body and Requiescâ—mus in Sabbato ne continuis laboribus fatigemur et eorum remissione fessâ— membra leventur vires reficiantur a revival to the soul the bodies ease and the souls enjoyment the outward man on the Sabbath recovers stâ—ength and the inward man receiveth Christ Our exhausted spirits on Gods holy day are sweetly recruited and our importunate souls are rarely answered they then prey upon a Christ offered in the Gospel Plaâ—o observes That the Goâ—s willing to recruiâ— mankind over-toiled with labour in pity have appointed festival days for their ease and relaxation Thus that Heathen Philosopher gives in his verdict to this particular Dii genus hominum laboribus pressum miserati propter remissionem laborum ipsis statuâ—runt solennia Fâ—stâ— Plat. lib. 2. de legib Indeed Gods blessed Sabbath shores up a piece of clay and it builds up a pieâ—e of eternity the precious and the immortal soul The Sabbath is the bodies friend and the souls fosterer the bodies rest-time and the souls term-time Those words of God Deut. 5. 14 15. That thy man servant and thy maid servant may rest as well as thou and remember that thou wast a servant in the Land of Egypt are very emphatical and intimate to us that one necessary end of the Sabbath Deut. 5. 14 15. is rest and that not onely for governors of Families who happily need it not so much but also for servants and they which have tasted of toil and bondage will easily allow rest to others There is an aeconomical end of the Sabbath viz. That the whole family be taken off from their customary toil as Exod. 20. 10. Nec Pater familias nec ejus familia nec animalia domestica nimiis laboribus perdenda sunt sed uno die intra septimanâ—m quiete fruantur à laboribus Zan was suggested somewhat before and labour and enjoy a sweet vacation for their communion with God On this holy day the governor is to cease from his secular over-sight and usual labour the children are to suspend their daily employments and the servants are to lay aside their accustomed sweat and the Posterity of Adam is now neither to dig nor delve and to get his living by the sweat of his brows This day the Ox must ot toil at the plow nor the Ass groan under his burden nor must the stranger be disturbed in his pleasing repose Thomas Aquinas observes In observantiâ Sabbaâ—â— sâ—nctifiâ—atio est finis praeâ—â—â—â—â—m est câ—ssâ—re ab â—â—ere sâ—rvili quin. secunda seâ—undae quaest 122. The level of the fourth Commandment aims at holy rest and a full cessation from servile and secular labours And Musculus takes notice That in case of Religion there is no difference between the Master and the Servant between the Parents and Children but all distinctions of Sexes and Degrees and Relations is quite taken away and the same Law for the Sanctification of that holy day indifferently involves and includes Communi sâ—nctificandi Sabbati lege constringâ—ntur omnes ex aequo Herus Servus Pater Laberi Mas et Faemina superiores inferiores Musc Deut 5 14. Vt familia quiefâ—eret haec habes ad Charitatem all The observation of the Sabbath reaches him who grinds at the Mill as well as him who sitteth on the Throne Then the whole family must be built up in their most holy faith as the Temple was in its Magnificent structure without noise of ax or hammer 1 Kings 6. 7. without interruption or noise of worldly and secular labour A learned man thinks it is agreeable to the Law of charity that Children and Servants should be call d off from their servile employments upon the Lords day their souls requiring as much care and attendance as the souls of those who move in a higher sphere and take the upper seat in the houshold and family There is an Ecclesiastical end of the Sabbath we are then to be conversant about those things which belong to the Finis secundus Sabbati est Ecclesiasticus eò quod cirea dei cultum et meditationem divinorum operum versatur Omnia enim ea quae ad veram pietatem et verum dei cultum pertinent in hoc sacro otio peragi debent Hospin Ostendit Deus discrimen inter labores externos et inter illos pietatis et cultus Divini in quarto praecepto Ger. Church of Christ we are to attend upon the worship of God to meet with the people of God and to refresh our souls with the Ordinances of God This day is a time for the Church not the Change it is not the fair of the body but the Market-day of the soul The things to be agitated this day are of another nature than the affairs of the week Now we must not mind our coffer but our Christ not the meat which perisheth John 6. 27. but that which endureth to everlasting life God gives us the seventh part of the week to trade for Heaven to dig for grace to sue out our pardon to strike high and look after an interest in a Mediator to lay up for eternity and to mind our part in Canaan above in the Countrey to come Now must we dress the Garden of our souls Gen. 2. 15. Now we must drive furiously 2 Kings 9. 20. for a Crown of glory Now we must pursue the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3. 8. The affairs of the Sabbath are not civil but Ecclesiastical There is a Christian end of the Sabbath viz. That it may be a note and badge of our profession In the Primitive times the Pagans used to question the Christians upon this interrogatory Hast thou kept the Lords day and the answer Beati martyres in judicium vocati et à proconsâ—le interragâ—ti num Collectam fecissent aut Dominicum egissent Voce saepius repetitâ respondont se Christianos esse Collectam Dominicam et Dominicum congruâ religionis devotione celebrasse quia intermitti non potest Baron commonly was I am a Christian I dare not intermit it for the Law admonisheth me of it namely the Law of God of Christ of Christianity which answer cost many Christians their lives the last drop of their dearest bloud Never were two truths more deeply dyed in the bloud of Martyrs than the Lords Day and the Lords Supper have been the one under Popish the other under Pagan persecution The keeping of the Lords day in those Golden dayes of the Church was the Christians Motto the Saints Shibboleth the Martyrs boast and persecutors frowns could not cause them to suspend it nor the greatest fury enforce them to renounce it And the holy observation of the Lords day did not only then discriminate the Christian from the Heathen the Church from the world but it still differences the Saint from the sinner the believer from the formalist the carnal Gospeller from the real professor The Lords day is the Crown of the
in the soul he will then either suggest unto us vain impertinencies which may be as Sodoms pleasures to Lots wife to cause us to look back or so many golden balls to stop us in our journey towards the Heavenly Canaan or else this evil one will assail to rock us asleep and so sit heavy upon our eye lids he will bring doune and pillow for us to lean upon This is the stratagem of Satan if he cannot steal us from the Word to keep us back from Ordinances he will steal the Word from us to make Ordinances useless and unprofitable Mat. 13. 19. The souls term time is Satans tempting time When we are most busie about our souls he is most active against them he will make any musick to rock us asleep when we are discoursing with Jesus Christ The Syren sings sweetest when we are upon the waters sailing to our Port and Satan never sweetens his temptations more then when we are sailing heaven-wards and therefore when we sleep in Ordinances let us remember the Charmer hath swayed with us more then the Preacher A sleepy eye in holy Ordinances is a sad sign of a sleepy conscience if the eye be drowsie without it is much to be feared the heart is dead within It is very observable A fat Eph. 5. 14. heart a deaf ear and a closed eye are all coupled together Isa 6. 10. Grace is an awakening principle the power of grace will fix the eye in heavenly contemplation will bend the knee in humble supplication will lift up the hand in holy devotion will wind up the tongue in savoury communication Col. 4. 6. and will bow the ear in holy and carefull attention A gracious heart will even Quick-silver the body in Josh 9 21. holy duties and make the flesh serve the spirit and the Didicisse fidelitèr artes emollit mores nec sinit esse feros senses be as Gibeonites to the soul As the Arts soften us to ingenuity and will not suffer us to be brutish so a conscience awakened by a work of grace will keep the eye awake in Ordinances seriously considering 1. That every Ordinance concerns the soul 2. That every Ordinance may be the last 3. That every Ordinance is the purchase of Christ 4. That every Ordinance is a good wind for Heaven In a word The work of grace may very well be suspected where the means of grace are so much slighted as to be passed away in a sleep and a dream Let us consider there will be no sleeping in hell Here we sleep when we might awake there we shall awake when Si magnificum quid vides cogito regnum dei si terribil◠cogita gehennam Chryst we cannot sleep we shall take no naps upon our bed of flames Scorching wrath screetching cries gnawing conscience will keep the reprobate waking Here we sleep unseasonably and let us take heed least we awake eternally and carefully beware least for want of watching one hour we lose our rest for ever There is no sleeping in heaven Rev. 4. 8. Now Ordinances they are the glimpses of heaven And it should be our endeavour to serve God here as the Saints and Angels do in glory there is no weariness no drowsiness no deadness there hallelujahs are pleasant and perpetual When we come to the Sanctuary we are about heavenly employment and let us study a heavenly deportment and let us ask our souls the question Would an Angel was he capable of it fall asleep when he converses with God And further to discourage us from the practice of this customary and crimson abomination let us observe a few quickning and awakening prescriptions Let us be instant with God beforehand for a suitable frame of spirit Was the heart tuned by preparatory prayer Preces preparatoriae sunt administratoriae the strings would not so soon crack in sleep and drowsiness a warm heart would cause a wakefull eye Neglect of preparation exposes us to wanton glances wandring thoughts and a sleepy eye in holy administrations Gardens if not digged and dressed bring forth weeds not flowers Let us converse with God in Ordinances as either employed in our Bibles or our Note Books we shall hardly sleep with a Book or a Pen in our hands If our eye was employed in Scripture search it would not suffer the eye lids those curtains to be drawn for sleep and sluggishness But oftentimes the shutting of the Book brings the shutting of the eye and if we stand idle in the market of Ordinances who will Mat. 20. 3. 6. hire us but Satan Let us fix a steady eye of faith upon God and the glorious Angels when we come to Ordinances We will not sleep in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic exemplaria graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic Arias Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sic. Vet. Lotin presence-chamber especially if the Prince and Nobles be there The blessed Ordinances are Christs Presence-Chamber his Court his Garden his Banqueting-House and shall we sleep in the presence of the King of Saints Nay the King of Nations as the Prophet calls him Jer. 10. 7. Nay the King of Ages as the vulgar Latine terms him this is not onely incivility but impiety Let us take heed of pampering Nature An over-free use of the Creatures on Gods holy day will lay us open to sinful drowsiness when we make Kitchins of our bellies the smoak will soon fly in our eyes and encline us to wretched and careless sleepiness When Lot was overcharged with Wine he soon sleeps himself into incest and wantonness Gen. 19. 34. Let us come to Ordinances expecting great things from God They are vigilant who are in a waiting posture Beggars Psal 123. 7. are not dormant if they are so in the Barn they are Psal 4. 7. not so at the door Let us come to Ordinances as to a Golden Mine the Miners do not sleep with the iron instruments in their hands Let us approach to the Sanctuary looking for grace loves smiles the kisses of Christs lips the light of Gods countenance and this will keep us wakefull Cold desires and mean expectations make us careless and oscitant in Ordinances We sleep not telling Pearls or picking Diamonds there are better riches to be found in Psal 63. ◠Communion with God CHAP. XXIX Other Evils to be avoided in our outward behaviour when we come to the Publick Assembly WE must not rove in Ordinances As the eye must not sleep so it must not wander when the eternal Gospel is preaching or we are pouring out our souls in holy prayer to an infinite God It is recorded of Christs Auditors that they did fasten their eyes upon him Luke 4. 20. Luke 4. 20. We must bring a double eye to every Sermon Triplex est aspectus Christi 1. Vnus corporalis qui sit oculis carnis et hic per se non bea◠2. Spiritualis qui sit oculis fidei
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
speaketh will choak the Word much more the pleasures of the world when they are more soft and sutable to delicate flesh and corrupt nature As in the Primitive Times more Apostates were made by the flatteries of Julian then the fires of Dioclesian and smiles more harm'd the Church then smarts Nothing more likely then to shoote away bowle away whatever we have been affected with Hos 6. 4. in holy Ordinances and Administrations Mat. 13. 22. Nay the very Liturgy of our English Church composed with so much exactness and deliberation as is often urged by the admirers of it commands the fourth Commandment to be read as well as the other nine and there pardon is begg'd for the breaches of this Commandment for time past Lord have mercy upon us and then Grace is importun'd to observe it better for the time to come where it is prayed and incline our hearts to keep this Law Where these three things are considerable 1. That by the Sabbath the Church understands the Lords day only 2. That she takes the observation of the Lords day founded upon the fourth Commandment 3. That she intended that day to be kept as a Sabbath and therefore begs pardon and grace which if so there can be no room for unnecessary labours and needless Recreations both which are but presumptuous incroachments on Gods appropriated day As holy Augustine forbad hunting and all worldly pleasures And Leo the Emperour Nullis Augustine Leo the Emperour volumus voluptatibus occupari Our will is No pleasures to be used as being the great obstructions to the spirituality of a Sabbath they discomposing the soul for sublime and heavenly intercourses to be spiritually raised and to be pleasurously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Rev. 10. addicted on the Lords day being strange inconsistencies Recreations on the Sabbath they are too much the evidence of a formal spirit To the holy soul the Temple is his Triumph Prayers his pleasure Ordinances his delight the Sanctuary his satisfaction David counts one day in Gods Courts better then a thousand Flashy and frivolous Recreations Psal 84. 10. on a Lords day to a gracious spirit they are his little-ease and the clipping of his wing the Souls confinement and Psal 63. 2. restraint the Prison grate between him and Christ no way his Pleasure but his Purgatory and where they are received Psal 43. 4. with gratefulness and contentment they loudly Proclaime too much froth and vanity David danced at the enjoyment of Cant. 2. 4. the Ark but these leave the Ark to sport and dance 2 Sam. 6. 16. Recreations on the Lords day They are the debasements of spiritual mercies as if there were no captivating power in Divine Ordinances to hold the soul intent for a day no Psal 19. 10. Psal 42. 4. honey comb in the Word to please the taste no pleasing vent in prayer to ease and satisfie the Soul as if singing of Psalms made no musick and reading the Scriptures did yield no delight Ah with what patience and content did the Jewes hear the Law read in the time of Nehemiah The people stood Nehem 8. 7. in their place saith the Text quoted as if they were staked and fastened without any desire of removal Their serious attention chained them to their present station Paul preached Acts 20. 7. till midnight the sweet Oracles of God drowned all wearisomness and distaste Ordinances have a savour in them Rom. 3. 2. which refresh and raise the Saint and there is no need of carnal sports to wear off any tedious abhorrency To affect or use these pastimes on the Sabbath is to embase the value of Divine exercises and to charge holy duties with abortive Hos 9. 14. emptiness as if they were barren wombs and dry breasts Let the Umpirage in this case be referred to the holy Psalmist in the Text quoted in the Margin Psal 1. 2. Recreations on the Sabbath they are the spring of impertinent discourse which is expresly forbidden in the Text for saith the Text Nor speaking thy own words In our sports more especially Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak as our Saviour saith Sports are the very Mat. 12. 34. Malitiae sermonis sons est malitia cordis ex quo necessi est ejusmodi maledicta per os ebullire sicut ex faetido fonte non possunt nisi fatidae aquae per fâ—stulas effundi Par. Dr. B. Mark 6. 22. Mark 6. 27. James 3. 6. Peccatum quod alter incurrit operando tuum facis obloquendo fuel of vain and frothy discourse A holy man observes That some men they never make an end of their pleasures nor an end of talking and hearing of them their Hawkes are not only on their fists but on their tongues There are two things which spring a mine of impertinent discourse Feasts and Sports We may as well separate blackness from the cloud as frothy language from frothy pleasures Nay how often are pastimes stained with sinful protestations the fatal taking of Gods Name in vain nay with Execrations and Oaths the scum of Hell it self Where did Herod make his wretched promise which was died in the blood of the Baptist but at a dancing when Herodias her Daughters feet did not trip so much as Herods tongue And if at any time the tongue is set on fire of hell as the Apostle James speaks Games and Pastimes presently become the bellows to blow up the fire Sports are usually the tongues Courtizan to draw it to folly and wanton intemperance with frothy rejoycings and carnall triumphs nay heats and passions are mixt with our recreations and the tongue is to proclaim them The mirth which attends pastimes will not be cag'd up in the breast but will fly out inimpertinent and unsavory language How often in sports do we call our Brother fool and yet our Saviour Iracundiae litis vanitatis censurae verba a Satana procedunt et ad Satanam tendunt illic incipiunt et illic rapiunt Mat. 6. 22. Psal 39. 1. saith that very expression puts us in danger of hell fire And therefore let any serious Christian make his own conscience the Tribunal to which I dare appeal whether this flatulent and unseemly discourse the inseparable companion of Games and Pastimes be not a sinful undecency on Gods holy Sabbath and an opposition to the very Text surely then if ever with David we should take heed we offend not with our tongue Recreations on a Sabbath They are an indignity offered to the noble and precious soul Shall the body that mass and Isa 2. 22. pile of dust cemented onely with a little flying breath that Corpus est ergastulum animae Plato bag of flegm and cholar that prison of the soul as Plato used to call it enjoy the time of six whole dayes and the soul that piece of eternity in the bosome the breath of God the saving
holy services it shall be sufficient I am sure the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jom a day is in both both the six dayes and in the seventh and how comes the signification to be altered if jom a day signifies a whole day in the one why not in the other why not the whole seventh day engaged in divine service as well as the whole six dayes taken up in secular employments Chrysostome and Theodoret observe that from the very beginning God taught man this lesson that one whole day in the circle of seven is to be employed in holy services And many famous lights of the Reformed Church conclude that whatever is moral in the fourth Commandment this must needs be that the seventh part of every week be consecrated to the worship of God So Zanchy Bucer Martyr c. That famous person mentioned last speaks roundly when he saith That it is perpetual and eternal while the Church remains upon Earth that one day in the week be designed for the service and worship of God and this saith he is firme and unshaken Augustine in one of his Sermons adviseth the people That from the Evening of the Saturday till the Evening of the Lords day they avoid all vain sloth and idleness and all secular toyle and labour and wholly set themselves apart for the worship of God This excellent man gives the full current of twenty four hours to the holy observation of the Sabbath And this saith he is rightly to keep the Sabbath and truly if God gives us six natural dayes to labour in is it not fit that the seventh should bear an equal proportion with every working day And therefore it is a natural day consisting of twenty four hours which we must in conscience allow to God to be the Sabbath day But besides the force of Divine Command which as clearly enjoyns the seventh day for holy Rest as indulges the other six dayes for toyle and labour the very plea's of the soul may come in to affirme the sanctification of one whole day in the week to spiritual and divine services Let us consider The Soul in the Nobleness of its Original it is a Heaven-born soul Gods breath in mans bosome Mans soul onely bubbles from the fountain of spirits our soul is but a beam The Soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the glorious Sun God beam d into man a glittering soul and shall not this noble soul so worthily descended lay claim to one day as well as the body that dusty case of the principle of life the soul that body which is onely the sheath of the soul the cabinet for this jewel to lye in put in its title and right to six What is this but to degrade the soul from the honour of its Excellent Original Let us look on the soul in the excellency of its capacity what is not a reasonable soul capable of It is capable of Gods Anima est ex Deo non ut ex materia et ex traduce dei â—eu ejus quadam particula sed ut â— causâ efficiente accessu quodam naturae propiore ad essentiam dei divinarumque proprietatum assimilatione Leid Prof. 2 Cor. 5. 1. Image There is little of Gods Image to be seen in the body God is a spirit and so stamps his Image on the spirits of men and shall not the soul which bears so noble a superscription enjoy the priviledge and latitude of one day as well as the body that earthly tabernacle which is soon taken down and wrapt up in a silent grave enjoy the immunity of six whole dayes But must the abatement fall on the souls portion Consider the multiplicity of a souls work and therefore let not its day be shortned by frothy pleasures or servile labours John 9. 4. Praeclarae sunt arimae dotes effâ—ctus divinae functiones miranda solertia ingenii cogitationis celeritas facilitas perceptionis judicii acrimâ—nia disâ—ursus et ratiocinatio de rebus omnibus memoria rerum praetâ—ritarum contemplatio praesentium futurarum praevisio et maxime inse ipsam conversio et reflexio suaeque contemplatio c. Lied Prof. The work of the soul is very great and very various there are many duties to perform many graces to act many ordinances to wait upon much knowledge to acquire many corruptions to subdue Now he that is to ride far let him not want day-light the souls task is great let not its time be short especially shorter then God hath made it The body hath onely two things to get viz. food and raiment it hath but two rooms to go thorow the Kitchin and the Wardrobe But the soul hath more and nobler atchievements to pursue It hath a Pardon Grace Christ God Heaven to look after and obtain and shall its owne day given it more especially for these great attempts be subject to an unhappy diminution Let us look on the soul in the eternity of its duration The soul saith one is a bud of eternity the business of the Animaâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domine aufer à me hanc tunicam graveâ— corpus scil terrestre ponderosum et aerumnosum et dâ— mihi leviâ—rem soul is of everlasting concernment But the body is a shattered piece of dust a shaking fa brick which is soon unpinned the paint of its beauty is soon washed off the vigour of its strength is soon weakned and enervated a thousand diseases can crack this piece of frailty and yet this tottering piece of flesh must have its full six dayes and the eternal soul not enjoy one whole day without allowance made for pleasure and secular employments Let us consider the soul in the importance of its wellfare The body follows the condition of the soul but the soul doth not follow the condition of the body If thy soul miscarry it had been better as our Saviour speaks thou hadst never been born Man fares as his soul fares It was Mat. 26. 24. Sic alloquitur anima sancta suspirans O civitas sancta civitas speciosa de longinquo te saluto ad te clamo te requiro desidero verè te videre et in te requiescere O civitas desiderabilis Muri tui Iapis unus Custos tuus ipse deus Cives tui semper laeti semper enim gratulantur visione Dei Hug. Victor the Redemption of the soul that drew Christ from Heaven to tabernacle amongst us and to offer up himself a sacrifice to Divine Justice and therefore how rational is it that the precious soul should enjoy a full Sabbath without any sensual vacancies for pleasures and pastimes seeing the whole man is dependant upon its disposal and is happy or miserable according to its state or condition But to wind up this particular Argument if we consider either the force of the fourth Commandment or the pregnant plea's of the immortal soul whose interest is much pursued on a Sabbath nay the Sabbath is the very
scarecly supplyed which lye undiscovered Let us therefore the evening or day before the Sabbath withdraw our selves from the noyse of the world and so quietly call our selves to an account concerning our progresse or regresse in Religion the foregoing week Let us further prepare for the Sabbath by stirring up in our selves holy affections It is fit the soul should be on the wing upon the Lords day First we should long for the day of God as the Psalmist saith Psal 42. 1 2. My soul thirsteth for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God! And as she said Psal 42. 1 2. Judges 5. 28. Why are thy Charriots so long in coming and Judges 5. 28. why tarry the wheels of thy Charriot So O when will the Sabbath come that we may sell all and buy the pearl of price O when will the day come that we may have communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly And we should long for God on his holy day Indeed there is nothing in God but what may set us on longing his Glory his Bounty his Purity c. Christ is altogether Cant. 5. 16. lovely and loveliness inticeth affection Beauty will attract love rich Pearls draw every eye so let us entertain Quisquis diligit deum sâ—gitta haec in corde ejus haeret et sâ—gittarius tam fugit tam sequitur ambo mâ—nent cum amante Del. Rio. in our thoughts whatsoever may ingratiate God and his Ordinances and let us kindle the fire on the day before the Sabbath that it may flâ—me forth and burn bright on that holy day A good man on Saturday evening going to bed leaped and cryed out It is but one night more and I shall be in the house of God upon his holy day and meet God himself in the use of holy things Let us before hand fall sick of Love and then how gratefull will the appearances of Cant. 2. 5. our Beloved be upon his own blessed day The fifth Duty preparatory to the Sabbath is earnest and fervent prayer Indeed prayer is the omniprevalent Engine which can do wonderfull things things above expectation among others it can admirably fit the soul for the Sabbath First For the Prayer of Faith can prevail with God for the pardon and forgiveness of sin and pardon'd sin will prepare â—randus est deus ut nihiâ— lâ—nguoris in nobis et ruinae pristinae relinquat ne rursâ—â— mali seminis pullalent rediviva plantaria Hierom. the soul for Sabbath-mercy those who are clogg'd with sin will quickly be tyred in duty Now the Sabbath is onely the Mart and spiritual Fair of duties The unpardoned sinner may spend not keep a Sabbath may pass away the time of it not enjoy the benefit of it Prayer I say can prevail for pardon The Lord directs us to this very means to procure forgiveness so Hos 14. 2. Take unto thee words and turn unto the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously God will give pardon but prayer must Jam. 5. 15. importune the gift David he prayes for forgiveness and Dum oratur deus ut omnem auserat iniquitatem ut non solùm peccata sed etiâ—m omnes peccatorum sibras evellat Hier. he obtains it On the Eve of a Sabbath let us be earnest for the pardon of the sins of our lives of the sins of the past week let the week be cleared before we adventure upon a Sabbath A sense of pardon will sweeten every service of a Sabbath make Duty delight and Pains a paradise Ordinances shall be our incomes not our incumberances Be earnest for pardon and the Sabbath shall not only piously but pleasingly be observed Psal 51. 11. Omnem aufer iniquitatem est prima petitio quae alias omnes meritò praecedit Riv. Prayer can obtain the spirit The donation of the spirit is promised to Holy Prayer Now our hearts are the spirit's Luke 11. 13. work-houses The spirit can chain up corruptions draw out grace blow away the froth and vanity of the soul open Spiritualia bona licet corporalia longissimo intervallo post serelinquat tamen sine conditione petere audemâ—â— certum est Christum ea nobis impetrasse et patrem propter ipsum nobis dâ—turum esse Chemn 2 Cor. 3. 17. Eph. 1. 13. Mal. 3. 2. the heart for the entertainment of Gospel-messages every way put us into a sweet and Sabbath disposition The spirit is a spirit of sanctity to make the heart gracious the spirit is a spirit of liberty to make the heart free and enlarged the spirit is a spirit of purity it is fullers sope and a refiners fire to purge and cleanse the soul and so adaequately prepare the Christian for the divine duties of the Sabbath Prayer layes the foundation of Sabbath blessings the prayer of faith keeps the Key of Gods treasury door Blessings indeed which are really so are the fruits of prayer Prayer it can open the womb Hannah prayes and the obtains 1 Sam. 1. 27. a Samuel It can melt the Heavens it can open the prison Jam. 5. 16. 18. doors it can avail very much and prayer can turn a Sabbath into the souls blessed harvest it can open the heart procure Acts 12. 7. a blessing upon Ordinances engage Christs presence Lutherus ait utinam eodem ardore orare possum tum dabatur responsum fiâ—t quod velis Lutr. 2 Cor. 6. 2. make duties fruitfull and spiritual Manna nourishing Prayer can make the Sabbath a time of grace an opportunity of life a day of salvation a term of love It hath been the manner of some Christians the day before the Sabbath to meet and spend some time in seeking God by prayer and quickning one another this fervently performed would lay a great ground of a good day indeed to follow and therefore let us Pray pray pray beforehand that divine Ordinances may be accompanied with divine benedictions that sins may Mat. 24. 20. be discharged that our souls may be enlarged and hearts may be upon the wheele Our Saviour saith Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day but let us pray that our flight may be upon the Sabbath our flight towards Heaven when the soul is upon the wing and the heart upon its speed towards Jesus Christ A believer on a Sabbath should make haste to enjoy the embraces of his beloved which are as the Faeminae Christum secutae pridie Sabbati id circò ad futuram corporis Christi condituram omnia praeparabant ut Sabbatho secundumlegem quiescerent Wal. Espousals forerunning an Eternal wedding day The Eve before the Sabbath we should spend more time then usually in family duties Our preparation must not only be the work of the Closet but the work of the Family Then we should read the Scriptures refresh one another with holy discourses be more solemn in our addresses to God
Law and in the time of the Gospel these are the products of Gods eternal grace and favour That God should subdue sinners to himself hedge up their way with thorns lay Hos 2. 6. Jer. 2. 24 stumbling blocks before them in their sinful carier that he Tiadam eos in miseriam unde se nequeant explicare Riv. should take sinners in their moneth and dispose of unthought of circumstances and passages of providence for the turning of transgressors into the way which leads to everlasting life all these things speak the eternal grace and favour of Eph. 1. 7. God But Secondly Divine grace may be taken for grace the effect for the graces of Gods spirit which in eternal love and grace and favour he plants in the soul and this work of grace merits our sweetest meditation And here we must meditate On the powerfulness of the work of grace Grace is an irresistible principle a torrent which bears down all before it Manassah was prejudiced against the impressions of grace by Gratiae Vocabulum tria denotat 1. Gratuitum actum divinae volunâ—atis accepton t is hominem in Christo peccata misericorditer condonantis 2 Eph. 9. 3. Rom. 24. Hic amor gratuitus est primum dâ—num in quo omnia alia dona dautur Hâ—nc gratiá acceptationis Aquin. vocat Secundò sub gratiae vocabulo complectitur Apost omnia hubitualia dona quae deus infundit ad animam sanctificandam sâ—il Fides charitas c. atque omnes virtutes et omniâ— dona salutarta sunt gratiae Eph. 4. 7. Hanc gratiam inhaerentem paeâ—è solum agnoscunt Pontificii et illam interim acceptantem quae est hujus sons sâ—aturigo nimis negligunt Tertiò Gratia denotat actuale auxilium dei quo renati post acceptam habitualem gratiam corroborantur ad exercenda bona opera et ad perseverandum in fide et pietate nam homini per gratiam renovato et sanctificato necessarium est quotidianum dei adjutorium ad singulos octus et necessaria est horum omnium connexio Daven scandalous and prodigious sins he was a pattern of impiety 2 Chron. 33. 5 6 7. Mary Magdalen was fortifyed against those sacred impressions by seven Devils Luk. 8. 2. Paul was garrison'd against those divine illapses of grace by an obstinate antipathy to the Gospel and the profession of it he barbarously persecuted the Church of Christ Acts 9. 2. And Peter turns his back upon grace by denying Christ the fountain of it But yet neither Prophaneness Impurity Rage Apostacy or the Devils themselves can withstand the powerful influences of grace But God by his grace humbles Manassah 2 Chron. 33. 12. brings him upon his knees to importune forgiveness Melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 44. and she bedews those checks with her moans which she had so much prostituted to her lusts the evil spirit must give way to the good spirit to carry on his good work on her soul Nay grace softens Paul into submission and indisputable compliance Acts 9. 4 5. And Peter by a look of grace Luke 22. 61 62. turns to Christ by lamentation whom he had dishonoured by desertion By grace God breaks the hard heart Ezek. 36. 26. supplies the stubborn will Ezek. 36. 27. brings down the lofty spirit 2 Chron. 32. 26. writes his Law in the inward man Jer. 31. 33. and raiseth a stately fabrick of holiness out of the very rubbish of nature Ezek. 11. 19. Ezek 18. 31. and so the Convert becomes a new and lovely creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Indeed a work of grace may be reproached but it cannot be resisted we may pursue holiness with scorn but we cannot withstand its work and operation by force or the most resolved might The spirit which worketh grace in the soul plucks down Satans strong holds plucks up rooted corruptions which have been long setled and riveted in the heart plants holy qualifications and habits in the Saint creates holy tendencies and inclinations and the Regenerate person becomes passive and sweetly yields to the force and power of this blessed work Christ throws his chain over him and he smiles himself into a voluntary and pleasing Captivity 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The work of grace is often compared to a new birth Joh. 3. 5. Now when the throws and pangs come upon the woman with child she cannot with-hold her Issue but freely and with joy she brings forth the Man-child into the world Joh. 16. 21. And so when the spirit of grace carries on the new-birth the loynes of the Convert cannot with-hold but with joy a Saint is born into the world Grace like a sun-beam pierces powerfully though sweetly and is alwayes prosperous though sometimes strange in its designe Let us meditate on the Arbitrariness of the work of grace Indeed grace like Christ is a most free gift it knows no entail Spiritus sanctus non secundum dignitatem et merita sed quos et quando vult arâ—anis suis afflatibus aspirat dividens dona sua singulis sicut vult Ger. nor admits of any claim It is not in the power of a Holy Father to transmit his spiritual worth though he may conveigh his temporal wealth to his beloved Child The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3. 8. And this wind is the spirit of grace as Augustine well observes and the words of the Text make it plain The freeness of this glorious work of grace which God works upon the hearts of his people may be fully and amply discerned In the nature of Election which is a voluntary choosing of some out of many now vocation and sanctification are 1 Cor. 12. 4. 1 Pet. 1 2. 1 Pet. 5. 13. Jer. 3. 14. 1 Pet. 2 4. Rev. 17. 14. Rom. 11. 5. Rom. 9 11. Jer. 3. 14. onely the fruits of Election as most evidently the Apostle Eph. 1. 4. He hath chosen us to be holy We are holy because we are chosen And so Acts 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed We believe because we are ordained to eternal life Nothing is more arbitrary then election free choyce God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy as the Apostle speaks Here it is true one is taken and another left as our Saviour speaks in another case There is two of a Tribe and one of a Family as the Prophet speaks It may be one in a Pâ—w is converted by a Sermon others in the same Seat not in the least wrought upon as the same Fides electorum non fides eligendorum ut clamitant Arminiani Sun ripens some fruits and rots others Nothing then is more free then election which is the spring and fountain of grace and sanctification Faith is called the faith of the elect Tit. 1. 1. Paul was converted after an unusual and Tit. 1. 1. strange manner because he was a chosen vessel Acts 9. 15. There are but few chosen as our Saviour
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
cares the body shall not be wasted with toyle nor the spirits spent with labour or the heart torn with griefs but soul and body shall be calmed into an eternal quietation The Apostle saith Heb. 4. 9. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God The Greeks call it a Sabbatism our future Sabbath and Rest being all one When the Apostle wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews the rest of the legal Sabbath was over and the rest of Canaan was first disturbed by Nebuchadnezzar and upon overthrowing and quite taking away by Titus the Roman so now then there remains onely a rest in Heaven a heavenly Sabbath for the people of God In this life our Laudabile Sabbati otium sanctorum vitam requie et sanctificatione exprimit tum futuram ostendit cùm omni hujus vitae curâ de positâ bonis aeternis fruimur Cyril Alex. Sabbath it self is disturbed sometimes with vain thoughts with deadness and coldness in duties it is disquieted with the iniquity of our holy things we cannot pray as we would and we do not hear as we should we often displease Christ at his own table when we come with polluted hands and unprepared hearts and when duties are over we either dash upon sins of omission or rush upon language or practices unbecoming the Lords day there is still something to discompose our spirits our hearts are sad and our moans are great but however the week treads upon the heels of Sabbatâ—m Coeleste est requies illa Coelestis patriae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Sabbath and then like the Sons of Adam we get our livelihood in the sweat of our brows then we toyle our brains harden our hands and weary our bodies and all for that which is not bread Isa 55. 2. And besides as Master Herbert that sweet and excellent Poet observes our Sabbath doth but leap from seven to seven it flies away and then recurs in a constant revolution One Sabbath passeth over and we must press through the croud of weekly and worldly Rabbin affairs which will make us sweat and faint before we attain Isa 55. 2. to another But our Sabbath above is A rest from sin In it we shall enjoy absolute purity and spotless perfection we shall there be a Glorious Church Excitat sibi Christus ecclesiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multo decore et gloriâ illustrem non habentem maculam peccati aut rugam vetustatis Alap not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 27. Sin cannot dwell in Heaven with God it is impossible if Achans wedge one sin disturbed the whole Camp of Israel John 7. 11. How would one sin disturb the Court of Heaven It would put a damp upon all the triumphs of it there cannot be perfect joy where there is the least relique of sin A rest from troubles and afflictions In our heavenly Sabbath there shall be no groans but musicks no sighs but songs no tears but triumphs not a drop of the waters of Marah in a whole ocean of joy and satisfaction if any grief remain'd our joy would not be full The Saints in glory shall be freed from natural afflictions They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more Rev. 7. to 16. Rev. 7. 16. to which accords that of the Prophet Isa 49. 10. The Isa 49. 10. Saints cannot hunger in their eternal Sabbath for the good Shepherd of our souls doth not onely fâ—ed us to eternal life Psal 16. 11. but likewise in eternal life and there he shall feed us with fulness of joy with the smiles of his face with the fruits of his love and with the over-coming influences of his grace and favour And moreover the Saints cannot thirst in glory The Lamb shall bring them to living fountains Rev. 22. 1. of waters Rev. 22. 1. They shall have waters for their necessity Rev. 7. 17. Rivers of water for their plenty nay pure rivers of water for their greater extasie and these rivers of water shall proceed out of the Throne of God and the Lamb for their superlative complacency Nor shall the Saints Eternal rest be disturbed with pressing afflictions All tears shall be wiped from their eyes a Isa 25. 8. sentence mentioned three times in Scripture Isa 25. 8. John 7. 17. Rev. 7. 17. Rev. 21. 4. As if every person in the Trinity Rev. 21. 4. would severally assure the Saints of future undisturbed felicity A learned man observes this phrase of wiping tears from our eyes is a metaphor taken from tender mothers Lacrymae malorum sensu exprimuntur who give their breasts to their infants when they cry for want and then wipe off their tears from their pretty cheeks which were bedewed with that emblem of sorrow Tears Altera foelicitatis pars est quòd nullis miseriis aerumnis molestiis hujus praesentis vitae obnoxii erimus Malorum immunem esse maximum est bonum cujus Author deus est Par. are those drops which fall when the fire of affliction is put under the sense of some evil the feeling of some corroding sorrow squeizeth them out as the extremity of pain makes the patient sweat But such oppressive calamities shall not seize upon the Saints in their Sabbath and Rest above here indeed they are in a valley of tears but one tear shall not interrupt the joyes of the glorified Saints The Psalmist saith Psal 30. 6. Weeping endures for a night but joy cometh in the morning and when the Saints are arrived at their rest above all night is past to return no more the morning is begun to pass away no more The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with privative afflictions There shall be no more death Rev. 21. 4. Rev. 21. 4. Isa 25. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 57. John 3. 16. Then death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15. 57. and it shall rally no more to do any execution upon the Saints in glory Our Sabbath in heaven is eternal and therefore our life is eternal Indeed here below death is alwayes Sabbatum hoc coeleste est sempiternum sicut omnia alia bona quae ad perfectionem pervenerunt Musc to be expected Job 14. 14. But above death is never to be dreaded there that King of terrours as Job calls it Job 18. 14. hath lost both his Scepter and hs Sithe both his force and his prevalency There is neither fear nor expectation of death in glory were it not so it would turn those rivers of pleasure memorized by the Psalmist Psal 36. 8. into Psal 55. 4. salt and unpleasant waters and upon the very possessions of heaven would be written bitterness in the latter end But faith in Christ gives us eternal life John 3. 16. A full assurance and security against the approaches and seizures of death or conclusion Perfection which is the character of the Saints future condition excludes and denies all
second person in the Trinity who is the messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. and this party is called God Gen. 32. 30. It was such an Angel as blessed Jacob which was a work proper to God But now if it be demanded what it is to pray in the holy Ghost Answ It may be answered First The spirit helps us in prayer in a way of gifts Alludit Paulus ad illud Psal Psal 46. 8. Psallite sapienter pro quo hebraicè est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut intelligentio quod septuaginta vertunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut nimirum intelligatur quod canitur et quod precatur that the heart may not be bound up and that we may have necessary words to give vent for our affections It is the spirit which bestows the gift of prayer that we may enlarge our selves to God on all occasions 1 Cor. 14 15. But this gift is much bettered by Industry Hearing Meditation Reading Conference nay by prayer it self such holy exercises may be auxiliary to this excellent gift for the spirit worketh by means as the Sun shineth in the air in which it maketh its glittering ascents Secondly There is the gracious assistance of the spirit which is either habitual or actual First Habitual grace is necessary to prayer Zach. 12. 10. where there is grace there will be supplications as soon as the Child is born it falls on crying Acts 9. 11. Prayer is the Zach. 12. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratia et supplicatio in uno comprehenduntur kindly duty of the New Creature the regenerate person is easily drawn into Gods presence when once we are renewed by the Holy Ghost we shall certainly and sweetly pray in the Holy Ghost we shall offer up spiritual devotions acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Secondly There is the actual assistance which we have from the spirit when a man is regenerate yet he cannot pray as he ought unless he be still moved and assisted by the blessed spirit Now these actual motions do either concern First The matter of prayer which is suggested by the spirit Jam. 1. 17. of promise for let a man alone and he will soon run into Eph. 1. 13. a temptation and cry for that which is inconvenient and it would be severity in God to grant it and therefore the direction of the Holy Ghost is necessary that we may not aske Rom. 8. 27. a Scorpion instead of a Fish a stone instead of bread We take counsel of lusts and interests when we are left to our private spirit now the Holy Ghost teacheth us to ask not onely what is lawfull but what is expedient for us so that the will of God may take place before our own inclinations Or Secondly These actual motions of the spirit concern the manner of our prayers now in prayer we have immediately Quid resert gemere Suspiria confusa ad deum mittere fortè evanesâ—unt in aere sed interpelâ—atio spiritus certò exauditur â— deâ— Par. to do with God and therefore we should take great heed in what manner we come to him The right manner is when we come with affection with confidence with reverence First With affection Rom. 8. 26. It is the holy Ghost sets us on groaning words are but the out-side of prayer sighs and groans are the language which God will understand we learn to mourn from the Turtle from him who descended in the form of a Dove Mat. 3. 16. He draws sighs from the heart tears from the eyes and moans from the soul Parts may furnish us with eloquence but the spirit inflames us with love that earnest reaching forth of the soul after God and the things of God That holy importunity that spiritual violence which is often used in holy prayer comes onely from the spirit Many a prayer is neatly ordered musically delivered and gravely pronounced but all these artifices they are the curiosities of man and savour nothing of the holy spirit then it speaketh the spirit to be in a prayer when there is life and power and the poor suppliant sets himself to wrestle with God as if he would overcome him in his own strength Secondly With confidence In Prayer we must come as Children and cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. usually we do Suprema essentia spiritus dei qui orare facit orantibus promittit promissum largitur testimonium nobis intus perhibet quisnam dubitationi locus Chrysost not mind this part of the spirits help in prayer we look to gifts and enlargements but not to this Child-like confidence that we may be able to call God Father without reproach or hypocrisie not seriously considering it is the language of a Child which will onely prevail upon the affections of a Father Thirdly With Reverence That we may be serious and awfull God is best seen in the light of his spirit the Heathens could say We need light from God when we speak of or to God That sense of the Lords greatness and those fresh Non loquendum dâ— deo sine lumine and awful thoughts that we have of his Majesty in prayer are stirred up by the Holy Ghost He uniteth and gathereth our hearts together that they may not be unravelled and Devotio et pius in deum affectus debet semper viam aperire ad particulares nostras petitiones sive pro aliiâ— petimus necessaria sive pro nobis Daven scattered abroad in vain and impertinent thoughts Eph. 6. 18. And therefore to wind up this particular which hath been more copiously handled then usual when we go to pray at any time and so consequently in our Closets or Families on the morning of the Sabbath let us cast our selves upon the Holy Ghost as appointed by the Father and purchased by the Son to help us in this sweet and serviceable duty Rom. 8. 26. We are often tugging and labouring at it and can make no work of it but the spirit cometh and contributes his assistance and then we launch forth and our sails are filled and we go on prosperously in that omniprevalent duty A good Expositour gives this gloss on Rev. 1. 10. John was Arch. in loâ— in the spirit on the Lords day i. e. he was in prayer upon the Lords day the spirit mightily assisting us in prayer makes strange and glorious impressions upon us As it is reported Greg. Orat. de Laud. Basil of Basil That when the Emperour Valens came in upon him while he was in Prayer he saw such lustre in his face as struck the Emperour with terrour and he fell backwards Prayer can make a great change in us and work Luke 9. 29. great things for us and therefore the management of this duty must be dispatched with the greatest care and exactness We must not onely take our opportunities for prayer on the morning of a Sabbath and see to the qualifications of Psal 5. 3. of that duty to
of Rom. 16. 5. Gods people being scattered as fruitful clouds which Col. 4. 15. are melted into their several drops let us repair to the lesser Church our family and follow Christ home and entertain Privata familia quae ob religiosam sanctitatem illustris est ecclesiae nomen promeruit Daven him there with holy communion Christ hath his lesser as well as his greater banquetting house Cant. 2. 4. And will meet us in our houses as well as in his own Mal. 21. 13. the place of more solemn assemblies He who will come to the house of a Pharisee Luke 14. 1. will come to the house of a believer Therefore after the publick ordinances are done and finished let us haste to our habitations as fast as Zacheus to his Luke 19. 6. to the same end with Familiam suam privata fecit ecclesia eam pietate religione exornans Theod. him to entertain our dear Jesus and pursue those family duties which are incumbent upon us which now shall be opened and discoursed upon There are several duties which must take up this interval that it may not be an empty and unbeautiful chasm Let our meal be adorned with temperance and made lushious and sweet with holy and savory discourse Heavenly communication is salt at the table is sauce in the dish Non prius discumbunt quà m Oratio ad deum praegustetur editur quantum esurientes capiunt bibitur quantum pudicis est utile ita saturantur ut qui meminerint etiam per noctem sibi adorandum deum esse Tertul. is a flavour in our drink Full meales are those which are spiritualized and they have most of rarity which have most of heaven Our tables are spread with variety not from our dishes but from our discourse Tertull. speaking of the carriage of private Christians at their meals tells us That they do not sit down before they have prayed they eat as much as may satisfie hunger they drink so much as is sufficient for temperate men and are so filled as they that remember that God must be worshipped even in the night season O the golden temper of these golden times Temperance must be the Caterer and holy discourse must be the musick of our tables Our tongues are instruments but the good spirit must tune them Holy discourses are perfumes which are not only pleasant to our selves but delightful to others they are the trumpets of our piety the sparks which fly from our zeal the disburdening of a gracious soul they are a celestial harmony which makes a meal on a Sabbath pleasant and seraphical Vivunt impii ut bibant et edant sed bibuâ—◠èt edunt bène ut vivant Socrâ—t And therefore let us discourse at our Sabbath meals on some things delivered by the Minister or some spiritual matter which may administer grace to the hearers and let us avoid the common rock of vain and worldly talk Xenocrates the Philosopher being in company with some who used evil language he was very mute and being asked the reason he replyed It hath often repented me that I have spoken but never that I have held my peace Oh that our hearts and lips were heavenly on the Lords day that there might be more sprinkling of grace in our discourses Sermo noster sit ad aedificationem necessitatis Theoph. This would turn our food into Manna and drop dissolved Pearls into our Cup and turn our board into a Communion table Holy discourse it Et ad aedificationem utilitatis Erasm First Warms the heart Secondly It gives vent for grace Thirdly It is the bellows of zeal Et ad aedificationeâ— opportunitatis Sermo aedificet quoties opus vel opportunitas est alios docere Theoph. Fourthly It often awakens conscience Fifthly It is the Gangrene of sin as silence and flattery are the promoters of it Sixthly Nay it countermines Satan and turns him out of the room where our table stands Seventhly Holy discourses are the freedom of imprisoned piety and the Midwife of that holiness which lies in the womb of the heart the turning up of that truly golden Ore they are the Saints Shibboleth which distinguishes him from the foolish world which travels with froth and vanity In a word holy discourse is the ease of Conscience the sacrifice of Religion the Saints refreshment the sinners chain and astonishment heavens eccho the delight of Christian Society It is a twofold Charity First To our selves it enfranchises our affections to Christ our heart is full of love to him and holy discourse gives vent to our full hearts it is the discharge of our duty Cant. 5. 10 11 and so frees us from the guilt of disobedience and Col. 4. 6. moreover it gives fire to our dedolent hearts Our hearts Luke 24. 31. must be awakened and raised sometimes by ordinances Mal. 3. 16. sometimes by prayer sometimes by holy discourses Sequi debet in unaâ—uaque familiâ mutua communicatio et mutua familiae institutio Rivet in Decal Secondly Which likewise are charity to others They may be their satisfaction an answer to their scruples a corrosive to their lusts a check to their sin thou knowest not but thy good discourse may be as an Angel in the way to stop some sinfull progress or a flame to anothers zeal and a salve to anothers sore Such discourse becomes our table on the Lords day and becomes the Sabbath as rich attire the Luke 14. 1 7. beautiful person the garment sets off the person and the person adorns the garment It is reported of the hearers of holy Mr. Heldersham that they would go home from Church discoursing of he powerful and precious truths which were delivered and so they did strew the way home with Roses and made their miles short by heart-sweetning discourse Christ when he was with his little family his twelve Apostles he would always be speaking of the things Deut. 6. 6 7. of heaven Mark 4. 10. Gracious words would flow from Job 32. 18 19 20. him as drops from the fountain or the morning dew from above It was a charge laid upon the Israelites to discourse Deut. 11. 19. of the statutes of God when they were in their Mat. 12. 34. houses sitting with their Children and Servants about them Deut. 6 6 7. The two Disciples going from Emaus Christus suo exemplo declaravit quomedo tempus inter matutinos et vespertinos caetus Sabbati insumendum est Ipse enim suos discipulos dissipatâ turbâ de rebus regni examinavit Chemn were talking of the sufferings and the affairs of Christ and then their dear Mediatour joyns in with them Luke 24. 15. Dr. Bound observeth That when we have heard the word upon a Sabbath we must discourse of it unless we will lose a great part of the fruit of it A talking of worldly affairs will chase away that truth we have been made
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
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
wonder then Intus est in corde est Sabbatum nostrum Aug. if St. Augustine cry out Our Sabbath is within in our hearts There indeed is the musical spring of joy Let us take heed of grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. No fountain casts out sweet and bitter water a grieved spirit will not dash joyes upon the soul the mournful Dove flies Offenditur spiritus verbis putidis etiam quo vis peccato Hier. away We must cherish the graces if we will possess the joyes of the spirit The birds sing most sweetly in the spring when every thing is fresh and green Gods spirit in the soul yields its freshest delights among flourishing graces when the Peccata sunt injuriae contumeliae spquae eum contristantur Alap seared boughs of corruption are broken down Sin and vanity break the strings of the spirits musick and chase away the Comforter from our coasts as birds hushed away leave the place of their present abode Let us not suspend our answer to the spirits excitations Let us listen to every motion and apply our selves to every counsel of this inward Monitor Slighted advocates plead no more we must hearken to every whisper of the Holy Ghost who first commands and then comforts To stir up to holy duties to good works to circumspect walking is the office of the spirit but to ravish the soul with divine delights is the reward of the spirit Observe holy David Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul He was now acting the duty of meditation and then the spirit besprinkled him with dews of joy A Deus per essentiem est totus consolatio immò Mare Oceanus consolationis quem in servos suos etiam in hac vitâ effundit learned man saith God is an Ocean of consolation Let not our sin and disobedience be such banks and ramparts that this Sea cannot overflow us with complacential effusions Obedience indeed and duty make way for the streams of spirituall comfort And to our case let us keep the Sabbath circumspectly and we shall keep it comfortably Let us follow the spirit in every duty obey the dictates of the spirit in every Ordinance When the spirit prompts us to prayer let us tune our hearts to that duty and not fold our hands in sloth and negligence when the spirit suggests to Prov. 6. 10. us the import of an Ordinance let us not be slight and careless in that holy institution and let us consider the motions Prov. 24. 33. of the spirit go before the melodies of the spirit And thirdly Let us study to be in the spirit on the Lords day This duty must Look downwards we must avoid whatsoever opposeth the spirit whatsoever may quench that celestial flame 1 Thes 5. 19 We must on the Sabbath lay aside all temporal cares Cares at all times are thorns Mat. 13. 22. But on a Sabbath they are thorns in a flame not only scratching but scorching Indeed the Lords day is not without its cares but they are heavenly not worldly cares care to please the spirit not to please the flesh care to lay up treasures in heaven not to fill our coffers below The soul then must be Divina benedictio Sabbati est quâ sibi deus studia occupationes asserit Calv. cared for how to prepare it for duty how to pacifie it with pardon how to beautifie it with grace how to fit it for eternity Head and heart must be at work on the Sabbath but it must be for the soul not for the outward man But to set our servants on work in our callings to be in our counting Mat. 16. 26. house to contrive business for the following week on Gods holy day this is not only to defile the Sabbath but to affront providence as if God who takes care for the Lillies of the field Mat. 6. 30. could not provide for the strict observers of his holy day We must throw away all worldly thoughts How many are there whose thoughts are as fresh and affections as vigorous towards the world upon the Sabbath day as if they were trading in their shops walking in the Exchange or Exod. 8. 24. posting their Books and pursuing their bargains I may say to such as the Lord to Satan Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke Plaga muscarum fuit foedo colluvies quae fuit numerosa et molestissima immò et nocentissima et ideo molestissima quia numerosissima Riv. thee what is this but to turn time into a chaos where there is no distinction between light and darkness between the Egypt of the week and the Goshen of the Sabbath This day is a day of light life and salvation and shall worldly thoughts that judgment of lice or flies stain and ecclipse it Worldly imaginations on this day they are the sacriledge of the mind the worm at the root of duty the souls destructive avocation the Shibboleth of a covetous man the bluster and gross miscarriage of a Christian they are the souls imprisonment when it should be enlarged in the way of Gods Ordinances We must take heed of unnecessary diversions The heart is wholly to be set on God on his own day One observes The Law is spiritual and so is the fourth Commandment and is not fully obeyed by outward conformity but it requires the Rom. 7. 14. inward truth and bent of the heart Happily we shut up Psal 51. 6. our shops on a Sabbath so the Law of the Land commands but do we shut up our hearts on a Sabbath that nothing unseemly may intrude Do we bring our hearts and Christ together and lock them both in that nothing may interrupt their sweet and mutual intercourse It is a vain thing to dissemble with God on his own day He can unriddle and will judge our splendid and varnished artifices Let us not play the hypocrites but walk in the spirit the whole stage of Rom. 8. 2. the Sabbath To keep our doors close is an empty ceremony unless we keep our hearts close to God and Christ in Ordinances in Family and secret duties Diverting imaginations are the cobwebs of the mind the sores which In dic Sabbati ab omnibus aliis curis et studiis omninò obstinendum est Gual fester the heart as Dalilah her smiles did Samson and so entangle the soul that it cannot enjoy its freedom with Christ on his own blessed day Such divertisements disturb the Musick of Ordinances and eat out the profit of holy Communion with God if we will be working on a Sabbath Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Augustine Phil. 2. 12 13. Aug. de temp Serm. 251. speaks most excellently in one of his Sermons That we may be fit and ready for Gods service on his own day there must be nothing to cumber us and we at that time must cast off the interposition of worldly
Satan into a day with God in attending on holy Ordinances This was the spirit of the primitive times they accounted all time gain and advantage which was spent in Divine Communion And indeed this is for Adams posterity to re-enter Paradise Gregory Nyssen in his second Oration which he Greg. Nyss Orat. 2dâ de 4to Martyr made concerning the Martyrs makes mention of some things he had instructed his people in the day before and in another Oration bids them call to mind those things he had delivered before in the week time this eminent light of the Church evidences in his own practice that it was the custome of the Church in those times to enrich the week with Nudius terti mi et hesterni diei sermones sequitur hodierna lectio c many seasons and opportunities of Gospel dispensation so far were those times from Subpenaeing flesh and blood to attest an incapacity for the services of a whole Sabbath Augustine in many places of his incomparable works mentions Aug. in Joan. his daily labours with his people for spiritual edification So Tom. 2 dus in Psal 68. Tract 16. Joan. Tractat. 18. in Joan. Tract 22. in Joan. Cyprian was likewise taken up in daily travels with his hearers to promote the increase of their faith and knowledge Nicephorus reports in his Ecclesiastical History that Alexander did daily exhilarate the Niceph. Hiâ—t lib 8. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Church with divine Institutions Indeed these orient times of the Church were made more celebrious by the painful labours of the Ministers and the diligent attention of the people every day for as Chysostome speaks in his tenth Homily upon Genesis Holy discourses are calculated for every day No day is incongruous for heavenly Communion And the learned Father well comports with the sence and language of the holy Apostle Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vita civilis is in heaven from whence also we look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ But on the Lords day in the primitive times holy duties Licet nâ—â— ingâ—â—ereâ— spirituali doctrinae non praejudicat Chrysost were multiplied nay the Minister must not give over preaching though the night comes on if Chrysostome may give in his verdict Basil in one of his Homilies tells us That his own course was to begin his Sermans early on the morning of a Sabbath and towards the evening to preach a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil second time The morning Sermon he called the morning food and his evening Sermon he stiled his evening joy which he used to bring to his Auditours Thus this worthy person made it his triumph to spread morning and evening Hic igitur et nâ—s Orationem hanc nostram ad rotum quietemvs deducendá esse censemus Basil daintiâ—s before the people who came to feed upon them Nay thus he speaketh in one of his Homilies Behold the evening commands me silence the Sun being now set yet I judge it fit to lengthen out my discourse to the time of bed and rest So unwearied were the Ministers and people in those gloriâ—us times in holy duties and administrations Augustine In diebus do minieis ab omnibus aliis feriantes soli cultui divino simus intenti in his second Sermon upon the 88 h Psalm mentions his reduplicate labours upon Gods holy day The rest of the Lords day saith a learned man must be wholly taken up in divine worship Then the level of the soul must be wholly heaven-ward all diversions to earth or ease are deviations To mind any thing but the soul on the Sabbath is not impertinency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Non miremint fratres charissimi si hodie ter sermonem deo adjuvante Pâ—rfeceâ—o but impiety Chrysostome hath an excellent speech The Sabbath saith he is not given us for ease but for rest and that rest must be spent in things spiritual To which is accommodated a speech of another of the Ancients in an Epistle of his to his brethren in the wilderness Do not wonder saith he if in Gods strength I have preached thrice this day Now to object flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath this is a contradiction to the servent spirit of the primitive Church this is a spirit fit for the dregs of time Some of the more serious Jews thought the Sabbath but seant measure and too short a time for soul enlargements Among the Jews some began their Sabbath soâ—ner then others as those who dwele at Tyberias because they dwelling in a Valley the Sun did not appear so soon to them as it did to others Some again continued their Sabbath longer This was done by those who dwelt at Tsephore a City placed upon the top of a Mountane so that the Sun did shine longer Buxtorf Comment Masor cap. 4. ex Masar to them then to others Hence R. Jose wished That his portion might be with those who began the Sabbath with those of Tyberias and ended it with those of Tsephore This good man would take the first dawning of a Sabbath and wait the Psal 42. 1 2. last appearance that his soul might enjoy a larger space for Psal 84. 10. communion with God A gracious soul thinks the longest visits Phil. 1. 23. Cant. 7. 5. are the sweetest and duration crowns their fruition Surely war is sweet and Sabbaths long to unexperienced persons Dulce bellum inexpertis But further to discover the nakedness of this objection and more fully to answer the case we must take notice there are great varieties of duties and ordinances to sweeten a Sabbath and to render it free from all nausea and tediousness Several Instruments make the Consort and raise the musick Prov. 30 15. to a greater delight and pleasantness On a Sabbath we do 1 Sam. 3. 10. not only say Give give in holy prayer nor do we only cry with Samuel speak Lord for thy servants hear in hearing of the word But the duties of a Sabbath are like the gifts of the spirit full of diversity 1 Cor. 12. 4. There are Sacraments Eucharistia est convivium dominicum in die dominiâ—o ab ecclesiâ administrari solita fuit Tertul. to give us a prospect of Christ Holy meditation to sublimate our souls heaven-ward reading of the Scriptures for spiritual instruction Singing of Psalms in imitation of the Hallelujahs of heaven spiritual discourses for mutual consolation Harmony is the Sabbaths melody and our tiredness in one duty is removed by the sweetness of another The Sun with speed and fleetness runs through the twelve signs of the Zodiack nor is it alwâ—yes lodged in one house Variety of things which are excellent is not a little ground Omni modo Orationibus insistendum est ut si quid negligentiae per sex dies acciderit per diem resurrectionis dominicae precibus
burnt offering and indeed what information could they receive from the slaying of a sacrifice Let not them O Christians who groped in the dark keep better Sabbaths then we who live in the Sun-shine Our means being greater our light brighter our Gospel beams stronger let our services on Gods blessed day be more sublime and accurate And it is observable our light sprung upon our Sabbath to bear stronger Maâ— 16. 2. Mat. 28. 1. witness against all deeds of darkness on that day O let us then pity the Jews incapacities and testifie to all the Natitions we live under the Gospel of Christ because we are so strict upon his own day As we are endowed with more knowledge so we are embraced with more love then the Jews were The love of God to mankind was never so fully revealed as in these latter times Heb. 3. 2. John 3. 16. And hereupon undoubtedly it is that our Saviour Prophetâ— docuerunt ut Prophetae i. e. ut homines futura de Christo et ecclesiâ dei praenunciantes et praevidentes obsâ—ura Jam verò in lege novâ Christus filius dei qui clarè vidit et penetravit omnem Patris sapientiam non docet sicut membra corpori et sic Prophetae Christo cedant professeth That from the time of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent taketh it by force Mat. 11. 12. To such an height of devotion hath the love of God manifested in his Son inflamed his true Servants Indeed love is the genuine incentive to obedience now we have warmer love as well as clearer light then the Jews which doth strongly engage us to stricter Sabbaths then they were accustomed too They had Christ in a type we had him in truth they had him in a shadow we have him in substance they saw him afar off in a promise but we saw him bleeding on a Cross dying for our sins and rising again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. Rom. 8. 34. They saw Christ through the lattice and we with the window open they beheld him behind the cloud but we when the cloud was broken away And what is the inference Let this endearing love inspire us with gâ—eater zeal upon the Lords day that we may travel further in Heavens way on Apparuit dei potentia in creatioâ—â— dâ—i sapientia in reâ—um gâ—bernatione sed benignitas misericoâ—diae apparet in Christi humanitate Bern. that blessed season The love of a Father caused him to send down his Christ the love of a Christ caused him to lay down his life the love of the spirit causes him to bring home his work to a believing soul and this love of the Trinity should constrain every Christian to the holy observation of the Lords day When we understand how strictly sometimes the Jewish Church kept the Sabbath let the fire of love set us all in a flame and let the blushes of shame recruit our resolution concluding we have tasted deeper of the sweets of John 3. 16. John 10 17. Christs unspeakable love And if thou lovest Christ keep his Commandments John 14. 15. And among the rest the fâ—urth The Jews were tolerated in some things offensive which will not be permitted to us as in case of Polygamy so Jacob Gen. 29. 28. 1 Sam. 30. 5. â— Kings 11. 3. David Solomon holy and excellent men had their variety of wives and yet we read not of the thunder of a Ne quis adulteretur aut fornicetur Deus in remedium concupiscentiae instituit honorabile matrimonium illud cuivis amplecti licet Si eo relicto adulteretur quis aut fornicetur inexâ—usabilis sit ideòque à deo judicandus et damnandus Alap in Hebr. threat or the thunder-boult of a judgment falling upon them for that fact and practice There was something of a connivence God seemed as the Apostle speaks in the times of ignorance to wink at that unâ—â—stifiable procedure Acts 17. 30. But now in Gospel-times this plurality of wives incurs the penalty of the law of the land much more of the law of God and is a sin most scandalous and abominable well becoming the brutishness of a Turk or the barbarism of a Gentile Well then to come nearer to our purpose spots are sooner discerned in the garment of a Christian we have no shelter of connivence to fly unto if we break the law of marriage the Apostle tells us plainly Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13. 4. And so in the law of the Sabbath we have no toleration to plead or connivence as a skirt to be thrown over the breaches of it If we Christians break the Sabbath we are arrested by divine wrath without any bail or mainprize nor can we expect any suspension of divine displeasure Indeed God will something bear with offences in the duskish time of the law but he will Mat. 10. 15. scourge those very sins with scorpions in the times of the glorious Gospel Our tie therefore is not only stronger but our Mark 6. 11. interest and reason is clearer to engage us to Sabbath-holiness It will be more tolerable for the people of Israel and Luk. 10. 12 14. the inhabitants of Judah in the day of judgment then for Christians who shall presume upon Sabbath-violation The Gospel is a constant alarm to holiness There is no profession of the Gospel without an abjuâ—ation of all sin and uncleanness 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Gospel adds weight to every sin sin under the Gospel is like Adams transgression which was acted in Paradise a place of pleasure and abundance of purity and undefiledness it is like the sin of the buyers and sellers in the Temple their sin was inhaunced by Rom. 13. 12. the place Gospel light and love adds Vinegar to the Gall John 3. 19. of every offence Greater then must be our breaches of Gods holy day our prophanation of it must be of a scarlet dye and Heb. 12. 14. of a crimson tincture the poor Jews had never the argument of a Gospel to urge Sabbath-obedience or to inhance Sabbath-guilt they were in the Night Rom. 13. 12. The Noxâ—â—â— teâ—pus ante Christâ—m plenum terebrâ— infidelitatis peccatorum sed dies est rempus evangelti quo sol justitiae lucis suae radios toto orbe diffundit Praesente jam Christo et luce evangelii in hoc die opera tenebrarum abjicere et honestè ambulare et Christianè vivere debemus Cypr. 2 Cor. 4. 4. Mal. 5. 15. Cant. 1. 7. day-spring from on high never visited them but our day shines bright upon us which clears up our way to sanctity and holiness Let not Christians then under a pure purifying Gospel under a Gospel â—hich will both discover and condemn every evil way under a Gospel which was indited by a holy Spirit which leads to a holy life which suits with a holy heart let not such brutifie
be taken up in the worship of God And thus at this time both Church and State united to suppress sensual Recreations on Gods holy day and indeed Dies festas Majestatialtissimae dedicatos nullis voluptatibus volumus occupari C. Lib. 12. Tit. 12. how irrational is this that mans sense must be flattered in that juncture of time when his soul is to be feasted how comes it that a Sabbath is so tedious that there is a need of pastime to wear it away and so the burthen may be lightned It is charged upon the carnal and covetous Israelites that they wisht the Sabbath over but this is censured as such a sin as God threatens with the worst of judgements a famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. ad Graec. Infid Serm. 9. Amos 8. 5. compared with v. 8. 11. Ludi nostri esse debent sacrae cantiones verbi divini lectiones aegretori visitationes afflictorum consolationes pauperum sustentationes Zanch. in Col. of the Word nay such a sin as will shake a Land and make it tremble Learned Zanchy hath an excellent Speech Our Playes on a Sabbath should be Holy Singings Scripture readings visitation of the Sick comforting of the Afflicted and supporting of the Poor These are the delights of a savoury spirit and a gracious soul I am sure that of the Apostle is seasonable on a Sabbath If any man will make merry let him sing Psalms James 5. 13. This is a comfortable James 5. 13. Ordinance and a spiritual Recreation Christ is an inclosed Garden Cant. 4. 12. And can we complain of the Cant. 4. 12. want of delight who have such a Garden to walk in Sensual pastimes for the most part they are useless impertinencies the Parenthesis of mans life but on the Lords day these are unjustifiable vanities and let Reason bring in its suffrage to condemn these unseasonable Sports and Recreations Recreations on a Sabbath they are impediments to duty The Bishop of Ely our adversary in this point grants that Sports and Recreations are prohibited on the Lords day so Bishop of Ely p. 217. far forth as they are impediments to Religious and Evangelical duties Now how they should be otherwise is not easily discernible for do not Recreations possess the mind divert the intention withdraw from spiritual duties hinder the service of Christ and fill the heart with froth and vanity And are not sports usually the very leekage of Corruption When we bowle what do we think on but the byass and the game When we shoote what are we intent upon but our aime and the mark I instance in these two because they are especially urged as lawfull on the Sabbath Let us saith Greenham Cease from Games Sports Exercises and such like things of less necessity but great impediments to the Greenh p. 825. Sabbath Is it to be supposed that we frame our Spirits or compose our hearts for divine conveâ—se on a bowling green What is this but to fancy we should meet with the gracious visitations of God at a Stage-play An adversary in C. D. p. 52. this point hath these words Such is the reverence that is due to the publick duties of Devotion that they require not onely a surcease from other works and thoughts for the time of the performance but also a decent preparation beforehand that so our thoughts and affections which are naturally bent upon the world and not easily withdrawn from it may be raised to a disposition befitting so sacred an imployment This is most piously and worthily concluded Let me reassume what is here granted And must not our thoughts be as much taken up in digesting of the word as in preparing for it in meditating on Ordinances when over as in disposing our selves for them when to come Meat is not healthfull as Psal 1. 2. onely put into the mouth but as chewed swallowed and Non tantum lectio sed et meditatio digested The sacred Ordinances of Christ must be followed with critical inquiries divine and serious meditations servent prayers or they will fall short of the intended work and design of them The seed when thrown into the ground Acts 17. 11. must be covered with snow warmed with sunshines watered Aug. de temp Serm. 251. with showers or it will yield no expected crop and harvest And if it be so I see not where Recreations can find any place which are nothing else but incumberances as St. Augustine speaks Recreations on the Sabbath they are the snares of the flesh they are onely pleasing temptations with a fair colour like the Apple which drew our first Parents to a breach of Gods Gen. 3. 6. will it was pleasant to behold The Jews first Feasted on Sanè Sabbathum festus dies cùm fuerit cò hilaria agere judaeis consuetum suit quae eò demum abierunt ut illa ad insanas saltationes et plausus abuterentur Leid Prof. the Sabbath then danced frantickly and grew excessively prophane as the Professors of Leiden observe These pleasing sports how often do they draw the tongue to sinfull slipperiness inflame the eye with lust and wantonness and put the heart into a carnal frame nay too frequently seduce to excess and intemperance And as Augustine in the forementioned place saith They press down the Soul from being lift up to a Heavenly Life Our corrupt heart need not the insinuation of sports and pastimes to broach it that it may run with levity and prophaneness Gods holy Sabbath needs not such engines of corruption Aug. Serm. de tempore Recreations on Gods blessed Sabbath They are the very canker of Ordinances they eat out the very heart and force of them Sports will easily and naturally rub off convictions take off the gust and sweetness we have tasted in the Word and wear off the impressions of Prayer and of other solemn duties all which with the sound of the Gospel we have partaked of evaporates and is lost When we have conversed with God in Ordinances how many things lye at the catch to invalidate their power Satan is ready to steal Mat. 13. 19. away the Word our hearts to damp and quench the efficacy Sicut in seminando ager praeparandus est nisi operam et laborem cum semente perdere velimus cor ad audiendum verbun dei praeparandum est et deus diligenter orandus tum ex parte conciona toris tum ex parte auditoris Lyser of it the world to charm away the sweet musick of it and there is need of meditation prayer and holy and sanctified means to keep alive the fire of the Word in the soul and therefore unseasonably we flush our selves with Recreations and Pastimes to bury all in distast or forgetfulness The use of sports will inevitably make our Righteousness like the morning dew which the heat of play and delights will suddenly dry up Nay if the Cares of the world as our Saviour
satisfaction not our burden but our blessing the sinner must not Psal 27. 4. Mat. 18. 20. take that pleasure in the dalliances of the world as we should do in the duties of a Sabbath This is the day of divine loves and spiritual complacencies between Christ and Cant. 2. 3. Delitias tum tuas tum Domini Alap the soul when Christ and the Soul meet together in the Garden of the Ordinances where they begin that communication which shall last to Eternity then the believer sits under the shadow of Christ with great delight As God makes the Sabbath his rest so he would have it to be ours The Sabbath must not be our toyle but our triumph the Sanctuary must be our banqueting house Duty our delight Psal 42. 3. 4. It must be the joy of our souls to associate with Christ to pour out our requests in prayer to entertain the discourses of divine will and to enjoy spiritual love which is better then wine The Sabbath in the primitive times was called Cant. 1. 2. Nos in primâ die perfecti Sabbathi festivitate laetamur Hilar. in Prol. in Psalm the feast of the Sabbath and feasts are not usually times of tediousness but pleasantness such times pass away with gratefull delight and surely it must needs soyle the character of a Christian to let those wheels drive heavily which are in the Chariots of Aminadah Doth it not very much unbecome us to be weary of that day which God hath appointed Cant. 6. 12. for fellowship with himself and for the transacting of the great affairs of Eternity There is a Command for Reverence So the Text the holy of the Lord. Si colueris Sabbathum quasi diem sanctum gloriae glorificationi Domini consecratum If Psal 2. 12. thou observe the Sabbath as a holy day consecrated and set apart to the glory and glorifying of God as he well glosses upon it There are two holy passions adorne a Sabbath Joy and Fear the one for the benefits of God the Psal 2. 11. Discamus die Dominico non quaerere gloriam nostram pompose incedendo et splendidé nos vestiendâ— sed Dei gloriam quaeramus hoc nobis erit gloriosum quod gloria dei per ros alios celebretur Isa 66. 2. other for the presence of God the one for his goodness and the other for his greatness Upon a Sabbath we must as the Psalmist speaks rejoyce with trembling It was the saying of a Learned man Vpon the day of a Sabbath let us not promote our own Glory by stately walking rich attire and pompous appearances but let us exalt Gods Glory by holy duties and this will be more glorious and honourable to us Upon the Sabbath let us tremble at Gods Word as the Lord speaks by the Prophet Isa 66 2. Let us lye at Gods feet let us be awfull of Gods presence let us exalt Gods Name and this is to sanctifie a Sabbath Humble hearts and not fine cloaths the bowing of the soul not the plaiting of the hair or the ordering of the Dress speaks the Sabbath Glorious The Lord calls for high estimations of the Sabbath So the Text Honourable The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machhid in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original signifies that which is Glorious and that which is Ponderous Every Sabbath is a price put into our hands Luke 19. 42. a good wind for Heaven the souls term time that aâ—tionius Psal 118. 24. temporis that juncture of time which the soul hath to claâ— up for Eternity On this day more especially the Scepter of Grace is held out to lay hold upon One observes our Esth 5. 2. Sabbath is called the Lords day not onely because it is the Commemoration of our Lords Resurrection but because of the benefits we receive from the Lord that day and the duties we perform to the Lord that day and therefore if we will practice the Text we must prize the Sabbath we must call it honourable and indeed it is so in a manifold respect If we look upward This is the day in which more especially we sing the praises of the Lord we recount his hohour wherein our hearts bubble forth in holy thanksgivings and therefore the Psalm whose inscription calls it a Psalm for the Sabbath is wholly Laudatory It is a song Psal 92. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Sabbath day so is the very title And indeed what is the Lords day but primitiae Coeli the dawning of Glory the beginnings of Heaven the tuning of the musick which shall last for ever to every true believer On the Lords day the Saint makes it his grand affaire to advance the Lords Honour If we look downward the Sabbath still is honourable Then the Lord crowns us with his graces honours us with his presence meets us in his ordinances puts all marks and characters Mat. 18. 20. of honour on his people then the King sits at his Cant. 1. 12. Table and sends forth his Spicknard with the sweet smell of it The Holy Sabbath is the blessed time when the Lord Sponsa contactu sponst sui planè divinam suavitatem acquisivit Del. Rio. 1 John 1. 3. Mat. 18. 20. bows the Heavens and comes down and vouchsafes his people fellowship with himself sweet and salvifical communion in a word then the Father drops his grace then the Son promises his presence then the Spirit pursues his work in the assemblies of his Saints If we look outward if we cast our eyes upon other days the other six days of worldly toyle and labour The very gleanings of a Sabbath are better then the Vintage of the Judges 8. 2. week In other dayes we onely reap the curse of the first Adam to eat our bread in the sweat of our brows on the Gen. 3. 19. holy Sabbath we reap the blessing of the second Adam we gather the fruits of his glorious purchase we enjoy the ordinances of his grace lye under the impressions of his spirit and inherit the sweets of his presence and therefore compare the Sabbath with other dayes and what is the dross of a week to the gold of a Sabbath This day is nothing but the souls weekly Jubilee If we look forward towards eternity the Sabbath in this regard is honourable it is the special day for the soul to dress and trim it self in to meet its Bridegroom this is our peculiar Fuit illud Sabbathum Gen. 2. 3. Typus aeterni illius Sabbathi in â—aeâ—is in quo electi animâ et corpore à peccatis calomitatibus et miseriis hujus vitae requiescent Deus in illis et ipsi in Deo Gen. 66. 23. Vltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbathi observatio Orig. Prov. 34. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 7. In Sabbatho totus Deo deique voluntati cognoscendae annuntiandae et edimplendae vaces Alap time to prepare for eternity The
Lords day is the day of Commemoration for Christs Resurrection and the day of Preparation for ours The Sabbaths are as the rounds of a Ladder by which we climb up to our Fathers house our present Sabbaths work being sanctified becomes the way to our future Sabbaths rest On this holy day the soul more especially waits at wisdomes gates and brings its corruptions to the slaughtering power of the Word inricheth it self with Gospel-treasures feeds its graces upon Gospel provisions and every way accommodates its self for the imbraces of eternity There is another command in the Text viz. of fruitfulness so the Text and shalt honour him Now there is nothing more honours God then our holy fruitfulness this gratisies his Will this magnifies his Grace this adorns his Gospel this glorifies his Name Our Saviour saith expresly John 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit We exceedingly honour God when on a Sabbath day we Sint submissi tractabiles et sequaces mores Cyr. weep much in the Closet pray much in the Familie hear much in the Sanctuary when we tremble at Gods Word rejoyce in Gods Ordinances melt in Gods presence when Sabbaths soften us ripen us raise us and bring us to a nearer conformity to Christ when this sun-shining day of a Sabbath melloweth us and maketh us look fairer and more beautiful Thus we spread our branches and Gods Name together CHAP. VIII The Promises in the Text made over to Sabbath-Holiness explicated and unfolded ANd thus far we have assayed to unfold the duty enjoyned in the Text which is the holy and strict observation of the Sabbath and the Sabbath may be sanctified by forbearing what is criminal and by pursuing what is commendable and what is both displeasing or satisfactory we have amply laid down in the Text and hitherto hath been discussed Now we come to the glorious reward of a due sanctification of the Sabbath which is folded up in a Tria hic praemia Sabbathum deumque colentibus promittit Deus Alap Com. in Isaiam three-fold promise mentioned in the Text for one promise is not thought sufficient by divine bounty to be a spur to this holy observation It must not be a single Diamond but a Casket of Jewels Here is a constellation of happiness promised a Tree of Life with many branches as if God would tell us in the Text how pleasing how grateful what a Prov. 11. 18. sweet sinelling sacrifice the conscientious keeping of the Sabbath was to him such a Saint the Promises troope after him they cluster together to refresh him God gives the Bond and the Counterpane too But more particularly these promises they are not onely rare but comprehensive they are both temporal and spirituall Gods bonds for left hand and right hand mercies And first God promises Vbertatem Voluptatis abundance Prom. 1. Si in Sabbathâ— te abstraxeris â—â— deliâ—iiâ— carnis deus dabit tibi suas delicias longe majores scil pro carneis dabit spiritusles pro teciporalibâ—â— aeternas pro humanis divinas Psal 104. 34. Cant. 4. 9. of Pleasure so the Text then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. As if God should say if my Sabbath be thy delight then my presence shall be thy delight if thou take pleasure in my day thou shall sind pleasure in my self the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnanag delight which is used in the former verse for our delight in the Sabbath is here used for our delight in the Lord. Our duty shall not exceed his bounty if we on a Sabbath delight in him we on a Sabbath shall receive delights from him God will meet the gracious soul its breathings after God shall be compensated with his blessings in God thou shalt never lose by satiating thy self in God thy understanding shall be delighted with meditation thy desires with satisfaction thy heart with exhileration he that is an Ocean of delight in himself shall be thy delight If thou takest pleasure in Gods holy day thy heart shall be more sweetned in the thoughts of God of his Faithfulness of his Fulness Incomprehensibleness Goodness Tenderness then in all sliding and secular delights for our delights in God are Most Pure they are Christalline pleasures without spot or faeculency they are incapable of excess The soul may rejoyce Psal 94. 19. in God and fear no surfet There is no tang of sin or mistake cleaves to them as holy David In the multitude of my thoughts Passim Haeresiarehae et Haeretici fuerunt voluptuarii eaque de causâ plurimos habuerunt assectus sicut et Epicurus plures discipulos habuit quà m alit Philosophi Epiphâ—n within me thy comforts delight my soul Now as for the pleasures of this life their object is sordid what is a Field or a Bag or a Hawk or a Hound The excess is easie we mostly over-do in outward delights their satisfaction is sensual only the smiles and laughter of dust their time is short the frolicks of this life are onely for this life as long as a vapour lasts and their end for the most part is heaviness a smiling countenance a wanton palate a catching eye and a prancing phancy for the most part ending in a heavy heart But our pleasures in God are holy and undefiled their rising is their rarity and their exceeding is their excellency Our delights in God are most abundant they exceed the pleasures of this life as far as the receptive faculty of the Anima nostra delectatione carere nequit unam si non habet quaerit si non divinam tum humanam soul exceeds that of the body A whole world cannot fill the soul it is too vast in its desires and entertainments but a little prospect can fill the theatre of the eye a little wine the wanton vagaries of the palate a little game the galloping fancies of the hunter Our pleasures in God are a soul full of delight Thy Comforts delight my soul saith David they are over-flowing waves of love rising and ravishing Psal 94. 19. waters which cover the sea of mans heart Most satiating Our pleasures in the Creature cloy us Our pleasures in God comforts us outward delights surfet not Ecles 1. 2. Voluptas est duplex vel Terrestris vel Coelestis Coelestes voluptates sariant nonsaturâ—ne ideò diuturniores terrestres sâ—turant non satiant ideò breviores quòd etiam jam dileximus pieni quidem prâ—rsus nauseamus Baron satiate they have something of the flesh and that will not alwayes go down Solomon the great Chymist of pleasures at last after a thorough gust of them extracted nothing but wind from them or the waters of Marah either vanity or vexation of spirit But the pleasures we have in God relate not to the body which is a tiresome piece of flesh but to the soul which is full of life and activity and delighting in God which is its center
holy day Indeed the Sabbath is not to be rushed upon Man must not break in upon a Sabbath as the horse rusheth into the battel as Jeremiah speaks without premeditation and previous consideration Jer. 8. 6. Ignatius calls the Sabbath the Queen of dayes and Queens have their trains going before them there must be Ignat ad Magnes a train of duties precedeing the holy Sabbath On the Saturday Quomodo Maria Virgo inter omnes mulieres principatum tenet ita inter caeteros dies haec soleâ—nis dies Hier. let us prepare for the Lords day We know tuned Instruments play the sweetest before they are tuned they jar and make a harth sound Our hearts are these Instruments which must beforehand be tuned by several duties or or they will jar and be discomposed upon the Sabbath Physick is prepared before it is taken and our hearts must be prepared before we take and enjoy the Ordinances of a Sabbath There is a preparing dress before we go to any feast and must not the soul be drest before the festival of the Sabbath that great banqueting of the inward man There is a dawning light before the rising Sun some glimering duties must be the harbingers of the approaching Sabbath Indeed matters should be so ordered every day so as to prepare for this day As our whole life should be a preparing for death so the whole week should be a preparing for the Sabbath But as this precious day doth more approach so preparatory work must more increase Holy Nehemiah shut the Gates of the Neh. 13. 19. City viz. Jerusalem when it began to be dark the In veteri testamento ut impedimenta omnia celebrationis hujus diei iâ— tempore auferrentur Fideles pridiè Sabbati divino mandato omâ—ia sua quantum poterant ad eum firem componebant Wal. evening before the Sabbath least the night time should be prophaned by bearing burdens in it and he did this least the men of Tyre should occasion the Jews to break the Sabbath day by bringing in wares upon that night This holy mans care would not suffer any to cast dirt upon the portal or entrance of the Sabbath he very well knew there must be some time spent in trimming the soul to meet its Bridegroom on his own holy day A due preparation for this blessed Sabbath lies more especially under a five-fold injunction Of necessity It is necessary we should take some time to compose our spirits for the duties of the following Sabbath Our thoughts in the week how are they loose and carelesly dishevelled some time there must be to bind them up together and put them into order The Lord in the fourth Exod. 20. 8. Commandment enjoynes us to remember the Sabbath and to Id ipsum quâ—que in hoc praecepto certo râ—spectu mâ—rale est scil uâ— diebus antecedentibus omnia nostra quantum fieri potest ita iâ—stituamus ut per eorum negligen tiam à sanctificatione hujus diei non impediamur remember the Sabbath it is before hand to mind and manage matters that concern the Sabbath-sanctification that when it comes it may be holily kept for every duty on the Lords day there must be a due preparation for Prayer for Hearing for Sacraments c. Now if we must prepare for single duties when they lye more asunder sure we must prepare for the Sabbath when such duties are linked together And this is more considerable if we take notice we are not only to be in the duty but in the spirit in the prompt powerfull and precise transaction of every service on the Lords day And besides all this doth not the Lord upon this day come in comfortable visits to the souls of his people and must not they prepare for his presence It was the opinion of some Rev. 1. 10. that Christs personal coming to Judgement will be on the Sabbath day This is most sure that Christs spiritual coming Lactant. Lib. 7. Cap. 1. August de Temp. Serm. 154. in mercy is for the most part on the day of the Sabbath and shall there then be no preparation When a great man is to come to our houses how are all our Rooms dressed up When a great God is to come to our hearts shall not we prepare Neh. 13. 22. and dress our hearts for his entertainment Of Equity The Ministers they prepare for the Sabbath-good of Gods people and shall not the people of the Lord prepare for their own Faithfull Ministers before the Sabbath do not onely prepare matter to speak but they prepare their hearts to speak the matter Bernard in a Sermon thus breaks out to his people To prepare you meat my heart all Bern. in Fest omn. Sanct. Serm. 1. this night hath been seething within me and in my meditations I have been inflamed as with fire And is it not equal and most rational that Christians should meet their Ministers in holy preparation and plow up their fallow ground to receive Jer. 4. 3. that immortal seed which Gods holy Seeds-men are ready to cast into it Calvin complains of some Christians in his 1 Pet. 1. 23. time who no otherwise regarded the Sabbath then thereon to Calv in Deut. 8. Serm. 34. attend their worldly affairs the which they reserved to themselves that day as if they had no other day to deliberate for the whole week to come Now shall men on the Sabbath prepare for the week and shall not we in the week prepare for the Sabbath Is Mammon more to be minded then God Of advantage 1. The duties of the Sabbath will the better and freer come off If we be sedulous in holy preparation we shall then with more dexterity agility and facility transact the several parts of Gods service One cause why we are often unactive in duty and drive heavily is because we did not before-hand oyle our wheels inure our selves we did not the day before labour with God by Prayer and with our own hearts by care and industry Oftentimes a Christian is straightned stiff and bound up in the services of a Sabbath and knows not how to go on in holy duties and all this arises from neglect of holy preparation The heart hath not been dealt withall to supple it for more voluntary and chearfull performances Preparatory work would wind up the clock of the soul that it would go and strike it would pray hear contemplate and act any Sabbath service with far greater pleasantness and consonancy 2. If we prepare the mercies of the Sabbath will the larger and fuller come in according to our preparations will be our Gen. 44. 1. participations According to the number and measure of sacks the sons of Jacob prepared and carried with them out Ex lege mandato dei 23 Luc. 54. in omnibus Christianis conventibus requiritur ne debito suo fructu haec pietatis publicae exercitia priventur ut
the dawning of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy word Morning gâ—aces like morning stars shine brightest David used to cast anchor upon divine truth in the morning he did not onely meditate on it but act his hope and confidence in it and this was Davids work in the earliest part of the day and this is a rare Copy for us How should we prevent the dawning of a Sabbath in our flights to God in our longings after Christ in beginning our Sabbath-work Judg. 21 4. Love to God and his Ordinances should tear the curtains open disdain the softness of the pillow and betimes 1 Joh. 1. 3. break open our closet doors to enjoy fellowship with Pers râ—m Rex unum habebat cubi uâ—arem qui idoffi ii habebu ut manè ingressus regi diceret Surge ô Rex etque ea cura quae te curare voluit Mosoromisdes Plutarch the Father and his Son Jesus Christ But to conclude this particular Plutarch reports That the Persian King had one of the Servants of his Chamber every morning to come to him and to cry to him Rise O King and follow those cares which thy good genius will have thee to pursue Let us onely invert the phrase and instead of thy good genius say Gods good spirit and it will be applicable to our selves Let us especially early on Gods day resolve we will follow the traces in which the holy spirit shall lead us Let us seriously preponderate the weight and multiplicity of a Sabbath-days work The Traveller who is to ride many miles gets up early in the morning and so sets upon Judg 19. 8. his Journey The soul hath a great way to travel upon the Lords day its task is great and therefore its time must not run wast There are many duties to perform First Secret duties On the Sabbath there are some duties which must onely be acted between God and the devout soul A gracious heart will have private intercourse with God Jesus Christ went into a Mountane apart to pray Mat. 14. 23. and he was there alone The Saint some times turns the Closet into a Sanctuary and never more fitly then on a Lords day Our dear Lord bids us go some times into our Chambers Mat. 6. 6. and shut the doors upon us The Saints are Gods hidden ones in point of worship they serve God in their recluses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem vis locum occulium notat Par. and private retirements and this is an evidence of their uprightness The Spouse sometimes meets her beloved and none shall be spectators of their holy fellowship Nunquam minus solus quà m cum solus and upon Gods holy day let the gracious soul set upon these several duties First The reading of Gods word The Eunuch was reading the Prophet Isaiah in his Charriot not onely because he would lose no time but because he would be more serious Acts 8. 28. in this secret duty David compares the Word to an honey comb Psal 19. 10. and honey combs are usually in the private gardens The same Psalmist saith The Law was Psal 1. 2. his Meditation in the night and then surely he had few witnesses to view his devotion The closet door may keep out not onely other people but other thoughts and then we are fittest to converse with Gods Word when we are most intent Secondly Another secret duty for the Lords day Is holy Prayer to God and praising of God Indeed prayer is a duty 1 Thes 5. 17. accommodated for all places for all times and all cases but closet prayer on the morning of a Sabbath is like a morning star which portends a fair day We read of our Saviour Mark 1. 35. that in the morning rising up a great while Mark 1. 35. before day he went out and departed into a solitary place Acts 10. 9. and there prayed let us go and do so likewise And holy Peter in this confessed that the Disciple was not greater then his Master for he pursued the same practice Acts 10. 9. Peter went up upon the house to pray about the sixth hour And as we must pray to God so we must sing the praises of God in secret sometimes our closets must not only be our Oratories to poure out our prayers in but our Mount Olivets to sing Hymns of praise to the Divine Majesty Mat. 26. 30. We must begin the works of Heaven in secret which we shall be doing to eternity in blessed Society Thus David praised God seven times a day and certainly he had not every time witnesses of his Divine Exaltation Psal 119. 164. Thirdly A third secret duty is Holy Meditation When the mind that Spiritual Bee is working and seeking honey out of every flower and this piece of service is calculated Gen. 24. â—â— onely for privacy Company untravelling whatsoever meditation works but of this more largely hereafter Fourthly The last duty to be acted in secret upon the holy Sabbath is Self-Examination when Conscience is both Judge Witness and Tribunal And in the acting of this duty there needs no Sessions-house but a mans own breast David saith when we commune with our hearts we must Psal 4. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 28. be still There wants no noise from the world nor from the company of others These two last duties viz. Meditation and Self-Examination are most proper for the most secret and retired places fitter for the Closet then the Church the secret Chamber then the open Sanctuary they are as one saith actions of the mind and so concern a Dr. Gouge mans own self in particular And these secret duties of piety should especially be performed in the morning of a Sabbath that the Lords day may begin with them and then we shall be in a good preparation for other duties The beginning with God thus in the morning may influence the whole Sabbath like the tuning of an Instrument which makes the whole Lesson's melody the sweeter and indeed pure Religion and undefiled which the Apostle speaks of Jam. 1. 27. never look's so comly as on a Sabbath day the day Jam. 1. 27. inhances the duty as the lovely dress doth outward beauty Thus we see there are secret duties to be acted on a Sabbath Secondly Private Duties On Gods holy day we must not lock up our selves and our services above in the Chamber but we must come down into the Family and there the morning stars must sing together to allude to that of Job Job 38. 7. Consort makes the musick The stars shine brightest in a constellation Jesus Christ would not be transfigured alone but he took some to be witnesses of his Glory when he would Mat. 17. 1 2. Luke 9. 18. Mat. 13. 36. pray his Disciples were with him and when he would open the blessed mysteries of the Gospel he takes his Disciples to him In our closets there is indeed a meeting of thoughts
Therefore in the morning let us set upon those sacred services which becomes Gods holy day Indeed by private duties before the publick our spirits are made more tuneable and by private duties after the publick Gods Ordinances are made more profitable The morning of a Sabbath is but the spring of a Sabbath which is the sweetest and most pleasant season for the soul to converse with God then the soul seems to be most green and freshest then duties seem to be most melodious and musical and then Grace more delightfully buds forth and is exerted with the greatest satisfaction and beauty Exod. 34. 4. In the morning Moses went into the Mount to meet with God In the morning the Apostles went into the Temple Acts 5. 21. to declare the Gospel In the morning early Joshuah Josh 6. 12. and the Priests take up the Ark of God which was the testimony of the divine presence Job rose up early in the morning Job 1. 5. and offered burnt offerings The poor multitude early Luke 21. 38. in the morning wait upon the Ministry of Jesus Christ they wait for the morning dews of the Gospel they are the sweetest they are the freshest they are more natural and most seasonable Christ preaches his morning Lecture to his flocking John 8. 2. and numerous Auditors In a word the performance Commendat nobis et domini et populi diligentiam hujus quam audiendi illius quam docendi sedulitate declaraverit sed iterum diluculo venit in templum Musc in Joh. 8. of holy duties in the morning of Gods holy day they work a three-fold good They prepare the heart The sluggish heart must be rouzed and awakened in private before it can see its beloved in the publick It must be breathed by some divine duties that it may be more fresh for the publick administrations Bells must be raised before they be rung to make the pleasing musick The flowers must be watered either by the shower 1 Sam. 7. 3. 1 Chro. â—9 18. Rev. 21. 2 or the watering pot before they lift up their pleasant heads and cast their wonted perfume The morning duties of a Sabbath they put the heart into a serious and heavenly Ante nuptias sponsa ornatur et paratur sponso suo Par. frame and make it fit company for Jesus Christ When I have prayed in my family I am tuned and wound up the more for that duty in the Assembly of the Saints They are the discharge of conscience A conscientious person cannot waste the morning of a Sabbath that is destinated to holy service Among the Jewes they had their morning Num. 28. 4 9 10. sacrifices on their Sabbaths There is no part of a Sabbath must lie fallow especially in the morning On the morning Mat. 28. 1 6. early Christ rose for our salvation and on the morning of this holy day we must rise for his service Christ calls himself the morning star Rev. 22. 16. And when is it fittest to Rev. 22. 16. Christus exoriens in cordibus nostris caliginem mentibus nostris pellit Sicut Lucifer claritate stellas alias antecedens et ante solem oriens instantis diei praenuncia tenebras nocturnas dispellit behold this star but on the morning of his holy day The Christus est stella matutina non modâ— praesentis vitae noctem radâ—s suis nunâ— disâ—â—tit sed etiam in matutina communis resurrectionis luce omnibus sanctis sese conspicuum exhibebit Andr. morning of a Sabbath is the time for our first salutes of Heaven for the dressing of our souls for the trimming of our Lamps for the imitation of our Saviour in his early rising for the seasoning of our Families The morning is as currant coyne as the rest of the day it is more congruous to Nature as congruous to Grace anâ— whosoever shall by his sinfull negligence let that part of the Sabbath fly away shall hardly overtake the blessing the subsequent day It is not without remark that Christ is called the morning star Rev. 22. 16. and the Rising Sun Mal. 4. 2 both to denote our early approaches to him They are the Ensurers of spiritual gain It is in spiritual Rev. 22. 16. Mal. 4. 2. as it is in secular affairs The most thriving Husbands get up early in the morning and do much business before the shop is open and so the thriving Christians get up early on the Sabbath and so spend the morning as that they have done much of their work before the Sanctuary door is open or they meet with the more publick Assemblies What views mightest thou have of God by Holy Meditation what smiles and answers of Love from Christ by ardent and servent Prayers what heart warmings by holy Discourse on the morning of a Sabbath Then the first winds and brizes of Joh. 3. 8. the spirit blow and we may weigh Anchor the more happily for the whole ensuing day Josephs Brethren so minded Gen. 44. 3 4. their Journey that they set forward as soon as the morning was light The Sabbath day is our travelling day towards Canaan and therefore we must dispatch much of our Journey in the morning we should do as it was prophesied of Benjamin devoure the prey in the morning that prey Gen. 49. 27. Hos 6. 3. which God hath provided for those who right early sanctifie his holy Sabbath and we should do this the rather for it may be with us as once it was with the people of Israel Nunb 9. 21. that the cloud was taken up in the morning Now the cloud was the sign of Gods presence and if the cloud be taken up how can we expect a shower of mercy David saith 2 Sam. 23. 4. that the Lord is as the light of the morning when the Sun riseth when then is it more sutable to meet these bright appearances but on the morning especially on his own day 1 Kings 18. 26 29. The very Priests of Baal called upon their Idols from morning until evening and afterwards prophesied untill the time of the evening sacrifice and shall not we call upon our God the living God from morning until noon and so to the evening sacrifice especially on that day which is a day of worship and sacrifice The wisâ—man observes it is a principle agreeable to Nature to â—â—w our seed in the morning Eccles 11. 6. Isa 17. 11. and what are our holy duties but this seed which will spring up in Heavenly rewards if piously sown and the fittest Cant. 6. â—0 time for them is the morning especially the first day of the week Our Sabbath which is the morning of the week Sicut auroram Christum inveniemus paratum Del rio Christ speaking of the Spouse Cant. 6. 10. asketh the question who is she that looketh forth as the morning not onely denoting the Spouses freshness and beauty but the time
he had not looked on Bathsheba with such a wanton Psal 1. 2. eye Holy meditation would have quenched the fire of that lust This heavenly duty hath this advantage in it it presses the thoughts for the service of Christ nor will permit them to wander in a sinfull liberty Meditation it puts life into Ordinances and makes them sweet and savoury to the soul Ordinances they are like The third advantage of meditation cloaths which have no warmth in themselves but as they are heated by the body which wears them and so Ordinances have no energy or quickning power in themselves but as the divine spirit co-operates with them and our serious meditation makes them fruitfull and effectual If we canvas an Ordinance or two we shall find this more apparent and manifest Shall we instance In Prayer Meditation before prayer is like the tuning of an Instrument and the fitting it for melody and harmony This holy duty of meditation doth mature our conceptions excite our desires and screw up our affections what is the Preces non tam verbis quam animo aestimantur Chemnit reason there is such a discurrency in our thoughts such a running of them to and fro when we are in Prayer like dust blown up and down with the wind but onely for want of meditation And what is the reason that our desires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in prayer are like an arrow shot out of a weak bow that they do not reach the mark but onely upon this account we do not meditate before prayer He who would but consider before he comes to prayer the pure Majesty of God the holiness of his Nature the quickness of his Eye the strength of his Hand and that he will be sanctified by all Acts 1. 14. who draw near to him as likewise those things he is to pray Ipsa majestas dei est origo et fundamentum gloriae Gloria ex Majestate emanat sicut radius â sole Alap for the pardon of Sin the spirit of Grace the assurance of Gods Love an inheritance with the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. How would this cause his prayer to ascend as incense before God David expresses prayer by meditation Give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation Psal 5. 1. In hearing the word the benefit of it much depends upon meditation Before we hear the word meditation is the plough Dum terra labori et agriculturae respondet ipse deus novas pluvias et novas solis caelique influentias immutit which opens the ground to receive the seed and after we have heard the word meditation is as the harrow which covers the new sown seed in the earth that the Fowls of the air may not pick it up Meditation makes the Word full of sap and juice life and vigour to the attentive hearer What is the reason that most men come to hear the word as the beasts came into the Ark they came in unclean and they went out unclean it is because they do not meditate on the truths they hear they put truth into shallow and neglective memories and they do not draw it out by serious meditation It is said of the Virgin Mary that she pondered Luke 2. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam semen in agro those things in her heart A steddy and considerate meditation on divine truth would produce warm affections zealous resolutions and holy actions If we will profit by the Word let us conscionably meditate on the Word In receiving the Sacrament Meditation puts a taste upon that divine feast Examination is commanded before we approach this Supper now this duty of Examination is best managed by meditation He who meditates aright concerning 1 Cor. 11. 28. him who is the Author the Object the end of the Haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tribus pâ—rtibus consistit 1 In agnitione miseriae et peccatorum magnitudinis reatus gravitatis 2. In fide et fiduciá mediatoris ne desperatione absorbeamur 3 In serio resipiscentiae et novae obedientiae proposito Par. Luke 22. 15. Sacrament and considers with himself what rich testimonies of Grace there are to the worthy receiver how will this dispose the soul to that holy Ordinance And he who meditates of his infinite misery out of Christ and of his happiness in a dear Redeemer how will this encourage and sharpen his desires to come to the Lord Jesus and meet him at his own table And in receiving we should meditate on the sufferings of Christ for the Sacrament is onely the abridgement of Christs agony And we should likewise meditate on the affections and loves of Christ for the Sacrament is a Copy of his love The Sacrament is food and so we must receive it with an appetite and strong desires but this food must be carefully concocted by meditation The fourth advantage we receive by meditation is the strengthning and recruit of our Graces Indeed grace The fourth advantage by meditation and meditation are reciprocal causes of each other meditation maintanes grace and grace exercises meditation A gracious heart with Moses ascends the mount of meditation Exod. 24. 15. to meet with God and then his face shines his graces are more illustrious and resplendent Meditation feeds three royal Graces with supply and support First Faith receives recruit from this heavenly duty Fides est quasi columnâ— et fundamentum in terrâ jactum fides inter omnes res est solidissima certissuna et firmissima Chrysost Heb. 11. 19. When our faith languisheth and our thoughts are ready to terminate in despair then meditation brings a cordial it fixes upon the power of God which is faiths great supporter in all our temptations When the soul shall meditate thus that God by his own Fiat his own Word gave being to the World and raised this glorious superstructure where man now inhabits and that his power is no less then infinite reducing into act and being whatsoever the Divine Will shall command how doth this underprop our faith and preserve it and secure it against the quick-sands of unbelief Haec suit invicta illa fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et basis in mandato et promissionibus dei radicaâ—a Thus Abraham meditates on Gods power and this meditation so steels and backs his faith that it breaks through the most rigorous and fierce onsets of tryal and temptation and so becomes laureat and victorious Another grace which flourishes and thrives on the Mount of meditation is Hope Faith is confirmed and hope is enlarged 1 Tit. 1. 1. Tit. 2. 13. Col. 1. 5. Quaerat aliquis quando perâ—eniam ad speratum gaudium respoâ—dendum cum deus dederit nullae sunt lâ—ngae morae ejus quòd certò donabit Tert. Psal 103 5. by meditation the hand of faith is strengthned and the wing of hope is plumed by this excellent duty If a Christian should consider by
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
a pleasant thing to behold the Sun Eccl. 11. 7. because it will not meet with its last setting till the consummation of the world Gold it self is despicable because corruptible 1 Pet. 1. 18. Duration is the excellency of every good thing that which makes grace it self look so lovely and beautiful it is because it cannot faint away it is as immortal as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus soul it enricheth this sets off its comeliness it cannot lose its beauty Cant. 8. 7. But to return to our Christian Sabbath It therefore differs from and hath the preheminence over the Sabbath of the Jews because it walks over its grave and will survive till all Gospel Institutions shall cease and our weekly Jubilees shall be turned into eternal triumph CHAP. XXV The Comparison of the Christians Sabbath here with his Eternal Sabbatism or Rest above AND that the joy of meditation may be full and may be wholly indefective in suitable objects to prey upon on Gods holy day especially in the morning so far as time and convenience will permit Let meditation look forward Dies Dominica est imago venturi seculi et assidua commotione vitae illius nunquam desiturae non negligimus ad eam demigrationem viaticum parore Bas or rather upward and observe what proportion our Sabbath here bears with our Sabbath above This pleasing task will cause meditation to renew its strength like an Eagle Psal 103. 5. and to take its flight with greater vigour and liveliness And to make the comparison more considerable we will observe wherein our earthly and our heavenly Sabbath do perfectly agree and then take notice wherein our heavenly doth transcendently outvy and surpass our earthly Our earthly Sabbath doth resemble our heavenly in the holy nature of it They are both holy our Sabbath here is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 35. 2. A holy day a day set apart Exod. 35. 2. Exod. 28 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a holy God to be spent in holy services destinated to sacred and holy purposes vouchsafed for holy Communion with Jesus Christ and appointed as a blessed means to make us holy The Lords day as our Sabbath is called Rev. 1. 10. carries holiness in its very title It s name is written in the golden Letters of sanctity and so our heavenly Hoc Sabbatum aeternum inchoatur in renatis per spirituale Saâ—batum hujus vitae et consummabitur tandem in futurâ vitâ in quâ Deus erit omnia in omnibus Ger. In die judicii plenè et perfectè sub pedibus conteretur Satan In hâ◠vitâ reportant Pii victoriam ex pugnâ in futurâ plenâ—riè liberabuntur â— pugnâ Sabbath is an undefiled rest Heaven admits of no impure thing no unclean person Eph. 5. 5. There are no weeds in our Paradise above Our future Sabbath shall be an everlasting holy day we have there a holy God to behold a holy Redeemer to enjoy holy Angels to joyn issue with spotless and glorifyed Saints to delight in nay the rivers of pleasure which run at Gods right hand Psal 36. 8. Psal 16. 11. have Chrystalline streams and are excellent not only for their sweetness but their purity Every thing in glory is unblemished and without spot else heaven could not be the seate and residence of the great King A learned man observes Our eternal Sabbath is onely the consummation of our spiritual which consists in a full cessation from sin And indeed in heaven all causes of sin shall utterly and everlastingly cease First The Corruption of the Flesh Secondly The Temptations of Satan Thirdly The Seductions of the World Fourthly A Propensness to Evil. Fifthly A Faculty and capacity of offending In glory the Saints shall be endowed with such perfect purity that suppose Temptation could get within the Veil and intrude among the glorifyed Saints that Syren should no way impress or allure them So then our Sabbath here and hereafter both look fair because of holiness Our Sabbath here resembles our rest above in the duties and employments of it In our Sabbath below our whole business is with God we run it out in hearing something drop from the heart of God when we attend upon his word in making our humble addresses to God by secret and more publick prayer in fixing our fledged meditations on God in singing Psalms and making melody in our hearts to Eph. 5. 19. God The Saints task is wholly to serve God his priviledge Intra in gaudium Domini i. e. gaude de eo quo gaudet in qua gaudet Dominus sc de fruitione sui ipsius Tunc gaudet homo ut Dominus cùm fruitur ut Domiâ—us Aquin. is to enjoy communion with God his ambition is to Sun himself in the presence of God on Gods holy day And all our employment in our celestial Sabbath will be to rejoyce in God and to glorifie God we shall spend eternity in venting our joys for the blessed fruition of God I say in venting those joys First Which will be rare for the subject of them they are the joys of the Saints John 16. 22. Secondly Rare for the fountain and spring of them they are the joy of the Lord Mat. 25. 23. Thirdly Rare for the plenty of them it shall be the fulness 1 Pet. 1. 8. Exultabunt Sancti in gloriâ videbunt Deum et gaudebunt laetabuntur et delectabuntur fruentur gloriâ et in faelicitate jocundabuntur aeternâ Cypr. Beata Deitatis visio est gaudium Domini tui O gaudium super gaudium vincens omne gaudium extra quod non est gaudium Aug. of joy Psal 16. 11. Fourthly Rare for the adjunct of them joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. Fifthly Rare for the efficient cause of them they are joys from the Holy Spirit Isa 35. 10. Sixthly Rare for the characters of them our joy in our eternal Sabbath shall be First True in eternal cordial joy all the faculties of the soul shall tripudiate and leap for joy they shall be as a dancing Sun or as David danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6. 14. and their several measures shall be the elevation of the exstacy The understanding shall joy in the Lord for its divine light the will shall joy in the Lord for its perfect consonancy to the divine will The memory shall joy in the Lord for its full strength and so the affections for their heavenly purity Secondly Our joy in our Sabbath above shall be sincere without mixture of grief or disgust Our worldly joys are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter-sweets sweet brier which can tear as Prov. 14. 13. well as sent but in our celestial Sabbath there shall be no Gall or Vinegar in our Cup. Thirdly Our joy in our Sabbath above shall be stable and sempiternal neither to be interrupted nor concluded because the fountain of it will be eternall viz. The sight of
Jer. 31. 33. of growth in Promissio facta est Christianis amicitiae dei remissionis peccatorum et regni coelestis grace Hos 14. 5. the gift of a Christ lay under a promise Gen. 3. 15. Luke 1. 71. the gift of the spirit was bound up in a promise Acts 2. 33. Gal. 3. 14. If a new heart be put into our bosomes it is the issue of a promise Ezek. 36. 26. And God in a pursuance of a promise breaths a new spirit Ezek. 36. 26. into our souls Shall we rise higher Thirdly God hath made promises to his people of things eternal Of a future Crown 2 Tim. 4. 8. Of a glorious Kingdom Luke 12. 32. Of a heavenly Throne Rev. 3. 21. Of eternal Inrer pocula Germaniae clamatum est spiritus calriviamus est spiritus melancholicus Sclat Life John 3. 16. Of everlasting Habitations Luke 16. 9. Of everlasting Salvation Heb. 5. 9. And therefore how much are they to be censured who accuse Religion of sadness and sorrow and upon the force of that argument draw back to courses of sin and prophaneness What do they less then blaspheme both the God and the priviledges of the Saints Joy is a constant dish with the people of God but Cujusmodi est gaudium quod est in domino In his quae secundum domini mandatum fiunt gaudere debemus Basil their joy is hidden Manna it lodges in their bosomes not in their looks their musick-room is a little more retired the world doth not hear their melody Look upon the Saints in their lowest condition when grace it self is at an ebb at very low water Yet then First The Lord assures us that little is a pledge of more 2 Cor. 1. 22. And even Secondly That little he will enable to get a final victory Rev. 3. 8 9. And in Rev. 2. 7. the promise is made to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is overcoming not to him who hath already overcome And Thirdly That little shall be kept perfect to the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Thes 3. 10. Phil. 1. 6. So many causes of constant joy are there to all Gods Children what roses do they walk upon here even while they are in a valley of tears In their bosomes lies a pardon like Aarons Rod blossoming in the Ark their consciences are serene and calme with holy peace nay they can laugh in a storm they can joy in tribulations Rom. 5. 3. Jam. 1. 2. And they can Gaudium Christiano utile est immò necessarium ut jucunde vivat et alacritèr in virtutibus pergat glory in a ship-wrack they can triumph in death it self 1 Cor. 15. 55. And therefore the Apostle inculcates and reduplicates the command for holy joy Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes again I say rejoyce Phil. 4. 4. But though the joy of the Saints open to the wide Common they can and may rejoyce in all things and in all times yet in the inclosure of Gods blessed Sabbath the freshest and sweetest springs of joy are to be found And thus much for the third duty Jam. 1. 2. to be performed on the morning of a Sabbath before we go to the publick congregation Viz. Labouring with our own hearts The fourth duty to be discharged before the publick on Gods holy day is private reading of the Scriptures What a charge doth God lay upon the Jews to be acquainted with Deut. 11. 18. the Scriptures Deut. 6. 7 8 9. And these words which I command thee this day they shall be in thy heart and thou Verbum dei in nos totos admittamus in mentem in memoriam in affectus in vitam ut nulla sit pars nostri in quâ verbum dei non inhabitet shalt teach them diligently to thy Children and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest in the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up and thou shalt bind them as a sign upon thy hand and they shall be as frontlets between thy eyes and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates Let us summe up this charge First Gods word it must possess every part it must be between our eyes for direction it must be a sign on our hands to regulate our works and operations it must be lodged in Evangelica historia debet esse perpetua lectio cujuslibet hominis Christiani Mirandul our hearts to sanctifie and spiritualize our love and affections that the heart may be warm but not feavourish Secondly Gods word must possess every room it must be our discourse in our Parlors where we use to sit it must be our meditation in our chambers where we use to lie and if we take the air abroad this holy word must be our companion this must be testis conversationis the witness of our conversation Thirdly Gods word must possess every season It must go to bed with us to sanctifie the farewell thoughts of the day that we shut up the day and our eyes with God if we rise in the morning it must be our morning star to guide us our morning dew to soften us our morning Sun to warm us Ne patiamini verbum dei esse quasi peregrinum et foris sâ—are sed intromittatur in domicilium cordis nostri versetur assiduè in animis nostris non secus ac domestici versantur in domo suâ immò sit nobis non minùs noâ—um ac familiare quà m illi esse solent qui apud nos habitant Daven it must be our first company and our best Breakfast in the morning And Fourthly Gods word must not only possess the inside of the house but the out-side too it must be written on the posts and the gates to shew its own excellency that we must hold it out and own it in the view of all the world This is the summe of the charge and indeed it is not unnecessary if we consider the Scriptures are the guide of our youth 2 Tim. 3. 15. They are the cure of our minds Mat. 22. 29. Ignorance of Gods word breeds errour and spiritual distempers in us They are the comfort of our souls Rom. 15. 4. They are both a Cordial and a Julip to warm us in cold affliction and to cool us in careless prosperity They are the treasure of our hearts Col. 3. 16. He is the potent and mighty man who is an Apollos in the Scriptures Acts 18. 24. Nay they are the breathings of the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 20. They are not only mens advantage but the divine issue of the third person in the Trinity The result of the whole is this if God lay so much weight on reading of the Scriptures and man receives so much advantage by acquaintance with them no season fitter for this duty then the morning of a Sabbath First The reading of the word prepares for the hearing of it that we
Christ will scatter vain and wandring thoughts Cant. 3. 1 2. in holy duties the soul will then say I come to seek my Beloved Let us get strong apprehensions of the holiness and purity of God And let us consider how unsuitable vain and slight thoughts are to his holy and unblemished thoughts how Attributa dei sunt invisibilia et spiritualia et ideò deus est colendus latriâ precibâ— votis et gratiarum actione Alap unsuitable our mud is to his Chrystal What is the reason that the Saints and Angels in Heaven have not a vain thought they strike not a wry stroak the sight of the holy God doth fix them Nothing would more spiritualize our thoughts in holy duties then the consideration of Gods Attributes the transcendent brightness of those most glorious beams The Masters eye keeps the Servant demure and observant and nothing more consolidates mans heart then the serious apprehensions of a glorious and infinite God Let us be earnest with God for the spirit He can sanctifie our thoughts in holy Ordinances and keep them close to the 1 Thes 5. 23. work in hand The spirit of God can turn the heart which naturally is a bed of lust to become a bed of spices and 1 Cor. 2. 10. so fill it with divine cogitations this blessed spirit can present the soul with Heavenly objects in Heavenly duties The spirit is not onely a discerner of thoughts but the refiner of them to purge away their dross and impertinency and therefore called a Refiners fire Mal. 3. 2. Our Saviour faith John 16. 13. The Spirit of truth shall lead us into all truth and our hearts being guided the thoughts will not be subject to wander into by paths when we are interessed in holy and sacred opportunities CHAP. XXXI As we must be strict in our behaviour so we must be spiritual in our duties when we approach the Publick Ordinances HAving thus largely discovered how we must be strict in our behaviours in publick ordinances We come next to shew that we must be spiritual in our duties The heart is the chief ghuest at every ordinance The Aegyptians of all the fruits chose the Peach to consecrate to the Goddess and they gave this reason for it because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart The Saints Character is from his inward carriage to God The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45. 13. If we will worship God indeed we must worship him in heart Hypocrisie is but practical blasphemy The heart is the King in the little world Man Our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith John 4. 24. God is a spirit and he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth In truth i. e. Scripturally opposite to the inventions of mens heads In spirit i. e. sincerely John 4. 24. opposite to the dissimulation of mens hearts The deeper the belly of the Lute is the pleasanter the sound is the deeper our worship comes from the heart the more delightfull it is in Gods eye But now that our holy duties may be spiritually performed that we may hear spiritually and pray spiritually and receive spiritually The inward man must be employed in holy ordinances not so much the ear as the understanding not so much the knee as the memory not so much the tongue as the heart though as our Saviour saith Mat. 23. 23. This must be done but the other must not be left undone In legal sacrifices God would have the fat and the inwards Lev. 7. 3. Is it Bis adeps nominatur et halocaustum non tantùm suit res sancta sanctarum sed et locus in quo comesta fuit â sacerdotibus sanctur fuit not to inform us that our services must not be specious but spiritual God must have the fat and they must be cordial not extrinsical God must have the inwards It is not the Pharisees disfigured face but Mary Magdalens melting tears God eyes and respects God is not delighted with the Pageant of a duty The Service doth not please God which hath Absolons face but which hath Davids heart Jehu's fained zeal Herods seeming joy no way comport with Gods will The melting frame of a weeping Peter and the spiritual 2 Kings 10. 16. agony of a praying Hannah are in Christ a sweet smelling Mark 6. 20. sacrifice to the Lord. The chief wheels in prayer in Luke 22. 62. hearing in meditating and other holy duties are the faculties 1 Sam. 1. 13. of the soul a supple will a working mind a faithfull memory embracing affections these are the musick of the Sphears in holy ordinances The care of our souls must be the signal design in all holy Ordinances It is not so grateful to perform service as to advantage the soul in service 1 Pet. 2. 2. When we come to 1 Pet. 2. 2. ordinances we must not study a secular interest or to quiet the clamours of natural conscience or to keep up a port in Religion but we must study the interest and the emolument of our souls 1. To raise them Every Duty every Sermon every Prayer should be a wing to the soul that it might fly higher towards God Duties are not onely to satisfie but to sublimate the soul to make it more heavenly and more ambitious after a crown in glory as those primitive Saints who looked upon the things of this life with disdain soaring after a better Country which was to come Heb. 11. 13 16. 2. We must study our souls in ordinances so as so quiet them to give them more peace and tranquillity Gospel seasons are not onely for the elevation but the calming of the 1 Pet. 5. 8. soul Satan disturbs sin defiles and lusts war against the Mark 7. 20. soul and the soul never finds rest till it comes to God in 1 Pet. 2. 11. ordinances and there quietly it lies at Christs feet as Mary Magdalen to receive the honey combs dropping from his lips After Hannah had prayed then she was no more sad or discomposed 1 Sam. 1. 18. When we acquaint our selves with God in holy ordinances we shall be at peace Job 22. 21. and thereby good shall come unto us 3. To spiritualize them We sow in duty we reap in grace that we may be more humble more holy more savoury and more serious in the things of God and Eternity We enjoy the glorious Gospel that we may pass from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Means of grace are for the getting of 2 Cor. 4. 4. Eph. 3. 16. greater measures of grace we feed upon the feast of Ordinances Coâ—roborari in interiori homine est corroborari in mente in intellectu in voluntate caeterisque animae potentiis that we may be strengthned in the inward man The Apostle saith faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. And the same Gospel is both the Mother and the Nurse of that heavenly grace Study therefore thy soul
Momentum unde pendet aeternitas Alap Now if ever this is the Sabbaths Motto This is our moment on which eternity depends Though there be no vacation for sin yet the Sabbath is the Term-time for the Torius mundi opes non conducunt nec sufficiunt ad redimendam unam animulam deperditaÌ„ sed omnes animae sunt redemptae pretio sanguinis Chemn soul the Sabbath is the Mart the Staple the Market for the soul and not to improve this opportunity judiciously savingly spiritually with the greatest intent of mind with the greatest severity of observance with the greatest inclinations and workings of spirit is the highest vanity and prophaneness A slight vain spirit on a Sabbath is like tears and sighs at a Nuptial Feast or laughter and jocularity in the house of mourning On the Lords day we must pray as for our souls hear as for eternity and improve Ordinances as those who are to deal with an infinite God in Ordinances What we do we must do with all our might as Qui rectè currit in Christianismo coron am gloriae accipiet Chrysost the Wise-man speaks Eccles 9. 10. Now especially we must run the race which is set before us and strive to enter in at the strait gate storm heaven that we may take it by force Sweat in our callings is our policy but sweat and labour in holy duties is our wisdom In the duties of the Sabbath 1 Cor. 9. 24. especially we wrestle for a prize we seek for life as those persons who fetched water for David from Bethlehem with Luke 13. 24. hazard and invincible magnanimity Frozen duties will Mat. 11. 12. speak cold answers and a light dead careless frame of spirit only teaches God to withdraw his presence from our 1 Chr. 11. 18. seeming approaches We must pray and hear on a Sabbath as David danced before the Ark with all our might 2 Sam. 6. 14. we must stretch out the hand of faith lift up the 2 Sam. 6. 14. voice of prayer and breath out the longings and anhelations of our souls These heights of spirit do exceedingly become the holy and blessed Sabbath Dir. 5 We must he frugall of the time of the Sabbath The filings of Gold are precious much more the filings of a Sabbath Every minute of a Sabbath is like a pearl small but of great value There are no loose minutes in the Lords day every little parcell of time is a holy fragment which must be gathered up that nothing be lost We must fill John 6. 12. up every space of a Sabbath either with holy thoughts divine meditations ejaculatory prayers reading of the Scriptures or some holy duty correspondent to that holy day Every branch of this consecrated time must bear precious fruit we should in our Sabbath below imitate our Sabbath above and there no time will be lost Not a drop of idleneness in an Ocean of rest Though there will be no pains in glory yet there will be perpetual praises eternall uninterrupted Hallelujahs and there shall be no breach or chasm in our Sabbatum eâ—t sanctum otium Leid Pros everlasting triumphs Indeed the Sabbath is rest from our callings but none from our duties it is an holy leisure for our souls which must not run waste Grains of Musk Fragmentorum collectione et asservatione Christus nos monet frugalitatis ne insumendo et prodigendo bona à deo nobis concessa uno impetu perdamus sed quae supersunt religiosè colligamus et seponamus Lyser are sweet and valuable so are the most minute pieces of a Sabbath The Romans were so ambitious of the Consulship that one Consul dying the last day of his Authority one sued for the remainder of the time whence that memorable speech of Cicero O vigilantem Consulem c. O watchfull Consul who slept not one night in his Authority Such holy ambition we should have for the time of a Sabbath we should sue for the smallest remains of it to improve for soul advantage The Author of the Practice of Piety complains of some who spent their Sabbath or a great part of it in trimming painting and pampering themselves and were like Jezabels doing the Devils work when they should be doing Gods Surely such are the greatest unthrifts Neque dominicis diebus quae sunt hilaritatis praeter sanctitatem aliquid dicere aut facere concedimus Clem. and are guilty of the most prodigious prodigality It was a pious constitution of Clemens That on the Lords day we should give no way to mirth or earthly delight but all our words and facts should savour of holiness Dr. Bound sadly bemoans the custom of some great personages who lay longest in their beds upon Gods holy day and made it a day of pleasing Sabbatum est observandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flesh which should be a day of sanctified rest And saith this worthy man in an extasie of zeal We must not give our selves to sleeping on this blessed day no more then to surfeting The Prophet Joel tells us On solemn Feasts the Priests were to lie all night in sackcloth Joel 2. 13. And we know Hester spent three nights and three dayes with her Maids in fasting and prayer Hest 4. 10. And can there be a greater solemnity then the Sabbath the day Imperatum suit â— deo ut sanctifices et consecres totum Sabbati diem et in illo toto die divinis vacare possis Zanch. Iren. contr valent for transacting the great affairs of eternity our golden spot of time to get a Christ to get a crown Zanchy observes That the whole of a Sabbath without abatement and curtail is to be consecrated to God Irenaeus one of the morning stars of the Church informs us That the Sabbath doth teach us there ought to be a perseverance and a continuance of a whole day in the service of God And the Council of Paris an assembly of learned men give in their suffrage to this truth in these words Let your eyes and hands be lifted up to God all this day To the same purpose speaks the Council Conc. Turon cap. 40. Calv. in Deut. Serm. 34. Muscul in quartum praeceptum Pet. Martyr in Gen. 2. of Turon But I shall not over-load or clog the Reader with humane testimonies Let me only subjoyn the attestation of incomparable Calvin This day saith he is not ordained for us only to come to a Sermon but to the end that we may employ the rest of our time to laud and praise God Here we may take up that of the Prophet Mat. 1. 14. Cursed is the deceiver And this is too much to imitate Ananias and Saphira to keep back part of the price of a blessed Sabbath Acts 5. 2. God will not have us to divide the Sabbath between himself and our selves this is to make a separation between God and us Gods day must be spent in
qui nobis consecravit quietis diem Gualt be softest on that day when Gods mercy is sweetest Mans pitty is a good handmaid to wait on Gods bounty That day which is a day of life to us should be a day of love from us Charity on a Sabbath is like fire put to Juniper it turns it into a perfumed flame Now there is a four-fold Charity we must exercise on Gods holy day There is Charitas oeconomica Charity to our Families It is very observable that every clause in the 4th Commandement Manifestè praecipitur mandati verbis quieti sabbati rationem habendam esse servorum ancillarum quo quisque admonetur de assectu charitatis erga domesticos suos et insatiabilis avaritiae impetus restringitur Muscul Quo magis à dei dilectione recedimus eò magis à proximi distamus quantum verò dei â—haritati adhaeremus tantum et proximi et proximi deo conjungimur Biblioth Patr. is an injunction to Charity We must be tender to our servants they must not work we must be compassionate to our Children they must not toyl we must pity our beast that must not drudge we must have bowels to the stranger within the Gates he must rest and be refreshed so that we may say with the Apostle Rom. 13. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the Law The Command for the Sabbath is written in golden Letters of love and Charity The Lords day must be spent not in the sweats of labour but in the sweets of duty not in wearisome toyl but in holy rest Parental or despotical rigour is an open breach of this Command which breaths nothing but sweetness and indulgence The Sabbath is no day for the forge or the plow it was never set apart to waste our spirits but to mind and negotiate the affairs of our souls Bishop Andrews saith Mercy on a Sabbath is the sanctification of a Sabbath Surely those Governours of families do highly prophane the Sabbath where the maid-servant must toyl at the fire to provide for their luxury The man-servant must be no otherwise employed then to serve their company Children must wait and serve at the table to shew the grandure of the family where instead of singing Psalmes there is clattering of Dishes and instead of gathering Manna there is gathering up of fragments and instead of a composed lying at Christs feet Politicum illud est ut quâ—es concedi debeat iis qui subsunt alienae potestati Jer 17. 21 22. Psalm 105. 27. in holy Ordinances there is nothing but hurries noyse and confusion Here it might be expostulated Shall servants have no breathing for their souls no necessary pauses to mind eternity Is not this more then Aegyptian bondage Is not not this to cause our families to return back to the Land of Ham to their wonted captivity and thraldome Can such Governours disciple it after Christ and yet have no bowels Quae officia hic demandata etsi videantur levia et rusticae â—bi de pecore aberrante redâ—cendo et asino sublevando agitur non tamen nobis talia erunt si perpendamus finem legulatoris qui non tam animalium rationem habuit quà m hominum Riv. to the immortal souls of their inferiours Christ shed his blood for precious souls and these will not dispence with a humour with their pride with a feast with an entertainment for the good and advantage of a never dying soul But such cruelty and oppression saith Dr. bound is the scandal of Christianity and unravels all that mercy which is folded up in the fourth Commandement God in the Law commands us to pity and shew mercy to our enemies Oxe Exod. 23. 4. to an Oxe which is a beast to be fatted for the slaughter to our enemies Oxe whose enmity might damp our charity and yet here we must shew compassion How much more must the soul of a Child or a servant be precious to us Shall thy servants here lie among the pots and hereafter among the flames and wilt thou do nothing to prevent it Wilt thou not give them Sabbath room to sayl to Heaven in Surely this is the dregs of tyrannie Well then this piece of Charity we must shew upon a Lords day we must be tender to our families we must call them from all toyl and labour to wait on God in his sacred institutions In a word to despise our servants on a Sabbath so as to think they are onely fit to drudge here is an act of pride ond insolency Such remember not that Paul wrote an Epistle to Philemon for his servants sake and to employ our servants Philem. v 16. on a Sabbath and not regard what becomes of them hereafter is an act of inhumanity and such forget that the poor receive the Gospel Mat. 11. 5. The lame the maimed were brought to the Kings feast Luk. 14. 21. and the difficulty Mat. 10. 25. lies how the rich man shall get to heaven Luk. 18. 25. Nay Mat. 19. 24. Christ himself took upon him the form of a servant Phil. Mat. 16. 26. 2. 7. Thy servants soul is of an higher price then the world Mat. 11. 25. It is observed by a worthy man That in the fourth Commandement Rest is granted to those who have most need of it to the poor servant and the friendless stranger to shew that it is even a duty of nature to be pittiful and charitable to our families upon Gods holy day There is Charitas crumenae a charity of the Purse which Petit pauper suum pauculum temporarium Da et recipies magnum eternum Aug. we must likewise shew on the Sabbath Now we must find objects to be the Cisterns of our bounty we must here occurrere ut succurramus meet some whom we may minister to Augustine his rule is a golden Rule on this day The poor petitions a little of our temporals give it him thou shalt receive it in eternals But if we object our inability It is replyed It is not how much but out of how much God looks at The widdows two mites was a commended charity even by Christ himself But let this caution be minded Caution let us take heed in our giving that we do not take away on other dayes to give on this day rob the week to Recondet Christianus apud se cumulet auctumque deinceps et cuâ—â—â—latum deferat Sclat adorn the Sabbath this is pride not charity and the greatest portion is given to Satan But let our charity on the day of the Lord be according to the simplicity of the Gospel and so our charity may make our purse the lighter but it will make our Crown the heavier and what we have laid out in one world we have laid up in another In the Conseruntur eleemosinae sec discretionem unius cujusque propter egenorum subsidium aegrotorum et exulum solamen primitive times there were
then let not a Sermon satisfie without Christ in a Sermon let not reading a Chapter content without we read Christ in that Chapter As once Bernard despised that Book wherein he did not read Christ And let us alwayes remember that Ordinances they are the institutions of God and he that made a brazen Serpent heal Num. 21. 9. can make his own institutions effect our cure Object But the poor souls greatest Query is How shall I meet with God in Ordinances who shall open the door into the Gallery where I may be with my Beloved Answ In answer to this something we have to do as well as something to enjoy Our pain must go before our pleasure we must not be wanting to meet God if we expect that God should meet us Therefore We must be earnest in Prayer we must cry out O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill to thy Tabernacle then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy Psalm 43. 3 4. We must make our addresses to God if we look for his approaches to us God sends a Preacher to a praying Paul God Acts 9. 11. sends an Angel to a praying Daniel God comes himself to Dan. 9. 21. a praying Solomon Prayer is an humble summons for the 1 Kings 2. 3. divine appearance it can not onely tie Gods hands Exod. Acts 10. 2 3. 32. 10. and command returns Isa 45. 10. But it can obtain Gods presence If Moses say I pray thee God presently Jam. 4. 8. replies My presence shalt go with thee Exod. 33. 13 14. If thou wilt have God meet thee in Ordinances let thy prayers be thy Harbingers to prepare room for him Be serious in preparing for Ordinances The Sun scatters the Clouds before it shines in its brightness The Bride dresseth her self to meet her Bridegroom And thou must Isa 61. 10. compose thy self with awful apprehensions Sponsa â—rnata representat ecclesiam ornamentis gratiae fortitulinis decoratam immò animam sanctam gratiis spiritu adaptatam et si debilis et imperfecta Haymo 1. Of the Divine Majesty with whom thou art to converse 2. With the solemness of Gods Ordinance thou art now going to enjoy 3. With the sweetness and advantage of the season thou art now entring upon and then God will meet thy prepared soul Joseph trimmed himself and then he goes into Pharaoh's presence The Wise man adviseth us â— keep our foot when we go into the house of God Eccles 5. 1. VVe should do well in our applications to holy Ordinances to examine our selves whether we are fit with loose thoughts to meet with a dreadful Majesty Or with filthy hearts to meet with a holy God Or with worldly and drossy minds to meet with Grn. 41. 14. our heavenly Father Let us not complain God retires when we are not fit for his presence Let us then capacitate our selves by holy care and serious preparation to enjoy God in Ordinances Let us long for Gods presence God loves affectionate Proselytes A longing David shall see a loving God Psal 63. 1 2. The Spouse is restless after her Beloved and then she meets him Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. The thirsting soul shall be fed Fames est illa melior sanctior quae est spiritualis jam in Christo habebit saturitatem invita aeternâ omnimodam satietatem ubi deus erit omnia in omnibus Chemn with milk and wine Isa 55. 1. Grace and Righteousness shall satisfie the bungry Mat. 5. 6. The Psalmist follows hard after God Psalm 63. 8. God meets with our pursuits we shall then satisfie our selves in God when nothing but God can satisfie us Cold suitors shall not meet with Christ in his espousals VVhen the Wife longs the Husband endeavours after the thing longed for Mary Magdalen bemoaned the taking away of her Lord John 20. 2. We may expect to meet with God when his absence is our greatest moan and his presence our sweetest musique Let us come to Ordinances with all reverential humility God will look at him who is of a poor and a contrite spirit Humilitas est via ad deum Aug. and trembles at his Word Isa 66. 2. God dwells in the humble heart Isa 51. 15. God will raise those who debase themselves Augustin tells us That humility is the ready way Super quem requieseit Sp. sanctus nisi super humilem super humilem non super virginem Bern. to God It is the usher who brings the soul into the presence Chamber Bernard notably observes That the spirit of God rested on the Virgin Mary not for her Virginity but for her Humility And if Mary had not been so low in her own eyes she had not been so lovely in Gods Alapide saith Humility is a throne of Saphire where God sits in Majesty Let Humilitas est thronus Sappharinus in quo deus cum Majestate resideâ— Alap us then come to Ordinances with a submissive spirit God will cast an eye upon the soul who lies at his feet He sent an Angel to Daniel when he lay in his ashes Dan. 9. 3. 21. God rewarâ— the very counterfeit humility of Ahab 1 Kings 21. 29. though his sackcloath was but as Samuels mantle the attire of hypocrisie A dread of Gods presence brings Prov. 16. 19. a sweet sence of it and a trembling at the Word of God goes Prov. 29. 23. before a triumphing in the enjoyment of God Job abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42. 6. and then God hears him for himself and his friends and gives him interest upon interest for all his sufferings and tribulation Job 42. 10. A holy God will meet with an humble Saint Let us endeavour to be in the spirit upon the Lords day Direct 9. The extasies of the Apostle John were on the Lords day Revel 1. 10. the rapture was accomodated to the season Christians should study to be above themselves upon Gods holy day then they should walk in Galleries above the world Hierome professes That he sometimes found things so with himself that it seemed to him as if he had been triumphing Hieron de Virginit servand among Troops of Angels and singing hallelujahs with the Saints in Heaven and walking arm in arm with Jesus Christ And Luther reports of himself That sometimes especially on a Sacrament day the death of Christ was so full and fresh upon Luth. his spirit as if then he had been upon Mount Calvary and as if that was the day in which the Lord dyed And Beleevers should be so in the spirit upon the Sabbath as if that was the very day wherein Christ broke the bars of the Grave rowled away the stone from the Sepulchre and enfranchised himself from the restraints of the tomb The Saints should be carried out on this day and make their sallies into the suburbs of
men defile not enjoy an Ordinance John 17. 21. They are spots not guests in that holy Feast It is onely the spiritual man is fit for converse with God Princes converse not with Beggars nor God with sinners Christ in his incarnation tabernacled with the Sons of men John 1. 14. But in his communion he converses with the Sons of God he gives his people the meeting Mat. 18. 20. The Sun shines upon the stars and they reflect its light with a glittering rebound Christ when he arose again gave not the meeting to the world but to his Disciples Luke 24. 36. And so in his blessed fellowship he visits not the formalist but the Saint Christ in his ordinances influences his living Eph. 1. 22 2â— members not glass eyes the speculative Atheist not painted faces the varnished hypocrite not ' wooden legs with the silken stocking upon them the spruce and self-deceiving moralist who with Agag are ready to depose the bitterness 1 Sam. 15 32. of death is over We must be on the Lords day in grace actual On the Sabbath the soul is to be set on work in acting several graces and some seem to be of a different nature As faith and fear heavenliness of mind and humbleness of heart repentings for sin and relyings on God tremblings of the soul and restings on Christ a real longing for promised mercies and yet a quiet staying for those mercies promise by hope expecting good things to come and yet by faith possessing those things at present This embroydery of grace must be on the heart of Lam. 3. 26 a Saint upon the Sabbath One of the Ancients compares Greg. Mor. l. 19. sect 30. holy men upon Earth unto those holy Angels of Heaven Rev. 4. 8. that are said to be full of eyes within and without In the week the Saints must use their eyes without Psal 77. 6. looking after their necessary callings and their occasions in Hos 6. 3. the world but upon the Sabbath they more solemnly set Ex cognitione dei omnia utriusque tabulae officia tanquam ex fonte promanant et eatenus placent quatenus illam praelucentem habent Riv. on work their eyes within looking inward upon the estate of their souls knowledge must open its eyes and repentance must drop its tears every grace must be in ure and exercise Indeed the Sabbath is the proper season for the acting of our several graces working as Bees in a Hive making honey of every ordinance Sorrow and confession must begin faith and prayer must carry on and holy thanksgiving must conclude the duties of a Sabbath Our hearing the Word must be introduced by holy appetite and desire we must long to be in the Courts of God It must be entertained Psal 84. 2. Luke 8. 1. Heb. 4. 2. Mat. 13. 19. by faith and affection it must be improved by zeal and an holy conversation our lives must be comments on Gods sacred truths and so all other ordinances of the Sabbath must be the sphears for our graces to move in as stars in their Phil. 1. 27. Orbs and this is to be in the spirit on the Lords day Let us study to be in the comforts of the spirit upon the Lords day The joyes of the Holy Ghost are the musick of heaven below the hearts rapture paradise in the bosome the sweet earnest of future blessedness they are the ecchoes of assurance and the reverberations of a good God and a good Conscience Spiritual comforts hath many springs but all most pleasing and complacential They are the comforts of God 2 Cor. 1. 3. who is a fountain above us The Father of mercies leaves a seed of joy in the soul They are the comforts of the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 31. who is a blessed spring within us John 7. 37. shedding those grateful streams of peace and joy which drench the soul with unspeakable delight They are the comforts of the Scriptures Rom. 15. 4. which are as sweet Gardens without us every promise being Consolatio omnis nititur promissionibus gratuitâ— Dav. as a sweet rose every truth being as a flower of the Sun and every threatning being as wholesome worm-wood in this salvifical garden They are the comforts of the Saints Col. 4. 11. which are as lights about us for our more comfortable passages to Sancti nos solantur invisendo condolendo necessitatibus nostris administrando et miserrimas nostras conditiones sublevando Dav. our rest and happiness Communion of Saints being not only an article of our Creed but an helper of our joy in our travels to Canaan But to return to the comforts of the spirit Gods people may find soul-refreshing comforts in Christ the Lord upon his own day and the measure of their comforts may mount their souls so high as to make them like Moses upon Mount Pisgah viewing Canaan the heavenly Canaan flowing with that which is better then milk and honey the soul of a sincere Isa 51. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 4. Luke 2. 29. Isa 56. 7. Christian may swim in a sea of sweet delight he whose heart hath been as a boat which could not be got up all the week because of low water yet may be brought up in an high spring tide of spiritual comfort upon the Lords day being ready to say with Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. the soul may be so Psal 94. 19. Isa 57. 18. filled with joy upon Gods holy day in his house of prayer that he may be ambitious of his eternal Requiem in the bosome of Christ Nay upon the Lords day a believer being in the spirit the worst evils may amplifie his best comforts to think of sin remitted hell removed death vanquished devil Gen. 42. 38. conquered all these make for him that he may go down with Jud. 14. 14. joy and triumph to the grave Out of every eater comes meat the upper and the neither springs run all into the Josh 15. 19. same stream of comfort to the Saints Every thing on a Sabbath is an occasion of spiritual joy to them If they look up Isa 29. 19. to God they will joy in the Lord Rom. 5. 11. If they consider Isa 35. 2. the season of a Sabbath that is the time nay the term Isa 52. 9. time for the soul which is matter of joy nay as the joy of harvest Isa 9. 3. If they glance at the word they receive the word with joy Luke 8. 13. If they act their graces this is with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. It was a brave speech of a Martyr to his cruel tormentors Work your will upon my weak body as for my soul it is in heaven already and over that Caesar hath no power So it may be the case of a Christian upon a Sabbath he may be as in heaven beginning his triumphal hallelujahs It is no
lanching nor scornfull sinners the reproof Our hearts are never so treacherous as Jer. 17. 9. on this day then they are prodigal of time sluggards in Homines sunt fallaces et insidiosi et putant deâ—m ipsum posse decipi et illi meros fumos obsiciunt Calv. duty enemies to the faithfull preaching of the Word then they poure out their swarms of vam and impertinent thoughts and catch at any diversion to give them breath from close communion with God and then slight and formal Christians wind up the clock of the tongue and that strikes nothing but vanity Indeed naturally there is an open opposition in our hearts to strict religion and particularly to the precise observation of Gods day and this opposition like rivers which are damm'd up breaks forth then most violently As we know Snakes will get into the greenest grass and Spiders into the fairest houses so our corruptions beset us most and besiege us most closely in holy duties and the most spiritual converses and therefore let us most strictly eye these Serpents in the bosome observe their first motions Venienti occurrite morbo and strangle them in their birth Young twigs are easily plucked up weeds when low they onely soften the walk but when grown higher they deform and unbeautifie the garden Let us let out the water of the first blisters of corruption If thou art proud then say did Christ come out of a Grave this day and shall I come out as a Bridegroome out of a Bride Chamber If thou art worldly say Christ Isa 61. 10. Joel 2. 16. rose this day in order to his ascention to heaven and shall sublunary vanities entangle my soul this day If thou art sluggish and unactive say the Sun of righteousness rose this Mal. 4. 2. day whose motion of all motions is the swiftest and shall I be clogged with unseemly dulness and hebetude If thou art sad and despondent say Christ rose this day to fill up the joyes of his people to consummate and finish his victories 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cantus fuit Christiano rum sibimetipsis ocâ—urrentium in primordâ—â— Ecclesiae which by holy faith become the Saints conquest and shall my spirit be down and sink on this triumphant day If thy heart wander this day say the glorious Morning Star this day appeared in the worlds Horizon after a three dayes cloud and what more blessed object to fix my heart upon Rev. 22. 16. That still the risings of thy corrupt heart which way soever it wind it self may be kept down and stopt from Sabbath defilement Now a little care may prevent a great deal of sin We must therefore 1. Eye and observe 2. Bitterly bemoan 3. Pray against 4. Forcibly check and keep down these unnatural productions of the unregenerate part and suppressed corruptions Exod. 14 30. are like slain Aegyptians they will not disturb the Israelites travelling towards Canaan So they will be the spectacle of our joy not the obstacle of our duties and we may with a Psal 119. 32. pleasing liberty run the wayes of Gods Commandments upon his own holy day CHAP. XXXVIII Some necessary cautions for the preventing of Sabbath Pollution Caut. 1 FOr the more holy observation of Gods blessed day some rocks are to be avoided as well as some rules to be observed The carefull Mariner studies to escape the sands that he be not swallowed up as well as observes the wind that he be not becalmed and so put upon unnecessary stayes in the watery element So there are difficulties to run through as well as duties to discharge on Gods holy day and therefore Care is as necessary as Zeal and a watchfull eye as requisite as an affectionate heart we must equally take care that we do not offend as that we do obtain Let us take heed of wearisomness in duties It is very sad when the Sabbath is lookt on as our burden and not our priviledge and our attendance upon Ordinances our task and not our triumph our bondage and not our blessedness Surely religious duties should not be our fetters but our freedome This was the black character of the wanton Israelites they cryed out When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath be over that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. What should weary us on a Sabbath Is it because on that day Christ carries the soul into his Wine Cellar Malus fructus immò malus morsus quo Adam per Evam vitam perdidit Bonus fructus quo genus humanum per Christi mortem mortem perdidit et vitam invenit Del. Rio. and his banner over it is love Cant. 2. 4. Is it because Christ on this day brings his living waters and his best wine and makes his feast of fat things and gives his sweetest bread Do the delicacies of a Sabbath cloy us Do the rarities of it nauseate us How shall we digest heaven where such dainties sublimated shall be our eternal fare What hearts have we that we can petrifie Gods Ordinances and make them empty and unsatisfying that they shall yield no taste or nourishment Surely it must needs be the reproach of a Christian to grow weary of Communion with God and to surfet on the provisions of the Sanctuary Indeed to be cloyed at our tables is more usual then sinfull but shall we rise from the table of Christ without an appetite Shall we say of the bread which came from heaven is there nothing but this Manna Upon the Sabbath John 6. 55. Christ takes the soul as once the Eunuch did Philip into Numb 11. 6. the chariot of his Ordmances with him and there discourses of the affairs of eternity and shall this familiarity tire the soul Acts 8. 21. which is posting to eternity The Sabbath is the souls jubilee a mellifluous and blessed season how many thousands souls have known it the day of their new birth And how willing have Gods people been in this day of Gods power in Psal 110. 3. the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning Blessed is this day among dayes from henceforth all generations Luke 1. 48. shall call thee happy blessed be the Father which made thee blessed be the Son who purchased thee blessed be the Spirit who sanctifies thee and blessed are they who prize and improve thee and think the Sun on this day posts away too fast and makes too much hast towards a setting Indeed it must argue very little holiness if the blessing of the Sabbath be accounted the burden of the Soul and it must speak the dregs of corrupt nature to tire upon Mountains of Spices to be weary of walking in the Garden where the Rose of Sharon is David saith Psal 119. 24 77. The testimonies of God are his delight and he rejoyced more in them Cant. 2. 1. then in all manner of riches and yet truly some covetous
sorrow Titus an Heathen Emperour when a day was past and he hâ—d done no good Pedr. de Mex Hist Imper. on that day was wont to break out into sighs and sorrow to those who were about him and cry O my friends I have lâ—ft a day The loss of any day is matter of moan but Ezek. â—9 14. to lose the Lords day and the Lord in that day this is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation In nature the interpâ—sition of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon causeth an eâ—clipse and surely when earth vain thoughts earthly discourse froth and negâ—ect have interposed between God and thy soul on his own day what an ecclipse of sadness Eccles 12. 5. should it cause upon thy heart Upon the loss of friends we go in mourning and why not in the loss of Sabbaths which are good friends to the soul Christ waited for thee in every Ordinance thou didst not give him the meeting go home and like the Dove bemoan the loss of 2 Kings 2 12. thy mâ—â—e It is most equal when Ordinances are not our Tristitia nobis data est ut dole â—mâ—s non de morte sed de peccato ibi solâ—â—â— utilis est â—â—â—stitia alibi est inutilis Chrysost treasure that they should be our trouble and what we want in good we should make up in gâ—iâ—â— When Elisha went with Elijah and a chariot of fire parted them asunder carrying Elijah to heaven and leaving Elisha on earth Elisha looked up and cryed my Father my Father Hath God and thee O Christian been parted asunder on a Sabbath and hath the Lord left thy heart on earth and himself gone to heaven O think sadly of this and with bitter moan cry out my Father my Father Repent for the loss of the Lords day and lament after the Lord of that day Sad hearts do well become empty Sabbaths It is very doleful to pine for thirst at the wells mouth If thy heart hath been dead in duties let it be drowned in sorrows Christ looks through the lattice in every Ordinance if thou hast turned thy back upon him by neglect or a vain spirit say with the Church Is any sorrow like unto my sorrow Lam. 1. 12. Search into the cause of this heartless and fruitless passing away Gods precious Sabbath It is good for a Christian to examine what way-lâ—id his work what kept God and his soul a sunder It may be thou didst not tune thy heart by holy preparation Loâ—se strings make no musick every peg must be wound up Vndressed gardens yield no delightfull prospect Mattaina praeparatio necessaria est per diligentem cultus consideratiorem et opis divinae implorationem Riv. in Decalog nor do the nowers grow but on the bâ—ds where the Gardiner hath used his industry and his artifice Thou hast not happily plâ—wed up thy heart aforehand by prayer and meditation and so it is fallow when it comes to Ordinances Holy duties themselves are harsh when the heart is out of tune Marshalled armies engage in battle and prepared hearts engage most properly and most beneficially in Ordinances 1. Cor. 11. 28. To examine our selves is not onely the preface to a Sacrament but to every holy Ordinance No wonder thou art dead in the Sanctuary if thou art deficient in the Closet thou didst lose the morning and therefore thou didst lose the day See is not this the cause thou art so heavy and so stupified in holy Administrations The clock was not wound up and therefore it did not strike Thou wast not Jer. 14. 9. with God in secret and therefore thou didst not meet God in publick so thou looked'st for healing and behold trouble The fire must be blown before it turn into a flame Prepared physick contributes to the cure there must be the Apothecary to prepare as well as the Physician to prescribe Medicines Barascue est feria sexta quâ—m nos vocamus diem veneris quae praeparationis nomine appella tuâ— quia Judâ—i sâ—lâ—bant illo the necessaria paâ—are â—â— proxâ—me 〈◊〉 Sabbatu◠〈◊〉 â—b omni opâ—re servili cessâ—â—dâ—m erat Ger. Our hearts must be taken pains withall before they are fit for the Ordinances of a Sabbath The Jews had a Preparation day as well as a Sabbath day John 19. 43. The heart must be broken by repentance raised by meditation spiritualized by prayer over-awed by a sense of the Divine Majesty before it is fit for communion with God It was a serious prayer of holy Hezekâ—ah 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God and the Lord God of his Fatheâ—s though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary And in the subsequent verse it is said The Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people Experiment this preparatory work and no doubt but thy complaint will cease and the case will be satisfied It may be thy thoughts are low of Sabbath gains Men will not run a race for a trivial prize Merchants venture to Sea Phil. 1. 14. not for Pibbles but Pearles Thou lookest on Ordinances as empty breasts and so thou liest carelesly at them But this is a strange and a sinful mistake Faith the best of graces is the fruit of hearing Rom. 10. 17. The Spirit the best of gifts is the fruit of praying Luke 11. 13. And Christ Christus illâ— tri-dâ—◠〈◊〉 et sepulturae fuit â—â—â—ciculus Myâ—rhae propter dâ—lâ—rem sed pâ—st triduanum dolâ—rem absorpsit laetitia et fâ—ctus est â—t botrus Cypriâ—n vineâ—s engedâ—i illa myrrha â—â—mmutata est in vinum suavissinum et salutare the best of banquets is the fruit of Sacramental receiving Mat. 26. 26. Are not Ordinances the Exchequer of soultreasure more sweet then the clusters of Camphire Lam. 1. 14. more transcendent then mountanes of Spices Cant. 8. 14. More pleasant then the Vineyards of Engeâ—di Cant. 1. 14. Surely thou art mistaken sinner Didst thou ever consider Prayers have held the hands of the Father Exod. 32. 10. Gospel doctrines have employed the tongue of the Sâ—n Luke 4. 43 44. And a shower of the spirit hath fallen upon the Congregation at a Sermon Acts 10. 44. Nay the whole Trinity have been present at a Baptism Mat. 3. 16. Such fruitfull wombâ— must not be called Barren But this sinfull level which so prostrates Ordinances is no more then the evidence of Satans power and that he leads thee to much Del Rio. captive at his pleasure None will call Ordinances empty but the Father of lies What is it which causeth thy neglect of or slightness in Sabbath duties It may be the force of a temptation Satan hath an enmity to our communion with God It was the Evil one hindred Paul from going to the Thessalonians to scatter and disseminate the truths of the Gospel 1 Thes 2. 18. He stirred up the Jewes against the
Onkelos hanc exclamationem Jacobi ad Christum resert paraâ—hrasi plane piâ Non expecto salutare Gideon filii Joash neque salutare Sampson filii Manoe quae salus est planè temporalis sed expectâ— salutem redemptionem Christi filii David quae est solus aeterna Onkel God on a dying bed and waited for his glorious salvation On a bed of sickness thou mayest bend thy heart when thou canst not bend thy knee and stretch out the hand of thy faith when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty not obstruct it Then the patient prayes more feelingly weeps more heartily converses with God more greedily A sense of approaching death affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve he need not wave a Sabbath 4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the prophaneness of the Master the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on Gods holy day by the pride and vanity of her Mistriss Nay happily our case is a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in yet then though we have lost our freedom we have not lost our Sabbaths Israels worship was not lost but revived in the wilderness and there Moses talked with God as a man with his friend The uncouth and solitary wilderness was the Sanctuary Deut. 26. 10. where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God Exod. 33. 11. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship and in a storme Deus non terribilitèr sed amicè cum Moyse egerit Riv. too when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less but as the vassalized Israelites to groan more not to be weary of Sabbaths but Exod. 6. 5. to be more wary in their observation the bondage of the Acts 7. 34. body is no wayes eased by the hazzard of the soul The Heavenly Master must be served especially on his own day notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly that imperious worm If threats could have prevailed with the three Children they had worshipped a golden Image and not adventured a fiery furnace Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly not more heedless in Sabbath observation If our case is hard upon earth we should then the more endeavour to make it more glorious in heaven and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it Now therefore this being premised Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness when the world is turned into a Patmos to us Let us encourage our selves that this is not our case alone to serve God without company Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount there was no press of people or society Deut. 5. 31. Dan. 6. 10. of Saints to heighten his enjoyment Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone and his sacrifice was sweet though single Peter was praying alone at the top of the Acts 10. 9. house when he gets the company of an Angel that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess The woman John 4. 13. of Samaria enjoys solitary yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine nay waters of life did flow more freely then the waters of the well which did afford her the plenty of that Element And to come nearer to our purpose the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos when he was sublimated Revel 1. 10. with unusuall raptures and that upon the Lords day A single Lute can make sweet musick The Sun which gilds the world is but a single Planet And thy soul serving God alone on his day may be taken into galleries to walk Cant. 7. 5. with Jesus Christ and feed upon the honey and the honey Psal 19. 10. comb of an Ordinance The Word was more to Job then his necessary food when he lay on the dunghill alone Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise Mat. 18. 20. He was present though two or three were not gathered together If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone be much in prayer In this single devotion Christ is both our President Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour Mat. 6. 6. The Cum privatim et solitarie oramus ostentationem et affectationem humanae gloriolae omnino respuimus Chemnit Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles Jam. 5. 17 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruine Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives in them we avoid all ostentation as Chemnitius well observes and more imitate the votary then the Pharisee In them we can search our hearts more accurately deal with God more faithfully and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations Closet devotion is not stopt because confined no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night Psal 63. 6. in Mat. 6. 6. Psal 63. 6. Rev. 1. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 10. which he framed them Christ came to John in Patmos when the Island was his bolted Chamber not with bars but with waves Hannah prayed and wept alone and then she obtained a Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in Acts 10. 4. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 3. 17. prayer when there is no company to excite it and oftentimes God is most effectually present when man is wholly absent therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication In this case of solitariness let us be filled with holy meditations This holy duty of a Sabbath is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement nay it cannot well be performed Gen. 24. 63. in company the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind or Psal 92. 5 6 9. are started by the excitation of the good spirit In thy solitary Sabbaths let thy head work in meditation as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication These duties coupled like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostick and promise fair weather to the soul Meditate on thy sins Sin is first viewed by meditation and then moaned by confession and so consequently cashiered by repentance and this order is very proper and genuine first to cast the eye on sin and then to rend the heart for it and from it The head will affect the heart take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath to cast up thy accounts and Psal 4. 7. Jer. 31. 18 19 20. to look backward on thy sinfull life that thy soul may kindly melt and the Lord
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
expietur Greg. M. lib. 11. Epist 3. of complacency variety of choice voices please the ear variety of curious colours delight the eye variety of sweet dainties is acceptable to the tast and so varieâ—y of holy duties make a Sabbath gratefull and complacential God hath set forth his worship in several services that it might be the more pleasing and the less wearisome Sometimes on a Sabbath we are praying to him for the supply of our necessities sometimes we are praising of him for his own infinite excellencies Sometimes the ear is busied in hearing truth sometimes the Dies dominicus est dies panis per Eucharistiam Athan. hand in giving almes sometimes the eye in weeping tears sometimes the knee in doing homage alwayes the heart in willing obedience Thus the same meat is dressed several wayes to make it more delightfull and pleasing to the pallate To see several towns pleaseth the traveller and makes Dies dominicus est dies lucis per baptismum Chrysost his journey the less tedious and the more recreative In Sabbath worship the bending of the knee is relieved by the hearing of the ear and the hearing of the ear by the singing of the tongue and the service of the tongue may be refreshed Die dominico pro arbitrio quisque suo quod visum est contribuat et charitatem suam deponat and relieved by the contemplations of the mind So then the Sabbath cannot be tedious whose duties are so various Several birds singing make the Grove a common musick room That soul must needs distast every Ordinance which cannot be pleased with variety Just Mart. 10. But no further to amplifie the vanity of these objectours who put this case I shall now a little rectifie their mistake by shewing them how flesh and blood may keep a whole Sabbath spiritually and sweetly to God Let them be earnest in prayer for the spirit of grace this is that principle which can turn the soul to any point that spirit which can guide our way Rom. 8. 1. which can produce the new Creature John 3. 5. which can fill our sails John 3. 8. which can heal our Natures 1 Cor. 6. 11. which can help our infirmities Rom. 8. 26. that spirit which can Acts 16. 14. open the eyes to behold Acts 26. 18. and can open the heart Joh. 7. 38. 39. to embrace Gospel mysteries 1 Cor. 2. 14. that spirit can sweeten Ordinances and accommodate our souls to them that Spiritualia spiritualitèr examinantur et spiritualis judicat omnia qui spiritum rectorem animae habet Doctorem Ansel the streams of a Sabbath may run smoothly without the stop of weariness or storm of discontent The spirit of God can fit our spirits to the things of God and where there is no disparity there can be no dissatisfaction Indeed the Ordinances are the ship and the spirit is the wind As the ship of an ordinance cannot move without the wind of the spirit so the wind of the spirit will not blow without the ship of an Ordinance but when the wind carries on the ship it is pleasant and delightful sailing Therefore let John 3. 8. these Objectours beg the spirit and we have an assured promise to encourage us Luke 11. 13. Let those who put this case which now hath been ventilated and discussed consider our present Sabbaths are Sabbatum est sabbatisini primordium initiale benificae fruitionis odoramentum only the first fruits of an eternal Sabbath The Spring is pleasant though not so fruitfull as the Harvest Our present dayes of grace have their glory and their verdure though not elevated to the raptures of heaven Sabbaths are heavenly dayes though not heavenly eternities Now our Saviour bids us rejoyce at the putting out of the leaf for then Summer draws near Mat. 24. 32. This should silence all scruples of a floathfull heart Sabbaths are golden though little spots they are pensions of grace though not portions of glory they are earnests of better things and he that is to receive the summ will not easily be weary in telling of the earnest The Israelites rejoyced in the Clusters before they came to the Vintage Numb 13. 23 24. Our precious Sabbaths are Cant. 1. 14. our clusters of Camphire before we come to the mountanes of Spices Think not a Sabbath tedious which is only a little stream running into the Ocean of Eternal Glory Such should do well to study their wants more and their ease less Their necessities call for every Ordinance of Grace which fills up the time of a Sabbath their empty cruze Mat. 6. 11. calls for the duty of Prayer their dark understandings call Hos 6. 3. for the Ordinance of hearing their faint graces call for the Isa 25. 6. feast of a Sacrament their sadned spirits call for the joyous Jam. 5. 13. service of singing Psalmes their ignorant Families call for Gen. 18. 19. the duty of Catechizing and their frail memeries call for the Phil. 3. 1. seasonable recruit of Repetition and when these Services are faithfully and spiritually performed the time of a Sabbath Eadem scribere dicit Apostolus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tutum Ambrosius verò inquit est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 necessarium Ambr. flies away and there is no room for the objection of flesh and blood We are much provoked to see Beggars lie sunning themselves in ease and laziness Let these Objectors pass industriously and chearfully through the Ordinances of a Sabbath or else find some other way for the supply of the necessities of their souls But thus much for the fourth Case Case 5 What shall we do when after our serious attendance upon Ordinances on Gods holy day we taste no sweetness in them Saepe etiam pi is successus in laboribus vocationis denegatur non malè sed certo consilio dei cùm verò Petrus sine successu laborasset non ex impatientiâ murmurat non rejicit vocationem Chemnit nor reap any advantage from them It was once the complaint of the Disciples that they toyled all night and could catch nothing Luke 5. 5. The Saints labours in this life are not alwayes successful they may plow upon a Rock and sow the Seed though presently they do not reap the Harvest Beautiful Rachel was barren for a time and she who had so much comliness had no Child Answers to prayer are not alwayes on the speed but sometimes they are suspended and many wait on God in a Sabbath and yet in the evening do not carry their sheaves with them Psal 126. 6. they may toyle all the Sabbath in the fire of Ordinances and yet not for the present be sensible of their melting and refining power But what shall be done in this case Answ 1 Such should examine themselves whether they bring not too much of the world with them to Sabbath opportunities Happily when they are at
midwived into the world by Apostolical precept or practise The infinite distance between the Authorities must needs conclude a vast difference between the benedictions nor can the Canon of a Council tie conscience so fast or bless the obedient so much as the Canon of Scripture our enemies themselves being Judges nor can in the least any Scripture be produced to authorize the Church to set up a Sabbath for the Christian World God usually blesseth his own institutions Prayer is powerful because He commands it Preaching John 14. 15. effectual because He enâ—oyns it the Sacraments comfortable Mat. 28. 19 20. because He ordains them and so the Lords Day is often Luk. 22. 19 20. bedewed with showers of the choicest love and benediction because it was Christs institution either more immediately by his personal command or else mediately by his inspired and infallible Apostles And therefore let us fall down before the force of truth and conclude the blessings of our Sabbath speak the beginnings of our Sabbath to be in Gods breast and not in mans will God usually accepting the worship at Jerusalem and not that at Dan and Bethel he loves those festivals of which himself is the Author And let us fetch a pregnant argument from Providence What signal judgements hath God punished the prophaners of Peccatum est deiâ—idium â— Christiciâ—â—um est summum malum spomaneâ— infania somnus et mors anima ex sui naturâ mortem meretur gravâ— est onus animum deprimens cibus durus nullo stomacho digestibilis morbus pesti lentissimus putidissima corruptio Alap the Lords day with as shall be shewn more fully hereafter Now the prophaning of the Lords day must needs be a breach of the law of God or else how can it be a provocation of the wrath of God God punisheth only for sin which the Apostle saith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law 1 John 3. 4. Now if our Christian Sabbath be only a law of Man where is the positive and provoking sin in the violation of it where is the infinite evil which should so inflame divine displeasure as to pour out his fury on the violatours of it and to follow them with tremendous judgements Is it probable that God would strike so deeply and punish so fearfully and wonderfully for the breach of a Canon of the Church or a Decree of a Council It is true was the Lords day bottom'd on Ecclesiastical authority it would be a piece of disobedience to the Church to violate it but still where is the infinite evil as every sin is to stir up so much indignation in the Almighty Surely the breach of a humane constitution could never raise such storms in the world nor pelt so many untimely into their dust and oftentimes on a sudden and in a stupendous and terrible manner as shall be fully shewed hereafter And again we meet with no such tragedies in our sporting upon holy dayes and those festivals which are of the Churches appointment those dayes run waste in mirth and jollity nor do we meet with broken limbs sudden deaths fearfull diseases unexpected blindness c. the common issues of the prophanation of the Lords day to be the success and consequence of that vanity Providence then makes the distinction between dayes of the Churches appointment and that blessed day our Christian Sabbath which is of divine institution To conclude then this particular Let us cloath the Lords Quid hac die fâ—â—icius est quâ dominâ—â— judaeâ—â— mortuus est nobis resurrexit In quâ cultus Synagogae ocâ—ubuit et est ortus ecclesiae in quâ nos homines fecit surgere et vivere secum et sedere in coelestibus Haec est dies quem fecit dominus exultemus et laetetemur in illo Omnes dies fecit dominus sed caeteri dies possunt esse ju daeorum possunt esse Haereticorum possunt esse Gentilium sed dies dominica dies est resurrectionis dies Christianorum est dies nostra est Hier. day in all its royal Apparel and put on all its Jewels and Ornaments and then we shall see this Queen of dayes in all its splendour and glory A day it is of honour and renown above all dayes that ever the Sun shone in the most gloririous day that ever God created the most solemn day that ever the Church celebrated a day which Christ hath crowned with the greatest glory of any day that ever dawned upon the world It is a day of the Lords power a day of his perfection the day of his praise and glory and a day of his bâ—â—â—nty and blessings the day of his espousals and of the gladness of his heart When Christ was born the Angels celebrated that day with Songs and triumphs Luke 2. 13. When Christ rose from the dead or else why was he born Let the Saints celebrate that day with weekly solemnities and praises and not passe away their laud in a transient musick as the Angels did On this day our Christian Sabbath day there was a confluence of wonders and wonderfull transactions wrought by him whose name is wonderfull Isa 9. 6. In a word this day is the highly favoured of God a map of Heaven a taste of Glory the golden spot of time the market day of souls the day break of eternal brightness a day to be marked of thousands for their new birth day a day on which many have been redeemed from more then Aegyptian bondage a day of light of joy of love and delight a day which is truly delitiae humani generis the delight of mankind as once Titus was called Ah! how do men flutter up and down on the week dayes as the Dove on Rom. 1. 4. Luke 13. 32. John 20. 22 23. the waters and can find no rest for their souls till they come to this day as to an Arke and this day takes them in On this day the light was created the Holy Spirit descended life hath been restored Satan subdued Sin mortified Souls sanctified Cant. 3. 11. Hos 2. 19 20. Acts 13. 34. Sex praerogativae recensentur ad diem dominicum propiissimè pertinentes Beda in lib. de officiis Eccles Cap. 1. the Grave Hell and Death conquered O! the mountings of mind the ravishings of heart the solace of soul which on this day men enjoy in their dearest Saviour Our Lords day is the first day of the week was the first day of the world On it the Elements were formed the light was created the Angels were produced On it Manna was first rained down On it say the Fathers of the sixt General Council was Christ born On it did the Star first appear to the wise men who came out of the East On it was Christ baptized in Jordan by John the Baptist as the Council of Paris observe Sextum Concilium generale Constantinopoli celebratum On it saith a learned man Christ
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
loose to carnal liberty on the Lords day the more loose his heart will be in all good duties the whole week following Let men neglect meditation repetition of Sermons holy conference and other private duties betakeing themselves after the publick worship is over to vain and worldly discourse or vainer pleasures they shall quickly find that the publick service is utterly lost and become unprofitable And on the contrary as Moses continued forty dayes with God on the Mount had his face shining with splendor and glory Exod. 34. 30. So he who shall this day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag of God wholly converse with God not only in publick Ordinances as Moses in the tabernacle but likewise in private duties as Moses on the Mount shall find a sensible spiritual vigour and an unexpected strength to carry him through all the occasions of the whole week following and a kind of glorious lustre arising from the increase of holiness put upon him and this shall be visible to the eye and hearts of others Eccles 3. 1. He who keeps the Lords day with the most strict and and accurate observation shall find 1. Most blessing upon his labours 2. Most holiness in heart and life 3. Most comfort and joy in his own soul 4. Most sweetness in death 5. Most glory and rest in Heaven when there remains that Populo dei superest Sabbatismus i. e. requies dâ—i ad quam quotidiè sanctus vocatur Par. everlasting Sabbatism for all the people of God It is a good observation of a learned man That when the spirit cometh effectually to convince of sin usually one of the first sins which the eye of the enlightned conscience fixes upon is the neglect of the Lords day and conviction usually ending in conversion one of the first duties which the soul comes seriously to close withall is the strict observation of the Lords day and grace usually works this way and doth exceedingly dispose to this duty Young Converts will be full of meltings on Gods holy day And truly the holy observation of the Sabbath much speaks the temper of a Christian However the week fares as Judg. 12. 6. the Sabbath doth Good Sabbaths usher in good weeks and are the morning stars of an approaching day when we hear truth on the Sabbath digesting it by prayer and meditation when we put up strong cries to God with fervour and devotion when we enjoy Ordinances our spiritual meals on a Sabbath with appetite and satisfaction this will cast a chain upon our corrupt hearts and will be bellows to our future zeal wil supply us with holy meditations which will be as so many bright gleams and will put a heat upon our affections and make us every way act the Saint all the ensuing week As Queen Mary said when she lost Callais When I am dead open me and you shall find Callais written upon my heart So the Christian who hath been very serious on Gods day you shall find Sabbath written upon his heart all the following week The seent of a conscientious Sabbath is not easily lost nor is the warmth of it so speedily chilled souls drenched in Sabbath Ordinances like vessels seasoned with excellent liquors Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu they long retain the taste The believer is disciplined upon a Sabbath and we do not easily forget our Education A Sermon kindly entertained on the Lords day will be faithfully improved on the week day Our best Christians were ever strictest on the Sabbath Those tasts of love we then sense and gust will abide and not lightly wear off these will lie upon the heart when the Sabbath is over Let us keep Sabbaths well we shall be better in our shops better in our worldly affairs better in our families better in our discourses better in our converses more righteous in our dealings more exemplary in our walkings more vigorous in our duties all the week following After a well passed Sabbath we shall more watch our hearts more keep our ground and withstand temptations and the deceipts of our Calling which happily Quaestus magnus est pietas quia opes supernaturales secum affert et amicitiam dei obtinet qui suis opes coelestes promittit praeparat are quilted into the very nature of it shall not so much tempt as exasperate and provoke us The whole week must be spent holy to prepare us the better for the Sabbath and the Sabbath must be spent hâ—ly the better to influence the week as the beginning with God on the morning of a Sabbath may influence the whole Sabbath so the beginning with God in the morning of the week viz. The Lords day may exceedingly influence and prosper the whole week He 2 Thes 2. 10. who on the Sabbath hath been much in the work of heaven cannot easily be much in the dross of earth or the dregs of sin on the time of the week Ordinances like clocks when they have struck leave a sound and a noise for a considerable time nor can a Sermon carefully heard be presently shaken out of the heart The word when received in the love thereof is fire in the bones Jer. 20. 9. and not heat in the face an inward warmth which is permanent and not only a colour which is transient The tasts the impressions the power and spirituality of a well-observed Sabbath cannot without much difficulty strong assaults of Satan powerful workings of a corrupt heart be disanulled and eradicated Hearts steeped in holy Ordinances will not soon lose their perfume It is very true our slight deportment in Ordinances makes them superficial and so soon slide off and they who pass over the Sabbath loosly will spend the week profligately they who spend it formally will spend the week vainly But a serious composure of spirit on Gods holy day will blow off the froth of the ensuing week Ignatius as hath been suggested calls the Lords day the Queen of dayes Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Oâ—bis and according to the example of the Queen inferiour and subordinate days will be composed The endeavour of every Christian should be that his practices in secret in his calling in his company on the week day should be answerable to the great priviledges he enjoyed and to the rich grace he received on the Lords day One well observes That Religion is just as the Sabbath and it decays or groweth as the Sabbath is esteemed it flourishes in a due Veneration of the Sabbath and it pines and consumes when the Sabbath is under neglect or contempt And Dr. Twisse takes notice That the conscionable observation of the Sabbath ever was is a principal means to draw us to spiritual rest from sin and to fit us for an eternal rest in glory In a word the Sabbath and the week are both embarqued in the same ship they both are safe or sink together if our souls
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
memoranda primum et praeciâ—â—â—um est benefiâ—ium creationis quod commemoratur in sanctificatione Sabbati Aquin. Prima Secundae Quest 100. Artic. 5. transcendent Majesty in that magnificent Pallace of the Heavens which he hath prepared and furnished for himself where he sends forth his light and makes it his covering and the clouds are his triumphal Chariots Psal 104. 2 3. Sixthly In this great work is manifest Gods absolute perfection in imparting to the creatures all their several perfections which must needs be in a far more eminent degree in him who gave them And indeed this illustrious work is the strong motive to all Gods Creatures to Adore Worship Love Fear Serve Reverence and Obey this great Jehovah and to Depend Rest Trust and submit themselves to him alone But the glory of this work of Creation will yield a more amazing splendor if we look on it In its Antiquity It is the most ancient of all Gods visible works Deut. 4. 32. Mat. 13. 19. Rev. 3. 14. and that In principio deâ—â—â—reavit c. In hac voce non Authorem tantùm sed exordinum mundi judicat Moses Par. Gen. 1. 1. which is most ancient is most honourable Jer. 18. 15. Dan. 7. 9. This great and stupendous work is now some six thousand years standing it is the primitive essay of his power who is the ancient of days Time seems to shed a Veneration upon it The first Creation was the Cradle of the world its infancy which nothing did precede but the Being of a God who is from all eternity In its universality The work of Creation is the most general and extensive of all Gods works extending to Angels Men Sun Moon Stars nay to the Sparrow on the 1 Kings 4. 33. house top to the fly in the air and to the hysop on the Wall it transcends the bounds of Solomon's Philosophy to give us a Tract of all the Vegetables the Bruits and Rationals Bonum eò melius quò communius which God created when he set upon this glorious work And here that politick axiom is most true That which is good the more general the more grateful And therefore Philo the Jew in his Tract of the Workmanship of the World stiles the Sabbath which is the Festival in Memory Phil. suo de Opisicio Mundi of the Creation a Feast not of one people or of one Region but the universal festivity of all Nations which Festival alone deserves the name of popular In its goodness and untainted purity God at the first created all things very good perfect pure and excellent Gen. 1. 31. Nay man himself after his own image in holiness true righteousness Gen. 1 25 26. integrity and perfection without sin corruption Eccl. 7. 27. or obliquity The work of Creation at first was wholly unblemished Eph. 4. 24. there was no wrinckle upon the face of the Universe every creature was fair in its kind Mans sin put poyson into the Toad put rage into the Wolf put Briers and Gen. 3. 17. Thorns into the Earth put spots into the Moon nay withering into the flowers of the field and decays into the Omnes creaturae vehementem aversionem habent itâ— ut si haberent sensum gemerent ut parturientes iâ—lque ab exordio mundi lapsus hominis usque nunc trees of the forrest and veiled the face of nature with the black veil of uncomeliness And that the whole Creation groans as the Apostle affirms Rom. 8. 22. it is from those sick fits and distempers which mans sin hath cast it into When the air infects us the heat and the cold doth annoy us the earth disappoints us and yields no increase from whence is this vanity Even from our selves from ours and our first parents sin Man in sinning commits two evils as the Prophet speaks in another case he presses God Amos 2. 13. Jer 2 13. And he burdens the creature nay alters the world from its primitive loveliness when beauty was the taking blush of every Being In the rarity and eminency of some creatures more especially How glorious are the Angels those Courtiers of Heaven 1 Kings 13. 18. 1 Kings 19. 5. Dan. 6. 22. 2 Chr. 32. 21. those friends of the Bridegoom mans elder Brethren Psal 5. 8. Those Chariots of God Psal 68. 17. Those Guardians of believers Psal 91. 11. who are decked and adorned Quid murmuras caro misera quid recalcitras quid omninò invides si fueris corpus humilitatis reformabit idem Artifâ—x qui formavit Bern. with excellency who excell in strength Psal 103. 20. who excel in holiness Mark 8. 38. who excel in all the fruitions of joy and happiness Mat. 18. 10. Rev. 5. 11. Rev. 7. 12. who excel in splendor and glory Luke 24. 23. And how glorious was the humane nature of Christ how spotless precious pure chrystaline yet a creature His soul how undefiled Heb. 4. 15. His body how glorious Phil. 3. 21. How did the divine Nature glorifie the humane in its stupendious and grateful acceptation of it I might adde how glorious is the glistering Sun the amiable Moon the twinkling Stars which put the night out of its blackest melancholy Let onely this be subjoyned that without the work of Creation there could be no work of Redemptiâ—nâ— the chief end of which is to restore us to that felicity happiness and enjoyment which man in his first Creation both did and had he persevered in that estate should have enjoyed and possessed Now one principal end of the Sabbath Gen. 2 â— is to commemorate this glorious work that as God when he had finished it took up his rest Gen. 2. 3. So man when he beholds it should take up his rest and keep a weekly Sabbath to the Lord. There is a political end of the Sabbath viz. The refreshment and recreative breathing of the outward man a relaxation â—ùm deus sex dâ—â—râ—m spacio 〈…〉 absoluisset septiâ—um diem quiete suâ sanctum reddere voluit Riv. of the body from the pains and toil of the week and therefore the Sabbath is called a rest It is said of God himself that on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Exod. 31. 17. And how much more doth poor man stand in need of rest and refreshment Death indeed fairly unpins our tabernacle of clay folds it up and lays it in the grave but too much labour tears it down mans body is taken down Psal 116. 7. by death is thrown down by too much toil therefore the Deus non tantum Creator sed conservator est Creaturarum Leid Prof. wearisom labours of the week must be allayed by the rest of the Sabbath The very name of a Sabbath signifies nothing but rest strongly to argue that that holy day was appointed for mans relaxation from the hurries of the world and the sweats of the week The Sabbath is a rest to the