thus declares himself You must know Brethren that therefore it was appointed and commanded Christians by our Holy Fathers That in the Solemnities of the Saints and especially on the Lords dayes they should rest and be free from earthly businesses that so they might be more free and ready for the service of God when they have nothing to hinder them and might leave earthly cares that they might the more easily intend the will of God Chrysostome calls the abstinence from worldly affairs on the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 5. in Matt. Greg. of Tours Dies Sabbaths indeterminatè sumptus est dies requiei Alex. Hal. an unmoveable Law such a Law as nothing but Sacriledge and Irreligion can shake or suppress we must on this day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abstain from all works saith that golden mouth'd Father And if we come to the midle times of the Church the Sabbath still is fenced with the same cautions that no work be done thereon Gregory of Tours hath an excellent saying Being the Sabbath was the day whereon God made the Light and after was the witness of our Saviours Resurrection therefore it ought diligently to be observed by every Christian no manner of publick work to be done upon it And the same Author tells us a story of a fearfull judgement of Lightning which befell the City of Limoges ob diei dominici injuriam for prophaning the Lords day And another Gregory of a far greater fame Greg. Mag. viz. Gregory the Great speaks the same language Viz. We ought to rest on the Lords day from earthly labours and altogether give our selves to prayer And if we slide down to our dayes and the dayes of reformation servile works on the Sabbath incur the same censure If we call in the Testimony of forraign Divines Doctor Ames that pious Ames Mod. Theol. p. 364. and learned Divine observes That all servile works were to be abstained from in other festivals among the Jewes Lev. 23. 7 8. Numb 28. 25. Multò magis exclusa fuerunt à Sabbatho Exod. 12. 16. Much more on the sacred Sabbath Other forraign Testimonies might be subpaena'd in to give witness in this Cause but the Reader shall not be cloyed with a multiplicity of Quotations Onely as forraigners So our own Divines give in their suffrage to the same truth Famous Hooper Bishop and Martyr thus declares himself To that end Bish Hooper did God sanctifie the Sabbath day that we being free from the travels of the World might consider his works and benefits with thanksgiving hear the word of God honour him and fear him c. And holy Babington most pathetically Even as Bish Babington on the fourth Commandment you will answer it before the face of God and his Angels at the sound of the last trumpet weight whether Carding and Dicing c. and such exercises be commanded of God for the Sabbath And thus this Godly Bishop restrains the Sabbath to its own viz. spiritual work Not onely the Church distributive but the Church collective condemns labouring on the Lords day Many famous Councils have decried and prohibited this uncomly practice The famous Council of Mascon gives a severe prohibition to secular employments on this holy day in these words Let no man meddle with litigious controversies Concil Moscon Concil Cartha Concil Chalons or works of Husbandry on the Lords day but exercise himself in Hymns and singing praises unto God being intent thereon hoth in mind and body and much more to the same purpose I could name the Council of Carthage the Council of Chalons and others but this truth shall stand no longer before humane Tribunal Nay the great taking argument of Reason the Idol and Diana of most men joynes in the Verdict for the guiltiness and condemnation of labours and working in our Callings on the Lords day Servile and secular labours are too pedantick and low for 2 Cor. 6. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost the dignity of a Sabbath as the Apostle speaks What communion between light and darkness and what between the drudgeries of the world and the affairs of Heaven The Sabbath must not be degraded by servilities and low employments it was appointed for more noble undertakings it was set apart for Divine contemplations heavenly actions spiritual ordinances supernatural converses between Christ and the Soul and not for the culinary sweats of an empty any world To work on the Sabbath what is it but to plece a Silken garment with Canvas Greenham formerly complained There are many who make the Lords day a packing day for earth and make it a custome to have their Servants follow their Callings but these men act as Heathens who never Greenham's Treatise on the Sabbath p. 215. knew any thing of the Creation of Heaven and Earth by God nor never heard any thing of the Redemption of man by Christ nor ever tasted any thing of the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost Reas 2 Worldly labours they tend nothing at all to the worship of God they are onely sinfull and unseasonable divertisements Can we be intent on the works of our Calling and yet at the same time our heads fill'd with divine meditations our hearts breaking with holy affections our tongues employed in sacred devotions surely this would speak us more then men and it is but a mear dream to fancy such Veniendum est ad coenam a peccatis surgendum in vale dicendum Christus fide est amplectendus nova vita inchoanda Chemn nimbleness and agility Worldly affairs will take the soul off from heavenly employment they are contraries in themselves The Shop-board and the Church cannot unite Drossie avocasions will call us off from spiritual devotions The guests who were invited to the Supper if they will mind their secular affairs they cannot come to the Supper they cannot mind their Oxen and their Farmes and the Supper too and therefore they must be excused from the Luke 14. 16 18 19. one Such men who work on the Lords day a holy man saith their hearts are possessed with covetousness their minds Doctor G. are filled with the affairs of the world and what shall God have if their hearts and their minds are alienated to another Aug. de temp Serm. 251. purpose Augustine saith We are commanded to rest upon the Lords day from earthly business and he gives us this reason That we might be the more fit for Gods service And so Calvin upon Deut. Cap. 5. Serm. 34. Calvin We ought to cease from those works which hinder the works of God Let us not stay from calling upon his Name or exercising our selves in his Holy Word Now secular affairs Concil Arelat 4. Cap. 16. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est omnis cessatio ab opere quies scil à motu labore Leid Prof. 218. Joh. 3. 8. Exod. 34. 6. Exod. 35. 2.
of which was the grand and forcible attractive of Corpus hoc vinculum carcer est animae ex quo exire cupit sanctus esse cum Christo Hierom. Christs incarnation and death this darling of Heaven not enjoy one day but it must be retailed and canton'd into divers divisions Some parts of it must be spent in the labours of our Callings and some in solemn Duties in the publick Congregations and some in sports and delightful Recreations when the publick is over and some in private Duties if there be any time and this torn and rent Sabbath something like Joseph's Coat of many colours must be the Gen. 37. 3. onely morsel for the immortal soul But how irrational is it for the soul that better part of man which shall live as long Mat. 16. 26. as God himself to be straightned and pinnion'd to a few Vita carnis tuae anima est vita animae tuae deus est quomodo moritur caro amissâ animâ quae vita ejus est sic moritur anima amisso deo qui vita est ejus August hours It must not enjoy one whole day onely the leavings of our work and recreations the crumbs which fall from the bodies table Let the Christian who is solicitous of his souls eternal interest consider whether this pittance of time onely a few hours on a Sabbath be sutable to the vast and unlimited soul especially if we observe that the soul sways the body the body follows the condition of the soul and not the soul the estate of the body Labours are forbidden on the Sabbath much more Recreations That labours are prohibited the fourth Commandment is the pregnant testimony of now sports toys pastimes Melius est in Sabbato araro quam saltare Aug. Enar. in Tit. are of less avail then labours It is a memorable speech of Augustine Melius est in Sabbatho arare quam saltare It is better to plow then to dance upon a Sabbath Labours may bring in some Income so not sports there is a temporal profit and emolument in the one none in the other Concerning sports we may say that the Gamesters labour for that which is not bread there can be no supplies Isa 55. 1 2. from the breast of a recreation Pastimes are clouds without water Recreations more tempt and flatter the flesh then Labours do Toyle doth not pamper dancing hunting shooting do they are sun-shines which make the dunghill of mans heart reak with noysomness It was once the expostulation of a holy man worth the transcribing his words are these What shall I say of the Zeal of worldlings which may controule Mr. Greenham the security of our sins worldly men never seek for pleasure Vita in delitiis agens mors est umbra mortis quantum enim umbra propè est corpori cujus est umbra tantum pro certo vita illa voluptuario inferno appropinquat Bern. Serm. 48 in Cantic 15 James 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 52. whilst profit doth drop and so long as they may gain a penny how diligent are they they will not sport or play But the Sabbath is the market day of our souls where we should gather whilst the sun shines Here is profit and so there ought to be diligence and therefore we should lay aside pleasure and we should say what have we to do with Recreations any more yet how many neglect their pleasure for the world and we will not for heaven or our souls But after the publick Ordinances are over nay multitudes in the very time of publick Worship follow their sensual Recreations I was going to say Abominations It was a saying of King James Though without superstition Playes and lawful Games may be used in May and good Chear at Christmas yet alwayes provided that the Sabbath be kept holy and no unlawful pastime be then used And as a worthy and holy man observes No man can think Dr. B. upon that day to be so disordered as to follow his ordinary pleasures without great contempt of God and Man Vpon that holy day all sorts of men must utterly give over shooting hunting hawking bowling c. and they must no more deal with them then the Artificer with his Trade or the Husband-man with his Plow I shall shut up this particular with a pious Bp Hall of Exeter Contemp Lib. 17. Ejaculation of a Holy and Reverend Bishop who thus vents himself I wonder what these kind of men viz. those who bathe themselves in pleasures upon the Lords day will do when they come to Heaven if ever they come there where there is a continued Sabbatisme without intermission surely they will wish themselves on Earth again unless they keep a Sabbath better here below Do we not pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven there the Angels do nothing but praise God Do we hope to be like them in Glory and not endeavour to be like them in duty Our Heaven above is a continual Sabbath our Sabbath below should be a continued Heaven The Sabbath not the sports on the Sabbath should be our delight Recreations on the Sabbath are forbidden by all kind of Laws 1. By Divine Law viz. the fourth Commandment Requies requiritur in quarto Praecepto cōmendatur et ubique amatur sed illa requies in solo deo certa et sancta invenitur Aug. where Labours are expresly forbidden and sports are an equal if not a greater impediment to the duties of the Sabbath both publick and private the sweets of Recreation influencing the mind and withdrawing the heart much more then the sweats of Labour Surely if we must not toyle we must not trifle on Gods holy day 2. By the Law of Nature which requires a total abstinence from all works both of Labour and Pleasure during the time allotted and consecrated to Gods service publick Dies dominicus abipsis Apostolis sacris actionibus est consecratus Bucer and private But the Lords day is that time allotted we cannot work and worship both at once and if when we should worship we follow our pleasures or our profits Is not this to subordinate the Divine Will to mans Fancy 3. By the Law Political which requires a total resting from all kind of labour or diversion and applying our souls Edw. the 6th wholly and onely to Religious Exercises as the Statute of Act. Primo Carol. Primi King Edward the sixth of blessed memory a Law yet unrepealed That English Josiah the morning Sun of Reformation Ad Sabbathi rectam observationem duo requiruntur quies et quietis illius sanctificatio Ames med Theol. in England began early to confine the Sabbath to the two great designs of it Rest and Sanctity and in this he shewed himself to be Custos utriusque Tabulae a Keeper of both the Tables And indeed the enjoyning of the holy observance of Gods blessed day is a rare
so is the sugar at the bottom When the plummets Egressus Isaac in agrum ad mâ—ditandum accepit praemium pietatis sponsam scil gratissimam of our souls have been running down in worldly affairs and businesses in the day time then in the Evening to draw up that weight of the Clock in holy meditation is most suitable and commendable nor can any thing better become a Christian then in this duty to give God the Alpha and the Omega of every day The third season for holy Meditation is the night time when nature hath rockt every thing asleep and silenced the world from interrupting noyses This David leaves as The third season for meditation the matter both of his command and example Psal 63. 6. The night season is sequestred from worldly affairs and is Psal 63. 6. not checkt with their clamorous importunity nor is it a time Psal 4. 4. distracted with the incursions of sensible objects it is likewise a time not accosted or besieged with frivolous or dangerous temptations There are two things which do much fit and dispose the soul for Meditation viz. Rest and Silence Sancti laetantur dei patefactionibus sed timore et tremore both which are to be found in the night And to this may be added when the curtains of darkness are drawn over the world we are then filled with a religious fear of God our hearts are more composed and we entertain more solemn and awfull apprehensions of the Divine Majesty Stulte quid est somnus gelidae nisi mortis imago there is then a holy terrour struck upon the soul And when we lie upon our beds the bed is an image and representation of the Grave and at such a time a man may be more serious and composed for the duty But above all let us consider the Sabbath is the fittest time for meditation On that day our Saviour arose from the The fourth season for meditation Earth and our souls should ascend and raise themselves towards Heaven And meditation doth not onely become the morning but the whole day of a Sabbath it must not onely be our morning dress but the attire we must wear all the day We should think with our selves the Lords day it is a type of Heaven and contemplation is the work of Heaven The Heb. 4. 9. present Sabbath is onely the abridgement of that eternal rest which the Saints shall enjoy with God And they which disrelish this duty how can they expect that glorious reward which principally consists in the view and contemplation of God A gracious soul upon the Lords day by meditation may converse with God and with the inhabitants of another world he may enjoy as much of God as this interposing vail of flesh will admit of And thus much for the proper seasons of meditation The next thing which will further illustrate this blessed duty of meditation is the evidencing of the great advantages The great advantages of meditation of it which are both rich and many As several Diamonds are found in the same Rock and much Gold crowded into the same Mine Let us therefore take these manifold Emoluments in their Order Meditation is a vigorous antidote against sin It is rare physick to purge away or prevent that poyson Most sin for want of meditation There are two great snares which take most The first adtage of meditation men and intangle them in sin viz. Ignorance and Incogitancy when we either not know our danger or not consider our duty Men certainly would not be so brutishly sensual as they are if they did seriously weigh things in the ballance by solemn and holy meditation If they did meditate on the strength of Gods Arme on the strictness of Gods Justice Exod. 15. 16. on the consuming power of his Wrath if they seriously considered how infinitely evil sin is how much it Nehem. 9. 33. affronted Divine Purity and broke in pieces Divine Laws Heb. 12. 29. how exceedingly it endangered the soul and how deeply it Psal 5. 3. wounded the conscience surely men would flee all appearances 1 Joh. 3. 4. of evil and repulse a temptation in its first onset It is sin which puts a worm into Conscience a sting into Death 1 Theâ— 5. 22. a curse into the Law and fire into Hell Men meditate not Rom. 2. 15. on these things and so they are entangled in the snare Holy meditation is a golden shield against the darts of sinfull temptations In this case meditation would be as the Angels Judg. 22. 23. sword to stop us in our sinfull cariere and to strike us into clammy sweats and heavy damps that we should not sport our selves in the wayes and traverses of sin and provocation Joseph's meditation on Gods presence and omnipotency Gen. 39. 9. Josephus circumseptus fuiâ— pulcherrimarum virtutum choro quarum hortatu victor evasit spoyled the design of his Mistris her dalliance and kept him within the limits of holiness and chastity Meditation makes the heart like weâ— tinder it will not take the Devils fire In a word it is strange rashness in men that they will be taken in the ambushes of sin before they seriously meditate on what they are going about Holy meditation keeps vain and foolish thoughts out of the heart it prepossesseth the soul that frivolous imaginations The second advantage of meditation tions are wholly shut out God complains of the people of Israel that they were wholly taken up with vain thoughts Jer. 4. 14. Jer. 4. 14. And so it is with most men their minds are filled with froth and vanity and varieties of foolish thoughts croud in upon them as flyes swarm to the place where the honey lies and those incautelous persons consider not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost sin begins at the thoughts which are the first plotters and contrivers of all evil the heart is the womb whereall sin is conceived and framed and outward acts onely midwife the sinfull birth into the world and make it visible The mind and fancy is the stage where sin is first acted The malicious O quà m vanae sunt hominum cogitationes una cogitatio foelix est cogitare de domino Hieron in Psal man acts over his sin in his thoughts he plots his revenge the impure person acts over his concupiscence in his thoughts he contrives his lust And it is much to be deplored how much wickedness is committed in the chambers of our thoughts Now meditation on things Divine the Purity of God the Promises of God would be a Soveraign means to exite and banish such vain and flatulent thoughts Hierome 2 Cor. 7. 1. cries out How vain are the thoughts of men there is but one thought considerable and that is to think on God If David had carried the Book of the Law about him and meditated 2 Sam. 11. 2. on it
other things look with a delightfull aspect Thus the Psalmist tripudiates and exults with joy Psal 118. 24. He was in a high degree of joy And indeed if the feast be made for laughter as the wise man Vmbra fit ex corpore et luce et est itinerantium refrigerium ab aestu et pratectio a tem pestate Christus umbra et tutela est et refrigerium humani generis quod gravi peccatorum onere premebatur Honor. speaks Eccles 10. 19. That day wherein Christ feasteth his Saints with the choysest mercies may well command the greatest spiritual mirth The Lords day is the highest thanksgiving day and deserves much more then the Jewish Purim to be a day of gladness and a good day Esth 9. 17 18 19. On this day we enjoy communion with Saints and shall we not rejoyce in those excellent ones Psal 16. 3. On this day we have fellowship with Christ and shall not we sit under his shadow with great delight Cant. 2. 3. On this day we are partakers of the Ordinances and shall we not be joyfull in the house of prayer Isa 56. 7. On this day we have special converse with the God of Ordinances and who would not draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation Isa 12. Zach. 2. 10. Phil. 4. 10. Isa 58. 13. 3. Surely when we are in the midst of so much musk we must needs be perfumed it is Gods command as well as our priviledge to make the Sabbath a delight And whether we are dilating on Gods works or attending on Gods word which are two principal duties of this day they both call for joy and delight David saith Thy testimonies are my delight Psal 119. 24. 77. And Solomon tells us Prov. 25. 25. As cold water to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far Countrey Now the word of God contains the best newes that ever was discovered to the Sons of men Peace on Earth good will towards men Luke 2. 14. and the glad tidings of Gaudete semper si non actu tamen habttu Cajet the Gospel came from Heaven a far Country Indeed the Apostle commands us to rejoyce evermore 1 Thes 5. 16. A Christian may rejoyce with all kinds of joy Phil. 4. 4. First With natural joy in those things which are good Semper subest materia laetandi sanctis et exhibitis et promissis Bern. to nature in health strength beauty riches c. Secondly With spiritual joy with joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. The Saints must rejoyce in the favour of God and in the fruits and pledges thereof viz. In the pardon of sin in sanctification in hopes of glory Thirdly The Saint as he may rejoyce in all kinds of joy so in all states and conditions both in an adverse and in a 2 Tim. 2. 19. prosperous estate Fourthly In all ages in his Youth and in his declining years Luke 10. 20. Fifthly In all dayes both in our day and in Gods day Gaudete de exhibitione gaudete de promissione quoniam et res plena gaudio et spes plena gaudio gaudete quia expectatis praemia dextrae Heb. 12. 23. 1 Kings 8. 56. However it is Gods Children alwayes have or may have cause of rejoycing The Promise is Their joy shall no man take from them John 16. 22. To this end the Comforter is given to abide with them for ever John 14. 16. And one of the fruits of the holy Spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. And Bernard observes there will be a continual supply of joy First In things exhibited and already given as the writing of the Saints names in Heaven Luke 10. 20. by an unchangeably decree so that it is as possible for God to cease to be God as to alter his decree of election To which may be added other blessings depending as sins pardoned the person justified the nature healed the soul sanctified all which are matter of unspeakable joy and delight Rom. 8. 37 38. But Secondly If the things exhibited should faile us yet we might rejoyce in things promised and these promises are fresh springs of continual joy For Gods promises to his Promissimes divinae non excidant neque irritae reddantur people are Cabinets filled with the richest Jewels Exchequors filled with the greatest Treasures First They are infallible for their certainty 2 Cor. 1. 20. Secondly They are before the world for their Antiquity Tit. 1. 2. Thirdly They are precious promises for their rarity In dei promissis nulla est falsitas quia in faciendis nulla est omnipotentis difficultas Fulgent 2 Pet. 1. 4. The promises are a firm inheritance to the Saints Heb. 6. 12. They are unshaken pledges of better things Rom. 4. 21. The Saint hath a double pledge to assure him of future happiness 1. One within him in his own breast Gods holy spirit of promise Eph. 1. 13 14. 2. One without him in Gods word those glorious promises recorded in sacred writ I say glorious for the promises are vessels laden with the richest fraught Promissiones sunt bona in coelis nobis promissa et haec possidebunt fides et patientia Alap 1. The Saints have promises for all seasons 1. For times of affliction Isa 43. 2. Isa 63. 9. 2. For times of temptation Satan shall not buffet them but they shall have the shield of a promise to defend themselves 2 Cor. 12. 9. 3. For times of decay and declination when the stock of grace runs low and the poor believer languisheth in his inward man Phil. 1. 6. 4. For times of necessity Mat. 6. 33. Heb. 13. 5. He that Haec celebris est promissio non te deseram neque derelinquam hebraice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deus erit scutum et clypeus suis hath the fruit shall have the paper and the packthread to bind it up in The Earth is the Lords Psal 24. 1. as well as the Heavens Isa 58. 14. 5. For times of prosperity Deut. 28. 8. Their good things shall be sweetned with his goodness and he will shed a perfume upon all their encrease Secondly As the promises which God hath made to his people are calculated for all times so are they repleat and enriched with all varieties of good things Numb 14. 10 1 Tim. 4. 8. Deut. 19. 8. First Of good things temporal Canaan a land flowing with milk and honey was the land of promise Deut. 19. 8. The good things of this life which smooth and sweeten our way to eternity are onely waters which gush out from the rock of a promise Isaac's store of Servants Gen. 26. 14. and Gen. 18. 18. Jacob's store of Cattle Gen. 30. 43. they were the fruit of a Gen. 22. 18. promise made to Abraham that God would bless his Seed Acts 3. 25. Gen. 12. 3. And Secondly So of spiritual good things of pardoning grace Isa 55. 1. of converting grace
support of Religion and keeps it from flights or falls Every devout worshipper on the Lords day is but a lessar pillar to shoar up godliness and piety in the world While publick worship is seriously frequented and private duties are frequently performed while the sacred word of God is diligently attended the blessed Sacrament devoutly received while holy prayers with moystened eyes and melting hearts are affectionately poured forth and sent up to God on his own holy day while these things are in ure in a Nation piety and Religion are above the fears of decay Religion sails or sinks with the Sabbath when both are embarqued in the same Vessel and where this Sancta diei dominicae exercitia labascentem pietatem religionem sustinent holy day is constuprated by vanity and prophaneness profession is laid waste and desolate the sanctification of Gods day keeps up Gods fear in the Church but that being suspended the gap is made and the Church lies open to all kinds of sinful incursions A learned man tells us that Guntheram a pious King of France fighting against the Goths with unhappy success did sedulously enquire into the cause Guntheramus Francorum Rex pientissimus contra Gothos infaelici successu se pugnasse observaverat tanti mali fonte paulò altius investigato cui malo ut obviam iretur statutum est diem dominicum religiosè custodiendum per universum c. of it and taking notice of the neglect of the Bishops instructing the people as likewise observing the prophaneness of the people in dishonouring the Lord he presently concluded this was the proper source and cause of his late discomfiture and calamity and therefore he immediately commanded That the Lords day should be carefully and solemnly observed throughout his whole Dominions as being the most proper remedy and most likely Cure for those distempers which had shaken the happiness both of Church and State God usually calculating his providence according to the observation of his day smiling upon those places where it is religiously observed and evidencing his displeasure where it is slighted or contemned Arg. 9 The sanctification of the Sabbath is the discharge in a great measure of that duty pressed by the Apostle Phil. 3. 20. Let your conversation be in heaven All the duties of the Sabbath Nonne pudet te corpore coelum suspicere mentem in terrâ repere caput sursum cor deorsum habere Bern. are but transactions with Heaven Our prayers are our approach and appeal to Heaven and therefore we are said to lift up a prayer Jer. 7. 16. Our hearing the word is only hearing News from Heaven Acts 20. 27. And our Sacramental receipts are only the tasting of the fruit of the Vine which we shall drink new with Christ in his Fathers Kingdom Mat. 26. 29. The Ordinances of a Sabbath are heavenly Ordinances the end of a Sabbath is to bring us nearer to heaven and the Communion of Saints whâ—ch we enjoy upon a Sabbath is a sweet resemblance of that Society the Saints shall enjoy in heaven And though we cannot pretend to 2 Cor. 12. 2. Pauls rapture into the third heaven or to Johns extasies upon this holy day yet in a conscientious use of divine administrations Rev. 1. 10. we travel fairly on towards heaven and happiness Secular works which savour of earth are to be banished this day Exod. 20. 10. Carnal hearts which rellish earth are unsutable to this day Rev. 1. 10. And pleasurous delights which are the liquorish froth of earth are to be avoided on the Sabbath day Isa 58. 13. Our Sabbath is the day-break and twilight of heaven and glory which if we improve to work our spiritual works in a little time will bring us to a perfect noon Arg. 10 Let us be exact on the Lords day in honour to Christ it is his Resurrection day On this day the Sun rose which lightens Dies dominicus Christi resurrectione declaratus est et ex illo caeâ—it habere festivitatem suam aeternam non solùm spiritus sed et corporis requiem praefigurat Aug de Civ dei every one which comes into a better world on this day the Conqueror shewed himself when he had laid all his enemies in the grave from whence he sprang This was the day of Mankinds restauration of the worlds wonder and of the Believers joy This day was the fresh spring of our happiness the initials of a Christians boast On this day Mosaical rites and legal Ceremonies were fully and totally routed and so put to flight and then dyed together the Synagogue and the Sanedrim Christ is the true Joseph who on this day left his prison and was promoted to honour Christ is the real Moses who breaking through death and dangers Acts 13. 31 32 saw Pharaoh and his host Satan Death and Hell and Heb. 1. 5. all spiritual wickednesses drowned in the Sea Christ is the Resurrexisti domine quà m â—â—â—ulatè celeritèr O fortunati labâ—res O gloriosa certamina quae talem finem sortiuntur Pâ—ssionem excepit Resurrectio mortem immortalitas ignonimiam gloria infirmitatem virtus Tempestatem serenitas Bellar. 2 Cor. 5. 1. true Mordecai who foiling Haman and all his enemies delivered the true Israel from tyranny and oppression and on this day kept his Purim Christ is the true Jonas who being cast into the Sea in a tempest of frenzy and cruelty on the third day was cast on the shore and survived to more gracious purposes In a word glorious were the conflicts happy the labours blessed the rest and most triumphant the Resurrection of our dear Redeemer Now as it is reported of Caesar when he would cry Quirites that word put new life into his Souldiers in the sorest battels So when we think our Sabbath is Christs Resurrection day this should put new life into all our duties and devotions This was the day of wonders when our blessed Samson carryed away the gates of Hell to lay our way open to the City of the New Jerusalem the City not made with hands eternal in the heavens CHAP. LIII The Resurrection of Christ is not only a real ground for the institution but a cogent Argument for the holy observation of the Lords day WHen our hearts are dead and curdled into formality upon the Lords day then every one of us should thus bespeak his soul O my soul this day is the triumph of thy Redeemer when he trod upon the Serpents head when Gen. 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in Hexam he took from death its sting from hell its standard suppose my soul thou hadst stood by the Sepulcher and seen the Sun of Righteousness covered with a cloud before now shining forth most gloriously on the morning of the Resurrection day how would this have raised and ravished thy heart How glad were the Disciples when they saw the Lord they believed not for joy John 20.
break the hardness of mans heart the love of God can heal Rom. 12. 2. Formam vitae spiritualis induantus Forma enim constantior est et interior et ad substantiam pertineâ— Chrysost natures kill lusts plant graces change hearts convert stubborn sinners and accomplish whatsoever is strange and glorious If God love thee he will conform thee to his will and carry thee through all the hazzards and difficulties of this life and never leave thee till he hath lodged thee in his own bosome It is an omniscient love God sees from eternity the waywardness and obstinacy of those whom he chooseth to salvation Eph. 1. 4. and yet the force of his love is not overcome by that foreseen petulancy but he in time removes it and mans unworthiness puts grace upon a greater attempt but no way Dilexit deuâ— quos praescivit fore ingratos immo hostos suos drives God to a sentence of neglect or rejection Indeed here is the wonder of Gods love he from eternity sees us a mass of corruption and sin and yet no discouragement withstands or weakens his love but in due time he beautifies his chosen ones and loves them everlastingly for their comliness and beauty he foresees all disengagements but decrees to remove them It is a just love God loves not but where he sees something lovely Indeed the duties of sinners are distastfull to Isa 1. 13. Prov. 28. 9. Job 1. 1. Psal 7. 10. Psal 112. 2. Prov. 15. 8. God But God loves the Saints because of their uprightness The wise man saith The upright in their way are the delight of the Lord Prov. 11. 20. The curious work of grace in the heart of a Saint pourtrayed with so much wonder and drawn with so much exactness by the pencil of the divine spirit is a beauty God is pleased with and fixeth his love upon and doth evidentially declare that though he is free yet he is most just in his favour and affection CHAP. XVIII God is much to be admired in his Works of Creation LEt us meditate in the morning of the Lords day on the works of the Lord. David was much busied in this contemplation Psal 77. 12. He usually took his views and Psal 77. 12. Psal 143. 9. prospects of the beautifull issues of creating power which are the evidences of the wisdom goodness and almightiness of the Great Creatour How doth the Psalmist in the beginning of the nineteenth Psalm fall into the admiration Psal 19. 1 2 3 4 5. of the heavens that bespangled Court where God took up his eternal abode and residence How is Davids prospect checkerd and delighted with beholding the firmament which is embroydered with stars that large branch which holds those twinkling tapers which enlighten the world in the Psal 8. 4. Est autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ob ornatu appellatus tota haec pulchra machina quod eâ nihil sit Ornatius et pulchrius non tam propter pulchras rerum formas formosamque coeli faciem et splendidissimam lucem quam etiam propter pulcherrimam totius mundi rerumque omnium inter se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quatenus à deo creantur et reguntur Zanch. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Job 28. 4 5 6. Si quis varia motuum genera circularem rectum obliquum et alias temporum vicissitudines et distinctiones in momenta horas menses annos si quis attento animo omnia haec contemplatur et perpendet poterit faciliùs sentire nihil hâ—c mundi machinâ pulchrius night-season And in the eighth Psalm especially in the fourth verse David goes down stairs into the lower room of the Earth and there he contemplates on man that Microcosme the world bound up in a lesser volumn and how doth he enlarge his wondring thoughts on this Vice-Roy of God Man who is the Vniverse contracted And in these meditations let the Psalmist be our pattern for meditation on Gods works becomes the blessed Sabbath In that Psalm whose title is a Psalm for the Sabbath viz. the ninety second David begins it with holy admiration of Gods works in the world Psal 92. 5. And truly it is a dishonour to a workman to manifest abundance of skill and ingenuity and none to take notice of his workmanship for a Limner to draw a rare piece and no eye to admire his Artifice to draw the curtain from before the Picture and to observe its Curiosities God hath his mighty works to be remembred and wondered at It is said of Pythagoras that he lived sequestred from men in a Cave for a whole Year together that he might meditate on the abstruse points of Phylosophy On the Lords day let us take some time to ponder the infinite perfections which appear in the operations of Gods hand Alas the choicest works of man compared to the smallest works of God are but as the childrens houses of cards or dirt compared to the loftiest Courts or the stateliest Palaces of the world The Lilly hath more magnificence and beauty in it then Solomon in all his glory Mat. 6. 29. Solomon was not so gorgeous in his richest Attire as the Lilly in its beautifull colour and blush The meanest of Gods works hath more rarity and wonder in it then Archites his wooden Dove which was soequally poysed with its own weight that it hung firm in the Air without falling or Archimedes his Horology wherein the motions of the Sun Moon and Stars were so lively depainted There is so much of God appearing in the Heavens that many have taken them for a God and gave them divine worship The Persians adore the rising Sun and admire the daily visit of that glorious body which they think little less then a Deity When we meditate on the works of God we have a large field here our souls may wander from Sea to Land from Earth to Heaven from Time to Eternity yea we may walk upon the Sun Moon and Stars and enter into Heaven it self the Paradise of God Every Creature we cast our eye upon on the blessed Sabbath should be a flower to refresh our Meditations we should now feed our Graces by our Senses and the meditation on created beings should conduct us to Christ When we look upon the Sun we should look up to Christ the Sun Mal. 4. 2. Numb 24. 17. 2 Pet. 1. 19. Joh. 10. 7. Eph. 1. 22. Isa 61. 10. Rev. 15. 3. Joh. 14. 6. Joh. 1. 1. Joh. 6. 51. Gal. 2. 20. of Righteousness every star may mind us of the star of Jacob that bright morning star when we look on our houses Christ is the door when we look on our bodies Christ is our head when we look upon our cloaths Christ is the garment of Salvation when we look upon our friends and relations Jesus Christ is our husband Cant. 2. 16. our Friend Joh. 15. 10. our Beloved Cant. 4. 16. our King Rev. 15. 3. If we walk he
day of Salvation and there is a particular hour in that day for thy Conversion it may be thou sleepest away Luke 19. 42. that very hour Amber-greece is not cast on the shore every day though sometimes that precious thing is cast on the land Mariners have a wind which if they neglect they may hazard if not lose their Voyage Indeed conversion is a kind of wonder as blazing stars which are seen once in an age and wilt thou sleep in Ordinances when happily this wonder is to be wrought Wilt thou for the sloth of an hour venture the pains of eternity If Zacheus had not Luke 19. 5. climbed up into the Sicamore-tree in that very season to see Res mira legimus sanè in Evangelio dominum fuisse invitatum ad eos accessisse sed quod ultrò ad convivium se ingesserit nunquam legimus solummodò ad hunc principem Publicanorum Ger. Christ possibly salvation had never come to his house If thou belongest to the election of Grace thou hast thy hour thy Sermon this opportunity for thy turning to God The Man-child lies long in the womb but it is brought forth in a moment How should we take heed that we do not sleep away that moment when our salvation should be brought to the birth Happily there is some way of wickedness thou walkest securely in some necessary duty thou livest in the neglect of some sore temptation thou groanest under and grapplest with Now if thou art asleep when these things are pathetically and powerfully spoken to thou maist live and dye in the practise of that sin thou maist fall and sink under the power of that temptation and so eternity may be spent in bewailing one hours folly Now for the avoidance of this God-provoking sin 1. The most plausible excuse which gives the fairest colour to it to varnish it over shall be examined 2. Some ponderous considerations shall be laid down to be weighed in the ballance 3. Some seasonable Directions shall be suggested to be followed and pursued The great excuse which seems to cloak and disguise this sin is this some guilty of this sin usually plead It is true we sometimes forget our selves or an Ordinance and fall asleep but this is our natural weakness not our moral wickedness our grief it is but not our guilt we combat with it but we cannot conquer it it is our infelicity and our bemoaned misery our piece of clay is heavy and will be seeking rest and sometimes in Ordinances and we must cast our selves upon our Saviours indulgent Interpretation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26. 41. To this specious pretence and usual plea it is answered Possibly natural weakness may be the true cause of sloth and Haec infirmitas carnis in renatis adhuc reliqua perpetuò ob oculos nobis versatur ne fiduciâ propriarum virium inflati animo efferamur Corpus est ergastulum animae Plato sleepiness in Ordinances not so much the remissnesse of our minds as the indisposition of our bodies the pile of dust our souls are cloystred in drops into our eyes and we are rockt asleep And it may likewise be remembred that the senses are attendants on the body and Lacquies to the commands of it and no wonder if the eyes be locked up when the body will be indulged or the indisposition of it demands a truce or cessation But yet there are many things which conscience can only answer in this Case Is our drowsiness in Ordinances customary or casual accidental or habitual It is very true the Saints themselves are obnoxious to accidental falls and follies the Sun is subject to ecclipses but very rarely the best and most stately Ship may run a ground and in this particular a Believer may fail he may shut his eyes when he should act his grace at an Ordinance The Disciples slept when Christ was praying at a little distance The wise Virgins slept as well Luke 22. 46. as the foolish Math. 25. 5. A real Saint may drop asleep Matth. 25. 5. in a Pew or in a Seat as well as Jonah in the Ship or Christ John 1. 5. in a Bark A believers eyes may be arrested with sloth Matth. 8. 24. when his ear should be attending its office But this is casual Is this unseasonable drowsiness an inevitable pressure or is it caused by our own miscarriage by indulging our sensual appetite by overmuch vigilancy in worldly affairs or by the intemperate use of Creature-comforts If so never impute it to natural weakness This is all one as if by intemperance Qui spiritum habet promptam carnem mortificat qui segnis est eandem saginat Origen Luke 21. 36. one should contract the Palsie and say the Disease is the consequence of his Constitution As Grace is the Mother so abstinence is the Nurse of watchfulnesse but if we drown our sense in an undue over-plus it is no wonder if we be in a dead sleep at Ordinances Let us impartially examine the cause of our drowsiness Have we used all proper remedies against this sinful and unseasonable drowsiness Have we prayed wept mourned and struggled against it Have we kneeled in the Closet Non nobis blandiamur sed caro serviat spiritui infirmior fortiori ut ab eo etiam fortitudinem ipsa assumat Tertul cryed in the Chamber beforehand that this destructive sloth might not seize upon us No wonder if Sampson sleep if he lie in a Dalilahs lap It is a good saying of Tertullian Let us not flatter our selves saith he but let the flesh serve the spirit the weaker serve the stronger the more contemptible obey the more honourable that the weaker may receive strength from the stronger The wound is not cured without a Plaister Have we used methods of Grace for the cure of this sleepy Lethargy If not our sleep in Ordinances is our sin our provocation and no way our infirmity and let us not charge constitution but conscience No wonder if the Disease grow upon us if we neither use Physick nor Physician Do they suppose who practice this they call the infirmity of the flesh that they could sleep in the midst of their secular affairs and shall we be more vigilant for earth than Heaven for a poor piece of clay than for a piece of eternity our immortal our never dying souls Shall the meanest parenthesis of our lives keep us waking and not the great importances of our better part This in the close will be Heb. 2. 3. found to be our folly and no way our excuse Did we ever weigh the value and worth of an Ordinance Is it not a golden opportunity a fresh tide of mercy and shall we lose our tide for a little unseasonable sloth In Ordinances Christ treats with us about our everlasting concernments and is that a time for the folding of our hands to sleep Must we be consulting our ease
seasons of Per spiritum sanctum clamamus non voce sed filiali et fiduciali affectu Abba Pater prae dulcedine teneritudine amoris quasi teneri insantes qui charissimum parentem c. Alap our spiritual communion In Prayer we cry as Children to the Father In hearing we receive messages from our Father which relate to our inward man In our Prayer God opens his hand in our hearing God opens his heart Acts 20. 27. In Prayer we enjoy his bounty God gives us even to his own spirit Luke 11. 13. In Hearing we are admitted even to the Counsels of God in that forementioned text Acts 20. 27. In a Sacrament our dainties are the body and blood of Christ and he refresheth us not from his Cellars but from his Wounds Cast thy eye upon the effects of Ordinances what wonders hath that one duty of Prayer wrought 1. It is able to overthow enemies Isa 37. 36. Vtpote pueri balbutiantes blandulâ iteratâ voculâ compellare solent Pater Pater sic credentes c. 2. It is able to divert Judgements Plagues Pestilence Famine Sword 1 Kings 8. 57. 3. It is able to bring down mercies It is the key of Heaven Jam. 5. 15. It is the most efficacious engine in the world it can open the doors of the prison nay it can open the door of the womb Acts 12. 7. 1 Sam. 1. 10 20. 4. It is the sum of all wisdom strength and policy 5. It prevails against God himself Gen. 32. 26. Hos 12. 4. Exod. 32. 11. Isa 45. 11. 6. It can work Miracles so Joshua by Prayer caused the Sun to stand still in Gibeon Josh 10. 12. What amazing productions hath this one Ordinance caused May we not then say of those who undervalue Ordinances O foolish pieces of frenzy and ignorance who hath bewitched you Gal. 3. 1. that you should trample upon Pearls walk upon Amber and neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. Cast thy eye again upon the tendency of Ordinances these stars lead us to Christ They are the womb of grace Rom. 10. 17. And grace is the heir of Glory Eph. 1. 14. When we Mat. 2. 9. converse with God in Ordinances we turn our faces Sionward Isa 51. 11. and we are travelling home The blessed Ordinances Isa 35. 10. are our fresh gales to carry us to our harbour of Rest they are the birth places of the Saints the ready way to the new Jerusalem therefore whoever thou art who callest prayer a vain breath hearing a dry attendance Sacraments empty meals retrench thy errour and let the love of Christ constrain thee to better thoughts of these blessed Seasons And let not a word be unseasonable to shew thee the cause and cure of this jejune apprehension of divine Ordinances These modern Ehionites who have so low thoughts of Christs institutions they are henighted with ignorance they Ebion sumpsit nomen suum ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pauper indigus quia misellam de Christo habuit opinionem do not know there is a God in Ordinances that they are animated by a divine spirit Who opened Lydia's heart in hearing Who pricked the heart of the Jewes Act. 2. 37. in the same Ordinance Who showred down the Spirit when the Assembly met for Gospel dispensations Acts 10. 44. when God rained heaven out of heaven Indeed Ordinances are the sphear where the Sun of Righteousnesse Mal. 4. 2. turns the waters where the Angel moves John 5. 4. And if the Angel move the waters heal but these inapprehensive sinners like Balaam see not the Angel Numb 22. 23. They are prejudiced by inexperience they cannot say with David Psalm 66. 16. Come and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul Pauls Companions did not see Jesus Christ they onely heard a confused noise Acts 9. 7. These unhappy sinners never tasted how good and gracious the Mat. 11. 23. Lord is in a sweet Ordinance they never felt the power of a truth they were never enriched with the flush returns of Psalm 34. 8. Prayer A Promise well pressed home and applyed never reverberated Acts 2. 37. upon their souls with influential joy they never Psalm 85. 8. had their hearts raised to Heaven in Gospel Revelation and 2 Pet. 1. 4. in the glorious discoveries of divine Love Blind men admire Nos transeramus affectus ad coelestem illam vitam oremus dominum ut panem qui dâ—â—cae lo descendit lâ—rgiaâ—â— not the Sun The Indians more prize a log a gewgaw or a piece of brasse then Gold Gemms or Spices To them who have tasted Christ he is precious The converted soul saith of Ordinances Lord evermore give us this bread Such cry out O sweet Sacraments those divine festivals O fructiferous Prayer But now to cure this sinful and destructive mistake and to raise the price and esteem of Ordinances John 6. 34. Look on them as the means of Grace The Sun shines through the ayr and Christ works by Ordinances Preaching is not the breath of man but the power of God to salvation Rom. 1. 16. The Word is that immortal seed which is able to save our souls 1 Pet. 1. 23. These Oracles delivered in Rom. 3 2. Preaching are able to make us wise to eternal salvation It is the power of Ordinances raises us from the grave of sin 2 Tim. 3. 15. plants in us the flowers of grace causeth the day to dawn in 2 Pet. 1. 19. our souls If ever thou comest to heaven the wind of the Spirit John 3. 8. filling the sails of Ordinances will carry thee thither Look on them as the resemblances of glory Sitting at a Sacrament resembles our eating and drinking with Christ at his table in his Kingdome Luke 22. 30. the Communion Cant. 1. 12. resembles the fruition Let us then prize Ordinances which Matth. 11. 23. are the twilight and dawning of Glory CHAP. XXXIX The Lords day is a day of Rest but not of Idlenesse Caut. 5 LEt us take heed least we interpret the day which God calls a day of Rest to be a day of Idlenesse God gives us relaxation Exod. 31. 15. on his own day but it is not either for sport or sleep but for duties not for pastime but for prayer Our ground Quies non fuit ignavum otium ut Christiani nihil agerent sed ut divina curarent non sua Riv. lies fallow sometimes that we may plow it and sow it to the better advantage Rest is given us because the body and the soul cannot both well be employed together earth and heaven cannot both be minded together Now this divine indulgence must be a spur to holy duties and not our leave to play with lying vanities The Sabbath is a holy leisure our spiritual vacation to attend on the affairs of our precious souls Sabbatum est sabbatum cessationis
not drinking things luke-warme nor walking measured paces not rejoycing in dances c. And Chrysostom urges with much holy fervency That on the Sabbath we should lay aside all the affairs of this life and withdraw our selves from them and spend all the leisure of the Sabbath in things spiritual and divine which concern our souls This eminent Person makes a difference between sloth and rest the one concerns the body the other the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom 5 p 225. and he clearly states the Question that the Sabbath was never given us to please a piece of clay but to serve the interest of that piece of eternity which every one of us carry in our own bosoms And on this manner Augustine courts his Auditors We must know dearly beloved That it is therefore August appointed of our holy Fathers and commanded to us Christians that upon the Lords day we should rest that reposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Load Can 29. from all worldly business we might be more fresh and prompt for Gods divine worship and may with more ease attend upon the will and service of God Nay a whole council viz. of Laodicea in the twenty ninth Canon hath these words It doth not become Christians to Judaize and to be idle on the Sabbaths This was the spirit and temper of the Primitive times they press that our Sabbaths might be spiritualized not that our work should wholly cease but only should be changed that the labour of the hand should be turned into the working of the heart that manual operations should be turned into mental contemplations and on this day our work must not be servile but seraphical we must not throw away the Pen but we must write the fairer In the middle times of the Church when such dark Thom. Aquin. 22dae quaest 122. 4 3. 11. 3 dist Art 15 Quest 1. clouds had over-spread it that spiritual worship was as Saul among the Prophets rare to a Proverb yet then the employing of the time of a Sabbath in holy service was accounted morall in the fourth Commandments and scoffs were bestowed freely by the writers of those times on those who wasted the Sabbath in plays or idleness This bright Alex de Alens p. 3. quaest 32. Scol l. 2 de instit qu 4. Artic. 4. truth like a star in the night made its way to shine in the darkest times The fine spun disputes of the Schoolmen could not distinguish it away but it brake through all their curious webs This truth was so fastned in the Church it could not be disputed out by the School And let Semper eadem not only be Queen Elizabeths Motto but the Sabbaths holy observation In the dawning of Reformation there was light enough to discover this truth many eminent Divines those burning and shining lights which blaze more because they are nearer to us give in their suffrage for spending the Sabbath in holy exercises sharply decrying Hinc colligimus deum non de re nihili aut flâ—cci loqui cùm sanctificationem Sabbati nobis commendâ—verit Calv. sluggishness and sloth on this blessed day It is the grave observation of incomparable Calvin That God speaks not of a small matter when he commands the sanctification of the Sabbath but doth exhort us to a diligent marking of it and our want of care to mark is a breach of this Commandment This worthy man could not imagine that a Memento should Preface a day of sloth and idleness that we might take our carnal ease without such an alarm To walk in the fields to sit idling at the door of our house to chat in a room upon a Sabbath are no such importances as to require such diligent attention or exact observation there is little holiness in any thing of this A carnal man may rest from labour and never much mind or need a command Nature will let us to take our case without any special command from the God of nature The great Jehovah had never needed in the midst of thundrings and lightnings with great Exod 10. 18. terrour and Majesty to give out a command for us to go to a Bench to sit on to a couch to talk on or to a bed to lie on A School-master need not make a set speech or tune his language to strains of Oratory to perswade his Scholars to go to play and be idle Idleness needs no great enforcements wants no arguments of reason nor paintings of Rhetorick we can prate of worldly affairs and take our pleasing pastimes without any attractive engine Zanchy speaks very pregnantly to this purpose I call saith he this dayes rest Zanch. de oper creat p. 3. l. 1. c. 1. divine and holy because as God is never idle so he would have us take rest in soul and conscience after that manner that yet notwithstanding we be alwayes employed in those things which are of Gods spirit and which appertain to the glory of God and to the good both of our selves and others The cause of commanding rest upon the Sabbath was not for rest sake and that man might be idle but that he might altogether spend that whole day in divine worship Thus this Reverend Person Sed ut toto illo die possint vacare cultui divino Zanc. in quartum praecept rightly stateâ— the Question and truly asserts that as rest is included in the Commandment so holy and spiritual worship is the end of that rest God calls us off from Earth to mind Heaven and the body must have a vacation that the soul may have a Term the body must decrease that the soul may increase Corporal rest is only the means by Non igitur cum Ethnicis sentiendum festos dtes tantúm quietâ—s remissionis causa suscipi quorum finis â—sset recoâ—datio beneficiorum dei in convocatione sancta c. which we may pursue our eternal rest This learned Rivet looks upon it as a brutish and heathenish Opinion to think that God should give us a holy day for sloth and remisness and he positively tells us That the end of the Sabbath must be the recordation of divine benefits and to refresh our memories with most grateful rehearsals of Gods bounty and to put up prayers for future grace for the leisure of Saints must not be fruitless The eccho of this golden sentence is true and sweet A godly mans leisure must not run waste When the world gives him a short quietus est he must rest in God His spare hours from his outward affairs must be his serious hours for his soul The Saints have alwayes work to do on this side eternity but especially on that day when rest is commanded us to look after eternity Hospinian here accents Finis tertius est Sabbati ejusque otii ille est subliâ—â—or Vt vir spirituaâ—is ad aeternam sui saluteâ— propior accedat ut vitae sanctae â—fficiâ—â— occupetur
sorrow Titus an Heathen Emperour when a day was past and he hâ—d done no good Pedr. de Mex Hist Imper. on that day was wont to break out into sighs and sorrow to those who were about him and cry O my friends I have lâ—ft a day The loss of any day is matter of moan but Ezek. â—9 14. to lose the Lords day and the Lord in that day this is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation In nature the interpâ—sition of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon causeth an eâ—clipse and surely when earth vain thoughts earthly discourse froth and negâ—ect have interposed between God and thy soul on his own day what an ecclipse of sadness Eccles 12. 5. should it cause upon thy heart Upon the loss of friends we go in mourning and why not in the loss of Sabbaths which are good friends to the soul Christ waited for thee in every Ordinance thou didst not give him the meeting go home and like the Dove bemoan the loss of 2 Kings 2 12. thy mâ—â—e It is most equal when Ordinances are not our Tristitia nobis data est ut dole â—mâ—s non de morte sed de peccato ibi solâ—â—â— utilis est â—â—â—stitia alibi est inutilis Chrysost treasure that they should be our trouble and what we want in good we should make up in gâ—iâ—â— When Elisha went with Elijah and a chariot of fire parted them asunder carrying Elijah to heaven and leaving Elisha on earth Elisha looked up and cryed my Father my Father Hath God and thee O Christian been parted asunder on a Sabbath and hath the Lord left thy heart on earth and himself gone to heaven O think sadly of this and with bitter moan cry out my Father my Father Repent for the loss of the Lords day and lament after the Lord of that day Sad hearts do well become empty Sabbaths It is very doleful to pine for thirst at the wells mouth If thy heart hath been dead in duties let it be drowned in sorrows Christ looks through the lattice in every Ordinance if thou hast turned thy back upon him by neglect or a vain spirit say with the Church Is any sorrow like unto my sorrow Lam. 1. 12. Search into the cause of this heartless and fruitless passing away Gods precious Sabbath It is good for a Christian to examine what way-lâ—id his work what kept God and his soul a sunder It may be thou didst not tune thy heart by holy preparation Loâ—se strings make no musick every peg must be wound up Vndressed gardens yield no delightfull prospect Mattaina praeparatio necessaria est per diligentem cultus consideratiorem et opis divinae implorationem Riv. in Decalog nor do the nowers grow but on the bâ—ds where the Gardiner hath used his industry and his artifice Thou hast not happily plâ—wed up thy heart aforehand by prayer and meditation and so it is fallow when it comes to Ordinances Holy duties themselves are harsh when the heart is out of tune Marshalled armies engage in battle and prepared hearts engage most properly and most beneficially in Ordinances 1. Cor. 11. 28. To examine our selves is not onely the preface to a Sacrament but to every holy Ordinance No wonder thou art dead in the Sanctuary if thou art deficient in the Closet thou didst lose the morning and therefore thou didst lose the day See is not this the cause thou art so heavy and so stupified in holy Administrations The clock was not wound up and therefore it did not strike Thou wast not Jer. 14. 9. with God in secret and therefore thou didst not meet God in publick so thou looked'st for healing and behold trouble The fire must be blown before it turn into a flame Prepared physick contributes to the cure there must be the Apothecary to prepare as well as the Physician to prescribe Medicines Barascue est feria sexta quâ—m nos vocamus diem veneris quae praeparationis nomine appella tuâ— quia Judâ—i sâ—lâ—bant illo the necessaria paâ—are â—â— proxâ—me 〈◊〉 Sabbatu◠〈◊〉 â—b omni opâ—re servili cessâ—â—dâ—m erat Ger. Our hearts must be taken pains withall before they are fit for the Ordinances of a Sabbath The Jews had a Preparation day as well as a Sabbath day John 19. 43. The heart must be broken by repentance raised by meditation spiritualized by prayer over-awed by a sense of the Divine Majesty before it is fit for communion with God It was a serious prayer of holy Hezekâ—ah 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God and the Lord God of his Fatheâ—s though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary And in the subsequent verse it is said The Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people Experiment this preparatory work and no doubt but thy complaint will cease and the case will be satisfied It may be thy thoughts are low of Sabbath gains Men will not run a race for a trivial prize Merchants venture to Sea Phil. 1. 14. not for Pibbles but Pearles Thou lookest on Ordinances as empty breasts and so thou liest carelesly at them But this is a strange and a sinful mistake Faith the best of graces is the fruit of hearing Rom. 10. 17. The Spirit the best of gifts is the fruit of praying Luke 11. 13. And Christ Christus illâ— tri-dâ—◠〈◊〉 et sepulturae fuit â—â—â—ciculus Myâ—rhae propter dâ—lâ—rem sed pâ—st triduanum dolâ—rem absorpsit laetitia et fâ—ctus est â—t botrus Cypriâ—n vineâ—s engedâ—i illa myrrha â—â—mmutata est in vinum suavissinum et salutare the best of banquets is the fruit of Sacramental receiving Mat. 26. 26. Are not Ordinances the Exchequer of soultreasure more sweet then the clusters of Camphire Lam. 1. 14. more transcendent then mountanes of Spices Cant. 8. 14. More pleasant then the Vineyards of Engeâ—di Cant. 1. 14. Surely thou art mistaken sinner Didst thou ever consider Prayers have held the hands of the Father Exod. 32. 10. Gospel doctrines have employed the tongue of the Sâ—n Luke 4. 43 44. And a shower of the spirit hath fallen upon the Congregation at a Sermon Acts 10. 44. Nay the whole Trinity have been present at a Baptism Mat. 3. 16. Such fruitfull wombâ— must not be called Barren But this sinfull level which so prostrates Ordinances is no more then the evidence of Satans power and that he leads thee to much Del Rio. captive at his pleasure None will call Ordinances empty but the Father of lies What is it which causeth thy neglect of or slightness in Sabbath duties It may be the force of a temptation Satan hath an enmity to our communion with God It was the Evil one hindred Paul from going to the Thessalonians to scatter and disseminate the truths of the Gospel 1 Thes 2. 18. He stirred up the Jewes against the
Onkelos hanc exclamationem Jacobi ad Christum resert paraâ—hrasi plane piâ Non expecto salutare Gideon filii Joash neque salutare Sampson filii Manoe quae salus est planè temporalis sed expectâ— salutem redemptionem Christi filii David quae est solus aeterna Onkel God on a dying bed and waited for his glorious salvation On a bed of sickness thou mayest bend thy heart when thou canst not bend thy knee and stretch out the hand of thy faith when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty not obstruct it Then the patient prayes more feelingly weeps more heartily converses with God more greedily A sense of approaching death affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve he need not wave a Sabbath 4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the prophaneness of the Master the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on Gods holy day by the pride and vanity of her Mistriss Nay happily our case is a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in yet then though we have lost our freedom we have not lost our Sabbaths Israels worship was not lost but revived in the wilderness and there Moses talked with God as a man with his friend The uncouth and solitary wilderness was the Sanctuary Deut. 26. 10. where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God Exod. 33. 11. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship and in a storme Deus non terribilitèr sed amicè cum Moyse egerit Riv. too when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less but as the vassalized Israelites to groan more not to be weary of Sabbaths but Exod. 6. 5. to be more wary in their observation the bondage of the Acts 7. 34. body is no wayes eased by the hazzard of the soul The Heavenly Master must be served especially on his own day notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly that imperious worm If threats could have prevailed with the three Children they had worshipped a golden Image and not adventured a fiery furnace Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly not more heedless in Sabbath observation If our case is hard upon earth we should then the more endeavour to make it more glorious in heaven and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it Now therefore this being premised Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness when the world is turned into a Patmos to us Let us encourage our selves that this is not our case alone to serve God without company Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount there was no press of people or society Deut. 5. 31. Dan. 6. 10. of Saints to heighten his enjoyment Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone and his sacrifice was sweet though single Peter was praying alone at the top of the Acts 10. 9. house when he gets the company of an Angel that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess The woman John 4. 13. of Samaria enjoys solitary yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine nay waters of life did flow more freely then the waters of the well which did afford her the plenty of that Element And to come nearer to our purpose the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos when he was sublimated Revel 1. 10. with unusuall raptures and that upon the Lords day A single Lute can make sweet musick The Sun which gilds the world is but a single Planet And thy soul serving God alone on his day may be taken into galleries to walk Cant. 7. 5. with Jesus Christ and feed upon the honey and the honey Psal 19. 10. comb of an Ordinance The Word was more to Job then his necessary food when he lay on the dunghill alone Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise Mat. 18. 20. He was present though two or three were not gathered together If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone be much in prayer In this single devotion Christ is both our President Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour Mat. 6. 6. The Cum privatim et solitarie oramus ostentationem et affectationem humanae gloriolae omnino respuimus Chemnit Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles Jam. 5. 17 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruine Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives in them we avoid all ostentation as Chemnitius well observes and more imitate the votary then the Pharisee In them we can search our hearts more accurately deal with God more faithfully and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations Closet devotion is not stopt because confined no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night Psal 63. 6. in Mat. 6. 6. Psal 63. 6. Rev. 1. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 10. which he framed them Christ came to John in Patmos when the Island was his bolted Chamber not with bars but with waves Hannah prayed and wept alone and then she obtained a Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in Acts 10. 4. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 3. 17. prayer when there is no company to excite it and oftentimes God is most effectually present when man is wholly absent therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication In this case of solitariness let us be filled with holy meditations This holy duty of a Sabbath is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement nay it cannot well be performed Gen. 24. 63. in company the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind or Psal 92. 5 6 9. are started by the excitation of the good spirit In thy solitary Sabbaths let thy head work in meditation as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication These duties coupled like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostick and promise fair weather to the soul Meditate on thy sins Sin is first viewed by meditation and then moaned by confession and so consequently cashiered by repentance and this order is very proper and genuine first to cast the eye on sin and then to rend the heart for it and from it The head will affect the heart take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath to cast up thy accounts and Psal 4. 7. Jer. 31. 18 19 20. to look backward on thy sinfull life that thy soul may kindly melt and the Lord
the Worlds beginning long before the sacred Decalogue Tertul. lib. 4. adversus Judaeos was oracularly delivered upon Mount Sinai And the forementioned Philo so eminent among the Jews that he was sent in an Embassie to the Roman Caesar in the behalf of his Country-men And therefore there is a Book of his intituled Legatio ad Caesarem His Embassie to Caesar I say Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this eminent person calls the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing known to all Nations from the beginning of the World and Nostrum jus inquit omnes admonet officii Barbaros Graecos Continentis insularum Incolas Occidentales Orientales Europaeos Asiaticos c. dilating upon the honour of the Sabbath saith The Barbarians as the Jews call'd all the World besides themselves Graecians both of the Continent and the Islands both Eastern and Western both of Europe and of Asia nay all the habitable World to the utmost extent of it are Admirers of our Priviledge for who doth not honour that holy day which returns at the winding up of every Week And a learned man notes That it was the general Doctrine of the Jews That Adam kept the Sabbath-day and that that holy day derived its Original from the beginning of times Josephus the most learned Josephus Judaeus litteratâ—ssimus agnoscit deum septimâ requievissâ— ab operibus cessasse atquâ— eo nomine Judaeos hanc diem quam sabbatum appellant vacationem ad cultum divinum celebrare Joseph lib. 2. Historian among the Jewish Nation saith expresly That God rested on the seventh day and ceased from the works of Creation and upon that account the Jews keep that day they call the Sabbath a vacation to the Worship of God Thus Rabbi Jonathas and the whole Sanedrim of the Jews Gods ancient and select people give their free concurrence to this truth So that none of the Jewish Doctors seem to dissent excepting Maimonides as Truth will have some always to oppose it And this Augustine takes notice of and accounts it as the general opinion of the Jews which never was blasted with the heats of difference and contention and it is pregnantly animadverted by a learned man That though August tract 20. in Joan. Solom Jarchi in Gen. 26. Rabbi Simson in Isa 58. Rabbi Kimchi Manasseh Een Israel in Deut. 5. Aben Ezra in Exod. 20. Septem praecepta Noachi enumerantur in Schindlero in Radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the observation of the Sabbath was none of the seven Precepts of Noah yet in as much as the Lord gives command and express charge That the streangers within the gate should observe the Sabbath Exod. 20. 10. It seems it was comprehended under one of them and some think it was comprehended under that which was Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Birchath Hashem i. e. The Worship of no other God but the Creatour of Heaven and Earth And the famous Mr. Joseph Mede gives us this reason That the observation of the seventh day was the badge of those who worshipped the Creatour of Heaven and Earth According to that The Sabbath is a sign between me and you that I am Jehovah your God Because in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Thus it is clear by the Opinion and Observation of the Jews that the Sabbath was in force among the Patriarchs not only after but before the Flood for undoubtedly they worshipped the Lord God Creatour of Heaven and Earth As for the Fathers among them there were few Dissenters Sabbatum primum est qâ—od ab initio de câ—etum est ac dictum à domino in creatione mundi c. â—piphan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas de Sab. Chrysoss in Homil. 16. in Gen. they generally concluded the Sabbath to be from the beginning of the World Epiphanius speaks expresly The first Sabbath is that which the Lord from the beginning ordained and pronounced in the Creation of the World This learned Author whilest he is beating down Errour and Heresies by his learned Labours forgets not to establish this great and weighty Truth of the Sabbaths Original Athanasius in his Comment upon Matth. 11. 27. distinguisheth between the Sabbath-day and the Lords-day affirming the Sabbath to be the end of the first Creation and the Lords-day to be the beginning of the second Creation Beda solemnly professeth That the Rest of the seventh day after six days working was always wont to be celebrated And if always then before the Children of Israel's coming forth out of Egypt before Abraham before the Flood even from the beginning of the days of Adam the first of men And Chrysostom is most clear and full in this point New even from the beginning saith he God insinuates this Doctrine to us teaching that in the circle of the week one entire day is to be segregated and set apart for spiritual operation Many of Clem. Alex. the most glorious Stars of the Primitive Church give in abundant Theodor. light to this truth August Epist 86 in Epist ad Casulan Sabbati usus fuit apud veteres prius quà m apud Hebraeos increbuit Aug. Septenarius numerus à conditione mundi authoritatâ—m obtinuit quoniam in sex diebus opera dei complet a sunt ut septima consecrata quieti quasi sancta solennitate vacationis honorata à spiritu sanctificatore attitulata Cyp Christus legem adimplevit dum ipsum Sabbati diem benedictioneâ— Patris à primordio sanctum benefactione suâ sanctio em effect There are only three or four who are looked upon as dissenting Votes but upon a meer mistake as the Learned observe they speaking only of observing the Sabbath after the Jewish manner which was not before the Law was given on Mount Sinai they speak not against Sabbath-observation before the Law but against the observation of it ceremonially after the manner of the Jews in their double Sacrifices Meat-offerings Drink-offerings c. Numb 28. 9 10. Augustine in many places of his Works acknowledgeth that the Sabbath was observed among the Ancients before it grew so common among the Hebrews and he avers that the Sabbath was before Moses and afterwards it came into the Church of the Jews What more plain And whose testimony bears more sway in the Church of Christ than that of the incomparable Augustine whose Person and Learning was little less than a Miracle Cyprian saith That God sanctified the seventh day after his six days works and this day is honoured with a solemn Rest and Vacation and is intituled holy by the sanctified Spirit And to the same purpose Laciantius nay Tertullian who is often suppoenaed as a Witness to both parties in this Controversie yet speaketh most expresly Christ fulfilled the Law saith he whilest he makes the Sabbath more celebrious and holy by his own benefaction which was consecrated from the beginning
Sabbath Caelum est illa requies ubi fugit dolor tristitia gemitus omnes solicitudines Ibi nec invidia nec zelus nec morbus nec nox nec mors nec tenebrae sed omnia pax gaudium jucunditas voluptas bonitas c. Chrysost which signifies a holy Rest to shew us that the due and holy observation of our Rest here is the ready way to our perfect rest hereafter It is a sad contemplation to take a view of prophane persons how they impose upon themselves in a dream of glory Can they possibly conjecture that they can sing their songs here on a Sabbath take their cariere in sensual delights play away walk away prate away their precious Sabbaths and at last sing Hallelujahs in the Sabbath above Is not this to conceive a Mountane to be Chrystalline because it is covered with snow which bears some resemblance to the colour of it Well then prophanation of Gods day is a complicated evil a chain of darkness with many links in it a body of sin made up of the four Elements of Contempt Infidelity Ingratitude and Soul-prodigality it is an heretical vice which practically denies the resurrection of Christ Arg. 2 There is much in the day to solicite our holy observation It is a Sabbath of spiritual delights it is the souls festival day a day of fat things and wine upon the lees Isa 25. 6. The Cant. 2. 4. Sabbath is the season in which Christ brings his beloved into Psal 118. 24. to his banqueting house Christians on this day are to rejoyce in the Lord as the memorial of the greatest benefit which Dies dominicus domini resurrectione declaratus est inde caepit habere festivitatem suam ever accrewed unto them Their life rose this day a conquerour and in him they are more then conquerours as the Apostle speaks most triumphantly Rom. 8. 37. And therefore holy men in all ages have waited with impatience for the coming of this day and have rejoyced with unspeakable joy at its approach This day is the darling is the delight Aug. Serm. de temp of dayes and all other dayes are to be obsequious unto it It is recorded of holy Mr. Dod and heavenly Mr. Bruen that Deut. 32. 49. they were even in heaven upon a Lords day This day is Heb. 2. 10. the day of Christs visits the souls spiritual market and fair in it we have our prospect of Canaan upon Mount Nebo the Hujus diei laetemurâ— festivitate Hilâ—r day it is of holy Discipline to train us up in the School of Christ Hilary cries out Let Christians be exceeding glad on this day of their festivals This day is the souls seeds time Officia hodiè praestanda spiritualia mirificam in se complectuatur jucunditatem O quà m suave est communione cum Christo frui in via Ordinationum per quam Christus transire solet ipsi occurrere and glory shall be its harvest this is the most special time for the recruiting of the inward man and strengthning it with all might The duties of this day are not only the plowing but the reaping of the soul they are in themselves not only work but wages for in acting of spiritual duties there is great reward As one saith Sabbath-service implies a wonderfull sweetness as the musick of the sphears which is included in its own circumference How delitious is it to enjoy communion with Christ on his own day and to embrace him in the way of his Ordinances as Zaccheus to meet him in the way as he passeth by Luke 19. 5. Christ indeed is sweet to our enquires much sweeter to our acquests when we have found our beloved Cant. 3. 4. Now then the Sabbath being a day of joy and jubilee to the soul how spiritual exact and heavenly should we be The Sabbath is joyous in its constitution let it be so in our disposition let not this joy be damped by our sin or neglect let us not jar the musick of it by our sloath or sensuality our carnal ease or fleshly delights for so we may at night go down with sorrow to our bed Gen. 42. 38. Arg. 3 Not only the pleasure of this day might allure but the profit of this day might enforce our greatest care and devotion On this day the soul makes its greatest merchandise and drives Deus in suo opere conquiescens benedixiti huic diei eum sanctificavit in ecclesiâ suâ ut sanctus haberetur in eâ benedixit illi et benedicetur its most gainful bargains on this day the poor believer follows the chase of a Christ of an heaven of an eternity this day is a day of bleâ—sings how many have met with their beloved recruited their faith amplified their joy and gained a better insight into their spiritual condition on this holy day Their souls as Hannah have begun the Sabbath with sighs and sobs but in the close thereof have gone away and have been no more sad 1 Sam. 1. 18. It is usually on the Sabbath Jun. in Gen. that the believer makes his greatest journies towards his home God saith of this day as once Isaac said concerning Die dominico videre est animae mercaturam quaestuoâ—issiman et opulentiorem omnibus mundi opibus majâ—r certè est utilitas frui praesentiâ de quum Margaritas ac fodinas aureas acquirere Jacob I have blessed it yea and it shall be blessed Gen. 27. 33. On this day the gracious soul enjoys Christs presence communion with the blessed Trinity and the happiness of those spiritual Ordinances which are the Mines and the means of grace On this day he drinks more deeply of the waters of life and participates more freely of the good things of the graces of the spirit and tasts more sensibly of the prelibations of future and eternal joy Rev. 1. 10. Indeed on the Lords day the believer makes up himself for the decays and losses of the week and drives the spiritual trade to the best advantage Now profit should engage us to care and sedulity and add a wing to our zealous and holy industry when we are sloathful or sensual upon the Sabbath we do not only sin away our timâ— â—ut our treasure and lose our season for advantage Limnâ—rs will be very exact in drawing that picture for which they are well rewarded a high price will procure the most curious works and why should not a gainful Sabbath which will pay for all our pains engage us in the greatest strictness of observation Profit is the great engine which prevails with worldly men Some Nations will sell Swords Diei dominicae luâ—rum non crumenam sed animam spectat and warlike furniture to their open and proclaimed enemies for profit and unusual gain and surely the riches of Ordinances are finer gold then the treasures of the Mine though they be digged in Ophir Arg. 4 The honour
sweet promises the first made to Charity the best of duties 10 11. Verses the second made to a Holy Observation of the Sabbath the best of dayes Verse 13 14. And thus much may serve as a manuduction to lead you to the Text. CHAP. II. The Explication of the Text. IN the Text we have two remarkable Parts An Eminent Duty enjoyned Duties they are the Cords of a man to use the Prophets Phrase by which we are Hos 11. 4. sweetly drawn nearer to God they are our Travel towards Canaan While we are in a way of duty we are in Bona opera sunt via ad Regnum our way to the Kingdome Holy Duties are our spiritual intercourse our traffique with Heaven and such a duty is enjoyned in the Text. A Precious promise entailed on the accomplishing and right acting of this duty and indeed God doth not usually send our duties when duly performed empty away Duties Evangelically acted they are like Noahs Dove with the Gen. 8. 11. Gen. 44. 2. branch in her mouth like Benjamins sack with the silver Cup in the top of it God will not leave unrewarded the sweat of the soul But of these in their order For the Duty it self in the whole of it is a spiritual observation of the Sabbath The Sabbath day as God ordained it for his own Rest so it must be observed for his own Honour The Sabbath is Gods by his own Institution and by our sanctification As we receive it from God so we must keep it to God But in the Text there are many branches sprouting from this common stock God directs us many wayes and in many methods how to observe his Sabbath and we will trace and open these Directions in an orderly progress and proceeding These Directions they are partly negative and partly positive These Negative Directions call us from some practices which are prohibited and from some language which must be restrained Now there are four sorts of actions we must be abstemious from upon the Sabbath or to speak in Gospel language upon the Lords Day CHAP. III. Secular and servile works utterly unlawfull on the Sabbath day ACcording to the Text we must abstain ab actionibus civilibus from Civil Actions from the works of our Secular actions to be forborn on the Sabbath day we are in no wise to follow the works of our Calling Alap Callings the Shop and the Change-business must be laid aside on a Sabbath so the Text If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath Now Alapide gives us the genuine interpretation of that phrase Omne opus servile quod pedibus fit aut manibus hic erat prohibitum All servile works which the feet or hands accomplish is here prohibited Indeed the feet are quick and ready to prosecute the gains of the World and therefore here we are commanded to keep our feet from being exercised in servile or secular imployments on this Holy Day not any work must â—xod 20. 10. be done saith God in the fourth Commandment a Commandment in which we may truly-say digitus Dei the Exod. 31. 18. Finger of God We must not mingle the Week with the Sabbath Oecolampadius well descants on this phrase in Oecolamp in hunc locum Judas Macchab We are to abstain from all servile work that having no work of our own we may be wholly taken up with Gods work that he may speak with us and reveal himself fully and familiarly to us as friends do when they get alone Shep. p. 84. the Text Si quicquam rerum tuarum in Sabbatho if thou hast appointed to do any of thy works upon the Sabbath and shalt draw thy foot away from the Sabbath intermiseris illud opus propter Sabbathum that is shalt intermit and lay aside that work for the Sabbath-sake because of the Sabbath in remembrance of the Sabbath then thou shalt sanctifie the Sabbath for such a Sabbath is acceptable to God Whatsoever work we have purposed we must break it off and turn our feet from it upon a Sabbath One well observes that Judas Macchabaeus whom God raised up for the defence of his People against the Tyranny of Antiochus that he having a great Victory against Nicanor and his Host and putting to the sword nine thousand and chasing away the rest the day before the Sabbath after that they had gathered the spoyle together they did rest upon the Sabbath and praised God for the Victory and after the Sabbath was past then they took order for the dividing of the spoyle Indeed should we labour upon Prohibeturopus nostrum scil servile mechanicum laboriosum quaestuosum ordinarium tum privatum tum publicum quae cum prohibita fuerint in festis aliis solennioribus Lev. 23. 7 8 25 32 35. Num. 28. 25. Multo magis Sabbatho Leid Prof. Luke 23. 56. Psal 1. 2. the Sabbath day this would breed confusion and confound Gods day with ours we labour six dayes and should we labour on the seventh where is the distinction this is to mingle light and darkness and to abolish the Sabbath name and thing The Sabbath is the Souls Monopoly then we must not labour with our hands but with our hearts and not seek the gains of the Earth but the Kingdome of Heaven we must not then follow our Callings but our Christ Mary Magdalen and Mary the Mother of James would not prepare odours to annoinâ— Christs body when he was dead on the Sabbath day but rested that day least while they went about to Embalm his body they might indeed eclipse his Glory On this day Physicians must not study Galen nor Philosophers Aristotle nor Mathematicians Archimedes but their delight must be in the Law of the Lord. The Sabbath is sanctum otium a holy leasure to pursue Eternity We must so give rest to our bodies and our souls upon this day that nothing trouble us for here we must take up that of the Philosopher Postulandum secessum Toto hoc die vacandum Domino ut melius intendamus we must have our repose that we may the better intend the great work of our souls and therefore not onely worldly cares but worldly businesses are forbidden that so our whole body may be at command to serve God It is most eminently remarkable that we have in the Scriptures six Commandments for the observation of this Rest In Exod. 16. 22. The Israelites were to cease from gathering Manna on that day They were to gather a double measure on the day before that they might not be diverted to gather any on the Sabbath day On this day you have mercatur animae merchandise for your souls wherein are better things then Manna to be gathered Manna not like Coriander Joh. 6. 53. 1 Pet. 2. 3. seed Exod. 16. 31. but Manna which is the seed of the Word which is able to save our souls In Nehem. 13. 15 16 17. Where holy Nehemiah forbids all Traffique on the Sabbath
holy services it shall be sufficient I am sure the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jom a day is in both both the six dayes and in the seventh and how comes the signification to be altered if jom a day signifies a whole day in the one why not in the other why not the whole seventh day engaged in divine service as well as the whole six dayes taken up in secular employments Chrysostome and Theodoret observe that from the very beginning God taught man this lesson that one whole day in the circle of seven is to be employed in holy services And many famous lights of the Reformed Church conclude that whatever is moral in the fourth Commandment this must needs be that the seventh part of every week be consecrated to the worship of God So Zanchy Bucer Martyr c. That famous person mentioned last speaks roundly when he saith That it is perpetual and eternal while the Church remains upon Earth that one day in the week be designed for the service and worship of God and this saith he is firme and unshaken Augustine in one of his Sermons adviseth the people That from the Evening of the Saturday till the Evening of the Lords day they avoid all vain sloth and idleness and all secular toyle and labour and wholly set themselves apart for the worship of God This excellent man gives the full current of twenty four hours to the holy observation of the Sabbath And this saith he is rightly to keep the Sabbath and truly if God gives us six natural dayes to labour in is it not fit that the seventh should bear an equal proportion with every working day And therefore it is a natural day consisting of twenty four hours which we must in conscience allow to God to be the Sabbath day But besides the force of Divine Command which as clearly enjoyns the seventh day for holy Rest as indulges the other six dayes for toyle and labour the very plea's of the soul may come in to affirme the sanctification of one whole day in the week to spiritual and divine services Let us consider The Soul in the Nobleness of its Original it is a Heaven-born soul Gods breath in mans bosome Mans soul onely bubbles from the fountain of spirits our soul is but a beam The Soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the glorious Sun God beam d into man a glittering soul and shall not this noble soul so worthily descended lay claim to one day as well as the body that dusty case of the principle of life the soul that body which is onely the sheath of the soul the cabinet for this jewel to lye in put in its title and right to six What is this but to degrade the soul from the honour of its Excellent Original Let us look on the soul in the excellency of its capacity what is not a reasonable soul capable of It is capable of Gods Anima est ex Deo non ut ex materia et ex traduce dei â—eu ejus quadam particula sed ut â— causâ efficiente accessu quodam naturae propiore ad essentiam dei divinarumque proprietatum assimilatione Leid Prof. 2 Cor. 5. 1. Image There is little of Gods Image to be seen in the body God is a spirit and so stamps his Image on the spirits of men and shall not the soul which bears so noble a superscription enjoy the priviledge and latitude of one day as well as the body that earthly tabernacle which is soon taken down and wrapt up in a silent grave enjoy the immunity of six whole dayes But must the abatement fall on the souls portion Consider the multiplicity of a souls work and therefore let not its day be shortned by frothy pleasures or servile labours John 9. 4. Praeclarae sunt arimae dotes effâ—ctus divinae functiones miranda solertia ingenii cogitationis celeritas facilitas perceptionis judicii acrimâ—nia disâ—ursus et ratiocinatio de rebus omnibus memoria rerum praetâ—ritarum contemplatio praesentium futurarum praevisio et maxime inse ipsam conversio et reflexio suaeque contemplatio c. Lied Prof. The work of the soul is very great and very various there are many duties to perform many graces to act many ordinances to wait upon much knowledge to acquire many corruptions to subdue Now he that is to ride far let him not want day-light the souls task is great let not its time be short especially shorter then God hath made it The body hath onely two things to get viz. food and raiment it hath but two rooms to go thorow the Kitchin and the Wardrobe But the soul hath more and nobler atchievements to pursue It hath a Pardon Grace Christ God Heaven to look after and obtain and shall its owne day given it more especially for these great attempts be subject to an unhappy diminution Let us look on the soul in the eternity of its duration The soul saith one is a bud of eternity the business of the Animaâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domine aufer à me hanc tunicam graveâ— corpus scil terrestre ponderosum et aerumnosum et dâ— mihi leviâ—rem soul is of everlasting concernment But the body is a shattered piece of dust a shaking fa brick which is soon unpinned the paint of its beauty is soon washed off the vigour of its strength is soon weakned and enervated a thousand diseases can crack this piece of frailty and yet this tottering piece of flesh must have its full six dayes and the eternal soul not enjoy one whole day without allowance made for pleasure and secular employments Let us consider the soul in the importance of its wellfare The body follows the condition of the soul but the soul doth not follow the condition of the body If thy soul miscarry it had been better as our Saviour speaks thou hadst never been born Man fares as his soul fares It was Mat. 26. 24. Sic alloquitur anima sancta suspirans O civitas sancta civitas speciosa de longinquo te saluto ad te clamo te requiro desidero verè te videre et in te requiescere O civitas desiderabilis Muri tui Iapis unus Custos tuus ipse deus Cives tui semper laeti semper enim gratulantur visione Dei Hug. Victor the Redemption of the soul that drew Christ from Heaven to tabernacle amongst us and to offer up himself a sacrifice to Divine Justice and therefore how rational is it that the precious soul should enjoy a full Sabbath without any sensual vacancies for pleasures and pastimes seeing the whole man is dependant upon its disposal and is happy or miserable according to its state or condition But to wind up this particular Argument if we consider either the force of the fourth Commandment or the pregnant plea's of the immortal soul whose interest is much pursued on a Sabbath nay the Sabbath is the very
contr Valent for the gain we acquire in publick Ordinances will easily be lost if not followed with private duties It is private meditation private repetition and private devotion must fasten truth on the soul which we have heard in publick The fruit we have enjoyed in publick will presently be blasted by pastimes and sports which withdraw and James 1. 23. In Sabbato occupari nos debemus in laâ—dando dei nomine usque ad vesperam Concil Turon alienate the soul from the very duties it had newly been employed in Happily in the publick Ordinances we saw the face of Christ in some measure if presently we fly to vain Recreations we shall as the Apostle James speaks straightway forget what manner a beloved our Beloved was What was delivered in the Pulpit is best impressed on the soul in the Closet and secret approaches can best set home publick ordinances Our tears we shed at home must importune a Nihil efficacius est ad verbi divini fructus et spiritus sancti igniculos in nâ—bis suffocardos quam vel profana vel nimis mundana oblectamentorum consectatio Wal. blessing upon truths we have heard abroad It is the Observation of a Learned man Nothing more effectually quencheth the sparks of the divine spirit kindled in Ordinances then the pursuance of earthly and worldly Delights and therefore he thinks the safest manner of observing the Sabbath is not onely to sanctifie it in the publick Congregations but in our private Houses not onely in solemn Ordinances but in private Duties And if we pursue publick private and secret Duties which yet are so necessary on a Sabbath what time will be left for labour or sportfull refreshments So then the whole Sabbath must be spent with God And if the Jewish Sabbath was to consist of twenty four hours much more the Christians But the first is most true for the whole time of a Sabbath was required of them to be Exod. 20. 8. sanctified in holy duties in opposition to their own works As for the nights we dispute it not they were allowed to Mysteria Evangelii in aeternum adoranda contemplanda rest that night as well as we Now then if the Jews were bound to spend a whole day all their waking time in divine and holy services much more we Christians for we have received greater benefits we have greater mysteries of Godliness to contemplate and greater means to help us in the 1 Tim. 3. 16. contemplation Our field is larger our light is clearer our service is sweeter we have our Sabbath to behold the face Cant. 5. 10. of our Beloved and what work more engaging and complacential The very Heathens by the light of Nature gave their Gods no less then a whole day and would not suffer any work to be done on those holy dayes So Macrobius tells us Macrob. de diebus festis That the services of their Gods were partly diurnal and partly nocturnal and that the Flamines were to see to it that no works were to be done on their holy dayes Nay one of our Adversaries in this particular confesseth freely As the time in which such Religious Actions are done so that some day C. Dow p. 21. or dayes should be destinated for the more solemn performance of those actions may seem to be a dictate of the Law of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Lib. 5. Stromat inasmuch as the Heathens who had no other Guide had their solemn Feasts and set dayes in all Ages consecrated to the worship of their Gods And therefore for Christians to give less then a day is to fall short of an Heathen Nay Scaevola an High Priest among them affirmed That the wilfull Offender who observed not strictly three dayes consecrated to their Gods could have no Expiation And what a shame is it for Christians that Jupiter should have more solemn and constant worship then Jehovah that an Idol God should have a whole day but the Almighty must onely have a part the rest to be drowned in sensual pleasures or worldly toyle Heu facinus Is not this to let the light of a glow worm out-shine the light of the Sun the light of Nature out-vie the light of the Gospel Never let those Gods who have eyes and see not have more durable and continued worship then our God who is Omniscient those Gods who have ears and Psal 115. 4 5 6. hear not have more solemn adorations then our God who is a God hearing prayer those Gods who are Silver and Psal 65. 2. Gold be better served then the blessed and Holy One the God of Jacob who is an infinite spirit Obj. But if it be objected it is very tyring and tedious to pass the whole current of a day in holy services and spiritual communion and this might make us cry out with the holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2. 16. Apostle in another case Who is sufficient for these things To this it may be briefly replyed God because of our infirmities doth afford what may refresh and the better to bear up our bodies allows moderate sleep in the night and temperate food in the day True it was in Tertullians time a dispute whether it be not a duty Tertul. de Coronâ militis Cap. 3. to fast on the Lords day but our Saviours Apology for his Disciples in plucking and eating the ears of Corn on the Sabbath day may easily quiet that Question and blessed be the Mar. 2. 25. Lord for his allowances of love Nature even on the Sabbath hath both its Nurse and its Caterer its sleep and its provisions Men do not complain of whole dayes for the world they rise early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness Psal 127. 2. they do not say all the week when the morning is would to God it was evening but rather in the evening wish it were morning again to go after the world afresh Nay we find many in their sinful wayes are unwearied and when Isa 56. 12. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Rev. 3. 21. Cant. 8. 14. Montes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt sedos Angelorum Beatorum coeli sunt mansiones civium Coelestium Del. Rio. one day is past they fix upon the very next day with enlarged resolutions And shall Heaven with its Crown of Righteousness its Throne of Glory its ravishing Felicities and mountains of Spices no more influence us but that one day spent in the pursuance of it should seem tedious and burdensome and we should impatiently wish would the Sabbath was over that we might again busie our selves in in the affairs of the world It is strange that neither divine command nor divine rewards should clip our wings but that we will be flying even on the Lords day into the pleasing embraces of a sensual delight or secular emolument Many of Gods Servants the Excellent of the earth and the darlings of
Heaven and Princes in disguise those patterns Psal 16. 3. of piety have looked on the Sabbath as their Paradise where they could refresh their souls with variety of delights Nor have they complained that the wheels of time have been taken off that it hath moved slowly and drove heavily but have thought the evening of that blessed Sabbath Psal 84. 10. hath surprised them when they knew not how to give over their banqueting with Jesus Christ the Ordinances of Jesus Christ have not been their burden but their repast nor have they thought holy duties the waste but the improvement of their Sabbath There have been those who have spent divers dayes and nights also in the service of God Let us onely instance in Anna the Prophetess a widow of above fourscore and four Luke 2. 37. years old which departed not from the Temple but served God with fastings and prayers day and night for her Sex a woman for her case a widow not having the company nor support of her husband and for age eighty four years yet night and day with fasting and prayer serving God in the Temple And for such as are tyred out with the time of the Sabbath would they go to Heaven There it is ever Sabbath alwayes singing serving and setting up God Bernard urgeth Rev. 4 10 11. the observation of the Sabbath and holding out in holy exercises thereupon upon this account That by present rest Bern. Serm. 4. Col. 1744. men may learn to live in rest eternal and by persevering in service men may be prompt to perpetuate the Lords everlasting praise But how would men do to endure Heaven if here they cannot hold out the durance of a Sabbath day CHAP. VI. Impertinent and frothy Language unbecoming and defiling the Sabbath BUt God in the Text commands us not only to abstaine from unsuitable practices but unsuitable discourses on Gratia prudentiae caelitus datae reprimit in colloquiis piorum sermonem otiosum et inutilem funditus autem removet et tollit ab iiâ— improbum obscaenum et putridum sermònem Daven the holy Sabbath so the Text Not speaking thy own words The Sabbath may be polluted by the slipperiness of the tongue as well as by the sliding of the feet we may as well talk as act irregularly Holy Communication Col. 4. 6. becomes a holy Sabbath Our Sabbath is a sign of heaven and there as there shall be no irregular practice so no unseemly discourse and here we should endeavour to begin heaven Vain discourse on a Sabbath is like Musick at a suneral or sighs at a wedding which are not onely impertinent but unseemly It is a sign the World hath crept into our hearts if it creep out of our tongues on the blessed Sabbath The Sabbath hath its Shibboleth Is our frothy and Abstinendum est a vanis confabulationibus ridiculis nugosis detractoriis irrisoriis obscenis riâ—â—osis Sept. Psal 45. 1. loose language the fruit of those powerfull Ordinances and holy Administrations we enjoy on a Sabbath What a gulf do we shoot when we pass from holy prayers to unseemly pratlings from breathing out our souls in duty to breath out vanity in frothy Communications Nor will it be any excuse for us to the God of the Sabbath to spend part of it in discoursing of the flueâ—t gifts rare parts elegant passages of the Minister and to make himself not his Doctrine the subject to dilate upon Gods holy truth not the Ministers person or parts must take up our Sabbath discourses The tongue indeed is only the hearts interpreter and what frame of heart we should be of on a Sabbath is most easily conjectured surely then if ever our tongues should be as the pen of a ready writer The Emperour Leo would permit no talking of pleasures or worldly matters on a Lords day And Clemens Romanus prohibâ—it Sermonum vâ—nitatem et facetiâ—s so Clemens Romanus condemned all Jestings and facetiousness to tickle or delight the vanity of mens spirits Men by breaking jests should not break the Sabbath Dr. Ames observes there is nothing more fits and tunes the heart for Culius publicus quà m maximè solenniter est celebrandus et necessariò postulat exercitia colloquiorum sanctâ—rum et contemplation is operum diei quibus paratiores fiamus ad publicum cultum Ames Luk. 14. 1 2. Secundum membrum convivii Pharisaici est miraculosa sanatio hydropici Ipsum hoc miraculum de bonitate et potentiâ Christi idem docet quod reliqua omnia Chemnit publick service on a Sabbath then holy discourses we are more ready by them for spiritual Administrations Vain language sets the heart backward that it is not so intense in Sabbath performances Our Saviour who is our Copy without blot making a meal with a Pharisee on the Sabbath spent all his time either in healing or preaching in working miracles or speaking parableâ— which are those stars behind a cloud not a vain word drops from him Luke 14. 1 2 7. and surely in this particular our imitation is our holiness A holy man complained long since That many had made such proceedings in sin that when they should reckon with their souls they would reckon with their servants and when they should make even with their consciences they would make even with their Chapmen and yet perswade themselves of the small breaches of the Sabbath The Leiden professors make holy discourse one of the private Duties of a Sabbath and to omit it what is it but to maime and mutilate a Sabbath to loose a duty and to make a chasme and vacancy in the constant and continued Religion of a Sabbath And indeed if holy language be salt at any time it is more especially at the feast of a Sabbath The Psalmist in Psal 16. 4. Commands us not to take the Name of other Gods into our lips we must not onely not worship them but not name them So that there is irreligion Eccles 12. 10. in the tongue as well as in the knee and if ever sinfulness Non modo publice sed et privatim Sabbathum sanctis pietatis exercitiis celebretur qualia sunt Scripturae lectio et domestica meditatio colloquium de rebus sanctis Leid Prof. Col. 4. 6. Sicut Sal non modo exsiccat superfluos noxios ciborum humores sed focit illos insuper aptos ad digerendum salubres ad nutriendam Sic Sal prudentiae efficit non modo ut sermo Christianorum non sit otiosus aut noxius sed ut aptus fiat ac utilis ad aedifiâ—andum Daven Sermo noster opportunus esse debet eâ— comâ—iâ—â—us ut aâ—â—itores nobis gratias aganâ— â—t per nos adjuti sint Theoph. cleaves to the tongue it is in idlâ— and foolish talking on a Sabbath this indeed is the Fly in the ointment On that holy day we must not only abstain from secular works but secular words for
satisfaction not our burden but our blessing the sinner must not Psal 27. 4. Mat. 18. 20. take that pleasure in the dalliances of the world as we should do in the duties of a Sabbath This is the day of divine loves and spiritual complacencies between Christ and Cant. 2. 3. Delitias tum tuas tum Domini Alap the soul when Christ and the Soul meet together in the Garden of the Ordinances where they begin that communication which shall last to Eternity then the believer sits under the shadow of Christ with great delight As God makes the Sabbath his rest so he would have it to be ours The Sabbath must not be our toyle but our triumph the Sanctuary must be our banqueting house Duty our delight Psal 42. 3. 4. It must be the joy of our souls to associate with Christ to pour out our requests in prayer to entertain the discourses of divine will and to enjoy spiritual love which is better then wine The Sabbath in the primitive times was called Cant. 1. 2. Nos in primâ die perfecti Sabbathi festivitate laetamur Hilar. in Prol. in Psalm the feast of the Sabbath and feasts are not usually times of tediousness but pleasantness such times pass away with gratefull delight and surely it must needs soyle the character of a Christian to let those wheels drive heavily which are in the Chariots of Aminadah Doth it not very much unbecome us to be weary of that day which God hath appointed Cant. 6. 12. for fellowship with himself and for the transacting of the great affairs of Eternity There is a Command for Reverence So the Text the holy of the Lord. Si colueris Sabbathum quasi diem sanctum gloriae glorificationi Domini consecratum If Psal 2. 12. thou observe the Sabbath as a holy day consecrated and set apart to the glory and glorifying of God as he well glosses upon it There are two holy passions adorne a Sabbath Joy and Fear the one for the benefits of God the Psal 2. 11. Discamus die Dominico non quaerere gloriam nostram pompose incedendo et splendidé nos vestiendâ— sed Dei gloriam quaeramus hoc nobis erit gloriosum quod gloria dei per ros alios celebretur Isa 66. 2. other for the presence of God the one for his goodness and the other for his greatness Upon a Sabbath we must as the Psalmist speaks rejoyce with trembling It was the saying of a Learned man Vpon the day of a Sabbath let us not promote our own Glory by stately walking rich attire and pompous appearances but let us exalt Gods Glory by holy duties and this will be more glorious and honourable to us Upon the Sabbath let us tremble at Gods Word as the Lord speaks by the Prophet Isa 66 2. Let us lye at Gods feet let us be awfull of Gods presence let us exalt Gods Name and this is to sanctifie a Sabbath Humble hearts and not fine cloaths the bowing of the soul not the plaiting of the hair or the ordering of the Dress speaks the Sabbath Glorious The Lord calls for high estimations of the Sabbath So the Text Honourable The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Machhid in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original signifies that which is Glorious and that which is Ponderous Every Sabbath is a price put into our hands Luke 19. 42. a good wind for Heaven the souls term time that aâ—tionius Psal 118. 24. temporis that juncture of time which the soul hath to claâ— up for Eternity On this day more especially the Scepter of Grace is held out to lay hold upon One observes our Esth 5. 2. Sabbath is called the Lords day not onely because it is the Commemoration of our Lords Resurrection but because of the benefits we receive from the Lord that day and the duties we perform to the Lord that day and therefore if we will practice the Text we must prize the Sabbath we must call it honourable and indeed it is so in a manifold respect If we look upward This is the day in which more especially we sing the praises of the Lord we recount his hohour wherein our hearts bubble forth in holy thanksgivings and therefore the Psalm whose inscription calls it a Psalm for the Sabbath is wholly Laudatory It is a song Psal 92. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Sabbath day so is the very title And indeed what is the Lords day but primitiae Coeli the dawning of Glory the beginnings of Heaven the tuning of the musick which shall last for ever to every true believer On the Lords day the Saint makes it his grand affaire to advance the Lords Honour If we look downward the Sabbath still is honourable Then the Lord crowns us with his graces honours us with his presence meets us in his ordinances puts all marks and characters Mat. 18. 20. of honour on his people then the King sits at his Cant. 1. 12. Table and sends forth his Spicknard with the sweet smell of it The Holy Sabbath is the blessed time when the Lord Sponsa contactu sponst sui planè divinam suavitatem acquisivit Del. Rio. 1 John 1. 3. Mat. 18. 20. bows the Heavens and comes down and vouchsafes his people fellowship with himself sweet and salvifical communion in a word then the Father drops his grace then the Son promises his presence then the Spirit pursues his work in the assemblies of his Saints If we look outward if we cast our eyes upon other days the other six days of worldly toyle and labour The very gleanings of a Sabbath are better then the Vintage of the Judges 8. 2. week In other dayes we onely reap the curse of the first Adam to eat our bread in the sweat of our brows on the Gen. 3. 19. holy Sabbath we reap the blessing of the second Adam we gather the fruits of his glorious purchase we enjoy the ordinances of his grace lye under the impressions of his spirit and inherit the sweets of his presence and therefore compare the Sabbath with other dayes and what is the dross of a week to the gold of a Sabbath This day is nothing but the souls weekly Jubilee If we look forward towards eternity the Sabbath in this regard is honourable it is the special day for the soul to dress and trim it self in to meet its Bridegroom this is our peculiar Fuit illud Sabbathum Gen. 2. 3. Typus aeterni illius Sabbathi in â—aeâ—is in quo electi animâ et corpore à peccatis calomitatibus et miseriis hujus vitae requiescent Deus in illis et ipsi in Deo Gen. 66. 23. Vltra hunc mundum est veri Sabbathi observatio Orig. Prov. 34. 2 Cor. 10. 4. 2 Cor. 4. 7. In Sabbatho totus Deo deique voluntati cognoscendae annuntiandae et edimplendae vaces Alap time to prepare for eternity The
mention of Kings and Magistrates of Publick Authority Cities places of publick Receit The good keeping of the Sabbath procures publick benefits opens the store-houses of blessings to Cities and Nations it is the rise and spring of Epidemical happiness And our own Nation formerly in the strict observation of Gods holy day did tast the sweetness of these Cataracts of mercy it lay under national happiness and prosperous abundance to the wonder and astonishment of all the world nor was our felicity in the wain till the Inhabitants of this Land grew loose and careless on Gods holy day and then it fell under the shadows of sore and dismall afflictions and our Sun was darkned and made the world wonder gazing at its Eclipse They are full of stability so the very words of the Text And this City shall remain for ever Mercies they are more Heb. 7. 25. Christus in coelo orat pro nobis tanquam Pontifex Hap. sweet by how much they are the more stable Duration it felicitates and enriches every possession Christ is the chiefest good because he ever lives to make intercession for us Those sweets are pretious which are permanent and therefore the grace of the spirit is more valuable then the Gold 1 Pet. 1. 7. of Ophir for Gold is perishing Gold Now these promises 1 Pet. 1. 18. are of permanent good things and so the more transcendent The holy observation of the Sabbath it intails Vrbi erit salva sivere et piè colat deum idque testatur observatione Sabbathi Calv. mercy and blessings on a Person upon a Family or a City Mercy shall not be our physick but our food It lengthens our dayes of prosperity If thou wouldest put thy owne name and the names of thy Family into a long lease of Grace and Favour be very strict in Sabbath Observation They are full of impartiality Sabbath-holiness shall shed a blessing on City and Country so the Text They shall come from the Cities of Judah from the places about Jerusalem Jeremias hic planè signifiâ—at communem fâ—re hanc bâ—atituâ—inem totâ— populo from the Plain from the Mountanes c. This blessed performance of Sabbath sanctity it shall prosper the Citizen and the Country man the Shop the Farme the Cottage nay the poor inhabitant of the mountanes who hath but a shed or a Cave to shelter him shall not be exempted the dewes of this benediction The holy observation of Sabbaths knows no distinction of persons They are full of spirituality They shall bring burnt offerings and sacrifices and meat offerings and incense so the Text. The due observation of the Sabbath shall procure soul-mercies affluences for our better part the sweets of Ordinances divine Influences rich Graces coelestial Communications not onely the redundancies of outward prosperity Jerusalem florebit templuâ—que mirè frequentabitur but the participations of better prosperity It shall fill our understandings with light our minds with refreshment and our hearts with joy They that have delight in the Sabbath of God shall find delight in the God of the Sabbath Christ shall be their Paradise We have now seen what treasures of temporal and spiritual riches are laid up in this blessed Scripture and what need there any other bait to catch our affections to love and keep Gods holy Sabbath This duty is an heir of the sweetest promises such a duty as may seem to carry the Key of Gods choysest treasures about it God saith to him who holily observes his day as once Ahasuerus said to Hester What is thy request Esther 5. 3. and it shall be given thee Indeed not a holy sigh not an affectionate prayer not a savoury discourse not a heavenly duty not a divine meditation which is shot up to Heaven on a Sabbath day shall lose its reward Holy sacrifices are then more especially a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of Gen. 8. 21. God It was a rare promise God made to the Eunuch who kept his Sabbath Isa 56. 4 5. the words run thus For thus saith the Lord to the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbath and choose the things which please me and take hold on my Covenant Isa 56. 4 5. even to them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better then of sons and daughters and I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut Nomen i. e. memoria fama gloria Hanc enim filii parentibus conciliant off Thus if Eunuchs keep Gods Sabbath God will repair all their contempts in the World and they shall be had in everlasting remembrance and though their grave bury all the memory of them in silence because they have no progeny to bear up their name yet their name shall be engraven in Gods house which shall out-vie the duration of the most numerous off-spring Nay the Lord as if he was unwearied in making bonds of love to the holy observation of his Sabbath makes a rich promise to the very strangers so Isa 56. 6 â— the Text Isa 56. 6 7. the words are these Also the sons of the strangers that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant even them will I bring to my holy Mountane and make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my Altar Here God makes a three-fold promise of the best kind viz. spiritual to the very strangers who keep his Sabbaths undefiled First They shall enjoy the Ordinances I will bring them to my Holy Mountane saith God Those who sanctifie the Sabbath they shall not want a Sabbath to sanctifie they shall Isa 25. 6. Per convivium medullatorum â—en intelliguntur carnales sed sâ—irituales deliciae et summae voluptates enjoy seasons of prayer opportunities of love means of grace and feed upon the fat things of Gods house Gods Sabbaths are fastned by an holy improvement and fledged to be gone by a careless abuse Nothing so ensures our Sabbaths as a conscientious observation Secondly They shall be refreshed by Ordinances I will make them joyfull in my house of Prayer Prayer shall be their Paradise hearing their Heaven meditation their Triumphant flight Sacraments their savoury meat which their souls shall delight in All the Ordinances shall be as the holy Alymbecks Gen. 27 4. to drop sweetness into the soul of him who undefiledly keeps the Sabbath Thirdly They shall be accepted in Ordinances God will fill the Temple where they meet with smoake they shall have sure signs of his presence fire shall fall down upon their 1 Kings 8 10 sacrifices as a testimony of Gods acceptation And all this the very strangers shall enjoy those who are not inoculated into 1 Kings 18 38. a Jewish stock but
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
Shall we prepare no more for a Sabbath that bright spot of time God gives us for our souls then for another day Will we approach the Princes presence with the same disregards we will converse with the Peasant Esther purified Est 2. 12. and perfumed her self with Oyle of Myrrh and sweet Odours before she came into the prefence of Ahashuerus and shall our Families have no holy anoynting no divine quickning before the day come we must enter the presence of the King of Kings nay the God of Kings Shall there be nothing to put a Selah upon a Sabbath Eve Let us take some time the evening before the Sabbath to teach our little ones the holiness and Solemnity of a Sabbath let us tell them how jealous God is of his Sabbaths what severe punishments he hath overtaken Deut. 6. 7. those with who have violated his holy day Let us Numb 15. 36. bring up our servants in the Holy Trade of Sabbath observation let us leave it upon their Consciences the night before the Sabbath how accurately and carefully God will be served on his own day and inform them what it cost Aarons Sons for offering strange fire Governours Lev. 10 3. of Families should take pains with those subordinate to them in begetting an awe upon their hearts and so fit them for Sabbath duties Surely we should more solemnly prepare for the day of the Soul then for the dayes of our Calling for the services of the Sanctuary then for the gains of the Shop God's day gives us a more solemn summons then mans day doth And now having thus prepared our selves in the discharge of the forementioned duties let us retire our selves to our rest and let the hand of faith draw the curtains about us and so quietly repose our bodies till the approaching Psal 4. 8. morning of Gods holy day and how that must be passed and solemnly observed comes next under our most serious discussion CHAP. XII It is most advised and necessary to rise early â—n Gods Holy Day DIvine providence unclasping our eyes in the morning of the Sabbath let us lose no time as we lye on our beds let us think now the Lord looks down from Heaven and bids us make haste get you up for this day I must Luke 19. 5. abide in your hearts and this day I must transact with you about the great importances of your souls When Abraham was to offer his Son in sacrifice to God He rose early in the morning and sadled his Asse and took two of his servants and Gen. 22. 5 6. Isaac his Son with wood cleav'd for a burnt offering and went to the place of which the Lord had told him And shall not we on a Sabbath morning be early up our selves and our families to go to the place where the Lord hath appointed and offer up our bodies and souls in service to God The Israelites who lay in siege against Jericho upon the seventh Josh 6. 15. day they being to compass the City seven times the text saith And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose up early about the dawning of the day and they compassed the City after the same manner seven times Upon the Lords day we are today siege to Heaven and to compass it many times and to plant our batteries by holy and invincible prayer and therefore we should be early up And there are two things which would much advantage this duty viz. rising early on the morning of the Sabbath First A timely going to rest the night before It is too common a fault among Christians and Professors too for them to clog themselves the night before the Sabbath with a multitude of worldly businâ—sses which causes them to sit up late hence in the morning when they should be up with God they lye sleep-bound in their beds Secondly An intire love to the work of the day that follows Alas we have too little love to the Lords day work and so but little list to be at the work of the day Were there love to it we should long to be at it Our minds run Pius se paritè◠velle jugiter deum mente animo geâ—ere illum colere illum desiderare tum nocte tum interdiu Alap upon the things we love We should think of the Sabbath even in the night time and we should catch the very first hour of the day with my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my spirit within me will I seek thee early saith the Prophet to God Were we for several months kept without a Sabbath how would our spirits spring at such a days appearance Why should the Commonness of the Sun-shining Isa 26. 9. and the Sabbaths coming diminish the mercy How should we every Lords day morning have our minds mounting and say behold the Sabbath of the Lord it is come it is come Now there are many Alarums to awaken us betimes on the morning of a Sabbath and to throw off carnal sloth and fleshly case Let us eye Christs pattern he rose early from the Grave even while it was yet dark before the Sun had guilded the World with its bright appearance On the morning of his Joh. 20. 1. Resurrection the Sun of Righteousness prevented the Sun of Mal. 4. 2. Mar. 16. 9. Nature Can we indulge our sloth on the Sabbath morning and think of Christs Resurrection He was up early to save us and shall not we be so to serve him shall not we take the wings of the morning as the Psalmist speaks and Psal 139. 9. retaliate this kindness of our Redeemer That Christ arose from the dead there was the truth of our redemption that he arose early there was the love of our redemption Christ's longing to arise and finish our work should enforce us to rise betimes to set upon his Job saith the morning stars sang Job 38. 7. together Our meeting with Christ on a Sabbath morning will make the sweetest musick When carnal sloth surpriseth us let us survey the History of Christ and as he left his tomb let us leave our down betimes Let not the Sun of Ortosâ—le i. e. ad orâ—um appropinquante Cyr. Righteousness shine in our faces with our curtains drawn about us May I not here expostulate Is the Disciple greater then his Master Betimes he left his lodging and shall not we The Master among us doth not usually rise before the Servants In a word Love to the Spouse to the Church made Christ betimes draw the curtains of his grave and let love to our Husband to our Duty to our Souls cause us betimes to draw the curtains of our beds so shall we seasonably Orientem solem adorant Persae adore this morning Sun Let us hear the clamours of the soul The Lords day is the souls market day the souls fair day its term time its Mr. Rogers busie opportunity for the
Therefore in the morning let us set upon those sacred services which becomes Gods holy day Indeed by private duties before the publick our spirits are made more tuneable and by private duties after the publick Gods Ordinances are made more profitable The morning of a Sabbath is but the spring of a Sabbath which is the sweetest and most pleasant season for the soul to converse with God then the soul seems to be most green and freshest then duties seem to be most melodious and musical and then Grace more delightfully buds forth and is exerted with the greatest satisfaction and beauty Exod. 34. 4. In the morning Moses went into the Mount to meet with God In the morning the Apostles went into the Temple Acts 5. 21. to declare the Gospel In the morning early Joshuah Josh 6. 12. and the Priests take up the Ark of God which was the testimony of the divine presence Job rose up early in the morning Job 1. 5. and offered burnt offerings The poor multitude early Luke 21. 38. in the morning wait upon the Ministry of Jesus Christ they wait for the morning dews of the Gospel they are the sweetest they are the freshest they are more natural and most seasonable Christ preaches his morning Lecture to his flocking John 8. 2. and numerous Auditors In a word the performance Commendat nobis et domini et populi diligentiam hujus quam audiendi illius quam docendi sedulitate declaraverit sed iterum diluculo venit in templum Musc in Joh. 8. of holy duties in the morning of Gods holy day they work a three-fold good They prepare the heart The sluggish heart must be rouzed and awakened in private before it can see its beloved in the publick It must be breathed by some divine duties that it may be more fresh for the publick administrations Bells must be raised before they be rung to make the pleasing musick The flowers must be watered either by the shower 1 Sam. 7. 3. 1 Chro. â—9 18. Rev. 21. 2 or the watering pot before they lift up their pleasant heads and cast their wonted perfume The morning duties of a Sabbath they put the heart into a serious and heavenly Ante nuptias sponsa ornatur et paratur sponso suo Par. frame and make it fit company for Jesus Christ When I have prayed in my family I am tuned and wound up the more for that duty in the Assembly of the Saints They are the discharge of conscience A conscientious person cannot waste the morning of a Sabbath that is destinated to holy service Among the Jewes they had their morning Num. 28. 4 9 10. sacrifices on their Sabbaths There is no part of a Sabbath must lie fallow especially in the morning On the morning Mat. 28. 1 6. early Christ rose for our salvation and on the morning of this holy day we must rise for his service Christ calls himself the morning star Rev. 22. 16. And when is it fittest to Rev. 22. 16. Christus exoriens in cordibus nostris caliginem mentibus nostris pellit Sicut Lucifer claritate stellas alias antecedens et ante solem oriens instantis diei praenuncia tenebras nocturnas dispellit behold this star but on the morning of his holy day The Christus est stella matutina non modâ— praesentis vitae noctem radâ—s suis nunâ— disâ—â—tit sed etiam in matutina communis resurrectionis luce omnibus sanctis sese conspicuum exhibebit Andr. morning of a Sabbath is the time for our first salutes of Heaven for the dressing of our souls for the trimming of our Lamps for the imitation of our Saviour in his early rising for the seasoning of our Families The morning is as currant coyne as the rest of the day it is more congruous to Nature as congruous to Grace anâ— whosoever shall by his sinfull negligence let that part of the Sabbath fly away shall hardly overtake the blessing the subsequent day It is not without remark that Christ is called the morning star Rev. 22. 16. and the Rising Sun Mal. 4. 2 both to denote our early approaches to him They are the Ensurers of spiritual gain It is in spiritual Rev. 22. 16. Mal. 4. 2. as it is in secular affairs The most thriving Husbands get up early in the morning and do much business before the shop is open and so the thriving Christians get up early on the Sabbath and so spend the morning as that they have done much of their work before the Sanctuary door is open or they meet with the more publick Assemblies What views mightest thou have of God by Holy Meditation what smiles and answers of Love from Christ by ardent and servent Prayers what heart warmings by holy Discourse on the morning of a Sabbath Then the first winds and brizes of Joh. 3. 8. the spirit blow and we may weigh Anchor the more happily for the whole ensuing day Josephs Brethren so minded Gen. 44. 3 4. their Journey that they set forward as soon as the morning was light The Sabbath day is our travelling day towards Canaan and therefore we must dispatch much of our Journey in the morning we should do as it was prophesied of Benjamin devoure the prey in the morning that prey Gen. 49. 27. Hos 6. 3. which God hath provided for those who right early sanctifie his holy Sabbath and we should do this the rather for it may be with us as once it was with the people of Israel Nunb 9. 21. that the cloud was taken up in the morning Now the cloud was the sign of Gods presence and if the cloud be taken up how can we expect a shower of mercy David saith 2 Sam. 23. 4. that the Lord is as the light of the morning when the Sun riseth when then is it more sutable to meet these bright appearances but on the morning especially on his own day 1 Kings 18. 26 29. The very Priests of Baal called upon their Idols from morning until evening and afterwards prophesied untill the time of the evening sacrifice and shall not we call upon our God the living God from morning until noon and so to the evening sacrifice especially on that day which is a day of worship and sacrifice The wisâ—man observes it is a principle agreeable to Nature to â—â—w our seed in the morning Eccles 11. 6. Isa 17. 11. and what are our holy duties but this seed which will spring up in Heavenly rewards if piously sown and the fittest Cant. 6. â—0 time for them is the morning especially the first day of the week Our Sabbath which is the morning of the week Sicut auroram Christum inveniemus paratum Del rio Christ speaking of the Spouse Cant. 6. 10. asketh the question who is she that looketh forth as the morning not onely denoting the Spouses freshness and beauty but the time
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
foundations of the world were laid He is from everlasting to everlasting His Name is everlasting God Gen. 21. 33. His Armes are everlasting arms His Mercy is everlasting mercy He is the everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. His Strength is everlasting strength Isa 26. 4. His Kindness Rex seculorum est proprium dei attributum significans quod deus est primum et aeternumens Alap Respondisse fertur Thales Milesius interrogantibus quid sit divinitas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is everlasting kindness Isa 54. 8. His heart was full of love before man was created to be the object of it nay he had his delights in himself before he had his darling Man to let out his love upon The Prophet calls God an everlasting light Isa 60. 19 20. which shews there was no twilight before this illustrious and bright Sun His years fail not there is no faintness can seize upon his Nature nay his years cannot be numbred Isa 36. 26. There can be no termination of his being He inhabits Eternity Isa 57. 15. there he alwayes dwelt The World is but a latter production to which he was pleased to give a being according to his good pleasure Let us meditate on the Independency of his being He subsists of himself and all things leane on the arm of his power and hang upon the good hand of his providence He sustains Acts 17. 28. the Angels He supplies man not onely with bread but Psal 147. 9. with breath He feeds the young Ravens they seek their meat at his hand God is the universal purveyor of the World and He supports this beautiful fabrick which else Psal 104 29. would soon sink into its primitive nothing and he doth it by his own manutenency Should God withdraw his fustentation the whole Creation would faint and dye away He is the great King which maintains the Universe He preserves Psal â—â—6 9. the stranger He relieves the fatherless and the widdow as the Psalmist speaks nay all things here below are constant stipendaries to this infinite God Let us meditate on the variety of his Excellencies He is excellent in Greatness He can wound the hairy scalp of the sinner and break him in pieces as a potters vessel His Exod. 15. 7 Psal 63. 21. Sword is called the sword of his Excellency Deut. 33. 29. as that weapon which can pierce the heart of his Enemies His loving kindness is radiant with Glory and Excellency How glorious and excellent is his mercy to draw sinners out of the dust and seat them with Angels in eternal glory And God is not onely excellent in loving but he is so in Exod. 14. 22. working He can bring mighty things to pass keep the water Dâ—n 3. 25. from drowning the fire from burning the Lions from Dâ—n 6. 22. devouring the Sun from posting His works are glorious in Joâ—h 10. 13. excellency In a word whatsoever is excellent is originally Isa 28. 29. seated in God and the creatures excellency is but a drop from this Ocean a ray from this glorious Sun If God put on Psal 93. 1. his Attire he cloaths himself with Majesty his inward Psal 104. 1. garment is Strength his outward wear is Honour the Sun beams are shades compared to the glittering of his apparel Let us meditate on the luster of his appearances When God discovers himself Angels cannot look upon him they are dazled with that overcoming sight and poor Man is frighted Isa 6. 5. into despair Isa 6. 5. And so Manoah said to his Wife Psal 68. 9. We shall surely dye because we have seen God If God appears Judg. 13. 22. in his Glory Mount Sinai smoaks and flames as if it was turned into an Aetna or Vesuvius those Mountains of Sicily Heu mihi perii occidi defeci ex consterra tione tantae visionis Alap and Campania which continually disgorge themselves in smoak and fire If God cast an eye upon the Earth it trembles if he but touch the mountains they smoak Psal 144. 32. Nay if God wrap himself up in a Cloud that dark appearance Exod. 19. 18. pearance is so full of Glory that the people keep at a distance Terra dicitur siluisse conspectu Alexandri pavore concussa nec resistere ausa est and the Priests dare not make any near approach 2 Chron. 5. 13 14. The most refracted manifestation of God astonisheth and strikes man into a consternation When God appears he must put on the mask of a cloud or else poor dust would unsoder and fall before him His appearance Exod. 3. 5. Exod. 19. 18. Isa 2. 10 19. Exod. 40. 34 35. Exod. 16. 10. Isa 2. 10. in the bush sanctified the ground His appearance on the Mount multiplyed the flame His appearance to sinfull Israel drives them into holes and places of retirement Isa 2. 10. How was Moses raised with the dazling appearance of Gods back parts on Mount Sinai Exod. 34. 6. And the Apostles ravished with Christs splendid and seraphick Exod. 34 6 35. Mat. 17. 2 3 4 5. appearance in the transfiguration His glorious appearance in Heaven feeds the songs of Angels His gracious appearance on earth to his poor wasting people fills their hearts with joy and they are refreshed and refined by it And his powerful appearance in Hell fills the damn'd with horrour and despair Job 37. 2. When God appears in Ordinances Job 37. 22. Mat. 18. 20 Acts 2. 37. Psal 63. 5. those very Ordinances become the Cordials of Grace the Instruments of conversion the Paradise of the soul the fulfilling of a promise the chariots of Christ to convey him to the believer and the banes of the most head-strong corruptions Let us meditate on the tender goodness of his mercies His mercy is great in point of quantity His mercy is numerous Gen. 19 19. Num. 14 19. Psal 5. 7. in point of multitude God hath a large off-spring of love His mercy is sweet and soft in point of quality Psal 103. 4. Sure mercy in point of perpetuity Acts 13. 34. Sheltring mercy where the believer may retire himself in point of security Vnus est dei filius uâ—um verbâ—m â—ed miseria nostra est multiplex non tantùm magnam misericordiam sed et miserationum quaerit multitudinem Psal 13. 5. His mercy fills earth Psal 119. 64. reacheth to the heavens Psal 57. 10. Nay it presseth into the Heavens Psal 36. 5. Nay it is so great it gets above the Heavens Psal 108. 4. And Mercy is not onely an outward dispensation from God but a sweet disposition in God Nehem. 9. 17. It is a pearl in his Crown it is a letter in his Name Exod. 34. 6. and a great letter too Nay it is a beam of his glory He delights to shew mercy His mercy is not above all his attributes that is impossible for what is in God is God but it is
is our way if we read Christ is the word if we eat or drink Christ is our food if we live Christ is our life Thus a gracious heart may make a spiritual use of all earthly objects and every Creature which presents it self may supply our contemplations on Christ And so we may happily begin our Sabbath But more particularly We must meditate on the most noble works of the Creation And here the Angels heighten and sublimate our meditations the Sun and the stars enlighten them the several pieces of the Universe enlarge them and the sweet fields and flowers refresh them the thunder and lightning awaken them the musical notes of the birds delight them Our Psal 18. 13. meditations are raised in beholding the Creatures The Creationis mundi efficiens causa non sola est Dei bonitas sed bonitas cum summâ sapientiâ conjuncta contemplation of created beings turned the Prophet into a Philosopher he observed the Wisdom and Power of God in the worlds Creation Jer. 10. 12. there saith the Prophet He hath made the Earth by his power he hath established the world by his wisdome and hath stretched out the Heavens by his discretion How sweetly doth the Prophet Philosophize upon the raising and setling the Fabrick of the world The Jer. 10. 12. contemplation of created beings turned the Psalmist into an Job 35. 5. Oratour How eloquently doth David paraphrase upon the Psal 104. 2. wonders and works of the Creation Psal 104. 2. there saith the Psalmist He stretcheth out the Heavens like a curtain layes the beams of his Chambers in the waters who makes the clouds his Chariot who walks upon the wings of the wind The Psalmist spends largely upon the treasury of his Rhetorick to set out the excellency of the worlds Architect Nay the contemplation of created beings turns Nomen gloria decus creatoris quia Coelum est nominatissima pars mundi Martin holy Job into an Astronomer he views with admiration Arcturus Orion the Pleiades and casts his eye upon the Chambers of the South Job 9. 8 9. And then he is folded up with amazement at the glory and power of the Creatour There are some who derive the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Job 26. 13. Heavens from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be amazed Indeed a prospect of that glorious body the Heavens the roof of the great house of the world that bespangled and enamel'd Canopy over our heads can drive the most considerate person into amazement The vastness and beauty of the body of the Heavens the swiftness and regularity of their motions and agitations which is above all reason can easily raise men into wonder and trasportation In Scripture we sometimes meet with the Heavens of Heavens 1 Kings 8. 27. and with the Nehem. 9. 6. Psal 148. 4. Isa 63. 15. Obstupuit propter insignem vastitatem istius corporis quod ipsi nos aspicientes in stuporem rapimur iscat third heavens 2 Cor. 12. 2. There are likewise the highest heavens and yet God made them Gen. 1. 4. and he can bow them as he listeth Psal 18. 9. He can stretch them to what latitude he pleaseth Isa 45. 12. He can span them Isa 48. 13. And if he be angry and inflamed he can throw a black cloath over them and shade their glory Isa 50. 3. Jer. 4. 23. 28. and melt them Psal 68. 8. and cause them to vanish like a smoak Isa 51. 6. Amos 9. 6. Nay how doth Holy Paul like an exact Logician draw the conclusion of the glory of things invisible by the splendour and excellency of things visible Rom. 1. 20. But further to dâ—late on this subject God created the body Acts 4. 15. of this world Gen. 1. 1. The inhabitants of this World Angels and Men Isa 42. 5. Mat. 2. 11. The light and Psal 89. 12. Luminaries of this world to distinguish it from a great and Amos 4 13. darker prison Gen. 1. 14. He created the garnishes and delights Psal 74. 17. of this world the soft waves the sweet fields the Si interrogas quotâ horâ creabantur Angeli Resp primâ cùm coelum creabatur Si interrogas quo loco Resp in loco beatorum Zanch. shady clouds the piercing winds to fan and cool the world and the different seasons to beautifie the year with successive alternations Pontanus Chancellour of Saxony propounds to be viewed the most beautiful arch work of heaven resting on no post but Gods power and yet standing fast for ever the clouds as thin as the liquor contained in them yet they hang and move salute us onely and threaten us and pass we know not whither Now all these things may feed our meditations on the morning of the Lords day though divine medidation may become any part of that sacred day Augustine August findeth no reason why God should be six dayes in making the world seeing he could have made it with a word but that we should be in a muse when we think of it and should think on his works in that order he made them Our meditations should take leisure in the survey of them and not pass them over in a short and momentany flight And besides the reason urged by St. Augustine we may take notice of a second viz. what a beautiful and sweet prospect meditation shall have in the survey of the works of the Creation which may entertain our view for some considerable Gen. 19. 3. time and may stop and stay our meditation as Lot did the Angels and force it to a retirement Let us meditate on the Sun that glorious though inanimate creature What is the Sun but the eye of the world Quid potest esse tà m apertum tamque perspicuum cum coelum aspeâ—cimus et coelestia contemplati sumus quam aliquid esse Numen praestantissimae mentis quo haec reguntur Tull. de Nat. deorum lib. 2. If we take notice of its scituation and motion the contemplation will be rare It is fixed in the midst of the Planets that it may dispense its light and heat for the greater advantage of the lower world By its course from East to West it causes the agreeable vicissitude of day and night and maintains the amiable war between light and darkness And this distinction of time is necessary for the pleasure and profit of the world The Sun by its rising chases away the shades of the night to delight us with the beauties of the stupendous Creation It is Gods Herald to call us forth to discharge our work The Sun governs our labours conducts our industry and when it retires from us a curtain of darkness is drawn over the world And this very darkness in some sense enlightens us for it makes visible the Ornaments Hunc diem confâ—cit Sol non motusuo proprio qui est per Zodiacum sed motuquo à primo mobili movetur Zanch. of
Heaven viz. the Stars and shews us their Aspects Dispositions and Motions which were hid in the day This darkness unbends the world and gives a short and necessary truce to mans labours and recreates their wasted spirits The Sun finisheth its compass about the world in twenty four hours a very short space for so long and tedious a circuit The diversities of seasons proceed from the motion of Psal 19. 1 2 3. the Sun and as the motion of the Sun from East to West makes day and night so its motion from North to South causes Summer and Winter and by both these the world is preserved Summer crowns the Earth with flowers and fruits and Winter which seemeth to be the death of nature robbing the earth of its heat and life contributes very much to the universal good it prepares the Earth by its cold and moisture for the returning Sun and seasons Indeed the motion of the Sun is admirable running ten or twelve millions of leagues every day without failing one minute of its appointed stage and inviolably observes its due and constant order Let us meditate on the Air whose extent fills the space between Heaven and Earth it is of a pure and reviving nature and easily transmits the influences of the Heavens And as One observes It is the Arsenal for Thunders Lightnings whereby God summons the world to dread and reverence Pedro d' Mexia Imper. Histor Diaphanus est Aer nisi verò talis esset species rerum coloratarum et figurarum adeòque omnium rerum visibilium recipi non possit nec ad oculos nostros deferri ac proinde nihil à nobis videri quâ—â—e igitur est hoc beneficium quodnam speculum hoc pulchrius c. insomuch that Caligula Rome's Emperour was wont to fly under his Bed at the noyse of the Thunder The Air it is the treasury of the clouds which dissolving in gentle showers refresheth the earth and calls forth its seeds into flourish and fruitfulness it fans the earth with the wings of the wind allaying those intemperate heats which otherwise would be injurious to the worlds inhabitants The Air is the region for the birds wherein they pass us so many mâ—ving Engins praising the Creatour the Air being onely their larger musick-room The Air serves for the breath and life of man and is divided into several Regions there are three Regions of the Air all usefull and admirable in their kind And as Zanchy observes By the Air things become visible and colours are seen in their proper comliness and beauty Let us meditate on the Sea that vast body of waters which fill the hollow and excavated places of the Earth as the Oceanus totam per circuitum terram eamque exâ—avatam instar magni et latissimi circuli ambiens efficit ut terra supra et infra sit â—quis detenta idque ex dei mandato tum ad perfectionem ornatumque universi tum ad plantarum et animantium salutem blood doth the veins of man Here the Leviathan playes and sports it self in its liquid traces and windings the high and proud waves serving to racket and bandy this Sea-Monster from one place to another Job 41. 1. Psal 104. 26. And in these great waters Gods admirable power is seen that they should be reined in by so weak a bridle as the sand and its rage should be snaffled by it when the wayes beat upon the shore in their insultation you would fear they would swallow up all but they no sooner touch the sand but all is turned into froth and its watrish insolence evaporates How doth the Lord descant upon these mountanous billows and this swelling Ocean Job 38. 8 9 10 11. Who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb When I made the cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling-band for it and Job 38 8 9 10 11. brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed The extent of the Sea is likewise to be considered it washes the four parts of the world and becomes the Bond of the Universe by it the most distant Nations are united it is the medium of Trade and Commerce in which Divine goodness is much to be observed and adored and Commodities peculiar to several Countries are made Common to all Thus great advantage and delight accruâ—s to man who sails upon this kind Element to the Port of his desire Let us meditate on the Earth Consider its position it hangs in the midst of the Air to be a convenient habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Cratylo for us It s stability is rare the Air it self is not able to bear a feather and yet the whole Earth remains in it fixt and unshaken notwithstanding all the storms and tempests which beat upon it surely the invincible and powerful hand of God must needs support and sustain it We may likewise contemplate on the various dispositions of the parts of the Isa 44. 24. Job 38. 4 6. Terra corpus est simplex grave solidum et densum in medio mundi tanquâ—m fundamentum ipsius collocatum eoque proprio in loco immobile et rotundum Zanc. earth the Mountanes Vallies Rivers which are as the veines to carry nourishment to this great body Nor are Plants to be pretermitted their roots whereby they draw their nourishment and the firmness of their stalk by which they are defended against the violence of the winds the expansion of their leaves by which they receive the dew of Heaven So now all the parts of the world may afford fuel for holy meditation The Heavens give light the Air breath the Sea Commerce the Earth habitation all these things being pondered and meditaâ—ed on in them we may read the Name of God indelibly printed Our meditation may flutter its wings over these considerables and fly into admiration of the Infiniteness Power Excellencies and Perfections of the Great Creatour Let us meditate on Man the abridgement and recapitulation of the whole Creation Let us consider and observe Psal 139. 15. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the composure of his body He was fearfully and wonderfully made as the Psalmist speaks Psal 139. 15 16. Let us take notice of the powers of his soul and who but an infinite Agent could unite this soul and body and clasp them together an immaterial soul with an earthly body Who but God the great Jehovah could assign them both their form situation temperature and fitness for those uses to which they serve Acts 17. 27 28. We may indeed see God in the activity of our hands in the beauty of our eyes in the vivacity of our senses and if we look inward what distinct and admirable faculties is the soul endowed and enriched with The understanding exercises the Empire over all
other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist faculties the will pursues with eagerness either that which is good or that which appears to be so the memory preserves fresh and lively the pictures of those things which Galerus antiquissimus peritissimus mediâ—us partes hominis corporales delineans in admirationem raptus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex clamat are committed to its charge Surely this consideration would make our meditations on the Lords day most sweet and delectable and what a golden thread of divine wisdom runs through the whole Universe The Order of the world shews the wisdom of God Prov. 3. 19 20. The Earth is set lowermost as the foundation of the rest the Sea is pent within its Channels the Air is above them both and the Heavens are the highest loft of the Creaâ—ion And so admirable order may be seen in making the world God proceeding from things imperfect to things more perfect First there is the rude mass then the Heaven and the Earth glorious Psal 104. 24. creatures but without life then Herbs and Plants which 1 Cor. 1. 21. have a vegetative life but without sense or motion then the brute Creatures which have sense and motion but want reason and last of all Man whom God endows with a reasonable soul and makes him after his own image And Gen. 1. 1 2 11 20 26. in this order we may perceive first the dwelling place is appointed then the food then the creature which is to feed 1 Kings 10. 7. upon it the beast upon the herbs and man upon the beasts The Queen of Sheba was astonished at Solomons wisdom when she perceived the well ordering of his family Certainly Abraham cum suis civis erat non Canaan sed Coeli in Canaan domum haberâ— noluit seâ— in mobili semper habitavit tabernaculo qui oculos jugiter conjiciebat in coelestem civitatem Ansel did we observe the order of nature we should more wonder at the infinite wisdom of God Heb. 11. 10. Amos 9. 6. The several parts of the world are sometimes compared to a building and in this great house every part conspires to the beauty service and decency of the whole The roof of this building is Heaven the Sphears are Chambers and stories in the Heavens the foundation of this building is the Earth Job 38. 5 6. The Stars and glorious Luminaries are windows in this house and the Sea is the water-course which serves this magnificent Structure And it is observable that every thing in the world is fitted for use and service The workmans skill is as much commended in the use of an instrument as in the making of it Now the upper Isa 40. 28. Heavens are made for the habitation of the Saints the middle Isa 43. 15. Heavens to give light heat and influence the Air or lower Isa 42. 5. heavens to give breath to sustain both man and beast the Isa 45. 12. fruits are for food the plants and herbs for medicine Galen Mal. 2. 10. saith there are six hundred muscles in the body of man and Eph. 3. 9. every one fitted for ten uses and so for bones nerves arteries and veins whoever shall observe them their situation use correspondence cannot choose but fall into admiration of the wise Creatour The wisdom of Men and Angels cannot mend the least thing in a Flie the figure colour quantity or quality of a worm or of a flower all which are made with so much exactness And it was no less then blasphemy in Alphonso the Spanish King to aver That had he been the Maker of the World he would have cast it into a better form No All the works of Creation are stupendious and admirable and are as so many asterisks to point out the glory and fame of that incomprehensible being who was the author and founder of them CHAP. XIX God is most wonderfull in the works of his providence WE must meditate on the works of Providence God is seen and manifested not onely in the making but Duplex est in deo potentia una quâ novit omnia altera per quom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amm. in the governing of the world not onely in the power of his hand but in the wisdom of his head he hath not onely made the ship but he sits at the stern and is the pilot to guide it Divine providence will be more fitted and suited to holy meditation if we trace providence In its conservation of all things in their beings By Gods immutable and powerfull providence all things are sustained Quomodo aut Sapiens esset deus mundi conditor sine sciret aut omnipotens si non posset aut bonus si nollet mundum quem condidit cur are gubernare and supported Acts 17. 28. It is a good saying of a learned man How could God be unspeakably wise if he knew not be infinitely powerful if he could not be admirably good if he would not govern and take care of the world he hath created A Master of a Family will take care for and support the Children of his loins the servants of his house and the place of his habitation where he himself hath taken up his abode That God rules and sustains all things by his good Providence is easily to be demonstrated if we look upon the world in general He hangs the Earth upon no king Job 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26. 7. And what then should sustain that great vast and massy body but the supporting hand of the Almighty He not only sustains a Body of Earth but gives life and breath unto all things Acts 17. 25. The World doth not only rest steddy as leaning upon the Pilâ—ar of Gods Power but all creatures in the world have their life and motion from him He puts a principle of life into them to travel and flit Damascen 1 Eph. 11. up and down the world their steps are guided and given Acts 17. 24 25 c Prov. 15. 13. John 5. 17. Annon Dei manu omnia sustentantur reguntur certe durare non possunt presertim tam diu cum omnia sint ex nihilo Zâ—nch by the Lord Their locomotive power is from him And God doth not only give breath but bread to his creatures Psal 33. 19. He spreads the Table for Man his Vice-roy in the world And the young Ravens cry to him all the fealty they can shew they cry and they have their supplies from him Psal 147. 9. Luke 12. 24. And God doth not only make provision fâ—r man but afford protection to him His food shall sustain him and mans Sword shall not dâ—stroy him God will not only exhibit supply but keep off danger This likewise is verified in inanimate things He numbers the Stars that one of those glistring tapers shall not be missing nay he calls them by their Names Psal 147. 4. to shew his exact providence for the conservation
Man when he breaks Gods Commands Omnia deus quidem nectit ad suos trahit effectus Boeth he fullfills Gods Decrees and when he runs counter to what God imposes he keeps pace with what God determines That alwayes comes to pass which God who exerciseth an universal providence over the world hath appointed to fall out and come to pass Those who crucified Christ acted a Acts 2. 23. great sin yet they fulfill a certain decree for the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. The divine purpose and determination is the center to which the lines of occurrences and affairs are drawn There was a medley and miscellanious contrivance to bring Christ to the Cross There was Judas his treachery the Pharisees enmity the peoples inconstancy Pilates desire to make himself popular and the Souldiers cruelty but all these different interests meet in the execution of Gods designed purpose as Peter most excellently Acts 2. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God ye have taken Acts 2. 23. Exod. 2. 24. Exod. 7 22. and by wicked hands have crucified and slain And thus Pharaoh not onely burdens Gods people but hardens his own heart both which carry on Gods end which he had 1 Sam. 6. 6. determined viz. The delivery of the poor Jewes and the drowning of Pharoah and his wretched Aegyptians So Mat. 2. 15. Gods end and purpose is atchieved in every undertaking Herod in his rage enforces Joseph to carry Christ in his infancy Hos 11. 1. into Aegypt but Christs going into Aegypt did not so Verba haec ad Christum referenda sunt quamvis judaeorum interpretationes ab hoc scopo lâ—ngè abeant Riv. much decline Herods fury as accomplish a divine prophesie Hos 11. 1. Herod unwillingly fulfils what God wisely had foretold The Gospel is the sweetest means of salvation yet it is a savour of death unto death to the reprobate world They suck poyson out of these flowers because they shall dash upon their designed ruine The Gospel of life shall be a means to accomplish their determined death All things arrive at Sicut fragrantia unguenti columbam vegetat scarabaeum necat et sicut lumen solis oculos sanos recreat debiles offendâ—t sic Christus malis in ruinam est bonis in resurrectionem gloriosam Theoph. 2 Cor. 2. 16. 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. that end which God hath set them Christ himself is for the ruine of sinners which are appointed to misery for the joyous salvation of Saints who are determined to glory So the same fire purges the Gold and consumes the stubble In a word the works of providence First Sometimes how strange are they and misteriously intricate as in the case of Joseph through how many mazes and maeanders did that holy man pass to his appointed principality Secondly Sometimes how terrible are they and tremendous as in the case of Pharoah his fatal and final destruction being ushered in by ten preceding Judgements Thirdly Sometimes how worthy and glorious are they as in the case of Hester who was advanced by unexpected Est 7. 3 4. means to her soveraignty for the preservation of the Isa 44. 28. Church from ruine Isa 45. 1. Fourthly And sometimes how good and gracious as in the case of Cyrus who was raised by God for the returne of Israel to their beloved Country and Home CHAP. XX. God is most gracious in the transcendent work of mans Redemption LEt us meditate likewise upon the great work of our Redemption This glorious work is the Master-piece of divine Christus est dei sapientia tum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aeterm patris tum revelata quia in Christi cognitione salutaris sapientia sita est Par. wisdom The Angels desire to look into it 1 Pet. 1. 12. but though they excell in wisdom yet they cannot see to the bottom of it there are so many small threads of curious contrivance in it that no eye of the creature can possibly discern them It is worth our notice that Christ who carties on this work is not onely called the power of God but the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. to evidence the traces of infinite contrivance which are in this blessed undertaking And therefore how should we on the morning of a Sabbath contemplate on this rare design of mans redemption by our dear Jesus the holy Son of God How should we ponder 1 Pet. 1. 19 20. Gen. 3. 15. it deeply get lively and strong apprehensions of it that it might leave deep and lasting impressions upon our souls Let Eph. 1. 4. us view over the several passages and transactions of this Non-such of Gods works First Let us view it in the plat-form how gloriously was this laid in the eternal purposes of Gods love Eph. 1. 4. Yea in the eternal promise past between the Father and the Son Eph. 3. 8. Christus est agnus mactaâ—us ab origine mundi 1. Aeternâ dei praeordinatione 2. Promissione de semine mulicris contrituro caput serpentis 3. Fide Patrum quae sui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rerum sperandarum 4. In victâ—mâ—â— patrum quae erant ipse agnus sacramentaliter 5. In membris suis quibus patientibus ipse patiebatur Par. Tit. 1. 2. O the everlastingness infiniteness and unsearchableness of this love of God! That the everlasting God the Majesty of Heaven and Earth should take care of us before the world was that he should buisie himself and his Son about poor worthless and wretched worms O let us adore this first love admire this free love of God and Christ Secondly Let us see in the next place the early discovery and shining forth of this mistery in the very morning of the world No sooner man was fallen but a promise of Christ our Redeemer is reached forth unto him Gen. 3. 15. And after many ages God sends his blessed Son out of his bosome to fulfill this promise Gal. 4. 4. We could not come up to Heaven to Christ and therefore he comes down upon Earth to us O let us see the King of glory stooping bowing the Heavens to come down and dwell in a dungeon and lodge among prisoners and pitch his tent in the Rebels camp Let us think how the holy Angels wondered to see the King of Heaven stepping down from his throne to sit on his footstool Occisio Abelis innocentis suit figura occisionis agni Lyra. yea putting off the robes of a Prince to put on the livery of a Servant Phil. 2. 7 8. and that after treason had been stampt upon it nay taking our nature after it had been in armes against God not that Christ took the sin of our nature upon him Heb. 4. 15. but he took the shame of it after it had been under a cloud under a blot before God and Angels nay God
tamenillam agnoscunt valde infirmam lanquidam et obscuratam propter perpetuam illam pugnam rebellionem carnis Daven wing and was upon the flight from him Psal 51. 11. The Apostle saith Col. 3. 3. Our life is hid with Christ both in point of security and in point of secresie with Christ as in the spring with Christ as in the root and principle and the root we know is under ground and no eye of the passenger observes it with the several threads of it Let one thing more come within our view This work of grace is often under a mask and faces are not discovered under a mask there is a continual combat between the flesh and the spirit and the poor Saint stands as a spectatour he waits and cannot tell which of the two combatants will go away with Gal. 5. 17. flying colours Let us meditate on the beautifullness of the work of Grace The Scripture best depaints this lovely work Sometimes it Nova creatâ—ra spiritualis effecta novam gratiae vitâ—m fortua est ut deâ—â—â—ceps in novitate vitae ambulet is called Regeneration Joh. 3. 5. Sometimes it is called a new Creation Gal. 6. 15. With what flourish and glory did the world look when God did first create it and it first put on its comly dress and attire how pleasant was the Earth in its first spring Sometimes the work of grace is called Gods workmanship Eph. 2. 10. and this work must be good Gen. 1. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is his All things he made were very good Gen. 1. 31. Nay sometimes this work is called our coming to our selves Luke 15. 17. And when lunatick persons are reduced to their wits what a comly and a lovely sight is it Indeed holiness is an attribute of God it is the loveliness of Angels it is the beauty of Saints this makes them excellent Psal 16. Psal 16. 3. Prov. 12. 26. Prov. 17. 27. Ezek. 16. 7. Phil. 1. 10. 3. nay more excellent then their neighbours Prov. 12. 26. The habits of grace are excellent ornaments Ezek. 16. 7. The wayes of grace are excellent wayes Phil. 1. 10. The work of grace it sheds light into the understanding makes it day there the beginnings of grace are day break in the soul Grace it shapes the will and brings it into form it sublimates Col. 3. 1 2. the affections and raises them from the dung-hill and makes them as it was said of the Bereans Acts 17. 11. more noble it softens the heart and makes it pliable to the tenders of the Gospel it cleanses the conscience from its filth and nastiness Acts 15. 9. it composes the conversation 1 Cor. 15 58 59 it adorns the life and bespangles it with good works those beautiful issues of a work of grace Let us meditate on the beneficialness of the work of grace Grace is glory initiated the dawning of future glory and glory is the noon-tide of grace There is a connection between grace and glory Psal 84. 11. They are clasped together by an eternal decree Gods everlasting purpose of love hath espoused grace to glory The work of grace foreruns Deus dedit nobis pignus futurae haereditatis gratiam quâ nos unxit â—t signavit in filios dei discrevitque à filiis diaboli the wages of glory Grace is onely glory in its infancy and glory is grace in its full growth Grace and glory differ in degree not in kind The spirits work is onely the first Scene of heaven here the spirit is a refining above it will be a ravishing spirit Death blows the bud of grace into the flower of glory 2 Cor. 1. 22. Eph. 1. 14. Grace onely ushers in glory it is onely the greener fruit of heaven and in Oecum future blessedness it comes to its full maturation In a word 2 Cor. 1. 22. the work of grace is the beginning of heaven in the soul and Eph. 1. 14. Christ in the heart doth fully assure us we shall see Christ Eph. 3. 17. in the Throne Let us meditate in the morning of a Sabbath on the works of glory How should we contemplate on heavenly things Psal 36. 8. Heb 4. 9. Rev. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Cor. 2. 9. O ineffabile gaudium in sanctis glorificatis qui ad dextram Christi sistent ut subditi serenissimo suo principi ut filii benignissimo suo patri ut regale sacerdotium gratiosissimo suo pontifici Glass on Gods heavenly day what those chambers of rest what those rivers of pleasure what those crowns of righteousness what those thrones of glory are which God hath prepared for his believing and beloved ones who have rejoyced in his holy day here and made it their seraphical delight From the mount of meditation as from mount Nebo we may take a prospect of the land of Promise which Christ hath taken the possession of in the name of all believers Heb. 6. 20. Heaven must needs be a glorious City which hath God both for its builder and inhabitant it must needs be the extract and quintessence of all blessedness On Gods day in the morning let meditation listen to the musicks of the Bride-chamber take a tast of our Masters joy peep within the vail and take a glance of the face of God and make an essay how well a crown of righteousness becomes the believers head And surely we cannot meditate on these things but we Quanta erit illa felicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum vacabitur dei laudibus qui erit omnia in omnibus Aug. must rejoyce in hope What prisoner shackled with the chains of temptation and fettered with the irons of his own corruption being in the dark prison of the world can meditate on the time when all these restraints shall be filed off and he enjoy the pleasant light and glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8. 21. but he will be transported with joy and exultation Meditation brings down heaven to us and we travel in the view of things superlative and ineffable In Glory we shall see the King in his beauty Isa 33. 17. There John 14. 2. Psal 16. 11. God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. There shall be beauty Rev. 3. 21. to the eye musick to the ear joy to the heart light to the mind perfection to the soul plenary and absolute satisfaction to the Saint Glory is meditations upper-loft it is its highest gallery to walk in it is its pleasing nest among the stars Meditation may take a view of the pompous Theater 2 Cor. 1. 3. Mat. 1. 21. Heb. 7. 25. of glory where there are the three persons in the God-head The Father of our mercies Jesus Christ the Saviour of our souls the Holy Ghost the Healer of our natures the Father who hears our prayers the Son who is our intercessour above us and the
spirit who is our intercessour within us And in correspondence to this blessed Trinity there Rom. 8. 26 27. are three species of beings who enjoy glory the glorious God the holy Angels the glorified Saints and thus meditation may tune the morning of a Sabbath and the musick may sound all the ensuing day CHAP. XXII God is most illustrious in his Bounty and Presence WE must meditate on the morning of a Sabbath not onely on the nature of God on the attributes of God and on the works of God but likewise on the bounty of God and his indulgence in giving us his Sabbath Our very work on this day is our reward our spiritual duties are our greatest dignities O what an honour what a favour what a happiness doth God vouchsafe us in giving us this golden season David though a King and the Head of the Psal 84. 10. Psal 42. 2. best people in the world esteemed it an honour to be the lowest Officer in Gods house Psal 84. 10. The ordinances Psal 63. 2. of God are called our appearing before God Psal 42. 2. The fruition of them is as the seeing of his face Capernaum Deut. 4. 7. because of them was lifted up to heaven Mat. 11. 23. Who can tell what honour it is to appear in the presence of this King Or what happiness to see his lovely countenance In the ordinances of God the Christian hath sweet communion with ravishing delight in and enflamed affection to the blessed God if in them he tasts God to be gracious and hath the first fruits of his glorious and eternal harvest Well might the Protestants of France call the place of their publick meeting on Gods holy day Paradise Ordinances are heaven in a Glass and the Londs day is heaven in a Map O the bounty of God in giving us this blessed day This day is to be valued at a high rate therein we enjoy fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ we have tasts of the Spirit and feel the influential impressions of his grace we are going up the stairs till we come to the highest loft of 1 Joh. 1. 3. Psal 34. 8. glory The Jewes call the week dayes prophane dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Sabbath a holy and precious day The Greeks call week days working dayes but the Sabbath is a day of sweet rest Other dayes are common and ordinary dayes but this holy Sabbath is the chief of dayes Many daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all Many dayes as Lecture Prov. 31. 25. dayes Fast dayes Thanksgiving dayes have done vertuously but thou O Sabbath excellest them all Well might the good soul run to meet thee in the morning and salute thee with a Come my sweet spouse thee have I loved for thee have I longed and thou art my dearest delight How far then Honos ne sit onus nec verba spiritus verbera carnis should we be from accounting the Sabbath our burden and our attendance on Ordinances upon that blessed day our task or bondage O let us not esteem spiritual opportunities our fetters but our freedom Think what the Phaenix is among the birds the Lyon among the beasts the Fire among the elements the Prince among the Subjects that is the Lords day among other dayes Wax in the shop is worth something but wax put to some Deeds is worth thousands Ordinary dayes are wax in the shop but the Lords day is wax put to the deeds Upon this day Christ carries the soul into his wine-Cellar and his banner over him Cant. 2. 4. is love Can. 2. 4 5. Upon other dayes Christ feeds his members but on this day he feasts them on other dayes they have their ordinary dyet but on the Sabbath they have their exceedings on this day Christ brings forth his living waters Gen. 43. 34. his best wine Joh. 2. 10. His finest bread his Benjamins Haec visio non est personalis et Jacobi solummodò consolatio sed commune piorum solamen ut de praesentiâ et divino auxilio dubitemus Par mess On the Lords day Christ pitches his Tabernacle among us we are as it were taken up into the mount with God there to be transfigured before him Mat. 17. 2. When the Lord appeared unto Jacob in a vision by night he saw a Ladder erected between Heaven and Earth and the Lord on the top of it the Angels ascending and descending by it and when he awoke How dreadfull saith he is this place the Lord was here and I was not aware surely it is no other Gen. 28. 16 17. then the house of God and this is the gate of heaven Are not Hos 11. 9. our places of assembling the very gates of heaven In our Deut. 33. 3. solemn assemblies is there not a ladder erected between earth and heaven and is not the Lord at the top of it The gracious Sicut deus sanctus est sic etiam populum sonctificat et servat et in medio eorum est et apparet Riv. instructions which we receive are they not so many Angels descending The gracious motions which arise in our hearts upon meditation on Gods word upon thanksgiving to God or rejoycing in him or else sorrowing for our sins are they not as so many Angels ascending And have we not then great cause to be filled with admiration and holy gratulations to God for Sabbath indulgence for his rich bounty in the donation of his blessed day On the morning of the Sabbath let us meditate on the presence of God Many miscarriages are acted by man and many miseries do seize upon man for the neglect of this ever Deus totus oculus est et minima videt August seasonable meditation A solemn consideration of Gods presence would restrain us from sin would quicken us in duty would draw out our graces would compose our spirits and cast a holy awe upon us which things would be inductive of much fruitfulness and piety When we sin we forget Gods eye is upon us when we flag in duty we do not think God is nigh to us when we trifle away Sabbath we do not remember Gods hand will certainly be against us Now there is a two-fold presence of God There is a more general presence and God is present every where Deus presens est 1. Per Essentiam Psal 139. 12. 1 Chron. 28. 9. First By his Essence and so he fills all things 1 Kings 8. 27. and thus he fills heaven with his glory Earth with his goodness and Hell it self with his power and justice Secondly God is present every where by his knowledge so he beholds all things 2 Chron. 16. 9. Light and darkness 2 Per Cognitionem night and day are all one to him Psal 139. 12. He seeth the very imaginations of our hearts His eyes behold and his eye lids try the children of men Psal 11. 4.
body and Requiescâ—mus in Sabbato ne continuis laboribus fatigemur et eorum remissione fessâ— membra leventur vires reficiantur a revival to the soul the bodies ease and the souls enjoyment the outward man on the Sabbath recovers stâ—ength and the inward man receiveth Christ Our exhausted spirits on Gods holy day are sweetly recruited and our importunate souls are rarely answered they then prey upon a Christ offered in the Gospel Plaâ—o observes That the Goâ—s willing to recruiâ— mankind over-toiled with labour in pity have appointed festival days for their ease and relaxation Thus that Heathen Philosopher gives in his verdict to this particular Dii genus hominum laboribus pressum miserati propter remissionem laborum ipsis statuâ—runt solennia Fâ—stâ— Plat. lib. 2. de legib Indeed Gods blessed Sabbath shores up a piece of clay and it builds up a pieâ—e of eternity the precious and the immortal soul The Sabbath is the bodies friend and the souls fosterer the bodies rest-time and the souls term-time Those words of God Deut. 5. 14 15. That thy man servant and thy maid servant may rest as well as thou and remember that thou wast a servant in the Land of Egypt are very emphatical and intimate to us that one necessary end of the Sabbath Deut. 5. 14 15. is rest and that not onely for governors of Families who happily need it not so much but also for servants and they which have tasted of toil and bondage will easily allow rest to others There is an aeconomical end of the Sabbath viz. That the whole family be taken off from their customary toil as Exod. 20. 10. Nec Pater familias nec ejus familia nec animalia domestica nimiis laboribus perdenda sunt sed uno die intra septimanâ—m quiete fruantur à laboribus Zan was suggested somewhat before and labour and enjoy a sweet vacation for their communion with God On this holy day the governor is to cease from his secular over-sight and usual labour the children are to suspend their daily employments and the servants are to lay aside their accustomed sweat and the Posterity of Adam is now neither to dig nor delve and to get his living by the sweat of his brows This day the Ox must ot toil at the plow nor the Ass groan under his burden nor must the stranger be disturbed in his pleasing repose Thomas Aquinas observes In observantiâ Sabbaâ—â— sâ—nctifiâ—atio est finis praeâ—â—â—â—â—m est câ—ssâ—re ab â—â—ere sâ—rvili quin. secunda seâ—undae quaest 122. The level of the fourth Commandment aims at holy rest and a full cessation from servile and secular labours And Musculus takes notice That in case of Religion there is no difference between the Master and the Servant between the Parents and Children but all distinctions of Sexes and Degrees and Relations is quite taken away and the same Law for the Sanctification of that holy day indifferently involves and includes Communi sâ—nctificandi Sabbati lege constringâ—ntur omnes ex aequo Herus Servus Pater Laberi Mas et Faemina superiores inferiores Musc Deut 5 14. Vt familia quiefâ—eret haec habes ad Charitatem all The observation of the Sabbath reaches him who grinds at the Mill as well as him who sitteth on the Throne Then the whole family must be built up in their most holy faith as the Temple was in its Magnificent structure without noise of ax or hammer 1 Kings 6. 7. without interruption or noise of worldly and secular labour A learned man thinks it is agreeable to the Law of charity that Children and Servants should be call d off from their servile employments upon the Lords day their souls requiring as much care and attendance as the souls of those who move in a higher sphere and take the upper seat in the houshold and family There is an Ecclesiastical end of the Sabbath we are then to be conversant about those things which belong to the Finis secundus Sabbati est Ecclesiasticus eò quod cirea dei cultum et meditationem divinorum operum versatur Omnia enim ea quae ad veram pietatem et verum dei cultum pertinent in hoc sacro otio peragi debent Hospin Ostendit Deus discrimen inter labores externos et inter illos pietatis et cultus Divini in quarto praecepto Ger. Church of Christ we are to attend upon the worship of God to meet with the people of God and to refresh our souls with the Ordinances of God This day is a time for the Church not the Change it is not the fair of the body but the Market-day of the soul The things to be agitated this day are of another nature than the affairs of the week Now we must not mind our coffer but our Christ not the meat which perisheth John 6. 27. but that which endureth to everlasting life God gives us the seventh part of the week to trade for Heaven to dig for grace to sue out our pardon to strike high and look after an interest in a Mediator to lay up for eternity and to mind our part in Canaan above in the Countrey to come Now must we dress the Garden of our souls Gen. 2. 15. Now we must drive furiously 2 Kings 9. 20. for a Crown of glory Now we must pursue the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3. 8. The affairs of the Sabbath are not civil but Ecclesiastical There is a Christian end of the Sabbath viz. That it may be a note and badge of our profession In the Primitive times the Pagans used to question the Christians upon this interrogatory Hast thou kept the Lords day and the answer Beati martyres in judicium vocati et à proconsâ—le interragâ—ti num Collectam fecissent aut Dominicum egissent Voce saepius repetitâ respondont se Christianos esse Collectam Dominicam et Dominicum congruâ religionis devotione celebrasse quia intermitti non potest Baron commonly was I am a Christian I dare not intermit it for the Law admonisheth me of it namely the Law of God of Christ of Christianity which answer cost many Christians their lives the last drop of their dearest bloud Never were two truths more deeply dyed in the bloud of Martyrs than the Lords Day and the Lords Supper have been the one under Popish the other under Pagan persecution The keeping of the Lords day in those Golden dayes of the Church was the Christians Motto the Saints Shibboleth the Martyrs boast and persecutors frowns could not cause them to suspend it nor the greatest fury enforce them to renounce it And the holy observation of the Lords day did not only then discriminate the Christian from the Heathen the Church from the world but it still differences the Saint from the sinner the believer from the formalist the carnal Gospeller from the real professor The Lords day is the Crown of the
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
the manner of our seeing God whether with the eyes of our body or onely with the eyes of our minds or whether as some with our bodily eyes spiritualized I shall not intricate my self in these mazes of dispute but onely conclude our sight of God will be glorious full perfect ravishing everlasting and will run parallel with our eternal Sabbath Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath above in the rest of it To work upon our Christian Sabbath is to defile it our sweat is our sin the pains we must take on this holy day is not with our hands but with our hearts The brain indeed must work but in holy meditation the tongue must work but in prayer and supplication the heart must work but in ardent and holy affection our faith must work but in seasonable application in apprehending Christ and entertaining Truth But as for secular works they must be Operum humanorum duo sunt genera unum est licitorum in se alterum est illicitorum licita sunt necessaria honesta utilia in rebus humanis Illicita sunt noxia inhonesta et superflua Quae in Sabbatâ— prohibentur non sunt in se idicita sed quae alitèr sunt omninò licita ut appareat prohiberi operas domesti eas necessariaâ— et honestas 〈◊〉 utilos quideâ— in se verùm ad sanctificationem Sabbati omninò incommodas Muscul wholly suspended and laid aside on the Lords day To work upon the Sabbath 1. It is a sacrilegious act it robs God of his time that season which God hath principally set apart to converse with men The Sabbath is the Lords day it is none of ours it is his inclosure none of our Common and therefore to spend his day or any part of it about our works it is both sin and sacriledge Secondly It is a confusing Act Six dayes we must work if we likewise work on the Sabbath where is the distinction Then there will be no wall of separation all will be working dayes and there is no day of rest and so the fourth Commandment is a meer parenthesis and God wrote with his own finger a meer impertinency To what a height of frenzy will these consequencies rise There is no gold of a Sabbath to be found in the rubbish of the week why should any rubbish of the week be found among the gold of a Sabbath Thirdly It is a destructive act It robs the soul of its sweetest opportunity Christ is most principally to be spoken with by the soul on his own day this day is set apart for intercourse with heaven it is the term time of the soul a busie time for his affairs and therefore to spend any of this time in secular works what is it but to pluck the bread out of the mouth of the soul and to throw fire-brands into the believers harvest Fourthly It is an Irreligious Act below the devotion of the very Heathens who have kept a Sabbath as a rest It is recorded in Heathen Stories That their Boyes go not to School on the Sabbath day neither are humane Arts and Sciences then taught or disputed And Philo Judaeus observes Quae operasabbato facienda deus prohibuerit illud non solùm ex aliis scripurae locis sed ex praecepti hujus verbis colligitur non facies ullum opus scil servile quod publici ministerii partes et cultum divinum impediat Morale enim et perpetuum est opera illa prohiberi quae publici ministerii exercitium impediant Interim tamen opera illa quae ad culium dei dilectionem proximi et vitae necessitatem pertinent non sunt prohibito â—â—r de leg 〈◊〉 That divers poor people that never had Scripture or Prophet among them but followed onely the conduct of the light of Nature and what they had learned from their Ancestours did keep the Sabbath day And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us that the very Heathens did account the seventh day a holy day And that Alexander Severus Emperour of Rome though a Pagan and an Infidel yet every Sabbath day he retired from his warlike affairs and went up into the Capitol to worship the Gods Musculus calls All secular and servile works the impediments of Sabbath-holiness And indeed they are that dirt which stops up the water-course of grace that it cannot run out upon the soul It is very observable in the time of the Law how severely God prohibits working upon the Sabbath First He puts a prohibition in the fourth Commandment that Standard of our obedience in the observation of the Sabbath Thâ—u shalt do no manner of work Exod. 20. 10. and these words are repeated Deut. 5. 14. That by the mouth of two Witnesses this truth may be established And Secondly From the root of this great Command sprouts many additional injunctions not to work upon the Sabbath Exod 31. 14 15. Exod. 35. 2. Lev. 23. 3. Thirdly Nay Servile work is so inconsistent with the solemn feast of the Sabbath that God forbids all servile works on other festivals those solemnities of an inferiour nature On the dayes of the Pass-over Lev. 23. 7. On the dayes of Expiation Lev. 29. 23. Lev. 23. 28 29 30. On the feast of Tabernacles Lev. 23. 34 35. And surely if inferiour dayes of observation were defiled by secular works much more the blessed Sabbath in which the people of God must keep their meetings in the Suburbs of Heaven Fourthly How often doth God espouse Sabbath and Rest together as indivisible Exod. 16. 23. Exod. 31. 15. Exod. Sabbatum est sanctum otium 35. 2. And indeed holy Rest is the life of a Sabbath and if the Sabbath rest be disturbed it faints away and becomes Leid Prof. an unprofitable miscellany of rest and labour and an expiring dying priviledge Fifthly How severely doth God threaten the disturbers of the Sabbath rest God threatens them to throw them out of the Church Exod. 31. 14. Nay to throw them out of the world Exod. 31. 15. And brands such as are violatours of his Covenant Exod. 31. 16. And shall Rest be so necessary for the legal and not as convenient for the Evangelical Sabbath Surely much more the Lords day must not be disturbed by mans work but as Christ on the first day of the week rose from his toyle to his triumph so must Christians on that sanctified day lay aside all their worldly toyle and labours and take up their triumph and rejoycing in God spending those golden hours of the Sabbath in heavenly Communion sweetly delighting themselves in the visits of their beloved to which all labour is a disturbance and so our Sabbath above it is a perfect an undisturbed rest Cessat homo ab omni opere die Sabbati futuram sanctorum requiem significans quâ—ndo laboribus hujus vitae liberati et sudore carporis de terso beatam cum Christo et jucundissimam vitam agemus Ambr. in which the mind shall not be rackt with
end or conclusion as Musculus well observes The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with accidental afflictions Neither sorrow nor crying neither shall Luctus oritur ex morte amicorum et priâ—atione eorum quos charos habuimus non erit dolor quia mors non erit erepti nobis amici restituentur videndi salutandi c. there be any more pain Rev. 21. 4. In our heavenly rest we shall neither grieve for the loss of friends nor cry for the smart of troubles nor roar for anguish or pain but eternal ease and tranquillity shall sweeten our glorious Sabbath and we shall for ever be singing our requiems There shall be no spot and therefore no sorrow no guilt and therefore no grief affliction being the inseparable companion of sin and deviation The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by persecuting afflictions Neither shall the Sun light upon them nor any heat Rev. 7. 16. By this heat we may truly understand Rev. 7. 16. the heat of persecution Mat. 13. 21. Satans rage and wicked mens fury may reach gracious but not glorified Saints The Church Militant but not the Church Triumphant Eph. 6. 16. Heb. 12. 22. Satan cannot throw his fiery darts into the New Jerusalem the City of the first born Here the Sun of persecution may arise and scorch the Saints but in glory there shall be no need of Sun for light Rev. 22. 5. much less for beams to burn but the Lord shall give them light which will be only the shining forth of eternal grace and favour the light of his own blessed countenance Our Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed by toyle or labour In the Earthly Paradise man was to dress the Garden Gen. 2. 15. and this he was to do in his state of innocency Luke 23. 43. 2 Cor. 12. 4. so that there was labour though no pain there was some kind of care though no corrosive But in Paradise above Rev. 2. 7. there shall be no minding of the fruits of the Earth but the Saints shall be alwayes tasting the joyes of Heaven What should we toyle with in our heavenly Sabbath with our hearts There is no corruption with our hands there is no want or capacity of addition with our enemies there is no temptation neither of fury from Satan or flattery from the world and what should we labour for To gain more there is no defect to be better there is a full and absolute perfection And therefore the rest of our present doth sweetly shadow forth the perfect rest of our future Sabbath Our Sabbath here resembles our Sabbath hereafter in its splendour and external beauty On our Christian Sabbath In Sabbato vestes mundiores induimus mutamus priores sic in Sabbato aeterno veterem hominem exuemâ—â— induemus novum dabitur sanctis ut se cooperiant bissino splendenti Chemnit we put on our best attire we array our outward man with our choycest and best apparel as well as adorn our inward man with holy and gracious dispositions The Sabbaths festival calls for our ornaments the deckings of our body we come to the assemblies of the Saints with the neatness and elegancy of our wear that both body and soul should be dressed to meet with their beloved nasty hearts and sordid cloaths if it may be prevented are both undecent on the Lords day When Joseph was to go into the presence of Pharaoh he changed his cloaths Gen. 41. 14. How much less doth neglect and despicableness become the presence of the Divine Majesty That which is civil and comly doth adorn holy worship and religion Mans body is Gods workmanship and is a piece of rare curiosity Psal 139. 16. The texture indeed and artifice of divine wisdome and power Non decuit sordidum prodire in regis conspectam civilitas decor pietatem et prudentiam ornat and therefore we must not eclipse the honour of this body by attiring it sordidly and more meanly then there is necessity when we come to worship God on his own day The best of our Garments sute the best of our dayes On the Subbath we meet our Bride-groome Mat. 18. 20. And Brides usually are dressed with the greatest care and exactness Fatui sunt Monachi aliique superstisiâ—sâ— qui in sorditie vestimentorum sanctimoniam ponunt Par. Indeed Pride of Apparel is a stain but decency is an Ornament to Gods blessed day nor must we put on our choicest attire to waste the time but to honour the day of a Sabbath Paraeus observes only foolish Monks place holiness in tattered and nasty garments but such rags are adequate and fit for such a mimical superstitious rout And so in our heavenly Sabbath we shall be cloathed Haec accipienda sunt de Beatorum munditie puritate laetitiâ perpetâ—â festivitate Ger. with brightness splendor and glory as with a garment Indeed it is a great question among Divines whether properly we shall be cloathed with rayment in our Eternal rest and it is by the most concluded the contrary Indeed there iâ— mention made of white rayment Rev. 4. 4. But this onely signifies purity as likewise of exact attire Rev. 19. 7. Scholasticè statuunt Beatos habituros vestes non quidem ex auro vel seriâ—o sed lùce But this only signifies perfection nay of fine linnen Rev. 19. 8. But this only signifies glory that kind of wear which becometh Kings Houses Mat. 11. 8. The Schoolmen observe that the blessed shall have garments but not of gold or silk but of light And indeed garments though never so rich would speak something of imperfection Garments Beati nudi erunt sed omni decore sulgebunt non plus de illis membris quà m nunc de gratiosis oculis erubescent Ansel are for adorning and that speaks want of Ornament they are for the repelling of the injuries of the weather which speaks an inferior condition not to speak of their primitive use which was to cover nakedness I might add garments are the veiles of modesty but glory is incapable of shame And therefore cloathing properly is not requisite in our heavenly Sabbath Adam in his innocency before the fall needed not raiment much less the Saints shall want it in a state of glory Indeed we shall put on our best apparrel in our Sabbath above but they shall be garments of innocency Rev. 7. 13. Sweet smelling odoriferous garments Psal 45. Cant. 4. 11. Rev. 19. 8. Exod. 28. 2. 8. Bright shining and illustrious garments Dan. 12. 3. Beautiful rare and comely garments Isa 52. 1. Garments of praise and glorious thanksgiving Isa 61. 3. Such garments the Saints shall wear in their future rest embroydered with all varieties of joy and happiness And indeed if there be so much ornament in a spirit of quietness and meekness 1. Chr. 16. 27. as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 3. 4. how ornamental must a spirit of
3. 3. when nothing could daunt his faith If the Lord kill him yet he will trust in him Job 13. 15. The preaching of Christ melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 38. and we read of little joy mingled with her weeping Secondly The sweets of our present Sabbath they are gradual First Ordinances work conviction Acts 2. 37. They work upon the Reason and then they work conversion Parvulus est in Christo et in Christianismo Alap Acts 16. 14. They work upon the Conscience and when we are regenerate they are first milk to us 1 Pet. 2. 2. They strengthen the first beginnings of grace they are breasts of consolation at which the New-born Saint lies and draws and afterwards they are stronger meat Heb. 5. 12 14. to nourish the believer to a greater adolescence and growth in holiness Thirdly The sweets of our present Sabbath they are uncertain sometimes the Saint meets with a hive of honey at an Ordinance the truths of Christ are sweet and precious to him and he is ready to cry out with Archimedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found I have found him whom my soul loveth at an other time Ordinances are dry breasts to the same Saint all the Bees are burnt Opportunities of grace are a 1 Kings 3. 21. dead child to him like Gideons fleece with no drops upon it Judg. 6. 40. he can squeeze nothing of comfort or satisfaction to his soul so that these spiritual riches are as the Apostle calls worldly 1 Tim. 6. 17. treasures uncertain demains Fourthly The sweets of our present Sabbath are faint and imperfect Here our spiritual delights are only begun they are perfected in our better Sabbath here they are interrupted by our weekly labours there succeeds a hurry of Hab. 2. 6. worldly cares a week laden with the thick clay of business Quicquid Judaei ex nationis privilegio signo faederis Quicquid Graeci ex Philosophiâ quicquid magnates ex dignitate suâ frustrà sperant eaomnia excellentiora quivis renatus habet in Christo Daven and affairs but in our heavenly Sabbath our pleasures and sweets run in a full torrent and in a constant stream Here we are lead to our delights by means and ordinances but above we shall be possessed of our full delights without the help of them and our God who is our joy shall become immediately to us all in all Col. 3. 11. Indeed much intermission and remisness may be found in our very devotions here in our services of the highest elevation David himself when his heart was most strung with divine affections and in the best tune yet then he had his cadencies his Hallelujahs and highest strains of praise came off with a Selah a prostration of voice our delights in our earthly Sabbath are onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a table in a wilderness they are onely flagons Cant. 2. 5. Prostravit Buxt which hold a little quantity of wine and they are compared to Apples which are onely an ordinary fruit Psal 78. 19. But the delights of our Sabbath above are superlative and ineffable When we are put into possession of glory we shall feel the sweetness of Gods electing love we shall tast the Psal 63. 3. sweets of Christs redeeming love we shall drink joyes eternally from the spirit of love whose loving kindness is infinitely Gaudium erit de veritate Aug. better then life then we shall need no threatnings to drive us no promises to lead us but divine goodness will perfectly and complacentially attract us that we shall be naturalized to God and goodness and be no more able to turn off from that ineffable sweetness then the load-stone is to convert it self to the West Augustine saith That heaven is nothing but the joy of truth It is remarkable That the joyes of heaven are oftner compared in Scripture to drink then meat because there is no labour in chewing them nor any diminution of them but they slide down smoothly and fully and replenish the dilated soul The whole quire of our powers and faculties shall be fixed in everlasting fruition of unspeakable delight Now the Saints Suavis hora brevis mora Bern. have some fits of joy but then they shall have their fill Now they have many a sweet hour but joy shall then be a standing dish and we shall be everlastingly satisfied with the fulness of Gods house Now our memories are slippery in the most captivating Ordinances but then shall be an actual sensation of divine joyes continually then shall there be joy upon Gaudium erit super gaudium vincens omne gaudium gaudium extra quod non est gaudium Aug. joy joy above all joy joy without which there is no joy as Augustine excellently We shall then be perfectly at leisure for God and see him we shall see him and love him we shall love him and praise him in the end and without all end And in our heavenly Sabbath transcendent delight will arise from our company viz. The Prophets and Apostles and all the Glorious Martyrs with their marks of honour Concupiscibile replebitur sonte justitiae Irascibile perpetuâ tranquistitate Bern. Angels Cherubims and Seraphims and all that blessed Quire of Spirits who here have done us many an invisible courtesie which we never thanked them for Heb. 1. 14. Those Seraphick spirits shall contribute dews of joy for our refreshing but the full showre of delight will arise from the sight of God If Diagoras when he saw his Three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympick games as Victors diâ—â— away when he was embracing them for joy And good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a body subject to the infirmities of our Natures having him in his armes cryed out Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for Luke 2. 29. my eyes have seen thy salvation What unspeakable joy and delight will it be to see our Christian Friends and Relations all crowned in one day with an everlasting Diadem of blessedness which shall never decay And when the glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels begin their Hallelujahs the Saints shall also joyn in the same harmony O how the Arches of Heaven will eccho Jam. 1. 12. Psal 149. 5. Psal 150. 2. such a blend and sympathy of praises shall be in the heavenly chorus as shall fill the inhabitants of glory with ravishing admiration and there we shall love one another as our selves O quot et quanta gaudia obtinebit qui de tot et tantis beatitudinibus sanctorum jubilabit Ansel Judaeorum Doctores observant Sabbatum i. e. diem quietis repraesentare mundum verae quietis gaudii quem vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi consummatu miseriis hujus mundi aeternâ faelicitate gâ—udebimus Rabbi Isai c. Rab. Arama Quando Pii in hac vitâ quandam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coelestium bonorum
et gaudiorum percipiuâ—t corda eorum vix possunt capere divinam illam dulcedinem quid ergò de futura coeli dulcedine censeamus quando non primitias tanâ—ùm c. we shall love God and our blessed Saviour better then our selves and Christ shall love us better then we can love our selves or one another O how many joyes shall he possess who shall keep an eternal Jubilee in the enjoyment of so many and so great beatitudes and felicities of others as truly as of his own The Jewish Doctors call the pleasures of our heavenly Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 everlasting breathings our delight stirring up our desires and our desires feeding upon our delight The joyes above shall not onely be transcendent but universal filling all the faculties of our souls refreshing and ravishing all the parts of our bodies they shall be continued not interrupted most sweet most sincere elevated to the highest degree of pleasure extensively reaching to all eternity intensively wound up to the highest peg of satisfaction and delight Psal 36. 9. And the fountane of divine sweetness shall not distill or drop upon the glorified Saints as Gums from the Tree or Rose-water from the Still or Chymical drops from the Alymbeck but streams of delight shall gently dash upon them to fill them with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Rev. 22. 1. We may conjecture at the body of the Sun by the brightness of the beam so may we guess what those extasies of joy shall be which shall sweeten our eternal Sabbath by those fore-tasts and prelibations of joy which the Saints here sometimes feel 1 Pet. 1. 8. The first fruits of this joy how do they transport the believer and carry him even above the world Insomuch that he scarce knows whether he be in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12. 2. His sences and faculties are wrapt up to drench in unusual pleasures Now if the present clusters yield such generous wine what will the over-flowings of the Vintage yield What fruits shall we gather from an everlasting harvest This made Augustine Aug. de Civit dei lib. 22. Cap. 30. Quest Supr Exod. Quest 173. call our Sabbath above Sabbatum maximum our greatest Sabbath Plenitudinem Sabbati The fulness of a Sabbath Nay Sabbatum Sabbatorum The Sabbath of Sabbaths Indeed the sweets of our future Sabbath here they may be admired but they cannot be comprehended hereafter we may be filled with them but we shall not dive to the bottome of them The two Sabbaths differ in this the one is the representation of the other Our Sabbath upon Earth doth onely adumbrate Fuit illud Sabbatum typus aeterni illius sabbati in coelis in quo electi anâ—mâ et corpore a peccatis calamitatibus et miseriis hujus vitae requiescent Ger. and shadow out our Sabbath in Heaven On our Sabbath below the body rests from labour in our heavenly Sabbath both body and soul shall rest from sin calamity and misery and God shall rest in us and we shall rest in him In the legal Sabbath there was no Manna fell on that day Exod. 16. 27. In the Sabbath above there shall be no ministry that usefull and necessary ordinance shall wholly and for ever cease In our Sabbath below we leave the world and the affairs of it while we go up into the Mount and converse with Jesus Christ In our Sabbath above we shall Dies dominica est imago futuri seculi Bas get above the world and with Elijah let fall our mantle our loose garment of mortality and put it on no more but converse with God eternally on the Mount of joy and delight There are indeed many rare types and representations 2 Kings 2. 13. of our heavenly Sabbath Paradise which was a promptuary of beauty pleasure delight especially when mans innocency did accent the Paradisus universâ— sensibilis venustatiâ— inteâ—ligentiam excedit Damasc lib. 2. de Orthod fid cap. 11. sweetness of it How fresh the trees how sweet the flowers how musical the birds how lushious the fruits of this transcendent place till Adams fall folded up this land-skip and turned himself out of this Garden of God that he might dress it no more and since it is over-grown insomuch that the remains of it are not known to the most curious searchers after them But before this breach the pleasures of Paradise were so transcendent that the delights of our supernal Sabbath are called Paradise Rev. 2. 7. 2 Cor. 12. 4. Onely the Paradise of the Second Adam where he met with August Epist 112. Cap. 13. the saved Thief Luke 23. 43. transcendently surpasses the Paradise of the First Adam In that the presence of God is Clem. 5 Stromat Ansel Thom. Aquin. secunda secundae quest 175. Art 5. immediately in the Paradise above which inhanceth all enjoyments to the supreamest height And therefore Augustine Clemens Alexandrinus Anselme and Aquin as affirm that Paul when he was rapt up into the heavenly Paradise he saw the Divine Being entring the place of the blessed who eternally see God face to face So that when we 1 Cor. 13 12. mention or contemplate on the Coelestial Paradise we must cast a shade on Adams Paradise his pleasant Seat as falling short below all degrees of comparison Secondly It might be added that the fruits and delights of Adams Paradise were more calculated to please the sence and refresh the outward man But the delights of the upper Paradise are more refined and principally influence the soul mans better part The Tabernacle doth sweetly resemble our Sabbath above Psal 84. 1. Luke 16. 9. Psal 15. 1. Rev. 21. 3. especially Tabernaculum Mosaicum propter pelles hyacynthinas ipsam coâ—perientes coelum è long inquo aspicientibus representabat Joseph lib. 3. Antiq. Cap. 7. if we look upon the furniture of it First There was the Ark of the Testimony Exod. 40. 21. which as a learned man concludes denotes the blessed Trinity whose sight is our happiness above In the Ark there were the two Tables of the Law Deut. 10. 12. The golden Pot of Manna and Aarons blossoming Rod Heb. 9. 4. In our heavenly Sabbath the Father will govern us with most holy Laws which answers to the two Tables The Son shall be bread of life to us to feed upon John 6. 33. which answers to the pot of Manna The Holy Ghost shall Numb 10 33 eternally fill us with fresh and flourishing graces which answers Charitas ibi erit lex Filius dei erit rex et modus erit aeternitas to Aarons blossoming Rod. Secondly Over the Ark was the Mercy-Seat Exod. 25. 21 22. which expresses our dear Redeemer who hath promerited not onely grace but glory for us And from the Rom. 3. 25. Numb 7 89. Mercy-Seat answers were given which signifies that blessed familiarity which the Saints shall enjoy with the Lord in Glory Exod.
examine every passenger it will keep out sin and the world which are very unsuitable to the work and worship of the Sabbath It was observed of our Henry the fifth that when he came to the Crown he threw of all his old companions and when God Crowns our pilgrimage with the Psal 94. 12. honour and happiness of a Sabbath we should throw off Psal 139. 23. all our worldly and frothy desires which have been too much our companions in the week past Let us resolve then in the strength of God against these unbecoming workings Psal 45. 13. Aristoteles asserit suo tempore in urbibus creatum fuisse praefectum qui mulieribus intenderet ne vagarentur sed domi se continerent Arist Poâ—it of our hearts On the Lords day let us be like the Kings Daughter all glorious within Psal 45. 13. Cobwebs are not to be suffered in Pallaces nor vain thoughts in those hearts which are to meet with Jesus Christ Now let us say with David I hate vain thoughts Psal 119. 113. and firmly resolve that on the Sabbath the world and our souls shall be wholly strangers they shall take no acquaintance one with another and this will be a successful method to purge our hearts Resolution if sincere is invincible We must attempt to over-aw our hearts The heart is never more fitted for holy duties then when it is fixed then Psal 57. 7. when a sense of divine presence stayes it from roving and Psal 108. 1. breaking out into paths of sin and vanity Bring thy heart 1 Sam. 1. 28. before God as Hannah did the Child Samuel before the Lord in Shiloh and that will keep the heart serious and demure Dinah gadded when she was out of her Fathers eye Say to thy soul on the morning of a Sabbath Soul there is an infinite Heb. 10. 31. God which is irresistible in power incomprehensible in Heb. 12. 29. majesty tremendous in justice into whose hands it is a fearfull Non solùm apud Judaeos Deus fuit ignis puniens et consumens idololatras aliosque violatores thing to fall Heb. 10. 31. and who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. He will fasten his eye upon thee this holy day He will see every turning and winding of the heart and therefore O my soul close to the work of the day do not scatter from the work in hand least God take thee up as a stray and carry thee to the whipping-post of some judgement and tribulation The Schollar writes his Copy and Deut. 4. 24. doth not glance up and down with his eye when his Master Sed apud nos Christianos Deus paritèr est ignis vindicans et consumens peccatores Alap is over him but the absence of the Master leaves the Schollar to his wanton vagaries That eye is upon us on the Lords day which is ten thousand times brighter then the Sun To stake down thy heart then to things spiritual and divine First Let it know that it is under the piercing eye of God Secondly Make it sensible that heart sins are heavy sins Thirdly That the heart is principal in holy worship and if that be tainted with frivolous and foolish thoughts it sowres all holy services Fourthly Commune with your hearts of loose and carnal thoughts when Christ on the Sabbath is the proper and sweetest Psal 4. 4. object of them And why should he solicite the embraces of a leud Curtizan who himself is indulged with a beautifull wife Let the heart onely be set on him who is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Machiavel saith The great design of Religion is to keep the people in awe Surely it is a Michiavel del princip great piece of Religion to keep the heart in awe especially on the morning of Gods blessed Sabbath Let this be onely annexed that the Fear and Reverence of God are the best means to confine a quick-silvered heart from its sinfull ranges Heb. 12. 28. Mans heart naturally is slippery and we by 2 Sam. 22. 11. our own power can no more confine it then we can clip the wings of the wind or button up the rayes of the Sun We must endeavour to spiritualize our hearts on the morning of the Sabbath and this work will not onely fit the heart for the grace but likewise widen it that it may receive much of the spirit of God Josephs Brethrens Corn was more or less according to the proportion of the Sacks for they were all filled and when we spiritualize our hearts for God Gen. 42. 25. we shall have our money too in the mouth of the Sack we Gen. 44. 1. shall have redundancies of grace and comfort Now to spiritualize our hearts First Let us stir up holy longings after Christ let us blow off the ashes from those sacred fires let our hearts glow in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appetitio et vehemens desiderium gratiae nobis dabit meliorem et gratiorem bencdictionis proventum Ger. holy ardencies after their beloved The Spouse was sick of love Cant. 2. 5. The real consideration of Christs love and loveliness would bring us into these blessed fits Ordinances will be sweet mâ—rsells to these hungring affectionate souls Secondly Rally up holy contemptations be thinking what a sun-shiny day the Sabbath is and how well it imitates the rest of eternity contemplate on the riches of Ordinances and what glorious spoyles the prepared soul shall fall upon Josh 7. 21. there more then Achans golden wedge or goodly Babylonish garment Ordinances are the souls golden Chariots which drive towards heaven Thirdly Let us blow up our hearts into great expectations The Sabbath is the souls spiritual harvest the season of unlading Anima gratiâ Christi regenerata et renata immò recreato et nova creatura spiritualis facta novam gratiae vitam sortita deinceps in novitate vitae ambulet Alap Psal 81. 10. spiritual treasure and the prepared Saint comes to carry it away In the Paradise of Ordinances grows the Tree of life For the most part the Sabbath is the souls New-birth day the blessed nativity of the new man It is not Anno Domini but die Dominico not such a year of the Lord but such a Lords day most believers were born to an inheritance with the Saints in light Let us therefore possesse our hearts with high expectations for if we open our mouths God will fill them Indeed much of our work on the Sabbath lies not only in the closet of our houses but in the closet of our hearts We must endeavour to tune our hearts to spiritual joy and delight Joy suites no person so much as the Saint and no day so well as the Sabbath Joy at other times is like the birds chirping in the winter which is pleasing but joy in the Lord upon the Lords day is like their warbling notes and musical noise in the spring when all
Now then a sacred work is no sleepy work Our enjoyment of God in Ordinances is a day of salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. It is no night to sleep in It is against reason to 2 Cor. 6. 2. sleep with the Sun shining in our faces In Gospel Ordinances the Sun of righteousness shines in the face of the soul it doth shed its warming and its winning beams upon us The Gospel is called bright John 3. 19. which is to rouse us not to rock us asleep It was once a sharp expostulation of our Saviour What could ye not watch with me Mat. 26. 40. one hour The same query may be put to every sleepy hearer 2. In Ordinances the work we are employed in is opus animae the souls work Will the prisoner fall asleep when he is begging his pardon What are we doing in prayer but suing out our pardons and making up our peace with our offended God The Heir will not fall asleep while he is Evangelium est sublustre quidcam et praegustus clarae lucis sive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. gloriae divinae Quae revelabitur in coelis Chrys hearing the Will read in which he is highly concerned the discoveries of the Gospel are the Fathers will concerning his Children and when we meet in Ordinances we are hearing this will and is that a time of sleep and drowsiness In Ordinances the case of our souls is agitated heaven and eternity are proposed life and death are set before us the silver trumpet of the Gospel sounds and is that a time of sloth and oscitancy Ordinances are the way to life the means of grace not onely the radicall moisture to preserve spiritual life but the very first means to beget it and shall we sleep in Ordinances When the wind blows right shall the mariner betake himself to his bed or to his tackle to drown himself in sloath or to hoise sail and trace the floating Idem sermo aliis est propiâ—iatio ad vitam aliis condemnatio ad mortem quae diversitas non verbo sed nostrae incredulitati debetur fic admonitiones exhortationes doctrinae castigationes quibâ—â— delinquentes ad recipiscentiam vocantur contemptores et impaenitentes judicantur in die ultimo Muse waves Every opportunity of grace is a good wind for heaven and shall we sleep away that seasonable and precious gale How then shall we finish our voyage to eternity We hear Proclamations with great attention Every Sermon is Christs Proclamation to proclaim pardon to all penitent sinners who will come in and lay down the weapons of sin and lust and submit themselves to the Scepter and Obedience of Jesus Christ and shall we sleep in hearing this royal Proclamation It is very observable what awakening and heart-penetrating expressions the Prisoner uses at the bar and there is nothing unobserved by him but with much greediness and attention he hearkens to the Evidence of the Witnesses to the Verdict of the Jury to the Sentence of the Judge and no wonder it is for his life Now the word we hear it is that which shall judge us at the great day John 12. 48. By it our eternal estate shall be disposed either to life or death that blessed word shall cast or crown us and shall we sleep away this word Shall it not then condemn us for mutes and so to be pressed to eternal death Our life our peace our souls are all concerned in the entertainment of this word and we sleep and dream it away surely greater frenzy cannot befall the Children of men Sleeping in Ordinances is a great affront to the richest priviledge we enjoy on this side heaven The time of worship is the souls Term time a few choyce minutes to gain glory in and shall we sleep away these golden filings of time these sweet Veniente Christo mors vigebat et regrâ—bat sed Christus ejus vigorem et regnâ—m sustulit et destruxit Alap opportunities of the soul when Christ is wooing us to court us to a Crown Did we ever understand the true value of Ordinances 1. Ordinances they are the purchases and price of Christs blood that we have a Gospel to hear divine truth to entertain this is the Revenue of Christs death The Apostle tells us Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. Christ by dying brought this life Christ by descending into the dark grave brought this immortality to light And the Gospel is the full declaration of these glorious atchievements And Christ by his Heb. 10. 20. blood hath opened a new and living way for prayer to the throne of grace Heb. 10. 20. And shall a priviledge purchased with blood be slept away We will not throw away Diamonds fetcht from far with care and hazzard nor cast away Rings left us as tokens of love by endeared friends why should we sleep away opportunities not purchased with treasure but tears not with wealth but blood nay the best blood which ever ran in the veins of humane nature 2. Ordinances are the Benjamins mess which are given to few in the world some corners onely of the earth are guilded and guided by this light Hath God indulged us with these distinguishing opportunities and must they pass away from us in a dream This very ingratitude is not so much a trespass as a prodigy Shall Christ select us out to feast with Cant. 2. 4. Esth 7. 1. him in his hanqueting house as once the King selected Haman to feast with him with the Queen and shall we sleep at the table when we should feast upon Gospel dainties shall we drowsily throw away those seasons of love nay the best love which few in the world are honoured with 3. In Ordinances we have the offers of the sweetest grace Quia filius dei est vivus cum Patre et sp sancto deus et quia secundum humanam naturam ad patrem abiit et ad dextram patris est evectus et omnem in coelo et in terrâ potestatem accepit indeut verus deus verus homo preces credentium exaudit ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 orationem ex fide in Christum prosectam non exaudiri Ger. Prayer hath the key of the treasury door John 14. 14. where our comforts are banked up In hearing we have the gracious offers of Christ and in him of life and happiness and shall all these offers these paramount tenders of love be slept away Shall we shut our eyes shut our hands shut our souls against all these rich revenues freely proffered in Gospel dispensations Beasts by natures instinct will not sleep at the provender nor at their manger 4. Ordinances they are precious but transcient priviledges As we sometimes pass upon the water and view a stately structure but we quickly lose the sight of it our prospect is upon the speed so yet a little while and we shall pray no more hear no more enjoy
when we should be Prov. 24. 33. prosecuting our salvation It was Davids resolution He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt homines electi studio zelo divinae gloriae servidi ardore salutis eorum flagrantes metaphora esthaec à bellatoribus Par. would follow hard after God Psalm 63. 8. What a contradiction to this holy man is a sleepy Hearer one who buries himself alive at an Ordinance The Scriptures assure us we must storm heaven and take it by force Math. 11. 12. And we must enter in at the straight gate by striving Matth. 13. 24. Nay we must make our way to Heaven by fighting the good fight of Faitb 1 Tim. 6. 12. And all these are actions most inconsistent with sleep and slothfulness Matth. 11. 12. It is too probable a sign we taste little sweetness in holy Matth. 13 24. 1 Tim. 2. 12. Ordinances and that Gospel-dispensations never shed their perfumes upon our soules when we can wish them away with a nod or a dream Rich Banquets will scarce meet with sleepy guests Sweet Musiques will court and captivate Verbum Dei satiat non saturat creat amantes non fastidientes our attention And had we the taste either of a Job Job 23. 12. Or of a David Psalm 19. 10. we should keep both eye and heart open in divine Ordinances Were Ordinances so pleasant or parturient to us as either to delight our souls or awaken our consciences we should not throw Siulte quid est somnus gelidae nisi mortis imago them away at so cheap a rate as the gratifying of the flesh with a little stupifying sleep Surely the design of sleep was to be the Nurse of Nature and not the enemy of Grace to Somnus aliquando voâ—atur consanguineus leti support the body and not to hazard the soul Some learned men have called sleep the kinsman of Death O let it not be the Parent of our eternal Death It is a fatal change when sleep is metamorphosed into sin And thus much for the washing away of the paint of that excuse which pretends weakness and indisposition of body It is much to be feared the hand of Joab is in all this that neglect and carelesness close our eyes when we sleep away the precious Ordinances and opportunities of Grace But now succeed some ponderous considerations to be weighed in the ballance and seriously to be digested before we give our selves the sinful latitude to sleep in Ordinances Indeed many there are who sin away their souls and how many are there who sleep away their souls Before they come to Ordinances they sleep in sin and when they come to Ordinances they sin in sleep Sleep truly in the bed is the nurse of Nature but sleep in the Sanctuary is the nurse of vanity and breeds the soul up in Ignorance and Atheisme It is very strange that when our grace should be full of activity our sences should be chained with stupidity When Jonah slept the storm came Thou sleepest at a blessed soul-awakening 1 John 5. Psalm 11. 6. 2 Chr. 26. 20. Ordinance a storm of wrath may speedily fall upon thee as the Leprosie on a sudden rose in Vzziahs forehead But let us deliberatively weigh in our thoughts Wicken men do not sleep when they are about Satans work and while they are undoing their own souls If Judas have a plot in hand out of doors he will though in the night to bring his cursed design to pass John 13. 30. Nay the proud wanton envious eye in the Congregation will not fall asleep but will pry into every corner observe every fashion take notice of every beauty Satans work shall not be done sleepily and shall the work of God of Christ of Heaven of the Soul be done with drowsinesse and stupidity Here Ministers may make their appeal Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth Isa 1. 2. It is strange the work of a Tormentor should be more faithfully done than the work of a Pay-master that the service of Apollyon Isa 1. 2. Vtitur Isaias prosopopeiâ— ut Oratio sit gravior et plenior indignationis Cyril should be done with liveliness and activity and the work of a Saviour should be done with drosse and drowsiness It is much Ahab should be so restless for a Vineyard 1 Kings 21. 4. and we so drowsie for a Kingdome nay the Kingdome of Heaven Luke 12. 32. How will Ruffins Roysters and roaring Companions spend whole dayes nights in quaffing carowsing and gaming and we cannot spend one hour watchfully and actively for the pleasures of Eternity There are some Ordinances we will not sleep at when we come to the Lords Table it is no lesse then prodigious to fall into a sleep why then in Prayer or hearing of the Nemo potest fide credere nisi prius id quod credendum est sibi proponi et predicari audiat 2 Cor. 5 21. Word It is the preaching of the Word is the converting Ordinance Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10. 17. which faith espouseth us to Christ justifies our persons Rom. 5. 1. Seasons our Duties Heb. 11. 6. Purifies our hearts Heb. 15. 9. Unlades our guilt and layes it upon him who is mighty to bear It is faith by which we put on Christ Rom. 13. 14. and so being cloathed with the spotless robes of his righteousness we may stand with confidence before Gods tribunal Preaching is the Mother the Sacrament only is the Nurse of Grace preaching the Word of Christ fits us for feeding upon the body of Christ Paul gives preaching the preheminence 1 Cor. 1. 17. And so prayer it carries the conquest of omnipotency it self Isa 45. 11. Yet we are often Praecipuum Episcoporum munus est Evangelium praedicare Alap guilty of drowsie prayers and sleepy hearing when we tremble to think of sleeping with a Sacramental Cup in our hand Alapide observeth The predominant duty of Bishops is to preach the word And yet this Ordinance principally must be a witness of our shame This sleeping in Ordinances is a sin which Satan mightily promotes he knows of what fatal consequence it is for the soul to hear attentively to heed diligently the word of 1 Pet. 5. 8. Satanas suas infernales volucres quae sunt malae suggestiones hostium veritatis sophismata prava hominum prophanorum colloquia illusorum dicteria numquid omnia quae dicuntur credis quid vult tibi iste sermologus immittit quae sermonem auditum ex cordibus hominum ita eximant ut ne memoria quidem ejus maneat ne dum ut per illam ad fidem et pietatem et illius exercitia et fructus excitemur Lyser life and reconciliation this will batter his Kingdome and pluck Proselytes out of the paw of this roaring Lion And therefore when we come to a Sermon he either attempts to disturb and distract us and to throw in his cursed injections to procure a hurry
et hic solus beat 3. Visio et corporalis et spiritualis qui beatitudinem in homine auget et quasi conduplicat Chemnit 1. The eye of our body and this must be fastened on the person of the Minister 2. The eye of our understanding and this must be fastened on the Doctrine of the Minister And as Solomon saith Eccles 2. 14. The wise mans eyes are in his head especially when he approacheth to holy Ordinances then as he is to look to his feet Eccles 5. 1. so likewise to his eye Our Saviour tells his hearers Luke 10. 23. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see as if properly the Gospel did belong to the eye rather then to the ear and the wandring eye in Gospel Ordinances was the greater crime Indeed when the eye is fixt the heart will be composed and the more we view the Preacher the more we shall mind the preaching We must take heed to the eye in Ordinances a captivated eye will easily affect and seduce the heart and when all is withdrawn what shall the Word work upon The eye is the window of the soul let us see that this window open towards Jerusalem that it sparkle in zeal be Dan. 6. 10. fixt in love to Christ that it be composed to reverence when we come to spiritual opportunities It is the just reproach of the Papists that they bring wanton and lustfull eyes to their Orisons and devotions and more look after a Gen. 34. 2. curtizan then a Christ But when we meet in the assemblies Luke 11. 34. Psal 123. â— Isa 51. 6. of the Saints let our eye be lift up to God in holy admiration let it be fixed on his Ambassadour to behold his zeal and devotion let it be viewing and turning over the Scriptures in a Berean noble examination Acts 17. 11. searching what is quoted and delivered and let our eye melt in tears and tenderness in humble and broken compunction 2 Chron. 34. 27. The eye hath its work and offices in Gospel opportunities In which we must see Isa 66. 2. First That our eye be fixed Heb. 11. 6. Secondly That our ear be attentive Thirdly That our grace be active Acts 16. 14. Fourthly That our heart be receptive to entertain the word of life and salvation We must not talk or discourse in the time of Ordinances The wise man saith Eccles 5. 2. In praying our words must be few but in our hearing all words must be forborn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little to invert the Philosopher The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 14. 33. God is the Author not of Confusion but of Peace Now private whisperings and vain chat in holy Ordinances they are the confusion and disorder of holy assemblies have we not tables to talk at or houses to discourse in Must the Sanctuary of God be our Change to tell of news our Shop to talk of Commodities our Parlour to prate of family affairs or whatever our slight hearts will froth out When Proclamations are made all keep Isa 61. 1 2. silent and surely silence doth not less become us when the Ambassadour of Christ proclaims liberty to the Captives and the acceptable year of the Lord. We read of a silence Silentium caeli quietem tranquillitatem notat Ribeâ— in heaven Rev. 8. 1. When something important was preparing for the world and much more must this heavenly order be kept in the assemblies of Gods people when the importances of our souls are in their discovery in this case men as well as women must be silent in the Church that God may come in the still voice to speak peace unto us and Psal 85. 8. that we may return no more unto folly Psal 85. 8. Paul would not preach his Sermon before silence was made Acts 21. 40. Confused noise becomes Babell better then the Temple the workmen of that prodigious structure rather then Gods people when orderly congregated together and yet how many are guilty of this offence they will be full of their salutes and complements telling their tales producing their intelligence venting their vanities even when the heart of God is opening in sweet and sacred dispensations Ezek. 19. 14. this is a Lamentation and shall be for a lamentation When we come to holy Ordinances we should take up Davids resolution to keep our tongue that we offend not with our lips Psal 39. 1. And follow the injunction of the Apostle James James 1. 18. to bridle our tongues For Jam. 3. 6. surely if ever an unbridled tongue was the character and sign of irreligion it is then when it breaks out in the time of holy Ordinances Our outward behaviour must not be vain and loose but grave and serious in the publick assemblies The Turkish Heyl. Geograph Bashaws sit silent and are very composed in the presence of their Sultan and shall a pedantique worm more over-awe those pieces of gravity then the presence of an infinite God stake us down to a reverential behaviour Gods presence makes every place a Sanctuary as the presence of the King Domus dei dicitur ubi deus se viatoribus patefacit ubi locus est opportunus precibus deus singulari praesentiâ adest et invocantes exaudit Par. makes the Court and therefore where ever we come to give him a meeting let his eye reine us in and draw us to a becoming veneration When we read of a Jacob full of awe and dread in the apprehensions of the presence of God and hear of a Solomon lifting up his trembling hands to seek the face of God and observe holy Josiah weeping and melting at the hearing of the Law of God 2 Chron. 34. 27. we must conclude these things were written for our instructions 1 Cor. 10. 11. to shew us how we must behave our Gen. 28. 17. selves in Gospel solemnities The Bride dresseth her self in her choicest attire to meet with her Bridegroom In every 1 Kings 8. 22. ry ordinance the believing soul meets with her beloved shall there be no dress no composing the behaviour to love and reverence that Christ may not suspend his salvifical 2 Chr. 34 27. embraces As God shewed infinite wisdom in forming a beautiful body out of a little scattered dust so man shews great wisdom in composing this heavy piece of clay to reverence when he comes to God in Ordinances CHAP. XXX How to compose our inward man in our approaches to God in Ordinances HAving thus copiously shewn how we must order our Cor cum manibus levat qui orationem suam cum operibus roborat nam quisquis orat sed operari dissimulat cor levat sed manus non levat et qui operâ—tur et non orat manus levat sed cor non levat Greg. Moral outward behaviour in publick Ordinances In the next place we must glance at out inward deportment viz. That of the mind The
Prophet Jeremy adviseth us Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens The soul is principally interested in all holy duties First Not only because in all holy services God principally eyes the heart Prov. 23. 26. Or Secondly Because Gospel Ordinances chiefly influence and aim at the heart But Thirdly Likewise because the welfare of the soul is the only Port we sail to in all our attendance upon Gospel opportunities It is the souls conviction the souls conversion the souls edification and building up in its most holy faith which is the grand design in every Evangelical administration Now for the composure of our inward man in Eph. 3. 16. holy Ordinances Let us apply our understandings to the word and the work we are about The wise man saith Prov. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and when we Haec lux in intellectu in tenebris micans sovenda est studio et diligenti operum dei commentatione et experimentis et otio veluti rubigine corrumpitur Cartw. come to holy Ordinances it is both our duty and our wisdom to snuff this candle that it may burn the brighter to see the mysteries of the Gospel and this is suitable to the Apostolical Counsel 1 Pet. 1. 13. Gird up the loâ—ns of your mind A metaphor taken from travellers who gird their garments close that they may not be impeded and hindred in their journey When we draw nigh to God in Ordinances we must bend our minds and be intent on the word and drink in truth as the parched ground doth the rain we must screw up our minds to an acurate observation of what ever is revealed unto us from divine Writ If the Gospel John 3 19. be light it is the eye of the understanding must behold this light If the Gospel be a day it is the eye of the mind must Rom. 13. 12. discern this day Some hear the word and understand it Isa 6. 10. not and this is Gods judgment But some hear the precious truths of God and entertain them not and this is mans sin Men shut the eye of their understanding by carelesness and neglect We should hear the word as condemned men their pardons as Legatees the Wills wherein their Legacies are set down with that intenseness of minde Preaching if we spur not up the minde to pursue it is a noise Pater nobis deâ— illuminatos oculos cordis nostrâ— ut ejus lumine illustâ—ati Christum plenè agnoscamus Ambr. not the word an inarticulate sound not soul-saving Doctrine And that our understanding may discharge its office prayer must precede That God would open the eyes of our minde that we may see the wonderfull things of the Law Psal 119. 34. and we must beg eye-salve Rev. 3. 18. and that God would give us the spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. to shed a light upon our understandings Luke 24. 45. that we may dive deep into the profound Mysteries of the Gospel We know not what ardent prayer and a diligent minde may Christus solus operit intelleâ—tum Scripturarum Chemnâ— Mel in Ore melos in Aure. Bern. accomplish towards Scripture knowledge Indeed the Gospel is proportionate to every thing in man it is honey to the taste and Gold to the interest of man Psal 19. 10. It is musick to his ear Ezek. 33. 32. light to his eye John 19. and comfort to his heart Rom. 15. 3. And pity it is the shutting of an eye a little rareless remisness and not bending the minde should rob the soul of such unsearchable treasure We must deal with our hearts to embrace the word in the dispensations of it The Gospel is not only to be let in by Prov. 23. 23. Verbem dei sâ—t domesticus non peregrinus non forâ— stare sed in domo cordis continuò versari Daven our apprehensions but to be lockt in by our affections and we are to entertain it not only in the light of it but in the love of it The Apostle complains 2. Thes 2. 10. That many did not entertain the truth in the love thereof that they might be saved The truths of God must have the heart and we buy them not by our audience but our espousals The word must dwell in us Col. 3. 16. and not as a transient guest but as an inmate Scholars may understand the word but Christians embrace it It is a rare speech of the holy Psalmist Psal 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times The word is the Mat. 13. 23. seed the heart the ground where this seed must be thrown John 5. 40. David calls the Law not his light but his love Psal 119. 97. and his delight Psal 119. 35. When we come to Ordinances we must resolve to treasure up truth and entertain it as Lot the Angels Gen. 19. 3. Or the Virgin Mary the wonders of her time Luke 2. 19. A refractory will renders all opportunities of grace abortive The two Disciples Luke 24. 32. which came from Emmaus question one with another Whether their hearts did not burn within them when Christ had opened the Scriptures to them intimating to us that the heart is properly the Altar upon which the fire of the word is to be laid to the sacrificing of our lusts and the inflaming of our graces And it is the glorious promise of God to write his Law upon our hearts Jer. 31. 33. Let us meet this blessed promise in bringing our hearts to every Gospel dispensation We must put our memories upon employment when we come to holy Ordinances The memory it is the Secretary of the soul and as at Council boards the Secretary cannot be absent so at Ordinances which are the Council table Acts 20. 27. where soul-concernments are agitated and transacted the memory must not be absent We must not write the word when preached to us in dust but in marble not in a heedless neglect but in a faithfull remembrance We do not throw Pearls into sieves to drop out The paradox is greater Memoâ—ia ignis gehennae est â—emedium apâ—rimè utile contrà omnes tentationes Chrysost Rev. 14. 6. when we put the eternal Gospel into a treacherous and faithless memory Surely we shall never practice that truth we cannot remember if we do not mind the word we shall never live it We cannot read blotted lines or understand torn papers and if the word lie onely upon the surface of the memory it will never get within the bark of the life That Sun-dyall will never give us the time of the day which wants the gnomon to cast the shadow charge thy memory to retain every truth thou hearest Let it pick up the filings John 6. 12. of divine Truth that nothing may be lost The richest Fringes are so many several threads wrought together We do not Agnoscamus
of a Sabbath and as lesser stars shine in the holy and exemplary observation of the Sabbath That swaying principle of interest should prompt Governours to this duty 1. Interest if they regard their present peace Slight Sabbaths will make sloathfull Servants and stubborn Children When we do not fasten the family to the holy duties of a Sabbath we leave them to the byass of their own corruptions Cor lubriâ—um et in omnia mala et iniqua pro pensum which will easily carry them to every thing inconvenient How many Servants in the great City of the Nation for want of care and zeal in their Masters to keep them to holy duties on Gods holy day Court their Harlots take off their Cups waste their Masters substance and hazzard their own in mortal souls and as Belteshazzar drink Dan. 5. 2. in the Vessels of the Temple with their Courtezans and their Concubines Many by these courses anticipate their own ruine and in reference to their dayes in the world for Luke 16. 6. an hundred write down fifty cast themselves untimely away mortgage their future hopes and blast their present parts and all from their riots on Gods holy day On the contrary the Family which serves God most on the Sabbath will serve the Governour best in the week The awe of a Sabbath is not easily worn off as colours laid in Oyle are not washed off with every drop A well spent Sabbath is an Ark in the house which sheds a prosperity on all the 2 Sam. 6. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Addidit affairs of it it makes every one a Joseph who carries increase and addition in his very name and concerning whom it was prophesied He should be a fruitful bough even a Gen. 49. 22. fruitful bough by a wall whose branches run over the wall Ex Josepho et filiis ejus duae tribus fuere propagatae amplissimae et potentissimae This holy care of sanctifying Sabbaths in with our families would cause the dews of heavenly benediction not only to fall upon the head and the beard of the Governours but the skirts also the inferiour branches of the family 2. It is the interest of Governours to see their families Exigit deus rationem à Ministris animarum nostrarum si vel unicâ eorum culpâ perierit Par. keep the Sabbath holy as they will give up their account with joy As the Minister must be responsible for the souls of his people committed to his charge Heb. 13. 17. so the Master for his Family At Gods Bar thou shalt not say am I my Families keeper In the time of the worlds infancy the Governour of the Family was the only Magistrate he Minister onus et curam animarum gerit pro iis aeternae mortis periculo se exponit siâ—gulorum probitas et salus ab eo exigetur in die judicii Alap was both Master and Pastour his house-hold was his teritory and dominion and he swayed his Scepter in exercising his power over it Abraham was a Prince and a Prophet in his own house and he acted like a Prince in commanding his family to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. But still we are accountable for those who are subordinate to us and if we must be accountable for words as transient breath Mat. 12. 36. much more for Children the darlings of our bosoms and for Servants the objects of care that living trust committed to us How often do Parents put their Children into the Masters hand as Jacob did Benjamin into the hands of his Brethren Gen. 43. 14. with weeping eyes with aking hearts with ardent prayers and cry out if They are bereaved they are bereaved and shall the negligence of Gen. 43. 14. Masters strike these trembling Parents under the fifth rib because they did not see their servants strictly observe Gods holy day but left them to the vanity of their minds which gradually habituated them in evil and paved their way to destruction Surely the grief of these disappointed Parents shall no more vie with the doome of the regardless Masters 1 Kings 12. 11. then the smart of a rod can compare with the burning of a Scorpion But Masters of families should do well before-hand to cast up their account and this would be a spur to their care and sedulity on Gods holy day That lovely principle of justice and equity might command this service If we find not our family employed in holy work on Gods holy day what do we more for them then we do for our beasts We give them rest from labour Shall the care of a soul which endures to eternity more valuable Mat. 16. 26. then a world no more sway with us then the care of a beast which perisheth The Cattel shall not travel and the Psal 49. 20. Servants shall not work upon Gods day and so they shall be both equally indulged with the same priviledge Is this suitable to the spirit of the Gospel Paul endures the pangs of travel Gal. 4. 19. Christ endures the pangs of death Luke 23. 46. and thou shalt not endure a little trouble and a little care not one act of zeal or one drop of sweat in holy 1 Sam. 28. 14. diligence for precious and never dying souls Throw off the mantle of Samuel if thou and thy house will not serve the God of Samuel on his own day And moreover it is a great provocation that our Servants must serve us in the week and we take no care that they serve God on the Sabbath Our interest must be on the Anvel though the interest of Christ and Religion be laid aside a poor worm must be more sedulously served and observed then the infinite Jehovah May not that exclamation be here seasonable Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth Isa 1. 2. The Shop must not be neglected though the soul be is our present gain to run paralel with our servants future Crown Must servants be more mindfull of our work then their own everlasting weal Indeed what would it profit us if we should gain the whole world and our poor servants lose Mat. 16. 26. their immortal souls will our profit compensate their loss Surely this is bruitishly to use our servants and well befits the profession of a Demas who hath forsaken the Gospel and embraced the present world 2 Tim. 4. 10. But let us not beguile our selves saith heavenly Greenham for the blood of servants souls will be required at Masters hands who being lordly and tyrannicall make their servants either equal to their beasts or worse then their beasts caring for nothing but the world never thinking of Hell whereunto they are hastening Dir. 2 We must endeavour to keep Gods day uniformly and harmoniously Our families must be on the Lords day as the building of Solomons Temple where no Axe or Hammar was 1 Kings 6. 7. heard
qui nobis consecravit quietis diem Gualt be softest on that day when Gods mercy is sweetest Mans pitty is a good handmaid to wait on Gods bounty That day which is a day of life to us should be a day of love from us Charity on a Sabbath is like fire put to Juniper it turns it into a perfumed flame Now there is a four-fold Charity we must exercise on Gods holy day There is Charitas oeconomica Charity to our Families It is very observable that every clause in the 4th Commandement Manifestè praecipitur mandati verbis quieti sabbati rationem habendam esse servorum ancillarum quo quisque admonetur de assectu charitatis erga domesticos suos et insatiabilis avaritiae impetus restringitur Muscul Quo magis à dei dilectione recedimus eò magis à proximi distamus quantum verò dei â—haritati adhaeremus tantum et proximi et proximi deo conjungimur Biblioth Patr. is an injunction to Charity We must be tender to our servants they must not work we must be compassionate to our Children they must not toyl we must pity our beast that must not drudge we must have bowels to the stranger within the Gates he must rest and be refreshed so that we may say with the Apostle Rom. 13. 8. Love is the fulfilling of the Law The Command for the Sabbath is written in golden Letters of love and Charity The Lords day must be spent not in the sweats of labour but in the sweets of duty not in wearisome toyl but in holy rest Parental or despotical rigour is an open breach of this Command which breaths nothing but sweetness and indulgence The Sabbath is no day for the forge or the plow it was never set apart to waste our spirits but to mind and negotiate the affairs of our souls Bishop Andrews saith Mercy on a Sabbath is the sanctification of a Sabbath Surely those Governours of families do highly prophane the Sabbath where the maid-servant must toyl at the fire to provide for their luxury The man-servant must be no otherwise employed then to serve their company Children must wait and serve at the table to shew the grandure of the family where instead of singing Psalmes there is clattering of Dishes and instead of gathering Manna there is gathering up of fragments and instead of a composed lying at Christs feet Politicum illud est ut quâ—es concedi debeat iis qui subsunt alienae potestati Jer 17. 21 22. Psalm 105. 27. in holy Ordinances there is nothing but hurries noyse and confusion Here it might be expostulated Shall servants have no breathing for their souls no necessary pauses to mind eternity Is not this more then Aegyptian bondage Is not not this to cause our families to return back to the Land of Ham to their wonted captivity and thraldome Can such Governours disciple it after Christ and yet have no bowels Quae officia hic demandata etsi videantur levia et rusticae â—bi de pecore aberrante redâ—cendo et asino sublevando agitur non tamen nobis talia erunt si perpendamus finem legulatoris qui non tam animalium rationem habuit quà m hominum Riv. to the immortal souls of their inferiours Christ shed his blood for precious souls and these will not dispence with a humour with their pride with a feast with an entertainment for the good and advantage of a never dying soul But such cruelty and oppression saith Dr. bound is the scandal of Christianity and unravels all that mercy which is folded up in the fourth Commandement God in the Law commands us to pity and shew mercy to our enemies Oxe Exod. 23. 4. to an Oxe which is a beast to be fatted for the slaughter to our enemies Oxe whose enmity might damp our charity and yet here we must shew compassion How much more must the soul of a Child or a servant be precious to us Shall thy servants here lie among the pots and hereafter among the flames and wilt thou do nothing to prevent it Wilt thou not give them Sabbath room to sayl to Heaven in Surely this is the dregs of tyrannie Well then this piece of Charity we must shew upon a Lords day we must be tender to our families we must call them from all toyl and labour to wait on God in his sacred institutions In a word to despise our servants on a Sabbath so as to think they are onely fit to drudge here is an act of pride ond insolency Such remember not that Paul wrote an Epistle to Philemon for his servants sake and to employ our servants Philem. v 16. on a Sabbath and not regard what becomes of them hereafter is an act of inhumanity and such forget that the poor receive the Gospel Mat. 11. 5. The lame the maimed were brought to the Kings feast Luk. 14. 21. and the difficulty Mat. 10. 25. lies how the rich man shall get to heaven Luk. 18. 25. Nay Mat. 19. 24. Christ himself took upon him the form of a servant Phil. Mat. 16. 26. 2. 7. Thy servants soul is of an higher price then the world Mat. 11. 25. It is observed by a worthy man That in the fourth Commandement Rest is granted to those who have most need of it to the poor servant and the friendless stranger to shew that it is even a duty of nature to be pittiful and charitable to our families upon Gods holy day There is Charitas crumenae a charity of the Purse which Petit pauper suum pauculum temporarium Da et recipies magnum eternum Aug. we must likewise shew on the Sabbath Now we must find objects to be the Cisterns of our bounty we must here occurrere ut succurramus meet some whom we may minister to Augustine his rule is a golden Rule on this day The poor petitions a little of our temporals give it him thou shalt receive it in eternals But if we object our inability It is replyed It is not how much but out of how much God looks at The widdows two mites was a commended charity even by Christ himself But let this caution be minded Caution let us take heed in our giving that we do not take away on other dayes to give on this day rob the week to Recondet Christianus apud se cumulet auctumque deinceps et cuâ—â—â—latum deferat Sclat adorn the Sabbath this is pride not charity and the greatest portion is given to Satan But let our charity on the day of the Lord be according to the simplicity of the Gospel and so our charity may make our purse the lighter but it will make our Crown the heavier and what we have laid out in one world we have laid up in another In the Conseruntur eleemosinae sec discretionem unius cujusque propter egenorum subsidium aegrotorum et exulum solamen primitive times there were
a two-edged sword to divide between sin and Heb. 4. 12. the soul Ordinances are kindly Physick and work the cure sweetly and effectually if this Physick be given by the hand of the Spirit if the third Person in the Trinity be our Physician how then should the necessity of the spirits assistance inflame our importunity to sue out that precious John 15. 5. Promise for the attainment of it recorded in Luke 11. 13. In Ordinances without the Spirit we can do nothâ—ng Christ 1 Cor. 9. 26. must work by his Spirit or else in all our holy duties we onely beat the ayr to use the Apostles phrase Let us study to be under the impressions of the Spirit on Gods holy day The earth stands not in so much need of the beams of the Sun as the soul doth of the influences of the Spirit The Spirit is a Spirit of Truth to guide the Understanding John 15. 26. It is a Spirit of Counsel to enrich the mind Isa 11. 2. and fill it with knowledge How naked Eph. 5. 18. is mans understanding if it be not covered with the covering John 14. 17. of Gods Spirit Isa 30. 1. 1 Cor. 12. 8. The Spirit is a good Spirit Neh. 9. 10. to sanctifie the will It is a holy Spirit Ephes 1. 13. in relation to its effects and productions it cures the will of its pertinacy and Rom. 1. 4. stubbornness and melts mans will into Gods We may take 1 Cor. 12. 9. an instance in Paul Acts 9. 6. The Spirit is a Spirit of Grace Zach. 12. 10. to beautifie the heart and fructifie it with all the sweet fruits of Righteousness It is more then the Sun to the Garden It not 2 Thes 2. 13. Phil. 1. 11. onely blows the flower but it plants The graces of the Spirit are those stars which shine in the firmament of the heart 2 Thes 2. 17. those vigorous principles which carry out the soul to every good word and work It is the spirit of Glory 1 Pet. 4. 14. to sublimate the affections and raise them as high as heaven Col. 3. 2. The spirit discovers glorious things to us shews the soul its treasury 1 Cor. 2. 12. Eph 3. 8. 2 Cor. 5 21. Rev. 1. 6. Cant. 7. 8. 13. Col. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 7. where its riches lie It opens Christ to a believer who is the Wardrob of our Robes the Exchequor of our wealth the fountain of our honour the paradise of our delight or to speak in the Apostles language who is all and in all to the believing soul It is a spirit of life to quicken the whole man Rom. 8. 2. God breaths into man and so he becomes a living soul the Spirit breaths into man and so he becomes a living Saint Gen. 2. 7. Nay God works all his works upon us and in us in Christ by the spirit it is the spirit makes us upright and sincere 1 Cor. 6. 11. and so rectifies our obliquities Psal 51. 10. It is the spirit snuffs the understanding which is the candle of the Lord Eph. 1. 17. Prov. 20. 27. and so enlightens our darknesses It is the spirit 2 Thes 2. 1â— fixes and establisheth us and so settles our inconstancies Psal 78. 8. It is the spirit softens and suples us Isa 32. Sapientia hominis est quâ res difficillimas scrutatur et pervestigare conatur Cartwr 15. and turns our barren hearts into a fruitfull field and so fills our vacuities It is the spirit conducts us in our straights John 16. 13. and so prevents our miscarriages It is the spirit takes us up Ezek. 3. 12. nay lifts us up Ezek. 3. 14. and so cures us of our pedantick and dreggish succumbencies for Man is the worm Jacob Isa 41. 14. and will naturally grovel on and immure himself in the Earth The spirit of God is an excellent spirit Dan. 5. 12. and will create in the 1. Cor. 12. 11. believer those excellencies which will make him more excellent then his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. The irrigations and pouring forth of the spirit Isa 44. 3. will make the soul fresh 1 Cor. 12. 13. Corroborari in interiore homine est intellectu voluntate caeterisque animae partibus suffulciri and green and be in a spring of grace which is most pleasant to the eye of God and Man This holy spirit upon us Isa 59. 21. is not so much our covering as our Crown our strength to encounter every temptation Eph. 3. 16. Let us then not as Sadduces mis-believe the spirit Acts 23. 8. But cry out Lord evermore give us of this spirit And to set our selves under these various and rare impressions We must purifie our selves The spirit is a holy spirit which will dwell onely in a clean heart flesh and spirit are combatants and not cohabitants they oppose one another Gal. 5. 17. then grace triumphs when flesh is subdued and chased out of the field We must supplicate our God The spirit is given to the Petitioner and not to the professor How much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him Isa 63. 11. Eph. 4. 30. 1 Thes 4 8. 1 Cor. 6. 19. saith our Saviour Luke 11. 13. Earnest prayer is the means to obtain the good spirit whose works are so many and so marvellous and whose operations are so secret and so soveraign But secondly as this duty must look upwards for the assistances and the impressions of the spirit So this duty must look inwards we have not onely to do with heaven on the Lords day and to look up to Gods spirit but we have to do with our own hearts too and seek the spirit to proportionate Prov. 4. 23. them to the holy services of the Sabbath and here our duty is two-fold 1. We must be in the graces of the spirit and that too in a double sense We must be in grace habitual We must come as Saints to the duties of a Sabbath That of the Apostle is highly observable Our communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. Observe the terms of Relation Sancti est in spiritu vivere i. e. internam habere vitam et animum gratiâ spiritu etjustitiâ imbutum sancti est in spiritu ambulare i. e. secundum spiritus et gratiae dictamen ductumque incedere conversari agere operari et Graecum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat certo ordine serie et normâ incedere Alap the term Father speaks us to be Children It is not our communion is with God but with the Father and his Son Saints properly are the guests of the Sanctuary Christ in us is not onely the hope of our glory hereafter Col. 1. 27. but our hope of acceptance here We must bring Benjamin we must bring Christ if we will ever see the face of God in Ordinances wicked
men defile not enjoy an Ordinance John 17. 21. They are spots not guests in that holy Feast It is onely the spiritual man is fit for converse with God Princes converse not with Beggars nor God with sinners Christ in his incarnation tabernacled with the Sons of men John 1. 14. But in his communion he converses with the Sons of God he gives his people the meeting Mat. 18. 20. The Sun shines upon the stars and they reflect its light with a glittering rebound Christ when he arose again gave not the meeting to the world but to his Disciples Luke 24. 36. And so in his blessed fellowship he visits not the formalist but the Saint Christ in his ordinances influences his living Eph. 1. 22 2â— members not glass eyes the speculative Atheist not painted faces the varnished hypocrite not ' wooden legs with the silken stocking upon them the spruce and self-deceiving moralist who with Agag are ready to depose the bitterness 1 Sam. 15 32. of death is over We must be on the Lords day in grace actual On the Sabbath the soul is to be set on work in acting several graces and some seem to be of a different nature As faith and fear heavenliness of mind and humbleness of heart repentings for sin and relyings on God tremblings of the soul and restings on Christ a real longing for promised mercies and yet a quiet staying for those mercies promise by hope expecting good things to come and yet by faith possessing those things at present This embroydery of grace must be on the heart of Lam. 3. 26 a Saint upon the Sabbath One of the Ancients compares Greg. Mor. l. 19. sect 30. holy men upon Earth unto those holy Angels of Heaven Rev. 4. 8. that are said to be full of eyes within and without In the week the Saints must use their eyes without Psal 77. 6. looking after their necessary callings and their occasions in Hos 6. 3. the world but upon the Sabbath they more solemnly set Ex cognitione dei omnia utriusque tabulae officia tanquam ex fonte promanant et eatenus placent quatenus illam praelucentem habent Riv. on work their eyes within looking inward upon the estate of their souls knowledge must open its eyes and repentance must drop its tears every grace must be in ure and exercise Indeed the Sabbath is the proper season for the acting of our several graces working as Bees in a Hive making honey of every ordinance Sorrow and confession must begin faith and prayer must carry on and holy thanksgiving must conclude the duties of a Sabbath Our hearing the Word must be introduced by holy appetite and desire we must long to be in the Courts of God It must be entertained Psal 84. 2. Luke 8. 1. Heb. 4. 2. Mat. 13. 19. by faith and affection it must be improved by zeal and an holy conversation our lives must be comments on Gods sacred truths and so all other ordinances of the Sabbath must be the sphears for our graces to move in as stars in their Phil. 1. 27. Orbs and this is to be in the spirit on the Lords day Let us study to be in the comforts of the spirit upon the Lords day The joyes of the Holy Ghost are the musick of heaven below the hearts rapture paradise in the bosome the sweet earnest of future blessedness they are the ecchoes of assurance and the reverberations of a good God and a good Conscience Spiritual comforts hath many springs but all most pleasing and complacential They are the comforts of God 2 Cor. 1. 3. who is a fountain above us The Father of mercies leaves a seed of joy in the soul They are the comforts of the Holy Ghost Acts 9. 31. who is a blessed spring within us John 7. 37. shedding those grateful streams of peace and joy which drench the soul with unspeakable delight They are the comforts of the Scriptures Rom. 15. 4. which are as sweet Gardens without us every promise being Consolatio omnis nititur promissionibus gratuitâ— Dav. as a sweet rose every truth being as a flower of the Sun and every threatning being as wholesome worm-wood in this salvifical garden They are the comforts of the Saints Col. 4. 11. which are as lights about us for our more comfortable passages to Sancti nos solantur invisendo condolendo necessitatibus nostris administrando et miserrimas nostras conditiones sublevando Dav. our rest and happiness Communion of Saints being not only an article of our Creed but an helper of our joy in our travels to Canaan But to return to the comforts of the spirit Gods people may find soul-refreshing comforts in Christ the Lord upon his own day and the measure of their comforts may mount their souls so high as to make them like Moses upon Mount Pisgah viewing Canaan the heavenly Canaan flowing with that which is better then milk and honey the soul of a sincere Isa 51. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 4. Luke 2. 29. Isa 56. 7. Christian may swim in a sea of sweet delight he whose heart hath been as a boat which could not be got up all the week because of low water yet may be brought up in an high spring tide of spiritual comfort upon the Lords day being ready to say with Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. the soul may be so Psal 94. 19. Isa 57. 18. filled with joy upon Gods holy day in his house of prayer that he may be ambitious of his eternal Requiem in the bosome of Christ Nay upon the Lords day a believer being in the spirit the worst evils may amplifie his best comforts to think of sin remitted hell removed death vanquished devil Gen. 42. 38. conquered all these make for him that he may go down with Jud. 14. 14. joy and triumph to the grave Out of every eater comes meat the upper and the neither springs run all into the Josh 15. 19. same stream of comfort to the Saints Every thing on a Sabbath is an occasion of spiritual joy to them If they look up Isa 29. 19. to God they will joy in the Lord Rom. 5. 11. If they consider Isa 35. 2. the season of a Sabbath that is the time nay the term Isa 52. 9. time for the soul which is matter of joy nay as the joy of harvest Isa 9. 3. If they glance at the word they receive the word with joy Luke 8. 13. If they act their graces this is with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. It was a brave speech of a Martyr to his cruel tormentors Work your will upon my weak body as for my soul it is in heaven already and over that Caesar hath no power So it may be the case of a Christian upon a Sabbath he may be as in heaven beginning his triumphal hallelujahs It is no
wonder then Intus est in corde est Sabbatum nostrum Aug. if St. Augustine cry out Our Sabbath is within in our hearts There indeed is the musical spring of joy Let us take heed of grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. No fountain casts out sweet and bitter water a grieved spirit will not dash joyes upon the soul the mournful Dove flies Offenditur spiritus verbis putidis etiam quo vis peccato Hier. away We must cherish the graces if we will possess the joyes of the spirit The birds sing most sweetly in the spring when every thing is fresh and green Gods spirit in the soul yields its freshest delights among flourishing graces when the Peccata sunt injuriae contumeliae spquae eum contristantur Alap seared boughs of corruption are broken down Sin and vanity break the strings of the spirits musick and chase away the Comforter from our coasts as birds hushed away leave the place of their present abode Let us not suspend our answer to the spirits excitations Let us listen to every motion and apply our selves to every counsel of this inward Monitor Slighted advocates plead no more we must hearken to every whisper of the Holy Ghost who first commands and then comforts To stir up to holy duties to good works to circumspect walking is the office of the spirit but to ravish the soul with divine delights is the reward of the spirit Observe holy David Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul He was now acting the duty of meditation and then the spirit besprinkled him with dews of joy A Deus per essentiem est totus consolatio immò Mare Oceanus consolationis quem in servos suos etiam in hac vitâ effundit learned man saith God is an Ocean of consolation Let not our sin and disobedience be such banks and ramparts that this Sea cannot overflow us with complacential effusions Obedience indeed and duty make way for the streams of spirituall comfort And to our case let us keep the Sabbath circumspectly and we shall keep it comfortably Let us follow the spirit in every duty obey the dictates of the spirit in every Ordinance When the spirit prompts us to prayer let us tune our hearts to that duty and not fold our hands in sloth and negligence when the spirit suggests to Prov. 6. 10. us the import of an Ordinance let us not be slight and careless in that holy institution and let us consider the motions Prov. 24. 33. of the spirit go before the melodies of the spirit And thirdly Let us study to be in the spirit on the Lords day This duty must Look downwards we must avoid whatsoever opposeth the spirit whatsoever may quench that celestial flame 1 Thes 5. 19 We must on the Sabbath lay aside all temporal cares Cares at all times are thorns Mat. 13. 22. But on a Sabbath they are thorns in a flame not only scratching but scorching Indeed the Lords day is not without its cares but they are heavenly not worldly cares care to please the spirit not to please the flesh care to lay up treasures in heaven not to fill our coffers below The soul then must be Divina benedictio Sabbati est quâ sibi deus studia occupationes asserit Calv. cared for how to prepare it for duty how to pacifie it with pardon how to beautifie it with grace how to fit it for eternity Head and heart must be at work on the Sabbath but it must be for the soul not for the outward man But to set our servants on work in our callings to be in our counting Mat. 16. 26. house to contrive business for the following week on Gods holy day this is not only to defile the Sabbath but to affront providence as if God who takes care for the Lillies of the field Mat. 6. 30. could not provide for the strict observers of his holy day We must throw away all worldly thoughts How many are there whose thoughts are as fresh and affections as vigorous towards the world upon the Sabbath day as if they were trading in their shops walking in the Exchange or Exod. 8. 24. posting their Books and pursuing their bargains I may say to such as the Lord to Satan Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke Plaga muscarum fuit foedo colluvies quae fuit numerosa et molestissima immò et nocentissima et ideo molestissima quia numerosissima Riv. thee what is this but to turn time into a chaos where there is no distinction between light and darkness between the Egypt of the week and the Goshen of the Sabbath This day is a day of light life and salvation and shall worldly thoughts that judgment of lice or flies stain and ecclipse it Worldly imaginations on this day they are the sacriledge of the mind the worm at the root of duty the souls destructive avocation the Shibboleth of a covetous man the bluster and gross miscarriage of a Christian they are the souls imprisonment when it should be enlarged in the way of Gods Ordinances We must take heed of unnecessary diversions The heart is wholly to be set on God on his own day One observes The Law is spiritual and so is the fourth Commandment and is not fully obeyed by outward conformity but it requires the Rom. 7. 14. inward truth and bent of the heart Happily we shut up Psal 51. 6. our shops on a Sabbath so the Law of the Land commands but do we shut up our hearts on a Sabbath that nothing unseemly may intrude Do we bring our hearts and Christ together and lock them both in that nothing may interrupt their sweet and mutual intercourse It is a vain thing to dissemble with God on his own day He can unriddle and will judge our splendid and varnished artifices Let us not play the hypocrites but walk in the spirit the whole stage of Rom. 8. 2. the Sabbath To keep our doors close is an empty ceremony unless we keep our hearts close to God and Christ in Ordinances in Family and secret duties Diverting imaginations are the cobwebs of the mind the sores which In dic Sabbati ab omnibus aliis curis et studiis omninò obstinendum est Gual fester the heart as Dalilah her smiles did Samson and so entangle the soul that it cannot enjoy its freedom with Christ on his own blessed day Such divertisements disturb the Musick of Ordinances and eat out the profit of holy Communion with God if we will be working on a Sabbath Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Augustine Phil. 2. 12 13. Aug. de temp Serm. 251. speaks most excellently in one of his Sermons That we may be fit and ready for Gods service on his own day there must be nothing to cumber us and we at that time must cast off the interposition of worldly
lanching nor scornfull sinners the reproof Our hearts are never so treacherous as Jer. 17. 9. on this day then they are prodigal of time sluggards in Homines sunt fallaces et insidiosi et putant deâ—m ipsum posse decipi et illi meros fumos obsiciunt Calv. duty enemies to the faithfull preaching of the Word then they poure out their swarms of vam and impertinent thoughts and catch at any diversion to give them breath from close communion with God and then slight and formal Christians wind up the clock of the tongue and that strikes nothing but vanity Indeed naturally there is an open opposition in our hearts to strict religion and particularly to the precise observation of Gods day and this opposition like rivers which are damm'd up breaks forth then most violently As we know Snakes will get into the greenest grass and Spiders into the fairest houses so our corruptions beset us most and besiege us most closely in holy duties and the most spiritual converses and therefore let us most strictly eye these Serpents in the bosome observe their first motions Venienti occurrite morbo and strangle them in their birth Young twigs are easily plucked up weeds when low they onely soften the walk but when grown higher they deform and unbeautifie the garden Let us let out the water of the first blisters of corruption If thou art proud then say did Christ come out of a Grave this day and shall I come out as a Bridegroome out of a Bride Chamber If thou art worldly say Christ Isa 61. 10. Joel 2. 16. rose this day in order to his ascention to heaven and shall sublunary vanities entangle my soul this day If thou art sluggish and unactive say the Sun of righteousness rose this Mal. 4. 2. day whose motion of all motions is the swiftest and shall I be clogged with unseemly dulness and hebetude If thou art sad and despondent say Christ rose this day to fill up the joyes of his people to consummate and finish his victories 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cantus fuit Christiano rum sibimetipsis ocâ—urrentium in primordâ—â— Ecclesiae which by holy faith become the Saints conquest and shall my spirit be down and sink on this triumphant day If thy heart wander this day say the glorious Morning Star this day appeared in the worlds Horizon after a three dayes cloud and what more blessed object to fix my heart upon Rev. 22. 16. That still the risings of thy corrupt heart which way soever it wind it self may be kept down and stopt from Sabbath defilement Now a little care may prevent a great deal of sin We must therefore 1. Eye and observe 2. Bitterly bemoan 3. Pray against 4. Forcibly check and keep down these unnatural productions of the unregenerate part and suppressed corruptions Exod. 14 30. are like slain Aegyptians they will not disturb the Israelites travelling towards Canaan So they will be the spectacle of our joy not the obstacle of our duties and we may with a Psal 119. 32. pleasing liberty run the wayes of Gods Commandments upon his own holy day CHAP. XXXVIII Some necessary cautions for the preventing of Sabbath Pollution Caut. 1 FOr the more holy observation of Gods blessed day some rocks are to be avoided as well as some rules to be observed The carefull Mariner studies to escape the sands that he be not swallowed up as well as observes the wind that he be not becalmed and so put upon unnecessary stayes in the watery element So there are difficulties to run through as well as duties to discharge on Gods holy day and therefore Care is as necessary as Zeal and a watchfull eye as requisite as an affectionate heart we must equally take care that we do not offend as that we do obtain Let us take heed of wearisomness in duties It is very sad when the Sabbath is lookt on as our burden and not our priviledge and our attendance upon Ordinances our task and not our triumph our bondage and not our blessedness Surely religious duties should not be our fetters but our freedome This was the black character of the wanton Israelites they cryed out When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath be over that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. What should weary us on a Sabbath Is it because on that day Christ carries the soul into his Wine Cellar Malus fructus immò malus morsus quo Adam per Evam vitam perdidit Bonus fructus quo genus humanum per Christi mortem mortem perdidit et vitam invenit Del. Rio. and his banner over it is love Cant. 2. 4. Is it because Christ on this day brings his living waters and his best wine and makes his feast of fat things and gives his sweetest bread Do the delicacies of a Sabbath cloy us Do the rarities of it nauseate us How shall we digest heaven where such dainties sublimated shall be our eternal fare What hearts have we that we can petrifie Gods Ordinances and make them empty and unsatisfying that they shall yield no taste or nourishment Surely it must needs be the reproach of a Christian to grow weary of Communion with God and to surfet on the provisions of the Sanctuary Indeed to be cloyed at our tables is more usual then sinfull but shall we rise from the table of Christ without an appetite Shall we say of the bread which came from heaven is there nothing but this Manna Upon the Sabbath John 6. 55. Christ takes the soul as once the Eunuch did Philip into Numb 11. 6. the chariot of his Ordmances with him and there discourses of the affairs of eternity and shall this familiarity tire the soul Acts 8. 21. which is posting to eternity The Sabbath is the souls jubilee a mellifluous and blessed season how many thousands souls have known it the day of their new birth And how willing have Gods people been in this day of Gods power in Psal 110. 3. the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning Blessed is this day among dayes from henceforth all generations Luke 1. 48. shall call thee happy blessed be the Father which made thee blessed be the Son who purchased thee blessed be the Spirit who sanctifies thee and blessed are they who prize and improve thee and think the Sun on this day posts away too fast and makes too much hast towards a setting Indeed it must argue very little holiness if the blessing of the Sabbath be accounted the burden of the Soul and it must speak the dregs of corrupt nature to tire upon Mountains of Spices to be weary of walking in the Garden where the Rose of Sharon is David saith Psal 119. 24 77. The testimonies of God are his delight and he rejoyced more in them Cant. 2. 1. then in all manner of riches and yet truly some covetous
Christus est rosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimè flos quia florum flos Del. Rio. men tell over their riches with no small delight The very Gospel is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glad tidings and can we be weary in hearing glad tidings messages of love and life from heaven news of a Christ and a Kingdom The soul which is tired on a Sabbath understands not its own interest but as the Prophet Jonah saith forsakes its own mercies Jonah 2. 8. Can our conversation be in heaven as the Apostolical command is Phil. 3. 20. and yet droop and be flatted in heavenly Sancti in coelis habitant dum hic vivunt atsi Aquilae quae in arduis nidum ponunt Greg. duties in heavenly ordinances and pine after a dismission and release Burdens of Roses are not painfull but pleasant Ordinances are onely bundles of Myrrh to refresh and revive the Soul Surely the Sabbath may plead with tired professors as once God did in another case Mic. 6. 3. O my people what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me So might the Sabbath expostulate what is in me so burdensom Is it my institution because it is divine Luke 2. 37. Is it my duration because it is for a few hours onely David longed to dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life Psal 27. 4. And Anna the Prophetess departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers Insabbato unusqâ—isq sâ—dere debet in suo loco Exod. 16. 29. et non procedà ◠ex eo Quis est locus spiritualis animae Justitia est locus ejus et veritas et sapientia et sanctificatio et omnia quae Christus sunt et hic est locus ex quo eum non oportet exire Orig. night and day Still the Sabbath may plead are the Ordinances of God my Jewels and my Ornaments such causes of surfet Or rather are they not the Galleries for Christ and the soul to walk in the very stages of Christs presence Mat. 18. 20. The rich opportunities for soul-advantage the spiritual mans Mart Here the sinner like the sloathful servant can answer nothing It is both our doom and degeneracy to be weary of divine Ordinances and it loudly speaks 1. That Christ is not our beloved else his company would ravish not tire our attendance and be our satisfaction not our surfet Lovers are not quickly weary of their interchangeable converses 2. That heaven is not the end of our race surely if it were we should not then be so soon tired in the way Ordinances are the road to glory The Traveller puts on till he allight at home 3. That the world hath too much influence us The Jews were weary of the Sabbath Amos 8. 5. but it was that they might set forth Corn. Carnal minds do not relish spiritual duties they are their clog not their complacency To be in the flesh in fleshly desires and delights and to be in the spirit are a real contrariety The love of the world will cast out the love of ordinances This and much more our wearisomness in and of ordinances proclaims to every observer It is the observation of Origen that burdens were not to Onera non sunt portanda die Sabbati onus est omne peccatum Orig. be carried on the Sabbath day Nehem. 13. 15. saith he What is this burden but sin And this is the mistake of many when sin should be they make service their burden when they should groan under vile practices they groan under precious Ordinances One well observes wearisomness in duties sucks out all their sweetness and makes them dry and unpleasant and casts a dishonour on the God of ordinances Isa 5. 20. as if he was a fountain shedding bitter streams but on the contrary delight makes duty savoury meat and Gospel recreation Jacob for the beauty of Rachel served seven years and they seemed but a few dayes Gen. 29. 20. The Gal. 6. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 27. 4. Psal 119. 97. Psal 1. 2. Psal 110 3. Dr. Full. Eccl. Hist Saints in the beauties of holiness run through many services and they are not their toyle but their prerogative they rise from duty as Galen usually did from his meals with an appetite Dr. Fuller observes a Philosophical act did once so please Queen Elizabeth that her delight did drown all tediousness and she heard the Disputes till within night in the midst of Summer And shall Philosophy refresh and captivate more then Divinity shall the hand-maid more please then the Mistris Shall disputes of Nature be more satisfactory Deus est natâ—ra naturans et creaturae sunt natura naturata Baron then the God of Nature Shall the Schools more delight then the Sanctuary Nay shall the Mathematicks of Archimedes so drown him in rational pleasure that being in his study he heard not when Syracuse the City of his habitation was taken by the Romans Shall such raptures drop from the contriving of a Mathematical Instrument and is there no fruit on the tree of Life no delicacy in ordinances to affect our souls and to wear off a cloyed irksomness from our spirits on the blessed Sabbath Surely it argues weak and faint grace when the breast that feeds it becomes troublesome and the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2. 2. becomes sowre and stales because it is not made use of Caut. 2 Let us take heed of trifling away the Sabbath under the pretence of vain excuses The Sabbath is the solemn time of mans Aurum igne probatum alii intelligunt de vâ—rbo dei Illud enim argento septies decâ—cto est probatius Auro obrizo desiderabilius Alii intelligunt de fide quâ solâ divitiae caeleste accipiantur quaeque igne afflictionis quovis auro purgatior redditur Coram deo non facit divites aurum sed fides Christum cum the sauris suis possidens 2 Cor. 5. 21. life the soules gale of opportunity the good wind for the harbour of Rest On this day God sets forth his merchandize Rev. 3. 18. for man to buy up to enrich himself to eternity then God offers his gold to make us rich in grace his white raiment to make us rich in beauty his eye-salve to make us rich in knowledge Pareus well observes Adams fall proclaimed him bankrupt and he naturally labours under a three-fold malady 1. Of Poverty and so God offers Gold Rev. 3. 18. to set him up again to repair his lost revenues and estate 2. Of Nakedness when Adam sinned his first sin Gen. 3. 7. himself and so after himself his posterity was shamefully naked and now God offers especially on a Sabbath day the spiritual fair-day for such merchandises white raiment to cover our nakedness and to adorn us with a beauty exceeding our Primitive loveliness He offers the righteousnesse of Christ a fairer Garment then Adams
then say they to visit them is charity and if they have a familiar friend then to visit them is love and amity and if they have a friend with whom they deal in worldly affairs then to visit him there is a kind of necessity and they will be frugal of their time though they are prodigal of their Sabbath It is true visiting the sick is Qui operibus charitatis se benedictos haeredes pâ—â—destinatos proinde â—â—re fideles verèque oves Christi declaraverunt Illis jure adjudicatur regnum a duty of the Sabbath if the visit be sweetned with prayer spiritual discourse and heavenly instructions On a Sabbath Christ visited the sick Mark 1. 31. healed the sick Luke 14. 1. And visiting the sick is one of those duties in the faithful discharge of which we shall give up our accounts with joy Mat. 25. 36. But to visit the sick onely for a little discourse or to pass a civility or to spend some time they know not how well otherwise to dispose of this is the waste of a Sabbath and is the evil of too many in the City and Nation Indeed the Sabbath is a day of visits but they must be heavenly not earthly fruitful not complemental visits We must visit the Sanctuary by our holy approaches we must visit the throne of grace by our humble addresses we must visit our own souls by our serious searches we must try and examine our selves which is an eminent duty upon the Sabbath Nay and God hath his visits on his own 2 Cor. 13. 5. day he hath the visits of his presence Mat. 18. 20. He hath the visits of his grace Rev. 1. 10. He hath the visits of his sweet and endearing love Cant. 2. 4. But to these trifling visitants we may say ad quid perditio haec And why is Mat. 26. 8. this waste Are there so many Pâ—rentheses in a Sabbath so many loose and vacant hours as that they must be spent in chat about worldly affairs or passing of complements upon friends Are the duties of this day so few that impertinent visits must be called in to fill up the time Surely such neither understand the worth nor the work of a Sabbath This day is a golden spot which admits of no waâ—te no oâ—er-flowing moments to spend upon idle visits A gracious soul can espy no vacation in this holy season he could snaffle the Sun on this day and rein it in and sadly complains the day out-runs the duty and the Sabbath is done before his work is done But these vain persons stand idle Mat. 20. 3. in the Market place and every slight occasion can hire them Thou visitest a friend on the Sabbath is there a better friend then Christ to visit and to spend thy time with on his own blessed day Thou visitest a customer or one Talis est conditio omnium sine vocatione dei sunt otiosi nec sibi nec aliis sum utiles Par. with whom thou hast some business is not soul trade the best traffick and is it not the best industry and care to lay up treasures in heaven Art thou not more engaged to enquire after salvation then to speak with a friend upon worldly affairs Did God ever give thee a day for eternity to run a considerable part of it out in frothy discourses foolish caresses or trifling visits Thy soul is thy business on Gods holy day and heaven is the place of thy visits Let us consider the Sabbath continues no longer to us then we are employed in the services of it And if we think it so long that we can spare part of it for fruitless visits what do we do but draw up an impeachment against divine wisdom which appointed an whole day for mans converse with himself But let such take heed least their impertinent visits be not over-taken with unexpected and destructive visitations of wrath and displeasure Isa 10. 3. Jer. 10. 15. Some trifle away their Sabbath in recreative walks First The fields must either be their way to a Sermon Or Secondly They must be their pastime instead of a Sermon Or Thirdly They must be their recreation after a Sermon they must take the fresh air and they can spare no other time for it It is very observable the first of these defraud their souls viz. Those who must have a walk to a Sermon they put a cheat upon themselves they pretend they only go a Sabbath Acts 1. 12. Conscientia est judex incorruptus et adversus impium exurgit clamat exclamat occusat et judicat et quasi ante oculos pingit peccatorum turpitudinem Chrys dayes journey and it is to hear a Sermon they do not neglect the bread of life they only go a little further to fetch it But an all-seeing eye sees all the disguise and a just hand will tear thy Apron of fig-leaves Gen. 3. 7. Nay conscience can tell thee it is not the Ordinance but the walk draws thee to that distance thou mayest hear Sermons nearer home and most probably thy own Pastour it is not the delight of the Sanctuary but the pleasure of the fields is thy attractive thou walkest to please thy curious eye and not to advantage thy precious soul These are carnal Gospellers or as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 3. 4. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God As for the second factors for sensual delight who must have a walk instead of a Sermon These debauch their souls Qui amant corporis voluptares non possunt offici deo et rebus divinis voluptates spirituales erigunt animum ad caelestia sed carnales et mundanae animum deprimunt et effaeminant Theoph. It is strange Merchandise to exchange an Ordinance for a walk a sensual delight for a spiritual advantage this is to put a low rate upon the soul these out-vy Esau who sold his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage he only sold a temporal good and in case of necessity but these sell a spiritual good an opportunity of life and grace when there is no necessity Surely these never tasted the sweets of an Ordinance nor ever knew what it was to converse with God on the Mount or to meet with Christ in his banquetting house Children indeed throw away Gold and cry after a toy and a trifle and these more childish throw away the word which is better then fine gold Psal 19. 10. Can an opportunity of grace be compensated with a little voluptuous laziness the Isa 47. 8. gratifying of wanton sence or the reaches of a vagrant heart Tit. 3. 3. Theophylact saith expresly That those who love outward pleasure they can never be affected with God or the things of God for sensual pleasures depress and keep down the soul and habituates it to softness and effeminacy Thou who vendest a Magna corporis cura est magna virtutis incuria soul opportunity for a little pleasure
this sin we must Ex hoc textu Augustinus solebat disputare solam infidelitatem esse peccatum damnans Chemn be cautionated especially on the Lords day which is faiths working day It is observable that miracles are attributed to no other grace but faith Mat. 17. 20. This grace can remove mountanes Luke 17. 6. Bring faith to an Ordinance it can remove the mountane of carnal reason the mountane of prejudice the mountane of fleshly mindedness A Believer at an Ordinance disputes it not with God is not disaffected with any thing of God is dissolved into the will of God he puts up his prayers as a wise Merchant waiting a seasonable return Psal 85. 8. Hab. 2. 1. He hears Omnibus Evangelium praedicatur sed non omnibus creditur omnibus deus salutem offert sed non consert nisi fidelibus sicut medicina omnibus aegris pro ponitur sed non medetur nisi eam sumentibus Chrysost the word and he claps it close to his soul by personal application Vnbelief throws away the plaister but faith layes it on the wound Faith is both the mouth to receive in and the stomack to digest spiritual food The word striketh boldly and worketh miraculously under the banner of faith Rom. 1. 16. 1. Cor. 1. 21. 2 Tim. 3. 15. But there is a blindness in unbelief which cannot see the beauties of an Ordinance and how lovely Christ looks in it Faith hath an eye to see the excellency and an ear to hear the melody of an Ordinance and to attend to Christ speaking loves to his beloved Faith in the threatnings of the word causeth humiliation Faith in the precepts of the word causeth subjection Faith in the promises of the word springeth consolation The unbeliever like a man in a swoon shuts his mouth against the cordials of the Gospel Other sins indeed wound the soul but unbelief like Joab strikes under the fifth rib and kills out-right This sin spoyles all sowres all disanuls all 1 Pet. 2. 8. The word to an unbeliever is like rain upon the Rock like dew upon a barren Heath The Apostles advice Heb. 11. 4. Eph. 3 12. is sweet and sacred Heb. 10. 22. If we will draw nigh to God with acceptance we must do it with affiance Faith is an instrument which justifies both our persons and performances Of all Virgin Graces Faith is the Hester that God will set the Crown upon Let our design then be on a Sabbath to avoid the rock of unbelief and get that indispensable and inestimable grace of faith Let us be earnest for the spirit to plant it and let us attend seriously on the word Luke 11. 13. Rom. 10. 17. to water it that this blessed grace by a divine Chymistry may turn the metal of every Ordinance into gold Caut. 4 Let us take heed of undervaluing the Ordinances of a Sabbath Many make a bad market of a Sabbath day because they do not prize those things which are then set to sale They speak in the language mentioned by Job Job 21. 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit shall we have if we pray unto him And take up the peevish expostulation of the froward Jews mentioned by the Prophet Mal. 3. 14. Ye have said it is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance Slighted meals may cloy but not strengthen they may be our surfet not our satisfaction Customary approaches will meet with dead Ordinances It is the humble soul who highly prizes the opportunities of life will be the thriving soul David prized the sanctuary and he saw God there Psal 63. 2. But indeed ignorance is the cause of our disesteem we do not value Sabbath love because we do not understand it we slight the Ordinances of grace because we know not the grace which is conveighed from the Ordinances Ignorant Children throw away Pearls a Lapidary would Canales gratiae à quibus aqua viventes affluentèr diffim duntur not do so The Ordinances they are the channels cut out by Christ through which the waters of life run to the soul they are the spiritual Alymbecks to drop the sweet stillings of grace upon the heart they are the hives of that which is sweeter then the honey and the honey comb Psal 19. 10. They are the Conduits which run with Wine on Christs resurrection day our blessed Sabbath These Ordinances which many foolishly despise but as God saith to their own hurt Jer. Gen. 41. 48. 7. 6. They are the Suhurbs of heaven the Coelestical Exchange where Christ and his people barter for spiritual commodities they are Christs Granary and store-houses to find the soul with bread In these golden seasons God exchangeth mercies for duties not as if our duties deserved mercy but out of his own free grace and shortly will exchange glory for grace Exod. 29. 43 45. If Paul can come in the fulness Externis institutionibus utimur tanquam adminiculis ad veram conteâ—plationem diviâ—â— Majestatis â—â— gloriae ejusdemque erga populum suâ—◠〈◊〉 Riv. of the Gospel Rom. 15. 29. how much more our dear Jesus in his blessed Ordinances These are the Chariots to bring believers down into Goshen a place of light and pleasantness Every holy day is a Sun beam which conveighs light and heat to the inward man Ordinances are those chrystal glasses wherein the soul sees its beloved Those divine graces which are for meat to satisfie and for medicine to heal are found onely growing on the banks near the waters of the Sanctuary Gods tabernacles are amiable Psal 84. 1. And who will nauseate beauties the captivations of sence In the Sanctuary there is strength and beauty Psal 2 Cor. 3. 1â— 96. 6. Christ is never more beautifull in the eye of the believer Cant. 1. 14. Isa 33. 17. Psal â—0 17. Psal â—â— 2. John 5. â— John 9. 7. then when sitting at his table Cant. 1. 12. Or walking among his Candlesticks Rev. 2. 1. David desired to see the beauty of the Lord in his holy Temple Psal 27. 4. It must needs be Satans artifice to beat down the price of Ordinances How many Criples have been healed in this Bethesda How many defiled souls have been washed in this Isa 53. 2. Siloam Thou who undervaluest Ordinances look again and see whether there be no form nor comliness in them cast thy eye upon the Author of them the Author and giver of them is God they are his Institutions He hath appointed Jer. 3. 15. Prayer a means to prevail with himself for mâ—rcies and blessings He hath commanded our attendance upon the word 〈…〉 that the day spring from on high may visit us and the Net being spread our souls may be taken by the hand of Christ God owns and he crowns Sabbath Ordinances Cast thy eye upon the nature of them they are the sweet intercourses between God and the Soul the
too is little enough to make him write well That of the Wise man Eccles 9. 10. is chiefly true in the Sanctuary what ever our hand finds to do we must do it with all our might And holy resolution best answers this case with a serious endeavour that former negligence shall be repaired by future diligence If thou hast been formal or neglectful on a Sabbath shame thy self in the observation of the melting behaviours of others There was once a General who when his souldiers fought faintly and cowardly he allighted from his Horse and run into the middle of the foot-souldiers and shamed his Army by his own valourous example When thou seest Agendum est à nobis secundum ideam divinam one weeping in the Congregation another sighing anotehr hanging upon the lips of the Minister by serious and vigorous attention say within thy self O my soul why art thou Psalm 43. 5. so formal so dead and superficial and why art thou so Exod. 25. 40. discomposed within me Curious pictures are drawn from Heb. 8. 5. lovely persons and thou shouldst do well to correct thy formality by the serious examples of others Emulation in spirituals 1 Cor. 11. 1. is very commendable and it doth well become a Christian to copy out the religious custome of an Isaac in holy meditation Gen. 24. 63. The gust and satisfaction of David in holy Ordinances Psal 63. 5. The humility of a Daniel in holy Prayer â—an 9. 3. The attention of a Lydia in hearing the Word Acts 16. 14. The melting frame of a Josiah Vides fratrem profluentem lacrymis huic colluge et condole Ita enim fiet ut alienis malis castiges propria Bas in reâ—ding the Law 2 Chron. 34. 27. The heart-breaking expressions of an Ezra in confession of sin Ezra 9. 3 4 5 t. Thus others musick may shame our jarring and cause our harmony truly sometimes the sight of another mans carriage doth more enflame us then the sense of Gods presence the Assembly which we see doth more affect us then God whom we do not see In Ordinances the Apostle his counsel is very authentical we must rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep Rom. 12. 15. Symphony is the sweetness and credit of an Ordinance The Prophet speaketh of one Name and one Lord Zach. 3. 9. Zach. 14. 9. It may be added one weeping eye and one melting heart doth very much beautifie social worship In a word others humble carriage in Gospel opportunities should constrain ours we will thank a beggar who puts us in the way Thus much for the first Case Case 2 What must we do in the good performance of holy duties and the happy enjoyment of God in Ordinances It is sometimes the felicity of Gods people to be in a flame in holy services Exod. 34. 30. and to enjoy much of God on the day of God their faces shine while they are in the Mount with God with holy David Obiectam habuit saciem Moses prae splendore vultus quem Israelitae intueri non puterant Lyppom they see the glory and power of God in the Sanctuary Psalm 63. 2. with the two Disciples travelling to Emmaus their hearts burn Luke 24. 32. whilst Christ communes with them in Gospel dispensations As once it was said of Viretus his Auditours they were ever rapt up into heaven in holy Prayer and in the evening of a Sabbath thus satisfactorily spent they are ready to sing Requiems to their souls and to say one day in Gods Courts is better then a thousand Psalm 34. 10. In this case when duties have been transformed John 2. 8. into delights as water turned into wine by a miracle of Love Then it is incumbent upon us To be thankful Surely gratitude becomes us is our comely oblation as the Psalmist speaks Psal 33. 1. is our convenient sacrifice as the Syriack reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when God gives us not onely the space but the grace of a Sabbath not only the Sabbath of mercy but the mercy of a Sabbath The stone wall reflects the beams of the Sun which shine upon it If beams of love and joy have visited Paulus raptus est ab eo quod est secundum naturam ad illud quod est supra naturam vi superioris naturae Thom. us in holy opportunities on Gods blessed day reflections of praise are our suitable tribute it is most rare mercy with Paul to be caught up when we have been in the lower stories of Gospel-grace Nehemiah blessed the Lord for the priviledge of a Sabbath how much more shouldst thou for the divine pleasures of it when thou hast tasted how good and gracious the Lord is and thou hast discharged thy self sweetly and sincerely in holy performances The Hallelujahs of Heaven 2 Cor. 13. 2. are the glorified Saints onely offering for their seraphical Nehem. 9. 14. and eternal Rest Indeed the enjoyment of God in Ordinances is our clearest Sunshine on this side glory If thou Psalm 27. 5. hast had such an enjoyment speak in the language of the sweet Singer of Israel Bless the Lord O my soul let all that Psalm 103. 1. is within me bless his holy Name To be careful The Saints usually after the best spent Sabbaths meet with the worst assaults It was the speech of an experienced Christian I look for the Devil every Munday morning I am sure he will come to rob my soul of Sabbath 1 Thes 3. 5. good if it be possible Have our hearts been raised ravished enliven'd and enlarged upon the Lords day we Datur morbus mentis etiam et morsus serpentis est malum innâ—tum est et seminatum Bern. had need watch the tempter least he damp our joyes and so grieve our spirits and embitter our sweets and lest our mind which one day hath been heavenly the next day become haughty for pride is a worm which is apt to breed in the best weed It is a rare observation of Bernard That the mind can swell as well as the Serpent can bite we have evil within us as well as assaults without us When we have comfortably waited on our God we must as sedulously watch over our own hearts or else our sweet raptures will turn into swelling conceits as refreshing fires send up a black smoak It was not for nothing that Paul had a thorn in his flesh after 2 Cor. 12. 7. he had had a Paradise in his view We are apt to surfet on the richest Banquets Too much light doth not encrease but dazle the sight After well-spent Sabbaths let us admire our good and double our guard If the Devil will steal away the seed Mat. 13. 19. he will surely attempt the harvest the Thief will sooner fetch away bags then pence To be faithful If our souls have been sweetned by holy Ordinances upon Gods holy day let us study to
keep this divine rellish upon our hearts we are apt to catch cold after Cùm malum committitur bonum amittitur the greatest heats Let us look to our selves that we do not lose the things which we have wrought and after close and sweet communion with God grow lax and remisse Sweet water is as easily spilt as ordinary water The rarest Cordials 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are put into glasses which are easily broken there may be a rejoycing which is onely for a season John 5. 35. the Greek reads it for an hour If thy heart hath been wound up towards heaven on a Sabbath a little carelesnesse will let it down again If thou hast spent the Sabbath comfortably Heb. 12. 14. be faithful to thy soul and interest and spend the Ephes 4. 30. week holily Purity will keep peace it is sin grieves the spirit Spiritus sanctus cùm agimus aut loquimur turpia aut mala offenditur Alap who is the Comforter Joh. 14. 16. Our inward joy is onely chased away by trespasse which is a thron in the breast of this Nightingale To be unloosend on the Sabbath from week-day bonds is comfortable but in the week-time to unloose the Lords dayes bonds is abominable To be fruitful Comfortable Sabbaths call for conscionable lives Soft showres make fruitful fields If on the Sabbath we have enjoyed the comforts of the Lord it is but meet we John 15. 5. should alwayes abound in the work of the Lord. Our week-day 1 Cor. 15 58. carriage should be the springing up of the Sabbath days seed our whole lives must be a walking in the strength of our Sabbaths Divers of the Ancients are very copious and pathetical in perswading men so to practice Piety and pursue sanctity as to perpetuate a Sabbath We should mingle the Sabbath with the week but not the week with the Sabbath as we should be in the spirit on the Lords day so Tertul com in Jud. 4. Orig. in Numer Hom. 23. Chrysost in Mat tract 29. Aug. de Civit dei lib. 12. cap. 30. Buc. in Mat. 12. 11. we should walk in the spirit on the week day Gal. 5. 25. It is a remarkable speech of Bucer Have we served the Lord on his own day let our manners shew it let our works prove it let the holiness of our lives abundantly declare it A pious Conversation is the onely evidence we have been with Jesus we should be in such a frame every Lords day as if that was the first Sabbath that ever we spent and as if that was the last day that ever we should live or as if the weight of all our work lay upon that single Sabbath for which we were sent into the world nay as if our eternal being was to be determined hereby and yet after the day is over we must endeavour as much to be doing as if nothing was done on the Sabbath and all that we had done was to be abated on the account Sabbath comforts are not to be dews but showres not suddenly to be dryed up but to soak into our future lives Jâ—hn the Evangelist after he had been Rev. 1. 10. in the Spirit on the Lords day writes the Revelation the worlds Chronicle within a Veil Moses when he had been Exod. 32. 22. on the Mount with God was filled with holy zeal and Sinai did not flame more then his heart Heavenly sweets are 1 John 1. 3. onely incentives to holy services and the tasts of divine communion are the genuine bribes to an holy conversation Case 3 How we must keep the Sabbath alone in the deprival of Christian and comfortable society There are many cases may befall a Christian which may render him solitary upon the Psalm 63. 2. Lords day and for the present enforce him to be an exile Psalm 96. 6. from the publick Assemblies 1. As in the case of travelling we may meet with an Inne when we cannot meet with a Sanctuary Isa 16. 12. 2. So in the case of imprisonment we may be confined to Psalm 102. 7. the darkness of a dungeon and want the glorious liberty of Psal 84. 3. the people of God the freedom they enjoy in the house of Prayer 3. So likewise in case of sickness we may be chained to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our beds and not enjoy the freedome of publick Ordinances And Mr. Perkins instances in the disease of the dead Palsie so that now Aristotles definition of Man to be a sociable Creature will not comport with our present condition Isa 16. 12. 4. And it may be instanced in case of hard service and slavery when our groans are ready to drown the musick of Israelitae ita affligebantur animi maerore et durâ servitute quâ spiritu quâ—si intercludebantur ut non attenderent verbis Moyses de deo serviendo Riu. a Sabbath and we are necessitated to lye down in silence and solitariness We do not read that the Jews kept any publick Sabbath in their Aegyptian bondage their tasks jarred their triumphs and they did not onely make brick without straw but they passed over Sabbaths without any visible observation but yet no case can wholly incapacitate us from conversing with God on his own day we are never so lonely but we may enjoy communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. 1. If we are travelling we may likewise travel towards Exod. 6. 9. Canaan Holy duties will turn an Inne into a Sanctuary Psalm 134. 2. Paul prayed by the Rivers side Acts 16. 13. Peter preached in a private house Acts 10. 34. and Christ administers the Gen. 24. 63. Sacrament in an upper room Luke 22. 12. Now we may meditate in every Field and pray in every Chamber To Dan. 6. 10. Christians saith Dr. John Reynolds No Land is strange no ground unholy every Coast is Jewry every Town is Hierusalem every house is Sion every faithful body is a Temple to serve Gâ—d in And to think otherwise is to savour of Judaisme as Hospinian observes 2. Suppose thy self in prison on the Lords day If an Angel can break a prison door Acts 12. 7. surely Christ can and give thee the meeting on his own blessed day VVhen thou art in fetters of iron he can draw thee with the cords of a man Hos 11. 4. If we must visit our brethren surely he will visit his Saints in prison Prison doors are no obstruction Mat. 25. 36. to the divine illapses of the good spirit and Prison-straights are no confinement to the enlargements of a Saints heart a fervent prayer can pierce the roof of the closest dungeon and flies as high as Heaven Paul and Silas sang Acts 16. 25. Psalmes one duty of a Sabbath when they were fettered in their Chains and inclosed in their Goal 3. Put case thou art confined to a sick bed Jacob worshipped Gen. 49 18.
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
midwived into the world by Apostolical precept or practise The infinite distance between the Authorities must needs conclude a vast difference between the benedictions nor can the Canon of a Council tie conscience so fast or bless the obedient so much as the Canon of Scripture our enemies themselves being Judges nor can in the least any Scripture be produced to authorize the Church to set up a Sabbath for the Christian World God usually blesseth his own institutions Prayer is powerful because He commands it Preaching John 14. 15. effectual because He enâ—oyns it the Sacraments comfortable Mat. 28. 19 20. because He ordains them and so the Lords Day is often Luk. 22. 19 20. bedewed with showers of the choicest love and benediction because it was Christs institution either more immediately by his personal command or else mediately by his inspired and infallible Apostles And therefore let us fall down before the force of truth and conclude the blessings of our Sabbath speak the beginnings of our Sabbath to be in Gods breast and not in mans will God usually accepting the worship at Jerusalem and not that at Dan and Bethel he loves those festivals of which himself is the Author And let us fetch a pregnant argument from Providence What signal judgements hath God punished the prophaners of Peccatum est deiâ—idium â— Christiciâ—â—um est summum malum spomaneâ— infania somnus et mors anima ex sui naturâ mortem meretur gravâ— est onus animum deprimens cibus durus nullo stomacho digestibilis morbus pesti lentissimus putidissima corruptio Alap the Lords day with as shall be shewn more fully hereafter Now the prophaning of the Lords day must needs be a breach of the law of God or else how can it be a provocation of the wrath of God God punisheth only for sin which the Apostle saith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law 1 John 3. 4. Now if our Christian Sabbath be only a law of Man where is the positive and provoking sin in the violation of it where is the infinite evil which should so inflame divine displeasure as to pour out his fury on the violatours of it and to follow them with tremendous judgements Is it probable that God would strike so deeply and punish so fearfully and wonderfully for the breach of a Canon of the Church or a Decree of a Council It is true was the Lords day bottom'd on Ecclesiastical authority it would be a piece of disobedience to the Church to violate it but still where is the infinite evil as every sin is to stir up so much indignation in the Almighty Surely the breach of a humane constitution could never raise such storms in the world nor pelt so many untimely into their dust and oftentimes on a sudden and in a stupendous and terrible manner as shall be fully shewed hereafter And again we meet with no such tragedies in our sporting upon holy dayes and those festivals which are of the Churches appointment those dayes run waste in mirth and jollity nor do we meet with broken limbs sudden deaths fearfull diseases unexpected blindness c. the common issues of the prophanation of the Lords day to be the success and consequence of that vanity Providence then makes the distinction between dayes of the Churches appointment and that blessed day our Christian Sabbath which is of divine institution To conclude then this particular Let us cloath the Lords Quid hac die fâ—â—icius est quâ dominâ—â— judaeâ—â— mortuus est nobis resurrexit In quâ cultus Synagogae ocâ—ubuit et est ortus ecclesiae in quâ nos homines fecit surgere et vivere secum et sedere in coelestibus Haec est dies quem fecit dominus exultemus et laetetemur in illo Omnes dies fecit dominus sed caeteri dies possunt esse ju daeorum possunt esse Haereticorum possunt esse Gentilium sed dies dominica dies est resurrectionis dies Christianorum est dies nostra est Hier. day in all its royal Apparel and put on all its Jewels and Ornaments and then we shall see this Queen of dayes in all its splendour and glory A day it is of honour and renown above all dayes that ever the Sun shone in the most gloririous day that ever God created the most solemn day that ever the Church celebrated a day which Christ hath crowned with the greatest glory of any day that ever dawned upon the world It is a day of the Lords power a day of his perfection the day of his praise and glory and a day of his bâ—â—â—nty and blessings the day of his espousals and of the gladness of his heart When Christ was born the Angels celebrated that day with Songs and triumphs Luke 2. 13. When Christ rose from the dead or else why was he born Let the Saints celebrate that day with weekly solemnities and praises and not passe away their laud in a transient musick as the Angels did On this day our Christian Sabbath day there was a confluence of wonders and wonderfull transactions wrought by him whose name is wonderfull Isa 9. 6. In a word this day is the highly favoured of God a map of Heaven a taste of Glory the golden spot of time the market day of souls the day break of eternal brightness a day to be marked of thousands for their new birth day a day on which many have been redeemed from more then Aegyptian bondage a day of light of joy of love and delight a day which is truly delitiae humani generis the delight of mankind as once Titus was called Ah! how do men flutter up and down on the week dayes as the Dove on Rom. 1. 4. Luke 13. 32. John 20. 22 23. the waters and can find no rest for their souls till they come to this day as to an Arke and this day takes them in On this day the light was created the Holy Spirit descended life hath been restored Satan subdued Sin mortified Souls sanctified Cant. 3. 11. Hos 2. 19 20. Acts 13. 34. Sex praerogativae recensentur ad diem dominicum propiissimè pertinentes Beda in lib. de officiis Eccles Cap. 1. the Grave Hell and Death conquered O! the mountings of mind the ravishings of heart the solace of soul which on this day men enjoy in their dearest Saviour Our Lords day is the first day of the week was the first day of the world On it the Elements were formed the light was created the Angels were produced On it Manna was first rained down On it say the Fathers of the sixt General Council was Christ born On it did the Star first appear to the wise men who came out of the East On it was Christ baptized in Jordan by John the Baptist as the Council of Paris observe Sextum Concilium generale Constantinopoli celebratum On it saith a learned man Christ
precious institution of the Sabbath was the first-born of Ordinances it drew its first Deus in primâ creatione sabbatum sanxit et hauâ— dubiè in familiis Patrum sanctorum sedulo observatum fuit Par. breath in Paradise as hath been fully discovered already this was the Reuben of Gods institutions the morning star and the rising Sun of Divine appointments Now the Sabbath being the first-born Ordination which enriched the world it is the more pleasing and acceptable to the Lord and the due observation of it will assuredly be the more gratefull to him God remembers the kindness of Israels youth Jer. 2. 2. the initials of his obedience were most pleasing We put Sabbatum ab initio mundi destinatum est ad cultum dei Luth. buds into our bosomes The Sabbath was from the infancy of the world and therefore our carefull keeping of it must needs delight the Father The first born was alwayes to be dedicated to God the first born of Man and the first born of Beasts Exod. 13. 2. The first fruit of Corn Deut. 18. 4. Nay the first of all the fruits of the Earth Deut. 26. 2. Nay God will not only have the first born of mans person but Sabbatum ab initio mundi observatum est Baldw. the first fruits of his labours Exod. 23. 16. And God is so pleased with the first of every thing that he ordains a feast of first fruits Exod. 34. 22. And a sacrifice of the first fruits God calls a sweet savour unto himself Levit. 23. 17 18. Sanctifiâ—atio omnium primogenitâ—rum tam hominum quaâ— bestâ—arum eâ—â—t eorum separatio ab aliis quae inserviâ—bant usâ—bus humanis ut deo soli cederent in eâ— nallum jus homâ—nâ—s habeâ—â—â—t Rivet Nay so gratefull were the first fruits to the Lord that he would not only have the first born of the Sons of Israel and the firstlings of the Herds and the Flocks Nehem. 10. 36. The first fruits of the ground nay of the very trees Nehem. 10. 35. But likewise the first fruits of the very dough Nehem. 10. 37. And Christ himself is called the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20 23. And Israel his chosen people are called the first fruits of his increase Jer. 2. 3. and converts the best of men are the first fruits of his creatures Jam. 1. 18. Surely then the holy Sabbath the first fruits of Divine Ordinances must needs be dear to God and unholy practices on that day must the more provoke him and holy duties sincerely acted on that day must the more please him and holy hearts on this day must the more delight him and holy graces in their most vigorous exercise on this day must the more be acceptable to him the Sabbath was his primitive institution nor must it be forgotten the Lords day Our Christian Sabbath is the first day of the week and was in time the first day of the world wherein the light received its production and the blessed heavens their being Gen. 1. 1 3. Now then let this emphasis which God hath put upon the Sabbath engage us to a stricter and more wary behaviour on it least the order be inverted as our Saviour notes Mark 10. 31. And that Sabbath which was the first in Gods institution be the last in our condemnation and Mat. 19. 30. this darling ordinance procure a damning sentence upon us in the general assizes of the world Arg. 9 The sanctification of the Sabbath will be profitable to our outward estate For the more conscionable we are in sanctifying the Sabbath the greater blessing we may expâ—ct from Lev. 26. 9. God which divine blessing the wise man tells us Prov. 10. Jer. 17. 25. 22. maketh rich This piece of godliness gives us right and title to the promises of this life 1 Tim. 4. 4. He who hath Benedictione dei divitiae parantur melius et meliùs conservantur et effiâ—aci res redduntur ad omnes usus ad quos adhibentur Et Deus suâ benedictione piis quasi somniantibus de eâ re parùm cogitantibus bona suppeditat exempla sint Abrahamus Josephus c. Cartw. been with God upon the Sabbath day God will be with him on the week day and he who hath sanctified God in his heart when he hath been agitating the affairs of heaven God will assuredly bless the works of his hand when he is providing the things of earth It is our Saviours own promise If we first seek the Kingdom of Heaven I may add if we begin the week with God on the first day thereof all these outward things shall be added to us Mat. 6. 33. as a surplusage of divine love The best way to get estates for our selves is to keep Sabbaths to God and to enquire after the blessing where he hath lodged it viz. in preserving his Sabbath pure and unblemished Isa 56. 2. It is very observable that when God had perfected the Creation and put man into his tenement of Paradise he then ordains the Sabbath to shew that all creature comforts are only attendants on this Gen. 2. 3. holy day and if Adams sensual delight had given way to his spiritual communion he had neither lost Paradise nor his posterity It must be granted that the smiles of Providence usually accompany the sincerity of obedience And Sabbath-holiness is the Jachin and the Boaz the pillars of this obedience 1 Kings 7. 2. To keep that Arke in our house to keep Christ 2 Sam. 6. 11 12 in our heart and to keep the Sabbath in our eye so as devoutly Eph. 3. 17. to observe it makes all we have to prosper and entails Isa 56. 2. a blessing upon our selves and families Constantine the Great Euseb de vitâ Constant lib. 4. cap. 18. justly called so in a Military in a Civil and in a religious sence was as flourishing an Emperour as ever sate in the Throne of the Romane Empire and he took great care for the holy observation of the Lords day and made a statute to oblige both Himself and his Subjects so to do and as some report Composed Prayers for every one of his Regiments to use upon that holy day Thus Sabbath-holiness made his Crown flourish and his exemplary sanctification of Gods blessed day shall preserve his memory more honourably and more durably then the Walls or Structures of Constantinople a City of his own Name and Erection However most sure it is that as the prophanâ—tion of Gods day is a Lev. 26. 26 31. moth and a worm so the holy observation of it brings a secret blessing to our outward estates and when we have been on the Mount with God on his own day the Lord will make his face to shine upon us Numb 6. 25. and will be gracious Exod. 34. 35. to us in shewing mercy and showring benedictions upon us on the week day Arg. 10 How serious
all principles hath the greatest force and the love of Christ of all loves hath the greatest power The love of Christ could make Martyrs and bring them to a stake in a time of persecution and shall not the Octaginta sex annos servivi domino meo c. Polycarp love of Christ make Zelots and bring them chearfully to a duty on a Sabbath-day Let us be free and vigorous on the Lords day it is the day of our Beloved The occasion of it which was Christs resurrection when he rose for our justification Rom. 4. 25. That which started this day was the Rising Sun which enlightned the World In die dominico à mortuis resurrexit Christus Orig. over-spread with the darkness of Gentilism and the shades of Judaism Let us consider what put life into our Sabbath let the same thing put life into us upon this blessed Sabbath The duties of it they are all strains of love 1. The Sacrament is our love-feast and in it we have a double communion 1. Communion with Christ to remember Charitas Christi qua Christus homines dilexit nos urget ut Christi exemplo amore idem faciamus Alap his love to us in sacrificing himself for us Luke 22. 19. 2. Communion with the Saints for the increase of love At Christs Table the Heirs of Salvation come acquainted before they meet in their Fathers Kingdom and there those spiritual Stars rally together in a Constellation 2. Prayer is only the breathing forth of the Soul into the bosom of God the melting and the working of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards God Jam. 5. 16. In prayer sighs are but the moans of love and tears are but the streams of love And this duty is onely the flight of the Soul to its beloved the Cant. 3. 1. Spouse in prayer pours out her heart before him whom her Soul loves Hearing the word is nothing but the unbosoming Rom. 5. 8. of the Fathers heart to poor sinners Acts 20. 27. that they may know his will and live When we sit under the Heb. 1. 14. Gospel we onely hear those things which have been upon the heart of God from all eternity Thus all the duties of a Sabbath are the Emblems of love and call for a principle of love The donation of the Sabbath to us is the fruit of love and therefore the Sabbath is called the gift of God Ezek. 20. 12. Vide hic et obstupesce immensitatem amoris Christi Foedi eramus insipientes mendici puâ—idi viles miseri et miserabiles sed Foedos Christus amavit ut pulchros efficeret inimicos amavit ut amicos faceret c. and gifts are love-tokens It is great love we should have seasons of grace opportunities of life and term-times for our precious Souls days of converse with the Almighty constituted times for transacting the grand affairs of Eternity Now every thing in a Sabbath speaking love let that genuine and natural principle carry us out in Sabbath-duties with all freeness and delight Many persons are swayed by other principles by a principle of credit interest or the clamours of natural Conscience nay some are staked down to a Sabbath from the common usage and custom of the Country where they live but these men are like Puppets which are stirred and moved with Wires they onely act a part and the Sabbath is their Seene But the heaven-born principle which should carry us through all the severals of a Sabbath Psal 27. 4. is love to and longing for our dear Jesus Duties will never Psal 42. 2. be musick unless tuned by a heart full of love to God It was love brought Christ to a Cradle to be born for us it was love brought Christ to a Cross to die for us John 10. Amoris vis corpus et animam liquefacit et ultrà se ad videndum duâ—itur et ergo necesse est ut carneum hoc vinculum quâ— ferre talenti pâ—ndus non valemus infirmetur Greg. 17 18. And it is love to this Christ which can sweeten and succeed out duties upon his own holy day Love to Christ will make prayer the evidence of our desire to be at home and make hearing only our inquiry which is the next way to bring us home and make Sacraments our Corn by the way to support us till we do come home and make all other duties the planks upon which we get to come to shore to our desired and longed for home Let all our services on a Sabbath be acted with a serious poise and deliberation Meat which is rasht up never tasts Praescrip 2. pleasantly In holy duties we must carefully distinguish between holy delight and sinful precipitancy the Wise-man Jer. 8. 6. counselleth us to look to our foot when we go into the house Quatuor causae afferuntâ—r ex Hebraeis quare pecus separatum et comparatum decimo die asservabatur usque decimum quartum 1. Ne Israelitae negotiis impediti illud obliviâ—ni traderent 2. Vt meliùs observarent ne defectus aliquis sit in agno 3 Vt ex aspectu agni oxasionem haberent colloquendi de redemptione suâ ex Aegypto 4. Vt sese in tempore ad bonum opus perficiendum accingerent praepararent Fag of God Eccles 5. 1. we must not leap into the Sanctuary but we must pause in our approaches The Lamb for the Passover was taken up the tenth day of the month but not killed till the fourteenth Exod. 12. 3. 6. to shew us how considerately and advisedly we should converse with God in Ordinances Before we adventure upon any Sabbath-duty we should weigh and ponder these four things 1. The infiniteness of that God with whom we have to do Heb. 12. 29. 2. The nature of that duty in which we are to engage which is most solemn and spiritual Levit. 10. 2 3. 3. The preciousness of that soul which is highly concerned in all these services 4. The strictness of that account which must be made for all our Sabbath opportunities Nothing more ripens and amplifies our spiritual advantage then a serious advisedness and we are necessitated to it not only because our hearts are so slippery and will easily beguile us in holy services but because Satan never makes greater On-sets then when we are in Heavens roade Therefore on a Sabbath let us compose our selves for Divine Worship and dress our selves as the Spouse to meet with the Bride-groome of our souls Rash duties leave cold hearts and are nothing less then offering up strange fire Levit. 10. 1 2. When Ahab seemingly pleased God in his humiliation he walked softly 1 Kings 21. 27. And we must come to holy duties as the wise men of Mat. 25. 10. the East came to Christ with an observant distance and veneration Mat. 2. 11. Our inconsiderate adventures upon things sacred and divine only lose the taste of the duty and trifle away