and beautiful in it self but it fits not the person who is to wear it Singing of Psalms doth admirably chear and exhilerate the soul The Apostle speaks Eph. 5. 19. Of singing Psalms and Hymns and making melody in our hearts this duty is the Hortatur Christianos Apostolus ad laetitiam et exultationem spiritualem ut laeti et exultantes in Christianismo jubilent Alap sweet shout of the soul the jubilie of the inward man a spiritual exultation the triumphal gladness of a gracious heart a softer rapture We may say of this Service as Tremelius doth of Davids harp That by the musick of it the storms of Sauls spirit were laid and he was composed and serene This Service can calm a perturbed and discomposed spirit Augustine confesseth That oftentimes for joy he wept in the Aug. lib. 3. Confes cap. 6. Church to hear the melody of the peoples singing And Beza acknowledges That at his first enterance into the Congregation Bez. Paraph. in Psal 91. hearing them sing the 91st Psalm by the singing thereof he felt himself exceedingly comforted and he did ever since bear the sence of it dearly engraven on his heart Dr. Bound observes Psalms are most convenient for the Sabbath for that is a time of joy and there is no joy comparable to that we have in Christ Jesus who fills our hearts with joy unspeakable and 1 Pet. 1. 8. full of glory Indeed singing of Psalms it reveals and confines our joy it is the smile and the gracious smile of the soul The Apostle James adviseth us to turn our mirth into the right channel If we be merry let us sing Psalms Jam. Psalmis nos oblectemus et ex hisce hilaritatem nostram promanare annitendum est Daven 5. 13. Our mirth should be as the musick of the Sphears pure and coelestial As the waters of a spring and not as the waters of a pond which easily putrifieth Our joy then flowes and breaks out in this blessed duty of singing Psalms which is the only vent of inward complacency the heart being the chief musick-room of a Saint In the singing of Psalms we begin the service of heaven singing is the triumph of glory In heaven we read of the song of the Lamb the song of Moses Rev. 15. 3. All varieties in the Pallace of the great King sing songs to the Lord and to the Lamb who sits on the throne Rev. 5. 9 12 13. The twenty four Elders sing a new song as if they would out-vy and double the tribes of Israel as in their Psalmi sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaecunque cantiones variâ—s argumentis scriptae Hymni sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae solummodò dei laudes continent Cantica seu Odae sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiares magis artificiosae angustiore quadam formâ Daven number so in their praises to the God of Israel Rev. 5. 9. The Angels lift up their voice to sing the Psalms of heaven Rev. 5. 11. Those glorious spirits though they have no tongues yet they have voices to celebrate the praises of the Divine Majesty The Harpers likewise have a new song Rev. 14. 3. and joyn issue in the same harmony to evidence that heaven is a place of joy and triumph Now as no Ordinance better resembles the company of heaven then that of the Lords Supper where the Saints meet to feast with and on Christ So no Ordinance better resembles the harmony of heaven then the singing of Psalms when the Saints joyn in the praise of their Redeemer It is not without a Selah a note of observation that the Apostle is so copious in setting down the several wayes of the Saints praising God viz. In Psalms and Hymns and spirituall Songs Col. 3. 16. Is it not to prefigure that plenty and joy which is reserved for them when they shall always joyn in consort with the musick of the Bride-chamber David singing with his harp Psal 71. 22. here looks not so like the King of the Old as a Citizen of the New Jerusalem Rev. 14. 2. Singing of Psalms must be managed with prudential cautions In this heavenly duty the heart must be president of the Quire He playes the hypocrite who bids his harp awake when his heart is asleep Affection must be loudest Non vox sed votum non musica chordulâ— sed cor non clamans sed amans caniat in aure dei Aug. in every Psalm The Apostle saith That he will sing with the spirit 1 Cor. 14. 15. David tells us His heart was ready his heart was ready to sing and give praise Psal 57. 7 8. Psal 108. 1. The Virgin Mary sings her magnificat with her heart Luke 1. 46 47. Bernard in a Tract of his tells us When we sing Psalms let us take heed that we have the same De modo benè vivendi Bern. thing in our mind which we warble forth with our tongue and that our song and our tongue run not severall wayes Audiant illi quibus psallendi in ecclesiâ officium est deo non voce tantùm sed corde cantandum non in Tragaedorum modum Hieron Spiritual songs must not be as icâ—â—les which drop from the eves of our mouths but as sparks which fly from the hearths of our souls If there be only the calves of our lips it so much resembles a carnall and Jewish sacrifice Hierome tells us We must not act as players who stretch their throats and accomodate their tongues to the matter in hand but when we sing Psalms we must act as Saints praising God not only with our voice but with our hearts A sweet voice pleaseth men most but a melting heart pleaseth God most Non franges vocem sed frange voluntatem non servas tantùm consonantiâ—m vocum sed concordiam morum Bern. Thou studiest cadencies and to run divisions saith Bernard Study to break thy will and to keep under thy corrupt affections and do not so much affect a consonancy of voice as conformity of manners It is not a quavering voice but a trembling spirit Isa 66. 2. Augustine complains sadly of some in his time who minded more the tune then the truth which was sung more the manner how then the matter Aug. what and this was a great offence to him We must sing with grace in our hearts Col. 3. 16. Viz. Either as some expound it with gratitude and thankfulness Nâ—n incommodè cum cantionibus conjungitur gratitudo Daven Laetis prosperis rebus ad canendum monemur quo in statu affectus gratitudinis debitus est planè necessarius Dav. for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace is sometimes so taken 1 Cor. 15. 57. And indeed thankfulness is the Selah of this duty that which puts an accent upon the musick and sweetness of the voice we sing the thanksgivings of the Lord. In times of prosperity when God crowns us with his loving kindnesses
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
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
hearts by the light of Nature but this only was given by outward Ordinance and Institution and we are more apt to forget Instructions then Inclinations 2. Because this Commandment more restrains natural liberty then all the rest the other Commandments restrain only things sinful but this prohibits things lawful at any other time nay it restrains our very words Isa 58. 13. and our very thoughts our lawfull works and secular employments must be laid aside on this day we must not think or discourse of the world and the things of it on this blessed day 3. Because of the multitude of our affairs on the six days which had need to be remembred to be finished seasonably or else they will breed distractions on the Lords day nor is it so facil and easie to keep off their impressions and intrusions when we are to converse with God on his own day 4. Because the Devil will assuredly prompt us to forget this Commandment so to quench the memory both of the Creation and the work of our Redemption that he may the more readily draw us to despair by forgetting the salvifical work of our Redemption or else to Atheisme by forgetting the stupendous work of the Creation for as the work of Creation first give us a Sabbath so the work of Redemption afterwards gave us our Sabbath Now to prevent these mischicvous inconveniencies we are alarm'd and quickned with a Memento to keep this Commandment as a means to preserve the memory both of Father and Son and so to keep on foot holy and divine worship This Commandment of the Sabbath is of most weight to be remembred for the observance of all the rest of the Commandments depend much upon the keeping of this Let us cast our eye upon the Conversion of sinners where one hath been converted on the week day many have been brought home to God on his own day God doth delight to dispence his graces on his own day so that in keeping this day we preserve an opportunity when God doth confer his graces on the Sons of men and in a careless observing of this day we put from us an opportunity of getting and obtaining the grace of God So then keep this day and we keep all neglect this day and we neglect all the proper means for life and salvation This is the season when the Angel comes down to stir the waters and then is our time to step in and be healed John 5. 4. This indeed is the fundamental command on which the superstructure of piety and religion is fastened and built On this day God draws nigh to his people and they to him nay the way to lay hold on Gods Covenant is to keep his Sabbath there is some hopes of a mans salvation when he makes conscience of keeping this holy day 7. The reason why this Commandment is of so much weight to be remembred is because in it we are made more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritually minded it frames our spirits to be more fit and adequate to every good word and work we are as not of this world the Apostle saith Heb. 4. 9. Verily there remains a Rest for the people of God Implying that the Saints in Heaven keep a Sabbath-Rest meditating divine things singing praises and minding only the things of Heaven Nothing more fits and accommodates our spirits to the supreme good Vis in die quem dicunt solis solem colitis sicut nos in eundem dominicum non solem sed resarrectionem domini veneramur then a holy observation of the Sabbath it is the beginning of heaven here our hearts then work up more and more to their centre to their God to their Christ 8. We must remember this Commandment In keeping the Sabbath we keep in mind Gods chiefest mercies the benefit of our Creation and of our Redemption the first giving us our beings the second our well beings the first being the Aug. Contr. Faust Manich Lib. 10. fountain of Nature the second being the spring of Grace And whereas there are Three most glorious persons shewing themselves in their several works tending to mans good the due observation of the Sabbath puts us in the remembrance of them all Of the Father who created us and then gave the Gen. 2. 3. world a Sabbath of the Son who redeemed us and on this day ascended from the Grave of the Holy Ghost who inspires Acts 2. 1 2 3. us and sheds a beauty upon us who as on this day descended from heaven in a miraculous flame upon the blessed Apostles which was an infallible earnest of those plenteous effusions of the spirit which should be poured forth upon the Church in all ages Thus upon weighty reasons a Memento Dan 5. 6. is affixed to the fourth and only to the fourth Commandment which if it be not a note of observance to point out our Sanctificatio Sabbati est diem à deo anteà sanctificatum pro sancto habere et exercitâ—is religionis et fidei exercendae sedulo inâ—umbere Atque ita sanctificationem dei haudquaquam prophanare sed illibatam conservare Muscul great concernment in the holy keeping of it it will be an hand-writing on the wall to make us tremble to all everlasting A learned man observes That God should preface this Commandment with a Memento it implies that some serious thing is commanded something of the highest importance which upon our peril must not be neglected or forgotten This command is a treasure committed to us with a great charge And it is observable it is not said Remember that thou keep the Sabbath day but remember the Sabbath to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8. God stops not at Sabbath day but adds to keep it holy evidently implying that to set apart the time of a Sabbath is not considerable but to spend that time in holy duties and in the holy exercises of faith and religion this is the fulfilling of the Commandment When Gods sanctifying of Sabbatum non est merè quies Leid Prof. the day as Musculus speaks is not prophaned by us but kept pure and unspotted The Memento then in this Commandment is only the usher of holiness Gods loud call to strictness and sanctity on his own day the significant harbinger to tell us Christ is coming and on this day he must lodge in our hearts Arg. 7 No Command is sweetned with more equity then that of the Sabbath There is that which Aristotle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it a Facillimum est et aequissimum ei cujus toti sumus unum diem è septem conservare qui sex alios nostris laboribus concessit cùm tamen potuisset jure suo plures illis servandos judicare Riv. just and moderate Imposition there is not so much voluntas imperantis the will of him who commands as ratio impeâ—andi the reason of the command it self In this command God rather exercises jus Patris
Sabbathum propriè quietem et vacationem ab opere servili significat quod deus in ipsâ mundi origine quieti sarctae consecravit Gualt Sabbathum Domini Sabbathum dicitur in scripturis Exod. 16. 20 Lev. 19. 26. Eò quod deo consecratum est et iis studiis quae ad dei honorem spectant Id. 1 Kings 6. 7. Exod. 13. 2. would keep us and chain us up from such seraphical and heavenly duties And the Council of Arles which was celebrated under Charles the Great speaks to the same purpose concluding Let those things onely be done on the Sabbath which appertain to the Service of God Nay secular works and the works of our Calling upon the Sabbath they illegitimate and contradict the very name of a Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies quietness and rest a cessation from labour it is nothing more then a denyal of toyle so that when we labour on the Sabbath we do but rough this calme and quiet day which is given us to hear Gods still voice when the spirit that wind blows gently yet powerfully in the dispensation of the word God will have his own Name known that he is a God of mercy and purity and he will have the name of his Sabbath known to be a day of quiet and cessation and therefore it is called a Sabbath of Rest Exod. 35. 2. That if we at the first view did not understand the meaning of the word Sabbath Moses Comments on it and gives us an explanation it is a Sabbath of Rest a meer Hebraisme when Sabbath and Rest are the same thing and in the Original the word is onely repeated for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as in the building of the Temple of the Lord so in the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord there must be no hammer heard no axe no noise of working instruments or secular employments 4. Labouring in our callings on a Sabbath doth not only deny the name of the Sabbath but subverts the manner of its observation which is by sanctifying it The Sabbath must be kept holy so in the forementioned place Exod. 35. 2. so in the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. 8. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash sanctifie a word used in both these Texts and many Exod. 40. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Restaurari ad sanctum usum Buxtorf Sanctificare idem est quod ad usus sanctos applicare ceu adhibere Wal. diss de quarto Praecepto De modo sanctificationis duo dicuntur primum opera propria cujusque sex diebus clauduntur deinde opera Divina hoc die omnibus praescribuntur Idem other places it signifies the separation of any thing to a holy use So the first born among the Israelites were sanctified to God the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash there they were consecrated and set apart to God So the vessels in the Sanctuary were sanctified Viz. they were set apart for the worship and service of God So the Temple was sanctified 1 Kings 9. 3. in the same sence So that whatsoever is hallowed and sanctified is set apart for holy use by the Will and Commandment of God And that great School-man Thomas Aquinas speaks to the same purpose Illa dicuntur lege sanctificari quae divino cultui applicantur Those things are sanctified in the Law which were dedicated to Gods Worship So then working on the Sabbath overthrows this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash this sanctifying it it diverts that day to our own use which is sanctified separated onely to a divine use Secular works oppose the very purpose of the word sanctifying they rob God of his time dedicated to holy use and give it to the Labourer to him who works which is both impudence and sacriledge Labouring casts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash sanctifie out of the fourth Commandment and alters the will of the great Legislator it layes waste and makes common the holy day which God hath limited and inclosed to an holy use And it is remarkable that the observation of the Sabbath is never urged by Moses or the Prophets but rest and Exod. 35. 2. Exod. 31 14. Deut. 5. 14. Jer. 17. 27. Quiâ—quid aliquam speciem haberet operum servilium prohibebatur in Sabbato Rivet cessation is commanded too Exod. 35. 2. It is called a Sabbath of rest Exod. 31. 14. Thou shalt do no manner of work The same strictly enjoyned Deut. 5. 14. and so Jer. 17. 27. So that God hath put rest and cessation from secular employments into the very nature and essence of the Sabbath he hath engraven rest upon the Sabbath in an indelible Character that you cannot abstract it from the Sabbath without an abolition of the Law it self If you will keep a Sabbath keep it free from worldly labours or never set upon the observation of it Rest is as necessary for us as for former times for the holy sanctification of the Sabbath our bodies are subject to Mat. 26. 41. Exod. 23. 12. Recreabitur alieâ—â—gena muliò magis incola Ne â—ontinuâ—s laborâ—bâ—â— sâ—â—iâ—gentâ—r homines sea fessa memb a lâ—ventur die Sâ—bbâ—thi Leid Prof. Exod. 31. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respiravit deus Corpus nostrum mortale est in quo brevi tempore tanquam in tabernaculo moramur Alap in Corinth tiredness our spirits to faintness our flesh to weariness as well as those who lived in former ages and therefore are not we as much necessitated to a quietation and rest from labours Christ may say to us as well as to the Apostles The flesh is weak though the spirit may be willing we are clogged with as many weaknesses and disinabled by as many infirmities as former times and therefore Thou shalt do no manner of work That blessed indulgence and dispensation granted in the fourth Commandment cannot but be as pleasing and gratefull to us as others in the elder dayes of the world Shall the Jewes observe an exact rest on the Sabbath and not we Christians Are our Tabernacles of clay better fixed then theirs Our tired bodies require a cessation from labours to attend on the Divine Services of the Sabbath The main ground of Gods first institution of the Sabbath was rest from his works Viz. the works of Creation and the main cause of the re-institution of the Sabbath if I may so speak in the change of the day from the Seventh to the First was Christ's resting from his work Viz. the great work of Redemption The very reason of the Law and Statute concerning the Sabbath condemns secular labours and business this day A Quietus est first started the Law it self and a Quietus est must keep the Law now setled and Gen. 2. 3. Humano more eâ— quad mattemperatione ad nestram institutionem loquitur scriptura Divina c Quievit deuâ— substitit cessavit a procreandis producendisque rebus ex nihilo ut essent Chrysost established Rest from our labours is
Acts 12. 23. can unpin the wheels and break the Axletree of the whole Luke 12. 5. Creation with a word he can infatuate the counsels of the Jer. 39. 9. deepest Politians tear in pieces the strongest adversaries Psal Job 26. 7. 59. 22. blast the designs of the loftiest Courtiers speed the Job 9. 6. death of the proudest Princes and fire Nations out of their Heb. 10 31. Cities and tye them up with a tedious Captivity he can throw sinners soul and body into hell Mat. 10. 28. In a Mat. 10. 28. word Gods Power is commensurate to his will and the Isa 52. 10. strength of his hand can effect whatsoever is in the purpose of his heart If he make bare his arme Isa 52. 10. his naked arme can execute wonders nor need he any weapons to accomplish his atchievements Let us meditate on the omnisciency of God His eye is alwayes upon us he hath a window into our hearts our very Psal 139. 1. Psal 44. 21. Jer. 17. 10. Rev. 2 23. Psal 139. 12. thoughts are unvailed to him he sees every sin he searcheth every soul he trys every rein Clouds do not darken his view Curtains do not hinder his sight and doors do not shut out his prospect Light and darkness are all one to him he sees the fine and curiously spun agitations of the mind before Dei intellectus est vitae suae actus quo Deus videt omnia seipsum scil et extrase universa quae esse possunt quae esse vult autipse facit aut à creaturis fieri vult aut permittit cognoscit eas res quae sunt et earum causas modos et circumstantias praesentia praeterita fatuâ—a magna et parva quibus scientia divina non vi escit et animi recessus dicta conâ—tus facta Leid Pr. they are fledged and fly out into action It was an excellent speech of Augustine Deus totus oculus est minima videt God is all eye and sees the most minute things the very imaginations of our hearts 1 Chron. 28. 9. our thoughts in the first â—bullition the very embryoes of our working minds God saw Achans wedge although it was buried under ground and can tell Joshuah where it lay Josh 7. 11. Christ saw the Scribes reasonings when they were onely agitated in the conclave of their hearts Mark 2. 6 8. He knows the proud afar of Psal 138. 6. before they draw near to lift up the heel against him Every motion of our minds every sound of our tongue every action of our lives lye plain before him Omnia videt c. He sees all things from Eternity to eternity with one and the same view as School-men speak David could not fly from his presence though he made the greatest speed to avoid it and took the wings of the morning to hasten his flight Psal 139. 9. he weighs the dust in the ballance Isa 40. 14. takes notice of those things which are as small and contemptible as the dust Let us meditate on the Holiness of God This blessed Attribute is an orient pearle in Gods Crown Holiness is the very Glory of the God-head The Lord is glorious in holiness Ter sanctitatem deo acclamant animalia sive Trinitatem in deo innuentia sive infinitâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iterationem significantia est enim deus ter sanctus sanctissimus sanctitas ipsâ— Beatos Angelos et homines sanctificans Par. Exod. 15. 11. The Scriptures call the Father a holy God Psal 22. 3. the Son a spotless Lamb 1 Pet. 1. 19. the Spirit the Holy Ghost John 14. 26. The Holiness of God is the triumphant song of heaven both in the Vision of the Prophet Isa 6. 3. and in the Revelation of the Apostle Rev. 4. 8. The Holiness of God is the wonder of Angels those glorious spirits admire Gods beauty which is his holiness the holiness of the Lord is the pattern and exemplar of Saints for them to imitate and write after Lev. 20. 7. Holiness is primarily and originally in God as light in the Sun derivatively onely in the Saints As God is pleased to draw Man fair by the pencil of his spirit to cast and shed a beauty and sweetness upon him Ezek. 16. 6. Christ issuing Sanctitas tribuitur deo non solum quia purus est ab omni inquinamento sed maxime quia nulla non solum moralis sed etiam et naturalis non potest in eo esse imperfectio Riv. forth from his fulness some beautifying drops cleansing from sin and watering with grace and so poor man arises supernaturally lovely from amidst his natural deformity and loathsomness Holiness is so intrinsical and grateful to God that he will have Holiness to the Lord engraven on the plate of Gold which Aaron the High Priest must wear upon his breast Exod. 28. 36. God sits in the Throne of his holiness saith the Psalmist Psal 47. 8. He is praised in the mountain of his holiness saith the Prophet Psal 48. 1. Holiness attends upon his Throne and holiness besets his Mountain Holiness is mixed with his words Psal 60. 6. Exod. 28. 36. Psal 47. 8. Psal 48. 1. Psal 60. 6. Psal 93. 5. Isa 63. 15. Isa 62. 9. Zach. 14. 20. Exod. 25. 31. Holiness becomes his house Psal 93. 5. Holiness fills his habitation Isa 63. 15. and replenisheth his Court Isa 62. 9. Nay holiness is so much Gods nature that holiness to the Lord must be written on the very Bells of the horses and the pots of the Sanctuary and they shall be like the bowles of the Altar which were of pure Gold Exod. 25. 31. typifying weight and worth the Characters of true holiness Let us meditate on the wisdome of God He sits at the helm and guides all things regularly and harmoniously he Tim. 1. 17. brings light out of darkness and can make use of the injustice Judiâ—ia dâ—i sunt â—â—â—ventibilia 〈…〉 2. 3. of men to do that which is just he is infinitely wise in him all treasures of wisdome dwell he can break us by afflictions and upon those broken pieces of the ship bring 〈◊〉 omnia 〈◊〉 seipsum 〈…〉 per 〈…〉 〈…〉 us safe to shore The traces mazes and labyrinths of divine wisdom are so arduous and inextricable that holy Paul was struck with amazement in the observation of them and is even swallowed up with extasie and amazement Rom. 11. 33. There is a learned man observes how many ways the wisdom and knowledge of God transcends and surpasseth the wisdom of man 1 Cor. 13 12. Quanta est altitudo scientiae divinae transrendit omnem Gods wisdom surpasses mans in the object of it God by his wisdom and knowledge understands all things past present and to come all things which have a possibility of being and he understands himself who is an Ocean of perfections And this Man falls infinitely short of God is
and rule of all Laws and Laws are so far just good and equal as they accord with the Divine A primâ veritate quae est deus dependent omnes veritates Law So every thing is true as it is consentaneous and conformable to the Counsels and Will of God to that truth which is in the mind of God As Ambrose observes No man can call Jesus Lord but in and by the Holy Ghost because whatsoever is true by whomsoever it is spoken it is from the holy spirit All truth flows from the spirit as all lies are from Satan he is the Father of them God is immutably and unchangeably true Man runs often from truth to errour deceiving and being deceived we often leave the plain way of truth and go into the by-wayes Pulcherrima est veritas per quam immutata quae sunt quae fuerunt et quae futura sunt dicuntur Cic. of errour and mistake The Church in all ages hath had its Pests as well as its Pillars and hath been plagued with an Arrius as well as blessed with an Athanasius Simon Magus hath crept in among the fold of Christ as well as Simon Peter hath had the charge of the flock of Christ And besides truth in us is sometimes more clear sometimes more clouded Our understanding is different and graduate in Amos 3. 6. Jer. 10. 10. Joh. 17. 3. the apprehensions of it But the Lord is alwayes unchangeable in his truth because he is so in his being in his will in his wisdom and other attributes God is not subject either to misapprehensions or recollections God is true in all his works Whither we consider his spiritual operations whom he justifies he not onely freely but truly justifies not onely reprieves but pardons suspends Isa 46. 10. Rom. 11. 29. his execution but makes him heir of life and salvation If God call us he doth it truly and effectually not by Rom. 8. 30. a pretended invitation but by a powerfull and successfull vocation The Apostle links predestination and vocation together in the same chain Whom God regenerates he doth truly convert to himself giveth them true faith and the blessed graces of his holy spirit And so in the works of his hands Angels are glorious and real spirits Man is a noble and a true creature resembling the God of truth and bearing his image he is no fantasm no spectrum as some Gen. 1. 26. hereticks in the primitive times asserted of the body of Christ God made all things very good Gen. 1. 31. and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no mixture of false semblance embased their worth The Creatures are real according to their appearances The world is no dream or fantastick landskip God is true in his words He is true in the incarnate word Christ is the true Son of God not suppositious not the Son of Joseph but the Son of God He was truly 1 Joh. 1. Joh. 7. 40. Heb. 5. 10. Joh. 12. 15. Col. 2. 9. Psal 19. 8. God and truly Man a true Prophet a true Priest a true King 1 Joh. 5. 20. And Christ calls himself the truth Joh. 14. 6. God is likewise true in every word which the Prophets or Apostles have pronounced or laid down for Joh. 18. 31. Joh 18 37. Mat. 5. 18. Rom. 3. 4. our advice and instruction truth is an indelible character of the Scriptures In his Word God is true in every particle of it in every tittle of it Mat. 5. 18. And therefore as the Apostle saith Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3. 4. Christ asserts he spoke nothing but the words of truth and he left heaven to converse with the Sons of men to bear testimony to the truth Joh. 8. 40. Joh. 8. 40. God is true in his donations He gives us true happiness true grace puts in us a principle of truth God writes us true Eph. 4. 30. Mundi bona sunt fugacia et falsa sed Christus robis confert spiritualia et aeterna spiritum sanctum et vitam aeternam Ger. pardons seals us by a spirit of truth to the day of redemption give us true knowledge fills us with true joy and sweetens our souls with real and true consolations He enriches us with true riches Luke 16. 11. The profers of the world are false and evanid false shews and counterfeit satisfaction But all true complacencies and delights are to be found in Christ and are treasured up in God God is true in his promises Those breasts which yield better liquor then wine those flowers which smell sweeter then Promissiones habent ubera verè vino meliora et magis fragrantia unguentis optimis Bern. the choycest oyntments as Bernard saith sweeter then the flowers of Paradise All the promises in Christ are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. They are all established in him as a strâ—â—â—ure built upon a sure foundaâ—ion Indeed the Lord is abundant in truth Exod. 34. 6. He is encompassed with truth as with a girdle Isa 11. 5 6. He is plenteous in 2 Cor. 1. 20. Exod. 34. 6. Isa 11. 5 6. Psal 86. 15. Psal 100. 5. Psal 91. 4. Psal 117. 2. Psal 146. 6. truth Psal 86. 15. Ready to write truth in our inward parts He is eternal in truth he is holy and true in this generation and so he will be in the next Psal 100. 5. He is preservative in his truth his truth is both shield and buckler Psal 91. 4. So that truth is not onely Gods glorious attribute but mans sure defence We must meditate on the Love of God This is that influential attribute which sets God on work His love sets his eye on pittying his head on contriving his hand on acting his heart on melting God out of love sent his Son Joh. 3. 16. Joh. 3. 19. out of his bosome scatters his Gospel in the world that light which is more glorious then the Sun In love God saith Ezek. 16. 6. to the sinner live Ezek. 16. 6. seeketh after enemies for reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. and makes clods of earth and 2 Cor. 5. 19. poor worms heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14. But for the further Heb. 1. 14. discovery of this sweet attribute we must search for it in its properties it may be discerned in its characters though not in its cause Now there are divers explanatory characters of divine love The love of God is eternal love Gods love to poor man had no beginning there never was any time when the heart 2 Tim. 1. 9. Jer 31. 3. Hos 11. 9. Apostolus tempora secularia vult quae simul cum seculo et mundo fluere et volui caeperunt sed ante tempora secularia quod ante mundi constitutionem ante temporis et mundi origineÌ„ est Ansel of God was not set upon a Saint He loved him in his futurition when the believer was to be a child of God
saith Mat. 20. 16. and therefore but few Saints in the world That which speaks the work of grace arbitrary is the free-agency of God in sanctification of the means of grace The Gospel of Christ is a savour of life unto some unto others a 2 Cor. 2. 16. Joh. 6. 67 68. Acts 13. 48 50 savour of death The Word it melts and mollifies some others it leaves to hardness and incrustation When Christ preach't some leave him but his Disciples adher'd the closer to him When the Apostles preached some believed others persecute both the Doctrine and the Preacher The Ordinances of Christ are marrow and fatness to David Psal Praedicatio crucis et mortis Christi est odor mortis incredulis et cedit in eorum exitium qui mortem Christi ut mortem tantummodò considerant sed credentibus est odor ex vitâ quia ipsi vitam ex haâ— morte amplectuntur 63. 5. more then necessary food to Job Job 23. 12. But to others they have no tast no sweetness no power no reach to affect the heart When Paul and Barnabas preached at Iconium their Doctrine onely stirs up rage and passion Acts 14. 2. Like a high wind which turns the waves of the Sea into froth The preaching of the word is a cure to some and a curse to others to some it strengthens their grace to others it amplifies their guilt some fall before it as the word of salvation Acts 16. 29. others reject it and so dash upon eternal perdition The word indeed is a light to some and to others onely a stumbling block as God is pleased to pass by or work by his holy spirit Ordinances they are attended by man but sanctified by God The Word works unnaturally Eph. 4. 16. Joh. 3. 19. Prov. 16. 1. Eph. 3. 7. upon the Jews Acts 7. 54. pleasingly upon Herod Mark 6. 20. most powerfully upon Lydia Acts 16. 14. fully and effectually upon Paul Acts 9. 5. And thus the Gospel which is onely an instrument in Gods hand works variously and differently according to the pleasure and free agency of his will That the work of grace is arbitrary is evidenced in the impossibility of humane merit We cannot prepare our selves Natura corrupta est et lex morbum ostendit non sanat vos autem meritum nescio quod excogitastis quod mul 〈…〉 â—â—lutem 〈…〉 endam â—â—â—eat Whit. Qâ—i dignitate â—iâ—tationis hereditariae nituntur multò sunt verae pietatis studiosiores quam qui â— servorum merito riâ virtute dependent Mort. Epis Dunelm contra Merita for the entertainment of this work of the holy spirit there is no meritum ex condigno or meritum ex congruo as the Papists fondly imagine and our Protestant Divines have fully evinced When God first begins his work of grace upon the soul he finds nothing but ruines and rubbish no remains of beauty The spirit of God meets with a great deal of enmity Rom. 8. 7. and boysterous opposition much wrigling and reluctancy of the flesh All the powers of man are up in arms against this blessed work It is therefore only Gods free and eternal love which prompts him to carry on this powerful work One observing that of the Apostle Our carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. By carnal mind saith he is not to be understood sensuality the dregs the lees and the whites of nature but our natural wisdom our most refined part nature in its best condition even Lady reason it self unsanctified and therefore the work of grace must needs be arbitrary there is nothing to allure it nothing to engage God to effect it wrinkles will not stir up love The wise man saith Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart are of the Lord Observe preparations in the plural number to shew us that every little wheel in the work of grace is moved Prov. 16. 1. and turns by power from God every good tendency Vita nostrae animae maximè beata à deo pendet et donatur dei amicis every regular propension every breathing and anhelation after good is implanted in us by God who is liberrimum agens as the school-men speak most free and arbitrary in all his works and dispensations This further is demonstrated by the ineffectualness of all mans attempts to arrive at a state of grace and holiness There are many things bid fair for this holy work but they all Tollitur cooperatio liberi arbitrii interior volentis exterior currentis et totum opus bonum est dei miserentis et gratiae operantis Calv. bring onely to the birth they cannot bring forth the least semblance of it all turn into a timpany at last Good Education holy Patterns sweet Ordinances precious Sabbaths these may contribute something to an outward restraint from evil but they beget not the Saint without the admirable work of divine grace The holy spirit must overshadow the soul and so beget Christ in it That holy thing the new birth is the product of the Eternal and Almighty spirit we cannot ascribe the New creature to any thing in Rom. 9. 16. man for creature implies a work of creation which onely is to be attributed to an infinite power Thus most evidently the Apostle Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who sheweth mercy Mans fairest colours are but paint they may counterfeit but are not true beauty Let us meditate on the morning of a Sabbath on the secrefie of the work of grace It is a sweet but a spiritual work indeed Vita sanctorum obscondita est quia sancti à mundi cupiditatâ—bus et mundarâ conversatione se abstrahunt et abscondunt Anselm it is admirable but most frequently indisecruable this blessed work is like a river under ground like a star behind a cloud the world cannot see it they look upon the Saints as the onely troublers of Israel Holy Paul was called a seditious fellow Acts 24. 5. The Apostles were called intemperate men filled with new wine Acts 2. 13. Nay Christ himself was called Beelzebub and a friend of publicans and sinners though he had the spirit above measure John 3. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epic. The world understands not the Saints Shibboleth Nay often the Saint himself is at a loss whether this work be Mundus non agnoscit aliquid spirituale in filâ—is dei Dav. wrought in him or no He often wants the lively and vivid sense of the spirit of God he many times is so clouded with afflictions battered with temptations disturbed Heb. 11. 37 38. with the hurries of the world dazled with sensual flatteries Col. 3. 3. and benighted with desertion that he can scarce see any day light of grace by the least cranny of observation or experience How doth David cry out that the spirit had taken Cum sentiant sancti insehanc vitam spiritualem
end or conclusion as Musculus well observes The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with accidental afflictions Neither sorrow nor crying neither shall Luctus oritur ex morte amicorum et priâ—atione eorum quos charos habuimus non erit dolor quia mors non erit erepti nobis amici restituentur videndi salutandi c. there be any more pain Rev. 21. 4. In our heavenly rest we shall neither grieve for the loss of friends nor cry for the smart of troubles nor roar for anguish or pain but eternal ease and tranquillity shall sweeten our glorious Sabbath and we shall for ever be singing our requiems There shall be no spot and therefore no sorrow no guilt and therefore no grief affliction being the inseparable companion of sin and deviation The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by persecuting afflictions Neither shall the Sun light upon them nor any heat Rev. 7. 16. By this heat we may truly understand Rev. 7. 16. the heat of persecution Mat. 13. 21. Satans rage and wicked mens fury may reach gracious but not glorified Saints The Church Militant but not the Church Triumphant Eph. 6. 16. Heb. 12. 22. Satan cannot throw his fiery darts into the New Jerusalem the City of the first born Here the Sun of persecution may arise and scorch the Saints but in glory there shall be no need of Sun for light Rev. 22. 5. much less for beams to burn but the Lord shall give them light which will be only the shining forth of eternal grace and favour the light of his own blessed countenance Our Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by toyle or labour In the Earthly Paradise man was to dress the Garden Gen. 2. 15. and this he was to do in his state of innocency Luke 23. 43. 2 Cor. 12. 4. so that there was labour though no pain there was some kind of care though no corrosive But in Paradise above Rev. 2. 7. there shall be no minding of the fruits of the Earth but the Saints shall be alwayes tasting the joyes of Heaven What should we toyle with in our heavenly Sabbath with our hearts There is no corruption with our hands there is no want or capacity of addition with our enemies there is no temptation neither of fury from Satan or flattery from the world and what should we labour for To gain more there is no defect to be better there is a full and absolute perfection And therefore the rest of our present doth sweetly shadow forth the perfect rest of our future Sabbath Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath hereafter in its splendour and external beauty On our Christian Sabbath In Sabbato vestes mundiores induimus mutamus priores sic in Sabbato aeterno veterem hominem exuemâ—â— induemus novum dabitur sanctis ut se cooperiant bissino splendenti Chemnit we put on our best attire we array our outward man with our choycest and best apparel as well as adorn our inward man with holy and gracious dispositions The Sabbaths festival calls for our ornaments the deckings of our body we come to the assemblies of the Saints with the neatness and elegancy of our wear that both body and soul should be dressed to meet with their beloved nasty hearts and sordid cloaths if it may be prevented are both undecent on the Lords day When Joseph was to go into the presence of Pharaoh he changed his cloaths Gen. 41. 14. How much less doth neglect and despicableness become the presence of the Divine Majesty That which is civil and comly doth adorn holy worship and religion Mans body is Gods workmanship and is a piece of rare curiosity Psal 139. 16. The texture indeed and artifice of divine wisdome and power Non decuit sordidum prodire in regis conspectam civilitas decor pietatem et prudentiam ornat and therefore we must not eclipse the honour of this body by attiring it sordidly and more meanly then there is necessity when we come to worship God on his own day The best of our Garments sute the best of our dayes On the Subbath we meet our Bride-groome Mat. 18. 20. And Brides usually are dressed with the greatest care and exactness Fatui sunt Monachi aliique superstisiâ—sâ— qui in sorditie vestimentorum sanctimoniam ponunt Par. Indeed Pride of Apparel is a stain but decency is an Ornament to Gods blessed day nor must we put on our choicest attire to waste the time but to honour the day of a Sabbath Paraeus observes only foolish Monks place holiness in tattered and nasty garments but such rags are adequate and fit for such a mimical superstitious rout And so in our heavenly Sabbath we shall be cloathed Haec accipienda sunt de Beatorum munditie puritate laetitiâ perpetâ—â festivitate Ger. with brightness splendor and glory as with a garment Indeed it is a great question among Divines whether properly we shall be cloathed with rayment in our Eternal rest and it is by the most concluded the contrary Indeed there iâ— mention made of white rayment Rev. 4. 4. But this onely signifies purity as likewise of exact attire Rev. 19. 7. Scholasticè statuunt Beatos habituros vestes non quidem ex auro vel seriâ—o sed lùce But this only signifies perfection nay of fine linnen Rev. 19. 8. But this only signifies glory that kind of wear which becometh Kings Houses Mat. 11. 8. The Schoolmen observe that the blessed shall have garments but not of gold or silk but of light And indeed garments though never so rich would speak something of imperfection Garments Beati nudi erunt sed omni decore sulgebunt non plus de illis membris quà m nunc de gratiosis oculis erubescent Ansel are for adorning and that speaks want of Ornament they are for the repelling of the injuries of the weather which speaks an inferior condition not to speak of their primitive use which was to cover nakedness I might add garments are the veiles of modesty but glory is incapable of shame And therefore cloathing properly is not requisite in our heavenly Sabbath Adam in his innocency before the fall needed not raiment much less the Saints shall want it in a state of glory Indeed we shall put on our best apparrel in our Sabbath above but they shall be garments of innocency Rev. 7. 13. Sweet smelling odoriferous garments Psal 45. Cant. 4. 11. Rev. 19. 8. Exod. 28. 2. 8. Bright shining and illustrious garments Dan. 12. 3. Beautiful rare and comely garments Isa 52. 1. Garments of praise and glorious thanksgiving Isa 61. 3. Such garments the Saints shall wear in their future rest embroydered with all varieties of joy and happiness And indeed if there be so much ornament in a spirit of quietness and meekness 1. Chr. 16. 27. as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 3. 4. how ornamental must a spirit of
3. 3. when nothing could daunt his faith If the Lord kill him yet he will trust in him Job 13. 15. The preaching of Christ melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 38. and we read of little joy mingled with her weeping Secondly The sweets of our present Sabbath they are gradual First Ordinances work conviction Acts 2. 37. They work upon the Reason and then they work conversion Parvulus est in Christo et in Christianismo Alap Acts 16. 14. They work upon the Conscience and when we are regenerate they are first milk to us 1 Pet. 2. 2. They strengthen the first beginnings of grace they are breasts of consolation at which the New-born Saint lies and draws and afterwards they are stronger meat Heb. 5. 12 14. to nourish the believer to a greater adolescence and growth in holiness Thirdly The sweets of our present Sabbath they are uncertain sometimes the Saint meets with a hive of honey at an Ordinance the truths of Christ are sweet and precious to him and he is ready to cry out with Archimedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found I have found him whom my soul loveth at an other time Ordinances are dry breasts to the same Saint all the Bees are burnt Opportunities of grace are a 1 Kings 3. 21. dead child to him like Gideons fleece with no drops upon it Judg. 6. 40. he can squeeze nothing of comfort or satisfaction to his soul so that these spiritual riches are as the Apostle calls worldly 1 Tim. 6. 17. treasures uncertain demains Fourthly The sweets of our present Sabbath are faint and imperfect Here our spiritual delights are only begun they are perfected in our better Sabbath here they are interrupted by our weekly labours there succeeds a hurry of Hab. 2. 6. worldly cares a week laden with the thick clay of business Quicquid Judaei ex nationis privilegio signo faederis Quicquid Graeci ex Philosophiâ quicquid magnates ex dignitate suâ frustrà sperant eaomnia excellentiora quivis renatus habet in Christo Daven and affairs but in our heavenly Sabbath our pleasures and sweets run in a full torrent and in a constant stream Here we are lead to our delights by means and ordinances but above we shall be possessed of our full delights without the help of them and our God who is our joy shall become immediately to us all in all Col. 3. 11. Indeed much intermission and remisness may be found in our very devotions here in our services of the highest elevation David himself when his heart was most strung with divine affections and in the best tune yet then he had his cadencies his Hallelujahs and highest strains of praise came off with a Selah a prostration of voice our delights in our earthly Sabbath are onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a table in a wilderness they are onely flagons Cant. 2. 5. Prostravit Buxt which hold a little quantity of wine and they are compared to Apples which are onely an ordinary fruit Psal 78. 19. But the delights of our Sabbath above are superlative and ineffable When we are put into possession of glory we shall feel the sweetness of Gods electing love we shall tast the Psal 63. 3. sweets of Christs redeeming love we shall drink joyes eternally from the spirit of love whose loving kindness is infinitely Gaudium erit de veritate Aug. better then life then we shall need no threatnings to drive us no promises to lead us but divine goodness will perfectly and complacentially attract us that we shall be naturalized to God and goodness and be no more able to turn off from that ineffable sweetness then the load-stone is to convert it self to the West Augustine saith That heaven is nothing but the joy of truth It is remarkable That the joyes of heaven are oftner compared in Scripture to drink then meat because there is no labour in chewing them nor any diminution of them but they slide down smoothly and fully and replenish the dilated soul The whole quire of our powers and faculties shall be fixed in everlasting fruition of unspeakable delight Now the Saints Suavis hora brevis mora Bern. have some fits of joy but then they shall have their fill Now they have many a sweet hour but joy shall then be a standing dish and we shall be everlastingly satisfied with the fulness of Gods house Now our memories are slippery in the most captivating Ordinances but then shall be an actual sensation of divine joyes continually then shall there be joy upon Gaudium erit super gaudium vincens omne gaudium gaudium extra quod non est gaudium Aug. joy joy above all joy joy without which there is no joy as Augustine excellently We shall then be perfectly at leisure for God and see him we shall see him and love him we shall love him and praise him in the end and without all end And in our heavenly Sabbath transcendent delight will arise from our company viz. The Prophets and Apostles and all the Glorious Martyrs with their marks of honour Concupiscibile replebitur sonte justitiae Irascibile perpetuâ tranquistitate Bern. Angels Cherubims and Seraphims and all that blessed Quire of Spirits who here have done us many an invisible courtesie which we never thanked them for Heb. 1. 14. Those Seraphick spirits shall contribute dews of joy for our refreshing but the full showre of delight will arise from the sight of God If Diagoras when he saw his Three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympick games as Victors diâ—â— away when he was embracing them for joy And good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the infirmities of our Natures having him in his armes cryed out Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for Luke 2. 29. my eyes have seen thy salvation What unspeakable joy and delight will it be to see our Christian Friends and Relations all crowned in one day with an everlasting Diadem of blessedness which shall never decay And when the glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels begin their Hallelujahs the Saints shall also joyn in the same harmony O how the Arches of Heaven will eccho Jam. 1. 12. Psal 149. 5. Psal 150. 2. such a blend and sympathy of praises shall be in the heavenly chorus as shall fill the inhabitants of glory with ravishing admiration and there we shall love one another as our selves O quot et quanta gaudia obtinebit qui de tot et tantis beatitudinibus sanctorum jubilabit Ansel Judaeorum Doctores observant Sabbatum i. e. diem quietis repraesentare mundum verae quietis gaudii quem vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi consummatu miseriis hujus mundi aeternâ faelicitate gâ—udebimus Rabbi Isai c. Rab. Arama Quando Pii in hac vitâ quandam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coelestium bonorum
Heaven In a word they should be in the spirit which duty must first look upwards We should strive to be in the assistances of the Spirit Holy duties without the holy Spirit are onely the carcasses of Religion like profession without practice which is offensive and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost useless such services bring neither glory to God advantage to our selves or benefit to others and all are of no more significancy then a body when the spirits are fled away On the morning therefore we must incessantly beg the divine assistances of Gods blessed Spirit It is the Spirit fits for Magistratical Luke 11. 13. dignities Num. 11. 25 26. It is the spirit fits for ministerial Numb 27 18. services 2 Kings 2. 9. and it is the spirit fits us all for Christian and holy duties The Spirit directs us unto holy duties Simeon came into the Temple by the spirit Luke 2. 27. the good spirit directed him to meet Jesus How often doth Gods spirit excite and provoke to holy Prayer to secret meditation and to those close devotions wherein the soul tasteth deepest of Christs flaggons and apples This inward Counsellour is often Cant. 2 5. restless in us till it â—end our knees lift up our hands and raise our hearts in sacred approaches to the divine Majesty The Spirit leads the Saint into solitariness to converse with God as once it did lead Christ into the Wilderness to be temped Mat. 4. 1. of Satan this divine principle with us is importunate Luke 4. 1. till it put us upon enquiries after God The holy Spirit quickens us in duties John 6. 63. and makes us lively and vigorous Corrupt nature takes off the wheeles in holy services flaggs and casts a damp upon us in Christus dicitur non spiritus vivens sed vivificans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus vitarum Theoph. such heavenly intercourse but the Spirit oyles the wheeles to make them go with greater speed When the soul is carried out by the Spirit how full is it of holy heaâ— divine zeal and rare enlargement as if of late it had conversed with a Seraphim his tongue is the pen of a ready writer Psalm 45. 2. and his heart is like a bubbling Fountain he melts in prayer as the Cloud into drops Paul assisted by this good Spirit runs on till midnight Acts 20. 7. and knows not how to break off his sacred discourses And our ever 1 Cor. 15. 45. to be admired Saviour raised and quickned by the same spirit wrestles with God in prayer all night Luke 6. 12. the very arteries of that duty were stretched out by that divine Spirit which was given to Christ without measure John 3. 34. The Spirit then is the animation of our holy performances without which they saint and die away The holy Spirit sustains us in holy duties Psal 51. 12. Mans spirit would quickly fail in wrestling with God was it Spiritus promptus scil graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebraicè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alacâ—iter festinans Lyrus habet duo vocabulà Dolanta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ucundus not under-propt by this good Spirit The most sparkling wine if it stand long it will grow flat and dead And though the spirit of man be willing Mat. 26. 41. yet while it is in the body it will be soon tired and flag in holy duties which are so contrary to corrupt flesh but then the Divine Spirit comes in and renews poor mans strength like the Eagle and so he runs through holy services and faints not the annointing of the Spirit makes him agill and fresh and holy Ordinances are not his burden but his satisfaction Believers offer their sacrifices as Christ did himself Heb. 9. 14. through the eternal Spirit who recruits them continually with additional strength and vivacity The blessed Spirit causeth us to overflow in holy duties Job 32. 18. Our rich enlargements in Prayers and other Gospel services are from the good spirit of God when the heart Psalm 45. 1. bubbles and runs over in holy discourse and when the Eructans cor significat cordis locutionem cum nondum ad os pervenit et querit illam emittere circum volvitur et movetur huc et illuc et volutatur egressum quaerens quem prae gaudio non primo impeâ—u invenit c. Felix Praton mind flutters and flyes high in holy meditation and when our affections dilate and follow hard after Jesus Christ all this is from the Spirits gracious and divine assistance 2 Cor. 3. 16. It is the holy Spirit spreads our duties like Gold to greater extensions and oftentimes makes the Saint in duty query whether he be in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12. 2. His heart is like the squeezed Grapes overflowing with wine which is better then the drink of Angels It was the Spirit enlarged Solomons heart in that divine Prayer at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8. 22 23. It was the Spirit enlarged Daniels heart in Prayer to hasten deliverance from the Babylonish captivity Dan. 9. 4. It was the Spirit enlarged Jonah s heart in Prayer when the Whales belly was consecrated into an Oratory Numb 18. 27. Jonah 2. 2. It is the Lords good Spirit which makes mans Deut. 15. 14. heart as the gushing streams or the over-flowing Fat or the Numb 18 30. dropping Wine-press in services Evangelical John 3. 8. It is the Spirit sweetens duty As Christ when he was at prayer rejoyced in spirit Luke 10. 21. Duties are sadned by mans sin but are refreshed by Gods Spirit David acted Mat. 17. 1 2. by this blessed Principle delighted so much in duty Luke 9. 29. that he begs to spend his whole life in the Temple of God Psal 27. 4. Ordinances become mellifluous by the concomitancy of Gods Spirit which often turneth them into a transfiguration As it is reported of Basil that when Greg. Orat. de laud. Bas the Emperour came upon him while he was at prayer he saw such lustre in the face of holy Basil that he was struck with terrous and fell backwards It is the Spirit ravishes the Fructus spirituâ— est gaudium sed impura voluptas est similis voluptati quâ afficiunâ—â— scabiosi cum se scalpunt Chrys heart indulcorates and captivates the soul in holy duty and toucheth the tongue with a Coal from the Altar Isa 6. 6 7. which turns all into a perfumed flame The Apostle saith the fruit of the spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. which is never so fresh and diffusive as in holy services Ordinances are the spiritual opportunities wherein the Comforter John 14. 16. sheds abroad his comforts in the soul It is the Spirit which helps our infirmities in holy duties As in Prayer Rom. 8. 26 27. so in other spiritual services When we are flat the Spirit quickens us when
a two-edged sword to divide between sin and Heb. 4. 12. the soul Ordinances are kindly Physick and work the cure sweetly and effectually if this Physick be given by the hand of the Spirit if the third Person in the Trinity be our Physician how then should the necessity of the spirits assistance inflame our importunity to sue out that precious John 15. 5. Promise for the attainment of it recorded in Luke 11. 13. In Ordinances without the Spirit we can do nothâ—ng Christ 1 Cor. 9. 26. must work by his Spirit or else in all our holy duties we onely beat the ayr to use the Apostles phrase Let us study to be under the impressions of the Spirit on Gods holy day The earth stands not in so much need of the beams of the Sun as the soul doth of the influences of the Spirit The Spirit is a Spirit of Truth to guide the Understanding John 15. 26. It is a Spirit of Counsel to enrich the mind Isa 11. 2. and fill it with knowledge How naked Eph. 5. 18. is mans understanding if it be not covered with the covering John 14. 17. of Gods Spirit Isa 30. 1. 1 Cor. 12. 8. The Spirit is a good Spirit Neh. 9. 10. to sanctifie the will It is a holy Spirit Ephes 1. 13. in relation to its effects and productions it cures the will of its pertinacy and Rom. 1. 4. stubbornness and melts mans will into Gods We may take 1 Cor. 12. 9. an instance in Paul Acts 9. 6. The Spirit is a Spirit of Grace Zach. 12. 10. to beautifie the heart and fructifie it with all the sweet fruits of Righteousness It is more then the Sun to the Garden It not 2 Thes 2. 13. Phil. 1. 11. onely blows the flower but it plants The graces of the Spirit are those stars which shine in the firmament of the heart 2 Thes 2. 17. those vigorous principles which carry out the soul to every good word and work It is the spirit of Glory 1 Pet. 4. 14. to sublimate the affections and raise them as high as heaven Col. 3. 2. The spirit discovers glorious things to us shews the soul its treasury 1 Cor. 2. 12. Eph 3. 8. 2 Cor. 5 21. Rev. 1. 6. Cant. 7. 8. 13. Col. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 7. where its riches lie It opens Christ to a believer who is the Wardrob of our Robes the Exchequor of our wealth the fountain of our honour the paradise of our delight or to speak in the Apostles language who is all and in all to the believing soul It is a spirit of life to quicken the whole man Rom. 8. 2. God breaths into man and so he becomes a living soul the Spirit breaths into man and so he becomes a living Saint Gen. 2. 7. Nay God works all his works upon us and in us in Christ by the spirit it is the spirit makes us upright and sincere 1 Cor. 6. 11. and so rectifies our obliquities Psal 51. 10. It is the spirit snuffs the understanding which is the candle of the Lord Eph. 1. 17. Prov. 20. 27. and so enlightens our darknesses It is the spirit 2 Thes 2. 1â— fixes and establisheth us and so settles our inconstancies Psal 78. 8. It is the spirit softens and suples us Isa 32. Sapientia hominis est quâ res difficillimas scrutatur et pervestigare conatur Cartwr 15. and turns our barren hearts into a fruitfull field and so fills our vacuities It is the spirit conducts us in our straights John 16. 13. and so prevents our miscarriages It is the spirit takes us up Ezek. 3. 12. nay lifts us up Ezek. 3. 14. and so cures us of our pedantick and dreggish succumbencies for Man is the worm Jacob Isa 41. 14. and will naturally grovel on and immure himself in the Earth The spirit of God is an excellent spirit Dan. 5. 12. and will create in the 1. Cor. 12. 11. believer those excellencies which will make him more excellent then his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. The irrigations and pouring forth of the spirit Isa 44. 3. will make the soul fresh 1 Cor. 12. 13. Corroborari in interiore homine est intellectu voluntate caeterisque animae partibus suffulciri and green and be in a spring of grace which is most pleasant to the eye of God and Man This holy spirit upon us Isa 59. 21. is not so much our covering as our Crown our strength to encounter every temptation Eph. 3. 16. Let us then not as Sadduces mis-believe the spirit Acts 23. 8. But cry out Lord evermore give us of this spirit And to set our selves under these various and rare impressions We must purifie our selves The spirit is a holy spirit which will dwell onely in a clean heart flesh and spirit are combatants and not cohabitants they oppose one another Gal. 5. 17. then grace triumphs when flesh is subdued and chased out of the field We must supplicate our God The spirit is given to the Petitioner and not to the professor How much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him Isa 63. 11. Eph. 4. 30. 1 Thes 4 8. 1 Cor. 6. 19. saith our Saviour Luke 11. 13. Earnest prayer is the means to obtain the good spirit whose works are so many and so marvellous and whose operations are so secret and so soveraign But secondly as this duty must look upwards for the assistances and the impressions of the spirit So this duty must look inwards we have not onely to do with heaven on the Lords day and to look up to Gods spirit but we have to do with our own hearts too and seek the spirit to proportionate Prov. 4. 23. them to the holy services of the Sabbath and here our duty is two-fold 1. We must be in the graces of the spirit and that too in a double sense We must be in grace habitual We must come as Saints to the duties of a Sabbath That of the Apostle is highly observable Our communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. Observe the terms of Relation Sancti est in spiritu vivere i. e. internam habere vitam et animum gratiâ spiritu etjustitiâ imbutum sancti est in spiritu ambulare i. e. secundum spiritus et gratiae dictamen ductumque incedere conversari agere operari et Graecum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat certo ordine serie et normâ incedere Alap the term Father speaks us to be Children It is not our communion is with God but with the Father and his Son Saints properly are the guests of the Sanctuary Christ in us is not onely the hope of our glory hereafter Col. 1. 27. but our hope of acceptance here We must bring Benjamin we must bring Christ if we will ever see the face of God in Ordinances wicked
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
8. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto Gal. 1. 8 9. you let him be acoursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel to you then that you have received let him be accursed Observe how the Apostle repeats the Anathema against all novel opinions and in the heat of his zeal how doth he execrate any person whatsoever Retinenda est antiquitas explodenda est novitas Angel Christian Man who shall introduce any thing different from or contrary to the received Doctrine This text of Scripture might strike all Novelists seducers and seduced Lyr. with Belshazzars Palsy Dan. 5. 6. and might chain up frothy and unstable spirits from their opinionative ranges And we may not overpasse how the Apostle Paul charges the wavering Gallatians with effascination Gal. 3. 1. And yet how many fantastique spirits are there who spend or rather wast their Sabbaths in running after this or that seducer who corrupts the unblemisht doctrine of the glorious 2 Cor. 4 4. Gospel who vents this new and strange notion and the other upstart opinion and doth happily as some do with their 2 Cor. 11. 15. stuffes who put a new and an amusing name upon an old and out-worn stuffe call old and obsolete errours new and Quidam audiens à daemone Ego sum Christus clausit oâ—ulos dicens Ego in hac vitâ Christum nolo videre sed in alterâ vitâ Alap glorious light and with these wares defraud the vulgar How many I say follow these seducers till they are bewitched to use the Apostles phrase into some uncouth sect or brutified into some irrational and soul-damning opinion Our unhappy Kingdome is too full of instances in this kind Surely such never seriously consulted the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 11. 13. For such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ but are as the unwary guest who tasteth every dish though some are poysonous and will gather every herb though by it they put death into the Pot. Object But these giddy spirits like the evil spirit Mat. 4. 6. will bring Scripture for their practice especially that noted text 1 Thes 5. 21. Prove all things To which Objection it is answered Answ It is explanate omnia non omnes Prove all things not all persons The injunction doth not oblige or enforce us to run from one preacher to another till we have heard every Minister nay every Tradesman who will undertake to be a Speaker we must not as the Sun run through every sign of the Zodiack And though I shall not with Bellarmine restrain this command to Ministers only and that it appertains Bellar. de laicis l. 3. c. 21. not at all to the Laicks yet surely this Text speaks only thus much that we must try all Doctrines delivered by our own Pastour or any other Minister whom we providentially hear and then bring them to the touch-stone of Gods sacred word And so the Text commands us to be as the noble Bereans Acts 17. 11. and not as phantastick Athenians Acts 17. 21. This Apostolical rule injoyns discretion and not inconstancy that we should be deliberative but not wavering Curiosity is not here indulged but diligence This rule gives us power of examination that we may weigh every piece of Doctrine in the scales of the word but it speaks no further only that we should adde prudence in Phil. 1. 9 10. discerning to diligence in hearing and it couples a wise head with a good heart Wherefore the Lord prescribed Vt cum insultant nobis nos interrogant ea quae discimus vel sic pigritiam excutiamus divinas Scripturas cognoscere cupiâ—mus August contr Manich. rules to the Jews to judge Prophets by Deut. 13. 1 2 3. Deut. 18. 22. And caused his word to be written that it might be the Canon and measure of all truth And of this serious examination Augustine shews us this excellent benefit viz. That by this work we may shake off sloath and be filled with an ardenâ— desire of Scripture-knowledge So then this Apostolical command is only abused by flatulent and unsetled spirits who waste their Sabbaths in the pursuance of some unprofitable novelty and it speaks no more but this The Apostle decries all implicit faith and calls for a judgement of discretion in every Christian to compare every Doctrine delivered by the Minister with the standing rule of Rev. 14. 6. the everlasting Gospel and those Doctrines which are congruous to the rule to entertain and embrace otherwise to reject them as the spurious inventions and fictions of men 1 Cor. 4. 24. But to shut up this particular Upon what precipices of danger do these assertours of novelty walk when so often false Doctrine is quilted in with true and as Chysostom Theophylact and Theodoret observe False Prophets will mingle Prophetis veris aliqui Pseudo prophetae clam immiscent Theod. Chrysost Theophil themselves clancularly with true and faithful Teachers Full bags will not want brass pieces heaps of Corn will not be without its chaff nor full Markets without their bad commodities And no more will the Church of Christ in every age want lying Prophets subtil Seducers and plausible Hereticks and if the novelist fall upon any of these how near is he to a shipwrack of faith and a good conscience And besides 1 Tim. 1. 19. in the formentioned text it is very observable the Apostle doth not command us to hear all things but to prove all things we must not run into every corner to hear what ever is said or preached this was an impossible enterprise and we may as soon take the Sea into the hollow of our hand but we must prove all things which we do hear from that Ministery we are obliged to the Apostle commands our Omnia probate i. e. dubia incerta quae maxime probatione egent Alap industry and ingenuity but not indulges our quick silvered curiosity And what Alapide takes notice of is not to be pretermitted The Apostle saith he commands us to prove all things viz. which are dubious and uncertain and stand in need of proof and tryal so the Apostle doth not put us upon unnecessary enquiries to pry into every privacy where a Heretick is crept in Jude v. 4. But when matters are delivered by the Minister which are more arduous and mysterious then it behoves the Christian to sweat in Scripture search to find out the meaning of these difficulties that his understanding may be truly enlightned and his conscience fully satisfied But those who pine after novelties and curiosities should take notice the Lords day spends while they are following the chase and who shall recall that blessed season if it be wasted in impertinencies Some trifle away their Sabbath in fruitless visits If they have a sick friend
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
prayer or any other duty their thoughts look back as Lots wife did upon Sodom and so that duty is as it were turned into a pillar of salt a monument Duo contrarii amores in eodem corde locum non habent nec habere possunt Zanch. of shame And so in hearing the Word they bring the cares of the world with them and they are thorns which choak the blessed Seed of the Word Mat. 13. 22. and it becomes altogether unfruitful And again worldly thoughts do very unseasonably mix with heavenly duties we do ill to be in the vale when we should be on the mount Exod. 24. 18. with God to be supping up the dregs of the world when we should feed on the marrow Psal 63. 5. and drink of the Isa 25. 6. wine well refined in blessed Ordinances this is to powre contempt upon the provisions of the Sanctuary To say our communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ on a Sabbath when yet our hearts are fluttering over the John 1. 1. 3. world this is to delude not to satisfie the Soul But be it we can taste no sweetness in Sabbath duties yet we are bound to continue our diligence we must observe our duty though presently we receive not the mercy It is Job 1. 9. the badge of Mercenaries to plead no Recompence no Obedience Indeed the recompence of reward may be in our eye though it be not our end In the work we do we may have a love to the reward though the meer love of the reward doth not attract us to do the work God is our great Lord and Master and though it is not servile obedience yet it is the obedience of Servants we ow him continually and much more upon his own day Cassian observes That he Cassian l 4. c. 24. knew a young man who meerly in obedience to his Superiors command for a whole year together went two miles every day only to pour water on a withered stick We ought every Lords Angeli quomodo discurrunt medii inter deum nos Bern. day to come under Gospel waterings though our hearts remain withered and dry though we feel no softnings or comforting it is enough we have a command the duty is ours the day is Christs who is over all God above all blessed for ever It is a favour God will employ us though he Rom. 9. 5. should never reward us The Angels rejoyce that God will engage them in his business though they receive no new recompence they are chearful to increase the duty though they do not enlarge their glory The Angels saith the Apostle are Bernardus solitus est dicere Angelos secum cooperari unoquoque die dominico all ministring spirits sent forth to minister c. Heb. 1. 14. This is their property they think themselves happy in that God thinks them worthy to do his work in the world And so must we esteem our selves honoured in conversing with God in Ordinances though we do not hear the spouts run Hab. 3. 17 18. with the waters of life and though the fingers of Christ do not drop Myrrh Cant. 5. 5. nor do we taste the honey-comb in them Cant. 5. 1. For Ordinances in themselves are Jude 14. 8. as Sampsons Lion with the swarm and the honey in them they are in their own nature pots of perfume more reviving then the smoaks of incense and though our resentments be not so quick yet we must follow the scent It is a good observation Hos 6. 3. of Chrysostom As fountains saith he send out water though no pitcher be brought to fetch from them so Pastors must preach and Auditors must hear though no fruit be received For as to keep Sabbaths is indispensable for men so to bless them is arbitrary with God But if God shine not forth from between the Cherubims of holy Ordinances Psal 80. 1. yet it is incumbent upon us to wait at the door of the Sanctuary alwayes remembring that subjection is ours but benediction is his and he will have mercy on whom he will have Rom. 9. 18. mercy Suppose Sabbaths are not successful to us what peace or profit can we expect if we lay them aside Upon the same account all other times of holy duty and the exercise of Religion may be waved and left off and then what can there be but a fearful expectation of judgment Hierom upon Heb. 10. 27. that place of the Apostle Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Hieron in Psal 107. mercy Sure then saith he It is not of him who sleepeth nor of him that idleth nor of him who neglects duty for on such the Lord will have no mercy And Chrysostom well observes upon that speech of our Saviour Mat. 16. 24. If any will Chrysost in Matth. homil 56. come after me let him deny himself c. Christ saith not as this Father observes If any man stand still or sit down for the Kingdom of God is not given to standers or to idlers but to walkers and to workers So it may be concluded the comforts of God are not given to any person who upon any pretence whatsoever shall omit or neglect his duty especially Iter monstrat Apost quo fiat ut semper gaudeamus Per orationem nimirum quae non cessat gratiarum actionem Theoph. Non erit glo riosa victoria nisi ubi fuerint laboriosa certamina Ambros upon the Lords day For any to pretend they have performed duties and waited on Ordinances and yet fail of success what good success can they expect upon the ceasing of those duties The Apostle bids us pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. So then we must pray though the blessing do not presently come we must obey the command though we do not receive the reward If men may use the means and yet miss the end surely such must miss the end who will not use the means let none think to better their souls condition by laying aside Sabbath transactions When Christians have performed Sabbath duties and do not find such comfortable and desired success in their Gospel communion Let them smite upon the thigh and reflect upon themselves The word is fire and why am I cold The Psal 6. 6. word is quickning and why am I dead Ordinances are the means of grace and why have I no grace or comfort by the Psal 43 5. means Some are at Sermons and Sacraments with their Psal 42. 4. hearts leaping and go away with their faces shining and Christiâ—ne fige tui cursus profectusque me tam ubi Christus posuit suam Bern. those who see them see they have been with Jesus but why go I mourning all the day Thus we should put our selves upon the search and scrutiny Skilful Physicians search into the cause of distempers and so should
the French Church the Tuesday the Belgick Church the Wednessday the Germans might ordain the â—â—ursday the Danes the Friday and other Churches might keep the present day to be the Lords day And so so many Churches so many Sabbaths and what intâ—llerable scandal would this procure to the Church of Christ and what feuds would it disseminate among Christians Nay how would this confusion strike the Christian profession under the fifth rib and give it its mortal wound This Ecclesiastick power and liberty would likewise open a way to revive and reduce the Jewish Sabbath Dies dominicus nomen suum adeptus fuit propter dominicae resurrectionis memoriam ad finem usque mundi celebrandum Muscul or the solemn day of the Turks which is every Fryday nay we know not with what Heathens we might concur in their weekly solemnity And when the Pagans shall well espy our dissentions how much we disagree about our Sabbath this may re-inforce their detestation both of us and our Religion Now if the Church had power to ordain the Sabbath they have likewise power to alter and change it which we see may be the womb of irreparable mischiefs Is it not then far more rational and convictive for the prevention of those miserable disorders to take the Sabbath as marked out by God himself the institution of Christ by his Apostles which is now the first day of the week a day founded and bottomed on Christs glorious Resurrection And thus the Church of Christ his little but precious flock may keep the Luke 12. 32. Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace No doubt then the Eph. 4. 3. Lords day is of Divine not Ecclesiastical Authority otherwise Rom. 4. 25. mens spirits would never have been so over-awed and their hands tied from presumptuous undertakings The truth is our Christian Sabbath must be built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ by his Resurrection being the chief corner stone And because nothing can fall out in the world comparable to the Resurrection of Christ in glory and power therefore no day can be set up like unto this neither can it be changed into any other The like cause can never be offered to change this day which at first occasioned the choice of it and therefore it must remain untill the end of all things And they who ever they be who go about to raze this day must first pick out Christs mark which he hath wrought into it by the work of Redemption and so blot out the testimony of the four Evangelists concerning Christs Resurrection on the first day of the week the happy Basis of our Sabbath Moreover the observation of the Lords day being fresh and frequent in the Apostles dayes they being yet alive and excercising a superintendency over the Church who should Stab Apostolis adhuc in vâ—vis dies dominicus observatus fuit meritò illorum ordinationi ascribendus est Aut enim per ipsos eorum authoritatem aut per alios ecclesiae doctores sine illorum consensu institutus erat quorum posterius est valde absurdum insulâ—um non suit ecclesiae Apostolis leges praescribere interpose to ordain this holy day of worship but themselves If any other Governors of the Church they did it either with the consent of the Apostles and then their Authority was subordinate and so swallowed up in the power Apostolical For the Apostles were the Supream guides of the Church and had the ordering of the affairs of Christs flock the care of the Churches was in the first place committed to them 2 Cor. 11. 28. Or else this Committee of Church Governors who they were where they met or what they did could never yet be discovered did appoint the Christian Sabbath against the consent of the Apostles and surely then their presumption would have been taxed in holy writ for a perpetual reproach of the thing or else they had fallen under the Pens of Ecclesiastical Historians of all which ne quis quidem not any thing appears to the most critical Observator in their most curious searches and inquisitions But it can never be imagined any should dare to impose a day of their own invention upon the Church the Apostles those infallible Spirits being yet in the land 1 Cor. 2. 16. of the living Did the Church appoint the Christian Sabbath let her be called the Lady of it and so Christ will lose his title of Si beati Apostoli ex authoritate sibi à Châ—isto delegatâ Dominicum non instituissent sed ejus observationem liberam reliquissâ—nt tum meritò diceremus ecclesiam ipsam Lord of it Mark 2. 28. which as Paraeus observes is one argument of Christs Divinity for none can be Lord of the Sabbath but he who appointed it and he whose Sabbath it is and surely such an attempt can hardly be excused of the most daring Sacriledge to rob God not of his Tythes but of his Titles and so put Christs Armes into their Scutcheons this indeed savours too much of arrogancy and it cannot be fastned on the Flock of Christ who hears his voyce and follows the accents of it And how our Sabbath should be the Lords day and yet of humane institution is such a knot I know not how to untye and am not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod tamen praeclarum testimonium est divinitatis Christi quòd ipse per Apostolos suos diem dominicum instituit Par. over-hopeful to see the Riddle unfolded by any other That the Church should give the Sabbath a being and the Lord should give it a name is such a partage I think few will own Seyrus the Casuist hath laid down a good Rule viz. The Church can abolish holy days because she determines them and custom prevails much among men but the sanctification of a day is onely from a Divine Law Let the Church then move in its own sphere and follow the letter of its Commission but to set apart a Sabbath for the World let it not avouch any such Authority this is for the Spouse Cant. 5. 4. of Christ to disturb and awaken her beloved If the Church have any such priviledge as to appoint a Sabbath for Mankind let her shew her Charter and Commission out of the Old or New Testament But it is to be supposed she can shew none sufficient to authorize her for this transcendent act to determine the solemn and sufficient Nemo est sabbati dominus nisi qui sabbatum instituit cujus sabbatum est Par. time of Gods solemn and ordinary worship Could she have brought forth her Credentials the world should not have been kept in the dark so long and if she cannot it is not so easie to impose upon mens belief all Christians are not acted by an implicite faith nor will they lean too hard upon Ecclesiastical Authority and submit because Cant. 2 7. they say so a
proof for the Divine Authority of the Lords day nay in this text Psal 118. 24. The Psalmist proceeds to the prophetical delineation In diem solis laetitiae indulgemus Tert. of the duties of this day Let us be glad and rejoyce therein as when the Temple was finished the head stone was brought forth with shouting Zach. 4. 7. crying Grace grace so when the work of our Redemption shall be finished Dies ille quem fecit dominus est dies dominicus Arnob. and Christ exalted as head and corner stone of his Church by his triumphant Resurrection the Psalmist intimates the solemn gratulation and publick praise that the Church should offer on that day so Psal 118. 23. And indeed praise and thanksgiving is the most proper musick of our Haec dies quam fecit dominus Haec sunt verba populitrium phantis regno Davidis sed multò magis in gloriosâ resurrectione Christi omnium rerum dierum gloriosissimo Heresbach Christian Sabbath The learned Twisse observes That if ever any day deserved to be a festival surely it was the day of our Saviours Resurrection and in that day to rejoyce in the Lord according to Psal 118. 24. And the ancient Fathers saith he accommodate this place thereunto the two preceding verses carrying in their very fore-head a manifest relation unto Christ as the proprietary of that renowned prophesie for when was the stone which the builders refused made the head of the corner but when Christ gloriously rose from the dead thereby mightily declaring himself to be the Son of God And was there ever any work more marvellous in the eyes of Gods Servants then the Resurrection of Christ This scattered all the unbelief of the Disciples Luke 24. 21. This removed all the fears of the good Women all the sorrows of the Apostles this gratified the hopes of all succeeding Christians Hierome avers that all the Jews interpret this Hieronymus text Psal 118. 24. to be a prophesie concerning the Messiah the Psalmist say they Shewing his ignominious death when he should be a stone rejected of the builders and his glorious Resurrection when he should become the chief stone of the corner The Lords day waâ—â—â—stituted upon the account of Christs most glorious Resurrection What a mark of honour nay what a crown of glory is it to this day that it had favour Dies dominicus Christi resurrectione declaratus est ex illo caeâ—it habere festivitatem suam Aug. above all the dayes of the week to be Christs Resurrection day The Sun in the firmament arises and shines upon other dayes as well as this but the Sun of Righteousness never arose upon any day but this And indeed the institution of the Lords day had its foundation here The maxime of Divines here fully takes place It is the work makes the day some special work alwayes makes some special day the Lords Factum domini fecit diem dominicum deed made the Lords day and we cannot better keep alive the memory of this glorious mercy viz. The blessed Resurrection of Christ then by keeping a day weekly in the solemn commemoration of it This day brought the greatest good John 10. 25. to fallen man even a compleat Redeemer who on this day John 14. 19. redeemed us with triumph from the tyranny of Satan the domination of death and hell and restored us to life and salvation Nos observamus diem solis ex usu Apostolorum propter memoriam resurrectionis domini qui est verus Sol justitiae et pleno immortalitatis jubare illo die est exertus Alsted yea assured it unto every believer And because nothing can ever fall out in this world comparable to Christs Resurrection in glory and power therefore no day can be set up like unto this day neither can it be ever changed for any other therefore men only kick against the pricks while they oppose the Lords day It is a good saying of Augustine The Lords rising hath promised to us an eternal day and consecrated to us the Lords day or the Dominical day of the Lord that which is the Lords day seems properly to belong to the Lord because on that day the Lord rose again And it is a most significant and elegant observation of the great Athanasius Two worlds there are saith he The first ended at Christs Passion the second begins at Christs Resurrection and that blessed day is the feast of them who are in Christ a new Creature And it is observable it is not said by the Ancients that the Church took occasion from the resurrection to consecrate the Lords day but that the Resurrection it self did consecrate it the resurrection was a real consecration And if as Bishop Andrews speaks That the Acts of the Apostles as well as their sayings and writings were of Divine Authority being inspired by the Divine Spirit how much more shall the Act of of their Lord and Masters Resurrection be a divine and sufficient Authority to institute the Lords day The Reverend and Learned Hall speaks well to this purpose Because the Sun Bishop Hall Decad. 6. Epist 1. of Righteousness arose upon this day and gave a new life to the world on it and drew the strength of Gods Moral Precept viz. the fourth Commandment unto it therefore justly do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Andr. Caesar we sing with the Psalmist This is the day which the Lord hath made But why should we mention the Authorities and Testimonies of these latter dayes Ignatius who was as a morning star in the Primitive Church speaks fully and home to this purpose Setting aside saith he the Jewish Sabbath Let every one that loves Christ keep holy the Lords day c. To the same purpose Justin Martyr Athanasius Augustine Innat Justin Mart. Athanas August c. c. who bottom the Lords blessed day on the Lords blessed resurrection that glorious work which must be outvied before any shadow of reason can be assigned for the transmutation of it into any other day Besides the Sun which rose this day will never admit a setting The Christians in the Debâ—mus plus gaudere propter resurrectionem gloriosam quà m dolere propter passiâ—nem Christ ignominiosam Lern. Primitive Church were wont when they saw one another to give this joyful salute The Lord is risen and the others ordinary answer was True the Lord is risen indeed We should not so much mâ—urn saith Bernard at Christs ignominious passion as we should rejoyce at his glorious resurrection The day therefore of Christs rising may well give being to our Christian Sabbath The Lords day was honoured with Christs frequent apparitions Christs appearing on this day was most signal and remarkable he shewed himself five times on that very day on which he arose First to Mary Magdalen in the morning Mark 16. 9. Secondly to the Women Mat. 28. 9 10. Thirdly to the two Disciples Luke
the Apostles with an unusual elegance â—f speech to captivate their auditours to the obedience of the Gospel and to prognosticate these rare gifts which being heated with the fire of divine zeal should fecundate and sublimate the succeeding Church but when was this unusual illapse and descent of the holy spirit Why it was on the first day of the week to put a fairer print upon the seal of our Christian Sabbath A blessed bargain was here made between Heaven and Earth 3. Scientiae lumen est et author spiritualis intelligentiae Bern. To triumphing Saints was given the corporal presence of Christ to militant Saints was sent the visible efflux of the spirit surely that cannot hut be a holy day wherein the holy Ghost came down And this is another indelible mark of honour which Christ hath fixed on the first day of the week Concludimus ergo diem hunc primum septimanae ab Apostolis Sabbatho fuisse institutum et ecclesiae commendatum non tantùm potestate ordinariâ qualem omnes pastores habent sed potestate singulari tanquam ab iis qui in universam Christi ecclesiam irspectionem habuerunt et quibus tanquam extraordinarâ—is ministris Christi concreditum est ut fideles essent Wal. our Christian Sabbath this was his royal gift when he came to heaven such a princely largess such a glorious donation as was never given before but when God gave his own Son God so loved the world that he gave his Son John 3. 16. And Christ so loved the world that he gave his Spirit And as Christ was given according to the fullness of the Promise so was the holy Ghost given And Christs resurrection and the spirits descention were both upon the first day of the week On this day then the Church was visited from on high the promise of the Father was sent Acts 1. 4. The blessed spirit came the Disciples were assembled thousands were converted as a hansel of the spirits power and a fruit of the spirits descent and why was the Church assembled on that day why the holy Ghost descended why preaching why conversion and administration of Sacraments why the promise of Christ accomplished and all on this very day But still to declare the will and ordinance of Christ blessing and sanctifying this day to the Church and so marking it out for solemn and weekly worship as a day in all its prerogatives superlative to all other dayes the day of our Saviours resurrection by which we are justified the day of the holy Ghosts descention by which we are sanctified The learned Twisse observes That Dies dominicus est Traditio vere Divina et ab Apostolis spiritu dictante instituta Beza as at the first the holy Ghost descended on the Apostles upon our Sabbath day so stili the same spirit descends ordinarily on the same day upon his faithful Ministers in the dispensation of the Word and administration of the Sacraments and in the puting up of prayers to the most high for the sanctifying and edifying the body of Christ even the Church of God The day of Christs Ascension he departed from the Apostles as touching his presence corporal but on the day of Pentecost Christ came down upon them as touching his presence spiritual and so be doth still in our Sabbath exercises though not in an extraordinary manner yet no less effectually to the edification and sanctification of our souls And here I cannot omit a rare speech of the incomparable Bishop of Armagh At the time of the Passeâ—â—eâ— saith he Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. and lay in his grave the whole Sabbath following so on the morrow after the Sabbath when the sheaf of the Bishop Vsher in his Learned Letter to Dr. Twisse p. 91 92. first fruits was offered to God Christ arose from the dead and became the first fruits of them whâ— slept many dead bodies of the Saints who sâ—ept arising likewise after him from whence was the count taken of the seven Sabbaths or fifty dayes and uâ—â—n the mâ—rrâ—w after the seventh Sabbath which was our Lâ—rds dâ—y was that famâ—us feast of weeks the day of Pentecost Numb 28. 2. spoken â—f Acts 2. 1. Vpon which day the Apostles having Exod. 34. 22. themselves reâ—eived the first fruits of the spirit begâ—t three Jam. 1. 18. thousand sâ—uls by the word of Truth and presented them as Rev. 4. 14. the first fruits of the Christian Church to God and unto the 1 Cor. 15. 20. Lamb And from that time forward doth Waldensis note Mat. 27. 52 53. That the Lords day was observed in the Christian Church and was suâ—stituted in the place of the Jews Sabbath Thus far Sicut pascha typus eâ—â—t Christi sic panâ—s â—â—â—mi sunt typus Christianorum eorum scil innocentiae pâ—râ—tatis Alap the famous Vsher And to wind up this particular the Holy Ghost being sent down among the Disciples in an eminent manner was the special benediction of this day to such solemn assâ—mblies to teach them and the succeeding Church when and on what day they should more especially expect the sweet illapses and effectual descents of Gods holy and most blessed spirit The Lords day was kept and sanctified by the practice of the hâ—ly Apostles Now the blessed Apostles were men intimately Praecipua regiminis ecclesiastici cura Apostolis deputata est quorum unus quisque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deinde speciali authoritate ad ecclesiam cujus fâ—ndamenta jacere Apostolicae dignitatis est ex prâ—miscâ—â omniâ— gâ—ntiâ—m multitudiâ—◠〈◊〉 Christus eâ—s misit 〈…〉 sp s gratiâ abâ—ndâ—nte ad ministerium sibi à domino commendatum erant instructissimi ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veritatem Evangelii praedicarent acquainted w th the secrets of Christ being most of them trained up in his School and personally conversant with him after his Resurrection besides they had immediate inspiration from him and authâ—ritative mission to manage the publick affairs of the Church Our Saviour gave them their credentials to preach in his name and to act as his substitutes as if he himself had been personally present John 20. 21. Luke 10. 16. Mat. 28. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. Neither doth this extend only to verbal preaching but to visible preaching also I mean their practice at least in things Evangelical Moral and of general and perpetual concernmâ—nt to the Churches of Christ otherwise why is their practice propounded as a pattern Phil. 3. 17. Phil. 4. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 2. 1 Thes 2. 14. Now these blessed Apostles met for solemn worship on this day our Christian Sabbath so Acts 20. 7. And upon the first day of the week when as the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight Now the full discussion and ventilation of this solemn text will give
much strength to this great truth viz. That the Lords day is of Divine Authority In this text then note When this solemn assembly met together on the first day of the week saith the text the day which all the Evangelists witness to be Christs Resurrection day on this day the Disciples were congregated But why the first day of the week why not the last day of the week which was the old Sabbath strange if that had continued a Sabbath that the Primitive Christians had not mâ—t on that day especially seeing Vnâ— Sabbati i e. die dominiâ—o dies dominiâ—a est reâ—ordâ—tio domiâ—icae resurrectionis Vener Beda in Act. 20. Tom. 5. it was but the day before yet more strange that we hear not a word of Pauâ—s keeping it though he tarriâ—d at Troas seven dayes but most strange that wâ— read not one word in all the New Testament of Pauls owning that day in a Christian Church only he solemnly preaches to a Christian Congregation on the first day of the week Surely this is a pregnant argument that the day was changed upon the account of our Saviours Resurrection The Church was assembled on the first day of the week but how Privately it may be no Publickly and openly nay most probably the compâ—ny was very 〈◊〉 and Isa 60. 8. the Congregation flocked as Dâ—ves to the windâ—ws Here is then a full assembly mâ—t upon the â—irst â—ay of the week but for what To â—reak â—read saith the tâ—xt to receive Mat. 26 26. Acts 2. 46. 1 Cor. 11. 24. Dies dominicus ab ipsis Apostolis sacris actionibus est consecratus Bucer the Eucharist saith the Syriack translation and what more seemly and suitable then to receive thâ— Lords Supper upon the Lords day And can this be done without preparatory prayer and other Sabbath exercises Surely this would have been a mutilated and a faint devotion nay and breaking of bread is here put by a Synechdoche the part for the whole and there no more reason to exclude prayer Consentaneum est Aposlolos hanc ipsam ob causam mutos se diem Melanct singing of Psalms c. because they are not mentioned then to exclude drinking of wine in the Sacrament because neither is that expressed but breaking of bread only So then the first day of the week is here celebrated with a confluence of Gospel-Ordinances Nor is it said that Paul called the Disciples together because he was to depart the next day or that they purposedly Hoc institutum ut dies dominicus in locum Sabbati sub stitueretur non ab hominibus sed ab Apostolis sp s dictante quo regebantur nos accepisse credendum est Meritò dixerimus Apostolos sp s duce pro septimo illo die primum substituisse Faius declined the Lords Supper till that day because of Pauls departure But the Text speaks it as of a time a day usually observed by them before and therefore Paul took his opportunity of preaching to them and seems to stay on purpose and wait seven dayes among them Acts 20. 6. And at Troas where these Ordinances were observed and this day solemnly kept was the Rendezvouz of Christians to meet in the greater company Acts 20. 5. And though Paul might privately teach and instruct the Professors of Troas the other seven dayes yet his preaching is now mention'd in regard of some special solemnity in their meeting on this day The first day was honoured above any other day for these holy duties or else why did not they meet on the seventh day Sabbath and how comes that solemnity to be swallowed up in the solemn convention of the first day when these holy exercises are performed To speak then plainly with Bishop Andrews It was saith he the Lords day on which the Apostles and Disciples met the Gospels all four keep one word and tell us Christ rose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is after the Hebrew phrase the first day of the week and the Apostles then held their Synaxes their solemn conventions Mat. 28. 1. and assemblies to preach to pray to break bread or Mark 16. 2 celebrate the Lords Supper Acts 20. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 24. 1. the Lords Supper on the Lords day and this John 20. 1. is the Apostolical phrase So far this learned man So then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of Ely as another Bishop speaks Our weekly observation of the Lords day is warranted by the example of the holy Apostles One sharply concludes and saith How can he have any grace in Petrus Al phons in Dialog contra Jud. Tit. 12. his heart who seeing so clearly the Lords day to have been instituted and ordained by the Apostles will not acknowledge the keeping holy the Lords day to be a Commandment of the Lord. The very Jews saith this learned man confess this change of Chrysostomus Ambrosius Theophylactus Beda Anselmus the Sabbath to have been made by the Apostles and therefore we may safely conclude with Gallasius Walaeus Melancthon Beza Bucer Faius Junius Piscator Perkins and other eminent Divines of the Reformed Religion that the Holy Sedulius et Primosius unam Sabbati Act. 20 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. expressam interpretantur diem dominicum Apostles by the guidance of the infallible spirit removed and suppressed the old legal Sabbath and substituted the Lords day the first day of the week in its room and place Let us assume a second text which will further strengthen this truth viz. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come This solemn and noted place hath many considerables in it to prove the first day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath and that not so much by the Churches practice that was cleared before as by the Apostles precept in which many things remarkable offer themselves to our consideration Although it be true that in some cases collections may be made any day for the poor Saints yet why doth the Apostle limit here to this day the performance of this duty Surely something there is in it more then ordinary The Apostle doth not limit only the Corinthians to this 2 Cor. 11 28. Diei dominicae nomen et institationem ab Apâ—stolis derivatam non est dubitandum Estius day but also all the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1. and consequently all other Churches if that be true 2 Cor. 8. 13 14. where the Apostle professeth he presseth not one Church that he might ease another but that there might be an equality and then why must all the Churches make their collections on the same day The Apostle doth not limit them with wishes and counsels onely to do it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I have ordained or instituted In hoc Apostoli mandato nihil
wrought his first Miracle by turning water into wine And on this day saith Junius the Israelites passed the Red Sea on dry ground Concil Paris sub Ludovico Pio et Lothario celebratum securely by the help of a Miracle And to wind up all on this day the light of the firmament and the Sun of Righteousness first rose and appeared from darkness and death And thus the Lords day is brought to its Throne and let Jun. in Deut. all who love Christ say God save the Christian Sabbath and preserve it from the fury and rage of malevolent persâ—cutors John 2. 49. from the virulent and sophistical pens of adversaries from the fancies of familistical and enthusiastical hereticks and from the blemishes and discrediting practices of prophane persons And let our fervent prayers to the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 28. be that as this blessed day had a divine institution so it may be ever honoured and celebrated with a spiritual and heavenly observation CHAP. XLVII A Plea with Christians to out-vy the Jews in Sabbath-holiness and observations HAving now bottom'd the Lords day upon its Scriptural basis and given it its due and just authority let us further consider how its original may influence our practice and how its institution running parallel with that of the Jews Sabbath may over-awe our consciences and sublimate our minds to a more holy and severe observation It is a good note of a learned man If saith he The people shall be made to believe that the Lords day stands upon humane authority all the power of Princes and all the policy of Bishop of Ely Prelates shall never be able to preserve it from the peoples prophanation as we evidently see in the Church of Charles Dow of the Sabbath p. 56. Rome But Adversaries in this point are enforced to acknowledge as much as may be learned from their confessions That seeing God did require of those stiffnecked Jews burdened with the yoke of Ceremonies one day in seven to be employed in his service how can less suffice Christians who have obtained a greater measure of divine grace and who are freed from that yoke and burden Nor must we permit this Verè dico Fratres satis durum pro priè nimis impium est ut Christiani non habeant majorem reverentiam diei dominico quam Judaei observare videntur in Sabbâ—to Caesar Arelatensis consideration that the obligation of Christians to serve God and Christ upon his heavenly promises is greater then that of the Jews In the former times of shadows and darkness the Lords people observed a weekly Sabbath then surely we should be ungrateful and negligent of our own salvation if we should fall short of the same observation nay if we should not keep our Sabbath with greater exactness and more accurate devotion Golden talents call for quicker trading and greater priviledges summon us to a more strict obedience And indeed to come closer to our purpose what can lie upon the Jews as an argument for the sanctification of the Sabbath which doth not reach us Had they six dayes granted for their own affairs to labour and work in and is it not so with us are not we indulged with the same bounty have not we an equal latitude with them for the gain and acquest of these outward things And ours is the Lords day as well as theirs nay their weekly festival was called Sabbath from its manner of observation Exod. 20. 8. Rev. 1. 10. servation ours the Lords day from its Divine Author Gods example is as strong to move us as them our Father is our pattern and his preceding practice doth tie us as forcibly to imitation as it can do them Mat. 5. 48. The blessing of God depends upon our right observation of our Sabbath as well as it did upon their faithful discharge of Sabbath-duties and holiness obtains the birth right in Longius à â—â—ebus sacris remoâ—enda sunt quae castis labem integris probrum et sin ceris corruptelam afferunt Festivitates dominicus honorate non mundanè sed divinè non instar gentilium sed instar Christianorum Ephr â—yr both And therefore what can be suggested to oblige them which doth not engage us One of the Fathers passionately cryes out Shall the Jews be so strict on their Sabbath which only is in umbra in a shadow and a type of something to come which only did presigure Christs resting in the grave and shall not we â—e seâ—ious and solemn on our Sabbath which is so in veâ—tue in truth and shall endure to the end of the world Our Sabbath saith Chrysostom is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An unmoveable law and therefore lays claim to a greater solemnization Ephrem Syrus cryes out Let us solemnize our Lords day as Christians and he thinks then he had said enough the Apostle telling us He that names the name of Christ must depart from iniquity But if we shall discuss this point more fully the Chriâ—tians 2 Tim 2. 19. incentives to Sabbath holiness will easily be found to have a sharper edge and a stronger byass then those of the Jews We have greater measures of knowledge The Jews lived under Star light but the Sun of Righteousness arose on our Mal 4. 2. Exod. 34. 35. Col. 2. 17. Mat. 27. 51. Sabbath day Moses his face had a vail upon it 2 Cor. 3. 13. Their pedagogy was enveloped in many types and shadows ceremonies which cast it into a twilight but when our Saviour dyed not only the veil of the Temple but of the Judaeis vetus Testamentum est velamine obductum ut non videant internam ejus lucem Novo Testamento Christus hoc velamen abstâ—lit tanquâ—m à lege Novâ Alap type was rent Now here our Saviours rule takes place To whom much is given of them much shall he required Luke 12. 48. And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 14. But the minds of the Jews are blinded for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in reading the old Testament which veil is done away in Christ Our knowledge then is far greater then theirs our ministration of the spirit is more glorious 2 Cor. 3. 8 9. Now much knowledge as it doth amplifie guilt so it doth engage duty as it is a greater weight to sin so it is a sharper spur to service the light of knowledge most properly guides us in the way of holiness And shall we who live under the light of the most glorious Gospel be out-done Illuminatio Evangelii est sublustre quiddam et praegustus clâ—rae lucis et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etiam gloriae divinae quae revelabitur in caelis Theoph. in Sabbath-holiness by them who had but our dawnings who only fed upon the crumbs of the bread of life We see Christ with open face they only through the Prospective of a type or a ceremony by the light of a
themselves and sensualize upon Gods holy day let them not waste that golden spot in trifling recreations let not them formalize and dissemble away the Market-day of their Souls surely their doom will be aggravated with all circumstances of horrour and amazement Fond Christians who idle away and unravel their precious Sabbaths see not the Witness behind the Curtain viz. the blessed and glorious Gospel which will come in against them to sharpen their sentence and condemnation we Christians cannot violate Sabbaths at so cheap a rate as others may more especially a poor benighted Jew who hath lost his way and is wandering to eternal perdition Let every Christian consider Christ makes his flocks to rest at noon The Jews never had those patterns of Sabbath-holiness as we Christians have had It is true God rested the seventh day after the finishing and accomplishment of the stupendous Gen 2. 3. work of the Creation and his Rest was both exemplary and preceptive to the world to keep that day as a day of holy rest But the great Jehovah was in Heaven above the eye of observation But now Jesus Christ the great Archetype of sanctity he was a visible Pattern of Sabbath-holiness John 5. 8. to us and let us trace our dear Redeemer in his Sabbatical actions and wherein they are imitable they are admirable Mat. 12. 13. we shall find our Beloved on that day either working Luke 14. 4 5 6 7. 8 9. his Cures or shewing his Miracles or breaking out into holy discourses or preaching abroad his heavenly doctrines Luke 6. 6. or pouring out his Soul in holy prayers something or other Luke 6. 12. like the Son of God he is doing on the day of God And so the holy Apostles those blessed Spirits as one calls them Those Pen-men of the Holy Ghost as all call them they were rarely exemplary in Sabbath-observation Not to mention how affectionately they grasped the opportunity of the Jews Christus utitur exemple ovis in soveam incidentus in die Sabbati post â—eâ—â—cta ea quae ad Sabbati ministerium et cultum pertinent Sabbath as a fit season to preach Jesus Christ and to throw their Net into many waters How did they manage the true Sabbath the Lords day now taking possession of its right in becoming the weekly Festival of the Church 1. They were most frugal of the time of it Paul preaches on this day till midnight Acts 20. 17. 2. They were most copious in the duties of it they preach they administer the Sacrament which undoubtedly was accompanied Chemnit with fervent and solemn prayer 3. They take care of the poor Acts 20. 7. And 4ly One of this Apostolical society is in high raptures 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. and sublime elevations on this day Nay the Apostle of the Gentiles acts charity to a miracle Acts 20. 10. thinking Revel 1. 10. nothing too great to add to the celebrity and honour of this holy day Now do the Jews tell you of a zealous Nehemiah who shut the Gates of Jerusalem the Evening before the Sabbath to keep God in and shut prophaneness out Nehem. 13. 17 18 19 20 21. we may reply a little to invert our Saviours speech A greater than Nehemiah is here one whose shoo-latchet that worthy man is not worthy to unloose to speak in the language of John the Baptist Mark 1. 7. We then having fairer Luke 11. 31. Copies it is no reason but we should mend our hand The Limner draws the Picture according to the person who sits and the more lovely the person is the more beautiful is the Picture How should we then keep the Sabbath holy who have the pattern of him who is the fairest of ten thousand Psal 45. 2. And how doth this upbraid their practice who make the Sabbath a day of sloth and idleness when the holy Apostle on the same day laboured in preaching of the Gospel Acts 20. 7. till midnight Let us then in the fear of the God of Jacob keep Sabbaths as we have Christ and his blessed Apostles for our ensamples We have more liberty and desirable freedom than the 1 Cor. 11. 1. Jews had in sanctifying the Sabbath their sanctification of that holy day consisted in a multitude of purifications washings and cleansings and in a number of Sacrifices and Oblations they had their burnt Offerings and their Num. 28. 9 10. Meat-offerings nay and their Drink-offerings and all these Sacerdâ—s singulis sabbatis lignum subjiâ—it ad nutriendum ignem in Altari Movebantur panes propositionis c. were doubled as was suggested before on the Sabbath-day their observation of the Sabbath was more toilsom and laborious they were imployed in more drudgery they were to look after their Flour and their Oyl killing of Beasts and such things which were of a more inferiour and carnal nature their duties on the Sabbath were clogged and burdened with more sweat and â—â—â—poral painfulness and were of a grosser alâ—oy The Priests among the Jews on a Sabbath Mat. 12. 5. were busied in cutting of word to feed the fire of the Altar that it might not go out and in preparing of bread to put upon the Table of Shewbread and to remove that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was there before All these Operations as Chemnitius calls them required the hand not the heart and were works of the lower form To all which may be added that the Jews Levit. 23. 6. besides their weekly Sabbath they had the Passeover the Levit. 23. 16. Feast of Pentecâ—st the Feast of Trumpets the Feast of Tabernacles Levit. 23. 24. the day of Attonement which was the tenth day of Levit. 23. 27. the seventh Moneth and these were all called Sabbaths Levit. 23. 34. Levit. 23. 24 32 36. And some of these Feasts and Solemnities Levit. 23. 8. were celebrated divers days together Levit. 23. 36. Now it is not so with us under the Gospel the Apostle Exod. 12. 3. hath eased us at once of all these legal Festivals 2 Col. 16. Exod. 23. 14. Let no man condemn you in respect of an holy day or of the new Gal. 4. 9 10. Moon or of the Sabbath days viz. Jewisn And so Gal. 4. 9 Non sunt damnandi christiani tanquam divinae legis transgressores out violatae conscientiae rei quòd non observant festa legis ceremonialis quicquid contra superstitiosè ogganniunt Pseudo Apostoli Daven 10. Ye observe days and months and times which are weak and beggerly rudiments All these Festivals are of no use to us but are fully cancelled and cashiered Thus God hath sweetned our Sabbath far above that of the Jews Prayers are our onely Offering Sighs our Incense Sacraments our Passeover we have no Drink-offering but to drink in truth in the hearing of the word we have no Meat-offering but to feed upon
healing in his wings Mal. 4. 2. The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. 17. If Christ had not risen we had been still in our sin which fully implies he rising again our sins are taken away and blotted out as a thick cloud and nothing remains to break the peace between God and believers That conscience may be serene and fully satisfied For nothing stung conscience and wounded that tender part nothing Christus resurrexit ideò pacatam tranquillam consciemtiam habere possumus scimus enim pro peccatis quae deum et nos dividebant per Christum fit satisfactio nosque ideò deo reconciliatos esse kept it raw full of pain and anguish but only sin which being fully satisfied for by Christs death and so clearly declared by his blessed Resurrection the burden removed gives ease to conscience and so the poor believer being sensible his peace is made and he is reconciled to his angry Father he hath Halcyon dayes in his bosom and he lies down with comfort and saith his lot is fallen in a pleasant place and God hath given him a goodly heritage Psal 18. 6. And this the Apostle Peter compriseth in fewer words 1 Pet. 3. 21. But the answer of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That our Redemption will certainly follow So saith our blessed Saviour expresly John 20. 17. I ascend unto my Per Christum quasi antesignanum et mortis dominatorem in Orbem illata est Resurrectio mortuorum Alap Rom. 8. 11. Christus solis bonis est causa meritoria resurrectionis sed efficiens omnibus Reprobi verò resurgunt non ad vitam sed ad damnationem mortem potiùs quà m vitam Thom. Father and to your Father and unto my God and your God And if Christ ascend unto our Father shall not we likewise come to his house John 14. 2. Shall not we see his face shall not we rise again to enjoy his glory Yes verily God is a God of the living and not of the dead of triumphant Saints and not of putrid carkases Mat. 22. 32. Let us further argue if Christ be our Head and we his Members then it is expedient for the glory of the Head that the Members be glorious And it may be further considered that as the first Adam received blessings for himself and his posterity and lost the same for all So Christ the second Adam received life and all other gifts for himself and others and he rising gloriously his Saints likewise shall be charioted to glory by a glorious Resurrection And so moreover Christ being our Elder Brother in his tenderness and affection will not leave us in the grave there always to sleep the sleep of death and so much the rather because he can raise us with a Call with the sould of a Trumpet by the message of an Archangel 1 Thes 4. 16. For he being dead raised himself much more being alive shall he be able to raise us up And withall we should consider our Vnion with Christ by the Spirit whose heavenly influence and divine vertue in raising of our souls to spiritual life is most eminent and admirable how much more clearly may we conclude the necessity of our being raised from death to fellowship with him in glory And Virtutem resurrectionis Christi non tantùm cognoscimus per fidem sed et per experientiam ut Christi resurgentis potentiam sentiamus shall not we know the power of Christs Resurrection to use the Apostles words Phil. 3. 10. in raising us on his own blessed day to heavenly-mindedness to get above the world and to have our hearts taken up in the divine services of it We should remember when Christ rose it was the seal of our Resurrection and can we think of a Resurrection and sleep away Sermons trifle away Sabbaths and formalize away Ordinances which then must come unto a severe account shall we who hope to rise to a Crown be entombed in sloth and idleness upon a Resurrection day The very thoughts of our Resurrection should strike an awe upon us and bridle us from vanity and lightness of spirit knowing 2 Cor. 5. 10. that our Sabbaths are not over when we have spent them but they will meet us at Gods tribunal and at his tremendous Rev. 20 12. Bar. Nothing can more acutely check the prophane person who pollutes Gods day and unravels that golden season in froth and formality then the serious thoughts of a certain Resurrection whereof Christs rising was an undoubted pledge The Resurrection of Christ was an evidence of infinite power And therefore Dr. Twisse rightly fastens the Lords day on Christs Resurrection day because as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. 4. Christ was declared mightily to be the Son of God by the spirit of sanctification in his Resurrection from the dead Hereby Christ was manifested to be the Son of God the very Lord of glory Christs Resurrection was the manifestation of most glorious power that the tomb should not confine him nor the dust hold him nor the grave stone stop him but throwing off these clogs as Samson did his wit hs he shews himself a while to his beloved Ones and so takes his joyous ascent to the right hand of his Father Love laid Christ in the grave and Power raised him from the grave love rocked him asleep and power awakened him again love made him die as a Malefactor Luke 23. 33. and power raised him as a Saviour to give full assurance that all was done which was required to procure life and salvation Indeed this did manifest wonderful power when after three dayes being dead the Sepulcher sealed the stone rolled to the mouth of the grave a strong watch placed that Christ should break through all bars beat down all opposition and 1 Cor. 15. 55. spring forth out of his yielding dust as a triumphing Conqueror Heb. 2. 14. over Death and Devils The Jews cryed out Let him Plus erat de sepulchro surgere quà m de cruce descendere et plus mortem resurgendo destruere quam vitam descendendo servare Greg. come down from the Cross and we will believe on him Mat. 27. 42. But it is more saith Gregory to rise from the grave then to descend from the Crosse to destroy death by rising then to preserve life by descending Reas 5 And shall Christs Resurrection be an evidence of his power and not an argument for our piety upon his own blessed day which is the Commemoration of this glorious act Surely he who could pierce the grave and shake off the chains of death for the good of believers can exert as great power for the destruction of sinners especially those who prophane his day Christs love in dying should allure and his power in rising should enforce Sabbath-holiness it is not safe nor providential to provoke the Lion of the tribe of Judah who trampled upon death and the grave especially on the day
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
supposed inferior be concluded in the determination of another part being as is presumed of greater dignity And from whence arose this inequality Therefore intricacies and unanswerable difficulties will multiply unless we ascribe to our dear Jesus the appointment of his own day for weekly and solemn worship Besides it is very considerable that which is of universal observation none but God can impose by his supream Authority to which all are equally subject and such is the observation of the Lords day which equally belongs to all persons at all times and in all Acts 20. 24. ages there are none exempt from obedience to it and Rev. 20. 12. therefore no particular men could ordain this universal observance Rom. 2. 16. which must be submitted to by all who will give 2 Cor. 5. 10. up their account with joy in the day of the Lord Jesus Reas 4 The seventh day Sabbath was by Gods immediate institution Gen. 2. 3. Exod. 20. 8. And therefore the change of it into the Lords day must be by the immediate institutioâ— of Jesus Christ And the reason of it is there hath never been a religious change made of any Ordinance of God immediately prescribed by him but by God himself and by his own Authority For if the institution be immediate by him the change into another must be by the like Authority also for he who ordaineth hath only power â—o alter 1. Man cannot change such an Ordinance for it is complained of as a sin for the people to change Gods Ordinances Isa 24. 5. And if any but God have Authority to change his own Ordinances immediately appointed by himself their Authority is equal with his But to assert this is both ridiculous and blasphemous No the whole Church assembled together hath no such authority it is but humane at the highest and besides if unstable man could alter an immediate Ordinance of God what stability Lex dei est aeterna et in aeternum dâ—ratura et deus exscindet eos qui mutant jus i e leges et jura could there be in these Ordinances or what tie could they fasten upon mens consciences 2. All religious changes of every Ordinance of Gods own immediate appointment hath ever been by himself and instances to the contrary cannot be alleadged The Tabernacle was of Gods immediate institution and the Temple â—rected in the stead of it was likewise of his own appointment David minding to build it and Nathan approving his 2 Sam 7. 2 3. intention but without the command of God was afterwards prohibited Neither did God leave it to the wisdom of Solomon though the wisest of men but he himself gave the pattern of it 1 Chron. 28. 11 12 19. The time of celebrating the Passeover was the fourteenth of the first Moneth appointed by God himself Exod. 12. 6. which time Moses durst not dispence with nor allow any other day for some to keep it without Gods immediate warrant Numb 9. 8 11. Times and seasons are in Gods hands Acts 1. 10. And therefore the Moneth Tisri is turned into the Moneth Nisan to begin the year withall by Gods immediate command Exod. 12. 2. And Antiochus Epiphanes is condemned Dan. 2. 21. for changing times Thus we see Gods Ordinances for Dan. 7. 25. Places for Persons for Times being immediately appointed by God cannot be changed but by God and therefore the seventh day being the immediate institution of God could not be changed into another day as now it is but by God Rom. 9. 5. himself even by Jesus Christ who when he was come in the flesh changed the place of worship John 4. 20 21. changed the Law and the Priesthood chap. 7. of the Hebrews into the Doctrine and Ministry of the Gospel Priests and Levites he changed into Apostles Evangelists Ministers Eph. 4. 11. The carnal worship Christ changed into spiritual John 4. 24. Circumcision he changed into Baptism the Passeover into the Lords Supper and the seventh day Sabbath into our blessed Lords day Reas 5 That day the due â—bservation of which tends to Gods glory and his publick worship to Mans instruction and building up in the most holy faith which day was solemnized by the holy and heavenly inspired Apostles which likewise Christus est dei sapientia tum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aeterni Patris Luke 11. 49. Tum Revelata quia in Christi cognitione salutaris sapientia est sita Par. is approved and greedily embraced with great spiritual comfort and joy by the most holy Professors zealous Ministers and fervent Proselytes of the Gospel this day must needs call Christ its Author and must needs be the institution of him who is the wisdom of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. Nay that day which is disputed against cavilled at withstood and prophaned by the most carnal ungodly corrupt and vain persons must needs be the appointment of the Holy One as Christ is called Psal 16. 10. Now such a day is our Lords day A cloud of witnesses might here be raised to attest this undeniable assertion but the mouth of constant experience hath spoken it and what need we of any further witnesses Chemnitius hath a notable descant upon Luke 8. 22. Sic paulatim discipulos suos Christus deducere et docere voluit ad dici dominicae observantiam et demonstrare quae sit vera illius sanctificatio nimirum quando ex verbo ipsius praecipua ejus opera quae illo ipso die diversis temporibus in mundo ad salutem humani generis edidit consideramus et de illis disserimus Qualia sunt opera creationis cujus initium factâ—m est hoc ipso die Opus Redemptionis quod etiam hoc ipso die perfectum est opus sanctifiâ—â—tionis quâ—â— etiam hoc 〈◊〉 coelitus â—â—â—sso sp 〈◊〉 â—â—choatum est Deinde etiam quando falsa doctrina lâ—xatur vitia corriguntur securitas sâ—ctaâ—â—rum verbi retunditur Pietas ex vâ—rbo dei plantatur c. Chemnit where Christ is said to launch forth with his Disciples upon the first day of the week which is now our Christian Sabbath Christ by degrees saith he draweth his Disciples to the observation of the Lords day and would by little and little instruct them wherein the true sanctification of it did consist viz. In a serious consideration and discourse of those works which God wrought upon that day for the benefit of Mankind and for the good of his Church such as the work of Creation which was began on that day Gen. 1. 1. Such as the work of Redemption which was finished on that day John 20. 1. Nay such as the work of Sanctification On that day the Holy Ghost descended visibly on the blessed Apostles Acts 2. 1 2. not only as the result of the promise before or as a token of honour which God put upon his blessed Apostles but as an earnest of that plenteous
effusion of the spirit which should be in Gospel-times This day saith the same Author is sanctified when we seriously consider that on it false Doctrine was plucked up by the foundations the Calumnies of miscreant calumniators were refelled and silenced the security of Christs Disciples was reproved and condemned Vice was checkt and corrected and piety propagated and disseminated In the view and practice of those things Sabbath sanctification is fairly comprised But it is observable that this learned man takes notice that Christ began betimes to instruct his Apostles in the duties of the Lords day the first day of the week which doth evidently secure us that the day it self was the institution of Christ himself And we may justly retort upon thosâ— who fasten the Lords day upon humane Authority from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19. 8. But the rising of the Sun of Righteousness after the night of a Grave made our Sabbath day And this weekly festival is given to the world both by Christs re-entry into it from the dark shade of the grave and by vertue of those commands mentioned Acts 1. 2. the command for the Lords day being one of them without doubt or dispute But that no beam of light may be withhâ—ld from making a full discovery of this truth we will fetch our rise from the earliest times of the world The Lords day was typified by Circumcisiâ—n which was administred on the eighth day the next day after the Jewâ—sh Sabbath and the very day of our Christian One of our Homilies saith That the first day after the Jewish Sabbath is our Sunday It is our Lords day say the Divines of Ireland and Augustine proveth That by the eighth day of August Epist ad Januar. 119. cap. 13. Nam quia octavus dies i. e. post Sabbatum primus dies futurus erat quo dominus resurgeret nos vivificaret spiritutlem nobis daret circumâ—isionem c. Circumcision was shadowed forth our Lords day And Cyprian saith That Circumcision was commanded on the eighth day as a Sacrament of the eighth day on which Christ should rise from the dead And this holy Martyr proceeds and gives us the reason of his words for because the eighth day i. e. the day after the Sabbath was to be the day on which the Lord should rise and quicken us and give us the spiritual Circumcision this eighth day i. e. the first day after the Jewish Sabbath went before in a shadâ—w So then the precise time of the circumcision of the flesh did onely prefigure the day of Christs resurrection or our Sabbath wherein Christ rose for the circumcision of the heaâ—t for that which was spiritual and so more effectual circumcision Dies sabbati erâ—t dierum ordine posterior sanctificatione autem in tempore legis Anterior sed ubi finis legis advenit viz. Jesus Christus resurrectione suâ Octavam sanè sanctificavit caepit eadem prima esse quae octava fuerat habens ex numeri ordine praerogatiâ—am ex resurrectione domini sanctitatem Ambros Hilany points at the same thing Vpon the eighth day saith he which is also the first day we rejoyce in the festivity of a perfect Sabbath And this eminent person hath left a most memorable Record behind him of the Churches practice in his time which was about An. Dom. 355. Ambrose most elegantly descants upon this subject The Sabbath saith he was the last in order of days but the first in sanctification under the Law but when the end of the law was come Rom. 10 4. viz. Jesus Christ and by his resurrection had consecrated the eighth day that which was the eighth day began to be the first being dignified by the precedency of the number and sanctified by the resurrection of the Lord. Thus the primitive times which are the best Comment on Gospel Institutions as having the advantage of being nearer to the rising Sun could easily discern the thing typified in the type the substance in the shadow the eighth day the usual time of circumcising the flesh clearly prefiguring the day of Christs glorious rising to circumcise the inward-man the hidden man of the heart and to purge away the pollutions and filthiness both of flesh and spirit The Lords day was prophesied 1 Pet. 3. 4. of by holy David Psal 118. 24. This is the day which Ezek. 36. 25. the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it It is not an easie thing saith Dr. Ames to reject this Scripture Neque facilitèr rejâ—ciendum est quod ab antiquis quibusdam urgetur Psal 118. 24. Eo enim loco agitur de resurrectione Christi ipso Christo interprete Matth. 21. 42. Ames Cyprianus Augustinus Ambrosius hunc diem in Psal 118. 24. citatum de resurrectione Christi interpretantur so much urged by the Ancients and wholly and only applicable to Christs resurrection-day if Christ may interpret the meaning of the Prophet Mal. 21. 42. Or if the Apostle may interpret the meaning of his Master Acts 4. 11 12. And a learned man observes that the word hath made in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew signifies not simply to make but to sanctifie and to observe holy as is most usual when it is referred to feasts or days as Deut. 5. 15 16. Deut. 10. 13. The man then who was after Gods own heart and who was most likely to understand Gods own mind he hath foretold this blessed day when by a prophetick spirit fore-seeing the glory of the Resurrection-day as a most eminent day among the seven days as the Sun among the seven Planets salutes it with a magnificent style and Title This is the day which the Lord hath made Thus the Psalmist did fore-see that the Lord would magnifie and exalt his resurrection day and why Because on this day the glorious work of mans redemption was to be accomplished The stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the Corner Psal 118. 22. Dominicum ergo diem Apostoli Apostolici viri ideò religiosâ solennitate sanxerunt quia in eadem Redemptor noster à mortuis resurrexit Aug. And thus is the resurrection day prophetically crowned with honour above all other dayes the Holy Ghost putting an emphasis upon it It is a day which the Lord hath made how made not by way of creation for so it was made before Gen. 1. 1. but by way of institution The day which the Lord hath made what hath God made it a working day so it was before If therefore he hath made it any thing it must be a holy solemn day a day more solemn more sacred then all the dayes that God ever made before So then it is evident a day of solemn worship is here intended and Christs Resurrection day most clearly pointed at as a day which the Lord would institute as a day which the Church should celebrate we see then a clear Scripture