thus declares himself You must know Brethren that therefore it was appointed and commanded Christians by our Holy Fathers That in the Solemnities of the Saints and especially on the Lords dayes they should rest and be free from earthly businesses that so they might be more free and ready for the service of God when they have nothing to hinder them and might leave earthly cares that they might the more easily intend the will of God Chrysostome calls the abstinence from worldly affairs on the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 5. in Matt. Greg. of Tours Dies Sabbaths indeterminatè sumptus est dies requiei Alex. Hal. an unmoveable Law such a Law as nothing but Sacriledge and Irreligion can shake or suppress we must on this day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abstain from all works saith that golden mouth'd Father And if we come to the midle times of the Church the Sabbath still is fenced with the same cautions that no work be done thereon Gregory of Tours hath an excellent saying Being the Sabbath was the day whereon God made the Light and after was the witness of our Saviours Resurrection therefore it ought diligently to be observed by every Christian no manner of publick work to be done upon it And the same Author tells us a story of a fearfull judgement of Lightning which befell the City of Limoges ob diei dominici injuriam for prophaning the Lords day And another Gregory of a far greater fame Greg. Mag. viz. Gregory the Great speaks the same language Viz. We ought to rest on the Lords day from earthly labours and altogether give our selves to prayer And if we slide down to our dayes and the dayes of reformation servile works on the Sabbath incur the same censure If we call in the Testimony of forraign Divines Doctor Ames that pious Ames Mod. Theol. p. 364. and learned Divine observes That all servile works were to be abstained from in other festivals among the Jewes Lev. 23. 7 8. Numb 28. 25. Multò magis exclusa fuerunt à Sabbatho Exod. 12. 16. Much more on the sacred Sabbath Other forraign Testimonies might be subpaena'd in to give witness in this Cause but the Reader shall not be cloyed with a multiplicity of Quotations Onely as forraigners So our own Divines give in their suffrage to the same truth Famous Hooper Bishop and Martyr thus declares himself To that end Bish Hooper did God sanctifie the Sabbath day that we being free from the travels of the World might consider his works and benefits with thanksgiving hear the word of God honour him and fear him c. And holy Babington most pathetically Even as Bish Babington on the fourth Commandment you will answer it before the face of God and his Angels at the sound of the last trumpet weight whether Carding and Dicing c. and such exercises be commanded of God for the Sabbath And thus this Godly Bishop restrains the Sabbath to its own viz. spiritual work Not onely the Church distributive but the Church collective condemns labouring on the Lords day Many famous Councils have decried and prohibited this uncomly practice The famous Council of Mascon gives a severe prohibition to secular employments on this holy day in these words Let no man meddle with litigious controversies Concil Moscon Concil Cartha Concil Chalons or works of Husbandry on the Lords day but exercise himself in Hymns and singing praises unto God being intent thereon hoth in mind and body and much more to the same purpose I could name the Council of Carthage the Council of Chalons and others but this truth shall stand no longer before humane Tribunal Nay the great taking argument of Reason the Idol and Diana of most men joynes in the Verdict for the guiltiness and condemnation of labours and working in our Callings on the Lords day Servile and secular labours are too pedantick and low for 2 Cor. 6. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost the dignity of a Sabbath as the Apostle speaks What communion between light and darkness and what between the drudgeries of the world and the affairs of Heaven The Sabbath must not be degraded by servilities and low employments it was appointed for more noble undertakings it was set apart for Divine contemplations heavenly actions spiritual ordinances supernatural converses between Christ and the Soul and not for the culinary sweats of an empty any world To work on the Sabbath what is it but to plece a Silken garment with Canvas Greenham formerly complained There are many who make the Lords day a packing day for earth and make it a custome to have their Servants follow their Callings but these men act as Heathens who never Greenham's Treatise on the Sabbath p. 215. knew any thing of the Creation of Heaven and Earth by God nor never heard any thing of the Redemption of man by Christ nor ever tasted any thing of the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost Reas 2 Worldly labours they tend nothing at all to the worship of God they are onely sinfull and unseasonable divertisements Can we be intent on the works of our Calling and yet at the same time our heads fill'd with divine meditations our hearts breaking with holy affections our tongues employed in sacred devotions surely this would speak us more then men and it is but a mear dream to fancy such Veniendum est ad coenam a peccatis surgendum in vale dicendum Christus fide est amplectendus nova vita inchoanda Chemn nimbleness and agility Worldly affairs will take the soul off from heavenly employment they are contraries in themselves The Shop-board and the Church cannot unite Drossie avocasions will call us off from spiritual devotions The guests who were invited to the Supper if they will mind their secular affairs they cannot come to the Supper they cannot mind their Oxen and their Farmes and the Supper too and therefore they must be excused from the Luke 14. 16 18 19. one Such men who work on the Lords day a holy man saith their hearts are possessed with covetousness their minds Doctor G. are filled with the affairs of the world and what shall God have if their hearts and their minds are alienated to another Aug. de temp Serm. 251. purpose Augustine saith We are commanded to rest upon the Lords day from earthly business and he gives us this reason That we might be the more fit for Gods service And so Calvin upon Deut. Cap. 5. Serm. 34. Calvin We ought to cease from those works which hinder the works of God Let us not stay from calling upon his Name or exercising our selves in his Holy Word Now secular affairs Concil Arelat 4. Cap. 16. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est omnis cessatio ab opere quies scil à motu labore Leid Prof. 218. Joh. 3. 8. Exod. 34. 6. Exod. 35. 2.
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
the manner of our seeing God whether with the eyes of our body or onely with the eyes of our minds or whether as some with our bodily eyes spiritualized I shall not intricate my self in these mazes of dispute but onely conclude our sight of God will be glorious full perfect ravishing everlasting and will run parallel with our eternal Sabbath Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath above in the rest of it To work upon our Christian Sabbath is to defile it our sweat is our sin the pains we must take on this holy day is not with our hands but with our hearts The brain indeed must work but in holy meditation the tongue must work but in prayer and supplication the heart must work but in ardent and holy affection our faith must work but in seasonable application in apprehending Christ and entertaining Truth But as for secular works they must be Operum humanorum duo sunt genera unum est licitorum in se alterum est illicitorum licita sunt necessaria honesta utilia in rebus humanis Illicita sunt noxia inhonesta et superflua Quae in Sabbatâ— prohibentur non sunt in se idicita sed quae alitèr sunt omninò licita ut appareat prohiberi operas domesti eas necessariaâ— et honestas 〈◊〉 utilos quideâ— in se verùm ad sanctificationem Sabbati omninò incommodas Muscul wholly suspended and laid aside on the Lords day To work upon the Sabbath 1. It is a sacrilegious act it robs God of his time that season which God hath principally set apart to converse with men The Sabbath is the Lords day it is none of ours it is his inclosure none of our Common and therefore to spend his day or any part of it about our works it is both sin and sacriledge Secondly It is a confusing Act Six dayes we must work if we likewise work on the Sabbath where is the distinction Then there will be no wall of separation all will be working dayes and there is no day of rest and so the fourth Commandment is a meer parenthesis and God wrote with his own finger a meer impertinency To what a height of frenzy will these consequencies rise There is no gold of a Sabbath to be found in the rubbish of the week why should any rubbish of the week be found among the gold of a Sabbath Thirdly It is a destructive act It robs the soul of its sweetest opportunity Christ is most principally to be spoken with by the soul on his own day this day is set apart for intercourse with heaven it is the term time of the soul a busie time for his affairs and therefore to spend any of this time in secular works what is it but to pluck the bread out of the mouth of the soul and to throw fire-brands into the believers harvest Fourthly It is an Irreligious Act below the devotion of the very Heathens who have kept a Sabbath as a rest It is recorded in Heathen Stories That their Boyes go not to School on the Sabbath day neither are humane Arts and Sciences then taught or disputed And Philo Judaeus observes Quae operasabbato facienda deus prohibuerit illud non solùm ex aliis scripurae locis sed ex praecepti hujus verbis colligitur non facies ullum opus scil servile quod publici ministerii partes et cultum divinum impediat Morale enim et perpetuum est opera illa prohiberi quae publici ministerii exercitium impediant Interim tamen opera illa quae ad culium dei dilectionem proximi et vitae necessitatem pertinent non sunt prohibito â—â—r de leg 〈◊〉 That divers poor people that never had Scripture or Prophet among them but followed onely the conduct of the light of Nature and what they had learned from their Ancestours did keep the Sabbath day And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us that the very Heathens did account the seventh day a holy day And that Alexander Severus Emperour of Rome though a Pagan and an Infidel yet every Sabbath day he retired from his warlike affairs and went up into the Capitol to worship the Gods Musculus calls All secular and servile works the impediments of Sabbath-holiness And indeed they are that dirt which stops up the water-course of grace that it cannot run out upon the soul It is very observable in the time of the Law how severely God prohibits working upon the Sabbath First He puts a prohibition in the fourth Commandment that Standard of our obedience in the observation of the Sabbath Thâ—u shalt do no manner of work Exod. 20. 10. and these words are repeated Deut. 5. 14. That by the mouth of two Witnesses this truth may be established And Secondly From the root of this great Command sprouts many additional injunctions not to work upon the Sabbath Exod 31. 14 15. Exod. 35. 2. Lev. 23. 3. Thirdly Nay Servile work is so inconsistent with the solemn feast of the Sabbath that God forbids all servile works on other festivals those solemnities of an inferiour nature On the dayes of the Pass-over Lev. 23. 7. On the dayes of Expiation Lev. 29. 23. Lev. 23. 28 29 30. On the feast of Tabernacles Lev. 23. 34 35. And surely if inferiour dayes of observation were defiled by secular works much more the blessed Sabbath in which the people of God must keep their meetings in the Suburbs of Heaven Fourthly How often doth God espouse Sabbath and Rest together as indivisible Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 31. 15. Exod. Sabbatum est sanctum otium 35. 2. And indeed holy Rest is the life of a Sabbath and if the Sabbath rest be disturbed it faints away and becomes Leid Prof. an unprofitable miscellany of rest and labour and an expiring dying priviledge Fifthly How severely doth God threaten the disturbers of the Sabbath rest God threatens them to throw them out of the Church Exod. 31. 14. Nay to throw them out of the world Exod. 31. 15. And brands such as are violatours of his Covenant Exod. 31. 16. And shall Rest be so necessary for the legal and not as convenient for the Evangelical Sabbath Surely much more the Lords day must not be disturbed by mans work but as Christ on the first day of the week rose from his toyle to his triumph so must Christians on that sanctified day lay aside all their worldly toyle and labours and take up their triumph and rejoycing in God spending those golden hours of the Sabbath in heavenly Communion sweetly delighting themselves in the visits of their beloved to which all labour is a disturbance and so our Sabbath above it is a perfect an undisturbed rest Cessat homo ab omni opere die Sabbati futuram sanctorum requiem significans quâ—ndo laboribus hujus vitae liberati et sudore carporis de terso beatam cum Christo et jucundissimam vitam agemus Ambr. in which the mind shall not be rackt with
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
shouldst consider the importance of it it cost more even the precious bloud of Jesus Christ and while thou art sporting and idling in the fields God might have been speaking to thy soul Augustine was converted by a Sermon of holy Ambrose Peter Martyr was brought home to God by a passage of a Sermon As for those who must have a walk after Sermon these impoverish their souls Are there not family prayers to procure blessings family repetitions to digest the word family duties to warm the heart on a Sabbath day Publick Ordinances are too often as land-floods to the soul which will quickly disappear unless the waters of life sink in gradually by private repetition and meditation Serious consideration and fervent prayer at home work into the heart those truths and doctrines we heard abroad These ill husbands for their better part too frequently drop in the fields what they have pickt up in the Sanctuary and the air is more fresh Absit ut dejicerem animum nobilem et illum corpori mancipium facerem then their memory These field-walkers how do they sink below some heathens It was the saying of a noble heathen Far be it from me that I should make my noble mind a slave to my body If we will have our pleasures on the Lords day let us meet with Christ in his Garden Cant. 5. 1. let us gather fruits in his Orchard of Pomgranates Cant. 4. 13. Let us lie down by the fountain of Gardens Cant. 4. 15. Let us stay our selves with his Apples and Flagons Cant. 2. 5. and sit down with our beloved in his banquetting house Cant. 2. 4. And then travel over the mountains of spices Cant. 8. 14. Christ indeed is the Paradise of pleasure he can ravish us with one of his eyes Cant. 4. 9. and make us drink of the cup of Salvation Divine pleasures become the Sabbath not the titillations of sence but the refreshings of the soul Let those then who waste the Sabbath in taking the air take Joh. 6. 58. Isa 25. 8. Eph. 2. 2. heed least they meet with the Prince of the air considering these unnecessary walks contain more temptation then recreation in them they are Satans refined and plausible bate to cause the incautelous Christian to let fall and so lose his spiritual morsels we know it is his grand artifice to steal away the seed of the word Mat. 13. 19. and pleasing recreations give him the best aime Caut. 3 Let us take heed of the sin of unbelief The believer only sanctifies the Sabbath they truly keep it who themselves are kept in their most holy faitb Jude v. 20. Every duty of a Mark 11. 24. Jam. 1. 6. Sabbath requires faith If we hear we must mingle the word with faith Heb. 4. 2. If we pray it must be believing Crede et manducasti crede et bibisti Aug. Mat. 21. 22. It is faith makes our prayers effectual If we receive we must come to the Sacrament with faith Augustine saith Believe and thou hast eaten believe and thou hast drunken Faith is the chief guest at Christs table If we meditate faith sweetens that duty and makes it lushious not tedious Psal 119. 97. Observe Thy Law c. It was Heb. 11. 6. the Law of his God and that sweetned his meditation on it If we read the Scriptures it is faith must make that duty effectual without faith the Word is onely a â—iddle the Acts â— 3◠〈…〉 Christi puzzle not the profit of a Christian Faith then puts life into every duty and makes it both vigorous and viâ—â—â— Buâ— unbelief is a sin which like the Câ—terpillar eats up al◠〈◊〉 fruit of a Sabbath and turns its Sun into dâ—rkness Vnbelief invalidaâ—es our approaches to God Heb. 11. 6. 〈◊〉 In vain the knee bowes unless the heart believes in vâ—â—â— we lift up the hands of flesh unless we lay hold on God by 〈…〉 sâ—d infidâ—â—itas à â—hâ—isto planè a◠〈◊〉 illius spiritu nos privâ—t et Satanae insidiis nos expositos reddit Lys the hands of faith We must bring faith to make our way acceptable to the Almighty In the forcecited Text Heb. 11. 6. the Apostle doth not say without faith it is improbable but it is impossible to please God Without faith all duties are acted in the dark there must be an eye of faith to see our way to God in Christ Vnbelief prevents the work of Christ upon the heart Mat. 13. 56. It unqualifies us for spiritual successes this sin is so great it can cast Christ into an admiration Mark 6. 6. What great things might Ordinances work upon the soul if the heart was not barred up by unbelief It was this sin which unchurched the poor nation of the Jews Rom. 11. 20. It may be the Epitaph of that ancient people of God Here lies a people cast off by God because of unbelief Vnbelief shuts up the gate of mercy Heb. 3. 19. Faith melts the cloud of Ordinances into a fruitful shower unbelief makes ordinances a dark appearance onely and turns Heb. 4. 6. them into stones of emptiness Isa 34. 11. An Ordinance to an unbeliever is a dead Child the spirit of God doth not breath in it And therefore on a Sabbath above all thy gettings get faith Vnbelief it puts a defilement upon the sweetest Ordinances They are as a Jewel in a dead mans hand The prayers of an unbeliever are an abomination to the Lord. The Apostle Prov. 4 7. saith Tit. 1. 15. To them who are unbelieving every Omnia opera infidelâ—um sunt noxia et peccâ—tâ— thing is defiled Vnbelief damps the pearl of Ordinances puts a flaw upon it The School-men say All the works of unbelievers are sins and so then are all his services and they accommodate themselves to that of the Apostle Rom. Gregor Arim. Capriolus Câ—tharinus c. 14. 23. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin Vnbelief blasts the sweetest duty as lightning doth the fairest face The Lord saith to the unbeliever What hast thou to do to take my word into thy mouth Psal 50. 16. Why do I pray if I do not believe returns What do I hear if I do not believe doctrines VVhat do I receive if I do not believe Christ in the Sacrament Ordinances to an unbeliever they are not dews Rom. 1. 16. but dreams not Gods power but Mans fancy and Sermons are only the Romances of the Pulpit The Apostle Heb. 11. per totum tells us of many Miracles of faith and unbelief Heb. 11. 11 29 30 33 34. Exod. 4. 3. can work on it can turn all our rods into Serpents it can work the same wonder Christ wrought on the barren fig-tree Mark 11. 21. It can curse with a perpetual blast Augustine used to dispute from John 3. 19. That unbelief was the only damning sin This sin like popish Rome is the Mother of Harlots Rev. 17. 5. And therefore against
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
and season for spiritual communications between Christ and the Spouse But now the main Query will be what are those duties which are incumbent upon us on the morning of a Sabbath To Reply therefore to this Query I shall instance first in Meditation Meditation is the souls flight towards Heaven and therefore it had need take the wings of Psal 139. 9. the morning When thou hast broken thy sleep begin the Sabbath with holy Meditation that is the morning sacrifices of the mind CHAP. XIV The Benefits and Excellency of Holy Meditation MEditation is a most notable piece of Gods service the very life and strength of all other Duties and without which all duties are infeebled full of weakness and infirmity Meditatio est nutrix orationis Ger. Meditation is the Nurse which feeds our prayers it is the Nail which fastens the Word it is one hand that puts on the wedding Garment to fit us for the supper of the Lord. Meditation it is the spiritual silk-worm which works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haec cura haec satage his juge studium et corporis et animae vires impende et intende rare and curious silk rich goods out of its own bowels It is the travel of the understanding the souls Hue and Cry after Divine things it is the fixing of the heart upon God or some thing of God it is the stop and pause of the mind from the impertinent wandrings and rovings of it In a word Meditation is the randezvous and trooping together of the thoughts in some spiritual matter as Sun-beams are Psal 119. 15. gathered together in a burning glass If we meditate upon the Word or any truth therein then our thoughts flock together 1 Tim. 4. 15. and center in the divine truth in this spiritual object Now for the canvasing of this Excellent Duty I shall briefly open what may conduce to the fullest discovery of it First Let us view Meditation in the nature of it and it may be thus described It is the souls retiring of it self that Quatuor tibi meditanda reor quae sub te quae circate quae supra te et teipsum a te meditatio inchoet ne frustrà extendaris in alia te neglecto Quid tibi prodest si universum mundum luereris si teipsum perdas Et si sapiens sis c. Bernard Consid ad Eugenium Mr. Greenham in his tract of meditation by a serious and solemn thinking upon God or some thing divine the heart may be raised up to heavenly affections Some refer this holy duty chiefly to the understanding but others draw it nearer to the memory as one describes Meditation thus That it is the exercise of the mind whereby we calling our selves to remembrance that which we know we do further debate of it with our own souls reasoning about it and applying it to our selves that we may make use of it in our practice and so it frameth our affections accordingly Holy Greenham observes in Meditation two parts of the soul are busied First The Memory remembring some thing heard or read Secondly The understanding gathering some thing upon that which is remembred Now First Meditation is a retired duty A Christian when he Meditation a retired duty goes to meditate he must seclude himself from the World the affairs of this life make so much noyse that they drowne the sweet though secret musick of meditation Holy Isaac Mat. 14. 23. retires into the field to meditate there must be a necessary sequestration Gen. 24. 63. of our selves from every impertinent and intruding object if we will pursue this holy service of Meditation this duty is chamber nay closet practice The sweet Manna the soul feeds upon when there is no spectator of its banquet When Zacheus would see Christ he climbs Luke 19. 3 4. up into the Sycamore tree to see him so when we would see God we must get out of the croud of worldly business Si sapiens sis deest tibi ad sapientiam si tibi non fueris Quantum verò Noveris licet omnia mysteria noveris lata terrae alta coeli et profunda maris si temetipsum non noveris eris similis aedificanti sine fundamento ruinam non structuram faciens Bern. we must climb up into the tree by retiredness of Meditation St. Bernard when he came to the Church door he used to say Stay here all my worldly thoughts that I may converse with God in the Temple so say to thy self I am now going to meditate O all ye vain thoughts stay behind come not near When thou ascendest the mount of meditation take heed that the world do not follow thee at thy heels Indeed meditation is an inward and secret duty the soul retires its self into the closet and bids farewell to all impertinent extravagancies which may discompose its privacy and takes a view of those things which are within its self Meditation is an invisible duty to the eye of the world and therefore carnal men do relish it Meditation is a Serious Duty and it is one of the noblest works a Christian can perform Reason then is in its exaltation When the soul doth meditate it puts forth the Meditation is a serious duty most judicious and rational acts then is the soul most like to God who spends eternity in contemplating his own essence Psal 77. 12. and glorious attributes When the Christian meditates he practices an imitation of Divine Majesty 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditation is a sublime Duty It is an exercise of the understanding it is not a duty in which we converse with Qualis illic coelestium regnorum voluptas sine timore moriendi cum aeternitate vivendi Cypr. drossie things meditation properly sets upon spiritual things upon spiritual objects spiritual truths spiritual doctrines David meditates on Gods Law Meditation pitches upon the joyes of Heaven the great account man must give the defiling nature of sin the extremities of hell and on objects of the like nature Psal 119. 97. Meditation a sublime duty Meditation is a fixed duty It is not a cursory work Mans thoughts naturally labour with a great inconsistency but meditation chains them and fastens them upon some spiritual object The Soul when it meditates layes a command Meditation a fixed duty Josh 1. 8. mand on it self that the thoughts which are otherwise flitting and feathery should fix upon its object and so this duty is very advantagious As we know a Garden which is watered with suddain showers is more uncertain in its fruit then when it is refreshed with a constant stream so when our thoughts are some times on good things and then run off when they onely take a glance of a holy object and then flit away there is not so much fruit brought into the soul In meditation then there must be a fixing of the heart upon the object a steeping the thoughts as holy
duty is properly the task of the understanding The Tongue works in prayer the Ear bends in hearing the Hand is stretcht out in Sacramentall receiving the Eye toyls in reading the Heart is or ought Jam. 5. 16. Mat. 11. 15. to be employed in every sacred service but the Mind is taken up in meditating on sublime and supernatural objects The Eagles of the thoughts fly upon this Carcass to allude Mat. 24. 28. to our Saviour Meditation fructifies duty without which the truths of God will not stay with us The heart is naturally hard the memory slippery and all lost without meditation every drop Mark 8. 17. runs out again and the whole web of divine service is unravell'd The Apostle compares the word to rain Heb. 6. 7. Heb. 6. 7. Now it is meditation onely which saves this rain water that it sheds not and run in waste This necessary duty of meditation it fastens truth upon the heart and is like the selvedge which keeps the cloath from ravelling It is the engraving of letters in Gold or Marble which will endure without this piece of holy duty all the preaching of the Cor est sons sapientiae Word is but writing in sand or pouring water into a sieve Reading and hearing without meditation is like weak physick which will not work The Word cannot be in the heart Deut. 6. 6. unless it be wrought in by holy meditation this is the hammer which drives the nail to the head Ordinances without this duty are but spiritual pageantries a pleasant landskip which when we have viewed we presently forget Jam. 1. 23. Knowledge without meditation is like the glaring of a Sun-beam upon a wave it rushoth into the thoughts and is gone There is very much in this duty to fix truth upon us Carnal mens thoughts they are usually flight and trivial they know things but they are loath to let their thoughts dwell upon them Musing makes the fire burn Men musing and meditating Psal 39. â— on the Word are much affected and then they are ready to say now we taste the sweets of our beloved we lie Psal 119. 93. under the force and power of the Word Meditation it sweetens our life here below The contemplative Christian lives in the Suburbs of Heaven How did meditation cast a flavour upon Davids soul and fill it with Psal 63. 5. aromatick and perfuming impressions Geographers are at a loss to find the place where Paradise was now to stop their curiosities it may be replyed it may be found in the fragrant tract of heavenly meditation When we meditate upon the sweetness of scriptural promises upon workings of Christs heart towards believers upon the watchfulness of Gods eye over his people upon the all sufficiency of our Saviours merit for 1 Cor. 2. 9. life and salvation upon the recompence of reward so great that 2 Cor. 12. 1. mans thoughts cannot grasp it how do these and such Rev. 1. 10. like things raise us to St. Pauls rapture or St John's extasie which were the initials of Glory to those heavenly Apostles Quid est quòd futura laetitia in cor non ascendit quiâ— sons est et ascensum nesâ—it Bern. It may be averred for certain that the neglect of this duty brings a searcity of comfort upon our lives which otherwise might meet with a plenteous harvest and a constant revenue of joy and satisfaction CHAP. XV. What we must meditate upon on the morning of the Lords day HAving thus drawn the portraicture and given a description of this duty of meditation with the blessed appendices which do attend it as its seasons advantages c. I now come to present suitable objects for this duty to prey upon and so to raise a little stock for meditation to trade with And as to the Queries viz. What we must meditate on in the spring and morning of the Sabbath It is answered Dies vitae nostrae est dies parasceves in quo laboramus et cum Christo patimur succedit dies quietis in sepulchro quem sequitur dies resurrectionis ad vitam Ger. whatsoever is spiritual any thing of a spiritual nature we may meditate on the promises of God the loves of Christ the strictness of the Law the sweetness of the Gospel on the filthiness of Sin on the vanity of the Creature on the excellency of Grace we may muse and fix our thoughts upon the estate of our souls and of the fewness of them who shall be saved so likewise upon Death or Judgement As holy David sometimes he meditated on the works of God sometimes on the Word of God and sometimes on God himself But I shall onely open a double fountaine to feed our meditations Psal 143. 5. Psal 119. 148. Psal 63. 6. on the morning of the Sabbath Viz. 1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath 2. On the Sabbath of God These two superlative objects are like mount Hor and mount Nebo where Moses and Aaron took their prospects Numb 33. 38. Deut. 32. 49. before they were conveighed to the mountane of Spices we Cant. 8. 14. will handle them distinctly And 1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath Indeed this Divine and admirable object takes up the views and contemplations of holy Angels and the inhabitants of glory Mat. 18. 10. who spend eternity in beholding God face to face But yet some glances we may have of this soveraign being by holy Cor. 13. 12. and spiritual meditation CHAP. XVI God is most glorious in his essence and nature LEt us meditate on the essence of God He is an infinite being the fulness of Heaven the mirrour of Angels Exod. 15. 11. Creasti nos domine propter te et irrequietum est cor nostrum donec perveniat ad te August the delight of Saints so glorious in himself that he is onely perfectly known by himself God is an Ocean of goodness a fountaine of life a spring of grace a father of mercies mans center to which he must come before he find quietation or rest for his soul He is so infinitely glorious that he must be described by removing from him what he is not rather then by asserting what he is The eyes of Angels are too weak to behold him and must make use of a vail alittle to remit De deo dicisacilius potest quid non sit quam quid sit Rivet the beams of his glory Our knowledge of him is onely borrowed from his own discoveries Let us then meditate on The everlastingness of his nature He is the antient of dayes He was before time was fledged and had either wing Dan. 7. 9 22. Psal 102. 28 Psal 29. 9. Rev. 4. 8. Rom. 16. 26. Isa 57. 15. Psal 90. 2 or feather His duration admits neither of beginning or ending God is the first and eternal being He did shine in perfections before the
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
release or redemption Sin is not expiated but by blood and not by the blood of a Ram a Bullock or a Goat but by the blood of him who was God as well as Man Acts 20. 28. and therefore our Saviour expostulates the case What shall a man give in exchange for his soul Suppose he should pick Mat. 16. 26. up the excellencies of the whole Universe and sacrifice them for the souls redemption will they be accepted Surely no. When the Captive is rescued by force from his thraldom as Israel was from their Aegyptian Task-masters as by a Proâ—â—e verè Christus vocatur redemptor noster quia ut frater noster primogenitus dato pretio redemit fratres suos Zanch. mighty hand and a stretched-out arm as Lot was by the prowess and valour of Abraham and his company Gen. 14. 16. But this is not the way of our Redemption we are rescued not by killing but by dying not by giving wounds but by receiving them When the Captive is bought with a price And this is our case Empti redempti sumus We are bought we are re-bought or redeemed as the primitive Christians sung it out 1 Cor. 6. 20. Quanto sibi pretio deus nos sibi comparavit scil sanguine suo Alap usually and triumphantly but by what price are we bought Not by furnisht mines which are the rich linings of the earth but by the large effusions of spotless and chrystalline blood Let us meditate on the slaveries from which we are redeemed There are four Cardinal Miseries from which our blessed Redeemer hath rescued us From the slavery of Satan Christ in managing the work of our Redemption hath trod Satan not onely under his own Dâ—o in cruce affixi intelliguntur Christus visibilitèr sponte suâ ad tempus Diâ—bolus invisibilitèr invitus in perpetuum Fidei ergooculus conspicit Christum in summitate crucis quasi in curru triumphali sedentem Diabolum in imâ parte cruci alligâ—tum et Christi pedibus conculcâ—tum Orig. feet but under our feet Rev. 16. 20. By death he hath conquered him who had the power of death which is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. It is true even still Satan tempts but not triumphs over the Saints his conflicts are for the tryal of our grace but not for the trampling upon our souls he may raise a dust but not give a mortal wound to the poor believer Luk. 22. 32. he may sift us but not sink us he may winnow us but not win us Christ hath redeemed us from his destructive power It is a rare speech of Origen There were two fastned to Christs Cross Christ visibly of his own accord for a time the Devil invisibly unwilling and for ever therefore the eye of faith may behold Christ at the top of the Cross as sitting in a triumphant Chariot the Devil at the bottom of it bound and trampled upon by the feet of Christ Look upon Satan as a Serpent Gen. 3. 1. Christs death took away his sting as far as concerns believers Look upon Satan as a Dragon Rev. 20. 2. Christs death cut off his tail Gen. 3. 1. and look upon Satan as a roaring Lion Christs death dashed Rev. 20. 2. out his teeth and made his paw unserviceable 1 Pet. 5. 8. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law so the Apostle fully and elegantly Col. 2. 14. Blotting out the Subnectit Apostolus ipsum châ—â—ographum esse deletâ—m sed fortâ—sse non tam deletum quin pâ—ssâ—tâ—lis nova suboriri Addit igitur Apossolus in super sublatum esse sed fortâ—sse aliquid lâ—tet absconditum et in posterum proferri possit immo inquit Apostolus est cruci affixum dilaceratum et in frusta absâ—â—ssum Daven Gal. 3. 13. Gal. 4. 5 Christus emendo nos exemit dato pretio et in christianam vindicavit libertatem Eras hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross And Bishop Davenant descants most sweetly upon that Text The Apostle saith he proceeds here in a most pleasing gradation and consults the case of trembling consciences for saith the Apostle the hand-writing was blotted out but answers the doubting Christian but new controversies may arise the Apostle adds but it is taken away but replyes the doubting Christian but some other may lie hid and be brought to light hereafter therefore saith the Apostle The hand-writing is nailed to Christs Cross it is rent and torn to pieces by the same nails by which Christ was pierced and fastned to the Cross Indeed the Law is now Directory but not Damnatory to the believer his rule but not his ruine his glass to see himself in but not his rock to dash himself upon The Apostle avers Gal. 3. 13. that we are redeemed from the curse of it The Law is our Copy but it cannot be our curse we may steer by its purity but believers cannot fall by its power Gal. 4. 5. The Law is our Teacher but not our Task-master we are delivered from the tyrannical domination though not from the guidance and sacred instruction of it we may be advised but we viz. believers shall never be endangered by it Christ hath redeemed us from the power and destructiveness of sin A believer may mourn over the spot but he shall not Rom. 6. 2. 12. Christus meritò fuit percussus non suo sed alieno peâ—cato nos illum attrivimus nos illum â—ulneravimus qui illi nostra peccata tanti dolâ—ris causam tanti cruciatus materiam attulimus Riv. fall under the weight of sin Sin may abide in but not reign over a Saint it may be his grief but not his condemnation Rom. 8. 1. Christ hath redeemed us from the destroying though not from the disturbing power of sin He hath redeemed us from all iniquity Tit. 2. 14. He hath purchased our forgiveness Eph. 1. 7. so in the Col. 1. 14. In whom we have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins And it is observable there are two Texts of Scripture viz. Eph. 1. 7. and Col. 1. 14. which speak the same thing in the same words which is unusual that by the mouth of two witnesses this great truth may be confirmed Our pardons are written in Christs bloud 1 Joh. 1. 7. And so most 1 Joh. 1. 7. excellently the Apostle Peter speaking of Christ saith Who 1 Pet. 2. 24. Christus spirituales nâ—stros moâ—bos sâ—nâ—vit â—t inâ—â— recepit â—â—â—â—llerit et aâ—â—leret neâ—pe per imputationem et paenae persolutionem Riv. his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree Now if Christ hath born our sins then they are taken from us our souls must not die for them they are his charge and not our condemnation So then the Inâ—itement of sin cannot reach the believer the guilt of sin cannot cast him the power
10. 25. The Prophet calls for full vials to be poured out upon them But prayer never better becomes a family then on the morning of the Lords day Our closet devotions and family prayers common to other Numb 28. 9. days must not be omitted on this blessed day but rathet augmented It is worth our notice that the first service of Exod. 30. 7. the Jews on their Sabbath was burning incense before the Lord Exod. 30. 7. Now family prayer is the burning of incense in our family every branch of the family joyning in prayer doth as it were fill his hand with incense and so offer it up in Christs merit which is the sweetness of our 2 Cor. 1. 3. incense to the father of mercies and how perfumed must Sicut suffitus sursum ascendunt et odorem suavem praebent sic preces sanctorum coelestia petunt et deo grâ—â—ae sunt that house and family be where so much incense is offered Let our whole family in the morning of the Sabbath cry out seek the Lord O our souls As Mary Magdilen she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved Mat. 20. 1. John 20. 1. Mark 16. 2. She was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre And O that our love could keep pace with hers The whole family shall be as morning stars to sing together Job 18. 7. and pour out their souls in the bosom of God this is worship like that of heaven where the multitude the whole host of heaven sing forth the praises Job 38. 7. of God together And in this we follow the clew of Reason First Families have their wants as well as single persons they may want prepared hearts composed spirits exerted graces to meet with God on his holy day that which is the complaint of one may be the moan of the whole family as if some one string in an instrument be struck another string trembles heart may answer heart throughout the whole family Secondly Spiritual grace is as necessary to the whole family as it is to any particular person and so ardent prayer is as indispensible The whole land of Aegypt came to Joseph for Corn because of their want Every foul in the family Gen. 41. 57. had need to beg for the beauties of Christ that he may meet pleasingly with his beloved on his own day Grace is the comeliness of the Servant as well as the Master of the Child as well as of the Parent In the fourth Commandment the injunction is laid upon all within our gates to keep holy the Sabbath Exod 20. 10. Thirdly Moreover the whole family is to attend upon Quamvis nullus advena ad hoc cogebatur ut circumcideretur tamen ad auditum divinae legis adhibebatur et die Sabbati ad sacrum otium constringebatur Muscul publick worship and prayer is both the plow and the harrow to prepare the ground of our hearts to meet with God and to receive the immortal seed which is able to save our souls Jam. 1. 21. Indeed the Apostle adviseth us to pray continually 1 Thes 5. 17. but then more especially when we are going to the publick assembly to prepare us for those solemn Ordinances wherein we joyn issue with the Saints in holy worship and for this God will be intreated Families must not rush upon Ordinances as the Horse into the battel but prayer must prepare the way and so let us feed Ezra 8. 23. upon the Manna of the word and drink of the truths of the Jer. 8. 6. Gospel Fourthly Family prayer makes a musicall harmony Consort Vna communis oratio quam unâ mente et fidem Jesum inculpatâ protulerunt Ignat ad Magn. is the life of melody a heavenly host celebrated Christs Nativity Luke 2. 13. Not a single Seraphim but a quire of Angels In the primitive times there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One common consent and harmony of prayers And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us That in the golden dayes of the Church there used to be on the Lords day a pile and heap of suppliants having one voice and one mind in their prayers and addresses to God It was the wish of Athanasius in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Apology to the Emperor Constantius That all might lift up the same voice to God without any dissonancy or disorder Vnited prayers are the stronger voice united sighs are the thicker cloud united tears are the fuller stream and so make the deeper impression upon the divine breast The devotions of a family must needs make a greater noise then one single cry to awaken the Lord to give answers of love and grace A single instrument may make musick but no harmony As we must take the opportunities of prayer in the closet and in the family on the morning of a Sabbath so we must look to the qualifications of our prayers Every prayer is not an engine to batter heaven we must so pray that we may obtain we must therefore look to the character as well 1 Cor 9. 24 as to the custom of praying Our prayers both in the closet in the family and likewise in the publick assembly must be fetched from the heart Christiani usi sunt precibus prout illis suggerit Sp. s sine monitore qui de pectore orabant Tertul. not lip labour only then they are lost labour Tertullian tells us The Christians in the primitive times needed not a monitor in their prayers to dictate to them they prayed from their own hearts which suggested to them seasonable and sutable petitions And the Apostle tells us That the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Jam. 5. 16. The original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A working prayer when the heart works in holy affections and yearnings as the Bee in the midst of its wax and honey Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits Luke 11. 8. We translate the word importunity but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impudency In the times of the Law the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they asscended When we go to our closets or our families we must look to our affections in our addresses to God get Cant. 4. 6. them fixed by the Holy Ghost that they flame up towards Vtinam eodem semper ardore orari possim tunc erit responsum fiat ut velis Luth. God in devout and religious ascents There is language in groans a voice there is in weeping Psal 6. 6. Sighs have their speech and are articulate before God Indeed it is no easie thing to work a lazy dead heart to a necessary height of affection the weights always running down-ward but they must be wound up by force as the weight of a clock must be tugged up by the strings And when our affections are pulliced up it is hard to keep them so like Moses his
direct our requests that they may not miss Sicut in perperam dictis parum aut nihil momenti est sed ad irritandum deum contigit sic commodè et opportunè dictis nihil ferè bonitatis abesse creditur Cartwr the mark of a blessing But we must see to the matter of our prayers that our devotions be not onely sweet but seasonable not onely fervent but pertinent there may be petitions which are lawful which are not so expedient for the season of a Sabbath and therefore to secure us against such mistakes we must be informed what seasonably to beg of God as the boon of the instant opportunity We must put up our prayers for the Minister who is to be Gods mouth to us in the publick worship of the Sabbath we must pray that God would give him a door of Acts 16. 14. Eph 6. 18 19. Col. 4. 3. 2 Cor. 1. 11. 1 Thes 5. 25. utterance He that must open the hearts of the people to receive the word savingly must open the lips of the Minister to preach the word effectually How often doth Paul intreat the prayers of the people that Seraphick Apostle would not set sail without fresh gales of the peoples prayers Indeed Preces sunt arma sacerdotis Ambr. the preaching of the Word is an arduous affair and cannot be success fully managed without divine help and supplement which must be begged by prayer and importunity Ambrose saith That prayers are the weapons of a Minister Rom. 15. 15. It may be truly added that prayer must put weapons into the hands of a Minister for the killing and slaughtering of Eph. 6. 20. the lusts and sins of the people We must therefore pray on Audacitas et animositas Ministros decent et in Evangelio praedicando et in praedicatione defendendâ Theophil the morning of a Sabbath that the Minister may open his mouth boldly and publish freely the mysteries of the Gospel that he may speak the Word truly sincerely powerfully and profitably delivering what is suitable to our present condition For he that guided the arrow to kill a wicked Ahab 1 Kings 22. 34. must guide the truth to hit and destroy a cursed lust and corruption A learned man tells us we must pray for three things for the Minister That God would give him the Faculty the Liberty and the Efficacy of preaching That God would open the door that he may come out in the fulness of the Gospel of Christ to our souls That God would give him dexterity and wisdome to improve Petendum est pro Ministris 1. Vt facultas siâ— illis libertas et efficacia predicandi 2. Vt sit praxis hujus facultatis 3. Vt sit modus debitus in eadem exercenda Daven his gift and faculty Every one which takes a Lute in his hand cannot make sweet musick on it There is a holy Art in the Ministry and this we must beg for that God would give it to the Minister who plies at our souls The Word is a Sword Eph. 6. 17. We must pray that the Minister may weild it to the highest advantage and that he may do the greatest executions upon our carnal hearts That the Minister may speak as becomes him with that gravity affection zeal and soul-awakening power which may render him a faithful Ambassadour of Jesus Christ And we should consider the weightiness of a Ministers work Heb. 13. 18. Est â—fficium omnium piorum assiduè et enixè deum orare pro pastoribus et Evangelii ministris Dav. how tremendous and formidable it is The larger the Ship is the more strength is required for the lanching of it Prayers are more then needfull that the Minister may do the work of God in the strength of God One saith A faithful Minister is the treasure of the Church our prayers should be that this treasure may be spent in the enriching of our souls Surely preachers are much carried out upon the peoples prayers It is prayer fetcheth the coal from the Altar to touch their tongues and causeth these fishers of men to cast the Net on the right side of the Ship We must pray for the Congregation which associates with us Our Saviour saith Luke 22. 32. When we are converted Luke 22. 32. we must strengthen the Brethren The Apostle avers we must prefer others before our selves Rom. 12. 10. And surely Rom. 12. 10. then we must strive to advantage others as well as our selves Totus populus Christianus unum sunt Cyprian saith All Christian people are one thing but there must needs be a greater unity in the same society and congregation which is as a large family In our heavenly Sabbath Cypr. de Orat. Domin it will be our joy to see one another there the assembly of the first born shall congratulate the happiness of one another and then surely on our Sabbath here below it must be a gratefull service to pray for one another Thy Acts 16. 14. prayers may prevail with the Lord who alwayes hath the In nostis orationibus oportet nos esse memores non nostrae conditionis solummodò sed fratrum et aliorum à nobis key in his hand to open anothers heart as well as thy owne Some sympathy thou shouldst have with the members of Christ who joyne with thee and prayer is the best evidence of this fellow-feeling Christ prayed on the Cross for his adversaries Luke 23. 34. and wilt not thou pray in the Closet for the flock with whom thou art to mingle Let the miraculous workings of Christs heart be attractive to the meltings of thine that a showre of the spirit may fall upon all that hear the word with thee Acts 10. 44. God can 1 Cor. 13. 1. give a showre as well as a drop of his spirit and let me add this will be charity which may speak thee to be more then sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal As we must pray for persons so we must pray for things too on the morning of Gods holy day We must pray that the Gospel may run and be glorious and that that sacred leaven may leaven the whole lump Let 2 Thes 3. 1. us consider Rom. 10. 17. First The work of the Gospel is glorious it begets grace which is the seed of glory it is instrumental to bring to glory 2 Cor. 4. 4. The glorified Saints which are now in their triumphs Pauli armâ— fuere preces suae et suorum quibus omnes hostes devicit Haec nobis imitanda sunt hisce Armis Hezechias vicit Assyrium Moses Amalekitas Samuel Askalonitas et Israel 32 Reges Chrysost are eternally praising God for the blessed and glorious Gospel Secondly The work of the Gospel is necessary where there is no vision the people perish Prov. 29. 18. It is by the Call of the powerful and divine Gospel souls are brought home to Christ who is the great
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 they came to them like the Beasts in Noahs Ark they went in unclean and they came out unclean how necessary then is it that we should pray for a firm memory to record sacred truth as well as a free heart to entertain it Fourthly Let us on the morning of a Sabbath pray for a tender conscience to fall down before the power and force of the word Conscience is the strongest Fort for the word to take it is the most unruly patient for the word to cure Oftentimes the word takes the ear nothing is more musical Ezek. 33. 32. The word takes the tongue nothing more commended then the Preacher and the Sermon Ezek. 33. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sua vitèr Nay the work taketh the affections Mark 6. 20. Herod that miscreant Prince heard John the Baptist gladly Nay often the word takes the judgment nothing is accounted more rational The fickle Jews were convinced never man spake as Jesus Christ John 7. 46. But all this while conscience lies asleep and is not awakened from its dream Conscience all this while is as fast asleep in the bosom as Jonah in the ship Jon. 1. 6. and nothing minds the storm Conscience may be seared 1 Tim. 4. 2. and so feel nothing of the sharpness of the word conscience may be defiled 1 Tit. 15. and so mind nothing of the mâ—ssage of the word conscience may be evil Heb. 10. 22. and so fling away from the warnings of the word and therefore how should we beg of God that conscience may be impartial in waiting upon holy Ordinances A yielding conscience is the best auditor at a Sermon This was Josiahs praise he wept and Sacrae Scripturae sic exaratae sunt ut scire volentes sciant et litis studiosi ansam litigandi facillimè arripiant Camer was tender at the hearing of the Law 2 Chron. 34. 27. The soul lies in a fair way to life and Salvation when conscience blushes at the reproof of sin when conscience startles at the hearing of judgment when conscience is convinced of the necessity of Christ and of the beauty of holiness and that only a holy life leads to a holy God Indeed the principal work of the Gospel is to deal with conscience and it is the great work of God himself in the Gospel to rowse Non periclitor docere ipsas Scripturas ita dispositas esse ut moteriam subministrant etiam haereticis Tertul. conscience from its sleepiness to quiet its rage to take away its prejudices and to bring it into a calm temper that with meekness it may receive the engraffed word which is able to save the soul Jam. 1. 21. Men of polluted consciences can arm themselves against the assaults of the word now that we should lay down the weapons and submit to the force and power of truth this is to be begged by sollicitous and importunate prayer Fifthly We must intreat the Lord that the fruit of all Cingulo veritatis ornantur qui veritatem in moribus assequuntur Qui omnes res amandas et amplectendas per veritatem per virtutem virtutis verum dictamen metiuntur Quid enim humilitas Quid charitas quid patientio quid â—aeterae virtutes nisi lumina veritatis Ansel his holy Ordinances may appear in our lives The life of Ordinances lies in living Ordinances our sanctity only commends the Sanctuary to hear the word speaks some profession but to live the word only speaks Religion It is very observable that all those Israelites who heard God speaking from Mount Sinai the ten Commandments not living up to the tenor of those ten words as Moses calls them Deut. 10. 2. they all fell in the Wilderness none but Joshua and Caleb came safe to Canaan The sight of Physick doth not cure the patient but the application The word doth not advantage us as it is musicall but as it is medicinal as it is taken inwardly and heats the corrupt heart and the cure will easily be seen in a fruitfull conversation We then become the Gospel when holiness is our dress Those Sermons are most fairly printed which are most conscientiously practised A Sermon of charity is best seen in our alms a Sermon of self-denyal is best seen in our carrying the Cross A Sermon of Repentance is best seen in our tears and reformation To be only hearers of the word is to put a cheat upon our souls Jam. 1. 22. and make the Minister not the Physician but the Mountebank Practice is the shining lamp of the Sanctuary Exod. 27. 20. It was observed among the Jews that they were exact in turning Rom. 3. 2. over the leaves of the Bible and none more incurious to understand John 5. 39. the mind of the Holy Ghost in those sacred pages or to conform themselves to the commands of those divine Oracles they were like some heedless persons who gaze upon a tree but never turn up the leaves to see what fruit is underneath that they might feed upon it for support and satisfaction Such Jewish spirits too too many we have among us who like oscitant and negligent workmen who have their tools about them and set upon no piece for the exercise of their Art But it is rare and worthy when we hear things to be done and do things to be heard That knowledge is best which is practical when the understanding Psal 119. 105. impresses the will as the seal doth the wax and Mat. 7 17. so leaves characters of worth and holiness Our Saviour calls them blessed who hear the word and keep it Luke 11. 28. The hearers life is the Preachers best commendation The true use of Ordinances is not only to increase our knowledge but to regulate our practice The Law is a rule as well as a lamp A sinfull life will unravell all our profession and expose that puppet dressed up to scorn and derision Seneca observed of the Philosophers That when Boni esse desierum simulac docti â—vaserint Senec. they grew more learned they grew less morall This is more venial in a Heathen Philosopher then in a professing Christian We must desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. Indeed the word must not onely be the light of our minds but the treasure of our Psal 119. 111. hearts which treasure must be spent upon works of piety and holiness The Lord Jesus makes it an infallible Character of our love to him if we keep his Commandments John 14. 15. First Christ doth not say if ye hear but if ye do my Jam. 2. 22. Rom. 2. 13. Commandments hearing is onely a step towards Religion a good wish for heaven the Scribes and Pharisees heard Qui servat legem dei verè testificatur se non simulate sed verè et sincerè amare deum Zanch. Christ who afterwards brought him to the Cross It is a sharp speech of the holy
Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 4. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Secondly Christ doth not say if you love me dispute subtilly of my Commandments Deeds not disputes evidence 2 Cor. 3. 1 2. our love to Christ the regular acts of our lives not Prov. 2. 10. the ingenious canvasings of the Schools it is not reasoning out of Gods word but walking after that holy word speaketh us the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Thirdly Nor doth Christ say If ye love me prescribe Est observatio praeceptorum Christi omnibus Christi fidelibus eo loco ha benda ut si illa desit in ipsam Christi dilectionem peccare convinâ—amâ—r Musc my Commandments to others read them lectures of sanctity no but live them your selves Personal holiness is of absolute necessity to every Christian It is not our prescription but our obedience not what we dictate to others but what we act our selves shews our interest in and our union to Christ Fourthly Nor doth Christ say keep the Statutes and the Commandments of your predecessours no but keep my Commandments it is not a plausihle custome but an undefiled conscience speaks the Christian This the Lord pleads Acts 24. 16. with Israel of old Ezek. 20. 18 19. But I said unto their Children in the wilderness walk ye not in the statutes of your Ezek. 20. 18. Fathers neither observe their judgements nor defile your selves Mat. 15. 3 6. with their Idols I am the Lord your God walk in my statutes Mat. 7. 9. 13. and keep my judgements and do them The Pharisees darling Gal. 1. 14. was the tradition of their Fathers and they were the Master-pieces of Hypocrisie Col. 2. 8. Fifthly Nor doth Christ say if ye love me keep and observe Numb 15. 39 40. what seems right to you no but keep my Commandments though severity be written upon their very forehead Deut. 12. 8. though it be to the carrying of my Cross to the denyal of your selves to the laying down of your lives for my sake Non spectatores sed luctatores non qui vident sed qui vincunt in agone et certamine coronabuntur Alap and keep all my Commandments not what are pleasing to your flesh but what are enjoyned by my word So then if we have any love to Christ holy practice must be the testimonial of it Indeed many Christians are like Children in the Rickets they have big heads but weak joynts they are all for notions and head-light curious knowledge and airy speculations but they wave practical truths and that wisdome Prov. 2. 10. which entereth upon the heart Prov. 2. 10. This undigested knowledge puts out the fire of zeal as if the waters of the Cum sapientia hominis animum penetrat quà m suavis illi est supra mel et favum Cartw. Sanctuary should put out the fire of the Sanctuary and men could not at the same time be knowing and holy How ardently then should we pray to the Father that Ordinances may so influence our lives that our conversation may bear witness how much we love the Lord Jesus And thus much for the second duty to be performed on the morning of the Sabbath before we joyn with the assembly of Gods people viz. Prayer A third duty incumbent upon us before we joyn with the Congregation is taking pains with our own hearts and this properly is Closet work which we may manage to very good purpose in these four particulars We must endeavour to empty our hearts First To throw out all the trash to cast out all vaine Jer. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos reddimus cogitationes noxias pro nox iae Aquila vertit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. damni Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec omniasuns fructus vanarum cogitationum thoughts and worldly desires Ponds and Moates are cleansed to keep them wholesome Foolish and vain imaginations will fly-blow all our duties and therefore we must let down the Portcullis of our hearts to keep in straglers and wanderers that they may not interrupt us in our holy worship These Caterpillars will blast and spoyle the fruit of holy Ordinances and for the atchieving of this necessary worke First Let us beg of Christ that he would whip these buyers and sellers out of the Temple of our souls The spirit of God can sweep away these Locusts and supply us with more noble and heavenly cogitations he can drop divine meditations into our hearts and turn the dross of flatulent thoughts into the gold of spiritual and seraphicall He is called a holy spirit not onely from those gracious impressions he stamps upon the heart but likewise from those divine infusions he instills into the head and so the whole man is his workman-ship in Jesus Christ Secondly We may likewise lash and correct these vaine Eph. 2 10. Vndenâ—m sit facultas bona opera saciendi immò et bona cogitandi ab eo à quo fimus novae creaturae nempe à deo A quo enim Arbor habetut sit bona ab eodem habet ut bonos proferat fructus Zanch. thoughts which flit up and down in our minds by setting before our hearts the future judgement when thoughts shall be canvased as well as words and actions sinfull thoughts at any time are accountable but those which defile the Sabbath are of a double dye and are written in red Letters The consideration of a judgement day will turn Hagars and Ishmaels out of door carnal and foolish imaginations Indeed we are apt with Lots Wife to look backward towards the worldly pleasures of Sodom towards the vanities of the world which hath too much of our heart even on the holy Sabbath of God but pondering on our future account we shall keep our faces steddy towards Sion Thirdly We must consider how much this trash of the heart foolish and vain thoughts will distract us in duty Heb. 4. 14. they are like the ringing of Bells in Sermon time which drown the voice of the preacher and stop the ear of the Mat. 13. 22. hearer These vain thoughts choak the Word that it dies away untimely and works not lively upon the soul This is Isa 29. 13. that setting the heart far from God when we seem to approach to him in Ordinances which the Lord so much complains of Isa 29. 13. Distracted persons are fit for nothing nor hearts distracted and torn with the varieties of flashy conceptions Fourthly Let us take up strong and fixed resolutions that we Haec suit causa excaecationis judaeorum quia scil deum nominabant et honorabant ore tenus corde vero erant ab eo elongati et aversi will wash our hearts in innocency and so we will compass Gods Altar Holy resolution is a good guard to the heart it will
up Psal 63. 4. The mouth must be filled with praises Psal 63. 5. The ear must bow and the knee Luke 21. 2. must bend Psal 95. 6. The body is one of the two mites we indigent worshipers can offer to God But for the better unfolding of this particular viz. How we must comport our bodies in publick worship there is something to be acted and something to be avoided First Something the outward man must Act. 1. We must lift up our hands in prayer this the Psalmist enjoyn us a a duty Psal 134. 2. and proposes his own example Psal 119. 48. What speaks more humility in prayer then to lift up the hands to receive the Almes Nor doth it shew less then our dependance upon God when by the lifting up of our hands we seem to point at our benefactor The Prophet Jeremiah 2 Lam. 19. joynes the pouring out of the heart and the lifting up of the hands together Moreover it pretends to a holy violence when we lift up our hands to wrestle with God and to storm heaven Christ Luke 24. 50. lifted up his hands in benediction and we must do the same Numb 16. 22. in supplication Secondly We must compose our countenances to holy Reverence Dicit Maria respexit humilitatem ancillae suae non virginitatem Bern. The Pharisees indeed disfigured their faces Mat. 6. 16. But their hypocrisie must not discourage our piety nothing doth more beautifie a serious worshipper then a becoming gravity Did we consider the infiniteness of that Majesty we are to deal withal the brightness of his eye the purity of his nature the strength of his hand the severity of his judgements and likewise weigh the account we must give for Gospel opportunities this would put a holy astonishment upon our faces and cover them with a reverential dread Lev. 10. 3. we know the offering up of strange fire but once cost two Priests their lives God loves a trembling at his word Isa 66. 2. Isa 66. 2. Slight carriages in worship more become a wanton Jupiter then an awfull Jehovah who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Thirdly We must bend the ear to the severest attention How often doth our Saviour call for a hearing ear this was Mat. 13. 43. the Epiphonema and conclusion of every Sermon to his Auditours Mat. 11. 15. Mark 4. 9. Luke 8. 8. Luke 14. 35. And Mark 7. 16. this was the winding up of every Epistle to the Churches Rev. 2. 7 11 17 29. Rev. 3. 6. 13 22. It is said of Christs Auditors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they did hang upon his mouth in hearing him Luke 19. 48. They did sit upon his lips that no word might escape them but they might arrest it for soul advantage The ear is the proper door to the heart this is the postern to let in truth study then to make it a door to salvation by a serious and diligent attention Divine truths like those Angels who Gen. 19. 3. came to Lot must not be shut out but entertained and the ear is the portal by which they must enter Attention Fides est donum dei Eph. 2. 8. sed non omnium 2 Thes 3. 2. electis solum datur Tit. 1. 11. sed hoc donum deus non instillat cordibus immediatè sed per auditum verbi sui auditum sc externum operante intus sp sancto Praecones verbi sonant auribus aures ad mentem deserunt though it be not an onely yet it is a necessary duty the ear lies in the way to the soul as the light shines not into the house but by the window Faith saith the Apostle Rom. 10. 17. comes by hearing and justification cometh by faith Rom. 5. 1. So that attention in holy Ordinances layes the first stone in the structure of glory He who is an attentive and serious hearer layes a good foundation a foundation of Jasper to found the New Jerusalem upon The ear is the fort which the Minister is to assault but the heart is the strong hold which the spirit is to take but if we are not attentive and resist the first on-set that of the Minister we shall lay discouragements before the second that of the spirit we shall grieve the spirit of the Lord Eph. 4. 30. But let not our careless attention obstruct and hinder the spirits saving operation And let us not loose those blessed truths by neglectfull hearing which Christ hath bought by his painfull bleeding Are the glad tidings of the Gospel so Adest sp dei per doctrinam auribus haustam mentem illuminans c. slight a message Are divine truths so mean a Doctrine Are Sermons of faith and godliness such low discourses that we will not be attentive in the hearing of them Surely Luke 19. 47. this is below the Religion of the Jews who diligently heard Luke 20. 1. Christ in the Temple though afterwards they brought him to the Cross It was the great complaint of God that the John 8. 20. people would not hear him Isa 28. 12. Lâ—â— us then be exact and very diligent in our outward attention when we come to the publick Ordinances alwayes remembring that the outward Court brings to the inner Court and that leads to the Holy of Holies But as we must watch our outward behaviour in publick worship to know what we are to act so likewise to understand what we are to avoid CHAP. XXVIII Sleeping in Ordinances is a great and daring provocation IN publick Ordinances we must avoid all sleep and slothfulness this surely is a great and general distemper broken in upon us much to be lamented and now more fully to be discovered This was the brand of the foolish Virgins they were asleep as the Bride-groom came and so their happiness Mat. 25. 5. was a dream We dare not sleep when a King speaks to us and yet we will adventure it when a God speaks to us It is very uncouth and inconsistent that we should be shutting our eyes when we should be opening our hearts Josh 24. 27. that our bodies should sleep when our souls should awake Jer. 7. 13. that the street door should be shut when the closet door should be open viz. in publick Ordinances and in the Acts 1. 16. holy worship of the Almighty Surely those who commit this sin did never really examine it they adventure upon 2 Pet. 1. 21. the practice of it because they never dived into the bottom of it But let such know that sleeping in Ordinances is every way offensive It is offensive to the eye of God When we are in Ordinances we are more especially under the eye of God though Psal 63. 2. he is excluded no where yet his presence is more peculiarly Mat. 18. 20. in the assemblies of his Saints He more particularly walks Isa 4. 5. in the midst of his Candlesticks Now there are
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
et deploremus communem honc humanae naturae corruptionem quòd in mundanis quidem sive quis nobis benefaciat sive nos offendat satis acrem habemus memoriam Ac in Divinis Benefaciat deus nobis sive nos puniat facillimè obliviscimur Lys address our selves to Ordinances to see our faces in a glass as the Apostle speaks Jam. 1. 23. and presently forget both our featute and complexion Whatever truth thou forgetest so much is lost to thy soul We put not our Treasure in broken baggs The forgetful hearer is guilty of the same unthriftiness Let us before-hand beg of God a firm and tenacius memory He who gives wisdome Jam. 1. 5. to understand his word can give us a memory to retain it All the faculties of the soul are created enriched by him Remembred Truths are probably riveted in the heart and revealed in the life It is a most gracious providence of God that he commits his Word to writing And shall that Word which hath been preserved by God for many Ages even to a Miracle the fury of Man the rage of Persecutors the malice of Satan the subtilty of Hereticks being considered shall that blessed Word I say be lost by thee in a moment where God hath brought a Pen to set down wilt thou bring a spunge to blot out Let us be serious and consider God remembers those truths we forget and if they are not the guide of the life they will prove the guilt of the soul Let us summon conscience to appear at every Ordinance Satan will give us many dispensations in holy duties and divine worship He will permit us an ear to hear a tongue to pray nay he will not disquiet us in our transient heats of zeal and sweet passions of joy as Herod heard the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 6. 20. sweetly Our affections for a little time shall be dallianced and delighted with some sweet Truths especially if they be set off by the musical voyce of the Preacher but this evil one will never suffer if he can obstruct it that conscience shall come into the Assemblies of the Saints within the hearing of Gods sacred and saving Word Indeed the purpose and design of the Word is to deal with conscience Cant. 5. 16. Rom. 7. 24. to work upon conscience to convince conscience of the sinfulness Eccles 1. 1. Mat. 16. 26. Ephes 2. 10. Mat. 11. 29 30 Luke 7. 45. Acts 2. 37. Mat. 10. 30. 31. John 8. 8. Rom. 2. 15. In Basilica cordis humani Deus tribunal constituit legesque in ejus tabulis incidit digito suo rationem creavit judicem conscientiam actorem Testes cogitationes quae vel accusant vel defendunt hominem 1 Sam. 16. 6 7 8. of sin of the loveliness of Christ of the vanity of the creature of the preciousness of the Soul of the beauty of Holiness of the easiness of Christs Yoke c. Christ he Preaches and convinceth Mary Magdalen in her conscience and she melts in tears at his feet Peter convinceth the conscience of the stubborn Jews and they are pricked at the heart Paul and Silas convince the conscience of the Jaylour and he is in a fit and an agony of trembling and despair and presently falls upon enquiry after life and salvation When thou approachest to Ordinances if a sin be reproved let conscience speak is not this my default If a duty be pressed let conscience speak is not this my tye and obligation If a corruption be unmasked and detected let conscience speak is not this my Dalilah my right eye which with Antigonus in his Picture I put my finger upon If self-denial be urged let conscience answer is it not the Cross I have so wriggled under and have been so impatient of Conscience is the chief Guest which is invited to the feast of an Ordinance To leave conscience at home is to let all the sons of Jesse to pass by and to keep back David too and so Samuel may go back again with his anointing Oyl Let us come to holy Ordinances with secret and severe resolutions to live them over to practice every Prayer we put up to act every truth we hear and to adorn every Ordinance we enjoy Our mingling with the people of God in holy worship is onely the bare canvass It is Conversion brings the Pencil and the colours to draw a fair and beautifull piece Moses when he came down from conversing with God his face shone Our light must shine before men Exod. 34. 30. after our communion with God in Ordinances The light Mat. 5. 16. Conciones sunt verba vivenda non tantùm audienda of the Gospel must enlighten our lives as one taper lights another It is rare when our heart is suitable to Gods nature as it is said of David 1 Sam. 13. 34. and our life is suitable to Gods Law And indeed though the spiritual life as the natural begins at the heart yet it doth not end there but proceeds to the hands and the feet c. The same water which was in the VVell is in the Bucket The holy heart is like a box of Musk which perfumes and scents the tongue the eyes the ears the hands and whatever is near it with sanctity and holiness The Ordinances should impress our hearts and influence our lives and therefore a holy conversation is called a conversation becomming the Gospel Phil. 1. 27. If we are resolved upon sin let us lay aside holy Sabbaths holy Duties holy Ordinances When the Preacher hath shut up all in the Pulpit the hearer is to begin in his practice the strokes in Musique must answer the notes and A morte Christi omnis piorum ministrorum sufficientia aptitudo dimanat qui aures verbo percipiendo et pollices actionibus sacris praeparat Riv. rules set down in the Lesson Our actions are these musical strokes which must answer the rules set down in the Sermon It is observable that the blood was to be sprinkled on Aarons right ear on his right thumb and on his right toe Exod. 29. 20. The first did note the right hearing of the Word the second and third his working according to the tenor of it His working by it and his walking in it Our Saviour couples hearing and keeping the Word together Luke 11. 28. The Porter is not so rich who carries the baggs of Silver as the Merchant who ownes them He is not so happy who hears the Sermon as he who lives it As one well observes The Virgin Mary was more honoured that she was the member of Christ than Rom. 6. 13. that she was the mother of Christ Life and holiness set off the lustre and beauty of Ordinances A savoury Christian is an Ornament to holy institutions Prayer is musique when holiness sets the tune The Gospel is glorious when holiness 2 Cor 4. 4. gives the shine and reverberates bright beams upon it Let
His dread is of God Psal 119. 122. His love is to God Psal 18. 1. in every Ordinance he approacheth to God is the only object of his prayers Psal 5. 3. If he come to Sermons it is to Paulo quinto Vice-deo hear something of God and Christ John 10. 3. In Ordinances we must not worship men as the Samaritans worshipped Antiochus Epiphanes stiling him the mighty God or as the Venetians petitioned Paul the fifth Pope of Rome giving him the title of Vice-god nor must we worship the host of heaven as the Ammonites nor the Devill as the Indians nor Ezr. 9. 1. Zeph. 1. 5. Phil. 3. 19. Col. 3. 5. Jer. 50 2. Judg 2. 13. Acts 19. 28. 2 Kings 5. 18. Jer. 51. 44. Chemosh non potest defendere Moabitas à Babyloniis Nec aurei vituli Israelitas ab Assyriis Alap the belly as the Glutton nor interest as the Covetous nor the Cross as the Papists nor must we worship false gods not Belas as the Assyrians nor Baal as the Tyrians nor Diana as the Ephesians nor Juno as the Samians nor Rimmon as the Syrians but we must worship the great God the incomprehensible Jehovah God in Christ and him only must we serve In a word we must be cautionated against a threefold worship First We must not worship deos mortuos dead Gods images and reliques c. Nec deos mortales nor dying gods Men or Princes Nec deos mortificos deadly goods our swaying lusts and corruptions How necessary is it then for us to come with knowledge to holy worship that we may seririously apprehend that infinite Majesty that most glorious Being Psal 82. 7. Nahum 1. 5. at whose presence the mountains quake and the hills melt and this is the God the Jehovah Elohim with whom we converse in holy Ordinances We must act sincerely in holy Ordinances VVe must be hearty in our hearing we must not only bring the ear but Col. 3. 16. the heart to the truth of the word Truth must dwell in us Col. 3. 16. and must be not only our information but Luke 2. 19. our inhabitant it must be treasured up as well as attended to The truths of the Gospel are as so many Jewels and rare Pearls which must be lockt up The ear is only as the Verbum dei intromittatur in domicilium cordis nostri ac versetur assidâ—è in animis nostris Daven Psal 17. 1. Heb. 10. 22. Lam. 3. 41. Notandum est quod quae offeruntur in holocaustum interiora sunt quod exterius est non deo offertur ut pellâ— Orig. stall the heart is the Cabinet And indeed Satan can quickly pick truth out of the ear he can easily open that window but he cannot penetrate the heart that lock is only broke open by Omnipotency Truth is under lock and key safely secured when laid up in the heart and indeed it is never well housed till it is folded up in the soul And so we must be sincere and hearty in our prayers Tongue and heart must keep time and tune The Jews have this sentence written in their Synagogues where they meet for holy Ordinances A prayer without the heart is like a body without the soul God looks not so much to the Elegancy of our prayers how neat they are nor to the Geometry of our prayers how long they are but to the sincerity of our prayers how cordiall they are Thy prayers without thy heart will be a sacriledge not a sacrifice When the heart is Rector chori the chief leader of the quire then the voice is pleasant in Gods ear The heart though it be one of the least parts of man yet it is the best And as we must be sincere in our management of holy duties so in the ends we propose Acts 17 18. Some go to Ordinances as Athenians to understand some Mat. 22. 15. new thing some as Herodians to carp and to catch some to be gratified with ingenuity and wit as those who go to hear a noise of Musicians All these are as Children who Ezek. 33. 32. go to Fairs to buy toys and trifles But let us go to Ordinances to gather those flowers which grow in Eden to advantage our better part and to lay up treasure for our immortal souls We must act faith in holy Ordinances The Apostle avers it positively That without faith it is impossible to please God This grace is the incense in our sacrifices the rising Heb. 11. 6. perfume in all our offerings The hand of faith sprinkles the bloud of sprinkling upon all our oblations Faith is the Heb. 12. 24. eye of the soul to see the light of the Gospel faith is the hand of the soul to receive Christ offered in the Gospel Though faith be not the One thing necessary yet it is the chief thing necessary in all our duties and services This Si non unicum necessarium tamen primò necessarium est fides sacro soleâ—ni cultu efficox grace doth not only justifie our persons Rom. 5. 1. Purge our hearts Acts 15. 9. Nay espouse us to Jesus Christ Eph. 3. 17. But it doth sanctifie our duties and make them authentical and effectuall It is the believing soul alone enjoys an Ordinance profitably and performs a service acceptably he only feeds upon the tree of life in the Paradise of Ordinances We must act holy and ardent desire in holy Ordinances We must come to the Ordinances as the Hart to the brooks Luke 17. 37. Psal 42. 1. Fides quâ solâ apprehenditur Christus cujus justitiâ induimur verbi praedicatione procreatur conservatur Cartw. or as the Eagle which flyeth upon the prey or as the poor stooping Israelites who lapt at the water Judg. 7. 6. Indeed there are many desirable things in ordinances there is a desirable Christ desirable Grace desirable Life a desirable Soul to save a desirable heaven to ensure It may be added the Scriptures resemble this blessed work to whatever may inflame desire It is light for its pleasantness John 3. 19. It is honey for its sweetness Psal 19. 10. It is food for its necessity Job 23. 12. It is gold for its value Psal 19. 10. We live by it Mat. 4. 4. And we perish without it Prov. 29. 18. And let our desires answer all these allurements Indeed we should come to Christ in ordinances as the Bride to the bridegroom with joy and delight as the Husband-man to the Vine for a Vintage of satisfaction David rejoyced and triumphed in his own soul when the multitude called him to go to the house of God and indeed the Sanctuary is the Saints Bride-chamber on this side heaven And thus we see how we may every way deport our selves in publick ordinances and opportunities CHAP. XXXIII How we must improve the interval between the Morning and the Evening worship in the publick Assembly THE publick worship being over and the assembly
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
pluvia coelestis gratiae ad fructificandumirrigatur Par. us for publick duties but succeeds those publick ordinances to us It is like a good wind which doth not onely carry us off from the shore but goes along with us the whole Voyage it is a sweet duty which must be interwoven in every part of a Sabbath Prayer plows the heart for the seed of the VVord it commands rain to prosper that seed it secundates and ripens the Corn when it appears above-ground and it keeps the weeds from choaking the Corn It doth the whole work When we have been in publick with Psalm 109. 4. God Private prayer in Christ is the Altar which sanctifies the gift and Prayer in this interval of holy worship looks with a double aspect backward to what we have heard and forward to what we may hear indeed in this being like Heb. 4. 12. the Word a two-edged Sword it hath a double edge for our spiritual advantage Now our Prayer is like the sword at the east of the Garden of Eden which turned every way Acts 2. 27. Prayer in the Closet often saves us the labours of the Pulpit Jer. 23. 29. and directs the speech of the Minister to prick the Jer. 20. 9. 1 Cor. 3. 2. heart of the hearer Ananias came to Paul when he was praying Acts 9. 11. If the Word be an hammer it is prayer causes the stroke if the Word be fire it is prayer layes this fire on our hearths if the VVord be a sword it is prayer weilds this Sword to wound our lusts and corruptions In a word private prayer is the best meanes to prosper publick preaching and to guide the arrow of truth to hit the mark of Conscience Another Duty which must take up the space between the publick Ordinances is reading theÌ„ Scriptures VVhen we come home from the publick we must not be confined to the Scripturae sunt spiritualis aniae mensa in quá vivae representantur deliciae et maxima bona Anselm inclosure of the Ministers Sermon but we must open to the wide though pleasant Common of the whole book of God we must read some Chapters for spiritual edification Anselme used to call the Scriptures the spiritual Table of the soul furnished with all heavenly delicacies and with the choicest good things And on Gods holy day when our own table is taken away Let this spread-table be set before us for soul-feeding and repose Every Chapter which may be read is an Epitome of divine Truth which may Si quando procacior suit inimicus Psaltorium decantabat In tentationibus Deutero â—ii verba voluebat In tribulationibus Isaiae replicabat eloquia et scripturae testimonium in consolationem suam edisserebat Hierom. train up our children and influence our servants and which may build up our own souls and water every branch of the Family for spiritual growth in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord Phil. 3. 8. Hierome reports of Paula that he used the Scriptures as a Medicine against every disease If her enemies were violent she would turn over the Psalmes If her temptations were strong she would fix upon some part of Deuteronomy If her afflictions were forcible then she consulted some part of the Prophesie of Isaiah and so she drew the Scriptures into an universal comfort to her The VVord of God is our light to guide us Psalm 119. 105. And that family where the Scriptures are much read is a Goshen of light and pleasantness where Israel resides and inhabits when other habitations are covered with Aegyptian darkness with the darkness of sin and ignorance Governours of Families are the best stewards not onely when they lay in provisions from the Market Luke 12. 42. but when they bring forth spiritual food from the Scriptures by reading conscionably and constantly those Oracles of Rom. 3. 2. God to those under their roof for holy Job confidently asserts that the word is more necessary than the appointed food Acts 20 27. Job 23. 12. Let therefore the interval between the publick worship be filled up with holy travel in the counsels of God Scripturas non obiter inspicia nus et legamus ut externum corticem tantùm accipiamus sed adhibenda est diligens perscrutatio Chemnit recorded in Scripture Our Saviour imputed all the sottish mistakes of the Jews to their ignorance of the Scripture Mat. 22. 29. and lays it as a charge upon them to search the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39. But it must not be as Chemnitius observes a transient glance but a serious search as Miners for Gold with pains and delight So then it is a great part of wisdom in Families to converse much with Gods word but especially on Gods day and most peculiarly when the most solemn and publick worship doth not call them off CHAP. XXXIV How we must spend the Evening of the Sabbath when the Publick Assemblies are dismissed THere are many who will give an easie answer to the question Nos ab omni opere externo vacantes deo uni et soli hoc die vacemus Ideireò et hunc diem benedixit et sanctificavit i. e. in usum suum separavit et elegit Aret. Eph. 4. 20. proposed and will tell us that when the publick service is ended we have our free liberty for all pleasing Recreations we may exercise our skil in a pair of Bowles we may exercise our valour in a pair of Cudgels we may exercise our fancy in a Dance or a Barly-break But all the reply I shall make this being spoken to before is I hope we have not so learned Christ Now therefore my next task is to lay down those duties with which we may close Gods holy and blessed day We must carefully survey what we have been acquainted withall in the publick The Repetition of Sermons is a heart-penetrating and soul-edifying duty the very manuduction Quod toties Paulus eadèm scribit hoc est ad corroborandum ut Christiani sint tutiores cautiores et vigilantiores Alap John 6. 12. and leading of families into the fear of the Lord Holy truths are those divine fragments which must not be lost but gathered up by a faithful repetition When the Minister hath ended to preach we must begin to rehearse such repetitions being the musical ecchoes from that sweet voice we heard before If Paul thought it not grievous to write the same things which he had taught before Phil. 3. 1. We must not think it painful or impertinent to rehearse the same things which we have learned before The repedting of 1 Sam. 3. 10. Quaevis cogitationes et rationes naturales intellectus quantumvis artificiosae quantum vis sublime subjiciantur doctrinae Evangelicae et de facto subjectae sunt omnibus eadem doctrinâ conversis Mal. 13. 19. truth preacht casts a new light upon it it clincheth Gospel counsel the faster upon the heart and
so corruption receives a double and by consequence a deeper wound Samuel answered not God till the third time it may be conscience will answer that word in the repetition to which it did not listen in the delivery Repetition of Sermons is like the Sun beams in the repercussion and reflexion which shine in a more fervent heat and a more considerable warmth The second shoot often kills the bird when the first misseth We know not what the second hearing of Gods Word may act upon the soul And we repeat Sermons in our families not onely barely to pass away the time of a Sabbath but by this fruitfull exercise our memories are recruited the Sermon is more distinctly apprehended the heart is a second time assaulted and stormed that it may be taken and brought captive to the obedience of Christ Besides in the repetition of the Word we have a more private tender of life and salvation misappehensions are this way removed and the Original is cleared by the Copy We often mistake the Minister when the Word is delivered when we repeat the word the mistake is easily corrected and amended to all which may be added by this heavenly course and practice Families are trained up in Gospel discipline and the more we hear of Christ in publick and in private the more our love to him is courted and conquered and thus Servants better understand their duty and Children better learn obedience If we leave those Sermons we hear at the Church door and there take our farewell of them Satan quickly takes up our lost treasure Diabolus est inster avis famelicae semen verbi rapiens et sat habet si homo verbi alimento non pascitur Par. and then our attempt in the publick ordinances was in vain it being not probable that we should give those holy Sermons room in our hearts which we were careless to lodge in our houses by a conscientious repetition The strongest hold we lodge divine truth in is slack enough Satan is ready to untie the knot let mans care tie it as fast as it may and therefore we must tie truth upon the soul with a threefold cord 1. With a diligent attention in the publick Assembly 2. VVith a heedfull repetition in the private Family Chem. Exam. de dieb Fest 3. In ardent supplication running over the heads of the same Sermon in our more retired and severer Closets It was the custome of our sweet and dear Jesus after he had preached a Sermon to the multitude to examine his Disciples privately about it and to rivet what had before been revealed Mar. 4. Truths like stars are best when fixed and when Luc. 14. our hearts not our understandings are their Orbs to move in Vain controversies as the wise man speaks may not be repeated for that will separate friends Prov. 17. 9. But divine Counsels must for that will unite truths to the soul And moreover our slippery memory may be made more consistent by repetition and so retentive of that word which is apt to slide away Surely great are the advantages of repeating Sermons in our families it is like Lots holy violence to the Angels to force them into his house The rehearsal of holy Gen. 19. 3. truth is a sweet attractive to draw Christ into the family and it sents the house with sacred fumes which the fire of the Word sends up This worthy practice makes our Si medico non est opproâ—râ—um de aegroto sâ—â—scitarâ— neque crimen est de auditorum semper inquirere salute Sic enim moniti quid expeditum sit c. Chrys houses Chappels of devotion and is nothing but Religion drawn in a smaller frame In a word when the Ministers blessing hath opened the door of the Sanctuary for our departure let us apply our selves to this experienced medium for soul advantage our souls which were tuning in the publick may be musical in private and the Sermon may be more sweet in the second gust and tast of it like the works of some learned men which are more refined and enlarged in the second Edition Another duty calculated for the Evening of a Sabbath is holy Prayer This powerfull service is a golden thread which must run through every space of a Sabbath it is the sacrifice of the Closet it is the service of the Family it is the ordinance of the Sanctuary it doth seasonably break Quartum praeceptum ponitur in gremio decalogi tanâ—uam testis amoris divini et nostrae obedientiae the morning of a Sabbath and usher in the following duties it doth sweetly concur with the mid-day of the Sabbath when our devotion like the Sun should be at the highest remembring that the Commandment for the Sabbath is in the midle of the Decalogue And there is more work for prayer it must shut up both the Morning and the Evening Worship there must be prayer to beg a blessing on truths already discovered that in their light we may see light Psal 36. 9. And indeed prayer doth most becomingly close the Mat. 13. 23. Evening of a Sabbath then the lifting up of our hands are Psal 141. 2. instead of an Evening sacrifice Prayer is like a setting Sun which is most glorious like a well fraught Ship after its Voyage which lands at the Port which is pleasing and joyous In the Evening Noahs Dove brings the Olive branch Prayer Gen. 8. 11. often is this Dove when after the travels of the Sabbath it sums up all and importunes success and acceptation then the soul is calmed with peace and rejoycing In the Evening Mat 14. 23. Dan. 9. 21. Christ wrestles with his Father alone in prayer as if the Sun should not see the triumphs of his Victory Daniel was praying in the Evening and then the Angel came unto him the messenger of glad tidings to this humble Supplicant 1 Kings 18. 37 38. Fire comes upon Elijahs Evening sacrifice when Prayer presented the oblation as a sign of pleasing acceptation We must then shut up Gods day at Gods feet that he may bid Luke 2. 29. Eph. 1. 6. us depart in peace for he hath accepted us in his beloved otherwise we may go to bed but not to rest And our conclusive prayers in the Sabbaths evening must be 1. Confessory Our best Sabbaths have not escaped the stains of sin there will be iniquity in our holy things our Condonet mihi deus etiam sacrorum meorum delicta Aug. best services are like the spotted moon or a jewel with flaws Augustine would beg pardon for the sins of his holy duties And we when our Sabbath is setting have more need of tears then triumphs and say as the Romans did of one of their Victories such another would undoe them Prayer Jam. 3. 2. Psal 119. 59. therefore in the close of the Sabbath must look up to God with a weeping eye and we must pray that God would
〈◊〉 si Iota periret tuno esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nullo sensu Par. of the New Creation the curious piece of mans redemption is seen and known considering then we have our Fathers will in our Mother tongue we have and hear the Gospel which brings suitable remedies for every malady suitable sucour for every misery which brings the costliest Cordials and the choysest Comforts let the enjoyment of this Word spring our Hallelujahs in the close of a Sabbath 6. For the frequency of a Sabbath This might have been an annual and not a weekly feast were we kept for several moneths without a Sabbath how would our spirits spring at such a dayes appearance Why should the commonness of the Suns shining and the Sabbaths coming put a blast upon the mercy A market day once in the week doth not tire or weary us a Feast and Banquet once in the week doth not Mat. 12. 42. nauseate or surfet us when we mention the Sabbath a greater then these inconsiderables is here A learned Author observes That near the Pole where the nights endure divers moneths the Inhabitants in the end of such a night when the Sun begins to be seen they deck themselves in their best apparel and get up to the Mountains with joy and singing and cry out the Sun appears the Sun appears And shall not our Sabbath when the Sun of Righteousness appears lay as Hoc vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traditur propriè de equis subsaltantibus et transfertur ad motum qui sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Van. great a foundation of joy and exultation in our souls Indeed our Sabbath doth not onely necessitate our praise for the sweet provision of it but for the speedy revelation of it The Circle turns about quickly and then the Sabbath comes again and meets us with his heavenly salutes The monthly light of the Moon how doth it chear the world Much more the weekly splendour of the Sabbath when the gracious person scaps in the womb of it as fore-telling the coming of a Jesus Luke 1. 44. This weekly rest how sweet is it to Gods holy ones and what a softning argument to praise and thanksgiving Nor must we omit Catechizing of Children and Servants in the close of a Sabbath The learned observe That the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to catechise signifies to resound as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eccho When we draw answers from our catechists our children or servants their answers are but the ecchoes of divine truth rebounding from the tongue of the answerer which needs must be pleasing and musical to the examiner This work of catechizing is like the watering of flowers Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo which makes them smell and grow This is truly distilling doctrine like the rain Deut. 32. 2. drop by drop which probably will make its way into the heart at last This practice of catechizing is the first liquoring of the soul Fundamentum animae fidelis est Jesus Christus which will not easily wear of This is the laying of the foundation Christ in youth and foundations are not easily shaken winds may annoy the roof of the house but not touch the foundation Governors of families build their houses not with brick but instruction and the hewing of 1 Cor. 3. 11. hearts by inculcating the word of life upon them is the hewing of stone which will last and continue Indeed chatechizing Luke 2. 52. is the feeding of the understanding the exercise of the memory the seasoning of the heart the teaching of the tongue to pronounce Shibboleth and fidelity in this duty will leave marks in the lives of Children and Servants Radix vitae aeternae est fides origo pronuba omnium bonorum etiam caelestium Cyril Let us then in the evening of Gods day make a scrutiny into the knowledge of our families that they may learn to know God and him whom he hath sent and to obtain eternall life John 17. 3. Masters are not only to teach their servants their trade but their Christ And Parents are not only to see their Children trained up in secular but in spiritual learning First Catechizing is a duty most gratefully accepted with God God saith of Abraham Gen. 18. 18. For I know him Sancitur officium aeconomicum parentum erga liberos et domesticos Jubet deus Abrahamum non sepelire revelationes sed ad domesticos et posteros propagare Par. that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him that they shall keep the way of the Lord. And for this God makes him a great and mighty Nation God will assuredly bless and reward our religious care over our families which is much evidenced in a carefull catechizing of them And as we study to diffuse knowledge to them so will God shower down his blessings on us Abrahams crown was not his flocks but his care not his wealth but his diligence to train his family in the fear knowledg of the Lord. Secondly Catechizing is a duty strictly charged upon us God commands the people of Israel Deut. 6. 6 7. That his words may dwell in their hearts and that they diligently teach them their children Parents in families must be as lighted tapers to give light to all who are in the house first they must rivet Gods word on their own hearts and then drop it into the hearts of their families Joshuah's Josh 24. 15. resolve was That he and his house would serve the Lord. Governors of families should be as Gardiners which water the young plants at the root Thirdly Catechizing is a duty most successefully pursued upon young ones This is throwing seed into a fruitfull ground which will not want an harvest Timothy was trained up betimes in holy Doctrine and afterwards he was a most excellent Evangelist When a house is strongly built at first after-years will proclaim the care and fidelity 2 Tim. 3. 15. of the workman As Sir Walter Mildmay said of his Colledge which he built Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge He had planted an Acorn which might be an Oak in time and this worthy Colledge hath been the seminary of many learned and excellent men Every serious catechizing of our family is the planting of an Acorn and after-times may see the fruits of that holy plantation We have all varieties of Arguments to press this necessary and excellent duty We have Scripture In the Old Testament the Jews were to teach their Children the Original use of the Passeover Exod. 12. 26 27. other points of the divine Law The Lord speaks Exod. 12. 26 thus Deut. 11. 18 19. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words Ezod 13. 8. in your hearts and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes and ye shall teach them your Children c. In
innocency more large and more lasting 3. Of Blindness Adam by soaring too high lost his sight and entailed that blemish upon all his off-spring Now God offers eye-salve to cure our blindnesse that we Quid est collyrium nisi illuminatio spiritus â—ellentis tenebras cordium atque excitantis veram dei agnitionem et dilectionem in fide justificatis ut in cernendâ suâ miseriâ et Christi beneficiis caeci esse desinant Par. Heb. 12. 17. Mat. 22. 5. Luke 15. 13. may see the salvation of the Lord and understand the things which belong to our peace Thus fraught with rich advantages and rare commodities is Gods blessed day which to triflle away is not so much trespass as frenzy our madness rather then our miscarriage Mariners do not sport with good winds nor Merchants with good markets nor Husbandmen with good seasons onely the Formalist slips his rare opportunities a blessing he shall not long enjoy though he seeks it carefully with tears The King of Saints Rev. 15. 3. makes a Feast on his own Resurrection day and the Guests more study excuses then appetite and are very dextrous to trifle away their own happinesse what remains to these spiritual prodigals but a fearful expectation of Judgement We may write a Mene Tekel Dan. 5. 25. upon the fairest pretences of these triflers who throw away the Heb. 10. 27. inestimable benefit of Sabbath-grace But let us observe the traces of these self-destroying Formalists Some trifle away their Sabbath in running from one place to another and fixing no where to hear a Sermon and enjoy the Ordinances of God Now they stay a little in one Church and presently slip away to another and happily visit a third if not a fourth and this hath been a great sin in the greatest City of the Nation Here I may say with our Saviour To whom shall I liken the men of this Generation Mat. 11. 16. Indeed they are like Children in the Market who run from stall to stall to see every thing but buy nothing they are Overseers of an Ordinance they see the Sunt aliquid in omnibus et nihil in singulis goods of it carried away and their souls are nothing the richer by it these are wandring stars flying and so empty Clouds curiosity is their Principle and emptiness is their Character but let such consider the itch of vanity Jude v. 20. is usually rubbed into the scab of prophanenesse these general surveyors are seldom built up in the most holy faith these are onely initial scepticks they rove up and down Judges 7. 6. till at last they lose themselves they are like Gideons souldiers Hos 6. 4. who onely lap at an Ordinance as they did at the waters and so their righteousnesse is as the morning dew their Si aliqua necessitas oriatur urgentiori actione prandium est praetereundum Aug. contr urbic Epist 86. inconstancy is usually followed with darknesse of mind and deadnesse of heart Saint Augustine in a tract against Vrbicus tells us That in the Primitive times Sermons were not tyed up to an hour but were protracted to a greater length if any occasion required and Dinner-time was swallowed up in the duty Christians attending these prolonged services What a burden would this have been to these flitting Auditours this would have put their roving fancy into chains It was a Custome in the golden Age of the Church to follow those with censures Ecclesiastical who went out of the Auditory Ante finem tractatus non est exeundum Chrysost Hom. 83. in Matth. before the Minister had concluded his Sermon whether longer or shorter as a learned man notes And Chrysostom in his 83d Homily on Matthew severely reproves those who went out of the Church before the Minister had dismissed the people and positively affirms whoever goes out of the Assembly before the Congregation is dismissed shall give an Qui ante dismissionem exit ut fugitivus rationem reddet Chrys Concil Carth. Concil Aurel. Concil Agath Qui sacerdote veâ—bum faciente exibit terribili excommunicationis censurâ notetur Concil carth account to God as a fugitive The fourth Council of Carthage speaketh thus in the 24th Canon Whoever goes out whilst the Minister is preaching and continuing his discourse let him be branded with the terrible Censure of Excommunication To the same purpose Concil Aurelian Can. 28. An. 507. Concil Agathen Can. 47. which was held An. Dom. 306. And this is further observable from Antiquity that Chrysostom in his 19th Homily upon Genesis doth very much commend his Auditours who heard his admonitions with great alacrity nor were they offended with the length or prolixity of them but still kept up a vigorous and continued desire to hearken to him and persevered in this desire to the end And truly this deserved commendation It is said of our Saviours Auditours that they did hang upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 19. 48. his lips Luke 19. 48. so the Original word bears it And those who heard Paul waited on his Ministry till midnight Acts 20. 7. But how contrary are those gadding hearers we are treating of to the serious Congregation of Chrysostome to the fervent Auditors of our Saviour and to the unwearied Assembly who suckt in Gospel truth from the Apostles lips at midnight These trifling Proselytes they put Hag. 1. 6. their spiritual riches into a bag with holes and scatter their gleanings by the way Some trifle away their Sabbath in hearing some new thing These act the Athenian more then the Christian the old Acts 17. 21. beaten way of godlinesse is trite and worn out to them but if they hear of a new Preacher then they flock to him Quisquis es assertor novorum dogmatum Quaeso te ut parâ—as humanis auribus ut parcas fidei If they hear of some new opinion then they run after it this hath been a disease which hath raged in many parts of this Nation But these please fancy more then faith and study notion more then religion they remember not that Satan can transform himself into all shapes and as a Chamelian turn into all colours and feducers his emissaries can Hieron ad Pammach put on a silken mask and blend truth with errour to make it more plausible and the commodity more vendible The 2 Cor. 11. 3. smoothest tongues are oftentimes the Oratours of false Doctrine Micah 2. 11. ctrine as the finest paint stops up the deepest wrinkles Incautelous Isa 8. 20 Novelists consider not the advice of God by the Mat. 4. 4. Prophet Jer. 6. 16. Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the Luke 16. 29 wayes and see and ask for the old paths where is the good Mat. 11. 29. way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls 1 John 1. 4. They consider not the fervent asseveration of the Apostle Jer. 23. 16. Gal. 1.
8. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto Gal. 1. 8 9. you let him be acoursed as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel to you then that you have received let him be accursed Observe how the Apostle repeats the Anathema against all novel opinions and in the heat of his zeal how doth he execrate any person whatsoever Retinenda est antiquitas explodenda est novitas Angel Christian Man who shall introduce any thing different from or contrary to the received Doctrine This text of Scripture might strike all Novelists seducers and seduced Lyr. with Belshazzars Palsy Dan. 5. 6. and might chain up frothy and unstable spirits from their opinionative ranges And we may not overpasse how the Apostle Paul charges the wavering Gallatians with effascination Gal. 3. 1. And yet how many fantastique spirits are there who spend or rather wast their Sabbaths in running after this or that seducer who corrupts the unblemisht doctrine of the glorious 2 Cor. 4 4. Gospel who vents this new and strange notion and the other upstart opinion and doth happily as some do with their 2 Cor. 11. 15. stuffes who put a new and an amusing name upon an old and out-worn stuffe call old and obsolete errours new and Quidam audiens à daemone Ego sum Christus clausit oâ—ulos dicens Ego in hac vitâ Christum nolo videre sed in alterâ vitâ Alap glorious light and with these wares defraud the vulgar How many I say follow these seducers till they are bewitched to use the Apostles phrase into some uncouth sect or brutified into some irrational and soul-damning opinion Our unhappy Kingdome is too full of instances in this kind Surely such never seriously consulted the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 11. 13. For such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ but are as the unwary guest who tasteth every dish though some are poysonous and will gather every herb though by it they put death into the Pot. Object But these giddy spirits like the evil spirit Mat. 4. 6. will bring Scripture for their practice especially that noted text 1 Thes 5. 21. Prove all things To which Objection it is answered Answ It is explanate omnia non omnes Prove all things not all persons The injunction doth not oblige or enforce us to run from one preacher to another till we have heard every Minister nay every Tradesman who will undertake to be a Speaker we must not as the Sun run through every sign of the Zodiack And though I shall not with Bellarmine restrain this command to Ministers only and that it appertains Bellar. de laicis l. 3. c. 21. not at all to the Laicks yet surely this Text speaks only thus much that we must try all Doctrines delivered by our own Pastour or any other Minister whom we providentially hear and then bring them to the touch-stone of Gods sacred word And so the Text commands us to be as the noble Bereans Acts 17. 11. and not as phantastick Athenians Acts 17. 21. This Apostolical rule injoyns discretion and not inconstancy that we should be deliberative but not wavering Curiosity is not here indulged but diligence This rule gives us power of examination that we may weigh every piece of Doctrine in the scales of the word but it speaks no further only that we should adde prudence in Phil. 1. 9 10. discerning to diligence in hearing and it couples a wise head with a good heart Wherefore the Lord prescribed Vt cum insultant nobis nos interrogant ea quae discimus vel sic pigritiam excutiamus divinas Scripturas cognoscere cupiâ—mus August contr Manich. rules to the Jews to judge Prophets by Deut. 13. 1 2 3. Deut. 18. 22. And caused his word to be written that it might be the Canon and measure of all truth And of this serious examination Augustine shews us this excellent benefit viz. That by this work we may shake off sloath and be filled with an ardenâ— desire of Scripture-knowledge So then this Apostolical command is only abused by flatulent and unsetled spirits who waste their Sabbaths in the pursuance of some unprofitable novelty and it speaks no more but this The Apostle decries all implicit faith and calls for a judgement of discretion in every Christian to compare every Doctrine delivered by the Minister with the standing rule of Rev. 14. 6. the everlasting Gospel and those Doctrines which are congruous to the rule to entertain and embrace otherwise to reject them as the spurious inventions and fictions of men 1 Cor. 4. 24. But to shut up this particular Upon what precipices of danger do these assertours of novelty walk when so often false Doctrine is quilted in with true and as Chysostom Theophylact and Theodoret observe False Prophets will mingle Prophetis veris aliqui Pseudo prophetae clam immiscent Theod. Chrysost Theophil themselves clancularly with true and faithful Teachers Full bags will not want brass pieces heaps of Corn will not be without its chaff nor full Markets without their bad commodities And no more will the Church of Christ in every age want lying Prophets subtil Seducers and plausible Hereticks and if the novelist fall upon any of these how near is he to a shipwrack of faith and a good conscience And besides 1 Tim. 1. 19. in the formentioned text it is very observable the Apostle doth not command us to hear all things but to prove all things we must not run into every corner to hear what ever is said or preached this was an impossible enterprise and we may as soon take the Sea into the hollow of our hand but we must prove all things which we do hear from that Ministery we are obliged to the Apostle commands our Omnia probate i. e. dubia incerta quae maxime probatione egent Alap industry and ingenuity but not indulges our quick silvered curiosity And what Alapide takes notice of is not to be pretermitted The Apostle saith he commands us to prove all things viz. which are dubious and uncertain and stand in need of proof and tryal so the Apostle doth not put us upon unnecessary enquiries to pry into every privacy where a Heretick is crept in Jude v. 4. But when matters are delivered by the Minister which are more arduous and mysterious then it behoves the Christian to sweat in Scripture search to find out the meaning of these difficulties that his understanding may be truly enlightned and his conscience fully satisfied But those who pine after novelties and curiosities should take notice the Lords day spends while they are following the chase and who shall recall that blessed season if it be wasted in impertinencies Some trifle away their Sabbath in fruitless visits If they have a sick friend
prayer to sollicite them the ship came home without any other gale to cause its arrival then divine love 4. Thy spiritual mercies A Sabbath is best accommodated for a review of spirituals then remember the sweets of Psal 66. 18. former Sabbaths as David remembred the joy he used to have when others called him to go to the house of God Psal 42. 4. We should then cast in our thoughts what reproof of the word cut sharpest what truth struck deepest what Ordinance came closest to our souls who was the instrument of our greatest good what Sabbath was the time of our choicest loves Peter Martyr could tell the very sentence of a Sermon which first wrought upon his heart Thy soul if thou belongest Jer. 2. 24. John 9. 11. 2 Kings 5. 10. to God had a moneth when Christ took thee Spiritual mercies are most sweet in contemplation more smooth then the waters of Siloam more healing then the waters of Jordan And thus thou mayest travel through the pleasant plains of a Sabbath when thou art alone and hast no company If there be occasion joyn fasting to the rest of thy holy duties on thy solitary Sabbaths It is true the Sabbath is not a fast but a feast day a day of rejoycing not of mourning yet Nehem. 1 4. Dan. 9. 3. extraordinary cases make extraordinary Sabbaths Days of great sorrow may draw out tears upon the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zonar and turn that celebrity of joy and gladness to speak in the language of the Council of Gangra into a day of fast and sorrow Sometimes Gold chains are put in cypress and a golden Sabbath may be veiled with sadness in the Churches misery and calamity If such a case fall out in thy solitary Sabbaths ashes and sackcloth are the most sutable dress Case 4 How Conscience may be satisfied objecting that flesh and bloud cannot hold out a whole Sabbath in the due and strict observation of it It is not without remark that the Apostle asserts mans inability in himself to receive the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Nay he scrues the peg higher and positively affirms That the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. It stands upon its guard to keep out whatsoever is of God and he instanceth in himself that the Law in his members continually disturbed the Law of his mind in every spiritual undertaking Rom. 7. 21 23. And if he delighted any thing at all in the Law of God it was after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. I say in this particular the Scriptures are written for our instruction 1 Cor. 10. 11. For the soul is never more sluggish then in spiritual attempts then there is a Lion in the way Prov. 22. 13. A carnal man looketh upon holy duties as his Physick not as his food and he keeps the Sanctuary as he keeps his Chamber only in a case of necessity In his worldly pursuits he can rise up early and go to bed late he can stretch the day to the longest and be willing to clip the wings of it because it flies away so fast but in the pursuits of higher concernments he complains of the length of a Sabbath as if the glass stood and did not run in its usual speed Mans nature indeed is very remiss in spirituals and studies more apology then duty as the invited guests sent their excuse when they should have brought Mat. 5 22. Numb â—3 28 their persons to the Marriage feast As the murmuring Israelites who would not attempt the conquering of Canaan because the Sons of Anak were there when their cowardise was the greatest Giant But I shall rather study to remove then amplifie this pretended scruple and easily evince that this case of conscience arises rather from sloth then incapacity Now to the Case It is very true flesh and bloud cannot hold out a spiritual Caro et sanguis naturalis et corruptibilis homo qualis fuit terrenus Adam regnum dei non possidebit Ambros Sabbath not only for the length of it but likewise for the services of it Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And Paul saith in another place flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. And the same principle which acts our service in glory must act our holy services here though not in the same degree though more faintly and imperfectly So then the dregs of nature are not competent for Sabbath observation the terrene man as Ambrose and Theophylact speak a lazy piece of clay cannot run through the several duties of a Sabbath but when we cast our selves on the spirit we are carryed as upon Eagles Isa 40. 31. wings and then we labour and faint not we run and we are Phil. 4. 13. not weary It is true flesh and bloud will be wearied at Animus si non praesumat de se sed si confortetur in deo potuit utique dominari et etiam reddi quodammodo omnipotens Bern. the first on-sets of holy service but pains must be taken with the heart to spiritualize it in the morning of a Sabbath that thou mayest come as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and rejoyce as a strong man to run a race Psal 19. 5. As holy Bernard most excellently Faith resting on Christ gives us a kind of omnipotency A Saint in the strength of Christ by the assistances of Christ with the encouragements of Christ can come leaping over the mountain of a Sabbath as his short Cant. 2. 8. and recreative travel his pleasure not his toil However God must not lose his right of service from us because we have procured to our selves wretched natures which Audi O anima qualis sis onerataes peccatis irretiti viâ—â—is capta illeâ—ebris affixa membris corporis inquinati flâ—gitiosis Aug. are soon weary of spiritual duties If Sabbaths are tedious to us this must be our moan not our excuse we must weep over this occasion of complaint we must not watch for it this case must not stir up our scruples but our tears Adâ—m was vivacious enough to keep Sabbaths before the fall Let the prisoner never complain he cannot run when his sin and trespass hath put him in chains A sense of tyredness on the Lords day should deeply humble us and put us upon filling Psal 56. 8. Gods bottle with our tears that he would fill our hearts with Luke 11 13. his spirit that glorious and active principle to carry us out in the discharge of Sabbath-performances Ah! It is our sin hath crampt our faculties and caused that lameness that we cannot run the short race of a Sabbath Lazy servants can hardly undergo any labour much less to hold out a whole day yet the aw of their earthly Masters makes Vae humanae miseriae propter unius aut duarum horarum segnitiem omnis laboris mercede frustrari Ab. El. them to
do it so should Gods fear move us to keep a whole Sabbath Thou sayest thou art not able to keep a Sabbath but canst thou lose an eternal Sabbath It is a cursed exchange to forfeit everlasting rest for a little sloth Sabbaths must be kept if thy soul be saved Let the sense of a future judgment when every Sabbath shall be brought into the account let the dread of an infinite God who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Let the golden and precious trust of a He. 10 31. Sabbath all spur thee on to Sabbath duties to make thy way more pleasant and delightful Let that be done which must be done or else thou art everlastingly undone Things of absolute necessity are to be effected not disputed If thy Pedibus timor addidit alas servant must go of his errand or turn out of doors this makes him run Here we act for our souls and Sabbaths whole Sabbaths must be kept or our souls will perish in the action thy murmurs cannot silence divine wrath Imperfections through corruption of nature are one thing for they are in the best but to nourish them and willingly to yield to them is another I cannot do what I ought by nature Jer. 5. 31. shall I not therefore endeavour to do what I should by grace To say thou canst not keep a whole Sabbath doth not onely speak thy corruption but that thou lovest to have it so Ease corrupts nature and makes it putrifie nay it sets it backward in the things of God If the Clock be never Prov. 15. 19. wound up the wheeles will rust say to thy unactive heart John 1. 6. a wake thou who sleepest my eternity is bound up in the due observation of Gods day The slothful servant was condemned Dilectio et charitas dictat immò imperat ut serviamus domino inomnibus virtutum officiâ—s Alap Mat. 25. 26. not he that spent but he that hid his talent Thou hast a trade to drive on a Sabbath away with sluggish nature flesh like the sensitive plant if touched will withdraw from spiritual performances but force it by holy violence It is Apostolical counsel and most seasonable for the Lords day that we should not be slothful in business but fervent in spirit Rom. 12. 11. The Sabbath should be our sphear not our servitude we should then be as the Sun which needs no whips to scourge it forwards Mr. Bernard of Batcombe asketh the question Why we should be more indulgent to weak nature more yielding to the flesh in and about the 4th Commandement for the keeping Mr. Bern in his Tract on the Sabbath of a day wholly to God then in or about our whole service in obedience to the other nine Indeed we should breath after communion with God on his own day as once Christ did after the Cross to dye for his people when he was streightned in his own spirit Luke 12. 50. till it was fulfilled and accomplished To say we cannot keep a whole Sabbath to the Lord is an imputation cast upon divine Wisdome God never commands impossibilities and yet he severely commands the full observation of a whole Sabbath and yet to say God is an Exod. 20. 8. hard Master deserves the brand of an unprofitable servant Luke 19. 22 23 24. The Yoke of Christ is easie not galled with an incapcity of bearing of it If we can honour our Father and Mother Exod. 20. 12. which is the next Commandement why not keep Matth. 11. 30. Gods Sabbath There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a natural affection sweetens the 5th and there is communion with God a more noble attraction indulcorates and facilitates the 4th Commandement Lazy flesh must not commence a suit with infinite Wisdome God knows our frame and we must know our Psalm 103. 14. duty nay in this particular our priviledge for to keep a Deut. 5. 29. day with God is a temporary Paradise nay a transient heaven Rom. 11. 33. our elevation above the world Let us not then inveigh against the rigour of the Command but deal with our own hearts to run chearfully and sweetly through the heavenly circuits of Gods blessed and holy Sabbath Quicquid factum fuit fiat Whatsoever hath been done may be done Now David layeth it down as a Character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a godly man to meditate in the law of God day and night Psa 1. 2. The Syriack reads it as if his whole will pleasure was wrapt up in the Law of God the life was to be spent in holy contemplation not a day not a few hours nay the Psalmist gives an instance in himself the Law was his meditation all the day and if he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might have his option he would dwell The Hebrew bears it he would Sabbath it in the house of God all the dayes of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple This blessed man thought his life too short a moment to converse with God and to behold his beauty The beauties of God delight not dazle the eye of the soul and such prospects drown all tediousnesse The Apostle Paul preaching on a Lords day continued his discourse till midnight Acts 20. 7. not imping but spreading the wings of the Evening Psalm 139 9. for greater latitudes in holy Communion and no doubt but many a Saint could put a curb into the mouth of Sabbath time to stop its speed that his weekly Jubilee should not fly away so fast Therefore let not any make this objection of sloth to say flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath surely such objectours are part of the world who know not the meat the Saints have to eat in the Banquets of the Lords day When Peter and the two other John 4. 32. Mat. 17. 1 4. Disciples saw Christ in his transfiguration they would build tabernacles to fasten their abode Sabbath Communion is only a more duskish transfiguration And why should we tire so soon when the way is so pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost de sacerdot In the Primitive times the reading of the word and the preaching of the Gospel took up some part of every day And Chrysostome took good notice of the profit of that diligent course Mens minds were more babituated to the things of God and became richer treasuries of holy truth It was not then accounted tedious or irksome to spend some time every day with God for soul advantage The Primitive Church thought time spent in spiritual converse their term not their toyle and the School of Christ was open not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. on a Sabbath as Janus his Temple among the Romans only in a time of peace but on every day The worthy Chrysostome highly commends his Auditours That they turned a day which might have been spent in the service of
by the Father's benediction The before-mentioned Lactantius tells us The Sabbath took its rise not from the History of Manna but from Gods resting on the Sabbath-day after the finishing of the six days works Theodoret most elegantly observes That least the seventh day should want its honour nothing Tertul. contr Marcion lib. 4. cap. 12. Septimo die deus nihil facit sed hunc diem benedictione honoravit being created thereon God set it apart to be a Sabbath a day of holy Rest And indeed Gods chief work on the Sabbath is forming the new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. not creating the Man but the Saint not springing man out of the dust of the Earth but raising him out of the Theodor. quaest 43. in Exod. dregs of sin That he may be his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2. 10. Eph. 4. 24. On the holy Sabbath the works of God are works of grace not of nature and he doth not multiply but beautifie the Creation God doth not create on it new species and kinds of Creatures but new hearts and new spirits The Schoolmen who lived in the Iron Age of the Church Estius in lib. 3. Sentent Dist 37. Sylvestranus Richardus de mediâ villâ Alex. Alens part 3. quaest 39. fol. 128 Benedixit sanctificavit deus diem septimum i. e sanctum celebrem esse voluit Sanctificavit i e. consecravit Caeteros dies operum exercitio deputans il lum suo cultui emancipavit Hugo Card. Sabbatum est dies requiei i. e. vacationis ad deum Alex. Alens and rose at Midnight yet by their dark-Lanthorn they could see this truth they generally refer the Institution of the Sabbath to the beginning of the World and fairly conclude That Gods blessing and sanctifying the Seventh day was its consecration to be a day of holy Rest and a future Sabbath Alexander Hales saith positively That the Sabbath was observed of the Fathers before the Law Hugo Cardinalis truly asserts That the other six days God deputes to the affairs of the world but the seventh day he hath ordained for his own worship and this was originated from Gods sanctifying the seventh day in the primitive Institution The Schoolmen generally say God sanctified the seventh day Gen. 2. 3. and this is no more then his separating of it to holy purposes for his own more solemn and immediate worship Gerson the famous Chancellor of Paris speaks even the same words with Hugo Cardinalis and as the Schoolmen of the middle times of the Church heartily assented to this truth so those of latter times agree in the same opinion Suarez saith It is most probable that the Sabbath was from the beginning and so propagated by tradition to posterity For we must know that the Church in the first times of the world was immured in Famiâ—ies and most easie it was for one Family to hand down to another those Solemnities which God enjoyned them and more especially the blessed Sabbath wherein those pious Ancestors were to enjoy more solemn and sweet communion with their glorious Jehovah To frequent Gods worship is most adaequate to natural reason saith the above-mentioned Suarez Surely this great truth of the Sabbaths origination must gain much credit from the School-mens attestation when they were Similiter est naturali rationi consentaneum ut dei cultus frequentèr exerceatur ideò temporis determinatio est ex morali ratione Suarez too prone to dispute every thing and to make the most evidential truths problematical The Schools were ever for pro and con to question every the most sacred truth which passed by they would bandy those Scriptural assertions which carryed most light with them and subject those things which were most taken for granted to their discussion and ventilation But to close this particular with a good rule of the Schools viz. To dedicate some time to the service of God this is natural to dedicate the seventh part Filiut Mor. Quaest Tom. 2 in tertium Praeceptum Bannes secunda secundae Quaest 44. Art 1. of the week to the service of God this is moral but to sanctfie this weekly Sabbath as we should this is supernatural the spirit of God teacheth us to sanctifie the Sabbath this is only from grace In the midst of all their Sceptiscims this is a most worthy speech And as for our modern Divines who stood upon Giants shoulders and therefore had a fairer Prospect of divine Covarruv Resol l. 4. c. 19. truth They generally assert the Sabbaths original from the beginning of the world Luther who led the Van of the great Ministers of Reformation plainly asserts That if Ambros Cathar enar in Gen 2. toto dejust jure l. 2. Quaest 3. Cultus est à naturâ modus a lege virtus est a gratiâ Scholast Adam had never fell yet he should have kept holy the seventh day as a Sabbath to the Lord and should have transmitted the knowledge of this day which was to be spent in divine worship Other dayes Adam was to till the ground to look to the Beasts of the field but this day to converse with God and this day saith Luther Adam kept solemnly after the fall and a testimony of this are the sacrifices of Cain and Abel therefore the Sabbath was designed to the worship of God from the beginning of the world What more full more clear Si Adam in innocentiâ stetisset tamen habuisset sacrum diem septimum eo die decrevisset posteros de voluntate cultu dei laudasset deum et gratias egisseâ— obâ—uâ—â—sset aliis diebus coluisset agrum pecora curasset Immò post lapsum habuit diem illum septimum sacrum Luther in Genes more plain Zuinglius agreeing with Luther saith roundly That the Sabbath was ordained from the beginning of the world and took its first rise from the close of the Creation This blessed man who lost his life in defence of the Protestant cause sealed this with other truths with his precious bloud Calvin saith expresly That God rested on the seventh day and then blessed it that this day might be through all ages dedicated to rest not to idleness but to holy rest that our minds might be freer for boly contemplation on God the great Creator of heaven and earth For God saith he is no way pleased with empty leisure that man should do nothing but with a necessary vacation for converse with himself And Reverend Beza who was so rare in sacred Criticks gives us in his judgment acquiescing in this truth and plainly tells us That the seventh day stood from the Creation of the world unto the Resurrection of Christ when the seventh day Sabbath was turned into the first day Sabbath by the holy Apostles Zuingl com in Exod. 20. So that now we cannot say of the Sabbath as is said of the River Nilus that its fountain head cannot be known when
complaint for the thing it was designed to 4. This fourth Commandment is part of the Decalogue which is an immatable and eternal law and was delivered with as much solemnity and Majesty as any other Law To urge no more arguments ten is the perpetual number of Gods Commandments so delivered by God Deut. 4. 13. Qâ—â—rtum praecepâ—um 〈◊〉 morale quaâ—â—â—â—â— praecipit ut è septem diebus unum consecremus cultui divino proinde quatâ—nus tale nunquam fuit abrogatum nec abrogari â—â—test Aquin. and so preserved by Moses so received in all the Churches of God to this very day Now this law for the Sabbath is one of the ten and therefore perpetual to hold up the number unless with the Papists we will cleave more Commandments to make way for the flight of this divine law of the Sabbath And the ten Commandments being Gods Covenant Deut. 4. 13. We may neither adde thereunto nor take therefrom Mans Covenant being once confirmed no man disanulls it or takes away any clause in it and may any take from the Covenant of the Lord Then as this Covenant is perpetual consisting of the number of ten words no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3. 15. Hominis licet sit Testamentum tamen si sit approbatum nemo illud rejiâ—it aut illi a liquid addit Vatabl. fewer in the Tables which were first written Deut. 4. 13. nor in the tables which were written the second time Exod. 34. 1. 28. nor was any thing added in the recapitulation and rehearsal of them Deut. 5. 22. Therefore most irrefragably this fourth Commandment as one of the ten words remains perpetual as is the Covenant it self This truth of the morality of the fourth Commandment is so evident so clear so indisputable that all varieties come in to give their free assent and full attestation Ask a Jew and Manasseh Ben Israel will tell you Therefore the blessed Manasseh Ben Israel Chrysost homil 19. in Genes Ideo deus diem septimum sanctificavit ut homo sciret in circulo hebdomadae diem unum esse cultui divino tribuendum Par. God desiring that the Sabbath may be observed for ever of all whose sanctity by so many Commandments he hath commended placed it in the Decalogue and made it one of his ten Commandments to the end that we knowing these precepts to be everlasting we should understand that this Commandment also was to be accomplished amongst them What more fair more full more satisfactory Ask one of the Fathers Chrysostom tells us That from the beginning God hath intimated to us this Doctrine instructing us to set apart one day in the circle of a week for spiritual exercises Ask a School-man Jacobus-de Valentia tells us That the Commandment for the Sabbath is moral for the conditions of it Naturale est diem septimum quemque deo sacrum esse Jun. Morale est ut ex septem diebus unus cultui divino consecretur Conrad Dieteric 1. In regard of the rest 2. In regard of the sanctification of that rest far the Sabbath was first given to man for his rest that he might cease from all his worldly labours and so he might with more ease and facility be a commodated to the service and worship of God and one day in the week must be dedicated to God for this sanctification and worship and thus the precept is stable and everlasting Ask a Jesuit Azorius tells us It is a most rational Morale est sanctificare unum è septem diebâ—â— Bald. cas Conscien circa Festa l. 2. c 13. cas 2. thing that after the works of six dayes the seventh should be a rest consecrated to God and his worship nay ask a Cardinal whose Princely altitude might lift him above the tenure of this truth Bellarmine tells us The Divine law required that one day in a week should be sequestred for holy worship Ask a more inferiour Romanist Terus tells us God will have one day in a week at least to be allowed him Ask a Lutheran Vâ—luit deus ad minus unum diem in hebdomâ—da sibi impendi Ferus Baldwin tells us It is moral to sanctifie one day in seven Ask a Protestant either of a Forraign Nation Zanchy tells us The fourth Commandment is moral as it biddeth us dedicate one day in a week for the service of God and so Junius God therefore sanctified the seventh day that man might know that in the weekly circuit one day is to be bestowed upon the publick worship of God Or of our own Nation thus the Reverend Hooker We are to account the sanctification of one day in a week a duty which Gods immutable law doth exact for ever So Dr. Donne God required a seventh part of our time for his exteriour worship But I will not tire or cloy the Reader with a multiplicity of allegations only this is very observable that all these Divines fix the morality of the command upon the seventh day in number and not in order as some incautelously and erroncously do Nay the Morality of the fourth Commandment shines Stella with so many beams of light and conviction that the very adversaries may be subpoenaed in by their own Consciences and Writings to give in their testimony and assent unto it Thus Stella the Papist In the sanctification of the Sabbath this is Moral to observe one day in the week Arminius the King James his Declar. against Vorstius great enemy of God as King James calls him tells us It is Moral to set apart one day in seven for Gods service And those who are adversaries to this truth in particular accord in the same confession Dr. Heylin saith The Decalogue contains the Moral law or the law of nature a Law universal Dr. Heylin his hist of the Sab. in it self and general equally appertaining to Jew and Gentile We can desire no more then this full confession Mr. Primrose confesseth That the Sabbath is Moral in its foundation end marrow and principal substance and that a stinted time is Moral and grounded on the principles of nature Primr par 2. c. 6. Sect. 15. 19. and therefore the Gentiles had their set dayes of Religion and this is ratified by the Gospel Nay the Learned Ironside freely acknowledges That all the Commandments of the Decalogue are Moral and so is that of the Sabbath it is Moral for substance but not for circumstance Now the acknowledgment of an Adversary is very evidential to the truth Irons Quaest 2. c. 9. of a position Thus every way the fourth Commandment that holy that just that good precept for the Sabbath hath been vindicated from the imputation of a Ceremony and it is Rom. 7. 12. too much to be feared it was the body of a design cast that shadow upon it The worthy Twisse roundly concludes Never Lex Decaâ—ogi est lex moralis aeterna Wol. any man was found to devise any
the Apostles with an unusual elegance â—f speech to captivate their auditours to the obedience of the Gospel and to prognosticate these rare gifts which being heated with the fire of divine zeal should fecundate and sublimate the succeeding Church but when was this unusual illapse and descent of the holy spirit Why it was on the first day of the week to put a fairer print upon the seal of our Christian Sabbath A blessed bargain was here made between Heaven and Earth 3. Scientiae lumen est et author spiritualis intelligentiae Bern. To triumphing Saints was given the corporal presence of Christ to militant Saints was sent the visible efflux of the spirit surely that cannot hut be a holy day wherein the holy Ghost came down And this is another indelible mark of honour which Christ hath fixed on the first day of the week Concludimus ergo diem hunc primum septimanae ab Apostolis Sabbatho fuisse institutum et ecclesiae commendatum non tantùm potestate ordinariâ qualem omnes pastores habent sed potestate singulari tanquam ab iis qui in universam Christi ecclesiam irspectionem habuerunt et quibus tanquam extraordinarâ—is ministris Christi concreditum est ut fideles essent Wal. our Christian Sabbath this was his royal gift when he came to heaven such a princely largess such a glorious donation as was never given before but when God gave his own Son God so loved the world that he gave his Son John 3. 16. And Christ so loved the world that he gave his Spirit And as Christ was given according to the fullness of the Promise so was the holy Ghost given And Christs resurrection and the spirits descention were both upon the first day of the week On this day then the Church was visited from on high the promise of the Father was sent Acts 1. 4. The blessed spirit came the Disciples were assembled thousands were converted as a hansel of the spirits power and a fruit of the spirits descent and why was the Church assembled on that day why the holy Ghost descended why preaching why conversion and administration of Sacraments why the promise of Christ accomplished and all on this very day But still to declare the will and ordinance of Christ blessing and sanctifying this day to the Church and so marking it out for solemn and weekly worship as a day in all its prerogatives superlative to all other dayes the day of our Saviours resurrection by which we are justified the day of the holy Ghosts descention by which we are sanctified The learned Twisse observes That Dies dominicus est Traditio vere Divina et ab Apostolis spiritu dictante instituta Beza as at the first the holy Ghost descended on the Apostles upon our Sabbath day so stili the same spirit descends ordinarily on the same day upon his faithful Ministers in the dispensation of the Word and administration of the Sacraments and in the puting up of prayers to the most high for the sanctifying and edifying the body of Christ even the Church of God The day of Christs Ascension he departed from the Apostles as touching his presence corporal but on the day of Pentecost Christ came down upon them as touching his presence spiritual and so be doth still in our Sabbath exercises though not in an extraordinary manner yet no less effectually to the edification and sanctification of our souls And here I cannot omit a rare speech of the incomparable Bishop of Armagh At the time of the Passeâ—â—eâ— saith he Christ our Passeover was sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. and lay in his grave the whole Sabbath following so on the morrow after the Sabbath when the sheaf of the Bishop Vsher in his Learned Letter to Dr. Twisse p. 91 92. first fruits was offered to God Christ arose from the dead and became the first fruits of them whâ— slept many dead bodies of the Saints who sâ—ept arising likewise after him from whence was the count taken of the seven Sabbaths or fifty dayes and uâ—â—n the mâ—rrâ—w after the seventh Sabbath which was our Lâ—rds dâ—y was that famâ—us feast of weeks the day of Pentecost Numb 28. 2. spoken â—f Acts 2. 1. Vpon which day the Apostles having Exod. 34. 22. themselves reâ—eived the first fruits of the spirit begâ—t three Jam. 1. 18. thousand sâ—uls by the word of Truth and presented them as Rev. 4. 14. the first fruits of the Christian Church to God and unto the 1 Cor. 15. 20. Lamb And from that time forward doth Waldensis note Mat. 27. 52 53. That the Lords day was observed in the Christian Church and was suâ—stituted in the place of the Jews Sabbath Thus far Sicut pascha typus eâ—â—t Christi sic panâ—s â—â—â—mi sunt typus Christianorum eorum scil innocentiae pâ—râ—tatis Alap the famous Vsher And to wind up this particular the Holy Ghost being sent down among the Disciples in an eminent manner was the special benediction of this day to such solemn assâ—mblies to teach them and the succeeding Church when and on what day they should more especially expect the sweet illapses and effectual descents of Gods holy and most blessed spirit The Lords day was kept and sanctified by the practice of the hâ—ly Apostles Now the blessed Apostles were men intimately Praecipua regiminis ecclesiastici cura Apostolis deputata est quorum unus quisque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deinde speciali authoritate ad ecclesiam cujus fâ—ndamenta jacere Apostolicae dignitatis est ex prâ—miscâ—â omniâ— gâ—ntiâ—m multitudiâ—◠〈◊〉 Christus eâ—s misit 〈…〉 sp s gratiâ abâ—ndâ—nte ad ministerium sibi à domino commendatum erant instructissimi ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veritatem Evangelii praedicarent acquainted w th the secrets of Christ being most of them trained up in his School and personally conversant with him after his Resurrection besides they had immediate inspiration from him and authâ—ritative mission to manage the publick affairs of the Church Our Saviour gave them their credentials to preach in his name and to act as his substitutes as if he himself had been personally present John 20. 21. Luke 10. 16. Mat. 28. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. Neither doth this extend only to verbal preaching but to visible preaching also I mean their practice at least in things Evangelical Moral and of general and perpetual concernmâ—nt to the Churches of Christ otherwise why is their practice propounded as a pattern Phil. 3. 17. Phil. 4. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 2. 1 Thes 2. 14. Now these blessed Apostles met for solemn worship on this day our Christian Sabbath so Acts 20. 7. And upon the first day of the week when as the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight Now the full discussion and ventilation of this solemn text will give