beam and his holy feet closed together to the upright beam of the Cross exposed him naked to publick shame being hung betwixt two theevs in a place without the city at the Feast of Passeover and when he had given up the ghost with many pains and groans a souldier pierced his side with a launce that that saying might have place they shall look on him whom they have pierced DEAD By the separation of soul and body for his body remain'd upon the Cross and his soul return'd immediately to God as himself told the penitent theef This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was not born after an ordinary manner neither dyed he a common death for as much as beside the extream pain he suffered whilest he hung with the weight of his body upon the Cross and the great shame to which he lay open he lay under a curse the Law pronouncing him cursed that hangs upon the tree AND BURIED Taken down from the Cross embalm'd with spices wrapped up in fine linnen and laid in a tomb where none had lay'n before by the care and cost of Ioseph of Arimathea And the malice of his enemies persued him beyond death and attended him to his very grave who that he might not rise again as himself had promised rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb and clapping on their own seals set a guard to watch him HE DESCENDED INTO HELL That is he went down into the lower-most parts of the earth and for the space of three dayes remain'd in the grave amongst the dead Or as some expound it he suffered the pains of Hell and the wrath of God due to our sins and underwent the curse of the law and terrours of conscience to which we were lyable Others take the words as they sound of the place that he did coveigh himself into the regions of darkness and discovered to the divels and to the wicked spirits the glory of his presence and routing the powers of Hell leading captivity captive and trampling Satan that old serpent the enemy of mankind under his victorious feet according to the first Prophesie of Christ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head And in this sense this article is the beginning of Christ's exaltation The other degrees are his Resurrection his Ascension his Sitting at the right hand of God the Father and his Coming to judgement THE THIRD DAY After that he had lain three dayes in the grave as Ionas who ws the type of the Son of Man continued three days in the whale's belly It being observ'd that on the fourth day the body begins to corrupt which was not to happen to Christ David thus speaking concerning him My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Wherefore early in the morning on the third day which was for that reason appointed the Christian Sabbath HE ROSE AGAIN Partly raising himself by his own virtue and divine power as himself saith I lay down my life that I may take it up again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Partly being raised by God the Father who when his Iustice was fully satisfied released Christ out of the prison of the grave and to that purpose sent his Angels to roll away the stone death having now no more dominion over him who having finisht the work of our redemption rose again for our justification FROM THE DEAD He return'd to life appeared to his Disciples and others several times shewed the wounds which he had received on the Cross and made Thomas who was hard of belief to feel his side that he might know it was a true body And having for fourty dayes together conversed upon earth and given orders to the Apostles how they should goe into all the world and preach the Gospell and plant churches promising them the assistance of the spirit he took his leave of them in this manner as followeth HE ASCENDED In the sight of his Apostles from the top of mount Olivet where he had bin formerly used to spend much of his time in holy retirements and spiritual exercises he lifted up himself from the ground and so mounting upward through the aire was received by a cloud and to the wonder of them all carried aloft out of sight two Angels telling them as they stood gazing that as they had seen him goe away so he should come again INTO HEAVEN The seat of the blessed where God sits on his Throne attended by millions of Angels far above the sphear of the stars the sky to wit the highest heaven For having dispatched the business for which he came down on earth he return'd to the Father by whom he had bin sent to intercede with him in our behalf and make out to us thence the benefit of all those things which he had done and suffer'd for us here And having conquer'd sin and death and broken the power of Hell what remains but that he should as in triumph ride upon the wings of the wind ascend to Heaven as the prize of his glorious conquest AND SITTETH To note that he hath fully accomplished the work of our Salvation he is said at last to sit down that he may as it were rest from his labours For the servant stands or goes whilest he is employ'd and sits not down till his work be done Now Christ put on the form of a servant and came as he saith of himself to wait not to be waited on That he sits also is a token of that authority which the Father hath given him having delivered unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and put all things under his feet So God sits in Heaven to order all things at his pleasure Again to sit sometimes signifies stay he sits there not to return before the end of the world Lastly by this word is expressed the blessed and glorious condition of the Saints in the life to come who shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore to shew the greatness of the dignitie to which Christ according to his humane nature is advanced is added At the right hand of God the Father Almighty The right hand usually expresseth strength and honour power and glory besides to give the right hand is a sign of fellowship and friendship wherefore God calls him the man my fellow Now to speak properly God hath no right hand or left nor any bodily parts but that he may apply himself to our capacities he doth use to speak of himself after the manner of men Becuse earthly Princes are wont to place those at their right hand whom they favour and would shew a particular honour as Solomon entertained his mother The meaning is that God hath raised him to the highest pitch
people might fill their hands and become Priests to a Tyrant's interest when prosperous villany has been bless'd in the Name of the Lord and suffering Innocence has been impleaded as guilty when swearing is in so much credit is look'd on as the Character of Greatness and rash oaths have the reputation of Gallantry when we that have the Name of God call'd upon us live unworthy of that calling make his Name be evill spoken of O! let us pray as the Church has taught us Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law The fourth Commandement The third was the rule of our words the fourth of our works and that which is consequent to them rest That teaches us holy talk This instructs us in holy walking for so our Church-Catechism has resolv'd the sense of this Command to serve God faithfully all the dayes of our life so that 't is not the seaventh day onely but all seaven that we are to serve God in He that would serve God well on the Sabbath in a holy rest must first serve him in his week's labour and doing the work of the six dayes well The second and third concern the Manner of his worship This more especially the Time It hath also as the other two had two parts the Precept and the Reason of the precept The precept is attended with a large explication what is meant by Sabbath and what meant by Keeping it Holy First we may take notice of the extraordinary manner wherein it is deliver'd 't is usher'd in with a Memento Then what is to be remember'd the Sabbath and the Sanctification of it Then follows the explication What is the Sabbath by Opposition first to our dayes of work the other dayes of the week six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all thy work which indeed is precept too as well as concession no less a Command to oblige us to diligence in our calling then a Grant to give us leave to follow it And the injunction is twofold that we labour take pains in our imployment set our selves a work and that we finish and make an end of our business and doe all that we have to doe Then secondly by Position which punctually sets down the day But the seaventh day is the Sabbath What is it next to Sanctify the Sabbath or keep it holy To doe no work on that day nothing of our ordinary imployment wherein the strictness of the Command appears that all of the family as well as the Master all of the city as well as the Magistrate are concern'd being set down here by name Thou master and mistress or magistrate or whatever governour and thy natural dependencies thy son and thy daughter and thy acquired relations whether by Covenant or hire thy manâ—servant and thy maid servant or by purchase and possession thy cattle or by sojourning the stranger that is within thy gates The reason is taken from God's own example whereof we have first the Narration how he made all things in six dayes and rested the seaventh and then the Design of his so doing that he might appoint the Sabbath wherefore he blessed the sabbath-Sabbath-day or as the Septuagint have it the seaventh day and hallowed it REMEMBER We are too apt all over to forget our duty wordlings especially in the pursuit of their earthly concernments would scarce make a stop at the Sabbath and therefore this Command summons them with a particular Alarum a word of much weight in the Hebrew Idiom where the Verb should be twice repeated Remember to remember i.e. be sure by all means to remember and denotes the former old custom of keeping the Sabbath even from the beginning of the world and therefore presents it here as an ancient institution to be remembred And it quickens our care not only for the observation of the day when it comes but for our preparation for it before it comes we must think of it all the week afore hand and provide for it that nothing may divert us from the celebration of it THE SABBATH-DAY A day of rest and leisure from the works of our ordinary calling that ceasing thus from our earthly affairs we may have opportunity to meditate on heavenly things and lift up our souls from the cares of this life to the contemplation of those joyes gloryes which those that serve God shall have in the world to come where there shall be an everlasting Sabbath TO KEEP IT HOLY To set it aside wholly for the service of God in publick by Prayer reading and hearing God's Word serving God in the solemn assembly in private by meditation and study of God's Book and other holy exercises We are to remember both the day and the keeping the day holy some are ready enough to remember the Sabbath as a time of leisure out of carnal indulgence but they are not so ready to remember the duty of the day to keep it holy and improve it for spiritual advantage SIX DAYES THOU SHALT LABOUR This as it declares the precept so it shews the equity of it if God allow us six we should not grudge him the seaventh Besides it has the force of a command and is deliver'd in the same manner as the other Commandements Thou shalt labour He that 's idle all the week has no right to the Sabbath-rest He that 's careless in doing his own work on the six dayes is unfit to be imployed in God's service on the seaventh The word many times hath a peculiar signification for the service of God and thus it will inferr that every day is a Christian's Sabbath and he is to be doing God's work even when he is doing his own AND SHALT DOE ALL THAT THOU HAST TO DOE Dispatch all thy business and leave nothing undone against the Sabbath that thou mayst be wholly vacant and have thy thoughts as well as thy body at rest and thy mind free from all distractions of worldly cares thou mayst have nothing else to think upon but the worship of God This calls upon us for diligence in our callings that we must not doe our work by halves but go thorough with it And it gives a Typical intimation too that we would in this week of our mortality set upon and accomplish the necessary work of Repentance Faith and Obedience that we may have all our accounts clear'd e're the eternal Sabbath come upon us when if we have left that work undone we shall have no time allow'd us to go on with it and bring it to an end BUT THE SEAVENTH DAY This is the Ceremonial part of the Command but that a seaventh should be kept is Moral For the Iews in memory of the Creation were to observe the seaventh Day which with us is Saturday as their Sabbath whereon God having made all things rested But Christians in memory of a greater work of Redemption led by Apostolical practise have constantly observ'd the first day of the week to wit
tired nor Infinity be exhausted but he was pleas'd to put a period to his own extraordinary actings and by his own will determin the products of his boundless power Again if he had pleas'd he could have dispatch'd all his works in a day in a moment and not have made such leisurely progress and have done all at once But he chose a number of dayes to accomplish his great design in six dayes that there might be an orderly proportion and distance of time betwixt the productions of the several creatures and but six that the glory of his workmanship might not receive any disparagement from a seeming delay Now whether these six dayes in which the world was making were meant to signifie the continuance of the world for so many thousand years a thousand years being in Gods reckoning but as a day and the seaventh day of rest to typifie another thousand years of Christ's reign or an everlasting Sabbath in Heaven or whether any other mystery lye hid in the number of seaven whence fond antiquity might appropriate the seaven Planets each to his day and fonder Art divide the week according to planetary hours may be guess'd but cannot certainly be known Wherefore it may suffice us that it pleas'd God so to order his work and so to appoint a holy rest and he sure had very great reason for observing that order and making this appointment THEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH-DAY AND HALLOWED IT He stamp'd upon it a particular respect set it aside from common imployment and business of life for holy and spiritual exercises that it might be spent in the commemoration of his wonderful works And if the institution were so solemn upon the account of Creation how much more will the memory of our Redemption heighten the solemnity and improve the observance of this holy day which our blessed Lord and Saviour the holy Iesus blessed by his rising again from the dead and hallowed by his apparition and discourse with his holy Apostles who have by their example recommended to the Church of God as the Christian Sabbath the first day of the week the day of our Lords Resurrection for which reason it is also call'd the Lord's Day Besides this weekly solemnity and day of rejoycing it is acknowledg'd even by those who are no great friends to the Churches authority that the Church hath power to appoint and set aside for the publick worship of God other peculiar dayes as occasion shall require such as are Anniversary Fasts and Feasts nor is the commemoration of the benefits obtain'd by Christ as his Nativity Passion Ascension c. and of the holy Apostles and other Scripture-Saints more ancient though it be handed to us from the most ancient and the best times then 't is convenient the fundamentals of religion being thus scatter'd through the course of the year and the Holy-dayes next to the Lords-day being the great remarks cognisances of Christianity This reason drawn from the creation which is the moral reason of the precept is in Deuteronomie which is the repetition of the Law omitted and another of a politick concern brought in stead of it as if the command were grounded upon an indulgence to servants and that upon a reflection upon the condition of the Israelites in Egypt where they had been made serve in a cruel bondage mention'd in the Preface Though those words there I suppose might be added only as a reason for the servants and the cattles rest and an argument to inforce the equity of that rather then to be the bottom and ground of the Sabbath it self and yet it seems strange that immediately after Moses tells them God spake these words and no more The sense of the command is this Thou shalt take great heed to the observation of my day and shalt sanctify my Sabbath and keep it holy with exercises of publick private devotion Thou shalt wait upon me in my sanctuary and appear before me in the great assembly Thou shalt come to my house in my fear and enter my courts with due reverence Thou shalt attend to my word obey my voice and shâ—lt bestow this sacred time wholly on the meditation of my Law Thou shalt receive my word with faith and wait upon me in the use of my ordinances Thou shalt set one day in seaven aside from all worldly concernments and thy usual employment and dedicate it and thy self to me Thou shalt prepare thy self and forecast thy business that no other thoughts may distract thee Thou shalt keep it a holy rest to the Lord shalt cause all that belong unto thee to keep it Thou shalt not do thy own works nor speak thy own words nor think thy own thoughts on that day but be taken up with the study of God's word and with the consideration of his works Thou shalt serve me faithfully on thy six dayes of work in a diligent attendance upon the dutyes of thy calling that thou mayst on my day of â—est meet with a blessing find pardon for thy failings and receive strength for thy performances Thou shalt breed up thy children in my fear and acquaint them with my wayes Thou shalt instruct thy houshold and make me known unto strangers Thou shalt be merciful to thy servants and thy cattle and shalt let them injoy the benefit of the Sabbath-rest Thou shalt so observe this rest as not to give thy self up to sloath and idleness nor spend the time in sports and vain recreations but make it a rest from sin as well as from work Thou shalt more particularly imploy thy self in remembring the Lord thy Creatour and thy Redeemer and thankfully acknowledging his benefits Lastly Thou shalt so pass this weekly Sabbath in holy meditations and a heavenly conversation that thou mayst fit thy self for the celebration of an everlasting Sabbath to be kept hereafter with Angels and Saints in Heaven after thou art deliver'd from the troubles of a wicked world How far have we come short of the observation of the Sabbath in these our times who forget the day and neglect the duty who neither labour on the six dayes nor rest on the seaventh as we should doe who profane the sanctuary and pollute the holy place using no reverence and behaving our selves in Gods presence with more rudeness then we would in the presence of men who have made our devotions but a lip labour and plac'd religion in the ear and have excluded God's word contained in the holy Bible and the wholsome forms of the Church to make room for the bold conceits and seditious discourses of men who have preferred Enthusiasms before the written word who have preach'd up rebellion and sacriledge and demolish'd the Churches of God in the Land broken down the sacred ornaments with axes and hammers who have multiplied sects and heresies and dishonour'd God in his solemn worship and in the publick assemblyes who have made void God's ordinances refus'd to
other recreation to entertain himself with but to set gins and snares to catch souls in it being the design of his implacable spight to see man who by his means fell from Paradise the place of bliss to an accursed earth fall yet lower into the torments of Hell to be a companion to the damned spirits He 'l accompany thee to Church and watch thee into thy closet whatever thou art about hee 's at hand he intermeddles in thy civil affairs in thy religious duties hee 'l bear a part and suggest vain thoughts hee 'l buy and sell with thee nay hee 'l watch and pray with thee Our Saviour himself was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted where after the preparation of a forty dayes fast for the conflict he was to enter the lists and vanquish this grand enemy of our salvation O blessed preparatory Lent O happy encounter when the Captain of our salvation with the buckler of faith and girt with the sword of truth and meekness upon his thigh was pleas'd to meet this spiritual Goliah in the field and combate with him that he might tread him under our feet break his head his strength and his policy and give his flesh to be meaâ— for his people in the wilderness that as the viper's flesh proves an excellent Antidot against the poyson of the viper and is a great restorative to nature which the creature it self would destroy so temptations might turn to advantages and the malice of Satan improve our bliss How little able should we be to resist him who made such fierce assaults on the Son of God himself How little hope can we have to escape being tempted to the fowlest and most horrid sins when he had the impudence to tempt God himself for such was Christ to the fowlest Idolatry to fall down and worship the Divel Oh dreadfull blasphemy Oh outragious confidence O a Divel void of all ingenuity past all shame and fear All these things will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me All these things all which things Base bold feind hast thou any thing to give All too all at a clap false pretender thou hast nothing to bestow of thy own but evil hell and death the wages of sin All that 's good is God's already or if thou hast any thing to give dost know saucy creature who it is thou speakest to wilt thou offer thy maker any thing dost think that hee 'l take any thing at thine hand If he stood in need would he pass by all his creatures canst imagin to accept thy kindness And why feind this unusual bounty so great a present to him thou hatest What wouldst thou have him doe for 't wouldst thou purchase his favour Hast a mind to buy thy peace and compound for pardon spare thy gifts bring thy self repent and beg that thou mayst have leave to fall down at his footstool and worship before the mercy seat canst thou confess and forsake thy sins Thou hast Scripture for 't and thy former discourse shews thee well read in Scripture thou shalt find favour And what an opportunity hast thou The Saviour of the world in thy company who came on purpose to reconcile sinners and save what was lost will be easily intreated to intercede for thee and get admittance for a faln Angel nor is all his charity tyed to faln men thy brother Angels whom thou left'st in heaven trust in him and worship him And why maist not thou hope the day of thy return is coming now that heaven gates are set open to all that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence And thou hast greater reasons to prevail with thee for repentance then miserable men have as knowing the great happiness thou hast parted with and having so long felt the torments of an evil conscience thy own hell and of that hell which thou art heating for others If any man were in thy case who yet is of a shallower understanding and sense then thou art would he not willingly leap out of those flames in which thou fryest would he not gladly be freed from the wrath of God which thou hast for so many ages lain under and which for ever thou must lye under unless thou canst repent And to what end shouldst thou stand out any longer in an enmity to him that overpowers thee to whom thy hatred can doe no hurt who constantly baffles thy counsels defeats thy strengths and has bound thee with everlasting chains one would think this very conflict might sufficiently convince thee how poor thy malice shows and how successless all thy attempts No Repentance is a doctrine to be preached only to men as the good Angels cannot sin so neither can the bad repent The Divel is but enraged with the tidings of salvation and his dispair imboldens him and he is resolv'd to be damn'd for ever He has an inveterate hatred and implacable malice against God which has call'd him forth now unto this defiance He hates the very thoughts of being blessed because he cannot be so out of God's company he hates God as God hates sin with a perfect hatred and would treat with God upon no other terms then this that God would not be Out of hatred to God he hates himself and is contented to foregoe his happiness rather then to acknowledge it and buyes his spight with endless torments If God should reinstate him as he is in heaven and inlarge him from his bonds he would look on the favour as a more painful imprisonment and account heaven his worse hell Though he knows aforehand that nothing he doth against God shall prosper he thinks it success enough of his plots that he has shown a contempt and in this very temptation of Christ nothing pleases him so much as the effrontery of it that he could as his servant Herod after did mock him and set him at nought when he was not suffer'd to doe him any more hurt For what is it he tempts him to that which he could not have impudence to hope would be hearkned to that which he knew was impossible for Christ in his very nature as well as in his will to doe to sin the holy one to commit a sin Oh audacious tempter couldst thou offer to corrupt him who knows no sin with a bribe couldst thou fancy the judge of all the earth could be made doe wickedly for reward when every upright judge scorns to have justice bought many an honest lawyer will not be hired to be an advocate for wrong But oh Divelish impudence what sin He had tempted him before to distrust and then to tempt providence and seeing Scripture as he applyed it would not prevail is not dismayed by a double repulse but that he might go of with a boast seeing he could not with conquest shews himself right Divel and belcheth out a blasphemy big enough to fill the wide mouth of hell He would
the head this in the heart Again Faith is divided into Historical Temporal and Saving Faith The first the Divels have who believ and tremble The second is of hypocrites who believe for a time and fall off The last doth properly belong to the elect who are therefore called Believers and the faithfull who hold out to the end live by their Faith Now Faith is a full perswasion of mind and a sure confidence by which we depend upon him in whom we believ IN GOD. We are said to believ a God when we acknowledge that there is a God and he that is such an one as he hath discovered himself in his word and works to believ God when we are perswaded that his word is the very truth and that whatsoever he hath promis'd or threatned in holy Scripture shall surely come to pass to believ in God when we place all our hope and trust in his power and goodness who both will help those that trust in him because he is a Father and can because he is Almighty God is of an infinite nature which exceeds all bounds of time or place much less can be comprehended by our shallow understanding we cannot know but we must believ and this very Faith doth as much exceed reason as reason doth sense in evidence and certainty The Holy Trinity by which three Persons are one God and the Incarnation of the Word by which two Natures meet into one Person are high and deep mysteries not to be reached by the eye not to be fathom'd by the plummet of our reason but Faith takes the heighth with a Iacob's staff and humble Hope fastens her Anchor in the bottom of this depth and diffusive Charity embraceth the whole compass of Divine truth THE FATHER The Deity is distinguished into three Persons the Father the Son and Holy Ghost and these Three are One and the same God the Father begets the Son the Son is begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son God is the Father also of all things for of him and to him and through him are all things ALMIGHTY Who can doe all things and doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in Heaven and in Earth neither is there any thing too hard for him for who hath resisted his will Yet God cannot lye call back yesterday or make the same thing to be and not to be at the same time for these are marks of extream impotence not omnipotence and God would not be God if he could doe them MAKER God's power is not idle Even before he made he decreed to make and his thoughts were busy about the work of creation from eternity He made not as workmen doe of stuff lying before them for he made all things of nothing nor with pains and weariness for he spake and they were made He did not only make the world and then leave it to it's self as Masons doe houses they build but he preserves and governs too and disposes all events to his own glory OF HEAVEN AND EARTH That is of the whole world whereof heaven and earth are the principal parts He spred out the earth as a floor and built up the wals and laid the roof of heaven he stored the elements with several creatures the heaven with stars as lamps hung out the aire with birds the water with fishes the earth with beasts He made heaven earth and all things therein contained in the space of six dayes but the chief of all his works were Angels the citizens of heaven and Men the inhabitants of the earth made after his own likeness and indued with understanding and excellent gifts But some of the Angels with Lucifer by reason of pride left their station and turned Divels All mankind fell in Adam by disobedience from a state of innocence and happiness into a state of sin and misery so that by nature we are the children of wrath but by grace become the children of God and that by means of the Son of God who became the Son of Man that he might save the children of men The second Article Here begins the part of the Creed concerning Christ the second Person Now Christ is considered either in his Person or in his State which is two-fold the state of Humiliation and the state of Exaltation And in Iesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord. The Person of Christ consists of two natures Divine and Humane for as soul and body make up man so God and man are one Christ. He is described here by his names titles The names are Iesus and Christ by which are noted his offices The titles which are given him that he is the only Son of God and our Lord shew partly his essence partly his dignity AND. He who believes the Father must also believ the Son for he who denieth the Son hath not the Father IN. It must be the same saith by which we believ Father and Son since both Father and Son are the same God I and the Father are one saith he and therefore as Ye believ in the Father believ also in me JESUS That is Saviour for he came into the world to save sinners that he might reconcile God and man and recover fallen man out of the state of sin and misery into a state of grace and glory He saves from sin and from the punishment due to sin and freeth us as well from the power as guilt of sin CHRIST Messias in Hebrew and Christ in Greek is all one as in Latin anointed Now three kinds of men were wont to be anointed that is to be consecrated to their office by powring oyl upon their heads to wit King Priest and Prophet Christ was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that is extraordinarily furnisht with gifts of the holy Spirit Melchizedeck was King and Priest Samuel Priest and Prophet David Prophet and King Christ alone the thrice greatest King Priest and Prophet King by subduing our enemies the world the flesh and the Divel and ruling our hearts by his word and spirit Priest by offering up a perfect sacrifice for us satisfying divine justice for our sins and by blessing us by a perpetual intercession Prophet by revealing the will of the Father and discovering to us all things which belong to salvation HIS ONELY BEGOTTEN SON God hath many sons but Christ is the onely begotten God is stiled the Father of lights and the Father of spirits and the Angels are called the sons of God Magistrates children of the most High because they resemble him in power and dignity and all Godly men are by grace made the children of God Now there is a vast difference betwixt Christ and these All creatures by creation blessed spirits by imitation Princes and Rulers by institution Believers by adoption become God's children But Christ alone is his Son by eternall generation of
Mercyes to them and theirs after them who have a respect for me and a care to keep my commands Now if we would take notice how full the world is of Idolatry when neer three parts of four in the whole habitable world are Mahumetans and Pagans and the greatest part of Christianity is ingag'd in Image-worship what cause have we to fear the severest judgements of a jealous God How guilty has this Land of late been of the basest Idolatry in the blasphemous addresses to usurping powers and imputing the villanous artifices of wicked men to the holy Spirit of God How have schisms like armyes of locusts over-spred and eat up the Churches of God in these Nations every one severally inventing falâ—â— wayes of worship and setting up thâ—â— abomination of desolation How has Idolatry and Antichristian doctrine prevail'd amongst us and been eagerly assisted by a seeming opposition How many Corahs Dathans and Abirams have been own'd follow'd by giddy multitudes that have offer'd strange fire and maintain'd rebellion against the sacred orders and institutions of the Church What credit hath Sorcery and Astrology of late years gotten that many have forsaken their own prudence and God's providence too and given themselves up to a lying spirit How is Self and Sin made the great Idol of all our devotions and how do we every day provoke God to jealousy with our lusts Sure then we have great reason to pray in the Churches words Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law As the second gives order for the carriage of our Body so the third sets down a rule for the chief part of the body the Tongue That prescribes postures This regulates our speech That takes care for Gods Worship This for his Name It likewise consists of two parts the Precept it self and the Reason of the precept THOU SHALT NOT TAKE to wit into thy mouth thou shalt not mention make use of God's name in thy ordinary discourse And more particularly thou shalt not swear as the three Eastern Interpretations have it exactly to the Hebrew phrase for to lift up God's Name signifies to swear and so in the 24. Psalm He that hath not lift up his soul to vanity is expounded by the words immediately following That has not sworn deceitfully THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD. God's Name is here put not only for those appellations whereby he is distinguish'd but for the divine Attributes also for his Word and his Works and all other discoveries which he makes of his Essence power wisdom goodness as has been said before in the first Petition of the Lord's Prayer IN VAIN Idly to no purpose rashly upon every slight or silly occasion in common talk or in any frivolous matter without due reverence and heedfulness or falsly in the defence and justification of a lye and thus the word in its latitude includes the three qualifications of an Oath that it be made in judgement in justice and in truth The reason follows FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS NAME IN VAIN i.e. He will not clear and acquit him and let him scape unpunish'd that shall dare to call the all-knowing God to witness a lye Two Observes that word Iehovah or Lord helps us to as having a double Emphasis One is that however a false or a vain swearer may pass as to the notice and penalty of humane Lawes God will find out the offender and punish him Another is that it is said here only the Lord whereas before 't was said the Lord thy God to shew that perjury and rash oaths are sins of that nature that God will not only punish his own people for but even the Heathens and Infidels whose Lord indeed he is but he is not their God And Heathen story is full of such examples wherein the breach of oath has been constantly followed with remarkable vengeance And that is intimated in that negative threat which signifies more then it speaks out He will not hold him guiltless meaning that he will most certainly punish The sense of the Command then is this Thou shalt not use my Name upon a design of cheat and to cover a lye thou shalt not forswear thy self by calling me to witness a known falshood and thus call some heavy vengeance upon thine own head But thou shalt when thou art call'd by the Magistrate thereunto bear faithfull witness to the truth which thou knowst and shalt make good thy promises Thou shalt not blaspheme my Name by rash and needless oaths nor upon every mean paultry occasion make mention of it but shew a reverence and a regard to it and take it into thy mouth with solemn care and weighty consideration When necessity so requires and Authority commands for the decision of strife and to put an end to controversie thou shalt swear by me and by me alone who onely know the secrets of hearts and am able to avenge the falshood Thou shalt have an awfull respect for every thing that belongs to me thou shalt peruse my word with diligence and attention reading and hearing and meditating in it day and night It shall never depart out of thy mouth Thou shalt honour my Ministers the Preachers of my Word the dispensâ—rs of my holy Ordinances Thou shalt magnifie and praise my Name in the remembrance of all my wondrous works Thou shalt take notice of my Iudgements and my mercyes and in all events speak well of my Name and whatsoever falls out in the affairs and interests of the world to say still the Name of the Lord be praised And to conclude Thou shalt walk in my fear in thy distress call upon my Name be frequent in Prayer and in praise lift up thy heart and thy voice to me who hear in Heaven and so order thy conversation that thou mayst not cause my Name to be evill spoken of but shalt live suitably to thy holy profession that all that see thy good works may glorifie me and by thy example may be taught to love and fear my Name Let us but take a view of our selves and see whether we are such as the Lord will hold guiltless Have not we taken the Lord's Name in vain when generally it has been used as a stale to base interest and a cloak for hypocrisie and tyranny when our Pulpits have prefix'd the Name of the Lord to the blackest designs and those who would be thought strictest in prosessing the Name of the Lord have set on foot rebellion under the title of the Cause of God when there has been such breaking of Oaths and making of Covenants against the Laws of God and man In so much that for our swearing backward and forward as the villany of these late times has taught men to doe we may justly be term'd the perjur'd Nation when our orthodox teachers have been thrown into corners with indigence and contempt that the basest of the
Sunday as their Sabbath whereon our Saviour rose again from the dead and shew'd himself to his Disciples Another difference betwixt us is that we are not obliged to that Iudaïcal strictness but are allow'd a chearfull freedom yet not so as to make it a day of pastime for it follows that it is THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD as appointed by him or To the Lord thy God as dedicated to his especial service a day wherein thou art to contemplate the works of the Lord wrought in the Creation and the mercyes of thy God shown forth in thy Redemption a time set apart not for thy business much less for thy sport but for God's glory and publick worship to be spent wholly in performances of holy dutyes IN IT THOU SHALT DO NO MANNER OF WORK Nothing of common drudgery of thy ordinary vocation of thy weeks work none of thy work for it 't is not meant that we should sit still and doe nothing but works of piety as going to Church and the Priest's offering their Sacrifices in the Old Law c. are God's work and works of necessity as provision of food c. are the works of Nature and works of Charity as healing the sick taking the oxe or ass out of the pit c. are works of Grace And these must and may be done without any violation of the Sabbath THOU God here cals all the family to an account so careful he is of his own day And whereas in the other Commandements Thou is directed to every body here it carryes a special warrant to the superiour seeming to require of him that he not onely keep it himself in his own person but take care also that all in his charge keep it too Thou whether thou art magistrate master or mistress of the house father tutor or whatever governour imploy thy authority to see my Sabbath duely observ'd Yet not so as that the superiours negligence shall be an excuse for the inferior's for they are all spoken too here by name AND THY SON Children are naturally more apt to neglect their duty then able to perform it or indeed willing to understand it They must be taught it then and kept to it Acquaint thy son therefore with my wayes and instruct him in my fear Train him up in good courses that he may not be prepossess'd with vicious customs Bring him to Church let him be couversant in Scripture and learn the principles of Religion and seek me early that he may grow up as in stature so in wisedom and grace and favour with God and good men AND THY DAUGHTER No age nor sex priviledg'd from Sabbath-duty And these two words include all inferiours who are not in a servile condition all children pupils scholars citizens subjects whose respective governours are particularly to heed their observance of this day THY MAN-SERVANT AND THY MAID SERVANT All thy servants whether hired or bought all that doe thee work and receive thy wages Neither thy Avarice nor their own lust shall imploy them and cause them to absent themselves from my service Servants that day 〈◊〉 God's servants and their master's fellow-servants yet to be commanded and overlook'd by their masters that they do serve God And indeed it is the master's great interest to see that this day be well observ'd in his family since he cannot well expect that his own work should prosper if God's work be neglected or that those servants will be faithfull in his service who doe not care to serve God THY CATTLE The Greek reads here as 't is express'd in Deuteronomie and thy oxe and thy ass and thy cattle i.e. all labouring beasts which man makes use of for tillage of the ground for carriage of burdens for going of journeys c. that they also may rest from their usual labour and may have a time of refreshment for there is a charity too due to these brute-servants and the good man is mercifull to his beast But does God take care of oxen Though they have a share in his providence yet what are they concern'd in his Law which is spiritual and holy 'T is for man's sake whom they serve in whose charge they are that they are here mention'd And indeed should the cattle have been left out it might have look'd like an allowance to worldly-minded men to have set them on work the attendance of that would have prov'd the imployment of men too for that beasts will hardly work alone without the direction oversight of men NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES He that sojourns with thee within thy city so the Magistrate is concern'd or thy guest in thy house and so 't is the duty of the Master of the family to see that strangers of what countrey or religion soever comply with this Law and doe not violate the Sabbath-rest by travell keeping market following their merchandise or any other worldly occasions The Hebrew words are sometimes taken in a special strict sense so as that the stranger means one of another countrey converted to the Iewish profession and observances call'd otherwise a Proselyte and the Gates being the place of session or assize where the Iudges and Magistrates met for the tryall and decision of causes mean the civil power and jurisdiction But they are here questionless to be taken in the larger and more common sense FOR IN SIX DAYES THE LORD This is the reason of the Command and shews farther the equity of it that we would not think much to doe as God himself did and indeed the morality of it too for this reason concerns all mankind Heathen as well as Iew wherefore to intimate the universal obligation it hath it sayes not the Lord thy God as before but only the Lord. MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH THE SEA AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS He finish'd the work of creation and did all which he had to do in that first week of the world And it would be worth our imitation to consider how God takes a review of every day's work and it would be well for us that we could every night before we take our natural rest take account of our actions and see that they are good and at the weeks end before we enter upon this spiritual rest survey the work of the whole week and say of it not that it were exceeding good but that at least it were not exceeding evil Two things in the method of God's working may be worth our particular notice that the evening is mention'd still before the morning as if God had taken counsel o're night what he should doe next day and that God made man last on the very Sabbath-eve as if he had made him for no other purpose then to keep the Sabbath in the admiration of his works and the celebration of his praise AND RESTED THE SEAVENTH DAY God might have been working on still and set forth his power in new productions for Omnipotence cannot be
faith applyes that purchase So then we are sav'd by the mercy of the Father by the merit of the Son and by the efficacy of the Spirit This form of Baptism is one of the clearest proofs of Trinity in all Scripture and indeed when our Saviour was Baptiz'd of Iohn all Three did shew themselves present Christ himself whom Iohn did Baptize was the second Person the Spirit descended upon him in the shape of a Dove and the Father spoke out of the Cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased In the Command is set down the rite or outward action i.e. the washing with water The Promise delivers the grace signified and conveyed by the action to wit remission of sins The analogie betwixt the outward sign and the inward grace lyes in this that as Water being powred or sprinkled on the body washes off the filth so the Blood of Christ which was the Fountain open'd for the cleansing of iniquity doth purge the conscience and doe away sin whether original or actual and present us clean without spot in the sight of the Father by the virtue of the Spirit HE THAT BELIEVES AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED Faith is the soul's hand by which a man receives and applyes to himself the benefits purchased by Christ. By Faith we are justified Baptism is the laver of regeneration the seal of the Covenant the conveyance of Grace They are both necessary neither can either of them serve turn by it self There must be an Ordinance to ground Faith upon and there must be a Faith to make the Ordinance effectual For every appointment as the just man doth lives by Faith Faith without Baptism were a bucket without water and Baptism void of Faith were but a well without a bucket to draw up the waters of life He that believes by confessing his sins and professing Faith resolves upon amendment of life and gives himself up to Christ's discipline and then is baptiz'd obliges himself by vow enters into Covenant of strict walking with God He shall be sav'd from his sins the punishments due to them being free as well from the power as from the guilt His nature shall be renewed and by the continual supplyes of grace if he make good use of it he shall be enabled more and more to withstand temptations get ground of his lusts he shall be put into a state of salvation and every day set forward on his way to bliss through the paths of holiness till with Christ at last he arrive at perfection have his grace changed into glory HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED This is a threat annexed to the promise which holds good by the law of contraries for if those that believe shall be saved then those that believe not must expect nothing but damnation We must observe that there is not added here any mention of Baptism because unbelief it self is enough to shut the gates of Heaven against any one and send him to Hell wherefore it is not said he that believes not and is not Baptiz'd for the unbeliever whether he be baptiz'd or no is lyable to this sentence If he hath been baptiz'd it will be look'd upon as a formal cheat a cloak to disguise his hypocrisy And if he hath not the very neglect of Baptism serves for an open discovery of his unbelief so that either way he aggravates his sin by being on one side hypocrite on the other profane The meaning of these words then is this But on the contrary whosoever doth not with true Faith entertain my Doctrine and with sure purpose of mind resolve on the keeping my Commands but doth either so far disbelieve Christian Truth that he will not so much as take upon him the outward profession of it or having been baptiz'd is of loose opinions and practises and disparages his profession with foul errors or wicked manners such an one will have no benefit by Christ no share in the salvation wrought by him but brings upon himself the guilt of his own sins and continues still in a state of wrath and perishing in his unbelief will assuredly be cast into everlasting torments If the One Sacrament may be termed the Bosom of the Church by which we are entred and have admittance into the fellowship of the Saints The Other may not without reason be call'd the Churches Breast by which we are nourished to a spiritual growth and are refreshed and fed to life everlasting Of the Lord's SUPPER AFter that our Saviour had sufficiently made known by his Doctrine the will of God concerning man's salvation and proved by many miracles that he was the Son of God that came down from Heaven to the end that having put on our nature he might in our stead satisfy the Law and undergoe the punishments due to us for our sins that we through Faith in him might live It pleased him that he might leave with us the Symbols of his presence for ever and preserve the memory of his sufferings afresh in the mind of the faithful to prefigure his Death by a Sacrament appointing Bread Wine the usual supplyes of life for the representing of his sacred Body which was broken on the Cross and torn with the nails and the spear and his Blood which trickled from his sacred Head by the pricking of the thorns gush'd out of his hands feet when he was nail'd to the tree and brake forth of his side when he was wounded with the launce and plentifully stream'd forth out of every vein of his sacred Body when he was cruelly scourged with whips Now his Body thus broken and his Blood thus shed doe no less feed a believers soul and improve the force of grace then the body is nourished and natures strength repaired by Bread and Wine But this hath a spiritual meaning not that any one doth eat the very flesh of Christ and drink his very blood in a gross manner for that will be as absured to think as 't is savage to doe or that Christ can be receiv'd any other way then by Faith for 't is a point of Faith that the Body of Christ did goe up to Heaven and there is to remain till the last day and 't is contrary to very reason to say that the same Body can at the same time be in several places and to bring to pass contradictions is a thing out of the power of omnipotence it self not to say that it is plain even to our outward senses that the elements of bread and wine doe still remain after consecration the same in substance as well as in colour and accidents as they were before In fine it would indeed be no Sacrament if the signs should change their nature and the thing signified be it self really there for a Sacrament is nothing else but a figure and representation of some thing that is absent exhibiting to the understanding that which cannot be seen with the eye and by