THE Lord's-Day TO BE KEPT HOLY Asserted in a Familiar Conference BETWIXT TWO FRIENDS About the Unlawfulness of Exercising their Trades or Ordinary Callings on that Day Published for the Use of Ignorant People to prevent the Prophanation of that Holy Day LICENS'D July 19. 1694. Edward Cooke LONDON Printed for William Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street 1694. THE LORD's-DAY TO BE KEPT HOLY c. â—… SIR A good Morning to you How do you do to day I have made bold to visit you this Morning hoping I have not broke the â—…ds of our Friendship in my Reproof last Night â—…he exercising of your Trade on the Lord's-Day â—…ed I was a little concern'd our Dispute hapned so 〈◊〉 last Night that we could not come to a Concluâ—… which occasions my coming this Morning â—… Mr. B. I am glad to see you this Morning with â—…y heart and for my part I am so far from breakâ—…e Bonds of Friendship with you that I heartily 〈◊〉 you for your mild Reproof though I cannot be â—…our mind nor think it so great a Sin as you 〈◊〉 of for was I convinced it is a Sin I would 〈◊〉 exercising my Trade on that day for the â—…e â—… Truly Mr. S. I think our heavenly Father hath â—…ough to convince you and I that it is a Sin in these words Remember thou keep Holy the Sabbatâ—… Because it was commanded by God to Adam iâ—… Innocency and if it was necessary for our firâ—… rents to have and keep a Sabbath day to serve Gâ—… their state of Perfection much more need theiâ—…â—…sterity to keep the Lord's-day in this state of Coâ—…tion And seeing that God himself keeps this 〈◊〉 Holy How can that Man be Holy that doth wâ—… profane it by following his ordinary Calliâ—… Trade on that day Besides You see that God 〈◊〉 placed this Commandment in the middle of the 〈◊〉 Tables with a watch-word of solemn preparatioâ—… it Remember that thou keep Holy the sabbath-Sabbath-day if this was to be kept above all the rest because 〈◊〉 keeping of it is the best help to the keeping aâ—… rest S. Mr. B. In all this you say very well but lâ—… tell you That Christ is Lord of the Sabbath and 〈◊〉 remitted the rigor of Moses's Law for it 's said 〈◊〉 Sabbath was made for Man B. In this Mr. S. you make for me and noâ—… your self 't is true indeed The Sabbath was mâ—… Man But not to follow his Trade or spenâ—… time in Tipling at Alehouses or Taverns It 〈◊〉 made for Man to buy the Bread of Heaven and 〈◊〉 Water of Life 't is a Market day for our Soul 〈◊〉 we may buy the Food of Angels the Wine oâ—… Sacrament and the Milk of the Word of Goâ—… feed our Souls which is to be had without 〈◊〉 and without price And as you say Christ is Loâ—… the Sabbath which ought to make us admire the â—…derful work of our Redemption he being Loâ—… â—… Day we ought to spend our Time in his Service â—…d keep the Day to him who rose on this Day from â—…e Dead that we may raise our Minds and Souls to â—…wness of Life and make all our Works spiritual 〈◊〉 saith the Lord by the Prophet Isa 58. the 13thâ—…d 14th verses And call the Sabbath a delight the â—…y of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not 〈◊〉 thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure 〈◊〉 speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight 〈◊〉 self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride â—…on the high places of the earth and feed thee with the â—…ritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of the â—…rd hath spoken it And I think I may say God hath writ it over and â—ver again with his own Fingers in Tables of Stone â—o signify his Authority and Perpetuity of it for all â—…at God wrote were moral and perpetual Commandâ—…nts and these are reckoned Ten in number if this â—ere taken away by Christ or was now but an abroâ—…ed Ceremony then there would be but Nine Comâ—andments But to end this Controversy Christ proâ—esseth in Matth. 5.17 That he came not to destroy the â—oral Law but as the Learned Dr. Hammond paraâ—…aseth upon it to repair and make up whatsoever â—…s any ways wanting insomuch that our Saviour 〈◊〉 again in the 19th verse Whosoever therefore 〈◊〉 break one of these least Commandments and shall 〈◊〉 men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of â—…ven Or be despised and rejected by God in â—…e day of Judgment according to the said Paraâ—…rase S. Indeed Mr B. you have almost convinced me â—ut if I should leave off Trading on this day others â—ill not and so I shall lose my Customers it being so much practised or else I would leave off foâ—… future B. I am glad Mr. S. to hear this ingenuous Câ—…fession from you but am sorry you should mistrâ—… God's Providence when it is in him we live and moâ—… and have all our Being for let me tell you plainâ—… that this will avail but little in the last day we mâ—… not answer there when God calls us to account foâ—… the breach of this day that we feared losing oâ—… Trade or did it to get a Livelihood this will not â—…cuse the breaking of the Commandments And 〈◊〉 others will do it that will be no Excuse for me 〈◊〉 if Ten thousand break a Commandment that wâ—… not give me a Dispensation and make me guiltlesâ—… others doing of it is no Argument that it is no Sâ—… therefore that must not be my Rule to go by wâ—… am obliged by my Baptismal Vow to fight againâ—… the World and all appearance of Evil. Where Goâ—… commands it is my Duty to obey and not fear wâ—… the world will say or the losing my Trade bâ—… do my Duty to him and leave the Event to hâ—… Providence as Abraham did in the offering 〈◊〉 his Son and I think it will not be amiss to sheâ— you an Instance of God's Providence in such a Case aâ— yours is It was to a Friend of mine some time since I think it not proper to mention his Name he was a Baker by Trade but ever thought it unlawful to heat his Oven on the Lord's-day so that he did not do it and being importuned by several to heat it he would not yield but went to some pious and learned Divines to know whether it was Lawful or no they told him it was not except in Cases of Necessity but neither he nor they thought it needful for him or his Servants to work on that day to bake Puddings or Bread since it was so plain a Breach of the Fourth Commandment The Baker being a good Man did not raise these silly Objections of losing his Trade which you and other Men seem to do he loved to discharge his Duty to God and in so doing left the Event to his Providence And tho some of his Customers left him because he would not bake Puddings or sell Bread on
the Lords-day that did not move the good Man or make him mistrust God's Providence And as God loves to reward his Servants in a visible manner so in this Case to let the besotted world see what happiness they miss in not serving him for the Scene here soon altered and in a little time his Customers began to come again in greater numbers than they went away and he had so great a Trade on the week-days that himself said he desired no greater so long as he lived I might have given a fuller Account of this good Man but it would take up too much of our time at present S. Truly Mr. B. I wish there were more such Men as this you speak of for indeed he had a better Faith than I have B. Truly your Wish is good but wishing will not do the work of God therefore strive to make your self what you desire others to be and in this degenerate Age shew your self an Example to others for God delights in a Free-will Offering and expects his Servants should wait upon him in the midst of Difficulties If we will give ourselves time to consider his wages are infinitely beyond our labour our Task is short but our Rest will be long and the reward of Obedience will be great though the besotted world will not see it S. 'T is something strange if it is so great a Sin as you speak of that so many hundreds of Alehouses Taverns and Coffee-houses should be so much frequented and they not see the greatness of this Sin though some of them are counted honest Men. B. It is strange as you say that so many should do it and not see the greatness of the Sin though I am apt to believe they do but their Interest keeps them from believing in good earnest however if they cannot or will not see their Sin that 's no Example for you and I as I told you before though Ten thousand do it that doth not take off the Sin You see some hundreds will cozen and swear and be drunk yet all this while the Sin is great for it is said They shall not inhabit the new Jerusalem And so here the Commandment is plain for on the Lord's-day Thou shalt not do any manner of Work except Works of Necessity Mercy or Charity neither thou and thy Son and thy Daughter thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant and thy Cattel and the Stranger that is within thy Gates For let me tell you the Sin is greater and aggravating so much the more in being done by a multitude which we are not to follow to do Evil. And though you think some of them Honest Men that do so yet they may be Carnal and if so the Apostle tells us The Carnal Man cannot conceive the things of the Spirit of God neither doth he know them because they are spiritually discerned You will find all good Men in every Age have lookt upon it as a Sin and some Hundreds have writ against it also the Laws of the Land are levelled against it but I wish they were put more in execution against all those Men that profane the Sabbath It is not long since our Gracious QUEEN did send a Letter to the Justices of Middlesex I believe you may remember it to put the Laws in execution against prophaning the Lord's-day and other Sins And in the Order which the Justices put out They were to punish all Persons that frequented either Ale-houses Taverns or Coffee-houses as well out of Divine Service as in And that none should expose their Goods to Sale on the Lord's-day This put me in mind of a Friend of mine who was walking along the Streets at that time and seeing a Woman exposing her Fruit and Herbs to Sale he spoke to her of the ill Consequence of it and told her She ought to go to Church and serve God The Woman reply'd She took more Money on the Lord's-day than any day of the week and she could not live if she did not do it My Friend said he to the good woman if you would but keep the Lord's-day as you ought and not sell your things on that day but shut up your Cellar and go to Church and serve God and when you come home spend your time in reading the Word of God using Prayer and rendring Praises to him for all his Mercies In so doing you need not doubt but God will be infinitely kind and send a blessing upon your Labour the rest of the Week which you cannot expect while you make a Market-day of his Sabbath The woman accepted of his Counsel took in her things shut up her doors and went to Church My Friend call'd upon the poor woman some time after and she was glad to see him and thanked him for his good Advice saying She had found his words true for ever since she had kept the Sabbath-day she sold more things on Mondays and Tuesdays than before she used to do all the week S. Your Friend I think did very well I wish others would do the same for this Story of yours puts me in mind of a Book that I have of Sir Matthew Hales's where he saith something to this effect if I am not mistaken If you please I 'll fetch the Book and read that Passage to you B. I Pray do if it be not too great a trouble for you S. The Passage is this 't is in a Letter to his Children Because I have by long and sound Experience found that the due observance of this Day meaning the lord's-Lord's-day and the Duties of it have been of singular Comfort and Advantage to me and I doubt not but it will prove so to you God Almighty is Lord of our Time and lends it to us and it is but just we should consecrate this part of that Time to him so I have found by a strict and diligent Observation that a due Observation of this Day hath ever had joined to it a Blessing upon the rest of my Time and the week that hath so begun hath been blessed and prosperous to me On the other side when I have been negligent of the Duties of this Day the rest of the week hath been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own secular Employment so that I could easily make an Estimate of my Successes in my own secular Employments the week following by the manner of my passing of this day and this I do not write lightly or inconsiderably but upon a long and sound Observation and Experience because I find in the world much Loosness and Apostacy from their Duty People begin to be Cold and Careless in it allowing themselves Sports and Recreations and Secular Imployments in it without any necessity which is a sad Spectacle and an ill presage It concerns me therefore that am your Father as much as I may to rescue you from that Sin which the Examples of others and the Inclinations and Inconsiderateness of Youth is otherwise apt to lead you into I will read
no further at this time to you by reason I would have some more Discourse with you since you have been so kind to come and spend this time with me B. I think what you have read to me is much to the purpose of what I came to you about I am glad to see you have so good a Book I hope you will read it a little oftner than I fear you have done pray pardon my course Complement for I fear you have not much minded it heretofore for I find here is further Directions in this Book for he saith It is not a necessity to do a work upon this Day when it might be done upon another Day this makes me more admire at you having so good a Book and in it so good Reasons against the exercising of your Trade on the Lord's-Day for shame be of another mind and leave off for the future S. Alas I have a great many good Books though with shame I may say it I have not minded them I have the Practice of Piety and the Duty of Man besides the Holy Bible and other good Books I hope God will forgive me for the neglect of them Indeed I was never so much convinced as I am at this time by your Discourse that for the future through the Grace of God I will be more careful B. I pray God you may I would fain recommend to you that Passage in the Practice of Piety about keeping the Lord's-Day since you say you have the Book and when you read it apply it to your self and consider well the truth of what is said do not read it carelesly but consider your Soul lies at stake and it is worth your taking care of I pray you pardon me for being so earnest with you for I desire no other thing than the good of your Soul S. I thank you heartily for taking so much pains with me I am satisfied you do it for my good and my own Conscience tells me I ought to take your advice only I am afraid of losing my Trade except others would leave off as well as me and I could do it chearfully B. Alas This is a Childish reasoning for if other men will poison themselves why should you if other men be never so bad that 's no Example for you to follow if they are unreasonable why should you lose your Wits do but look upon your Soul as worth more than all the Riches of the World And if other men will venture the hazard of their Souls by prophaning this Day of the Lord's why should you if they drink cheat and abuse themselves must you do so too How can you be afraid of want when you do not see a Bird starve or die for want of food and if we cannot live so high as we have done before yet you will find more content for how can want be so grievous when we consider the Author and Captain of our Salvation was in want and his Followers were so too and yet did live in Heaven therefore if thy Calling is an occasion of sinning away with it and turn Plowman or Servant rather than live in a breach of a known Command or Sin Seek first the Kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and look after the Concerns of your Soul and then as for Necessaries thy God will not suffer thee to want them S. I am convinced and through the Grace of God I will leave off exercising my Trade on the Lord's-Day for the future B. I must confess you make my heart rejoice to hear this Answer from you I pray God keep you always in the same mind and I do not doubt but you will find a great deal of comfort in it and more than at present you can expect and this put me in mind of a certain Friend of mine that kept a Coffee-house and he would not sell any Coffee on the Lord's-Day some of his Customers began to leave him and though he was so strict as they call it because he would not open his Doors on that day to let in men to drink a Dish of Coffee they told him that they thought there was no harm in it but said he that will not excuse me who think it is harm for if I may follow my Calling you may as well follow yours and since you think it is a sin for you to open your Shop and keep your Servants at work Why should I keep mine since making and selling of Coffee is work to my Servants I think they ought not to do it nor my self neither for I never did nor I hope never shall The Man was as good as his word and certainly he lost nothing by it for he is now become a rich Man and I hope you will follow his Example For I think it is a great shame to see so many keep their Servants at home to draw drink and others to sell things when they should be at Church or in Reading the Word of God or in some other Exercise sutable for the day for it is counted a Persecution when we are forced from the Church and Publick Worship If then there can be a Persecution I think he that denies himself and his Servants the Opportunity of coming to the Publick Worship of God on the Lord's-day is his own Persecutor So that I am afraid it doth too evidently appear in many places that God is more dishonoured and the Devil better served on that day than all the Days of the Week besides and for ought I know the Judgments we now lie under may be owing to the Prophaner of the Lord's-day for when we consider how much Righteousness exalteth a Nation so Sin is a Reproach to any People We have reason to bewail this National Sin and do all that lies in our Power to Remedy it and I think we have reason to pray for these Magistrates that put the Law in Execution against those that prophane the Lord's-day S. I have no more to say against what you have said only this I wish that your Discourse with me at this time was all Written or Printed That I might communicate it to some of my Brother-Traders in hopes that it might convince some of them as now it hath done me blessed be God for it B. I am willing to do all the good I can and if you think this Discourse may be of any use to the Publick Good I will recollect my mind and write it out for you S. In so doing you will very much oblige me and I hope it will convince some others also as well as my self B. Dear Friend having performed my promise so far as I can remember I have written our dispute but I must recommend it to you with a little Advice it being written in such a homely Dress that when you communicate it to your Friends you would desire them to consider the good Intention and the truth of what is said and in that nature apply it to themselves and in so doing to read it over and over again not as School boys do their Lessons but as one that is in danger of his Soul by living in the Sin it treats of For since I had this Discourse with you I met with an honest Man that hath kept an Ale-house for Twenty or Thirty years and I telling him some part of our Discourse he told me That so long as he had kept an Ale-house he never let any Company come into his House to drink on the Lord's-day And he thought he had a better Trade by so doing and said further to our Discourse That he could wish all Men would do the same for he believeth they would live better without a Sunday-trade than with it Having these words from a good Man that hath felt the Comfort and Benefit of serving God on this day I write them down that others may take Example by him for I do assure you of the truth of it as well as I do of all the rest So praying that it may do good to your Friends as well to your self I must desire once more they would apply it to their own Souls it being purely designed for God's Glory and their Good Which shall be the hearty Prayer of your ever Loving Friend and Brother in Christ Jesus to serve you B. ☞ Judgments upon Sabbath breakers and other wickednesses Read these Scriptures following Exodus 31.14 and Exod. 35.2 Numb 15. from 30. v. to 37. Ezek. 20.12,13 c. Read 22. and 23. Chapters of Ezek. Jer. 17.27 Nehemiah ch 13. 15. v. to the 23. Lev. 26.14 c. Promises Annex'd to the Keeping of the Sabbath Leviticus 26.2,3,4 Isa 56.2 Isa 58.13,14 Jer. 17.24,25 Isa 56.2 c. FINIS Books sold by William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street Meditations and Discourses concerning the Glory of Christ Applied unto unconverted Sinners and Saints under spiritual decays by Dr. Owen price bound 1 s. where you may be supplied with most of Dr. Owen's Writings and Mr. Beverly's