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
Father before we go to the Psal 119. 27. publick Ordinances on the blessed Sabbath Rev. 3. 18. Secondly As we must pray that God would take away the scales from our eyes so likewise that he would remove the caul from our hearts that he would open our hearts to receive the word Judgment discerns truth but affection embraceth it Indeed the understanding takes a view of Gods word and finds it to be holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. But the heart entertains it and lays it up as its choicest Luke 2. 19. treasure A poor man goes by a Goldsmiths shop and seeth Mandata dei sancta sunt quia praescribunt quomodo deus sanctè colâ— debet justa quia praescribunt ut proximum non laedas sed ei quoâ— suum est tribuns bona quia praescribunt eâ— quibus quisque in se bonus est Alap Nisi Sp. s cordi sit audientis otiosus est Sermo Doctoris Greg. Money Jewels and Plate but he is not enriched by this wealth and a traveller in his journey takes a view of pleasant Lands delicate Mountains and amiable Prospects but his own Tenure is not amplified by all that he seeth So our judgment views truth and is convinced of its beauty and excellency but the heart only espouses the blessed truths of God and makes them his own to all intents and purposes Gospel discoveries are no riches till they are locked up in the heart and therefore God must be intreated for this thing for he that opens the eye must open the heart or else when the Sermon is done all the Prospect is over and we are not at all the better Lydia's attending was unavailable untill God opened her heart Arts 16. 14. The Apostle speaks of receiving truth in the love thereof 2 Thes 2. 10. Truth is pleasant to the Understanding but profitable to the Will Then the Gospel advantageth us when the Doctrine of it is not only the guide of our eye but the good of our heart It is love and affection which squeezeth the Grapes of truth and maketh it generous wine to the soul Where Acts 2. 37. the word Preached by Peter wrought upon the Jews it Christimors morita sacramenta praecepta promissa licet incredulis pudorismâ— et risui tamen nobis virtus dei et potentia pricked them to the heart Acts. 2. 37. If we buy the truth as Solomon adviseth us Prov. 23. 23. the heart must be the Chapman If we taste the word 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. the heart must be the Palate we then rellish truth when we affect it If we delight in truth Psal 119. 47. It is the joy and the rejoycing of the heart as Jeremy speaks Jer. 15. 16. A learned man observes It is the love of truth which is one of those graces which accompany Salvation Therefore on the morning of a Sabbath let us importune the Lord to engage our hearts in the service of truth and for the entertainment of it he who searches must draw the heart Rom. 1. 16. Thirdly Let us wrestle with God for the strengthning of our memories that he would make them pillars of Marble to write divine truth on It is very sad when heavenly Doctrines are written in sand or dust and after our hearing of them they run out again as the sands in the hour glass sad it is that truth which cost so dear should be lost so soon If God is so gracious to keep a book of remembrance for our discourses Mal. 3. 16. how serious should we be to keep a book of remembrance for Gospel discoveries It is most reasonable that those truths which were bought with Christs bloud should be wrought on our hearts Indeed in this case Jonah 2. 8. to forget our mercies is to forsake them How earnest was the Apostle Peter that the Saints might not forget those Doctrines which he â—ad preached how doth he reduplicate his care and their duty 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of 2 Pet. 1. 12 13 15. these things yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance And so in the fifth verse Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance Thus this blessed Apostle again and again stirs up and urges their mindfulness and remembrance of those Gospel truths he had discovered to them and presses that the Gospel might not die with them when he was dead and gone Our memories are naturally sieves of vanity and therefore need divine assistance to close up the chinks and stop the holes that the waters of life run not out in waste Indeed mans memory is never so usefull as in the time of Ordinances it is then a sacred Register and a holy repository like 1 Cor. 4. 17. the Ark where the two Tables in which the Decalogue was written were put and lodged After a good heart and 2 Tim. 2. 14. a good life nothing more conduceth to mans happiness then a good memory Forgetfulness is the grave of Gods truth 1 Tim. 4. 6. and mans treasure what I forget I can neither dwell upon by meditation nor feed upon by love and affection nor live upon in a holy and fruitful conversation Forgotten promises cannot support my faith forgotten commands cannot regulate my life forgotten truths cannot enrich my mind Forgetfulness is never happy but when injury is the object when we bury our injuries in that silent sepulchre One glorious office of the spirit is to bring things divine to our remembrance John 16. 26. and to fasten truth upon the Spiritus sanctus non solùm ut sciamus Author est sed ut verè sapiamus Doctor est ut beati simus intimae suavitatis largitor est Aug. soul we should therefore be earnest with God on the morning of a Sabbath to cause his spirit to execute this blessed office For though in preaching of the word the Mysteries of the Gospel are propounded to us yet it is the spirit must open our minds to understand the word else it will be a book sealed as the Prophet speaks Isa 29. 11. It is the spirit must give us wisdom to apply the word Eph. 1. 17 18. It is the spirit must support our memory to retain the word A learned man observes The Holy Ghost performs his office Isa 29. 11. not only by revealing truth to us but by imprinting it upon us Else the sounding of the Gospel will be like the sounding of Eph. 1. 18. a Clock after it hath struck a little noise there is for the present but it ceases by degrees and at last no sound at all is heard In a word forgetful hearers go from Ordinances Spiritus Sanctus apud nos officium suum peragit non solùm docendo sed et suggerendo just
as Christ saith John 16. 22. I shall see you again and then your heart shall rejoyce And as Theophylact observes The Disciples as it were rose from the dead transported with joy A life of Righteousness For as Christ died for our sins so he arose for our justification Rom. 4. 25. It was the rising of Martis Christâ— proprius finis erat peccatorum expâ—â—â—â— sed resurrectiâ—nis justitiae imputatio Pâ—r. Ideò Christus promeretur nobis justitiam et vitam spiritualem quae consistit in remissione peccatorum et justitiae imputatione per quam coramdeo justi reputemur quia ex morte resurrexit Ger. Christ which made his death auâ—hentical and satisfactory Paraeus observes The proper end of Christs death was the expiation of our sins and the proper end of his resurrection was the imputation of his own righteousness The foundation of our comfort is laid in Christs death but we receive it in his resurrection Our peace and joy is sown in his death but we reap it and begin to possess it in his resurrection And though Christs rising adds nothing to the price which was paid in his death yet it is a demonstration of the sufficiency of it and thereby a confirmation of our comfort by it for if Christ had not rose again his death had done us no good and all our comfort had been a withered branch If death had overcome him wrath had overcome us Christ by rising hath promerited a righteousness for us Jer. 23. 6. our wedding garment came from this Wardrobe his breaking from the grave made our joys and his own merits full which are applicable to us by faith A life of Grace Christ by his resurrection hath purchased the donation of the spirit which he sent down extraordinarily Ex plenitudine Christi gratiam pro gratiâ accepimus non tantùm gratiam remissionis peccatorum sed 〈◊〉 vitam a ternam quae credentibus ex gratià datur Aug. presently after it upon his holy Apostles Acts 2. 2. and still in sweet and sutable measures upon his people John 1. 16. Now this True Vine John 15. 1. flourisheth in glory to which his resurrection was the first step he drops sap into his branches here below John 15. 4. Christ after his resurrection obtains the Holy Ghost for us and bestoweth it upon us and by this blessed spirit engraffeth us into himself regenerateth and quickneth us An evidence of this truth we have John 7. 39. The words of which Text run thus But this be spake of the spirit which they who believed on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not glorified This royal gift only waited the glory of his resurrection A Life of Glory The Resurrection of Christ opened the gates of Heaven to believers and from that first ascent he Christus coelum Ipsum ingrâ—ssâ—s est nâ—n tâ—m prose et sâ—â— gloriâ quam pro nobis nostra gloriâ Christus praecurrit ut nobâ—â— vâ—am sterâ—eret et pararet â—tque praecurrenâ—em brevi subsequâ—emur qui enim aâ—teri praeâ—urrit ut pertas aperiâ—â— et aperâ—â—â— servâ—tâ— parvâ— intervâ—llâ— qui sequitur intrâ—â—bâ—t Theoph. Nullâ— operatio in die dominico agatur nisi tantùm Hymnis et Psalmis et cantionibus spiritaâ—libus dies ill transignur Linw. went up to his Father to prepare a place for us John 14. 2. Had Christ been locked in the Grave we had been locked out of Glory but Christ rose to go to his Father and in this he is our fore-runner as the Apostle saith expresly He is entred into Heaven for us Heb. 6. 20. to take up our room and prepare our eternal Thrones Theophylact hath a pretty similitude When one goes before saith he and opens a gate it is but a little space but those who are to follow come and enter so the Saints shall not be long before they shall enter within the vail whither our fore-runner is gone before and this sublimates a Believers hope Our Suâ—ety hath taken our places for us and after a few breaths a few flying moments we shall come and take up our eternal abode and residence And what is the issue of all this Shall Christs resurrection be the fountain of our good and not the incentive of our duty Shall we rise with him and not live to him on his own holy day Had the Resurrection only concerned himself and been the Emblem of his own personal glory some Apology might have been made but when it is not an inclosure but a Common for the Saints to live upon how should this influence us upon the Lords day How should our hearts rise in holy affections how should our voice rise in praise and thanksgivings how should our thoughts rise in heavenly meditations A couchant earthly frame upon this day no way accords with this beneficial nay beatificall resurrection The Resurrection of Christ is the certain assurance of ours The Head is risen and the body must follow the Elder Eph 1. 21. 22. Hoc sperate memâ—ra quod in capite praecessâ—â— Aug. Brother is sprung out of the dust and the Younger Brethren shall not always lie there The Vine is now planted in Heaven and there the Branches must receive their eternal flourish Christ rose again not as the Jews prisoner under a Dies vitae nostrae est dies Parasceves succedit dies qutetis in sepulchro quem sequitur dies resurrectionis ad vitam Ger. sentence of condemnation but as the Christians Harbinger for their unspeakable consolation It is worthily observed of a learned man The day of our life is our Preparation day then follows our Rest in the grave to which succeeds our Resurrection day to life and eternity As Christ died to make the purchase so he rose again to see it made good to believers and his Resurrection is but the earnest of ours This glorious act of Christs rising gives us security for these ensuing particulars That Divine Justice is satisfied When the Prisoner for Debt is freed it is presumed the debt is discharged and the Quia Christus resurrexit ideò non amplius sumus sub peccatis quia praestita est plena pro iis satisfactio c. Ger. Creditor fully satisfied Christ in his Resurrection opened the prison doors of the grave and shewed himself to many witnesses free and discharged from all incumbrances which fully speaks that divine Justice is paid to the utmost farthing That God and Man are fully reconciled For sin only commenced the controversie and kept up the difference Isa 59. 2. Now sin being removed by a full acquittance and discharge â—am Christus mortuus est immò jam resurrexit ergo peccata nostra non amplius coram dei judicio nos condemnare possunt viz. By the delivery and Rising of our Surety the wound naturally closeth and all is peace between God and believers And so the Sun of Righteousness arose with
Prophet Jeremy adviseth us Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens The soul is principally interested in all holy duties First Not only because in all holy services God principally eyes the heart Prov. 23. 26. Or Secondly Because Gospel Ordinances chiefly influence and aim at the heart But Thirdly Likewise because the welfare of the soul is the only Port we sail to in all our attendance upon Gospel opportunities It is the souls conviction the souls conversion the souls edification and building up in its most holy faith which is the grand design in every Evangelical administration Now for the composure of our inward man in Eph. 3. 16. holy Ordinances Let us apply our understandings to the word and the work we are about The wise man saith Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and when we Haec lux in intellectu in tenebris micans sovenda est studio et diligenti operum dei commentatione et experimentis et otio veluti rubigine corrumpitur Cartw. come to holy Ordinances it is both our duty and our wisdom to snuff this candle that it may burn the brighter to see the mysteries of the Gospel and this is suitable to the Apostolical Counsel 1 Pet. 1. 13. Gird up the loâ—ns of your mind A metaphor taken from travellers who gird their garments close that they may not be impeded and hindred in their journey When we draw nigh to God in Ordinances we must bend our minds and be intent on the word and drink in truth as the parched ground doth the rain we must screw up our minds to an acurate observation of what ever is revealed unto us from divine Writ If the Gospel John 3 19. be light it is the eye of the understanding must behold this light If the Gospel be a day it is the eye of the mind must Rom. 13. 12. discern this day Some hear the word and understand it Isa 6. 10. not and this is Gods judgment But some hear the precious truths of God and entertain them not and this is mans sin Men shut the eye of their understanding by carelesness and neglect We should hear the word as condemned men their pardons as Legatees the Wills wherein their Legacies are set down with that intenseness of minde Preaching if we spur not up the minde to pursue it is a noise Pater nobis deâ— illuminatos oculos cordis nostrâ— ut ejus lumine illustâ—ati Christum plenè agnoscamus Ambr. not the word an inarticulate sound not soul-saving Doctrine And that our understanding may discharge its office prayer must precede That God would open the eyes of our minde that we may see the wonderfull things of the Law Psal 119. 34. and we must beg eye-salve Rev. 3. 18. and that God would give us the spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. to shed a light upon our understandings Luke 24. 45. that we may dive deep into the profound Mysteries of the Gospel We know not what ardent prayer and a diligent minde may Christus solus operit intelleâ—tum Scripturarum Chemnâ— Mel in Ore melos in Aure. Bern. accomplish towards Scripture knowledge Indeed the Gospel is proportionate to every thing in man it is honey to the taste and Gold to the interest of man Psal 19. 10. It is musick to his ear Ezek. 33. 32. light to his eye John 19. and comfort to his heart Rom. 15. 3. And pity it is the shutting of an eye a little rareless remisness and not bending the minde should rob the soul of such unsearchable treasure We must deal with our hearts to embrace the word in the dispensations of it The Gospel is not only to be let in by Prov. 23. 23. Verbem dei sâ—t domesticus non peregrinus non forâ— stare sed in domo cordis continuò versari Daven our apprehensions but to be lockt in by our affections and we are to entertain it not only in the light of it but in the love of it The Apostle complains 2. Thes 2. 10. That many did not entertain the truth in the love thereof that they might be saved The truths of God must have the heart and we buy them not by our audience but our espousals The word must dwell in us Col. 3. 16. and not as a transient guest but as an inmate Scholars may understand the word but Christians embrace it It is a rare speech of the holy Psalmist Psal 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times The word is the Mat. 13. 23. seed the heart the ground where this seed must be thrown John 5. 40. David calls the Law not his light but his love Psal 119. 97. and his delight Psal 119. 35. When we come to Ordinances we must resolve to treasure up truth and entertain it as Lot the Angels Gen. 19. 3. Or the Virgin Mary the wonders of her time Luke 2. 19. A refractory will renders all opportunities of grace abortive The two Disciples Luke 24. 32. which came from Emmaus question one with another Whether their hearts did not burn within them when Christ had opened the Scriptures to them intimating to us that the heart is properly the Altar upon which the fire of the word is to be laid to the sacrificing of our lusts and the inflaming of our graces And it is the glorious promise of God to write his Law upon our hearts Jer. 31. 33. Let us meet this blessed promise in bringing our hearts to every Gospel dispensation We must put our memories upon employment when we come to holy Ordinances The memory it is the Secretary of the soul and as at Council boards the Secretary cannot be absent so at Ordinances which are the Council table Acts 20. 27. where soul-concernments are agitated and transacted the memory must not be absent We must not write the word when preached to us in dust but in marble not in a heedless neglect but in a faithfull remembrance We do not throw Pearls into sieves to drop out The paradox is greater Memoâ—ia ignis gehennae est â—emedium apâ—rimè utile contrà omnes tentationes Chrysost Rev. 14. 6. when we put the eternal Gospel into a treacherous and faithless memory Surely we shall never practice that truth we cannot remember if we do not mind the word we shall never live it We cannot read blotted lines or understand torn papers and if the word lie onely upon the surface of the memory it will never get within the bark of the life That Sun-dyall will never give us the time of the day which wants the gnomon to cast the shadow charge thy memory to retain every truth thou hearest Let it pick up the filings John 6. 12. of divine Truth that nothing may be lost The richest Fringes are so many several threads wrought together We do not Agnoscamus
partakers of And indeed none but a corrupt heart would chain up holy discourse upon the Lords day that heavenly season when gracious words should be our dialect If the word of God dwell richly in us Col. 3. 16. Inhabitants will not always keep within doors we shall bring forth our treasure for the enriching and edifying of others And let us not excuse our selves with a pretence of shamefastness The shame of the world will not keep us from vain why then from godly discourse Sweet and spiritual communication Christiani in primaevâ ecclesiae aetaie non tam caenà m caenabant quà m diciplinam Tertul. Apol. c. 39. is none of those fruits whereof we may be ashamed Rom. 6. 21. Nor let ignorance be alledged for an excuse ignorance it self might induce thee to propound things profitable which will feed good discourse the Question will beget an answer and the Answer will bring forth a progeny of heavenly communion But in a word what do our tables especially on the Lords day without savory and Christian discourse differ from a manger After our meal our dinner is over then follows not onely the digestion of our food but of the word that better food John 6. 27. Verùm non publicè modo sed privatim hunc ipsum diem sanctâ— pietatis officiiâ— qualia sunt sacrae Scripturae lectio et meditatio domestica colloquium de rebus sacris atque charitatis officiis transigendum censemus Leid Prof. which nourisheth unto eternal life and this will be the best wine at the end of our meal John 2. 10. We must repeat over discourse over pray over that word we hear in the Morning in the publick Congregation Indeed Truth is most pleasing when most tasted David calls the word Honey Psalm 19. 10. and honey pleases not the eye but the palate it is better food then prospect Then the word doth its work not when it is onely heard but when it is ruminated on and is not onely discovered but digested it then doth most good to us when it is riveted in us fastned nails help forward the building not those which lye loose up and down when we work Gods word upon our hearts this is like inlaid Gold which makes the richest embroydery Hearing may bring a truth to the head but meditation and a careful pondering works it into the heart It is the seething of Milk makes the Cream The Bee sucks the flowr and then works it in his Hive and makes honey of it Satan himself is called an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. He knows very much It is not truth in the head but riveted fastned and setled in the heart which speaks us to be translated from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Acts 26. 18. Chrysostome in one of his excellent Homilies upon Matthew layes it as a charge upon Christians That when we depart from the Ecclesiastical Assembly we should not in any case entangle our selves in businesses of a contrary nature but as soon as we come home turn over the holy Scriptures and call our wives and children to confer about those things which were delivered in publick and after they have been deeply rooted in our minds then to proceed to provide for those things which are necessary for this life And the same worthy Father makes the Similitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Sciendum est quòd non sufficit ut concionibus dei sabbati attendaâ—us et doctrinam bonam recipiamus et ut nomen dei invocemus sed ut haec omnia digeramus et ad hanc rem ipsi quoque transformemur Calv. Acts 17. 11. Si detis operam verbo ut inde pietatem et omnem salutiseram sapientiam discatis Haec est meta studii nostri et sic instruamur expenâ—â— scripturarum Daven Psal 119. 15 23 48 78 148 97 99. When saith he we retire from Fields in their beauty and flourish we bring some Rose or Violet home with us And when we come from a goodly Supper we bring some remaines of those dainties and give them to our friends And when we have been in publick Ordinances shall we not bring some doctrine and heavenly admonition to our wives friends ad children when this doctrine is more profitable then the flowers of the field or the dainties of the Table Heavenly Truths are Roses which will not shed fruits which will not perish and delicacies which will not corrupt c. So then the word which we hear in the publick Assemblies that heavenly food must be concocted it must be walked down by holy Meditation staked down by good and seasonable Communication fastned upon the soul by holy musing and ardent Prayer The seed in the ground brings forth grain not the seed upon the top of the clods The digested word will bring forth twins delight and obedience Women when they dress themselves they do not walk by the Looking-glass but set themselves before it and spend some time in fastning every pin onely to hear the Word is but to walk by the Glasse but repetition discourse prayer and contemplation must fasten every truth upon the soul and so it will look amiable and beautiful The clean beasts chew the cud Levit 11. 3. The careful Christian will whet the word upon his own and as much as may â—e upon anothers heart The Bereans obtained the title of Noble not from hearing but examination of the VVord not for any thing they did in the publick Assembly but from what they did at home The winnowed Corn is fit for use when it hath passed the Flail and the Fan. The Word digested is fit for practice when it hath passed the meditation of the head the discussion and discourse of the tongue the pondering and the laying up of the heart The hearing of the Word onely is but a beautiful Prospect which is delectable but not durable but the weighing of the VVord in the scales of judgment the beating of it out by the labours of the minde makes it a rich treasure and a stock of divine counsel for the life to spend upon The Psalmist no lesse then seven times in one Psalm professes that the Law was his meditation he did not run over the beauty of it with a glance of his eye or pass over the musique of it as the playing of a tune and so lay aside the Instrument but his thoughts did dwell upon it as the Scholar upon his books Let us as our Saviour saith go and do so likewise and let us remember that on Gods blessed Day and on Gods blessed VVord our Luke 10. 37. work is much at home in our Families and with our hearts Let us spend the interval between the Morning and Evening worship in publique in holy prayer Prayer is suitable to every division of a Sabbath It doth not onely prepare Homines sunt instar terrae cursemen verbi dei committitur quaeque culturá ministerii praeparata
pluvia coelestis gratiae ad fructificandumirrigatur Par. us for publick duties but succeeds those publick ordinances to us It is like a good wind which doth not onely carry us off from the shore but goes along with us the whole Voyage it is a sweet duty which must be interwoven in every part of a Sabbath Prayer plows the heart for the seed of the VVord it commands rain to prosper that seed it secundates and ripens the Corn when it appears above-ground and it keeps the weeds from choaking the Corn It doth the whole work When we have been in publick with Psalm 109. 4. God Private prayer in Christ is the Altar which sanctifies the gift and Prayer in this interval of holy worship looks with a double aspect backward to what we have heard and forward to what we may hear indeed in this being like Heb. 4. 12. the Word a two-edged Sword it hath a double edge for our spiritual advantage Now our Prayer is like the sword at the east of the Garden of Eden which turned every way Acts 2. 27. Prayer in the Closet often saves us the labours of the Pulpit Jer. 23. 29. and directs the speech of the Minister to prick the Jer. 20. 9. 1 Cor. 3. 2. heart of the hearer Ananias came to Paul when he was praying Acts 9. 11. If the Word be an hammer it is prayer causes the stroke if the Word be fire it is prayer layes this fire on our hearths if the VVord be a sword it is prayer weilds this Sword to wound our lusts and corruptions In a word private prayer is the best meanes to prosper publick preaching and to guide the arrow of truth to hit the mark of Conscience Another Duty which must take up the space between the publick Ordinances is reading theÌ„ Scriptures VVhen we come home from the publick we must not be confined to the Scripturae sunt spiritualis aniae mensa in quá vivae representantur deliciae et maxima bona Anselm inclosure of the Ministers Sermon but we must open to the wide though pleasant Common of the whole book of God we must read some Chapters for spiritual edification Anselme used to call the Scriptures the spiritual Table of the soul furnished with all heavenly delicacies and with the choicest good things And on Gods holy day when our own table is taken away Let this spread-table be set before us for soul-feeding and repose Every Chapter which may be read is an Epitome of divine Truth which may Si quando procacior suit inimicus Psaltorium decantabat In tentationibus Deutero â—ii verba voluebat In tribulationibus Isaiae replicabat eloquia et scripturae testimonium in consolationem suam edisserebat Hierom. train up our children and influence our servants and which may build up our own souls and water every branch of the Family for spiritual growth in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord Phil. 3. 8. Hierome reports of Paula that he used the Scriptures as a Medicine against every disease If her enemies were violent she would turn over the Psalmes If her temptations were strong she would fix upon some part of Deuteronomy If her afflictions were forcible then she consulted some part of the Prophesie of Isaiah and so she drew the Scriptures into an universal comfort to her The VVord of God is our light to guide us Psalm 119. 105. And that family where the Scriptures are much read is a Goshen of light and pleasantness where Israel resides and inhabits when other habitations are covered with Aegyptian darkness with the darkness of sin and ignorance Governours of Families are the best stewards not onely when they lay in provisions from the Market Luke 12. 42. but when they bring forth spiritual food from the Scriptures by reading conscionably and constantly those Oracles of Rom. 3. 2. God to those under their roof for holy Job confidently asserts that the word is more necessary than the appointed food Acts 20 27. Job 23. 12. Let therefore the interval between the publick worship be filled up with holy travel in the counsels of God Scripturas non obiter inspicia nus et legamus ut externum corticem tantùm accipiamus sed adhibenda est diligens perscrutatio Chemnit recorded in Scripture Our Saviour imputed all the sottish mistakes of the Jews to their ignorance of the Scripture Mat. 22. 29. and lays it as a charge upon them to search the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. But it must not be as Chemnitius observes a transient glance but a serious search as Miners for Gold with pains and delight So then it is a great part of wisdom in Families to converse much with Gods word but especially on Gods day and most peculiarly when the most solemn and publick worship doth not call them off CHAP. XXXIV How we must spend the Evening of the Sabbath when the Publick Assemblies are dismissed THere are many who will give an easie answer to the question Nos ab omni opere externo vacantes deo uni et soli hoc die vacemus Ideireò et hunc diem benedixit et sanctificavit i. e. in usum suum separavit et elegit Aret. Eph. 4. 20. proposed and will tell us that when the publick service is ended we have our free liberty for all pleasing Recreations we may exercise our skil in a pair of Bowles we may exercise our valour in a pair of Cudgels we may exercise our fancy in a Dance or a Barly-break But all the reply I shall make this being spoken to before is I hope we have not so learned Christ Now therefore my next task is to lay down those duties with which we may close Gods holy and blessed day We must carefully survey what we have been acquainted withall in the publick The Repetition of Sermons is a heart-penetrating and soul-edifying duty the very manuduction Quod toties Paulus eadèm scribit hoc est ad corroborandum ut Christiani sint tutiores cautiores et vigilantiores Alap John 6. 12. and leading of families into the fear of the Lord Holy truths are those divine fragments which must not be lost but gathered up by a faithful repetition When the Minister hath ended to preach we must begin to rehearse such repetitions being the musical ecchoes from that sweet voice we heard before If Paul thought it not grievous to write the same things which he had taught before Phil. 3. 1. We must not think it painful or impertinent to rehearse the same things which we have learned before The repedting of 1 Sam. 3. 10. Quaevis cogitationes et rationes naturales intellectus quantumvis artificiosae quantum vis sublime subjiciantur doctrinae Evangelicae et de facto subjectae sunt omnibus eadem doctrinâ conversis Mal. 13. 19. truth preacht casts a new light upon it it clincheth Gospel counsel the faster upon the heart and
the time of the Sabbath Let us labour to get high esteemes of the Sabbath day We Praescrip 3. keep those things most charily we prize most We lock up Jewels which we value but we leave out other things which we despise and contemn One great reason why men practice Sabbaths no more is because they prize them no Apparet in Sâ—râ—pâ—uris hunc diem esse solennem ipse enim est primus dies seculi c. Aug. more Sabbaths fall in their opinion and therefore they sink in their observation They look upon the Sabbath as a common day a day of leisure to please themselves with carnall rest or sensual delight Only their shâ—ps are shut and so they cannot follow the works of their Calling but their hearts are open to entertain any temptation and so they mind the Magistrate more then Jehovah upon his own day Dies dominicus est dies Regalis in quâ— Imperator ascendit ab inferis Chrysost But serious and gracious persons have always spoken highly of Gods blessed Sabbath The Apostle John calls it the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. which is the Lord Christ his day for this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is appropriate to our Saviour Christ both in regard of the dignity and excellency of his person and because of the greatness and largeness of Ne ipsam quidem dominicam diem Jâ—nctissimi festi ullâ inreverentiâ habuere c. Athanas his dominion as likewise in respect of his bounty towards the members of his mystical body Acts 4. 36. Joh. 20. 13 28. Revel 17. 14. Cap. 19. 16. Now things and persons which are named the Lords are sacred and venerable in an high degree So The grace of our Lord Rom. 16. 24. The spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 17. The beloved of the Lord Rom. 16. Is solus et unus reverâ est proprius et dominicus dies et melior est aliis innumerabilibus diebus sive qui communitèr intelliguntur sive qui a Mose c. Hier. 8. The glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. The word of the Lord 1 Tim. 6. 3. The cup of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 27. Et sic Convivium dominicum the Lords banquet Tertul. lib. 2. ad Vxor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hierosol Catech. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The body of the Lord. Athanas ad Epict. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Scripture of the Lord. Clem. Alexandr Ignatius the blessed Martyr of Christ who lived in the Apostles age and was St. Johns Disciple maketh the Lords day the Queen the Princess the Lady Paramount of all dayes Eusebius in the life of Constantine the Great lib. 4. cap. 18. stileth the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In truth and in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. very deed the principal and the first Chrysostome calleth it a Royal day And Gregory Nazianzen Orat. 43. saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Higher then the highest and with admiration wonderfull above all other dayes Basil calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first fruits of dayes Chrysologus Ser. 77. saith It is the primate among days And Hierome in Marc. 16. The Lords day is better then other common dayes and then all the Festivals New Moons and Finitur septimus dies dominus est sepultus reditur ad primum dominus est resuscitatus domini resuscitatio promisit no bis aeternam diem et consecravit diem dominicam Aug. Sabbaths of Moses his Law The Lords day saith Maximus Taurinensis is venerable and a solemn day among Christians because like the Sun rising and dispelling infernal darkness Christ the Sun of Righteousness shined forth unto the world by the light of his Resurrection And the incomparable Augustine saith The Seventh day is ended the Lord was buried a return is made to the first day the Lord is raised the Lords Resurrection promised us an eternal day and it did consecrate unto us the Lords day Justin Martyr calls our Sabbath Sunday as many others after him and not without very good reason That being the Chiefest of dayes as the Sun is the most glorious of all the Planets and therefore the Civil Law calls Cod. Justin lib. 3. tit 12. our Sabbath The venerable and much honoured Sunday Our Sabbath is called Sunday to honour Christ who is the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4. 2. Enlightning every one who Nos jure optimo diem quem Mathematici solis vocant domino ascripsimus et illius cultui totum mancipavimus quoniam nulla re magis imaginari possumus praepotentis et universim supereminentis Christi Mâ—jestatem quà m per splendidissimum solis lumen Et Leo est solare animal Cael. Rhodig cometh into the world and who by his triumphant Resurrection caused the heavenly light of Truth and Grace to appear in full lustre to them who sate in darkness and in the shadow of death And Gaudentius Brixianus speaks fully to this purpose It behoved Christ saith he the Sun of Righteousness with the fair and pleasant light of his Resurrection to dispell the gross darkness of the Jews and melt the frozen cold of the Gentiles and so reduce all things that we reclouded with the black vail of confusion by the Prince of darkness into the state of prime tranquility And Ambrose concurs in his judgement This day is called Sunday saith he because Christ the Sun of Righteousness arose from death to life upon this day to enlighten the Children of this world Hierom tells us It is called Sunday because on that day Light rose in the world and the Sun of Righteousness appeared in whose wings healing may be found So Christ made it Sunday not only from his beams but likewise from his wings for as there was light in the one so there was Cypr. Epist 33. Orig. in Exo. Homil. 7. contr celsum cure in the other and both together gave it this Name And nothing more speaks the glory of Christ then Light and the Sun is the fountain of light and therefore our Sabbath is Tertul. de Coron Mil. called Sunday as Coelius Rhodiginus observes Nay Christ himself is called Light John 3. 19. And the Gospel is named Light Rom. 13. 12. No wonder then if that day on which Christ is worshipped and the Gospel is preached is called Sunday But in all ages our blessed Sabbath flourished in an honourable Bellarm. Tem. 1 de cult Sanctor cap. 11. lib 3. Dominica dies primatum obtmet et major est inter alios dies Durand Rational lib. 7. de Festiv esteem Bellarmine himself saith The Sabbath is a day above all other days to be esteemed And so Durand gives the Lords day all primacy and assigns it a majority for worth and honour above all dayes And it is very observable that Easter-day so much cryed up by some was once the unhappy cause of much contention in