day of Salvation and there is a particular hour in that day for thy Conversion it may be thou sleepest away Luke 19. 42. that very hour Amber-greece is not cast on the shore every day though sometimes that precious thing is cast on the land Mariners have a wind which if they neglect they may hazard if not lose their Voyage Indeed conversion is a kind of wonder as blazing stars which are seen once in an age and wilt thou sleep in Ordinances when happily this wonder is to be wrought Wilt thou for the sloth of an hour venture the pains of eternity If Zacheus had not Luke 19. 5. climbed up into the Sicamore-tree in that very season to see Res mira legimus sanè in Evangelio dominum fuisse invitatum ad eos accessisse sed quod ultrò ad convivium se ingesserit nunquam legimus solummodò ad hunc principem Publicanorum Ger. Christ possibly salvation had never come to his house If thou belongest to the election of Grace thou hast thy hour thy Sermon this opportunity for thy turning to God The Man-child lies long in the womb but it is brought forth in a moment How should we take heed that we do not sleep away that moment when our salvation should be brought to the birth Happily there is some way of wickedness thou walkest securely in some necessary duty thou livest in the neglect of some sore temptation thou groanest under and grapplest with Now if thou art asleep when these things are pathetically and powerfully spoken to thou maist live and dye in the practise of that sin thou maist fall and sink under the power of that temptation and so eternity may be spent in bewailing one hours folly Now for the avoidance of this God-provoking sin 1. The most plausible excuse which gives the fairest colour to it to varnish it over shall be examined 2. Some ponderous considerations shall be laid down to be weighed in the ballance 3. Some seasonable Directions shall be suggested to be followed and pursued The great excuse which seems to cloak and disguise this sin is this some guilty of this sin usually plead It is true we sometimes forget our selves or an Ordinance and fall asleep but this is our natural weakness not our moral wickedness our grief it is but not our guilt we combat with it but we cannot conquer it it is our infelicity and our bemoaned misery our piece of clay is heavy and will be seeking rest and sometimes in Ordinances and we must cast our selves upon our Saviours indulgent Interpretation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Matth. 26. 41. To this specious pretence and usual plea it is answered Possibly natural weakness may be the true cause of sloth and Haec infirmitas carnis in renatis adhuc reliqua perpetuò ob oculos nobis versatur ne fiduciâ propriarum virium inflati animo efferamur Corpus est ergastulum animae Plato sleepiness in Ordinances not so much the remissnesse of our minds as the indisposition of our bodies the pile of dust our souls are cloystred in drops into our eyes and we are rockt asleep And it may likewise be remembred that the senses are attendants on the body and Lacquies to the commands of it and no wonder if the eyes be locked up when the body will be indulged or the indisposition of it demands a truce or cessation But yet there are many things which conscience can only answer in this Case Is our drowsiness in Ordinances customary or casual accidental or habitual It is very true the Saints themselves are obnoxious to accidental falls and follies the Sun is subject to ecclipses but very rarely the best and most stately Ship may run a ground and in this particular a Believer may fail he may shut his eyes when he should act his grace at an Ordinance The Disciples slept when Christ was praying at a little distance The wise Virgins slept as well Luke 22. 46. as the foolish Math. 25. 5. A real Saint may drop asleep Matth. 25. 5. in a Pew or in a Seat as well as Jonah in the Ship or Christ John 1. 5. in a Bark A believers eyes may be arrested with sloth Matth. 8. 24. when his ear should be attending its office But this is casual Is this unseasonable drowsiness an inevitable pressure or is it caused by our own miscarriage by indulging our sensual appetite by overmuch vigilancy in worldly affairs or by the intemperate use of Creature-comforts If so never impute it to natural weakness This is all one as if by intemperance Qui spiritum habet promptam carnem mortificat qui segnis est eandem saginat Origen Luke 21. 36. one should contract the Palsie and say the Disease is the consequence of his Constitution As Grace is the Mother so abstinence is the Nurse of watchfulnesse but if we drown our sense in an undue over-plus it is no wonder if we be in a dead sleep at Ordinances Let us impartially examine the cause of our drowsiness Have we used all proper remedies against this sinful and unseasonable drowsiness Have we prayed wept mourned and struggled against it Have we kneeled in the Closet Non nobis blandiamur sed caro serviat spiritui infirmior fortiori ut ab eo etiam fortitudinem ipsa assumat Tertul cryed in the Chamber beforehand that this destructive sloth might not seize upon us No wonder if Sampson sleep if he lie in a Dalilahs lap It is a good saying of Tertullian Let us not flatter our selves saith he but let the flesh serve the spirit the weaker serve the stronger the more contemptible obey the more honourable that the weaker may receive strength from the stronger The wound is not cured without a Plaister Have we used methods of Grace for the cure of this sleepy Lethargy If not our sleep in Ordinances is our sin our provocation and no way our infirmity and let us not charge constitution but conscience No wonder if the Disease grow upon us if we neither use Physick nor Physician Do they suppose who practice this they call the infirmity of the flesh that they could sleep in the midst of their secular affairs and shall we be more vigilant for earth than Heaven for a poor piece of clay than for a piece of eternity our immortal our never dying souls Shall the meanest parenthesis of our lives keep us waking and not the great importances of our better part This in the close will be Heb. 2. 3. found to be our folly and no way our excuse Did we ever weigh the value and worth of an Ordinance Is it not a golden opportunity a fresh tide of mercy and shall we lose our tide for a little unseasonable sloth In Ordinances Christ treats with us about our everlasting concernments and is that a time for the folding of our hands to sleep Must we be consulting our ease
tamenillam agnoscunt valde infirmam lanquidam et obscuratam propter perpetuam illam pugnam rebellionem carnis Daven wing and was upon the flight from him Psal 51. 11. The Apostle saith Col. 3. 3. Our life is hid with Christ both in point of security and in point of secresie with Christ as in the spring with Christ as in the root and principle and the root we know is under ground and no eye of the passenger observes it with the several threads of it Let one thing more come within our view This work of grace is often under a mask and faces are not discovered under a mask there is a continual combat between the flesh and the spirit and the poor Saint stands as a spectatour he waits and cannot tell which of the two combatants will go away with Gal. 5. 17. flying colours Let us meditate on the beautifullness of the work of Grace The Scripture best depaints this lovely work Sometimes it Nova creatâ—ra spiritualis effecta novam gratiae vitâ—m fortua est ut deâ—â—â—ceps in novitate vitae ambulet is called Regeneration Joh. 3. 5. Sometimes it is called a new Creation Gal. 6. 15. With what flourish and glory did the world look when God did first create it and it first put on its comly dress and attire how pleasant was the Earth in its first spring Sometimes the work of grace is called Gods workmanship Eph. 2. 10. and this work must be good Gen. 1. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is his All things he made were very good Gen. 1. 31. Nay sometimes this work is called our coming to our selves Luke 15. 17. And when lunatick persons are reduced to their wits what a comly and a lovely sight is it Indeed holiness is an attribute of God it is the loveliness of Angels it is the beauty of Saints this makes them excellent Psal 16. Psal 16. 3. Prov. 12. 26. Prov. 17. 27. Ezek. 16. 7. Phil. 1. 10. 3. nay more excellent then their neighbours Prov. 12. 26. The habits of grace are excellent ornaments Ezek. 16. 7. The wayes of grace are excellent wayes Phil. 1. 10. The work of grace it sheds light into the understanding makes it day there the beginnings of grace are day break in the soul Grace it shapes the will and brings it into form it sublimates Col. 3. 1 2. the affections and raises them from the dung-hill and makes them as it was said of the Bereans Acts 17. 11. more noble it softens the heart and makes it pliable to the tenders of the Gospel it cleanses the conscience from its filth and nastiness Acts 15. 9. it composes the conversation 1 Cor. 15 58 59 it adorns the life and bespangles it with good works those beautiful issues of a work of grace Let us meditate on the beneficialness of the work of grace Grace is glory initiated the dawning of future glory and glory is the noon-tide of grace There is a connection between grace and glory Psal 84. 11. They are clasped together by an eternal decree Gods everlasting purpose of love hath espoused grace to glory The work of grace foreruns Deus dedit nobis pignus futurae haereditatis gratiam quâ nos unxit â—t signavit in filios dei discrevitque à filiis diaboli the wages of glory Grace is onely glory in its infancy and glory is grace in its full growth Grace and glory differ in degree not in kind The spirits work is onely the first Scene of heaven here the spirit is a refining above it will be a ravishing spirit Death blows the bud of grace into the flower of glory 2 Cor. 1. 22. Eph. 1. 14. Grace onely ushers in glory it is onely the greener fruit of heaven and in Oecum future blessedness it comes to its full maturation In a word 2 Cor. 1. 22. the work of grace is the beginning of heaven in the soul and Eph. 1. 14. Christ in the heart doth fully assure us we shall see Christ Eph. 3. 17. in the Throne Let us meditate in the morning of a Sabbath on the works of glory How should we contemplate on heavenly things Psal 36. 8. Heb 4. 9. Rev. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Cor. 2. 9. O ineffabile gaudium in sanctis glorificatis qui ad dextram Christi sistent ut subditi serenissimo suo principi ut filii benignissimo suo patri ut regale sacerdotium gratiosissimo suo pontifici Glass on Gods heavenly day what those chambers of rest what those rivers of pleasure what those crowns of righteousness what those thrones of glory are which God hath prepared for his believing and beloved ones who have rejoyced in his holy day here and made it their seraphical delight From the mount of meditation as from mount Nebo we may take a prospect of the land of Promise which Christ hath taken the possession of in the name of all believers Heb. 6. 20. Heaven must needs be a glorious City which hath God both for its builder and inhabitant it must needs be the extract and quintessence of all blessedness On Gods day in the morning let meditation listen to the musicks of the Bride-chamber take a tast of our Masters joy peep within the vail and take a glance of the face of God and make an essay how well a crown of righteousness becomes the believers head And surely we cannot meditate on these things but we Quanta erit illa felicitas ubi nullum erit malum nullum latebit bonum vacabitur dei laudibus qui erit omnia in omnibus Aug. must rejoyce in hope What prisoner shackled with the chains of temptation and fettered with the irons of his own corruption being in the dark prison of the world can meditate on the time when all these restraints shall be filed off and he enjoy the pleasant light and glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8. 21. but he will be transported with joy and exultation Meditation brings down heaven to us and we travel in the view of things superlative and ineffable In Glory we shall see the King in his beauty Isa 33. 17. There John 14. 2. Psal 16. 11. God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. There shall be beauty Rev. 3. 21. to the eye musick to the ear joy to the heart light to the mind perfection to the soul plenary and absolute satisfaction to the Saint Glory is meditations upper-loft it is its highest gallery to walk in it is its pleasing nest among the stars Meditation may take a view of the pompous Theater 2 Cor. 1. 3. Mat. 1. 21. Heb. 7. 25. of glory where there are the three persons in the God-head The Father of our mercies Jesus Christ the Saviour of our souls the Holy Ghost the Healer of our natures the Father who hears our prayers the Son who is our intercessour above us and the
communion with God no more and shall we sleep away these golden yet gliding seasons Shall we drousilie pass away those streams of Gospel love which are alwayes running and being passed return no more Shall we be as rocks before the musick of the word when the instruments will soon be laid aside Shall we be as persons in a swoun before the calls of the word when those invitations will not last but our refusall proves our ruine Luke 19. 41 42. The sleepy hearer might have heard that Sermon which happily might have brought him home to the armes of Christ but now happily the offers of peace and reconciliation may be hid from his eyes Before his eyes were shut he was asleep But now the day is shut in and he may as our Saviour speaks Mark 14. 41. sleep on now the day will shine no Mat. 22 13. more but he shall be involved in utter darkness There are three things very much provoke the Lord 1. When we do not bring faith to an Ordinance Faith is Gen. 43. 5. the Benjamin which we must bring with us or never expect to see the face of God in Ordinances Isa 29. 13. 2. When we bring not the heart to an Ordinance but our thoughts are wandering and eccentrical 3. When we bring not our senses to an Ordinance but sleep hath chained them up and restrained them from their use and exercise Surely God will be much inflamed he cannot have the outward man at an Ordinance a supple knee a weeping eye an attentive ear now as unbelief seizeth upon the faculties of the soul and pinnions them up that they will not embrace the word so sleep surprizes the senses and fetters them that they have no liberty to entertain the offers of the word And it is an equal provocation to shut the eye at or turn the back upon the blessed Gospel Sleeping in Ordinances is not onely the imprisoning of the senses but the present suspension of our graces Sleep shackles body and soul too The drowsie hearer doth not onely stop his ear but stifle his grace too We are to bring divers graces to the Ordinances with us Sâ—cut olla quae fervet non quiescit sed semper bullit in altum se erigit atque ignitas bullas et vapores sursum ejaculatur ita charitas continuò ad majora semper proficit et exilit atque persinceram institutionem orationem desideria et gemitas quasi vapores ad deum ascendit 1. Faith The word is to be mixed with faith Heb. 4. 2. Prayer must be the prayer of faith Jam. 5. 15. The Sacrament is only the pageant of an Ordinance if faith be absent 2. We must come with knowledge These blessed institutions they are the way to salvation but we must have an eye to see the way 3. We must come with self-denyal we must deny sinfull self and moral self to hear what God speaks in an Ordinance we must take down self to entertain Jesus Christ 4. We must come with zeal Every sacrifice in the Law was offered up with fire The Sun hath its heat as well as its light We must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. As the boyling pot is alwayes sending up its bubles and its fumes as the learned man most elegantly There must be an activity and liveliness in all holy worship we must be spiritual and spirited when we serve that God John 4. 24. who is a spirit Now sleep and drowsiness puts out the fire of our graces and suspends their actings so that there is neither Verbum dei mater nutrix fidei gratiarum smoak heat or glowing Sleeping in Ordinances it is a multiplyed sin it robs God of his time it keeps grace from the breast it is the Pent-house that keeps the showre from the heart that Doctrine cannot distill as the dew nor Mors brevis est somnus speech drop as the rain Deut. 32. 2. It shuts the eye of the understanding that for the present it cannot discern the glorious things of God Sleeping in Ordinances it pours contempt on the holy name of God We do not use to sleep if we are upon our own work if it be but the hearing of a tale or the giving of a visit or the getting of a penny In our sales bargains merchandizings we are wakefull and vigilant enough then the eye is open the mind is intent and the tongue talkative all the faculties of the soul are summoned to attendance we will not sleep in the Change if it be onely to hear a piece of news in our fruitless discoursing worldly bargaining courtly visiting luxurious banqueting though we sit on the softest Couch and talk of nothing but novelties and vanities pride and fashions and our language is nothing Imperuestigabiles divitiae Christi sunt copia gratiarum et bonorum quae Christus nobis attulit Alap but a vain parenthesis yet all this while no sleep seizeth upon our employed senses but when we come to transact our soul affairs when the unsearchable riches of Christ Eph. 3. 8. are telling out those Summs which will enrich the soul to eternity when we have opportunities for spiritual gain to advantage our inward man to grow Incomprehensibiles divitiae sunt Christi divitiae Ambr. rich in the jewels of grace and holiness then Nature lets down her Port-cullis as if it was a midnight vacation and we fall asleep as if we were wholly unconcerned in those spiritual transactions What a dunghill of vanity is the corrupt Divitiae Christi speciales sunt remissio peccatorum justificatio regeneratio resurrectio et vita aeterna Zanch. nature of man The Husbandman will not sleep with the plow in his hand nor the Pilot in the steerage of his ship the Shop-keeper falls not asleep in the vending of his wares nay the Guest will not sleep in the eating of his Viands but the careless Christian will sleep when Christ comes to give him a visit in holy Ordinances and he is in the divine presence hearing something which concerns his eternity But as the Apostle angrily expostulates with the Corinthians Have ye not houses to drink in 1 Cor. 11. 22. So may I say 1 Cor. 11. â—2 have ye not houses to sleep in and beds to rest on Must Gods Ordinances be undervalued and disesteemed by your shamefull sloth and drowsiness And when the Minister is opening the transcripts of Gods heart in Gospel dispensations must all be buried in silence and rejected by a dronish and sloathfull contempt Ah! how prodigal is stupified man of his soul which shall live as long as God himself Sleeping in Ordinances is a most dangerous and desperate adventure Whilst thou sleepest away a Sermon happily that very truth was delivered which might have converted thy soul thou knowest not when that plaister will be spread which shall cure the wound of sin The means of Grace are called a
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
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
wonder then Intus est in corde est Sabbatum nostrum Aug. if St. Augustine cry out Our Sabbath is within in our hearts There indeed is the musical spring of joy Let us take heed of grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. No fountain casts out sweet and bitter water a grieved spirit will not dash joyes upon the soul the mournful Dove flies Offenditur spiritus verbis putidis etiam quo vis peccato Hier. away We must cherish the graces if we will possess the joyes of the spirit The birds sing most sweetly in the spring when every thing is fresh and green Gods spirit in the soul yields its freshest delights among flourishing graces when the Peccata sunt injuriae contumeliae spquae eum contristantur Alap seared boughs of corruption are broken down Sin and vanity break the strings of the spirits musick and chase away the Comforter from our coasts as birds hushed away leave the place of their present abode Let us not suspend our answer to the spirits excitations Let us listen to every motion and apply our selves to every counsel of this inward Monitor Slighted advocates plead no more we must hearken to every whisper of the Holy Ghost who first commands and then comforts To stir up to holy duties to good works to circumspect walking is the office of the spirit but to ravish the soul with divine delights is the reward of the spirit Observe holy David Psal 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul He was now acting the duty of meditation and then the spirit besprinkled him with dews of joy A Deus per essentiem est totus consolatio immò Mare Oceanus consolationis quem in servos suos etiam in hac vitâ effundit learned man saith God is an Ocean of consolation Let not our sin and disobedience be such banks and ramparts that this Sea cannot overflow us with complacential effusions Obedience indeed and duty make way for the streams of spirituall comfort And to our case let us keep the Sabbath circumspectly and we shall keep it comfortably Let us follow the spirit in every duty obey the dictates of the spirit in every Ordinance When the spirit prompts us to prayer let us tune our hearts to that duty and not fold our hands in sloth and negligence when the spirit suggests to Prov. 6. 10. us the import of an Ordinance let us not be slight and careless in that holy institution and let us consider the motions Prov. 24. 33. of the spirit go before the melodies of the spirit And thirdly Let us study to be in the spirit on the Lords day This duty must Look downwards we must avoid whatsoever opposeth the spirit whatsoever may quench that celestial flame 1 Thes 5. 19 We must on the Sabbath lay aside all temporal cares Cares at all times are thorns Mat. 13. 22. But on a Sabbath they are thorns in a flame not only scratching but scorching Indeed the Lords day is not without its cares but they are heavenly not worldly cares care to please the spirit not to please the flesh care to lay up treasures in heaven not to fill our coffers below The soul then must be Divina benedictio Sabbati est quâ sibi deus studia occupationes asserit Calv. cared for how to prepare it for duty how to pacifie it with pardon how to beautifie it with grace how to fit it for eternity Head and heart must be at work on the Sabbath but it must be for the soul not for the outward man But to set our servants on work in our callings to be in our counting Mat. 16. 26. house to contrive business for the following week on Gods holy day this is not only to defile the Sabbath but to affront providence as if God who takes care for the Lillies of the field Mat. 6. 30. could not provide for the strict observers of his holy day We must throw away all worldly thoughts How many are there whose thoughts are as fresh and affections as vigorous towards the world upon the Sabbath day as if they were trading in their shops walking in the Exchange or Exod. 8. 24. posting their Books and pursuing their bargains I may say to such as the Lord to Satan Zach. 3. 2. The Lord rebuke Plaga muscarum fuit foedo colluvies quae fuit numerosa et molestissima immò et nocentissima et ideo molestissima quia numerosissima Riv. thee what is this but to turn time into a chaos where there is no distinction between light and darkness between the Egypt of the week and the Goshen of the Sabbath This day is a day of light life and salvation and shall worldly thoughts that judgment of lice or flies stain and ecclipse it Worldly imaginations on this day they are the sacriledge of the mind the worm at the root of duty the souls destructive avocation the Shibboleth of a covetous man the bluster and gross miscarriage of a Christian they are the souls imprisonment when it should be enlarged in the way of Gods Ordinances We must take heed of unnecessary diversions The heart is wholly to be set on God on his own day One observes The Law is spiritual and so is the fourth Commandment and is not fully obeyed by outward conformity but it requires the Rom. 7. 14. inward truth and bent of the heart Happily we shut up Psal 51. 6. our shops on a Sabbath so the Law of the Land commands but do we shut up our hearts on a Sabbath that nothing unseemly may intrude Do we bring our hearts and Christ together and lock them both in that nothing may interrupt their sweet and mutual intercourse It is a vain thing to dissemble with God on his own day He can unriddle and will judge our splendid and varnished artifices Let us not play the hypocrites but walk in the spirit the whole stage of Rom. 8. 2. the Sabbath To keep our doors close is an empty ceremony unless we keep our hearts close to God and Christ in Ordinances in Family and secret duties Diverting imaginations are the cobwebs of the mind the sores which In dic Sabbati ab omnibus aliis curis et studiis omninò obstinendum est Gual fester the heart as Dalilah her smiles did Samson and so entangle the soul that it cannot enjoy its freedom with Christ on his own blessed day Such divertisements disturb the Musick of Ordinances and eat out the profit of holy Communion with God if we will be working on a Sabbath Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling Augustine Phil. 2. 12 13. Aug. de temp Serm. 251. speaks most excellently in one of his Sermons That we may be fit and ready for Gods service on his own day there must be nothing to cumber us and we at that time must cast off the interposition of worldly
expietur Greg. M. lib. 11. Epist 3. of complacency variety of choice voices please the ear variety of curious colours delight the eye variety of sweet dainties is acceptable to the tast and so varieâ—y of holy duties make a Sabbath gratefull and complacential God hath set forth his worship in several services that it might be the more pleasing and the less wearisome Sometimes on a Sabbath we are praying to him for the supply of our necessities sometimes we are praising of him for his own infinite excellencies Sometimes the ear is busied in hearing truth sometimes the Dies dominicus est dies panis per Eucharistiam Athan. hand in giving almes sometimes the eye in weeping tears sometimes the knee in doing homage alwayes the heart in willing obedience Thus the same meat is dressed several wayes to make it more delightfull and pleasing to the pallate To see several towns pleaseth the traveller and makes Dies dominicus est dies lucis per baptismum Chrysost his journey the less tedious and the more recreative In Sabbath worship the bending of the knee is relieved by the hearing of the ear and the hearing of the ear by the singing of the tongue and the service of the tongue may be refreshed Die dominico pro arbitrio quisque suo quod visum est contribuat et charitatem suam deponat and relieved by the contemplations of the mind So then the Sabbath cannot be tedious whose duties are so various Several birds singing make the Grove a common musick room That soul must needs distast every Ordinance which cannot be pleased with variety Just Mart. 10. But no further to amplifie the vanity of these objectours who put this case I shall now a little rectifie their mistake by shewing them how flesh and blood may keep a whole Sabbath spiritually and sweetly to God Let them be earnest in prayer for the spirit of grace this is that principle which can turn the soul to any point that spirit which can guide our way Rom. 8. 1. which can produce the new Creature John 3. 5. which can fill our sails John 3. 8. which can heal our Natures 1 Cor. 6. 11. which can help our infirmities Rom. 8. 26. that spirit which can Acts 16. 14. open the eyes to behold Acts 26. 18. and can open the heart Joh. 7. 38. 39. to embrace Gospel mysteries 1 Cor. 2. 14. that spirit can sweeten Ordinances and accommodate our souls to them that Spiritualia spiritualitèr examinantur et spiritualis judicat omnia qui spiritum rectorem animae habet Doctorem Ansel the streams of a Sabbath may run smoothly without the stop of weariness or storm of discontent The spirit of God can fit our spirits to the things of God and where there is no disparity there can be no dissatisfaction Indeed the Ordinances are the ship and the spirit is the wind As the ship of an ordinance cannot move without the wind of the spirit so the wind of the spirit will not blow without the ship of an Ordinance but when the wind carries on the ship it is pleasant and delightful sailing Therefore let John 3. 8. these Objectours beg the spirit and we have an assured promise to encourage us Luke 11. 13. Let those who put this case which now hath been ventilated and discussed consider our present Sabbaths are Sabbatum est sabbatisini primordium initiale benificae fruitionis odoramentum only the first fruits of an eternal Sabbath The Spring is pleasant though not so fruitfull as the Harvest Our present dayes of grace have their glory and their verdure though not elevated to the raptures of heaven Sabbaths are heavenly dayes though not heavenly eternities Now our Saviour bids us rejoyce at the putting out of the leaf for then Summer draws near Mat. 24. 32. This should silence all scruples of a floathfull heart Sabbaths are golden though little spots they are pensions of grace though not portions of glory they are earnests of better things and he that is to receive the summ will not easily be weary in telling of the earnest The Israelites rejoyced in the Clusters before they came to the Vintage Numb 13. 23 24. Our precious Sabbaths are Cant. 1. 14. our clusters of Camphire before we come to the mountanes of Spices Think not a Sabbath tedious which is only a little stream running into the Ocean of Eternal Glory Such should do well to study their wants more and their ease less Their necessities call for every Ordinance of Grace which fills up the time of a Sabbath their empty cruze Mat. 6. 11. calls for the duty of Prayer their dark understandings call Hos 6. 3. for the Ordinance of hearing their faint graces call for the Isa 25. 6. feast of a Sacrament their sadned spirits call for the joyous Jam. 5. 13. service of singing Psalmes their ignorant Families call for Gen. 18. 19. the duty of Catechizing and their frail memeries call for the Phil. 3. 1. seasonable recruit of Repetition and when these Services are faithfully and spiritually performed the time of a Sabbath Eadem scribere dicit Apostolus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tutum Ambrosius verò inquit est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 necessarium Ambr. flies away and there is no room for the objection of flesh and blood We are much provoked to see Beggars lie sunning themselves in ease and laziness Let these Objectors pass industriously and chearfully through the Ordinances of a Sabbath or else find some other way for the supply of the necessities of their souls But thus much for the fourth Case Case 5 What shall we do when after our serious attendance upon Ordinances on Gods holy day we taste no sweetness in them Saepe etiam pi is successus in laboribus vocationis denegatur non malè sed certo consilio dei cùm verò Petrus sine successu laborasset non ex impatientiâ murmurat non rejicit vocationem Chemnit nor reap any advantage from them It was once the complaint of the Disciples that they toyled all night and could catch nothing Luke 5. 5. The Saints labours in this life are not alwayes successful they may plow upon a Rock and sow the Seed though presently they do not reap the Harvest Beautiful Rachel was barren for a time and she who had so much comliness had no Child Answers to prayer are not alwayes on the speed but sometimes they are suspended and many wait on God in a Sabbath and yet in the evening do not carry their sheaves with them Psal 126. 6. they may toyle all the Sabbath in the fire of Ordinances and yet not for the present be sensible of their melting and refining power But what shall be done in this case Answ 1 Such should examine themselves whether they bring not too much of the world with them to Sabbath opportunities Happily when they are at
Sabbathum propriè quietem et vacationem ab opere servili significat quod deus in ipsâ mundi origine quieti sarctae consecravit Gualt Sabbathum Domini Sabbathum dicitur in scripturis Exod. 16. 20 Lev. 19. 26. Eò quod deo consecratum est et iis studiis quae ad dei honorem spectant Id. 1 Kings 6. 7. Exod. 13. 2. would keep us and chain us up from such seraphical and heavenly duties And the Council of Arles which was celebrated under Charles the Great speaks to the same purpose concluding Let those things onely be done on the Sabbath which appertain to the Service of God Nay secular works and the works of our Calling upon the Sabbath they illegitimate and contradict the very name of a Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies quietness and rest a cessation from labour it is nothing more then a denyal of toyle so that when we labour on the Sabbath we do but rough this calme and quiet day which is given us to hear Gods still voice when the spirit that wind blows gently yet powerfully in the dispensation of the word God will have his own Name known that he is a God of mercy and purity and he will have the name of his Sabbath known to be a day of quiet and cessation and therefore it is called a Sabbath of Rest Exod. 35. 2. That if we at the first view did not understand the meaning of the word Sabbath Moses Comments on it and gives us an explanation it is a Sabbath of Rest a meer Hebraisme when Sabbath and Rest are the same thing and in the Original the word is onely repeated for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as in the building of the Temple of the Lord so in the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord there must be no hammer heard no axe no noise of working instruments or secular employments 4. Labouring in our callings on a Sabbath doth not only deny the name of the Sabbath but subverts the manner of its observation which is by sanctifying it The Sabbath must be kept holy so in the forementioned place Exod. 35. 2. so in the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. 8. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash sanctifie a word used in both these Texts and many Exod. 40. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Restaurari ad sanctum usum Buxtorf Sanctificare idem est quod ad usus sanctos applicare ceu adhibere Wal. diss de quarto Praecepto De modo sanctificationis duo dicuntur primum opera propria cujusque sex diebus clauduntur deinde opera Divina hoc die omnibus praescribuntur Idem other places it signifies the separation of any thing to a holy use So the first born among the Israelites were sanctified to God the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash there they were consecrated and set apart to God So the vessels in the Sanctuary were sanctified Viz. they were set apart for the worship and service of God So the Temple was sanctified 1 Kings 9. 3. in the same sence So that whatsoever is hallowed and sanctified is set apart for holy use by the Will and Commandment of God And that great School-man Thomas Aquinas speaks to the same purpose Illa dicuntur lege sanctificari quae divino cultui applicantur Those things are sanctified in the Law which were dedicated to Gods Worship So then working on the Sabbath overthrows this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash this sanctifying it it diverts that day to our own use which is sanctified separated onely to a divine use Secular works oppose the very purpose of the word sanctifying they rob God of his time dedicated to holy use and give it to the Labourer to him who works which is both impudence and sacriledge Labouring casts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadash sanctifie out of the fourth Commandment and alters the will of the great Legislator it layes waste and makes common the holy day which God hath limited and inclosed to an holy use And it is remarkable that the observation of the Sabbath is never urged by Moses or the Prophets but rest and Exod. 35. 2. Exod. 31 14. Deut. 5. 14. Jer. 17. 27. Quiâ—quid aliquam speciem haberet operum servilium prohibebatur in Sabbato Rivet cessation is commanded too Exod. 35. 2. It is called a Sabbath of rest Exod. 31. 14. Thou shalt do no manner of work The same strictly enjoyned Deut. 5. 14. and so Jer. 17. 27. So that God hath put rest and cessation from secular employments into the very nature and essence of the Sabbath he hath engraven rest upon the Sabbath in an indelible Character that you cannot abstract it from the Sabbath without an abolition of the Law it self If you will keep a Sabbath keep it free from worldly labours or never set upon the observation of it Rest is as necessary for us as for former times for the holy sanctification of the Sabbath our bodies are subject to Mat. 26. 41. Exod. 23. 12. Recreabitur alieâ—â—gena muliò magis incola Ne â—ontinuâ—s laborâ—bâ—â— sâ—â—iâ—gentâ—r homines sea fessa memb a lâ—ventur die Sâ—bbâ—thi Leid Prof. Exod. 31. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respiravit deus Corpus nostrum mortale est in quo brevi tempore tanquam in tabernaculo moramur Alap in Corinth tiredness our spirits to faintness our flesh to weariness as well as those who lived in former ages and therefore are not we as much necessitated to a quietation and rest from labours Christ may say to us as well as to the Apostles The flesh is weak though the spirit may be willing we are clogged with as many weaknesses and disinabled by as many infirmities as former times and therefore Thou shalt do no manner of work That blessed indulgence and dispensation granted in the fourth Commandment cannot but be as pleasing and gratefull to us as others in the elder dayes of the world Shall the Jewes observe an exact rest on the Sabbath and not we Christians Are our Tabernacles of clay better fixed then theirs Our tired bodies require a cessation from labours to attend on the Divine Services of the Sabbath The main ground of Gods first institution of the Sabbath was rest from his works Viz. the works of Creation and the main cause of the re-institution of the Sabbath if I may so speak in the change of the day from the Seventh to the First was Christ's resting from his work Viz. the great work of Redemption The very reason of the Law and Statute concerning the Sabbath condemns secular labours and business this day A Quietus est first started the Law it self and a Quietus est must keep the Law now setled and Gen. 2. 3. Humano more eâ— quad mattemperatione ad nestram institutionem loquitur scriptura Divina c Quievit deuâ— substitit cessavit a procreandis producendisque rebus ex nihilo ut essent Chrysost established Rest from our labours is
Lords day is the day of Commemoration for Christs Resurrection and the day of Preparation for ours The Sabbaths are as the rounds of a Ladder by which we climb up to our Fathers house our present Sabbaths work being sanctified becomes the way to our future Sabbaths rest On this holy day the soul more especially waits at wisdomes gates and brings its corruptions to the slaughtering power of the Word inricheth it self with Gospel-treasures feeds its graces upon Gospel provisions and every way accommodates its self for the imbraces of eternity There is another command in the Text viz. of fruitfulness so the Text and shalt honour him Now there is nothing more honours God then our holy fruitfulness this gratisies his Will this magnifies his Grace this adorns his Gospel this glorifies his Name Our Saviour saith expresly John 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit We exceedingly honour God when on a Sabbath day we Sint submissi tractabiles et sequaces mores Cyr. weep much in the Closet pray much in the Familie hear much in the Sanctuary when we tremble at Gods Word rejoyce in Gods Ordinances melt in Gods presence when Sabbaths soften us ripen us raise us and bring us to a nearer conformity to Christ when this sun-shining day of a Sabbath melloweth us and maketh us look fairer and more beautiful Thus we spread our branches and Gods Name together CHAP. VIII The Promises in the Text made over to Sabbath-Holiness explicated and unfolded ANd thus far we have assayed to unfold the duty enjoyned in the Text which is the holy and strict observation of the Sabbath and the Sabbath may be sanctified by forbearing what is criminal and by pursuing what is commendable and what is both displeasing or satisfactory we have amply laid down in the Text and hitherto hath been discussed Now we come to the glorious reward of a due sanctification of the Sabbath which is folded up in a Tria hic praemia Sabbathum deumque colentibus promittit Deus Alap Com. in Isaiam three-fold promise mentioned in the Text for one promise is not thought sufficient by divine bounty to be a spur to this holy observation It must not be a single Diamond but a Casket of Jewels Here is a constellation of happiness promised a Tree of Life with many branches as if God would tell us in the Text how pleasing how grateful what a Prov. 11. 18. sweet sinelling sacrifice the conscientious keeping of the Sabbath was to him such a Saint the Promises troope after him they cluster together to refresh him God gives the Bond and the Counterpane too But more particularly these promises they are not onely rare but comprehensive they are both temporal and spirituall Gods bonds for left hand and right hand mercies And first God promises Vbertatem Voluptatis abundance Prom. 1. Si in Sabbathâ— te abstraxeris â—â— deliâ—iiâ— carnis deus dabit tibi suas delicias longe majores scil pro carneis dabit spiritusles pro teciporalibâ—â— aeternas pro humanis divinas Psal 104. 34. Cant. 4. 9. of Pleasure so the Text then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. As if God should say if my Sabbath be thy delight then my presence shall be thy delight if thou take pleasure in my day thou shall sind pleasure in my self the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnanag delight which is used in the former verse for our delight in the Sabbath is here used for our delight in the Lord. Our duty shall not exceed his bounty if we on a Sabbath delight in him we on a Sabbath shall receive delights from him God will meet the gracious soul its breathings after God shall be compensated with his blessings in God thou shalt never lose by satiating thy self in God thy understanding shall be delighted with meditation thy desires with satisfaction thy heart with exhileration he that is an Ocean of delight in himself shall be thy delight If thou takest pleasure in Gods holy day thy heart shall be more sweetned in the thoughts of God of his Faithfulness of his Fulness Incomprehensibleness Goodness Tenderness then in all sliding and secular delights for our delights in God are Most Pure they are Christalline pleasures without spot or faeculency they are incapable of excess The soul may rejoyce Psal 94. 19. in God and fear no surfet There is no tang of sin or mistake cleaves to them as holy David In the multitude of my thoughts Passim Haeresiarehae et Haeretici fuerunt voluptuarii eaque de causâ plurimos habuerunt assectus sicut et Epicurus plures discipulos habuit quà m alit Philosophi Epiphâ—n within me thy comforts delight my soul Now as for the pleasures of this life their object is sordid what is a Field or a Bag or a Hawk or a Hound The excess is easie we mostly over-do in outward delights their satisfaction is sensual only the smiles and laughter of dust their time is short the frolicks of this life are onely for this life as long as a vapour lasts and their end for the most part is heaviness a smiling countenance a wanton palate a catching eye and a prancing phancy for the most part ending in a heavy heart But our pleasures in God are holy and undefiled their rising is their rarity and their exceeding is their excellency Our delights in God are most abundant they exceed the pleasures of this life as far as the receptive faculty of the Anima nostra delectatione carere nequit unam si non habet quaerit si non divinam tum humanam soul exceeds that of the body A whole world cannot fill the soul it is too vast in its desires and entertainments but a little prospect can fill the theatre of the eye a little wine the wanton vagaries of the palate a little game the galloping fancies of the hunter Our pleasures in God are a soul full of delight Thy Comforts delight my soul saith David they are over-flowing waves of love rising and ravishing Psal 94. 19. waters which cover the sea of mans heart Most satiating Our pleasures in the Creature cloy us Our pleasures in God comforts us outward delights surfet not Ecles 1. 2. Voluptas est duplex vel Terrestris vel Coelestis Coelestes voluptates sariant nonsaturâ—ne ideò diuturniores terrestres sâ—turant non satiant ideò breviores quòd etiam jam dileximus pieni quidem prâ—rsus nauseamus Baron satiate they have something of the flesh and that will not alwayes go down Solomon the great Chymist of pleasures at last after a thorough gust of them extracted nothing but wind from them or the waters of Marah either vanity or vexation of spirit But the pleasures we have in God relate not to the body which is a tiresome piece of flesh but to the soul which is full of life and activity and delighting in God which is its center
had a being in his love before he had a being in the world The Saint first lay in the womb of the decree of love before he lay in the womb of his natural parent God saw Saul when he was hid among the stuff 1 Sam. 10. 22. and God saw and loved the Saint when he was hid in an eternal purpose of grace Chrysostome observes That this is a discovery of the immensity of Gods love that he loved us before the world was made He had us near his heart before all time and had carefull and solicitous thoughts for us particularly and predestinated us through Christ to eternal salvation In Gods love to man this is stupendious and admirable that he who is cloathed with Majesty and encompassed with infinite happiness Deut. 7. 7. who enjoys all good in himself and is indigeâ—â—â— nothing complacential should set his heart upon poor dust from all everlasting The love of God is free and drawn out by no incentive Cyril observes There is no utility or profit in man to lay any Deus nos amat sine suâ utilitate et commodo superflua est deo creaturarum productio quantum ad dei perfectionem attinet hoc enim erat deus ante quam nos creati essemus quod nunc etiam est nihil ei attulimus Cyr. engagement upon God The production of the creatures belongs nothing to the perfection of God he was infinitely and absolutely perfect before when we were created we brought nothing to him and if we were annihilated we should detract nothing from him God made us to love us but he loved us before he made us Indeed naturally man hath no beauty no attractive quality to endear or engage the heart of God to him One saith well We are made not born beautiful God plants his grace in us and then loves his grace in us gives us his Christ and then loves us for the sake of his Christ The love of God is infinite and unmeasurable and admits of no comparison The love of Relations the passionate love Isa 49. 15. 2 Sam. 1. 26. of women nay the love of a Jonathan which surpassed the love of women are but painted fire compared to the sweet Amor dei gratuitus est quia nullâ re perâ—otus suit ad nos amandos Zan. and sacred heats of divine love The love of an indulgent Father of a tender Mother of the dearest Husband of the most affectionate wife are no more to divine affection nay infinitely less then the light of a glow-worm compared to the light of the Sun Read a line or two of Gods love in humane Dilatat amor terminos suos extendit funes expandit sinus disponens omnia suavitur Bern. instances in the meltings of a David over his Son Absolon in the heart-breaking loves of a Mary Magdalen to Jesus Christ Luk. 2. 38. How did the hearts of these Saints faint away in an extasie of unspeakable affection But Christ in a greater and more of unspeakable affection takes our nature 2 Sam. 18. 33. upon him that we might wade to Canaan through the Red Sea of his blood In the mystery of our Redemptiot saith Rom. 5. 10. Bernard Gods love was dilated and passed all bounds out-stretched all cords opens the whole bosome and disposeth all things sweetly for the accomplishment of that great design Gods love is unchangeable and withdrawn by no diversion Whom God loves he loves to the end Joh. 13. 1. There is Joh. 13. 1. no unstayedness in the love of God whom he loves he loves freely fully and finally whom God loves though he do not find them lovely he makes them so and although their beauty doth not allure his love yet his love doth confer their Psal 45. 2. Col. 1. 27. beauty he puts grace into their lips and draws Christ upon their hearts that there may be no cause of change or repenting Further to evidence this truth we must consider there is nothing in the Saints can make a change in the love of Psal 34. 19. God Not their afflictions God pities he doth not throw off his afflicted ones he delivers them but he doth not disown them he lays his rod upon them but he sets his heart upon Isa 43 2. Isa 63. 9. them he is present with them in all their troubles Isa 43. 2. He sympathizeth with them in all their troubles Isa 63. Isa 48. 10. 9. Nay oftentimes he takes the opportunity to shew greater favour to them in their troubles Isa 48. 10. Then he selects them for himself The afflictions of the Saint they draw out but they do not draw off the heart of God Not their temptations How many promises hath God made to his tempted Saints 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will sweeten 1 Cor. 10. 13. and proportionate their temptations 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will deliver them out of temptations 2 Pet. 2. 9. he would not 2 Pet. 2. 9. have them grieved for but rejoyce in temptations Jam. 1. 2. Jam. 1. 2. He will bring Satan under their feet Rom. 16. 20. He will Rom. 16. 20. tread the Tempter under them All these expressions evidence the care of God over his tempted ones The temptations of the Saint may discover Gods watchfulness but no way divert his loving kindness Not their Transgressions If any thing would spunge our names out of the Book and heart of God it is sin for sin Eph. 4. 30. 1 Joh. 3 4. Deut. 9. 8. 2 â—am 24. 15. 2 Sam. 24 25. Psal 89. 32 33. Omnia cooperantur in sanctorum bonum etiam et peccata August grieves the spirit of God breaks the commands of God provokes the displeasure of God yet God can shew his wrath against the sin and his love to the sinner God punished David for his foul sins yet he pitied him after his foul sins Sin grieves not alienates the heart of God from offending Saints But let not this encourage any in sin Davids tears and bitter sufferings are a forcible argument against all such presumption though God will not take off his heart yet he will hide his face from offending believers But to close up my discourse on this blessed attribute the love of God participates something of all his attributes It is a wise love He chooseth according to the purposes Eph. 1. 4. Amor dei non est ex ignorantiâ nec ex passione sed omnis dei amor cum summâ aequitate et sapientiâ conjunctus est of his grace and then makes his Elected ones fit for his love then he makes them spiritual believing holy fruitful that he may take delight in them He determines mercy to a poor sinner out of the wisdom of his choice not out of the goodliness of the sinner In infinite wisdom he selects his little flock out of the mass and generations of mankind It is a powerful love The softness of Gods bowels can
spirit who is our intercessour within us And in correspondence to this blessed Trinity there Rom. 8. 26 27. are three species of beings who enjoy glory the glorious God the holy Angels the glorified Saints and thus meditation may tune the morning of a Sabbath and the musick may sound all the ensuing day CHAP. XXII God is most illustrious in his Bounty and Presence WE must meditate on the morning of a Sabbath not onely on the nature of God on the attributes of God and on the works of God but likewise on the bounty of God and his indulgence in giving us his Sabbath Our very work on this day is our reward our spiritual duties are our greatest dignities O what an honour what a favour what a happiness doth God vouchsafe us in giving us this golden season David though a King and the Head of the Psal 84. 10. Psal 42. 2. best people in the world esteemed it an honour to be the lowest Officer in Gods house Psal 84. 10. The ordinances Psal 63. 2. of God are called our appearing before God Psal 42. 2. The fruition of them is as the seeing of his face Capernaum Deut. 4. 7. because of them was lifted up to heaven Mat. 11. 23. Who can tell what honour it is to appear in the presence of this King Or what happiness to see his lovely countenance In the ordinances of God the Christian hath sweet communion with ravishing delight in and enflamed affection to the blessed God if in them he tasts God to be gracious and hath the first fruits of his glorious and eternal harvest Well might the Protestants of France call the place of their publick meeting on Gods holy day Paradise Ordinances are heaven in a Glass and the Londs day is heaven in a Map O the bounty of God in giving us this blessed day This day is to be valued at a high rate therein we enjoy fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ we have tasts of the Spirit and feel the influential impressions of his grace we are going up the stairs till we come to the highest loft of 1 Joh. 1. 3. Psal 34. 8. glory The Jewes call the week dayes prophane dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Sabbath a holy and precious day The Greeks call week days working dayes but the Sabbath is a day of sweet rest Other dayes are common and ordinary dayes but this holy Sabbath is the chief of dayes Many daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all Many dayes as Lecture Prov. 31. 25. dayes Fast dayes Thanksgiving dayes have done vertuously but thou O Sabbath excellest them all Well might the good soul run to meet thee in the morning and salute thee with a Come my sweet spouse thee have I loved for thee have I longed and thou art my dearest delight How far then Honos ne sit onus nec verba spiritus verbera carnis should we be from accounting the Sabbath our burden and our attendance on Ordinances upon that blessed day our task or bondage O let us not esteem spiritual opportunities our fetters but our freedom Think what the Phaenix is among the birds the Lyon among the beasts the Fire among the elements the Prince among the Subjects that is the Lords day among other dayes Wax in the shop is worth something but wax put to some Deeds is worth thousands Ordinary dayes are wax in the shop but the Lords day is wax put to the deeds Upon this day Christ carries the soul into his wine-Cellar and his banner over him Cant. 2. 4. is love Can. 2. 4 5. Upon other dayes Christ feeds his members but on this day he feasts them on other dayes they have their ordinary dyet but on the Sabbath they have their exceedings on this day Christ brings forth his living waters Gen. 43. 34. his best wine Joh. 2. 10. His finest bread his Benjamins Haec visio non est personalis et Jacobi solummodò consolatio sed commune piorum solamen ut de praesentiâ et divino auxilio dubitemus Par mess On the Lords day Christ pitches his Tabernacle among us we are as it were taken up into the mount with God there to be transfigured before him Mat. 17. 2. When the Lord appeared unto Jacob in a vision by night he saw a Ladder erected between Heaven and Earth and the Lord on the top of it the Angels ascending and descending by it and when he awoke How dreadfull saith he is this place the Lord was here and I was not aware surely it is no other Gen. 28. 16 17. then the house of God and this is the gate of heaven Are not Hos 11. 9. our places of assembling the very gates of heaven In our Deut. 33. 3. solemn assemblies is there not a ladder erected between earth and heaven and is not the Lord at the top of it The gracious Sicut deus sanctus est sic etiam populum sonctificat et servat et in medio eorum est et apparet Riv. instructions which we receive are they not so many Angels descending The gracious motions which arise in our hearts upon meditation on Gods word upon thanksgiving to God or rejoycing in him or else sorrowing for our sins are they not as so many Angels ascending And have we not then great cause to be filled with admiration and holy gratulations to God for Sabbath indulgence for his rich bounty in the donation of his blessed day On the morning of the Sabbath let us meditate on the presence of God Many miscarriages are acted by man and many miseries do seize upon man for the neglect of this ever Deus totus oculus est et minima videt August seasonable meditation A solemn consideration of Gods presence would restrain us from sin would quicken us in duty would draw out our graces would compose our spirits and cast a holy awe upon us which things would be inductive of much fruitfulness and piety When we sin we forget Gods eye is upon us when we flag in duty we do not think God is nigh to us when we trifle away Sabbath we do not remember Gods hand will certainly be against us Now there is a two-fold presence of God There is a more general presence and God is present every where Deus presens est 1. Per Essentiam Psal 139. 12. 1 Chron. 28. 9. First By his Essence and so he fills all things 1 Kings 8. 27. and thus he fills heaven with his glory Earth with his goodness and Hell it self with his power and justice Secondly God is present every where by his knowledge so he beholds all things 2 Chron. 16. 9. Light and darkness 2 Per Cognitionem night and day are all one to him Psal 139. 12. He seeth the very imaginations of our hearts His eyes behold and his eye lids try the children of men Psal 11. 4.
in the soul he will then either suggest unto us vain impertinencies which may be as Sodoms pleasures to Lots wife to cause us to look back or so many golden balls to stop us in our journey towards the Heavenly Canaan or else this evil one will assail to rock us asleep and so sit heavy upon our eye lids he will bring doune and pillow for us to lean upon This is the stratagem of Satan if he cannot steal us from the Word to keep us back from Ordinances he will steal the Word from us to make Ordinances useless and unprofitable Mat. 13. 19. The souls term time is Satans tempting time When we are most busie about our souls he is most active against them he will make any musick to rock us asleep when we are discoursing with Jesus Christ The Syren sings sweetest when we are upon the waters sailing to our Port and Satan never sweetens his temptations more then when we are sailing heaven-wards and therefore when we sleep in Ordinances let us remember the Charmer hath swayed with us more then the Preacher A sleepy eye in holy Ordinances is a sad sign of a sleepy conscience if the eye be drowsie without it is much to be feared the heart is dead within It is very observable A fat Eph. 5. 14. heart a deaf ear and a closed eye are all coupled together Isa 6. 10. Grace is an awakening principle the power of grace will fix the eye in heavenly contemplation will bend the knee in humble supplication will lift up the hand in holy devotion will wind up the tongue in savoury communication Col. 4. 6. and will bow the ear in holy and carefull attention A gracious heart will even Quick-silver the body in Josh 9 21. holy duties and make the flesh serve the spirit and the Didicisse fidelitèr artes emollit mores nec sinit esse feros senses be as Gibeonites to the soul As the Arts soften us to ingenuity and will not suffer us to be brutish so a conscience awakened by a work of grace will keep the eye awake in Ordinances seriously considering 1. That every Ordinance concerns the soul 2. That every Ordinance may be the last 3. That every Ordinance is the purchase of Christ 4. That every Ordinance is a good wind for Heaven In a word The work of grace may very well be suspected where the means of grace are so much slighted as to be passed away in a sleep and a dream Let us consider there will be no sleeping in hell Here we sleep when we might awake there we shall awake when Si magnificum quid vides cogito regnum dei si terribil◠cogita gehennam Chryst we cannot sleep we shall take no naps upon our bed of flames Scorching wrath screetching cries gnawing conscience will keep the reprobate waking Here we sleep unseasonably and let us take heed least we awake eternally and carefully beware least for want of watching one hour we lose our rest for ever There is no sleeping in heaven Rev. 4. 8. Now Ordinances they are the glimpses of heaven And it should be our endeavour to serve God here as the Saints and Angels do in glory there is no weariness no drowsiness no deadness there hallelujahs are pleasant and perpetual When we come to the Sanctuary we are about heavenly employment and let us study a heavenly deportment and let us ask our souls the question Would an Angel was he capable of it fall asleep when he converses with God And further to discourage us from the practice of this customary and crimson abomination let us observe a few quickning and awakening prescriptions Let us be instant with God beforehand for a suitable frame of spirit Was the heart tuned by preparatory prayer Preces preparatoriae sunt administratoriae the strings would not so soon crack in sleep and drowsiness a warm heart would cause a wakefull eye Neglect of preparation exposes us to wanton glances wandring thoughts and a sleepy eye in holy administrations Gardens if not digged and dressed bring forth weeds not flowers Let us converse with God in Ordinances as either employed in our Bibles or our Note Books we shall hardly sleep with a Book or a Pen in our hands If our eye was employed in Scripture search it would not suffer the eye lids those curtains to be drawn for sleep and sluggishness But oftentimes the shutting of the Book brings the shutting of the eye and if we stand idle in the market of Ordinances who will Mat. 20. 3. 6. hire us but Satan Let us fix a steady eye of faith upon God and the glorious Angels when we come to Ordinances We will not sleep in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic exemplaria graeca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sic Arias Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sic. Vet. Lotin presence-chamber especially if the Prince and Nobles be there The blessed Ordinances are Christs Presence-Chamber his Court his Garden his Banqueting-House and shall we sleep in the presence of the King of Saints Nay the King of Nations as the Prophet calls him Jer. 10. 7. Nay the King of Ages as the vulgar Latine terms him this is not onely incivility but impiety Let us take heed of pampering Nature An over-free use of the Creatures on Gods holy day will lay us open to sinful drowsiness when we make Kitchins of our bellies the smoak will soon fly in our eyes and encline us to wretched and careless sleepiness When Lot was overcharged with Wine he soon sleeps himself into incest and wantonness Gen. 19. 34. Let us come to Ordinances expecting great things from God They are vigilant who are in a waiting posture Beggars Psal 123. 7. are not dormant if they are so in the Barn they are Psal 4. 7. not so at the door Let us come to Ordinances as to a Golden Mine the Miners do not sleep with the iron instruments in their hands Let us approach to the Sanctuary looking for grace loves smiles the kisses of Christs lips the light of Gods countenance and this will keep us wakefull Cold desires and mean expectations make us careless and oscitant in Ordinances We sleep not telling Pearls or picking Diamonds there are better riches to be found in Psal 63. ◠Communion with God CHAP. XXIX Other Evils to be avoided in our outward behaviour when we come to the Publick Assembly WE must not rove in Ordinances As the eye must not sleep so it must not wander when the eternal Gospel is preaching or we are pouring out our souls in holy prayer to an infinite God It is recorded of Christs Auditors that they did fasten their eyes upon him Luke 4. 20. Luke 4. 20. We must bring a double eye to every Sermon Triplex est aspectus Christi 1. Vnus corporalis qui sit oculis carnis et hic per se non bea◠2. Spiritualis qui sit oculis fidei
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
Christus est rosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimè flos quia florum flos Del. Rio. men tell over their riches with no small delight The very Gospel is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glad tidings and can we be weary in hearing glad tidings messages of love and life from heaven news of a Christ and a Kingdom The soul which is tired on a Sabbath understands not its own interest but as the Prophet Jonah saith forsakes its own mercies Jonah 2. 8. Can our conversation be in heaven as the Apostolical command is Phil. 3. 20. and yet droop and be flatted in heavenly Sancti in coelis habitant dum hic vivunt atsi Aquilae quae in arduis nidum ponunt Greg. duties in heavenly ordinances and pine after a dismission and release Burdens of Roses are not painfull but pleasant Ordinances are onely bundles of Myrrh to refresh and revive the Soul Surely the Sabbath may plead with tired professors as once God did in another case Mic. 6. 3. O my people what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me So might the Sabbath expostulate what is in me so burdensom Is it my institution because it is divine Luke 2. 37. Is it my duration because it is for a few hours onely David longed to dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life Psal 27. 4. And Anna the Prophetess departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers Insabbato unusqâ—isq sâ—dere debet in suo loco Exod. 16. 29. et non procedà ◠ex eo Quis est locus spiritualis animae Justitia est locus ejus et veritas et sapientia et sanctificatio et omnia quae Christus sunt et hic est locus ex quo eum non oportet exire Orig. night and day Still the Sabbath may plead are the Ordinances of God my Jewels and my Ornaments such causes of surfet Or rather are they not the Galleries for Christ and the soul to walk in the very stages of Christs presence Mat. 18. 20. The rich opportunities for soul-advantage the spiritual mans Mart Here the sinner like the sloathful servant can answer nothing It is both our doom and degeneracy to be weary of divine Ordinances and it loudly speaks 1. That Christ is not our beloved else his company would ravish not tire our attendance and be our satisfaction not our surfet Lovers are not quickly weary of their interchangeable converses 2. That heaven is not the end of our race surely if it were we should not then be so soon tired in the way Ordinances are the road to glory The Traveller puts on till he allight at home 3. That the world hath too much influence us The Jews were weary of the Sabbath Amos 8. 5. but it was that they might set forth Corn. Carnal minds do not relish spiritual duties they are their clog not their complacency To be in the flesh in fleshly desires and delights and to be in the spirit are a real contrariety The love of the world will cast out the love of ordinances This and much more our wearisomness in and of ordinances proclaims to every observer It is the observation of Origen that burdens were not to Onera non sunt portanda die Sabbati onus est omne peccatum Orig. be carried on the Sabbath day Nehem. 13. 15. saith he What is this burden but sin And this is the mistake of many when sin should be they make service their burden when they should groan under vile practices they groan under precious Ordinances One well observes wearisomness in duties sucks out all their sweetness and makes them dry and unpleasant and casts a dishonour on the God of ordinances Isa 5. 20. as if he was a fountain shedding bitter streams but on the contrary delight makes duty savoury meat and Gospel recreation Jacob for the beauty of Rachel served seven years and they seemed but a few dayes Gen. 29. 20. The Gal. 6. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 27. 4. Psal 119. 97. Psal 1. 2. Psal 110 3. Dr. Full. Eccl. Hist Saints in the beauties of holiness run through many services and they are not their toyle but their prerogative they rise from duty as Galen usually did from his meals with an appetite Dr. Fuller observes a Philosophical act did once so please Queen Elizabeth that her delight did drown all tediousness and she heard the Disputes till within night in the midst of Summer And shall Philosophy refresh and captivate more then Divinity shall the hand-maid more please then the Mistris Shall disputes of Nature be more satisfactory Deus est natâ—ra naturans et creaturae sunt natura naturata Baron then the God of Nature Shall the Schools more delight then the Sanctuary Nay shall the Mathematicks of Archimedes so drown him in rational pleasure that being in his study he heard not when Syracuse the City of his habitation was taken by the Romans Shall such raptures drop from the contriving of a Mathematical Instrument and is there no fruit on the tree of Life no delicacy in ordinances to affect our souls and to wear off a cloyed irksomness from our spirits on the blessed Sabbath Surely it argues weak and faint grace when the breast that feeds it becomes troublesome and the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2. 2. becomes sowre and stales because it is not made use of Caut. 2 Let us take heed of trifling away the Sabbath under the pretence of vain excuses The Sabbath is the solemn time of mans Aurum igne probatum alii intelligunt de vâ—rbo dei Illud enim argento septies decâ—cto est probatius Auro obrizo desiderabilius Alii intelligunt de fide quâ solâ divitiae caeleste accipiantur quaeque igne afflictionis quovis auro purgatior redditur Coram deo non facit divites aurum sed fides Christum cum the sauris suis possidens 2 Cor. 5. 21. life the soules gale of opportunity the good wind for the harbour of Rest On this day God sets forth his merchandize Rev. 3. 18. for man to buy up to enrich himself to eternity then God offers his gold to make us rich in grace his white raiment to make us rich in beauty his eye-salve to make us rich in knowledge Pareus well observes Adams fall proclaimed him bankrupt and he naturally labours under a three-fold malady 1. Of Poverty and so God offers Gold Rev. 3. 18. to set him up again to repair his lost revenues and estate 2. Of Nakedness when Adam sinned his first sin Gen. 3. 7. himself and so after himself his posterity was shamefully naked and now God offers especially on a Sabbath day the spiritual fair-day for such merchandises white raiment to cover our nakedness and to adorn us with a beauty exceeding our Primitive loveliness He offers the righteousnesse of Christ a fairer Garment then Adams
Apostles when they were Mat. 13. 19. propagating the blessed Word Acts 14. 2. Acts 17. 13. He John 13. 27. endeavours either to keep us from the Word or to steal the Acts 20. 9. Word from us The evil one enters Judas at the Passeover Mat. 4. 6. rocks Eutichus asleep at a Sermon useth the word as a weapon against Christ and attempts to make it a sword to destroy Ephes 6. 17. which is given for a sword to defend In Ordinances we are seen by good Angels and tempted by evil Good Angels observe our behaviours and evil Angels corrupt them God is no where more pleased and the Devil no where more 1 Cor 11. 10. busied then in the Assemblies of the Saints And therefore it may be Satan hath shaped his temptations into wedges Isa 4. 5. to divide between God and thee in Ordinances and this makes thee complain of slightness of spirit in those holy seasons It may be some unrepented sin damps thy heart to and in Ordinances Jonah when he had sinned then he falls asleep in the ship Sin clogs thee and therefore opportunities do Jon 1. 6. not please thee Thou fearest thy title to Christ and that makes rhee so remiss in thy pursuits after him Stopped stomacks have no appetite Holy David longs to appear before Psalm 42. 1 2. God Trembling consciences like aguish fits take away all delight Musick sounds not to a Prisoner Guilt unremoved by repentance flats the tast of any Ordinance David will wash his hands in innocency so he will compass Gods Altar Psalm 26. 6. The Curtizan in the arms will keep the wife from the bosome Purity and repentance make ordinances as the honey combe It is Christian prudence first to throw out the beam of sin before we look up to the Sun Psalm 19. 10. of Ordinances and to cast out that which grieveth the spirit Job 6. 6. before we come to taste the spirit in holy Communion with Ephes 4. 30. God Offending slaves love not to see their Master Sin makes Isa 59. 2. us shie of Gods presence Adams fall drives him to the trees for a hiding place and sowred Paradise it self to him Choice Gen. 3. 8. dyet doth not fatten one in a consumption Any one sin not vomited up by hearty repentance and self-abhorrency will nauseate the soul in Ordinances Sins are the souls obstructions which may cause more flushes but less digestion of the holy Word VVhen Jonah was thrown over-board then the Sea was calm Let sin be thotowly bemoaned and repented and Christ will be sweet in Ordinances Sin not disgorged sucks the sweetness out of all holy duties and makes them dry and jejune If thou art slight in or omissive of Sabbath duties read lectures upon thy own heart thy formality arises from disproportion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy heart is not sutable to holy Duties The Apostle speaks of a savour of the Gospel 2 Cor. 2. 14. We want this savour and rellish and this straines the juyce out of every Ordinance our hearts must be assimilated by grace Psalm 42. 4. before they leap for joy in Ordinances as John the Baptist in Luke 1. 41. the womb or as David danced before the Ark. Carnal 2 Sam. 6. 14. hearts are dragged to the Sanctuary Rom. 8. 7. As we see paint drops from the face that not being its proper place but it stayes and remains upon the sign The unsanctified heart is in Ordinances as a Bird in the Cage it flutters a little Cognitio Christi est dulcissimus et fragrantissimus odor tanquam ex praestantibus herbis aut pretiosi◠aromatibus exhalatus but it doth not flye it is cooped up and wants its desired freedome it works at an Ordinance as the Israelites did at their bricks they work because they must give an account to their task-master When we are superficial in Ordinances let us see the naughtiness of our own hearts Sickish palates find no meat savoury There are three glasses in which we may best see our hearts 1. In the glass of temptations Sharp storms try the house sharp encounters try the souldier and soft temptations 2 Sam. 11. 4. try the heart How soon did Bathsheba's beauty enthral David though otherwise he was a pattern of sanctity 2. In the glass of afflictions Fire which refines mettals burneth up drosse When Christ was seized upon then all the Disciples left and forsook him Mark 14. 50. Birds which sing in the spring hide in the winter 3. In the glass of Ordinances If the Spirit hath not breathed upon thy heart it will not be lively in holy Ordinances Indeed a gracious heart melts at a reproof clasps Gen. 2. 7. about a Promise hides truth as its treasure but a slight heart will either rage at the smart fret at the length or be Luke 2. 51. offended at the spirituality of an Ordinance Nothing more puts the heart upon the test then holy duties Many followers of Christ left him upon the account of a Sermon John 6. 66. If therefore thou hast not understood more of God on a Sabbath then study to understand more of thy self thy heart is an useful book to read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take up resolutions of stricter communion with God for the future Bones which are broken if well set grow the stronger Let the sence of former neglects prompt future Ex malis moribus bonae nascuntur leges care thou hast been slight in Ordinances resolve thou wilt be serious and wherein thou hast done evil to do so no more Joh. 5. 14. The heart of man stands in need not onely of Gods work but of mans care the Spirit must sanctifie it Prov. 4 23. and man himself must watch it When thou comest to Ordinances bend thy ear gird up the loynes of thy mind incline 1 Pet. 1. 13. thy heart and summon thy conscience to every truth Cant. 8. 14. in hearing to every petition in praying Ordinances are like Mountains of spices sweet when we are got up but there is some difficulty to get up we must keep our foot Eccles 5. 1. when we go to the house of God and we must keep our heart when we come there Gods Ordinances are high and sublime and the Psalmist saith Mans heart is deep Psalm 64. 6. Now there must be some toyl some labour and Per labores magnos ad praemia magna pervenitur pains to bring them both together God must make an Ordinance stoop and man must pullice up his own heart to an Ordinance It is mans priviledge to enjoy Ordinances but it is his artifice to improve them much strength must be put forth to over-master the heart in holy duties there must be a sense of Gods eye and mans account to enforce a sutable frame The Scholar can scrible by himself but the Masters hand and his own eye
Onkelos hanc exclamationem Jacobi ad Christum resert paraâ—hrasi plane piâ Non expecto salutare Gideon filii Joash neque salutare Sampson filii Manoe quae salus est planè temporalis sed expectâ— salutem redemptionem Christi filii David quae est solus aeterna Onkel God on a dying bed and waited for his glorious salvation On a bed of sickness thou mayest bend thy heart when thou canst not bend thy knee and stretch out the hand of thy faith when happily thy distemper will not suffer thee to stretch out the hand of thy flesh Sicknesses usually spiritualize duty not obstruct it Then the patient prayes more feelingly weeps more heartily converses with God more greedily A sense of approaching death affects the soul with more earnest pursuits after a better life A Christian under a disease may more pathetically improve he need not wave a Sabbath 4. If providence shall cast us into a severe and hard service the man servant is kept back from holy Ordinances by the prophaneness of the Master the maid servant is kept to her drudgery on Gods holy day by the pride and vanity of her Mistriss Nay happily our case is a Turkish Galley is all the Temple we have to worship in yet then though we have lost our freedom we have not lost our Sabbaths Israels worship was not lost but revived in the wilderness and there Moses talked with God as a man with his friend The uncouth and solitary wilderness was the Sanctuary Deut. 26. 10. where the Jews enjoyed the closest communion with God Exod. 33. 11. Paul gave spiritual exhortations in the ship and in a storme Deus non terribilitèr sed amicè cum Moyse egerit Riv. too when he was ready to be dashed into the pit by every wave Acts 27. 20. The rage of remorsless masters should make believing servants not to pray less but as the vassalized Israelites to groan more not to be weary of Sabbaths but Exod. 6. 5. to be more wary in their observation the bondage of the Acts 7. 34. body is no wayes eased by the hazzard of the soul The Heavenly Master must be served especially on his own day notwithstanding all the frowns and countermands of the earthly that imperious worm If threats could have prevailed with the three Children they had worshipped a golden Image and not adventured a fiery furnace Dan. 3. 18. Hard service should make us more heavenly not more heedless in Sabbath observation If our case is hard upon earth we should then the more endeavour to make it more glorious in heaven and Sabbath-holiness bids fair for it Now therefore this being premised Thus we must keep Sabbaths in our greatest solitariness when the world is turned into a Patmos to us Let us encourage our selves that this is not our case alone to serve God without company Moses communed with God alone upon the Mount there was no press of people or society Deut. 5. 31. Dan. 6. 10. of Saints to heighten his enjoyment Daniel conversed with God in his Chamber alone and his sacrifice was sweet though single Peter was praying alone at the top of the Acts 10. 9. house when he gets the company of an Angel that messenger from heaven salutes his pleasing recess The woman John 4. 13. of Samaria enjoys solitary yet salvifical communion with Jesus Christ and her soul lay under the distillations of his heavenly doctrine nay waters of life did flow more freely then the waters of the well which did afford her the plenty of that Element And to come nearer to our purpose the blessed Apostle John was in his Patmos when he was sublimated Revel 1. 10. with unusuall raptures and that upon the Lords day A single Lute can make sweet musick The Sun which gilds the world is but a single Planet And thy soul serving God alone on his day may be taken into galleries to walk Cant. 7. 5. with Jesus Christ and feed upon the honey and the honey Psal 19. 10. comb of an Ordinance The Word was more to Job then his necessary food when he lay on the dunghill alone Job 23. 12. And Christ acted to him above his promise Mat. 18. 20. He was present though two or three were not gathered together If thou art necessitated to keep the Sabbath alone be much in prayer In this single devotion Christ is both our President Luke 6. 12. And our Legislatour Mat. 6. 6. The Cum privatim et solitarie oramus ostentationem et affectationem humanae gloriolae omnino respuimus Chemnit Prayer of one Elijah could work miracles Jam. 5. 17 18. The Prayer of one Daniel could hasten deliverance Dan. 9. 23. The Prayer of one Moses could preserve a whole Nation from impending ruine Exod. 32. 23. Solitary prayers have their peculiar prerogatives in them we avoid all ostentation as Chemnitius well observes and more imitate the votary then the Pharisee In them we can search our hearts more accurately deal with God more faithfully and give a fuller account of our sins and provocations Closet devotion is not stopt because confined no more then the meditations of David were lost in the darkness of the night Psal 63. 6. in Mat. 6. 6. Psal 63. 6. Rev. 1. 10. 1 Sam. 1. 10. which he framed them Christ came to John in Patmos when the Island was his bolted Chamber not with bars but with waves Hannah prayed and wept alone and then she obtained a Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 10. The heart can work in Acts 10. 4. 1 Thes 5. 17. Col. 3. 17. prayer when there is no company to excite it and oftentimes God is most effectually present when man is wholly absent therefore if we must spend a Sabbath alone let part of it be taken up in fervent prayer and supplication In this case of solitariness let us be filled with holy meditations This holy duty of a Sabbath is advanced not obstructed by loneliness and retirement nay it cannot well be performed Gen. 24. 63. in company the noise of any associates hush away these pleasing contemplations which light upon the mind or Psal 92. 5 6 9. are started by the excitation of the good spirit In thy solitary Sabbaths let thy head work in meditation as well as thy heart in prayer and supplication These duties coupled like Castor and Pollux are a good prognostick and promise fair weather to the soul Meditate on thy sins Sin is first viewed by meditation and then moaned by confession and so consequently cashiered by repentance and this order is very proper and genuine first to cast the eye on sin and then to rend the heart for it and from it The head will affect the heart take then the opportunity of a solitary Sabbath to cast up thy accounts and Psal 4. 7. Jer. 31. 18 19 20. to look backward on thy sinfull life that thy soul may kindly melt and the Lord
prayer to sollicite them the ship came home without any other gale to cause its arrival then divine love 4. Thy spiritual mercies A Sabbath is best accommodated for a review of spirituals then remember the sweets of Psal 66. 18. former Sabbaths as David remembred the joy he used to have when others called him to go to the house of God Psal 42. 4. We should then cast in our thoughts what reproof of the word cut sharpest what truth struck deepest what Ordinance came closest to our souls who was the instrument of our greatest good what Sabbath was the time of our choicest loves Peter Martyr could tell the very sentence of a Sermon which first wrought upon his heart Thy soul if thou belongest Jer. 2. 24. John 9. 11. 2 Kings 5. 10. to God had a moneth when Christ took thee Spiritual mercies are most sweet in contemplation more smooth then the waters of Siloam more healing then the waters of Jordan And thus thou mayest travel through the pleasant plains of a Sabbath when thou art alone and hast no company If there be occasion joyn fasting to the rest of thy holy duties on thy solitary Sabbaths It is true the Sabbath is not a fast but a feast day a day of rejoycing not of mourning yet Nehem. 1 4. Dan. 9. 3. extraordinary cases make extraordinary Sabbaths Days of great sorrow may draw out tears upon the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zonar and turn that celebrity of joy and gladness to speak in the language of the Council of Gangra into a day of fast and sorrow Sometimes Gold chains are put in cypress and a golden Sabbath may be veiled with sadness in the Churches misery and calamity If such a case fall out in thy solitary Sabbaths ashes and sackcloth are the most sutable dress Case 4 How Conscience may be satisfied objecting that flesh and bloud cannot hold out a whole Sabbath in the due and strict observation of it It is not without remark that the Apostle asserts mans inability in himself to receive the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Nay he scrues the peg higher and positively affirms That the carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. It stands upon its guard to keep out whatsoever is of God and he instanceth in himself that the Law in his members continually disturbed the Law of his mind in every spiritual undertaking Rom. 7. 21 23. And if he delighted any thing at all in the Law of God it was after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. I say in this particular the Scriptures are written for our instruction 1 Cor. 10. 11. For the soul is never more sluggish then in spiritual attempts then there is a Lion in the way Prov. 22. 13. A carnal man looketh upon holy duties as his Physick not as his food and he keeps the Sanctuary as he keeps his Chamber only in a case of necessity In his worldly pursuits he can rise up early and go to bed late he can stretch the day to the longest and be willing to clip the wings of it because it flies away so fast but in the pursuits of higher concernments he complains of the length of a Sabbath as if the glass stood and did not run in its usual speed Mans nature indeed is very remiss in spirituals and studies more apology then duty as the invited guests sent their excuse when they should have brought Mat. 5 22. Numb â—3 28 their persons to the Marriage feast As the murmuring Israelites who would not attempt the conquering of Canaan because the Sons of Anak were there when their cowardise was the greatest Giant But I shall rather study to remove then amplifie this pretended scruple and easily evince that this case of conscience arises rather from sloth then incapacity Now to the Case It is very true flesh and bloud cannot hold out a spiritual Caro et sanguis naturalis et corruptibilis homo qualis fuit terrenus Adam regnum dei non possidebit Ambros Sabbath not only for the length of it but likewise for the services of it Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And Paul saith in another place flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. And the same principle which acts our service in glory must act our holy services here though not in the same degree though more faintly and imperfectly So then the dregs of nature are not competent for Sabbath observation the terrene man as Ambrose and Theophylact speak a lazy piece of clay cannot run through the several duties of a Sabbath but when we cast our selves on the spirit we are carryed as upon Eagles Isa 40. 31. wings and then we labour and faint not we run and we are Phil. 4. 13. not weary It is true flesh and bloud will be wearied at Animus si non praesumat de se sed si confortetur in deo potuit utique dominari et etiam reddi quodammodo omnipotens Bern. the first on-sets of holy service but pains must be taken with the heart to spiritualize it in the morning of a Sabbath that thou mayest come as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and rejoyce as a strong man to run a race Psal 19. 5. As holy Bernard most excellently Faith resting on Christ gives us a kind of omnipotency A Saint in the strength of Christ by the assistances of Christ with the encouragements of Christ can come leaping over the mountain of a Sabbath as his short Cant. 2. 8. and recreative travel his pleasure not his toil However God must not lose his right of service from us because we have procured to our selves wretched natures which Audi O anima qualis sis onerataes peccatis irretiti viâ—â—is capta illeâ—ebris affixa membris corporis inquinati flâ—gitiosis Aug. are soon weary of spiritual duties If Sabbaths are tedious to us this must be our moan not our excuse we must weep over this occasion of complaint we must not watch for it this case must not stir up our scruples but our tears Adâ—m was vivacious enough to keep Sabbaths before the fall Let the prisoner never complain he cannot run when his sin and trespass hath put him in chains A sense of tyredness on the Lords day should deeply humble us and put us upon filling Psal 56. 8. Gods bottle with our tears that he would fill our hearts with Luke 11 13. his spirit that glorious and active principle to carry us out in the discharge of Sabbath-performances Ah! It is our sin hath crampt our faculties and caused that lameness that we cannot run the short race of a Sabbath Lazy servants can hardly undergo any labour much less to hold out a whole day yet the aw of their earthly Masters makes Vae humanae miseriae propter unius aut duarum horarum segnitiem omnis laboris mercede frustrari Ab. El. them to
do it so should Gods fear move us to keep a whole Sabbath Thou sayest thou art not able to keep a Sabbath but canst thou lose an eternal Sabbath It is a cursed exchange to forfeit everlasting rest for a little sloth Sabbaths must be kept if thy soul be saved Let the sense of a future judgment when every Sabbath shall be brought into the account let the dread of an infinite God who is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Let the golden and precious trust of a He. 10 31. Sabbath all spur thee on to Sabbath duties to make thy way more pleasant and delightful Let that be done which must be done or else thou art everlastingly undone Things of absolute necessity are to be effected not disputed If thy Pedibus timor addidit alas servant must go of his errand or turn out of doors this makes him run Here we act for our souls and Sabbaths whole Sabbaths must be kept or our souls will perish in the action thy murmurs cannot silence divine wrath Imperfections through corruption of nature are one thing for they are in the best but to nourish them and willingly to yield to them is another I cannot do what I ought by nature Jer. 5. 31. shall I not therefore endeavour to do what I should by grace To say thou canst not keep a whole Sabbath doth not onely speak thy corruption but that thou lovest to have it so Ease corrupts nature and makes it putrifie nay it sets it backward in the things of God If the Clock be never Prov. 15. 19. wound up the wheeles will rust say to thy unactive heart John 1. 6. a wake thou who sleepest my eternity is bound up in the due observation of Gods day The slothful servant was condemned Dilectio et charitas dictat immò imperat ut serviamus domino inomnibus virtutum officiâ—s Alap Mat. 25. 26. not he that spent but he that hid his talent Thou hast a trade to drive on a Sabbath away with sluggish nature flesh like the sensitive plant if touched will withdraw from spiritual performances but force it by holy violence It is Apostolical counsel and most seasonable for the Lords day that we should not be slothful in business but fervent in spirit Rom. 12. 11. The Sabbath should be our sphear not our servitude we should then be as the Sun which needs no whips to scourge it forwards Mr. Bernard of Batcombe asketh the question Why we should be more indulgent to weak nature more yielding to the flesh in and about the 4th Commandement for the keeping Mr. Bern in his Tract on the Sabbath of a day wholly to God then in or about our whole service in obedience to the other nine Indeed we should breath after communion with God on his own day as once Christ did after the Cross to dye for his people when he was streightned in his own spirit Luke 12. 50. till it was fulfilled and accomplished To say we cannot keep a whole Sabbath to the Lord is an imputation cast upon divine Wisdome God never commands impossibilities and yet he severely commands the full observation of a whole Sabbath and yet to say God is an Exod. 20. 8. hard Master deserves the brand of an unprofitable servant Luke 19. 22 23 24. The Yoke of Christ is easie not galled with an incapcity of bearing of it If we can honour our Father and Mother Exod. 20. 12. which is the next Commandement why not keep Matth. 11. 30. Gods Sabbath There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a natural affection sweetens the 5th and there is communion with God a more noble attraction indulcorates and facilitates the 4th Commandement Lazy flesh must not commence a suit with infinite Wisdome God knows our frame and we must know our Psalm 103. 14. duty nay in this particular our priviledge for to keep a Deut. 5. 29. day with God is a temporary Paradise nay a transient heaven Rom. 11. 33. our elevation above the world Let us not then inveigh against the rigour of the Command but deal with our own hearts to run chearfully and sweetly through the heavenly circuits of Gods blessed and holy Sabbath Quicquid factum fuit fiat Whatsoever hath been done may be done Now David layeth it down as a Character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a godly man to meditate in the law of God day and night Psa 1. 2. The Syriack reads it as if his whole will pleasure was wrapt up in the Law of God the life was to be spent in holy contemplation not a day not a few hours nay the Psalmist gives an instance in himself the Law was his meditation all the day and if he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might have his option he would dwell The Hebrew bears it he would Sabbath it in the house of God all the dayes of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple This blessed man thought his life too short a moment to converse with God and to behold his beauty The beauties of God delight not dazle the eye of the soul and such prospects drown all tediousnesse The Apostle Paul preaching on a Lords day continued his discourse till midnight Acts 20. 7. not imping but spreading the wings of the Evening Psalm 139 9. for greater latitudes in holy Communion and no doubt but many a Saint could put a curb into the mouth of Sabbath time to stop its speed that his weekly Jubilee should not fly away so fast Therefore let not any make this objection of sloth to say flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath surely such objectours are part of the world who know not the meat the Saints have to eat in the Banquets of the Lords day When Peter and the two other John 4. 32. Mat. 17. 1 4. Disciples saw Christ in his transfiguration they would build tabernacles to fasten their abode Sabbath Communion is only a more duskish transfiguration And why should we tire so soon when the way is so pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost de sacerdot In the Primitive times the reading of the word and the preaching of the Gospel took up some part of every day And Chrysostome took good notice of the profit of that diligent course Mens minds were more babituated to the things of God and became richer treasuries of holy truth It was not then accounted tedious or irksome to spend some time every day with God for soul advantage The Primitive Church thought time spent in spiritual converse their term not their toyle and the School of Christ was open not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. on a Sabbath as Janus his Temple among the Romans only in a time of peace but on every day The worthy Chrysostome highly commends his Auditours That they turned a day which might have been spent in the service of
Satan into a day with God in attending on holy Ordinances This was the spirit of the primitive times they accounted all time gain and advantage which was spent in Divine Communion And indeed this is for Adams posterity to re-enter Paradise Gregory Nyssen in his second Oration which he Greg. Nyss Orat. 2dâ de 4to Martyr made concerning the Martyrs makes mention of some things he had instructed his people in the day before and in another Oration bids them call to mind those things he had delivered before in the week time this eminent light of the Church evidences in his own practice that it was the custome of the Church in those times to enrich the week with Nudius terti mi et hesterni diei sermones sequitur hodierna lectio c many seasons and opportunities of Gospel dispensation so far were those times from Subpenaeing flesh and blood to attest an incapacity for the services of a whole Sabbath Augustine in many places of his incomparable works mentions Aug. in Joan. his daily labours with his people for spiritual edification So Tom. 2 dus in Psal 68. Tract 16. Joan. Tractat. 18. in Joan. Tract 22. in Joan. Cyprian was likewise taken up in daily travels with his hearers to promote the increase of their faith and knowledge Nicephorus reports in his Ecclesiastical History that Alexander did daily exhilarate the Niceph. Hiâ—t lib 8. cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Church with divine Institutions Indeed these orient times of the Church were made more celebrious by the painful labours of the Ministers and the diligent attention of the people every day for as Chysostome speaks in his tenth Homily upon Genesis Holy discourses are calculated for every day No day is incongruous for heavenly Communion And the learned Father well comports with the sence and language of the holy Apostle Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vita civilis is in heaven from whence also we look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ But on the Lords day in the primitive times holy duties Licet nâ—â— ingâ—â—ereâ— spirituali doctrinae non praejudicat Chrysost were multiplied nay the Minister must not give over preaching though the night comes on if Chrysostome may give in his verdict Basil in one of his Homilies tells us That his own course was to begin his Sermans early on the morning of a Sabbath and towards the evening to preach a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil second time The morning Sermon he called the morning food and his evening Sermon he stiled his evening joy which he used to bring to his Auditours Thus this worthy person made it his triumph to spread morning and evening Hic igitur et nâ—s Orationem hanc nostram ad rotum quietemvs deducendá esse censemus Basil daintiâ—s before the people who came to feed upon them Nay thus he speaketh in one of his Homilies Behold the evening commands me silence the Sun being now set yet I judge it fit to lengthen out my discourse to the time of bed and rest So unwearied were the Ministers and people in those gloriâ—us times in holy duties and administrations Augustine In diebus do minieis ab omnibus aliis feriantes soli cultui divino simus intenti in his second Sermon upon the 88 h Psalm mentions his reduplicate labours upon Gods holy day The rest of the Lords day saith a learned man must be wholly taken up in divine worship Then the level of the soul must be wholly heaven-ward all diversions to earth or ease are deviations To mind any thing but the soul on the Sabbath is not impertinency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Non miremint fratres charissimi si hodie ter sermonem deo adjuvante Pâ—rfeceâ—o but impiety Chrysostome hath an excellent speech The Sabbath saith he is not given us for ease but for rest and that rest must be spent in things spiritual To which is accommodated a speech of another of the Ancients in an Epistle of his to his brethren in the wilderness Do not wonder saith he if in Gods strength I have preached thrice this day Now to object flesh and blood cannot keep a whole Sabbath this is a contradiction to the servent spirit of the primitive Church this is a spirit fit for the dregs of time Some of the more serious Jews thought the Sabbath but seant measure and too short a time for soul enlargements Among the Jews some began their Sabbath soâ—ner then others as those who dwele at Tyberias because they dwelling in a Valley the Sun did not appear so soon to them as it did to others Some again continued their Sabbath longer This was done by those who dwelt at Tsephore a City placed upon the top of a Mountane so that the Sun did shine longer Buxtorf Comment Masor cap. 4. ex Masar to them then to others Hence R. Jose wished That his portion might be with those who began the Sabbath with those of Tyberias and ended it with those of Tsephore This good man would take the first dawning of a Sabbath and wait the Psal 42. 1 2. last appearance that his soul might enjoy a larger space for Psal 84. 10. communion with God A gracious soul thinks the longest visits Phil. 1. 23. Cant. 7. 5. are the sweetest and duration crowns their fruition Surely war is sweet and Sabbaths long to unexperienced persons Dulce bellum inexpertis But further to discover the nakedness of this objection and more fully to answer the case we must take notice there are great varieties of duties and ordinances to sweeten a Sabbath and to render it free from all nausea and tediousness Several Instruments make the Consort and raise the musick Prov. 30 15. to a greater delight and pleasantness On a Sabbath we do 1 Sam. 3. 10. not only say Give give in holy prayer nor do we only cry with Samuel speak Lord for thy servants hear in hearing of the word But the duties of a Sabbath are like the gifts of the spirit full of diversity 1 Cor. 12. 4. There are Sacraments Eucharistia est convivium dominicum in die dominiâ—o ab ecclesiâ administrari solita fuit Tertul. to give us a prospect of Christ Holy meditation to sublimate our souls heaven-ward reading of the Scriptures for spiritual instruction Singing of Psalms in imitation of the Hallelujahs of heaven spiritual discourses for mutual consolation Harmony is the Sabbaths melody and our tiredness in one duty is removed by the sweetness of another The Sun with speed and fleetness runs through the twelve signs of the Zodiack nor is it alwâ—yes lodged in one house Variety of things which are excellent is not a little ground Omni modo Orationibus insistendum est ut si quid negligentiae per sex dies acciderit per diem resurrectionis dominicae precibus
Deus graviter eorum pertinaciam objurgat quòd profano contemptu legem sabbati violassent Rivet commands may be termed non-conformity but to throw the filth of scandalous practice into the lovely face of a Sabbath is an impudent opposition of the most High and as God himself accounts it the breach of all his Commandements and Laws Exod. 16. 28. And this Rivet calls the Israelites stubbornness To pollute the Sabbath with scandalous practices raises complaints in heaven and earth When God draws his endictment against Israel immediatly before he sentenced them Isa 1. 13. to the Babylonish captivity one chief part of their charge Ezek. 20. 13. was They prophaned his Sabbaths Ezek. 23. 38. And this Ezek. 22. 8. he calls prophaning of himself Ezek. 22. 26. which is a strange Ezek. 23. 38. expression And for this sin he brought wrath upon them Nehem. 13. 18. This provocation opened the sluces of divine fury There are three things God is very jealous of 1. Of his worship And of this he hath taken care in the Israelitae non sabbata sed Bâ—alis festa observabant Alap second Commandement 2. Of his Name The glory of which he hath secured in the third Commandement 3. Of his Day Which he hath hedged about with a hedge of thornes in the fourth Commandement And when men by their prophaneness break this â—edge he makes his complaints from heaven against this prodigious evil Jer. 40 3. In the Primitive times the universal complaint of the Fathers was against prophaning of the Lords day Clemens Clem. Alexand Paedagog lib. 3. cap. 11. Alexandrinus complained in his time That the people after they were gone out of the Church they laid aside the counterfeit vizard of gravity and fell to delight and sport themselves in an impious manner with love-songs and noise of Minstrels c. Augustine called the prophanation of the Lords day by dancing Playes or revâ—lling A Jewish sabbatizing to be Aug. de conser Evangel lib. 2. cap. 27. Enar. in Psal 32. de decem chor dis cap. 3. abominated by all good Christians As if it was a sin not to be named among those who did wear the livery and glory in the name of Jesus Christ who was perfection incarnate the Beauty and desire of Nations Hag. 2. 7. The Lords day is that Virgin light which must be espoused by holiness by exact and suitable carriages and not subjected to the rapes of sin Greg. Nyssen Orat 2 de resurrect carnis prophaneness as Gregory Nyssen speaks most piously Sins which are deeds of darkness John 3. 19. Ephes 5. 11. are no way becoming the Sabbath which is a day of the sweetest Opera carnis sunt opera tenebrarum Glos interlin light and therefore we may take notice that whereas the Evening and the Morning made up every day else Gen. 1. 5. Gen. 1. 8. Gen. 1. 13. Gen. 1. 19. Gen. 1. 23. Gen. 1. 31. No duskish morning or declining evening are mentioned as Si prohibetur die festo opus aliquid utile ad vitae necessitatem annon potiori jure quae non nisi câ—m peccato aguntur et gravi offensione dei Cyril lib. 8. in Joan. cap. 5. the integral parts to make up the Sabbath Cyril with much reason argues If those works are forbidden upon a Sabbath which are subservient to the necessities of mans life much more those works which tend to the disgrace of mans life which cannot he done without a grievous provocation of the Lord. O let us take heed saith Primasius that we do not celebrate Gods festival in luxuries and banquets Gregory Nazianzen in an Oration of his against Julian the Apostate passionately perswades the holy observation of the Sabbath and plainly tells Christians That to keep the Sabbath in a more costly attire in a more plentiful meal in a neater dressing of our house in a more metrical dancing to the musique or in a more impudent lusting this better becomes the Gentiles custome then the Christians practice This excellent person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. thought such sinful vanities a fitter livery for Pagans whose right eye is put out by divine praeterition And Chrysostome shaâ—ply inveighs against Commessations and drinkings upon Gods holy day and affirms It much redounds to the dishonour of that blessed season The breathings of the heart not the banquets of the flesh the pouring out our souls in holy Prayer not the pouring out of Wine in intemperate healths to be filled with the Spirit Ephes 5. 18. and not with new Wine becomes that day which Christ is the Lord of In these latter times holy and Reverend Divines have Hisce diebus opera carnis non sunt toleranda nec profana negotia c. Bucer de regno Christi lib. 2. cap. 10. with much moan bewailed and entred their caveats against prophanation of Gods holy day Bucer writing to King Edward the sixth Our English Josiah cryes out On those days viz. the Sabbaths the works of the flesh are not to be allowed nor prophane businesses nor licentious sports nor any other vitious pleasures And this was a good Memento for a learned man to suggest to a religious King Indeed to serve Satan upon Gods day is not onely the blemish of particular persons but the bane and ruine of Kingdomes it lays a Nation open to the invasions of mans sword and to the effusions of Gods wrath King Henry the 8th who was no Nonesuch of Piety yet he strictly commanded all Bishops and Preachers diligently to teach the people That they all The institution of a Christian man A book set forth 1543. inscribed by King Henry the 8th to all his loving subjects and approv'd by both houses of Parliament offend against the fourth Commandement who will not on Gods day cease from their own carnal wills and pleasures but pass away their time in idleness ingluttony and riot in vain idle pastimes which is not according to the tenour of the fourth Commandement but after the usage and custome of the Jews So that now Nazianzen saith To prophane the Sabbath is after the custome of the Gentiles And King Henry the 8th saith it is after the usage of the Jewes So that it must be concluded to defile Gods holy day by loose and prophane practices doth better become a hardned Jew or a darkned Gentile then a holy Christian whose conversation should suit with a glorious Gospel The learned Gualter 2 Cor. 4 4. bitterly exclaims How do they sin with manifold impiety and sacriledge who attribute this day to Mammon Bacchus and Venus who can feast drink play dance whore and follow their luxury and pride and live so that they never serve the Devil more then on this day which ought to be wholly consecrated to God And it is no way to be doubted this is not the least cause of the evils and calamities of our age And because
effusion of the spirit which should be in Gospel-times This day saith the same Author is sanctified when we seriously consider that on it false Doctrine was plucked up by the foundations the Calumnies of miscreant calumniators were refelled and silenced the security of Christs Disciples was reproved and condemned Vice was checkt and corrected and piety propagated and disseminated In the view and practice of those things Sabbath sanctification is fairly comprised But it is observable that this learned man takes notice that Christ began betimes to instruct his Apostles in the duties of the Lords day the first day of the week which doth evidently secure us that the day it self was the institution of Christ himself And we may justly retort upon thosâ— who fasten the Lords day upon humane Authority from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19. 8. But the rising of the Sun of Righteousness after the night of a Grave made our Sabbath day And this weekly festival is given to the world both by Christs re-entry into it from the dark shade of the grave and by vertue of those commands mentioned Acts 1. 2. the command for the Lords day being one of them without doubt or dispute But that no beam of light may be withhâ—ld from making a full discovery of this truth we will fetch our rise from the earliest times of the world The Lords day was typified by Circumcisiâ—n which was administred on the eighth day the next day after the Jewâ—sh Sabbath and the very day of our Christian One of our Homilies saith That the first day after the Jewish Sabbath is our Sunday It is our Lords day say the Divines of Ireland and Augustine proveth That by the eighth day of August Epist ad Januar. 119. cap. 13. Nam quia octavus dies i. e. post Sabbatum primus dies futurus erat quo dominus resurgeret nos vivificaret spiritutlem nobis daret circumâ—isionem c. Circumcision was shadowed forth our Lords day And Cyprian saith That Circumcision was commanded on the eighth day as a Sacrament of the eighth day on which Christ should rise from the dead And this holy Martyr proceeds and gives us the reason of his words for because the eighth day i. e. the day after the Sabbath was to be the day on which the Lord should rise and quicken us and give us the spiritual Circumcision this eighth day i. e. the first day after the Jewish Sabbath went before in a shadâ—w So then the precise time of the circumcision of the flesh did onely prefigure the day of Christs resurrection or our Sabbath wherein Christ rose for the circumcision of the heaâ—t for that which was spiritual and so more effectual circumcision Dies sabbati erâ—t dierum ordine posterior sanctificatione autem in tempore legis Anterior sed ubi finis legis advenit viz. Jesus Christus resurrectione suâ Octavam sanè sanctificavit caepit eadem prima esse quae octava fuerat habens ex numeri ordine praerogatiâ—am ex resurrectione domini sanctitatem Ambros Hilany points at the same thing Vpon the eighth day saith he which is also the first day we rejoyce in the festivity of a perfect Sabbath And this eminent person hath left a most memorable Record behind him of the Churches practice in his time which was about An. Dom. 355. Ambrose most elegantly descants upon this subject The Sabbath saith he was the last in order of days but the first in sanctification under the Law but when the end of the law was come Rom. 10 4. viz. Jesus Christ and by his resurrection had consecrated the eighth day that which was the eighth day began to be the first being dignified by the precedency of the number and sanctified by the resurrection of the Lord. Thus the primitive times which are the best Comment on Gospel Institutions as having the advantage of being nearer to the rising Sun could easily discern the thing typified in the type the substance in the shadow the eighth day the usual time of circumcising the flesh clearly prefiguring the day of Christs glorious rising to circumcise the inward-man the hidden man of the heart and to purge away the pollutions and filthiness both of flesh and spirit The Lords day was prophesied 1 Pet. 3. 4. of by holy David Psal 118. 24. This is the day which Ezek. 36. 25. the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it It is not an easie thing saith Dr. Ames to reject this Scripture Neque facilitèr rejâ—ciendum est quod ab antiquis quibusdam urgetur Psal 118. 24. Eo enim loco agitur de resurrectione Christi ipso Christo interprete Matth. 21. 42. Ames Cyprianus Augustinus Ambrosius hunc diem in Psal 118. 24. citatum de resurrectione Christi interpretantur so much urged by the Ancients and wholly and only applicable to Christs resurrection-day if Christ may interpret the meaning of the Prophet Mal. 21. 42. Or if the Apostle may interpret the meaning of his Master Acts 4. 11 12. And a learned man observes that the word hath made in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew signifies not simply to make but to sanctifie and to observe holy as is most usual when it is referred to feasts or days as Deut. 5. 15 16. Deut. 10. 13. The man then who was after Gods own heart and who was most likely to understand Gods own mind he hath foretold this blessed day when by a prophetick spirit fore-seeing the glory of the Resurrection-day as a most eminent day among the seven days as the Sun among the seven Planets salutes it with a magnificent style and Title This is the day which the Lord hath made Thus the Psalmist did fore-see that the Lord would magnifie and exalt his resurrection day and why Because on this day the glorious work of mans redemption was to be accomplished The stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the Corner Psal 118. 22. Dominicum ergo diem Apostoli Apostolici viri ideò religiosâ solennitate sanxerunt quia in eadem Redemptor noster à mortuis resurrexit Aug. And thus is the resurrection day prophetically crowned with honour above all other dayes the Holy Ghost putting an emphasis upon it It is a day which the Lord hath made how made not by way of creation for so it was made before Gen. 1. 1. but by way of institution The day which the Lord hath made what hath God made it a working day so it was before If therefore he hath made it any thing it must be a holy solemn day a day more solemn more sacred then all the dayes that God ever made before So then it is evident a day of solemn worship is here intended and Christs Resurrection day most clearly pointed at as a day which the Lord would institute as a day which the Church should celebrate we see then a clear Scripture
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
wrought his first Miracle by turning water into wine And on this day saith Junius the Israelites passed the Red Sea on dry ground Concil Paris sub Ludovico Pio et Lothario celebratum securely by the help of a Miracle And to wind up all on this day the light of the firmament and the Sun of Righteousness first rose and appeared from darkness and death And thus the Lords day is brought to its Throne and let Jun. in Deut. all who love Christ say God save the Christian Sabbath and preserve it from the fury and rage of malevolent persâ—cutors John 2. 49. from the virulent and sophistical pens of adversaries from the fancies of familistical and enthusiastical hereticks and from the blemishes and discrediting practices of prophane persons And let our fervent prayers to the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2. 28. be that as this blessed day had a divine institution so it may be ever honoured and celebrated with a spiritual and heavenly observation CHAP. XLVII A Plea with Christians to out-vy the Jews in Sabbath-holiness and observations HAving now bottom'd the Lords day upon its Scriptural basis and given it its due and just authority let us further consider how its original may influence our practice and how its institution running parallel with that of the Jews Sabbath may over-awe our consciences and sublimate our minds to a more holy and severe observation It is a good note of a learned man If saith he The people shall be made to believe that the Lords day stands upon humane authority all the power of Princes and all the policy of Bishop of Ely Prelates shall never be able to preserve it from the peoples prophanation as we evidently see in the Church of Charles Dow of the Sabbath p. 56. Rome But Adversaries in this point are enforced to acknowledge as much as may be learned from their confessions That seeing God did require of those stiffnecked Jews burdened with the yoke of Ceremonies one day in seven to be employed in his service how can less suffice Christians who have obtained a greater measure of divine grace and who are freed from that yoke and burden Nor must we permit this Verè dico Fratres satis durum pro priè nimis impium est ut Christiani non habeant majorem reverentiam diei dominico quam Judaei observare videntur in Sabbâ—to Caesar Arelatensis consideration that the obligation of Christians to serve God and Christ upon his heavenly promises is greater then that of the Jews In the former times of shadows and darkness the Lords people observed a weekly Sabbath then surely we should be ungrateful and negligent of our own salvation if we should fall short of the same observation nay if we should not keep our Sabbath with greater exactness and more accurate devotion Golden talents call for quicker trading and greater priviledges summon us to a more strict obedience And indeed to come closer to our purpose what can lie upon the Jews as an argument for the sanctification of the Sabbath which doth not reach us Had they six dayes granted for their own affairs to labour and work in and is it not so with us are not we indulged with the same bounty have not we an equal latitude with them for the gain and acquest of these outward things And ours is the Lords day as well as theirs nay their weekly festival was called Sabbath from its manner of observation Exod. 20. 8. Rev. 1. 10. servation ours the Lords day from its Divine Author Gods example is as strong to move us as them our Father is our pattern and his preceding practice doth tie us as forcibly to imitation as it can do them Mat. 5. 48. The blessing of God depends upon our right observation of our Sabbath as well as it did upon their faithful discharge of Sabbath-duties and holiness obtains the birth right in Longius à â—â—ebus sacris remoâ—enda sunt quae castis labem integris probrum et sin ceris corruptelam afferunt Festivitates dominicus honorate non mundanè sed divinè non instar gentilium sed instar Christianorum Ephr â—yr both And therefore what can be suggested to oblige them which doth not engage us One of the Fathers passionately cryes out Shall the Jews be so strict on their Sabbath which only is in umbra in a shadow and a type of something to come which only did presigure Christs resting in the grave and shall not we â—e seâ—ious and solemn on our Sabbath which is so in veâ—tue in truth and shall endure to the end of the world Our Sabbath saith Chrysostom is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An unmoveable law and therefore lays claim to a greater solemnization Ephrem Syrus cryes out Let us solemnize our Lords day as Christians and he thinks then he had said enough the Apostle telling us He that names the name of Christ must depart from iniquity But if we shall discuss this point more fully the Chriâ—tians 2 Tim 2. 19. incentives to Sabbath holiness will easily be found to have a sharper edge and a stronger byass then those of the Jews We have greater measures of knowledge The Jews lived under Star light but the Sun of Righteousness arose on our Mal 4. 2. Exod. 34. 35. Col. 2. 17. Mat. 27. 51. Sabbath day Moses his face had a vail upon it 2 Cor. 3. 13. Their pedagogy was enveloped in many types and shadows ceremonies which cast it into a twilight but when our Saviour dyed not only the veil of the Temple but of the Judaeis vetus Testamentum est velamine obductum ut non videant internam ejus lucem Novo Testamento Christus hoc velamen abstâ—lit tanquâ—m à lege Novâ Alap type was rent Now here our Saviours rule takes place To whom much is given of them much shall he required Luke 12. 48. And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 14. But the minds of the Jews are blinded for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in reading the old Testament which veil is done away in Christ Our knowledge then is far greater then theirs our ministration of the spirit is more glorious 2 Cor. 3. 8 9. Now much knowledge as it doth amplifie guilt so it doth engage duty as it is a greater weight to sin so it is a sharper spur to service the light of knowledge most properly guides us in the way of holiness And shall we who live under the light of the most glorious Gospel be out-done Illuminatio Evangelii est sublustre quiddam et praegustus clâ—rae lucis et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etiam gloriae divinae quae revelabitur in caelis Theoph. in Sabbath-holiness by them who had but our dawnings who only fed upon the crumbs of the bread of life We see Christ with open face they only through the Prospective of a type or a ceremony by the light of a
loose to carnal liberty on the Lords day the more loose his heart will be in all good duties the whole week following Let men neglect meditation repetition of Sermons holy conference and other private duties betakeing themselves after the publick worship is over to vain and worldly discourse or vainer pleasures they shall quickly find that the publick service is utterly lost and become unprofitable And on the contrary as Moses continued forty dayes with God on the Mount had his face shining with splendor and glory Exod. 34. 30. So he who shall this day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag of God wholly converse with God not only in publick Ordinances as Moses in the tabernacle but likewise in private duties as Moses on the Mount shall find a sensible spiritual vigour and an unexpected strength to carry him through all the occasions of the whole week following and a kind of glorious lustre arising from the increase of holiness put upon him and this shall be visible to the eye and hearts of others Eccles 3. 1. He who keeps the Lords day with the most strict and and accurate observation shall find 1. Most blessing upon his labours 2. Most holiness in heart and life 3. Most comfort and joy in his own soul 4. Most sweetness in death 5. Most glory and rest in Heaven when there remains that Populo dei superest Sabbatismus i. e. requies dâ—i ad quam quotidiè sanctus vocatur Par. everlasting Sabbatism for all the people of God It is a good observation of a learned man That when the spirit cometh effectually to convince of sin usually one of the first sins which the eye of the enlightned conscience fixes upon is the neglect of the Lords day and conviction usually ending in conversion one of the first duties which the soul comes seriously to close withall is the strict observation of the Lords day and grace usually works this way and doth exceedingly dispose to this duty Young Converts will be full of meltings on Gods holy day And truly the holy observation of the Sabbath much speaks the temper of a Christian However the week fares as Judg. 12. 6. the Sabbath doth Good Sabbaths usher in good weeks and are the morning stars of an approaching day when we hear truth on the Sabbath digesting it by prayer and meditation when we put up strong cries to God with fervour and devotion when we enjoy Ordinances our spiritual meals on a Sabbath with appetite and satisfaction this will cast a chain upon our corrupt hearts and will be bellows to our future zeal wil supply us with holy meditations which will be as so many bright gleams and will put a heat upon our affections and make us every way act the Saint all the ensuing week As Queen Mary said when she lost Callais When I am dead open me and you shall find Callais written upon my heart So the Christian who hath been very serious on Gods day you shall find Sabbath written upon his heart all the following week The seent of a conscientious Sabbath is not easily lost nor is the warmth of it so speedily chilled souls drenched in Sabbath Ordinances like vessels seasoned with excellent liquors Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu they long retain the taste The believer is disciplined upon a Sabbath and we do not easily forget our Education A Sermon kindly entertained on the Lords day will be faithfully improved on the week day Our best Christians were ever strictest on the Sabbath Those tasts of love we then sense and gust will abide and not lightly wear off these will lie upon the heart when the Sabbath is over Let us keep Sabbaths well we shall be better in our shops better in our worldly affairs better in our families better in our discourses better in our converses more righteous in our dealings more exemplary in our walkings more vigorous in our duties all the week following After a well passed Sabbath we shall more watch our hearts more keep our ground and withstand temptations and the deceipts of our Calling which happily Quaestus magnus est pietas quia opes supernaturales secum affert et amicitiam dei obtinet qui suis opes coelestes promittit praeparat are quilted into the very nature of it shall not so much tempt as exasperate and provoke us The whole week must be spent holy to prepare us the better for the Sabbath and the Sabbath must be spent hâ—ly the better to influence the week as the beginning with God on the morning of a Sabbath may influence the whole Sabbath so the beginning with God in the morning of the week viz. The Lords day may exceedingly influence and prosper the whole week He 2 Thes 2. 10. who on the Sabbath hath been much in the work of heaven cannot easily be much in the dross of earth or the dregs of sin on the time of the week Ordinances like clocks when they have struck leave a sound and a noise for a considerable time nor can a Sermon carefully heard be presently shaken out of the heart The word when received in the love thereof is fire in the bones Jer. 20. 9. and not heat in the face an inward warmth which is permanent and not only a colour which is transient The tasts the impressions the power and spirituality of a well-observed Sabbath cannot without much difficulty strong assaults of Satan powerful workings of a corrupt heart be disanulled and eradicated Hearts steeped in holy Ordinances will not soon lose their perfume It is very true our slight deportment in Ordinances makes them superficial and so soon slide off and they who pass over the Sabbath loosly will spend the week profligately they who spend it formally will spend the week vainly But a serious composure of spirit on Gods holy day will blow off the froth of the ensuing week Ignatius as hath been suggested calls the Lords day the Queen of dayes Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Oâ—bis and according to the example of the Queen inferiour and subordinate days will be composed The endeavour of every Christian should be that his practices in secret in his calling in his company on the week day should be answerable to the great priviledges he enjoyed and to the rich grace he received on the Lords day One well observes That Religion is just as the Sabbath and it decays or groweth as the Sabbath is esteemed it flourishes in a due Veneration of the Sabbath and it pines and consumes when the Sabbath is under neglect or contempt And Dr. Twisse takes notice That the conscionable observation of the Sabbath ever was is a principal means to draw us to spiritual rest from sin and to fit us for an eternal rest in glory In a word the Sabbath and the week are both embarqued in the same ship they both are safe or sink together if our souls
Origen In the times of the Law saith he the Jews were not to stir out of their places upon the Sabbath day Exod. 16. 29. Now what is the proper place of the soul but Righteousness Truth Wisdom and Sanctification and whatever speaks Christ and from this place we Christians must not stir upon the Lords day In the times of the Law the Jews were to carry no burdens upon the Sabbath day Jer. 17. 27. And what is this burden but all sin and this burden we Christians must not carry on our Sabbath In the times of the Law the Jews were not to kindle a fire throughout all their Habitations upon the Sabbath Exod. 35. 3. And what is this kindling of fire but the inflaming of lust and no such fire must be kindled by Christians on the Sabbath Now what Origen cautionates us against on the Sabbath is as much to be avoided and shunned on the week day In a disposition to serve God So we must keep every day a Sabbath though we are not always in a Sabbath dayes time Verum quidem est Sabbatum spirituale nobis perpetuò colendum esse sub novo Testamento Wal. yet we should be always in a Sabbath days frame in such a blessed bent of heart as to be fit for holy business and heavenly employment And the Apostle adviseth us 1 Thes 5. 17. To pray continually viz. To be in a continual frame of heart fit for holy prayer And the Apostle James Jam. 1. 19. commands us to be swift to hear viz. Always to have Spirituale Sabbatum est quo vetus homo noster homo peccati cum singulis suis actionibus otio quodam veluti sepelitus est ut novus homo qui secundum deum creatus est vires suas exerat opera sua perficiat Muscul an open ear ready to hearken to the sweet and sacred word of God We find the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 1. 5 6. describing four living creatures having four faces and four wings Faces ready to mind and wings ready to move into any part upon the work the Lord should assign and appoint them And thus Gods people should be always in a prepared frame of spirit for holy service we should be as cautious of sin and as propence to service as if every day was a Sabbath day The week contains no day for sinful work the Apostle tells us 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity And iniquity not iniquities any one particular iniquity And so likewise in the week our secular works must not indispose us for heavenly Dies è septem unus externis salutis mediis dedicatus Sabbatum interius perpetuum magis et magis promovet Hier. services and holy duties but we must have heavenly hearts in our earthly labours It is very observable that in the time of the Law the word Sabbath signified a whole week Lev. 23. 15. And so in the time of the Gospel Luke 18. 12. And doth it not point out this That we should keep our whole week as a Sabbath and that Sabbath-holiness should make all our life-time but one intire holy day Our spiritual Sabbath as Musculus observes Must be continual Rom. 11. 16. we must be always crucifying the old man and getting our 1 Cor. 5. 6. corruptions to their rest that they may not be working nor employed to fledge temptation into actual sin and we must be always employing the new man to excite its power in spiritual operations and this must be our daily and continual Sabbath This resting from sin and this working for God is never unseasonable and these two are the integral parts of a Sabbath And thus to employ our selves in the week doth exceedingly fit us for the Sabbath Many have little of the Sabbath in the week and therefore they have too much of the week in the Sabbath they are strangers Mandaverat quidem deus sub veteri Testimento ut in ipsa septimanâ aliquae quoque horae divino cultui consecrarentur manè imprimis vespere cùm sacrificium juge in templo offerreretur perpetuò sacrificaretur Wal. to Sabbath-work on the week dayes and therefore they are enemies to Sabbath-work on the Lords day Christians should attempt to begin heaven here and there is a perpetual Sabbath our life below should shadow out our life above It must be confessed our indulging our selves too much in sin and bemiring our selves too much in the world on the week day doth very much unqualifie and indispose us for heavenly rest on the Sabbath day But when we have set our selves against sin and have been spiritually minded in the works of our Calling not omitting the heavenly duties of prayer reading the word holy discourse and heavenly meditations on the week dayes we then with more complacency lean upon our beloved and with more delight meet him in his â—anquetting house Cant. 2. 4. on the Lords day Holy weeks make heavenly Sabbaths and the more strict we are in passing of the week the more savoury and serious we shall be in observing the Sabbath Walaeus very well observes That in the time of the Law God had his dayly sacrifices Psal 133. 2. Numb 28. 3. as well as his double sacrifices on the Sabbath day Numb 28. 9. To intimate to us There must be something of a Sabbath in every day nor must the oil of holiness only be poured out on the head of a Sabbath but it must run down to the skirts of the whole week the performance of divine worship is calculated for the week though the solemnity of it be reserved for the Sabbath Well then let something resembling a Sabbath be found in our own dayes let a happy vein of holy rest with God run through every day The Jews had their morning sacrifice when they entred upon their work and their evening sacrifice when they wound up and ended their work they gave God the first Job 23. 12. and the last of every day in holy and solemn worship He that was Alpha and Omega the first and the last had the Tres sunt diei partes inter Judaeos prima pars ad orationem secunda ad legem tertia ad opus seculare destinabatur Alpha and Omega of every day nay learned men observe that the Jews divided the day into three parts The first ad Tephilah to Prayer the second ad Torah to the Law the third ad Malacha to their work Thus God had his part of every day among the poor Jews nay double worship for single work And let not a repudiated Jew be more franck in giving God his time then the redeemed ones of Jesus shall they have so much of the Sabbath in the week and we so much of the week in our Sabbaths As the Apostle saith Rom. 6. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid It would be strange if the branch which is broken of
when a Sabbath the day of God and our souls is Jud. 15. 6. almost lost in a Nation for this let tears be our drink and Jud. 21. 2. ashes our meat day and night And when the Magistrates Psal 42. 3. become Gallioes for the things of God let the people become Jeremies for the day of God Sabbath decayes will soon make a bankrupt Nation Nay lastly we may bewail the punished purity of Englands Sabbaths The people of God cannot be so good as they will on Gods holy day How often are the Saints in the midst of Lew Sabbati opera humana non divina prohibuit Tertul. their weeping eyes bended knees melting hearts mounting minds when congregated in secret to seek Gods face and to meet with Christ their beloved How often I say are they interrupted surprized haled away by Officers and the Sanctuary leads them to a Prison their Piety is uncharitably called treachery and their devotion is unreasonably interpreted Sedition This is Englands misery and unhappiness the Prisons are filled with spiritual worshippers and the Nation is filled with carnal Gospellers Prophaneness is uncontrouled but the most resined service of God is liable to poenalties Tertullianus de Cor. Mil. Plin. Sec. in Epist ad Trajanum Imper. De Amelucanis coetibus Christianorum in die dominigo mentionem faciunt and pursued with force and violence not because it is unsuitable to Gods will but it is inconformable to mans law Now as the Primitive Christians we must have our caetus antelucanos our early because unknown meetings on Gods holy day but surely it must needs be a great evil to rout the stars when gathered in a constellation to hush away the Doves when they stock to the windows and strange it is that mans wrath should be there where Gods presence is in the assembly of the Saints But that the people of God meeting on the day of God in the name of God for fuller communion Mat. 18. 20. with and enjoyment of God in obedience to the command Dan. 12. 3. of God should meet with frowns and disgusts should feel the sharpness of a Law or undergoe the keenness of Mat. 13. 43. the Magistrates sword and all this in a Protestant Nation Isa 60. 8. whose usuall Motto was Mildness This is a lamentation and Psal 89. 7. shall be for a lamentation Isa 4. 5. Ezek. 19. 14. FINIS The TABLE A SEnsual Actions to be forborn on the Sabbath day 20. and so sinfull 22 There shall be no Affliction in our Sabbath above 218 The Lords day is of Divine Authority 569 An answer to the Apostles preaching in the Synagogues on their Sabbath day 570 The Lords day instituted by Divine Authority 585 Not by Ecclesiastical ibid. Arguments to urge Sabbath-holiness 668. 718. 732. B The Bounty of God in giving us his Sabbath 186 Our outward Behaviour must be exact in Publick Ordinances on the Sabbath 277 The Sabbath instituted from the Beginning 526 C God is admirable in the works of Creation 147. 191 Conscience is chiefly to be dealt withall in Gospel Administrations 259 The benefit of Chatechizing 334 Some necessary Cautions to prevent Sabbath pollution 407 Several Cases to satisfie conscience in Sabbath Observation 440 The fourth Commandment cannot be Ceremonial 489. 544 The worke of Creation compared with the work of Redemption wherein the last exceeds the first 642 D Duties shall not want their reward p. 3 The Sabbath must be spent in holy Delight 53 The Emptiness of worldly Delights 58 Duration speaks the value of every good thing 209 The sweetness of Holy Duties 229 Holy Discourse doth well become the Sabbath 320 Several Directions for the better observance of the Lords day 353 The evil of Spiritual Doubts 382 All dayes are not eqaally holy in the times of the Gospel 496 The observation of one Day in seven to God hath its great advantages 499 The wildness of that opinion which makes every Day a Sabbath day 505 A seventh Day not the seventh day is commanded in the fourth Commandment 582 E To rise Early well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 85 Several incentives to this practice 86 87 c. The several Ends of the Sabbath 191 Divers Evils to be avoided in the time of publick Ordinances 297 Several Examples of Divine Justice breaking out upon Sabbath-breakers 683 England bemoan'd for Sabbath-prophanation 781 F Holy Fruitfulness becomes the Sabbath 56 Many Faculties and parts to be acted on a Sabbath 95 The Excellency of Faith 422 The sore judgement of a Famine of the Word 680 The influence God hath upon the Fire 716 G Many Graces to be acted on a Sabbath 95 God is most Glorious in his Nature and Essence 128 The works of Grace deserve our sweetest meditation 178 The works of Glory to be meditated on 185 Active Graces become holy Ordinances 316 How to procure Gods presence in ordinances 385 There are three Glasses to see our hearts in 445 H We must look on the Sabbath as Honourable 54 God most glorious in his Holiness 135 How we are to deal with our Hearts on the morning of a Sabbath 263 Holiness is engraven upon the Sabbath 733 I Holy Joy becomes a Sabbath 267 How our Inward man is to be ordered in publick Ordinances 300 How we must spend the Interval between the Morning and Evening worship of a Sabbath 319 The Lords day is a day of Rest not Idleness 427 The great evils of Idleness 435 Idleness on the Lords day a very great evil 436 The Jewes sometimes very exemplary in Sabbath-observation 514 We Christians are to out-vy the Jews in Sabbath-observation 634 The dreadfull Judgements which pursue Sabbath-breakers 676 L The Labourers plea for recreations upon the Sabbath answered 33 Impertinent Language unbecoming the Sabbath day 49 God is incomprehensible in his Love 143 Nothing in a Saint can make a change in Gods Love 145 The Lords day confirmed by all Laws 619 What Christian Liberty is 645 Some remarkables concerning Londons fire which began on the Lords day 696 M Secret duties befitting the Morning of a Sabbath 89 The benefit of Morning duties on Gods holy day 104 The excellency of Meditation 106 124. It s Nature 107. How it is distinguished from some things very like to it 109. How much and how long we must Meditate 112. The chiefest seasons for Meditation 115. The rich advantages of Meditation 119. Meditation proper to every Ordinance 121 122. It feeds our Graces ibid. And amplifies our Comforts 123. It s necessity 125 The Morality of the fourth Commandment 552 How the Sabbath was made for Man 648 O Outward enjoyments are the reward of Sabbath obedience 59 God is most glorious in his Omnisciency 134 The excellency of Gospel Ordinances 285. 423 424. 443 The first Original of the Sabbath 522 And most probably it was ordained in Paradise 524 P The Poor mans Plea for working on a Sabbath Answered 7 Rich Promises made to a due observation of the Sabbath 57 63 Prophanation of the Sabbath the greatest Prodigality 67 Preparation for the Sabbath very necessary and several incentives to it 71 What those Preparatory duties are which must precede the Sabbath 77 Publick duties become the Sabbath 93 Many Persons to converse with on a Sabbath 96 God is most adorable in his Power 133 God to be exceedingly admired in the works of his Providence 156 Gods Presence must be meditated on on the Sabbath day 188 Prayer well becomes the morning of a Sabbath 239 How our Prayers must be qualified 243 The necessity of the spirits assistance in all our Prayers 246 What we must Pray for on the morning of the Sabbath 249 Practice is the best use of Ordinances 161 The sweetness and excellency of the Promises 269 Singing of Psalms a sweet and an excellent duty 339 The efficacy of Prayer 425 The advantages of Praying alone 454 Miscellanious Prescriptions for the better discharge of conscience in Sabbath-observation 765 R Recreations unlawfull on a Sabbath 23 Reverence becomes the Sabbath 54 God is wonderfull in the most glorious work of Mans Redemption 167 All the attributes of God shone gloriously in the work of Mans Redemption 174 The benefit of Repeating Sermons 327 Why the word Remember is prefaced to the fourth Commandment 660 The Resurrection of Christ a forcible argument to Sabbath-holiness 750 S What a Sabbath days journey is 6 The whole Sabbath is to be spent with God 35 The worth of the Soul 38 The Saints must meet together on a Sabbath day 97 The Jewish Sabbath compared with the Christian 201 The Christians Sabbath here compared with his Sabbath above 210 Some eminent types of our Sabbath above 234 The excellency of the Scriptures 272. 326. 456. Reading of the Scriptures usefull in the morning of a Sabbath 273 Publick Assemblies most pleasing on a Sabbath 274 The mischiefs of Sleeping in Ordinances 280 We must be Spiritual in our duties when we come to Publick Ordinances 312 What it is to be in the Spirit on the Lords day 387 The rare effects of the Spirit 393 466 How to keep Solitary Sabbaths 451 453 T Gods Truth is a glorious attribute 139 Vain Thoughts must be avoided in holy ordinances 305 Two days in a week cannot be observed as Sabbaths 569 V The Beatifical Vision somewhat opened and explicated 214 Unbelief a destructive sin 421 Variety of Sabbath duties delightfull 465 W Secular Works unlawful on the Sabbath 4. By Scripture 5. By Authority Civil 10. Ecclesiastical 11. By Reason 13. Works of necessity may be done on a Sabbath day 17 God is infinite in wisdom far surpassing mans 136 To Work upon the Sabbath day very sinfull 215 Holy Watchfulness becomes a Sabbath 401 How to keep a Whole Sabbath to God spiritually and sweetly 466 FINIS