46. Thirdly God hath made his promises to the Assemblies of his Saints Mat. 18. 20. 2 Cor. 6. 16. He will not neglect a Mat. 18. 20. weeping Hannah who prays and sobs alone 1 Sam. 1. 13. but will give her not onely a Child but a Samuel But yet God will create upon the Assemblies of his people a cloud which was the sign of his presence Isa 4. 5. And Isa 4. 5. Fourthly The prayers of the faithfull Congregation receive Deus quasi columna ignis praefulget et ostendit suis viam salutis et quasi nubes caligâ—rosà obumbrat refrigerat et protegâ—t eos ab aellutentationis Basil Jon 2 7 8 9 10 strength from their union When all Niniveh intreated the Lord and put on sack-cloath God repents himself of that intended and threatned evil and puts his Sword into the scabbard though drawn by an open denuntiation of Judgement Jon. 2. 7 8 9 10. Prayer is the souls battery of Heaven and when these petitions are the common breathings of the whole Assembly the force must needs be the stronger and the answer must needs be the surer Though a file of Souldiers cannot take the City an Army may But Fourthly We must converse with our Families upon Gods holy day then Parents should draw out their softest bowells towards their Childrens souls and Masters discharge their most faithfull duty towards their Servants eternity But of this more hereafter We must rise early on a Sabbath for we have many good things to pursue and usually the richest lading requires the longest voyages where we look for great gain we must spend much time Now this holy day is Gods market day for the weeks provision wherein he will have us to come to him and buy of him without silver or money the Bread of Angels Rev. 22. 1. Isa 25. 6. 2 Pet. 2. 2. Rev. 3. 18. the Water of Life the Wine of the Sacraments and the Milk of the Word to feed our souls tryed Gold to inrich our Faith precious Eye-salve to heal our spiritual blindness and the white rayment of Christs Righteousness to cover our shamefull nakedness And now all things being laid together that hath been suggested how should both interest and duty awaken us right early on the Lords day for these holy pursutes that no time be drowned and lost in unnecessary sleep and sluggishness A fifth Argument to raise us betimes on a Sabbath is seriously to consider the heats of worldly men With what wakeful diligence do they prosecute the meat that perisheth John 6. 27. they rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness and all to grasp the shadow of a few flying and Psal 127. 2. dying enjoyments when as one saith we should be careful to rise sooner on this day then on other dayes by how much the service of God is to be preferred before earthly business There is no Master so good as the Lord is and in the end no work shall be better rewarded then his service Dr. Twisse Dr. Twisse Moral of the Sabbath 147. Reports that at Geneva they have a Sermon at four of the clock in the morning on the Lords day for the Servants and Bishop Lake wished That such a course was general as was in his Majesties Court in his time to have a Sermon in the morning for the Servants on the Sabbath day How did this holy man breath after holy Services on the morning of a Sabbath And let every one of us say seek the Lord O my Soul seek him early on his holy day Let us do as Mary Mat. 28. 1. Mark 16. 2. John 20. 1. Magdalen she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved she was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulcher in the dawning while it was yet dark very early in the morning say the Evangelists O that our love to Christ could keep pace with hers Shall we love the World better then Christ O that we were as wise for our souls as we are for our bodies Let not sleep that devourer of time beguile us of our golden hours in the morning of a Sabbath when we might have the softest and sweetest converseâ— with God Let the sinfull sluggard who sleeps with the Sun beams in his face this day remember the saying of Augustine If the August Sun could speak how roundly might it salute thee with this reproof I laboured more then thou didst yesterday and yet I am risen before thee to day But this is too low an Argument behold the Sun of Righteousness is risen let us not sleep as do others but say and sing with the Church Isa Isa 26. 9. Sanctus ad beatos aspirans dicit se velle jugiter deum mente et animo gerere illâ—m desiderare tam nocte tam interdiu Psal 139. 9. 26. 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea and with my spirit within me will I seek thee early In a word it must needs inforce us to a blush to think that the Labourer who toyles in his earthly employments should take the wings of the morning to muddle in the World and we should let the morning fly away by our sloath and carelesness and not overtake it to meet with God upon his owne holy day And sixthly let it be considered the gracious soul will long to be with God The Spouse sought Christ upon her bed and the Saint will leave his bed betimes on a Sabbath to Cant. 3. 1. seek Jesus Christ the Spouse would pursue her beloved in Sponsa interim evigilans speciebus illis non satis discussis motu brachiis expansis spon sum complaecti conata fuit Del rio the night and the Saint will not omit to follow hard after the Lord Jesus in the morning as soon as she is awake she is with God especially on his own day Psal 139. 18. Our heart is where our treasure is as our Saviour speaks Luk. 12. 34. And if Christ be our treasure our spiritual love will prevail against our carnal sloath Let us take notice of holy David with what extasie of love he was transplanted Psal 63. 1. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry Psal 139. 18. Luk. 12. 34. and thirsty land where no water is Where there are thirsts after God there will be early enquiries for him The gracious Psal 63. 1. Soul pants after God as the Hart pants after the water brooks Now the thirsty Hart will not be so taken with Psal 42. 1 2. the green and pleasant Grass where she is lodged so as to forbear the brooks which must quench her thirst nor will the Saint be so toyled and fettered with sleep or sloath so as Psal 122. 1. to suspend his communion with God on his holy Sabbath he will tear those drowsie wit hs his
10. 25. The Prophet calls for full vials to be poured out upon them But prayer never better becomes a family then on the morning of the Lords day Our closet devotions and family prayers common to other Numb 28. 9. days must not be omitted on this blessed day but rathet augmented It is worth our notice that the first service of Exod. 30. 7. the Jews on their Sabbath was burning incense before the Lord Exod. 30. 7. Now family prayer is the burning of incense in our family every branch of the family joyning in prayer doth as it were fill his hand with incense and so offer it up in Christs merit which is the sweetness of our 2 Cor. 1. 3. incense to the father of mercies and how perfumed must Sicut suffitus sursum ascendunt et odorem suavem praebent sic preces sanctorum coelestia petunt et deo grâ—â—ae sunt that house and family be where so much incense is offered Let our whole family in the morning of the Sabbath cry out seek the Lord O our souls As Mary Magdilen she was early up to seek him whom her soul loved Mat. 20. 1. John 20. 1. Mark 16. 2. She was last at the Cross and first at the Sepulchre And O that our love could keep pace with hers The whole family shall be as morning stars to sing together Job 18. 7. and pour out their souls in the bosom of God this is worship like that of heaven where the multitude the whole host of heaven sing forth the praises Job 38. 7. of God together And in this we follow the clew of Reason First Families have their wants as well as single persons they may want prepared hearts composed spirits exerted graces to meet with God on his holy day that which is the complaint of one may be the moan of the whole family as if some one string in an instrument be struck another string trembles heart may answer heart throughout the whole family Secondly Spiritual grace is as necessary to the whole family as it is to any particular person and so ardent prayer is as indispensible The whole land of Aegypt came to Joseph for Corn because of their want Every foul in the family Gen. 41. 57. had need to beg for the beauties of Christ that he may meet pleasingly with his beloved on his own day Grace is the comeliness of the Servant as well as the Master of the Child as well as of the Parent In the fourth Commandment the injunction is laid upon all within our gates to keep holy the Sabbath Exod 20. 10. Thirdly Moreover the whole family is to attend upon Quamvis nullus advena ad hoc cogebatur ut circumcideretur tamen ad auditum divinae legis adhibebatur et die Sabbati ad sacrum otium constringebatur Muscul publick worship and prayer is both the plow and the harrow to prepare the ground of our hearts to meet with God and to receive the immortal seed which is able to save our souls Jam. 1. 21. Indeed the Apostle adviseth us to pray continually 1 Thes 5. 17. but then more especially when we are going to the publick assembly to prepare us for those solemn Ordinances wherein we joyn issue with the Saints in holy worship and for this God will be intreated Families must not rush upon Ordinances as the Horse into the battel but prayer must prepare the way and so let us feed Ezra 8. 23. upon the Manna of the word and drink of the truths of the Jer. 8. 6. Gospel Fourthly Family prayer makes a musicall harmony Consort Vna communis oratio quam unâ mente et fidem Jesum inculpatâ protulerunt Ignat ad Magn. is the life of melody a heavenly host celebrated Christs Nativity Luke 2. 13. Not a single Seraphim but a quire of Angels In the primitive times there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One common consent and harmony of prayers And Clemens Alexandrinus tells us That in the golden dayes of the Church there used to be on the Lords day a pile and heap of suppliants having one voice and one mind in their prayers and addresses to God It was the wish of Athanasius in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Apology to the Emperor Constantius That all might lift up the same voice to God without any dissonancy or disorder Vnited prayers are the stronger voice united sighs are the thicker cloud united tears are the fuller stream and so make the deeper impression upon the divine breast The devotions of a family must needs make a greater noise then one single cry to awaken the Lord to give answers of love and grace A single instrument may make musick but no harmony As we must take the opportunities of prayer in the closet and in the family on the morning of a Sabbath so we must look to the qualifications of our prayers Every prayer is not an engine to batter heaven we must so pray that we may obtain we must therefore look to the character as well 1 Cor 9. 24 as to the custom of praying Our prayers both in the closet in the family and likewise in the publick assembly must be fetched from the heart Christiani usi sunt precibus prout illis suggerit Sp. s sine monitore qui de pectore orabant Tertul. not lip labour only then they are lost labour Tertullian tells us The Christians in the primitive times needed not a monitor in their prayers to dictate to them they prayed from their own hearts which suggested to them seasonable and sutable petitions And the Apostle tells us That the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much Jam. 5. 16. The original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A working prayer when the heart works in holy affections and yearnings as the Bee in the midst of its wax and honey Success may be much known by the heat and warmth of our spirits Luke 11. 8. We translate the word importunity but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impudency In the times of the Law the sweet perfumes in the censers were burnt before they asscended When we go to our closets or our families we must look to our affections in our addresses to God get Cant. 4. 6. them fixed by the Holy Ghost that they flame up towards Vtinam eodem semper ardore orari possim tunc erit responsum fiat ut velis Luth. God in devout and religious ascents There is language in groans a voice there is in weeping Psal 6. 6. Sighs have their speech and are articulate before God Indeed it is no easie thing to work a lazy dead heart to a necessary height of affection the weights always running down-ward but they must be wound up by force as the weight of a clock must be tugged up by the strings And when our affections are pulliced up it is hard to keep them so like Moses his
burnt offering and indeed what information could they receive from the slaying of a sacrifice Let not them O Christians who groped in the dark keep better Sabbaths then we who live in the Sun-shine Our means being greater our light brighter our Gospel beams stronger let our services on Gods blessed day be more sublime and accurate And it is observable our light sprung upon our Sabbath to bear stronger Maâ— 16. 2. Mat. 28. 1. witness against all deeds of darkness on that day O let us then pity the Jews incapacities and testifie to all the Natitions we live under the Gospel of Christ because we are so strict upon his own day As we are endowed with more knowledge so we are embraced with more love then the Jews were The love of God to mankind was never so fully revealed as in these latter times Heb. 3. 2. John 3. 16. And hereupon undoubtedly it is that our Saviour Prophetâ— docuerunt ut Prophetae i. e. ut homines futura de Christo et ecclesiâ dei praenunciantes et praevidentes obsâ—ura Jam verò in lege novâ Christus filius dei qui clarè vidit et penetravit omnem Patris sapientiam non docet sicut membra corpori et sic Prophetae Christo cedant professeth That from the time of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent taketh it by force Mat. 11. 12. To such an height of devotion hath the love of God manifested in his Son inflamed his true Servants Indeed love is the genuine incentive to obedience now we have warmer love as well as clearer light then the Jews which doth strongly engage us to stricter Sabbaths then they were accustomed too They had Christ in a type we had him in truth they had him in a shadow we have him in substance they saw him afar off in a promise but we saw him bleeding on a Cross dying for our sins and rising again for our justification Rom. 4. 25. Rom. 8. 34. They saw Christ through the lattice and we with the window open they beheld him behind the cloud but we when the cloud was broken away And what is the inference Let this endearing love inspire us with gâ—eater zeal upon the Lords day that we may travel further in Heavens way on Apparuit dei potentia in creatioâ—â— dâ—i sapientia in reâ—um gâ—bernatione sed benignitas misericoâ—diae apparet in Christi humanitate Bern. that blessed season The love of a Father caused him to send down his Christ the love of a Christ caused him to lay down his life the love of the spirit causes him to bring home his work to a believing soul and this love of the Trinity should constrain every Christian to the holy observation of the Lords day When we understand how strictly sometimes the Jewish Church kept the Sabbath let the fire of love set us all in a flame and let the blushes of shame recruit our resolution concluding we have tasted deeper of the sweets of John 3. 16. John 10 17. Christs unspeakable love And if thou lovest Christ keep his Commandments John 14. 15. And among the rest the fâ—urth The Jews were tolerated in some things offensive which will not be permitted to us as in case of Polygamy so Jacob Gen. 29. 28. 1 Sam. 30. 5. â— Kings 11. 3. David Solomon holy and excellent men had their variety of wives and yet we read not of the thunder of a Ne quis adulteretur aut fornicetur Deus in remedium concupiscentiae instituit honorabile matrimonium illud cuivis amplecti licet Si eo relicto adulteretur quis aut fornicetur inexâ—usabilis sit ideòque à deo judicandus et damnandus Alap in Hebr. threat or the thunder-boult of a judgment falling upon them for that fact and practice There was something of a connivence God seemed as the Apostle speaks in the times of ignorance to wink at that unâ—â—stifiable procedure Acts 17. 30. But now in Gospel-times this plurality of wives incurs the penalty of the law of the land much more of the law of God and is a sin most scandalous and abominable well becoming the brutishness of a Turk or the barbarism of a Gentile Well then to come nearer to our purpose spots are sooner discerned in the garment of a Christian we have no shelter of connivence to fly unto if we break the law of marriage the Apostle tells us plainly Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13. 4. And so in the law of the Sabbath we have no toleration to plead or connivence as a skirt to be thrown over the breaches of it If we Christians break the Sabbath we are arrested by divine wrath without any bail or mainprize nor can we expect any suspension of divine displeasure Indeed God will something bear with offences in the duskish time of the law but he will Mat. 10. 15. scourge those very sins with scorpions in the times of the glorious Gospel Our tie therefore is not only stronger but our Mark 6. 11. interest and reason is clearer to engage us to Sabbath-holiness It will be more tolerable for the people of Israel and Luk. 10. 12 14. the inhabitants of Judah in the day of judgment then for Christians who shall presume upon Sabbath-violation The Gospel is a constant alarm to holiness There is no profession of the Gospel without an abjuâ—ation of all sin and uncleanness 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Gospel adds weight to every sin sin under the Gospel is like Adams transgression which was acted in Paradise a place of pleasure and abundance of purity and undefiledness it is like the sin of the buyers and sellers in the Temple their sin was inhaunced by Rom. 13. 12. the place Gospel light and love adds Vinegar to the Gall John 3. 19. of every offence Greater then must be our breaches of Gods holy day our prophanation of it must be of a scarlet dye and Heb. 12. 14. of a crimson tincture the poor Jews had never the argument of a Gospel to urge Sabbath-obedience or to inhance Sabbath-guilt they were in the Night Rom. 13. 12. The Noxâ—â—â— teâ—pus ante Christâ—m plenum terebrâ— infidelitatis peccatorum sed dies est rempus evangelti quo sol justitiae lucis suae radios toto orbe diffundit Praesente jam Christo et luce evangelii in hoc die opera tenebrarum abjicere et honestè ambulare et Christianè vivere debemus Cypr. 2 Cor. 4. 4. Mal. 5. 15. Cant. 1. 7. day-spring from on high never visited them but our day shines bright upon us which clears up our way to sanctity and holiness Let not Christians then under a pure purifying Gospel under a Gospel â—hich will both discover and condemn every evil way under a Gospel which was indited by a holy Spirit which leads to a holy life which suits with a holy heart let not such brutifie
securing to its self an everlasting Heb. 9. 15. inheritance and therefore no time can well be lost The Client who hath his suit to follow gets up early to wait at his Councellors door The Husbandman betimes waits on his business in harvest time The Sabbath is the souls good wind for heaven and mariners must not lose their winds they may so lose their voyage The Israelites were not to Exod. 16. 25. gather Manna on the Sabbath for then the showre ceased but Christians are then chiefly to gather their spiritual Manna for then the shower is most plenteous If one day in Gods Psal 84 10. Courts be better then a thousand as the Psalmist speaks it is so in relation to the soul and shall then any time of it be lost Shall we clip that day when the very clippings are as good silver as any that is left The souls interest widens the Sabbath and would lose no time The temptation of Satan contracts the Sabbath and would mind no time Now whether we should hearken to our better part or our Manè i. e. tempestivè sollicitè vigilanter secundò mane i. e. opportunè Alap worser enemy is most easie to discern Surely carnal sloth on Gods holy day doth onely evidence the conquest Satan hath gained over us There are two things he tempts us forcibly to to lose our Sabbaths and to lose our souls and it is no weak no faint memento to us to rise early on Gods day to seek him when he professes so often he rises early himself Jer. 7. 13. Jer. 26. 5. Jer. 25. 4. and sends his Prophets early to seek and enquire after us Let us cast an eye upon the examples of Gods Saints they are early in their visits of God The Church resolves to get Cant. 7. 12. up early and go into the Vineyards she would betimes gather clusters spiritual food for her feeding and refreshing The Church denotes her longing after Christs presence Eâ—ce sanctorum animae ec ce sanctorum mentes quae ad excellentissimos fructus gloriosissimè perveniunt Philo. there will be nothing but fruitfulness and flourishing where Christ draws near Christ comes not empty to his Spouse but he brings abundance of grace and sweetness with him The bubbling and boyling hearts of Gods holy and hidden ones are waiting for the first opportunities to enjoy communion with God they will file off the chains of sloth and sleep to be free to converse with their beloved The holy Psalmist in this duty writes us the fairest copy sometimes he began his devotions in the night watches before any appearance Psal 63. 6. of day had made a rent in the mantle of the night when others were rockt asleep and fast in the armes of natures nurse for so sleep is David was waking and busily imployed in holy meditation and devotion But if the night had been farther spent yet he was so early in his addresses Psal 88. 13. that he professes that he prevented God himself he was with him before the Lord could well expect him If he delayed his devotions till towards morning yet then he Psal 130. 6. grew so impatient that he longed as much to be with God as the poor tyred Sentinel waited for day peep that he might be taken from his harsh and dangerous employment for thus he speaks Psal 130. 6. My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they who watch for the morning I say more then they who watch for the morning And it is observable least we should think he had spoken more his affection then his practice he repeats the word twice for our greater assurance Nor will his zeal or divine affection suffer him to let the morning steal upon him that he should see the light of the sun before he had pursued the light of Gods Countenance no He will prevent the very first dawning of the morning so he saith Psal 119. 147. I prevented the dawning Psal 119 147. of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy Word And in this passage it is most remarkable timely piety and devotion it was not a fit of love but a holy custome And lastly if his natural rest had kept him a prisoner from God longer then usual yet he resolves he will awake early Psal 108. 2. Psal 108. 2. Psal 57. 8. Psal 110. 3. 1 John 1. 3. Nay he will awake right early Psal 57. 8. The rest of nature shall not long withstand â—he force of grace and holy love but he will break out of the womb of the morning to cry and wait for God to enjoy salvifical fellowship with him Now if David was so early in his inquisitions after God on any time or time indefinite how much more should we on Gods own holy day that peculiar day which God hath especially Psal 118. 24. made for close converses between himself and the precious soul Now if you ask me what employments or affairs engaged Davids early awakings that he could not fetch his sound sleeps as well as other men I answer I find four things that took up Davids earliest thoughts First Prayer so Psal 5. 3. and so Psal 88. 13. And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee This holy man must break the silence of the night by the approaches of his soul before God break the darkness of the night by the approaches of the sun He remembred that those who sought Prov. 8. 17. God early should find him Prov. 8. 17. A rich promise can draw out Davids heart in holy prayer Secondly Meditation Psal 63. 6. David could let out his earliest thoughts upon God as the most pleasing subject they could prey upon Indeed most sutably our thoughts should Rev. 1. 8. begin with him who is the beginning of all things who is both the fountain to bubble forth and the pillar to support Porro α. ω. proverbialitèr dicitur de eo qui primus est in re quapiam seu qui in aliquo genere est summus Pau. our beings In the spiritual nature of God is the reason of our spiritual worship his wisdome is the reason of our submission his holiness is the reason of our conformity his justice is the reason of our fear his goodness is the reason of our love his truth is the reason of our trust his grace is the reason of our prayers and his glory is the reason of our praises Now here is the flowy field for the soul to meditate in in the freshest morning Thirdly Holy thanksgivings Psal 92. 2. the words are these To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and Psal 59. 16. this Psalm is the song for the Sabbath as the title informs us indeed every morning but much more on the morning of Gods holy day there should be a dew of holy thanksgiving upon the heart of every believer Fourthly Acting of graces so the Psalmist Psal 119. 147. I prevented
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
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
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
Isa 59. 2. Gods service and to waste any part of it upon our gains ease or pleasure is to rob God of his offerings which is Macrob. Saturn l. 1 c. 16. matter of complaint and condemnation Mat. 3. 8 9. While we make bold with Gods day we do but mangle it and every Illorum dierum quibusdam horis fas est jus dicere quibusdam fas non est jus dicere Macrob. waste is a wound in it Indeed Macrobius tells us That the heathens had their dies intercisos bipartite dayes which were divided between their God and themselves Semisolemnities And the Papists have their half holy dayes as St. Blacies day and others c. But we have not so learned Christ It was an excellent constitution of King Pepin of Abstinere in eo diâ— primò mandamus ab omni peccato et ab omni opere carnâ—li â—t ab omni opere terreno et ad nihil aliud vacare nâ—si ad orationem et ad ecclesiâ—s concurrere cum summâ mentis devotione Concil Forojul cap. 13. France We command saith he That all abstain from every sin and from every carnall work and from every earthly work and to be at leisure for nothing but prayer and Church assemblies with the greatest and highest devotion and with charity to bless God who upon this day rained down Manna in the desart and fed so many thousands with bread Morsels nay grains of time are savoury upon a Sabbath The soul can feed upon the crums of such a day Sabbath wastes are the throwing away pearls the casting over-board the best goods which might enrich us to all everlasting That time thou mispendest on a Sabbath might be Gods time for the calling thee home to himself CHAP. XXXVII Some further Directions conducing to the same End Dir. 6 LEt the whole man be employed on the Sabbath 1. All the parts of the body The tongue in prayer the ear in attending the knee in submission the eye in contemplation the hand in charitable contribution This Rom. 12. 1. would be a sacred symphony and make the body not only a a reasonable but an acceptable sacrifice 2. All the faculties of the soul must understand their several offices and tasks 1. The understanding must drink in truth as the tender Deut. 32. 2. herb the small rain and the new mown grass the seasonable Nondum in observatione externorum exercitiorum Sabbati plena est sanctificatio nisi eo fine quó institutum est ut piè sanctè et interiùs haec gerantur Qui est sabbatismus internus Leid Prof. Cant. 5. 16. showers Then the understanding must be as the lights of the Sanctuary of very great use 2. The will must embrace the Doctrines of the Gospel The understanding sees the commodity the will buys it The understanding fastens the eye upon the treasures of the Gospel but the will fastens the hand the understanding is the purveyor of truth but the will brings it home 3. The affections must be employed in pursuing Christ and in holy meltings in sacred duties the soul must be all afloat in loves and delights on Gods blessed day then our affections must follow the prey our dear Jesus our Beloved who is altogether lovely 4. The Memory must be the Scribe to set down every heavenly counsel every thing which drops from the heart of God As that King of Syria whose Ambassadours catched at every word 1 Kings 20. 33. The Memory must record every soul-concernment it must be the Exchequer where the riches of Ordinances are reposited and laid up And after all we must with the Virgin Mary ponder all those things in our hearts Luke 2. 51. Thus both soul and body must be Luke 2. 45. espoused in Sabbath service they must as Joseph and Mary go both together to seek Christ as the two Disciples which went to Emmaus both must joyn in conversing with Christ Luke 24. 15. Though the body act the part of Martha in Luk. 10. 29 41. the week and is cumbred with many things yet it must act Maries part on the Sabbath and mind onely the one thing necessary and lie at Gods feet in holy dispensations Body and soul on the Sabbath are as those two Disciples that went to Christs Sepulchre John 20. 4. but the soul is that Disciple which out-runs the other and comes soonest to the end of their Enquiry the soul comes quickest in and closest up to Christ Mariners observe that the two stars Castor and Pollux when they are asunder they prognosticate Intus est in corde est sabbathum nostrum August foul weather but when together they portend a fair and calm season so when we bring onely the body to the Ordinances of a Sabbath it portends nothing but sorrow and disappointment but when soul and body both meet in sacred duties upon this holy day it is a good prognostication Mat. 6. 24. of fair weather to the Christian smiles from above Luke 16. 13. and peace from within In the duties of a Sabbath we must study devotion but not division we must not think to please the flesh and to please the Lord too on his own day Direct 7 Works of mercy do very well become the Sabbath This is a day of love and mercy If in the times of the Law the Law of Circumcision a painful Ordinance was not to be omitted Opera misericordiae nemo illo die facere prohibet ut sub vâ—nâ—re egeno curare aegrotum Opem consilium afflicto laboranti afferre Cujus cura illo die nobis maxime commendatur Rivet in Decal John 7. 22. Much more in the times of the Gospel a law of Love must bind us and oblige us on a Sabbath Love is under a Command as well as Circumcision John 13. 35. Rom. 13. 10. Mercy it is the very musique of Gods Attributes Psalm 108. 4. it is the Almoner to provide for mans wants it is the service of Angels Luke 22. 43. And it is the comely dress which sets off the beauty of a Sabbath That we have a Sabbath is an Act of divine mercy and we cannot duly keep a Sabbath without employing our selves in the works of mercy Tertullian in one of his Apologies joyns Prayer reading of the Scriptures and giving Almes together as being all equally the duties of a Sabbath With him joynes issue Learned and profound Huc referenda sunt reliqua misericordiae opera quibus sabbatum minime profanatur Just Mart. Chemnitius who speaking of the Church of Brunswick saith That upon the Lords day a great multitude of people are gathered together to praise God to hear his Word to receive the Sacrament to holy Prayer to give Almes and other exercises of godliness Thus Charity is mingled with other holy duties Gualter cryes out Let us admire the goodness of God in giving us a day of Rest and shall not our bowels Dei bonitatem exosculâ—mur
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
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
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
memorials of a fresh and additional and more glorious work of Redemption 2. The Sabbath of the Jews expires by the surrogation of another day in the room of it upon a more remarkable and eminent occasion and by the same Divine Authority The substitution of another day viz. The Lords day puts out the observation of the former A new Mayor of a City being elected the Authority of the old ceases and he becomes dis-authorized As a Candle is put forth and the Stars dis-appear when the Sun ariseth So the observation of the Lords day thrusts out the observation of the old Sabbath and takes all the honour of it to it self and this it doth by vertue of the fourth Commandment which requires one day in seven So then the old Sabbath being buried in its Grave the Lords day is Heir apparent to it and like Jam tempore gratiae revelatae observatio illa sabbati ablata est ab observatione fidelium Aug. Gen. ad litter lib. 4. cap. 13. another Phoenix arises out of its ashes to succeed it The substitution of the new Sabbath is the abrogation of the old and the Lords day appearing which shall be plentifully proved the Saturday Sabbath vanisheth and is evaporate as the scattered cloud at the breaking out of the Sun In a word God had his work and so had Christ God had his rest and so had Christ God rested after the work of Creation and Christ after the work of Redemption the seventh day Sabbath commemorates Gods rest after the work of Creation and the first day Sabbath commemorates Christs rest after the work of Redemption which is universally to be observed in the Christian world It is rationally argued by a learned man that the old Sabbath is abolished by the death and resurrection of Christ Constat Apostolos biduò in maerore suisse propter motum Judaeorum se abscondisse qui die dominicâ ex hîlarati non solùm illum festivissimum voluerunt verùm etiam per omnes hebdomadas frequentandum esse duxerunt Humb. and God Almighty hath appointed a new form of Divine worship according to the Evangelical law Now the form of worship being changed it was expedient that the outward circumstances of place and solemn time should likewise be altered from what they were before and concerning the time of solemn worship the Lords day succeeds upon which Christ riseth and resteth from the great work of mans Redemption Old Sabbaths and old sacrifices being twins though both honourable and serviceable in their time yet like Hypocrates his twins they must live and die together and let both be buryed together But let our Gospel Sabbath take life from our Saviours Resurrection which brought with it a new creation a new world making all things new and giving a new life to lost mankind Holy Ignatius contemporary for many years with the Apostle John with some indignation rejects the Jewish Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. and charges us as we have any love to Jesus Christ to lay it aside and keep the Lords day the supream and Queen of dayes And this blessed Martyr speaking of the Jews converted to Christ in his time gives them this most Christian character viz. That they did no longer keep the Sabbath of the Jews but led their life according to the Lords day in which our life arose Augustine brands the keeping of the old Sabbath with the odious term of Judaizing And Ne Judaizemus servando Sabbatum judaicum Aug. indeed it can be n◠less then great contempt cast on our dear Messiah It is well observed by one We cannot possibly retain the old seventh day Sabbath but we must Memorize our creation above our Redemption which is to admire the Star more then the Sun or the Candle more then the Star and is expresly contrary to the ancient both promise and prophesie The Council of Laodicea was so zealous Incongruum est veteris creationis Sabbatum novae creationi Lightf against the observation of the old Sabbath that it pronounced an Anathema against the obstinate observators of it The words of the Council are these Christians ought not to Judaize and to rest from work on the Jewish Sabbath day but prefer the Lords day before it and rest thereon from labour if any shall be found to Judaize let him be an Anathema Here we may note that this Venerable Ista legalis septimi diei deputatio consecratio neminem constringit prater Judaeos idque non nisi ad tempus Non autem in Novo Testamento quo lex Mosis una cum sacerdotio Christo servatori cessit Muscul Council which was held Anno Dom. 314. One of the most primitive Conventions of the Christian Church commands as under a severe penalty to follow our works on the Saturday Sabbath and to put the crown of rest and holiness upon the head of the Lords day I suppose the Canons of this Council are a good Comment upon the spirit of those times It is well observed by Musculus That the deputation of the seventh day Sabbath belonged only to the Jewish paedagogy now the Jews being hissed off the stage by the just judgment of God and being unchurched and unpeopled their Sabbath is folded up in silence and we have nothing to do with it and so we fairly lay it to sleep and draw the curtains about it no more expecting its rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas or revival Let me conclude this particular with a saying of Athanasius In the old time of the Jews the seventh day Sabbath was highly esteemed but now under the Gospel the Lord hath changed it and translated it into the Lords day for the old Sabbath appertained to their pedagogy and to the rudiments of the law and therefore when the great Master came and fulfilled all that which was prefigured by it it then ceased even as a Candle is put forth at the rising and appearing of the Sun Now what can be more evident for the dismission of the legal and the admission of the Evangelical Sabbath Quest The old Sabbath then is discharged and is not the fourth Commandment discarded with it buryed in the same grave Answ Surely no for the fourth Commandment enjoyned the sanctification of the Sabbath indefinitely not definitely a seventh day not the seventh day a seventh day not in order but proportion Junius very well observes That the natural equity of the fourth Commandment is that one day Naturalis aequitas quarti praecepti est unum è septem diebus deo et divino cultu◠esse destinandum c. Jun. in seven be consecrated to God whether the first day or the last day of the week and the Scriptures telling us it is now the first we are still obedient to the fourth Commandment Indeed the law of sanctifying the Sabbath is natural and perfectly Moral in respect of the substance of it which is this That every
likewise of this day is of no less excellency then the Fathers blessing of the seventh day Nay how many wayes did Jesus Christ bless his own day By his Glorious Resurrectiâ—n when the Sun of Righteousness diâ— riâ—e wiâ—h healing in his wings to visit and make Mal. 4. 2. Rom. 13. 12. happy the world and to make it day among the Sons of Men. By his several apparitions on this day when Christ did exhilarate and revive his sadned and disconsolatâ— Disciples St. Aug. de Câ—vit dei lib. 22. cap. 30. with the bright intervals of his pellucid and salvifical presence But of this more hereafter By his heavenly instructions on this day Luke 24. 25. when as Elijah now he was going to heaven he dropt his Mantle and shewed his Disciples his mind by revelation 2 Kings 2. 13. before he shewed them his face in glory By illuminating the minds and opening the understandings ings of his Disciples more eminently on this day Luke 24. John 20. 22. John 20. 28. Rev. 22. 16. 45. On this day not only the morning star arose in the World of inhabitants but in the hearts of the Disciples and he opened not only the curtains of the grave but of the minds of his Apostles by his redoubted and omnipotent operation By breathing the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples John 20. 22. as on this day When Christ did that by his breath which the Minister cannot do by his Zeal the Scholar by his Art the Friend by his love nay Nature it self by its force Aug. Serm. 15. de verb. Apost viz. inspire the heart with holy principles and the head with holy knowledge and spiritual understanding By the installation of his Apostles into their supream jurisdiction giving them power to bind and to loose in heaven and in earth John 20. 21 22 23. On this day the Apostles received not their Miter but their Mission and the emblem of their dignity was no ceremonial vesture but a supereminent power All which blessings Christ scattered on this solemne day our Christian Sabbath and on this day as an essay of converting power Christ by the Ministry of Peter turned three thousand to his own Divine self Now all these blessings which Christ heaped on this day Acts. 2. 41. what are they but so many acts of consecration They are only the pouring out of the oyl to anoint it to be far above its fellows and to be the Christians solemn and weekly festival And thus Ignatius calls our Sabbath the Highest and Psal 45. 7. Queen of dayes The argument then is very forcible à pari if the Fathers blessing a day made it a Sabbath to the world before and in the times of the Law then the Sons blessing a day must needs make it a Sabbath to the world in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ignat. John 5. 23. times of the Gospel And this is the more to be taken notice of because Christ saith expresly John 5. 23. That all men shall honour the Son even as they honour the Father Reas 3 Christs Faithfulness in his Church proclaims him the institutor of his own day God the Father when he had ordained Expendendum est quod non solùm ritus et ceremonias populo suo dedit deus quibus ad fidem charitatem gratiarum actionem observantiam dei imbuerentur sed et certa tempora praescripsit in quibus vigore legis praescriptas Ceremonias exercerent Haud permisit illis libertatem ut ferias quas et quando vellent pro suo libero arbitrio figerent out refigerent mutarent tollerent multiplicarent minuorent sed ferias servandas tradid it ex quibus est Sabbati sanctificatio Muscul his worship leaves it not to Moses nor to the people of Israel to appoint a set and solemn day for it but he himself first ordains it in paradise Gen. 2. 3. and then revives and renews it on Mount Sinai Exod. 20. 8. Nay when the Idolaters among the people of Israel did invent a worship they who invented it instituted a day for it Exod. 32. 5. Jeroboam when he devised a worship he likewise ordained a day for it 1 Kings 12. 32 33. So Nebuchadnezzar when he set up an Idol and appointed a worship for it he set apart a day for the performance of this worship Dan. 3. 2. The miscreant Prophet Mahomet as he gave laws to his Proselytes and prescribed a form of worship so he himself instituted his solemn day viz. Every Fryday And he did not leave it to the arbitrary will and pleasure of his worshippers to ordain or solemnize what day they pleased Therefore from all this we may conclude unless Christ should fall short of the example of his Father Nay of the very Idolaters he must be the institutor of his own day for it cannot be proved that at any time or in any age that any publick worship was ever invented to be observed but the Author and institutor of it was also the institutor of the day for that worship not leaving it to others will to appoint the same for him Now Christ is the great Law-giver of his Church the glorious founder of Gospel-worship the Sacraments were ordained by him Prayers must be made in his name Discipline is of his institution the Ministry of his calling and sending and shall our blessed Mediator be only excluded from the appointment of a day for weekly Mark 16. 16. Luke 22. 19 20. John 20. 22. Mat. 21. 22. James 4. 12. Mat. 28. 19. Mat. 26. 26. John 14. 15. Mat. 18. 18. Rom. 1. 1. Cant. 2. 16. Hâ—g 2. 7. Rev. 15. 3. Eph. 1. 22. Mat. 18. 20. Psal 89. 7. Heb. 12. 2. and solemn worship Shall that cursed caitiff Mahomet as was hinted constitute and appoint a weekly day for his worshippers to observe to himself and read that system of Vanities that miscellany of lying inventions the Alchoran and shall not our beloved the desire of Nations the King and Soveraign of his people the Head of his Church not only influential but authoritative shall not he be invested with a power to set apart a weekly Sabbath for his people wherein they may meet in his name and assemble in his fear and congregate to hear his glorious Gospel and to participate of those blessings which attend his salvifical presence Or did Christ forget his main import when he ascended to his Father his approaching joy swallowing up his thoughts of and care for his poor Church which he left behind Surely we must make Christ the institutor of his own blessed day or inveniencies too many will arise which no salves will be able to smoother or suppress Should Christ have left it to his Church to appoint a day what end would be of the discord and disagreements which unavoidably follow When should the whole Church meet to enact such a constitution Or shall one part of the Church being as is
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