saith Mat. 20. 16. and therefore but few Saints in the world That which speaks the work of grace arbitrary is the free-agency of God in sanctification of the means of grace The Gospel of Christ is a savour of life unto some unto others a 2 Cor. 2. 16. Joh. 6. 67 68. Acts 13. 48 50 savour of death The Word it melts and mollifies some others it leaves to hardness and incrustation When Christ preach't some leave him but his Disciples adher'd the closer to him When the Apostles preached some believed others persecute both the Doctrine and the Preacher The Ordinances of Christ are marrow and fatness to David Psal Praedicatio crucis et mortis Christi est odor mortis incredulis et cedit in eorum exitium qui mortem Christi ut mortem tantummodò considerant sed credentibus est odor ex vitâ quia ipsi vitam ex haâ— morte amplectuntur 63. 5. more then necessary food to Job Job 23. 12. But to others they have no tast no sweetness no power no reach to affect the heart When Paul and Barnabas preached at Iconium their Doctrine onely stirs up rage and passion Acts 14. 2. Like a high wind which turns the waves of the Sea into froth The preaching of the word is a cure to some and a curse to others to some it strengthens their grace to others it amplifies their guilt some fall before it as the word of salvation Acts 16. 29. others reject it and so dash upon eternal perdition The word indeed is a light to some and to others onely a stumbling block as God is pleased to pass by or work by his holy spirit Ordinances they are attended by man but sanctified by God The Word works unnaturally Eph. 4. 16. Joh. 3. 19. Prov. 16. 1. Eph. 3. 7. upon the Jews Acts 7. 54. pleasingly upon Herod Mark 6. 20. most powerfully upon Lydia Acts 16. 14. fully and effectually upon Paul Acts 9. 5. And thus the Gospel which is onely an instrument in Gods hand works variously and differently according to the pleasure and free agency of his will That the work of grace is arbitrary is evidenced in the impossibility of humane merit We cannot prepare our selves Natura corrupta est et lex morbum ostendit non sanat vos autem meritum nescio quod excogitastis quod mul 〈…〉 â—â—lutem 〈…〉 endam â—â—â—eat Whit. Qâ—i dignitate â—iâ—tationis hereditariae nituntur multò sunt verae pietatis studiosiores quam qui â— servorum merito riâ virtute dependent Mort. Epis Dunelm contra Merita for the entertainment of this work of the holy spirit there is no meritum ex condigno or meritum ex congruo as the Papists fondly imagine and our Protestant Divines have fully evinced When God first begins his work of grace upon the soul he finds nothing but ruines and rubbish no remains of beauty The spirit of God meets with a great deal of enmity Rom. 8. 7. and boysterous opposition much wrigling and reluctancy of the flesh All the powers of man are up in arms against this blessed work It is therefore only Gods free and eternal love which prompts him to carry on this powerful work One observing that of the Apostle Our carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. By carnal mind saith he is not to be understood sensuality the dregs the lees and the whites of nature but our natural wisdom our most refined part nature in its best condition even Lady reason it self unsanctified and therefore the work of grace must needs be arbitrary there is nothing to allure it nothing to engage God to effect it wrinkles will not stir up love The wise man saith Prov. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart are of the Lord Observe preparations in the plural number to shew us that every little wheel in the work of grace is moved Prov. 16. 1. and turns by power from God every good tendency Vita nostrae animae maximè beata à deo pendet et donatur dei amicis every regular propension every breathing and anhelation after good is implanted in us by God who is liberrimum agens as the school-men speak most free and arbitrary in all his works and dispensations This further is demonstrated by the ineffectualness of all mans attempts to arrive at a state of grace and holiness There are many things bid fair for this holy work but they all Tollitur cooperatio liberi arbitrii interior volentis exterior currentis et totum opus bonum est dei miserentis et gratiae operantis Calv. bring onely to the birth they cannot bring forth the least semblance of it all turn into a timpany at last Good Education holy Patterns sweet Ordinances precious Sabbaths these may contribute something to an outward restraint from evil but they beget not the Saint without the admirable work of divine grace The holy spirit must overshadow the soul and so beget Christ in it That holy thing the new birth is the product of the Eternal and Almighty spirit we cannot ascribe the New creature to any thing in Rom. 9. 16. man for creature implies a work of creation which onely is to be attributed to an infinite power Thus most evidently the Apostle Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who sheweth mercy Mans fairest colours are but paint they may counterfeit but are not true beauty Let us meditate on the morning of a Sabbath on the secrefie of the work of grace It is a sweet but a spiritual work indeed Vita sanctorum obscondita est quia sancti à mundi cupiditatâ—bus et mundarâ conversatione se abstrahunt et abscondunt Anselm it is admirable but most frequently indisecruable this blessed work is like a river under ground like a star behind a cloud the world cannot see it they look upon the Saints as the onely troublers of Israel Holy Paul was called a seditious fellow Acts 24. 5. The Apostles were called intemperate men filled with new wine Acts 2. 13. Nay Christ himself was called Beelzebub and a friend of publicans and sinners though he had the spirit above measure John 3. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epic. The world understands not the Saints Shibboleth Nay often the Saint himself is at a loss whether this work be Mundus non agnoscit aliquid spirituale in filâ—is dei Dav. wrought in him or no He often wants the lively and vivid sense of the spirit of God he many times is so clouded with afflictions battered with temptations disturbed Heb. 11. 37 38. with the hurries of the world dazled with sensual flatteries Col. 3. 3. and benighted with desertion that he can scarce see any day light of grace by the least cranny of observation or experience How doth David cry out that the spirit had taken Cum sentiant sancti insehanc vitam spiritualem
Heaven In a word they should be in the spirit which duty must first look upwards We should strive to be in the assistances of the Spirit Holy duties without the holy Spirit are onely the carcasses of Religion like profession without practice which is offensive and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost useless such services bring neither glory to God advantage to our selves or benefit to others and all are of no more significancy then a body when the spirits are fled away On the morning therefore we must incessantly beg the divine assistances of Gods blessed Spirit It is the Spirit fits for Magistratical Luke 11. 13. dignities Num. 11. 25 26. It is the spirit fits for ministerial Numb 27 18. services 2 Kings 2. 9. and it is the spirit fits us all for Christian and holy duties The Spirit directs us unto holy duties Simeon came into the Temple by the spirit Luke 2. 27. the good spirit directed him to meet Jesus How often doth Gods spirit excite and provoke to holy Prayer to secret meditation and to those close devotions wherein the soul tasteth deepest of Christs flaggons and apples This inward Counsellour is often Cant. 2 5. restless in us till it â—end our knees lift up our hands and raise our hearts in sacred approaches to the divine Majesty The Spirit leads the Saint into solitariness to converse with God as once it did lead Christ into the Wilderness to be temped Mat. 4. 1. of Satan this divine principle with us is importunate Luke 4. 1. till it put us upon enquiries after God The holy Spirit quickens us in duties John 6. 63. and makes us lively and vigorous Corrupt nature takes off the wheeles in holy services flaggs and casts a damp upon us in Christus dicitur non spiritus vivens sed vivificans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus vitarum Theoph. such heavenly intercourse but the Spirit oyles the wheeles to make them go with greater speed When the soul is carried out by the Spirit how full is it of holy heaâ— divine zeal and rare enlargement as if of late it had conversed with a Seraphim his tongue is the pen of a ready writer Psalm 45. 2. and his heart is like a bubbling Fountain he melts in prayer as the Cloud into drops Paul assisted by this good Spirit runs on till midnight Acts 20. 7. and knows not how to break off his sacred discourses And our ever 1 Cor. 15. 45. to be admired Saviour raised and quickned by the same spirit wrestles with God in prayer all night Luke 6. 12. the very arteries of that duty were stretched out by that divine Spirit which was given to Christ without measure John 3. 34. The Spirit then is the animation of our holy performances without which they saint and die away The holy Spirit sustains us in holy duties Psal 51. 12. Mans spirit would quickly fail in wrestling with God was it Spiritus promptus scil graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebraicè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alacâ—iter festinans Lyrus habet duo vocabulà Dolanta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ucundus not under-propt by this good Spirit The most sparkling wine if it stand long it will grow flat and dead And though the spirit of man be willing Mat. 26. 41. yet while it is in the body it will be soon tired and flag in holy duties which are so contrary to corrupt flesh but then the Divine Spirit comes in and renews poor mans strength like the Eagle and so he runs through holy services and faints not the annointing of the Spirit makes him agill and fresh and holy Ordinances are not his burden but his satisfaction Believers offer their sacrifices as Christ did himself Heb. 9. 14. through the eternal Spirit who recruits them continually with additional strength and vivacity The blessed Spirit causeth us to overflow in holy duties Job 32. 18. Our rich enlargements in Prayers and other Gospel services are from the good spirit of God when the heart Psalm 45. 1. bubbles and runs over in holy discourse and when the Eructans cor significat cordis locutionem cum nondum ad os pervenit et querit illam emittere circum volvitur et movetur huc et illuc et volutatur egressum quaerens quem prae gaudio non primo impeâ—u invenit c. Felix Praton mind flutters and flyes high in holy meditation and when our affections dilate and follow hard after Jesus Christ all this is from the Spirits gracious and divine assistance 2 Cor. 3. 16. It is the holy Spirit spreads our duties like Gold to greater extensions and oftentimes makes the Saint in duty query whether he be in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12. 2. His heart is like the squeezed Grapes overflowing with wine which is better then the drink of Angels It was the Spirit enlarged Solomons heart in that divine Prayer at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8. 22 23. It was the Spirit enlarged Daniels heart in Prayer to hasten deliverance from the Babylonish captivity Dan. 9. 4. It was the Spirit enlarged Jonah s heart in Prayer when the Whales belly was consecrated into an Oratory Numb 18. 27. Jonah 2. 2. It is the Lords good Spirit which makes mans Deut. 15. 14. heart as the gushing streams or the over-flowing Fat or the Numb 18 30. dropping Wine-press in services Evangelical John 3. 8. It is the Spirit sweetens duty As Christ when he was at prayer rejoyced in spirit Luke 10. 21. Duties are sadned by mans sin but are refreshed by Gods Spirit David acted Mat. 17. 1 2. by this blessed Principle delighted so much in duty Luke 9. 29. that he begs to spend his whole life in the Temple of God Psal 27. 4. Ordinances become mellifluous by the concomitancy of Gods Spirit which often turneth them into a transfiguration As it is reported of Basil that when Greg. Orat. de laud. Bas the Emperour came upon him while he was at prayer he saw such lustre in the face of holy Basil that he was struck with terrous and fell backwards It is the Spirit ravishes the Fructus spirituâ— est gaudium sed impura voluptas est similis voluptati quâ afficiunâ—â— scabiosi cum se scalpunt Chrys heart indulcorates and captivates the soul in holy duty and toucheth the tongue with a Coal from the Altar Isa 6. 6 7. which turns all into a perfumed flame The Apostle saith the fruit of the spirit is joy Gal. 5. 22. which is never so fresh and diffusive as in holy services Ordinances are the spiritual opportunities wherein the Comforter John 14. 16. sheds abroad his comforts in the soul It is the Spirit which helps our infirmities in holy duties As in Prayer Rom. 8. 26 27. so in other spiritual services When we are flat the Spirit quickens us when
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
Law and in the time of the Gospel these are the products of Gods eternal grace and favour That God should subdue sinners to himself hedge up their way with thorns lay Hos 2. 6. Jer. 2. 24 stumbling blocks before them in their sinful carier that he Tiadam eos in miseriam unde se nequeant explicare Riv. should take sinners in their moneth and dispose of unthought of circumstances and passages of providence for the turning of transgressors into the way which leads to everlasting life all these things speak the eternal grace and favour of Eph. 1. 7. God But Secondly Divine grace may be taken for grace the effect for the graces of Gods spirit which in eternal love and grace and favour he plants in the soul and this work of grace merits our sweetest meditation And here we must meditate On the powerfulness of the work of grace Grace is an irresistible principle a torrent which bears down all before it Manassah was prejudiced against the impressions of grace by Gratiae Vocabulum tria denotat 1. Gratuitum actum divinae volunâ—atis accepton t is hominem in Christo peccata misericorditer condonantis 2 Eph. 9. 3. Rom. 24. Hic amor gratuitus est primum dâ—num in quo omnia alia dona dautur Hâ—nc gratiá acceptationis Aquin. vocat Secundò sub gratiae vocabulo complectitur Apost omnia hubitualia dona quae deus infundit ad animam sanctificandam sâ—il Fides charitas c. atque omnes virtutes et omniâ— dona salutarta sunt gratiae Eph. 4. 7. Hanc gratiam inhaerentem paeâ—è solum agnoscunt Pontificii et illam interim acceptantem quae est hujus sons sâ—aturigo nimis negligunt Tertiò Gratia denotat actuale auxilium dei quo renati post acceptam habitualem gratiam corroborantur ad exercenda bona opera et ad perseverandum in fide et pietate nam homini per gratiam renovato et sanctificato necessarium est quotidianum dei adjutorium ad singulos octus et necessaria est horum omnium connexio Daven scandalous and prodigious sins he was a pattern of impiety 2 Chron. 33. 5 6 7. Mary Magdalen was fortifyed against those sacred impressions by seven Devils Luk. 8. 2. Paul was garrison'd against those divine illapses of grace by an obstinate antipathy to the Gospel and the profession of it he barbarously persecuted the Church of Christ Acts 9. 2. And Peter turns his back upon grace by denying Christ the fountain of it But yet neither Prophaneness Impurity Rage Apostacy or the Devils themselves can withstand the powerful influences of grace But God by his grace humbles Manassah 2 Chron. 33. 12. brings him upon his knees to importune forgiveness Melts Mary Magdalen into tears Luke 7. 44. and she bedews those checks with her moans which she had so much prostituted to her lusts the evil spirit must give way to the good spirit to carry on his good work on her soul Nay grace softens Paul into submission and indisputable compliance Acts 9. 4 5. And Peter by a look of grace Luke 22. 61 62. turns to Christ by lamentation whom he had dishonoured by desertion By grace God breaks the hard heart Ezek. 36. 26. supplies the stubborn will Ezek. 36. 27. brings down the lofty spirit 2 Chron. 32. 26. writes his Law in the inward man Jer. 31. 33. and raiseth a stately fabrick of holiness out of the very rubbish of nature Ezek. 11. 19. Ezek 18. 31. and so the Convert becomes a new and lovely creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Indeed a work of grace may be reproached but it cannot be resisted we may pursue holiness with scorn but we cannot withstand its work and operation by force or the most resolved might The spirit which worketh grace in the soul plucks down Satans strong holds plucks up rooted corruptions which have been long setled and riveted in the heart plants holy qualifications and habits in the Saint creates holy tendencies and inclinations and the Regenerate person becomes passive and sweetly yields to the force and power of this blessed work Christ throws his chain over him and he smiles himself into a voluntary and pleasing Captivity 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The work of grace is often compared to a new birth Joh. 3. 5. Now when the throws and pangs come upon the woman with child she cannot with-hold her Issue but freely and with joy she brings forth the Man-child into the world Joh. 16. 21. And so when the spirit of grace carries on the new-birth the loynes of the Convert cannot with-hold but with joy a Saint is born into the world Grace like a sun-beam pierces powerfully though sweetly and is alwayes prosperous though sometimes strange in its designe Let us meditate on the Arbitrariness of the work of grace Indeed grace like Christ is a most free gift it knows no entail Spiritus sanctus non secundum dignitatem et merita sed quos et quando vult arâ—anis suis afflatibus aspirat dividens dona sua singulis sicut vult Ger. nor admits of any claim It is not in the power of a Holy Father to transmit his spiritual worth though he may conveigh his temporal wealth to his beloved Child The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3. 8. And this wind is the spirit of grace as Augustine well observes and the words of the Text make it plain The freeness of this glorious work of grace which God works upon the hearts of his people may be fully and amply discerned In the nature of Election which is a voluntary choosing of some out of many now vocation and sanctification are 1 Cor. 12. 4. 1 Pet. 1 2. 1 Pet. 5. 13. Jer. 3. 14. 1 Pet. 2 4. Rev. 17. 14. Rom. 11. 5. Rom. 9 11. Jer. 3. 14. onely the fruits of Election as most evidently the Apostle Eph. 1. 4. He hath chosen us to be holy We are holy because we are chosen And so Acts 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed We believe because we are ordained to eternal life Nothing is more arbitrary then election free choyce God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy as the Apostle speaks Here it is true one is taken and another left as our Saviour speaks in another case There is two of a Tribe and one of a Family as the Prophet speaks It may be one in a Pâ—w is converted by a Sermon others in the same Seat not in the least wrought upon as the same Fides electorum non fides eligendorum ut clamitant Arminiani Sun ripens some fruits and rots others Nothing then is more free then election which is the spring and fountain of grace and sanctification Faith is called the faith of the elect Tit. 1. 1. Paul was converted after an unusual and Tit. 1. 1. strange manner because he was a chosen vessel Acts 9. 15. There are but few chosen as our Saviour
cares the body shall not be wasted with toyle nor the spirits spent with labour or the heart torn with griefs but soul and body shall be calmed into an eternal quietation The Apostle saith Heb. 4. 9. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God The Greeks call it a Sabbatism our future Sabbath and Rest being all one When the Apostle wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews the rest of the legal Sabbath was over and the rest of Canaan was first disturbed by Nebuchadnezzar and upon overthrowing and quite taking away by Titus the Roman so now then there remains onely a rest in Heaven a heavenly Sabbath for the people of God In this life our Laudabile Sabbati otium sanctorum vitam requie et sanctificatione exprimit tum futuram ostendit cùm omni hujus vitae curâ de positâ bonis aeternis fruimur Cyril Alex. Sabbath it self is disturbed sometimes with vain thoughts with deadness and coldness in duties it is disquieted with the iniquity of our holy things we cannot pray as we would and we do not hear as we should we often displease Christ at his own table when we come with polluted hands and unprepared hearts and when duties are over we either dash upon sins of omission or rush upon language or practices unbecoming the Lords day there is still something to discompose our spirits our hearts are sad and our moans are great but however the week treads upon the heels of Sabbatâ—m Coeleste est requies illa Coelestis patriae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Sabbath and then like the Sons of Adam we get our livelihood in the sweat of our brows then we toyle our brains harden our hands and weary our bodies and all for that which is not bread Isa 55. 2. And besides as Master Herbert that sweet and excellent Poet observes our Sabbath doth but leap from seven to seven it flies away and then recurs in a constant revolution One Sabbath passeth over and we must press through the croud of weekly and worldly Rabbin affairs which will make us sweat and faint before we attain Isa 55. 2. to another But our Sabbath above is A rest from sin In it we shall enjoy absolute purity and spotless perfection we shall there be a Glorious Church Excitat sibi Christus ecclesiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multo decore et gloriâ illustrem non habentem maculam peccati aut rugam vetustatis Alap not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 27. Sin cannot dwell in Heaven with God it is impossible if Achans wedge one sin disturbed the whole Camp of Israel John 7. 11. How would one sin disturb the Court of Heaven It would put a damp upon all the triumphs of it there cannot be perfect joy where there is the least relique of sin A rest from troubles and afflictions In our heavenly Sabbath there shall be no groans but musicks no sighs but songs no tears but triumphs not a drop of the waters of Marah in a whole ocean of joy and satisfaction if any grief remain'd our joy would not be full The Saints in glory shall be freed from natural afflictions They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more Rev. 7. to 16. Rev. 7. 16. to which accords that of the Prophet Isa 49. 10. The Isa 49. 10. Saints cannot hunger in their eternal Sabbath for the good Shepherd of our souls doth not onely fâ—ed us to eternal life Psal 16. 11. but likewise in eternal life and there he shall feed us with fulness of joy with the smiles of his face with the fruits of his love and with the over-coming influences of his grace and favour And moreover the Saints cannot thirst in glory The Lamb shall bring them to living fountains Rev. 22. 1. of waters Rev. 22. 1. They shall have waters for their necessity Rev. 7. 17. Rivers of water for their plenty nay pure rivers of water for their greater extasie and these rivers of water shall proceed out of the Throne of God and the Lamb for their superlative complacency Nor shall the Saints Eternal rest be disturbed with pressing afflictions All tears shall be wiped from their eyes a Isa 25. 8. sentence mentioned three times in Scripture Isa 25. 8. John 7. 17. Rev. 7. 17. Rev. 21. 4. As if every person in the Trinity Rev. 21. 4. would severally assure the Saints of future undisturbed felicity A learned man observes this phrase of wiping tears from our eyes is a metaphor taken from tender mothers Lacrymae malorum sensu exprimuntur who give their breasts to their infants when they cry for want and then wipe off their tears from their pretty cheeks which were bedewed with that emblem of sorrow Tears Altera foelicitatis pars est quòd nullis miseriis aerumnis molestiis hujus praesentis vitae obnoxii erimus Malorum immunem esse maximum est bonum cujus Author deus est Par. are those drops which fall when the fire of affliction is put under the sense of some evil the feeling of some corroding sorrow squeizeth them out as the extremity of pain makes the patient sweat But such oppressive calamities shall not seize upon the Saints in their Sabbath and Rest above here indeed they are in a valley of tears but one tear shall not interrupt the joyes of the glorified Saints The Psalmist saith Psal 30. 6. Weeping endures for a night but joy cometh in the morning and when the Saints are arrived at their rest above all night is past to return no more the morning is begun to pass away no more The Saints Eternal Rest shall not be disturbed with privative afflictions There shall be no more death Rev. 21. 4. Rev. 21. 4. Isa 25. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 57. John 3. 16. Then death shall be swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15. 57. and it shall rally no more to do any execution upon the Saints in glory Our Sabbath in heaven is eternal and therefore our life is eternal Indeed here below death is alwayes Sabbatum hoc coeleste est sempiternum sicut omnia alia bona quae ad perfectionem pervenerunt Musc to be expected Job 14. 14. But above death is never to be dreaded there that King of terrours as Job calls it Job 18. 14. hath lost both his Scepter and hs Sithe both his force and his prevalency There is neither fear nor expectation of death in glory were it not so it would turn those rivers of pleasure memorized by the Psalmist Psal 36. 8. into Psal 55. 4. salt and unpleasant waters and upon the very possessions of heaven would be written bitterness in the latter end But faith in Christ gives us eternal life John 3. 16. A full assurance and security against the approaches and seizures of death or conclusion Perfection which is the character of the Saints future condition excludes and denies all
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
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
would intervene And this day of Gods resting was not only exemplary to Adam but to all his seed and so to Christians as well as Jews the seventh in number though not in order And it is further observable that Adam had on him and so should all men have a double calling the one for his body for which he was allowed six dayes and the other for his soul for which the seventh day was ordained So then this observation of the Sabbath was no way disagreeing to the state of innocency Man in that blessed condition could not conveniently attend upon two things at the same time viz. the dressing of the Garden and the solemn worship of God And as one well observes If heaven it self be a perpetual Sabbath why should it be thought incongruous for man to keep a Sabbath in Paradise And indeed it cannot be incongruous that the Sabbath should be kept in Paradise when the Sabbath it self is a kind of Paradise there is something to resemble a tree of life here the soul tasteth of Sabbath Ordinances and life nay eternal life flows from them and the pleasures of a Sabbath not a little resemble the delights of Paradise The Rev. 1. 10. soul being in the spirit upon the Lords day much resembles Adams rejoycing in Paradise and no doubt but the sweetness of Paradise did most principally consist in the intimate communion Psal 63. 2. Adam had with God and the same communion sheds the delight and prerogative upon the Sabbath or else wherein doth the Sabbath out-vy and excell other dayes And that the Sabbath was instituted from the beginning is not only most clear from Scripture but most consonant to reason The Patriarchs of old had their solemn worship Cain and Abel offered sacrifices they called upon the name of the Sanctificavit deus diem septimum i. e. sanctum celebrem haberi voluit à caeteris diebus segregavit Catharin Lord in a solemn way Gen. 4. 26. And no doubt this they learned from Adam and he from God they had their Altars Gen. 12. 8. yea their set Altars Gen. 13. 4. for ordinary worship And if they had set worship they must have stinted time for how shall we meet together to perform ordinary worship without set times And then no doubt but the seventh day was that time for we have not the least shadow of any other ordinary time And it is very unlikely Gibbons Quaest disput in Genes Quaest tertiâ that if there had been any that no mention should be made thereof in Scripture therefore seeing mention is made of this day Gen. 2. 3. before mention is made of any publick worship and no other day is noted in all story till the 16th Willet on Exod. 16. Quaest 34. Voluit deus diem septimum sibi tribui et dâ—cari ut caelestibus et divinis rebus intenti deo gratias agamus pro acceptis beneficiis Cathar Chapter of Exodus where again mention is made of the Sabbath Exod. 16. 25 26 30. And the fourth Commandment ratifies the same day upon the reason assigned in Gen. 2. 3. It surely must be sufficient and satisfactory to all reason that the seventh day was the ordinary day appointed for those times to perform solemn and publick worship to God And as when man hath run his race and finished his course and passed through the larger circle of his life he then returns to his eternal rest so it is contrived and ordered by divine wisdom that he shall in a special manner return unto his rest once at least within the lesser and smaller Rom. 11. 33. circle of every week and so his perfect blessedness to come might be fore-tasted every Sabbath day and so be begun here And look as man standing in his innocency hath cause thus to return from the pleasant labours of his weekly Paradise employments so man fallen from his more toilsome labours to his rest again And therefore as because all creatures were made for man and man therefore was made in the last place after them so man being made for God and his worship thence it is that the Sabbath wherein man was to draw nearer to God was appointed immediately after the Creation as learned men observe For though man is not made for the Sabbath meerly in respect of the outward rest of it yet he is made for the Sabbath in respect of God in it and the holiness of it to both which then the soul is to Dr. Field have its weekly revolution back again as unto that rest which is the end of all our lives and labours and in special of all our weekly labour and work Dr. Field professeth That to one who knows the story of the Creation it is evident by the light of Nature that one day in seven is to be consecrated to Gods service and worship There must be a time allowed to every purpose which is Inest homini naturalis inclinatio ad hoc quod cuilibet rei necessariae deputetur aliquid tempus sicut corpori somnus et refectio c. quae requirunt tempus sic animae tempus requiritur ad ejus refectionem qua mens hominis in deo reficitur Sayrus necessary and indispensable so for our bodies there must be a time to eat to drink to sleep c. For civil affairs there must be a time for work and labour trade and merchandise to promote and sustain our civil interest and shall not there be a set time for soul-refreshments when the precious soul may be recruited Shall our Estates have their seasons for their increase and our Bodies for their support and not our Souls for their delight and edification What is this but to debase the soul and degrade it from its due honour and dignity The Image of God is most lively impressed upon the soul Eternity is riveted into the very nature of the soul Jesus Christ died for the Redemption of the soul and shall only the soul want its term its appointed season for its spiritual converse Shall there be a Change time and not a Church time shall there be a time to Work and not a Naturae instinctus est ut aliquid temporis cultui divino impendatur et animus in hoc se recreat Azor. time to Pray This is a principle of Nature and therefore draws its original from the worlds beginning Nor can it be conceived but the soul stood in as much need of communion with God in divine worship in the infancy as in the old age of the world and therefore the Sabbath was as necessary to Adam and his immediate heirs as to his more remote posterity That the Sabbath was from the beginning and so belongs Sabbatum Moyses Exod. 16. 23. scriptâ lege restituit cum ejus diei cultus abiâ—rat Azor. properly to the Sons of Adam and not particularly to the Sons of Abraham is more evident and clear if we
appointed for it viz. the ninety second Psalm The Prophets are very frequent in complaining of the violation Nehem. 13. 15 16. 18 19. Isa 56. 2. Ezek. 20. 12 13. John 5 18. Luke 6. 6. Acts 13. 42. Acts 16. 13. Acts 20. 7. and in pressing the observation of it The Gospel hath often mention of it and takes notice of Christs preaching of his healing of his debating cases with his adversaries upon that day The Acts of the Apostles have likewise touches both of the old and the new Sabbath The Epistles hint and insinuate the institution of a Christian Sabbath when the old Sabbath lost both its place in the week and its title in the Scutcheon and now the Sabbath which closed begins the week and that holy festival 1 Cor. 16. 2. which was the Evening star of the work of Creation is the Morning star of the work of Redemption The Revelation discovers Gods right to it and gives it the title of the Lords day besides all this the observation of Rev. 1. 10. Ezek. 20. 24. Ezek. 44. 24. the Sabbath is ranked by the Prophets among the most substantial and perpetual duties of Religion Now shall Scriptures be thus copious in mentioning be thus powerful in pressing be thus severe in revenging a flying dying Ceremony Surely this must cast too much contempt upon the blessed and eternal spirit of God Having followed the chase thus far and yet starting no Ceremony in the fourth Commandment it would be enough to say it not being Ceremonial it must needs be Morall But we will take a review of this blessed command and upon our better search no doubt but its morality and so its perpetuity will be more evident and perspicuous Let us therefore look upon this Commandment In the order of it Is it comely and good to have God to be our God in the first Commandment to worship him after his own heart and will in the second to give him his worship Lâ—â— moralis perfectaÌ„ adeòque non externam tantùm obedientiam sed totius naturae conformitatem cum regulâ illâ et normâ justitiae atque sapientiae in Decalogo expressam postulat Reliquae legis species de â—â—ternâ tantùm â—â—edientâ—â â—râ—â—â—â—tione 〈◊〉 scriptorum 〈◊〉 et officiorum politiâ—â—rum loqâ—â—ntur Zepper with all the highest respect and reverence of his name in the third and is it not as comely good and suitable that this great God and King should have some magnificent day of state to be attended on by his poor servants and creatures both publickly and privately with special respect and service as oft as he himself sees meet and which we cannot but confess to be most equal and just according to the fourth Commandment In the first table one Commandment is linked to and depends upon another God must be our God and then he must be worshipped and with all 〈◊〉 reverence to his name and so there must be a set time 〈◊〉 this and who shall appoint this day of worship but he who hâ—â—h appointed the manner of it The close coâ—nexion of the precept to another speaks the inseparability of it from the rest and so its perpetuity with the rest And let us 〈◊〉 iâ— all the precepts of the second table be moral 〈◊〉 onely concern man why should any of the first table â—â—ll short of that glory which do immediately concern 〈◊〉 Shall mans weal be more cared for then Gods worship Nay shall man have six Commandments the greater 〈…〉 and all of them morally good and God have buâ— â—our â—â— â—esser number and one or more of them not so May we not here say a little to invert that in the Prophet are not all the Commandments equal but are not mans cavils undue expositions unequal Let us look on the fourth Commandment in the site and position of it it is put into the besome of the Decâ—logue Prâ—ceptum hoc qâ—â—si â—â—â—ermedium inter praecepta primae et secundae tabulae et sanctificatio Sabbati et quasi nervus intelligentiae et obedientiae Riv. that it might not â—e 〈◊〉 as we put letters and things into our bosoms which wâ—â—re mâ—st chary of it is the Golden clasp which joyns 〈…〉 Tables together it is the sinew in that 〈…〉 were written with Gods own finge◠〈…〉 precept which participates of the 〈…〉 and the due observance of which is as 〈…〉 whâ—le Law And as Christ was a 〈◊〉 〈…〉 and Man Heb. 8. 6. so this blessed 〈…〉 hinge upon which the Precepts of the 〈…〉 God and the Precepts of the Vt aliqua dies in septimanâ sit deo dedicata praeceptum est stabile aeternum secoâ—◠〈…〉 do principally turn it no way being proâ—â—ble 〈…〉 who is spiritual and serious in the observation of Gods holy day should fly into Idolatry to break the second into theft to break the eighth or other gross evils to violate the rest of the Commandments This Command Jacob. de Valent ad curs Jud. for the Sabbath is set by God in the very heart of the Decalogue and we are enjoyned obedience to it by a peculiar memento And therefore to any unprejudiced mind it is very unlikely that this Commandment alone should be overtaken with the shadows of the evening should fly away as Observatio sabbati est caput Religionis totum cultum dei continet Wil. an empty and useless ceremony One tells us The Command for the Sabbath is put in the close of the first and in the beginning of the second table to denote that the observation of both Tables depends much upon the sanctification of this day And indeed let us break the clasp and both tables will fall asunder Let us look on this command in the reason of it No command hath more reasons to enforce it 1. It s own equity Quùm deus noster singulari suâ ergà nos charitate è septem diebus unum dâ—ntâ—xat instaurandâ— fidei nostrae atque adeò vitae aeternae sanctificavit deploratum sanè ille se contemptorem demonstrat sicut salutis pro priae sic et divinae beneficentiae quicunque non studeat illum ipsum diem domino suo glorifi cando sanctificare Bucer Shall man have six dayes for himself and shall not God have one It was Adams ingratitude that he had but one tree forbidden him to eat of it and yet he must eat of that tree And surely it is the highest sacriledge when God forbids but one day in a week for our pleasures and affairs and yet we should entrench upon that Bucer well observes If God be so bountifull to give us six dayes we should be so dutifull to give him one If we have six dayes for our affairs surely God must have one for his glory If we have six for our labour shall not God have one for his worship And indeed our interest is more wrapt up in the observation of the seventh then
healing in his wings Mal. 4. 2. The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. 17. If Christ had not risen we had been still in our sin which fully implies he rising again our sins are taken away and blotted out as a thick cloud and nothing remains to break the peace between God and believers That conscience may be serene and fully satisfied For nothing stung conscience and wounded that tender part nothing Christus resurrexit ideò pacatam tranquillam consciemtiam habere possumus scimus enim pro peccatis quae deum et nos dividebant per Christum fit satisfactio nosque ideò deo reconciliatos esse kept it raw full of pain and anguish but only sin which being fully satisfied for by Christs death and so clearly declared by his blessed Resurrection the burden removed gives ease to conscience and so the poor believer being sensible his peace is made and he is reconciled to his angry Father he hath Halcyon dayes in his bosom and he lies down with comfort and saith his lot is fallen in a pleasant place and God hath given him a goodly heritage Psal 18. 6. And this the Apostle Peter compriseth in fewer words 1 Pet. 3. 21. But the answer of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That our Redemption will certainly follow So saith our blessed Saviour expresly John 20. 17. I ascend unto my Per Christum quasi antesignanum et mortis dominatorem in Orbem illata est Resurrectio mortuorum Alap Rom. 8. 11. Christus solis bonis est causa meritoria resurrectionis sed efficiens omnibus Reprobi verò resurgunt non ad vitam sed ad damnationem mortem potiùs quà m vitam Thom. Father and to your Father and unto my God and your God And if Christ ascend unto our Father shall not we likewise come to his house John 14. 2. Shall not we see his face shall not we rise again to enjoy his glory Yes verily God is a God of the living and not of the dead of triumphant Saints and not of putrid carkases Mat. 22. 32. Let us further argue if Christ be our Head and we his Members then it is expedient for the glory of the Head that the Members be glorious And it may be further considered that as the first Adam received blessings for himself and his posterity and lost the same for all So Christ the second Adam received life and all other gifts for himself and others and he rising gloriously his Saints likewise shall be charioted to glory by a glorious Resurrection And so moreover Christ being our Elder Brother in his tenderness and affection will not leave us in the grave there always to sleep the sleep of death and so much the rather because he can raise us with a Call with the sould of a Trumpet by the message of an Archangel 1 Thes 4. 16. For he being dead raised himself much more being alive shall he be able to raise us up And withall we should consider our Vnion with Christ by the Spirit whose heavenly influence and divine vertue in raising of our souls to spiritual life is most eminent and admirable how much more clearly may we conclude the necessity of our being raised from death to fellowship with him in glory And Virtutem resurrectionis Christi non tantùm cognoscimus per fidem sed et per experientiam ut Christi resurgentis potentiam sentiamus shall not we know the power of Christs Resurrection to use the Apostles words Phil. 3. 10. in raising us on his own blessed day to heavenly-mindedness to get above the world and to have our hearts taken up in the divine services of it We should remember when Christ rose it was the seal of our Resurrection and can we think of a Resurrection and sleep away Sermons trifle away Sabbaths and formalize away Ordinances which then must come unto a severe account shall we who hope to rise to a Crown be entombed in sloth and idleness upon a Resurrection day The very thoughts of our Resurrection should strike an awe upon us and bridle us from vanity and lightness of spirit knowing 2 Cor. 5. 10. that our Sabbaths are not over when we have spent them but they will meet us at Gods tribunal and at his tremendous Rev. 20 12. Bar. Nothing can more acutely check the prophane person who pollutes Gods day and unravels that golden season in froth and formality then the serious thoughts of a certain Resurrection whereof Christs rising was an undoubted pledge The Resurrection of Christ was an evidence of infinite power And therefore Dr. Twisse rightly fastens the Lords day on Christs Resurrection day because as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 1. 4. Christ was declared mightily to be the Son of God by the spirit of sanctification in his Resurrection from the dead Hereby Christ was manifested to be the Son of God the very Lord of glory Christs Resurrection was the manifestation of most glorious power that the tomb should not confine him nor the dust hold him nor the grave stone stop him but throwing off these clogs as Samson did his wit hs he shews himself a while to his beloved Ones and so takes his joyous ascent to the right hand of his Father Love laid Christ in the grave and Power raised him from the grave love rocked him asleep and power awakened him again love made him die as a Malefactor Luke 23. 33. and power raised him as a Saviour to give full assurance that all was done which was required to procure life and salvation Indeed this did manifest wonderful power when after three dayes being dead the Sepulcher sealed the stone rolled to the mouth of the grave a strong watch placed that Christ should break through all bars beat down all opposition and 1 Cor. 15. 55. spring forth out of his yielding dust as a triumphing Conqueror Heb. 2. 14. over Death and Devils The Jews cryed out Let him Plus erat de sepulchro surgere quà m de cruce descendere et plus mortem resurgendo destruere quam vitam descendendo servare Greg. come down from the Cross and we will believe on him Mat. 27. 42. But it is more saith Gregory to rise from the grave then to descend from the Crosse to destroy death by rising then to preserve life by descending Reas 5 And shall Christs Resurrection be an evidence of his power and not an argument for our piety upon his own blessed day which is the Commemoration of this glorious act Surely he who could pierce the grave and shake off the chains of death for the good of believers can exert as great power for the destruction of sinners especially those who prophane his day Christs love in dying should allure and his power in rising should enforce Sabbath-holiness it is not safe nor providential to provoke the Lion of the tribe of Judah who trampled upon death and the grave especially on the day
in another service The title of holiness was always a sufficient rampart and security against prophaneness and audacious pollution and shall it not be so in the holy Sabbath Shall this holy day be spent in froth and idleness or be spotted with sin or prophaneness Upon the forehead of the Sabbath is written in a fair character Holiness to the Lord. Musculus observes there is a double sanctification engraven upon the Sabbath 1. There is Gods sanctification of it which is nothing else but his consecration and setting apart the seventh part of every week to his worship and service 2. There is mans sanctification which is nothing else but mans careful and sedulous spending this holy day in the exercises of piety and Religion So that the Sabbath is doubly fenced against the encroachments of sin Again let us trace the Sabbath from its infancy to this day and we shall still finde a stamp of holinesse upon it The Sabbath is holy ab instituto from the institution of it Gen. 2. 3. God breathed holiness into it when he first gave life to it The first ordination of it was set with holiness Gen. 2. 3. as a rich Ring is set with Diamonds The Original word signifies no less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes signifying Holiness aliquid a communi usu separatum something separated to God from common use So then it may be said of the Sabbath as it was of Jeremy Jer. 1. 5. It was sanctified from the womb The Sabbath is holy a mandato from the command Exod. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy This command hath the great seal of a Memento upon it carrying its badge and Character singled out of all the rest to have its Sabbatum dei est sanctum otium Leid Prof. Selah affixed to it As if God should say however other commands liable to breaches may have their plea's or finde their favours the breach of this command shall finde none The Sabbath is holy a promisso from the promises annexed to the holy observation of it To this command of Die dominicâ Piae meditationes attentiori conatu instituantur et soveantur Riv. Sabbath sanctification we have not only the naked bond of a precept but the seal of a promise Isa 58. 13 14. The keeping holy of this day is so prized by God that he bribes it that he sets a price upon it and courts it with promises temporal and spiritual with a Paradise of pleasure and delight The Sabbath is holy a Titulo from its denomination It is twice called holy Isa 58. 13. Gods holy day nay the Dominico ad nihil aliud vacandum est nisi ad orationem c. Patr. in Concil Fo. rojul holy of the Lord which is not without an emphasis God doth to the Sabbath as once he did to Abraham Gen. 17. 5. give it a new and more honourable name to restrain sinful and prurient man from the violation of it The Sabbath is holy a Christi operatione from the works of Christ upon this day Luke 6. 6. He that came from Heaven Die dominico convertendum est nobis cum deo propius Ephr. Syr. Lucubr doth only the works of heaven upon this heavenly day And in this Christ is our guide not only our Legislator but our Pattern the Pole-star for us to steer by The Sabbath is holy ab Apostolorum observatione from the manner of the Apostles observation They spent the Sabbath in preaching in praying in receiving the Sacrament Acts 20. 7. and performing those duties which have a vein of holiness in them The Sabbath is holy a Joannis visione from the Vision of John the beloved Disciple Rev. 1. 10. As if Christ Diem dominicum honoremus celebrantes eum non panegyricè sed divinè non mundâ—nè sed spiritualitèr non instar gentilium sed instar Christianorum deferred this rare discovery which he made to his bosom Apostle to his own day to put the greater badge of honour and stamp the greater character of purity upon it Therefore to sum up all as he is not far from true piety who makes conscience to keep this holy day so his heart never yet felt what either the fear of God or true Religion meaneth who can so far deface the beauty and contradict the holiness of this day as to spend and unravel it in vanity and prophaneness Dr. Denison notes upon Nebem 13. 2. That where the Sabbath is not sanctified there is neither sound Religion nor a Christian conversation to be expected And worthy Dr. Chetwind That the prophaning of the holy Sabbath of God is contrary to Gods moral precept which still retains it force and vigour Thus savouâ—y and learned men always agreed in this with vigorous zeal to decry the prophaneing of Gods day as being that which was an affront to the very name of an holy and honourable Sabbath Arg. 3 Nay the great Jehovah hath given us his own example for holy rest on the Sabbath day And what is more comely and Satis authenticum est homini pio quicquid verbo dei praecipitur verò et factum dei accedit quasi duplicato ad ob oâ—iiendum vinculo constringitur Muscul beautiful then to follow the example of God When Christ would have us to love our enemies he urges the example of God Luke 6. 35. When he would have us to be merciful he cites the example of God Luke 6. 36. And when he would have us to be perfect he brings in his Father as a Pattern Mat. 5. 48. And so in this case we must sanctifie the Sabbath because God himself rested on that day God doth not only enjoyn the strict observation of the Sabbath by his express command but in his own blessed example he is pleased to rest for the observance of it And which deserves our most serious animadversion God did not only 1. Rest on that day after the work of Creation was finished Gen. 2. 3. when that stupendious work was now accomplished But 2dly God rested on that day in not raining down Manna but twice so much the day before Exod. 16. 22 25. there must not be so much as the disturbance of a Qui verbo dei non obedit immorigerum se et transgressorem ostendit Qui verò ne facto quidem dei ad imitatio nem exempli permovetur non solùm sese inobedientem sed et degenerem et alienum a spiritu illius sese demonstrat et declarat Muscul shower to call off the people from the solemnity of the Sabbath So that we might not erre God sets our Copy twice It is a good saying of Musculus He who obeys not the word of God makes himself a transgressor and shews himself immorigerous but he who will not follow the examples of God shews himself not only disobedient but degenerous and a stranger to the work of the spirit
Indeed it is the property of a natural Son not only to mind the word but to imitate the example of his good Father Slaves must have commands but Sons study Patterns as the ingenuous Scholar minds the Copy more then the passionate word or the Ferula of his Master One of Gods rich promises carries this treasure in it I will guide thee by mine eye Psal 32. 8. Thou shalt look on me and so walk hoâ—ily before me Not only Gods will but his eye shall be our conduct So then Gods example re-inforces our obligation for Sabbath-holiness Cumque deus ita quiescat die septimo ut tamen non cesset ob omni opere sed rerum universitatem conservet et gubernet Ita quoque Sabbati sanctificatio non consistit in ignavo otio sâ—d ut ea operemur quae ad dei gloriam faciant Ger. In this affair we have all ties of obedience not only the force of a righteous command but we may see our selves in the Chrystal glass of divine example And it is well observed by Gerard God saith he did not so rest on the Sabbath from all work but still on that day he preserved and governed all things So our sanctification of the Sabbath doth not consist in a slothful idleness but in working thâ—se things which make to the glory of God So let us thus imitate God on his own day Indeed Gods patteâ—n is the Archetype of all our actions the surest glass for us to dress our selves by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath said it is the rule of all truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath done it is the rule of all practice wherein the blessed Jehovah is imitable It was the Apostles glory that he followed Christ and so far he would have all Christians Omnis actio Dei nobis pietatis virtutis est regula Basil follow him 1 Cor. 11. 1. It is an excellent saying of Basil Every action of God is to us a Rule of all vertue and piety And if in all other things so in keeping the Sabbath in holy Rest Philo the Jew could say Follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Phil. Jud. God in resting on the Sabbath you have his Example you have his Prescript and therefore spend that day in holy contemplations God in this momentous concernment of the Sabbath seems to speak as in the Prophet Malachi Mal. 1. 6. A son honcureth his father and a servant his master If I be a father where is my honour if I be a master where is my fear And if I have rested upon the Sabbath why do you disturb it by secular works hy sensual delights by prophane actions or by unseemly carriages so unbecoming a holy Sabbath In prophaning Gods day we break through a double bar of precept and presidency and so dye our sin in a double dye Arg. 4 The light of Nature leads us to a Sabbath let the light of Scripture lead us to a holy observation of it The Law of Habet venerationem justam quicquid excellit Cicer. de Nat. Deorum Nature instilleth this notion into us That God paramount who is Superlative in all Excellencies and Perfections is to be worshipped That to the performance of this worship certain times are to be deputed that none is so fit to depute that time as that Deity whose worship it is And therefore to keep this day which God hath appointed holy to the same Lord to sanctifie it in holy Rest and spiritual worship which Brerewood saith Is the Body and the Soul of the Sabbath All this is nothing but an obsequious following of the guidance and conduct of Nature Aquinas here gives us a good Rule Seeing saith he that the moral Precepts Aquin 2da 2dae quaest 122. Artic. 4. are of those things which agree to humane reason as they appertain to good manners the judgment whereof is derived some way from natural Reason it must needs Breerw part 2. pag. 67. be that those things pertain to the Law of Nature And is there any thing more accommodate to right reason more conducing to good manners then to dedicate some time to the honour of God especially that time which is of his own appointment If we have Souls to look after must there not be seasons for that purpose And who shall better Mark 2. 28. Aquin. 1mae adae quaest 10. Artic. 1. 3. appoint that season than the Saviour of the Soul Again the Sabbath was made for man Mark 2. 27. was it not for the better part of man that piece of Eternity which he carries in his bosom And how can we better consult our Souls good than in duties of Divine worship Thus the very dictates of natural reason command the holy observation of the Sabbath And therefore the observation of the seventh day which was the Sabbath till the coming of Christ was no strange thing among those who know nothing above the light of Nature Homer an Heathen Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. tells us That the seventh day is holy Callimachus an Heathen Author informs us That the seventh day is the Birth-day chief and perfect And Eusebius affirms That almost all as well Philosophers as Poets know the seventh day to be most sacred And shall these Pagans who had onely glimpses of natural light smatch and rellish Quis Diem illum sanctissimum non honorat unaquaquehebdomadâ recurrentem Phil. honour and venerate the day of the Sabbath and shall we turn Heathens on that day or fall some degrees below them I shall say with the Apostle Rom. 6. 2. God forbid The learned Andrews observes That sufficient is found in the heart of the Gentiles to their condemnation who shall dare to break the Law of the fourth Commandement The very light of Nature shall rise up in judgment Rom. 6. 2. against Sabbath-breakers and it shall be more tollerable for Hesiod a Heathen Poet who pronounced the seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod day holy and Alexander Severus a heathen Prince who on that day frequented the Temple as formerly hath been hinted then for this Generation It was a rare saying of Seneca a sage Heathen who reckoning the Sabbath a Festival for Religion condemned the then manner of observing of it and saith he Let us forbid the lighting of a Candle upon a Sabbath for neither do the Gods want light and men themselves are not delighted with smoke he worshippeth God who knows him This golden Quoniam rerum humanarum variiâ— maltiâ— occupationibus curis distracti praepedimur ita ut non facilè officia pietatis praestemus saying how will it condemn many drossie Christians who set fire on their lusts on Gods holy Sabbath It is a good Notion of Azorius Man saith he is so hurried and distracted with the affairs of the world that he is impeded in and unfit for the worship of God But God therefore hath appointed