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
holy day Indeed the Sabbath is not to be rushed upon Man must not break in upon a Sabbath as the horse rusheth into the battel as Jeremiah speaks without premeditation and previous consideration Jer. 8. 6. Ignatius calls the Sabbath the Queen of dayes and Queens have their trains going before them there must be Ignat ad Magnes a train of duties precedeing the holy Sabbath On the Saturday Quomodo Maria Virgo inter omnes mulieres principatum tenet ita inter caeteros dies haec soleâ—nis dies Hier. let us prepare for the Lords day We know tuned Instruments play the sweetest before they are tuned they jar and make a harth sound Our hearts are these Instruments which must beforehand be tuned by several duties or or they will jar and be discomposed upon the Sabbath Physick is prepared before it is taken and our hearts must be prepared before we take and enjoy the Ordinances of a Sabbath There is a preparing dress before we go to any feast and must not the soul be drest before the festival of the Sabbath that great banqueting of the inward man There is a dawning light before the rising Sun some glimering duties must be the harbingers of the approaching Sabbath Indeed matters should be so ordered every day so as to prepare for this day As our whole life should be a preparing for death so the whole week should be a preparing for the Sabbath But as this precious day doth more approach so preparatory work must more increase Holy Nehemiah shut the Gates of the Neh. 13. 19. City viz. Jerusalem when it began to be dark the In veteri testamento ut impedimenta omnia celebrationis hujus diei iâ— tempore auferrentur Fideles pridiè Sabbati divino mandato omâ—ia sua quantum poterant ad eum firem componebant Wal. evening before the Sabbath least the night time should be prophaned by bearing burdens in it and he did this least the men of Tyre should occasion the Jews to break the Sabbath day by bringing in wares upon that night This holy mans care would not suffer any to cast dirt upon the portal or entrance of the Sabbath he very well knew there must be some time spent in trimming the soul to meet its Bridegroom on his own holy day A due preparation for this blessed Sabbath lies more especially under a five-fold injunction Of necessity It is necessary we should take some time to compose our spirits for the duties of the following Sabbath Our thoughts in the week how are they loose and carelesly dishevelled some time there must be to bind them up together and put them into order The Lord in the fourth Exod. 20. 8. Commandment enjoynes us to remember the Sabbath and to Id ipsum quâ—que in hoc praecepto certo râ—spectu mâ—rale est scil uâ— diebus antecedentibus omnia nostra quantum fieri potest ita iâ—stituamus ut per eorum negligen tiam à sanctificatione hujus diei non impediamur remember the Sabbath it is before hand to mind and manage matters that concern the Sabbath-sanctification that when it comes it may be holily kept for every duty on the Lords day there must be a due preparation for Prayer for Hearing for Sacraments c. Now if we must prepare for single duties when they lye more asunder sure we must prepare for the Sabbath when such duties are linked together And this is more considerable if we take notice we are not only to be in the duty but in the spirit in the prompt powerfull and precise transaction of every service on the Lords day And besides all this doth not the Lord upon this day come in comfortable visits to the souls of his people and must not they prepare for his presence It was the opinion of some Rev. 1. 10. that Christs personal coming to Judgement will be on the Sabbath day This is most sure that Christs spiritual coming Lactant. Lib. 7. Cap. 1. August de Temp. Serm. 154. in mercy is for the most part on the day of the Sabbath and shall there then be no preparation When a great man is to come to our houses how are all our Rooms dressed up When a great God is to come to our hearts shall not we prepare Neh. 13. 22. and dress our hearts for his entertainment Of Equity The Ministers they prepare for the Sabbath-good of Gods people and shall not the people of the Lord prepare for their own Faithfull Ministers before the Sabbath do not onely prepare matter to speak but they prepare their hearts to speak the matter Bernard in a Sermon thus breaks out to his people To prepare you meat my heart all Bern. in Fest omn. Sanct. Serm. 1. this night hath been seething within me and in my meditations I have been inflamed as with fire And is it not equal and most rational that Christians should meet their Ministers in holy preparation and plow up their fallow ground to receive Jer. 4. 3. that immortal seed which Gods holy Seeds-men are ready to cast into it Calvin complains of some Christians in his 1 Pet. 1. 23. time who no otherwise regarded the Sabbath then thereon to Calv in Deut. 8. Serm. 34. attend their worldly affairs the which they reserved to themselves that day as if they had no other day to deliberate for the whole week to come Now shall men on the Sabbath prepare for the week and shall not we in the week prepare for the Sabbath Is Mammon more to be minded then God Of advantage 1. The duties of the Sabbath will the better and freer come off If we be sedulous in holy preparation we shall then with more dexterity agility and facility transact the several parts of Gods service One cause why we are often unactive in duty and drive heavily is because we did not before-hand oyle our wheels inure our selves we did not the day before labour with God by Prayer and with our own hearts by care and industry Oftentimes a Christian is straightned stiff and bound up in the services of a Sabbath and knows not how to go on in holy duties and all this arises from neglect of holy preparation The heart hath not been dealt withall to supple it for more voluntary and chearfull performances Preparatory work would wind up the clock of the soul that it would go and strike it would pray hear contemplate and act any Sabbath service with far greater pleasantness and consonancy 2. If we prepare the mercies of the Sabbath will the larger and fuller come in according to our preparations will be our Gen. 44. 1. participations According to the number and measure of sacks the sons of Jacob prepared and carried with them out Ex lege mandato dei 23 Luc. 54. in omnibus Christianis conventibus requiritur ne debito suo fructu haec pietatis publicae exercitia priventur ut
scarecly supplyed which lye undiscovered Let us therefore the evening or day before the Sabbath withdraw our selves from the noyse of the world and so quietly call our selves to an account concerning our progresse or regresse in Religion the foregoing week Let us further prepare for the Sabbath by stirring up in our selves holy affections It is fit the soul should be on the wing upon the Lords day First we should long for the day of God as the Psalmist saith Psal 42. 1 2. My soul thirsteth for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God! And as she said Psal 42. 1 2. Judges 5. 28. Why are thy Charriots so long in coming and Judges 5. 28. why tarry the wheels of thy Charriot So O when will the Sabbath come that we may sell all and buy the pearl of price O when will the day come that we may have communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost Secondly And we should long for God on his holy day Indeed there is nothing in God but what may set us on longing his Glory his Bounty his Purity c. Christ is altogether Cant. 5. 16. lovely and loveliness inticeth affection Beauty will attract love rich Pearls draw every eye so let us entertain Quisquis diligit deum sâ—gitta haec in corde ejus haeret et sâ—gittarius tam fugit tam sequitur ambo mâ—nent cum amante Del. Rio. in our thoughts whatsoever may ingratiate God and his Ordinances and let us kindle the fire on the day before the Sabbath that it may flâ—me forth and burn bright on that holy day A good man on Saturday evening going to bed leaped and cryed out It is but one night more and I shall be in the house of God upon his holy day and meet God himself in the use of holy things Let us before hand fall sick of Love and then how gratefull will the appearances of Cant. 2. 5. our Beloved be upon his own blessed day The fifth Duty preparatory to the Sabbath is earnest and fervent prayer Indeed prayer is the omniprevalent Engine which can do wonderfull things things above expectation among others it can admirably fit the soul for the Sabbath First For the Prayer of Faith can prevail with God for the pardon and forgiveness of sin and pardon'd sin will prepare â—randus est deus ut nihiâ— lâ—nguoris in nobis et ruinae pristinae relinquat ne rursâ—â— mali seminis pullalent rediviva plantaria Hierom. the soul for Sabbath-mercy those who are clogg'd with sin will quickly be tyred in duty Now the Sabbath is onely the Mart and spiritual Fair of duties The unpardoned sinner may spend not keep a Sabbath may pass away the time of it not enjoy the benefit of it Prayer I say can prevail for pardon The Lord directs us to this very means to procure forgiveness so Hos 14. 2. Take unto thee words and turn unto the Lord and say take away all iniquity and receive us graciously God will give pardon but prayer must Jam. 5. 15. importune the gift David he prayes for forgiveness and Dum oratur deus ut omnem auserat iniquitatem ut non solùm peccata sed etiâ—m omnes peccatorum sibras evellat Hier. he obtains it On the Eve of a Sabbath let us be earnest for the pardon of the sins of our lives of the sins of the past week let the week be cleared before we adventure upon a Sabbath A sense of pardon will sweeten every service of a Sabbath make Duty delight and Pains a paradise Ordinances shall be our incomes not our incumberances Be earnest for pardon and the Sabbath shall not only piously but pleasingly be observed Psal 51. 11. Omnem aufer iniquitatem est prima petitio quae alias omnes meritò praecedit Riv. Prayer can obtain the spirit The donation of the spirit is promised to Holy Prayer Now our hearts are the spirit's Luke 11. 13. work-houses The spirit can chain up corruptions draw out grace blow away the froth and vanity of the soul open Spiritualia bona licet corporalia longissimo intervallo post serelinquat tamen sine conditione petere audemâ—â— certum est Christum ea nobis impetrasse et patrem propter ipsum nobis dâ—turum esse Chemn 2 Cor. 3. 17. Eph. 1. 13. Mal. 3. 2. the heart for the entertainment of Gospel-messages every way put us into a sweet and Sabbath disposition The spirit is a spirit of sanctity to make the heart gracious the spirit is a spirit of liberty to make the heart free and enlarged the spirit is a spirit of purity it is fullers sope and a refiners fire to purge and cleanse the soul and so adaequately prepare the Christian for the divine duties of the Sabbath Prayer layes the foundation of Sabbath blessings the prayer of faith keeps the Key of Gods treasury door Blessings indeed which are really so are the fruits of prayer Prayer it can open the womb Hannah prayes and the obtains 1 Sam. 1. 27. a Samuel It can melt the Heavens it can open the prison Jam. 5. 16. 18. doors it can avail very much and prayer can turn a Sabbath into the souls blessed harvest it can open the heart procure Acts 12. 7. a blessing upon Ordinances engage Christs presence Lutherus ait utinam eodem ardore orare possum tum dabatur responsum fiâ—t quod velis Lutr. 2 Cor. 6. 2. make duties fruitfull and spiritual Manna nourishing Prayer can make the Sabbath a time of grace an opportunity of life a day of salvation a term of love It hath been the manner of some Christians the day before the Sabbath to meet and spend some time in seeking God by prayer and quickning one another this fervently performed would lay a great ground of a good day indeed to follow and therefore let us Pray pray pray beforehand that divine Ordinances may be accompanied with divine benedictions that sins may Mat. 24. 20. be discharged that our souls may be enlarged and hearts may be upon the wheele Our Saviour saith Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day but let us pray that our flight may be upon the Sabbath our flight towards Heaven when the soul is upon the wing and the heart upon its speed towards Jesus Christ A believer on a Sabbath should make haste to enjoy the embraces of his beloved which are as the Faeminae Christum secutae pridie Sabbati id circò ad futuram corporis Christi condituram omnia praeparabant ut Sabbatho secundumlegem quiescerent Wal. Espousals forerunning an Eternal wedding day The Eve before the Sabbath we should spend more time then usually in family duties Our preparation must not only be the work of the Closet but the work of the Family Then we should read the Scriptures refresh one another with holy discourses be more solemn in our addresses to God
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
severall attributes in God which bespeak our greatest attention and Rev. 1. 13. devotion in holy Ordinances First His excellent and incomprehensible greatness If we Christus praesens est medio suorum cà m convenerint nomine suo gratiosâ sut praesentiâ had any dread or awe of an infinite Majesty upon us we should throw away all sleep and drowsiness when we come before him in holy worship Let us contemplate on the royalty of his Throne of the brightness of his Majesty and this would awaken us to fear and astonishment Shall a besotted worm stupifie himself by sleep when he is under the full view and immediate eye of the Almighty Surely not only his sences but his reason is asleep and his whole man is Psal 11. 4. in a benummed Lethargy Cannot infiniteness startle us And the dread of the Almighty pull us out of our dream One sparkling of his eye could confound us if he should command a ray of the Sun it would fire us out of our sloath and scorch us into nothing or that which is worse then nothing Secondly His omnisciency We sleep but God doth not Psal 121. 4. slumber he fully seeth our desperate carelesness and wilfull drowsiness in holy Ordinances There is no dropping asleep in a croud or taking a nap in some obscure place can Gen. 28. 17. evade the full view of Gods eye He takes notice of the frame of our hearts much more of the posture of our bodies 1 Chron. 28. 9 When thou sleepest in the time of worship there is no curtain before thee nothing to abate the view of God or darken his eye God sees all thy snoring indulgence which is excessively Psal 139. 12. offensive to him Thirdly His holiness God is exceedingly displeased with our unbecoming behaviours in holy worship his purity is much provoked by our sinful Lethargy Sleeping in Ordinances it is a sin nay a dangerous sin nay it is a crying sin Psal ◠5. and therefore highly provoking to divine holiness Our Saviour Rev. 3. 1. speaks of some who seemed to be alive and yet were dead And such are sleepy hearers their Pew is their grave their cloaths their winding-sheet and their present sleep their temporary death Indeed sleeping in Ordinances is a sin against nature it self The Sun will not stop in its course in attending on the world but the foolish sleeper stops in his attendance on the word and yet the Sun receives no reward but the Christian looks for one and though he hath snorted away a Sermon he presumes he hath discharged a duty and so is in his road to life eternall Fourthly His justice which is easily awakened by his holiness a just God will not endure a drowsie hearer The young man who slept at Pauls Sermon fell down from the Acts 20. 9. third loft and was taken up dead In mercy God presents the Gospel to our attention and in justice he will punish our want of attention God indeed took away a rib from Gen. 2. 21. Adam when he was asleep Gen. 2. 21. But he will not take Edormiente potiús quam vigilante formavit deus mulierem quia deus se ei in somnis revelari voluit sicut se revelare solebat prophetis Par. away a lust from any of the Sons of Adam while they are asleep in the Paradise of Ordinances A Lamb will not sleep in the paw of a Lion in the reach of an enraged Panther how much less should fond and formall sinners sleep in the presence in the most peculiar presence of him who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah Rev. 5. 5. who can tear our souls like a Lion Psal 7. 2. nay tear us in pieces and there is none to deliver Psal 50. 22. and break us in pieces as a potters vessel Jer. 19. 11. to be made whole no more Jer. 48. 38. Sleeping in Ordinances is distastful to the view of Angels Those holy spirits frequent the assemblies of the Saints 1 Cor. 11. 10. And they are witnesses of our carriage and Nos Angelos habemus obedientiae inobedientiae no strae c. Chrys Theo. Theoph. Ans deportment of our obedience and disobedience as Theophylact Anselm Chysostom and others aver and how much disgust must it cast on those holy and most Seraphick beings those blessed Courtiers of heaven whose concerns are so much wrapt up in the honour of God to see a stupified formalist with his sences chained up in unseasonable Angeli templum percurrunt singulorum habitus gesta vota explorent Nil sleep when the Eye Heart Mind and all should be attentive to grasp after divine truth in the publick dispensations of it and when the inward and the outward man like winde and tide both should meet to carry away and treasure up the discoveries of Gods word and counsel to him The Angels see our foolish glances wanton looks undecent postures they have a strict eye upon us in Ordinances O then let us not damp these glorious spirits by our uncomely and unworthy drowsiness This sinfull sleepiness is disquieting to the assembly of the Saints with whom we do associate Do we know what hearts are saddened what spirits are grieved what passions are raised by our sleepy carriage and our drowsie behaviour Our Saviour charges us not to offend one single Saint much 1 Cor. 10. 32 less an assembly of Gods people when we are met together in divine worship When we see one sleeping and Mat. 18. 6. hear another talking and observe another rowling his eyes from one object to another is not this to turn the Temple Sed etiam Christi monitu quantò magis necessaria tantò magis cavenda sunt scandala ne à nobis vel concitentur vel capiantur into a Babell and the order of the Church into confusion and to attempt to build Gods house a new with axes and hammers A sleepy hearer is a spot in our Feasts like a seared bough in a green tree a disturbance and grief to the assembly like a broken string in a lute which jars the Musick This stupid drowsiness is very prejudiciall to the work we are about when we come to Ordinances we are employed in the work of heaven This is opus dei Gods work a holy and sacred work In Ordinances we deal with God we pay our tribute to God we have communion with God we drive a great trade with 1. Vt in eâre quam agimus sit tota animi intentio 2. Vt sit inexplicabilis cupiditas benè operandi 3. Vt accedat assiduitas continuatio Basil God and shall we sleep in Gods work Basil observes there are three things requisite for the carrying on Gods work First That the mind be wholly set upon it and taken up in it Secondly That there be a restless desire of doing well Thirdly That there be diligence and unweariedness in the work
Heaven In a word they should be in the spirit which duty must first look upwards We should strive to be in the assistances of the Spirit Holy duties without the holy Spirit are onely the carcasses of Religion like profession without practice which is offensive and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost useless such services bring neither glory to God advantage to our selves or benefit to others and all are of no more significancy then a body when the spirits are fled away On the morning therefore we must incessantly beg the divine assistances of Gods blessed Spirit It is the Spirit fits for Magistratical Luke 11. 13. dignities Num. 11. 25 26. It is the spirit fits for ministerial Numb 27 18. services 2 Kings 2. 9. and it is the spirit fits us all for Christian and holy duties The Spirit directs us unto holy duties Simeon came into the Temple by the spirit Luke 2. 27. the good spirit directed him to meet Jesus How often doth Gods spirit excite and provoke to holy Prayer to secret meditation and to those close devotions wherein the soul tasteth deepest of Christs flaggons and apples This inward Counsellour is often Cant. 2 5. restless in us till it â—end our knees lift up our hands and raise our hearts in sacred approaches to the divine Majesty The Spirit leads the Saint into solitariness to converse with God as once it did lead Christ into the Wilderness to be temped Mat. 4. 1. of Satan this divine principle with us is importunate Luke 4. 1. till it put us upon enquiries after God The holy Spirit quickens us in duties John 6. 63. and makes us lively and vigorous Corrupt nature takes off the wheeles in holy services flaggs and casts a damp upon us in Christus dicitur non spiritus vivens sed vivificans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus vitarum Theoph. such heavenly intercourse but the Spirit oyles the wheeles to make them go with greater speed When the soul is carried out by the Spirit how full is it of holy heaâ— divine zeal and rare enlargement as if of late it had conversed with a Seraphim his tongue is the pen of a ready writer Psalm 45. 2. and his heart is like a bubbling Fountain he melts in prayer as the Cloud into drops Paul assisted by this good Spirit runs on till midnight Acts 20. 7. and knows not how to break off his sacred discourses And our ever 1 Cor. 15. 45. to be admired Saviour raised and quickned by the same spirit wrestles with God in prayer all night Luke 6. 12. the very arteries of that duty were stretched out by that divine Spirit which was given to Christ without measure John 3. 34. The Spirit then is the animation of our holy performances without which they saint and die away The holy Spirit sustains us in holy duties Psal 51. 12. Mans spirit would quickly fail in wrestling with God was it Spiritus promptus scil graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebraicè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alacâ—iter festinans Lyrus habet duo vocabulà Dolanta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ucundus not under-propt by this good Spirit The most sparkling wine if it stand long it will grow flat and dead And though the spirit of man be willing Mat. 26. 41. yet while it is in the body it will be soon tired and flag in holy duties which are so contrary to corrupt flesh but then the Divine Spirit comes in and renews poor mans strength like the Eagle and so he runs through holy services and faints not the annointing of the Spirit makes him agill and fresh and holy Ordinances are not his burden but his satisfaction Believers offer their sacrifices as Christ did himself Heb. 9. 14. through the eternal Spirit who recruits them continually with additional strength and vivacity The blessed Spirit causeth us to overflow in holy duties Job 32. 18. Our rich enlargements in Prayers and other Gospel services are from the good spirit of God when the heart Psalm 45. 1. bubbles and runs over in holy discourse and when the Eructans cor significat cordis locutionem cum nondum ad os pervenit et querit illam emittere circum volvitur et movetur huc et illuc et volutatur egressum quaerens quem prae gaudio non primo impeâ—u invenit c. Felix Praton mind flutters and flyes high in holy meditation and when our affections dilate and follow hard after Jesus Christ all this is from the Spirits gracious and divine assistance 2 Cor. 3. 16. It is the holy Spirit spreads our duties like Gold to greater extensions and oftentimes makes the Saint in duty query whether he be in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12. 2. His heart is like the squeezed Grapes overflowing with wine which is better then the drink of Angels It was the Spirit enlarged Solomons heart in that divine Prayer at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8. 22 23. It was the Spirit enlarged Daniels heart in Prayer to hasten deliverance from the Babylonish captivity Dan. 9. 4. It was the Spirit enlarged Jonah s heart in Prayer when the Whales belly was consecrated into an Oratory Numb 18. 27. Jonah 2. 2. It is the Lords good Spirit which makes mans Deut. 15. 14. heart as the gushing streams or the over-flowing Fat or the Numb 18 30. dropping Wine-press in services Evangelical John 3. 8. It is the Spirit sweetens duty As Christ when he was at prayer rejoyced in spirit Luke 10. 21. Duties are sadned by mans sin but are refreshed by Gods Spirit David acted Mat. 17. 1 2. by this blessed Principle delighted so much in duty Luke 9. 29. that he begs to spend his whole life in the Temple of God Psal 27. 4. Ordinances become mellifluous by the concomitancy of Gods Spirit which often turneth them into a transfiguration As it is reported of Basil that when Greg. Orat. de laud. Bas the Emperour came upon him while he was at prayer he saw such lustre in the face of holy Basil that he was struck with terrous and fell backwards It is the Spirit ravishes the Fructus spirituâ— est gaudium sed impura voluptas est similis voluptati quâ afficiunâ—â— scabiosi cum se scalpunt Chrys heart indulcorates and captivates the soul in holy duty and toucheth the tongue with a Coal from the Altar Isa 6. 6 7. which turns all into a perfumed flame The Apostle saith the fruit of the spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. which is never so fresh and diffusive as in holy services Ordinances are the spiritual opportunities wherein the Comforter John 14. 16. sheds abroad his comforts in the soul It is the Spirit which helps our infirmities in holy duties As in Prayer Rom. 8. 26 27. so in other spiritual services When we are flat the Spirit quickens us when
THE PRACTICAL Sabbatarian OR SABBATH-Holiness CROWNED with SUPERLATIVE Happiness By John Wells Minister of the Gospel Isa Lvi 2. Blessed is the man that doth this and the Son of man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any evil Nobis Christianis non congruunt ludi diebus festis ludi nostri esse debent sacrae cantiones verbi divini lectiones aegrotorum visitationes afflictorum consolationes pauperum sustentationes c. Zanch. in Colos LONDON Printed 1668. To the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS ALSTON With his Eminently PIOUS LADY John Wells wisheth all Happiness here and to ETERNITY Much Honoured THat the sacred day of God should run the gantlet and feel the stripes of many malepert adversaries is not miraculous but that these enemies of Gods blessed day should be reduced under no Head and cast into no predicament this accents the wonder that Ebion a primitive Heretick with his Complices should rob the Lords day of a moity of its Honour making two Sabhaths everyweek retaining both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbath That Turrecremata a politick School-man should rob the Lords day of its Authority and fasten it only upon a Canonical Law that others of latter times should rob this blessed day of its solemnity giving way to Sports and Sense-pleasing Recreations upon this holy season that another sort with their Confederates should rob the Lords day of its site and position rebounding it back again to the last day of the week and so put a Jewish brand upon the Lords day nay that some in these dregs of time should oppose the very Being of the Lords day and pluck up all Sabbaths by the roots and confidently if not impudently affirme that every day is a Christian Sabbath this is matter of amazement we may truly admire that all varieties should troup together to fight against the day of God onely this consideration may a little break the force of the wonder if holiness which is the impression of Gods 2 Tim. 3. 12. Spirit meet with a constant and violent persecution 't is not much marvel if the Sabbath the genuine promoter of holiness meet with the same dealing Indeed in the Primitive times of the Church those Halcyon dayes of the Gospel The Lords day like the beloved Disciple lay in the bosom we find Ignatius calling it the Queen of dayes Ignat. Epist ad Magnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. â—pist 119. c 13. and sâ— setting a Crown upon its Head Athanasius making it the first of dayes the beginning of a new world Justin Martyr giving us the several Branches and methods of its sacred Solemnization and shews us how exact the Primitive Christians were in the several duties and services of it the incomparable Aug Serm. de temp 251. Augustine lays us down the true and pregnant reason of its rise and institution and Ambrose tells us flatly that Christs Resurrection was a real consecration of this Holy day for weekly and divine worship I need not mention what Tertullian speaks of the Holy Discourses the Primitive Christians used upon this day nor what Clemens Romanus saith of the devout prayers and accurate attentions used by the Professors of the first times on this Holy Festival nor yet of the great preheminences given by Hierome to this blessed season that day alone saith Hierome is the one proper Lords day and better Ambr. tom 2. in 47. Psal then all other common dayes and then all the Festival dayes New moons and Sabbaths of Moses his Law And should Tertul Apol. cap 39. we cast our eye upon what Chrysostom hath written in his fifth Homily upon Matthew how unwearied the Christians of those times were in the holy duties of Gods day how their Devotion was a full and a constant stream we should then conclude that the Lords day hath had its Heralds to proclaim Clem. Rom. l. 2. c. 59. its glory as well as its Detractors to decry its solemnity Thus the Christian Sabbath hath travelled in the Wildernes of this life under the pillar of a cloud and a pillar of fire and as it hath its enemies to oppose it so likewise its Seconds Hier. ad Eustoch to defend it That which hath cast a spot upon this blessed day in these Chrâ—sost homil 5 in Matth. latter dayes of the world is not so much Errour as Prophaneness Gods day hath not suffered so much yet too much by the blasts of Opinion as by the blackness of open prophanation Concil Prag Synod Dâ—drect Sess 4â—â— Were we but sensible of the groans of the Council of Prague how those conveened there bemoaned the prophanation of Gods Holy day or had we heard the sighs of the Synod at Dort Hosp de Orig. Fest l. 1. c. 3. how they lamented this evil and with what pathetical language they importuned the petitioning of Magistrates for the redress of this great evil nay were we sensible of the mournful expressions of many worthy and learned Divines of Simler comment in Exod. the Reformed Churches when their Pens seemed more to drop Teares then Ink we could not but be much affected Aret. Prob. Theol. loc 123. and impressed Nay should we take a nearer Prospect and take notice of the prodigious vanities and great impieties which are acted on Gods Holy day here at home in our own Nation Chemnit exam Concil Trident. trembling may justly seize upon us Now to put some stop to this sinful Inundation is the design of this Treatise which Much Honoured shelters it self under the Protection of your Patronage The promoting of Sabbath-holiness hath been the care of Courts and the zeal of Councils and the Vindication of that Eminent Piece of Piety hath been written not only with Pens but with Scepters Sabbath-holiness is the glory of Princes Constantines Edict Euseb de vitâ Constantini for the strict observation of the Lords day is recorded by Eusebius as a Piece Nehem. 13. 15. 16 17 18 c. of Memorable Piety Sabbath-holiness is the splendour of Nobles Nehemiahs zeal for Gods blessed Sabbath is recorded not by the Historian but by the Spirit and made part of Gods sacred Word Sabbath-holiness is the richest field in the Gentlemans Escucheon Mr. Bruens piety in an exemplary observation of Gods Holy day Mr. Clark in the life of Mr. Bruen and Mr. Dod. is transmitted by a faithful Pen to future times as an Emblem of his perpetual honour Sabbath-holiness is not only the duty but the dignity of a Minister the rare and strict observance of Gods Holy day by the most pious Mr. Dod is set down in the History of his Life as a fair Copy for future successions to write after Nay Sabbath-holiness is the honour of a people Chrysostom hath left it upon record in one of Chrysost 19. Homil. in Genes his Homilies upon Genesis as the Crown of his people that
shady Ceremonies which were to teach the Children of Israel But our Sabbath is of a higher and nobler nature not covered with so much darkness nor subject to so much decay and therefore if God be so punctual Mark 2. 28. and exact in his time in these flitting solemnities which were to cease at the very first dawning of the Gospel Ah how much more on his fixed Sabbath the souls weekly banqueting day with the Lord Jesus the blessed Lord of the Sabbath Hiâ— verò infertur ut aeqâ—â—â—â—s quâ—rti praecepti patesâ—â—t nempe quod deus benignè nobiscum vildè agit qui cum sex dies nobis relinquat unum tantùm in septimanâ diem sibi postulat Wal. Mic. 6. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5. Nos illorum Apostolorum sequentes traditionem dominicum diem divinis conventibus sequestramus Isich in Levit. Cap. 9. And fourthly yet further to clear this truth we must conclude To abate any thing of spending a whole day with God is but the wanton abuse of divine indulgence The Sabbath is a price God puts into our hands and to play and sport upon it is to trample upon our pearls And truly God hath so smoothed and sweetned the fourth Commandment with so much equity and kindness in giving us six dayes and taking to himself but one that to break this Commandment is but the greater evidence of obstinacy and stubbornness and indeed to those who encroach upon his Sabbath by their toyle and their pastimes God may frame the same expostulation which once he made to back-sliding Israel What iniquity have you found in me wherein have I wearied thee come testifie against me Have I roughed my Commâ—ndmenâ—s with any grievous severity have I not given you six dayes and reserved to my self onely one And must part of that one day be prostituted to the flatteries of sin to vain sports and unprofitable recreations is not this to abuse my â—â—ve and sport with my indulgence Nay to crumble the Sabbath into so many pieces and divisions to spend part of it in holy services part of it in civil labours and part of it in sensual pleasures it is nothing else but so to disfigure the Sabbath that neither Divine command nor Apostolical institution will know it so as to own it to be their issue and production We may likewise fetch an Argument from the Text it self which commands our delight in the holy Sabbath We must Isa 53. 13. Sabbatum est delicatum i. e. delicatè tenerè observandum delicatum i. e. delitiae tui domini Deus enim capiet mognam delectationem ex religioso sui cultu in Sabbato Alap in Isai call the Sabbath our delight saith the Text. Now can this be consistent with that delight and complacency a Christian should take in the Sabbath after a few hours to break from holy services and spiritual duties to gad after the pleasures or profits of the World To refresh their wearied and tyred selves with a bowle or a foot-ball and to leave Communion with God to recreate their selves with a fit of masking dancing or shooting Surely our delights in Gods holy day are weak and faint if they must be fetcht again and revived with such loose and vain satisfactions Indeed it argues a very vain and frothy spirit to have no more pleasure in Gods day then to spend a good part of it in vain talk and idleness in rioting and wantonness in sports and foolishness It cannot be imagined that any men who ever tasted any sweetness in Christ or his Sabbath and felt the Sponsa Christum laudans ab oculis crsa est sed cur quontam cum amantes aspectu mutuo nequeant satiari et semper abaltero ad intuentis oculion imago gratior reflectatur et fit ut crescat admiratio et simul laudandi cupiditas neque in hacre sit ullus modus Et oculi sunt amoris duces Del. Rio. unknown refreshings of his holy Rest but that they will mourn for their cold affections and that they have not spent their Sabbath more accurately and exactly Certainly those who plead and inveigh much against the strict observation of Gods holy day never fully tasted what the Sabbath was and what the glory and excellency of it Is the Majesty and Glory of God so vile in our eyes that we do not think him worthy of special attendance one day in a week doth he call us now to rest in his bosome on his holy Sabbath and do we kick his bowels and despise his bounty Doth he call upon us to spend this day in holiness and shall we spend it or at the least part of it in mirth sports and pastimes and in all manner of vanity Where are our longings and breathings after Christ upon a Sabbath Were holy duties gratefull to us we should not so soon shake them off we should not make the time of a Sabbath like the vail of the Temple at Christs death to be rent in twain viz. between the Lord and the World whereas one bone of Christ was not to be broken so not one hour of this day Psal 42. 1 2. here we must say as Christ of the fragments gather up the fragments let nothing be lost It is perilous to clip the Mat. 27. 51. Kings Coyne and very dangerous to clip the Lords day Joh. 19. 36. let us not with Annanias and Saphira bring half the price Mark 6. 43. This holy time was never ours nor ever was there any part Acts 5. 2. thereof in our power therefore to keep back any hour of this holy day must needs be sinfull If no part of this day be the Lords why do we give him any And if the whole Communio nostra est cum Patre et Filio et in Patre cum Filio sunt omnia vera et coelestia bona Zanch. be the Lords as certainly it it why do we put him off with part But there would be no need of these questions were our delight in Gods holy day and were our hearts captivated with Divine Communion Delight sweetens duty and makes it easie and pleasurous That Sabbath cannot be long which is complacential David did request to spend not onely the Sabbath but his life in the Temple and counted 1 John 1. 3. one day in Gods house better then a thousand It is nothing but a carnal frame of spirit disgusting the things of Psal 27. 4. God makes the Sabbath tedious and wearisome and seeks to break open the Cage door that it may fly out to its sensual Psal 84. 10. delights and recreations Was the Sabbath our delight we should not cast lots upon it which should have most of it God or the World holy duties or trashy pastimes Our own Conveniency and advantage calls for the whole day of a Sabbath to be spent in holy and spiritual services Sabbatha docent perseverantiam totius diet Iren.
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
holy and serious meditation those enamouring notions of Heaven and blessedness which the Scriptures lay down and contemplate on that spring of joy that life of glory that rich inheritance that future portion which he lives in the expectation of this would put his hope upon the full speed to post towards his desired possession The grace of hope by holy meditation becomes more fledged and vigorous and reneweth its strength like the Eagle The grace of Love is much meliorated and advanced by this duty of meditation There is an affectionate longing towards Christ in every gracious spirit which is fed and Psal 42. 1 2. Joh. 3. 34. Col. 2. 3. Col. 1. 19. succoured by continual and due meditation upon its infinite want of Christ and a weighty consideration of those treasures of grace which are laid up in Christ and so the stream of holy love to this Mediator swells and is ready to overflow all Caeteri homines gratiam nacti sunt gradu inferiore Christus omnem gratiam possidet et gradu summo Daven banks of restraint Our love of desire after Christ arises much from the meditation of his benefits and our love of complacency in Christ flowes much from the meditation of his excellencies But still it is meditation that blows our love into a pure flame and raises it to the highest degree And therefore as we desire to raise and refine our love let meditation be our Mount Olivet to which we may frequently repair The last advantage which meditation brings is the amplification of our comforts The blessed promises recorded in The fifth advantage by meditation the Word they do not conveigh comfort to us only as they are recorded but as they are applyed by meditation The Grapes while they hang upon the Vine they do not produce any Wine to exhilarate the gatherer or the possessor but when they are squeezed in the Wine-press they yield forth that Liquor which is of so chearing a nature And Judg. 9. 13. so promises while onely left upon record in sacred writ they do not drop their Soveraign Juice which chears the heart of a poor believer but when we ponder and press them by stedy and serious meditation then these promises conveigh water of life to us and drop cordials into our carefull breasts Thus David in the 63 Psalm through divers Psal 63. 5 6 7 8. verses tells us what marrow and fatness what lushious and sweet delight he found in Gods Ordinances vers 5th and what cariers of love and pursuit he had after the enjoyment of God vers 8th but all this is the fruit of meditation vers 6th Indeed one morsel of meat chewed and digested conveighs more nourishment then a greater quantity swallowed down whole so one Promise or one Ordinance ruminated upon and digested by sweet meditation conveighs more comfort to the soul then many Promises or Sermons in the head which are not meditated on And thus much for the advantages of meditation Let us in the next place cast an eye upon the excellency of meditation Without controversie great is the rarity of this The excellency of meditation blessed duty Some of the Antients have call'd it The nursery of Piety And St. Hierom calls it his Paradise Indeed meditation August Chrysost Cypr. is the Pisgah sight of the mind when the soul takes a prospect not of an earthly but of an Heavenly Canaan we meditate on those things which are within the vail Dixit Hieronymus oppida et urbes videri sibi tetros carceres et solitudinem ejus esse Paradisum Epist 72. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl Heb. 6. 19. The soul is upon the wing in this soaring duty and the thoughts march heaven-ward Theophylact calls this duty the very gate and portal by which we enter Glory by this service we are ushered in to glance at God himself Meditation is the work of Heaven begun the fight of God in the twi-light the very view of him in a prospective it doth heighten us to a kind of Angelical frame and brings the Soul and God together And yet how many neglect this duty and live almost in the non-performance of it They make large strides and gaps between their meditations 1 Cor. 13 12. 1 Joh. 3. 2. now a little musing and then after many dayes a return to that roseat path again for so indeed is holy meditation How should this strike such with fear and sorrow have they nothing Heb. 6. 19. above to contemplate on No goods within the vail to Meditatio nihil est nisi visio dei è longinquo take an Inventory of by this blessed duty Where is their God their Christ their Crown of Glory Are these Seraphical objects so above their thoughts as they are wholly strange to them Meditation is our view of God at a distance a glance at Christ afar off By this duty the soul listens Mat. 25. 10. to the musicks of the Bride Chamber which he in this life hears more confusedly and in glory he shall hear them more distinctly And yet I say how many account this sweet and heavenly duty a melancholick interruption of their peace and quiet But as the Moon loseth nothing of its light or brightness because the dog barks at it and many rich Countries lose nothing of their treasure because they lie fallow and are altogether unknown Their Mines are no way to be undervalued because they want a discovery So neither can any Eclipse darken this Divine service of meditation Josh 1. 8. Gen. 24. 63. Psal 104. 34. Psal 119. 15. 1 Tim. 4. 15. Psal 1. 2. notwithstanding many live in the total or partial neglect of it Meditation will be the command of a God the Evening sacrifice of a Patriarch the Divine refreshment of a Psalmist the Resolution of a Saint the Work of an Evangelist and the Character of a Godly man although it is a duty of a low price among formal professors or the prophane scoffing miscreants of the World Meditation will be the Saints mountain of Spices though unregenerate persons smell not the fragrancy of them And that which is one Pearl in the Crown of this Duty is its indispensable necessity One observes That the end why God gave us his Word is not onely to know it but to meditate The necessity of meditation on it not to run it over with a transient glance but to traverse it in our meditations and to ponder it in our Psal 119. 97. thoughts Now meditation will appear to be necessary upon a Luke 2. 19. threefold account It puts the intellectual part of man upon service The understanding is not more busied in any duty then in meditation then like the Silk-worm it spins out of its own bowels Intellâ—ctus et mens est sedes sapientiae â—â— veteres putabant when we meditate we rally up our thoughts to fall upon some divine object This 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
the Saints onely God verily gives us this day for sâ—ul work then we hear the word which is the food of the soul Job 23. 12. then we pursue greater measures of grace which is the beauty of the Soul then we look after thâ— Mat. 13. 47 48. pearl of price the Lord Jesus Christ which is the riches of the soul then we poure out our prayers which Mic. 6. 3. 2 Pet. 1. 19. are the â—ent of the soul and then we follow after spiritual knowledge which is the â—aystâ—r arising in the soul The School men welâ— obsâ—â—ve that the injunction of the fourth Commandment is abstinâ—nce from servile works but the end of the command is spiritual duty and holiness The design of the Sabbath was never principally the case of the flesh but the labour of the heart the hearts of serious Christians then working like Bees in the Garden drawing honey from the flowers of every Ordinance There is a significative end of the Sabbath it signifies a three-fold rest Sabbatum praecipitur Judaeis ob triplicem rationem 1. Propter avaritiam ut vacentur divinis 2. Ne errent circa creationem 3 Vt significet triplicem quietâ—m 1. Christi in sepulchro 2. Mâ—ntis à pecâ—atis 3. Beatorum in patriâ Aquin. First The Sabbath in the time of the Law signified Christs rest in the grave When our Saviour having run through the toyles and sorrows of the world lay down in his dormitory of dust for three days and there both Christ and the Jewish Sabbath lay asleep together onely with this difference the legal Sabbath took its last sleep and awoke no more but our dearest Lord after a short repose awaked in his blessed and glorious resurrection and went to sleep no more But the expiration of the Old Sabbath being fully accomplished at Christs burial Secondly The Gospel Sabbath arises as a Phoenix out of the ashes of the other nor is it defective in its signification but implies and signifies our rest from sinfull as well as secâ—lar works Indeed sin is a default on other dayes but it is Vtrisque verò gravias peccant qui otio Sabbati â—bâ—tuntur ad suas cupiditates Aug. a prodigy on the Lords day then our bodies must not only rest from toyle but our hearts from trespass and from its sinfull traverses Augustine observes That they sin at the greatest rate of offence who abuse the leisure of the Sabbath to pursue their lusts and unlawful desires And the Schoolmen note That they who are only idle upon the Sabbath break only the fourth Commandment but those who are prophane Qui solùm ab opere servili cessant omninò peccant sed qui sequuntur suas cupiditates et libidines non solùm violant quartum sed alia transgrediuntur mandata Altissiod upon that day sin with greater obstinacy and violate other Commands their excesses and intemperance swell into the highest guiltiness What Moses in his passion did in breaking the two Tables in pieces Exod. 32. 19. Prophane persons upon a Sabbath seem to imitate and out-vy We enjoy leisure on Gods holy day but it is for divine worship we must rest but it must be in God and not lean on our couch in ease and slothfulness but we must lean on our beloved in holy and fiducial services Thirdly Our blessed Christian Sabbath further signifies Cant. 8. 5. the Saints rest in glory The present Sabbath is onely the pawn and the first fruits of a better rest to come Here the Josh 18. 7. Saints like the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half Necessum est dicere quod David aliam tertiam quandam requiem intellexerit puta in coelo aeternam quae nobis Christianis quavis aetate proponitur tertiam inquam requiem quae per duas praecedentes scil per requiem Sabbati et requiem in terrâ Canaan anagogicè fuit significata Alap Vltrà hunc mundum est veri Sabbati observatio Orig. Tribe of Manassah are on this side Jordan they are not yet come to Canaan Believers indeed enjoy Communion with Christ here but they are not arrived at their perfect rest in the heavenly Canaan where they shall enjoy Christ in a full fruition The present Sabbath is the twilight the dawning of that which is to come it is the morning dew of love which being melted away we shall come into the warm bosome of Christ to keep an everlasting Sabbath We are by our weekly rest lead by the hand to take notice of our perfectly complacential and undisturbed rest that which Origen calls The true Sabbath and Chrysostome calls the true Rest not that our Sabbath here is counterfeit but truth and vâ—rity is ascribed to our Sabbath above as it is attributed to the God of the Sabbath by way of greater glory and more unlimited eminency There is a light in the Candle but the light of the Sun is more transcendent and illustrious Flaviacensis observes that our future Sabbath is the Sabbath of Sabbaths because the Saints rest is begun only here but consummated in every lineament in the Kingdom of glory the Elect shall rest in every part in soul in body from disturbance from all afflictions labours miseries temptations Tertia est requies quae est verè quies scil regnum caelorum quod assecuti verè quiescunt à laboribus afflictionibus Chrysost no evil One to tempt no evil heart to seduce Hesychius calls our future Sabbath our rest in Heaven an intelligible rest as if the soul did never fully understand its rest and quietation till it took up its abode in the bosome of Christ CHAP. XXIV A Collation and Comparison of the Jewish with the Christian Sabbath OUr Meditation on the morning of Gods holy day having Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 35. 2. Rev. 1. 10. passed through the several ends of the Sabbath it may a little look back and compare the Jews seventh day and the Christians first day together their Sabbath and our Lords day and much delight will flow from both to refresh our meditations And here we may compare the legal and the Evangelical Sabbath both in their agreements and in their differences for when they do not sound the same tune yet they yield the same and sweet harmony The Jewish and the Christian Sabbath agree in this they are both the seventh part of the week though the duties Dies septimus non propter numerum septenarium aut utiquam propter ipsius qualitatem sed quoniam saâ—â—tae erat quieti consecratus à domino ideòque pro sancto habendus est sanctis actibus meditationibus sanctisicondus Musc of our Sabbath be of a sweeter tast yet they are not of a longer duration The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jom of the Hebrews is as long as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hemera of the Christians the Lords day is a day and no more and so was the Jews Seventh day both contain
Christ will scatter vain and wandring thoughts Cant. 3. 1 2. in holy duties the soul will then say I come to seek my Beloved Let us get strong apprehensions of the holiness and purity of God And let us consider how unsuitable vain and slight thoughts are to his holy and unblemished thoughts how Attributa dei sunt invisibilia et spiritualia et ideò deus est colendus latriâ precibâ— votis et gratiarum actione Alap unsuitable our mud is to his Chrystal What is the reason that the Saints and Angels in Heaven have not a vain thought they strike not a wry stroak the sight of the holy God doth fix them Nothing would more spiritualize our thoughts in holy duties then the consideration of Gods Attributes the transcendent brightness of those most glorious beams The Masters eye keeps the Servant demure and observant and nothing more consolidates mans heart then the serious apprehensions of a glorious and infinite God Let us be earnest with God for the spirit He can sanctifie our thoughts in holy Ordinances and keep them close to the 1 Thes 5. 23. work in hand The spirit of God can turn the heart which naturally is a bed of lust to become a bed of spices and 1 Cor. 2. 10. so fill it with divine cogitations this blessed spirit can present the soul with Heavenly objects in Heavenly duties The spirit is not onely a discerner of thoughts but the refiner of them to purge away their dross and impertinency and therefore called a Refiners fire Mal. 3. 2. Our Saviour faith John 16. 13. The Spirit of truth shall lead us into all truth and our hearts being guided the thoughts will not be subject to wander into by paths when we are interessed in holy and sacred opportunities CHAP. XXXI As we must be strict in our behaviour so we must be spiritual in our duties when we approach the Publick Ordinances HAving thus largely discovered how we must be strict in our behaviours in publick ordinances We come next to shew that we must be spiritual in our duties The heart is the chief ghuest at every ordinance The Aegyptians of all the fruits chose the Peach to consecrate to the Goddess and they gave this reason for it because the fruit thereof resembleth the heart The Saints Character is from his inward carriage to God The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45. 13. If we will worship God indeed we must worship him in heart Hypocrisie is but practical blasphemy The heart is the King in the little world Man Our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith John 4. 24. God is a spirit and he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth In truth i. e. Scripturally opposite to the inventions of mens heads In spirit i. e. sincerely John 4. 24. opposite to the dissimulation of mens hearts The deeper the belly of the Lute is the pleasanter the sound is the deeper our worship comes from the heart the more delightfull it is in Gods eye But now that our holy duties may be spiritually performed that we may hear spiritually and pray spiritually and receive spiritually The inward man must be employed in holy ordinances not so much the ear as the understanding not so much the knee as the memory not so much the tongue as the heart though as our Saviour saith Mat. 23. 23. This must be done but the other must not be left undone In legal sacrifices God would have the fat and the inwards Lev. 7. 3. Is it Bis adeps nominatur et halocaustum non tantùm suit res sancta sanctarum sed et locus in quo comesta fuit â sacerdotibus sanctur fuit not to inform us that our services must not be specious but spiritual God must have the fat and they must be cordial not extrinsical God must have the inwards It is not the Pharisees disfigured face but Mary Magdalens melting tears God eyes and respects God is not delighted with the Pageant of a duty The Service doth not please God which hath Absolons face but which hath Davids heart Jehu's fained zeal Herods seeming joy no way comport with Gods will The melting frame of a weeping Peter and the spiritual 2 Kings 10. 16. agony of a praying Hannah are in Christ a sweet smelling Mark 6. 20. sacrifice to the Lord. The chief wheels in prayer in Luke 22. 62. hearing in meditating and other holy duties are the faculties 1 Sam. 1. 13. of the soul a supple will a working mind a faithfull memory embracing affections these are the musick of the Sphears in holy ordinances The care of our souls must be the signal design in all holy Ordinances It is not so grateful to perform service as to advantage the soul in service 1 Pet. 2. 2. When we come to 1 Pet. 2. 2. ordinances we must not study a secular interest or to quiet the clamours of natural conscience or to keep up a port in Religion but we must study the interest and the emolument of our souls 1. To raise them Every Duty every Sermon every Prayer should be a wing to the soul that it might fly higher towards God Duties are not onely to satisfie but to sublimate the soul to make it more heavenly and more ambitious after a crown in glory as those primitive Saints who looked upon the things of this life with disdain soaring after a better Country which was to come Heb. 11. 13 16. 2. We must study our souls in ordinances so as so quiet them to give them more peace and tranquillity Gospel seasons are not onely for the elevation but the calming of the 1 Pet. 5. 8. soul Satan disturbs sin defiles and lusts war against the Mark 7. 20. soul and the soul never finds rest till it comes to God in 1 Pet. 2. 11. ordinances and there quietly it lies at Christs feet as Mary Magdalen to receive the honey combs dropping from his lips After Hannah had prayed then she was no more sad or discomposed 1 Sam. 1. 18. When we acquaint our selves with God in holy ordinances we shall be at peace Job 22. 21. and thereby good shall come unto us 3. To spiritualize them We sow in duty we reap in grace that we may be more humble more holy more savoury and more serious in the things of God and Eternity We enjoy the glorious Gospel that we may pass from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Means of grace are for the getting of 2 Cor. 4. 4. Eph. 3. 16. greater measures of grace we feed upon the feast of Ordinances Coâ—roborari in interiori homine est corroborari in mente in intellectu in voluntate caeterisque animae potentiis that we may be strengthned in the inward man The Apostle saith faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. And the same Gospel is both the Mother and the Nurse of that heavenly grace Study therefore thy soul
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
〈◊〉 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
take especial care to serve the Lord in fear and trembling and remember to keep the Christian Sabbath Ezek. 46. 4. because the Kingdom is the Lords and his Christs who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Revel 11. 15. The duty of Magistrates is 1. To repress the profaning of the Sabbath and to use all Qui non prohibet peccare cum potest jubet Sen. means for the accomplishment of that worthy and glorious design Namely 1. To forbid Nehem. 13. 15. 2. To reprove Nehem. 13. 17 18. 3. To threaten Nehem. 13. 21. 4. To hinder Nehem. 13. 19 22. And 5. To punish the profaning of Gods holy day Nehem. 13. 20. Secondly To command and to compell the Lords day to be sanctified 2 Chron. 34. 33. And Thirdly To sanctifie it himself his Children his Court his Attendants both privatly Psalm 5. 7. Acts 10. 1 2. and also publickly Ezek. 46. 2 4. 2 Kings 11. 5 7 9. The duties of private and publick sanctifying the Lords day tye and bind the Prince and other Magistrates no less then the meanest of the Subjects and the most pedantique persons And where the Prince neglects the strict and holy observation of Gods blessed day this sin will make his Crown shake and his Scepter tremble and rip up his most stately Pallaces to let in divine wrath and displeasure It was the prophanation of the Sabbath which hasten'd and ascertained Hezekiahs doom as may be clearly observed Jer. 17. 27. If ye will not hearken to me to hallow my Sabbath I will kindle a fire in the gates of Jerusalem and it shall devoure the Pallaces thereof and it shall not be quenched And lesser Governours every Housholder over his family who may be called an inferiour Magistrate in regard of his Authority in the little province of his family it is his duty to sanctifie the Sabbath himself he must keep it with all care Eph. 6. 4 and diligence and move in the circuit of Sabbath duties as Psal 101. 6 7. a star in its Orb And he must command and compell his family Est 4. 16. thereunto that they may effectually practice it as well Sub pronomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tu intelliguntur 1 Personae dominantes Patres et Matres familiae 2. Personae fulcientes filii et fi liae 3. Personae ministrantes servi et Ancillae Rivet as himself and this he must do in his proportion as Magistrate in his own Houshold Surely if Kings in the midst of all their glittering attendance their courtly delicacies numerous addresses arduous affairs must not forget to keep holy the Sabbath day both themselves and all their bespangled family much more must the private Governours of families who lye not so open to tempting avocations nor are dazled with such courtly appearances take care that themselves and families serve the Lord on his own holy and blessed day The Edicts of State and constitutions of the Church like the two springs of Jor Dan have both met in a full stream to carry on this service against all resistance Ludovicus Proinde necesse est ut primo sacerdotes Regâ—s et Principes omnesque fideles huic diei debitam observantiam atque reverentiam devotissimè exhibeant Lud. P. Concil Paris sub Greg. quarto Pius the son of Charles the Great put forth this Decree That it is a necessary duty that in the first place Priests and then Kings and Princes and all faithfull persons do most devoutly exhibit due observation to this holy day This serious Prince enacts the observation of the Sabbath for all that every one being fettered by a Law might not loosely passe over this heavenly day And as the Edicts of Princes enforce the general observation of the Sabbath high as well as low an both equally so the Constitutions of the Church The Council of Paris decreed that all should keep the Lords day Governours Kings Princes Priests and all faithful persons should procure it to be kept and that no man presâ— me to make merchandise to do his pleasure or any countrey work but that they with all endeaâ—ours of soul do attend to heavenly praises c. Ambrose in his time complained of some Masters Taeduit mihi videre servulos ad ecclesiam fortassis festinantes ad venandum per dominos avocari quia sic voluptatibus suis peccata accumulant aliena Ambr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 7. cap. 19. who would call away their servants to hunting when they were going to Church on the Lords day and so by their own sinning drew others into the snare not remembring they should be guilty of their servants sin and of the hazard of their immortal souls And a learned man of our own Nation observes that in those Constitutions commonly called Apostolical it was expresly commanded That servants should be at leisure on the Lords day for attendance upon the worship of God and for learning of Religion Those early dayes of the Gospel commanded all every one to mind the great work of Religion and to inure themselves to divine Knowledge Our own Church is not the least in providing that all persons observe the holy Sabbath So in King Edwards time the express words of the Homily are Sithence which time the time of our Saviours Resurrection Gods people in all ages have alwayes without gainsaying used to Homil. de temp loc precum come together upon the Sunday to celebrate and honour the Lords blessed Name and carefully to keep that day in holy Rest both Man and Woman Child and Servant and Stranger c. And so in King James his time it was enacted as one of the Canons of our Church among other things That Parents and Masters of Families should instruct their children and servants in the fear and nurture of the Lord especially Can. Eccles Angl canae 13. An. Dom. 1603. on the Lords day Thus the care of all places where Christianity hath been professed and in all ages which savoured any thing of Religion hath enjoyned the generall observation of the Lords day and the meanest Servant hath come within the compass of Royal Edicts and sacred constitutions as well as the most considerable Eminent Superiour The bowels of Parents might enforce this duty Can a tender Father or an affectionate Mother see their Children trifling away the time of a Sabbath slighting away the Ordinances of a Sabbath and neglecting the private duties of Redarguenda est Parentum segnities qui in rebus seculi sâ—â—â— sunt sallic in sed de pietatis incrementa minus sunt solliciti Riv. a Sabbath and not be filled with fear and amazement How shall the fruit of their loynes stand before him who gave the Commandement for the Sabbath in the midst of a flaming Mountain Exod. 19. 18. and be accountable to him who is the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 28. and who will judge the secrets of all men according to
Momentum unde pendet aeternitas Alap Now if ever this is the Sabbaths Motto This is our moment on which eternity depends Though there be no vacation for sin yet the Sabbath is the Term-time for the Torius mundi opes non conducunt nec sufficiunt ad redimendam unam animulam deperditaÌ„ sed omnes animae sunt redemptae pretio sanguinis Chemn soul the Sabbath is the Mart the Staple the Market for the soul and not to improve this opportunity judiciously savingly spiritually with the greatest intent of mind with the greatest severity of observance with the greatest inclinations and workings of spirit is the highest vanity and prophaneness A slight vain spirit on a Sabbath is like tears and sighs at a Nuptial Feast or laughter and jocularity in the house of mourning On the Lords day we must pray as for our souls hear as for eternity and improve Ordinances as those who are to deal with an infinite God in Ordinances What we do we must do with all our might as Qui rectè currit in Christianismo coron am gloriae accipiet Chrysost the Wise-man speaks Eccles 9. 10. Now especially we must run the race which is set before us and strive to enter in at the strait gate storm heaven that we may take it by force Sweat in our callings is our policy but sweat and labour in holy duties is our wisdom In the duties of the Sabbath 1 Cor. 9. 24. especially we wrestle for a prize we seek for life as those persons who fetched water for David from Bethlehem with Luke 13. 24. hazard and invincible magnanimity Frozen duties will Mat. 11. 12. speak cold answers and a light dead careless frame of spirit only teaches God to withdraw his presence from our 1 Chr. 11. 18. seeming approaches We must pray and hear on a Sabbath as David danced before the Ark with all our might 2 Sam. 6. 14. we must stretch out the hand of faith lift up the 2 Sam. 6. 14. voice of prayer and breath out the longings and anhelations of our souls These heights of spirit do exceedingly become the holy and blessed Sabbath Dir. 5 We must he frugall of the time of the Sabbath The filings of Gold are precious much more the filings of a Sabbath Every minute of a Sabbath is like a pearl small but of great value There are no loose minutes in the Lords day every little parcell of time is a holy fragment which must be gathered up that nothing be lost We must fill John 6. 12. up every space of a Sabbath either with holy thoughts divine meditations ejaculatory prayers reading of the Scriptures or some holy duty correspondent to that holy day Every branch of this consecrated time must bear precious fruit we should in our Sabbath below imitate our Sabbath above and there no time will be lost Not a drop of idleneness in an Ocean of rest Though there will be no pains in glory yet there will be perpetual praises eternall uninterrupted Hallelujahs and there shall be no breach or chasm in our Sabbatum eâ—t sanctum otium Leid Pros everlasting triumphs Indeed the Sabbath is rest from our callings but none from our duties it is an holy leisure for our souls which must not run waste Grains of Musk Fragmentorum collectione et asservatione Christus nos monet frugalitatis ne insumendo et prodigendo bona à deo nobis concessa uno impetu perdamus sed quae supersunt religiosè colligamus et seponamus Lyser are sweet and valuable so are the most minute pieces of a Sabbath The Romans were so ambitious of the Consulship that one Consul dying the last day of his Authority one sued for the remainder of the time whence that memorable speech of Cicero O vigilantem Consulem c. O watchfull Consul who slept not one night in his Authority Such holy ambition we should have for the time of a Sabbath we should sue for the smallest remains of it to improve for soul advantage The Author of the Practice of Piety complains of some who spent their Sabbath or a great part of it in trimming painting and pampering themselves and were like Jezabels doing the Devils work when they should be doing Gods Surely such are the greatest unthrifts Neque dominicis diebus quae sunt hilaritatis praeter sanctitatem aliquid dicere aut facere concedimus Clem. and are guilty of the most prodigious prodigality It was a pious constitution of Clemens That on the Lords day we should give no way to mirth or earthly delight but all our words and facts should savour of holiness Dr. Bound sadly bemoans the custom of some great personages who lay longest in their beds upon Gods holy day and made it a day of pleasing Sabbatum est observandum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flesh which should be a day of sanctified rest And saith this worthy man in an extasie of zeal We must not give our selves to sleeping on this blessed day no more then to surfeting The Prophet Joel tells us On solemn Feasts the Priests were to lie all night in sackcloth Joel 2. 13. And we know Hester spent three nights and three dayes with her Maids in fasting and prayer Hest 4. 10. And can there be a greater solemnity then the Sabbath the day Imperatum suit â— deo ut sanctifices et consecres totum Sabbati diem et in illo toto die divinis vacare possis Zanch. Iren. contr valent for transacting the great affairs of eternity our golden spot of time to get a Christ to get a crown Zanchy observes That the whole of a Sabbath without abatement and curtail is to be consecrated to God Irenaeus one of the morning stars of the Church informs us That the Sabbath doth teach us there ought to be a perseverance and a continuance of a whole day in the service of God And the Council of Paris an assembly of learned men give in their suffrage to this truth in these words Let your eyes and hands be lifted up to God all this day To the same purpose speaks the Council Conc. Turon cap. 40. Calv. in Deut. Serm. 34. Muscul in quartum praeceptum Pet. Martyr in Gen. 2. of Turon But I shall not over-load or clog the Reader with humane testimonies Let me only subjoyn the attestation of incomparable Calvin This day saith he is not ordained for us only to come to a Sermon but to the end that we may employ the rest of our time to laud and praise God Here we may take up that of the Prophet Mat. 1. 14. Cursed is the deceiver And this is too much to imitate Ananias and Saphira to keep back part of the price of a blessed Sabbath Acts 5. 2. God will not have us to divide the Sabbath between himself and our selves this is to make a separation between God and us Gods day must be spent in
Isa 59. 2. Gods service and to waste any part of it upon our gains ease or pleasure is to rob God of his offerings which is Macrob. Saturn l. 1 c. 16. matter of complaint and condemnation Mat. 3. 8 9. While we make bold with Gods day we do but mangle it and every Illorum dierum quibusdam horis fas est jus dicere quibusdam fas non est jus dicere Macrob. waste is a wound in it Indeed Macrobius tells us That the heathens had their dies intercisos bipartite dayes which were divided between their God and themselves Semisolemnities And the Papists have their half holy dayes as St. Blacies day and others c. But we have not so learned Christ It was an excellent constitution of King Pepin of Abstinere in eo diâ— primò mandamus ab omni peccato et ab omni opere carnâ—li â—t ab omni opere terreno et ad nihil aliud vacare nâ—si ad orationem et ad ecclesiâ—s concurrere cum summâ mentis devotione Concil Forojul cap. 13. France We command saith he That all abstain from every sin and from every carnall work and from every earthly work and to be at leisure for nothing but prayer and Church assemblies with the greatest and highest devotion and with charity to bless God who upon this day rained down Manna in the desart and fed so many thousands with bread Morsels nay grains of time are savoury upon a Sabbath The soul can feed upon the crums of such a day Sabbath wastes are the throwing away pearls the casting over-board the best goods which might enrich us to all everlasting That time thou mispendest on a Sabbath might be Gods time for the calling thee home to himself CHAP. XXXVII Some further Directions conducing to the same End Dir. 6 LEt the whole man be employed on the Sabbath 1. All the parts of the body The tongue in prayer the ear in attending the knee in submission the eye in contemplation the hand in charitable contribution This Rom. 12. 1. would be a sacred symphony and make the body not only a a reasonable but an acceptable sacrifice 2. All the faculties of the soul must understand their several offices and tasks 1. The understanding must drink in truth as the tender Deut. 32. 2. herb the small rain and the new mown grass the seasonable Nondum in observatione externorum exercitiorum Sabbati plena est sanctificatio nisi eo fine quó institutum est ut piè sanctè et interiùs haec gerantur Qui est sabbatismus internus Leid Prof. Cant. 5. 16. showers Then the understanding must be as the lights of the Sanctuary of very great use 2. The will must embrace the Doctrines of the Gospel The understanding sees the commodity the will buys it The understanding fastens the eye upon the treasures of the Gospel but the will fastens the hand the understanding is the purveyor of truth but the will brings it home 3. The affections must be employed in pursuing Christ and in holy meltings in sacred duties the soul must be all afloat in loves and delights on Gods blessed day then our affections must follow the prey our dear Jesus our Beloved who is altogether lovely 4. The Memory must be the Scribe to set down every heavenly counsel every thing which drops from the heart of God As that King of Syria whose Ambassadours catched at every word 1 Kings 20. 33. The Memory must record every soul-concernment it must be the Exchequer where the riches of Ordinances are reposited and laid up And after all we must with the Virgin Mary ponder all those things in our hearts Luke 2. 51. Thus both soul and body must be Luke 2. 45. espoused in Sabbath service they must as Joseph and Mary go both together to seek Christ as the two Disciples which went to Emmaus both must joyn in conversing with Christ Luke 24. 15. Though the body act the part of Martha in Luk. 10. 29 41. the week and is cumbred with many things yet it must act Maries part on the Sabbath and mind onely the one thing necessary and lie at Gods feet in holy dispensations Body and soul on the Sabbath are as those two Disciples that went to Christs Sepulchre John 20. 4. but the soul is that Disciple which out-runs the other and comes soonest to the end of their Enquiry the soul comes quickest in and closest up to Christ Mariners observe that the two stars Castor and Pollux when they are asunder they prognosticate Intus est in corde est sabbathum nostrum August foul weather but when together they portend a fair and calm season so when we bring onely the body to the Ordinances of a Sabbath it portends nothing but sorrow and disappointment but when soul and body both meet in sacred duties upon this holy day it is a good prognostication Mat. 6. 24. of fair weather to the Christian smiles from above Luke 16. 13. and peace from within In the duties of a Sabbath we must study devotion but not division we must not think to please the flesh and to please the Lord too on his own day Direct 7 Works of mercy do very well become the Sabbath This is a day of love and mercy If in the times of the Law the Law of Circumcision a painful Ordinance was not to be omitted Opera misericordiae nemo illo die facere prohibet ut sub vâ—nâ—re egeno curare aegrotum Opem consilium afflicto laboranti afferre Cujus cura illo die nobis maxime commendatur Rivet in Decal John 7. 22. Much more in the times of the Gospel a law of Love must bind us and oblige us on a Sabbath Love is under a Command as well as Circumcision John 13. 35. Rom. 13. 10. Mercy it is the very musique of Gods Attributes Psalm 108. 4. it is the Almoner to provide for mans wants it is the service of Angels Luke 22. 43. And it is the comely dress which sets off the beauty of a Sabbath That we have a Sabbath is an Act of divine mercy and we cannot duly keep a Sabbath without employing our selves in the works of mercy Tertullian in one of his Apologies joyns Prayer reading of the Scriptures and giving Almes together as being all equally the duties of a Sabbath With him joynes issue Learned and profound Huc referenda sunt reliqua misericordiae opera quibus sabbatum minime profanatur Just Mart. Chemnitius who speaking of the Church of Brunswick saith That upon the Lords day a great multitude of people are gathered together to praise God to hear his Word to receive the Sacrament to holy Prayer to give Almes and other exercises of godliness Thus Charity is mingled with other holy duties Gualter cryes out Let us admire the goodness of God in giving us a day of Rest and shall not our bowels Dei bonitatem exosculâ—mur
19 20. But to reconcile man to man is the duty of every real Christian and a work most agreeing to the sweetness of a Sabbath a duty crowned with the promise of the greatest royalty Mat. 5. 9. The day of Christs Resurrection our blessed Sabbath was a reconciling day It reconciled truth to the Promises Mat. 20. 19. Mat. 27. 63. Mark 8. 31. Mark 10. 34. Luke 24. 7. John 20. 9. it was the accomplishment of the reconciling work of mans Redemption And on this day the soul of Christ was re-united to his body which was at a distance before No work then more befits the Lords day then the healing of divisions and the praying down animosities between Christians On this blessed day we must endeavour to resolve doubtfull Christians Doubts are the wedges in the soul which both wound and pain to pluck out these wedges by Scripture Qui disceptat dubitat sâ—nâ— licitum necne si manducat peccati damnationis incurrit rectum force is a duty becoming the best of days A doubting Christian is upon a rack he is as a ship upon the Sea in the night he fears he shall either dash upon the rock of errour or sink in the quick-sands of mistake he wants the Pilotism of a knowing and faithful Christian he tosses to and fro and knows not how to come to harbour Now it is spiritual love and charity to relieve this naval pilgrim Oecumen Doubts are not only painfull and vexatious but harmful and noxious 1. They are the enemies of faith Mat. 21. 21. 2. They are the evidences of frailty Mat. 28. 17. 3. They are the hazard of the soul Rom. 14. 23. 4. They are the disobedience of a positive and peremptory command Luke 12. 29. And 5. They cat out all the profit of prayer 1 Tim. 2. 8. Haesitantiae opponitur fiduâ—ia quae necessaria est omni oranti Doubts like cares they are the thorns of the soul which rend and tear the minde with convulsions and distractions And therefore the Apostle is so urgent in his command Rom. 14. 1. That new and crude Professors be not admitted to doubtfull disputations that was the way to unhinge Mark 11. 24. them from the faith and to take them off from the profession of Christianity which would seem nothing to them but a labyrinth and a maze wherein men may lose but not save themselves This is charity then becoming a Sabbath to satisfie the doubts of poor trembling Christians and to become as a harbor to a tattered bark Thus ye have seen the severals of that spiritual charity which the meanest Christian may give and the humble if wanting Christian will receive Another direction for the better observation of the Lords day may be Let us seek God in Ordinances Ordinances Direct 8. are only an empty cloud unless the presence of God melt them into a fruitful shower David saw the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary Psal 63. 2. Ordinances are breathless institutions unless God breathe the breath of life Gen. 2. 7. into them The spirit must stretch himself over them as the Prophet did over the child before any life will come 2 Kings 4. 35. In hearing God must open Lydia's heart Acts 16. 14. In praying God must open our mouths that Psalm 51. 15. we may shew forth his praise The Sacrament is a gaudy Psalm 119. 18. pageant if God be not present what do we drink if not John 6. 55. Christs bloud what do we eat if not Christs body It is the presence of God makes an Ordinance the living child 1 Kings 3. 22. otherwise it is no more then the dead child or a spirituall abortion The divine appearance sweetens fills sanctifies and makes effectual every Ordinance David loved the habitation of Gods house but it was because that was the place where Gods honour dwelt Psal 27. 4. When men go to a certain place to meet a friend and they miss him they return sorrowful and discontented Christ is thy friend Cùm dei gloria in Christo in Evangelio quasi in speculo intuemur per hoc quasi in eandem dei gloriam transâ—â—rmamur speculantes i. e. per speculum videntes non de speculâ prospicientes Aug de Trin. who is to meet thee at Ordinances if thou miss him go home sorrowful Ordinances without God they are a table without meat and so a living soul may depart hungry and thirsty Sometimes Ordinances are compared to a glass 2 Cor. 3. 18. Because therein the Christian beholds the glory of the Lord. Let us hear the language of the Psalmist Psal 84. 2. My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living Lord. Therefore David longed for Gods Courts because the Lord was in those Courts Sometimes the sweet Singer of Israel compares his desire to thirst of which creatures are more impatient then hunger Psalm 63. 1. Sometimes to the thirst of a Hart which creature being naturally hot and dry in a very great degree is exceeding thirsty but still the object of his thirst is God Psal 42. 1 2. It was communion with God in his life love and graces nay in his comforts which the Psalmist breathed after the sweet smiles of Gods face the honey dews of his Spirit this was Davids Paradise of pleasute and his heaven below When we go to Ordinances let us with Moses go up into the Mount to converse with God there It is God in the Word causeth efficacy It is God in Prayer causeth prevalency It is God in Meditation which causeth suavity It Psalm 104. 34. is God in a Sabbath causeth complacency When we go to the waters of the Sanctuary let us say as Elisha to the waters of Jordan where is the Lord God of Elijah 2 Kings 2. 14. So where is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Where is thy Chariot O Sun of Righteousness why is it so long Judges 5. 28. a coming why tarries it what clogs the wheels O when wilt thou come to me Let us look on all holy duties and performances as boats to ferry our souls over to God Saul himself was sad and sorrowfull when he enquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him 1 Sam. 28. 15. Indeed God is not onely the Master but the Marrow of a Sabbath and no Lords day can satisfie without the Lord of the day Antiquus dierum Christus est Ille enim corporaliter visibiliter judicabit vivos et mortuos Christus ideò vocatur Antiqus dierum ut ejus describatur Majestas et aeternitas Hieron what is the best time without the Rock of eternity What is the best day without the Ancient of dayes What are Sermons Sacraments seasons of grace without our Beloved They are nothing but broken Cisterns glorious dreams gilded nothings embalmed hearses and as a perfumed corpse Ah
we are contracted as a ship becalmed the Spirit fills our sails which is that VVind which bloweth where it listeth John 3. 8. Spiritus sanctus postulat i. e. postulare et gemere facit est hebraismus quo kal ponitur pro Hiphil Ansel When we are sad and dejected the Spirit consolates and chears us and flushes us with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. Oftentimes we cannot lanch forth in a duty the Spirit then helps us off from the sands Many times we are dull in hearing and then the Spirit opens the heart Acts 16. 14. and makes us vigorous and attentive And when we are at a loss in Prayer the Spirit puts life into our dead duty and makes us groan a sign of Sex modis in orando erratur primò si bonum temporale petimus animae nociturum Secundò si à malo aliquo quod prosit nobis liberari oremus Tertiò siquid petamus ex ambitione ut filii Zebedaei petebant primus in regno Christi quartò si quid petamus ex zelo indiscreto ut filii Zebedaei optabant ignem de caelo manasse in Sâ—maritanos Christum respuentes quinto si petatur ardentius quod utilius est differri sextò si petamus statum nobis incongruum life and furnisheth us with suitable petitions to accost and lay siege to the throne of Grace And when we are weak and stagger in a holy duty the Spirit takes us by the hand and sets us with fresh strength to finish our service the Spirit corrects all our errours in holy duties A learned man observes there are six great errours in Prayer 1. When we petition some temporal good to the disadvantage of the soul 2. When we earnestly desire the removal of some affliction which conduceth much to the good of the soul 3. When we ask something out of ambition as the sons of Zebedee that they might have a primâ—cy in the Kingdome of Christ 4. When we petition any thing out of an indiscrete zeal as the sons of Zebedee requested fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans who would not entertain Christ Luke 9. 54. 5. When we are earnest for that which it was better it was delayed that by this delay our prayers may be more importunate and our perseverance may be more fully discovered 6. When we beg that state of life in this World which God sees inconvenient for us Now the Spirit correct all these errours and is the Censor of our miscarriage in duty He maketh us more wise more humble more heavenly more self-resigning more patient in duty The guidances of the Spirit are the Pole-star to direct us in every Ordinance and holy service The Spirit is our advocate within us John 14. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Greek which fits us with holy pleas to sue with when we address our selves to God and carries out the heart to urge its case with greater earnestness with great weight and authority The Spirit is the President of our duties to guide the soul that it write fair without blot In a word The Spirit helpeth our infirmities in duty Not a good Angel as Lyra Not a spiritual man a Minister as Chrysostome Not spiritual Grace as Ambrose Not Charity as Chrysost tract in Joan. Augustine But it is the Holy Ghost as Pareus And this blessed Spirit helpeth us as the Nurse helpeth a little Child holding it by the â—â—â—eve As the old man is stayed by his staffe or rather â—â—â—peth together as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 26. seems to imply being a Metaphor taken from one who is to lift a great weight and being too weak another claspeth hands with him and helps him So the Spirit is ready to relieve us in all our spiritual duties The holy Spirit succeeds and prospers our holy duties It makes our duties prevalent with God God attends when we sing in the spirit God hears when we pray in the spirit Ephes 2 18. as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 14. 15. VVhen this Dove moanes within us Rom. 8. 26. God understands the groans of his own Spirit and will give seasonable answers God Donum et efficacia orationis non in verbis sed in gemitâ— desiderio affectu et suspiriis ignitis consistit Alap gives his Spirit to assist in these duties which he fore-determines to accept Man speaketh words in prayer but the Spirit raises groans Alapide observes God is not so pleased with locution as affection in that holy duty not so much with expressions as inexpressible sighs which are as incense in his acceptation As the smoak of that Cloud a sign of Gods smile and favour Isa 4. 5. A duty spirited by the Holy Ghost shall never fail an expected end for God knows the mind of his Spirit as the Syriack reads it Rom. 8. 27. As the Mother knows the groanes and cries of her tender Child and presently runs to help it and to give it what it wants and cries for The Spirit is our intercessour within us as Christ is our intercessour above us whose pleas shall 1 John 2. 1 2. not meet with a denial The Spirit moving upon the waters Gen. 1. 2. produced a World and brought forth living Creatures The Spirit moving upon the Word the dispensations of the Gospel causes the New Creation and makes living Christians O then when we come under the Word and are in the midst of the waters of the Sanctuary let us wait for the good spirit of the Lord Other Birds drive away but let the Dove come in Pareus observes Suspiria perturbata semper exaudiuntur Primó Quid sunt suspiria spiritus Secundò Quia semper spiritus interpellat juxta placitum et voluntatem dei Pat. that the groans of the Spirit within us shall not vanish into ayr and that upon a double account 1. Because the Spirit comes from God John 15. 26. and is his Commissioner in a gracious soul and he will not deny his Leiger in a Saint 2. The Spirit always intercedes according to the good will and pleasure of the Lord And pleasing petitions shall not meet with a repulse what suits with the heart of God shall open the hand of God Congruous desires shall be conquering desires The Spirit makes duties effectual to us That Prayer which is animated by the Spirit shall not onely gain upon Gods heart but melt ours If the Spirit open our heart in hearing we shall attend to the Word and savingly entertain it When Christ by the Spirit opened the understanding of the Acts 16. 14. two Disciples Luke 24. 45. then they dived into Gospel mysteries and understood fully what was fulfilled concerning the death of the Messiah When the Spirit brings home a Sermon he makes it fire to burn up the dross of the soul Jer. 5. 14. he makes it a hammer to break the hardness of the soul Jer. 23. 29. he makes it
operum sui ante-actorum recordatiom sese applicet c. Hosp Dicitur Sabbatum Domini et Sabbatum sanctitâ—tâ—s et sanctâ—tas Domini quia non modò dei sancti est sed et sanctum eâ— et rebus domini publicè et privatim dicatum et impendendum est c. Leid Prof. this truth most sweetly There is saith he a sublime end of the Sabbaths leisure viz. That we might get nearer to eternal salvation that we may follow the duties of an holy life that we may remember our former actions and so drenâ—h our selves in tears of repentance and this saith he the very Jews can not deny Our Sabbaths according to this worthy man are only post dayes for heaven opportunities for grace which is the morning star of glory and the dawning of blessedness Nay let us hear a Quaternion of Divines the Professours of Leyden Cessation of work say they is commanded not that we should only enjoy corporal idleness but fall upon spiritual business holy duties and exercises It is not called the Sabbath of man but the Sabbath of the Lord not only because God is the Author of it but likewise because it is to be dedicated to and spent in the things of the Lord both publickly and privately and is to be directed to the sanctification of his name These Champions of truth direct us to the proper end of the Sabbath which is not to waste but to work not to consult our ease but to consult our souls Our temporal affairs must be suspended that our better affairs may be minded The poor soul should have been whâ—lly neglected had not the God of it appointed one day in the week for its service and salvation This truth is so apparent that our very adversaries joyn issue in the attestation of it Mr. Bâ—erewood who wrote so zealously for sports on the Sabbath yet in his second Tract pag. 15. acknowledgeth That the Commandment for the Sabbath enjoynes 1. The outward worship of God Manifestum est non moâ—o legis hujus judicio sed ipsâ—â—simâ expeâ—iâ—ntâ—â— non facere ad vâ—â—ae religionis profectum siotia multiplicentur Musc 2. Cessation frâ—m works as â— necessary preparation for that worship that as the end and this as the means So then by his confession to holy rest we must joyn holy work And experience tells us saith Musculus that too much leisure never makes for the increase of Religion no more then the Country-man gains by his fallow ground Nay the very Heathens themselves laughed at idleness upon the Sabbath And Seneca derided the custom of the Jews upon their Sabbath because they spent it in things vain and impertinent and not in the worship of God and said The Seneca derisit Sabbatum Judaeorum quia non vacabant divinis sed rugis et inutilibus Aquin. Jews threw away the seventh part of their lives And surely that sin must be grievous which becomes the scom and derision of an Heathen that crime must needs be great which lies open to the discoveries of Natures light But the Scriptures which are the most authentick testimony in this case will bring in most ample witness they will find us employments for the Sabbath 1. If we look into the Old Testament we shall find the sacrifices to be double on the Sabbath day Two Lambs of Num. 28. 9 10 the first year without spot and two tenth deales of flower with a meat offering mingled with oyl and the drink offering thereof this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath besides the continual burnt offering and the drink offering Numb 28. 9 10. There must ye see be an over-plus of sacrifice on the Luke 23. 3. Sabbath then our worship must be in the full and not in the waine in the strongest tide not at low water Likewise Convocatiosancta fuit totâ—us populi ad opera sacra et divina on the Sabbath there was to be an holy Convocation and surely the Jews did not meet solemnly to look one upon another Their meeting in the Temple or the Synagogues spake worship something of Service Divine Likewise on the Sabbath there was the reading of the Law Gods will was then opened to the people Nehem. 8. 8. The Sabbath was not a day of sloth but instruction it was not a day to be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cantica singu laria Sabbato unoquoque occinenda erant Leid Prof. the rubbish of ease but to be built up in the most holy faith And on the Sabbath there were certain solemn songs chanted forth to the praise of the Creatour and therefore the ninety second Psalm is inscribed a Psalm for the Sabbath And there was likewise reasonings and discourses of Divine things as we have hinted Acts 17. 2. There were exhortations given to the people for their furtherance of faith and godliness Acts 15. 21. Moses was preached every Sabbath day as the Apostle James speaks in the fore-cited place So then the Sabbath wanted not its employment in the times of the Law Nor did the Lords day run waste in the times of the Gospel then the Disciples met together the Sacrament was administred the Gospel was preached Acts 20. 7. And charity was collected 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Which duties unquestionably wanted not the concomitancy of fervent prayers and supplications so then there was an aggregation of holy and solemn services Holy duties were not as a single star but as Isa 65. 8. a constellation and in that cluster there was a blessing So Old and New Testament are a twofold witness to condemn Mat. 18. 16. sloth and idleness upon Gods blessed day And by the mouth of two witnesses especially if infallible every thing shall be established And indeed idleness on any day carries its brand in its Milites otio si incipient luxu diffluere murmurare pecuniam inclamare Ordinem omnem turbare aâ— tandem rebellare Alap forehead Idle Souldiers will easily turn mutinous Idle Scholars will easily degenerate into sin and ignorance and idle Tradesmen will easily sink into want and poverty Abundance of idleness was one of the sins of Sodom the worst of places Ezek. 16. 49. It is the sink of sin the Common shore of evil it is the rust of the soul which eats out its noble faculties Themistocles used to say It was burying men alive And idle persons like wanton widows to use the Apostles phrase are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 5. And Ephr. Syr. de consummat seculi the Apostle makes idleness the source of many other sins 1 Tim. 5. 13. It was once the saying of Ephrem Syras Do not fly labour least the Crown fly from thee Idleness is every way sinful It is opposite to mans condition He was born to labour Gen. 3. 19. Dew is not more natural to the surface of the Homo natus est ad laberem sicut avis ad volatum Earth then sweat is to the brow of
Onkelos hanc exclamationem Jacobi ad Christum resert paraâ—hrasi plane piâ Non expecto salutare Gideon filii Joash neque salutare Sampson filii Manoe quae salus est planè temporalis sed expectâ— salutem redemptionem Christi filii David quae est solus aeterna Onkel God on a dying bed and waited for his glorious salvation On a bed of sickness thou mayest bend thy heart when thou canst not bend thy knee and stretch out the hand of thy faith when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty not obstruct it Then the patient prayes more feelingly weeps more heartily converses with God more greedily A sense of approaching death affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve he need not wave a Sabbath 4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the prophaneness of the Master the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on Gods holy day by the pride and vanity of her Mistriss Nay happily our case is a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in yet then though we have lost our freedom we have not lost our Sabbaths Israels worship was not lost but revived in the wilderness and there Moses talked with God as a man with his friend The uncouth and solitary wilderness was the Sanctuary Deut. 26. 10. where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God Exod. 33. 11. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship and in a storme Deus non terribilitèr sed amicè cum Moyse egerit Riv. too when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less but as the vassalized Israelites to groan more not to be weary of Sabbaths but Exod. 6. 5. to be more wary in their observation the bondage of the Acts 7. 34. body is no wayes eased by the hazzard of the soul The Heavenly Master must be served especially on his own day notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly that imperious worm If threats could have prevailed with the three Children they had worshipped a golden Image and not adventured a fiery furnace Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly not more heedless in Sabbath observation If our case is hard upon earth we should then the more endeavour to make it more glorious in heaven and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it Now therefore this being premised Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness when the world is turned into a Patmos to us Let us encourage our selves that this is not our case alone to serve God without company Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount there was no press of people or society Deut. 5. 31. Dan. 6. 10. of Saints to heighten his enjoyment Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone and his sacrifice was sweet though single Peter was praying alone at the top of the Acts 10. 9. house when he gets the company of an Angel that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess The woman John 4. 13. of Samaria enjoys solitary yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine nay waters of life did flow more freely then the waters of the well which did afford her the plenty of that Element And to come nearer to our purpose the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos when he was sublimated Revel 1. 10. with unusuall raptures and that upon the Lords day A single Lute can make sweet musick The Sun which gilds the world is but a single Planet And thy soul serving God alone on his day may be taken into galleries to walk Cant. 7. 5. with Jesus Christ and feed upon the honey and the honey Psal 19. 10. comb of an Ordinance The Word was more to Job then his necessary food when he lay on the dunghill alone Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise Mat. 18. 20. He was present though two or three were not gathered together If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone be much in prayer In this single devotion Christ is both our President Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour Mat. 6. 6. The Cum privatim et solitarie oramus ostentationem et affectationem humanae gloriolae omnino respuimus Chemnit Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles Jam. 5. 17 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruine Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives in them we avoid all ostentation as Chemnitius well observes and more imitate the votary then the Pharisee In them we can search our hearts more accurately deal with God more faithfully and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations Closet devotion is not stopt because confined no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night Psal 63. 6. in Mat. 6. 6. Psal 63. 6. Rev. 1. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 10. which he framed them Christ came to John in Patmos when the Island was his bolted Chamber not with bars but with waves Hannah prayed and wept alone and then she obtained a Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in Acts 10. 4. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 3. 17. prayer when there is no company to excite it and oftentimes God is most effectually present when man is wholly absent therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication In this case of solitariness let us be filled with holy meditations This holy duty of a Sabbath is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement nay it cannot well be performed Gen. 24. 63. in company the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind or Psal 92. 5 6 9. are started by the excitation of the good spirit In thy solitary Sabbaths let thy head work in meditation as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication These duties coupled like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostick and promise fair weather to the soul Meditate on thy sins Sin is first viewed by meditation and then moaned by confession and so consequently cashiered by repentance and this order is very proper and genuine first to cast the eye on sin and then to rend the heart for it and from it The head will affect the heart take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath to cast up thy accounts and Psal 4. 7. Jer. 31. 18 19 20. to look backward on thy sinfull life that thy soul may kindly melt and the Lord
skilful Christians the wound is searched before cured and the tent is put in before the balsam If Ordinances have lost their taste to us the soul is sick of some distemper If we can not be triumphant let us be inquisitive if we are not filled with comfort let us presently feel our pulse But however we should set upon amending of duties but be never prevailed with for the omitting of duties we should be as Fishermen when they have caught nothing then they fall to mending their nets let us not throw away our nets in discontent If the Archer shoots short he shoots again and directs his arrow more level and draws his bow with more strength that if it be possible he may hit the mark So if we Psal 19. 10. in discharge of Sabbath duties do miss of desired mercies let us draw the bow with more strength stir up our selves put more life into duty and quicken our selves with more Cant 3. 4. care that at last we may meet with our beloved and say with the Spouse Cant. 3. 4. we have found him whom our souls love In a word we must not conclude through humane frailties we will do this dayes work no further but we must resolve through divine assistance to do the work of the day better Let this reply answer the whole case The Sabbath-performances of soul-afflicted Saints though they are not sensibly good yet they are certainly good and acceptable to God God seeth that in their aimings they cannot see themselves in their actings that which they cannot see in John 1. 1 3. their work God can see in their will God knows after what the soul reacheth surely not after a bare duty or being Vident mulieres juvenem ut câ—rnerent nostrae resurrectionis aetatem vident juvenem quia nescit resurrectio senectutem neque aetates recâ—â—it aeterna perfectio Chrys in service but therein after a clearer beholding of God a closer communion with Christ to keep a divine intercourse with Father Son and Holy Ghost The gracious soul looks not so much after the Ordinances of God as God in the Ordinances I know whom ye seek saith the Angel to the Woemen Mat. 28. 5. Jesus of Nazareth who was Crucified there they saw the Sepulcher wherein Christ was laid and there they saw the linnen cloaths wherein Christ was wrapt but all will not satisfie it was not the Sepulcher of Christ but Christ who had been in the Sepulcher they sought for So it is not so much the Sabbath of Christ as Christ in the Sabbath not so much the Gospel of Christ as Christ in the Gospel the people of God groan after They cry out almost in the language of Bernard Lord unless I give thee my self it is not all my duties on the Sabbath will satisfie thee and except thou givest me thy self it is not all the priviledges of the Sabbath will satisfie me And all this the eye of God sees and so accepts the sacrifices of his humble people Psal 139. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 51. 17. though they do not smoak with incense to delight them who sacrifice Philosophers observe That fire which smoaks in the Chimney is most clear in the Element of it And so those duties may have a smile from God above who receives them when happily they give no sweet gust to man below who performs them In a word if God accept let not us with Jonah fret because we do not taste them Our services may be a pearl in Gods eye when they are a stone of emptiness Jon. 4. 3. in ours and it is not much material if we sense them to be dross if God look on them as gold And thus much for this fifth and last case CHAP. XLI A Charge drawn up against prophane Persons who live down the Sabbath by loose and vicious Practices WHen God on Mount Sinai gave the two Tables wherein the Decalogue was written the text tells us Exod. 19. 18. The mountain burnt with fire and the smoak thereof ascended as the smoak of a furuace and Deut. 4. 11. Exod. 19. 18. the whole mount quaked greatly And all this was to cast an aw upon the Jews that they might serve God with fear and Ignis est signaculum aptum divinae regiae Majestatis sic terrebant quae in Sinai fiebant Riv. trembling in keeping those Commandments which were then delivered and among others in the holy observation of the blessed Sabbath And it were well for the world if still some burning Sinai some tremendous prospect was exhibited to affect and over-aw the hearts of the people to a due and reverend observation of Gods holy day In nothing Cavendom est ne festis abutamur ad atium luxuriam voluptates turpes Christianis omnimodò indignas Dav. more mans heart had need to be shackled it being so prerient and propense to break the hedge of that sacred inclosure Some make bold with the name of God in words of prophaneness and some with the day of God in acts of prophaneness Many turn the Sabbath into a Market day of Satan and like the foolish Israelites they love to have it so Jer. 5. 31. How many spend much of the Sabbath in the methods of Pride in consulting the glass in fitting the dress in plaiting the hair when yet the crookedness of the Prov. 5. 20. heart is discerned in the curles of the hair nay in patching the face and fashioning the garb as if they went to the Sanctuary to meet with some amorous lover Some spend their Sabbath as the Prodigal did his Estate Luke 15. 30. with harlots and curtezans and study more their lust then their Christ the sinful embraces of the strange woman then holy communion with the beloved Cant. 2. 16. Nay others defile the Sabbath with riots and excesses Riotous company is their Congregation healths are their Ordinances idle Prov. 23. 29. Songs are their Psalms their eyes are filled with fire for their redness and not with water for their tears and they Isa 5. 11. are inflamed with commessation and not devotion These Ebrietas est daemon voluntarius Malitiae mater omnibus virtutibus inimica Basil justly demerit that reproach which the Jews unjustly cast upon the Apostles Acts 2. 13. They are filled with new wine Plutarch a heathen Philosopher believed that Sabbatum the Sabbath was derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to be riotous and drunken and the occasion of this derivation of his was the Jews loose and debauched manners on the Sabbath day It is strange impiety to sin against the light of nature and as strange to be loose on a day of grace To follow vile practices on a precious Sabbath what is it but to throw dung upon Roses The Apostle saith that they who are drunk are drunk in the night 1 Thes 5. 7. It is too shameful a sin for the day to behold
aut mundi cura et ille cibrae immò mille temporalium rerum onera quae nos adigunt ad irregularitatem Chrysost homil 9. with drowsiness Mat. 26. 40. And yet our sweetest Saviour puts a good construction upon this failing And if the Apostles of Christ cannot hold up how shall ordinary Christians of the lower form in Christs School Few are vigorous as they should be on Gods holy day what would they do if every day must be a Sabbath This is impossible to flesh and bloud Man carries clogs about him to holy opportunities which yet are soon over he carries a naughty heart which is apt to wander and a faint nature which is apt to tire and a heavy eye which is apt to close besides he never leaves Satan behind him to be at least the shadow to darken the light and joy of Ordinances And therefore to assert a constant Sabbath an every day Sabbath is to throw a mountain upon an infant And 6. This opinion takes away all distinction between our Vltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbati observatio Orig. Sabbath on earth and our Sabbath in heaven In heaven indeed we shall keep a perpetual Sabbath and all shall be true which this opinion holds forth there shall be no labours no shops no merchandise All our employment shall be to celebrate the praises of God and the Lamb who sits upon the Throne Rev. 5. 13. But to fancy such a Sabbath in this life is to act the Prâ—soner who dreams of golden Rev. 4. 9 â—0 11. treasure pleasing delights sensual satisfaction and wakeing in the morning finds himself shackled in an iron chain and lockt up in a dark dungeon And let this be added to dream of a perpetual Sabâ—ath here and so lay aside the Lords day as groundless and useless is the next way to miss of an everlasting Sabbath above To make every day a Christian Sabbath is only a more subtle design to undermine the publick Ordinances Such would be every day in private that they may be no day in publick and so they set the closet against the Sanctuary and so the pretence of secret duty shall wholly subvert the reality of solemn worship For it is not to be imagined that all people should meet every day in publick and solemn assemblies Mark 14. 49. And how unsutable is this to a Saints spirit David his emphatical option and desire was to dwell in the Temple Psal Luke 19. 44. 27. 4. And he bewailed his loss of opportunities to go with Acts 17. 10. the multitude Psal 42. 4. The Jews kept the Temple worship Acts 18. 4. till they turned their backs upon the Messiah Paul Acts 13. 14. preached in the Synagogue and commanded the Hebrews not Joel 1. 14. to neglect the publick assemblies Heb. 10. 25. Now the Heb. 10. 25. drift of this wild fancy is to leave all Christians to their Certum est ad cessationem simplicem Sabbatum non suisse institutum sed ut convenirent Christiani ad ea pietatis eteercitia quae toti multitudini erant communia Riv. own private observations to their Chamber and closet duties that so there may be no use of publick Ministers publick Administrations publick Schools and publick Universities or a publick solemn day for divine worship and what is this but to bury all Order Discipline and Beauty in ruine and confusion This is to act Dioclesians part to destroy the devout ministry to act Julians part to shut up the Schools and so hinder all Knowledge and Learning and to run with Faustus Socinus to pluck up the Lords day and at last to slide into the blasphemies and insolence of Lucian and Porphiry to deride all Religion To make every day a Sabbath solemnly condemns the practice of the Church in all ages The Church of Christ never understood but one Sabbath in a week which is the blessed Lords day Shall we run it up to the fountain head and take a prospect of the practice of the Church in every Century In the purest times of the Church holy Ignatius the Disciple of the Apostle John the Martyr of Jesus Christ lays it upon Christians as they would shew any love to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. that they should keep holy the Lords day So zealous was this blessed man and Martyr for the observation of this particular day and it s most probable if not most certain that he should know the mind of God when he lay in the Apostle Johns bosom and John lay in Christs John 13. 23. And Ignatius calls the Lords day the Queen of dayes and therefore all dayes are not equal but every day of the week is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. secund inferiour to this Supream of dayes Justin Martyr who lived in the second Century relates the practice of the Church in his time telling us That on Sunday solemn Conventions of people meet together in Villages or Cities for the exercices of divine worship This holy man and Martyr who sealed the truth of Christ with his bloud is the unbiassed Historian of Sabbath observation in the most orient and glorious times of the Church when the truths of God were warm newly dropt from the mouth and heart of Christ Then Euseb Hist l. 4. c. 22. the Lords day was call'd Sunday for reasons hereafter to be shewn not Saturday not Friday not every day but it was the best and highest of dayes and was solemnly set apart Tertul. de Idol c. 14. for solemn and Gospel-worship Dionysius Corinthiacus who lived in the third Century speaks of his observation of Prima Sabbati est initium dierum et tunc ecclesia erecta perficiebat deprecationes Basil the Lords day and the same attests Tertullian who was his Contemporary and speaks largely of the solemn keeping of that blessed day One day is still solemnized not every day no more then every one in a Nation can be crowned and wear the badge of Supremacy Basil who lived in the fourth Century calls the Lords day the beginning of dayes and every Greek Letter is not Alpha And this renowned Father saith That the Church then devoutly poured out their prayers to God And with him joyn Chrysostom Ambrose Augustine Hilary those bright and burning lights of the Primitive Church whose copious descants upon this holy day it will be too much to set down Now this opinion hath no patronage from antiquity unless it be from the mistake of Clemens or the figurative fancy of allegorizing Origen In the darkest times of the Church when it was overspread with palpaâ—le darkness even then Authority commanded Exod. 10. 21. Sabbath-observation one solemn day not every day that was a strange notion in the very midnight of the Church When the clouds were thickest so much brake forth to lead the Christian World to keep one day every week to the Lord. Charles the
the Sabbath to be Originally destinated to worship Thom. Aquin. and divine service It is the observation of Zanchy That Vt sanctifiâ—es i. e. â—t sanctum et feriatum habeas ab opere servili cessando Ger. Jesus Christ on that day when first the Sabbath was instituted did take an humane shape and conversed with Adam and did instruct him in most holy Colloquies and so was busied that whole day with our Parents This was the apprehension of that worthy person who was not much subject Primùm deus sanctificavit diem scptimum Quia sacra ordinatione eam segregavit ab aliis et sibi suoque cultui illam appropriavis to fancies or enthusiasmes The blessing of the Sabbath saith reverend Calvin was nothing else but a solemn consecration whereby God claims to himself the studies and employments of men on the seventh day whether the last or the first of the week First God rested and then he blessed this rest or he dedicated every seventh day to holy rest and thus expounded is this text by the most famous writers of our own and forraign Nations thus Zuinglius Junius and Tremelius Vrsinus Piscator Paraeus Danaeus Bullinger Aretius Chemnitius Hospinianus Bertramus c. expound this text and besides these mentioned there are many Neque enim Sabbatum per Mosen primò est institutum caelitus exhibito Decalogo sed religio Sabbati recepta fuit à sanctis Patribus Zepper worthy Divines of our own Nation give the same interpretation Thus Willet Bownd Greenham Gibbons Perkins Babington Dod Scharpy Williams c. Paraeus well observes the word sanctifie signifies four things in Scripture 1. To make that holy which was impure and propharie and so the Saints are sanctified by the blessed spirit of grace 2. To set apart any thing from a common to a sacred use So God sanctified the Priest the first fruits the tabernacle and the utensils of it Levit. 27. 8. 3. To celebrate that as holy which is holy in it self so Prima requies fuit Sabbati qua deus Gen. 2. 3. in honorem et memoriam creationis suae et quietis jussit homines quiescere ab omnibus operibus die septimo Alap we sanctifie Gods name when in prayer we address our selves unto him and proclaim the glory of it 4. To sanctifie signifies to be vacant for holy employments and so we are commanded to sanctifie the Sabbath to be at leisure for divine affairs At first saith Paraeus God sanctified the seventh day viz. By an holy Ordination he set apart this day and appropriated it to his own worship and as a day of rest to the Lord and this Ordination implies a command which is moral and binds all men And that no other exposition can be fastned on this text is further evidenced Verisimile est observationem sabbati apud Patres in usu fuisse sicut et sacrificiorum à primordiis mundi Riv. in Exod. from this that the Lord in the promulgation of the fourth Commandment upon Mount Sinai fetcheth this text of Scripture as comprising the Original of the Sabbath laying the ground of his precept to keep it holy upon this his institution repeated in Exod. 20. 11. And it is observable that to bless a day is no where spoken of in the whole Bible but here in this text and in Exod. 20. 11. And as the latter text Exod. 20. 11. is supported by so it is an interpreter of the former viz. Gen. 2. 3. And God in the solemn promulgation of the fourth Commandment doth there as Moses doth here Gen. 2. 3. couple the same things together and so confirms the truth of Moses his narration So then in the text of institution Gen. 2. 3. we have four things considerable 1. Here is a Sabbath made 2. Here is Gods own example for mans imitation and so Benedixit deus diei septimo ut in ipso homines quiescerent et cultui divino vacarent Pet. Mar. it is Exod. 20. 11. Gods example is for resting on the Sabbath 3. Here are the words of institution in that he saith he blessed it he sanctified it i. e. he ordained it to be a holy Sabbath he dedicated it to his own service 4. Moses confirms it with a reason therefore it is the Lords institution and to be kept holy of us because then God rested from all his work which he made Nothing can be more obvious or plain did not the unhappy wit of some men cast a cloud to darken and veil it Peter Martyr Rabbi Agnon among others give us a full explication of this text so that many beams may proclaim the Sun God blessed the seventh day This blessing God gave to it that it should only be employed in Divine worship Rabbi Agnon saith That God blessed the seventh day i. e. he passeth a blessing upon the due observers of it which could not be unless there was an institution of the Sabbath for Obedience requires a command and blessing is the usual fruit of obedience And most probable it is that the Sabbath was ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. in the state of innocency though whether it was ordained before the fall or presently after the fall is all one to my purpose for it did well agree with a state of innocency for Adam to be an imitator of God resting upon the Sabbath as proportionating himself to that admirable pattern and example and besides Adam was to work six dayes though his labour was delightsome not toilsome in imitation of God and therefore to rest the seventh day because God did so And though Adam toiled not his body with pain and sweat before the fall yet intent he was upon his business whilst he did labour and six dayes were destinated to his labour but on the seventh day his body was altogether freed from all labour and his mind from attending to it and so the whole man set apart for an holy rest to the Lord which well befitted him And though on other dayes Adam served God yet neither the dayes nor he on those dayes were immediately consecrated to God as this day was and held also for holy duties and to attend upon God more immediately who in that happy estate did unquestionably appear unto him And Adams perfection and knowledge his holiness and uprightness his innocency of life and rare accomplishments did all furnish him with matter of contemplation and made Cùm Adamus diversae naturae negotiis eodem tempore non potuerit convenientèr vacare Aratione non est alienum illi statum tempus ad utrumque ommodè perficiendum a deo suisse assignatum Quo posset libere hortum Edenis colere et dei cultum publicum solenniter celebrare him bold to present himself before God upon that day in a more special manner And indeed a blessed and sanctified day very well accorded with a blessed and sanctified an estate and so no jarring or disagreement
observed by the Disciples for a time the Jewish least they should offend the Jews and the Christian Damus fortean concedimus quoad sententias aliorum Discipulos utrumque diem per aliquot annos observasse Judaicum scil ne Judaeis Dominicum ne Christianis oriretur scandalum Dr. Wilk least they should scandalize the Christians what inconveniency would follow Man naturally is hard of belief and to evince the abrogation of old things and the surrogation of things which are new in their stead is a work of some pains and difficulty therefore that the Jews might be taken off from their fondness and the Christians firmly established in the truth some time must be granted and some allowance made of absolute necessity And that a respect was had to both dayes it was only for the term of some years which when expired the morning-sun of the Christian Sabbath did shine without a competitour and during that little and short time of the observation of both dayes we may consider 1. The Saturday Sabbath was never the day of solemn assemblies in all the Churches for the custome of holding solemn Conventions and Assemblies on that day never obtained Sozomon lib. 7. cap. 19. in the Churches of Rome and Alexandria whereas all Churches had their Church-meeting on the Lords day our Christian Sabbath The Old Sabbath was never kept as a solemn festival for in many Churches it was a weekly fasting day whereas every Lords day throughout the year was held a solemn festival Constitut lib. 7. cap. 14. lib. 5. cap. 15. the Jews Sabbath as in a fainting fit was kept with sorrow and abstinence All Ordinances were never administred with that uniformity on the Old Sabbath as they were on the Lords day As the Ordinance of the Lords supper which in the purest Acts 20. 7. Dies Panis August Epist 118. Churches was appropriate to the Lords day which was therefore called dies panis the day of bread in the primitive times hence that memorable speech of Athanasius who being accused for breaking a Communion Cup clears himself Socrat. Schol. lib. 5. cap. 22. Athanas Apol. 2. thus That time instanced by his accusers was no communion time for it was not the Lords day The conventions on the old Sabbath were ever arbitrary not urged as of necessity unless by the Arch-heretick Ebion Dominicum servasti Christianus sum intermittere non possum Baron and his followers who were therefore condemned as Hereticks but the observation of the Lords day was ever held a Christian duty and none was ever branded with the name of heretick for the observation of it Nay this observation was the badge and Character of a Christian in the best times of the Church The old Sabbath was never in the least the Christian Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. or day of rest but a working day and used as another day and let us never give that day a prerogative which the best times of the Church laid open and common Festinatio Apostolorum ad concionandum non fuit propter festum sed propter multitudinem The Apostles and Disciples of Christ never observed the seventh day as a Sabbath It is true they took an opportunity then to dispense and disperse the Gospel because multitudes were then conveened and met together an happy opportunity was then put into their hands for the insinuating of Christ and the doctrines of the blessed Gospel into Chrysost Homil 43. in Acta Apost the minds of the people now in an unwonted concourse The Apostles did then cast the heavenly bread upon many waters Acts 18. 4. Acts 17. 18 Acts 19. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 4. The zeal of a faithful Minister much more of an holy Apostle will take the best opportunities for soul-advantage and for heavenly instruction It was not the Sabbath but the Season not the circumstance of time but of place invited Ecclesia Graecorum ad paululum septimum diem unà cum primo observavit sed in causâ fuit quia in Oriente initio nascentis ecclesiae viguerat haeresis quorundam qui vetus testamentum execrabantur tanquam à deo Authore malè conditum sabbati cultum aspernabantur eâque de causâ tali die jejunium suscipiebant orientales ergò Christiani hanc heresin detestati deum ipsum V. T. Authorem profitentes caeperunt Sabbati judaici festivitatem retinere non quòd illam more judaeorum colerent sed n◠cum haereticis consentire viderentur et in oriente in illis temporibus multi erant judaei ad Christi religionem conversi qui quando animi simplicitate putabant Sabbatum unà cum die dominicâ in honore habendum caeteri Christiani ne eos conturbarant Sabbatum colebant non quòd id fieri oporteret c. Azor. the Apostles to the dispensation of the Word not the feast but the multitude as Chrysostome well speaks nor did the Apostles any more keep the Jewish Sabbath then Paul worshipped the Gods of the Gentiles when he preached in the field of Mars and disputed in the Schools of the Heathens these places were only the sudden Sanctuaries in which he disseminated the glorious Gospel It is true as a learned man observes in the Eastern Churches for a time the Jewish and Christian Sabbath were both observed Now the reason was there was a sort of Hereticks who did disuse and disgust the Old Testament and said it was evilly compiled of God and did throw off with scorn the Sabbath day and usually fasted on that day in a way of contempt and contradiction Now the Eastern Christians in detestation of this cursed heresie and to shew that God was the Author of the Old Testament as well as of the New did for a while retain the old Sabbath not that they worshipped on it after the manner of the Jews they were far enough from that but some observance they gave to it least they might seem to joyn issue with the forementioned hereticks And moreover in the East were many Jews in the early dayes of the Gospel which were newly converted to Christ who in the simplicity of their hearts did bear still a reverence to the old Sabbath and therefore did observe it with the Lords day Now the Christians were to deal tenderly with those and not to offend Babes in Christ and not to create any perturbation in the Church but to keep peace and unity and so they gave respect to this day not that they thought it any way necessary or a duty to be done but for peace-sake and that salvation-work might not be retarded nor the Church of our dear Redeemer shattered or crumbled into Schisms and Factions and so as the Apostle speaks in another case the Christians of those times became all things to all men that if possible the late Converts of the Jews might have no temptation to apostasy nor the Proselytes of the Gospel have
the bread of life when we attend upon the preaching of the word and generally as our Estate is better than the condition of the Jews in respect to the whole worship of God so likewise more especially in our worship upon the Sabbath our priviledges are more and our burdens are less than theirs our worship is more spiritual more easie more sublime and heavenly and more above the Alphabet and rudiments of their Religion Their lisping Sacrifices proclaimed their minority but ours speak more plainly the Dialect of Heaven Nay which is very considerable in those things wherein we are equally bound with them we much exceed them are we bound to meditate in the law of God day and night yet Psal 1. 2. we are not commanded to carry it about in the skirts of our Numb 15. 38. garments and upon our bracelets Deut. 6. 8 9. And though Rom. 32. it is our duty as well as theirs to teach our Children the Oracles of God Deut. 6. 7. yet we are not charged with Scripturae sacrae in iisque promissiones et Pacta Divina et suturorum mysteriorum prae dictiones haec fuerunt eloquia dei Judaeis concredita Alap the writing of them upon our gates and the posts of our doors Deut. 6. 9. And so in our Sabbaths we are free from the servilities and rudiments with which the Jews were chained as a signe and token of their bondage and servitude Though we are charged to rest upon the Lords day and so keep it holy yet we are not over-charged with Sacrifices and Ceremonies they are all laid asleep in Christs Grave and we are freed from these Fetters and so enjoy a more glorious liberty The inference of the whole will be this Hath God filed off all Chains of servility plained off all knots of difficulty hath he put an end to all legal Sacrifices and chased away all shadows of Ceremony that nothing might encumber our Christian Sabbath How exact then should we be in the observation of it Divine indulgence as it is properly a curb to sin so it is a forcible spur to duty the Lord hath abundantly sweetned therefore let us more carefully sanctifie our blessed Sabbath he hath freed it from the Jewish thraldom let us therefore keep it with Christian freedom the Sabbath of the Jews like the Infant Moses floated among the Reeds but ours hath its Nest among the Stars Obad. 4. Let its sublimeness and spirituality engage us more strongly to a due and holy solemnity nothing can more soften unto obedience than love and indulgence which is written in the fairest character upon the Christian Sabbath It is a most natural Induction that we being loosed and unfettered should run with more swiftness the way of the fourth Commandement now spiritualized to us by Jesus Christ Our Sabbath triumphs in a more glorious occasion then that Gen. 2. 3. of the Jews doth That which occasioned the Old Sabbath was the finishing of the work of creation but that which Mat. 28. 1. occasioned ours was the accomplishment of the work of redemption which glorious work far surpasses the other as the Temple exceeded the Tabernacle The work of Redemption is more precious As mans gaining the world cannot recompence the loss of the soul so Gods making the world doth not equalize Christs redeeming the Mat. 16 26. Inutile est mundi lucrum cum perditione animae conjunctium perditio enim animae est irreparabile damnum Chemnit soul Christs recavering must needs exceed Gods creating a world to draw men out of an enthrall'd bondage is more then to bring man out of a confused Chaos In the Creation God was to deal with no Enemy but in the work of Redemption Christ was put to combat with all the Devils in Hell and to over-power men opposing their own mercies The work of Redemption is more pressing It made the soul of Christ heavy unto death Mat. 26. 38. In this work Christ did not only fight with the Devils but God Himself seemed to combat with Christ and to put him to grief Isa 53. 10. The worlds creation was finished without difficulty but the Redemption of mankind was a work knotted with much pain and grievance The world was created with the speaking of a word it was only Let it be done and this was all the Sun the Stars and all other Creatures they sprang from the Energy and power of a Command from the force of an omnipraevalent fiat but the work of Redemption was not wrought but by the expence of Christs dearest blood The work of Redemption is more profitable Indeed to have Earth to tread on Air to breath in Meat to feed on Christus vicit triumphavit non virtute et sudore aliorum â—t mumdani Imperatores solent sed suâ solâ passione suâ solius virtute Daven Light to walk by these are benefits and good natural supports but the subduing of Satan the removing of the sting of sin with all the astonishing and sad sequels of it the pacifying and quenching of the flames of Gods anger the reparation of mans nature these are transcendent benefits and bid defiance to an hyperhole The work of Redemption yields a far greater crop and harvest of joy peace and happiness We may be Gods creatures and yet fall upon the spikes of eternal ruine But Christs Redeemed ones shall come with singing to Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and they Quomodo illum diem qui a domino dicatus est nosque ab exilii dedecore liberavit venerari par est Isych shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away Isa 51. 11. Isa 65. 17. The work of Redemption is the fullest treasury of mans happiness And as it was long ago prophesied Hag. 2. 9. That the glory of the second Temple should out-shine that of the first So the glory of the Redemption out-shines the glory of the Creation Indeed the work of Creation is a lesser good to us as the Law is a lesser good then the Gospel and the Old Testament then the New Redemption must be owned as the greater work inasmuch as things spiritual are more valuable then things natural and Gods last works are his best the first being only preparatory to the last and indeed he who shall question whether Redemption be a greater work then Creation knows little what a Redeemer is or what the ransom of an immortal soul is worth Psal 49. 8. In creating the world God did much for me he gave me a body admirably and curiously wrought Psal 139. 15 16. He likewise endowed me with a rational soul and endowed this soul with rare and excellent faculties but all these had been only capacities of misery and receptives of wrath and ruine had not the work of Redemption interposed And therefore Christ in shedding Eph. 1. 7. his blood in conquering death in satisfying for sin hath done more for me
Jer. 17. 24. which if it shall be done Jer. 17. 25. Si custodieâ—ur Sabbatum Hierusalem flarebiâ— templum mirè frequentabitur This City shall remain forever Nothing can better encompass a City with walls barricado a City against danger preserve a City from decay and secure a City from ruine then when the Citizens are not more industrious in their shops on the week day then they are zealous in the Sanctuary and in their families upon the Sabbath God watcheth over that City for good where the due observation of the Lords day is most strictly practiced and the prophanation of it is most severely chastised The sanctification of the Sabbath can cause the state to Flourish It can fill the Court with splendor and glory Jer. 17. Extendit deus fructus hujus promissionis ad totum corpus postquam de proceribus locutus est simul adjungiâ— plebem fore fociam hujus benedictionis gratiae dei Calv. 25. If ye hallow my Sabbaths then shall there enter into the gates of this City Kings and Princes sitting on the throne of David riding in Chariots and on Horses c. Indeed Religion and so that eminent branch of it Sabbath-holiness is the beauty and lustre of Courts and that which fills them with glory as Gods presence in the cloud filled the temple with amazing and astonishing glory 1 Kings 8. 10 11. God indeed keeps Nations as they keep his day and when they are loose upon his Sabbath God is more indifferent in his protection over them and benedictions upon them It is very observable that God did most complain of Sabbath-pollution Ezek. 20. 13 16 21 24. Ezek. 22. 8 26. Ezek. 23. 38. immediately before the Jews going into Captivity When a people despise Gods Ministers and prophane Gods Sabbaths then there is no remedy Nay in our Nation of England immediately after the Book of sports was set forth for recreations and liberty upon the Lords day that bloudy civil War began which turned England into an Aceldaniaâ— 2. Chron. 36. 26. and it was infinite mercy that that field of bloud was not like that floud of waters in Noah his time to drown all the Nation and leave only one family surviving The sanctification of Gods day can bring prosperity to the Church It cannot only fill the throne but the temple with Deus erit modis omnibus beneficus ad populum si modò Sabbatum observent et puro corde se addicunt ad dei cultum cùm in templum ascendunt hilaritèr offerunt juge sacrificium ex vicinâ regione advenient cultores dei qui dres festos celebyem et pro more florebit Religio et vigebit in Sabbato observando immò et sacrificia laudis offerentur huc spectant omina sacrificia ut nomen dei celebretur c. Calv. glory and bless not only the shop but the sanctuary Our spiritual priviledges shall be like Aarons rod blossoming Numb 17. 8. If the Sabbath like the Sun shine hot with zeal and devotion Let us hear God speaking by the Prophet Jer. 17. 24 26. If they shall hallow my Sabbath c. They shall come from the Cities of Judah and from the places about Hierusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the plain and from the south bringing burnt-offerings and sacrifices and meat-offerings and incense and bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord. In this glorious promise are comprised all the Characters of a flourishing Church 1. Here is a multitude of worshippers they should flock to the house of God from all circumjacent parts from all adjacent quarters from the plain and from the mountains from Judah and from Benjamin the two most considerable tribes from the South c. And indeed a confluence of proselytes is the glory of a Church when believers are as the corn of the valley and not as grapes after a vintage Mic. 7. 1. Then the primitive Church became glorious to a wonder when thousands were added to it Acts 2. 41 47. Acts 4. 4. Acts 5. 14. Churches are then prosperous when believers flock as Doves to the windows Isa 60. 8. 2. Here is the variety of sacrifices burnt offerings meat offerings emblems of legal worship sacrifices of praise the evidence of worship Evangelical Gods Altar ever flourishes when there is most incense offered and the Church is in its best estate when the Saints have liberty to worship God in every Ordinance Variety of Ordinances is the joy and harmony of the Church 3. Here is likewise observable in this precious promise Christiani charitate et spiritu sancto ferveant quasi igne impetu quodam animi sint succensi ferveant ad officium faciendum the zealous affection of the profelytes they shall come from the Cities of Judah c. And indeed zealous Saints make a prosperous Church Zeal is the natural heat of holy duties and speaks us to be living sacrifices Rom. 12. 1 11. And our services to be lively services Heat is alwayes a sign of life as in naturals so in spirituals Nor is it to be over-passed that in this promise there is implyed Gods presence which is the true glory and flourish of every Church Levit 26. 2 11 12. so the text They shall come to the house of the Lord where the Lord will give them a meeting else these words were an Irony not a promise For to come to Gods house and he withdraw this is a judgment not a promise for the Sun may sooner want light then a promise sweetness If then the Divine Presence be inclosed in the promise what a glorious Psal 63. 3. thing is Sabbath-holiness For what can we enjoy more then a God His smiles are heaven his frowns are hell Our condition is calculated and computed according to the nearness of God to us or his remoteness from us if God be with us saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 31. Who can be against us I may say who can be above us Communion with God is our throne his absence is our dunghill Our condition 1 John 1. 3. is gradually advanced or depressed according to the degrees Omnia possidet qui illum possidet qui omnia possidet Aret. of Gods approach or retirement The hiding of his face is the blackness of darkness and his presence is the sweetness of every mercy the fulness of every Ordinance nay the glory of heaven it self It is the presence of God which fills the hearts of glorified ones with perpetual joy and their tongues with perpetual Hallelujahs And it is this presence which invites our holy observation of Gods Sabbath It is an elegant note of Origen I demand saith he When Manna first began to fall from heaven and it is apparent from the holy In nostrâ etiam die dominicâ semper pluit dominus Manna de coelo Orig. Scriptures that Manna was first given upon the Lords day for if as the Scripture saith
who brought the fire to consume our Jerusalem it will not here be seasonable to enquire but it is most probable they came from Babylon the Enemies of the Jewes from the literal and our implacable Adversaries from the mystical Babylon But did the same sin which fier'd Jerusalem fire London It may be answered most visibly or else why was London fir'd on the Lords day The time sheweth the Trespass And surely one of Londons foulest scars was the prophanation of Gods holy day No sin especially of later years more generally and more impudently acted 1. What playing of Children the younger sort up and down the streets The playing of Children in the streets in the week-day is a symptom of prosperity but on the Lords day is an evidence of impiety 2. What sitting at the door of those who should find some thing divine and spiritual to exercise head and heart in Zach. 8. 5. As if the Lords day was a day of leisure not of light a day of fond recreation and not of heavenly instruction And how contrary to Abraham have Parents in London acted which holy Patriarch would make his Children and Family to keep the wayes of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. 3. And what charms of vain and frothy communication of old and young men and women upon Gods holy day as if their tongues were set on fire of Hell Jam. 3. 6. Persons Peccatum quod alter incurrit operando tuum facis obloquendo not considering that God hath not only confined our hands that we must not work but our tongues too that we must not talk unprofitably on his own day Isa 58. 13. But how have the Inhabitants of London left themselves to the range of all manner of foolish and vain discourse and their communication like Noahs Ark hath taken in the unclean with Gen. 7. 2. the clean and this chat must defile Gods day 4. Let London remember the crouds in the fields upon the blessed Sabbath which throngs of people have been like the spires of Grass or the leaves of the Trees which they came to behold and all this to flatter corrupt and want â—n sense and to waste the most precious time of the most precious Sabbath What Atheistical prophaneness is this to be feeding the Eye with a prospect or pleasing the Fancy Deus inambulat in animâ tanquam in tabernaculo suo cùm ex memoriâ in intellectum traâ—sit inde in voluntatem per actuâ— fidei spei châ—ritatis est enim anima sancta quasi templâ—m immò coelâ—m Bernard with a walk when the immortal Soul cries out Improve this time for my interest or I perish to eternity O! that laziness and sensuality should confound all reason and religion What time wilt thou have for the gaining of a Christ for the saving of a Sâ—ul if the Sabbath be trifled away Is looking after the invaluable Soul such a despisable and inconsiderable work as that it may be so easily dispensed with O Lord us vanity This hath fir'd the best City in the World And this idleness in the fields is not only before and after the solemn worship of God but in the very seasons of grace as if sensuaâ— delight would bid defiance to spiritual duty and Gods service must give way to mans froth and vanity Gospel truths must be laid aside for secular walks and heavenly Ordinances must be put off for empty recreations which like the Tulip have no sent in them and like the walks they trâ—â—â— have no spirit or life in them 5. And hath not this been the stain of London that Ale-hâ—uses have been filled with vain and frivolous Guests on Gods holy day as if Bacchus had been the God they had only worshipped and the Cup of Intemperance did out-vie Psal 146. 13. the â—uâ—â—f Salvation 6. Nay may it not be suspected that the Stews have not been unfrequented on this holy Sabbath and so Venus may be the Goddess of these debauched sinners VVe have had Libido mentem absorbet corpus subjugat corrumpit Alap our Chambers not of Imageâ—y Ezek. 8. 12. but of Adultery Rom. 13. 13. O the wantonness of the people on this blessed day many nay too many are upon the merry pin laughing and jesting and disporting themselves one with another as if the Sabbath was some jovial time set apart for some carnal triumph and not the set solemnity for soul concernments 7. Nay hath not this day been spent with mâ—re sâ—n and prophaneness then any other day Other dayes have been employed in honest labours and in the sweat of the bâ—â—ws but this blessed day in dishonest delights and in the pleasing of â—ur lusts 8. And what want of preparation for this holy day the inhabitants of London toyling no part of the week with so much eagerness as on the Saturday night when they should Mark 15 42. Luke 23 54. be dressing themselves to meet with the Bridâ—goom of their souls on his own day in this falling below the Jews who had their Parascheve their preparation-day 9. And shall this be cast into the woful endictment How guilty hath London been of profuse furniture â—f the table upon Gods holy day as if men were determined to clog the sense Tâ—nta malâ— non facit mare lonites suos transgreâ—iens quamâ—â—m venter si â—â—rpâ—a nostrum superâ—verit that they might chain the soul and so impede and hinder its freedom in holy duties and make intemperance the mother of their devotion Whence comes our sleep and stupefaction in the worship of God on his own day but from the fulness of the cup and the excess of the table when the wanton palaâ—e shall prevail more then the inestimable and precious soul 10. And oftentimes when the shop hath been shut the work hath not been laid aside on Gods day but many have wrought in their callings as sedulously though more privately then upon other dayes and too often the Artificer hath swayed more then the Christian and mâ—n under a pretence to keep the eighth have made bold with the fourth Commandment And therefore whatever hand was used in Londons fire it was Sabbath-guilt which threw the first fire-ball to turn it into flames When Mount Sinai was on fire and smoaking Exod. 19. 18. God was there and that was the cause of the combustion but when dear London was on fire guilt was there nay Sabbath-guilt and this was the cause of its devastation and retine Now ye have seen the dart let us search the wound And was not Londons fire remarkable Surely never any judgement was sharpned with more mournfull circumstances The hand-writing against the City was like the hand-writing of the Dan. 5. 5. Wall mentioned in the beginning of the 5th of Daniel we may see every finger distinctly But more especially let us glance at these more dreadful remarkables the several evidences of divine wrath and displeasure By Londons fire the beauty and the
triumphant Resurrection Then was Christ proclaimed Lord of quick and dead Rom. 14. 9. then Death gave its last groan and then Satan fell like lightning the forces of 1 Cor. 15. 55. Hell were scattered and discomfited when Christ appeared Luke 10. 18. in the Field after his detention in the Grave Christ by rising brake both the Chains of death and darkness together Resurrectione Christi et vita initium et mors recepit interitum and so far put the Law out of date that it super-annuated its threats that they are insignificant to the Believer Christ now had suffered whatever the Law could demand upon the Sinner And as his sufferings answered all the clamours of the Law so his Resurrection brake all the Chains of his Resurrectio Christi plena fuit mortis abolitio et vitae reductio Alap sufferings Indeed through the Grace of God we may read inflamed love Rom. 5. 8. and eternal life John 3. 15. in the death of Christ but the hope and assurance of both is built upon his Resurrection and therefore when the Apostle would set the door of hope wide open to us 1 Pet. 1. Col. 2. 14. 3 4. he shews us an empty Sepulchre and tells us with the Angel He is risen 1 Cor. 15. 17 18 19. The Promise is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. 2. 1 Cor. 9. 27. Col. 3. 5. 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. the ground and Anchor-hold of our hope and that is performed by our Lords Resurrection by which he brake the Serpents head and scattered his power Acts 26. 6 7 8 9. This day then is Christs triumphal day when all his enemies were drawn at his Chariot-wheel And is not Christ in this our Ensample Shall not we on this day trample Satan under our feet conquer lust and get above the snares nay thoughts of the World and in holy and divine Ordinances pursue triumphant grace Conquest is our great work on the Sabbath-day then are we to subjugate our passions to subdue our corruptions to keep under the flesh to fetter the Old man and to bring into obedience our whole man to Jesus Christ The Sabbath properly is a day of Victories then light is to overcome our darkness the word to overcome our hearts Christ to over-rule and Conquer our affections and then is the season for the spirit to subdue and to bring into Captivity every high thought to the obedience of the Gospel And shall we then on Christs conquering-day be slaves to our fancy to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. spend our time in vanity and recreations be Vassals to our lusts to spend our Sabbaths in riots and prophaneness be subjugated by the flesh to spend this golden season in sloth or formality Is not this to pour contempt on Christs triumphal-day and to cover the glory of it with thick darkness As if one should draw a Canvas Curtain before a curious Picture It may truly be said of those who prophane the Lords day they are the ecclipses of Christs Resurrection-day spots in that Feast and the foul blemishes of that lovely season Ignatius will tell us It is but a Jewish trick and a falling back and recidivation to their sin and folly The Resurrection of Christ was the loosing of his fetters then and not before did our dear Jesus rest from the temptations of Satan from the persecutions of the Jewish and the Gentile World from the flashes and scorching of his Fathers wrath and from the bonds of his own transient death His rising-day was his resting-day and all his disturbance and discomposures were scattered as the Clouds Vos in die quem dicunt solis solem colitis sicut autem nos eundem diem dominicum vocamus In eo non solem sed resurrectionem domini laetè veneramur which have nestled together are put to flight at the rise of the Sun And therefore it was the will of God that the day of Christs Resurrection should be honoured as holy rather then any other day of his Incarnation Birth Passion Ascension because his rising-day was his resting or Sabbath-day and whereon his rest began So the day of Gods rest from the work of Creation and the day of Christs rest from the work of Redemption are only fit the one to be the Churches Sabbath in the time of the Law the other to be the Churches Sabbath in the time of the Gospel The Lord Aug. contr Faust Manich. lib. 18. cap. 5. Christ in the day of his Birth did not enter into his rest but rather made an entrance into labour and sorrow and then began his work of Humiliation And so likewise in the day of his Passion he was then under the sorest part of his labour in the bitter Agonies in the Garden and on the Cross and therefore none of these could be consecrated to be our Sabbath Nor could the day of his Ascension be fit Gal. 4. 4 5. to be made our Sabbath because although Christ then and thereby entred into the third Heavens his place of Rest yet he did not then make his first entrance into his estate of Rest which was in the day of his Resurrection This day then was the first step of Christs exaltation the dawning of his glory Dies dominicus Christi resurrectione est sacratus Aug. when as Elijah he dropped the Mantle of all natural imperfections Now Christ was to bear no more bruises to give his Cheek to no more Smiters to tread the Winepress of his Fathers wrath no more This bright Sun was no more to be masked with Clouds this Morning Star was no more Isa 53. 10. to be veiled with shade or darkness Christs rising left his Isa 50. 6. Grave-cloaths behind him to shew us that now no more Revel 22. 16. he was to tast any thing which savoured of sorrow or mortality John 20. 5 6. And now how incongruous is it that the day of Christs freedom should be the day of our fetters That when he threw off his bonds we should bind them on us the faster That we should be fetter'd to any way of sin or chained to our sensual appetite or wanton fancy on the Lords day the weekly commemoration of Christs Resurrection On Diâ—s dominicus dieâ— est quam nobis salvatoris noâ—tri resurrectio consecravit this day Christ threw off his Grave-cloaths and so should we cast off whatever savours of dust and earth In a word to be captivated to any way of offence on this holy day no way comports with the nature and freedom of Christs resurrection then all his bonds were loosed and then should we Leâ— Epist 93. cap. 4. cast from us whatsoever may hinder us from running the ways of Gods Commandements all our sloth frothiness of Spirit carnal delights cold formality and whatever may slacken our pace in our duties and spiritual services The Resurrection of Christ is the very life of the
exactness of the quaver not the dexterity of an Anthem which is veneratiâ—n proper to Gods holy day But a melting heart an obedient mind an attentive ear the acting Luke 2. 25. of grace and the enquiries after the Beloved a Soul raised to experimental communion with God suits more fairly and Jer. 31. 19. genuinely to the right observation of Gods holy day This Ezek. 21. 12. extrinsical worship onely tongue deep and knee deep and which is not animated by a devout Soul is Englands stain and should be Englands moan and we should do well to consider cold Devotion usually foreruns hot indignation and it is onely in the bosom of the Almighty how soon he will further revenge the quarel of his Sabbath not onely as bemired by open prophaneness but as slightly passed over by a specious cold and formal observation We may bewail the sinful abridgments which England puts up upon Gods holy day In former times and so now in these later years two or three hours signifie a Sabbath among us Dominicis diebus tantùm divino cultui a little time in publick is our Sacrifice upon the Lords day the Lord may here put the expostulation Mal. 3. 8. Do ye serviâ—â—dum est sicut Antiquis praeceptum erat de Sabbato dominicum diem religiâ—sâ solennitate celebremus Aug. say wherein have you robbed me It may be answered not in tythes but in time not in the Priests allowance but in the Lords day If the people come to divine service and to the pittance of a Sermon in publick they have then liberty to sport it in the helds or to frisk â—t in a Maurisk dance to be social in an Ale-house to be frolick in a Tavern without the controule of an Officer or the stroke of a Magistrate This is Englands sin and this sin was formerly punished by a Civil and hath lately been pursued by a forraign War But we may truly say with our Saviour Mat. 19. 8. Improperandum est contra eos qui unam aut duâ—s horas ex integro die deo deputant ad Orationem veniunt vel in transitu verbum audiunt quasi festiâ—anter praecipuam verò curam ergâ— sollicitudinem seculi et â—entâ—is expendunt Orig. Homil. 2. in Numer Iren. lib. 4. cap. 30. From the beginning it was not so Augustin tells us Upon the Lords day we are to be wholly taken up in divine worship nor are we to abridge the Lords day more then the Jews did their Sabbath which was wholly kept to the Lord. And this worthy and learned man was run into a kind of passion against those who would spend some time only of this day in divine worship and the rest in sensual pleasures Origen was very invective against those Who would depute two or three hours to prayer or to hear the Word in transitu by the by but their chief care was to consult the World or their belly and to spend thâ—ir time in profits or delights Chrysostome tells us his opinion was fully That one day in seven was to be consecrated whâ—lly to the worship of the Common 〈◊〉 of all and to his service And Irenaeus who trod upon the heels of the Apostolical times freely acknowledgeth That we are to persevere in divine worship upon Gods holy day Nay the Fathers gathered in a Die dominico ad nihil aliud vacandum nisi aâ— Orationem et alia pietatis munia full assembly declarâ— their judgement That we being sequestred from all servile wâ—rk must persevere in the praise of God and in holy thanksgivings â—n the Lords day And so the Fathers in the Council of â—â—iâ—li We must say they be vacant for nothing upon a Lords day but holy Prayer and other duties â—â—ncil Ferojul Can. 13. A. D. 791. of piety And the fiftieth Canon of the Council of Paris is very remarkable We must meet say they upon the Lords day wherein the Lord our life arose from the dead and granted us hope of our Resurâ—ection and wholly abstain from our own delights or secular emplâ—yments and only be filled with spiritual joyes and heavenly praises and this with all endeavour of heart and this is our vacation on that day Chrysostome in one of his Homilies upon Genesis seems to order our very gestures A veshertino ingressu ad altare in Sabbato Judaico usque ad sequentem vesperem in die dominico in officiis sacris peragendis perseverandum est Concil on the Lords day and saith our eyes and our hands all this day must be lift up and stretcht out to God And a venerable Council gives us this direction from the evening of the Jewish Sabbath to the evening of the Lords day we must persevere in holy duties But Englands practice hath been a contradiction to these golden rules and to these golden times When our evening service hath been done we have laid aside the privacies of divine worship and some to the Green to bowls some to the Trall Can. 90. Ring to dances some to the street to Cudgels and to other sports which feed the corrupt heart of an inconsiderate multitude But in this while our Country is a Baalim our Closets Judg. 3. 7. should be a Bochim and others wantonness should be our wound and whilst their hearts are a spring of vanity Jer. 9. 1. our heads should be a fountain of tears We may bewail the unpunished liberty which is used in England upon Gods holy day Sabbaths are prophaned and the Jer. 5. 31. people love to have it so and the Magistrates love to leave it so this is an Evil to be deplored among us The things which are Caesars are given to Caesar and good reason too when we have a divine Command for it Mat. 22. 21. But the things which are Gods are not given to God Gods day suffers and none suffer for his day We have not only the Nehem. 13. 21. merchandise of wares but the merchandise of hell upon the Lords day but where are the Nehemiahs to restrain them This is Englands sin and this calls for Englands moan the Heads of our Tribes are not Zealous for the Lord of Hosts The day of God is torn by the Oaths of the Miscreant it is stained by the excesses of the intemperate it is painted over by the cold worship of the hypocrite it is curtailed by the short services O quà m redarguendi sunt Judaei qui sep timam vitae partem otio et voluptatibus impendunt Senec. of the formalist Taverns and Ale-houses if not Stews and Brothel-Houses are frequented and filled on this sacred day and all these debaucheries acted with impunity And men do on Gods day what is right in their own eyes not because there is no King but because there is no awe of God in Israel Surely if when there was almost a Tribe cut off in Israel there was nothing but moans and lamentations how much more
when a Sabbath the day of God and our souls is Jud. 15. 6. almost lost in a Nation for this let tears be our drink and Jud. 21. 2. ashes our meat day and night And when the Magistrates Psal 42. 3. become Gallioes for the things of God let the people become Jeremies for the day of God Sabbath decayes will soon make a bankrupt Nation Nay lastly we may bewail the punished purity of Englands Sabbaths The people of God cannot be so good as they will on Gods holy day How often are the Saints in the midst of Lew Sabbati opera humana non divina prohibuit Tertul. their weeping eyes bended knees melting hearts mounting minds when congregated in secret to seek Gods face and to meet with Christ their beloved How often I say are they interrupted surprized haled away by Officers and the Sanctuary leads them to a Prison their Piety is uncharitably called treachery and their devotion is unreasonably interpreted Sedition This is Englands misery and unhappiness the Prisons are filled with spiritual worshippers and the Nation is filled with carnal Gospellers Prophaneness is uncontrouled but the most resined service of God is liable to poenalties Tertullianus de Cor. Mil. Plin. Sec. in Epist ad Trajanum Imper. De Amelucanis coetibus Christianorum in die dominigo mentionem faciunt and pursued with force and violence not because it is unsuitable to Gods will but it is inconformable to mans law Now as the Primitive Christians we must have our caetus antelucanos our early because unknown meetings on Gods holy day but surely it must needs be a great evil to rout the stars when gathered in a constellation to hush away the Doves when they stock to the windows and strange it is that mans wrath should be there where Gods presence is in the assembly of the Saints But that the people of God meeting on the day of God in the name of God for fuller communion Mat. 18. 20. with and enjoyment of God in obedience to the command Dan. 12. 3. of God should meet with frowns and disgusts should feel the sharpness of a Law or undergoe the keenness of Mat. 13. 43. the Magistrates sword and all this in a Protestant Nation Isa 60. 8. whose usuall Motto was Mildness This is a lamentation and Psal 89. 7. shall be for a lamentation Isa 4. 5. Ezek. 19. 14. FINIS The TABLE A SEnsual Actions to be forborn on the Sabbath day 20. and so sinfull 22 There shall be no Affliction in our Sabbath above 218 The Lords day is of Divine Authority 569 An answer to the Apostles preaching in the Synagogues on their Sabbath day 570 The Lords day instituted by Divine Authority 585 Not by Ecclesiastical ibid. Arguments to urge Sabbath-holiness 668. 718. 732. B The Bounty of God in giving us his Sabbath 186 Our outward Behaviour must be exact in Publick Ordinances on the Sabbath 277 The Sabbath instituted from the Beginning 526 C God is admirable in the works of Creation 147. 191 Conscience is chiefly to be dealt withall in Gospel Administrations 259 The benefit of Chatechizing 334 Some necessary Cautions to prevent Sabbath pollution 407 Several Cases to satisfie conscience in Sabbath Observation 440 The fourth Commandment cannot be Ceremonial 489. 544 The worke of Creation compared with the work of Redemption wherein the last exceeds the first 642 D Duties shall not want their reward p. 3 The Sabbath must be spent in holy Delight 53 The Emptiness of worldly Delights 58 Duration speaks the value of every good thing 209 The sweetness of Holy Duties 229 Holy Discourse doth well become the Sabbath 320 Several Directions for the better observance of the Lords day 353 The evil of Spiritual Doubts 382 All dayes are not eqaally holy in the times of the Gospel 496 The observation of one Day in seven to God hath its great advantages 499 The wildness of that opinion which makes every Day a Sabbath day 505 A seventh Day not the seventh day is commanded in the fourth Commandment 582 E To rise Early well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 85 Several incentives to this practice 86 87 c. The several Ends of the Sabbath 191 Divers Evils to be avoided in the time of publick Ordinances 297 Several Examples of Divine Justice breaking out upon Sabbath-breakers 683 England bemoan'd for Sabbath-prophanation 781 F Holy Fruitfulness becomes the Sabbath 56 Many Faculties and parts to be acted on a Sabbath 95 The Excellency of Faith 422 The sore judgement of a Famine of the Word 680 The influence God hath upon the Fire 716 G Many Graces to be acted on a Sabbath 95 God is most Glorious in his Nature and Essence 128 The works of Grace deserve our sweetest meditation 178 The works of Glory to be meditated on 185 Active Graces become holy Ordinances 316 How to procure Gods presence in ordinances 385 There are three Glasses to see our hearts in 445 H We must look on the Sabbath as Honourable 54 God most glorious in his Holiness 135 How we are to deal with our Hearts on the morning of a Sabbath 263 Holiness is engraven upon the Sabbath 733 I Holy Joy becomes a Sabbath 267 How our Inward man is to be ordered in publick Ordinances 300 How we must spend the Interval between the Morning and Evening worship of a Sabbath 319 The Lords day is a day of Rest not Idleness 427 The great evils of Idleness 435 Idleness on the Lords day a very great evil 436 The Jewes sometimes very exemplary in Sabbath-observation 514 We Christians are to out-vy the Jews in Sabbath-observation 634 The dreadfull Judgements which pursue Sabbath-breakers 676 L The Labourers plea for recreations upon the Sabbath answered 33 Impertinent Language unbecoming the Sabbath day 49 God is incomprehensible in his Love 143 Nothing in a Saint can make a change in Gods Love 145 The Lords day confirmed by all Laws 619 What Christian Liberty is 645 Some remarkables concerning Londons fire which began on the Lords day 696 M Secret duties befitting the Morning of a Sabbath 89 The benefit of Morning duties on Gods holy day 104 The excellency of Meditation 106 124. It s Nature 107. How it is distinguished from some things very like to it 109. How much and how long we must Meditate 112. The chiefest seasons for Meditation 115. The rich advantages of Meditation 119. Meditation proper to every Ordinance 121 122. It feeds our Graces ibid. And amplifies our Comforts 123. It s necessity 125 The Morality of the fourth Commandment 552 How the Sabbath was made for Man 648 O Outward enjoyments are the reward of Sabbath obedience 59 God is most glorious in his Omnisciency 134 The excellency of Gospel Ordinances 285. 423 424. 443 The first Original of the Sabbath 522 And most probably it was ordained in Paradise 524 P The Poor mans Plea for working on a Sabbath Answered 7 Rich Promises made to a due observation of the Sabbath 57 63 Prophanation of the Sabbath the greatest Prodigality 67 Preparation for the Sabbath very necessary and several incentives to it 71 What those Preparatory duties are which must precede the Sabbath 77 Publick duties become the Sabbath 93 Many Persons to converse with on a Sabbath 96 God is most adorable in his Power 133 God to be exceedingly admired in the works of his Providence 156 Gods Presence must be meditated on on the Sabbath day 188 Prayer well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 239 How our Prayers must be qualified 243 The necessity of the spirits assistance in all our Prayers 246 What we must Pray for on the morning of the Sabbath 249 Practice is the best use of Ordinances 161 The sweetness and excellency of the Promises 269 Singing of Psalms a sweet and an excellent duty 339 The efficacy of Prayer 425 The advantages of Praying alone 454 Miscellanious Prescriptions for the better discharge of conscience in Sabbath-observation 765 R Recreations unlawfull on a Sabbath 23 Reverence becomes the Sabbath 54 God is wonderfull in the most glorious work of Mans Redemption 167 All the attributes of God shone gloriously in the work of Mans Redemption 174 The benefit of Repeating Sermons 327 Why the word Remember is prefaced to the fourth Commandment 660 The Resurrection of Christ a forcible argument to Sabbath-holiness 750 S What a Sabbath days journey is 6 The whole Sabbath is to be spent with God 35 The worth of the Soul 38 The Saints must meet together on a Sabbath day 97 The Jewish Sabbath compared with the Christian 201 The Christians Sabbath here compared with his Sabbath above 210 Some eminent types of our Sabbath above 234 The excellency of the Scriptures 272. 326. 456. Reading of the Scriptures usefull in the morning of a Sabbath 273 Publick Assemblies most pleasing on a Sabbath 274 The mischiefs of Sleeping in Ordinances 280 We must be Spiritual in our duties when we come to Publick Ordinances 312 What it is to be in the Spirit on the Lords day 387 The rare effects of the Spirit 393 466 How to keep Solitary Sabbaths 451 453 T Gods Truth is a glorious attribute 139 Vain Thoughts must be avoided in holy ordinances 305 Two days in a week cannot be observed as Sabbaths 569 V The Beatifical Vision somewhat opened and explicated 214 Unbelief a destructive sin 421 Variety of Sabbath duties delightfull 465 W Secular Works unlawful on the Sabbath 4. By Scripture 5. By Authority Civil 10. Ecclesiastical 11. By Reason 13. Works of necessity may be done on a Sabbath day 17 God is infinite in wisdom far surpassing mans 136 To Work upon the Sabbath day very sinfull 215 Holy Watchfulness becomes a Sabbath 401 How to keep a Whole Sabbath to God spiritually and sweetly 466 FINIS