thou mayst when thou wilt Rest from Labour God hath appointed a time when the Man-Servant and the Maid-Servant may do this as well as thy self and that is upon his Sabbath of Rest Now thy Man-Servant and thy Maid-Servant may Rest as well as thou yea thou art bound in equity and Conscience to favour thy Servants and after a special manner give them Rest on the Lords day Not that Servants or Labourers are exempted from Sanctifying God's Sabbaths by performing in them Holy and Religious Exercises But this I say if they keep the Church duly and shew no distaste or dislike of Houshold Piety but are willing to hear the Word read and to Pray with their Masters on the Lords day when they are required They should in Mercy and Compassion to them give them some time wherein they may rest from Labour and have a Relaxation from Spiritual and Divine Duties The Spirit truly is willing but the Flesh is weak and Masters of Families cannot so Sanctifie God's Sabbath that they should spend it wholly in Religious Exercises and therefore they should not wonder at their Servants if they be willing on the Sabbath-day to have some time wherein they may Rest from Labour and have a Relaxation from Spiritual and Divine Duties Yea the wisdom of Governours considering the impossibility that all the world should be wholly devoted to Holy and Religious Exercises on the Lords day did think fitting to permit Day-Labourers Men-servants and Maid-servants to recreate themselves at seasonable times on the Lords day lest while they Rested from Labour and were vacant from Spiritual and Divine Duties they should run out into Riot and Excess or into some worse sins This Toleration of sports and pastimes on the Lords day did no more disprove the Morality of the Sabbath nor no more prove sports and pastimes on the Lords day to be Lawful than the Statute that stinteth Usury at a certain summe in the hundred proveth Usury to be Lawful by the Word of God Whereas the Statute is express that no Man should Collect from that Statute that that Usury or any Usury was Law-Lawful in Religion and Conscience But it hath been Objected heretofore by some and it may be will be Objected again That there was never any Law made heretofore for the toleration of Sports and Pastimes on the Lords day Because there is an Act of Parliament that doth expresly forbid that no Persons should go out of their own Parish to use any sports and pastimes whatsoever To this I Answer that it was usual in times of Popery of blindness and of Ignorance Many Parishes did meet at one Parish to Celebrate Bacchanalian Feasts and to have tumultuous Assemblies Drunken Wakes and Disordered Meetings And the wisdom of Governours did prudently provide against this mischief But it may be probably Collected and reasonably Concluded that the Honourable Assembly the High Court of Parliament by prohibiting People to go out of their own Parishes to use sports and pastimes on the Lords day did tacitely yield that if they did keep themselves within their own Parishes they might at seasonable times use such sports and pastimes on the Lords day as were judged Lawful on other days But if the Honourable Assembly the High Court of Parliament shall Declare that this is not the meaning of that Act and shall hereafter with the consent of his Sacred Majesty make an Act against Peoples using all sports and pastimes whatsoever as well in their own Parishes as out of them It becometh me and all peaceable Sons of the Church to judge That no body ought to tolerate themselves or to countenance or encourage others in the use of any sports and pastimes on the Lords day whether in their own Parishes or out of them But yet this I say the Holy Man Job in the Profession of his Innocency Job 31. 13. layeth it down How he did not despise the Cause of his Man-Servant or of his Maid-Servant when they contended with him And Masters of Families while they look to restrain their Servants from using sports and Pastimes on the Lords day they should take heed how they constrain them to work It is usual with some Masters of Families who seem to be very Pious very watchful over their Servants that they use no sports and pastimes on the Lords day they very frequently constrain them to work on the Lords day Set them to mend yea to make Hedges no necessity constraining Yea many times they set them to Brew and do Actions as painful and laborious as any are done on the week days Masters of Families if they do Observe in their Servants a care of Religion and Piety that they are willing to be present at Divine Duties Publickly at Gods House Privately in their Houses they should be compassionate towards them allow them some times to refresh themselves to rest from Labour on the Lords day Yea they should be thus Merciful to the dumb Beasts for God many times heareth the groans of their Ox and their Asse and much more will he hear the Cry of their Servants when they cry against them They should be more Compassionate to them in the bowels of Compassion they should look upon their Servants and esteem of them as their Fellow-Servants in Christ Jesus and think that God hath made them Lords not Tyrants over them to cause them to drudge and droyl without any Intermission Besides times of Rest on the Lords day which they ought and are bound to allow their Servants they should think of it and allow them sometimes to recreate themselves The Church hath Constituted Holy-days and though they ought principally to be kept by performing in them Holy and Religious Exercises yet without doubt sports and pastimes at seasonable times may be used on these days And Merciful Masters if their Servants keep the Church duly and be present at publique Prayers on Holy-days they should allow them Liberty to Recreate themselves on these days to use sports and pastimes None of us can Sanctifie a Sabbath of Rest as we should in this World we should Serve God on week days on Holy-days but especially on the Lords day we have many failings and fallings and fall short of our Duties Let us bear with one anothers Infirmities and the good God shall pardon all our Infirmities and accept of our weak and imperfect Serving him APPLICATION I Have spoken of a Sabbath of Rest and indeed we should all the days of our Life keep a Sabbath unto God We should Rest from sin pray unto him always and be constantly devout But the day that he hath Sanctified and set apart for his Worship and Service we should above all days remember that after a peculiar manner Sanctifie it and spend it in Holy and Religious Exercises This is the King the Queen of Days and of all other days ought to be had in chiefest estimation It is a great Errour of the Papists when they cause the Maid to Exalt her self above
be not at hand God will put an end to these things and his Temples shall not alwayes be profaned his Ministers continually despised neither will he ever suffer wicked Hypocrites to fight against him with his own weapons or profane Atheists to take away the means consecrated to his service and employ it to profane uses but he that is Lord of the Sabbath is Holy and will have his Holy-days and his Sabbaths to be sanctified There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God or as it is in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a Sabbath The rest that is here properly meant it is that great Sabbath of rest that shall be kept unto God by all those that depart in the faith they shall keep a perpetual Sabbath unto God and shall for ever sing Heavenly Allelujahs unto him with the Holy Angels in Heaven But yet in regard this great rest is set forth and expressed in the phrase of a Sabbath keeping I hope I shall not impertinently gather from hence that all those who look to keep an eternal Sabbath unto God in Heaven they should think of this allusion and consider that there remaineth a rest a keeping of a Sabbath unto the people of God on Earth and that none shall keep a perpetual sabbath unto God hereafter but they who sanctifie his sabbaths here The sabbath of rest that is to be kept to God here as it hath reference to that great sabbath of rest hereafter I may place it in a rest from sin There is none that liveth and sinneth not and for men altogether to rest from sin here in this world it is impossible but the Scripture speaketh of wicked men and sinners that they are tumultuous and raging that they are like the raging Sea that casteth up mire and dirt continually restless are their imaginations that are Isa 57. 20. unconverted who give free sway and scope unto themselves in sin The thoughts of their hearts are evil and that continually Gen. 6. 5. they imagine mischief upon their beds and when it draweth to light they practise it They have eyes full of Mich. 2. i. 2 Pet. 2. 14. Job 24. 14. 15. 16. Adultery that cannot cease to sin yea as Job speaketh The eyes of the Adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying no eye shall see me and disguiseth his face The Murtherer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy and in the night is as a theif in the night they dig thorow houses which they had marked out for themselves in the day time day and night they labour and rest not from sinning This labour must be given over and a spiritual rest embraced Men must strive against sin and oppose it and never give over till they have quieted and appeased their tumultuous and disorderly affections so that they have vanquished the strength of sins the prevailing power of it so that they do not suffer any sin the least sin of which they are convinced in Conscience that it is sin to reign or rule or bear sway in their hearts and if they fall out of infirmity as who is there that liveth and sinneth not yet they are grieved for their failings and fallings rise again by repentance and continually ask God forgiveness for what they have done amiss This now is a rest from sin a keeping a perpetual sabbath unto God beside this rest from sin men must rest unto God have leisure times to serve him It is the principal end of our Creation God made us for this end to serve him and that they ought to set apart some time for the service of God this is engraven in the hearts of all men living For the determinate time that God hath appointed for his Worship and service as for certain he hath after a special and more peculiar manner sanctified and set apart some time for that end we cannot be so well guided by the candle of nature as by the light of the word The Scriptures then every where but especially in the fourth Commandement tell us of the rest of the Holy sabbath which the Lord of the sabbath hath severed and set apart for his own use one day in seven God hath chose and set apart for himself It received its confecration and was set apart to be a day of rest unto God upon this ground and reason because that God in it rested from his works of Creation The Church of God in the Apostles times did change the day in memorial of our Saviour his Resurrection because that on the first day of the week Christ did rise from the dead and rested from the great work of our Redemption Though there be no expresse precept in Scripture for the altring of the day yet that the Apostles in their practice were guided by the spirit it is confessed by all Protestant writers that are Orthodox I will alleadge one for all Zanchie after he had related it out of Justin Martyr his Apology to the Emperour Antoninus how the Christians were wont to meet on the Lord's day to hear the word and receive the Sacraments and to perform other Holy and Religious exercises he thus concludeth Ex his liquet Apostolos per spiritum sanctum vel potius spiritum Sanctum per Apostolos festum solennitatemque Sabbati in diem dominicum transtulisse From this it is manifest that the Apostles by the spirit or rather the spirit of God by the Apostles did transferre the festivity and solemnity of the sabbath unto the Lords day but yet though the day be changed yet the keeping one day in seven by consecrating it to the service of God making it a rest from sin and a rest unto God by performing in it Holy and Religious exercises which is the morality of the fourth Commandment is still retained We are then to keep Holy one day in seven not only upon the ground and Reason which is laid down in the fourth Commandment because that in six days God finished the works of his Creation and rested the seventh But we are likewise strengthened and confirmed in keeping our Christian Sabbath which is likewise one day in seven in regard that on that day Christ did rise from the dead and rest from the great work of our Redemption So that the morality of the sabbath is so far from being taken away by the change of the day that it is hereby more strongly strengthened and confirmed That one day in seven should be kept Holy is the morality of the fourth Commandement beside the sanctifying one day in seven it is requisite that the sollemn day for God's service be kept in its season and God requireth not that any 7th day of our own devising should be celebrated but he looketh and expecteth that such a seventh day be kept as he hath appointed The seventh day from the Creation was the day Commanded of God and for the time that God required it this and no other was to be
which tendeth more to Edification and that is whether God's Consecrating a Seventh Day to himself and Commanding a weekly Sabbath to be Sanctified whether this take away the Service of God on Holy days or on other days of the week To this I Answer that our weekly Sabbath is severed and set a part and after a peculiar manner Sanctified for God's Use but yet we ought to provide for the Service of God in some manner and measure every Day in the week but especially Holy-days and our usual Festivals they ought solemnly to be kept and Religiously Observed though there be no day of Divine Institution which God hath expresly Commanded to be kept Holy but our weekly Sabbath yet all hold that more time should be allotted to his Service and the Equity of Constituting Holy-days of serving God on the week days of Prayâ—ng unto him Publickly Privately in his House in our own Houses these things are grounded on the Fourth Commandment I shall first prove it concerning Holy-days that God's Commanding a weekly Sabbath after a peculiar manâ—er to be Sanctified it doth not inhibit but rather command a solemn Observation of our usual Festivals To this opinion Mr. Calvin inclineth Non sic sâ—ptenarium numerum Lib. 2. in cap. 8. sect 34. moror ut ejus servituti Ecclesiam restringam neque Ecclesias dannavero quae alios conventibus suis solennes dies habeant modo à superstitione absint I stick not so saith Mr. Calvin to the Number of Seven that it should bind the Church to the bondage of the seventh day Neither will I condemn Churches that have other Solemn Dayes for their publique Meetings Aret. 〈◊〉 com de feriis so they be voyd of Superstition To this Aretius consenteth Vt alii alios dies adderent Sabbato feriandos nihil in hac revitii in esse judicamus That some should adde other dayes to the Sabbath to be kept holy we do not think this to be amiss And Vrsin in his Catechism having propounded what is required in the Fourth Commandement returneth this Answer Vt ego cum aliis precipue Festis diebus coetus divinos frequentem That I with others especially on Holy Dayes should be present at solemn Assemblies and Divine Meetings Sermon on Job 10. v. 22. Dr. Donn sometimes Dean of Pauls hath delivered his Opinion agreeable to this Though God hath taken a seventh part of our time in the Sabbath yet he taketh more too for he appointeth other Sabbaths other Festivals and in all Sabbaths there is a cessation To this agreeth Bucer having spoken of the Sanctification of the Lords day he further addeth it is agreeable to our Piety to sanctifie other Festivals also to the Commemoration of the Lord his chief works whereby he perfected our Redemption as the day of our Saviours Incarnation Nativity Epiphany the Passion Resurrection Pentecost Besides our usual Festivals and solemn dayes of Rejoycing which though they be appointed by men yet the Equity of constituting them is grounded on the Fourth Commandement no reasonable man nor good Christian will deny but some time may but some time ought to be appointed every day in the Week for the Service of God In Towns and Cities where People may conveniently meet that they ought to resort to the Temple and the House of God to offer unto him their Morning and their Evening Sacrifice and worship him in the Beauty of Holiness this is a thing so just and reasonable that I hope I need not tell those who doe this that they do but their Duties for their own Consciences wâ—ll tell those who live in places where they may doe it that they ought to pray publiquely every day in the week and attend upon God's service continually We are not so happy in Countrey Villages that we should meet publickly every day in the week to worship God in the Beauty of Holiness And for People that live in unwalled Towns and Countrey Villages if they keep the Church duely on Sundayes and Holydayes Week-dayes Prayers are required of them but at some times in the year and when they are required it is not required that they should pray every day in the week It is truth Masters of Families should be mindfull of Houshold-piety and there are none but they should pray in their own persons continually such a Sabbath of Rest should be sanctified to God continually and it is grounded on the Morality of the Fourth Commandement I shall conclude in the words of Mr. Greenham in his Treatise of the Sabbath though no day ought to be separated from God's use the Sabbath ought to be severed from all other uses and wholly consecrated to him Men ought to keep their set-times of Prayer and pray privately every day in the week in their Houses and with their Families and men ought publickly to attend upon God in his House and privately be at leisure for holy Exercises on Holy dayes All Holy-dayes are not but if some be so severed for holy Exercises that they are as carefully kept and as religiously observed to the worlds eye as our Christian Sabbath yet if men through heedlesness and inadvertency do some slight works of their Callings in them and do not those things purposely in contempt of Authority for certain this is not so hainous a sin that men need to task themselves with a dayes or a weeks Repentance for it and if men be at leisure for holy and religious Exercises on Holy-dayes no doubt but on these dayes they may be at leisure for themselves and have some time to recreate and refresh themselves on Holy-dayes especially those of the meaner sort who have no other times of Recreation Holy-dayes they are not so severed for holy and religious Exercises but some works may be done in them if they be not done in contempt oâ— Authority and at fitting and convenient times lawfull Sports and Pastimes may lawfully be used in them especially by those of the meaner sort Other working dayes they are not exempted from God's Service we are bound to serve God in them and to pray unto him but yet these are Our dayes God hath given them us to follow our necessary Occasions and worldly businesses No day that may properly be termed God's day but the seventh day of his Consecration our weekly Sabbath this is the day which God after a peculiar manner hath sanctified and he requireth that we after a special and more peculiar manner should observe it and keep it Holy Rest from Labour from worldly businesses and Employments is required on the Sabbath Men must not follow the works of their calling but must as neer as they can abstain from all corporal labour They must likewise rest from sin as on all dayes so more especially on Gods Holy day they must abstain from following their own wayes from finding their own pleasure and from speaking their own words They must likewise work the works of Righteousness and be carefully employed in holy
and religious Exercises Necessary works there be which may lawfully be done on the Lords day such things as concern mens necessary Nourishment may be done and no doubt but men may provide for the dumb Beasts on the Sabbath and loose the Oxe and the Asse from the Stall to be watered yea some persons are priviledged to do the works of their Calling on the Lords day Our Saviour telleth us how that on the Sabbath day the Mat. 12. 5. Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless And no doubt but the Ministers of the Gospel may do the works of their Calling on the Lords day yea if they beat their brains and busie their bodies the more carefully they are employed in the works of their Calling on the Lords day the more acceptable Service they perform to God It is a thing exceeding painfull to those who study for their Sermons to perform their Ministerial Function in instructing the people Their Mind doth labour and they are greatly bâ—sied on such Lords dayes as they do preach unto the People besides it is a weariness to their Bodies to read Prayers to administer the Sacraments to multitudes and to do other Duties belonging to their Place and Callings But yet working on the Lords day is a Duty belonging to their Place and Callings and an acceptable Service it is to God if it be performed carefully and conscionably as it ought Besides works of Necessity there are works of Charity which all men but especially those that are of Ability ought to perform The Visiting the sick the relieving of the Poor and doing Offices of Charity for those that are in distress It was usual with the Primitive Christians on every Lords day to make Collections and do Offices of Charity Physicians no doubt may ride and take Journeys on the Lords day temper Potions and administer Physick to the Diseased Beside works of Charity which have ever been in use and may lawfully and laudably be done works of Piety are proper for the day I purpose more particularly to insist upon these and shew how the Sabbath ought to be consecrated to such works and be spent in holy and religious Exercises so that men should be at leisure for God on that day It is a Day greatly to be observed unto the Lord and men should think of it before it cometh there is a Memento prefixed before this Commandement Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy and St. Mark calleth the day before the Sabbath the Preparation Mar. 15. ver 42. because it was usual with the People of God to prepare themselves for the Sanctification of the Sabbath as it is the Duty of all good Christians on that day they should lay aside all earthly Cogitations and worldly Businesses and separate themselves to the service of the Lord and perform all such holy and religious Exercises as are required on the day As on all dayes men ought to pray in their own Persons and with their Families so more especially on the Lords day they ought to sanctifie themselves and prepare their Families for the Sanctification of the Sabbath and for performance of such holy and religious Exercises as are required in God's House as likewise for such Duties as are required to be performed in their own Houses I shall briefly run over the publick Performances the holy and religious Exercises that are required in God's House and then likewise touch upon those that are required in every mans own house Men should with fear and reverence assemble themselves in the House of God the Place where his Honour dwelleth there after a special and more peculiar manner to worship him on the Lords day The first and special publick Duty required and of greatest concernment for the Sanctification of the Sabbath is the Praying unto God in the House of Prayer the pouring out Supplications to him the offering up to him every Sabbath day a Morning and an Evening Sacrifice worshipping him in the Beauty of Holiness with the Congregation of the Faithfull this is a Duty which cannot be omitted and that of all other Duties it is most especially required for the Sanctification of the Sabbath I think I shall easily prove In the 56th Chapter of the Prophecy of the Prophet Isaiah ver 2. the Prophet setteth it forth That blessed is the Man that doth this and the Son of Man that layeth hold of it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it I but you will say How shall we keep the Sabbath from polluting it and what is a special Means to sanctifie it If you read that Chapter and consider seriously of the Blessedness which God bath pronounced upon those that keep his Sabbaths you must needs see that a principal means of sanctifying his Sabbath whereby to procure the like blessing upon your selves is to pray unto God in his House upon his Holy Day in vers 4. Thus saith the Lord of the Eunuches that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and lay hold of my Covenant even to them will I give in mine House and within my walls a place and a Name better than of Sons and Daughters I will give them an everlasting Name which shall not be cut off Also the Sons of the Strangers that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyfull in my House of Prayer Their Burnt-offerings and their Sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar For mine House shall be called a House of Prayâ—r to all People When God by the Prophet speaketh of his accepting the Burnt-offerings of the Strangers of the Eunuchs the words are meant of the offering up to him the calves of their Lips these are the Offerings that he will accept no doubt but the words are to be understood of the Sacrifice of Prayse of the Oblations of Prayer as is manifestly proved by that which immediately followeth Mine house shall be called an house of Prayer to all People Yea he that seeth not that the principal Means of sanctifying God's Sabbath is to pray unto God in his House of Prayer he must needs be a stranger to the Scriptures and the Word of God If then you will indeed sanctifie God's Sabbath by performing in it holy and religious Exercises be perswaded to tread his Courts and be present continually at Divine Service Slight not Divine Service and say not as it is the common custom of most men in these times If we goe up to Gods House we shall hear there onely a few Prayers but say rather on the contrary If we go up to Gods House we shall there say our Prayers with the Congregation of the faithfull worship God in the Beauty of Holiness which is a principal Means of sanctifying Gods Sabbath and a Duty which of all
the Mistress the Hand-Maid to Rule over the Queen and suffer every petty Holy-day to justle the Lords day out of Doors Yea it was usual with us in times of Blindness and Ignorance Many Parishes did Meet in one Parish to Celebrate Bacchanalian Feasts yea they did bring their May-Lady into the Church in time of Divine Service and did take off the minds of People from Religion and the Service of God causing the Lords day to be Celebrated with more Foolish vanities than ever the Heathens Celebrated the Feasts of their Belly-god Bacchus or their Lascivious Lady Venus These Times of Ignorance God winked at but now he Commandeth all Men every where to Repent Yea be perswaded to Consider of it and take heed of all back-sliding to Popery It is usual now in such places where the Romish Religion Ruleth and beareth sway the Lords day is Celebrated with little Piety in God's House and with more prophaneness out of it And yet I beseech you suffer the word of Exhortation let us not so Oppose Papism that we should run into the contrary extreme of Atheism The Papists they do so slight the Lords day that they prefer every Ordinary Holy-day before it And we or at the least the greatest part of us do so highly magnifie the Lords day that we have thrust all other holy days out of the Kalendar We should Serve God on week days Come up to his Temple too to serve him and to Pray unto him on Holy-days There be other Sabbaths besides the Seventh day of Gods Institut on and God requireth not onely that we hear the Instruction of him our Heavenly Father and keep Holy his Sabbath the Seventh day which he hath expressly Commanded to be Sanctified But he requireth that we forsake not the Laws and Constitutions that the Church our Mother giveth us concerning the Sanctifying of Holy-days for these likewise are God's Sabbaths though Constituted by the Church and God requireth that we keep his Sabbaths and Reverence his Sanctuary We should serve God on week days come up to his House and serve him on Holy-days and after a special manner Sanctifie the Seventh day of his Consecration But we on the contrary have polluted God's Sabbaths prophaned his Sanctuary and notwithstanding the noise that is made of Holy and Religious Exercises on the Lords day the Lords day was never less hallowed Shall I shew you how it was of late days when there was no King in Israel but every body did that was right in their own eyes Publick Forms of Prayer wherein People might joyn with the Priest on the Lords day where they were used they were very much scorned and contemned and in most places quite given over And on week days and on Holy-days not permitted at all to be used The Word of God where it was publickly read was very much slighted and in many places not read at all So that People for want of having the Scriptures and the Word of God read unto them were kept in more blindness and Ignorance than they are in the Papacy Publick Catechising of the Youth at seasonable times and the reading of Homilies for the Instructing of People in the Principles of Religion they were despised as things unprofitable and of no use at all The Sacrament of the Lords Supper in many places and most Churches it was not publickly Administred for many Years together The Sacrament of Baptism a prejudice was wrought against it and People were made to believe that they ought not to Baptize their Children or bring them within the Covenant Since it hath pleased God to restore us to Government and the Blessings of it the same design as it is greatly to be feared is still under-hand carryed on and some that seem to Conform and be Obedient to the present Government under a pretence of their love to Piety and their Care of en to perform Holy and Religious Exercises seek to make themselves and their followers Independent that is not subject to any Temporal Magistrate or Ecclesiastical Governour We will be so Charitable as to believe that they did heretofore often Fall and Pray and perform other Holy and Religious Exercises themselves in private And receive the Sacrament in publick with their own Companies But they did bereave the World of the use of all God's Ordinances in publick but Psalm and a Sermon And no doubt of it but divers of them do now pray in private read the Word of God in their Families Catechise and Instruct their Children and perform other Holy Religious Exercises very frequently in private and I cannot believe that any vertuous Religious Governour either in Church or Common-wealth meaneth to trouble them for or disturb them in these things If those of the Clergy among them will say the publick Prayers of the Church after that manner that they are enjoyned to say them and will read the Scriptures in publick and the Homilies of the Church so as to work people to a love of them and of the good Instructions therein contained and not read them after that manner as to cause them to be scorned of the multitude and not neglect publick Catechising but perform it according as it is enjoyned to be performed And they of the Laâ—ty will work themselves and others to a Reverend esteem of these publick Religious Duties and diligently frequent them and Carefully and Conscionably use them as in Obedience to God's Laws and Mens they ought And both the one and the other will give over their private Conventicles and giddy Meetings and not slander the present Government nor traduce the Governours nor draw scorn and contempt upon all publick Religious Duties that are enjoyned by Authority except Sermons as things that have all things of Man and nothing of God in them They that are Religious amongst them shall not be discountenanced by Magistrates or any Body else for their Piety and Godliness Of those who have been heretofore and are still opposite to the present Government and labour to work others to be of their mind and Opinion Many are Ignorant Persons and as they have no will to pray in publick so they have no skill to pray in private and are taken in onely to bear up the Train of the Faction Others of them whatsoever others Report of them or they Report of themselves they are wicked prophane ungodly Persons their sins apparent and conspicuous obvious to every Eye and though their absenting themselves from and their slighting of publick Religious performances causeth them to be noted of the Faction to be Saints yet their private Religious performances are neither so frequent nor so fervent that any should take notice of them but themselves and those of their own Faction Some well meaning Men there be among them both of the Clergy and the Laity who love and practise Holy and Religious Exercises in private and are not nor would not be any great Enemies to them in publick But that the Grandees of
Faction work upon them and make them believe that the publick Religious Duties required by the Laws because enjoyned have more of Man in them than of God and are therefore Superstitious and unlawful to be done To say the Truth though all of them do not often perform Holy and Religious Exercises and others of them are so Ignorant that they cannot at all perform them divers of them they were heretofore 〈◊〉 no doubt but they are still very frequent and often in the performance of Holy and Religious Exercises But Religion abused hath done a great deal of harm and it is greatly to be feared that some of them did heretofore and do still resist the Truth against their Conscience If Men Fast and Pray never so often if they do it for bad ends and wicked purposes These their Religious Actions are turned into sin unto them And if Man be never so frequent in performance of Holy and Religious Exercises in publick in private If they do these things that they may subvert the present Government and make Peoples hearts dis-affected to it All their Religious performances though never so specious in the Eyes of Men are yet abominable in the Eyes of God Yea such Persons who use Holy and Religious Exercises out of Policy not out of true Piety looking thereby to bring about their evil and wicked designs They have caused Religion and Religious Duties to be loathed and hated so that Mens hearts turn against the use of God's Ordinances Indeed it should not be so Man should not therefore abstain from but they should therefore often use God's Ordinances themselves in Truth because they are so often abused by others in Hypocrisie And for certain it must be such who honour God in his Ordinances and often use them that must keep Hypocrites from abusing them defeat and bring to light their Treacherous practices and their Treasonous designs whereby they seek to undo both Church and Common-wealth A great many of prophane and ungodly persons and people there are who are wicked without shew of the contrary who as they do often meet on week-days at Inns Taverns and Ale-Houses and spend their time in Rioting and Drunkenness Swearing and Cursing and prophaning God's Holy Name to the dishonour of Religion and discredit of the Gospel of Christ So many times they have their riotous meetings at the same places on the Lords day sometimes in the time of Divine Service to the grief of all good Men and to the scandal and Offence of all Godly Christians Indeed they seem opposite enough to Hypocrisie and very willing and desirous they are that they should be Reformed who cloak Treason under the shew of Religion But Magistrates and those that are in Authority hold it fitting that they should first Reform their own Lives and set a better example of Holiness before they seek the Reformation of others Yea it is plain that most of such dissolute and disordered persons they do for the most part rather rail and revile Hypocrites for being Religious than use any Legal or Lawful means whereby to reduce them from their Hypocrisie yea though fome stayd sober vertuous Persons whom Necessity forceth into their Company do Legally and Lawfully Oppose Hypocrisie and Labour to prevent the spreading Contagion of it and they by their Example learn to do the like and have been wrought and perswaded to be willing to jeopard their Lives against those who put the Face of Religion upon Rebellion Yet it is plain enough that the greatest part of them did heretofore and it is to be feared that under pretence of Opposing Hypocrisie they do still rail and revile vertuous Priests and Prelates whose Lives are continual Sermons for Piety and Godliness And were heretofore and it is to be feared are still Enemies to Godly Magistrates against whom they have nothing justly to Object but their laudable endeavours in seeking to reclaim them from their prophaneness and ungodliness It is a thing greatly to be desired that they who are guilty of dissoluteness and debauchedness and are openly Prophane Persons wicked without shew of the contrary It is I say a thing greatly to be desired that they would be perswaded to believe it It is not others often abusing of Holy and Religious Exercises that hath set off their hearts from a Love of Piety and Godliness but it is their own dis-using themselves from and not accustoming themselves to Holy and Religious Exercises that causeth them to loath them themselves and maketh them hate and detest them in others And their prophaning God's Sabbaths by swilling and bezeling by Cursing and Swearing those beastly Vices which cause them to be taken up in the Lips of talkers and branded with a Note of Infamy what is the Reason that they do not daily and continually Repent of those sins that so they should prevail against them and get ground of them every day But because they will not hearken to the good Instructions of God's Ministers perswading them to leave them Nor Obey the wholsome Laws of Godly Magistrates seeking to reclaim them from them But especially because they will not hearken to the good Motions of God's Spirit moving them to Repentance but put off God continually with delays and procrastinations Well if all these means do not work upon them to cause them to leave these sins constantly and continually to Repent of them and daily to practise Piety and Serve God in publick in private If God have not already it is much to be feared that he will e're long give up some of them unto a feared Conscience a heart that cannot Repent And this Spiritual Judgment they will find it to be worse than all Temporal Judgments and Afflictions whatsoever Briefly for a Conclusion among those that Covet an Opinion of Holiness and desire to be reputed Saints there be many Hypocrites And of those sinners of whom our Saviour speaketh in the Gospel That he came not to call the Righteous but them to Repentance there are but few true Penitents who constantly Repent of their sins and have any setled Acquaintance with God by Prayer So that what with openly prophane Persons on the one side and ungodly Hypocrites on the other side the Peace of the Church and Common-wealth is so much troubled and disquieted that if God help not it is not in the Power of Man to Remedy and redress those things If the Lord of the Sabbath do not cause his Sabbaths more carefully to be Sanctified and bring it to pass that Holy and Religious Exercises on the Lords day on Holy-days on Week days be more in use than now they are They that are true Christians in most places had need to pray unto God that they may keep a Sabbath unto him in Heaven for there will be no keeping of Sabbath to him on Earth And thus I should pass from this Allusion as the words put us in mind of a Sabbath that should be kept to God on Earth to speak
of them as they have reference to the Sabbath that shall be kept to God in Heaven A Prayer O Almighty Lord God the Holy Lord God of Sabbath thou searchest the Hearts and tryest the Reins and from thee no Secret can be hid Thou seest and knowest that some there be who under pretence of Religion have in a manner Destroyed and over-thrown all Religion They have caused thy Sabbaths to be despised thy Worship and Service on Weeks and on Holy-days to be neglected and all publick Religious performances to be slighted and contemned Forgive we beseech thee the multitudes that were heretofore and are still fraudulently circumvented and ignorantly drawn in to be partakers in these things Open their Eyes to see their Errors and give them Grace to Repent of them Grant that they may frequent the Solemn Assemblies on week days on Holy-days on the Lords day and those Holy and Religious Duties that are enjoyned by Authority work in them a love of them and incâ—ine their Hearts to use them with Care and Conscience as they ought Who they be that did heretofore and do still resist the Truth against their Conscience we know not neither will we Judge But O Lord of Hosts that tryest the Righteous and seest the Reins and the Heart pull them out for Judgment Take we beseech thee the Matter into thine own Hands and be pleased to Discover and bring to light their Treasons and Treacheries and all other their Secret Vices which they Cloak and hide under shew of Religion The multitudes of openly prophane Persons who are wicked without shew of the contrary open their Eyes to see how much it concerneth them to hearken to the good Instructions of thy Ministers to Obey the wholesome Laws of Godly Magistrates and let them not continually resist the good Motions of thy Holy Spirit moving them to Repentance lest by despising these means which thou usest for their Sâ—â—vation they bring upon themselves the Spiritual Judgment of hardness of heart which will be worse than all temporal Plagues and Judgments whatsoever And O Lord if thou hast not determined to lay the Land Desolate and to destroy Man and Beast out of it as even this heavy Judgment we have just cause to fear hangeth over our heads for our sins be pleased to hear the Prayers of those who Serve thee in Truth and Sincerity and grant that the Infection of Hypocrisie may spread no further and that the Leprosie and Plague of sin may be abated And Bless the Endeavours of those that are truly Pious and Religious when they Legally and Lawfully Oppose Hypocrites in their painted Vices and prosper them when they seek the Reformation of Capital and Scandalous Crimes in openly prophane Persons that so the Judgments which we have just Cause to fear hang over our Heads may be averted from us and this we beseech thee to grant for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS POST-SCRIPT IAM willing to believe that this Sermon or Treatise of the Sabbath will be a means to hinder the spreading Contagion of Schism and Heresie and if it find that Acceptance with the World as I hope it may I shall be encouraged to Publish such other Sermons of the same Text as I have prepared for the Press the Heads whereof I have proposed in the following Page But if my hopes deceive me and the World do still continue so to favour Sects and Sectaries that what is done doth not and what is proposed is not likely to make any thing for the publick good It is my desire that some other would find some better Expedient for the Common good than what is here done or proposed to be done and I shall willingly surcease and trouble my self nor the World no further but chear my self with Solon in this Consideration Solonis dictum O Patria ego dictis factis tibi opiâ—ulatus sum atque ita domum abiit in posterum quieturus that I have not been wanting to do what I could for the good of my Country though it hath not had that success as I hoped it would And shall onely humbly beseech Almighty God who is alone able that he would be willing for Jesus Christ his sake to Remedy and redress what is amiss Heb. IV. 9. There remaineth therefore a Rest unto the People of God THese words are a Summary and brief Conclusion and the Apostle doth infer and conclude from what he had before delivered that the People of God shall be happy and doth describe that wherein their Happiness doth consist Now then that you may see the Felicity of Gods chosen rejoyce in the gladness of his People and give thanks with his Inheritance I shall propound unto you four Grounds of Doctrines to be insisted upon First Ground of Doctrine In regard the reward that is promised unto us in the Life to come is set forth unto us by the keeping of a Sabbath I shall Observe unto you that the Happiness and Felicity of Man consisteth in the Service of his Maker in doing his Will and keeping his Commandments Second Ground of Doctrine God ever had now hath and ever will have a People upon Earth whose hearts are set upon this thing and will by no means be taken off from Serving him and glorifying their Creator Third Ground of Doctrine Though the hearts of God's People be whole within them and their intentions right placed and they intend the Service of God above all things yet they have their failings and their fallings their weaknesses and Infirmities and fall short of their Duties and their heart is not so right in all things that they should attain unto this Happiness in this Life Fourth Ground of Doctrine That which must Comfort God's People against all discouragements their fallings into sin and their failings in Duties is the consideration that such a Happiness they shall enjoy in the Life to come such a keeping of a Sabbath remaineth unto them that they shall never Offend God by sinning against him or faâ—l in their Duties in Serving him FINIS