he will be more peculiarly Worshipped This He did at the very first Creation sanctifie the Seventh Day resting thereon from all His Works which he had made and to the Jews he appointed a Seventh Day to be kept Holy So great a Veneration was 〈◊〉 bâ— the Mâ—saiâ— Law bestowed on that Mystical 〈◊〉 that every Seventh Year was appointed for a Sabbath of rest and every Seventh of these Sababaths of Rest was a Jubilee unto the People o Israel 2. The Reasons for keeping the First Day of the Week Holy instead of the Seventh considered I shall not here run into needless Disputes about the Changing of the Sabbath from the Seventh to the First day of the Week Reasons for it in a Christian Nation are superfluous and it is to be observed none cavil so much about it as those that would be glad if there were no time at all allotted for those Sacred Solemnities 'T is true there was some Scuffle in the Primitive Times in the Eastern and Western Churches about this Matter One keeping the Jewish on the Seventh Day of the Week the Others observing the Christian Sabbath on the Lord's Day the first of the Week but the general Assent that was given by all the Church soon after shewed the Celebration of the Lord's Day to be of Apostolical Institution and not ordained by Human Tradition For a scrupulous Conscience if any such there be in this Profane Age it may be sufficient to consider that the very Jews did not observe the precise Numerical Seventh Day from the Creation but a Seventh counting from the Day of their Deliverance from the Land of Aegypt Nor could they be so strict in Sanctifying precisely their own Seventh Day since after the Commandment was written the Sun stood still for the space of a whole Day on Gibeon and went back 10 Degrees in the time of Hezekiah But besides the uncertainty the Jews were in themselves of keeping their Sabbath on a precise Day there is another Consideration which renders it impossible for all Nations to keep the same Sabbath all the World over at one instant of Time and that is the Diversity of Meridians and the inequality of the Rising and Setting of the Sun which causeth the Days in one place to vary from what they are in another in some 6 in others 12 Hours difference The reasonableness of Translating the Sabbath from one Day to another will appear more if we consider the many Memorable Passages of the Old Testament which shadow out this Change unto us as well as those Remarkable Instances of the New which all happened on this first day of the Week On this Day God began the work of Creation to build the curious Fabrick of the World and to Form all Beings out of that Chaos in which they were at first involved and it is very probable he designed as much Honour should be paid to the Memory of this great Day as of That in which he had finished all On this Day as a Hebrew Author Observes the Cloud of God's Glorious Majesty sat first upon his People then did Aaron and his Children first enter upon and Execute their Priesthood and thereon did God first solemnly Bless his People Israel This is the Day as David Prophesying of the Resurrection of Christ testifies which the Lord has made let us rejoyce and be glad therein And how great wondrous and astonishing things were done on this Day under the Gospel dispensation It was on This day that Christ finished the Glorious Work of our Redemption and rose again from the Dead for our Justification On this first Day of the Week did He appear after his Resurrection to his Disciples several times On this Day fell the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles as they were assembled together and at the same time upon St. Peter's Sermon were there added no less than three thousand Souls to the Church On this Day was it that the Disciples afterwards met frequently together to break Bread and to lay up their Charitable Contributions for the use of the Poor 3. The Lord's day How and by whom Profaned These things being premised I proceed to consider how Shamefully and Odiously the Solemnities of this Day are slighted derided and Profaned by this our Corrupt and Dissolute Age. And herein I could wish the Openly Debauched and Licentious person were the only Delinquent But alas if we deal Impartially we shall find many of those who seem to look Wisely and would be angry if you called them by any other Name than that of Christian to be deficient enough in this respect They tell you Judaism only required so strict an Observation of the Sabbath that Christ the Lord of the Sabbath has remitted that rigour with which the Mosaic Law obliged its followers That it is Puritanical Enthusiastick Zeal which spurs on some to be so Religiously given on this Day This is no invented Account grounded upon a mere Hypothesis but what is to be seen by every Days Experience And if none else can bear me Witness of the truth hereof yet I might appeal to some Judicious Mens Opinions who have declared the Suppressing of the Profanation of the Lords-Day to be triffling Nugatory and little less than a Grievance to the Subject So little is the Concern which Men now a-days have for God and Religion and such slighting thoughts do they bear to the Divinity of the Lord's Day I know not what Church allows so much Licentiousness thereon sure I am the Church of England is far from it in her Doctrines and Discipline let her pretended Followers use their Christian Liberty for a Cloak of Wickedness as long as they please 4. Who can forbear lamenting the sad Degeneracy and Apostacy of the Age wherein to reform from Superstition is to run upon the other Extream and be Profane wherein the Cure of Pharisaical Hypocrisie consists in being openly loose and Debauched wherein to plead for the Keeping holy the Lords-Day is Malepertness in the Minister Cant Impertinencie and Presbyterianism in a Private Person But notwithstanding all this I shall pursue my design in tracing the Profane and Irreligious in all His By-Paths and transgressions to lay open the several Ways by which he Violates this Holy Institution and drive him or shame him if possible into the Power as well as the Form of Godliness 5. One would think in Complaisance to the fashion and in Conformity to the Custom of the Country wherein they Live The Lords-Day is profaned First by neglecting to câ—me to the publick Ordinances of the Church there should be none but what went to one Assembly or another but we have too many who neither go to Church nor to any other place of Divine Worship tolerated by Law on that Day Can't God say they be served as well at Home as in the Publick Congregation Will not our Reading a good Book profit as well in our own Houses as the Hearing of a Sermon in the more
even to abstain from what is Physically as well as Morally Evil but Even our allowed and warrantable Enjoyments must like Physick be taken moderately and with caution lest our Remedy prove our Poyson He that thinks because he is in lawful Circumstances he may give his Lusts their full Swing deceives himself for that in Marriage a Man may be guilty of Sensuality is past dispute 'T is unquestionably true that whoever transgresseth the Principal end of Marriage viz. of Glorifying God and subservient thereto those of Propagating our kind of maintaining Mutual Society and avoiding of Unlawful Lusts has passed the boundaries of Nature Reason and Religion all at once In the entring upon such a Sacred Rite there are many things to be observed and seriously considered both by the betrothed Parties and their Friends in order to have the Marriage successfull and made in Heaven first before the striking of Hands and the Plighting of Troths here on Earth and for want of the due Consideration whereof arises so many Unhappy Matches Family Disturbances and Civil Broils so frequent Separations from and Pollutions of the Conjugal Bed which every day happen afresh in the World I shall but just touch upon these Necessary Precautions and so conclude this particular of Uncleanness As for you who have Adult Children of your own or else are Guardians to such Beware of debarring them from entring into the state of Matrimony when either their Years their Inclinations their Affections and their other Circumstances require the same Consult your Pupils in all respects and be not more than prudently urgent in disswading them from their own or in perswading them into an Approbation of your Choice In disposing of them have an Eye more upon their Temporal Happiness and their Eternal Good than upon the Flattering Prospect of their being Noble Rich or Great Covet not to Marry your Sons or Daughters or any other Relations committed to your Trust into Families of a Higher Rank than your selves and despise not to Match them with those of a Degree lower than you especially where the Virtue and Generosity of the person can toss your lighter Scale of Birth and Fortune up to the Beam As for the Young parties I desire they would not take ill the following Advice before they put on the Wedding Suit which will not cost them so much and perhaps do them more Service Be sure then to avoid all Hasty sudden and Unpremeditated fits of Passion Love not for Lusts sake and Idolize none for their Beauty Wit Strength and Fortune lest your Affection be no more than Skin-deep call in Wiser Heads to advise in so Weighty a Cause and if your Modesty or any other reason will not admit you to ask your Friends advice therein yet be pleased to think God worthy to be of your Council In a word let no Object Charm you but what has the Lineaments of Virtue and the Endowments of a Noble Mind which with or without the outward Qualifications are of force only to Captivate our Souls Hence it is that we perceive the Love grounded upon these External Objects only to be short-liv'd and Transient soon Hot and soon Cold lasting no longer than the Object appears to be Beautiful Strong Witty and Wealthy and growing Nauseous when Impotency Wither'd Age or Poverty over-takes them and often before whilst the more substantial Love founded upon and raised by the inward Ornament of the Mind gives Life to the Love of outward and maintains its own Flame within when all the Fuel administred from without is taken away This Noble Intellectual Love Unites and Consolidates the Parties tho' in Rags and Poverty tho' in Gray-Hairs and Wrinkles and breaths after a Union beyond this and the Grave This is that Love we should be all inflamed with and desire to Contract with each other not because we have Painted Faces and a handsomer piece of Clay for our Share than others are Moulded into or because we have more of Giddy Fortunes Favours but because of those inward Ornaments of Piety and Devotion of Sobriety and Temperance of Modesty and Humility of Chastity and Charity of Meekness and Affability which set off the subject in which they are inherent with such invincible and irresistible Charms as no being above a Brute can forbear to be inamoured with Of the Profanation of the Lord's Day CHAP. IV. The Reasons of keeping Holy the first Day of the Week instead of the Seventh The Lord's Day How and by whom profaned viz. I. By neglecting the Publick Ordinances of the Church II. The Private Duties of the Family III. By Exercising our ordinary Callings thereon whether by our selves our Servants or our Beasts IV. By publickly Exposing to Sale An Objection answered and what Works are Lawful to be done V. By works of the Flesh such as 1. Tipling 2. Feasting 3. Gaming 4. Dancing and Singing 5. Country Revellings and Riots And earnest Expostulation and Exhortation for Celebrating the Lord's Day Rules for it viz. 1. Preparation on the Eve 2. Frequenting the Publick Ordinances of the Church 3. Family Duties Motives thereto drawn from the benefits of observing it and the Mischiefs of Profaning it both to Private Persons and to the Publick THat to serve the Invisible God by whom we Live Move and have our Being in the whole course of our Lives is a main End for which we were Created That every Day and Hour should be Holy unto the Lord that we should have the Fear of Him always before our Eyes That every Moment of our time is truely His is indisputable But forasmuch as we are but Men in a little lower degree then those Blessed Spirits whose task and Happiness it is to be employed continually in Contemplating Adoring and Praising their great Creator and whereas since the Fall we are placed in such circumstances as require the sweat of our Brows and the Expence of a great part of our time in the procuring the Necessaries of this Life we cannot so readily bestow all our hours on Religious Exercises Nor doth God require we should but dispenses with the greatest part of our Lives and only appoints a seventh part of the whole for the more Solemn and Immediate Acts of Divine Worship and is pleased so to Order it that every Action in our Ordinary Callings may be such as may Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Our Fields and Gardens Our Shops and Studies Our Dining-Rooms and Closets may be all Sanctified by a Religious and Holy Life Sobriety and Modesty Temperance and Moderation may make our very Diversions and Recreations Holy But then we are not to stick here our walking with God in the Private Duties of our several stations Exempts us not from the Publick Adoration of Him in the Congregation of the Faithful For as the Lord of Hosts has been nearly conceâ—ned in appointing the Persons by Whom the Manner How and the Place Where so has he shewed no less Regard in assigning the Time When
that none be punished but what are convicted within the space of six months after the Offence is committed This Statute made perpetual 21 Jac. 1. Cap. 7. Against the Prophanation of the Lords-Day commonly called Sunday 29 Car. 2. ALL Laws in force concerning the Observation of the Lord's Day are to be put in execution This day is by every one 1 Will. and Mary to be sanctified and kept holy and all Persons must be careful herein to exercise themselves in the Duties of Piety and true Religion publickly and every one on this day not having a reasonable Excuse must diligently resort to some publick place where the service of God is exercised or must be present at some other place allowed of by Law in the Practice of some Religious Duty either of Prayer Preaching Reading or Expounding of the Scriptures or Conference upon the same as also privately Such as repair not to Church c. on Sundays and Holy-days one Witness Twelve Pence for every default to be levied by destress or to be committed to some Prison until the same be paid 1 Eliz. 23 Eliz. 3 Jac. Cap. 1. 19 Eliz. Cap. 1. Absenting for a Month If a twelve month or more twenty pounds per month and forfeiture of two parts in three of their Estates If any come not to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper once a year Their Names and Surnames to be presented Forty Shillings reward to such as present them 3 Jac. Cap. 4. None shall speak or do any thing in Contempt of the most Holy Sacrament By Oath of two lawful Witnesses by three Iustices Quorum un to be bound over and prosecuted in Sessions 1 Ed. 6. Cap. 1. Whosoever shall disturb any Preacher allowed in his open Sermon or Collation or be procuring or abetting thereunto or shall rescue c. any Offender c. Accusation must by two Witnesses or Confession To be committed by any Iustice of the County to safe Custody and within six days the said committing Iustice with one other Iustice if the Offender upon examination shall be found Guilty shall commit him to Goal without Bail c. for three Months and farther to the next Quarter Sessions 1 M. Cap. 3. Such as meet or assemble out of their own Parish upon the Lord's Day for any Sports or Pastimes whatsoever or such as shal use any unlawful Exercise or Pastime in their own Parish upon the Lord's day three shillings and four pence to the Poor where c. to be levied by distress and sale restoring the Overplus c. and for want of distress to be sent to the Stocks for three hours but they must be questioned within a month 1 Car. Cap. 1. 3 Car. Cap. 4. If any Carrier Waggoner c. with Horse Wain or Cart or Drover with Cattle shall travel upon the Lord's Day by themselves or any other for them twenty shillings for every offence to be levied by distress and sale to the use of the poor 3 Car. Cap. 1. If any Butcher or any other for him shall kill or sell any Victuals upon the Sunday one Witness view or Confession He shall forfeit six shillings and eight pence if questioned within six months to be levied c. or may be sued for in Sessions c. 3 Car. Cap. 1. If any Shoe-maker shall go with intent to sell any Boots Shoes c. on the Sunday He shall forfeit such Goods and three shillings and four pence for every pair 1 Jac. Cap. 22. If any person of the age of fourteen shall on the Lord's Day or any part thereof do any worldly labour c. except works of Nececessity and Charity shall forfeit five shillings for every offence 29 Car 2. Cap. 7. If any person shall cry shew forth or put to sale any Wares Fruit Goods c. except Milk only before the hours of nine in the morning and after four in the afternoon He shall forfeit the said Wares Fruite Goods c. to the use of the poor 29 Car. 2. Cap. 7. No Drover Horse-courser Waggoner Butcher Higler or any of their servants shall travel or come to their Inns on the Lord's Day shall forfeit twenty shillings for every offence 29 Car. 2. Cap. 6. No person shall use to travel upon the Lord's Day with any Horse Boat Wherry c. except allowed by one Iustice of Peace so to do by View Confession or one witness the fofeitvre is five shillings for every offence The Conviction upon this Statute must be before any Iustice of the County c. who shall give warrant to the Constables c. to seize the Goods shewed c. and to levy the Forfeitures by distress and for want of distress to put the Offender in the Stocks for two hours the Iustices c. may reward the Informer out of the Forfeitures not exceeding the third part 29 Car. 2. Cap. 7. This Act extends not to dressing of Meat inn Cooks Shops Inns or Victualing-Houses The Queens Letter TRusty and Well-beloved We Greet you well Considering the great and indispensible Duty incumbent upon us and to promote and encourage a Reformation of the Manners of all our Subjects that so the Service of God may be advanced and those Blessings be procured to these Nations which always attend a Conscientious Discharge of our respective Duties according to our several Relations We think it necessary in order to the obtaining of this Publick Good to recommend unto you the putting in Execution with all Fidelity and Impartiality those Laws which have been made and are still in force against the Prophanation of the Lords-Day Prophane Swearing and Cursing Drunkenness and all other lewd enormous and disorderly Practices which by a long conntinued Neglect and Connivance of the Magistrates and Officers concerned have universally spread themselves to the Dishonour of God and the Scandal of our Holy Religion wherby it is now become the more necessary for all Persons in Authority to apply themselves with all possible Care and Diligence to the suppressing of the same We do therefore hereby charge and require you to take the most effectual Methods for putting the Laws in Execution against the Crimes above-menioned and all other Sins and Vices particularly those which are most prevailing in this Realm and that especially in such cases where any Officers of Justice shall be guilty of any of those Offences or refuse or neglect to discharge the Duty of his place for the suppressing them that so such Officer by his Punishment may serve for an Example to others And to this end we would have you be careful and diligent in encouraging all Constables Church-wardens Headborroughs and all other Officers and Persons whatsoever to do their part in their several Stations by timely and impartial Informations and Prosecutions against all such Offenders for preventing those Judgments which are solemnly denounced against the Sins above-mentioned We cannot doubt of your performance hereof since it is a Duty to which you are obliged by Oath
frequented Oratories Will the Churches contain the confluence of Auditors Will our Absence or Presence lessen or augment the number of the Faithful Had not we better tarry away than go with unprepared Hearts to fleep or stare away the time Such as these are the Evasions made now a-days by many but Poor Creatures little do they consider who it is that suggests those Idle Reasonings into them else they would see clearly that 't is Gods Command that we by keeping Holy this His blessed Day might meditate on his Glorious Works of our Creation and Redemption and learn how to know and to keep all the rest of his Holy Laws and Commandments This is the Market-Day of our Souls and where should we go to buy the Food of Angels and the Waters of Life the Wine of the Sacrament and the Milk of the Word of God to feed our drooping Souls but at those Ordinances where they are to be had without Money and without Price Where should we receive the precious Eye-salve to Unscale our benighted Eyes and heal our Spiritual Blindness but from those Spiritual Physitians How can our wounded Consciences and troubled Spirits and broken Hearts be cured of their Maladies unless we come there where the Balm of Gilead drops from the Lips of the Preacher Besides in this publick Ordinance of the Church we own God to be not only the Lord and Maker of every Individual person but to be the Head of the Mystical Body to be the Sovereign over the Universal World 6. There are others who are constant in the Publick Congregation Secondly By neglecting the Private Duties of the Family make as it were a Conscience of going Morning and Evening to Church but then this is all they think is required at their Hands If you should tell them of Repetition Meditation Family-Duties Catechising Exhorting c. They must beg your Pardon there They do not design to make the Lord's Day a Burden to them They will not turn their Houses into Conventicles They will not be Righteous over much they must be excused from being singular And they will not differ from their Neighbours This and the like Language you shall be sure to find from most For God knows to the shame of Christianity Men are so stupid and cold so Luke-warm and indifferent in their Great Concern that it is well if a Prayer be said in a Private Family Once a Week And what is more to be lamented That is wanting also in most Houses And when the Master of the House is so remiss no wonder if the Servants and Children trifle away the Remainder of the Day and after His Example grow as unconcerned in their Private and Closet Duties as he was in the more publick Ones of His Family Nay more it is to be feared he himself is as seldom in Secret as he cares to be Openly Good and Pious I would not be thought Uncharitable and therefore leave the Judging of their retired Thoughts to Him whose only Jurisdiction it is to know and discern the Secrets of all Hearts and pass on to the Consideration of the next way by which men may be said to profane this Holy Day viz. 7. By following the Works of their Ordinary callings either by themselves their Servants Thirdly The Lords-Day profaned by following our Ordinary Callings by Our selves Servants or Beasts or their Beasts If the neglect of Sanctifying the Lords-Day by our Publick and Private Duties be a Profanation thereof How much more then is it profane to violate it by any servile Labour or forbidden vocation It is the Express Letter of the Command that on this Day we should do no manner of Work neither we nor our Sons nor our Daughters nor our Men-Servants nor our Maid-Servants nor our Cattel nor the Stranger that is within our Gates How then shall they Answer the Outfacing of so strict a Command who shall presume contrary to both God's and Humane Laws to follow their Ordinary Imployment thereon whether by Themselves their Servants or their Beasts And with these I must beg leave to Expostulate a while Are not six Days enough to bestow on this World and the Concerns thereof Cannot you spare one day in Seven to cease from your Labours Will you be so cruel as to give your selves no respite from the fatigues of Toyl and Business Shall the Ten Commandments and the Constitutions of a Christian Government be kinder to your Nature and more Compassionate thereto than you your selves And is it not enough to afflict your own Bodies and rob your own Souls of that Spiritual Nourishment but you must lay burthens upon your Servants and deprive them of that Advantage which they might reap by the Religious Observation of this Day 'T is sad to reflect upon the many Unfortunate Servants who are Articled under such Pagan-Christian Masters and I cannot forbear bestowing a Sigh and a Tear or two at their unalterable Calamity For this our Metropolitan City without looking further can furnish us with many Hundreds I wish I could not say Thousands of those Unsanctified Wretches who having not the fear of God before their Own Eyes care not how little those that do belong to them are instructed in the Points of Religion And as they are for cutting off all other Opportunities of their growing in Grace so are they carefull to debar them of This season of improving themselves therein by Sanctifying the Lords Day Thus is the Miserable Young-man by a Seven Years irreligious Course of Life become at last as Stupid and Profane a Person as his Master before him And when out of his Time it is seldom that ever he recollects himself but deals as hardly with his own Apprentice And can we expect the Profane Wretch would be more merciful to his Beasts No certainly He would use them as hardly as his Servants were not the Laws of our Land strict in the restraining of such unaccountable Cruelties And truly it is as much as the Magistrate can do to keep the Traveller from his unnecessary Journeys and to debar the Hackney-Coaches from plying in our very Streets on the Lords-Day 8. And Here I cannot but wish the Gentry would forbear their visiting the Churches in State and contrive a better way of going thither then in their Ceremonial Chariots 'T is true their Beasts may not be put to hard Service but then their Coachmen who have Souls as precious in the Eyes of the Lord as any others lose the Priviledge of the Publick Ordinances by being forced to attend and look to their Coach and Horses at the Church doors I speak not this to affront any but only to put them in mind of contriving ways if they must be Coached to Church so to dispose of their Coach and Horses that their Servants as well as Themselves may have the Benefit of serving their Common and Great Master 9. But to return there is besides this of Labour another way by which the Lords-Day is
profaned Fourthly The Lords-Dâ—y profaned by publickly Exposing to sale and that is by publickly Exposing Goods to sale thereon This is that which Righteous Nehemiah could not endure when he contended with the Rulers of Israel and would not suffer the Carriers nor the Merchants of the Land to bring up their Wares to Jerusalem on the Sabbath-Day Neh. 13. And how small a Matter soever it may seem to some in our times yet by Him it was reckoned the cause for which God plagued Israel and suffered them to be led Captive intO a strange Land And without doubt our Legislators of the Last Age and the Beginning * Statute 29. Car. 2. of this were of Opinion that the suffering the least Ware to be sold off on the Lords-Day would prove an Introduction to a greater Profaneness which made them prohibit the Exposing of any Commodity to sale thereon upon the Forfeiture of all so Exposed be it of never so great a value which was to be sold and the Money converted to the use of the Poor And truly they who now take it ill should they for the selling of a Trifle be forced to pay the Penalty which the Statutes of our Land require will hereafter think that Punishment easie and Light to what they shall then feel from the great Lawgiver when they shall give up their Last accounts 10. And here some one may say An Objection Answered and what Works may Lawfully be done on the Lords-Day Sure this must be some Puritan How strict he is What will be allow nothing to be done this Day Must we do no manner of Work thereon Does God require we should be tyed up from all Motion and Action but that of the Soul and Spirit Is it not better to Work than Sin on this Day To which I reply Ex Confesso it must be granted that there are three sorts of Works which the strictest Christian may on this Day perform viz. Works of absolute Necessity not fained or which might have been done the Day before or may be done the Day after Works of Charity and lastly Works of Piety Beyond these none may lawfully use his Christian Liberty Nor did our Saviour relax any thing of the strictness save in these respects As to that whether it is not better to Work than to Sin on this Day True it is Saint * In tit Ps 91. Austin's Opinion is so affirming that it is better to Plough than to Dance on the Lords-Day But then it is not thence to be concluded that the Greater destroys the Less or that the Guilt of Profaning this Holy and Blessed Day by our Ordinary calling is less in its own Nature because it can be Violated by a more Horrid and aggravated Sin 11. But to proceed if the doing that upon this Day Fifthly The Lords-Day profaned by the Works of the Flesh such as are first Tipling thereon which at another time is both Lawful and Necessary to be done be so great an Offence as certainly it is How extreamly must the Crime be aggravated when we do that thereon which is Unlawful or at least Unnecessary to be done at any other Time Such as the Works of the Flesh to wit Carousing Feasting Dancing Singing Gaming Rioting and the like Tho' the Naming of these is abominable to any serious Man yet the Practise of them is so Universal and Common that there is a Necessity as it were of insisting some time upon each of them 12. 'T is strange methinks that Men should be so absurd as to imagine the small service they pay to God by an Hour or two upon a Sunday should tolerate them in serving of Sin and Satan all the Day and all the Week after Yet it is too true to need any Demonstration that most especially of the Inferiour Rank of Men are no sooner out of a Church but strait you find them in an Alehouse or a Tavern where they do not as they pretend go only to satisfie their Natures but to spend on that their Idle Day all the Profit and Gain of the foregoing Week An Intolerable thing this And a Profanation not to be endured in any Civil much less in a Christian Society notwithstanding the Cry of all the Ale-House-keepers and Vintners to the Contrary Who will give out where their Complaints can be admitted the Hearing that the Suppressing of Tipling on the Lords-Day would tend Immediately to their Ruin and Destruction But better it is they should Murmur than that the whole Land Mourn better they should lose the taking of Pounds than so many Wives and Children should be undone and Perish by reason of the Extravagancie of the Man Will those Inn-keepers and Vintners supply the wants of the Indigent Wife and Children when they are by their means reduced to beggery Will the Host or Hostess exchange their draughts of cold Water for a Cup of small Beer No it is certain the Man himself shall not be welcom without Money in his Pocket tho' he has spent his All to Enrich them and Mortgaged his Estate to the Tap and Tankard 13. Another sort of Profanation of this Holy Ordinance is by Luxurious Feastings A second Work of the Fâ—esh is Feasting on the Lords Day and Voluptuous Entertainments too common on this Day It is true this Day is a Festival but such a One as ought not to be Dedicated to any but to the Memory of a Crucified Redeemer A Festival indeed it is in which the Soul not the Body should be Glutted with good things in which we should strive not for the Meat which perisheth but for that which endureth to Everlasting Life in which we should thirst after the Living Water and Hunger after the Bread of Life which is able to make us Live for ever The sincere Milk of the Word the Flesh and Blood of a Dying Saviour are indeed Dainties and Repasts which every faithful Soul is satisfied with and Breatheth after But Gluttony and Gormandizing Pampering and High-feeding are but pitiful subsequents of a Morning Sermon and worse Preparatives for an Afternoons Lecture Were Hospitality and feeding the Poor at the Bottom of those Feasts there might be something said in Excuse thereof But forasmuch as the Cost and Luxury of the Treats is but barely to keep up Mutual Correspondence and to return former Entertainments they might be very well let alone till some more seasonable Time All that I can conceive may be alledged in favour hereof is that the Sanctity of the Day may have some Influence upon the Guests to keep them within the Bounds of Sobriety and Temperance But alass there is no such Notice taken nor has it any Influence to with-hold the Epicure from his Excess as is evident enough to any who have been at those Luxurious Tables And what is the mind after such Repletions good for Can the full fraught Stomach forbear sending up its fumes into the Drouzie Head which cannot hold from sleeping one single
Hour No certainly we find the Unhappy Creature tho' he has so much grace left to come to Church after his Epicurean Dinner yet overtaken with sleep before Prayers be half said and in his Slumbers before the Minister has named his Text twice over And can we think God is well pleased with such a Man's Sacrifice Can the most Charitable Christian now living allow such a stupid Soul to have Sanctified the Lords-Day aright 14. But to prevent this Others are so cautious as not to go to Church at all A Third work of the flesh is Gaming on this Day and the Cloth removed they betake themselves to what they then are most fit for to Softness and Effeminacy to Gaming and Dancing to Singing and telling of Idle Stories 'T is very well known how many I wish I could not say of the Higher Rank of Men spend the Close if not the greatest part of the Lords-Day Not in Reading and Meditating not in Instructing and Praying with their Families but at Chess or Tables at Cards or Dice I would very willingly know whether their Time is so much Employed on other Days that they are so forward to set this Day apart too for their Sports and Pastimes Shall the Devil not only Engross the Week-Days but have the Sunday spent in his Service too Strange and Horrible this That Men should be so Insatuated and Enslaved so Bewitched and Inveigled to their Idle Pleasures as to bestow all their time both secular and sacred upon them 15. But this is not all to fill up the measure of Iniquity they must have their Anticks and their Merry strains on this Holy Day A fourth Work of the Flesh is Dancing and Profane Singing on this Day They cannot go to Bed without a Song or a Dance to refresh their drooping Spirits Poor Hearts They have been fatigued with the long and tedious Duties of the Day have with patience undergone the Burthen thereof and attended till they were weary to Mr. Parsons Discourse of an Hour long And must they be debarred from a harmless Diversion which hurts no body and is an Offence to none but meddling Fools and unaccountably-scrupulous Puritans Perhaps this might be tolerable were it not attended as is most commonly with Masqueradings and Balls of half a Nights Continuance But shall such Farce and Sonnetting go down Shall such Fooleries and Apishness make up the Conclusion of the Sunday Shall Singing of Divine Anthems Hymns and Spiritual Songs so much recommended by St. James and so much in use among the truly merry-hearted Primitive Christians be abus'd ridicul'd and laid aside by most And shall the Melodious Harmony of the Saints and the Consort we may hold with the Heavenly Host be Converted into Obscene Modern Songs which would not take at any other time were it not for the Pandarism of a Musical Composure 16. But as yet we have seen but the best part the foulest is still behind what I have said of the two last ways by which the Lords-Day is profaned to wit The last way wâ—ereby the Lords-day is profaned viz. By Country Revellings and Riots by Singing and Dancing is what the Civilized Citizens and more Gentile Courtiers are guilty of But if you step into the Country you will see Franticks as well as Anticks on this Sacred Day No sooner is the Evening-service over but you would think Hell it self were broke loose and that every Parish and Village were a Universal Bedlam They are Sober indeed who keep House and pass away the time in some idle Romantick Discourse and are not seen with the more Licentious Multitude But good God! What Routs and Disorders what Cudgel-playing and Wrest-ling what Races and Foot-Ball Matches are set on foot in their open Fields on this Great Solemnity Dancings and Râ—vellings May-games and Wakes are so Customary that if you offer to suppress them you incroach upon the Priviledge to the Subject Nor is this their Practise only on a Licentious Carnival or a Jovial Whitsuntide but on every Sunday in the Year Not is it the Custom of any peculiar Place but almost of every Village Division Hundred and County in the whole Kingdom This Pest reigns in every Air this Plague is Predominant in every Clyme and this Profane Infection has taken hold of every Quarter and Corner of the Nation 17. But Brutes that you are How unreasonably do you style your selves Christians An earnest Expostulation and Exhortation for the duly Celebrating the Lords Day when as you do that on the Lords-Day which a Modest Heathen would blush to do at any time Are there any Pagans in Nature worse than your selves in Practise What is it you think of Are your Sports and Pastimes your Routs and Revellings all the Evening Sacrifice God is like to have at your Hands Will those be an Incense of a sweet savour unto his Nostrils Is God the Master of your time and are you accountable to him for All and must the more precious Minutes thereof be Squandered away at this Rate Can you find no leisure Hours from your Business to recreate your Bodies but the day which the Lord has set apart for himself Must that be your Vacation your Play-day Vngrateful Wretches that you are Had God desired some Great thing at your Hands could you have denied him since your Breath your Lives your All are of and from him And can you when he only bids you remember the Seventh Day to keep it Holy find tricks and ways how to rob him of his right in that too Monsters of Ingratitude Where is your Love where is your Duâ—y where is your Thankfulness and where is your Obedience to that Being by whose Permission alone it is that you breath out of Hell one Moment What hinders but you may be Zealous in Observing this Sacred Day Are you afraid the Church will disown you for being righteous overmuch Are there any stronger Encouragements to be Zealous unto good Works than what are to be found within her Bosom Is it a disgrace for a Church of England-Man to be strict in obeying God's Commands Is the Name of Precisian Singular or Puritan so powerful to frighten you from walking according to the Precepts of our Blessed Saviour Are you afraid or ashamed to be His followers Why than do you affix His Name before yours And take it as an affront if you are called by any other Name than that of Christian Be persuaded than to be Christians indeed to bear a Reverential Zeal and Fear to all that belongs to God to his Attributes to his Name to his Word to his Works and to his Day For the Celebration of the Last of which take these following Rules 18. Some Rules laid down for the right Observation of the Sabbath First Preparation on the Eve Prepare thy Heart for this Great Solemnity If there was so much Devotion and Decorum so much Preparation and Cleansing requisite for the Receiving the Law the Approaching the Ark
appropriated to their propet Objects Then in a Word we Learn to Glorifie God the Father who hath Created us to adore God the Son who hath Redeemed us to Reverence God the Holy Ghost who hath Sanctified us and to Bless and Magnifie the Trinity in the Vnity who by such mysterious Works of Mercy has brought such mighty things to pass And it is then we are exhorted to be Merciful as our Heavenly Father is Merciful and to Love him because he first Loved us to imitate the Holy Jesus to be like him and to be conformable to his Sufferings to be Meek Pure and Humble as he was 23. But should we look on the other side we shall find the Dâ—shonouring God in his Day to be the ready Road to the not honouring him in any thing else The first Mischief of Profaning the Lords-Day It being the Opinion and Observation of the Best and Wisest of Men that were the Sanctification of the Lords-Day laid aside in less than an Age the Christian World would turn Pagans and Infidels And I am afraid half that time would do the business effectually For if we can dispense with so strict a Command what other is it that we can boggle at The violation of this Precept is manifestly the Iâ—let to all the Immoralities Humane Nature is capable of If we once lose our Zeal and Fervour for Religion in any one part we quickly grow Lukewarm in the whole and at last we become quite Cold and Dead and irrecoverably stupid in a continual course of Profaness and Impiety Nemo repente fuit Turpissimus says the * Juvenal Poet but the Wretch never attains to the Height of Wickedness so soon as when he makes the Profanation of the Lords-Day the first step thereunto It is by our Absence from Holy Duties in Publick that we come to leave off those in Private too that we lose our true Notions of the Godhead that we have but Glimmering Apprehensions of the Joys and Torments of another World being taken up only with such as are present and affect our Sence that we think all the Virtues of an Holy Life to be but Sham and Invention that we esteem Vices Natural and to have nothing condemnable in them that our Hearts become hardened and our Consciences seared our Reason blinded our Vnderstandings darkened our Wills depraved and our Passions Headstrong And to conclude it is from this that our Souls lose more and more their Original Purity forget their own Divine Nature and dishonour themselves by stooping with the Body to low base and unbecoming Enjoyments And no wonder when the Master-Beam is removed and the chief Pillar of the Fabrick gone but the Superstructure soon follows and falls to the Ground Nor is it strange the Man should not be able to withstand the Torrent of Vice when with his own hand he opens the Sluce and lets the Impetuous stream break in upon him 24. The next Benefit of Sanctifying the Lords-Day is that it weans us from the eager pursuit of Worldly Things A second Benefit is the weaning us from this World This solemn Sequestration of our thoughts from Earthly carries them out to Heavenly subjects and by contemplating on the Joys and Glories of another World we lose our Veneration and Esteem for this and by being raised above this Worlds Enjoyments we have an opportunity of seeing what a Point it is we are too apt to doat on and what mighty Nothings they are which so often captivate our Souls and lead them on to their own Destruction By Contemplating of the Crowns and Diadems of the Heavenly Jerusalem we moderate our Desires as to the Conveniences as well as pleasures of this Life By Meditating on the Eternity which is just ready to Succeed we are informed of the Inconstancy and Swiftness of this Moment this Span of time we New enjoy By Contemplating the Durableness of all Caelestial Fruitions we come to know that this World vanisheth away and the Fashion thereof is every day upon its Alteration By Considering the Immortality of our better Parts we are instructed how Frail Mortal and Short-liv'd our Earthly Tabernacles are To conclude by being Fixed and Spiritualized by conceiving right Notions of God and surveying the Charms and Endearments of those Mansions prepared for us above we arrive to that height of Admiration Love and Esteem as to account all things but Dung and Dross that we may gain Christ to breath earnestly to be dissolved that we may be settled there where true Joys are to be found 25. But then on the other hand we shall find those who slight God's Worship so tyed down to this World A second Mischief is that it makes us do â—t upon the things of this World doating upon admiring adoring and eagerly pursuing after the things thereof That they cannot so much as lift up a thought towards Heaven their Mind is so busie and fixed upon this Earth The Plummets of Care hang so heavy upon them that they are always groveling here below and tho they may cast up an Eye accidentally towards a Coelestial Canaan yet their desires are still to remain on this side Jordan Nay such a one is so ravished with the Delights and Pleasures of this Life which affect his sense and are present with him that he has but faint if any desires after those which are only Notional and affect the Intellectual Man being the Substance of things Hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen Hence it is that he cries it is good for me to be here and is so loth to leave the World when the Messenger of Death knocks at his Door Hence is it that he makes him friends of the Mannon of Vnrighteousness and thinks of nothing but of building up Barns and enlarging his Stores till the Embassy comes to him of Thou fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee Luke 12. 26. Another Benefit arising from the Performance of this our Duty is that it gives a Blessing to our Ordinary Callings A third benefit is that it blesses our Ordinary Labours We are so far from losing one day in seven that we gain if I may so phrase it six days in one The sincere Observer hereof will tell you the Truth of what I here assert by his own Experience and can witness with Joy that he has not only found a serenity and calmness of Mind but a prosperous success in all his Affairs of the following Week And who would not serve God one day for his assisting him six days in return What Worldling if he knew his own Interest aright but would sanctifie the Lords-Day since he may be sure he shall not serve God for Nought That Work must certainly succeed which is begun furthered and ended with the Blessing of God His Hand will undoubtedly fill our Industry with Good Things and His Bounty will not send our Holy Labours empty away He will be ready to support us in