tamenillam agnoscunt valde infirmam lanquidam et obscuratam propter perpetuam illam pugnam rebellionem carnis Daven wing and was upon the flight from him Psal 51. 11. The Apostle saith Col. 3. 3. Our life is hid with Christ both in point of security and in point of secresie with Christ as in the spring with Christ as in the root and principle and the root we know is under ground and no eye of the passenger observes it with the several threads of it Let one thing more come within our view This work of grace is often under a mask and faces are not discovered under a mask there is a continual combat between the flesh and the spirit and the poor Saint stands as a spectatour he waits and cannot tell which of the two combatants will go away with Gal. 5. 17. flying colours Let us meditate on the beautifullness of the work of Grace The Scripture best depaints this lovely work Sometimes it Nova creatâ—ra spiritualis effecta novam gratiae vitâ—m fortua est ut deâ—â—â—ceps in novitate vitae ambulet is called Regeneration Joh. 3. 5. Sometimes it is called a new Creation Gal. 6. 15. With what flourish and glory did the world look when God did first create it and it first put on its comly dress and attire how pleasant was the Earth in its first spring Sometimes the work of grace is called Gods workmanship Eph. 2. 10. and this work must be good Gen. 1. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is his All things he made were very good Gen. 1. 31. Nay sometimes this work is called our coming to our selves Luke 15. 17. And when lunatick persons are reduced to their wits what a comly and a lovely sight is it Indeed holiness is an attribute of God it is the loveliness of Angels it is the beauty of Saints this makes them excellent Psal 16. Psal 16. 3. Prov. 12. 26. Prov. 17. 27. Ezek. 16. 7. Phil. 1. 10. 3. nay more excellent then their neighbours Prov. 12. 26. The habits of grace are excellent ornaments Ezek. 16. 7. The wayes of grace are excellent wayes Phil. 1. 10. The work of grace it sheds light into the understanding makes it day there the beginnings of grace are day break in the soul Grace it shapes the will and brings it into form it sublimates Col. 3. 1 2. the affections and raises them from the dung-hill and makes them as it was said of the Bereans Acts 17. 11. more noble it softens the heart and makes it pliable to the tenders of the Gospel it cleanses the conscience from its filth and nastiness Acts 15. 9. it composes the conversation 1 Cor. 15 58 59 it adorns the life and bespangles it with good works those beautiful issues of a work of grace Let us meditate on the beneficialness of the work of grace Grace is glory initiated the dawning of future glory and glory is the noon-tide of grace There is a connection between grace and glory Psal 84. 11. They are clasped together by an eternal decree Gods everlasting purpose of love hath espoused grace to glory The work of grace foreruns Deus dedit nobis pignus futurae haereditatis gratiam quâ nos unxit â—t signavit in filios dei discrevitque à filiis diaboli the wages of glory Grace is onely glory in its infancy and glory is grace in its full growth Grace and glory differ in degree not in kind The spirits work is onely the first Scene of heaven here the spirit is a refining above it will be a ravishing spirit Death blows the bud of grace into the flower of glory 2 Cor. 1. 22. Eph. 1. 14. Grace onely ushers in glory it is onely the greener fruit of heaven and in Oecum future blessedness it comes to its full maturation In a word 2 Cor. 1. 22. the work of grace is the beginning of heaven in the soul and Eph. 1. 14. Christ in the heart doth fully assure us we shall see Christ Eph. 3. 17. in the Throne Let us meditate in the morning of a Sabbath on the works of glory How should we contemplate on heavenly things Psal 36. 8. Heb 4. 9. Rev. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Cor. 2. 9. O ineffabile gaudium in sanctis glorificatis qui ad dextram Christi sistent ut subditi serenissimo suo principi ut filii benignissimo suo patri ut regale sacerdotium gratiosissimo suo pontifici Glass on Gods heavenly day what those chambers of rest what those rivers of pleasure what those crowns of righteousness what those thrones of glory are which God hath prepared for his believing and beloved ones who have rejoyced in his holy day here and made it their seraphical delight From the mount of meditation as from mount Nebo we may take a prospect of the land of Promise which Christ hath taken the possession of in the name of all believers Heb. 6. 20. Heaven must needs be a glorious City which hath God both for its builder and inhabitant it must needs be the extract and quintessence of all blessedness On Gods day in the morning let meditation listen to the musicks of the Bride-chamber take a tast of our Masters joy peep within the vail and take a glance of the face of God and make an essay how well a crown of righteousness becomes the believers head And surely we cannot meditate on these things but we Quanta erit illa felicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum vacabitur dei laudibus qui erit omnia in omnibus Aug. must rejoyce in hope What prisoner shackled with the chains of temptation and fettered with the irons of his own corruption being in the dark prison of the world can meditate on the time when all these restraints shall be filed off and he enjoy the pleasant light and glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8. 21. but he will be transported with joy and exultation Meditation brings down heaven to us and we travel in the view of things superlative and ineffable In Glory we shall see the King in his beauty Isa 33. 17. There John 14. 2. Psal 16. 11. God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. There shall be beauty Rev. 3. 21. to the eye musick to the ear joy to the heart light to the mind perfection to the soul plenary and absolute satisfaction to the Saint Glory is meditations upper-loft it is its highest gallery to walk in it is its pleasing nest among the stars Meditation may take a view of the pompous Theater 2 Cor. 1. 3. Mat. 1. 21. Heb. 7. 25. of glory where there are the three persons in the God-head The Father of our mercies Jesus Christ the Saviour of our souls the Holy Ghost the Healer of our natures the Father who hears our prayers the Son who is our intercessour above us and the spirit who is our intercessour within us And in correspondence to this blessed Trinity there
likewise of this day is of no less excellency then the Fathers blessing of the seventh day Nay how many wayes did Jesus Christ bless his own day By his Glorious Resurrectiâ—n when the Sun of Righteousness diâ— riâ—e wiâ—h healing in his wings to visit and make Mal. 4. 2. Rom. 13. 12. happy the world and to make it day among the Sons of Men. By his several apparitions on this day when Christ did exhilarate and revive his sadned and disconsolatâ— Disciples St. Aug. de Câ—vit dei lib. 22. cap. 30. with the bright intervals of his pellucid and salvifical presence But of this more hereafter By his heavenly instructions on this day Luke 24. 25. when as Elijah now he was going to heaven he dropt his Mantle and shewed his Disciples his mind by revelation 2 Kings 2. 13. before he shewed them his face in glory By illuminating the minds and opening the understandings ings of his Disciples more eminently on this day Luke 24. John 20. 22. John 20. 28. Rev. 22. 16. 45. On this day not only the morning star arose in the World of inhabitants but in the hearts of the Disciples and he opened not only the curtains of the grave but of the minds of his Apostles by his redoubted and omnipotent operation By breathing the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples John 20. 22. as on this day When Christ did that by his breath which the Minister cannot do by his Zeal the Scholar by his Art the Friend by his love nay Nature it self by its force Aug. Serm. 15. de verb. Apost viz. inspire the heart with holy principles and the head with holy knowledge and spiritual understanding By the installation of his Apostles into their supream jurisdiction giving them power to bind and to loose in heaven and in earth John 20. 21 22 23. On this day the Apostles received not their Miter but their Mission and the emblem of their dignity was no ceremonial vesture but a supereminent power All which blessings Christ scattered on this solemne day our Christian Sabbath and on this day as an essay of converting power Christ by the Ministry of Peter turned three thousand to his own Divine self Now all these blessings which Christ heaped on this day Acts. 2. 41. what are they but so many acts of consecration They are only the pouring out of the oyl to anoint it to be far above its fellows and to be the Christians solemn and weekly festival And thus Ignatius calls our Sabbath the Highest and Psal 45. 7. Queen of dayes The argument then is very forcible à pari if the Fathers blessing a day made it a Sabbath to the world before and in the times of the Law then the Sons blessing a day must needs make it a Sabbath to the world in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. John 5. 23. times of the Gospel And this is the more to be taken notice of because Christ saith expresly John 5. 23. That all men shall honour the Son even as they honour the Father Reas 3 Christs Faithfulness in his Church proclaims him the institutor of his own day God the Father when he had ordained Expendendum est quod non solùm ritus et ceremonias populo suo dedit deus quibus ad fidem charitatem gratiarum actionem observantiam dei imbuerentur sed et certa tempora praescripsit in quibus vigore legis praescriptas Ceremonias exercerent Haud permisit illis libertatem ut ferias quas et quando vellent pro suo libero arbitrio figerent out refigerent mutarent tollerent multiplicarent minuorent sed ferias servandas tradid it ex quibus est Sabbati sanctificatio Muscul his worship leaves it not to Moses nor to the people of Israel to appoint a set and solemn day for it but he himself first ordains it in paradise Gen. 2. 3. and then revives and renews it on Mount Sinai Exod. 20. 8. Nay when the Idolaters among the people of Israel did invent a worship they who invented it instituted a day for it Exod. 32. 5. Jeroboam when he devised a worship he likewise ordained a day for it 1 Kings 12. 32 33. So Nebuchadnezzar when he set up an Idol and appointed a worship for it he set apart a day for the performance of this worship Dan. 3. 2. The miscreant Prophet Mahomet as he gave laws to his Proselytes and prescribed a form of worship so he himself instituted his solemn day viz. Every Fryday And he did not leave it to the arbitrary will and pleasure of his worshippers to ordain or solemnize what day they pleased Therefore from all this we may conclude unless Christ should fall short of the example of his Father Nay of the very Idolaters he must be the institutor of his own day for it cannot be proved that at any time or in any age that any publick worship was ever invented to be observed but the Author and institutor of it was also the institutor of the day for that worship not leaving it to others will to appoint the same for him Now Christ is the great Law-giver of his Church the glorious founder of Gospel-worship the Sacraments were ordained by him Prayers must be made in his name Discipline is of his institution the Ministry of his calling and sending and shall our blessed Mediator be only excluded from the appointment of a day for weekly Mark 16. 16. Luke 22. 19 20. John 20. 22. Mat. 21. 22. James 4. 12. Mat. 28. 19. Mat. 26. 26. John 14. 15. Mat. 18. 18. Rom. 1. 1. Cant. 2. 16. Hâ—g 2. 7. Rev. 15. 3. Eph. 1. 22. Mat. 18. 20. Psal 89. 7. Heb. 12. 2. and solemn worship Shall that cursed caitiff Mahomet as was hinted constitute and appoint a weekly day for his worshippers to observe to himself and read that system of Vanities that miscellany of lying inventions the Alchoran and shall not our beloved the desire of Nations the King and Soveraign of his people the Head of his Church not only influential but authoritative shall not he be invested with a power to set apart a weekly Sabbath for his people wherein they may meet in his name and assemble in his fear and congregate to hear his glorious Gospel and to participate of those blessings which attend his salvifical presence Or did Christ forget his main import when he ascended to his Father his approaching joy swallowing up his thoughts of and care for his poor Church which he left behind Surely we must make Christ the institutor of his own blessed day or inveniencies too many will arise which no salves will be able to smoother or suppress Should Christ have left it to his Church to appoint a day what end would be of the discord and disagreements which unavoidably follow When should the whole Church meet to enact such a constitution Or shall one part of the Church being as is
Rom. 8. 26 27. are three species of beings who enjoy glory the glorious God the holy Angels the glorified Saints and thus meditation may tune the morning of a Sabbath and the musick may sound all the ensuing day CHAP. XXII God is most illustrious in his Bounty and Presence WE must meditate on the morning of a Sabbath not onely on the nature of God on the attributes of God and on the works of God but likewise on the bounty of God and his indulgence in giving us his Sabbath Our very work on this day is our reward our spiritual duties are our greatest dignities O what an honour what a favour what a happiness doth God vouchsafe us in giving us this golden season David though a King and the Head of the Psal 84. 10. Psal 42. 2. best people in the world esteemed it an honour to be the lowest Officer in Gods house Psal 84. 10. The ordinances Psal 63. 2. of God are called our appearing before God Psal 42. 2. The fruition of them is as the seeing of his face Capernaum Deut. 4. 7. because of them was lifted up to heaven Mat. 11. 23. Who can tell what honour it is to appear in the presence of this King Or what happiness to see his lovely countenance In the ordinances of God the Christian hath sweet communion with ravishing delight in and enflamed affection to the blessed God if in them he tasts God to be gracious and hath the first fruits of his glorious and eternal harvest Well might the Protestants of France call the place of their publick meeting on Gods holy day Paradise Ordinances are heaven in a Glass and the Londs day is heaven in a Map O the bounty of God in giving us this blessed day This day is to be valued at a high rate therein we enjoy fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ we have tasts of the Spirit and feel the influential impressions of his grace we are going up the stairs till we come to the highest loft of 1 Joh. 1. 3. Psal 34. 8. glory The Jewes call the week dayes prophane dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Sabbath a holy and precious day The Greeks call week days working dayes but the Sabbath is a day of sweet rest Other dayes are common and ordinary dayes but this holy Sabbath is the chief of dayes Many daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all Many dayes as Lecture Prov. 31. 25. dayes Fast dayes Thanksgiving dayes have done vertuously but thou O Sabbath excellest them all Well might the good soul run to meet thee in the morning and salute thee with a Come my sweet spouse thee have I loved for thee have I longed and thou art my dearest delight How far then Honos ne sit onus nec verba spiritus verbera carnis should we be from accounting the Sabbath our burden and our attendance on Ordinances upon that blessed day our task or bondage O let us not esteem spiritual opportunities our fetters but our freedom Think what the Phaenix is among the birds the Lyon among the beasts the Fire among the elements the Prince among the Subjects that is the Lords day among other dayes Wax in the shop is worth something but wax put to some Deeds is worth thousands Ordinary dayes are wax in the shop but the Lords day is wax put to the deeds Upon this day Christ carries the soul into his wine-Cellar and his banner over him Cant. 2. 4. is love Can. 2. 4 5. Upon other dayes Christ feeds his members but on this day he feasts them on other dayes they have their ordinary dyet but on the Sabbath they have their exceedings on this day Christ brings forth his living waters Gen. 43. 34. his best wine Joh. 2. 10. His finest bread his Benjamins Haec visio non est personalis et Jacobi solummodò consolatio sed commune piorum solamen ut de praesentiâ et divino auxilio dubitemus Par mess On the Lords day Christ pitches his Tabernacle among us we are as it were taken up into the mount with God there to be transfigured before him Mat. 17. 2. When the Lord appeared unto Jacob in a vision by night he saw a Ladder erected between Heaven and Earth and the Lord on the top of it the Angels ascending and descending by it and when he awoke How dreadfull saith he is this place the Lord was here and I was not aware surely it is no other Gen. 28. 16 17. then the house of God and this is the gate of heaven Are not Hos 11. 9. our places of assembling the very gates of heaven In our Deut. 33. 3. solemn assemblies is there not a ladder erected between earth and heaven and is not the Lord at the top of it The gracious Sicut deus sanctus est sic etiam populum sonctificat et servat et in medio eorum est et apparet Riv. instructions which we receive are they not so many Angels descending The gracious motions which arise in our hearts upon meditation on Gods word upon thanksgiving to God or rejoycing in him or else sorrowing for our sins are they not as so many Angels ascending And have we not then great cause to be filled with admiration and holy gratulations to God for Sabbath indulgence for his rich bounty in the donation of his blessed day On the morning of the Sabbath let us meditate on the presence of God Many miscarriages are acted by man and many miseries do seize upon man for the neglect of this ever Deus totus oculus est et minima videt August seasonable meditation A solemn consideration of Gods presence would restrain us from sin would quicken us in duty would draw out our graces would compose our spirits and cast a holy awe upon us which things would be inductive of much fruitfulness and piety When we sin we forget Gods eye is upon us when we flag in duty we do not think God is nigh to us when we trifle away Sabbath we do not remember Gods hand will certainly be against us Now there is a two-fold presence of God There is a more general presence and God is present every where Deus presens est 1. Per Essentiam Psal 139. 12. 1 Chron. 28. 9. First By his Essence and so he fills all things 1 Kings 8. 27. and thus he fills heaven with his glory Earth with his goodness and Hell it self with his power and justice Secondly God is present every where by his knowledge so he beholds all things 2 Chron. 16. 9. Light and darkness 2 Per Cognitionem night and day are all one to him Psal 139. 12. He seeth the very imaginations of our hearts His eyes behold and his eye lids try the children of men Psal 11. 4.