second person in the Trinity who is the messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. and this party is called God Gen. 32. 30. It was such an Angel as blessed Jacob which was a work proper to God But now if it be demanded what it is to pray in the holy Ghost Answ It may be answered First The spirit helps us in prayer in a way of gifts Alludit Paulus ad illud Psal Psal 46. 8. Psallite sapienter pro quo hebraicè est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut intelligentio quod septuaginta vertunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut nimirum intelligatur quod canitur et quod precatur that the heart may not be bound up and that we may have necessary words to give vent for our affections It is the spirit which bestows the gift of prayer that we may enlarge our selves to God on all occasions 1 Cor. 14 15. But this gift is much bettered by Industry Hearing Meditation Reading Conference nay by prayer it self such holy exercises may be auxiliary to this excellent gift for the spirit worketh by means as the Sun shineth in the air in which it maketh its glittering ascents Secondly There is the gracious assistance of the spirit which is either habitual or actual First Habitual grace is necessary to prayer Zach. 12. 10. where there is grace there will be supplications as soon as the Child is born it falls on crying Acts 9. 11. Prayer is the Zach. 12. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratia et supplicatio in uno comprehenduntur kindly duty of the New Creature the regenerate person is easily drawn into Gods presence when once we are renewed by the Holy Ghost we shall certainly and sweetly pray in the Holy Ghost we shall offer up spiritual devotions acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Secondly There is the actual assistance which we have from the spirit when a man is regenerate yet he cannot pray as he ought unless he be still moved and assisted by the blessed spirit Now these actual motions do either concern First The matter of prayer which is suggested by the spirit Jam. 1. 17. of promise for let a man alone and he will soon run into Eph. 1. 13. a temptation and cry for that which is inconvenient and it would be severity in God to grant it and therefore the direction of the Holy Ghost is necessary that we may not aske Rom. 8. 27. a Scorpion instead of a Fish a stone instead of bread We take counsel of lusts and interests when we are left to our private spirit now the Holy Ghost teacheth us to ask not onely what is lawfull but what is expedient for us so that the will of God may take place before our own inclinations Or Secondly These actual motions of the spirit concern the manner of our prayers now in prayer we have immediately Quid resert gemere Suspiria confusa ad deum mittere fortè evanesâ—unt in aere sed interpelâ—atio spiritus certò exauditur â— deâ— Par. to do with God and therefore we should take great heed in what manner we come to him The right manner is when we come with affection with confidence with reverence First With affection Rom. 8. 26. It is the holy Ghost sets us on groaning words are but the out-side of prayer sighs and groans are the language which God will understand we learn to mourn from the Turtle from him who descended in the form of a Dove Mat. 3. 16. He draws sighs from the heart tears from the eyes and moans from the soul Parts may furnish us with eloquence but the spirit inflames us with love that earnest reaching forth of the soul after God and the things of God That holy importunity that spiritual violence which is often used in holy prayer comes onely from the spirit Many a prayer is neatly ordered musically delivered and gravely pronounced but all these artifices they are the curiosities of man and savour nothing of the holy spirit then it speaketh the spirit to be in a prayer when there is life and power and the poor suppliant sets himself to wrestle with God as if he would overcome him in his own strength Secondly With confidence In Prayer we must come as Children and cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. usually we do Suprema essentia spiritus dei qui orare facit orantibus promittit promissum largitur testimonium nobis intus perhibet quisnam dubitationi locus Chrysost not mind this part of the spirits help in prayer we look to gifts and enlargements but not to this Child-like confidence that we may be able to call God Father without reproach or hypocrisie not seriously considering it is the language of a Child which will onely prevail upon the affections of a Father Thirdly With Reverence That we may be serious and awfull God is best seen in the light of his spirit the Heathens could say We need light from God when we speak of or to God That sense of the Lords greatness and those fresh Non loquendum dâ— deo sine lumine and awful thoughts that we have of his Majesty in prayer are stirred up by the Holy Ghost He uniteth and gathereth our hearts together that they may not be unravelled and Devotio et pius in deum affectus debet semper viam aperire ad particulares nostras petitiones sive pro aliiâ— petimus necessaria sive pro nobis Daven scattered abroad in vain and impertinent thoughts Eph. 6. 18. And therefore to wind up this particular which hath been more copiously handled then usual when we go to pray at any time and so consequently in our Closets or Families on the morning of the Sabbath let us cast our selves upon the Holy Ghost as appointed by the Father and purchased by the Son to help us in this sweet and serviceable duty Rom. 8. 26. We are often tugging and labouring at it and can make no work of it but the spirit cometh and contributes his assistance and then we launch forth and our sails are filled and we go on prosperously in that omniprevalent duty A good Expositour gives this gloss on Rev. 1. 10. John was Arch. in loâ— in the spirit on the Lords day i. e. he was in prayer upon the Lords day the spirit mightily assisting us in prayer makes strange and glorious impressions upon us As it is reported Greg. Orat. de Laud. Basil of Basil That when the Emperour Valens came in upon him while he was in Prayer he saw such lustre in his face as struck the Emperour with terrour and he fell backwards Prayer can make a great change in us and work Luke 9. 29. great things for us and therefore the management of this duty must be dispatched with the greatest care and exactness We must not onely take our opportunities for prayer on the morning of a Sabbath and see to the qualifications of Psal 5. 3. of that duty to
Psal 103. 4. We are then stirred up to sing forth the praises of God and every part of man makes up the Consort the eye looks up with joy the tongue sets the tune the hand claps with triumph Psal 47. 1. The heart is the Organist which sets all the rest on going that bosom instrument begins the songs of praise Secondly Bishop Davenant expounds with grace viz. with gracefulness with a gracefull dexterity which brings Et prodesse volunt delectare both profit and pleasure to the hearers When we sing Psalms we must sing seriously and solemnly not lightly or sensually to gratifie a curious ear or a wanton spirit Psalms they are not the Comedies of Venus or the jocular celebrations of a wanton Adonis but they are the spirituall ebullitions and breakings forth of a composed soul to the holy and incomprehensible Jehovah Therefore David Psal 96. 1. will sing a new song to the Lord Psal 96. 1. i. e. in the Hebrew dialect a most excellent song a song tuned with suavity composed with piety and warbled forth Psal 137. 4. with real sincerity Thirdly This phrase with grace may most properly signifie the acting of grace in that heavenly duty Not only our heart but Gods spirit must breath in this service in it we Cum in conspectu dei Cantus sit hoc considera in mente Bern. must act our joy our confidence our delight in the Lord. Singing is the triumph of a gracious soul his unconstrained exultation which is not penned up in the mind by meditation nor confined to the ear in attention nor yet chained to the tongue in prayer and supplication but flyes abroad in a more solemn Ovation praising him who causeth him to triumph in Christ as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 2. 14. In singing 2 Cor. 2. 14. of Psalms the gracious heart takes wing and mounts up to God to joyn with the celestial Quire We must sing with understanding We must not be guided by the tune but the words of the Psalm and must not so much mind the melody as the matter we must consider what we sing as well as how we sing The tune may affect Psal 47. 7. the fancy but it is the matter affects the heart David in 1 Cor. 14. 15. the Old Testament Psal 47. 7. And the Apostle in the Spiritum intelligentiam opponit Apostolus ut causam effectum docens psallendum esse spiritu ut non modò à psallentibus sed ab audientibus intelligatur Quia secus fructu illud totum carebit Par. in Cor. New 1 Cor. 14. 15. call for understanding in singing otherwise we make a noise but we do not sing a spirituall song and so this duty would be more the work of the Chorister then the Christian and we should be more delighted with an Anthem of the Musicians making then with a Psalm of the spirits enditing We must therefore sing wisely that not only our own hearts may be affected but those who hear us Alapide observes that the word understanding mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 15. it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew which signifies profound judgment and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint which signifies the acuteness of understanding the sharpness of it the mind of the understanding if there be any more spiritual and freed from the body And thus we must sing our Psalms and spiritual Psallite diligentèr ut nimirum vos intelligatis sapiatis ea quae psâ—llitis et alii qui vos audiunt ea quae vos psallitis intelligant Alap Prâ—ces Pontificiorum linguâ ignotâ non tam Oratio sunt quà m murmur songs A learned man observes We must rellish what we sing Now the understanding must lead the way to the taste and the gust Let me superadde one thing more The Apostle in the forementioned place 1 Cor. 14. 15. saith He will pray with the spirit and with understanding he will sing with the spirit and with understanding So then we must sing as we must pray Now the most rude and ignorant Petitioners will understand what they pray rather then they will Petition in the dark they will confine themselves to a form or to the Lords prayer None so ignorant as not to understand what they ask Unknown prayers are the soloecism of Religion they are only a vain muttering a troublesome noise Children know what to ask of their Parents and their minority doth not speak so Luke 18. 13. much ignorance as to wrap up their requests in a cloud Luke 11. 13. that they cannot understand their meaning It is well observed by a learned man That the prayers of the Papists in an unknown tongue are not so much a supplication as a murmur Now ignorance in singing falls under the same condemnation with ignorance in praying and is as great a soloecism when we understand not what we sing it speaks the harshness of the voice the hardness of the heart and the impertinency of the service We must sing to the Lord In singing of Psalms the direct intention of our minds must be to God And we must be Deo laudes et hymnos in gratiarum actionem canamus Ansel Psalmus est signifer pacis spirituale thymiama exercitium coelestium luxum reprimit sobrietatem suggerit et lacrymas movet Aug. affected as the matter of the Psalm is and our present condition doth occasion Singing is part of divine worship a piece of Gospel service The Apostles counsel is That in singing we should make melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5. 19. And least we should omit this circumstance which is the substance of the whole duty the Apostle repeats his counsel Col. 3. 16. and adviseth us to sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. A learned man observes That the right singing of Psalms is an evidence of the holy spirit inhabiting the heart and a spirit of joy breathing in the Saints And if the spirit of the Lord be in us he will be aimed at by us in all our duties The spirit will mount service upwards will Psal 7. 17. lift up the soul in prayer Psal 25. 1. Isa 37. 4. will lift Psal 30. 4. up the hands in request Psal 28. 2. will lift up the head Cantare in corde domino non vocem excludit sed cordis affectionem cum voce conjungendam monet Dav. with joy Psal 110. 7. And will lift up the voice to God in singing David saith Psal 111. 1. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart Deborah and Barak sing their triumphal song to the Lord Judge 5. 3. And the Psalmist calls the songs of Sion the songs of the Lord Psal 137. 3 4. Singing of Psalms properly is nothing else but the lifting up the voice and the heart to God One gravely tells us Our In eo rectè sentiebant qui hunc spiritualem cultum
Exod. 17. 10. hands they are apt to faint and fall down but a continued violence and force must keep our affections in their highest sphere The Bird cannot stay in the Air without continual flight and motion of the wings nor can we persist in affectionate prayer without constant toil with our own hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol 2 affections faint and thoughts scatter weariness makes way for wandring so that we must take pains to keep our affections sailing towards heaven we must keep the wind of the spirit and row at the Oar that we be not sinfully becalmed and so miss of the end of our voyage Justin Martyr observes That the prefect of the assembly in his time used to pray with his utmost strength So then our prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be cordiall and affectionate Our prayers must be cloathed with humility we must pray in a sense of divine purity and of our own unworthiness Luke 18. 23. Not only the bended knee but the submissive Isa 66. 3. spirit becomes prayer Christ himself kneeled down and prayed Luke 22. 41. On the morning of a Sabbath we Quatuor sunt gradus humilitatis Primus est contemptibilem se esse cognoscere Secunduâ— de hoc dolere Tertius hoc confiteri Quartus Aequo animo ferre se contemptibilitèr tractarâ— Ansel have great things to beg and we our selves usually give our charity not to the sturdy but to the stooping beggar If we look for blessings from Gods hand it is fit we should lie at Gods feet Christ himself melted Heb. 5. 7. and shall not we stoop and be humble in prayer Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed Isa 38. 2. as being conscious of his own unworthiness covering his face with blushes which the world must not see and so confounded in himself he pours out his soul before God In this holy duty we lie at the allowance of Gods mercy and most rationall it is we should lie at the foot-stool of Gods Throne The Publicans stroke on his breast which was an evidence of his humility and self-abhorrency made his way to that acceptation the Luke 18. 13. proud Pharisee could not attain unto Our closet and family prayers on the morning of the Sabbath must be sharpened and spirited wirh the sense of want and with hungrings and desires after supplies The Mat. 5. 6. Neh. 1. 11. Luke 11. 13. Non frigidè à deo petere debemus beneficia sed affici nos oportet sensu et vehementi desiderio illarum rerum quas à deo petimus Daven beggar cryeth loudest his rags make him roar we are cloyed in our apprehensions and we are cool in our Petitions Necessity inflames importunity Were we but sensible on the morning of a Sabbath to come to our case in hand what need we have of sins pardon of an understanding heart of a hearing ear of a holy and suitable frame of spirit for divine Ordinances and to run profitably through the duties of the whole Sabbath surely our hearts would be like coals of Juniper Psal 120. 4. we should burn with ardency and importunity We pray most fervently when we pray most feelingly want is the bellows of desire Let In petendo panem nostrum quotidiunum egestatem mendicitatem nostram agnoscimus us therefore study a sense of our spiritual wants and that will set the wheel of prayer on going with the greatest speed and eagerness Let these introductory prayers on a Sabbath be animated with faith That grace makes every duty weight and every service without it if it be put into the ballance will be found too light In our prayers we must be perswaded of the Heb. 11. 6. 1 John 5. 14. Psal 10. 17. mercifulness of Gods nature to encline and bow his ear to them of the riches of his promises to encourage them of the infiniteness of his power to fulfill and accomplish them Olea Arbor pinguedine suâ fertur nunquam deficere sed folia sub aquis manere possunt virentia Par. or else all our requests are like the bird with clipt wings they may flutter up and down the ground but they can rise no higher We must believe that God can fill every chink of our desires and that he will send home the Dove with the Olive branch in his mouth These annexed Scriptures will further evince this truth 1 John 5. 14. Mat. 21. 22. Psal 141. 2. Jam. 1. 6. Psal 55. 17. Where David saith He shall hear my voice O rare act of vigorous faith In a word Then Jude v. 20. we pray aright when we pray in the Holy Ghost His concurrence is necessary God will own nothing in prayer but Rom. 8. 26 27 what comes from his spirit any other voice is strange and barbarous to him God delights not in the flaunting of parts and in the unsavory belches of a carnal heart nor in the tunable cadency of words which is only an empty ring in Gods ear But the method of the Lord is to prepare the 1 Kings 18. 38. heart and then to grant the request Psal 10. 17. Our heart is opened first and then God opens his ear Fire from Potentia ad precandum non est ex nobis metipsis sed ex spiritu sancto Psal 147. 9. Vt adjuetis me in Orationibus i. e. ut concertetis in agone mecum graeâ—è est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven to consume the sacrific was the solemn token of acceptation heretofore 1 Kings 18. 38. Fire from heaven is the token still even an holy ardour wrought in us by the Holy Ghost Indeed prayer is a work too hard for us we can babble of our selves but we cannot pray without the Holy Ghost we can put words into prayer but the spirit must put affections without which prayer is but cold prattle and spiritless talk Our necessities may sharpen but they cannot enliven our prayers The carnal man may cry unto God as young Ravens and as the rude Marriners did in Jonahs ship but now gracious affection is quite another thing There may be cold and raw wishes after grace in an unbeliever but Jonah 1. 6. serious and spiritual desires after the same blessed gift these Hos 12. 4. we must have from the Holy Ghost Quest Did we consider what prayer properly is we should then easily see the necessity of the spirits assistance Prayer is a Qui precatur debet esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certans et luctans etiam cum ipso deo Daven work which will cost us travel of heart Acts 1. 14. a working spirit Jam. 5. 16. an earnest striving Rom. 15. 30. and contending with God himself Col. 4. 12. It is very observable that the party Jacob wrestled with Gen. 32. 25. is called a Man an Angel nay he is called God a man for his shape and the form he assumed an Angel to denote the
we are contracted as a ship becalmed the Spirit fills our sails which is that VVind which bloweth where it listeth John 3. 8. Spiritus sanctus postulat i. e. postulare et gemere facit est hebraismus quo kal ponitur pro Hiphil Ansel When we are sad and dejected the Spirit consolates and chears us and flushes us with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. Oftentimes we cannot lanch forth in a duty the Spirit then helps us off from the sands Many times we are dull in hearing and then the Spirit opens the heart Acts 16. 14. and makes us vigorous and attentive And when we are at a loss in Prayer the Spirit puts life into our dead duty and makes us groan a sign of Sex modis in orando erratur primò si bonum temporale petimus animae nociturum Secundò si à malo aliquo quod prosit nobis liberari oremus Tertiò siquid petamus ex ambitione ut filii Zebedaei petebant primus in regno Christi quartò si quid petamus ex zelo indiscreto ut filii Zebedaei optabant ignem de caelo manasse in Sâ—maritanos Christum respuentes quinto si petatur ardentius quod utilius est differri sextò si petamus statum nobis incongruum life and furnisheth us with suitable petitions to accost and lay siege to the throne of Grace And when we are weak and stagger in a holy duty the Spirit takes us by the hand and sets us with fresh strength to finish our service the Spirit corrects all our errours in holy duties A learned man observes there are six great errours in Prayer 1. When we petition some temporal good to the disadvantage of the soul 2. When we earnestly desire the removal of some affliction which conduceth much to the good of the soul 3. When we ask something out of ambition as the sons of Zebedee that they might have a primâ—cy in the Kingdome of Christ 4. When we petition any thing out of an indiscrete zeal as the sons of Zebedee requested fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans who would not entertain Christ Luke 9. 54. 5. When we are earnest for that which it was better it was delayed that by this delay our prayers may be more importunate and our perseverance may be more fully discovered 6. When we beg that state of life in this World which God sees inconvenient for us Now the Spirit correct all these errours and is the Censor of our miscarriage in duty He maketh us more wise more humble more heavenly more self-resigning more patient in duty The guidances of the Spirit are the Pole-star to direct us in every Ordinance and holy service The Spirit is our advocate within us John 14. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Greek which fits us with holy pleas to sue with when we address our selves to God and carries out the heart to urge its case with greater earnestness with great weight and authority The Spirit is the President of our duties to guide the soul that it write fair without blot In a word The Spirit helpeth our infirmities in duty Not a good Angel as Lyra Not a spiritual man a Minister as Chrysostome Not spiritual Grace as Ambrose Not Charity as Chrysost tract in Joan. Augustine But it is the Holy Ghost as Pareus And this blessed Spirit helpeth us as the Nurse helpeth a little Child holding it by the â—â—â—eve As the old man is stayed by his staffe or rather â—â—â—peth together as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 26. seems to imply being a Metaphor taken from one who is to lift a great weight and being too weak another claspeth hands with him and helps him So the Spirit is ready to relieve us in all our spiritual duties The holy Spirit succeeds and prospers our holy duties It makes our duties prevalent with God God attends when we sing in the spirit God hears when we pray in the spirit Ephes 2 18. as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 14. 15. VVhen this Dove moanes within us Rom. 8. 26. God understands the groans of his own Spirit and will give seasonable answers God Donum et efficacia orationis non in verbis sed in gemitâ— desiderio affectu et suspiriis ignitis consistit Alap gives his Spirit to assist in these duties which he fore-determines to accept Man speaketh words in prayer but the Spirit raises groans Alapide observes God is not so pleased with locution as affection in that holy duty not so much with expressions as inexpressible sighs which are as incense in his acceptation As the smoak of that Cloud a sign of Gods smile and favour Isa 4. 5. A duty spirited by the Holy Ghost shall never fail an expected end for God knows the mind of his Spirit as the Syriack reads it Rom. 8. 27. As the Mother knows the groanes and cries of her tender Child and presently runs to help it and to give it what it wants and cries for The Spirit is our intercessour within us as Christ is our intercessour above us whose pleas shall 1 John 2. 1 2. not meet with a denial The Spirit moving upon the waters Gen. 1. 2. produced a World and brought forth living Creatures The Spirit moving upon the Word the dispensations of the Gospel causes the New Creation and makes living Christians O then when we come under the Word and are in the midst of the waters of the Sanctuary let us wait for the good spirit of the Lord Other Birds drive away but let the Dove come in Pareus observes Suspiria perturbata semper exaudiuntur Primó Quid sunt suspiria spiritus Secundò Quia semper spiritus interpellat juxta placitum et voluntatem dei Pat. that the groans of the Spirit within us shall not vanish into ayr and that upon a double account 1. Because the Spirit comes from God John 15. 26. and is his Commissioner in a gracious soul and he will not deny his Leiger in a Saint 2. The Spirit always intercedes according to the good will and pleasure of the Lord And pleasing petitions shall not meet with a repulse what suits with the heart of God shall open the hand of God Congruous desires shall be conquering desires The Spirit makes duties effectual to us That Prayer which is animated by the Spirit shall not onely gain upon Gods heart but melt ours If the Spirit open our heart in hearing we shall attend to the Word and savingly entertain it When Christ by the Spirit opened the understanding of the Acts 16. 14. two Disciples Luke 24. 45. then they dived into Gospel mysteries and understood fully what was fulfilled concerning the death of the Messiah When the Spirit brings home a Sermon he makes it fire to burn up the dross of the soul Jer. 5. 14. he makes it a hammer to break the hardness of the soul Jer. 23. 29. he makes it
to bind conscience Others have raised the Jewish Sabbath out of the grave of Christ to walk as a Ghost up and down the world when the Lords day hath for more then sixteen hundred years been its peaceable successor And thus Satan hath every way endeavoured to invalidate the power and ecclipse the glory of the blessed Lords day the holy observation of which he is the greatest enemy of And to this day this Apollyon and Abaddon a destroyer in any language attempts Rev. 12. 9. nothing more industriously then to draw men into a sluggish and sinful frame either to idle away Sabbaths or to spend them profusely in riot and prophaness How many proud persons waste the Sabbath at a Glass or dressing box How many intemperate persons drown their Sabbath Eph. 5. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 3. in luxuries and excess and are fill'd with wine instead of the holy spirit How many are catched at the bait of a Procul abjiciamus impura carnis opera et insanum voluptuandi studium Wal. mad eagerness after pleasure and delight as Walaeus calls it But let us watch against all these wiles and depths of Satan And indeed we should double our guards for there is not an Ordinance but Satan attempts to evacuate and make it a barren womb and a dry brest to the soul If Joshua stand before the Lord Satan will be at his right hand Zach. Rev. 2. 24. 3. 1. He cursedly â—nvies all our converses with God and would raise a cloud and thick darkness to hinder the transmissions of divine love Now he cannot beat life out of the Ordinance prayer will be a prevailing duty maugre Satans malice and therefore he would beat love out of us he would take us off by his snares and enticements either he would disturb us by his temptations or charm us by his perswasions or disengage us from holy and close communion with God by his flatteries and insinuations This Serpent for his subtilty and Lion for his cruelty will like Tertullus Gen. 3. 1. 1 Pe. 5. 8. Luke 22. 31. to Paul Acts 24. 5. attempt us most forcibly when we are pleading the cause of our souls in holy Ordinances on Gods holy day If the Sons of God present themselves before the Lord Satan comes among them Job 1. 6. If we attend in hearing the word the wicked one comes and is Mark 4. 15. ready to catch away the seed which is sown in the heart Mat. 13. 19. Satan enters Judas at the Passeouer John 13. 1 Thes 2. 18. 27. and some Divines assert at the Sacramental Supper How often doth Satan raise noise and disturbance to divert our thoughts and damp our desires when we are engaged in holy prayer that so our distractions may sower and disaffect our most melting devotions And therefore let us cast our selves upon this threefold experiment Let us Petition the Lord to fetter and chain up this roaring Lion so to muzzle him that he may be a Lion without a paw and a Serpent without a sting God cannot only tread Satan non deponit Odium sed vertit ingenium et cruentas inimicitias ad quietas convertit insidias Leo. Satan under his own but under our feet Rom. 16. 20. He can pinion Satan with a check and a rebuke Zach. 3. 2. He can chase him away with the prohibition of a word Mat. 4. 10. He that can bind Satan for a thousand years Rev. 22. can shackle him for a few Sabbaths Satan is a cruel but a conquered enemy Heb. 2. 14. He is a wolf in a chain Now prayer cannot only obtain the good spirit but Apostolus ait Deus conteret satanam sub pedibus nostris ut indicet infirmitotem nostram et salutem can restrain and bind up the evil one and bridle both his injections and disturbances and if thou prayest that thy enemy strike not Christ will pray that thy faith fail not Luke 22. 32. to shield off the fiery darts of the Devil Eph. 6. 16. And to stand against the wiles of the evil one Eph. 6. 11. Brayer can exercise the evil spirit fasting and prayer can Acts 26. 18. 2 Cor. 2. 11. cast Satan out of our bodies Mark 9. 29. much more out of our duties Resist the Devil It is the Apostles counsel 1 Pet. 5. 9. and the benefit will be He will fly from thee Now this Satan vetus hostis est cum quo praeliam gerimus sex mille annorum complentur ex quo hominem Diabolus oppugnat omni genere tentandi et artes atque insidias deficiendi usu ipso vetustatis addidicit Par ex Cypr. lib. de Exhort Martyr ad Fortunat resistence must be made by resting upon Christ by faith so taking in Christ as our second in the encounter and being fixed in holy resolution as the Apostle hints in the fore-cited Text. It is true as Paraeus observes out of Cyprian Satan is an old and experienced enemy but the shield of faith can secure us and the sword of the spirit can subdue him Christ put him to flight with a Scriptum est It is written Satan only batters yielding combats The bird is easily caught which flies into the snare His fiercest stroks are avoided by repulse We best resist him when we will not admit him into parley Let us remember he is the God of this world and so cannot interpose for hurt in spirituals unless we give him the advantage If he be a Prince it is of the Air 2 Eph. 2. And so by his own power cannot endamage us in things heavenly and divine He never conquers but when we let fall the weapons We never lose but give away the Victory and his insultation is the reward of our pusillanimity Let us not tempt the tempter by a frothy and slight spirit Indeed corrupt hearts are his territories and claim Satan maketh his greatest rapes on wandring and light spirits he Gen. 34. 1 2. is Beelzebub a God of flies who buzzes about vain dispositions Psal 108. 1. with his troublesome assaults and therefore on Gods Luke 11. 15. blessed day let us say with the Psalmist our heart is fixed Psal 57. 7. our heart is fixed Psal 57. 7. If our hearts are centerd in God we are above the attachments of the evil one Foolish men usually meet Satans temptations but being immured in Ordinances and onely minding Christ in our devotions this common enemy chained at Christs Cross as Origen speaks will leave us as he did our Master and dear Redeemer Mat. 4. 11. We must watch our Corruptions they are never so violent in their sallies as on Gods own day Pride will go in the most garish dress on the Sabbath and many happily will study more to bring a new fashion then a new heart into the Congregation Vlcerous consciences on this day will quarrel with divine truth or at least with the messengers of it Corrupt wounds will not endure the
Onkelos hanc exclamationem Jacobi ad Christum resert paraâ—hrasi plane piâ Non expecto salutare Gideon filii Joash neque salutare Sampson filii Manoe quae salus est planè temporalis sed expectâ— salutem redemptionem Christi filii David quae est solus aeterna Onkel God on a dying bed and waited for his glorious salvation On a bed of sickness thou mayest bend thy heart when thou canst not bend thy knee and stretch out the hand of thy faith when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty not obstruct it Then the patient prayes more feelingly weeps more heartily converses with God more greedily A sense of approaching death affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve he need not wave a Sabbath 4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the prophaneness of the Master the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on Gods holy day by the pride and vanity of her Mistriss Nay happily our case is a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in yet then though we have lost our freedom we have not lost our Sabbaths Israels worship was not lost but revived in the wilderness and there Moses talked with God as a man with his friend The uncouth and solitary wilderness was the Sanctuary Deut. 26. 10. where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God Exod. 33. 11. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship and in a storme Deus non terribilitèr sed amicè cum Moyse egerit Riv. too when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less but as the vassalized Israelites to groan more not to be weary of Sabbaths but Exod. 6. 5. to be more wary in their observation the bondage of the Acts 7. 34. body is no wayes eased by the hazzard of the soul The Heavenly Master must be served especially on his own day notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly that imperious worm If threats could have prevailed with the three Children they had worshipped a golden Image and not adventured a fiery furnace Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly not more heedless in Sabbath observation If our case is hard upon earth we should then the more endeavour to make it more glorious in heaven and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it Now therefore this being premised Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness when the world is turned into a Patmos to us Let us encourage our selves that this is not our case alone to serve God without company Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount there was no press of people or society Deut. 5. 31. Dan. 6. 10. of Saints to heighten his enjoyment Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone and his sacrifice was sweet though single Peter was praying alone at the top of the Acts 10. 9. house when he gets the company of an Angel that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess The woman John 4. 13. of Samaria enjoys solitary yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine nay waters of life did flow more freely then the waters of the well which did afford her the plenty of that Element And to come nearer to our purpose the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos when he was sublimated Revel 1. 10. with unusuall raptures and that upon the Lords day A single Lute can make sweet musick The Sun which gilds the world is but a single Planet And thy soul serving God alone on his day may be taken into galleries to walk Cant. 7. 5. with Jesus Christ and feed upon the honey and the honey Psal 19. 10. comb of an Ordinance The Word was more to Job then his necessary food when he lay on the dunghill alone Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise Mat. 18. 20. He was present though two or three were not gathered together If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone be much in prayer In this single devotion Christ is both our President Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour Mat. 6. 6. The Cum privatim et solitarie oramus ostentationem et affectationem humanae gloriolae omnino respuimus Chemnit Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles Jam. 5. 17 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruine Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives in them we avoid all ostentation as Chemnitius well observes and more imitate the votary then the Pharisee In them we can search our hearts more accurately deal with God more faithfully and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations Closet devotion is not stopt because confined no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night Psal 63. 6. in Mat. 6. 6. Psal 63. 6. Rev. 1. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 10. which he framed them Christ came to John in Patmos when the Island was his bolted Chamber not with bars but with waves Hannah prayed and wept alone and then she obtained a Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in Acts 10. 4. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 3. 17. prayer when there is no company to excite it and oftentimes God is most effectually present when man is wholly absent therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication In this case of solitariness let us be filled with holy meditations This holy duty of a Sabbath is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement nay it cannot well be performed Gen. 24. 63. in company the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind or Psal 92. 5 6 9. are started by the excitation of the good spirit In thy solitary Sabbaths let thy head work in meditation as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication These duties coupled like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostick and promise fair weather to the soul Meditate on thy sins Sin is first viewed by meditation and then moaned by confession and so consequently cashiered by repentance and this order is very proper and genuine first to cast the eye on sin and then to rend the heart for it and from it The head will affect the heart take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath to cast up thy accounts and Psal 4. 7. Jer. 31. 18 19 20. to look backward on thy sinfull life that thy soul may kindly melt and the Lord
Rom. 11. 16 17. should look greener and sprout more then that which is grassed in Let us be earnest with God for Ministers that their success may be great and that they may see of the travel of their souls Praescrip 5. and be satisfied The Ministers work upon a Sabbath may Interior vita vigor gratiae ad crescendum adolescendum in fide charitate et Christianismo hoc solius dei est Alap be painful from himself but it is prosperous only from the Lord the Minister throws the net it is God brings the draught nay he may cast the net but God directs it to the right side of the ship The Apostle assures us It is God gives the increase 1 Cor. 3. 6. That Gods work prospers in the hands of the Ministers and in the hearts of the people is from Gods smile not from the Ministers sweat The Minister may have skill to open the Text but God only hath power to open the heart Let this God therefore be sought to that he would fill the Ministers sail with a prosperous wind and that every Sermon they preach and every Sabbath they celebrate may be as the bow of Jonathan and the sword of Saul which returned not empty 2 Sam. 1. 22. And we have a rare and rich promise to build and bottom our prayers upon which is mentioned Isa 55. 10 11. As the rain comes down and showers from heaven and return not thither but Isa 55. 10 11. water the earth making it bud and bring forth seed to the sower and bread to the eater so saith God shall my word be that goes out of my mouth it shall not return to me void Let us heartily sue out this blessed promise in holy prayer to the Lord Strong prayers are the readiest method to make successful Sabbaths Ministers might do great things upon the prayers of the people they might convince conscience they Acts 2. 37. might prick to the heart and fasten truth upon the soul and go off in the evening of a Sabbath crying victory ovor captivated Converts and lead many lost sheep home to the great shepherd of their souls we have many still-born Ordmances because previous prayers did not put life into them It is prayer that can give a good Minister to a people Philem. ver 22. And it is prayer can bless a good Minister to a people How frequent and pathetical is the Apostle Paul with Ingens est orationum virtus potentia ut Paulus talis tantusque vir illarum ope subsidio indi geat Theopil those to whom he writes to beg and importune their prayers so Rom. 15. 30. Now I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ his sake and for the love of the spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me We may see the great Apostle of the Gentiles though resplendent with such rich gifts enriched with such eminent grace and conducted by the guidance of an infallible spirit yet he stood in need of the people prayers Nay this blessed Apostle not only sollicits the prayers of the Church of the Romans but he addresses himself to other Churches to that at Thessalonica 2 Thes 3. 1. Finally Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have a free course and be glorified even as it is with you Thus Gospel victories are usually the issue of wrestling with God And thus again Paul importunes prayers 1 Thes 5. 25. Brethren pray for us And again Heb. 13. 18. Pray for us This holy Apostle rests not so much upon his own pains as others prayers knowing that the gales of the spirit by which we hoise up sail for heaven are promised to earnest and importunate prayer Luke 11. 13. And indeed as the Minister must row with one Oare by powerful and painful preaching to the people so the people must row with the other by frequent praying for the Minister Dispensator domus dei curam hobet in eâ omnia regit omnia ordinat distribuit They must strive together as the Apostles phrase is Rom. 15. 30. In a word one piece of service which we owe to the Sabbath is that we beg of God that the Ministers who are stars Rev. 1. 20. may fructiferously shine upon who are light Mat. 5. 14. may be a safe conduct to who are Salt Mat. 5. 13. may throughly season and preserve who are Stewards 1 Cor. 4. 1. may feed and refresh the people of God on his own blessed day Let us be much in prayer that Magistrates would take care Praescrip 6. of Gods holy Sabbath Magistrates are called shields Psal 47. 9. Let us pray that they defend the Sabbath from sin and Lev. 19. 17. prophanation Magistrates are called Gods Psal 82. 6. Let us pray that they would remember their own title and commend Gods day to a holy and strict observation And Qui non vetat peccare cùm potest jubet Senec. surely as children for the most part are as the Nurses are so Sabbaths in Nations and Kingdoms are as the Magistrates are we may feel the pulse of the Magistrate in the observation of the Sabbath And therefore let us pray for Magistrates because the eye of the people is fixed more stedily on the Magistrates Sword then on the Scholars pen or the Ministers tongue Magistratical severity more awes and influences then Ministerial intreaties That weapon gives us the deepest wound which is sharpned by civil Authority When a Ministers zeal is insignificant In Sabbati observatione non Ministros verbi tantùm sed et Patres familias iâ—primis Magistratus versari decet Wal. the Magistrates heat will be effectual a Magstrates frown shall operate more throughly then a Ministers check When Nehemiah threatned the strangers to lay hands upon them they came no more upon the Sabbath day Nehem. 13. 21. The soft bowels of a Minister may be abortive when the sure force of a Magistrate may put life into the reformation of the Sabbath Besides the fourth Commandment is retinaculum caeterorum the bond of obedience both to God and man in the duties Custodire Sabbatum per Synechdochen accipiatur pro observatione totius legis praesertim primae tabulae quae religionem cultum dei spectat Alap of the first and the second table this Commandment is the golden clasp which joynes both the Tables together and therefore it is much to be observed that keeping the Sabbath from polluting it and keeping the hands from doing any evil are both coupled and joyned together Isa 56. 2. The pollution of the Sabbath is the usual introduction of all other sin It may be added if Magistrates let the reins loose to connive at vanity and prophaneness on the Lords day the Nation will be filled with evil subjects the Church will be filled with corrupt members and private families will be filled with stubborn children and licentious Servants and
when a Sabbath the day of God and our souls is Jud. 15. 6. almost lost in a Nation for this let tears be our drink and Jud. 21. 2. ashes our meat day and night And when the Magistrates Psal 42. 3. become Gallioes for the things of God let the people become Jeremies for the day of God Sabbath decayes will soon make a bankrupt Nation Nay lastly we may bewail the punished purity of Englands Sabbaths The people of God cannot be so good as they will on Gods holy day How often are the Saints in the midst of Lew Sabbati opera humana non divina prohibuit Tertul. their weeping eyes bended knees melting hearts mounting minds when congregated in secret to seek Gods face and to meet with Christ their beloved How often I say are they interrupted surprized haled away by Officers and the Sanctuary leads them to a Prison their Piety is uncharitably called treachery and their devotion is unreasonably interpreted Sedition This is Englands misery and unhappiness the Prisons are filled with spiritual worshippers and the Nation is filled with carnal Gospellers Prophaneness is uncontrouled but the most resined service of God is liable to poenalties Tertullianus de Cor. Mil. Plin. Sec. in Epist ad Trajanum Imper. De Amelucanis coetibus Christianorum in die dominigo mentionem faciunt and pursued with force and violence not because it is unsuitable to Gods will but it is inconformable to mans law Now as the Primitive Christians we must have our caetus antelucanos our early because unknown meetings on Gods holy day but surely it must needs be a great evil to rout the stars when gathered in a constellation to hush away the Doves when they stock to the windows and strange it is that mans wrath should be there where Gods presence is in the assembly of the Saints But that the people of God meeting on the day of God in the name of God for fuller communion Mat. 18. 20. with and enjoyment of God in obedience to the command Dan. 12. 3. of God should meet with frowns and disgusts should feel the sharpness of a Law or undergoe the keenness of Mat. 13. 43. the Magistrates sword and all this in a Protestant Nation Isa 60. 8. whose usuall Motto was Mildness This is a lamentation and Psal 89. 7. shall be for a lamentation Isa 4. 5. Ezek. 19. 14. FINIS The TABLE A SEnsual Actions to be forborn on the Sabbath day 20. and so sinfull 22 There shall be no Affliction in our Sabbath above 218 The Lords day is of Divine Authority 569 An answer to the Apostles preaching in the Synagogues on their Sabbath day 570 The Lords day instituted by Divine Authority 585 Not by Ecclesiastical ibid. Arguments to urge Sabbath-holiness 668. 718. 732. B The Bounty of God in giving us his Sabbath 186 Our outward Behaviour must be exact in Publick Ordinances on the Sabbath 277 The Sabbath instituted from the Beginning 526 C God is admirable in the works of Creation 147. 191 Conscience is chiefly to be dealt withall in Gospel Administrations 259 The benefit of Chatechizing 334 Some necessary Cautions to prevent Sabbath pollution 407 Several Cases to satisfie conscience in Sabbath Observation 440 The fourth Commandment cannot be Ceremonial 489. 544 The worke of Creation compared with the work of Redemption wherein the last exceeds the first 642 D Duties shall not want their reward p. 3 The Sabbath must be spent in holy Delight 53 The Emptiness of worldly Delights 58 Duration speaks the value of every good thing 209 The sweetness of Holy Duties 229 Holy Discourse doth well become the Sabbath 320 Several Directions for the better observance of the Lords day 353 The evil of Spiritual Doubts 382 All dayes are not eqaally holy in the times of the Gospel 496 The observation of one Day in seven to God hath its great advantages 499 The wildness of that opinion which makes every Day a Sabbath day 505 A seventh Day not the seventh day is commanded in the fourth Commandment 582 E To rise Early well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 85 Several incentives to this practice 86 87 c. The several Ends of the Sabbath 191 Divers Evils to be avoided in the time of publick Ordinances 297 Several Examples of Divine Justice breaking out upon Sabbath-breakers 683 England bemoan'd for Sabbath-prophanation 781 F Holy Fruitfulness becomes the Sabbath 56 Many Faculties and parts to be acted on a Sabbath 95 The Excellency of Faith 422 The sore judgement of a Famine of the Word 680 The influence God hath upon the Fire 716 G Many Graces to be acted on a Sabbath 95 God is most Glorious in his Nature and Essence 128 The works of Grace deserve our sweetest meditation 178 The works of Glory to be meditated on 185 Active Graces become holy Ordinances 316 How to procure Gods presence in ordinances 385 There are three Glasses to see our hearts in 445 H We must look on the Sabbath as Honourable 54 God most glorious in his Holiness 135 How we are to deal with our Hearts on the morning of a Sabbath 263 Holiness is engraven upon the Sabbath 733 I Holy Joy becomes a Sabbath 267 How our Inward man is to be ordered in publick Ordinances 300 How we must spend the Interval between the Morning and Evening worship of a Sabbath 319 The Lords day is a day of Rest not Idleness 427 The great evils of Idleness 435 Idleness on the Lords day a very great evil 436 The Jewes sometimes very exemplary in Sabbath-observation 514 We Christians are to out-vy the Jews in Sabbath-observation 634 The dreadfull Judgements which pursue Sabbath-breakers 676 L The Labourers plea for recreations upon the Sabbath answered 33 Impertinent Language unbecoming the Sabbath day 49 God is incomprehensible in his Love 143 Nothing in a Saint can make a change in Gods Love 145 The Lords day confirmed by all Laws 619 What Christian Liberty is 645 Some remarkables concerning Londons fire which began on the Lords day 696 M Secret duties befitting the Morning of a Sabbath 89 The benefit of Morning duties on Gods holy day 104 The excellency of Meditation 106 124. It s Nature 107. How it is distinguished from some things very like to it 109. How much and how long we must Meditate 112. The chiefest seasons for Meditation 115. The rich advantages of Meditation 119. Meditation proper to every Ordinance 121 122. It feeds our Graces ibid. And amplifies our Comforts 123. It s necessity 125 The Morality of the fourth Commandment 552 How the Sabbath was made for Man 648 O Outward enjoyments are the reward of Sabbath obedience 59 God is most glorious in his Omnisciency 134 The excellency of Gospel Ordinances 285. 423 424. 443 The first Original of the Sabbath 522 And most probably it was ordained in Paradise 524 P The Poor mans Plea for working on a Sabbath Answered 7 Rich Promises made to a due observation of the Sabbath 57 63 Prophanation of the Sabbath the greatest Prodigality 67 Preparation for the Sabbath very necessary and several incentives to it 71 What those Preparatory duties are which must precede the Sabbath 77 Publick duties become the Sabbath 93 Many Persons to converse with on a Sabbath 96 God is most adorable in his Power 133 God to be exceedingly admired in the works of his Providence 156 Gods Presence must be meditated on on the Sabbath day 188 Prayer well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 239 How our Prayers must be qualified 243 The necessity of the spirits assistance in all our Prayers 246 What we must Pray for on the morning of the Sabbath 249 Practice is the best use of Ordinances 161 The sweetness and excellency of the Promises 269 Singing of Psalms a sweet and an excellent duty 339 The efficacy of Prayer 425 The advantages of Praying alone 454 Miscellanious Prescriptions for the better discharge of conscience in Sabbath-observation 765 R Recreations unlawfull on a Sabbath 23 Reverence becomes the Sabbath 54 God is wonderfull in the most glorious work of Mans Redemption 167 All the attributes of God shone gloriously in the work of Mans Redemption 174 The benefit of Repeating Sermons 327 Why the word Remember is prefaced to the fourth Commandment 660 The Resurrection of Christ a forcible argument to Sabbath-holiness 750 S What a Sabbath days journey is 6 The whole Sabbath is to be spent with God 35 The worth of the Soul 38 The Saints must meet together on a Sabbath day 97 The Jewish Sabbath compared with the Christian 201 The Christians Sabbath here compared with his Sabbath above 210 Some eminent types of our Sabbath above 234 The excellency of the Scriptures 272. 326. 456. Reading of the Scriptures usefull in the morning of a Sabbath 273 Publick Assemblies most pleasing on a Sabbath 274 The mischiefs of Sleeping in Ordinances 280 We must be Spiritual in our duties when we come to Publick Ordinances 312 What it is to be in the Spirit on the Lords day 387 The rare effects of the Spirit 393 466 How to keep Solitary Sabbaths 451 453 T Gods Truth is a glorious attribute 139 Vain Thoughts must be avoided in holy ordinances 305 Two days in a week cannot be observed as Sabbaths 569 V The Beatifical Vision somewhat opened and explicated 214 Unbelief a destructive sin 421 Variety of Sabbath duties delightfull 465 W Secular Works unlawful on the Sabbath 4. By Scripture 5. By Authority Civil 10. Ecclesiastical 11. By Reason 13. Works of necessity may be done on a Sabbath day 17 God is infinite in wisdom far surpassing mans 136 To Work upon the Sabbath day very sinfull 215 Holy Watchfulness becomes a Sabbath 401 How to keep a Whole Sabbath to God spiritually and sweetly 466 FINIS
scarecly supplyed which lye undiscovered Let us therefore the evening or day before the Sabbath withdraw our selves from the noyse of the world and so quietly call our selves to an account concerning our progresse or regresse in Religion the foregoing week Let us further prepare for the Sabbath by stirring up in our selves holy affections It is fit the soul should be on the wing upon the Lords day First we should long for the day of God as the Psalmist saith Psal 42. 1 2. My soul thirsteth for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God! And as she said Psal 42. 1 2. Judges 5. 28. Why are thy Charriots so long in coming and Judges 5. 28. why tarry the wheels of thy Charriot So O when will the Sabbath come that we may sell all and buy the pearl of price O when will the day come that we may have communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly And we should long for God on his holy day Indeed there is nothing in God but what may set us on longing his Glory his Bounty his Purity c. Christ is altogether Cant. 5. 16. lovely and loveliness inticeth affection Beauty will attract love rich Pearls draw every eye so let us entertain Quisquis diligit deum sâ—gitta haec in corde ejus haeret et sâ—gittarius tam fugit tam sequitur ambo mâ—nent cum amante Del. Rio. in our thoughts whatsoever may ingratiate God and his Ordinances and let us kindle the fire on the day before the Sabbath that it may flâ—me forth and burn bright on that holy day A good man on Saturday evening going to bed leaped and cryed out It is but one night more and I shall be in the house of God upon his holy day and meet God himself in the use of holy things Let us before hand fall sick of Love and then how gratefull will the appearances of Cant. 2. 5. our Beloved be upon his own blessed day The fifth Duty preparatory to the Sabbath is earnest and fervent prayer Indeed prayer is the omniprevalent Engine which can do wonderfull things things above expectation among others it can admirably fit the soul for the Sabbath First For the Prayer of Faith can prevail with God for the pardon and forgiveness of sin and pardon'd sin will prepare â—randus est deus ut nihiâ— lâ—nguoris in nobis et ruinae pristinae relinquat ne rursâ—â— mali seminis pullalent rediviva plantaria Hierom. the soul for Sabbath-mercy those who are clogg'd with sin will quickly be tyred in duty Now the Sabbath is onely the Mart and spiritual Fair of duties The unpardoned sinner may spend not keep a Sabbath may pass away the time of it not enjoy the benefit of it Prayer I say can prevail for pardon The Lord directs us to this very means to procure forgiveness so Hos 14. 2. Take unto thee words and turn unto the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously God will give pardon but prayer must Jam. 5. 15. importune the gift David he prayes for forgiveness and Dum oratur deus ut omnem auserat iniquitatem ut non solùm peccata sed etiâ—m omnes peccatorum sibras evellat Hier. he obtains it On the Eve of a Sabbath let us be earnest for the pardon of the sins of our lives of the sins of the past week let the week be cleared before we adventure upon a Sabbath A sense of pardon will sweeten every service of a Sabbath make Duty delight and Pains a paradise Ordinances shall be our incomes not our incumberances Be earnest for pardon and the Sabbath shall not only piously but pleasingly be observed Psal 51. 11. Omnem aufer iniquitatem est prima petitio quae alias omnes meritò praecedit Riv. Prayer can obtain the spirit The donation of the spirit is promised to Holy Prayer Now our hearts are the spirit's Luke 11. 13. work-houses The spirit can chain up corruptions draw out grace blow away the froth and vanity of the soul open Spiritualia bona licet corporalia longissimo intervallo post serelinquat tamen sine conditione petere audemâ—â— certum est Christum ea nobis impetrasse et patrem propter ipsum nobis dâ—turum esse Chemn 2 Cor. 3. 17. Eph. 1. 13. Mal. 3. 2. the heart for the entertainment of Gospel-messages every way put us into a sweet and Sabbath disposition The spirit is a spirit of sanctity to make the heart gracious the spirit is a spirit of liberty to make the heart free and enlarged the spirit is a spirit of purity it is fullers sope and a refiners fire to purge and cleanse the soul and so adaequately prepare the Christian for the divine duties of the Sabbath Prayer layes the foundation of Sabbath blessings the prayer of faith keeps the Key of Gods treasury door Blessings indeed which are really so are the fruits of prayer Prayer it can open the womb Hannah prayes and the obtains 1 Sam. 1. 27. a Samuel It can melt the Heavens it can open the prison Jam. 5. 16. 18. doors it can avail very much and prayer can turn a Sabbath into the souls blessed harvest it can open the heart procure Acts 12. 7. a blessing upon Ordinances engage Christs presence Lutherus ait utinam eodem ardore orare possum tum dabatur responsum fiâ—t quod velis Lutr. 2 Cor. 6. 2. make duties fruitfull and spiritual Manna nourishing Prayer can make the Sabbath a time of grace an opportunity of life a day of salvation a term of love It hath been the manner of some Christians the day before the Sabbath to meet and spend some time in seeking God by prayer and quickning one another this fervently performed would lay a great ground of a good day indeed to follow and therefore let us Pray pray pray beforehand that divine Ordinances may be accompanied with divine benedictions that sins may Mat. 24. 20. be discharged that our souls may be enlarged and hearts may be upon the wheele Our Saviour saith Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day but let us pray that our flight may be upon the Sabbath our flight towards Heaven when the soul is upon the wing and the heart upon its speed towards Jesus Christ A believer on a Sabbath should make haste to enjoy the embraces of his beloved which are as the Faeminae Christum secutae pridie Sabbati id circò ad futuram corporis Christi condituram omnia praeparabant ut Sabbatho secundumlegem quiescerent Wal. Espousals forerunning an Eternal wedding day The Eve before the Sabbath we should spend more time then usually in family duties Our preparation must not only be the work of the Closet but the work of the Family Then we should read the Scriptures refresh one another with holy discourses be more solemn in our addresses to God
the dawning of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy word Morning gâ—aces like morning stars shine brightest David used to cast anchor upon divine truth in the morning he did not onely meditate on it but act his hope and confidence in it and this was Davids work in the earliest part of the day and this is a rare Copy for us How should we prevent the dawning of a Sabbath in our flights to God in our longings after Christ in beginning our Sabbath-work Judg. 21 4. Love to God and his Ordinances should tear the curtains open disdain the softness of the pillow and betimes 1 Joh. 1. 3. break open our closet doors to enjoy fellowship with Pers râ—m Rex unum habebat cubi uâ—arem qui idoffi ii habebu ut manè ingressus regi diceret Surge ô Rex etque ea cura quae te curare voluit Mosoromisdes Plutarch the Father and his Son Jesus Christ But to conclude this particular Plutarch reports That the Persian King had one of the Servants of his Chamber every morning to come to him and to cry to him Rise O King and follow those cares which thy good genius will have thee to pursue Let us onely invert the phrase and instead of thy good genius say Gods good spirit and it will be applicable to our selves Let us especially early on Gods day resolve we will follow the traces in which the holy spirit shall lead us Let us seriously preponderate the weight and multiplicity of a Sabbath-days work The Traveller who is to ride many miles gets up early in the morning and so sets upon Judg 19. 8. his Journey The soul hath a great way to travel upon the Lords day its task is great and therefore its time must not run wast There are many duties to perform First Secret duties On the Sabbath there are some duties which must onely be acted between God and the devout soul A gracious heart will have private intercourse with God Jesus Christ went into a Mountane apart to pray Mat. 14. 23. and he was there alone The Saint some times turns the Closet into a Sanctuary and never more fitly then on a Lords day Our dear Lord bids us go some times into our Chambers Mat. 6. 6. and shut the doors upon us The Saints are Gods hidden ones in point of worship they serve God in their recluses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem vis locum occulium notat Par. and private retirements and this is an evidence of their uprightness The Spouse sometimes meets her beloved and none shall be spectators of their holy fellowship Nunquam minus solus quà m cum solus and upon Gods holy day let the gracious soul set upon these several duties First The reading of Gods word The Eunuch was reading the Prophet Isaiah in his Charriot not onely because he would lose no time but because he would be more serious Acts 8. 28. in this secret duty David compares the Word to an honey comb Psal 19. 10. and honey combs are usually in the private gardens The same Psalmist saith The Law was Psal 1. 2. his Meditation in the night and then surely he had few witnesses to view his devotion The closet door may keep out not onely other people but other thoughts and then we are fittest to converse with Gods Word when we are most intent Secondly Another secret duty for the Lords day Is holy Prayer to God and praising of God Indeed prayer is a duty 1 Thes 5. 17. accommodated for all places for all times and all cases but closet prayer on the morning of a Sabbath is like a morning star which portends a fair day We read of our Saviour Mark 1. 35. that in the morning rising up a great while Mark 1. 35. before day he went out and departed into a solitary place Acts 10. 9. and there prayed let us go and do so likewise And holy Peter in this confessed that the Disciple was not greater then his Master for he pursued the same practice Acts 10. 9. Peter went up upon the house to pray about the sixth hour And as we must pray to God so we must sing the praises of God in secret sometimes our closets must not only be our Oratories to poure out our prayers in but our Mount Olivets to sing Hymns of praise to the Divine Majesty Mat. 26. 30. We must begin the works of Heaven in secret which we shall be doing to eternity in blessed Society Thus David praised God seven times a day and certainly he had not every time witnesses of his Divine Exaltation Psal 119. 164. Thirdly A third secret duty is Holy Meditation When the mind that Spiritual Bee is working and seeking honey out of every flower and this piece of service is calculated Gen. 24. â—â— onely for privacy Company untravelling whatsoever meditation works but of this more largely hereafter Fourthly The last duty to be acted in secret upon the holy Sabbath is Self-Examination when Conscience is both Judge Witness and Tribunal And in the acting of this duty there needs no Sessions-house but a mans own breast David saith when we commune with our hearts we must Psal 4. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 28. be still There wants no noise from the world nor from the company of others These two last duties viz. Meditation and Self-Examination are most proper for the most secret and retired places fitter for the Closet then the Church the secret Chamber then the open Sanctuary they are as one saith actions of the mind and so concern a Dr. Gouge mans own self in particular And these secret duties of piety should especially be performed in the morning of a Sabbath that the Lords day may begin with them and then we shall be in a good preparation for other duties The beginning with God thus in the morning may influence the whole Sabbath like the tuning of an Instrument which makes the whole Lesson's melody the sweeter and indeed pure Religion and undefiled which the Apostle speaks of Jam. 1. 27. never look's so comly as on a Sabbath day the day Jam. 1. 27. inhances the duty as the lovely dress doth outward beauty Thus we see there are secret duties to be acted on a Sabbath Secondly Private Duties On Gods holy day we must not lock up our selves and our services above in the Chamber but we must come down into the Family and there the morning stars must sing together to allude to that of Job Job 38. 7. Consort makes the musick The stars shine brightest in a constellation Jesus Christ would not be transfigured alone but he took some to be witnesses of his Glory when he would Mat. 17. 1 2. Luke 9. 18. Mat. 13. 36. pray his Disciples were with him and when he would open the blessed mysteries of the Gospel he takes his Disciples to him In our closets there is indeed a meeting of thoughts
the manner of our seeing God whether with the eyes of our body or onely with the eyes of our minds or whether as some with our bodily eyes spiritualized I shall not intricate my self in these mazes of dispute but onely conclude our sight of God will be glorious full perfect ravishing everlasting and will run parallel with our eternal Sabbath Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath above in the rest of it To work upon our Christian Sabbath is to defile it our sweat is our sin the pains we must take on this holy day is not with our hands but with our hearts The brain indeed must work but in holy meditation the tongue must work but in prayer and supplication the heart must work but in ardent and holy affection our faith must work but in seasonable application in apprehending Christ and entertaining Truth But as for secular works they must be Operum humanorum duo sunt genera unum est licitorum in se alterum est illicitorum licita sunt necessaria honesta utilia in rebus humanis Illicita sunt noxia inhonesta et superflua Quae in Sabbatâ— prohibentur non sunt in se idicita sed quae alitèr sunt omninò licita ut appareat prohiberi operas domesti eas necessariaâ— et honestas 〈◊〉 utilos quideâ— in se verùm ad sanctificationem Sabbati omninò incommodas Muscul wholly suspended and laid aside on the Lords day To work upon the Sabbath 1. It is a sacrilegious act it robs God of his time that season which God hath principally set apart to converse with men The Sabbath is the Lords day it is none of ours it is his inclosure none of our Common and therefore to spend his day or any part of it about our works it is both sin and sacriledge Secondly It is a confusing Act Six dayes we must work if we likewise work on the Sabbath where is the distinction Then there will be no wall of separation all will be working dayes and there is no day of rest and so the fourth Commandment is a meer parenthesis and God wrote with his own finger a meer impertinency To what a height of frenzy will these consequencies rise There is no gold of a Sabbath to be found in the rubbish of the week why should any rubbish of the week be found among the gold of a Sabbath Thirdly It is a destructive act It robs the soul of its sweetest opportunity Christ is most principally to be spoken with by the soul on his own day this day is set apart for intercourse with heaven it is the term time of the soul a busie time for his affairs and therefore to spend any of this time in secular works what is it but to pluck the bread out of the mouth of the soul and to throw fire-brands into the believers harvest Fourthly It is an Irreligious Act below the devotion of the very Heathens who have kept a Sabbath as a rest It is recorded in Heathen Stories That their Boyes go not to School on the Sabbath day neither are humane Arts and Sciences then taught or disputed And Philo Judaeus observes Quae operasabbato facienda deus prohibuerit illud non solùm ex aliis scripurae locis sed ex praecepti hujus verbis colligitur non facies ullum opus scil servile quod publici ministerii partes et cultum divinum impediat Morale enim et perpetuum est opera illa prohiberi quae publici ministerii exercitium impediant Interim tamen opera illa quae ad culium dei dilectionem proximi et vitae necessitatem pertinent non sunt prohibito â—â—r de leg 〈◊〉 That divers poor people that never had Scripture or Prophet among them but followed onely the conduct of the light of Nature and what they had learned from their Ancestours did keep the Sabbath day And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us that the very Heathens did account the seventh day a holy day And that Alexander Severus Emperour of Rome though a Pagan and an Infidel yet every Sabbath day he retired from his warlike affairs and went up into the Capitol to worship the Gods Musculus calls All secular and servile works the impediments of Sabbath-holiness And indeed they are that dirt which stops up the water-course of grace that it cannot run out upon the soul It is very observable in the time of the Law how severely God prohibits working upon the Sabbath First He puts a prohibition in the fourth Commandment that Standard of our obedience in the observation of the Sabbath Thâ—u shalt do no manner of work Exod. 20. 10. and these words are repeated Deut. 5. 14. That by the mouth of two Witnesses this truth may be established And Secondly From the root of this great Command sprouts many additional injunctions not to work upon the Sabbath Exod 31. 14 15. Exod. 35. 2. Lev. 23. 3. Thirdly Nay Servile work is so inconsistent with the solemn feast of the Sabbath that God forbids all servile works on other festivals those solemnities of an inferiour nature On the dayes of the Pass-over Lev. 23. 7. On the dayes of Expiation Lev. 29. 23. Lev. 23. 28 29 30. On the feast of Tabernacles Lev. 23. 34 35. And surely if inferiour dayes of observation were defiled by secular works much more the blessed Sabbath in which the people of God must keep their meetings in the Suburbs of Heaven Fourthly How often doth God espouse Sabbath and Rest together as indivisible Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 31. 15. Exod. Sabbatum est sanctum otium 35. 2. And indeed holy Rest is the life of a Sabbath and if the Sabbath rest be disturbed it faints away and becomes Leid Prof. an unprofitable miscellany of rest and labour and an expiring dying priviledge Fifthly How severely doth God threaten the disturbers of the Sabbath rest God threatens them to throw them out of the Church Exod. 31. 14. Nay to throw them out of the world Exod. 31. 15. And brands such as are violatours of his Covenant Exod. 31. 16. And shall Rest be so necessary for the legal and not as convenient for the Evangelical Sabbath Surely much more the Lords day must not be disturbed by mans work but as Christ on the first day of the week rose from his toyle to his triumph so must Christians on that sanctified day lay aside all their worldly toyle and labours and take up their triumph and rejoycing in God spending those golden hours of the Sabbath in heavenly Communion sweetly delighting themselves in the visits of their beloved to which all labour is a disturbance and so our Sabbath above it is a perfect an undisturbed rest Cessat homo ab omni opere die Sabbati futuram sanctorum requiem significans quâ—ndo laboribus hujus vitae liberati et sudore carporis de terso beatam cum Christo et jucundissimam vitam agemus Ambr. in which the mind shall not be rackt with
of God shall be close and intimate and not onely the conveyance of delight but an affluence of all good things and desireable satisfactions God being the chiefest good our beholding him must needs return to us all unspeakable happiness all joy and sweetness in the highest degree Mat. 18. 10. Our Saviour avers hereafter the Elect shall be like the Angels Mat. 12. 25. Luke 20. 36. And how glorious Dei visio summum erit beatorum praemium Aug. is their sight of God! Those excellent spirits how do they fill their joyes from that ocean of pleasure which flows from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyssen de Virgin the beatifical vision Augustine saith our sight of God is our chief reward in heaven Gregory Nyssen takes notice That so far to be honoured as to see God is the consummation of our hope the full of our desires the top of all unspeakable good things I may add to see God is the issue and stage of our faith the sea of enjoyment into which the River of faith runs and is lost How infinitely greater then will our enjoyments in our Sabbath above be then those we attain to here in our Sabbath below In our Sabbath above there shall be fulness of joy Psal 16. 11. A torrent of pleasures which will be ever running and over-flowing but here our delights Imago dei sita est in hominis mente sive in eo quod homo sit in summo rerum gradu in quo est dâ—us et Angelus scil quod sit naturae spiritualis secundum animam et naturae intelligentis Alap in the Lord are faint and few like the Sun shining in a showre mixed with successive tears In our Sabbath above we shall be satisfied with the likeness of God Psal 17. 15. But here in our Sabbath below we must bemoan the iniquity of our holy things not onely the iniquity of our slips but of our services there are black spots upon the face of our fairest duties those which look with the most taking countenance our very tears had need of washing our prayers interceding for pardon and our sighs which are the hearts incense had need perfuming and when we are in our best dress we may be censured for uncomliness In our Sabbath above there shall be everlasting triumph and exultation Psal 68. 4. The Saints shall be alwayes glorying upon their beds of spices and on their Mountanes of prey everlasting Cant. 5. 13. joy shall be upon their heads as a triumphall Crown Isa 35 Isa 35. 10. 10. But here in our Sabbath below our rejoycing is soon Isa 61. 3. over-cast either God hides his face in displeasure or we let Isa 65. 14. fall our hands in duty and then our triumph is turned into Mat. 25. 21. trouble and we are ready to say Wo to us that we sojourn in a valley of Baca a wilderness of tears and inconstancy The two Sabbatht differ in their suavity and delight Indeed our Sabbath below is not wholly destitute of its sweets Exod. 16. 14. and consolations dews of delights fall upon it like Manna about the Israelites Camp there is marrow and fatness in the Ordinances of it Psal 63. 5. There are refreshings and The sweetness of holy duties Psal 104. 34. Job 23. 12. Acts 10. 10. Dan. 9. 21. perfumed gusts in holy duties Davids meditations were sweet and lushious Psal 104. 34. Job perfers Gods word above his necessary food Job 23. 12. John was in the spirit on the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. in an excess of joy and in the height of intellectual rapture Peter in his prayers was in a trance Acts 10. 10. he was carried above himself and saw heaven opened to present him with unwonted views Daniel in the midst of his supplications had the prospect and company of an Angel Dan. 9. 21. An inhabitant of glory descends to congratulate and accost him nay oftentimes the word is sweeter then honey to the tast of the hearer Psal 19. 10. And while we attend upon it we feed upon dropping honey-combs Peter preaching to his Auditory there falls a showre of the spirit and heaven came Compositio thymiamitis offerri debuit coram domino Altare enim incensâ— ob eam causam fuerat constructum Riv. down to visit the Congregation Holy duties how often are they spiced with unspeakable delight and complacency Among the Oblations of the Jews there were perfumes to be offered upon the Altar of Incense Exod. 30. 1 7. And our Gospel Sacrifices are often sweetned with inward joy and consolation If Christ meet us in a duty or an ordinance he drops sweetness from his voyce Cant. 2. 14. sweetness from his lips Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his fingers Exod. 30 34. Psal 119. 103. Psal 141. 6. Lev. 16. 14. Cant. 5. 5. sweetness from his cheeks Cant. 5. 13. sweetness from his mouth Cant. 5. 16. If we tast any thing of his fruit it is very sweet Cant. 2. 3. when Christ gives a visit he is every way sweet to the soul The Sabbath receives an additional delight from the Fructus Christiâ— dulcis est accipi potest de praedicatione Evangèlii aut de contemplatione dei aut deconsolatione Sacramenti Del Rio. Communion of Saints we do not only meet with God but with his people on his sacred Sabbath we flock as Doves to the windows and as stars meet in a constellation as morning stars we sing together David remembers with some kind of complacency the joy he had in going to the Sanctuary with the multitude Psal 42. 4. The Primitive Christians prayed and brake bread together Acts 2. 42. Their harmony was their happiness and their society was their satisfaction But yet all these sweets have their allayes their damps and their ecclipses they are as the shining moon behind Isa 60. 8. a cloud they yield onely a duskish light Isa 38. 7. First The sweets of our present Sabbath are onely partial they may delight the soul they do not delight the body a diseased body is not cured at a Sermon a tormented body is not eased at an Ordinance if we read the dim eye is not made more vivacious if we receive the Sacrament the paralitical hand is not made more steddy the hand of faith may be strengthned but not the hand of flesh moreover the Ordinances they may delight the mind with information when they do not affect the heart with gracious impressions Hos 6. 3. they may be our Counsellers when they are not Psal 119. 24. our Comforters they may convey gladness when they do not transmit grace to us Mark 6. 20. Nay they may cherish one grace when they do not recruit another The word Maledicere rebus irrationalibus in se consideratis est otiosum vanum Aquin. may be a pillar to our faith when it is not a prop to our patience as Job he flings in his troubles Job
no silent voice Heb. 11. 10. of weeping or soft murmur of a gliding fear but all these In coelis ibi civiles erimus ibi erit nostra mansio ibi non solum erimus sed et ibi manebimus things shall be done away all capacities of trouble being swallowed up in perfect joy as the flaming fire-brand is quenched in an Ocean Secondly The Temple was a fixed structure and not portable to be carryed up and down as the Tabernacle was its station was at Hierusalem nor was it capable of removal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus and for some hundreds of years it remained in its usual place shining in its gold and glory And so our future Sabbath shall be immutable not subject to change or alteration not ambulatory or in a passage Our dwellings above are Mansions John 14. 2. Our enjoyments are stable and inalterable There we meet fully with God who is our fixed Center The Apostle saith our building in heaven is eternall 2 Cor. 5. 1. It is a building of God not made with hands and so not subject â—o decay or reparations Art John 18. 36. did not frame it and time cannot loosen or dissolve it But Rev. 21. 2. to revert to that from which there hath been some digression Our Sabbath below as in a morning blush doth something Dies dominicus Resurrectione Christi sacratus Aeternam non solum spiritus sed corporis requiem praefigurat Aug. de Civit. Dei resemble our Sabbath above as the Infant in the Cradle doth a man in his full stature or the dim candle the Sun in its greatest splendor And let us admire divine indulgence in giving us this faint resemblance before we come to the Archetype of an everlasting rest But in the generall thus meditation like the Sun may run through all the signs of the zodiack and fly from one spiritual object to another from the God of the Sabbath to the Sabbath of God which subjects have been thus enlarged for its larger circuit and freely dilate it self as far as our time shall either restrain us or give us greater leisure and when as the Sun meditation hath fetcht its compasse it may begin again CHAP. XXVI Not onely Meditation but Prayer with other services must fill up the Morning of a Sabbath BUT meditation must not enclose the morning of Gods holy day as its own proper demeans nor so grasp that Oratio sine meditatione tepida meditatio sine oratione est infrugisera Bern. precious time as to exclude the succession of other divine performances But as meditation doth well become the first approach of a Sabbath so prayer in the next place properly takes its course and order Let us shut up our meditations with prayer and pray over our meditations prayer sanctifies every thing and so it makes meditation effectual to 1 Tim. 4. 5. the soul that the pleasing ascents of that holy duty may bring down a blessing with them Bernard couples prayer 1 Thes 5. 17. and meditation prayer being luke-warm without meditation and meditation being unfruitful without prayer Both duties together being like the Diamond Ring or beauty and sweetness in the same rose light and heat in the same Eph. 6. 18. Sun These two duties adde reciprocall lustre one to another Now for the better mannagement of this duty on the morning of a Sabbath we will enquire into these three things First What are the opportunities when we must pray Secondly What are the qualifications how we must pray Thirdly What are the objects for what or whom we must pray Our prayer on the morning of the Lords day First Must be closet prayer we must as our Saviour saith Mat. 6. 6. Enter into our closet and shut the door upon Deus vult nos precari non ut videamur sed ut exaudiamur Par. us and so pray to the Father c. solitary prayers usually do not want the company of a reward Jacob wrestled with the Angel alone there were no spectators of the combat and he was not only a Jacob for wrestling but an Israel Gen. 32. 24 28 for prevailing Let us begin the Sabbath with secret prayer and so we may the more freely vent our thoughts pour out Vtile est fideâ—â—bus in conclavi precari quò liberius vota sua ad deum essâ—ndant sic ab omnibus avocamentis liberae sint mentes nostrae our complaints make our requests and send up our desires not being checkt or confined by the audience or observation of others Patients discover not their distemper before the multitude but privately to the Physician A secret prayer in the morning of the Sabbath may ease and fit the heart for the subscquent duties of the whole day we may kindly bemoan the sins of the past week humbly acknowledge our indispositions for the present Sabbath we may open to Prece utamur occuliâ sed manifestâ fide God the uneven beatings of the pulse of our souls and sadly bewail the mutinous disorders which are in our bosoms many things we may unravell to God we would not proclaim Solus Jesus siâ—ut alià s orationes fecit in secessu et secreto ut liberius sâ—ne impedimentis orare possit nocturnum tempus sumit ad orationem Tunc enim quies officiorum corporis et aliorum negotiorum mentem distrahentium tenebrae et sâ—entiâ— animum aptiorem faciunt ad orationem Chemnit in the ears of an associate assembly It is observable that our dear Jesus who had many things upon his heart he would take the privacy of place to pray in and would lay hold on the most retired seasons for that duty Luke 6. 12. He would pray all night that not so much as the Sun might be a witness of his with-drawn devotions the world must not hear what he had on his heart to speak to his Father Surely the closet is a good porch to the Sanctuary and we are made the fitter for the publick by chamber-devotion First the Evening star riseth alone and then it joyns with the stars of the night When we have opened our case to God in secret then we are more prepared to converse with God in Societies Showers in the night refresh the Garden and fructifie the ground though no eye behold those sweet and seasonable drops If we with Cornelius make our flight to God in solitary prayer Acts 10. 2. we may receive his answer your prayers are come up to God ver 4. And so the following Sabbath may be a prosperous gale to blow us nearer Mark 1. 35. Psal 63. 1. Dan. 6. 10. Job 1. 5. to our Eternal rest From our closets we must come down into our families and joyn with them in the same holy duty of prayer Family prayer lies under a command to be used on every day Jer. 10. 25. and bitter imprecations are poured out on those families which neglect it Jer.
10. 25. The Prophet calls for full vials to be poured out upon them But prayer never better becomes a family then on the morning of the Lords day Our closet devotions and family prayers common to other Numb 28. 9. days must not be omitted on this blessed day but rathet augmented It is worth our notice that the first service of Exod. 30. 7. the Jews on their Sabbath was burning incense before the Lord Exod. 30. 7. Now family prayer is the burning of incense in our family every branch of the family joyning in prayer doth as it were fill his hand with incense and so offer it up in Christs merit which is the sweetness of our 2 Cor. 1. 3. incense to the father of mercies and how perfumed must Sicut suffitus sursum ascendunt et odorem suavem praebent sic preces sanctorum coelestia petunt et deo grâ—â—ae sunt that house and family be where so much incense is offered Let our whole family in the morning of the Sabbath cry out seek the Lord O our souls As Mary Magdilen she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved Mat. 20. 1. John 20. 1. Mark 16. 2. She was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre And O that our love could keep pace with hers The whole family shall be as morning stars to sing together Job 18. 7. and pour out their souls in the bosom of God this is worship like that of heaven where the multitude the whole host of heaven sing forth the praises Job 38. 7. of God together And in this we follow the clew of Reason First Families have their wants as well as single persons they may want prepared hearts composed spirits exerted graces to meet with God on his holy day that which is the complaint of one may be the moan of the whole family as if some one string in an instrument be struck another string trembles heart may answer heart throughout the whole family Secondly Spiritual grace is as necessary to the whole family as it is to any particular person and so ardent prayer is as indispensible The whole land of Aegypt came to Joseph for Corn because of their want Every foul in the family Gen. 41. 57. had need to beg for the beauties of Christ that he may meet pleasingly with his beloved on his own day Grace is the comeliness of the Servant as well as the Master of the Child as well as of the Parent In the fourth Commandment the injunction is laid upon all within our gates to keep holy the Sabbath Exod 20. 10. Thirdly Moreover the whole family is to attend upon Quamvis nullus advena ad hoc cogebatur ut circumcideretur tamen ad auditum divinae legis adhibebatur et die Sabbati ad sacrum otium constringebatur Muscul publick worship and prayer is both the plow and the harrow to prepare the ground of our hearts to meet with God and to receive the immortal seed which is able to save our souls Jam. 1. 21. Indeed the Apostle adviseth us to pray continually 1 Thes 5. 17. but then more especially when we are going to the publick assembly to prepare us for those solemn Ordinances wherein we joyn issue with the Saints in holy worship and for this God will be intreated Families must not rush upon Ordinances as the Horse into the battel but prayer must prepare the way and so let us feed Ezra 8. 23. upon the Manna of the word and drink of the truths of the Jer. 8. 6. Gospel Fourthly Family prayer makes a musicall harmony Consort Vna communis oratio quam unâ mente et fidem Jesum inculpatâ protulerunt Ignat ad Magn. is the life of melody a heavenly host celebrated Christs Nativity Luke 2. 13. Not a single Seraphim but a quire of Angels In the primitive times there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One common consent and harmony of prayers And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us That in the golden dayes of the Church there used to be on the Lords day a pile and heap of suppliants having one voice and one mind in their prayers and addresses to God It was the wish of Athanasius in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Apology to the Emperor Constantius That all might lift up the same voice to God without any dissonancy or disorder Vnited prayers are the stronger voice united sighs are the thicker cloud united tears are the fuller stream and so make the deeper impression upon the divine breast The devotions of a family must needs make a greater noise then one single cry to awaken the Lord to give answers of love and grace A single instrument may make musick but no harmony As we must take the opportunities of prayer in the closet and in the family on the morning of a Sabbath so we must look to the qualifications of our prayers Every prayer is not an engine to batter heaven we must so pray that we may obtain we must therefore look to the character as well 1 Cor 9. 24 as to the custom of praying Our prayers both in the closet in the family and likewise in the publick assembly must be fetched from the heart Christiani usi sunt precibus prout illis suggerit Sp. s sine monitore qui de pectore orabant Tertul. not lip labour only then they are lost labour Tertullian tells us The Christians in the primitive times needed not a monitor in their prayers to dictate to them they prayed from their own hearts which suggested to them seasonable and sutable petitions And the Apostle tells us That the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Jam. 5. 16. The original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A working prayer when the heart works in holy affections and yearnings as the Bee in the midst of its wax and honey Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits Luke 11. 8. We translate the word importunity but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impudency In the times of the Law the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they asscended When we go to our closets or our families we must look to our affections in our addresses to God get Cant. 4. 6. them fixed by the Holy Ghost that they flame up towards Vtinam eodem semper ardore orari possim tunc erit responsum fiat ut velis Luth. God in devout and religious ascents There is language in groans a voice there is in weeping Psal 6. 6. Sighs have their speech and are articulate before God Indeed it is no easie thing to work a lazy dead heart to a necessary height of affection the weights always running down-ward but they must be wound up by force as the weight of a clock must be tugged up by the strings And when our affections are pulliced up it is hard to keep them so like Moses his
direct our requests that they may not miss Sicut in perperam dictis parum aut nihil momenti est sed ad irritandum deum contigit sic commodè et opportunè dictis nihil ferè bonitatis abesse creditur Cartwr the mark of a blessing But we must see to the matter of our prayers that our devotions be not onely sweet but seasonable not onely fervent but pertinent there may be petitions which are lawful which are not so expedient for the season of a Sabbath and therefore to secure us against such mistakes we must be informed what seasonably to beg of God as the boon of the instant opportunity We must put up our prayers for the Minister who is to be Gods mouth to us in the publick worship of the Sabbath we must pray that God would give him a door of Acts 16. 14. Eph 6. 18 19. Col. 4. 3. 2 Cor. 1. 11. 1 Thes 5. 25. utterance He that must open the hearts of the people to receive the word savingly must open the lips of the Minister to preach the word effectually How often doth Paul intreat the prayers of the people that Seraphick Apostle would not set sail without fresh gales of the peoples prayers Indeed Preces sunt arma sacerdotis Ambr. the preaching of the Word is an arduous affair and cannot be success fully managed without divine help and supplement which must be begged by prayer and importunity Ambrose saith That prayers are the weapons of a Minister Rom. 15. 15. It may be truly added that prayer must put weapons into the hands of a Minister for the killing and slaughtering of Eph. 6. 20. the lusts and sins of the people We must therefore pray on Audacitas et animositas Ministros decent et in Evangelio praedicando et in praedicatione defendendâ Theophil the morning of a Sabbath that the Minister may open his mouth boldly and publish freely the mysteries of the Gospel that he may speak the Word truly sincerely powerfully and profitably delivering what is suitable to our present condition For he that guided the arrow to kill a wicked Ahab 1 Kings 22. 34. must guide the truth to hit and destroy a cursed lust and corruption A learned man tells us we must pray for three things for the Minister That God would give him the Faculty the Liberty and the Efficacy of preaching That God would open the door that he may come out in the fulness of the Gospel of Christ to our souls That God would give him dexterity and wisdome to improve Petendum est pro Ministris 1. Vt facultas siâ— illis libertas et efficacia predicandi 2. Vt sit praxis hujus facultatis 3. Vt sit modus debitus in eadem exercenda Daven his gift and faculty Every one which takes a Lute in his hand cannot make sweet musick on it There is a holy Art in the Ministry and this we must beg for that God would give it to the Minister who plies at our souls The Word is a Sword Eph. 6. 17. We must pray that the Minister may weild it to the highest advantage and that he may do the greatest executions upon our carnal hearts That the Minister may speak as becomes him with that gravity affection zeal and soul-awakening power which may render him a faithful Ambassadour of Jesus Christ And we should consider the weightiness of a Ministers work Heb. 13. 18. Est â—fficium omnium piorum assiduè et enixè deum orare pro pastoribus et Evangelii ministris Dav. how tremendous and formidable it is The larger the Ship is the more strength is required for the lanching of it Prayers are more then needfull that the Minister may do the work of God in the strength of God One saith A faithful Minister is the treasure of the Church our prayers should be that this treasure may be spent in the enriching of our souls Surely preachers are much carried out upon the peoples prayers It is prayer fetcheth the coal from the Altar to touch their tongues and causeth these fishers of men to cast the Net on the right side of the Ship We must pray for the Congregation which associates with us Our Saviour saith Luke 22. 32. When we are converted Luke 22. 32. we must strengthen the Brethren The Apostle avers we must prefer others before our selves Rom. 12. 10. And surely Rom. 12. 10. then we must strive to advantage others as well as our selves Totus populus Christianus unum sunt Cyprian saith All Christian people are one thing but there must needs be a greater unity in the same society and congregation which is as a large family In our heavenly Sabbath Cypr. de Orat. Domin it will be our joy to see one another there the assembly of the first born shall congratulate the happiness of one another and then surely on our Sabbath here below it must be a gratefull service to pray for one another Thy Acts 16. 14. prayers may prevail with the Lord who alwayes hath the In nostis orationibus oportet nos esse memores non nostrae conditionis solummodò sed fratrum et aliorum à nobis key in his hand to open anothers heart as well as thy owne Some sympathy thou shouldst have with the members of Christ who joyne with thee and prayer is the best evidence of this fellow-feeling Christ prayed on the Cross for his adversaries Luke 23. 34. and wilt not thou pray in the Closet for the flock with whom thou art to mingle Let the miraculous workings of Christs heart be attractive to the meltings of thine that a showre of the spirit may fall upon all that hear the word with thee Acts 10. 44. God can 1 Cor. 13. 1. give a showre as well as a drop of his spirit and let me add this will be charity which may speak thee to be more then sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal As we must pray for persons so we must pray for things too on the morning of Gods holy day We must pray that the Gospel may run and be glorious and that that sacred leaven may leaven the whole lump Let 2 Thes 3. 1. us consider Rom. 10. 17. First The work of the Gospel is glorious it begets grace which is the seed of glory it is instrumental to bring to glory 2 Cor. 4. 4. The glorified Saints which are now in their triumphs Pauli armâ— fuere preces suae et suorum quibus omnes hostes devicit Haec nobis imitanda sunt hisce Armis Hezechias vicit Assyrium Moses Amalekitas Samuel Askalonitas et Israel 32 Reges Chrysost are eternally praising God for the blessed and glorious Gospel Secondly The work of the Gospel is necessary where there is no vision the people perish Prov. 29. 18. It is by the Call of the powerful and divine Gospel souls are brought home to Christ who is the great
the Gospel We might likewise fall into the thoughts That there are many opposites to the Gospel as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses 2 Tim. 3. 8. And thus Stephen in preaching Christ was opposed by the Sanedrim of the Jannes Jambres duo suerunt magi qui Mosi restiterunt cum eo miraculis et portentis edendis concertarunt Jews and truth was buffeted by Cryes Storms and Stoning of the Preacher Acts 7. 57 58. The building up of souls like the building of Jerusalem will meet with Sanballats and Tohias to race the very foundation Neh. 4. 3. Satans instruments will hinder Christs work The worlds persecutions are ready to obstruct the progress of the Gospel Threats and flames like the Angel which stood with a flaming sword Gen. 3. 24. are ready to keep the soul from entring Paradise And when persecution Josh 6. 20. arises for the Gospel sake mens fear often shuts out mens faith and few will close with a persecuted Gospel It may be hinted how the Sun of the Gospel is often clouded with reproaches Paul was called a Babler a setter forth of strange Gods Acts 17. 18. The Gospel is often Acts 17. 18. reviled where it cannot be rooted out and it must wear the habit where it doth not endure the execution of a Malefactor it is often wounded by the sword of the tongue where it escapes the sword of the hand Nay the evil lives of those who preach and profess the Gospel put no small stop to the enlargement and progress of Sicut Foetor apes ita peccatum bona abigit Hier. it and therefore what need of strong and numerous prayers to God That he would give the Gospel a free and uninterrupted passage into the hearts of all that hear it seeing it is encompassed with so many impediments and obstructions We must pray in our closets and in our families on the morning of the Sabbath that the Ordinances of Christ may accomplish their designed events that God would cloath them with his own power and that they may be mighty in operation for the bringing in and building up of many souls Psal 63. 2. and that the Saints may see the power and the glory of God in the Sanctuary There is no greater reproach to a Congregation or a people then barren Ordinances that they Hos 9. 11 14. should be clouds without water and breasts without milk and that God should give them a miscarrying womb pray Durum fuit maximè apud Hebraeos vulvam esse sterilem apud quos simulier esset infaecunda apud omnes infamioe stigmate notabatur Riv. therefore earnestly before thou comest to the publick Assembly that God would take away this reproach Indeed it is a mournful consideration that the blossoms of holy Ordinances which promise hopefully to bring forth fruit should on a sudden be blasted either with divine withdrawings or our own neglect Prayer is necessary for the success of Ordinances as a right wind is for the Ship which sets forth and a fresh wind to fill the sails to carry it to it s desired Port. And we are the more comfortably induced to pray for that Hos 9. 16. which is most consonant and agreeable to the Divine Will Now nothing can be more pleasing to the Lord then that Isa 45. 19. our prayers should not be in vain but return fraught with Mat. 13. 8. success and advantage and that the seed of the Word Luke 22. 19. should fall into good ground and so we should not hear in vain Let us therefore lie at Gods feet for that which is so according to Gods heart But as we must pray for other persons and other things on the morning of a Sabbath so more especially must we pray In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est metaphara à rebellicâ translata ad cogitationes ordine miâ—itari animo digestas instructas Cartw. for our selves The wise man saith Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart of man are from the Lord And he that makes provisions of grace must prepare the heart for grace we must make our approach to the God of Ordinances before we come to the gate of Ordinances he that gives us the priviledge must teach us how to use it Let us then earnestly beg Eph. 6. 17. First That God would enlighten our minds let us begin Quanta fuerit caecitas gentilium in gentilismo etiam quoad illa quae ratio naturalis lex naturae dictat Persae sorores matres filias suas nefandis sibi matrimoniis jungebant Humanis carnibus vescebantur Scythae filios suos immolabant Mossagetae cognatos senes comedebant Hircâ—ni senes avibus Caspii canibus devorandos objiciebant Lacedaemones furtum laudabant tanquam rem solertem ingeniosam Alii conjuges suis hospitibus tanquam symbolum hospitii adulterio polluendas concedebant Euseb lib. 6. de prepar Evan. at the head The Apostle saith Eph. 5. 8. That in our selves we are darkness Not dark in the concrete but darkness in the abstract which shews our own incapacity to understand Gospel-mysteries of our selves we are as Paul when he was first unhorsed by Christ Acts 9. 8 9. blind and had need to be led by the hand Nature's eye hath a mist before it and cannot of it self see the glorious things of the Gospel 1 Cor. 2. 14. But it is the blessed spirit must scatter this mist must take away the scales from the eye of our understanding and make way for an apprehension of the glad tidings of Salvation which spirit saith our Saviour is obtained by prayer Luke 11. 13. And if we have any feeling of our own blindness and not as Prisoners in a dungeon laugh at the Sun or if we have any high esteem of the great things of the Law Hos 8. 12. if we see the word with the eye of the Psalmist Psal 19. 7 8 9 10. First To be perfect in its nature Secondly Predominant in its effects converting sinful making wise simple and rejoycing sadned souls Thirdly Various in its operations rellishing the soul rejoycing the heart opening the eyes pleasing the taste enriching the believer all which are attributed to it nay if the word be everlasting in its duration which the Psalmist strongly avers Psal 19. 91. and is likewise attested Rev. 14. 6. we should then be importunate for that directive spirit which can lead us into the right understanding of this most glorious word This manuduction of the spirit was the summe of that precious promise which Christ when about leaving the world made to his drooping Disciples Joh. 16. 13. And how earnestly doth the Psalmist importune this very mercy That God would open his eyes that he might behold wondrous things out of his Law Psal 119. 18. Psal 119. 34. God must give us the prospect of the glories of Divine truth Psal 119. 73. This eye-salve we must beg of the
Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 4. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Secondly Christ doth not say if you love me dispute subtilly of my Commandments Deeds not disputes evidence 2 Cor. 3. 1 2. our love to Christ the regular acts of our lives not Prov. 2. 10. the ingenious canvasings of the Schools it is not reasoning out of Gods word but walking after that holy word speaketh us the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Thirdly Nor doth Christ say If ye love me prescribe Est observatio praeceptorum Christi omnibus Christi fidelibus eo loco ha benda ut si illa desit in ipsam Christi dilectionem peccare convinâ—amâ—r Musc my Commandments to others read them lectures of sanctity no but live them your selves Personal holiness is of absolute necessity to every Christian It is not our prescription but our obedience not what we dictate to others but what we act our selves shews our interest in and our union to Christ Fourthly Nor doth Christ say keep the Statutes and the Commandments of your predecessours no but keep my Commandments it is not a plausihle custome but an undefiled conscience speaks the Christian This the Lord pleads Acts 24. 16. with Israel of old Ezek. 20. 18 19. But I said unto their Children in the wilderness walk ye not in the statutes of your Ezek. 20. 18. Fathers neither observe their judgements nor defile your selves Mat. 15. 3 6. with their Idols I am the Lord your God walk in my statutes Mat. 7. 9. 13. and keep my judgements and do them The Pharisees darling Gal. 1. 14. was the tradition of their Fathers and they were the Master-pieces of Hypocrisie Col. 2. 8. Fifthly Nor doth Christ say if ye love me keep and observe Numb 15. 39 40. what seems right to you no but keep my Commandments though severity be written upon their very forehead Deut. 12. 8. though it be to the carrying of my Cross to the denyal of your selves to the laying down of your lives for my sake Non spectatores sed luctatores non qui vident sed qui vincunt in agone et certamine coronabuntur Alap and keep all my Commandments not what are pleasing to your flesh but what are enjoyned by my word So then if we have any love to Christ holy practice must be the testimonial of it Indeed many Christians are like Children in the Rickets they have big heads but weak joynts they are all for notions and head-light curious knowledge and airy speculations but they wave practical truths and that wisdome Prov. 2. 10. which entereth upon the heart Prov. 2. 10. This undigested knowledge puts out the fire of zeal as if the waters of the Cum sapientia hominis animum penetrat quà m suavis illi est supra mel et favum Cartw. Sanctuary should put out the fire of the Sanctuary and men could not at the same time be knowing and holy How ardently then should we pray to the Father that Ordinances may so influence our lives that our conversation may bear witness how much we love the Lord Jesus And thus much for the second duty to be performed on the morning of the Sabbath before we joyn with the assembly of Gods people viz. Prayer A third duty incumbent upon us before we joyn with the Congregation is taking pains with our own hearts and this properly is Closet work which we may manage to very good purpose in these four particulars We must endeavour to empty our hearts First To throw out all the trash to cast out all vaine Jer. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos reddimus cogitationes noxias pro nox iae Aquila vertit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. damni Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec omniasuns fructus vanarum cogitationum thoughts and worldly desires Ponds and Moates are cleansed to keep them wholesome Foolish and vain imaginations will fly-blow all our duties and therefore we must let down the Portcullis of our hearts to keep in straglers and wanderers that they may not interrupt us in our holy worship These Caterpillars will blast and spoyle the fruit of holy Ordinances and for the atchieving of this necessary worke First Let us beg of Christ that he would whip these buyers and sellers out of the Temple of our souls The spirit of God can sweep away these Locusts and supply us with more noble and heavenly cogitations he can drop divine meditations into our hearts and turn the dross of flatulent thoughts into the gold of spiritual and seraphicall He is called a holy spirit not onely from those gracious impressions he stamps upon the heart but likewise from those divine infusions he instills into the head and so the whole man is his workman-ship in Jesus Christ Secondly We may likewise lash and correct these vaine Eph. 2 10. Vndenâ—m sit facultas bona opera saciendi immò et bona cogitandi ab eo à quo fimus novae creaturae nempe à deo A quo enim Arbor habetut sit bona ab eodem habet ut bonos proferat fructus Zanch. thoughts which flit up and down in our minds by setting before our hearts the future judgement when thoughts shall be canvased as well as words and actions sinfull thoughts at any time are accountable but those which defile the Sabbath are of a double dye and are written in red Letters The consideration of a judgement day will turn Hagars and Ishmaels out of door carnal and foolish imaginations Indeed we are apt with Lots Wife to look backward towards the worldly pleasures of Sodom towards the vanities of the world which hath too much of our heart even on the holy Sabbath of God but pondering on our future account we shall keep our faces steddy towards Sion Thirdly We must consider how much this trash of the heart foolish and vain thoughts will distract us in duty Heb. 4. 14. they are like the ringing of Bells in Sermon time which drown the voice of the preacher and stop the ear of the Mat. 13. 22. hearer These vain thoughts choak the Word that it dies away untimely and works not lively upon the soul This is Isa 29. 13. that setting the heart far from God when we seem to approach to him in Ordinances which the Lord so much complains of Isa 29. 13. Distracted persons are fit for nothing nor hearts distracted and torn with the varieties of flashy conceptions Fourthly Let us take up strong and fixed resolutions that we Haec suit causa excaecationis judaeorum quia scil deum nominabant et honorabant ore tenus corde vero erant ab eo elongati et aversi will wash our hearts in innocency and so we will compass Gods Altar Holy resolution is a good guard to the heart it will
pluvia coelestis gratiae ad fructificandumirrigatur Par. us for publick duties but succeeds those publick ordinances to us It is like a good wind which doth not onely carry us off from the shore but goes along with us the whole Voyage it is a sweet duty which must be interwoven in every part of a Sabbath Prayer plows the heart for the seed of the VVord it commands rain to prosper that seed it secundates and ripens the Corn when it appears above-ground and it keeps the weeds from choaking the Corn It doth the whole work When we have been in publick with Psalm 109. 4. God Private prayer in Christ is the Altar which sanctifies the gift and Prayer in this interval of holy worship looks with a double aspect backward to what we have heard and forward to what we may hear indeed in this being like Heb. 4. 12. the Word a two-edged Sword it hath a double edge for our spiritual advantage Now our Prayer is like the sword at the east of the Garden of Eden which turned every way Acts 2. 27. Prayer in the Closet often saves us the labours of the Pulpit Jer. 23. 29. and directs the speech of the Minister to prick the Jer. 20. 9. 1 Cor. 3. 2. heart of the hearer Ananias came to Paul when he was praying Acts 9. 11. If the Word be an hammer it is prayer causes the stroke if the Word be fire it is prayer layes this fire on our hearths if the VVord be a sword it is prayer weilds this Sword to wound our lusts and corruptions In a word private prayer is the best meanes to prosper publick preaching and to guide the arrow of truth to hit the mark of Conscience Another Duty which must take up the space between the publick Ordinances is reading theÌ„ Scriptures VVhen we come home from the publick we must not be confined to the Scripturae sunt spiritualis aniae mensa in quá vivae representantur deliciae et maxima bona Anselm inclosure of the Ministers Sermon but we must open to the wide though pleasant Common of the whole book of God we must read some Chapters for spiritual edification Anselme used to call the Scriptures the spiritual Table of the soul furnished with all heavenly delicacies and with the choicest good things And on Gods holy day when our own table is taken away Let this spread-table be set before us for soul-feeding and repose Every Chapter which may be read is an Epitome of divine Truth which may Si quando procacior suit inimicus Psaltorium decantabat In tentationibus Deutero â—ii verba voluebat In tribulationibus Isaiae replicabat eloquia et scripturae testimonium in consolationem suam edisserebat Hierom. train up our children and influence our servants and which may build up our own souls and water every branch of the Family for spiritual growth in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord Phil. 3. 8. Hierome reports of Paula that he used the Scriptures as a Medicine against every disease If her enemies were violent she would turn over the Psalmes If her temptations were strong she would fix upon some part of Deuteronomy If her afflictions were forcible then she consulted some part of the Prophesie of Isaiah and so she drew the Scriptures into an universal comfort to her The VVord of God is our light to guide us Psalm 119. 105. And that family where the Scriptures are much read is a Goshen of light and pleasantness where Israel resides and inhabits when other habitations are covered with Aegyptian darkness with the darkness of sin and ignorance Governours of Families are the best stewards not onely when they lay in provisions from the Market Luke 12. 42. but when they bring forth spiritual food from the Scriptures by reading conscionably and constantly those Oracles of Rom. 3. 2. God to those under their roof for holy Job confidently asserts that the word is more necessary than the appointed food Acts 20 27. Job 23. 12. Let therefore the interval between the publick worship be filled up with holy travel in the counsels of God Scripturas non obiter inspicia nus et legamus ut externum corticem tantùm accipiamus sed adhibenda est diligens perscrutatio Chemnit recorded in Scripture Our Saviour imputed all the sottish mistakes of the Jews to their ignorance of the Scripture Mat. 22. 29. and lays it as a charge upon them to search the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. But it must not be as Chemnitius observes a transient glance but a serious search as Miners for Gold with pains and delight So then it is a great part of wisdom in Families to converse much with Gods word but especially on Gods day and most peculiarly when the most solemn and publick worship doth not call them off CHAP. XXXIV How we must spend the Evening of the Sabbath when the Publick Assemblies are dismissed THere are many who will give an easie answer to the question Nos ab omni opere externo vacantes deo uni et soli hoc die vacemus Ideireò et hunc diem benedixit et sanctificavit i. e. in usum suum separavit et elegit Aret. Eph. 4. 20. proposed and will tell us that when the publick service is ended we have our free liberty for all pleasing Recreations we may exercise our skil in a pair of Bowles we may exercise our valour in a pair of Cudgels we may exercise our fancy in a Dance or a Barly-break But all the reply I shall make this being spoken to before is I hope we have not so learned Christ Now therefore my next task is to lay down those duties with which we may close Gods holy and blessed day We must carefully survey what we have been acquainted withall in the publick The Repetition of Sermons is a heart-penetrating and soul-edifying duty the very manuduction Quod toties Paulus eadèm scribit hoc est ad corroborandum ut Christiani sint tutiores cautiores et vigilantiores Alap John 6. 12. and leading of families into the fear of the Lord Holy truths are those divine fragments which must not be lost but gathered up by a faithful repetition When the Minister hath ended to preach we must begin to rehearse such repetitions being the musical ecchoes from that sweet voice we heard before If Paul thought it not grievous to write the same things which he had taught before Phil. 3. 1. We must not think it painful or impertinent to rehearse the same things which we have learned before The repedting of 1 Sam. 3. 10. Quaevis cogitationes et rationes naturales intellectus quantumvis artificiosae quantum vis sublime subjiciantur doctrinae Evangelicae et de facto subjectae sunt omnibus eadem doctrinâ conversis Mal. 13. 19. truth preacht casts a new light upon it it clincheth Gospel counsel the faster upon the heart and
so corruption receives a double and by consequence a deeper wound Samuel answered not God till the third time it may be conscience will answer that word in the repetition to which it did not listen in the delivery Repetition of Sermons is like the Sun beams in the repercussion and reflexion which shine in a more fervent heat and a more considerable warmth The second shoot often kills the bird when the first misseth We know not what the second hearing of Gods Word may act upon the soul And we repeat Sermons in our families not onely barely to pass away the time of a Sabbath but by this fruitfull exercise our memories are recruited the Sermon is more distinctly apprehended the heart is a second time assaulted and stormed that it may be taken and brought captive to the obedience of Christ Besides in the repetition of the Word we have a more private tender of life and salvation misappehensions are this way removed and the Original is cleared by the Copy We often mistake the Minister when the Word is delivered when we repeat the word the mistake is easily corrected and amended to all which may be added by this heavenly course and practice Families are trained up in Gospel discipline and the more we hear of Christ in publick and in private the more our love to him is courted and conquered and thus Servants better understand their duty and Children better learn obedience If we leave those Sermons we hear at the Church door and there take our farewell of them Satan quickly takes up our lost treasure Diabolus est inster avis famelicae semen verbi rapiens et sat habet si homo verbi alimento non pascitur Par. and then our attempt in the publick ordinances was in vain it being not probable that we should give those holy Sermons room in our hearts which we were careless to lodge in our houses by a conscientious repetition The strongest hold we lodge divine truth in is slack enough Satan is ready to untie the knot let mans care tie it as fast as it may and therefore we must tie truth upon the soul with a threefold cord 1. With a diligent attention in the publick Assembly 2. VVith a heedfull repetition in the private Family Chem. Exam. de dieb Fest 3. In ardent supplication running over the heads of the same Sermon in our more retired and severer Closets It was the custome of our sweet and dear Jesus after he had preached a Sermon to the multitude to examine his Disciples privately about it and to rivet what had before been revealed Mar. 4. Truths like stars are best when fixed and when Luc. 14. our hearts not our understandings are their Orbs to move in Vain controversies as the wise man speaks may not be repeated for that will separate friends Prov. 17. 9. But divine Counsels must for that will unite truths to the soul And moreover our slippery memory may be made more consistent by repetition and so retentive of that word which is apt to slide away Surely great are the advantages of repeating Sermons in our families it is like Lots holy violence to the Angels to force them into his house The rehearsal of holy Gen. 19. 3. truth is a sweet attractive to draw Christ into the family and it sents the house with sacred fumes which the fire of the Word sends up This worthy practice makes our Si medico non est opproâ—râ—um de aegroto sâ—â—scitarâ— neque crimen est de auditorum semper inquirere salute Sic enim moniti quid expeditum sit c. Chrys houses Chappels of devotion and is nothing but Religion drawn in a smaller frame In a word when the Ministers blessing hath opened the door of the Sanctuary for our departure let us apply our selves to this experienced medium for soul advantage our souls which were tuning in the publick may be musical in private and the Sermon may be more sweet in the second gust and tast of it like the works of some learned men which are more refined and enlarged in the second Edition Another duty calculated for the Evening of a Sabbath is holy Prayer This powerfull service is a golden thread which must run through every space of a Sabbath it is the sacrifice of the Closet it is the service of the Family it is the ordinance of the Sanctuary it doth seasonably break Quartum praeceptum ponitur in gremio decalogi tanâ—uam testis amoris divini et nostrae obedientiae the morning of a Sabbath and usher in the following duties it doth sweetly concur with the mid-day of the Sabbath when our devotion like the Sun should be at the highest remembring that the Commandment for the Sabbath is in the midle of the Decalogue And there is more work for prayer it must shut up both the Morning and the Evening Worship there must be prayer to beg a blessing on truths already discovered that in their light we may see light Psal 36. 9. And indeed prayer doth most becomingly close the Mat. 13. 23. Evening of a Sabbath then the lifting up of our hands are Psal 141. 2. instead of an Evening sacrifice Prayer is like a setting Sun which is most glorious like a well fraught Ship after its Voyage which lands at the Port which is pleasing and joyous In the Evening Noahs Dove brings the Olive branch Prayer Gen. 8. 11. often is this Dove when after the travels of the Sabbath it sums up all and importunes success and acceptation then the soul is calmed with peace and rejoycing In the Evening Mat 14. 23. Dan. 9. 21. Christ wrestles with his Father alone in prayer as if the Sun should not see the triumphs of his Victory Daniel was praying in the Evening and then the Angel came unto him the messenger of glad tidings to this humble Supplicant 1 Kings 18. 37 38. Fire comes upon Elijahs Evening sacrifice when Prayer presented the oblation as a sign of pleasing acceptation We must then shut up Gods day at Gods feet that he may bid Luke 2. 29. Eph. 1. 6. us depart in peace for he hath accepted us in his beloved otherwise we may go to bed but not to rest And our conclusive prayers in the Sabbaths evening must be 1. Confessory Our best Sabbaths have not escaped the stains of sin there will be iniquity in our holy things our Condonet mihi deus etiam sacrorum meorum delicta Aug. best services are like the spotted moon or a jewel with flaws Augustine would beg pardon for the sins of his holy duties And we when our Sabbath is setting have more need of tears then triumphs and say as the Romans did of one of their Victories such another would undoe them Prayer Jam. 3. 2. Psal 119. 59. therefore in the close of the Sabbath must look up to God with a weeping eye and we must pray that God would
Jer. 3. 13. forgive the sins of our prayers that our dull ear flat heart ranging mind floating thoughts treacherous memory may be pardoned to us and that the sins of our Sabbath may not sowre the sweets of our Sabbath and so our precious priviledges become as Vriahs letters whose contents were the destruction of the bearer We let fall an Evening dew of Aliud Sabbatâ—m et alia requies relinquitur et restat populo dei popu-lo fideli et Christiano putà requies gaudium et solennitas coelestis figurata per Sabbatum Judaicum tears upon our very services on Gods holy day 2. Petitory But our sighs must not so stop our language but we must be begging as well as moaning and there are many things we must importune the Lord for the winding up of his Sabbath we must beseech him that his smiles would speak his acceptation of what we have performed that holy day that his spinit would feal upon us those instructions which we have heard that day that our lives might conform to those blessed ordinances which we have enjoyed that day that a full fruition of himself may succeed the sweet communion we have had with himself that day and that the present Sabbath may be the harbinger of an Eternal Rest which is the glorious reserve God hath made for his Saints Heb. 4. 9. We must likewise pray that every lust complained of that day may receive its deaths wound that every sin confessed and acknowledged that day may receive its full pardon that every opportunity of life possessed that Ecclesia â—â— domus orâ—tionis quia in eá a deo petimus peccatorum veniam vitiorum victoriam virtutum robur et incrementum in tentationibus constantiam in gratiâ et virtutibus progressum felicem mortem et sa lutiferam beatitudinem Alap in Is day may receive its designed end Wrestling with God is never more seasonable then on the day of God then it is both seasonable and sweet therefore let it put its last hand to our Sabbath Of all graces faith wears the Crown Eph. 6. 16. Of all duties Prayer wears the Garland Isa 45. 11. This is the favourite in the Court of heaven to whom the King of Kings can deny nothing Gods house must be called a house of Prayer Isa 56. 7. not of hearing not of singing not of receiving but of praying One letter in Gods name is he is a God hearing prayer Psal 65. 1 2. It is prayer can sanctifie afflictions it is prayer can bless provisions it is prayer can sweeten Ordinances and make them marrow and fatness to the soul Psal 63. 5. Prayer is the Porter to keep the door of our lips Prayer is the strong hilt which defends the strength of our hands Prayer is the Chymist which turns all into Gold and it is prayer can turn a Sabbath into that which is better then gold Let Prayer then bring up the rear of our services on a Sabbath 3. Gratulatory In the close of a Sabbath let us triumph 1 Thes 5. 16. and â—â—joyce in the Lord and in the cool of the evening let us Semper gaudete si non actu tamen habitu Cajet not lose the heat of the day Let not our Sabbath be as Nebuchadnezzars Image whose head was of Gold breast and armes of silver but the feet and lower parts iron and clay Let not our hearts in the morning of a Sabbath have heavenly Dan. 2. 32 33. heat and be in a golden temper and in the evening as dead and cold as the iron and the clay It is very sad when our affections on a Sabbath are like the grass the Prophet speaks of Psal 90. 6. In the morning it flourisheth Zach. 14. 6 7. and in the evening it is cut down dried up and withered Some experienced Christians can say that upon the continued 1 Chr. 23. 30. care throughout the Sabbath in the evening thereof they have received large enlivenings of soul Plutarch reports of a River which runs sweet in the morning but bitter at night Let not this be the emblem of our condition but rather as Rivers have their Evening Tides as well as their morning so let it be full water with us in the evening of the Sabbath and then we have many things to praise Jehovah for 1. We must magnifie the Name of God for the time of a Psal 92. 2. day that the candle of our life burned one day longer when Divine Justice might have snuffed it out Acts 17. 28. 2. For the sweetness of an Ordinance Ordinances are the souls Jubile the walks where we meet with our beloved the Golden Scepter of Grace which God holds out to Esth 4. 11. us now to come in and receive favour the white flag of heaven to bespeak us to yield to Christ and we shall be received into grace and favour And how many of these Jewels doth God set a Sabbath with 3. For farther tenders of life and salvation Let God be praised that still the bargain is driving for eternity every offer of pardon in the Gospel is renewed love the fresh soundings of Gods bowels his heart once more yearning towards the poor soul And is not this worthy our highest thanksgivings The Persians adore every new rising of the Sun and shall not we adore the Lord for repeated tenders of salvation 4. For the liberty of Gods Sanctuary which is his Royal Illustâ—â—t deus faciem suam i. e. lucidâ serenâ benignâ et amicâ facie respiciat ad templum suum et illud instauret Palace to entertain his Saints in where he gives his sweetest and most satisfactory discoveries Psal 73. 17. There are the goings of God Psal 68. 24. There God sheweth his power and shines in his Glory Psal 63. 2. There Gods strength is evidenced and his beauty unmasked Psal 96. 6. And there he causeth his face to shine Dan. 9. 17. which is the most beautifull sight on this side the beatifical vision 5. Let us praise God for the Riches of a Sabbath In this Psal 14. 20. blessed season we enjoy the treasure of his Word without Rom. 3. 2. which we should have been both unholy and unhappy and by its powerfull operations we are made both gracious and glorious and the giver of such a gift deserves the elevations of our praise and we should commemorate it with an Higgaion Selah The light of the Sun Moon and Stars are Gen. 1. 18. of great concernments to men they are the Governours of Joel 3. 15. day and night But the light of Gods Word is of infinite more value The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood Joel 2. 31. but not an Iota of Gods Word shall pass away or perish By the Word the glory and beauty Cur non potest Iota perire quia tunc periret vox et sententia legis ex Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
divinae naturae tribuendum judicarunt singings must not serve our pleasure our wantonness our gain but our Saviour our Christ our God In this heavenly musick we must study not so much to keep time that we do not spoil the Consort as to keep the heart close to God that we do not spoil the Duty The heathens celebrate their false gods Neptune Mars Jupiter c. with Songs and Hymns and think that by this service and worship they proclaim their greatness and Divinity And shall Christiani essent soliti ante lucem convenire carmenque Chrâ—sto quasâ— deo dicere not we much more celebrate the praises of God and Christ who hath loved us and given himself for us Gal. 2. 20. in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual songs shall not God have the sweetness of our voice the melody of our hearts the songs of our lips nay the musick of our holy lives that all that is within us and without us too may praise his holy and glorious name And thus at last there is laid before us a Scheme of Sabbath observation and we are instructed how to keep the Lords day according to the Lords will which doing we Psal 4. 8. â— shall lie down at night with safety and satisfaction A well spent Sabbath will warm our bed at night will strew our bed with roses will sent it with perfumes nay strew it with pearls and we may joyfully expect a full crop of blessings the subsequent week nay our future life may be prospered with the gifts of the right hand and the left and drenched with the effusions of the upper and the nether springs CHAP. XXXVI Some supplemental Directions for the better observation of the Lords day BY way of Addition and Appendix some other particulars may be annexed and suggested for the furtherance Sâ—bbatum est aureum vitae tempus of this blessed service Indeed much of Religion is summed up in the care of Gods Sabbath and we should be as chary and tender of this trust viz. The Lords day as Jacob was of Benjamin in which Child his life was bound up The prophane person wasts this golden talent the formalist Luke 19. 20. wraps it up in a Napkin but the sedulous Saint puts it out to great advantage and will give up his account with joy Bishop White tells us The keeping holy of the Lords Bishop White in his Preface to his Treatise on the Sabbath day and why then should he plead so much for recreations on that holy day it is a work of piety a Nursery of Religion and Vertue a means of sowing the seeds of grace and of planting faith and saving knowledge and godliness in the peoples minds And our blessed Lord and Saviour being duly and religiously served and worshiped upon his own holy day imparteth heavenly and temporal benedictions Thus this learned man seems to lay the whole weight of Religion and to entail the whole reward of godliness upon a due observance of Gods blessed Sabbath And let this ever be the praise of his learning Undoubtedly Religion and the Sabbath are twins which live and die together And the piety of the Sabbath is the prosperity of the Nation But let us hasten to some further directions for the more sweet and full discharge of Sabbath piety Dir. 1 We must keep Sabbaths not only personally but domestically not only by our selves but by our families It is not enough for thee to pray but thy family must joyn in prayer Abraham Gen. 18. 18. caused his family to serve God which gave him no small interest in the love and heart of God Joshuas holy resolution was That he and his house would serve the Lord. Josh 24. 15. On a Sabbath every house should be a lesser Temple where all should meet to worship Every one must keep this holy Josh 24. 15. day in order Superiours must be carefull that inferiours observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 20. 10. it Can a Master of a family be said to keep a Sabbath when he is praying and his servant is sinning his Child is gadding his Wife is visiting In Heaven where there is an everlasting Sabbath kept there the whole Host is praising God and the Inhabitants of Heaven are called a Family by the Apostle Eph. 3. 15. Our services must be the musique of a Consort not of a single Instrument In the 4th Commandement Servants are commanded the sanctification of the Sabbath as well as Masters and Children as well as Parents This blessed Command takes Necessitas obedientiae non ex cusat servum sed necessi aâ— coâ—ctionis in the whole Family within its circuit And learned men observe the necessity of obedience doth not excuse the servant from observing this day onely the necessity of compulsion Servants must not work this day by command but onely by overpowering force and violence as the Israelites did in their Aegyptian bondage In matters of Religion there is no difference between bond or free male or female Gal. 3. 28. Every one hath a soul to look after an account to give a Christ to pursue Communi sanctificandi sabbatum lege constringuntur omnes ex aequo herus dominus pater liberi superiores inferiores Muscul a Heaven to take by force Mat. 11. 12. There dwelleth a piece of immortality in the bosome of the meanest servant And that Child which hath no portion to receive hath a Christ to ensure which is the work of this holy day Museulus observes The common Law for the keeping of the Sabbath equally reacheth all and is a common bond to oblige all and in this it is like the Law-giver It is no respecter of persons Acts 10. 34. nor must the power of Superiours prejudice Religion A Governour of a Family cannot lawfully call off his Children or Servants from religious observations and so from the duties of a Sabbath and Religion is as much the interest of the meanest Servant as of the greatest Masters of the most inferiour Peasant as of the most noble Prince Nay the lower our condition is here the more strictly we should keep the Sabbath that we may better our estate to come in that place and condition where all civil distinctions will be taken away The greatest Magistrate is called to be a nursing Father of the Church of God Isa 49. 23. and therefore herein must he look that the Church be fed and not delivered over to dry Nurses They are Gods Ordinance and their power is of God for of themselves they can do nothing Joh. 19. 11. And therefore they must honour God uphold his Ordinances 1 Sam. 2. 30. They must give to God the things which are Gods Rom 13. 1 2 6. Mat. 22. 21. and must employ their Power and Authority to the service and glory of Christ Wherefore seeing Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 27. Mat. 12. 8. Prov. 8. 15. They must
no discord or division It is very deplorable to consider Quot homines tot sententiae what confusions are in many families so many persons so many opinions the Master is of one Church the Wife of another the Child of a third and may be the Servant of a fourth the Master possibly will sing Psalms the Child or the Servant happily cannot joyn in that heavenly duty Are not these families too like the speckled bird the Prophet speaks of Jer. 12. 9. Or like the spotted Leopard Jer. 13. 23. too like Josephs party-coloured coat which afterwards was dipt in blood Gen. 37. 31. The Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assures us that God is a God of Order and not of Confusion 1 Cor. 14. 33. Christ's coat was not torne though lots was cast for it It was the praise of the Primitive Church They did serve God with one accord Acts 2. 46. Magna suit Ignatio cura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ecclesiâ Ordo venustatem parit confusio infidelitatem Zach. 14. 9. the same pulse beat in all the same spirit acted them all the same love united and espoused them all the same service employed them all Divided Families like divided Kingdoms cannot stand The four and twenty Elders in heaven sung the same song Rev. 4. 11. The Angels all utter the same triumphal words Rev. 5. 8 9 11 12. It is a blessed and glorious promise That we shall call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one consent Zeph. 3. 9. How pathetically doth the Apostle press unity Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. A consort of Musicians play not several tunes but one and the same lesson Concord in service is the Musick of a family when we all sing the same Psalm all pray the same prayer fix our thoughts on the same truths hear the same Sermon and variety is over-ruled by unity Surely divisions are the wounds and jars of a family and such contrarieties are the flashing emblems of novelty and sad Prognosticks of fatall scepticism Let us then study that our selves and families may serve the Lord on his own day with one voice with one shoulder with one lip and with one heart Vnited stars make a constellation When stars do fight it presages great slaughter and is no less then miraculous Jud. 5. 20. Dir. 3 We must act the services of the Sabbath freely and chearfully Our services must be the fruit of love not the effect of force Holy delight must draw us to the Sanctuary not a pressing and rigorous conscience God loves a chearfull giver and a chearfull worshipper It was Davids joy to go with the multitude Psal 42. 4. Our service on a Sabbath must not be as wine squeezed from the grape but as water flowing from the fountain Our service must be the service of children not the homage of slaves In this we must imitate Ezek. 10. 5 the Angels who have their wings to fly upon every Neminem voluit cogi sed sponte prompto animo offerri quicquid unus quisque conferri vellet voluit deus hilares datores etiam et spontaneos cultores eos solos acceptabat Obsequium enim involuntariè delatum obedientiae nomen non moretur Riv. commanded service It was a brand put upon the people of Israel they were weary of his Sabbaths Amos 8. 9. The Sanctuary must be our Paradise not our Purgatory In the time of the Law those who would offer to the Lord they must do it with a willing heart Exo. 35. 5. Rivet well observs Involuntary obedience deserves not the name much less the reward of obedience Our duties on the Sabbath must be lively and vigorous The true Mother cries the living child is mine 1 Kings 3. 22. So God saith the living Sabbath is mine It is a character of Gods people that they are a willing people Psal 110. 3. The Hebrew reads it a people of willingness to shew how exceedingly willing we should be in the day of the Lords power which is principally his own holy day It is usually the sigh of a poor Saint Lord I would run faster but my corrupt heart hampers me Sabbaths should be our element not our burden David made it his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only request that he might spend his whole life in the Temple Psal 27. 4. Every thing in an Ordinance might flush our joy and fledge our desires 1. The superscription it bears it hath the stamp of Christ upon it Preaching is the preaching of Christ the Sacrament is the Supper of Christ Now the name Jesus should be like Caesar his Quirites it should put new life into the Saint 2. The advantage it brings It brings spiritual Life Faith Rom. 10. 17. Conversion Ordinances bring spiritual lading to the soul Acts 16. 14. Lydia was converted by the preaching of Paul 3. The end it designs which is the everlasting good of the soul We hear that we may be holy we receive that we may be hearty we pray that we may be happy Eternal Justificatio praecedit gloriam vitam aeternam Fulgent life is the stage of all Ordinances the center where the lines of every Ordinance meets And the Gospel is generally called the Gospel of life and salvation 2 Cor. 2. 16. Eph. 1. 13. Let us a little glance at the pleasing gradation Faith comes by hearing Justification by Faith and Justification ushers in holiness here and future glory and happiness Thus every Ordinance of a Sabbath may accent our de-delight and put an emphasis upon our joy We must then Rom. 8 30. keep our Sabbaths in holy joys in heavenly satisfactions and the Bride-chamber here below must be in our own bosoms Psal 119. 97. On this day our feasting must be converse with God our meat and drink must be to do our fathers will Psal 119. 20. and to do his will must be our meat and drink Jobn 4. 24. On this day we must be filled with the spirit which is better Cant. 5. 1. then new wine The day of God is prophetically called a day of joy Psal 118. 24. This day literally is a day of delight it is the day on which Christ sprang from the Mark 16 9. grave and gave a new life to the world This day prefiguratively is a day of rich consolation for it prefigures an eternall Sabbatism with the Lord Heb. 4. 9. It adumbrates that glorious state when we shall enter into our Masters joy Mat. 25. 21. Our services then on the Lords day must be enlivened with activity and sweetned with alacrity Dir. 4 Our services on Gods day must be solemn and serious Though they must not be without joy yet they must be without lightness we may be complacential but we may not be formall Delight well becomes a Sabbath but laughter doth not We must consider we have Sabbaths to carry on soul work which is an interest of the greatest importance
Momentum unde pendet aeternitas Alap Now if ever this is the Sabbaths Motto This is our moment on which eternity depends Though there be no vacation for sin yet the Sabbath is the Term-time for the Torius mundi opes non conducunt nec sufficiunt ad redimendam unam animulam deperditaÌ„ sed omnes animae sunt redemptae pretio sanguinis Chemn soul the Sabbath is the Mart the Staple the Market for the soul and not to improve this opportunity judiciously savingly spiritually with the greatest intent of mind with the greatest severity of observance with the greatest inclinations and workings of spirit is the highest vanity and prophaneness A slight vain spirit on a Sabbath is like tears and sighs at a Nuptial Feast or laughter and jocularity in the house of mourning On the Lords day we must pray as for our souls hear as for eternity and improve Ordinances as those who are to deal with an infinite God in Ordinances What we do we must do with all our might as Qui rectè currit in Christianismo coron am gloriae accipiet Chrysost the Wise-man speaks Eccles 9. 10. Now especially we must run the race which is set before us and strive to enter in at the strait gate storm heaven that we may take it by force Sweat in our callings is our policy but sweat and labour in holy duties is our wisdom In the duties of the Sabbath 1 Cor. 9. 24. especially we wrestle for a prize we seek for life as those persons who fetched water for David from Bethlehem with Luke 13. 24. hazard and invincible magnanimity Frozen duties will Mat. 11. 12. speak cold answers and a light dead careless frame of spirit only teaches God to withdraw his presence from our 1 Chr. 11. 18. seeming approaches We must pray and hear on a Sabbath as David danced before the Ark with all our might 2 Sam. 6. 14. we must stretch out the hand of faith lift up the 2 Sam. 6. 14. voice of prayer and breath out the longings and anhelations of our souls These heights of spirit do exceedingly become the holy and blessed Sabbath Dir. 5 We must he frugall of the time of the Sabbath The filings of Gold are precious much more the filings of a Sabbath Every minute of a Sabbath is like a pearl small but of great value There are no loose minutes in the Lords day every little parcell of time is a holy fragment which must be gathered up that nothing be lost We must fill John 6. 12. up every space of a Sabbath either with holy thoughts divine meditations ejaculatory prayers reading of the Scriptures or some holy duty correspondent to that holy day Every branch of this consecrated time must bear precious fruit we should in our Sabbath below imitate our Sabbath above and there no time will be lost Not a drop of idleneness in an Ocean of rest Though there will be no pains in glory yet there will be perpetual praises eternall uninterrupted Hallelujahs and there shall be no breach or chasm in our Sabbatum eâ—t sanctum otium Leid Pros everlasting triumphs Indeed the Sabbath is rest from our callings but none from our duties it is an holy leisure for our souls which must not run waste Grains of Musk Fragmentorum collectione et asservatione Christus nos monet frugalitatis ne insumendo et prodigendo bona à deo nobis concessa uno impetu perdamus sed quae supersunt religiosè colligamus et seponamus Lyser are sweet and valuable so are the most minute pieces of a Sabbath The Romans were so ambitious of the Consulship that one Consul dying the last day of his Authority one sued for the remainder of the time whence that memorable speech of Cicero O vigilantem Consulem c. O watchfull Consul who slept not one night in his Authority Such holy ambition we should have for the time of a Sabbath we should sue for the smallest remains of it to improve for soul advantage The Author of the Practice of Piety complains of some who spent their Sabbath or a great part of it in trimming painting and pampering themselves and were like Jezabels doing the Devils work when they should be doing Gods Surely such are the greatest unthrifts Neque dominicis diebus quae sunt hilaritatis praeter sanctitatem aliquid dicere aut facere concedimus Clem. and are guilty of the most prodigious prodigality It was a pious constitution of Clemens That on the Lords day we should give no way to mirth or earthly delight but all our words and facts should savour of holiness Dr. Bound sadly bemoans the custom of some great personages who lay longest in their beds upon Gods holy day and made it a day of pleasing Sabbatum est observandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flesh which should be a day of sanctified rest And saith this worthy man in an extasie of zeal We must not give our selves to sleeping on this blessed day no more then to surfeting The Prophet Joel tells us On solemn Feasts the Priests were to lie all night in sackcloth Joel 2. 13. And we know Hester spent three nights and three dayes with her Maids in fasting and prayer Hest 4. 10. And can there be a greater solemnity then the Sabbath the day Imperatum suit â— deo ut sanctifices et consecres totum Sabbati diem et in illo toto die divinis vacare possis Zanch. Iren. contr valent for transacting the great affairs of eternity our golden spot of time to get a Christ to get a crown Zanchy observes That the whole of a Sabbath without abatement and curtail is to be consecrated to God Irenaeus one of the morning stars of the Church informs us That the Sabbath doth teach us there ought to be a perseverance and a continuance of a whole day in the service of God And the Council of Paris an assembly of learned men give in their suffrage to this truth in these words Let your eyes and hands be lifted up to God all this day To the same purpose speaks the Council Conc. Turon cap. 40. Calv. in Deut. Serm. 34. Muscul in quartum praeceptum Pet. Martyr in Gen. 2. of Turon But I shall not over-load or clog the Reader with humane testimonies Let me only subjoyn the attestation of incomparable Calvin This day saith he is not ordained for us only to come to a Sermon but to the end that we may employ the rest of our time to laud and praise God Here we may take up that of the Prophet Mat. 1. 14. Cursed is the deceiver And this is too much to imitate Ananias and Saphira to keep back part of the price of a blessed Sabbath Acts 5. 2. God will not have us to divide the Sabbath between himself and our selves this is to make a separation between God and us Gods day must be spent in
then let not a Sermon satisfie without Christ in a Sermon let not reading a Chapter content without we read Christ in that Chapter As once Bernard despised that Book wherein he did not read Christ And let us alwayes remember that Ordinances they are the institutions of God and he that made a brazen Serpent heal Num. 21. 9. can make his own institutions effect our cure Object But the poor souls greatest Query is How shall I meet with God in Ordinances who shall open the door into the Gallery where I may be with my Beloved Answ In answer to this something we have to do as well as something to enjoy Our pain must go before our pleasure we must not be wanting to meet God if we expect that God should meet us Therefore We must be earnest in Prayer we must cry out O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill to thy Tabernacle then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy Psalm 43. 3 4. We must make our addresses to God if we look for his approaches to us God sends a Preacher to a praying Paul God Acts 9. 11. sends an Angel to a praying Daniel God comes himself to Dan. 9. 21. a praying Solomon Prayer is an humble summons for the 1 Kings 2. 3. divine appearance it can not onely tie Gods hands Exod. Acts 10. 2 3. 32. 10. and command returns Isa 45. 10. But it can obtain Gods presence If Moses say I pray thee God presently Jam. 4. 8. replies My presence shalt go with thee Exod. 33. 13 14. If thou wilt have God meet thee in Ordinances let thy prayers be thy Harbingers to prepare room for him Be serious in preparing for Ordinances The Sun scatters the Clouds before it shines in its brightness The Bride dresseth her self to meet her Bridegroom And thou must Isa 61. 10. compose thy self with awful apprehensions Sponsa â—rnata representat ecclesiam ornamentis gratiae fortitulinis decoratam immò animam sanctam gratiis spiritu adaptatam et si debilis et imperfecta Haymo 1. Of the Divine Majesty with whom thou art to converse 2. With the solemness of Gods Ordinance thou art now going to enjoy 3. With the sweetness and advantage of the season thou art now entring upon and then God will meet thy prepared soul Joseph trimmed himself and then he goes into Pharaoh's presence The Wise man adviseth us â— keep our foot when we go into the house of God Eccles 5. 1. VVe should do well in our applications to holy Ordinances to examine our selves whether we are fit with loose thoughts to meet with a dreadful Majesty Or with filthy hearts to meet with a holy God Or with worldly and drossy minds to meet with Grn. 41. 14. our heavenly Father Let us not complain God retires when we are not fit for his presence Let us then capacitate our selves by holy care and serious preparation to enjoy God in Ordinances Let us long for Gods presence God loves affectionate Proselytes A longing David shall see a loving God Psal 63. 1 2. The Spouse is restless after her Beloved and then she meets him Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. The thirsting soul shall be fed Fames est illa melior sanctior quae est spiritualis jam in Christo habebit saturitatem invita aeternâ omnimodam satietatem ubi deus erit omnia in omnibus Chemn with milk and wine Isa 55. 1. Grace and Righteousness shall satisfie the bungry Mat. 5. 6. The Psalmist follows hard after God Psalm 63. 8. God meets with our pursuits we shall then satisfie our selves in God when nothing but God can satisfie us Cold suitors shall not meet with Christ in his espousals VVhen the Wife longs the Husband endeavours after the thing longed for Mary Magdalen bemoaned the taking away of her Lord John 20. 2. We may expect to meet with God when his absence is our greatest moan and his presence our sweetest musique Let us come to Ordinances with all reverential humility God will look at him who is of a poor and a contrite spirit Humilitas est via ad deum Aug. and trembles at his Word Isa 66. 2. God dwells in the humble heart Isa 51. 15. God will raise those who debase themselves Augustin tells us That humility is the ready way Super quem requieseit Sp. sanctus nisi super humilem super humilem non super virginem Bern. to God It is the usher who brings the soul into the presence Chamber Bernard notably observes That the spirit of God rested on the Virgin Mary not for her Virginity but for her Humility And if Mary had not been so low in her own eyes she had not been so lovely in Gods Alapide saith Humility is a throne of Saphire where God sits in Majesty Let Humilitas est thronus Sappharinus in quo deus cum Majestate resideâ— Alap us then come to Ordinances with a submissive spirit God will cast an eye upon the soul who lies at his feet He sent an Angel to Daniel when he lay in his ashes Dan. 9. 3. 21. God rewarâ— the very counterfeit humility of Ahab 1 Kings 21. 29. though his sackcloath was but as Samuels mantle the attire of hypocrisie A dread of Gods presence brings Prov. 16. 19. a sweet sence of it and a trembling at the Word of God goes Prov. 29. 23. before a triumphing in the enjoyment of God Job abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42. 6. and then God hears him for himself and his friends and gives him interest upon interest for all his sufferings and tribulation Job 42. 10. A holy God will meet with an humble Saint Let us endeavour to be in the spirit upon the Lords day Direct 9. The extasies of the Apostle John were on the Lords day Revel 1. 10. the rapture was accomodated to the season Christians should study to be above themselves upon Gods holy day then they should walk in Galleries above the world Hierome professes That he sometimes found things so with himself that it seemed to him as if he had been triumphing Hieron de Virginit servand among Troops of Angels and singing hallelujahs with the Saints in Heaven and walking arm in arm with Jesus Christ And Luther reports of himself That sometimes especially on a Sacrament day the death of Christ was so full and fresh upon Luth. his spirit as if then he had been upon Mount Calvary and as if that was the day in which the Lord dyed And Beleevers should be so in the spirit upon the Sabbath as if that was the very day wherein Christ broke the bars of the Grave rowled away the stone from the Sepulchre and enfranchised himself from the restraints of the tomb The Saints should be carried out on this day and make their sallies into the suburbs of
shouldst consider the importance of it it cost more even the precious bloud of Jesus Christ and while thou art sporting and idling in the fields God might have been speaking to thy soul Augustine was converted by a Sermon of holy Ambrose Peter Martyr was brought home to God by a passage of a Sermon As for those who must have a walk after Sermon these impoverish their souls Are there not family prayers to procure blessings family repetitions to digest the word family duties to warm the heart on a Sabbath day Publick Ordinances are too often as land-floods to the soul which will quickly disappear unless the waters of life sink in gradually by private repetition and meditation Serious consideration and fervent prayer at home work into the heart those truths and doctrines we heard abroad These ill husbands for their better part too frequently drop in the fields what they have pickt up in the Sanctuary and the air is more fresh Absit ut dejicerem animum nobilem et illum corpori mancipium facerem then their memory These field-walkers how do they sink below some heathens It was the saying of a noble heathen Far be it from me that I should make my noble mind a slave to my body If we will have our pleasures on the Lords day let us meet with Christ in his Garden Cant. 5. 1. let us gather fruits in his Orchard of Pomgranates Cant. 4. 13. Let us lie down by the fountain of Gardens Cant. 4. 15. Let us stay our selves with his Apples and Flagons Cant. 2. 5. and sit down with our beloved in his banquetting house Cant. 2. 4. And then travel over the mountains of spices Cant. 8. 14. Christ indeed is the Paradise of pleasure he can ravish us with one of his eyes Cant. 4. 9. and make us drink of the cup of Salvation Divine pleasures become the Sabbath not the titillations of sence but the refreshings of the soul Let those then who waste the Sabbath in taking the air take Joh. 6. 58. Isa 25. 8. Eph. 2. 2. heed least they meet with the Prince of the air considering these unnecessary walks contain more temptation then recreation in them they are Satans refined and plausible bate to cause the incautelous Christian to let fall and so lose his spiritual morsels we know it is his grand artifice to steal away the seed of the word Mat. 13. 19. and pleasing recreations give him the best aime Caut. 3 Let us take heed of the sin of unbelief The believer only sanctifies the Sabbath they truly keep it who themselves are kept in their most holy faitb Jude v. 20. Every duty of a Mark 11. 24. Jam. 1. 6. Sabbath requires faith If we hear we must mingle the word with faith Heb. 4. 2. If we pray it must be believing Crede et manducasti crede et bibisti Aug. Mat. 21. 22. It is faith makes our prayers effectual If we receive we must come to the Sacrament with faith Augustine saith Believe and thou hast eaten believe and thou hast drunken Faith is the chief guest at Christs table If we meditate faith sweetens that duty and makes it lushious not tedious Psal 119. 97. Observe Thy Law c. It was Heb. 11. 6. the Law of his God and that sweetned his meditation on it If we read the Scriptures it is faith must make that duty effectual without faith the Word is onely a â—iddle the Acts â— 3◠〈…〉 Christi puzzle not the profit of a Christian Faith then puts life into every duty and makes it both vigorous and viâ—â—â— Buâ— unbelief is a sin which like the Câ—terpillar eats up al◠〈◊〉 fruit of a Sabbath and turns its Sun into dâ—rkness Vnbelief invalidaâ—es our approaches to God Heb. 11. 6. 〈◊〉 In vain the knee bowes unless the heart believes in vâ—â—â— we lift up the hands of flesh unless we lay hold on God by 〈…〉 sâ—d infidâ—â—itas à â—hâ—isto planè a◠〈◊〉 illius spiritu nos privâ—t et Satanae insidiis nos expositos reddit Lys the hands of faith We must bring faith to make our way acceptable to the Almighty In the forcecited Text Heb. 11. 6. the Apostle doth not say without faith it is improbable but it is impossible to please God Without faith all duties are acted in the dark there must be an eye of faith to see our way to God in Christ Vnbelief prevents the work of Christ upon the heart Mat. 13. 56. It unqualifies us for spiritual successes this sin is so great it can cast Christ into an admiration Mark 6. 6. What great things might Ordinances work upon the soul if the heart was not barred up by unbelief It was this sin which unchurched the poor nation of the Jews Rom. 11. 20. It may be the Epitaph of that ancient people of God Here lies a people cast off by God because of unbelief Vnbelief shuts up the gate of mercy Heb. 3. 19. Faith melts the cloud of Ordinances into a fruitful shower unbelief makes ordinances a dark appearance onely and turns Heb. 4. 6. them into stones of emptiness Isa 34. 11. An Ordinance to an unbeliever is a dead Child the spirit of God doth not breath in it And therefore on a Sabbath above all thy gettings get faith Vnbelief it puts a defilement upon the sweetest Ordinances They are as a Jewel in a dead mans hand The prayers of an unbeliever are an abomination to the Lord. The Apostle Prov. 4 7. saith Tit. 1. 15. To them who are unbelieving every Omnia opera infidelâ—um sunt noxia et peccâ—tâ— thing is defiled Vnbelief damps the pearl of Ordinances puts a flaw upon it The School-men say All the works of unbelievers are sins and so then are all his services and they accommodate themselves to that of the Apostle Rom. Gregor Arim. Capriolus Câ—tharinus c. 14. 23. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Vnbelief blasts the sweetest duty as lightning doth the fairest face The Lord saith to the unbeliever What hast thou to do to take my word into thy mouth Psal 50. 16. Why do I pray if I do not believe returns What do I hear if I do not believe doctrines VVhat do I receive if I do not believe Christ in the Sacrament Ordinances to an unbeliever they are not dews Rom. 1. 16. but dreams not Gods power but Mans fancy and Sermons are only the Romances of the Pulpit The Apostle Heb. 11. per totum tells us of many Miracles of faith and unbelief Heb. 11. 11 29 30 33 34. Exod. 4. 3. can work on it can turn all our rods into Serpents it can work the same wonder Christ wrought on the barren fig-tree Mark 11. 21. It can curse with a perpetual blast Augustine used to dispute from John 3. 19. That unbelief was the only damning sin This sin like popish Rome is the Mother of Harlots Rev. 17. 5. And therefore against
operum sui ante-actorum recordatiom sese applicet c. Hosp Dicitur Sabbatum Domini et Sabbatum sanctitâ—tâ—s et sanctâ—tas Domini quia non modò dei sancti est sed et sanctum eâ— et rebus domini publicè et privatim dicatum et impendendum est c. Leid Prof. this truth most sweetly There is saith he a sublime end of the Sabbaths leisure viz. That we might get nearer to eternal salvation that we may follow the duties of an holy life that we may remember our former actions and so drenâ—h our selves in tears of repentance and this saith he the very Jews can not deny Our Sabbaths according to this worthy man are only post dayes for heaven opportunities for grace which is the morning star of glory and the dawning of blessedness Nay let us hear a Quaternion of Divines the Professours of Leyden Cessation of work say they is commanded not that we should only enjoy corporal idleness but fall upon spiritual business holy duties and exercises It is not called the Sabbath of man but the Sabbath of the Lord not only because God is the Author of it but likewise because it is to be dedicated to and spent in the things of the Lord both publickly and privately and is to be directed to the sanctification of his name These Champions of truth direct us to the proper end of the Sabbath which is not to waste but to work not to consult our ease but to consult our souls Our temporal affairs must be suspended that our better affairs may be minded The poor soul should have been whâ—lly neglected had not the God of it appointed one day in the week for its service and salvation This truth is so apparent that our very adversaries joyn issue in the attestation of it Mr. Bâ—erewood who wrote so zealously for sports on the Sabbath yet in his second Tract pag. 15. acknowledgeth That the Commandment for the Sabbath enjoynes 1. The outward worship of God Manifestum est non moâ—o legis hujus judicio sed ipsâ—â—simâ expeâ—iâ—ntâ—â— non facere ad vâ—â—ae religionis profectum siotia multiplicentur Musc 2. Cessation frâ—m works as â— necessary preparation for that worship that as the end and this as the means So then by his confession to holy rest we must joyn holy work And experience tells us saith Musculus that too much leisure never makes for the increase of Religion no more then the Country-man gains by his fallow ground Nay the very Heathens themselves laughed at idleness upon the Sabbath And Seneca derided the custom of the Jews upon their Sabbath because they spent it in things vain and impertinent and not in the worship of God and said The Seneca derisit Sabbatum Judaeorum quia non vacabant divinis sed rugis et inutilibus Aquin. Jews threw away the seventh part of their lives And surely that sin must be grievous which becomes the scom and derision of an Heathen that crime must needs be great which lies open to the discoveries of Natures light But the Scriptures which are the most authentick testimony in this case will bring in most ample witness they will find us employments for the Sabbath 1. If we look into the Old Testament we shall find the sacrifices to be double on the Sabbath day Two Lambs of Num. 28. 9 10 the first year without spot and two tenth deales of flower with a meat offering mingled with oyl and the drink offering thereof this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath besides the continual burnt offering and the drink offering Numb 28. 9 10. There must ye see be an over-plus of sacrifice on the Luke 23. 3. Sabbath then our worship must be in the full and not in the waine in the strongest tide not at low water Likewise Convocatiosancta fuit totâ—us populi ad opera sacra et divina on the Sabbath there was to be an holy Convocation and surely the Jews did not meet solemnly to look one upon another Their meeting in the Temple or the Synagogues spake worship something of Service Divine Likewise on the Sabbath there was the reading of the Law Gods will was then opened to the people Nehem. 8. 8. The Sabbath was not a day of sloth but instruction it was not a day to be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cantica singu laria Sabbato unoquoque occinenda erant Leid Prof. the rubbish of ease but to be built up in the most holy faith And on the Sabbath there were certain solemn songs chanted forth to the praise of the Creatour and therefore the ninety second Psalm is inscribed a Psalm for the Sabbath And there was likewise reasonings and discourses of Divine things as we have hinted Acts 17. 2. There were exhortations given to the people for their furtherance of faith and godliness Acts 15. 21. Moses was preached every Sabbath day as the Apostle James speaks in the fore-cited place So then the Sabbath wanted not its employment in the times of the Law Nor did the Lords day run waste in the times of the Gospel then the Disciples met together the Sacrament was administred the Gospel was preached Acts 20. 7. And charity was collected 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Which duties unquestionably wanted not the concomitancy of fervent prayers and supplications so then there was an aggregation of holy and solemn services Holy duties were not as a single star but as Isa 65. 8. a constellation and in that cluster there was a blessing So Old and New Testament are a twofold witness to condemn Mat. 18. 16. sloth and idleness upon Gods blessed day And by the mouth of two witnesses especially if infallible every thing shall be established And indeed idleness on any day carries its brand in its Milites otio si incipient luxu diffluere murmurare pecuniam inclamare Ordinem omnem turbare aâ— tandem rebellare Alap forehead Idle Souldiers will easily turn mutinous Idle Scholars will easily degenerate into sin and ignorance and idle Tradesmen will easily sink into want and poverty Abundance of idleness was one of the sins of Sodom the worst of places Ezek. 16. 49. It is the sink of sin the Common shore of evil it is the rust of the soul which eats out its noble faculties Themistocles used to say It was burying men alive And idle persons like wanton widows to use the Apostles phrase are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 5. And Ephr. Syr. de consummat seculi the Apostle makes idleness the source of many other sins 1 Tim. 5. 13. It was once the saying of Ephrem Syras Do not fly labour least the Crown fly from thee Idleness is every way sinful It is opposite to mans condition He was born to labour Gen. 3. 19. Dew is not more natural to the surface of the Homo natus est ad laberem sicut avis ad volatum Earth then sweat is to the brow of
may graciously smile and lift up the light of his countenance upon thee Moaning Ephraims are pleasant Children Meditate on Gods works Thou mayest see the glory of a Creation through a prison grate or within the curtains of a sick bed thou mayest contemplate on the Sun when thou doest not see it that emblem of Gods power and the worlds glory The Stars shine as bright to meditation in the day as in the night and we may take an intellectual when we do not take an ocular view of them Meditate on the state of the Church to rejoyce in it or to grieve at it The Jews in Babylon could weep savourily in the remembrance of Sion when they did consider its present Psal 137. 1 2. calamity and its former glory Every Christian should Psal 122. 6. be of a publick spirit and lay the case of Sion to heart either for tears or triumphs When nothing of the Church is Isa 62. 6 7. in thy eye much of it should be in thy thoughts Much of Psal 137. 5. piety is discovered in sympathy It was one of Israels great offences they had not a fellow-feeling of the afflictions of Amos 6. 6. Joseph The Prophet adviseth those who make mention of the Name of the Lord to give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Isa 62. 6 7. When thou art alone on a Sabbath and thy condition necessitates thee to it let the many thoughts of Sion keep thee company and be thy congregation to joyn with Meditate on the attributes of God Those glorious beams can shine into the darkest and most solitary dungeon as well as into the most solemn assembly Think of Gods power in creating a world his justice in burning of a Sodom his wisdome in contriving a way for mans redemption his love in John 3. 16. sending his Son to dye for sinners his faithfulness in making and keeping his Covenant Such heavenly meditations might sweeten a prison might mitigate a distemper might alleviate Psal 104. 34. the severity of service or slavery and might comfort thy soul on Gods blessed day in the greatest recluse and solitariness Spend some time of this solitary Sabbath in conversing with the Scriptures The Bible is the most delightful companion Rom. 3. 2. Omnia mea mecâ—m porto Bias. in the want of all others the Saint with these Oracles may say with the Philosopher I carry all my estate with me Caesar so prized his Commentaries that being enforced by the Egyptian Army to leap into the Sea he did swim with one hand and held up the Book of his Commentaries in the other his life and his book should both perish together Our Bible is the most seraphick Commentary upon Gods love and Josh 1. 8. mans heart God commanded Joshua to meditate day and night in this sacred volume Indeed the Scriptures they are a hive of sweetness to delight the soul a choice treasure Psal 19. 10. to enrich the soul more then necessary food to support the Job 23. 12. soul The sword of the spirit to defend the soul a transcendent Eph. 6. 15 17. Paradise to consolate and refresh the soul Every truth in the Scriptures is brighter then a star every promise Rom. 13. 12. in the Scriptures is richer then a Mine every threatning in Heb. 4. 12. the Scriptures is sharper then a sword every offer of grace contained in the Scriptures is more valuable then a world therefore in thy lonely Sabbaths say with the Psalmist O how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day Psal Facit Scriptura consolationes per exempla quae narrat per promissiones praemia quae offert His nos consolatur inspem beatitudinis excitat erigit 119. 97. And this converse with sacred writ will be a good prognostick of success and happiness It is reported of Queen Elizabeth that in her great afflictions in her sister Queen Maries reign she was much conversant in the holy word and as the word of God sweetned her soul so the Providence of God smiled on her condition for after the flight of a very few years she wore the Diadem of this Nation flourished many years in the throne of her Royal Progenitours Fill up this solitary Sabbath with the Collection of former experiences David when he was kept waking in the night Psal 77. 3. he remembred God his thoughts were taken up with that In concilio Parisiensi hoc facinus Patribus dolori fuit quòd licet dies dominicus à quibusdam dominis venerando custodiri vide batur a servis tamen eorum servitio pressis per rarò debito honoâ—e â—â—li invenâ—râ—tur divine object When thou art kept from the solemn assemblies by a sick bed or a close prison or a sharp Master Remember thy experiences which thou hadst of old 1. All thy providential mercies as the Psalmist recounts his promotion that God took him from a sheepfold to a throne and at such a time advanced him to the Soveraignty of the best people in the world Psal 78. 70 71. Then remember thou the additions God hath made to thy Estate or to thy Family thy escapes from imminent dangers thy often deliverances c. Experiences of divine love receive new life from meditation and serious recollection 2. All thy seasonable mercies The Psalmist comfortably Concil â—aris relates That when his Father and his mother forsâ—â—k him Dâ—o sunt quae sâ—ntertiae gratâ—â—m dignitâ—tâ— coâ—ciâ—iant 〈…〉 si 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 rationâ—m accommodetur Cartw. then God did take him up Psal 27. 10. Then the rare providences of God are most rare and remarkable and to be noted with an Higgaion Selah As words so favours in season are like apples of Gold in pictures of Silver Prov. 25. 11. The season is the emphasis of every mercy Even at the red Sea Psal 106. 7. This amplified Israels sin they offended even at the red Sea where they were crowned with a stupendious and seasonable deliverance Cast thy eye back in thy solitary Sabbaths upon those mercies which were eminent for their season Health after sickness supply in wants rescue from temptations from sinful or destructive company when thy soul was pluckt out of the snare Ah how sweet was water to a thirsty Samson deliverance to the poor Jews when their destruction was signed and sealed Such pleasing recollections would abundantly sweeten a solitary Sabbath 3. Thy unexpected mercies those loving-kindnesses which thou didst not think of nor pray for which thy want did not proclaim nor thy moans pursue An Angel cometh Acts 10 3. Luke 1. 26 27. to Cornelius in his prayers when he looked not for him Happily many mercies have befallen thee which like Gabriel to the Virgin Mary have brought not onely good but unexpected news On a solitary Sabbath view over thy unlookt for mercies which were returns of love without a
pulchre opponit Pharisaeorum accusationibus vos malletis quasi diceret propter sanctificationem sabbati discipulos meos esurientes potius affligi quam spicas aliquas discerpere item malletis hominem perire quam Sabbatis sanari atqui hoc directè pugnat cum Deut. 5. 14. Sabbatum propter hominem c. sensus igitur est Nec cum noxâ nec cum exitio aut damno homiâ—iâ—â—â—â—genda eâ—t â—xterna obsâ—â—vatio Sabbati Sicut in exemplo Davidis est manifestissimum Chemnit John 8. 36. Psal 119. 164. Psal 27. 4. Psal 84. 10. Libertines would fasten upon it 1. They say the Sabbath was made for man because man was created before its institution and therefore this festival was ordained for his entertainment in the world for his profit and advantage but not for his play sports and recreations This institution of the Sabbath â—yed man now newly created and made Gods Viceroy upon earth 2. The Sabbath was made for man that is for his corporal good that on this day he might rest from the toyls of the world Deut. 5. 14. In the Commandement for the Sabbath God consulted mans weakness but not his wantonness he studied his frame but not his fancy God appointed the Sabbath that man should not over-bend the Bow but relax and remit his painful labours and so be more composed and at leisure for spiritual service and worship so the Sabbath was made for man for the good of his body 3. The Sabbath was made for man viz. for his spiritual good that man on that holy day might be built up in his most holy faith and that he might enjoy sweet communion with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. How often is the Sabbath the Souls nuptial day wherein it is esponsed and married to Christ it is a day of divine support of refection and recruit to Grace and often of the execution and mortification of lust and corruption The Sabbath is the Souls banquetting day a fit season for strengthning and repast while it travels upon the Mountains of prey and feeds with the flocks of Christ at noon Cant. 1. 7. Psal 76. 4. However they who shall torture this Text to the utmost and put it upon the strictest wrack shall force it to speak no more then thus much That man must not run the hazard or peril of life for the outward observation of a Sabbath man must observe it but not with an apparent danger of himself if it cannot be observed without harm and certain damage the external observation must be suspended and mans life and good must not be impaired and our Saviour instanceth in Davids eating of Shewbread an extraordinary and unjustifiable action yet it may be apologized for and maintained in a case of necessity and so the Disciples of Christ plucking the ears of Corn it was for support and necessary satisfaction And so mans life is more considerable than the outward observance of a day especially considering that the Sabbath was calculated for mans good in its first original and institution and the whole man both Soul and body was taken into consideration when it was first set on foot in the world Now this fair and candid construction of the Text detests all carnal liberty and all swinges of pleasure and sensual delight upon Gods sacred and solenm day In a word it is no ways suitable to a gracious spirit to be importunate for carnal liberty on Gods holy day The sensual delights of this life they are the clog not the comfort of a Saint their fetters rather then their freedom A believer is never more himself then when he travels over spiritual objects in holy meditation and freely vents himself in holy prayer and supplication He complains not of being clogged unless when he is bird-limed with a temptation or staked down by a malepert corruption that he cannot rise and fly up to God in holy devotion he knows not any liberty but the liberty of Ordinances and he is then only free who is manumitted by Gods good spirit his confinement is the transiency not the length of a Sabbath and he is dismissed from an Ordinance with a sigh Fleshly ease pleaseth not him on a Sabbath because it keeps him from his beloved nor dare he exchange duty for recreation He thinks it a poor and incontemptible thing to be running after a bowl on the Lords day when he should be running his race and pressing forward towards the Mark Phil. 3. 14. Nor can he mind a sport when he is to look after a prize The Saint thinks recreations on a Sabbath are not only the loss of time and an empty Parenthesis but they are Dalilahs to rock him asleep that so he may lose Praetereà arbitrium nostrum voluntatem nostram Christus in aliquam partem libertatis ponit dum donat nos spiritu sancto cujus gratiâ corrapta nostra natura instaurata spontaneo est ut juxta prae ceptum dei benè agamus pietati studere incipiamus prompto Matth. 19. 8. spiritu nam ubi spiritus est ibi est libertas Chemnit Eccl. 9. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 17. his spiritual strength Whatever he doth on a Sabbath he doth it with all his might and he knows there is no more work nor device in a recreation then in the grave And truly it too much savours of a carnal heart either to be an Advocate to plead for or to be an Actor to engage in sensual delights on Gods Holy day from the beginning from holy David from zealous Nehemiah it was not so CHAP. XLVIII The first Decad of Arguments to perswade conscience to an holy observation of the Lords day THe design of pressing conscience to a due observance of Gods blessed day is already begun and the rise hath been taken from the sometimes solemn and accurate carriage of the Jews upon their Sabbath And shall a Vagabond Jew out-vy us shall that branch which is cut off be Rom. 11. 19. more fresh and flourishing in Sabbath-observation then the branch which is engraffed and implanted in its room Shall In die dominico tantùm deo tantum divinis cultibus vacandum est Aug. the slave be more obsequious then the Son The vassal more obediential then the Heir The Jews still though blasted with a Curse yet they at least some of them keep their Sabbath with great zeal and devotion And shall not Christians who lie under dews of divine blessing and live under Sun-shines of Gospel heat and light be more frugal of the time and more spiritual in the duties of the Lords day Let not a disinherited Jew rise up in judgment against us But of this already But now further to press conscience to a holy keeping of the Lords day Arg. 1 Let us consider how much folly is bound up in prophaning Gods day We put away from us all those golden promises Jer. 17. 24 25. which God hath entailed upon a
thrive upon a Sabbath by our holy deportments upon it and our careful improvements of it it will be seen in the week but if by our careless behaviour we grow lean upon the Sabbath like Pharaoh his lean Kine Gen. 41 20. in his Dream it prognosticates nothing less than a Famine of grace and happiness Arg. 3 We put on our best Attire upon a Sâ—â—bâ—th and why shâ—uld we not be in our best spiritual Dress Shall we deck our Bodies and neglect our Souls Shall we stand before God on his own day with Bodies dressed with all art and curiosity Ille Judaeus vere est qui talâ—â— est in abscâ—dito Qâ—i fidem â—bedâ—entiam praeâ—at Christo â— hâ—bet cirâ—â—â—cisionem câ—rdis convâ—rsâ—â—ne cordis ad Deum Par. but with Souls undressed and unprepared ruffled with worldly thoughts unwashed by repentance all things hâ—nging careless and loose by formality only painted over and dawbed with pretence and hypocrisie The fâ—rmaâ—ist on a Sabbath might correct himself by his Gaâ—â— and the exactness of his Attire Surely it is an high blemish to Religion to be curious in our fashion and to be careless in our devotion and to spend more time on a Sabbath to set the Dâ—â—ss â—â— curl the Hair and to fit the Garment than to inflame Devotion to compose the Heart and to trim the Lamp to meet with the Bridegroom of our Souls Shall not a piece of Eternity be as richly attired on the Lords day as a piece of dust and clay Why should not the Soul wear the Ornaments of Grace put on the Jewels of Faith and Zeal be 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. dressed up with holy thoughts with heavenly desires with spiritual aims with steddy resolutions for further increases of grace and sanctity as well as the sinking dying body a crumbling lump of earth be adorned with all the garish modes of art and bravery Nothing more uncouth that when the body is only the plain case of a pretious Soul that it should be decked on a Sabbath with all the setting forth of costly and lovely Ornament but the immortal Soul should want its trimming to make it look comely in the eyes of its Beloved when the Body is the fine cover of a deformed Soul what is this but to shovel dung into a rich Coffer or to put Pebbles into an Ebony Casket A serious Christian would more mind the trimming of the Lamp than Mat. 25. 7. the setting of the Dress or else the setting of the Dress should more mind him of the trimming of the Lamp Arg. 4 Let us consider what a rare priviledge it is to enjoy the Sabbath of the Lord To keep a Sabbath is not our work but our rest not our service but our liberty not our task Psal 42. 4. but our triumph The Sanctuary is the Souls Paradise and Psal 24. 4. Ordinances are the Tree of life in this Garden of Eden O Psal 84. 10. then let us not turn this grace into wantonness Kings do not spurn their Crowns nor use their Scepters to turn up Turffs in the field The Mariner makes not use of the Deck of his Ship to be a Stage to act on Thus Antipodes to reason and religion do prophane persons act when they slight over the momentous Sabbath of God shall God honour us with a Sabbath and shall we provoke him on a Sabbath Great Estates amplifie the prodigality of the Heir and make his sin more odious and shameful Our Sabbaths are our seasons of grace our spiritual Mart our Pisgah sight of Canaan our Term-time to follow our Suit for glory and eternity and to prophane and formalize away these acceptable days of life and salvation what is it but to throw Jewels upon Cùm omnibus diebus hâ—mo sese occupet in negotiis suis neâ—essariis die sabbati consentaneum est ut se segreget et quiescat propter Dei gloriam Aben Ezra the Dunghil and to disinherit the Soul of its primogeniture as if its concerns were not considerable and of little importance How can we do the work of Earth or Hell upon this heavenly day If we will be working Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. Our Sabbaths are mercy rich mercy costly mercy soul mercy the finest of the Wheat Let us then solemnly observe them and dextrously improve them remembring that he who had five talents gained five more Mat. 25. 20. The Viceroy whose trust is great and charge more honourable he is more active Quamquam fidelis servus minimè gloriatur tamen fidelitatem et diligentiam debitam Deo humilitèr commendat Par. Exod. 20. 7 8. and vigilant then every petty Officer whose Precincts are narrow and inconsiderable O that Christians would keep holy Gods blessed day What is it O devout Souls but a day-break of eternal brightness And let us not forget that as God will not hold him guiltless who takes his Name in vain so neither him who spends his day in vain Those surely are foolish Children who play by their Candle and those frantick Christians who frivolously pass over that holy day wherein they enter into the suburbs of the holy City and begin that work of praising pleasing and enjoying God which shall be the Employment of Eternity Arg. 5 In the holy keeping of the Sabbath there is praemium in opere a reward in the work What would the Lord have thee to do on a Sabbath but onely enjoy himself Our sweat on a Sabbath is spent only in hearing from God in the preaching of the word in flying to God in holy prayer and supplication or contemplating on God in devout meditation or feasting with God at his own Table so that in the whole management of a Sabbath there is more honour than burden more Opera sabbati sunt opera coeli profit than pain more delight than disgust The works of a Sabbath are the works of Heaven and the Angels are not weary nor the glorified Saints tired with singing Hallâ—lujahs On a Sabbath we feed on Manna and the fat things In nostrà enim Doâ—iniâ—â— die semper plâ—it dominâ—â— Maâ—na de coelo Coelestia namque sunt eloquia illa verbum lectum et populo praedicâ—tum Orig. of the Sanctuary we drink of the Brook in the way and of Wine on the Lees well refined Isa 25. 6. we carry Benjamins Sack with the Cup in the mouth of it Gen. 44. 2. we are spiritual Publicans and take custom of Heaven All which aggravates Sabbath-prophanation it would be strange to see a Lutanist who hath a rare Lute and who is dextrous in playing on the Instrument to spend his time in breaking the strings of his Lute What less doth the formal or prophane person do who enjoys the heavenly opportunity of a Sabbath and loses his good wind by sloth or neglect and slights over those rare duties which like Sampsons Lion Judg. 14. 18. are sweet in
Origen In the times of the Law saith he the Jews were not to stir out of their places upon the Sabbath day Exod. 16. 29. Now what is the proper place of the soul but Righteousness Truth Wisdom and Sanctification and whatever speaks Christ and from this place we Christians must not stir upon the Lords day In the times of the Law the Jews were to carry no burdens upon the Sabbath day Jer. 17. 27. And what is this burden but all sin and this burden we Christians must not carry on our Sabbath In the times of the Law the Jews were not to kindle a fire throughout all their Habitations upon the Sabbath Exod. 35. 3. And what is this kindling of fire but the inflaming of lust and no such fire must be kindled by Christians on the Sabbath Now what Origen cautionates us against on the Sabbath is as much to be avoided and shunned on the week day In a disposition to serve God So we must keep every day a Sabbath though we are not always in a Sabbath dayes time Verum quidem est Sabbatum spirituale nobis perpetuò colendum esse sub novo Testamento Wal. yet we should be always in a Sabbath days frame in such a blessed bent of heart as to be fit for holy business and heavenly employment And the Apostle adviseth us 1 Thes 5. 17. To pray continually viz. To be in a continual frame of heart fit for holy prayer And the Apostle James Jam. 1. 19. commands us to be swift to hear viz. Always to have Spirituale Sabbatum est quo vetus homo noster homo peccati cum singulis suis actionibus otio quodam veluti sepelitus est ut novus homo qui secundum deum creatus est vires suas exerat opera sua perficiat Muscul an open ear ready to hearken to the sweet and sacred word of God We find the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 1. 5 6. describing four living creatures having four faces and four wings Faces ready to mind and wings ready to move into any part upon the work the Lord should assign and appoint them And thus Gods people should be always in a prepared frame of spirit for holy service we should be as cautious of sin and as propence to service as if every day was a Sabbath day The week contains no day for sinful work the Apostle tells us 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity And iniquity not iniquities any one particular iniquity And so likewise in the week our secular works must not indispose us for heavenly Dies è septem unus externis salutis mediis dedicatus Sabbatum interius perpetuum magis et magis promovet Hier. services and holy duties but we must have heavenly hearts in our earthly labours It is very observable that in the time of the Law the word Sabbath signified a whole week Lev. 23. 15. And so in the time of the Gospel Luke 18. 12. And doth it not point out this That we should keep our whole week as a Sabbath and that Sabbath-holiness should make all our life-time but one intire holy day Our spiritual Sabbath as Musculus observes Must be continual Rom. 11. 16. we must be always crucifying the old man and getting our 1 Cor. 5. 6. corruptions to their rest that they may not be working nor employed to fledge temptation into actual sin and we must be always employing the new man to excite its power in spiritual operations and this must be our daily and continual Sabbath This resting from sin and this working for God is never unseasonable and these two are the integral parts of a Sabbath And thus to employ our selves in the week doth exceedingly fit us for the Sabbath Many have little of the Sabbath in the week and therefore they have too much of the week in the Sabbath they are strangers Mandaverat quidem deus sub veteri Testimento ut in ipsa septimanâ aliquae quoque horae divino cultui consecrarentur manè imprimis vespere cùm sacrificium juge in templo offerreretur perpetuò sacrificaretur Wal. to Sabbath-work on the week dayes and therefore they are enemies to Sabbath-work on the Lords day Christians should attempt to begin heaven here and there is a perpetual Sabbath our life below should shadow out our life above It must be confessed our indulging our selves too much in sin and bemiring our selves too much in the world on the week day doth very much unqualifie and indispose us for heavenly rest on the Sabbath day But when we have set our selves against sin and have been spiritually minded in the works of our Calling not omitting the heavenly duties of prayer reading the word holy discourse and heavenly meditations on the week dayes we then with more complacency lean upon our beloved and with more delight meet him in his â—anquetting house Cant. 2. 4. on the Lords day Holy weeks make heavenly Sabbaths and the more strict we are in passing of the week the more savoury and serious we shall be in observing the Sabbath Walaeus very well observes That in the time of the Law God had his dayly sacrifices Psal 133. 2. Numb 28. 3. as well as his double sacrifices on the Sabbath day Numb 28. 9. To intimate to us There must be something of a Sabbath in every day nor must the oil of holiness only be poured out on the head of a Sabbath but it must run down to the skirts of the whole week the performance of divine worship is calculated for the week though the solemnity of it be reserved for the Sabbath Well then let something resembling a Sabbath be found in our own dayes let a happy vein of holy rest with God run through every day The Jews had their morning sacrifice when they entred upon their work and their evening sacrifice when they wound up and ended their work they gave God the first Job 23. 12. and the last of every day in holy and solemn worship He that was Alpha and Omega the first and the last had the Tres sunt diei partes inter Judaeos prima pars ad orationem secunda ad legem tertia ad opus seculare destinabatur Alpha and Omega of every day nay learned men observe that the Jews divided the day into three parts The first ad Tephilah to Prayer the second ad Torah to the Law the third ad Malacha to their work Thus God had his part of every day among the poor Jews nay double worship for single work And let not a repudiated Jew be more franck in giving God his time then the redeemed ones of Jesus shall they have so much of the Sabbath in the week and we so much of the week in our Sabbaths As the Apostle saith Rom. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid It would be strange if the branch which is broken of