week past and grant that they may not interrupt the benefit of thy day to come if it shall please thee to bring me to the opportunity of it Qualifie me and prepare me for such a work as thy Sabbath expects from me according to the preparation of thy Sanctuary and being prepared I may meet with thy Self let thy Word be sweet to my Soul let it descend as rain upon the new-mown Grass let it water my dry and parched Soul and let the influences of thy Spirit accompany it that it may be effectual to the saving of my Soul Pardon the sins of this day of this present duty and all my life and accept my imperfection in the perfection of Christ Amen Of the SABBATH 1. WHat the Sabbath is and how many-fold it is 2. Of what use it is to us Christians 3. Why it was appointed 4. What are the Works to be done or omitted 1. As to the first What the Sabbath is The Sabbath amongst the Hebrews is called Schabbat Schebbet or Schabbathon that is a Cessation vacation from labour or rest Moreover it is called a Day by God devoted for his Worship and that for four Reasons 1. Because God on that day rested from his work of Creation although not from his Work of Providence 2. Because that the Sabbath is the Image or Representative of that spiritual and future Rest from sin 3. Because on this day we ought to rest from our Oeconomicks from our Houshold Affairs that God might imploy us in his Work 4. Because that our Servants and labouring Beasts might rest on that Day 2. Duplex enim est Sabbathum the Sabbath is two-fold 1. Moral and Internal or 2. Ceremonial or External First Moral and Internal or Spiritual and that is the desire of the knowledge of God and his Works to the end that we may avoid sin and serve God both in word and deed In a word It is an abstaining from sin and exercising the Works of God and worshipping him Isai 66.23 Secondly Ceremonial or External and that is an appointed and set time separate in the Church for the ministration of the Sacraments and dispensing the Word and other things appointed of God himself and this is either Mediately or Immediately from God himself appointed and laid down to the Church in the Old Testament which also is divers 1. A Sabbath of days which is every Seventh day of the Week peculiarly so called because of God's resting from his Creation work and for his people to rest on Thence by the Hebrews by a Synecdoche the whole week was called Sabbathum or Sabbatha c. 2. A Sabbath of Months Neomeniae viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nova Luna the time of the New Moon 3. A Sabbath of Years viz. every Seventh year in which the Jewish people were not to sow their ground Lev. 2.3 4 26 35. Lev. 25.8 2. More Mediate or external which God appointed by his Church in the New Testament which is the first day of the week namely the Lords Day which was observed by the Christian Church from the time of the Apostles instead of the seventh day and that in respect of the Resurrection of Christ 2. As to the second viz. of what use the Sabbath is to Christians The Sabbath from the beginning was appointed by God to the end that Man by God's Example might rest from all his Works especially from sin and afterward was renewed in the Mosaical Law to the end God might shew that yet he would honour the Sabbath more in sanctifying it to his Church namely that he would forgive their sins and receive them into his favour by the Messiah promised to their Fathers and that to be exhibited or held forth in his time and this may serve for a Reason why the Ceremonial Sabbath viz. the Seventh day is abolished wherein is represented the bounty of the Messiah and also puts us in mind of his Offices upon which acccount all the rest of the Sacraments Sacrifices and Ceremonies instituted before and after the Law were abolished by the coming of Christ notwithstanding this Sabbath's abrogation in the New Testament yet the Moral Sabbath is permanent and is of great use to us namely that we might have a certain time appointed for the work and service of God it being no less necessary that a certain day be instituted now in the Christian as well as formerly in the Jewish Church for the dispensing of the Word and administring publickly the Sacraments of God Moreover we are not limited to any day of the week strictly as some will have it as the third fourth or fifth or any other and therefore the Apostolical Church being free by the gift of or if you will by that liberty freely bestowed by Christ for distinction sake to wit between them and the Jewish Synagogue they used the First day for the Seventh for this probable Reason that on that day of Christ's Resurrection our spiritual and internal Sabbath was begun in us In a word we are bound to a Ceremonial Sabbath in genere sed non in specie that is that we ought to have a day wherein the Church may be taught and the Sacraments administred yet limited to no certain day Obj. 1. The Decalogue is a perpetual Law may some say The Command concerning the Sabbath is of the Decalogue therefore the Law is perpetual Resp. True The Decalogue is perpetual as it is Moral but the Appendices or Determinations of Moral Commands in respect of signification were only to be kept till the coming of Christ Obj. 2. The Precepts of the Decalogue belong to all This is a Precept of the Decalogue therefore this belongs to all Resp. Granted as touching its Morality but it is also Ceremonial in part and so it doth not belong to us nisi quo ad genus The Reasons are evident 1. Sr. Paul saith Col. 2.16 Let none judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the New Moon or of the Sabhath 2. The Apostles themselves changed the Seventh-days Sabbath 3. From the end of the Law it was a Type of things to be fulfilled by Christ to wit of Sanctification c. the Type must needs be abrogated the thing typified being produced Obj. 3. The Lord saith of the Sabbath That it is a sign for ever between him and the children of Israel Therefore the Sabbath is not to be abolished Resp. The Ceremonial Sabbath is perpetual until Christ which is the end of Ceremonies 2. The Sabbath is eternal quo ad rem significatam which is a cessation from sin and rest in God and so of all other Types in the Old Testament yea the Kingdom of David which was destroyed at the coming of the Messiah Obj. 4. The Laws given before Moses 's time were immutable The Seventh-days Sabbath was instituted before Moses 's Therefore the Sevenths-days Sabbath is immutable provided that we assent that Moses 's Laws were mutable Resp. 'T is
only true in the Moral Law 't is denied in the Ceremonial These Types before Moses shewing the bounty of the Messiah were abolisht at his comming as Circumcision given to Abraham In like manner the Sacrifices either commanded to our first Parents or practised by them Object 5. The Laws given by God before the Fall were not Types of the Bounties of Christ all grant the promise of the Messiah being not as then given although the condition of the whole humane race was one and the same The Seventh days Sabbath was instituted before the Fall of Mankind therefore it is universal and perpetual Resp Per distinctionem materiis which is true concerning the Moral Law whose natural knowledge was imprinted in the mind of man in the Creation but not concerning the Seventh day Sabbaths Ceremony which after the fall in the Mosaical Law is made a type of the benefits of the Messiah And besides all this other Ceremonies whether instituted before or after by the Messias were made obnoctious to change for God will not let them remain under the shaddows the things themselves being exhibited 3. What are the causes of the institution of the Sabbath 1. For the Publick Worship of God in his Church 2. For the preservation of the Ecclesiastical Ministry which teacheth what we are to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of us 3. That the type in the Old might denote or represent the spiritual in the New Testament Ezek. 20.12 4. That there might be an ordinary exercise of Prayer of Confession and of Obedience toward God 5. By reason of the Seventh days circumstance to wit that it might put us in mind both of our great Creation and Redemption Work 6. That on that day the greatest Works of Liberality and Benignity might be exercised toward our Neighbour 7. Because of that Corporal Rest of both Man and Beast of Bruits indeed because of Man 8. That the Israelites might be known by this mark from other Countries 4. What are the Works of the Sabbath commanded or forbidden Or how the Sabbath is kept or violated 1. The Sabbath is sanctified when Works are done and holily observed which God has commanded 2. The Sabbath is profaned when Works are either neglected or abused in the use of them or hindred by a profane violence The Works whereby the Sabbath is either sanctified or profaned are these 1. First Rightly to instruct the Church concerning God viz. What he is and What his Will is viz. What Duties either Negative or Affirmative he requires of man On the contrary 1. Neglect of Publick or Private Instruction Isa 56.10 2. Depravation or Diminution of the Doctrine that ought to be taught Ezek. 34.2 2 Cor. 2.17 3. Secondly Administring the Sacraments according to Divine Institution Unto which we ought to come being lawfully called by the Ministers of the Church as the Vice-gerents of God and that especially on the Lords Day On the contrary Omitting or neglecting instructing the Church to use the Sacraments and an illegal Administration of the same viz. By a detracting from or adding to the Essentials of Worship appointed of God or any thing in them or excluding any that ought to come to receive or pertake or to encourage those that ought not or not to teach the lawful use of them 3. Thirdly Diligently to learn the True Doctrine That is to attend on and hear the Doctrine of God 1 Tim. 4.16 and daily to meditate in the same The Contraries 1. Contempt or neglect of the Doctrine by either being absent at Assemblies or not regarding the Ministers or not meditating on or inquiring into the Doctrine of Christ 2. Neglect of knowing the Doctrine either by Ministers or people 3. Curiosities either by prying into Gods secrets or unnecessary things or novelties Luke 12 48. Prov. 25.27 1 Tim. 4.7 2 Tim. 4.3 Tit. 3.9 4. Fourthly To use the Sacraments according to Divine instruction Acts 20.7 Repugnants to this 1. The omission or contempt of the Sacraments 2. Profanation of the Sacraments when they are either used not after the same way or not by them whom God hath instituted 3. Asuperstitious use of them 5. Fifthly Invocation of God publickly Wherein we adjoyn confession or giving of thanks and our desires with the Church Repugnants 1. Neglect of Prayers of the Church 2. Hypocrisie in Prayers of the Church without attention or affection 3. A recitation of Prayers that edifie not 1 Cor. 14.17 6. Sixthly Charity and Bounty towards the Poor that is giving Alms or doing works of Mercy towards the Needy with delight and singleness of heart Repugnants 1. Neglect or contempt of the Poor 2. Ostentation and shew in giving which Christ condemns 7. Seventhly Honour of the Ecclesiastical Ministry which comprehends 1. Reverence 2. Love 3. Obediencee 4. Gratitude 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Equity in bearing with the infirmities of Ministers Family Prayers For every day in the WEEK A Prayer for the Sabbath Omost holy great and glorious God thou that art the rest of thy poor Creatures the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whom thou hast instituted Lord of the Sabbath in whose strength we desire to approach thy holy presence this thy holy sabbath-Sabbath-day a day of thy own appointment wherein thou wilt be found in an especial manner and as it is to be a day of rest for all flesh after thine own institution Lord help us not only to rest from our ordinary Labours and Imployments but from any thing that may be disconsonant to thy Will and Word not doing our own actions nor speaking our own words nor thinking our own thoughts that thereby we being prepared according to the preparation of thy Sanctuary may be in the Spirit on the Lords Day to meet with thee and by meeting with thee we may hear thee communicate some sweet truth to us whereby we may be drawn nigher to thy self by the blood of Christ And seeing thou wast pleased Lord to honour this day by the Resurrection of our blessed Redeemer let us have more evidence from thy self this day that we are risen with him having conquered by him Death Grave Hell and Sin O let us see him whom our sins have pierced that we by faith may mortifie that that crucified him and let us have a glimpse of our beloved in his glory and let us this day hearken to his voice that we may know to love what he loves and hate what he hates to be in love with sanctity and holiness and to be at enmity with every similitude of sin which will hinder our services this day in his name to be as a sweet smell in Gods Nostrils Help us to hold fast our hope and confidence in God unto the end and let that considence be a perfect assurance that we have an interest in Jesus Let the word preached be mixed with saith let it be quick and powerful and piercing that it may accomplish that end for which it was sent Let not
What distractions their Minds What fear their Hearts What deadness their Understanding at the Great Assize Then they will say what madness and distractedness did possess us that we should be so foolish as list our selves under his Banner that now will be our tormentor and that like so many Esau's sold our Birth-right for a mess of Pottage for a few merry hours and a little ease and delight When they see the Heavens pass away as a scroll and the Earth melt with fervent heat they shall see the resemblance of their approaching misery pourtrayed Then they shall feel the punishment both of sense and loss then they shall have God's Vials of wrath and indignation poured upon them then they shall be sensible of that devouring fire that God so many times by his faithful Ministers hath pressed upon them that fire that either consumes or refines the world shall burn the sinner to all Eternity and yet shall neither be consumed nor refined always a dying but never dead And then how will his merry days be vanished as a dream and his jovial life will be as a tale that is told and his Repartees pleasant Sports and wanton Dalliances his Cups and Queans his vain hopes of Heaven and confident Conceits all all deceased all will be pass'd away together This is the time that sinners that the wretched world shall be discriminated from the happy Saints whose misery and property is to be wise too late The Vizard of the World will then be taken off it will be then unvailed and then the seeming holiness of the Hypocrite will be conspicuous and will be exposed to the face and view of all the world and then shall he see his own folly not only in reference to his own Soul but also in slighting Christ offered to him in the Gospel then he shall see how nigh he came to the Kingdom of Heaven and yet came shert of it and how shall he expect or imagine to be hid in the day of the Lords anger that knew that his Judge every day was looking on when he so dissembled and cheated the world himself and God as he supposed O ye Hypocrites God one day will force your Consciences to witness against you and your tongues to consess the accusation Christ's Ministers must be brought in to â—â—â—est for God and if God be against you who shall then be for you If Christ that would have saved thee be against thee and condemn thee who shall be able to justifie thee All that feared God will attest against thee What a deplorable condition will it be to think how the Master shall evidence against his own Servant the Husband against the Wife and the Wife against the Husband the Parents against their own Children and the Children against their own Parents Sinful Compotators or Pot-Companions little conjecture they must bear witness of and concerning those sins that they have helped forward in others and they themselves heard and did swearing and execrating and mocking those that feared God and scoffing at an holy Life The Fornicators little think that their lustful and wanton Mates must bear witness against them that thought they had been concealed in secret places and that that secresie shall be laid open to the view of the world and that those that encouraged them to sin shall accuse them of sin O! the cold comfort that such will have in the reflection of all their pleasures at that day when the very devils that tempted them to such and such sins will stand at their elbows to accuse and witness against them and tell them that they were no readier to tempt than they were ready to assent to every temptation Where on the contrary they slighted Gods Ministers and strivings of God's Spirit within them The very Angels will witness against them at that day and Conscience will produce its black Bill of his secret reclamings and of all the Examples that have ever been to demonstrate the displeasure and hatred God has against such sins as they have been Assenters to and Agents in In turning the Grace of God into wantonness and in gaming and squandring away precious time in which time instead of working out their own salvation they have wrought out their damnation God's Book of Record will be produced concerning all the thoughts words and actions against sinners Nothing shall have been done in secret that shall not be revealed Luke 8.17 Nay every man shall be his own Accuser at that day The painted Hypocrite will then cry out of his out-side profession fair without but foul within a meer painted Sepulcher The covetous Usurers Conscience will accuse and condemn him for cozening and cheating others for griping and grinding the faces of others The rich Man's wealth will so cry out against him and the Canker of his Gold and Silver will witness against him that he shall be forced to say Lord I am in thy hand do as it seemeth good in thy sight with me His Riches will be corrupted and his Garments moth-eaten And the profane Sabbath-breaker that notwithstanding all the rebukes by evident Judgments from God did profane the Sabbath and instead of communicoting divine Truths as for spiritual Food and Manna for his Soul to feed upon from Sabbath to Sabbath shall be forced to cry out Lord I have neglected the day of Grace do as it pleaseth thee towards me I have instead of learning those things that would have instructed me in the way of life learned that that has brought me to destruction and this is the fruits of my Labour instead of keeping and subjugating my self to Divine Laws I have rebelled both against Divine and Humane Laws even the very Laws of Nature and Humanity have I broken Instead of attending thy Ordinances I have attended the Invitations of my own Lusts O you that are yet on this side Hell this side Eternity have a care of stifling a good Conscience and know that if you will not hear it now you shall be constrained to hear when all your political excuses shall be debarred your mouths stopped you shall stand speechless and Conscience God's Witness set up in every Mans breast shall be heard There were four sorts of Hearers specified in Christ's Parable but one sort good the rest were Sabbath-breakers such as there are many now a-days that instead of getting their hearts prepared according to the preparation of the Sanctuary to meet with God and hear what he will dispense to them from his Word they trim paint and pin away a good Conscience in trimming and painting and pinning their Bodies Where is that that the Scripture commands I say the time that should be spent in preparation for meeting with God is spent in dressing and trimming these crasie and rotten houses of clay that is like to fall at the blast of every Distemper and e're long shall be turned into earthy dross and clay as trees that cumber the ground and are useless in their Generation They