Origen In the times of the Law saith he the Jews were not to stir out of their places upon the Sabbath day Exod. 16. 29. Now what is the proper place of the soul but Righteousness Truth Wisdom and Sanctification and whatever speaks Christ and from this place we Christians must not stir upon the Lords day In the times of the Law the Jews were to carry no burdens upon the Sabbath day Jer. 17. 27. And what is this burden but all sin and this burden we Christians must not carry on our Sabbath In the times of the Law the Jews were not to kindle a fire throughout all their Habitations upon the Sabbath Exod. 35. 3. And what is this kindling of fire but the inflaming of lust and no such fire must be kindled by Christians on the Sabbath Now what Origen cautionates us against on the Sabbath is as much to be avoided and shunned on the week day In a disposition to serve God So we must keep every day a Sabbath though we are not always in a Sabbath dayes time Verum quidem est Sabbatum spirituale nobis perpetuò colendum esse sub novo Testamento Wal. yet we should be always in a Sabbath days frame in such a blessed bent of heart as to be fit for holy business and heavenly employment And the Apostle adviseth us 1 Thes 5. 17. To pray continually viz. To be in a continual frame of heart fit for holy prayer And the Apostle James Jam. 1. 19. commands us to be swift to hear viz. Always to have Spirituale Sabbatum est quo vetus homo noster homo peccati cum singulis suis actionibus otio quodam veluti sepelitus est ut novus homo qui secundum deum creatus est vires suas exerat opera sua perficiat Muscul an open ear ready to hearken to the sweet and sacred word of God We find the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 1. 5 6. describing four living creatures having four faces and four wings Faces ready to mind and wings ready to move into any part upon the work the Lord should assign and appoint them And thus Gods people should be always in a prepared frame of spirit for holy service we should be as cautious of sin and as propence to service as if every day was a Sabbath day The week contains no day for sinful work the Apostle tells us 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity And iniquity not iniquities any one particular iniquity And so likewise in the week our secular works must not indispose us for heavenly Dies è septem unus externis salutis mediis dedicatus Sabbatum interius perpetuum magis et magis promovet Hier. services and holy duties but we must have heavenly hearts in our earthly labours It is very observable that in the time of the Law the word Sabbath signified a whole week Lev. 23. 15. And so in the time of the Gospel Luke 18. 12. And doth it not point out this That we should keep our whole week as a Sabbath and that Sabbath-holiness should make all our life-time but one intire holy day Our spiritual Sabbath as Musculus observes Must be continual Rom. 11. 16. we must be always crucifying the old man and getting our 1 Cor. 5. 6. corruptions to their rest that they may not be working nor employed to fledge temptation into actual sin and we must be always employing the new man to excite its power in spiritual operations and this must be our daily and continual Sabbath This resting from sin and this working for God is never unseasonable and these two are the integral parts of a Sabbath And thus to employ our selves in the week doth exceedingly fit us for the Sabbath Many have little of the Sabbath in the week and therefore they have too much of the week in the Sabbath they are strangers Mandaverat quidem deus sub veteri Testimento ut in ipsa septimanâ aliquae quoque horae divino cultui consecrarentur manè imprimis vespere cùm sacrificium juge in templo offerreretur perpetuò sacrificaretur Wal. to Sabbath-work on the week dayes and therefore they are enemies to Sabbath-work on the Lords day Christians should attempt to begin heaven here and there is a perpetual Sabbath our life below should shadow out our life above It must be confessed our indulging our selves too much in sin and bemiring our selves too much in the world on the week day doth very much unqualifie and indispose us for heavenly rest on the Sabbath day But when we have set our selves against sin and have been spiritually minded in the works of our Calling not omitting the heavenly duties of prayer reading the word holy discourse and heavenly meditations on the week dayes we then with more complacency lean upon our beloved and with more delight meet him in his â—anquetting house Cant. 2. 4. on the Lords day Holy weeks make heavenly Sabbaths and the more strict we are in passing of the week the more savoury and serious we shall be in observing the Sabbath Walaeus very well observes That in the time of the Law God had his dayly sacrifices Psal 133. 2. Numb 28. 3. as well as his double sacrifices on the Sabbath day Numb 28. 9. To intimate to us There must be something of a Sabbath in every day nor must the oil of holiness only be poured out on the head of a Sabbath but it must run down to the skirts of the whole week the performance of divine worship is calculated for the week though the solemnity of it be reserved for the Sabbath Well then let something resembling a Sabbath be found in our own dayes let a happy vein of holy rest with God run through every day The Jews had their morning sacrifice when they entred upon their work and their evening sacrifice when they wound up and ended their work they gave God the first Job 23. 12. and the last of every day in holy and solemn worship He that was Alpha and Omega the first and the last had the Tres sunt diei partes inter Judaeos prima pars ad orationem secunda ad legem tertia ad opus seculare destinabatur Alpha and Omega of every day nay learned men observe that the Jews divided the day into three parts The first ad Tephilah to Prayer the second ad Torah to the Law the third ad Malacha to their work Thus God had his part of every day among the poor Jews nay double worship for single work And let not a repudiated Jew be more franck in giving God his time then the redeemed ones of Jesus shall they have so much of the Sabbath in the week and we so much of the week in our Sabbaths As the Apostle saith Rom. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid It would be strange if the branch which is broken of